Lucian, De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam, ed. Austin Morris Harmon, 10

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Σίμων

φανεῖται δὲ οὕτως· ὁ γὰρ σοφὸς Ὅμηρος τὸν τοῦ παρασίτου βίον θαυμάζων ὡς ἄρα μακάριος καὶ ζηλωτὸς εἴη μόνος, οὕτω φησίν·¹

οὐ γὰρ ἔγωγέ τί φημι τέλος χαριέστερον εἶναι,

ἢ ὅτʼ ἂν εὐφροσύνη μὲν ἔχῃ κάτα δῆμον ἅπαντα,

δαιτυμόνες δʼ ἀνὰ δώματʼ ἀκουάζωνται ἀοιδοῦ

ἥμενοι ἑξείης,² παρὰ δὲ πλήθωσι τράπεζαι

σίτου καὶ κρειῶν, μέθυ δʼ ἐκ κρητῆρος ἀφύσσων

οἰνοχόος φορέῃσι καὶ ἐγχείῃ δεπάεσσι.

καὶ ὡς οὐχ ἱκανῶς ταῦτα θαυμάζων μᾶλλον τὴν αὑτοῦ γνώμην ποιεῖ φανερωτέραν εὖ λέγων·
τοῦτό τί μοι κάλλιστον ἐνὶ φρεσὶν εἴδεται εἶναι,
οὐχ ἕτερόν τι, ἐξ ὧν φησιν, ἢ τὸ παρασιτεῖν εὔδαιμον νομίζων. καὶ μὴν οὐδὲ τῷ τυχόντι ἀνδρὶ περιτέθεικε τούτους τοὺς λόγους, ἀλλὰ τῷ σοφωτάτῳ τῶν ὅλων. καίτοι γε εἴπερ ἐβούλετο Ὀδυσσεὺς τὸ κατὰ τοὺς Στωϊκοὺς ἐπαινεῖν τέλος, ἐδύνατο ταυτὶ λέγειν ὅτε τὸν Φιλοκτήτην ἀνήγαγεν ἐκ τῆς Λήμνου, ὅτε τὸ Ἴλιον ἐξεπόρθησεν, ὅτε τοὺς Ἕλληνας φεύγοντας κατέσχεν, ὅτε εἰς Τροίαν εἰσῆλθεν ἑαυτὸν μαστιγώσας καὶ κακὰ καὶ Στωϊκὰ ῥάκη ἐνδύς· ἀλλὰ τότε οὐκ εἶπε τοῦτο τέλος χαριέστερον. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ ἐν τῷ τῶν Ἐπικουρείων βίῳ γενόμενος αὖθις παρὰ τῇ Καλυψοῖ, ὅτε αὐτῷ ὑπῆρχεν ἐν ἀργίᾳ τε βιοτεύειν καὶ τρυφᾶν καὶ βινεῖν τὴν Ἄτλαντος θυγατέρα καὶ κινεῖν πάσας τὰς λείας κινήσεις, οὐδὲ τότε³ εἶπε τοῦτο τὸ τέλος χαριέστερον, ἀλλὰ τὸν τῶν παρασίτων βίον. ἐκαλοῦντο δὲ δαιτυμόνες οἱ παράσιτοι τότε. πῶς οὖν λέγει; πάλιν γὰρ ἄξιον ἀναμνησθῆναι τῶν ἐπῶν· οὐδὲν γὰρ οἷον ἀκούειν αὐτῶν πολλάκις⁴ λεγομένων· δαιτυμόνες καθήμενοι ἑξείης· καί·

παρὰ δὲ πλήθωσι τράπεζαι

σίτου καὶ κρειῶν.

De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam. Lucian. ed. Austin Morris Harmon. Medford, MA. Perseus 4.0.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities; Harvard Library Arcadia Fund; Google Digital Humanities Awards Program.

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (2)

The Parasite Tychiades Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 3. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921.) — 10 focus

[10] wise Homer, admiring the life of a parasite on the ground that it alone is blessed and enviable, says:

I for my own part hold that there is no end more delightful

Than when cheerfulness reigneth supreme over all of the people;

Banqueters down the long halls give ear to the bard as he singeth,

Sitting in regular order, and by each man is a table

Laden with bread and with meat; while the server from out of the great bowl

Dippeth the mead, and beareth and poureth it into the beakers.

Odyssey9, 5 ff. And as if this were not enough to express his admiration, he makes his own opinion more evident, rightly saying:—

This is a thing that to me in my heart doth seem very goodly.

Odyssey9, 11. From what he says, he counts nothing else happy but to be a parasite. And it was no ordinary man to whom he ascribed these words, but the wisest of them all. After all, if Odysseus had wished to commend the Stoic end, he could have said so when he brought Philoctetes back from Lemnos, when he sacked Troy, when he checked the Greeks in their flight, when he entered Troy after flogging himself and putting on wretched Stoic rags; but on those occasions he did not call that a more delightful end! Moreover, after he had entered into the Epicurean life once more in Calypso’s isle, when he had it in his power to live in idleness and luxury, to dally with the daughter of Atlas, and to enjoy every pleasurable emotion, even then he did not call that end more delightful, but the life of a parasite, who at that time was called a banqueter. What does he say, then? It is worth while to cite his verses once more, for there is nothing like hearing them said over and over: “banqueters sitting in regular order,” and:

by each man is a table

Laden with bread and with meat.

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.) — 10 focus

[10] And that it does I will soon show you. The wise Homer, admiring the sponger’s life as the only blissful enviable one, has this: I say no fairer end may be attained

Than when the people is attuned to mirth,

... and groans the festal board

With meat and bread, and the cup-bearer’s ladle

From flowing bowl to cup the sweet wine dips.

As if this had not made his admiration quite clear enough, he lays a little more emphasis, good man, on his personal opinion:

This in my heart I count the highest bliss.

Moreover, the character to whom he entrusts these words is not just any one; it is the wisest of the Greeks. Well now, if Odysseus had cared to say a word for the end approved by the Stoics, he had plenty of chances—when he brought back Philoctetes from Lemnos, when he sacked Troy, when he stopped the Greeks from giving up, or when he made his way into Troy by scourging himself and putting on rags bad enough for any Stoic. But no; he never said theirs was a fairer end. And again, when he was living an Epicurean life with Calypso, when he could spend idle luxurious days, enjoying the daughter of Atlas and giving the rein to every soft emotion, even then he had not his fairer end; that was still the life of the sponger. Banqueter was the word used for sponger in his day; what does he say? I must quote the lines again; nothing like repetition: ‘The banqueters in order set’; and ‘groans the festal board With meat and bread.’

Notes on the current edition

Περὶ τοῦ Παρασίτου ὅτι Τέχνη ἡ Παρασιτική

1. οὕτω φησίν Fritzsche: not in MSS.

2. δαιτυμόνες—ἑξείης not in MSS.: supplied by Cobet.

3. οὐδὲ τότε vulg.: οὐδέποτε MSS.

4. Τext anonymous friend of Cobet's: οἷόν τε ἀκούειν αὐτῶν μὴ πολλάκις MSS.

Lucian De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam 10

ed. Austin Morris Harmon

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