§1Λουκιανὸς Κρονίῳ εὖ πράττειν.
Lucian to Cronius, greeting.
ΛουκιανὸςΛουκιανὸςΛουκιανὸςΛουκιανὸς κακοδαίμων Περεγρῖνος, ἢ ὡς αὐτὸς ἔχαιρεν ὀνομάζων ἑαυτόν, Πρωτεύς, αὐτὸ δὴ ἐκεῖνο τὸ τοῦ Ὁμηρικοῦ Πρωτέως ἔπαθεν· ἅπαντα γὰρ δόξης ἕνεκα γενόμενος καὶ μυρίας τροπὰς τραπόμενος, τὰ τελευταῖα ταῦτα καὶ πῦρ ἐγένετο· τοσούτῳ ἄρα τῷ ἔρωτι τῆς δόξης εἴχετο.
The ill-faced Peregrinus—or Proteus, as he delighted to call himself—has suffered the very fate of the Homeric Proteus; for having become all things for the sake of glory and having turned into a thousand shapes, at last he has actually become fire; so great, it seems, was the passion for glory that possessed him.
καὶ νῦν ἐκεῖνος ἀπηνθράκωταί σοι ΛουκιανὸςΛουκιανὸςΛουκιανὸςΛουκιανὸς βέλτιστος κατὰ τὸν Ἐμπεδοκλέα, παρʼ ὅσον ΛουκιανὸςΛουκιανὸςΛουκιανὸςΛουκιανὸς μὲν κἂν διαλαθεῖν ἐπειράθη ἐμβαλὼν ἑαυτὸν εἰς τοὺς κρατῆρας, ΛουκιανὸςΛουκιανὸςΛουκιανὸςΛουκιανὸς δὲ γεννάδας οὗτος, τὴν πολυανθρωποτάτην τῶν Ἑλληνικῶν πανηγύρεων τηρήσας, πυρὰν ὅτι μεγίστην νήσας ἐνεπήδησεν ἐπὶ τοσούτων μαρτύρων, καὶ λόγους τινὰς ὑπὲρ τούτου εἰπὼν πρὸς τοὺς Ἕλληνας οὐ πρὸ πολλῶν ἡμερῶν τοῦ τολμήματος.
And now that excellent fellow of yours has been reduced to ashes, after the manner of Empedocles, except that the former indeed tried to escape notice when he threw himself into the craters, whereas this noble fellow, having waited for the most crowded of the Greek festivals, piled up a pyre of immense size and leaped into it before so many witnesses, even delivering some speeches on the subject to the Greeks not many days before his daring deed.
§2πολλὰ τοίνυν δοκῶ μοι ὁρᾶν σε γελῶντα ἐπὶ τῇ κορύζῃ τοῦ γέροντος, μᾶλλον δὲ καὶ ἀκούω βοῶντος οἷά σε εἰκὸς βοᾶν,
ὢ τῆς ἀβελτερίας, ὢ τῆς δοξοκοπίας, ὢ —
τῶν ἄλλων ἃ λέγειν εἰώθαμεν περὶ αὐτῶν.
So I think I see you laughing heartily at the dotage of the old man, or rather I even hear you shouting out what you are likely to shout: "Oh, the stupidity! Oh, the vanity! Oh, the..." and the rest of what we are accustomed to say about them.
σὺ μὲν οὖν πόρρω ταῦτα καὶ μακρῷ ἀσφαλέστερον, ἐγὼ δὲ παρὰ τὸ πῦρ αὐτὸ καὶ ἔτι πρότερον ἐν πολλῷ πλήθει τῶν ἀκροατῶν εἶπον αὐτά, ἐνίων μὲν ἀχθομένων, ὅσοι ἐθαύμαζον τὴν ἀπόνοιαν τοῦ γέροντος· ἦσαν δέ τινες οἳ καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐγέλων ἐπʼ αὐτῷ.
Now you say these things at a distance and in much greater safety, but I said them by the very fire, and even earlier in a great crowd of listeners, while some were angry, namely those who admired the madness of the old man, though there were some who themselves laughed at him.
ἀλλʼ ὀλίγου δεῖν ὑπὸ τῶν Κυνικῶν ἐγώ σοι διεσπάσθην ὥσπερ ὁ Ἀκταίων ὑπὸ τῶν κυνῶν ἢ ὁ ἀνεψιὸς αὐτοῦ ὁ Πενθεὺς ὑπὸ τῶν Μαινάδων.
Indeed, I was all but torn to pieces for you by the Cynics, just as Actaeon was by his dogs or his cousin Pentheus by the Maenads.
§3ἡ δὲ πᾶσα τοῦ πράγματος διασκευὴ τοιάδε ἦν.
The whole arrangement of the affair was as follows.
τὸν μὲν ποιητὴν οἶσθα οἷός τε ἦν καὶ ἡλίκα ἐτραγῴδει παρʼ ὅλον τὸν βίον, ὑπὲρ τὸν Σοφοκλέα καὶ τὸν Αἰσχύλον.
You know what kind of a poet he was and how grandly he used to play the tragedy throughout his life, surpassing Sophocles and Aeschylus.
ἐγὼ δὲ ἐπεὶ τάχιστα εἰς τὴν Ἦλιν ἀφικόμην, διὰ τοῦ γυμνασίου ἀνιὼν ἐπήκουον ἅμα Κυνικοῦ τινος μεγάλῃ καὶ τραχείᾳ τῇ φωνῇ τὰ συνήθη ταῦτα καὶ ἐκ τριόδου τὴν ἀρετὴν ἐπιβοωμένου καὶ ἅπασιν ἁπαξαπλῶς λοιδορουμένου.
As soon as I arrived at Elis, as I was going up through the gymnasium, I heard a certain Cynic shouting in a loud and harsh voice those commonplaces, crying up virtue at the crossroads and abusing everyone without exception.
εἶτα κατέληξεν αὐτῷ ἡ βοὴ ἐς τὸν Πρωτέα, καὶ ὡς ἂν οἷός τε ὦ πειράσομαί σοι αὐτὰ ἐκεῖνα ἀπομνημονεῦσαι ὡς ἐλέγετο.
Then his shouting ended with Proteus, and I will try to recall to you those very words as they were spoken, as best as I am able.
σὺ δὲ γνωριεῖς δηλαδή, πολλάκις αὐτοῖς παραστὰς βοῶσιν.
You will recognize them, of course, having often stood by them as they shouted.
§4Πρωτέα γάρ τις,
ἔφη,
κενόδοξον τολμᾷ λέγειν, ὦ γῆ καὶ ἥλιε καὶ ποταμοὶ καὶ θάλαττα καὶ πατρῷε Ἡράκλεις — Πρωτέα τὸν ἐν Συρίᾳ δεθέντα, τὸν τῇ πατρίδι ἀνέντα πεντακισχίλια τάλαντα, τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς Ῥωμαίων πόλεως ἐκβληθέντα, τὸν τοῦ Ἡλίου ἐπισημότερον, τὸν αὐτῷ ἀνταγωνίσασθαι τῷ Ὀλυμπίῳ δυνάμενον;
"For does anyone dare," he said, "to call Proteus vain-glorious, O earth and sun and rivers and sea and Hercules of our fathers!—Proteus, who was bound in Syria, who remitted five thousand talents to his native land, who was banished from the city of Rome, who is more illustrious than the Sun, who is able to rival the Olympian Zeus himself?
ἀλλʼ ὅτι διὰ πυρὸς ἐξάγειν τοῦ βίου διέγνωκεν ἑαυτόν, εἰς κενοδοξίαν τινὲς τοῦτο ἀναφέρουσιν;
But because he has resolved to depart from life by fire, do some attribute this to vain-glory?
οὐ γὰρ Ἡρακλῆς οὕτως;
For did not Hercules do so?
οὐ γὰρ Ἀσκληπιὸς καὶ Διόνυσος κεραυνῷ;
Did not Asclepius and Dionysus by lightning?
οὐ γὰρ τὰ τελευταῖα Ἐμπεδοκλῆς εἰς τοὺς κρατῆρας; §5ὡς δὲ ταῦτα εἶπεν ὁ Θεαγένης — τοῦτο γὰρ ὁ κεκραγὼς ἐκεῖνος ἐκαλεῖτο — ἠρόμην τινὰ τῶν παρεστώτων,
τί βούλεται τὸ περὶ τοῦ πυρός, ἢ τί Ἡρακλῆς καὶ Ἐμπεδοκλῆς πρὸς τὸν Πρωτέα.
Did not Empedocles at last into the craters?" When Theagenes—for that was what the bawler was called—said these things, I asked one of those standing by: "What is the meaning of this business about the fire?
ὁ δέ,
οὐκ εἰς μακράν,
ἔφη,
καύσει ἑαυτὸν ὁ Πρωτεὺς Ὀλυμπίασιν. πῶς,
ἔφην,
ἢ τίνος ἕνεκα; εἶτα ὁ μὲν ἐπειρᾶτο λέγειν, ἐβόα δὲ ὁ Κυνικός, ὥστε ἀμήχανον ἦν ἄλλου ἀκούειν.
Or what have Hercules and Empedocles to do with Proteus?" And he replied: "Before long, Proteus will burn himself at Olympia." "How," said I, "or for what reason?" Then the man tried to explain, but the Cynic was shouting so that it was impossible to hear anyone else.
ἐπήκουον οὖν τὰ λοιπὰ ἐπαντλοῦντος αὐτοῦ καὶ θαυμαστάς τινας ὑπερβολὰς διεξιόντος κατὰ τοῦ Πρωτέως· τὸν μὲν γὰρ Σινωπέα ἢ τὸν διδάσκαλον αὐτοῦ Ἀντισθένη οὐδὲ παραβάλλειν ἠξίου αὐτῷ, ἀλλʼ οὐδὲ τὸν Σωκράτη αὐτόν, ἐκάλει δὲ τὸν Δία ἐπὶ τὴν ἅμιλλαν.
So I listened to the rest as he poured it out, recounting some wonderful exaggerations about Proteus; for he did not even deign to compare the man of Sinope or his teacher Antisthenes to him, nor even Socrates himself, but challenged Zeus to a contest.
εἶτα μέντοι ἔδοξεν αὐτῷ ἴσους πως φυλάξαι αὐτούς, καὶ οὕτω κατέπαυε τὸν λόγον·
Then, however, he thought fit to keep them somehow equal, and so he brought his speech to an end: