Icaromenippus or The Sky-man

​Menippus: So, then, there were three thousand stades from the earth to the moon, our first station; and from there up to the sun, some five hundred parasangs; and the ascent from there to heaven itself and the citadel of Zeus—even for a swift eagle, this would be a single day’s journey. Companion: In the name of the Graces, Menippus, why are you thus stargazing and quietly measuring? For I have been listening to you for a long time as I followed behind you, hearing you mutter about suns and moons, and furthermore, introducing these strange terms, stations and parasangs. Menippus: Do not wonder, my friend, if I seem to speak to you of lofty and airy matters; for I am calculating for myself the sum total of my recent journey abroad. Companion: Then, my good man, did you steer your course by the stars, like the Phoenicians? Menippus: By Zeus, no! I was making my journey among the stars themselves. Companion: Heracles! You are telling of a very long dream indeed, if you fell asleep without knowing it and traveled all those parasangs.

​Menippus: Do I seem to you to be telling a dream, my dear fellow, when I have just arrived from Zeus? Companion: How did you say? Is our Menippus here, fallen from Zeus, out of heaven? Menippus: Indeed, I have come to you today from that very same great Zeus, having both heard and seen marvelous things. But if you disbelieve, this very thing makes me exceedingly happy—to be fortunate beyond belief. Companion: And how could I, divine and Olympian Menippus, being myself mortal-born and earthbound, disbelieve a man above the clouds, and—to speak in Homeric terms—one of the Heavenly Ones? But tell me this, if you please, in what manner you were raised up, and from where did you procure a ladder of such a great size? For as to your appearance, you do not look at all like that Phrygian youth, so that we might guess that you too had been snatched up by the eagle to be a cupbearer somewhere. Menippus: It is clear that you have been joking for a long time, and it is no wonder if the extraordinary nature of my story seems to you like a myth. Yet I had no need of a ladder for the ascent, nor of becoming the favorite of the eagle; for I had wings of my own. Companion: This is already beyond even Daedalus, if, in addition to everything else, you had turned from a man into some hawk or jackdaw without our knowing it. Menippus: Rightly, my friend, and not far from the mark did you guess; for I myself devised that Daedalean trick of the wings.

​Companion: Then, most daring of all men, were you not afraid that you might fall somewhere into the sea and present us with a Menippean Sea, named after you, just like the Icarian? Menippus: By no means. For Icarus, having fitted his plumage with wax, naturally fell when it quickly melted near the sun, losing his feathers; but our swift wings were waxless. Companion: What do you mean? For now, I know not how, you are gently drawing me toward the truth of your story. Menippus: In this way: having caught a huge eagle, and also a strong vulture, and having cut off their wings along with the shoulder-joints—or rather, if you have leisure, I will recount the whole plan from the very beginning. Companion: Most certainly! For I am suspended in mid-air by your words, and I am already gaping for the end of the narrative. By Zeus the Friend, do not leave me hanging somewhere up in the story, suspended by my ears.