Lucian of Samosata, Rhetorum praeceptor, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 13

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[13] he will address you, I say, using very moderate language about himself: “Prithee, dear fellow, did Pythian Apollo send you to me, entitling me the best of speakers, just as, when Chaerephon questioned him, he told who was the wisest in that generation?¹ If that is not the case, but you have come of your own accord in the wake of rumour, because you hear everybody speak of my achievements with astonishment, praise, admiration, and self-abasement, you shall very soon learn what a superhuman person you have come to. Do not expect to see something that you can compare with So-and-so, or So-and-so; no, you will consider the achievement far too prodigious and amazing even for Tityus or Otus or Ephialtes. Indeed, as far as the others are concerned, you will find that I drown them out as effectively as trumpets drown flutes, or cicadas bees, or choirs their leaders.

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

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

A Professor of Public Speaking (English) (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Ῥητόρων Διδάσκαλος Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).) — 13 focus

[13] φήσει δʼ οὖν πάνυ μετριάζων ὑπὲρ αὐτόν, αὐτόν, Μῶν σε, ὦγαθέ, ὁ Πύθιος ἔπεμψε πρός με ῥητόρων τὸν ἄριστον προσειπών, ὥσπερ ὅτε Χαιρεφῶν ἤρετο αὐτόν, αὐτόν, ἔδειξεν ὅστις ἦν ὁ σοφώτατος ἐν τοῖς τότε; εἰ δὲ μὴ τοῦτο, ἀλλὰ κατὰ κλέος αὐτὸς ἥκεις ἀκούων ἁπάντων ὑπερεκπεπληγμένων τὰ ἡμέτερα καὶ ὑμνούντων καὶ τεθηπότων καὶ ὑπεπτηχότων, αὐτίκα μάλα εἴσῃ πρὸς οἷόν τινα δαιμόνιον ἄνδρα ἥκεις. προσδοκήσῃς δὲ μηδὲν τοιοῦτον ὄψεσθαι οἷον τῷδε ἢ τῷδε παραβαλεῖν, ἀλλʼ εἴ τις ἢ Τιτυὸς ἢ Ὦτος ἢ Ἐφιάλτης, ὑπὲρ ἐκείνους πολὺ φανεῖταί σοι τὸ πρᾶγμα ὑπερφυὲς καὶ τεράστιον· ἐπεὶ τούς γε ἄλλους τοσοῦτον ὑπερφωνοῦντα εὑρήσεις ὁπόσον ἡ σάλπιγξ τοὺς αὐλοὺς καὶ οἱ τέττιγες τὰς μελίττας καὶ οἱ χοροὶ τοὺς ἐνδιδόντας.

Translations (1)

The Rhetorician’s Vade Mecum Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 3. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 13 focus

[13] Listen now to his modest remarks. Dear sir, was it Apollo sent you here? did he call me best of rhetoricians, as when Chaerephon asked and was told who was wisest of his generation? If it has not been so, if you have come directed only by the amazement and applause, the wonder and despair, that attend my achievements, then shall you soon learn whether there is divinity or no in him whom you have sought. Look not for a greatness that may find its parallel in this man or that; a Tityus, an Otus, an Ephialtes there may have been; but here is a portent and a marvel greater far than they. You are to bear a voice that puts to silence all others, as the trumpet the flute, as the cicala the bee, as the choir the tuning-fork.

Notes on the current edition

A Professor of Public Speaking

Socrates, in the Apology of Plato, says that when Chaerephon in his zeal “asked whether anyone was wiser than I, the Pythia responded that nobody was wiser ” (21 ).

Lucian of Samosata Rhetorum praeceptor 13

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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