Lucian of Samosata, Necyomantia, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 1

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[1]

MENIPPUS

All hail, ye halls and portals of my home! What joy you give mine eyes, to light returned!¹ A FRIEND Isn’t this Menippus the Cynic? Assuredly nobody else, unless I cannot see straight; Menippus all over. Then what is the meaning of that strange costume— a felt cap, a lyre, and a lion’s skin? Anyhow, I must go up to him. Good day, Menippus; where under the sun have you come from? It is a long time since you have shown yourself in the city.

MENIPPUS

I come from Dead Men’s Lair and Darkness Gate Where Hades dwells, remote from other gods.²

FRIEND

Heracles! Did Menippus die without our knowing it, and has he now come to life all over again?

MENIPPUS

Nay, I was living when I went to Hell.³

FRIEND

What reason had you for this novel and surprising trip?

MENIPPUS

Youth spurred me, and I had more pluck than sense.⁴

FRIEND

My dear fellow, do stop your play-acting; come off your blank-verse, and tell me in plain language like mine what your costume is, and why you had to go down below. Certainly it is not a pleasant and attractive journey!

MENIPPUS

Friend, ’twas necessity drew me below to the kingdom of Hades,

There to obtain, from the spirit of Theban Teiresias, counsel.⁵

FRIEND

Man, you are surely out of your mind, or you would not recite verse in that way to your friends!

MENIPPUS

Don’t be surprised, my dear fellow. I have just been in the company of Euripides and Homer, so that somehow or other I have become filled with poetry, and verses come unbidden to my lips.⁶

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

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Menippus, or the Descent Into Hades (English) (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Μένιππος ἢ Νεκυομαντεία Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).) — 1 focus

Μένιππος

ὦ χαῖρε μέλαθρον πρόπυλά θʼ ἑστίας ἐμῆς,

ὡς ἄσμενός ς’ ἐσεῖδον ἐς φάος μολών.

Φίλος

οὐ Μένιππος οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ κύων; οὐ μὲν οὖν ἄλλος, εἰ μὴ ἐγὼ παραβλέπω· Μένιππος ὅλος.¹ τί οὖν αὐτῷ βούλεται τὸ ἀλλόκοτον τοῦ σχήματος, πῖλος καὶ λύρα καὶ λεοντῆ; πλὴν ἀλλὰ προσιτέον γε αὐτῷ. χαῖρε, ὦ Μένιππε· πόθεν ἡμῖν ἀφῖξαι; πολὺς γὰρ χρόνος οὐ πέφηνας ἐν τῇ πόλει.²

Μένιππος

ἥκω νεκρῶν κευθμῶνα καὶ σκότου πύλας λιπών, ἵνʼ Ἅιδης χωρὶς ᾤκισται θεῶν.

Φίλος

Ἡράκλεις, ἐλελήθει Μένιππος ἡμᾶς ἀποθανών, κᾆτα ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς ἀναβεβίωκεν;

Μένιππος

οὔκ, ἀλλʼ ἔτʼ ἔμπνουν Ἀΐδης μʼ ἐδέξατο.

Φίλος

τίς δὴ αἰτία σοι τῆς καινῆς καὶ παραδόξου ταύτης ἀποδημίας;

Μένιππος

νεότης μʼ ἐπῆρε καὶ θράσος τοῦ νοῦ πλέον.

Φίλος

παῦσαι, μακάριε, τραγῳδῶν καὶ λέγε οὑτωσί πως ἁπλῶς καταβὰς ἀπὸ τῶν ἰαμβείων, τίς ἡ στολή; τί σοι τῆς κάτω πορείας ἐδέησεν; ἄλλως γὰρ οὐχ ἡδεῖά τις οὐδὲ ἀσπάσιος ἡ ὁδός.

Μένιππος

ὦ φιλότης, χρειώ με κατήγαγεν εἰς Ἀΐδαο ψυχῇ χρησόμενον Θηβαίου Τειρεσίαο.

Φίλος

οὗτος, ἀλλʼ ἦ παραπαίεις· οὐ γὰρ ἂν οὕτως ἐμμέτρως ἐρραψῴδεις πρὸς ἄνδρας φίλους.

Μένιππος

μὴ θαυμάσῃς, ὦ ἑταῖρε· νεωστὶ γὰρ Εὐριπίδῃ καὶ Ὁμήρῳ συγγενόμενος οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως ἀνεπλήσθην τῶν ἐπῶν καὶ αὐτόματά μοι τὰ μέτρα ἐπὶ τὸ στόμα ἔρχεται.

Translations (1)

Menippus Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 1. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 1 focus

[1]

Menippus

All hail, my roof, my doors, my hearth and home!

How sweet again to see the light and thee!

Philonides

Menippus the cynic, surely; even so, or there are visions about. Menippus, every inch of him. What has he been getting himself up like that for? sailor’s cap, lyre, and lion-skin? However, here goes.—How are you, Menippus? where do you spring from? you have disappeared this long time.

Menippus

Death’s lurking-place I leave, and those dark gates

Where Hades dwells, a God apart from Gods.

Philonides

Good gracious! has Menippus died, all on the quiet, and come to life for a second spell?

Menippus

Not so; a living guest in Hades I.

Philonides

But what induced you to take this queer original journey?

Menippus

Youth drew me on—too bold, too little wise.

Philonides

My good man, truce to your heroics; get off those iambic stilts, and tell me in plain prose what this get-up means; what did you want with the lower regions? It is a journey that needs a motive to make it attractive.

Menippus

Dear friend, to Hades’ realms I needs must go,

To counsel with Tiresias of Thebes.

Philonides

Man, you must be mad; or why string verses instead of talking like one friend with another?

Menippus

My dear fellow, you need not be so surprised. I have just been in Euripides’s and Homer’s company; I suppose I am full to the throat with verse, and the numbers come as soon as I open my mouth.

Notes on the current edition

Menippus, or the Descent Into Hades

Euripides, Hercules Furens, 523-4.

Euripides, Hecuba, 1; spoken by Polydorus as prologue.

Attributed to Euripides; play unknown, perhaps the Petrithous (Nauck, Trag. Graec. Fragm., p. 663).

Perhaps from the lost Andromeda of Euripides (Nauck, p. 403).

Odyssey, 11, 164. Lucian substitutes “Friend” for Homer’s “Mother.”

The Greek words form a trimeter, possibly borrowed from some comedy.

Lucian of Samosata Necyomantia 1

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

MENIPPUS

MENIPPUS

FRIEND

MENIPPUS

FRIEND

MENIPPUS

FRIEND

MENIPPUS

FRIEND

MENIPPUS

Current edition Perseus

Μένιππος

ὦ χαῖρε μέλαθρον πρόπυλά θʼ ἑστίας ἐμῆς,

ὡς ἄσμενός ς’ ἐσεῖδον ἐς φάος μολών.

Μένιππος

ἥκω νεκρῶν κευθμῶνα καὶ σκότου πύλας λιπών, ἵνʼ Ἅιδης χωρὶς ᾤκισται θεῶν.

Φίλος

Ἡράκλεις, ἐλελήθει Μένιππος ἡμᾶς ἀποθανών, κᾆτα ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς ἀναβεβίωκεν;

Μένιππος

οὔκ, ἀλλʼ ἔτʼ ἔμπνουν Ἀΐδης μʼ ἐδέξατο.

Φίλος

τίς δὴ αἰτία σοι τῆς καινῆς καὶ παραδόξου ταύτης ἀποδημίας;

Μένιππος

νεότης μʼ ἐπῆρε καὶ θράσος τοῦ νοῦ πλέον.

Μένιππος

ὦ φιλότης, χρειώ με κατήγαγεν εἰς Ἀΐδαο ψυχῇ χρησόμενον Θηβαίου Τειρεσίαο.

Φίλος

οὗτος, ἀλλʼ ἦ παραπαίεις· οὐ γὰρ ἂν οὕτως ἐμμέτρως ἐρραψῴδεις πρὸς ἄνδρας φίλους.

Menippus

Philonides

Menippus

Philonides

Menippus

Philonides

Menippus

Philonides

Menippus

Philonides

Menippus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

MENIPPUS

MENIPPUS

FRIEND

MENIPPUS

FRIEND

MENIPPUS

FRIEND

MENIPPUS

FRIEND

MENIPPUS

Current edition Perseus

Μένιππος ὦ χαῖρε μέλαθρον πρόπυλά θʼ ἑστίας ἐμῆς, ὡς ἄσμενός ς’ ἐσεῖδον ἐς φάος μολών.

Μένιππος ἥκω νεκρῶν κευθμῶνα καὶ σκότου πύλας λιπών, ἵνʼ Ἅιδης χωρὶς ᾤκισται θεῶν.

Φίλος Ἡράκλεις, ἐλελήθει Μένιππος ἡμᾶς ἀποθανών, κᾆτα ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς ἀναβεβίωκεν;

Μένιππος οὔκ, ἀλλʼ ἔτʼ ἔμπνουν Ἀΐδης μʼ ἐδέξατο.

Φίλος τίς δὴ αἰτία σοι τῆς καινῆς καὶ παραδόξου ταύτης ἀποδημίας;

Μένιππος νεότης μʼ ἐπῆρε καὶ θράσος τοῦ νοῦ πλέον.

Μένιππος ὦ φιλότης, χρειώ με κατήγαγεν εἰς Ἀΐδαο ψυχῇ χρησόμενον Θηβαίου Τειρεσίαο.

Φίλος οὗτος, ἀλλʼ ἦ παραπαίεις· οὐ γὰρ ἂν οὕτως ἐμμέτρως ἐρραψῴδεις πρὸς ἄνδρας φίλους.

Menippus

Philonides

Menippus

Philonides

Menippus

Philonides

Menippus

Philonides

Menippus

Philonides

Menippus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers

Μένιππος

ὦ χαῖρε μέλαθρον πρόπυλά θʼ ἑστίας ἐμῆς,

ὡς ἄσμενός ς’ ἐσεῖδον ἐς φάος μολών.

Μένιππος

ἥκω νεκρῶν κευθμῶνα καὶ σκότου πύλας λιπών, ἵνʼ Ἅιδης χωρὶς ᾤκισται θεῶν.

Φίλος

Ἡράκλεις, ἐλελήθει Μένιππος ἡμᾶς ἀποθανών, κᾆτα ἐξ ὑπαρχῆς ἀναβεβίωκεν;

Μένιππος

οὔκ, ἀλλʼ ἔτʼ ἔμπνουν Ἀΐδης μʼ ἐδέξατο.

Φίλος

τίς δὴ αἰτία σοι τῆς καινῆς καὶ παραδόξου ταύτης ἀποδημίας;

Μένιππος

νεότης μʼ ἐπῆρε καὶ θράσος τοῦ νοῦ πλέον.

Μένιππος

ὦ φιλότης, χρειώ με κατήγαγεν εἰς Ἀΐδαο ψυχῇ χρησόμενον Θηβαίου Τειρεσίαο.

Φίλος

οὗτος, ἀλλʼ ἦ παραπαίεις· οὐ γὰρ ἂν οὕτως ἐμμέτρως ἐρραψῴδεις πρὸς ἄνδρας φίλους.