Lucian, De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam, ed. Austin Morris Harmon, 4

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Σίμων

τέχνη ἐστίν, ὡς ἐγὼ διαμνημονεύω σοφοῦ τινος ἀκούσας, σύστημα ἐκ καταλήψεων συγγεγυμνασμένων πρός τι τέλος εὔχρηστον τῷ βίῳ.

Τυχιάδης

ὀρθῶς ἐκεῖνός γε εἰπὼν σύ τε ἀπομνημονεύσας.¹

Σίμων

εἰ δὲ μετέχοι τούτων ἁπάντων ἡ παρασιτική, τί ἂν ἄλλο ἢ καὶ αὐτὴ τέχνη εἴη;

Τυχιάδης

τέχνη γάρ, εἴπερ οὕτως ἔχοι.

Σίμων

φέρε δὴ καθʼ ἕκαστον τοῖς τῆς τέχνης εἴδεσιν ἐφαρμόζοντες τὴν παρασιτικήν, εἰ συνᾴδει σκοπῶμεν ἢ² ὁ περὶ αὐτῆς λόγος, καθάπερ αἱ πονηραὶ χύτραι διακρουόμεναι, σαθρὸν ἀποφθέγγεται.³ δεῖ τοίνυν⁴ πᾶσαν τέχνην σύστημα ἐκ καταλήψεων πρῶτον⁵ μὲν τὸ δοκιμάζειν καὶ διακρίνειν ὅστις ἂν ἐπιτήδειος γένοιτο τρέφειν αὐτόν, καὶ ὅτῳ παρασιτεῖν ἀρξάμενος οὐκ ἂν μεταγνοίη. ἢ τὸν μὲν ἀργυρογνώμονα τέχνην τινὰ φήσομεν ἔχειν, εἴπερ ἐπίσταται διαγιγνώσκειν τά τε κίβδηλα τῶν νομισμάτων καὶ τὰ μή, τοῦτον δὲ ἄνευ τέχνης διακρίνειν τούς τε κιβδήλους τῶν ἀνθρώπων καὶ τοὺς ἀγαθούς, καὶ ταῦτα οὐχ⁶ ὥσπερ τῶν νομισμάτων καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων φανερῶν εὐθὺς ὄντων; αὐτὰ μέντοι ταῦτα⁷ καὶ ὁ σοφὸς Εὐριπίδης καταμέμφεται λέγων·

ἀνδρῶν δʼ ὅτῳ χρὴ τὸν κακὸν διειδέναι,

οὐδεὶς χαρακτὴρ ἐμπέφυκε σώματι.

ᾧ δὴ καὶ μείζων⁸ ἡ τοῦ παρασίτου τέχνη, ἥ γε καὶ τὰ οὕτως ἄδηλα καὶ ἀφανῆ μᾶλλον τῆς μαντικῆς γνωρίζει τε καὶ οἶδεν.

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.) — 4 focus

[4]

SIMON

An art, I remember to have heard a learned man say,¹ is a complex of knowledges exercised in combination to some end useful to the world.

TYCHIADES

He was quite right in what he said, and you in your recollection of it.

SIMON

If Parasitic satisfies this definition completely, what other conclusion could there be than that it is an art?

TYCHIADES

It would be an art, of course, if it should really be like that.

SIMON

Now then, let us apply to Parasitic the individual characteristics of an art and see whether it is in harmony with them or whether its theory, like a good-for-nothing pot when you try its ring, sounds cracked.² Every art, then, must be a complex of knowledges; and of these, in the case of the para site, first of all there is testing and deciding who would be suitable to support him, and whom he could begin to cultivate without being sorry for it later. Or do we care to maintain that assayers possess an art because they know how to distinguish between coins that are counterfeit and those that are not, but parasites discriminate without art between men that are counterfeit and those that are good, even though men are not distinguishable at once, like coins? Wise Euripides criticizes this very point when he Says:

In men, no mark whereby to tell the knave

Did ever yet upon his body grow.

Euripides, Medea518. This makes the parasite’s art even greater, since it is better than divination at distinguishing and recognising things so obscure and hidden.

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.) — 4 focus

[4]

Simon

An art, as I once heard a wise man say, is a body of perceptions regularly employed for some useful purpose in human life.

Tychiades

And he was quite right.

Simon

So, if sponging has all these marks, it must be an art?

Tychiades

If, yes.

Simon

Well, now we will bring to bear on sponging each of these essential elements of Art, and see whether its character rings true, or returns a cracked note like bad pottery when it is tapped. It has got to be, like all art, a body of perceptions. Well, we find at once that our artist has to distinguish critically the man who will entertain him satisfactorily and not give him reason to wish that he had sponged elsewhere. Now, in as much as assaying—which is no more than the power of distinguishing between false and true coin—is a recognized profession, you will hardly refuse the same status to that which distinguishes between false and true men; the genuineness of men is more obscure than that of coins; this indeed is the gist of the wise Euripides’s complaint: But among men how tell the base apart? Virtue and vice stamp not the outward flesh.

So much the greater the sponger’s art, which beats prophecy in the certainty of its conclusions upon problems so difficult.

Notes on the current edition

Περὶ τοῦ Παρασίτου ὅτι Τέχνη ἡ Παρασιτική

1. σύ τε ἀπομνημονεύσας Harmon: οὗτος ἀπομνημονεύσας Γ1; οὕτως ἀπεμνημόνευσας Γ2, other MSS. Cf. ὀρθῶς σύ γε λέγων 7.

2. ἢ Fritzsche: καὶ MSS.

3. σαθρὸν (Seager) ἀποφθέγγεται Fritzsche: μὴ σαπρὸν ἀποφθεγγωνται (ἀποφθέγγηται) MSS.

4. τοίνυν MSS. (except ΓΩ) insert εἶναι καὶ ταύτην ὥσπερ καὶ.

5. πρῶτον Lacuna Fritzsche: supply εἶναι· ὦν τῷ παρασίτῳ Harmon

6. οὐχ vulg.: not in MSS.

7. ταῦτα vulg.: αὐτὰ MSS.

8. μείζων vulg.: μεῖζον MSS.

Lucian De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam 4

ed. Austin Morris Harmon

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Σίμων

τέχνη ἐστίν, ὡς ἐγὼ διαμνημονεύω σοφοῦ τινος ἀκούσας, σύστημα ἐκ καταλήψεων συγγεγυμνασμένων πρός τι τέλος εὔχρηστον τῷ βίῳ.

Τυχιάδης

ὀρθῶς ἐκεῖνός γε εἰπὼν σύ τε ἀπομνημονεύσας.¹

Σίμων

εἰ δὲ μετέχοι τούτων ἁπάντων ἡ παρασιτική, τί ἂν ἄλλο ἢ καὶ αὐτὴ τέχνη εἴη;

Τυχιάδης

τέχνη γάρ, εἴπερ οὕτως ἔχοι.

Current edition Perseus

SIMON

TYCHIADES

SIMON

TYCHIADES

SIMON

Simon

Tychiades

Simon

Tychiades

Simon

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Σίμων τέχνη ἐστίν, ὡς ἐγὼ διαμνημονεύω σοφοῦ τινος ἀκούσας, σύστημα ἐκ καταλήψεων συγγεγυμνασμένων πρός τι τέλος εὔχρηστον τῷ βίῳ.

Τυχιάδης ὀρθῶς ἐκεῖνός γε εἰπὼν σύ τε ἀπομνημονεύσας. 1

Σίμων εἰ δὲ μετέχοι τούτων ἁπάντων ἡ παρασιτική, τί ἂν ἄλλο ἢ καὶ αὐτὴ τέχνη εἴη;

Τυχιάδης τέχνη γάρ, εἴπερ οὕτως ἔχοι.

Current edition Perseus

SIMON

TYCHIADES

SIMON

TYCHIADES

SIMON

Simon

Tychiades

Simon

Tychiades

Simon

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Σίμων

τέχνη ἐστίν, ὡς ἐγὼ διαμνημονεύω σοφοῦ τινος ἀκούσας, σύστημα ἐκ καταλήψεων συγγεγυμνασμένων πρός τι τέλος εὔχρηστον τῷ βίῳ.

Τυχιάδης

ὀρθῶς ἐκεῖνός γε εἰπὼν σύ τε ἀπομνημονεύσας.¹

Σίμων

εἰ δὲ μετέχοι τούτων ἁπάντων ἡ παρασιτική, τί ἂν ἄλλο ἢ καὶ αὐτὴ τέχνη εἴη;

Τυχιάδης

τέχνη γάρ, εἴπερ οὕτως ἔχοι.