Lucian of Samosata, Lexiphanes, Austin Morris Harmon (Translator), 9

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[9] Meantime, after lavation, came rollicking in to us, self-invited, Megalonymus the pettifogger, Chaereas the goldworker, he with the back of many colours, and Eudemus the broken-ear.”¹ I asked them what possessed them to come late. Quoth Chaereas: “I was forging trumpery for my daughter, balls and chains, and that is why I have come in on top of your dinner.” “For my part,” quoth Megalonymus, “I was about other matters. The day was incapable of justice,² as ye wit, and incompetent for pleading; wherefore, as there was a truce of the tongue, I was unable either to palaver or, as is my diurnal habit, to solicit.³, Learning that the magistrate was being grilled in public,⁴ I took an unvalued⁵ cloak, of sheer tissue, and priceless⁶ boots, and emitted myself.

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

Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

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

Editions (1)

Λεξιφάνης Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 5. Harmon, Austin Morris, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1936 (printing).) — 9 focus

Λεξιφάνης

καὶ ἐν ταὐτῷ λελουμένοι εἰσεκώμασαν ἡμῖν αὐτεπάγγελτοι Μεγαλώνυμός τε ὁ δικοδίφης καὶ Χαιρέας ὁ χρυσοτέκτων ὁ κατὰ νώτου ποικίλος καὶ ὁ ὠτοκάταξις Εὔδημος. κἀγὼ ἠρόμην αὐτούς, τί παθόντες ὀψὲ ἥκοιεν. ὁ μὲν οὖν Χαιρέας, ἐγώ, ἦ δʼ ὅς, λῆρόν τινα ἐκρότουν καὶ ἐλλόβια καὶ πέδας τῇ θυγατρὶ τῇ ἐμῇ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ὑμῖν ἐπιδείπνιος ἀφῖγμαι, ἐγὼ δέ, ἦ δʼ ὃς ὁ Μεγαλώνυμος, περὶ ἄλλα εἶχον· ἦν μὲν γὰρ ἄδικος ἡ ἡμέρα, ὡς ἴστε, καὶ ἄλογος· ὡς ἂν οὖν ἐχεγλωττίας οὔσης οὔτε ῥησιμετρεῖν εἶχον οὔτε ἡμερολεγδὸν προσυδρονομεῖσθαι·¹ πυθόμενος δὲ ὅτι ὁ στρατηγὸς ὀπτός ἐστιν, λαβὼν ἄχρηστα ἱμάτια εὐήτρια καὶ ἀφόρητα ὑποδήματα ἐξέφρησα ἐμαυτόν.

Translations (1)

Lexiphanes Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 2. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 9 focus

[9] At this moment broke in upon us from the bath, all uninvited, Megalonymus the attorney, Chaereas the goldsmith, striped back and all, and the bruiser Eudemus. I asked them what they were about to come so late. Quoth Chaereas: ‘I was working a locket and ear-rings and bangles for my daughter; that is why 1 come after the fair? ‘I was otherwise engaged,’ said Megalonymus; Go gle ‘know you not that it was a lawless day and a dumb? So, as tt was linguistice, there was truce to my calendarial clockings and plea-mensurations. But hearing the governor was giving a warm reception, I took my shiniest clothes, fresh from the tatlor, and my unpatched shoes, and showed myself out.

Notes on the current edition

Lexiphanes

Chaereas’ back bore the stripes of the lash; Eudemus wa a pugilist with "cauliflower" ears.

For ἄδικος ("unjust") as applied to a day in the sense that court was not held on it, cf. Athen. 98 B (Pompeianus).

Both the verbs of the original (rendered “palaver and “solicit”) refer to pleading in court and carry allusions to the custom of timing pleas by the water-clock. One of them (ῥησιμετρεῖν) is ridiculed in the Mistaken Critic, 24 (p.400).

Lexiphanes would be understood to mean “roasted,” but what he really meant was “visible.” Cf. Athen., 98 a (Pompeianus).

For ἄχρηστα, usually "useless,” in the sense "unused,” cf. Athen., 98A (Pompeianus), 97E (Ulpian).

In the Greek, ἀφόρητα (“unbearable”) in the sense “unworn,” cf. Athen., 98A (Pompeianus).

Lucian of Samosata Lexiphanes 9

Austin Morris Harmon (Translator)

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