Lucian of Samosata, Imagines, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 18

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[18] The second model and the third shall be the famous Theano¹ and the Lesbian poetess, and Diotima² shall be still another. Theano shall contribute her high-mindedness, Sappho the attractiveness of her way of living, and Diotima shall be copied not only in those qualities for which Socrates commended her, but in her general intelligence and power to give counsel. There you have another picture, Lycinus, which may be hung also.

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

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Essays in Portraiture (English) (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Εἰκόνες Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).) — 18 focus

Πολύστρατος

δεύτερον δὲ καὶ τρίτον παράδειγμα Θεανώ τε ἐκείνη καὶ ἡ Λεσβία μελοποιός, καὶ Διοτίμα ἐπὶ ταύταις, ἡ μὲν τὸ μεγαλόνουν ἡ Θεανὼ συμβαλλομένη εἰς τὴν γραφήν, ἡ Σαπφὼ δὲ τὸ γλαφυρὸν τῆς προαιρέσεως· τῇ Διοτίμᾳ δὲ οὐχ ἃ Σωκράτης ἐπῄνεσεν αὐτὴν ἐοικυῖα ἔσται μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἄλλην σύνεσίν τε καὶ συμβουλίαν. τοιαύτη σοι καὶ αὕτη, Λυκῖνε, ἀνακείσθω ἡ εἰκών.

Translations (1)

A Portrait-study Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 3. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 18 focus

[18] A second anda third model may be found in Theano, and in the poetess of Lesbos; nay, we may add Diotima too. Theano shall give grandeur to the picture, Sappho elegance; and Diotima shall be represented as well by her wisdom and sagacity, as by the qualities for which Socrates commended her. The portrait is complete. Let it be hung.

Notes on the current edition

Essays in Portraiture

Wife, or disciple, of Pythagoras, herself a philosophical writer of note.

Diotima, a priestess of Mantinea, probably fictitious, for we hear of her only through Plato in the Symposium (201 p). Socrates says there that she was wise in Love, and ascribes to her the metaphysical rhapsody on Love in which the dialogue culminates.

Lucian of Samosata Imagines 18

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Current edition Perseus

Notes on the current edition

Stable identifiers