Lucian of Samosata, Alexander, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 22

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[22] Well, as I say, Alexander made predictions and gave oracles, employing great shrewdness in it and combining guesswork with his trickery. He gave responses that were sometimes obscure and ambiguous, sometimes downright unintelligible, for this seemed to him in the oracular manner. Some people he dissuaded or encouraged as seemed best to him at a guess. To others he prescribed medical treatments and diets, knowing, as I said in the beginning, many useful remedies. His “cytmides” were in highest favour with him—a name which he had coined for a restorative ointment compounded of bear’s grease.¹ Expectations, however, and advancements and successions to estates he always put off to another day, adding: “It shall all come about when I will, and when Alexander, my prophet, asks it of me and prays for you.”

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).) — 22 focus

[22] ἔχρη οὖν καὶ ἐθέσπιζε, πολλῇ τῇ συνέσει ἐνταῦθα χρώμενος καὶ τὸ εἰκαστικὸν τῇ ἐπινοίᾳ προσάπτων, τοῖς μὲν λοξὰ καὶ ἀμφίβολα πρὸς τὰς ἐρωτήσεις ἀποκρινόμενος, τοῖς δὲ καὶ πάνυ ἀσαφῆ· χρησμῳδικὸν γὰρ ἐδόκει αὐτῷ τοῦτο. τοὺς δὲ ἀπέτρεπεν ἢ προὔτρεπεν, ὡς ἄμεινον ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ εἰκάζοντι· τοῖς δὲ θεραπείας προὔλεγεν καὶ διαίτας, εἰδώς, ὅπερ ἐν ἀρχῇ ἔφην, πολλὰ καὶ χρήσιμα φάρμακα. μάλιστα δὲ εὐδοκίμουν παρʼ αὐτῷ αἱ κυτμίδες, ἀκόπου τι ὄνομα πεπλασμένον, ἐκ λίπους ἀρκείου¹ συντεθειμένου.² τὰς μέντοι ἐλπίδας καὶ προκοπὰς καὶ κλήρων διαδοχὰς εἰσαῦθις ἀεὶ ἀνεβάλλετο, προστιθεὶς ὅτι ἔσται πάντα ὁπόταν ἐθελήσω ἐγὼ καὶ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ προφήτης μου δεηθῇ καὶ εὔξηται ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν.

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.) — 22 focus

[22] So oracles and divine utterances were the order of the day, and much shrewdness he displayed, eking out mechanical ingenuity with obscurity, his answers to some being crabbed and ambiguous, and to others absolutely unintelligible. He did however distribute warning and encouragement according to his lights, and recommend treatments and diets; for he had, as I originally stated, a wide and serviceable acquaintance with drugs; he was particularly given to prescribing ‘cytmides,’ which were a salve prepared from goat’s fat, the name being of his own invention. For the realization of ambitions, advancement, or successions, he took care never to assign early dates; the formula was, ‘All this shall come to pass when it is my will, and when my prophet Alexander shall make prayer and entreaty on your behalf.’

Notes on the current edition

Alexander

It is a nice question whether this reading or that of the other group of MSS., “goat’s grease,” is to be preferred. Galen in his treatment of these ointments (Kuhn xiii, p. 1008) does not mention bear’s grease. But he considers goat’s grease only moderately good; and every Yankee knows that in America bear’s grease only gave place to goose grease (also mentioned by Galen) when bears became scarce.

Lucian of Samosata Alexander 22

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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