Lucian of Samosata, Alexander, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 11

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[11] It was Alexander who was sent in first; he now wore his hair long, had falling ringlets, dressed in a parti-coloured tunic of white and purple, with a white cloak over it, and carried a falchion like that of Perseus, from whom he claimed descent on his mother’s side. And although those miserable Paphlagonians knew that both his parents were obscure, humble folk, they believed the oracle when it said: “Here in your sight is a scion of Perseus, dear unto Phoebus; This is divine Alexander, who shareth the blood of the Healer!” Podaleirius, the Healer, it would appear, was so passionate and amorous that his ardour carried him all the way from Tricca to Paphlagonia in quest of Alexander’s mother!¹ An oracle by now had turned up which purported to be a prior prediction by the Sibyl:

On the shores of the Euxine sea, in the neighbourhood of Sinope,

There shall be born, by a Tower, in the days of the Romans, a prophet;

After the foremost unit and three times ten, he will shew forth

Five more units besides, and a score told three times over,

Matching, with places four, the name of a valiant defender!²

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

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Alexander the False Prophet (English) (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Ἀλέξανδρος ἢ Ψευδόμαντις Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).) — 11 focus

[11] προεισπέμπεται δὲ ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος, κομῶν ἤδη καὶ πλοκάμους καθειμένος καὶ μεσόλευκον χιτῶνα πορφυροῦν ἐνδεδυκὼς καὶ ἱμάτιον ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ λευκὸν ἀναβεβλημένος, ἅρπην ἔχων κατὰ τὸν Περσέα, ἀφʼ οὗ ἑαυτὸν ἐγενεαλόγει μητρόθεν· καὶ οἱ ὄλεθροι ἐκεῖνοι Παφλαγόνες, εἰδότες αὐτοῦ ἄμφω τοὺς γονέας ἀφανεῖς καὶ ταπεινούς, ἐπίστευον τῷ χρησμῷ λέγοντι

Περσείδης γενεὴν Φοίβῳ φίλος οὗτος ὁρᾶται,

δῖος Ἀλέξανδρος, Ποδαλειρίου αἷμα λελογχώς.

οὕτως ἄρα ὁ Ποδαλείριος μάχλος καὶ γυναικομανὴς τὴν φύσιν, ὡς ἀπὸ Τρίκκης μέχρι Παφλαγονίας στύεσθαι ἐπὶ τὴν Ἀλεξάνδρου μητέρα.

εὕρητο δὲ χρησμὸς ἤδη, ὡς Σιβύλλης προμαντευσαμένης·

Εὐξείνου Πόντοιο παρʼ ᾐόσιν ἄγχι Σινώπης

ἔσται τις κατὰ Τύρσιν ὑπʼ Αὐσονίοισι προφήτης,

ἐκ πρώτης δεικνὺς μονάδος τρισσῶν δεκάδων τε

πένθʼ ἑτέρας μονάδας καὶ εἰκοσάδα τρισάριθμον,

ἀνδρὸς ἀλεξητῆρος ὁμωνυμίην τετράκυκλον.

Translations (1)

Alexander the Oracle-monger Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 2. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 11 focus

[11] Alexander meanwhile went on in advance; he had now grown his hair and wore it in long curls; his doublet was white and purple striped, his cloak pure white; he carried a scimetar in imitation of Perseus, from whom he now claimed descent through his mother. The wretched Paphlagonians, who knew perfectly well that his parentage was obscure and mean on both sides, nevertheless gave credence to the oracle, which ran:

Lo, sprung from Perseus, and to Phoebus dear,

High Alexander, Podalirius’ son!

Podalirius, it seems, was of so highly amorous a complexion that the distance between Tricca and Paphlagonia was no bar to his union with Alexander’s mother. A Sibylline prophecy had also been found:

Hard by Sinope on the Euxine shore

Th’ Italic age a fortress prophet sees.

To the first monad let thrice ten be added,

Five monads yet, and then a triple score:

Such the quaternion of th’ alexic name¹.

Notes on the current edition

Alexander

Podaleirius and his brother Machaon, the Homeric healers (Iliad 11, 833), were sons of Asclepius and lived in Tricca (now Trikkala), Thessaly. According to the Sack of Ilium (Evelyn-White, Hesiod, p. 524) Machaon specialized in surgery, Podaleirius in diagnosis and general practice.

Since in the Greek notation numbers are designated by letters, this combination (1, 30, 5, 60) is αλεξ (alex). Alexander seems to have been a little afraid that some rival might steal his thunder if he were not more specific: at all events the first two words of the last line give, in the Greek, the entire name (andros-alex).

Lucian of Samosata Alexander 11

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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