Lucian of Samosata, De Morte Peregrini, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 14

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[14] “However, Peregrinus was freed by the then governor of Syria, a man who was fond of philosophy.¹. Aware of his recklessness and that he would gladly die in order that he might leave behind him a reputation for it, he freed him, not considering him worthy even of the usual chastisement.² Upon returning to his home, he found that the matter of his father’s murder was still at fever heat and that there were many who were for pressing the charge against him. Most of his possessions had been carried off during his absence, and only his farms remained, amounting to fifteen talents; for the entire property which the old man left had been worth perhaps thirty talents, not five thousand as that utterly ridiculous Theagenes asserted. Even the entire city of Parium,³ taking along with it the five that are its neighbours, would not fetch that much, including the men, the cattle, and all the rest of their belongings.

De Morte Peregrini. Lucian of Samosata. Austin Morris Harmon (Translator). United States. Perseus 5.0.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

The Passing of Peregrinus (English) (Lucian, Vol. 5. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Περὶ τῆς Περεγρίνου Τελευτῆς Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 5. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).) — 14 focus

[14] πλὴν ἀλλʼ ὁ Περεγρῖνος ἀφείθη ὑπὸ τοῦ τότε τῆς Συρίας ἄρχοντος, ἀνδρὸς φιλοσοφίᾳ χαίροντος, ὃς συνεὶς τὴν ἀπόνοιαν αὐτοῦ καὶ ὅτι δέξαιτʼ ἂν ἀποθανεῖν ὡς δόξαν ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἀπολίποι, ἀφῆκεν αὐτὸν οὐδὲ τῆς κολάσεως ὑπολαβὼν ἄξιον. ὁ δὲ εἰς τὴν οἰκείαν ἐπανελθὼν καταλαμβάνει τὸ περὶ τοῦ πατρῴου φόνου ἔτι φλεγμαῖνον καὶ πολλοὺς τοὺς ἐπανατεινομένους τὴν κατηγορίαν. διήρπαστο δὲ τὰ πλεῖστα τῶν κτημάτων παρὰ τὴν ἀποδημίαν αὐτοῦ καὶ μόνοι ὑπελείποντο οἱ ἀγροὶ ὅσον εἰς πεντεκαίδεκα τάλαντα. ἦν γὰρ ἡ πᾶσα οὐσία τριάκοντά που ταλάντων ἀξία ἣν ὁ γέρων κατέλιπεν, οὐχ ὥσπερ ὁ παγγέλοιος Θεαγένης ἔλεγε πεντακισχιλίων· τοσούτου γὰρ οὐδὲ ἡ πᾶσα τῶν Παριανῶν πόλις πέντε σὺν αὐτῇ τὰς γειτνιώσας παραλαβοῦσα πραθείη ἂν αὐτοῖς ἀνθρώποις καὶ βοσκήμασιν καὶ τῇ λοιπῇ παρασκευῇ.

Translations (1)

The Death of Peregrine Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 4. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 14 focus

[14] ‘To return, however, to Peregrine. The governor of Syria perceived his mental warp: “he must make a name, though he die for it; now philosophy was the governor’s hobby; he discharged him—wouldn’t hear of his being punished—and Peregrine returned to Armenia. He found it too hot to hold him. He was threatened from all quarters with prosecutions for parricide. Then again, the greater part of his property had disappeared in his absence: nothing was left but the land, which might be worth a matter of four thousand pounds, The whole estate, as the old man left it, would come perhaps to eight thousand. Theagenes was talking nonsense when he said a million odd. Why, the whole city, with its five nearest neighbours thrown in, men, cattle, and goods of every description, would never fetch that sum.—

Notes on the current edition

The Passing of Peregrinus

The Roman governor of the province of Syria is meant. Identification is impossible because the date of the imprisonment of Peregrinus cannot be fixed.

“The usual chastisement” (Allinson’s phrase) was scourging.

A small (but not really so contemptible) Greek town on the Hellespont, site of a Roman colony since Augustus. See Sir W. Leaf, Strabo on the Troad, pp. 80-85.

Lucian of Samosata De Morte Peregrini 14

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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