Lucian of Samosata, De saltatione, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 46

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[46] For we must recognise that there is a connecting bond between Spartan story and that of Troy, which is copious and full of parts to play; in fact, for each person who fell there, a drama offers itself to the theatre. These themes must be kept in mind above all others, from the time of the rape straight through to what happened in the “Home-farings,” with the wandering of Aeneas and the love of Dido.¹

The dramas that centre upon Orestes, including that hero’s adventures in Scythia, are not alien to all this; and what went before is not incongruous, either, but akin to the story of Troy—the virgin life of Achilles in Scyros, the madness of Odysseus, the marooning of Philoctetes, and, in general, the whole wandering of Odysseus, including Circe, Telegonus,² Aeolus’ sway over the winds, and all the rest of it, to the punishment of the suitors. Also, preceding this, the plot against Palamedes, and the wrath of Nauplius, the madness of Ajax, and the death of the other Ajax among the rocks.

De saltatione. Lucian of Samosata. Austin Morris Harmon (Translator). United States. Perseus 5.0.

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (1)

Περὶ Ὀρχήσεως Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 5. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).) — 46 focus

Λυκῖνος

νομιστέον γὰρ τῇ Σπαρτιατικῇ ἱστορίᾳ καὶ τὴν Ἰλιακὴν συνῆφθαι, πολλὴν οὖσαν καὶ πολυπρόσωπον· καθʼ ἕκαστον γοῦν τῶν ἐκεῖ πεσόντων δρᾶμα τῇ σκηνῇ πρόκειται· καὶ μεμνῆσθαι δὲ¹ τούτων δεῖ μάλιστα,² ἀπὸ τῆς ἁρπαγῆς εὐθὺς ἄχρι τῶν ἐν τοῖς νόστοις γεγενημένων καὶ τῆς Αἰνείου πλάνης καὶ Διδοῦς ἔρωτος.

ὧν οὐκ ἀλλότρια καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν Ὀρέστην δράματα καὶ τὰ ἐν Σκυθίᾳ τῷ ἥρωϊ τετολμημένα. οὐκ ἀπῳδὰ δὲ καὶ τὰ πρὸ τούτων, ἀλλὰ τοῖς Ἰλιακοῖς συγγενῆ, Ἀχιλλέως ἐν Σκύρῳ παρθένευσις καὶ Ὀδυσσέως μανία καὶ Φιλοκτήτου ἐρημία, καὶ ὅλως ἡ πᾶσα Ὀδύσσειος πλάνη καὶ Κίρκη καὶ Τηλέγονος καὶ ἡ Αἰόλου τῶν ἀνέμων δυναστεία καὶ τὰ ἄλλα μέχρι τῆς τῶν μνηστήρων τιμωρίας· καὶ πρὸ τούτων ἡ κατὰ Παλαμήδους ἐπιβουλὴ καὶ ἡ Ναυπλίου ὀργὴ καὶ ἡ Αἴαντος μανία καὶ ἡ θατέρου ἐν ταῖς πέτραις ἀπώλεια.

Translations (1)

Of Pantomime Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 2. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 46 focus

[46] For the Spartan mythology must be held to include that of Troy, in all its abundance and variety. Of all who fell at Troy, not one but supplies a subject for the stage; and all—from the rape of Helen to the return of the Greeks—must ever be borne in mind: the wanderings of Aeneas, the love of Dido; and side by side with this the story of Orestes, and his daring deeds in Scythia. And there are earlier episodes which will not be out of place; they are all connected with the tale of Troy: such are the seclusion of Achilles in Scyrus, the madness of Odysseus, the solitude of Philoctetes, with the whole story of Odysseus’s wanderings, of Circe and Telegonus, of Aeolus, controller of the winds, down to the vengeance wreaked upon the suitors of Penelope; and, earlier, Odysseus’s plot against Palamedes, the resentment of Nauplius, the frenzy of the one Ajax, the destruction of the other on the rocks.

Notes on the current edition

The Dance

Dido’s story essentially as it was told in the Greek of Tinaeus may still be read in the Latin of Justin (XVIII, 4-8); but Aeneas played no part in it. His introduction into it cannot be traced further back than Naevius. It probably came to Lucian by way of Vergil, from whom, however, it is hardly likely that he derived it at first hand.

Telegonus, the son of Circe and Odysseus, does not appear in the Odyssey, but was the hero of a late sequel to it, the Telegony. Its content is reflected in an abstract by Proclus (Evelyn White, Hesiod, etc. [L.C.L.], p. 530) and in Apoll., Epit., VII, 34-37. In stating that its author represented Telegonus as Odysseus’ son by Calypso, Eustathius is manifestly in error, for the part played by Circe in the conclusion of the story makes it certain that Circe was his mother.

Lucian of Samosata De saltatione 46

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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