Lucian of Samosata, Rhetorum praeceptor, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 4

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[4] Yes, my promise goes to that extent in its generosity;¹ but in the name of Friendship² do not disbelieve me, when I say that I shall show you that its attainment is at once easy and pleasant. Why should you? Hesiod was given a leaf or two from Helicon, and at once he became a poet instead of a shepherd and sang the pedigrees of gods and heroes under the inspiration of the Muses.³ Is it impossible, then, to become a public speaker —something far inferior to the grand style of poetry—in an instant, if one could find out the quickest way?

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).) — 4 focus

[4] ἡ μὲν δὴ ὑπόσχεσις οὕτω μεγάλη· σὺ δὲ πρὸς Φιλίου μὴ ἀπιστήσῃς, εἰ ῥᾷστά τε ἅμα καὶ ἥδιστά σοι ταῦτα ἐπιδείξειν φαμέν. τί¹ γάρ; Ἡσίοδος μὲν ὀλίγα φύλλα ἐκ τοῦ Ἑλικῶνος λαβὼν αὐτίκα μάλα ποιητὴς ἐκ ποιμένος κατέστη καὶ ᾖδε θεῶν καὶ ἡρώων γένη κάτοχος ἐκ Μουσῶν γενόμενος, ῥήτορα δέ, ὃ πολὺ ἔνερθε ποιητικῆς μεγαληγορίας ἐστίν, ἐν βραχεῖ καταστῆναι ἀδύνατον, εἴ τις ἐκμάθοι τὴν ταχίστην ὁδόν;

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.) — 4 focus

[4] Fine promises, these, are they not? But pray let it not stir. your doubts, that I offer to make most easy that which is most sweet. It was but plucking a few leaves from Helicon, and the shepherd Hesiod was a poet, possessed of the Muses and singing the birth of Gods and Heroes; and may not a rhetorician (’tis no such proud title as that of poet) be quickly made, if one but knows the speediest way?

Notes on the current edition

A Professor of Public Speaking

A quotation from Demosthenes, Phil. 1, 44, 15.

More literally, Friendship’s patron; 7. ¢. Zeus.

Theogony, 30-34. The Muses plucked a branch of laurel and gave it him as a staff of office (oxjrrpov).

Lucian of Samosata Rhetorum praeceptor 4

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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