PREFACE INTRODUCTION THE VISION A LITERARY PROMETHEUS NIGRINUS TRIAL IN THE COURT OF VOWELS TIMON THE MISANTHROPE PROMETHEUS ON CAUCASUS DIALOGUES OF THE GODS i, ii, iii, vi, vii, viii, xi, xii, xiii, xiv, xv, xvi, xviii, xix, xx, xxi, xxiv, xxv, xxvi. DIALOGUES OF THE SEA-GODS i, ii, iii, iv, v, vi, vii, viii, ix, x, xi, xii, xiv, xv. DIALOGUES OF THE DEAD I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX, XXX. MENIPPUS CHARON OF SACRIFICE SALE OF CREEDS THE FISHER VOYAGE TO THE LOWER WORLD INTRODUCTION 1. LIFE. 2. PROBABLE ORDER OF WRITINGS. 3. CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE TIME. 4. LUCIAN AS A WRITER. It is not to be understood that all statements here made are either ascertained facts or universally admitted conjectures. The introduction is intended merely to put those who are not scholars, and probably have not books of reference at hand, in a position to approach the translation at as little disadvantage as may be. Accordingly, we give the account that commends itself to us, without discussion or reference to authorities. Those who would like a more complete idea of Lucian should read Croiset's _Essai sur la vie et les oeuvres de Lucien_, on which the first two sections of this introduction are very largely based. The only objections to the book (if they are objections) are that it is in French, and of 400 octavo pages. It is eminently readable. 1. LIFE With the exception of a very small number of statements, of which the truth is by no means certain, all that we know of Lucian is derived from his own writings. And any reader who prefers to have his facts at first rather than at second hand can consequently get them by reading certain of his pieces, and making the natural deductions from them. Those that contain biographical matter are, in the order corresponding to the periods of his life on which they throw light, _The Vision, Demosthenes, Nigrinus, The Portrait-study_ and _Defence_ (in which Lucian is _Lycinus_), _The Way to write History, The double Indictment_ (in which he is _The Syrian_), _The Fisher_ (_Parrhesiades_), _Swans and Amber, Alexander_, _Hermotimus_ (_Lycinus_), _Menippus and Icaromenippus_ (in which _Menippus_ represents him), _A literary Prometheus, Herodotus, Zeuxis, Harmonides, The Scythian_, _The Death of Peregrine_, _The Book-fancier_, _Demonax_, _The Rhetorician's Vade mecum_, _Dionysus_, _Heracles_, _A Slip of the Tongue_, _Apology for 'The dependent Scholar.'_ Of these _The Vision_ is a direct piece of autobiography; there is intentional but veiled autobiography in several of the other pieces; in others again conclusions can be drawn from comparison of his statements with facts known from external sources.