Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/830

Rh 816 LUCIANUS. proper head. The life of that philosopher must have been prolonged considerably beyond the reign of Hadrian, since Lucian tells us that he was per- sonally acquainted with him for a long period. (^QaTfpcf/ Se xfii* Ari/j.cSi'aicTi, ical dirl jxrKiaTov aupe- yfi/dixriv, § 1.) Demonax was a philosopher after Lucian 's own heart, belonging to no sect, though he had studied the tenets of all, and holding the popular mythology in profound contempt. His ciiief leaning was to the school of Socrates, though, in the unconstrained liberty of his way of life, he seemed to bear some resemblance to Diogenes. Demonax sacrificed to the Graces, and was equally averse from the austerity of the Stoics and the filth of the Cynics. Had he been one of the latter, Lucian would never have mentioned him with praise. Of all the philosophic sects, Lucian de- tested the Cynics most, as may be seen in his J'ercgrmus, Fttgiiivi, Convivtum, &c. ; though he seems to have made an exception in favour of Meiiippus, on account, perhaps, of his satyrical writings, to which his own bear some resemblance. It was for his account of Demonax that Eunapius ranked Lucian among the biographers. Tlepl rrjs Uepeypiuov TeXevTijs, De Morte Peregrini^ contains some particulars of the life and voluntary auto-da-fe of Peregrinus Proteus, a fanatical cynic and apos- tate Christian, who publicly burnt himself from an impulse of vain-glory shortly after the 236th Olympiad (a. d. 165), and concerning whom fur- ther particulars will be found elsewhere. [Pe- regrinus.] Lucian seems to have beheld this singular triumph of fanaticism with a sort of bar- barous exultation, which nearly cost him a beating from the Cynics, who surrounded the pyre (§ 37). The MaKpoSioL may also be referred to this head, as containing anecdotes of several Greek and other worthies who had attained to a long life. 4. Romances. Under this head may be classed the tale entitled Aoukios i^ ''Ouos, Lucius sive A si- nus^ and the 'Ar)6ovs taroplas Xoyos a Kal fi {Verae Historlae). Photius (Cod. 129) is inclined to believe that Lucian's piece was taken from a fable by Lucius of Patrae, but does not speak very positively on the subject. It has been thought that Appuleius drew his story of the Golden Ass from the same source [Appuleius] ; retaining, however, the lengthy narrative and fanatical turn of the original tale ; whilst Lucian abridged it, and gave it a comic caste, especially in the denoucme7it, which, however, is sufficiently gross. M. Courier, on the contrary, who published an edition of the piece with a French version and notes (Paris 1818, 12mo), thinks that Lucian's is the original ; and this opinion is acceded to by M. Letrorme in the Jourjial des Savans, July, 1818. There are no means of deciding this question satisfactorily. The story turns on the adventures of Lucius, who, from motives of curiosity, having arrived at the house of a female magician in Thessaly, and beheld her transformation into a bird, is desirous of under- going a similar metamorphosis. By the help of the magician's maid, with whom he has ingratiated himself, he gets access to her magic ointments ; but, unfortunately, using the wrong one, is deservedly turned into an ass, in which shape he meets with a variety of adventures, till he is disenchanted by eating rose-leaves. The adventure with the robbers jn the cave is thought to have suggested the well- known scene in G'il Bias. The Ferae Ilistoriae were composed, as the author tells us in the be- LUCIANUS. ginning, to ridicule the authors of extravagant tales, including Homer's Odyssey., the Indica. of C'tesias, and the wonderful accounts of lambulus of the things contained in the great sea. Accord- ing to Photius (Cod. 166), Lucian's model was Antonius Diogenes, in his work called Tci vivip &ov]u dniara. That writer, however, was pro- bably later than Lucian. Still Lucian may have had predecessors in the style, as Antiphanes. The adventures related are of the most extravagant kind, but show great fertility of invention. Lu- cian tells us plainly what we have to expect ; that he -is going to write about things he has neither seen himself nor heard of from others ; things, moreover, that neither do, nor can by possibility exist ; and that the only truth he tells us is when he asserts that he is lying. He then describes how he set sail from the columns of Hercules, and was cast by a storm on an enchanted island, which ap- peared, from an inscription, to have been visited by Hercules and Bacchus ; where not only did the rivers run wine, but the same liquid gushed from the roots of the vines, and where they got drunk by eating the fish they caught. On again setting sail, the ship is snatched up by a whirlwind, and carried through the air for seven days and nights, till they are finally deposited in the moon by cer- tain enormous birds called Hippogypi (horse vul- tures). Here they are present at a battle between the inhabitants of that planet and those of the sun. Afterwards they prosecute their voyage through the Zodiac, and arrive at the city of Lanterns, where Lucian recognises his own, and inquires the news at home. They then pass the city of Nephe- lococcygia (Cloud-cuckoo-town), and are at length deposited again in the sea. Here they are swal- lowed up by an immense whale ; and their adven- tures in its belly, which is inhabited, complete the first book. The second opens with an account of their escape, by setting fire to a forest in the whale's belly, and killing him. After several more wonderful adventures, they arrive at the Isle of the Blest (MaKcipwv vijaos). Here they fall in with several ancient worthies, and Homer among the rest, which affords an opportunity for some remarks on his life and writings. Homer is made to con- demn the criticisms of Aristarchus and Zenodotus. He asserts, as Wolf and others have since done, that he began the Iliad with the anger of Achilles merely from chance, and without any settled plan ; and denies that the Odyssey was written before the Iliad, then a prevalent opinion. After this they again set sail, and arrive at the infernal regions, where, among others, they find Ctesias and Herodotus undergoing punishment for their false- hoods. The book is concluded with several more surprising adventures. That the Verae Historian supplied hints to Rabelais and Swift Is sufficiently obvious, not only from the nature and extravagance of the fiction, but from the lurking satire. 5. DIALOGUES. But Lucian's fame rests chiefly on his dialogues, by which term is here meant those pieces which are of an ethical or mythological nature, as well as of a dramatic form ; and which were intended to ridicule the heathen philosophy and religion ; for a few of his pieces which have not that scope are also in the siiape of dialogue. Lucian has himself explained the nature and novelty of his undertaking? in his Prometheus (Upds Tov einovTu npo/JLTjdfvs el 4u yois, § 5),vhere he tells us that it consists of a mixture of the Pla-