Lucian of Samosata, Hermotimus, ed. Kenneth Kilburn, 50

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ΕΡΜΟΤΙΜΟΣ

Ὦ Λυκῖνε, οὐκ οἶδα ὅπως εὔλογα μὲν δοκεῖς μοι λέγειν, ἀτάρ—εἰρήσεται γὰρ τἀληθές—οὐ μετρίως ἀνιᾷς με διεξιὼν αὐτὰ καὶ ἀκριβολογούμενος οὐδὲν δέον. ἴσως δὲ καὶ ἔοικα οὐκ ἐπ' ἀγαθῷ ἐξεληλυθέναι τήμερον ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἐντετυχηκέναι σοι, ὅς με πλησίον ἤδη τῆς ἐλπίδος ὄντα εἰς ἀπορίας φέρων ἐμβέβληκας ἀδύνατον ἀποφαίνων τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν εὕρεσιν ἐτῶν γε τοσούτων δεομένην.

ΛΥΚΙΝΟΣ

Οὐκοῦν, ὦ ἑταῖρε, πολὺ δικαιότερον μέμφοιο ἂν τῷ πατρί σου Μενεκράτει καὶ τῇ μητρὶ ἥτις ¹ ποτὲ ἐκαλεῖτο (οὐ γὰρ οἶδα), ἢ καὶ πολὺ πρότερον τῇ φύσει ἡμῶν ὅτι σε μὴ κατὰ τὸν Τιθωνὸν πολυετῆ καὶ μακρόβιον ἔθεσαν, ἀλλὰ περιέγραψαν μὴ πλείω βιῶναι τὸ μήκιστον ἐτῶν ἑκατὸν ἄνθρωπον ὄντα. ἐγὼ δὲ μετὰ σοῦ σκεπτόμενος εὗρον τὸ ἐκ τοῦ λόγου ἀποβάν.

Hermotimus. Lucian of Samosata. ed. Kenneth Kilburn. Medford, MA. Perseus 5.0.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Σκύθης ἢ πρόξενος (Greek) (Lucian, Vol. 6. Kilburn, Kenneth, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959 (unrenewed copyright).)

Editions (1)

Ἑρμότιμος ἢ Περὶ Αἱρέσεων Perseus (Lucian. Luciani Samosatensis Opera, Vol. 1. Jacobitz, Karl, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1909.) — 50 focus

Ἑρμότιμος

ὦ Λυκῖνε, οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως εὔλογα μὲν δοκεῖς μοι λέγειν, ἀτὰρ — εἰρήσεται γὰρ τἀληθές — οὐ μετρίως ἀνιᾷς με διεξιὼν αὐτὰ καὶ ἀκριβολογούμενος οὐδὲν δέον. ἴσως δὲ καὶ ἔοικα οὐκ ἐπʼ ἀγαθῷ ἐξεληλυθέναι τήμερον ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας καὶ ἐξελθὼν ἐντετυχηκέναι σοι, ὅς με πλησίον ἤδη τῆς ἐλπίδος ὄντα εἰς ἀπορίας φέρων ἐμβέβληκας ἀδύνατον ἀποφαίνων τῆς ἀληθείας τὴν εὕρεσιν ἐτῶν γε τοσούτων δεομένην.

Λυκῖνος

οὐκοῦν, ὦ ἑταῖρε, πολὺ δικαιότερον μέμφοιο ἂν τῷ πατρί σου Μενεκράτει καὶ τῇ μητρὶ — ἥτις ποτὲ καὶ ἐκαλεῖτο, οὐ γὰρ οἶδα — ἢ καὶ πολὺ πρότερον τῇ 792 φύσει ἡμῶν, ὅτι σε μὴ κατὰ τὸν Τιθωνὸν πολυετῆ καὶ μακρόβιον ἔθεσαν, ἀλλὰ περιέγραψαν μὴ πλείω βιῶναι τὸ μήκιστον ἐτῶν ἑκατὸν ἄνθρωπον ὄντα. ἐγὼ δὲ μετὰ σοῦ σκεπτόμενος εὗρον τὸ ἐκ τοῦ λόγου ἀποβάν.

Translations (2)

The Scythian or Consul Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 6. Kilburn, Kenneth, translator. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1959 (unrenewed copyright).) — 50 focus

HERMOTIMUS

I feel, Lycinus, that what you say is reasonable, but—and I shall be honest—you annoy me a great deal by this detailed examination and your unnecessary precision. It may be that it has done me no good in leaving home today and then meeting you. I was already near the fulfilment of my hopes, but you have thrown me into difficulties with your demonstration that the search for truth is impossible since it needs all those years.

LYCINUS

Surely it would be much fairer, my friend, to blame your father, Menecrates, and your mother, whatever her name was (I do not know) or before them our human natures for having made you (unlike Tithonus) of few years and short life, and for decreeing a hundred years as the longest life for man All I did was with your help to consider and discover the conclusions of the argument.

Hermotimus, or the Rival Philosophies Perseus (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 2. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.) — 50 focus

[50]

Hermotimus

Ah, Lycinus, your arguments seem to me more or less logical, but—but—to be frank with you—I hate to hear you going through them and wasting your acuteness. I suspect it was in an evil hour that I came out to-day and met you; my hopes were almost in my grasp; and now here are you plunging me into a slough of despond with your demonstrations; truth is undiscoverable, if the search needs so many years.

Lycinus

My dear friend, it would be much fairer to blame your parents, Menecrates and whatever your mother’s name may have been—or indeed to go still further back to human nature. Why did not they make you a Tithonus for years and durability? instead of which, they limited you like other men to a century at the outside. As for me, I have only been helping you to deduce results.

Notes on the current edition

Σκύθης ἢ πρόξενος

1. ἥτις β: εἴ τις γ.

Lucian of Samosata Hermotimus 50

ed. Kenneth Kilburn

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