Lucian, Toxaris vel amicitia, Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator), 62

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[62] There, Mnesippus, you have my little selection. The next thing is to settle whether my hand or your tongue is to be amputated. Who is umpire?

Mnesippus

Umpire we have none; we forgot that. I tell you what: we have wasted our arrows this time, but some other day we will appoint an arbitrator, and submit other friendships to his judgement; and then off shall come your hand, or out shall come my tongue, as the case may be. Perhaps, though, this is rather a primitive way of doing things. As you seem to think a great deal of friendship, and as I consider it to be the highest blessing of humanity, what is there to prevent our vowing eternal friendship on the spot? We shall both have the satisfaction of winning then, and shall get a substantial prize into the bargain: two right hands each instead of one, two tongues, four eyes, four feet;—everything in duplicate. The union of two friends—or three, let us say—is like Geryon in the pictures: a six-handed, three-headed individual; my private opinion is, that there was not one Geryon, but three Geryons, all acting in concert, as friends should.

Toxaris vel amicitia. Lucian. Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator). Medford, MA, USA. 2023-08-01.

Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (1)

Τόξαρις ἢ Φιλία Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 5. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).) — 62 focus

Τόξαρις

εἴρηκα, ὦ Μνήσιππε, ἀπὸ πολλῶν πέντε τούτους προχειρισάμενος. ἤδη δὲ καιρὸς ἂν¹ εἴη κεκρίσθαι ὁπότερον ἡμῶν ἢ τὴν γλῶτταν ἢ τὴν δεξιὰν ἀποτετμῆσθαι δέοι. τίς οὖν ὁ δικάσων ἐστίν;

Μνήσιππος

οὐδὲ εἷς· οὐ γὰρ ἐκαθίσαμέν τινα δικαστὴν τοῦ λόγου. ἀλλʼ οἶσθα ὃ δράσωμεν;² ἐπειδὴ νῦν ἄσκοπα τετοξεύκαμεν, αὖθις ἑλόμενοι διαιτητὴν ἄλλους ἐπʼ ἐκείνῳ εἴπωμεν φίλους, εἶτα ὃς ἂν ἥττων γένηται, ἀποτετμήσεται τότε, ἢ ἐγὼ τὴν γλῶτταν ἢ σὺ τὴν δεξιάν. ἢ τοῦτο μὲν ἄγροικον, ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ σὺ φιλίαν ἐπαινεῖν ἔδοξας, ἐγὼ δὲ οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἡγοῦμαι ἀνθρώποις εἶναι τούτου κτῆμα ἄμεινον ἢ κάλλιον, τί οὐχὶ³ καὶ ἡμεῖς συνθέμενοι πρὸς ἡμᾶς αὐτοὺς φίλοι τε αὐτόθεν εἶναι καὶ εἰσαεὶ ἔσεσθαι ἀγαπῶμεν ἄμφω νικήσαντες, τὰ μέγιστα ἆθλα προσλαβόντες, ἀντὶ μιᾶς γλώττης καὶ μιᾶς δεξιᾶς δύο ἑκάτερος ἐπικτησάμενοι καὶ προσέτι γε καὶ ὀφθαλμοὺς τέτταρας καὶ πόδας τέτταρας καὶ ὅλως διπλᾶ πάντα; τοιοῦτόν τι γάρ ἐστι συνελθόντες δύο ἢ τρεῖς φίλοι, ὁποῖον τὸν Γηρυόνην οἱ γραφεῖς ἐνδείκνυνται, ἄνθρωπον ἑξάχειρα καὶ τρικέφαλον· ἐμοὶ γὰρ δοκεῖν,⁴ τρεῖς ἐκεῖνοι ἦσαν ἅμα πράττοντες πάντα, ὥσπερ ἐστὶ δίκαιον φίλους γε ὄντας.

Translations (2)

Toxaris, or Friendship Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 5. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).) — 62 focus

[62] I have finished, Mnesippus, the story of these five, whom I have selected out of many. And now it is perhaps time to decide which of us is to have either his tongue or his right hand cut off, as the case may be. Who, then, will be our judge?

MNESIPPUS

No one at all; for we did not appoint any judge of the debate. “But do you know what we ought to do? Since this time we have shot into the void, let us some other day choose an umpire and in his presence tell of other friends; then, whichever of us gets beaten shall at that time have his tongue cut off if it be I, or his right hand if it be you. Or, if that is crude, inasmuch as you have resolved to extol friendship and I myself think that men have no other possession better or nobler than this, why should not we ourselves make an agreement with each other to be friends from this instant and remain so for ever, content that both have won and thereby have obtained magnificent prizes, since instead of a single tongue or a single right hand each of us will get two, and what is more, two pairs of eyes and of feet; in a word, everything multiplied by two? For the union of two or three friends is like the pictures of Geryon that artists exhibit—a man with six hands and three heads. Indeed, to my mind Geryon was three persons acting together in all things, as is right if they are really friends.

Toxaris; Or, Friendship Perseus (Selections from Lucian. Smith, Emily James, translator. New York: Harper Brothers, 1892.) — 62 focus

[62] These five, Mnesippos, I have chosen from many to tell you of. And now it should be time to decide between us whether you are to lose your tongue or I my right hand. Who, then, shall be our judge?

Mnesippos

No one, for we did not appoint any arbiter of the discussion. But do you know what we shall do? Since we have this time shot our arrows without a mark, let us choose an umpire and tell him the stories of other friends, and then he who is defeated shall be punished by the loss of his tongue if it be I, of his right hand if it be you. Nay, this is barbarous; but since you have shown yourself an encomiast of friendship, and I, too, believe that mankind have no better or fairer possession, why should not we too agree between ourselves that we are friends now and will be forever, and acquiesce in a common victory, carrying off the greatest prizes—instead of one tongue or one right-hand, each gaining two and four eyes besides, and four feet, and a double allowance of everything? For when two or three friends join. they form something like the painters' picture of Geryon, a man with six hands and three heads. It strikes me that they were three people acting in concert as they ought to do, if they are friends.

Lucian Toxaris vel amicitia 62

Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator)

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Mnesippus

Current edition Perseus

MNESIPPUS

Mnesippos

Stable identifiers