Lucian, De saltatione, Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator), 5

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

← Previous Next →

[5]

Lycinus

Now, Crato,—you talk of pantomimes and theatres,— have you seen these performances yourself, that you are so hard on them? or do you decide that they are ‘foul mire’ without personal experience? If you have seen them, you are just as bad as I am; and if not, are you justified in censuring them? does it not savour of over-confidence, to condemn what you know nothing about?

Crato

Truly that would be the climax: that I should show my long beard and white hairs amid that throng of women and lunatics; and clap and yell in unseemly rapture over the vile contortions of an abandoned buffoon.

Lycinus

I can make allowance for you. But wait till I have prevailed on you to give it a fair trial, to accept the judgement of your own eyes: after that you will never be happy till you have secured the best seat in the theatre, where you may hear every syllable, mark every gesture.

Crato

While this beard is yet unplucked, these limbs unshaven, God forbid that I should ever find happiness in * such things. As it is, my poor friend, I see that you are wholly possessed.

De saltatione. Lucian. Henry Watson Fowler (Translator), Francis George Fowler (Translator). Medford, MA, USA. 2023-08-01.

Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (1)

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

Λυκῖνος

εἰπέ μοι, ὦ Κράτων, ταυτὶ δὲ περὶ ὀρχήσεως καὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ γινομένων ἰδὼν πολλάκις αὐτὸς ἐπιτιμᾷς, ἢ ἀπείρατος ὢν τοῦ θεάματος ὅμως αἰσχρὸν αὐτὸ καὶ κατάπτυστον, ὡς φής, νομίζεις; εἰ μὲν γὰρ εἶδες, ἐξ ἴσου ἡμῖν καὶ σὺ γεγένησαι· εἰ δὲ μή, ὅρα μὴ ἄλογος ἡ ἐπιτίμησις εἶναί σου δόξῃ καὶ θρασεῖα, κατηγοροῦντος ὧν ἀγνοεῖς.

Κράτων

ἔτι γὰρ τοῦτό μοι τὸ λοιπὸν¹ ἦν, ἐν βαθεῖ τούτῳ τῷ πώγωνι καὶ πολιᾷ τῇ κόμῃ καθῆσθαι μέσον ἐν τοῖς γυναίοις καὶ τοῖς μεμηνόσιν ἐκείνοις θεαταῖς, κροτοῦντά τε προσέτι καὶ ἐπαίνους ἀπρεπεστάτους ἐπιβοῶντα ὀλέθρῳ τινὶ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐς οὐδὲν δέον κατακλωμένῳ.

Λυκῖνος

συγγνωστά σου ταῦτα, ὦ Κράτων. εἰ δέ μοι πεισθείης ποτὲ καὶ ὅσον πείρας ἕνεκα παράσχοις σεαυτὸν ἀναπετάσας τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, εὖ οἶδα ὡς οὐκ ἀνάσχοιο ἂν μὴ οὐχὶ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων θέαν ἐν ἐπιτηδείῳ καταλαμβάνων ὅθεν καὶ ὄψει ἀκριβῶς καὶ ἀκούσῃ ἅπαντα.

Κράτων

μὴ ὥρας² ἄρα ἱκοίμην, εἴ τι τοιοῦτον ἀνασχοίμην ποτέ, ἔστʼ ἂν δασύς τε εἴην τὰ σκέλη καὶ τὸ γένειον ἀπαράτιλτος· ὡς νῦν γε καὶ σὲ ἤδη ἐλεῶ τελέως ἡμῖν ἐκβεβακχευμένον.

Translations (1)

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

[5]

LYCINUS

Tell me, Crato, do you pass this censure upon dancing and what goes on in the theatre after having seen it often yourself, or is it that without being acquainted with the spectacle, you nevertheless account it shameful and abominable, as you put it? If you have seen it, you have put yourself on the same footing with us; if not, take care that your censure does not seem unreasonable and overbold when you denounce things of which you know nothing.

CRATO

Why, is that what was still in store for me—with beard so long and hair so grey, to sit in the midst of a parcel of hussies and a frantic audience like that, clapping my hands, moreover, and shouting very unbecoming words of praise to a noxious fellow who doubles himself up for no useful purpose?

LYCINUS

This talk is excusable in your case, Crato. But if you would only take my word for it and just for the experiment’s sake submit, with your eyes wide open, T know very well that you could not endure not to get ahead of everyone else in taking up an advantageously placed seat from which you could see well and hear everything.

CRATO

May I never reach ripeness of years if I ever endure anything of the kind, as long as my legs are hairy and my beard unplucked! At present I quite pity you; to the dismay of the rest of us, you have become absolutely infatuated!

Lucian De saltatione 5

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

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

Lycinus

Crato

Lycinus

Crato

Current edition Perseus

LYCINUS

CRATO

LYCINUS

CRATO

Stable identifiers