The Works of Lucian of Samosata — Volume 01Lucian, of Samosata
General
The Works of Lucian of Samosata — Volume 01
Lucian, of Samosata
Lucian, of Samosata -- Translations into English
_Philos_. Well thought of; come, all of you; you will not mind sitting
through a single case—in which we have a personal interest, too?
_Truth_. Go on, the rest of you; it is superfluous for me to hear what
I know all about before.
_Philos_. But, Truth dear, your presence will be useful to us; you will
show us what to think.
_Truth_. May I bring my two favourite maids, then?
_Philos_. And as many more as you like.
_Truth_. Come with me, Freedom and Frankness; this poor little adorer
of ours is in trouble without any real reason; we shall be able to get
him out of it. Exposure, my man, we shall not want you.
_Lu_. Ah yes, Mistress, let us have him, of all others; my opponents
are no ordinary ruffians; they are people who make a fine show and are
hard to expose; they have always some back way out of a difficulty; we
must have Exposure.
_Philos_. Yes, we must, indeed; and you had better bring Demonstration
too.
_Truth_. Come all of you, as you are such important legal persons.
_Ar_. What is this? Philosophy, he is employing Truth against us!
_Philos_. And are Plato and Chrysippus and Aristotle afraid of her
lying on his behalf, being who she is?
_Pl_. Oh, well, no; only he is a sad plausible rogue; he will take her
in.
_Philos_. Never fear; no wrong will be done, with madam Justice on the
bench by us. Let us go up.
Prisoner, your name?
_Lu_. Parrhesiades, son of Alethion, son of Elenxicles.*
[Footnote: i.e. Free-speaker, son of Truthful, son of Exposure.]
_Philos_. And your country?
_Lu_. I am a Syrian from the Euphrates, my lady. But is the question
relevant? Some of my accusers I know to be as much barbarians by blood
as myself; but character and culture do not vary as a man comes from
Soli or Cyprus, Babylon or Stagira. However, even one who could not
talk Greek would be none the worse in your eyes, so long as his
sentiments were right and just.
_Philos_. True, the question was unnecessary.
But what is your profession? that at least is essential.
_Lu_. I profess hatred of pretension and imposture, lying, and pride;
the whole loathsome tribe of them I hate; and you know how numerous
they are.
_Philos_. Upon my word, you must have your hands full at this
profession!
_Lu_. I have; you see what general dislike and danger it brings upon
me. However, I do not neglect the complementary branch, in which love
takes the place of hate; it includes love of truth and beauty and
simplicity and all that is akin to love. But the subjects for this
branch of the profession are sadly few; those of the other, for whom
hatred is the right treatment, are reckoned by the thousand. Indeed
there is some danger of the one feeling being atrophied, while the
other is over-developed.
_Philos_. That should not be; they run in couples, you know. Do not
separate your two branches; they should have unity in diversity.
_Lu_. You know better than I, Philosophy. My way is just to hate a
villain, and love and praise the good.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account