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XVIII

Menippus

Hermes

Menippus

Where are all the beauties, Hermes? Show me round; I am a new-comer.

Hermes

I am busy, Menippus. But look over there to your right, and you will see Hyacinth, Narcissus, Nireus, Achilles, Tyro, Helen, Leda,—all the beauties of old.

Menippus

I can only see bones, and bare skulls; most of them are exactly alike.

Hermes

Those bones, of which you seem to think so lightly, have been the theme of admiring poets.

Menippus

Well, but show me Helen; I shall never be able to make her out by myself.

Hermes

This skull is Helen.

Menippus

And for this a thousand ships carried warriors from every part of Greece; Greeks and barbarians were slain, and cities made desolate.

Hermes

Ah, Menippus, you never saw the living Helen; or you would have said with Homer,

Well might they suffer grievous years of toil

Who strove for such a prize.

We look at withered flowers, whose dye is gone from them, and what can we call them but unlovely things? Yet in the hour of their bloom these unlovely things were things of beauty.

Menippus

Strange, that the Greeks could not realize what it was for which they laboured; how short-lived, how soon to fade.

Hermes

I have no time for moralizing. Choose your spot, where you will, and lie down. I must go to fetch new dead.

Francis George Fowler

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

Current edition Perseus

Dialogues of the Dead (English) (The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 1. Fowler, Henry Watson and Fowler, Francis George, translators. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905.)

Editions (2)

Νεκρικοὶ Διάλογοι Perseus (Lucian. Luciani Samosatensis Opera, Vol. 1. Jacobitz, Karl, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1909.) — 18 focus

Μένιππος καὶ Ἑρμῆς.

Μένιππος

ποῦ δὲ οἱ καλοί εἰσιν ἢ αἱ καλαί, Ἑρμῆ; ξενάγησόν με νέηλυν ὄντα.

Ἑρμῆς

οὐ σχολή μοι, ὦ Μένιππε· πλὴν κατʼ ἐκεῖνο ἀπόβλεψον, ἐπὶ τὰ δεξιά, ἔνθα ὁ Ὑάκινθός τέ ἐστι καὶ Νάρκισσος καὶ Νιρεὺς καὶ Ἀχιλλεὺς καὶ Τυρὼ καὶ Ἑλένη καὶ Λήδα καὶ ὅλως τὰ ἀρχαῖα πάντα κάλλη.

Μένιππος

ὀστᾶ μόνα ὁρῶ καὶ κρανία τῶν σαρκῶν γυμνά, ὅμοια τὰ πολλά. 409

Ἑρμῆς

καὶ μὴν ἐκεῖνά ἐστιν ἃ πάντες οἱ ποιηταὶ θαυμάζουσι τὰ ὀστᾶ, ὧν σὺ ἔοικας καταφρονεῖν.

Μένιππος

ὅμως τὴν Ἑλένην μοι δεῖξον· οὐ γὰρ ἂν διαγνοίην ἔγωγε.

Ἑρμῆς

τουτὶ τὸ κρανίον ἡ Ἑλένη ἐστίν.

Μένιππος

εἶτα διὰ τοῦτο αἱ χίλιαι νῆες ἐπληρώθησαν ἐξ ἁπάσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος καὶ τοσοῦτοι ἔπεσον Ἕλληνές τε καὶ βάρβαροι καὶ τοσαῦται πόλεις ἀνάστατοι γεγόνασιν;

Ἑρμῆς

ἀλλʼ οὐκ εἶδες, ὦ Μένιππε, ζῶσαν τὴν γυναῖκα· ἔφης γὰρ ἂν καὶ σὺ ἀνεμέσητον εἶναι τοιῇδʼ ἀμφὶ γυναικὶ πολὺν χρόνον ἄλγεα πάσχειν· ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ ἄνθη ξηρὰ ὄντα εἴ τις βλέποι ἀποβεβληκότα τὴν βαφήν, ἄμορφα δῆλον ὅτι αὐτῷ δόξει, ὅτε μέντοι ἀνθεῖ καὶ ἔχει τὴν χρόαν, κάλλιστά ἐστιν.

Μένιππος

οὐκοῦν τοῦτο, ὦ Ἑρμῆ, θαυμάζω, εἰ μὴ συνίεσαν οἱ Ἀχαιοὶ περὶ πράγματος οὕτως ὀλιγοχρονίου καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἀπανθοῦντος πονοῦντες.

Ἑρμῆς

οὐ σχολή μοι, ὦ Μένιππε, συμφιλοσοφεῖν σοι. ὥστε σὺ μὲν ἐπιλεξάμενος τόπον, ἔνθα ἂν ἐθέλῃς, κεῖσο καταβαλὼν σεαυτόν, ἐγὼ δὲ τοὺς ἄλλους νεκροὺς ἤδη μετελεύσομαι.

Νεκρικοὶ διάλογοι Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 7. Macleod, Matthew Donald, editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961 (unrenewed copyright).) — 18 focus

358 ΚΝΗΜΩΝΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΥ

ΚΝΗΜΩΝ

Τοῦτο ἐκεῖνο τὸ τῆς παροιμίας· ὁ νεβρὸς τὸν λέοντα.

ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ

Τί ἀγανακτεῖς, ὦ Κνήμων;

ΚΝΗΜΩΝ

Πυνθάνῃ ὅ τι ἀγανακτῶ; κληρονόμον ἀκούσιον καταλέλοιπα κατασοφισθεὶς ἄθλιος, οὓς ἐβουλόμην ἂν μάλιστα σχεῖν τἀμὰ παραλιπών.

ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ

Πῶς τοῦτο ἐγένετο;

ΚΝΗΜΩΝ

Ἑρμόλαον τὸν πάνυ πλούσιον ἄτεκνον ὄντα ἐθεράπευον ἐπὶ θανάτῳ, κἀκεῖνος οὐκ ἀηδῶς τὴν θεραπείαν προσίετο. ἔδοξε δή μοι καὶ σοφὸν τοῦτο εἶναι, θέσθαι διαθήκας εἰς τὸ φανερόν, ἐν αἷς ἐκείνῳ καταλέλοιπα τἀμὰ πάντα, ὡς κἀκεῖνος ζηλώσειεν καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ πράξειεν.

359

ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ

Τί οὖν δὴ ἐκεῖνος;

ΚΝΗΜΩΝ

Ὅ τι μὲν αὐτὸς ἐνέγραψεν ¹ ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ διαθήκαις οὐκ οἶδα· ἐγὼ γοῦν ἄφνω ἀπέθανον τοῦ τέγους μοι ἐπιπεσόντος, καὶ νῦν Ἑρμόλαος ἔχει τἀμὰ ὥσπερ τις λάβραξ καὶ τὸ ἄγκιστρον τῷ δελέατι συγκατασπάσας.

ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ

Οὐ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτόν σε τὸν ἁλιέα· ὥστε τὸ σόφισμα κατὰ σαυτοῦ συντέθεικας.

ΚΝΗΜΩΝ

Ἔοικα· οἰμώζω τοιγαροῦν.

Translations (1)

Dialogues of the Dead Perseus (Lucian, Vol. 7. Macleod, Matthew Donald, translator. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961 (unrenewed copyright).) — 18 focus

Cnemon And Damnippus

CNEMON

It’s just like the proverb; the fawn’s caught the lion.

DAMNIPPUS

Why so angry, Cnemon?

CNEMON

You ask why I’m angry? I’ve been outsmarted, poor fool that I am, and have left an heir I didn’t want, passing over those I’d have preferred to have my property.

DAMNIPPUS

How did it happen?

CNEMON

I’d been showering my attentions on Hermolaus, the childless millionaire, in hopes of his death, and he was glad enough to have them. So I thought of another clever move, and decided to make my will public. I’ve left him all my property in it, hoping he in turn would emulate me, and do the same by me.

DAMNIPPUS

Well, what did he do?

CNEMON

What he put in his own will, I don’t know; I can only tell you that I myself died suddenly, when my roof fell down upon me, and now Hermolaus is in possession of my property, like a greedy bass that has swallowed both hook and bait.

DAMNIPPUS

Not only that, but he’s swallowed you the fisherman as well; you’ve been caught by your own cunning.

CNEMON

So it seems; that’s why I’m so sorry for myself.

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XVIII

Menippus

Hermes

Menippus Where are all the beauties, Hermes? Show me round; I am a new-comer.

Hermes I am busy, Menippus. But look over there to your right, and you will see Hyacinth, Narcissus, Nireus, Achilles, Tyro, Helen, Leda,—all the beauties of old.

Menippus I can only see bones, and bare skulls; most of them are exactly alike.

Hermes Those bones, of which you seem to think so lightly, have been the theme of admiring poets.

Menippus Well, but show me Helen; I shall never be able to make her out by myself.

Hermes This skull is Helen.

Menippus And for this a thousand ships carried warriors from every part of Greece; Greeks and barbarians were slain, and cities made desolate.

Menippus Strange, that the Greeks could not realize what it was for which they laboured; how short-lived, how soon to fade.

Hermes I have no time for moralizing. Choose your spot, where you will, and lie down. I must go to fetch new dead.

Current edition Perseus

Μένιππος καὶ Ἑρμῆς.

Μένιππος ποῦ δὲ οἱ καλοί εἰσιν ἢ αἱ καλαί, Ἑρμῆ; ξενάγησόν με νέηλυν ὄντα.

Μένιππος ὀστᾶ μόνα ὁρῶ καὶ κρανία τῶν σαρκῶν γυμνά, ὅμοια τὰ πολλά. 409

Ἑρμῆς καὶ μὴν ἐκεῖνά ἐστιν ἃ πάντες οἱ ποιηταὶ θαυμάζουσι τὰ ὀστᾶ, ὧν σὺ ἔοικας καταφρονεῖν.

Μένιππος ὅμως τὴν Ἑλένην μοι δεῖξον· οὐ γὰρ ἂν διαγνοίην ἔγωγε.

Ἑρμῆς τουτὶ τὸ κρανίον ἡ Ἑλένη ἐστίν.

Μένιππος οὐκοῦν τοῦτο, ὦ Ἑρμῆ, θαυμάζω, εἰ μὴ συνίεσαν οἱ Ἀχαιοὶ περὶ πράγματος οὕτως ὀλιγοχρονίου καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἀπανθοῦντος πονοῦντες.

358 ΚΝΗΜΩΝΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΥ

ΚΝΗΜΩΝ Τοῦτο ἐκεῖνο τὸ τῆς παροιμίας· ὁ νεβρὸς τὸν λέοντα.

ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ Τί ἀγανακτεῖς, ὦ Κνήμων;

ΚΝΗΜΩΝ Πυνθάνῃ ὅ τι ἀγανακτῶ; κληρονόμον ἀκούσιον καταλέλοιπα κατασοφισθεὶς ἄθλιος, οὓς ἐβουλόμην ἂν μάλιστα σχεῖν τἀμὰ παραλιπών.

ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ Πῶς τοῦτο ἐγένετο;

ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ Τί οὖν δὴ ἐκεῖνος;

ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ Οὐ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτόν σε τὸν ἁλιέα· ὥστε τὸ σόφισμα κατὰ σαυτοῦ συντέθεικας.

ΚΝΗΜΩΝ Ἔοικα· οἰμώζω τοιγαροῦν.

Cnemon And Damnippus

CNEMON It’s just like the proverb; the fawn’s caught the lion.

DAMNIPPUS Why so angry, Cnemon?

CNEMON You ask why I’m angry? I’ve been outsmarted, poor fool that I am, and have left an heir I didn’t want, passing over those I’d have preferred to have my property.

DAMNIPPUS How did it happen?

DAMNIPPUS Well, what did he do?

CNEMON What he put in his own will, I don’t know; I can only tell you that I myself died suddenly, when my roof fell down upon me, and now Hermolaus is in possession of my property, like a greedy bass that has swallowed both hook and bait.

DAMNIPPUS Not only that, but he’s swallowed you the fisherman as well; you’ve been caught by your own cunning.

CNEMON So it seems; that’s why I’m so sorry for myself.

Stable identifiers

Menippus

Where are all the beauties, Hermes? Show me round; I am a new-comer.

Hermes

I am busy, Menippus. But look over there to your right, and you will see Hyacinth, Narcissus, Nireus, Achilles, Tyro, Helen, Leda,—all the beauties of old.

Menippus

I can only see bones, and bare skulls; most of them are exactly alike.

Hermes

Those bones, of which you seem to think so lightly, have been the theme of admiring poets.

Menippus

Well, but show me Helen; I shall never be able to make her out by myself.

Hermes

This skull is Helen.

Menippus

And for this a thousand ships carried warriors from every part of Greece; Greeks and barbarians were slain, and cities made desolate.

Menippus

Strange, that the Greeks could not realize what it was for which they laboured; how short-lived, how soon to fade.

Hermes

I have no time for moralizing. Choose your spot, where you will, and lie down. I must go to fetch new dead.

Μένιππος

ποῦ δὲ οἱ καλοί εἰσιν ἢ αἱ καλαί, Ἑρμῆ; ξενάγησόν με νέηλυν ὄντα.

Μένιππος

ὀστᾶ μόνα ὁρῶ καὶ κρανία τῶν σαρκῶν γυμνά, ὅμοια τὰ πολλά. 409

Ἑρμῆς

καὶ μὴν ἐκεῖνά ἐστιν ἃ πάντες οἱ ποιηταὶ θαυμάζουσι τὰ ὀστᾶ, ὧν σὺ ἔοικας καταφρονεῖν.

Μένιππος

ὅμως τὴν Ἑλένην μοι δεῖξον· οὐ γὰρ ἂν διαγνοίην ἔγωγε.

Ἑρμῆς

τουτὶ τὸ κρανίον ἡ Ἑλένη ἐστίν.

Μένιππος

οὐκοῦν τοῦτο, ὦ Ἑρμῆ, θαυμάζω, εἰ μὴ συνίεσαν οἱ Ἀχαιοὶ περὶ πράγματος οὕτως ὀλιγοχρονίου καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἀπανθοῦντος πονοῦντες.

ΚΝΗΜΩΝ

Τοῦτο ἐκεῖνο τὸ τῆς παροιμίας· ὁ νεβρὸς τὸν λέοντα.

ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ

Τί ἀγανακτεῖς, ὦ Κνήμων;

ΚΝΗΜΩΝ

Πυνθάνῃ ὅ τι ἀγανακτῶ; κληρονόμον ἀκούσιον καταλέλοιπα κατασοφισθεὶς ἄθλιος, οὓς ἐβουλόμην ἂν μάλιστα σχεῖν τἀμὰ παραλιπών.

ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ

Πῶς τοῦτο ἐγένετο;

ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ

Τί οὖν δὴ ἐκεῖνος;

ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ

Οὐ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτόν σε τὸν ἁλιέα· ὥστε τὸ σόφισμα κατὰ σαυτοῦ συντέθεικας.

ΚΝΗΜΩΝ

Ἔοικα· οἰμώζω τοιγαροῦν.

CNEMON

It’s just like the proverb; the fawn’s caught the lion.

DAMNIPPUS

Why so angry, Cnemon?

CNEMON

You ask why I’m angry? I’ve been outsmarted, poor fool that I am, and have left an heir I didn’t want, passing over those I’d have preferred to have my property.

DAMNIPPUS

How did it happen?

DAMNIPPUS

Well, what did he do?

CNEMON

What he put in his own will, I don’t know; I can only tell you that I myself died suddenly, when my roof fell down upon me, and now Hermolaus is in possession of my property, like a greedy bass that has swallowed both hook and bait.

DAMNIPPUS

Not only that, but he’s swallowed you the fisherman as well; you’ve been caught by your own cunning.

CNEMON

So it seems; that’s why I’m so sorry for myself.