Lucian of Samosata, Toxaris vel amicitia, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 2

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[2]

MNESIPPUS

In that matter, to be sure, your judgement is sound. But as regards Orestes and Pylades, on just what ground did you so admire them, that you have put them on a parity with the gods, and that too when they were trespassers upon your soil and— what is most significant—enemies? Why, when the Scythians of that day seized them after their shipwreck and dragged them off intending to sacrifice them to Artemis, they set upon the keepers of their prison, overpowered the watch, and not only slew the king but carried off the priestess,¹ nay even kidnapped Artemis herself, and then went. sailing away, after having made a mock of the Scythian commonwealth.² So if that is why you honour those heroes, you will very soon produce many like them! Draw the conclusion for yourselves in the light of what happened of old whether it is desirable for you that many an Orestes and Pylades should descend upon Scythia. To me it seems that very soon, under those conditions, you would become irreligious yourselves, yes, godless, after the remainder of your gods had been similarly shipped out of the country to foreign parts. And then, I suppose, in place of the whole company of gods, you will deify the men who came to obtain them for export and will sacrifice to the robbers of your temples as gods!

Toxaris vel amicitia. Lucian of Samosata. Austin Morris Harmon (Translator). United States. Perseus 5.0.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Toxaris, or Friendship (English) (Lucian, Vol. 5. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Τόξαρις ἢ Φιλία Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 5. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).) — 2 focus

Μνήσιππος

ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ὀρθῶς γιγνώσκετε. Ὀρέστην δὲ καὶ Πυλάδην τίνος μάλιστα θαυμάσαντες ἰσοθέους ἐποιήσασθε, καὶ ταῦτα ἐπήλυδας ὑμῖν ὄντας καὶ τὸ μέγιστον πολεμίους; οἵ γε, ἐπεὶ σφᾶς ναυαγίᾳ περιπεσόντας οἱ τότε Σκύθαι συλλαβόντες ἀπῆγον ὡς τῇ Ἀρτέμιδι καταθύσοντες, ἐπιθέμενοι τοῖς δεσμοφύλαξι καὶ τῆς φρουρᾶς ἐπικρατήσαντες τόν τε βασιλέα κτείνουσι καὶ τὴν ἱέρειαν παραλαβόντες, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν Ἄρτεμιν αὐτὴν ἀποσυλήσαντες ᾤχοντο ἀποπλέοντες, καταγελάσαντες τοῦ κοινοῦ τῶν Σκυθῶν. ὥστε εἰ διὰ ταῦτα τιμᾶτε τοὺς ἄνδρας, οὐκ ἂν φθάνοιτε πολλοὺς ὁμοίους αὐτοῖς ἐξεργασάμενοι. καὶ τοὐντεῦθεν αὐτοὶ ἤδη πρὸς τὰ παλαιὰ σκοπεῖτε, εἰ καλῶς ἔχει ὑμῖν πολλοὺς ἐς τὴν Σκυθίαν Ὀρέστας καὶ Πυλάδας καταίρειν. ἐμοὶ μὲν γὰρ δοκεῖτε τάχιστα ἂν οὕτως ἀσεβεῖς αὐτοὶ καὶ ἄθεοι γενέσθαι, τῶν περιλοίπων θεῶν τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ὑμῖν ἐκ τῆς χώρας ἀποξενωθέντων. εἶτʼ, οἶμαι, ἀντὶ τῶν θεῶν ἁπάντων τοὺς ἐπʼ ἐξαγωγῇ αὐτῶν ἥκοντας ἄνδρας ἐκθειάσετε καὶ ἱεροσύλοις ὑμῶν οὖσιν¹ θύσετε ὡς θεοῖς.

Translations (2)

Toxaris: a Dialogue of Friendship Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 3. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 2 focus

[2]

Mnesippus

Ah, there you are right. But what could you find to admire in Orestes and Pylades, that you should exalt them to godhead? They were strangers to you: strangers, did I say? they were enemies! Why, when they were shipwrecked on your coast, and your ancestors laid hands on them, and took them off to be sacrificed to Artemis, they assaulted the gaolers, overpowered the garrison, slew the king, carried off the priestess, laid impious hands on the Goddess herself, and so took ship, snapping their fingers at Scythia and her laws, If you honour men for this kind of thing, there will be plenty of people to follow their example, and you will have your hands full. You may judge for yourselves, from ancient precedent, whether it will suit you to have so many Oresteses and Pyladeses putting into your ports. It seems to me that it will soon end in your having no religion left at all: God after God will be expatriated in the same manner, and then I suppose you will supply their place by deifying their kidnappers, thus rewarding sacrilege with sacrifice.

Toxaris; Or, Friendship Perseus (Selections from Lucian. Smith, Emily James, translator. New York: Harper Brothers, 1892.) — 2 focus

[2]

Mnesippos

You are right about that. But what was it you found so admirable in Orestes and Pylades that you raised them to equality with the gods, though they were strangers in your land and your bitter foes? For when the Scythians of that day had seized them after their shipwreck and driven them off to be sacrificed to Artemis, they set upon the jailers, overpowered the guard, slew the king, carried off the priestess, and actually stole the statue of Artemis herself and set sail, laughing at the commonwealth of Scythia. Now, if this is the sort of thing you honor the men for, you cannot be too quick to produce many like them. But consider yourselves what the result will be, to judge from the past—whether it is to your advantage to have many cases of Orestes and Pylades sailing into Scythian ports. To my mind this would be the quickest way to become irreverent and godless yourselves, and to banish the surviving gods from your country. Then, I suppose, you will transfer your devotions from the whole body of gods to the men who come to steal them, and sacrifice to your temple-robbers as if they were divine.

Notes on the current edition

Toxaris, or Friendship

Both here and below in § 6 Lucian omits as self-understood the point that Orestes discovers the priestess to be his sister Iphigenia, previously thought to have perished at Aulis under the sacrificial knife.

In the point that this version of the story makes the Greeks escape by overpowering the Scythians and killing Thoas, their king, it differs significantly both from Euripides in the Iphigenia among the Taurians and from Sophocles in the Chryses, in which Thoas was killed, to be sure, but only after they had somehow got away and he had overtaken them at “Sminthe,” whose ruler, Chryses, turning out to be the son of Agamemnon and Chryseis, and so the half-brother of Orestes and Iphigenia, aids them to kill their pursuer. Elsewhere in extant ancient literature the Lucianic version is found only in Servius and in accounts derived from him (Serv. in Aen., II, 216; cf. [Hyginus], 261, and Mythogr. Vat., II, 202). It may have been the accepted version of the cult of Diana at Aricia (Preller, Robert), but cannot be of Latin origin. It is surely the early version, effaced in the literary tradition by the influence of Euripides, but perpetuated (as early myths often were) in art through a painting by some famous Hellenistic master, later reflected not only in Graeco- Roman sarcophagus-reliefs but in the murals of some Graeco- Scythian Oresteum (§6). Lucian’s knowledge of it may safely be ascribed to an allusion to those murals in the literary source from which he derives the curious mixture of fact and fiction in § 6.

Lucian of Samosata Toxaris vel amicitia 2

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)