Lucian of Samosata, Toxaris vel amicitia, Emily James Smith (Translator), 35

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[35] My story, then, is told of this handful of good and true friends out of the many that memory first supplied me with, so I will now descend from the post of orator and leave the floor to you. But you had better be careful to make your Scythians out no worse than these, but a good deal better, unless you want to lose your right hand. You must speak up like a man, for it would be an absurd experience for you if, after having praised Orestes and Pylades like a professional orator, you should prove an indifferent speaker in behalf of the Scythians.

Toxaris

It is all very well that you spur me on to speak! Don't you care whether you lose your tongue by defeat in the contest? But I will begin directly without any of your phrase-making; that is not our way in Scythia, particularly when the deeds speak louder than the words that tell of them. You need not expect me to follow you in elaborating the praises of a hero who married a plain wife without a dowry, or another who gave two thousand dollars as a wedding-present to a friend's daughter, or even one who offered himself for imprisonment with the certainty of a speedy release. For all these are trifles, and not one of them calls for exertion or courage.

Toxaris vel amicitia. Lucian of Samosata. Emily James Smith (Translator). Medford, MA. Perseus 5.0.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (1)

Τόξαρις ἢ Φιλία Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 5. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).) — 35 focus

Μνήσιππος

ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν τούτους ὀλίγους ἀπὸ πλειόνων, οὓς πρώτους ἡ μνήμη ὑπέβαλε, διηγησάμην σοι ἀγαθοὺς καὶ βεβαίους φίλους. καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ἤδη καταβὰς ἀπὸ τοῦ λόγου σοὶ τὴν ῥήτραν παραδίδωμι· σὺ δὲ ὅπως μὴ χείρους ἐρεῖς τοὺς Σκύθας, ἀλλὰ πολλῷ τούτων ἀμείνους, αὐτῷ σοὶ μελήσει, εἴ τι καὶ τῆς δεξιᾶς πεφρόντικας, ὡς μὴ ἀποτμηθείης αὐτήν. ἀλλὰ χρὴ ἄνδρα ἀγαθὸν εἶναι· ἐπεὶ καὶ γελοῖα ἂν πάθοις Ὀρέστην μὲν καὶ Πυλάδην πάνυ σοφιστικῶς ἐπαινέσας, ὑπὲρ δὲ τῆς Σκυθίας φαῦλος ῥήτωρ φαινόμενος.¹

Τόξαρις

εὖ γε, ὦ Μνήσιππε, ὅτι καὶ παροτρύνεις με πρὸς τὸν λόγον, ὥσπερ οὐ πάνυ σοι μέλον εἰ ἀποτμηθείης τὴν γλῶτταν κρατηθεὶς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις. πλὴν ἄρξομαί γε ἤδη, μηδὲν ὥσπερ σὺ καλλιλογησάμενος· οὐ γὰρ Σκυθικὸν τοῦτο, καὶ μάλιστα ἐπειδὰν τὰ ἔργα ὑπερφθέγγηται τοὺς λόγους. προσδοκήσῃς δὲ μηδὲν τοιοῦτο παρʼ ἡμῶν οἷα σὺ διεξελήλυθας, ἐπαινῶν εἴ τις ἄπροικον ἔγημεν αἰσχρὰν γυναῖκα ἢ εἴ τις ἀργύριον ἐπέδωκε γαμουμένῃ φίλου ἀνδρὸς θυγατρὶ δύο τάλαντα, ἢ² καὶ νὴ Δίʼ εἴ τις παρέσχεν ἑαυτὸν δεδησόμενον ἐπὶ προδήλῳ τῷ μικρὸν ὕστερον λυθήσεσθαι· πάνυ γὰρ εὐτελῆ ταῦτα καὶ μεγαλουργὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἢ ἀνδρεῖον ἔνι οὐδέν.

Translations (2)

Toxaris, or Friendship Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 5. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).) — 35 focus

[35] I have told you these few instances out of a greater number (the first that my memory supplied), of friends that were good and true; and now, dismounting from my steed, I yield the word henceforth to you. How you are to make out that your Scythians are not worse, but much better than these men, will be your own look-out, if you are at all concerned about your right hand, for fear of having it cut off. But you must show yourself a man of prowess, for you would put yourself in a laughable position if, after your very expert laudation of Orestes and Pylades, you should reveal yourself a poor spokesman on behalf of Scythia.

TOXARIS

Well done, Mnesippus! You are giving me - encouragement for my speech, as if it did not matter at all to you whether you get the worst of it in our dispute and have your tongue docked. However, I shall begin at once, without any display of fine words such as you have made; for that is not a Scythian habit, especially when the deeds speak louder than the words. And do not expect from us anything like what you told of when you commended a man if he married an ugly wife without a dowry, or if he gave money to the amount of two talents to the daughter of 'a friend on her marriage, or even, by Zeus, if he allowed himself to be imprisoned when it was obvious that he would soon be released; for those are very paltry matters, and there is nothing of greatness or bravery in them.

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.) — 35 focus

[35] These loyal friends whose stories I have related were the first that occurred to my memory; where I have given five instances, I might have given fifty. And now I am silent: it is your turn to speak. I need not tell you to make the most of your Scythians, and bring them out triumphant if you can: you will do that for your own sake, if you set any value on that right hand of yours. Quit you, then, like a man. You would look foolish if, after your truly professional panegytic of Orestes and Pylades, your art were to fail you in your country’s need.

Toxaris

I honour you for your disinterested encouragement: apparently you are under no uneasiness as to the loss’ of your tongue, in the event of my winning. Well, I will begin: and you will get no flowery language from me; it is not our Scythian way, especially when the deeds we handle dwarf description. Be prepared for something very different from the subjects of your own eulogy: here will be no marryings of ugly and dowerless women, no five-hundred-pound-portionings of friends’ daughters, nor even surrenderings of one’s person to gaolers, with the certain prospect of a speedy release. These are very cheap manifestations; the lofty, the heroic, is altogether wanting.

Lucian of Samosata Toxaris vel amicitia 35

Emily James Smith (Translator)

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