Lucian of Samosata, De Morte Peregrini, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 5

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[5] When Theagenes¹—for that was the bawler’s , name—said that, I asked a bystander, “What is the meaning of his talk about fire, and what have Heracles and Empedocles to do with Proteus?” “Before long,” he replied, “Proteus is going to burn himself up at the Olympic festival.” “How,” said I, “and why?” Then he undertook to tell me, but the Cynic was bawling, so that it was impossible to hear anyone else. I listened, therefore, while he flooded us with the rest of his bilge-water and got off a lot of amazing hyperbole about Proteus, for, not deigning to compare him with the man of Sinope,² or his teacher Antisthenes, or even with Socrates himself, he summoned Zeus to the lists. Then, however, he decided to keep them about equal, and thus concluded his speech:

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).) — 5 focus

[5] ὡς δὲ ταῦτα εἶπεν ὁ Θεαγένης — τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ κεκραγὼς ἐκεῖνος ἐκαλεῖτο — ἠρόμην τινὰ τῶν παρεστώτων, τί βούλεται τὸ περὶ τοῦ πυρός, ἢ τί Ἡρακλῆς καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς πρὸς τὸν Πρωτέα. ὁ δέ, οὐκ εἰς μακράν, ἔφη, καύσει ἑαυτὸν ὁ Πρωτεὺς Ὀλυμπίασιν. πῶς, ἔφην, ἢ τίνος ἕνεκα; εἶτα ὁ μὲν ἐπειρᾶτο λέγειν, ἐβόα δὲ ὁ Κυνικός, ὥστε ἀμήχανον ἦν ἄλλου ἀκούειν. ἐπήκουον οὖν τὰ λοιπὰ ἐπαντλοῦντος αὐτοῦ καὶ θαυμαστάς τινας ὑπερβολὰς διεξιόντος κατὰ τοῦ Πρωτέως· τὸν μὲν γὰρ Σινωπέα ἢ τὸν διδάσκαλον αὐτοῦ Ἀντισθένη οὐδὲ παραβάλλειν ἠξίου αὐτῷ, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τὸν Σωκράτη αὐτόν, ἐκάλει δὲ τὸν Δία ἐπὶ τὴν ἅμιλλαν. εἶτα μέντοι ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ ἴσους πως φυλάξαι αὐτούς, καὶ οὕτω κατέπαυε τὸν λόγον·

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.) — 5 focus

[5] Theagenes (our friend with the lungs) had got thus far, when I asked one of the bystanders what all this meant about ‘fire,’ and what Heracles and Empedocles had got to do with Proteus?—‘Proteus,’ he replied, ‘will shortly cremate himself, at the Olympic games.’—'But how,’ I asked, ‘and why?’ He did his best to explain, but the Cynic went on .awling, and it was quite out of the question to attend to anything else. I waited on to the end. It was one torrent of wild fanegyric on Proteus. The sage of Sinope, Antisthenes his master,—nay, Socrates himself—none of them were so much as to be compared with him. Zeus was invited to contend for the preeminence. Subsequently however it seemed advisable to leave the two on some sort of equality.

Notes on the current edition

The Passing of Peregrinus

We learn elsewhere in this piece that Theagenes lived in Patras and had property worth fifteen talents, obtained by lending money. Bernays (Lucian und die Kyniker, pp. 13-18) is very likely right in thinking this to be the man whose death in Rome is described by Galen (Meth. Med., 13, 15: X, 909 Kiihn), but he makes rather too much of tha passage as an endorsement of Theagenes.;

Diogenes,

Lucian of Samosata De Morte Peregrini 5

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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