Lucian of Samosata, De mercede, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 21

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[21] You must be content, how- “ever, for it would not even be possible for you to get away, now that you are in the paddock. So you take the bit with your eyes shut, and in the beginning you answer his touch readily, as he does not pull hard or spur sharply until you have imperceptibly grown quite used to him.

People on the outside envy you after that, seeing that you live within the pale and enter without let and have become a notable figure in the inner circle. You yourself do not yet see why you seem to them to be fortunate. Nevertheless, you are joyous and delude yourself, and are always thinking that the future will turn out better. But the reverse of what you expected comes about: as the proverb has it, the thing goes Mandrobulus-wise,¹ diminishing every day, almost, and dropping back.

De mercede. Lucian of Samosata. Austin Morris Harmon (Translator). United States. Perseus 5.0.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

On Salaried Posts in Great Houses (English) (Lucian, Vol. 3. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921.)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τῶν ἐν Μισθῷ συνόντων Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 3. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921.) — 21 focus

[21] ἀγαπᾶν δʼ ὅμως ἀναγκαῖον· οὐ γὰρ οὐδʼ ἂν φυγεῖν ἔτι σοι δυνατὸν ἐντὸς ἀρκύων γενομένῳ. δέχῃ τοίνυν τὸν χαλινὸν μύσας καὶ τὰ πρῶτα εὐάγωγος εἶ πρὸς αὐτὸν οὐ πάνυ περισπῶντα οὐδὲ ὀξέως νύττοντα, μέχρι ἂν λάθῃς τέλεον αὐτῷ συνήθης γενόμενος.

οἱ μὲν δὴ ἔξω ἄνθρωποι τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο ζηλοῦσί σε ὁρῶντες ἐντὸς τῆς κιγκλίδος διατρίβοντα καὶ ἀκωλύτως εἰσιόντα καὶ τῶν πάνυ τινὰ ἔνδον γεγενημένον· σὺ δὲ αὐτὸς οὐδέπω ὁρᾷς οὗτινος ἕνεκα εὐδαίμων αὐτοῖς εἶναι δοκεῖς. πλὴν ἀλλὰ χαίρεις γε καὶ σεαυτὸν ἐξαπατᾷς καὶ ἀεὶ τὰ μέλλοντα βελτίω γενήσεσθαι νομίζεις. τὸ δʼ ἔμπαλιν ἢ σὺ ἤλπισας γίγνεται καὶ ὡς ἡ παροιμία φησίν, ἐπὶ Μανδροβούλου χωρεῖ τὸ πρᾶγμα, καθʼ ἑκάστην, ὡς εἰπεῖν, τὴν ἡμέραν ἀποσμικρυνόμενον καὶ εἰς τοὐπίσω ἀναποδίζον.

Translations (1)

The Dependent Scholar Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 2. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 21 focus

[21] However, there is nothing for it but to submit with a good grace. It is too late now for escape; you are in the toils. So you open your mouth for the bit, and are very manageable from the first. You give your rider no occasion to keep a tight rein, or to use the spur; and at last by imperceptible degrees you are quite broken in to him. The outside world from that time watches you with envy. You dwell within his courts; you have free access; you are become a person of consequence. Yet it is now incomprehensible to you how they can suppose you to be happy. At the same time, you are not without a certain exultation: you cheat yourself from day to day with the thought that there are better things to come. Quite the contrary turns out to be the case. Your prospects, like the proverbial sacrifice of Mandrobulus, dwindle and contract from day to day.

Notes on the current edition

On Salaried Posts in Great Houses

"This Mandrobulus once found a treasure in Samos and dedicated to Hera a golden sheep, and in the second year one of silver, and in the third, one of bronze.” Scholia,

Lucian of Samosata De mercede 21

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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