Lucian of Samosata, Imagines, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 5

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[5]

LYCINUS

These are the most beautiful, my friend, so that we shall not need any other artists. Come now, out of them all I shall make a combination as best I can, and shall display to you a single portrait-statue that comprises whatever is most exquisite in each.

POLYSTRATUS

How can that be done?

LYCINUS

Nothing hard about it, Polystratus, if from now on we give Master Eloquence a free hand with those statues and allow him to adapt, combine, and unite them as harmoniously as he can, retaining at the same time that composite effect and the variety.

POLYSTRATUS

Very well; by all means let him have a free hand and show us his powers, for I am eager to know what he really can do with the statues and how he can combine so many into one without making it discordant.

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).) — 5 focus

Λυκῖνος

τὰ κάλλιστα, ὦ ἑταῖρε, ὥστʼ οὐκέτʼ ἄλλων τεχνιτῶν δεήσει. φέρε δή, ἐξ ἁπασῶν ἤδη τούτων ὡς οἷόν τε συναρμόσας μίαν σοι εἰκόνα ἐπιδείξω, τὸ ἐξαίρετον παρʼ ἑκάστης ἔχουσαν.

Πολύστρατος

καὶ τίνα ἂν τρόπον τουτὶ γένοιτο;

Λυκῖνος

οὐ χαλεπόν, ὦ Πολύστρατε, εἰ τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦδε παραδόντες τὰς εἰκόνας τῷ λόγῳ, ἐπιτρέψαιμεν αὐτῷ μετακοσμεῖν καὶ συντιθέναι καὶ ἁρμόζειν ὡς ἂν εὐρυθμότατα δύναιτο, φυλάττων ἅμα τὸ συμμιγὲς ἐκεῖνο καὶ ποικίλον.

Πολύστρατος

εὖ λέγεις· καὶ δὴ παραλαβὼν δεικνύτω· ἐθέλω γὰρ εἰδέναι ὅ τι καὶ χρήσεται αὐταῖς, ἢ ὅπως ἐκ τοσούτων μίαν τινὰ συνθεὶς οὐκ ἀπᾴδουσαν ἀπεργάσεται.

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.) — 5 focus

[5]

Lycinus

I approve your judgement. We shall have no need of other artists: I am now to cull from each of these its own peculiar beauty, and combine all in a single portrait.

Polystratus

And how are you going to do that?

Lycinus

It is quite simple. All we have to do is to hand over our several types to Reason, whose care it must be to unite them in the most harmonious fashion, with due regard to the consistency, as to the variety, of the result.

Polystratus

To be sure; let Reason take her materials and begin. What will she make of it, I wonder? Will she contrive to put all these different types together without their clashing?

Lucian of Samosata Imagines 5

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

LYCINUS

POLYSTRATUS

LYCINUS

POLYSTRATUS

Current edition Perseus

Πολύστρατος

καὶ τίνα ἂν τρόπον τουτὶ γένοιτο;

Lycinus

Polystratus

Lycinus

Polystratus

Stable identifiers

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

LYCINUS

POLYSTRATUS

LYCINUS

POLYSTRATUS

Current edition Perseus

Πολύστρατος καὶ τίνα ἂν τρόπον τουτὶ γένοιτο;

Lycinus

Polystratus

Lycinus

Polystratus

Stable identifiers

Πολύστρατος

καὶ τίνα ἂν τρόπον τουτὶ γένοιτο;