Lucian of Samosata, Rhetorum praeceptor, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 15

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[15] “I shall first tell you what equipment you must yourself bring with you from home for the journey, and how you must provision yourself so that you can finish it soonest. Then giving you my personal instruction along the road, partly by example set for you while you proceed, and partly by precept, before sunset I shall make you a public speaker, superior to them all, just like myself—indubitably first, midmost and last¹ of all who undertake to make speeches.

“Bring with you, then, as the principal thing, ignorance; secondly, recklessness, and thereto effrontery and shamelessness. Modesty, respectability, selfrestraint, and blushes may be left at home, for they are useless and somewhat of a hindrance to the matter in hand. But you need also a very loud voice, a shameless singing delivery, and a gait like mine. They are essential indeed, and sometimes sufficient in themselves.² Let your clothing be gaily-coloured, or else white, a fabric of Tarentine manufacture, so that your body will show through; and wear either high Attic sandals of the kind that women wear, with many slits, or else Sicyonian boots, trimmed with strips of white felt. Have also many attendants, and always a book in hand.

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).) — 15 focus

[15] λέξω δὲ πρῶτον μὲν ὁπόσα χρὴ αὐτόν σε οἴκοθεν ἔχοντα ἥκειν ἐφόδια πρὸς τὴν πορείαν καὶ ὅπως ἐπισιτίσασθαι, ὡς ἂν τάχιστα διανύσαι δυνηθείης. ἔπειτα καὐτὸς ἃ μὲν προϊόντι ἐπιδεικνὺς κατὰ τὴν ὁδόν, ἃ δὲ καὶ παραινῶν, πρὶν ἥλιον δῦναι ῥήτορά σε ὑπὲρ τοὺς πάντας ἀποφανῶ, οἷος αὐτός εἰμι, ἀναμφιλέκτως τὰ πρῶτα καὶ μέσα καὶ τελευταῖα τῶν λέγειν ἐπιχειρούντων.

κόμιζε τοίνυν τὸ μέγιστον μὲν τὴν ἀμαθίαν, εἶτα θράσος, ἐπὶ τούτοις δὲ τόλμαν καὶ ἀναισχυντίαν. αἰδῶ δὲ ἢ ἐπιείκειαν ἢ μετριότητα ἢ ἐρύθημα οἴκοι ἀπόλιπε· ἀχρεῖα γὰρ καὶ ὑπεναντία τῷ πράγματι. ἀλλὰ καὶ βοὴν ὅτι μεγίστην καὶ μέλος ἀναίσχυντον καὶ βάδισμα οἷον τὸ ἐμόν. ταῦτα δὲ ἀναγκαῖα πάνυ καὶ μόνα ἔστιν ὅτε ἱκανά. καὶ ἡ ἐσθὴς δὲ ἔστω εὐανθὴς ἢ¹ λευκή, ἔργον² τῆς Ταραντίνης ἐργασίας, ὡς διαφαίνεσθαι τὸ σῶμα, καὶ ἢ³ κρηπὶς Ἀττικὴ γυναικεία, τὸ πολυσχιδές, ἢ ἐμβὰς Σικυωνία πίλοις τοῖς λευκοῖς ἐπιπρέπουσα, καὶ ἀκόλουθοι πολλοὶ καὶ βιβλίον ἀεί.

ταῦτα μὲν αὐτὸν χρὴ συντελεῖν· τὰ δʼ ἄλλα καθʼ ὁδὸν ἤδη προϊὼν ὅρα καὶ ἄκουε.

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.) — 15 focus

[15] I will first give you a list of the equipment and supplies for your journey that you must bring with you from home, with a view to making your way rapidly. After that, I will show you as we go along some practical illustrations, add a few verbal precepts, and before set of sun you shall be as superior a rbetorician as myself, the absolute microcosm of your profession. Bring then above all ignorance, to which add confidence, audacity, and effrontery; as for diffidence, equity, moderation, and shame, you will please leave them at home; they are not merely needless, they are encumbrances. The loudest voice you can come by, please, a ready falsetto, and a gait modelled on my own. That exhausts the real necessaries; very often there would be no occasion for anything further. But I recommend bright colours or white for your clothes; the Tarentine stuff that lets the body show through is best; for shoes, wear either the Attic woman’s shape with the open network, or else the Sicyonians that show white lining. Always have a train of attendants, and a book in your hand.

Notes on the current edition

A Professor of Public Speaking

I.e, the others are not in it with him. Compare Demosthenes 25, 8: “all such beasts, of whom he is midmost and last and first.”

Compare the conversation between Demosthenes and the sausage-seller in Aristophanes, Knights, 150-235.

Lucian of Samosata Rhetorum praeceptor 15

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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