by Daisy Dunn
Lucian: His Life or His Dream
Lucian
Translated by Francis Hickes, 1634
‘There’s nothing more boring than other people’s dreams’, so the saying goes. This story is certainly an exception. Lucian of Samosata (Samsat, Turkey), a Greek satirist of the second century AD, describes his boyhood dream with immense charm. The ancients tended to believe in the significance of dreams. Lucian’s apparently led him to change his career path from artist’s apprentice to rhetorician and writer. His seventeenth-century translator, the Oxford-educated Francis Hickes, renders his story compellingly.
After I had given over going to schoole, and was grown to be a stripling of some good stature, my father advised with his friends, what it were best for him to breed mee to: and the opinion of most was, that to make mee a scholler, the labour would be long, the charge great, and would require a plentifull purse: whereas our meanes were poore, and would soone stand in need of speedy supply: but if he would set mee to learn some manuall art or other, I should quickly get by my trade enough to serve my owne turne, and never be troublesome for any diet at home, if I were placed abroad, neither would it be long before I should make my father a glad man, to see mee daily bring home with mee what I had got by my labours.
This being concluded upon we begunne to consult againe what trade was best, soonest learned, and most fitting a freeman, that would be set up with an easie charge, and bring in a profitable returne. With that, some began to commend one trade, some another, as every mans fancie or experience led him, but my father casting his eyes upon mine uncle (for my uncle by the mothers side was there present, an excellent workman in stone, and held to be one of the best statuaries in all the country by no meanes, (said he) can I endure that any other art should take place, as long as you are in presence: take him therefore to you (shewing him mee) and teach him to be a skilfull workman in stone, how to joynt them together neatly, and to fashion his statues cunningly: he is able enough for it, and his nature inclinable enough to it; this he conjectured, because he had seene some toies of mine made out of waxe; for I could no sooner come home from schole, but I should be tempering waxe together, and out of it counterfeit the shapes both of oxen, horses, and men, and (as my father thought) hansomely enough, which my masters were wont to whip me for, though now it turned to my commendation: but those kinde of figments put mee in good hopes that I should learne my trade the sooner; and that very day was thought luckie for mee to be initiated into the art, whereupon I was committed to my uncle, and to confesse the truth, not much against my will: for I thought it would prove but a kinde of sport, and that I should be thought a brave fellow among my companions, if I could carve out gods, and pretty puppets, both for my selfe, and those lads I best liked of. But it fell out with mee, as with other yong beginners: for my uncle putting a carving toole into my hand, bad mee therewith to strike a table that lay before mee, softly and gently, adding withall this old proverbe What’s well begunne is halfe done: but my ignorance was such, that I smote too hard, and the table burst in peeces: which put him so farre out of patience, that he gave mee hansell in a harsh measure, as I thought, and exceeding the bounds of due correction, insomuch that teares were the proeme of my occupation, and I ranne away as fast as I could, crying out with full eyes, telling how I had been lasht, and shewing the prints which the stroakes had made upon me, exclaiming upon such crueltie, and adding this of mine owne, that it was onely for envie, lest in the end I should prove a better workman then himselfe: this greeved my mothers heart, and shee railed bitterly against her brother for using me with such extremitie: but when night came I went to bed, though swolne with teares, and all the night long it would not out of my minde: what I have hitherto delivered, is meerely ridiculous and childish: but now, Gentlemen, you shall heare matter not to be discommended, but what deserves attentive auscultation: for to say with Homer, A heavenly dreame seised upon mee, as I slept in the dead time of the night, so directly, that it failed nothing of truth it selfe; for even to this day, after so long a distance, the figures of the apparition sticke still in mine eyes, and the voice of that I heard soundeth in mine eares, every thing was delivered so plainly and apparently.
Mee thought two women laid fast hold on my hands, and either of them drew mee to her selfe with all the strength shee had, and contended so earnestly for mee, that I was almost torne in pieces betweene them: sometimes the one would have the better hand, and get me almost wholly into her clutches: within a while after the other would seise upon me as surely, still scolding and brawling one against another, the one saying I was hers, and she would keep possession of mee, the other answering, it was a follie for her to lay claime to that she had nothing to do withall. Now indeed, the one of them was a homely sturdie dame, with her haire ill-favourdly drest up, and her hands overgrowne with a hard skinne, her garment was tuckt up about her, all full of lime and morter, for all the world such another as mine uncle when he was about his worke: the other was a well faced wench of comely proportion and handsomely attired: in the end they referred the matter to mee, which of them I would betake my selfe unto: and first that sturdy manly drudge begunne with mee in this manner. I, sweete boy, am that art of carving, to which you professed your selfe an apprentise yesterday, a trade familiar to you, and tyed to your house by succession: for your grandfather (delivering the name of my mothers father) was a carver and so were both your uncles, and by that meanes came to be men of note and reputation: if thou wilt therefore renounce the fopperies and idle vanities that this female would lead thee into (pointing to the other) and follow mee as one of my family, first thou shalt be maintained in a plentifull fashion, thou shalt continue good strength of body, keep thy self evermore free from envie, & never be forced to forsake thy friends and country, & betake thy self to a forrain soile, nor be commended by all men for words onely: disdaine not then the meannesse of my person, nor the basenesse of my apparell, for such beginnings had Phidias, that carved Jupiter, and Polycletus who made the Image of Juno, and the renowned Myron, and the admired Praxitiles, who now are honoured as if they were gods: and if it be thy fortune to become such another, thou must needs be famous among men of all degrees, thy father shall be held for a happy man, and thou shalt adde a great deale of glory to thy country.
This and much more was babled and blundred out by that art, and hudled one in the necke of another (because she would faine have wrought upon me,) which I cannot now call to minde, for the most is quite out of my remembrance. But as soone as shee had given over, the other begunne in this sort:
And I, sweete child, am Learning, which thou hast long beene acquainted withall, and well knowne unto thee, though thou never cam’st to attain the full end and perfection of mee: what thou shalt get by the art of carving, shee hath told thee alreadie her selfe: but take this from mee, thou shalt never be any better then a peasant, and a bodily labourer, and therein must thou repose the whol hope of thy life, which can be but obscure, thy gettings small and simple, thy mind dejected, thy commings in poore, and thou neither able to patronage a friend, nor crie quittance with a foe, nor worthy to be emulated by other citizens, only a meer drudge, one of the common rascalitie, ready to give way to thy better, and waite upon him that can speake in thy behalfe, living the life of a hare: and great luck if ever thou light upon a better: for, say thou come to be as cunning as Phidias, or Polycletus, and worke many wonderous pieces, thy Art will certainly bee commended by all men, but not one that lookes on them, if hee love himselfe, will wish to be such an other as thou: for bee what thou canst be, thou shalt be but a mechanicall fellow, one of a manuall Trade, that hath no meanes to live, but by his handy-labour. But if thou wilt be ruled by me, I will acquaint thee with all the famous Acts, and memorable exploits of men of former time: I will make thee know all that hath beene spoken or delivered by them, so that thou shalt have a perfect insight into all things: thy minde, which is the lordly part within thee, I will beautifie and garnish with many excellent ornaments, as temperance, ju
stice, pietie, clemencie, wisdome, patience, the love of good things, and desire to attaine to matters of worth: for these indeede are the ornature of the minde that shall never decay: nothing whatsoever it be ancient or moderne shall escape thy knowledge: and by my assistance, thou shalt also foresee what is yet to come: and to conclude, I will in a short space make thee learned in all things divine and humane: so thou that art now so poore and simple, the son of a meane person, that lately was like to bee put to a base and ignoble Art, within a while shalt bee emulated and envied by all men, reverenced, commended and celebrated for thy good parts, and respected by those that are of an high ranked both for nobilitie and riches: then shalt thou be clad in such a garment as this is (shewing mee the mantle shee wore her selfe, which was very gorgeous to the eye) and thought worthy of all honour and preheminence: if it shall be thy fortune to travell into any forraine place, thou shalt never arrive there as a person unknowne and obscure, for I will set such markes and tokens upon thee, that every one that seeth thee shall jogge the next stander by on the elbow, and point out his finger toward thee saying, This is the man: If any occasion of urgencie betide thy friends, or the whole Citie, they all shall cast their eyes upon thee: when thou art to make a speech in any place, the whole multitude shall stand gaping to heare thee, admiring and wondring at thee, blessing the powerfulnesse of thy deliverance, and thy fathers happinesse to beget such a sonne: And as it is said of some men, that they shall continue immortall, the same will I effect in thee: for when thou shalt depart this life, thou shalt perpetually converse with learned men, and keepe company with the best: hast thou not heard of Demosthenes, what a poore mans sonne he was, and what a fellow I brought him to be? remembrest thou not Aeschines, the sonne of a Taberer? yet how did King Philip observe him for my sake? yes Socrates himselfe, though he were bred up in this art of carving, yet as soone as he made a better choice, and gave that trade the bagge, to be intertain’d as a fugitive by me, you know how much he was magnified by all men: and wilt thou forsake men of such excellent worth, such glorious exploits, such powerfull speeches, such decent attire, honour, glory, praise, precedencie, power, authority, commendation for good words, admiration for wisedome, and in leiw of all this, cover thy skinne with a base garment, cast a thread-bare cloak upon thy backe, have thy hands full of carving tooles, fit for thy trade, thy face ever more bent downewards towards thy worke, so continuing a sordide, slavish, and abject life, never able to lift up thy head, or to entertaine any manly or free thoughts, but all thy care must bee to have thy worke handsome and proportionable, respecting not a rush thine owne good, but making thy selfe of lesse value then a stone?
Whilest she was yet speaking, I could hold no longer for my life, but rising up, declared my selfe for her, and abandoning that ugly drudge, betooke me to learning with a glad heart, especially when I bethought my selfe of the lash, and the many stripes I received for my welcome the day before: she that was forsaken, tooke it haynously, clapt her hands at me, gnasht her teeth together against mee, and in the end, like a second Niobe, was wholly congealed and turned into a stone: you may thinke it strange, but distrust not the truth; for dreames can produce as unlikely matters as this. But the other, casting her eye upon me, What recompence shall I make thee (saith shee) for passing thy censure with such discretion? come hither and mount this chariot, (shewing me a chariot drawne with certaine horses, winged and shaped like Pegasus) that thou mayst see how many rare wonders thou shouldst have beene ignorant of, if thou hadst not followed me: When I was got up, she drave away, and supplyed the place of a Coachman, and being raised to a full height, I looked every way round about me, beginning at the East, and so to the West, beholding Cities, and Nations, and people: and like Triptolemus, sowed somewhat down upon the earth; yet can I not remember my selfe what seede it should be: only this, that men from below looked up towards me, applauded me, and with acclamations brought me onward to those whom I was to visite in my flight: and when shee had shewed these things to me, and me to them that praysed and commended me, she brought me backe againe, not clad in the same garment I wore in my voyage, yet I thought my selfe apparrelled handsomely enough: and at my comming home, I found my father standing and attending for me, to whom I shewed my apparrell and my selfe, and what a brave fellow I was returned, giving him a little item withall, how he had been like to have bestowed me the day before.
This I remember I saw, when I was little bigger then a boy, and, as I thinke, terrified in my sleepe with the blowes I had before received. But whilest I am telling this unto you, good god, (may some man say) this was a long dreame indeed, and stuffed with judicious matter. Some winters dreame I warrant you (sayes another) when the nights are at the longest: or it may be the length of three nights, the time of Hercules begetting: what comes in his head to trouble us with these fooleries, & tell us his ancient apish dreames, that are now growne old with age? this dull narration is stale and out of date: doth hee take us for some kinde of dreame readers? Nothing so good sir: for Xenophon, when hee reported a dreame that appeared unto him, as hee thought, in his fathers house, and other visions else, you know, the apparition was held for no fiction, nor hee condemned for a trifler in repeating it, though it were in the time of warre, when his case was desperate, and hee round beset with enemies: but the relating of it wanted not his fruit. So I, for my part, have repeated this dreame unto you, because I would have yong men take the better way, and sticke to learning, especially hee, whom povertie enforceth to a wilfull neglect of himselfe, and to incline to worse courses, so depraving the good condition of his nature: for I know the hearing of this tale will encourage him much, and that hee will propose mee, as a sufficient patterne for him to imitate, when hee shall consider how poore a snake I was, and yet affected the highest fortunes, and fixed my desire upon learning, and would not be discouraged with the povertie I was then opprest withall. And in what condition I am now returned amongst you, though it be not all of the best yet I hope I am no worse a man then a Carver.
PRAXITELES AND THE GODDESS
Erotes
Pseudo-Lucian
Translated by M. D. MacLeod, 1967
Praxiteles was one of the most talented artists of ancient Greece. In the fourth century BC he made two sculptures of Aphrodite. In one the goddess was modestly veiled. The other showed her nude and coquettishly semi-covering her crotch. The people of Kos bought the former and the people of Knidos the latter. This story, which was formerly attributed to Lucian but is now considered to be of uncertain authorship, describes the extremes of passion the nude inspired after it was placed in a temple to the goddess. The tale reveals the power of art and skill of Praxiteles, whose Knidian Aphrodite is known today from Roman copies. Ancient writers alleged that Praxiteles modelled her on his lover, Phryne, a prostitute who was said to have shown her naked breasts before a jury after she was accused of revelling inappropriately and inventing a new god. She clearly had something of Aphrodite’s divine beauty, for she was acquitted.
I had in mind going to Italy and a swift ship had been made ready for me. It was one of the double-banked vessels which seem particularly to be used by the Liburnians, a race who live along the Ionian Gulf. After paying such respects as I could to the local gods and invoking Zeus, God of Strangers, to assist propitiously in my expedition to foreign parts, I left the town and drove down to the sea with a pair of mules. Then I bade farewell to those who were escorting me, for I was followed by a throng of determined scholars who kept talking to me and parted with me reluctantly. Well, I climbed on to the poop and took my seat near the helmsman. We were soon carried away from land by the surge of our oars and, since we had very favourable breezes astern, we raised the mast from the hold and ran the yard up to the masthead. Then we let all our canvas down over the sheets and, as our sail gently filled, we went whistling along just as loud, I fancy, as an arrow does, and flew through the waves which roared around our prow as it cut through them.
But it isn’t the time to describe at any length the ev
ents serious or light of the intervening coastal voyage. But, when we had passed the Cilician seaboard and were in the gulf of Pamphylia, after passing with some difficulty the Swallow-Islands, those fortune-favoured limits of ancient Greece, we visited each of the Lycian cities, where we found our chief pleasure in the tales told, for no vestige of prosperity is visible in them to the eye. Eventually we made Rhodes, the island of the Sun-God, and decided to take a short rest from our uninterrupted voyaging.
Accordingly our oarsmen hauled the ship ashore and pitched their tents near by. I had been provided with accommodation opposite the temple of Dionysus, and, as I strolled along unhurriedly, I was filled with an extraordinary pleasure. For it really is the city of Helius with a beauty in keeping with that god. As I walked round the porticos in the temple of Dionysus, I examined each painting, not only delighting my eyes but also renewing my acquaintance with the tales of the heroes. For immediately two or three fellows rushed up to me, offering for a small fee to explain every story for me, though most of what they said I had already guessed for myself.
When I had now had my fill of sightseeing and was minded to go to my lodgings, I met with the most delightful of all blessings in a strange land, old acquaintances of long standing, whom I think you also know yourself, for you’ve often seen them visiting us here, Charicles a young man from Corinth who is not only handsome but shows some evidence of skilful use of cosmetics, because, I imagine, he wishes to attract the women, and with him Callicratidas, the Athenian, a man of straightforward ways. For he was pre-eminent among the leading figures in public speaking and in this forensic oratory of ours. He was also a devotee of physical training, though in my opinion he was only fond of the wrestling-schools because of his love for boys. For he was enthusiastic only for that, while his hatred for women made him often curse Prometheus. Well, they both saw me from a distance and hurried up to me overjoyed and delighted. Then, as so often happens, each of them clasped me by the hand and begged me to visit his house. I, seeing that they were carrying their rivalry too far, said, “Today, Callicratidas and Charicles, it is the proper thing for both of you to be my guests so that you may not fan your rivalry into greater flame. But on the days to follow—for I’ve decided to remain here for three or four days—you will return my hospitality by entertaining me each in turn, drawing lots to decide which of you will start.”
