Lucian of Samosata, De saltatione, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 84

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[84] Moreover, the man himself, they say, once he had returned to his sober senses, was so sorry for what he had done that he really became ill through distress and in all truth was given up for mad. Indeed, he himself showed his repentance clearly, for when his supporters asked him to dance Ajax for them once more, begging to be excused, he said to the audience, “For an actor, it is enough to have gone mad once!”¹ What irked him most was that his antagonist and rival, when cast for Ajax in the same role, enacted his madness so discreetly and sanely as to win praise, since he kept within the bounds of the dance and did not debauch the histrionic art.

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).) — 84 focus

Λυκῖνος

καὶ αὐτὸν μέντοι φασὶν ἀνανήψαντα οὕτως μετανοῆσαι ἐφʼ οἷς ἐποίησεν ὥστε καὶ νοσῆσαι ὑπὸ λύπης, ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐπὶ μανίᾳ κατεγνωσμένον. καὶ ἐδήλωσέ γε τοῦτο σαφῶς αὐτός· αἰτούντων γὰρ αὖθις τῶν στασιωτῶν¹ αὐτοῦ τὸν Αἴαντα ὀρχήσασθαι αὐτοῖς, παραιτησάμενος, τὸν ὑποκριτήν, ἔφη² πρὸς τὸ θέατρον, ἱκανόν ἐστιν ἅπαξ μανῆναι. μάλιστα δὲ αὐτὸν ἠνίασεν ὁ ἀνταγωνιστὴς καὶ ἀντίτεχνος· τοῦ γὰρ ὁμοίου Αἴαντος αὐτῷ γραφέντος οὕτω κοσμίως καὶ σωφρόνως τὴν μανίαν ὑπεκρίνατο ὡς ἐπαινεθῆναι, μείνας ἐντὸς τῶν τῆς ὀρχήσεως ὅρων καὶ μὴ παροινήσας εἰς τὴν ὑπόκρισιν.

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.) — 84 focus

[84] However, it seems that when he came to his senses again he bitterly repented of this exploit, and was quite ill from grief, regarding his conduct as that of a veritable madman, as is clear from his own words, For when his partisans begged him to repeat the performance, he recommended another actor for the part of Ajax, saying that ‘it was enough for him to have been mad once.’ His mortification was increased by the success of his rival, who, though a similar part had been written for him, played it with admirable judgement and discretion, and was complimented on his observance of decorum, and of the proper bounds of his art.

Notes on the current edition

The Dance

The point is that only a philosopher like Chrysippus may go mad more than once. Lucian delights in alluding to the story that Chrysippus took the hellebore treatment three times (True Story, 11, 18; Philosophies for Sale, 23).

Lucian of Samosata De saltatione 84

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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