Lucian, Pro imaginibus, ed. Austin Morris Harmon, 25

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Λυκῖνος

ἐπὶ μέν γε τοῦ Ἀγαμέμνονος ὅρα ὅσην αὐτὸς φειδὼ ἐποιήσατο τῶν θεῶν καὶ ὡς ἐταμιεύσατο τὰς εἰκόνας εἰς τὸ σύμμετρον· ὡς ὄμματα μέν φησιν καὶ κεφαλὴν ἴκελον αὐτὸν εἶναι τῷ Διί, τῷ Ἄρεϊ δὲ τὴν ζώνην, στέρνον δὲ τῷ Ποσειδῶνι, διαιρῶν τὸν ἄνθρωπον κατὰ μέλη πρὸς τοσούτων θεῶν εἰκόνας· καὶ αὖ πάλιν βροτολοιγῷ Ἄρεΐ φησίν τινʼ¹ ὅμοιον εἶναι καὶ ἄλλον ἄλλῳ, θεοειδῆ τὸν Φρύγα τὸν τοῦ Πριάμου, καὶ θεοείκελον πολλάκις τὸν Πηλέως.

ἀλλὰ ἐπάνειμι αὖθις ἐπὶ τὰ γυναικεῖα τῶν παραδειγμάτων· ἀκούεις γὰρ δή που αὐτοῦ λέγοντος
Ἀρτέμιδι ἰκέλη ἠὲ χρυσέῃ Ἀφροδίτῃ.
καὶ
οἵη δʼ Ἄρτεμις εἶσι κατʼ οὔρεος.

Pro imaginibus. Lucian. ed. Austin Morris Harmon. Medford, MA. Perseus 4.0.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities; Harvard Library Arcadia Fund; Google Digital Humanities Awards Program.

Current edition Perseus

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

Translations (2)

Essays in Portraiture Defended Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 4. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925 (printing).) — 25 focus

[25] In the case of Agamemnon, moreover, see how parsimonious Homer was with the gods, and with what propriety he doled out his comparisons! He says that in eyes and head he was like to Zeus, in waist to Ares, and in chest to Poseidon,¹ dismembering the man for the sake of comparing him with all those gods. Again, he says that someone is a match for devastating Ares;² and just so with the rest of them—the Phrygian, the son of Priam, is beautiful as a god,³ and the son of Peleus is often godlike.⁴ But I will return to the parallels that concern women. You know, naturally, that he says:

Artemis she resembleth, or else Aphrodite the golden,

Odyssey17, 37 (19, 54), of Penelope. also,

Just so Artemis runneth adown the slope of a mountain.

Odyssey6, 102, of Nausicaa.

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.) — 25 focus

[25] When he had Agamemnon in hand, he was most chary of divine similitudes, to be sure! what economy and moderation in his use of them! Let us see—eyes and head from Zeus, belt from Ares, chest from Posidon; why, he deals the man out piecemeal among the host of Heaven. Elsewhere, Agamemnon is ‘like baleful Ares’; others have their heavenly models; Priam’s son (a Phrygian, mark) is ‘of form divine,’ the son of Peleus is again and again ‘a match for Gods,’ But let us come back to the feminine instances You remember, of course,

—a match

For Artemis or golden Aphrodite;

and

Like Artemis adown the mountain slope.

Notes on the current edition

Ὑπὲρ τῶν Εἰκόνων

1. τινʼ inserted by Harmon, following du Soul's hint that the name Hector had fallen out.

Lucian Pro imaginibus 25

ed. Austin Morris Harmon

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