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Τάδε περὶ τῶν ἀπίστων συγγέγραφα. ἀνθρώπων γὰρ οἱ μὲν εὐπειθέστεροι πείθονται πᾶσι τοῖς λεγομένοις, ὡς ἀνομίλητοι σοφίας καὶ ἐπιστήμης, οἱ δὲ πυκνότεροι τὴν φύσιν καὶ πολυπράγματοι ἀπιστοῦσι τὸ παράπαν μηδὲ γενέσθαι τι τούτων. ἐμοὶ δὲ δοκεῖ γενέσθαι πάντα τὰ λεγόμενα (οὐ γὰρ ὀνόματα μόνον ἐγένοντο, λόγος δὲ περὶ αὐτῶν οὐδεὶς ὑπῆρξεν· ἀλλὰ πρότερον ἐγένετο τὸ ἔργον, εἶθ’ οὕτως ὁ λόγος ὁ περὶ αὐτῶν)· ὅσα δὲ εἴδη καὶ μορφαί εἰσι λεγόμεναι καὶ γενόμεναι τότε, αἳ νῦν οὐκ εἰσί, τὰ τοιαῦτα οὐκ ἐγένοντο. εἰ γάρ ‹τί› ποτε καὶ ἄλλοτε ἐγένετο, καὶ νῦν τε γίνεται καὶ αὖθις ἔσται. ἀεὶ δὲ ἔγωγε ἐπαινῶ τοὺς συγγραφέας Μέλισσον καὶ Λαμίσκον τὸν Σάμιον ἐν ἀρχῇ λέγοντας ἔστιν ἃ ἐγένετο, καὶ νῦν ἔσται. γενομένων δέ τινα οἱ ποιηταὶ καὶ λογογράφοι παρέτρεψαν εἰς τὸ ἀπιστότερον καὶ θαυμασιώτερον, τοῦ θαυμάζειν ἕνεκα τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. ἐγὼ δὲ γινώσκω ὅτι οὐ δύναται τὰ τοιαῦτα εἶναι οἷα καὶ λέγεται· τοῦτο δὲ καὶ διείληφα, ὅτι, εἰ μὴ ἐγένετο, οὐκ ἂν ἐλέγετο. ἐπελθὼν δὲ καὶ πλείστας χώρας ἐπυνθανόμην τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ὡς ἀκούοιεν περὶ ἑκάστου αὐτῶν, συγγράφω δὲ ἃ ἐπυθόμην παρ’ αὐτῶν. καὶ τὰ χωρία αὐτὸς εἶδον ὡς ἔστιν ἕκαστον ἔχον, καὶ γέγραφα ταῦτα οὐχ οἷα ἦν λεγόμενα, ἀλλ’ αὐτὸς ἐπελθὼν καὶ ἱστορήσας.

De Incredibilibus. Palaiphatos. ed. Nicola Festa. Leipzig. 1902.

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De Incredibilibus (Greek) (Palaiphatos. Mythographi Graeci. Vol. 3, fasc. 2. Festa, Nicola, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1902.)

Translations (1)

On Unbelievable Stories First1KGreek (Palaiphatos. On Unbelievable Stories. Hawes, Greta, et al., translators. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies, 2021. (digital publication)) — prologue focus

Prologue

I have written down the following about unbelievable stories.

While some - those who are more gullible - believe everything that is said because they are untrained in philosophy and science, others – those more cynical and worldly by nature – disbelieve entirely that any of these things actually happened.

I think, however, that everything that is said actually happened. (Names do not come about on their own unless a story about them already exists. The event happened first, and then arose the story about it.) All those forms and shapes that are said to have once existed – but which now do not exist – could never have actually existed. For if something came into being at some time or other, it must also exist in our time and will exist likewise in the future. I for one always endorse what the writers Melissos and Lamiscos of Samos said at the beginning of their work: what exists now came into being previously, and will exist forever.¹ Poets and storytellers perverted some of what took place and made it more unbelievable and astonishing to astound their audiences.

But I know that such things are not possible, at least not in the way they are told. I have come to understand that if something did not actually happen, it would not be spoken about. I went to many places and I asked the elders what they had heard about each of them; I write down here what I learnt from them. I have personally seen the places, what each is like, and I have written in the following account not the sort of thing that is generally told, but what I have personally gone and researched.

Palaiphatos De Incredibilibus prologue

ed. Nicola Festa

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Prologue

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