§prologueΛουκιανὸς Νιγρίνῳ εὖ πράττειν.
Lucian to Nigrinus, greetings.
ἡ μὲν παροιμία φησίν, Γλαῦκα εἰς Ἀθήνας, ὡς γελοῖον ὂν εἴ τις ἐκεῖ κομίζοι γλαῦκας, ὅτι πολλαὶ παρʼ αὐτοῖς εἰσιν.
The proverb says, "Owls to Athens," because it would be ridiculous if anyone should carry owls there, since they have many of them.
ἐγὼ δʼ εἰ μὲν δύναμιν λόγων ἐπιδείξασθαι βουλόμενος ἔπειτα Νιγρίνῳ γράψας βιβλίον ἔπεμπον, εἰχόμην ἂν τῷ γελοίῳ γλαῦκας ὡς ἀληθῶς ἐμπορευόμενος·
Now if I, wishing to display my power of words, had then written a book and sent it to Nigrinus, I should have been held ridiculous, truly importing owls.
ἐπεὶ δὲ μόνην σοι δηλῶσαι τὴν ἐμὴν γνώμην ἐθέλω, ὅπως τε νῦν ἔχω καὶ ὅτι μὴ παρέργως εἴλημμαι πρὸς τῶν σῶν λόγων, ἀποφεύγοιμʼ ἂν εἰκότως καὶ τὸ τοῦ Θουκυδίδου λέγοντος, ὅτι ἡ ἀμαθία μὲν θράσος, ὀκνηροὺς δὲ τὸ λελογισμένον ἀπεργάζεται·
But since I only wish to show you my own mind, how I am now affected and that I have been seized by your words not in a superficial way, I would naturally escape also the saying of Thucydides, who says that ignorance breeds boldness, while reflection makes men hesitant.
δῆλον γὰρ ὡς οὐχ ἡ ἀμαθία μοι μόνη τῆς τοιαύτης τόλμης, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ πρὸς τοὺς λόγους ἔρως αἴτιος.
For it is clear that not ignorance alone is the cause of such daring in me, but also my love for your words.
ἔρρωσο.
Farewell.
§1## Νιγρίνου Φιλοσοφία
ὡς σεμνὸς ἡμῖν σφόδρα καὶ μετέωρος ἐπανελήλυθας.
## The Philosophy of Nigrinus How very solemn and lofty you have returned to us!
οὐ τοίνυν προσβλέπειν ἡμᾶς ἔτι ἀξιοῖς οὔθ’ ὁμιλίας μεταδίδως οὔτε κοινωνεῖς τῶν ὁμοίων λόγων, ἀλλʼ ἄφνω μεταβέβλησαι καὶ ὅλως ὑπεροπτικῷ τινι ἔοικας.
You do not even deign to look at us anymore, nor do you share your company, nor do you participate in similar conversations, but you have suddenly changed and altogether seem like someone who is haughty.
ἡδέως δʼ ἂν παρὰ σοῦ πυθοίμην, ὅθεν οὕτως ἀτόπως ἔχεις καὶ τί τούτων αἴτιον.
I would gladly learn from you whence you are in such an unusual state and what is the cause of these things.
Τί γὰρ ἄλλο γε, ὦ ἑταῖρε, ἢ εὐτυχία;
What else, my friend, indeed, than good fortune?
πῶς λέγεις;
How do you mean?
ὁδοῦ πάρεργον ἥκω σοι εὐδαίμων τε καὶ μακάριος γεγενημένος καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς ὄνομα, τρισόλβιος.
I have come back to you, as a byproduct of my journey, having become happy and blessed, and to use that theatrical word, thrice-blessed.
Ἡράκλεις, οὕτως ἐν βραχεῖ;
By Heracles, in so short a time?
καὶ μάλα.
Indeed so.
τί δέ, τὸ μετὰ τοῦτο, ἐστὶν ἐφʼ ὅτῳ καὶ κομᾷς;
What is it then, after this, on account of which you are so proud?
ἵνα μὴ ἐν κεφαλαίῳ μόνῳ εὐφραινώμεθα, ἔχωμεν δέ τι καὶ ἀκριβὲς εἰδέναι τὸ πᾶν ἀκούσαντες.
Tell us, so that we may not rejoice only in a general summary, but may have some accurate knowledge of the whole by hearing everything.
οὐ θαυμαστὸν εἶναί σοι δοκεῖ πρὸς Διός, ἀντὶ μὲν δούλου με ἐλεύθερον, ἀντὶ δὲ πένητος ὡς ἀληθῶς πλούσιον, ἀντὶ δὲ ἀνοήτου τε καὶ τετυφωμένου γενέσθαι μετριώτερον;
Does it not seem wonderful to you, by Zeus, that instead of a slave I have become free, instead of a poor man truly rich, and instead of a foolish and puffed-up man, more moderate?
§2μέγιστον μὲν οὖν· ἀτὰρ οὔπω μανθάνω σαφῶς ὅ τι καὶ λέγεις.
Most certainly; yet I do not yet understand clearly what you mean.
ἐστάλην μὲν εὐθὺ τῆς πόλεως βουλόμενος ἰατρὸν ὀφθαλμῶν θεάσασθαί τινα· τὸ γάρ μοι πάθος τὸ ἐν τῷ ὀφθαλμῷ μᾶλλον ἐπετείνετο.
I set out straight for the city, wishing to see an eye doctor; for the affliction in my eye was growing worse.
οἶδα τούτων ἕκαστα, καὶ ηὐξάμην σέ τινι σπουδαίῳ ἐπιτυχεῖν.
I know each of these things, and I prayed that you would meet with some serious physician.
δόξαν οὖν μοι διὰ πολλοῦ προσειπεῖν Νιγρῖνον τὸν Πλατωνικὸν φιλόσοφον, ἕωθεν ἐξαναστὰς ὡς αὐτὸν ἀφικόμην καὶ κόψας τὴν θύραν τοῦ παιδὸς εἰσαγγείλαντος ἐκλήθην·
So, having decided after a long time to greet Nigrinus the Platonic philosopher, I got up at dawn and went to him; and when the servant knocked at the door and announced me, I was called in.
καὶ παρελθὼν εἴσω καταλαμβάνω τὸν μὲν ἐν χερσὶ βιβλίον ἔχοντα, πολλὰς δὲ εἰκόνας παλαιῶν φιλοσόφων ἐν κύκλῳ κειμένας.
Going inside, I found him with a book in his hands, and many busts of ancient philosophers placed in a circle.
προὔκειτο δὲ ἐν μέσῳ καὶ πινάκιόν τισι τῶν ἀπὸ γεωμετρίας σχημάτων καταγεγραμμένον καὶ σφαῖρα καλάμου πρὸς τὸ τοῦ παντὸς μίμημα ὡς ἐδόκει πεποιημένη.
There lay before him in the middle also a small tablet inscribed with some geometrical figures, and a sphere of reeds made, as it seemed, to represent the universe.
§3σφόδρα οὖν με φιλοφρόνως ἀσπασάμενος ἠρώτα ὅ τι πράττοιμι.
Welcoming me very cordially, he asked how I was doing.
κἀγὼ πάντα διηγησάμην αὐτῷ, καὶ δῆτα ἐν μέρει καὶ αὐτὸς ἠξίουν εἰδέναι ὅ τι τε πράττοι καὶ εἰ αὖθις αὐτῷ ἐγνωσμένον εἴη στέλλεσθαι τὴν ἐπὶ τῆς Ἑλλάδος.
And I narrated everything to him, and then in turn I also thought it right to know what he was doing and if he had decided again to travel to Greece.
ὁ δὲ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ἀρξάμενος, ὦ ἑταῖρε, περὶ τούτων λέγειν καὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γνώμην διηγεῖσθαι τοσαύτην τινά μου λόγων ἀμβροσίαν κατεσκέδασεν, ὥστε καὶ τὰς Σειρῆνας ἐκείνας, εἴ τινες ἄρα ἐγένοντο, καὶ τὰς ἀηδόνας καὶ τὸν Ὁμήρου λωτὸν ἀρχαῖον ἀποδεῖξαι· οὕτω θεσπέσια ἐφθέγξατο.
And he, starting from the beginning, my friend, to speak about these things and to explain his own opinion, poured such a great ambrosia of words over me that he made those Sirens, if they ever existed, and the nightingales, and the ancient lotus of Homer appear obsolete; so divinely did he speak.
§4προήχθη γὰρ αὐτήν τε φιλοσοφίαν ἐπαινέσαι καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ ταύτης ἐλευθερίαν καὶ τῶν δημοσίᾳ νομιζομένων ἀγαθῶν καταγελάσαι, πλούτου καὶ δόξης καὶ βασιλείας καὶ τιμῆς, ἔτι τε χρυσοῦ καὶ πορφύρας, τῶν πάνυ περιβλέπτων τοῖς πολλοῖς, τέως δὲ κἀμοὶ δοκούντων.
For he was led to praise philosophy itself and the freedom derived from it, and to laugh at those things considered goods by the public—wealth, glory, kingship, and honor, and further, gold and purple, which are highly admired by the many, and which until then seemed so to me too.
ἅπερ ἔγωγε ἀτενεῖ καὶ ἀναπεπταμένῃ τῇ ψυχῇ δεξάμενος αὐτίκα μὲν οὐδὲ εἶχον εἰκάσαι ὅπερ ἐπεπόνθειν, ἀλλὰ παντοῖος ἐγιγνόμην· ·
Receiving these words with an intent and opened soul, at first I could not even compare what I had experienced, but was thrown into all kinds of states.
καὶ ἄρτι μὲν ἐλυπούμην, ἐληλεγμένων μοι τῶν φιλτάτων, πλούτου τε καὶ ἀργυρίου καὶ δόξης, καὶ μόνον οὐκ ἐδάκρυον ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς καθῃρημένοις, ἄρτι δὲ αὐτὰ μὲν ἐδόκει μοι ταπεινὰ καὶ καταγέλαστα· ἔχαιρον δʼ αὖ ὥσπερ ἐκ ζοφεροῦ τινος ἀέρος τοῦ βίου τοῦ πρόσθεν ἐς αἰθρίαν τε καὶ μέγα φῶς ἀναβλέπων·
At one moment I was grieved because my dearest things, wealth, silver, and glory, were being refuted, and I almost wept over them being pulled down; at another moment they seemed to me low and ridiculous, and in turn I rejoiced as if looking up from some dark air of my former life into a clear sky and a great light.
ὥστε δή, τὸ καινότατον, τοῦ ὀφθαλμοῦ μὲν καὶ τῆς περὶ αὐτὸν ἀσθενείας ἐπελανθανόμην, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν ὀξυδερκέστερος κατὰ μικρὸν ἐγιγνόμην· ἐλελήθειν γὰρ τέως αὐτὴν τυφλώττουσαν περιφέρων.
So that, most strangely, I forgot my eye and the weakness around it, while in my soul I became gradually sharper of sight; for I had been unaware that until then I was carrying it around blind.