Lucian of Samosata, De saltatione, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 8

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[8] In the beginning, they say, Rhea, charmed with the art, ordered dances to be performed not only in ‘Phrygia by the Corybantes¹ but in Crete by the Curetes, from whose skill she derived uncommon benefit, since they saved Zeus for her by dancing about him; Zeus, therefore, might well admit that he owes them a thank-offering, since it was through their dancing that he escaped his father’s teeth. They danced under arms, clashing their swords upon their shields as they did so and leaping in a frantic, warlike manner.² Thereafter, all the doughtiest of the Cretans practised it energetically and became excellent dancers, not only the common sort but the men of princely blood who claimed leadership. For example, Homer calls Meriones a dancer, not desiring to discredit but to distinguish him; and he was so conspicuous and universally known for his dancing that not only the Greeks but the very Trojans, though enemies, were aware of this about him. They saw, I suppose, his lightness and grace in battle, which he got from the dance. The verses go something like this:

Meriones, in a trice that spear of mine would have stopped you,

Good as you are at the dance.

Iliad, XVI, 617-618. Nevertheless, it did not stop him, for as he was well versed in dancing, it was easy for him, I suppose, to avoid the javelins they launched at him.

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).) — 8 focus

Λυκῖνος

πρῶτον δέ φασιν Ῥέαν ἡσθεῖσαν τῇ τέχνῃ ἐν Φρυγίᾳ μὲν τοὺς Κορύβαντας, ἐν Κρήτῃ δὲ τοὺς Κουρῆτας ὀρχεῖσθαι κελεῦσαι, καὶ οὐ τὰ μέτρια ὤνατο τῆς τέχνης αὐτῶν, οἵ γε περιορχούμενοι διεσώσαντο αὐτῇ τὸν Δία, ὥστε καὶ σῶστρα εἰκότως ἂν ὁ Ζεὺς ὀφείλειν ὁμολογοίη αὐτοῖς, ἐκφυγὼν διὰ τὴν ἐκείνων ὄρχησιν τοὺς πατρῴους ὀδόντας. ἐνόπλιος δὲ αὐτῶν ἡ ὄρχησις ἦν, τὰ ξίφη μεταξὺ κροτούντων πρὸς τὰς ἀσπίδας καὶ πηδώντων ἔνθεόν τι καὶ πολεμικόν.

Μετὰ δέ, Κρητῶν οἱ κράτιστοι ἐνεργῶς ἐπιτηδεύσαντες αὐτὸ ἄριστοι ὀρχησταὶ ἐγένοντο, οὐχ οἱ ἰδιῶται μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ βασιλικώτεροι καὶ πρωτεύειν ἀξιοῦντες. ὁ γοῦν Ὅμηρος τὸν Μηριόνην, οὐκ αἰσχῦναι βουλόμενος ἀλλὰ κοσμῆσαι, ὀρχηστὴν προσεῖπεν, καὶ οὕτως ἄρα ἐπίσημος ἦν καὶ γνώριμος ἅπασιν ἐπὶ τῇ ὀρχηστικῇ ὥστε οὐχ οἱ Ἕλληνες μόνον ταῦτα ἠπίσταντο περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ Τρῶες αὐτοί, καίτοι πολέμιοι ὄντες· ἑώρων γάρ, οἶμαι, καὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ πολεμεῖν αὐτοῦ κουφότητα καὶ εὐρυθμίαν, ἣν ἐξ ὀρχήσεως ἐκέκτητο. φησὶν δὲ τὰ ἔπη ὧδέ πως·

Μηριόνη, τάχα κέν σε καὶ ὀρχηστήν περ ἐόντα

ἔγχος ἐμὸν κατέπαυσε.

καὶ ὅμως οὐ κατέπαυσεν αὐτόν· ἅτε γὰρ ἠσκημένος ἐν τῇ ὀρχηστικῇ, ῥᾳδίως, οἶμαι, διεδίδρασκεν τὰς ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἀφέσεις τῶν ἀκοντίων.

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.) — 8 focus

[8] The first step, we learn, was taken by Rhea, who was so pleased with the art that she introduced it among the Corybantes in Phrygia and the Curetes in Crete. She was richly rewarded: for by their dancing they saved her child Zeus, who owes it to them (nor can he with decency deny it) that he escaped the paternal teeth. The dancing was performed in full armour; sword clashed against shield, and inspired heels beat martial time upon the ground. The art was presently taken up by the leading men in Crete, who by dint of practice became admirable dancers; and this applies not only to private persons, but to men of the first eminence, and of royal blood. Thus Homer, when he calls Meriones a dancer, is not disparaging him, but paying him a compliment: his dancing fame, it seems, had spread not only throughout the Greek world, but even inta the camp of his enemies, the Trojans, who would observe, no doubt, on the field of battle that agility and grace of movement which he had acquired as a dancer. The passage runs as follows:

Meriones, great dancer though thou be,

My spear had stopped thy dancings,—

it did not, however, do so; his practice in that art enabling him, apparently, to evade without difficulty any spears that might be hurled at him.

Notes on the current edition

The Dance

The Corybantes, mentioned frequently by Lucian, are to him male supernatural beings (Timon, 41), alien denizens of Olympus like Pan, Attis, and Sabazius (Icarom., 27; cf. Parl. of the Gods, 9), whom Rhea attached to_herself because they too were crazy; in her orgies, one cuts his arm with a sword, another runs about madly, another blows the Phrygian horn, another sounds some instrument of percussion (Dial. Deor., 12, 1; cf. Tragodopod., 38). He does not ascribe to them any regular dance, or confuse them with the Curetes, as others often did.

This is Lucian’s only mention of the Curetes. His account of their dance agrees with representations in ancient art (cf..Kekulé-von Rohden, Archit. rém. Tonreliefe, Pl. 25) as well as with the description of Lucretius (I1, 629-639), who had seen it performed by mimic Curetes in the train of the Great Mother. Lucian’s use of the past tense (jv) suggests not only that his knowledge of them came from books but that he thought the dance obsolete. That, however, can hardly have been the case, for we have now a cletic hymn invoking (Zeus) Kouros, discovered at Palaecastro in Crete, which probably belongs to the cult with which the Curetes were connected, and is a late Imperial copy of an early Hellenistic text (Diehl, Anth. Lyr. Graeca, II, p. 279). Their dancing saved Zeus from being discovered and swallowed by his father Cronus because the clashing of their weapons drowned his infantine wailing.

Lucian of Samosata De saltatione 8

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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