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

:814 LUCIANUS. LUCIANTJS.
the close of the Parthian war, A. D. 160 —165; on' most absurd and far-fetched' charges against him
which occasion, too, he seems to have visited of ridiculing the Scriptures.
Olympia, and beheld the self-immolation of Pere- The whole gravamen of the accusation of blasgrinus. We have already seen that about the year phemy lies in the point whether Lucian was really
170, or a little previously, he must have visited an apostate. If he had never been initiated into
the false oracle of the impostor Alexander, in-Paph- the mysteries of Christianity, it is clear that he is
lagonia. Here Lucian planned several contriv- no more amenable to the charge than Tacitus, or
ances for detecting the falsehood of his responses; any other profane author, who from ignorance of
and in a personal interview with the prophet, in- our religion has been led to vilify and misrepresent
stead of kissing his hand, as was the custom, in- it. The charge of apostacy might be urged with
flicted a severe bite upon his thumb. For these some colour against Lucian, if it could be shown
and other things, especially his having advised that he was the author of the dialogue entitled
Rutilianus not to marry Alexander's daughter by P/kilopatris. The subject of the piece is shortly
the Moon, that impostor was so enraged against this. Triephon, who is represented as having been
Lucian, that he would have murdered him on the a member of the church,'meets' Critias, and inquires,spot had he not been protected by a guard of two the reason of his disturbed looks and hurried gait.
soldiers. Alexander, therefore, dissembled his After some discourse about paganism and Chrishatred, and even, pretending friendship, dismissed tianity, Critias relates his having been among an
him with many gifts, and lent him a vessel to pro- assembly of Christians, where he has heard troubles
secute his voyage. When well out at sea, Lucian and misfortunes predicted to the state and its
observed, by the tears and entreaties of the master armies. When he has concluded his story, Cleotowards the rest of the crew, that something was laus enters, and announces some military successes
amiss, and rearnt from- the former that Alexander gained by the emperor in the East. A sneering
had ordered them to throw their passenger into the tone pervades the whole piece, which betrays so
sea, a fate from which he was saved only by the intimate a knowledge: of Christianity that it could
good offices of the master. He was now landed at hardly have been written but by one who had been
Aegialos, where he fell in with some ambassadors, at some time within the pale of the church.
proceeding to king Eupator in Bithynia, who re- Some eminent critics, and amongst them Faceived him on board their ship, and landed him bricius, have held the Philopatris to be genuine.
safely at Amastris. (Alex. 54-58.) We can Towards the middle of last century, Gesner wrote
trace no later circumstances of his life, except his his dissertation DeAetate etAeuctore Philopatridis, in
obtaining the office of procurator of part of Egypt, which he showed satisfactorily that the piece could
bestowed upon him in his old age, probably by the not have been Lucian's; and he brings forward
emperor Commodus, and which has been already many considerations which render it very probable
mentioned. From the'AeroA. 7rep0 Tcv rrd 1/., ~ 12, that the work was composed in the reign of Julian
it appears that his functions were chiefly judicial, the Apostate.
that his salary was considerable, and that he even The scholiast on the Alexander, ~ 47, asserts
entertained expectations of the proconsulship. In that Lucian was an Epicurean, and this opinion
what -manner he obtained this post we have no has been followed by several modern critics. But
means of knowing; but from his Imnagines, which though his natural scepticism may have led.him to
some have supposed to have been addressed to a prefer the tenets of Epicurus to'those of any other
concubine of Verus, and which Wieland conjectures sect, it is most probable that he belonged to none
to have been intended for the wife of Marcus An- whatever. In the'A~roA. Wrepl 7Cv E'rl}.zLua oav.,
toninus, as well -as from his tract Pro Lapsu, he ~ 15, he describes himself as or aoopds, but iC ToO
seems to have been neither averse from flattery nor 7roAAohho 8juov; and in the IHermotimns he calls
unskilled in the method of applying it. He cer- himself la7rLTns, in contradistinction to that phitainly lived to an advanced age, and it is probable losopher. In the Birev 7rpaSos, too, Epicurus is
that he may have been afflicted with the gout; but treated no better than the other heads of sects.
the inference that he died of it merely from his Of Lucian's moral character we have no means
having written the burlesque drama called IIo- of judging except from his writings; a method
a-ypa is rather strong. He probably married in which is not always certain. Several of his pieces
middle life; and in the EivooXos, ~ 13, he men- are loose and licentious, but some allowance should.
tions having a son. be made for the manners of the age. The IEpwTer,
The nature of Lucian's writings inevitably pro- the most objectionable, has been abjudicated by
cured him many enemies, by whom he has been many critics, and for Lucian's sake it is to be hoped
painted in very black colours. According to Suidas that they are correct; but in the Ebcdves we find
he was surnamed tI/e Blasphoemer, and was torn to allusions to the same perverted tastes, and in ~ 4
pieces by dogs, or rather, perhaps, died of canine the promise of a story respecting the Cnidian
madness, as a punishment for his impiety.'On this Venus, which is actually found in the former piece.
account, however, no reliance can be placed, as it Yet in the Alexander, ~ 54, he seems indignant
was customary with Suidas to invent a horrid at the charge of immorality brought against him by
death for those whose doctrines he disliked. To that impostor; and that he must at least have
the account of Suidas, Volaterranus added, but avoided any grievous and open scandal may be
without stating his authority, that Lucian apos- presumed from the high office conferred upon him.
tatised from Christianity, and was accustomed to in Egypt. Lucian was not averse from praising
say he had gained nothing by it but the corruption himself, and in the'AAsev', ~ 20, has drawn his
of his name from Lucius to Lucianus. So too the own character as a hater of pride, falsehood, and
scholiast on the Peregriqnus, ~ 13, calls him an vain-glory, and an ardent admirer of truth, sinmapostate (rapagdcTrrs); whilst the scholiasts on the plicity, and all that is naturally amiable; nor is
VJerae Historiae and other pieces' frequently apos- there much to object against the truth of this
trophise him in the bitterest terms, and make the autograph portrait. He seems to have retained