Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/827

Rh LUCIANUS. ina<ie of the war of Marcus Antoninus against the Marcomanni, a. d. 170 — 175; and as Marcus is there called i^eo's, Voss inferred that the piece was written after the death of that emperor in 180, According to the computation of Keitz, which is that above given, Lucian would then have been more than sixty j-ears old. From ^ 56, it appears that Lucian's father was still alive when he visited Alexander ; but the visit might have taken place at least ten years before the account of it was written. {CVmton, Fasti Horn. A. D. S2.) That Lucian himself was a man of some consequence at the time of it appears from the intimate terms he was on with Rutilianus, ^ 54, and from the go- vernor of Cappadocia having given him a guard of two soldiers (§ 55). This is another argument for the visit having taken place when Lucian was well advanced in life, probably about fifty ; for his youth was spent in struggling with adverse fortune. In the 'AiroAoyia Tregit tocv cttI aiadcf (tvvovtwv^ § 1, he mentions having obtained an appointment in Egypt, probably under Commodus, when he had one foot almost in Charon's boat ; but we have no means of determining the age at which he died. On the whole, however, Reitz's calculation may be safely adopted, who places his life from the year !20 to the end of the century. Having thus endeavoured to fix Lucian's chro- nology, we may proceed to trace those particulars of his life which may be gathered from his works. In the piece called The Dream (riept tov ivimviov), which stands at the beginning of them, he repre- sents his parents as in poor circumstances, and as deliberating with their friends about the choice of a profession for himself, then about fourteen years of age. Those of the learned sort were too ex- pensive for the family means, and it was therefore resolved to apprentice him to some mechanical trade, which might bring in a quick return of money. As a schoolboy, he had shown a talent for making little waxen images ; and his maternal uncle benig a statuary in good repute, it was de- termined that he should be put apprentice to him. Lucian was delighted with the thoughts of his new profession ; but his very first attempt in it proved unfortunate. Having been ordered to polish a marble tablet, he leant too heavily upon it, and broke it. The consequence was, a sound beating from his uncle, which Lucian resenting, ran away home to his parents. In the version of the affair which he gave to them, he took the liberty to add a little circumstance, which already betrays the malice and humour of the Doy. He affirmed that his uncle had treated him thus cruelly because he was apprehensive of being excelled in his pro- fession ! The event itself may almost be regarded as an omen of his future course, and of his being destined from his earliest years to be an iconoclast. From the remainder of the Dream^ where, in imi- tation of Prodicus's myth of the choice of Her- cules, related in Xenophon's Memorabilia, 'Epfio- yKvcpiK-n (Statuary) and Uaideia (Education) contend which shall have him for a votary, we can only infer that, after some deliberation, Lucian henceforward dedicated himself to the study of rhetoric and literature ; but of the means which he found to compass his object we have no information. From the As Kar-nyop. § 27, it would appear that, after leaving his uncle, he wandered for some time about Ionia, without any settled plan, and possess- ing as yet but a very imperfect knowledge of the LUCIANUS. «LS Greek tongue. Subsequently, however, we fijid him an advocate by profession ; and if we may trust the authority of Suidas*, he seems to have practised at Antioch, According to the same writer, being unsuccessful in this calling, he em- ployed himself in writing speeches for others, in- stead of delivering them himself. But he could not have remained long at Antioch ; for at an early period of his life he set out upon his travels, and visited the greater part of Greece, Italy, and Gaul. At that period it was customary for professors of the rhetorical art to proceed to different cities, where they attracted audiences by their displays, much in the same manner as musicians or itinerant lecturers in modern times. The subjects of these displays were accusations of tyrants, or panegyrics on the brave and good (Ais Karry., § 32). It may be presumed that his first visit was to Athens, in order to acquire a perfect knowledge of the lan- guage ; and that he remained there a considerable time may be inferred as well from his intimate familiarity with all the graces of the Attic dialect, as from his acquaintance with Demonax there, whom he tells us he knew for a long period. ( Demonactis Vita, § 1.) He did not, however, gain so much reputation by his profession in Ionia and Greece as in Italy and Gaul, especially the latter country, which he traversed to its western coasts, and where he appears to have acquired a good deal of money as well as fame. {^AvoAoyla irepl twv eTrt IxiaQw, § 1 5 ; Ats Kariqy., § 27.) Whether he remained long at Rome is uncertain. From his tract 'Tirep rod Iv t?7 irpoaayop, Trralaixaros, § 13, he would seem to have acquired some, though perhaps an imperfect, knowledge of the Latin tongue ; and in the Ylepl tov riKeKTpov he describes himself as conversing with the boatmen on the Po. In the Uepl twu e-rrl /jLicr. aw., he shows an in- timate acquaintance with Roman manners ; but his picture of them in that piece, as well as in the Nigrinus, is a very unfavourable one. He probably returned to his native country in about his fortieth year, and by way of Macedonia. {Herodotus, § 7.) At this period of his life he abandoned the rhetorical profession, the artifices of which were foreign to his temper, the natural enemy of deceit and pretension (Ais uaj-qy., § 32, 'hi(vs, § 29) ; though it was, perhaps, the money he had made by it that enabled him to quit it, and to follow his more congenial inclinations. In his old age, indeed, he appears to have partially re- sumed it, as he tells us in his 'HpafcATjs, § 7 ; and to which period of his life we must also ascribe his AiJj/uo-os (§ 8), But these latter productions seem to have been confined to that species of de- clamation called a TrpocrXaXid, to which the pieces just mentioned belong, and for which we have no equivalent term ; and they were probably written rather by way of pastime and amusement than from any hopes of gam. There are no materials for tracing that portion of his life which followed his return to his native country. It was, however, at this period that he produced the works to which he owes his re- putation, and which principally consist of attacks upon the religion and philosophy of the age. The bulkiness of them suggests the inference that many years were spent in these quiet literary occupations, 1 though not undiversified with occasional travel ; I since it appears from the ITws Set ictt. crvy., $ 14, that he must have been in Achaia and Ionia about