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 an irony, in which Plato had been his master, with an Aristophanic mirth and fancy. His satire ranges over the whole life of his time. And he has been an originating force in literature. His True History is the prototype of such works as Gulliver's Travels; his Dialogues of the Dead were precursors of Landor's Imaginary Conversations. A man of letters in Lucian's day might have said with Virgil, but in a yet wider sense, "Omnia iam vulgata." Lucian always tried, in his own phrase, to keep out of the ruts (, 23). Thus in his Encomium on Demosthenes he lends freshness to a well-worn theme by the ingenious fiction of an old manuscript containing a journal of the Macedonian Court, and recording, among other things, a conversation between the Regent Antipater and the man Archias, whom he sent to arrest the Athenian orator. But the present lecture cannot attempt to deal with the whole range of Lucian's writings. Its scope will be confined to three points—(1) Lucian's testimony to the state of pagan religion in his own day; (2) his view of contemporary philosophy; (3) his references to Christianity.

It will be remembered that Lucian's time—the second half of the second century—was a critical moment in the history of the Church. The dilemma which then confronted Christians has been thus stated by Professor Harnack:—

"Should the Church take the decisive step into the world—consent to its arrangements, conform to its customs, acknowledge as far as possible its authorities, and satisfy its requirements? Or