Works of Lucian of Samosata — Volume 01 by Lucian of Samosata
page 12 of 366 (03%)
page 12 of 366 (03%)
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Dead_ and _of the Gods, Menippus_ and _Icaromenippus, Zeus
cross-examined;_ of the third, _Timon, Charon, A Voyage to the lower World, The Sale of Creeds, The Fisher, Zeus Tragoedus, The Cock, The double Indictment, The Ship_. During these ten or more years, though he lived at Athens, he is to be imagined travelling occasionally, to read his dialogues to audiences in various cities, or to see the Olympic Games. And these excursions gave occasion to some works not of the dialogue kind; the _Zeuxis_ and several similar pieces are introductions to series of readings away from Athens; The _Way to write History_, a piece of literary criticism still very readable, if out of date for practical purposes, resulted from a visit to Ionia, where all the literary men were producing histories of the Parthian war, then in progress (165 A.D.). An attendance at the Olympic Games of 169 A.D. suggested _The Death of Peregrine_, which in its turn, through the offence given to Cynics, had to be supplemented by the dialogue of _The Runaways. The True History_, most famous, but, admirable as it is, far from best of his works, presumably belongs to this period also, but cannot be definitely placed. The _Book-fancier_ and _The Rhetorician's Vade mecum_ are unpleasant records of bitter personal quarrels. After some ten years of this intense literary activity, producing, reading, and publishing, Lucian seems to have given up both the writing of dialogues and the presenting of them to audiences, and to have lived quietly for many years. The only pieces that belong here are the _Life of Demonax_, the man whom he held the best of all philosophers, and with whom he had been long intimate at Athens, and that of Alexander, the Asiatic charlatan, who was the prince of impostors as Demonax of philosophers. When quite old, Lucian was |
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