Lucian of Samosata, De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 47

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[47]

TYCHIADES

Enough said as to that; but try to show that Patroclus was not the friend but ‘the parasite of Achilles.

SIMON

I shall cite you Patroclus himself, Tychiades, saying that he was a parasite.

TYCHIADES

That is a surprising statement.

SIMON

Listen then to the lines themselves:

Let my bones not lie at a distance from thine, O Achilles:

Let them be close to your side, as I lived in the house of our kindred.

Iliad23, 83. And again, farther on, he says: “And now Peleus took me in and

Kept me with kindliest care, and gave me the name of thy servant.

Iliad23, 89. That is, he maintained him as a parasite. If he had wanted to call Patroclus a friend, he would not have given him the name of servant, for Patroclus was a freeman. Whom, then, does he mean by servants, if not either friends or slaves? Parasites, evidently. In the same way he calls Meriones too a servant of Idomeneus,¹

Observe also tliat in the same passage it is not Idomeneus, the son of Zeus, whom he thinks fit to call “unyielding in battle,” but Meriones, his parasite.²

De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam. Lucian of Samosata. Austin Morris Harmon (Translator). United States. Perseus 5.0.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

The Parasite Tychiades (English) (Lucian, Vol. 3. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921.)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τοῦ Παρασίτου ὅτι Τέχνη ἡ Παρασιτική Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 3. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921.) — 47 focus

Τυχιάδης

ταῦτα μὲν ἱκανῶς· ὅτι δὲ μὴ φίλος ἀλλὰ παράσιτος ἦν ὁ Πάτροκλος τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως πειρῶ λέγειν.

Σίμων

αὐτόν, ὦ Τυχιάδη, τὸν Πάτροκλον ὅτι παράσιτος ἦν λέγοντά σοι παρέξομαι.

Τυχιάδης

θαυμαστὰ λέγεις.

Σίμων

ἄκουε τοίνυν αὐτῶν τῶν ἐπῶν·

μὴ ἐμὰ σῶν ἀπάνευθε τιθήμεναι ὀστέʼ, Ἀχιλλεῦ,

ἀλλʼ ὁμοῦ, ὡς ἐτράφην περ ἐν ὑμετέροισι δόμοισι.

καὶ πάλιν ὑποβάς, καὶ νῦν με δεξάμενος, φησίν, ὁ Πηλεὺς
ἔτρεφεν ἐνδυκέως καὶ σὸν θεράποντʼ ὀνόμηνε.
τουτέστι παράσιτον εἶχεν. εἰ μὲν τοίνυν φίλον ἐβούλετο τὸν Πάτροκλον λέγειν, οὐκ ἂν αὐτὸν ὠνόμαζεν θεράποντα· θεράποντα· ἐλεύθερος γὰρ ἦν ὁ Πάτροκλος. τίνας τοίνυν λέγει τοὺς θεράποντα· θεράποντα· εἰ μήτε τοὺς δούλους μήτε τοὺς φίλους; τοὺς παρασίτους δῆλον ὅτι· ᾗ καὶ τὸν Μηριόνην τοῦ Ἰδομενέως καὶ αὐτὸν θεράποντα¹ ὀνομάζει.

Σκόπει δὲ ὅτι καὶ ἐνταῦθα τὸν μὲν Ἰδομενέα Διὸς ὄντα υἱὸν οὐκ ἀξιοῖ λέγειν ἀτάλαντον Ἄρηϊ, Μηριόνην δὲ τὸν παράσιτον αὐτοῦ.

Translations (1)

The Parasite: a Demonstration that Sponging is a Profession Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 3. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 47 focus

[47]

Tychiades

Yes, you have proved him a good man; but can you show him to have been not Achilles’s friend, but a sponger?

Simon

I will produce you his own statement to that effect.

Tychiades

What a miracle-worker you are!

Simon

Listen to the lines, then:

Achilles, lay my bones not far from thine;

Thou and thine fed me; let me lie by thee.

And a little further on he says:

Peleus me received,

And nurtured gently, and thy henchman named,

that is, gave him the right of sponging; if he had meant to allude to Patroclus as his son’s friend, he would not have used the word henchman; for he was a free man. What is a henchman, slaves and friends being excluded? Why, obviously a sponger. Accordingly Homer uses the same word of Meriones’s relation to Idomeneus. And by the way it is not Idomeneus, though he was son of Zeus, that he describes as ‘peer of Ares’; it is the sponger Meriones.

Notes on the current edition

The Parasite Tychiades

Iliad13, 246.

Iliad 13, 295.

Lucian of Samosata De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam 47

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

TYCHIADES

SIMON

TYCHIADES

SIMON

Current edition Perseus

Τυχιάδης

ταῦτα μὲν ἱκανῶς· ὅτι δὲ μὴ φίλος ἀλλὰ παράσιτος ἦν ὁ Πάτροκλος τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως πειρῶ λέγειν.

Σίμων

αὐτόν, ὦ Τυχιάδη, τὸν Πάτροκλον ὅτι παράσιτος ἦν λέγοντά σοι παρέξομαι.

Τυχιάδης

θαυμαστὰ λέγεις.

Tychiades

Simon

Tychiades

Simon

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

TYCHIADES

SIMON

TYCHIADES

SIMON

Current edition Perseus

Τυχιάδης ταῦτα μὲν ἱκανῶς· ὅτι δὲ μὴ φίλος ἀλλὰ παράσιτος ἦν ὁ Πάτροκλος τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως πειρῶ λέγειν.

Σίμων αὐτόν, ὦ Τυχιάδη, τὸν Πάτροκλον ὅτι παράσιτος ἦν λέγοντά σοι παρέξομαι.

Τυχιάδης θαυμαστὰ λέγεις.

Tychiades

Simon

Tychiades

Simon

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Τυχιάδης

ταῦτα μὲν ἱκανῶς· ὅτι δὲ μὴ φίλος ἀλλὰ παράσιτος ἦν ὁ Πάτροκλος τοῦ Ἀχιλλέως πειρῶ λέγειν.

Σίμων

αὐτόν, ὦ Τυχιάδη, τὸν Πάτροκλον ὅτι παράσιτος ἦν λέγοντά σοι παρέξομαι.

Τυχιάδης

θαυμαστὰ λέγεις.