Lucian of Samosata, Alexander, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 40

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[40] Often in the course of the torchlight ceremonies and the gambols of the mysteries his thigh was bared purposely and showed golden. No doubt gilded leather had been put about it, which gleamed in the light of the cressets. There was once a discussion between two of our learned idiots in regard to him, whether he had the soul of Pythagoras, on account of the golden thigh, or some other soul akin to it.¹ They referred this question to Alexander himself, and King Glycon resolved their doubt with an oracle:

Nay, Pythagoras’ soul now waneth and other times waxeth;

His, with prophecy gifted, from God’s mind taketh its issue,;

Sent by the Father to aid good men in the stress of the conflict;

Then it to God will return, by God’s own thunderbolt smitten.

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).) — 40 focus

[40] πολλάκις δὲ ἐν τῇ δᾳδουχίᾳ καὶ τοῖς μυστικοῖς σκιρτήμασιν γυμνωθεὶς ὁ μηρὸς αὐτοῦ ἐξεπίτηδες χρυσοῦς διεφάνη, δέρματος ὡς εἰκὸς ἐπιχρύσου περιτεθέντος καὶ πρὸς τὴν αὐγὴν τῶν λαμπάδων ἀποστίλβοντος. ὥστε καὶ γενομένης ποτὲ ζητήσεως δύο τισὶ τῶν μωροσόφων ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ, εἴτε Πυθαγόρου τὴν ψυχὴν ἔχοι διὰ τὸν χρυσοῦν μηρὸν εἴτε ἄλλην ὁμοίαν αὐτῇ, καὶ τὴν ζήτησιν ταύτην αὐτῷ Ἀλεξάνδρῳ ἐπανενεγκόντων, ὁ βασιλεὺς Γλύκων χρησμῷ ἔλυσεν τὴν ἀπορίαν·

Πυθαγόρου ψυχὴ ποτὲ μὲν φθίνει, ἄλλοτε δʼ αὔξει·

ἡ δὲ προφητείη δίης φρενός ἐστιν ἀπορρώξ.

καί μιν ἔπεμψε πατὴρ ἀγαθῶν ἀνδρῶν ἐπαρωγόν·

καὶ πάλιν ἐς Διὸς εἶσι Διὸς βληθεῖσα κεραυνῷ.

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.) — 40 focus

[40] The torch ceremony with its ritual skippings often enabled him to bestow a glimpse of his thigh, which was thus discovered to be of gold; it was presumably enveloped in cloth of gold, which glittered in the lamp-light. This gave rise to a debate between two wiseacres, whether the golden .high meant that he had inherited Pythagoras’s soul, or merely that their two souls were alike; the question was referred to Alexander himself, and King Glycon relieved their perplexity with an oracle:

Waxes and wanes Pythagoras’ soul: the seer’s

Is from the mind of Zeus an emanation.

His Father sent him, virtuous men to aid,

And with his bolt one day shall call him home.

Notes on the current edition

Alexander

As Pythagoras had a golden thigh (Plutarch, Numa, 65; Aelian, Var. Hist., 2, 26), a believer in metempsychosis might think that Alexander was a reincarnation of Pythagoras,

Lucian of Samosata Alexander 40

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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