Lucian of Samosata, De Morte Peregrini, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 22

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[22] “The spectacle is being planned, I suppose, as Something awe-inspiring—a fellow getting burnt up in a holy place where it is impious even to bury the others who die. But you have heard, no doubt, that long ago a man who wished to become famous burned the temple of Ephesian Artemis, not being able to attain that end in any other way.¹ He himself has something similar in mind, so great is the craving for fame that has penetrated him to the core.

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).) — 22 focus

[22] τὸ μέντοι θέαμα ἐπινοεῖται, οἶμαι, ὡς σεμνόν, ἐν ἱερῷ χωρίῳ καιόμενος ἄνθρωπος, ἔνθα μηδὲ θάπτειν ὅσιον τοὺς ἄλλους ἀποθνήσκοντας. ἀκούετε δέ, οἶμαι, ὡς καὶ πάλαι θέλων τις ἔνδοξος γενέσθαι, ἐπεὶ κατʼ ἄλλον τρόπον οὐκ εἶχεν ἐπιτυχεῖν τούτου, ἐνέπρησε τῆς Ἐφεσίας Ἀρτέμιδος τὸν νεών. τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ αὐτὸς ἐπινοεῖ, τοσοῦτος ἔρως τῆς δόξης ἐντέτηκεν αὐτῷ.

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.) — 22 focus

[22] 'But I suppose what runs in his mind is the imposing spectacle of a man being burnt alive in the holy place, in which ordinary mortality may not so much as be buried. There was another man, once on a time, who wanted to be famous. I dare say you have heard of him. When he found there was no other way, he set fire to the temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

Notes on the current edition

The Passing of Peregrinus

Herostratus, in356 3.0, The Ephesians sought to defeat his object by forbidding anyone for all time to mention his name (Valerius Maximus, VIII, 14, 5). The prohibition, which very likely was accompanied by a curse, was far from ineffective, for nearly all ancient authors who mention the story, including Cicero and Plutarch, omit the name just as Lucian does,

Lucian of Samosata De Morte Peregrini 22

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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