Lucian of Samosata, Pro imaginibus, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 9

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[9] She did not want you to think her less intelligent than Alexander. In his case, when the masterbuilder undertook to remodel the whole of Athos and shape it into his likeness, so that the entire mountain would become the image of the king, holding a city in either hand, Alexander would not agree to the monstrous proposal. Thinking the project over-bold for him, he stopped the man from modelling colossi on a scale that transcended convincingness, bidding him to let Athos alone and not to diminish so great a mountain to similarity with a tiny body. She praised Alexander for his greatness of soul, and observed that thereby he had erected a monument greater than Athos itself in the minds of those who should think of him ever and anon in time to come: for it took no little determination to contemn so marvellous an honour.¹

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

Editions (1)

Ὑπὲρ τῶν Εἰκόνων Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).) — 9 focus

Πολύστρατος

ἠξίου δέ σε μηδὲ ἀξυνετωτέραν αὐτὴν ἡγεῖσθαι τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου, ὃς τοῦ ἀρχιτέκτονος ὑπισχνουμένου τὸν Ἄθω ὅλον μετασχηματίσειν καὶ μορφώσειν πρὸς αὐτόν, ὡς τὸ ὄρος ἅπαν εἰκόνα γενέσθαι τοῦ βασιλέως, ἔχοντα δύο πόλεις ἐν ταῖν χεροῖν, οὐ προσήκατο τὴν τερατείαν τῆς ὑποσχέσεως, ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ αὐτὸν ἡγησάμενος τὸ τόλμημα ἔπαυσεν τὸν ἄνθρωπον οὐ πιθανῶς κολοσσοὺς ἀναπλάττοντα καὶ τὸν Ἄθω κατὰ χώραν ἐᾶν ἐκέλευσεν μηδὲ κατασμικρύνειν ὄρος οὕτω μέγα πρὸς μικροῦ σώματος ὁμοιότητα. ἐπῄνει δὲ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον τῆς μεγαλοψυχίας καὶ ἀνδριάντα μείζω τοῦτον τοῦ Ἄθω ἔλεγεν αὐτοῦ ἀνεστάναι ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἀεὶ μεμνησομένων διανοίαις· οὐ γὰρ μικρᾶς εἶναι γνώμης ὑπεριδεῖν οὕτω παραδόξου τιμῆς.

Translations (1)

Defence of the ‘portrait-study’ Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 3. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 9 focus

[9] She would like to be allowed as much sense as Alexander; he, when his architect proposed to transform Mount Athos into a vast image of the King with a pair of cities in his hands, shrank from the grandiose proposal; such presumption was beyond him; such patent megalomania must be suppressed; leave Athos alone, he said, and do not degrade a mighty mountain to the similitude of a poor human body. This only showed the greatness of Alexander, and itself constituted in the eyes of all future generations monument higher than any Athos; to be able to scorn so extraordinary an honour was itself magnanimity.

Notes on the current edition

Essays in Portraiture Defended

The same story is in How to Write History, c. 12, where also the name of the architect is not mentioned. Plutarch says it was Stasicrates (Alea. 72; Moral. 335). In Strabo 14, p. 641, Cheirocrates seems to underlie the various readings. Vitruvius (ii, praef.) tells the tale quite differently and makes Dinocrates the hero of it.

Lucian of Samosata Pro imaginibus 9

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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