Lucian of Samosata, De Morte Peregrini, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 28

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[28] “By Zeus, it would be nothing unnatural if, among all the dolts that there are, some should be found to assert that they were relieved of quartan fevers by him, and that in the dark they had encountered the guardian spirit of the night! Then too these accursed disciples of his will make an oracular shrine, I suppose, with a holy of holies, at the site of the pyre, because the famous Proteus, son of Zeus, the progenitor of his name, was given to soothsaying.¹ I pledge m word, too, that priests of his will be appointed, wit whips or branding-irons or some such flummy-diddle, or even that a nocturnal mystery will be got up in his honour, including a torch festival at the site of the pye.

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).) — 28 focus

[28] καὶ μὰ Δία οὐδὲν ἀπεικὸς ἐν πολλοῖς τοῖς ἀνοήτοις εὑρεθήσεσθαί τινας τοὺς καὶ τεταρταίων ἀπηλλάχθαι διʼ αὐτοῦ φήσοντας καὶ νύκτωρ ἐντετυχηκέναι τῷ δαίμονι τῷ νυκτοφύλακι. οἱ κατάρατοι δὲ οὗτοι μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ χρηστήριον, οἶμαι, καὶ ἄδυτον ἐπὶ τῇ πυρᾷ μηχανήσονται, διότι καὶ Πρωτεὺς ἐκεῖνος ὁ Διός, ὁ προπάτωρ τοῦ ὀνόματος, μαντικὸς ἦν. μαρτύρομαι δὲ ἦ μὴν καὶ ἱερέας αὐτοῦ ἀποδειχθήσεσθαι μαστίγων ἢ καυτηρίων ἤ τινος τοιαύτης τερατουργίας, ἢ καὶ νὴ Δία τελετήν τινα ἐπʼ αὐτῷ συστήσεσθαι νυκτέριον καὶ δᾳδουχίαν ἐπὶ τῇ πυρᾷ.

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.) — 28 focus

[28] And upon my word it is as likely as not that among the simple vulgar will be found some to declare that Proteus has cured them of the ague, and that in the darkness they have met with the “ guardian spirit of the night.” And as the ancient Proteus, the son of Zeus, the great original, had the gift of prophecy, I suppose these precious disciples of the modern one will be for getting up an oracle and a shrine upon the scene of cremation. Mark my words: we shall find we have got Protean priests of the scourge; priests of the branding-iron; priests of some strange thing or other; or —who knows?—nocturnal rites in his honour, with a torchlight procession about the pyre.

Notes on the current edition

The Passing of Peregrinus

Athenagoras reports that Parium, where Peregrinus was born, cherished a statue of him from which oracles were derived (Leg. de Christ., 26).

Lucian of Samosata De Morte Peregrini 28

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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