Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/56

Rh 42 L U C L U C sepulchre of St Agatha in Catania, was persuaded by Lucia to distribute all her wealth to the poor. The youth to whom the daughter had been betrothed forthwith denounced her to Paschasius the prefect, who ordered that she should be taken away and subjected to shameful outrage. But it was found that no force which could be applied was able to move her from the spot on which she stood ; even boiling oil and burning pitch had no power to hurt her, until at last she was slain with the sword. Such in substance is the narrative of the appropriate lessons given in the Roman Breviary for the festival of St Lucia on December 13 (duplex); a later legend represents her as having plucked out her eyes when they threatened to become a snare to her lover, and as having had them after wards restored to her more beautiful than before. In art she is represented as suffering martyrdom, as bearing her eyes on a salver, or as carrying a flaming lamp in her hand ; in the last case she is the type of celestial light or wisdom (comp. Dante, //., ii.; Pitry., ix.; Par., xxxii.). She is invoked in cases of eye-disease, and is also regarded as the patroness of the labouring poor. LUCIAN, one of the principal essay-writers (Aoyoypa&amp;lt;4oi) and satirists of the post-Christian era, the silver age of Greek literature, was born at Samosata on the Euphrates in northern Syria. 1 We have no indication of the precise date of his birth, but it is probable that he nourished about or after the middle of the 2d century, as he mentions Marcus Aurelius and his war with the German Marco- manni and Quadi (170-74 A.D.) in his Alexander ( 43). He tells us in the Somnium or Vita Luciani, 1, that his means being small he was at first apprenticed to his maternal uncle, a statuary, or rather sculptor of the stone pillars called Hermae. 2 When a schoolboy he had been in the habit of scraping the wax from his tablets and using it for moulding or modelling little figures of dogs, horses, or men. 3 Having made an unlucky beginning by breaking a marble slab, and having been well beaten for it, he absconded and returned home. Here he had a dream or vision of two women, representing Statuary and Literature. Both plead their cause at length, setting forth the advantages and the prospects of their respective professions ; bat the youth chooses ILuSeia, and decides to pursue learning. For some time he sesms to have made money as a prJTwp, following the example of Demosthenes, on whose merits and patriotism he expatiates in the dialogue Demosthenis Encomium. It is clear from his numerous writings that he was very familiar with the rival schools of philosophy, and he must have well studied their teachings ; but he lashes them all alike, the Cynics, perhaps, being the chief object of his derision. 4 A large number of philosophers, both ancient and contemporary, are mentioned by name, nearly always in ridicule or disparagement. Lucian was not only a sceptic ; he was a scoffer and a downright unbeliever. He felt that men s actions and conduct always fall far short of their professions, and therefore he concluded that the professions themselves were worthless, and a mere guise to secure popularity or respect. Of Christianity he shows some knowledge, and it must 1 He mentions it only once, in the treatise -ircas Sel Itrroplav ffvy- ypz(pfii&amp;gt;, where he speaks of T^V W irarptSa TO. Sa^dirara ( 24). In Piscator ( 18), he speaks of himself as 2upos -rSov ETreu^pa- Ti&i&amp;lt;av. 2 The words &PHTTOS fp/j.oyv&amp;lt;pos elVcu SOK&V ( 3) are probably satirical, and really mean &amp;lt;pavos, &quot;second-rate,&quot; for it is clear that he disliked his uncle. 3 Ibid., 2. 4 Hence Diogenes is made to say in Piscator, 23, virep aTravras v^pifffjtai, sc. irpta hovKiavov. In $[a&amp;gt; Trpaffts (p. 551) the same philosopher asserts that &quot;any one will be looked up to and get a reputation if only he has impudence and abuse.&quot; At the auction Diogenes is valued at twopence ( 11). That Lucian had practised in law courts, and turned his eloquence afterwards against the philo sophers, is asserted in Pixcat., 25. have been somewhat largely professed in Syria at the close of the 2d century. 5 In the rhilopatris, though the dialogue so called is generally regarded as spurious, there is a statement of the doctrine of the Trinity, 6 and the &quot;Galilsean who had ascended to the third heaven&quot; ( 12), and &quot; renewed &quot; (aveKOLvurev) by the waters of baptism, may possibly allude to St Paul. The doctrines of the Ao yo? and the &quot;Light of the world,&quot; and that God is in heaven making a record of the good and bad actions of men, 7 seem to have come from the same source, though the notion of a written catalogue of human actions to be used in judgment was familiar to ZEschylus and Euripides. As a satirist and a wit Lucian stands without a rival. In these respects he may be said to occupy in prose litera ture the unique position which Aristophanes holds in Greek poetry. But whether he is a mere satirist, who laughs while he lashes, or a misanthrope, who hates while he derides, is not very clear. In favour of the former view it may be said that the two main objects of his ridicule are mythology and the sects of philosophy ; in favour of the latter, his bitter exposure of imposture and chicanery in the Alexander, and the very severe attacks he makes on the &quot;humbug&quot; of philosophy, 8 which he every where assails with the most acrimonious and contemptuous epithets. As a writer Lucian is fluent, easy, and unaffected, and a close follower of the best Attic models, such as Plato and the orators. His style is simpler than Plutarch s, and some of his compositions, especially the Dialogues of the Gods (pp. 204-287) and of the Marine Deities (288-327), and, above all, the Dialogues of the Dead (329-454), are models of witty, polished, and accurate Greek composition. Not less clever, though rather lax in morality, are the IraipiKoi StaAoyoi (pp. 280-325), which remind us somewhat of the letters of Alciphron. The sarcasms on the popular mythology, the conversations of Pluto, Hermes, Charon, and others of the powers in Hades, show a positive disbelief of any future state of existence. The model Lucian followed in these dialogues, as well in the style as in the sparkling and playful repartee, was the Platonic conversa tions, founded on the drama, of which the dialogue may be called the prose representative. Aristotle never adopted it, perhaps regarding it as beneath the true dignity of philosophy. The dialogue, in fact, was revived and improved by Lucian, 9 the old traditions of the AoyoTroiot and Aoyoypct(oi, and above all, the immense influence of rhetoric as an art, having thrown some discredit on a style of composition which, as introduced by Plato, had formed quite a new era in Greek prose composition. For rhetoric loved to talk, expatiate, and declaim, while dialectic strove to refute by the employment of question and answer, often in the briefest form. In his language, aa tested by the best classical models, Lucian is at once elegant and correct. But he occasionally indulges in idioms slightly solecistic, as in the use of KU.V 5 In the Alexandrus ( 25) we are told that the province of Pontus, due north of Syria, was &quot; full of Christians.&quot; 6 12, vl/tfj.eSofTa Qebv futyav fa/uPporov ovpaviiava, vibv Harpls, Tlvfvfj.a K Trarpbs (KiropfvAfj.evoi, ev fK rpiuiv KCL e| tpbs rpia, a passage which bears on the controverted procession &quot; a Patre Filioque. &quot; 7 Ibid., 13. ^Esch., Eum., 265, 8froypd&amp;lt;pa&amp;gt; 5e TTO.VT eVaiTra &amp;lt;ppevi. 8 At p. 792 Hermotimus says to Lycinus (who must be assumed to represent Lucian himself), v/3puTT7]s atl av, KO. OVK ol5 6 TI Tra6tit&amp;gt; /u.ifft7s &amp;lt;$&amp;gt;ioffO(pla.v KO. s rovs &amp;lt;pio(ro&amp;lt;povvTa.s a.iroffKu&amp;gt;irTtis. In Icaromcnippus ( 5) he says he always guessed who were the best physical philosophers &quot; by their sour-faced looks, their paleness of complexion, and the length of their beards.&quot; See also ibid., 29. 9 He says (speaking as 2i pos in Bis accttsatus, 34) that he found dialogue somewhat out of repute from the too numerous questions (i.e., employed by Plato), and brought it up to a more human and natural standard, substituting banter and repartee for dialectic quibbles and close logical reasoning.