A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

LUCIANUIS..UCIANUS. -81'
mnide of the war of.Marcus Antoninus against the Greek'tongue. Subsequently, however, we fistd
Marcomanni, A.D. 170-175; and as Marcus is him an advocate by profession;and if we may
there called Seos, Voss inferred that the piece was trust the authority of Suidas, he seems to have
written after the death of that emperor in 180. practised at Antioch.,According to the same
According to the computation of Reitz, which is writer, being unsuccessful in this calling, he emthat above given, Lucian would then have been ployed'himself in writing speeches for others, inmore than sixty years old. From.56, it appears stead of::delivering them himself. But he could
that Lucian's father was still alive when he visited not have remained long at Antioch; for at an early
Alexander; but the visit might have taken place period of his life he set out upon his travels, and
at least ten years before the account of it was visited the greater part of Greece, Italy, and Gail.
written.. (Clinton, Fasli Romn. A. D. 182.) That At that period it wascustomary for professors of
Lucian himself was a man of some consequence at the rhetorical art to. proceed to different "citiei,
the time of it appears from the intimate terms he where they attracted audiences by their displays,
-was on with Rutilianus, ~ 54, and from the go- much in the same manner as musicians or itinerant
vernor:of Cappadocia having given him a guard of lecturers in modern times. The subjects of these
two soldiers (~ 55). This is another argument displays were accusations of tyrants, or panegyrics.for the visit having taken place when Lucian was on the brave and good (Aids ca7rry., ~ 32). It may
well advanced in life, probably about fifty; for his be presumed that his first visit was to Athens, in
youth was spent in struggling with adverse fortune. order to acquire a perfect knowledge of the'lan-.In the'AroAoy.a e'gl'av 4rl pr otWy 0 avo'v'7TWv, guage; and that he remained there a considerable
~ 1, he mentions having obtained an appointment time may be inferred as well from his intimate.in Egypt, probably under Commodus, when he had familiarity with all the graces of the Attic dialect,
one foot almost in Charon's boat; but we have no as from his acquaintance with Demonax there, whom
means of determining the age at which he died. he tells us he knew for a long period, (Demonactis
-On the whole, however, Reitz's calculation may be Vita, ~ 1.) He did not, however, gain so much:safely adopted, who places his life from the year reputation by his profession in Ionia and Greece as
120 to the end of the century. in Italy and Gaul, especially the latter country,
Having thus endeavoured to fix Lucian's chro- which he traversed to its western'coasts, and
nology, we may proceed to trace those particulars where he appears to have acquired a good deal oof
of his life which may be gathered from his works. money as well as fame. ('A7roAoeyta 7repl r0vi eirl
In the piece called The Dream (IIspl oei vvTrlov), pLa0p4, ~ 15; Ais' Kaujy7., ~ 27.) Whether he
which stands at the beginning of them, he repre- remained long at Rome is uncertain. From his
sents his parents as in poor circumstances, and as tract'T7rmp Toil anV %rj rpoeCayop. i7rraoctuaros, ~
-deliberating with their friends about the choice of 13, he would seem to have acquired some, though
a profession for himself, then about fourteen years perhaps an imperfect, knowledge' of'the Latin
of age. Those of the learned sort were too ex- tongue; and in the 1Iep 7O7'AeITpov he describes
-pensive for the family means, and it was therefore himself as conversing with the boatmen'on the Po:.
resolved to apprentice him to some mechanical In the TIepl'Trh Al jusr. crvv., he shows an intrade, which might bring in a quick return of timate acquaintance with Roman manners; but his
money. As a schoolboy, he had shown a talent picture of them'in that piece, as well as in the
for making little waxen images; and his maternal Nigrinus, is a very unfavourable one.
uncle being a statuary in good repute, it was de- He probably returned to his native country in
termined that he should be put apprentice to him. about his fortieth year, and by way -of Macedonia.
Lucian was delighted with the thoughts of his new (.Herodotus, ~ 7.) At this period f liis life he
profession; but his very first attempt -in it proved abandoned the rhetorical profession, the artifices of
unfortunate. Having' been ordered to polish a which were foreign to his temper, the natural
marble tablet, he leant too heavily upon it, and enemy of deceit and pretension (Als icaTy., ~ 32,
broke it. The consequence was, a sound beating'ALeos-, ~ 29); though it was, perhaps, the' money
from his uncle, which Lucian resenting, ran away he had made by it that enabled him to quit it, and
home to his parents. In the version:of the affair to follow his more congenial inclinations.' In his
which he gave to them, he took the liberty to add old age, indeed; he appears to'have partially rea little circumstance, which already betrays the sumed it, as he tells us'in his'HpacAiTs, ~ 7; and
malice and humour of the boy. He affirmed that to which period of his life we must also ascribe his
his uncle had treated him thus cruelly because he Aidvvaos (~'8). -But these latter productions
was apprehensive of being excelled in'his pro- seem to have been'confined to that species of defession! The event itself may almost be regarded clamation called a 7rpoaAaAid, to which'the pieces
as an omen of his future course, and of his being just mentioned belong, and for which we have no
destined from his earliest years to be an iconoclast. equivalent term; and they were probably written
From the remainder of the Dream, where, in imi- rather by way of pastime and amusement than
tation of Prodicus's myth of the choice of Her- from any hopes'of gain.
cutles, related in Xenophon's IMemorabilia,'Epso- There are no materials for tracing that portion'yAvioK, (Statuary) and lniasda (Education) of hislife which followed his return to his native
contend which shall have him for a votary, we can country. It was, however, at this period that he
only infer that, after some deliberation, Lucian produced the works' to which'he owes his rehenceforward dedicated himself to the study of putation, and which principally consist of attacks
rhetoric and literature; but of the means -which he upon the religion and philosophy of the age. The
found to compass his object we have no information. bulkiness of them suggests the inference that many
From the AIrs ca'rryop. ~ 27, it would appear that, years were spent in these quiet literary occupations,
after leaving his uncle, he wandered for some time though not undiversified' with occasional travel;
about Ionia, without any settled plan, and possess- I since it appears from the IrIs bet oer. avy., ~ 14,
ing as yet but a very imperfect -knowledge of the i that he must'have been in Achaia and Ionia about