Lucian, Imagines, ed. Austin Morris Harmon, 23

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Πολύστρατος

ἀληθῆ φής, ὦ Λυκῖνε· ὥστε εἰ δοκεῖ, ἀναμίξαντες ἤδη τὰς εἰκόνας, ἥν τε σὺ ἀνέπλασας τὴν τοῦ σώματος καὶ ἃς ἐγὼ τῆς ψυχῆς ἐγραψάμην, μίαν ἐξ ἁπασῶν συνθέντες εἰς¹ βιβλίον καταθέμενοι παρέχωμεν ἅπασι θαυμάζειν τοῖς τε νῦν οὖσι καὶ τοῖς ἐν ὑστέρῳ ἐσομένοις. μονιμωτέρα γοῦν τῶν Ἀπελλοῦ καὶ Παρρασίου καὶ Πολυγνώτου γένοιτʼ ἄν, καὶ αὐτῇ ἐκεινῇ παρὰ πολὺ τῶν τοιούτων κεχαρισμένη, ὅσῳ μὴ ξύλου καὶ κηροῦ καὶ χρωμάτων πεποίηται, ἀλλὰ ταῖς παρὰ Μουσῶν ἐπιπνοίαις² εἴκασται, ἥπερ ἀκριβεστάτη εἰκὼν γένοιτʼ ἂν σώματος κάλλος καὶ ψυχῆς ἀρετὴν ἅμα ἐμφανίζουσα.

Imagines. Lucian. ed. Austin Morris Harmon. Medford, MA. Perseus 4.0.

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Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (2)

Essays in Portraiture Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).) — 23 focus

[23]

POLYSTRATUS

You are right, Lycinus. So, if you are willing, let us put our portraits together, the statue that you modelled of her body and the pictures that I painted of her soul; let us blend them all into one, put it down in a book, and give it to all mankind to admire, not only to those now alive, but to those that shall live hereafter. It would at least prove more enduring than the works of Apelles and Parrhasius and Polygnotus, and far more pleasing to the lady herself than anything of that kind, inasmuch as it is not made of wood and wax and colours but portrayed with inspirations from the Muses; and this will be found the most accurate kind of portrait, since it simultaneously discloses beauty of body and nobility of soul.

A Portrait-study Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 3. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 23 focus

[23]

Polystratus

Who indeed?—Lycinus, I have a proposal to make. Let us combine our portraits, yours of the body and mine of the soul, and throw them into a literary form, for the enjoyment of our generation and of all posterity. Such a work will be more enduring than those of Apelles and Parrhasius and Polygnotus; it will be far removed from creations of wood and wax and colour, being inspired by the Muses, in whom alone is that true portraiture that shows forth in one likeness a lovely body and a virtuous soul.

Notes on the current edition

Εἰκόνες

1. εἰς Halm: not in MSS.

2. ἐπιπνοίαις Jacobs: ἐπινοίαις MSS,

Lucian Imagines 23

ed. Austin Morris Harmon

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Current edition Perseus

POLYSTRATUS

Polystratus

Notes on the current edition

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