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

LUCIANUS. LUCIANUS. 819
tator. When Croesus and Menippus meet on the smallness of mankind when viewed from a philobanks of the Styx, it is easy to see which will sophic, as well as a physical height. Lucian seenls
have the advantage. The disappointments of those to have put his own sentiment into the mouth of
whor li in wait for the inheritance of the rich, Charon (~ 16), 7rawyyeAooa'rau'a, o'EprIA~. The
afford a fertile theme, which, however, Lucian has KarairXovs i Tvpavvos, Cataplus sive Tyrannus, is
worn rather thread-bare. In a few of the dialogues in fact a dialogue of the dead. The persons are
it must be owned that some of the great men of Charon, Clotho, Hermes, a cynic philosopher, the
antiquity are flippantly and unjustly attacked, and tyrant Megapenthes, the cobbler Micyllus, and
especially Socrates. Among the moderns these certain rich men. The reluctance of Megapenthes
dialogues have been imitated by Fontenelle and to: obey the summons of CIotho, and his ludicrous
Lord Lyttelton. The Mil'rwros I NEKvoeavre;a., attempts at evasion, are happily contrasted with:
Necyomanteia, bears some analogy to the Dialogues the alacrity of Micyllus. The latter being left
of the dead. Menippus relates his descent into behind on the banks of the Styx, swims after
rades, and the sights that he sees there, par- Charon's boat, which being full, he finds a place on
ticularly the punishment of the great and powerful. the shoulders of the tyrant, and does not cease
The genuineness of this piece has been doubted. tormenting him the whole way. There is consiDo Soul thought that it was written by Menippus derable drollery in his pretended lament for his old
himself, who, as we learn from Diogenes Lairtius lasts and slippers, when requested by Mercury to
(vi. 101), wrote a Necyomanteia, but Hemsterhuis grieve a little, just for the sake of keeping up the
discards this o)njecture. It certainly wants Lucian's custom. Megapenthes' description of the indigpungency; but arguments from style are not always nities which his household offer. to his body while
safe. In the'liapoez'L7r7ros i'Tireppq)epel o, Iearo- lying in state, and which, though conscious of them,
Meaippus, on tLe contrary, which is in Lucian's best he is powerless to resist, is very striking.'Ovetpos
vein, and a master-piece of Aristophanic humour, h'AAeKCpcoov, Somzium seu Gallus. Here we have
Menippus, disgusted with the disputes and pre- the cobbler Micyllus again, who has been dreaming
tensions of the philosophers, resolves on a visit to the that he has fallen heir to Eucrates, a nouveau richie.
stars, for the purpose of seeing how far their theories From this state of felicity he is awakened by the
are correct. By. the mechanical aid of a pair of crowing of his cock, which he threatens to-kill as
wings he reaches the moon, and surveys thence soon as he gets up. The cock discovers himself to
the miserable passions and quarrels of men. Hence be Pythagoras in one of his transmigratory states,
he proceeds to Olympus, and is introduced to the which gives occasion to some jokes at the expense
Thunderer himself. Here he is witness of the of that philosophy.: The cock then endeavours to,
manner in which human prayers are -received in persuade Micyllus that he is much happier than.
heaven. They ascend by enormous ventholes, and the rich men whom he envies, and in order to conbecome audible when Zeus removes the covers. vince him, desires him to pluck one of the long
Strange is the variety of their tenor! Some pray feathers from his tail, which has. the power of conto be kings, others that their onions may grow; ferring invisibility. Micyllus, who has evidently
one sailor begs a north wind, another a south; the a lurking spite against the bird, plucks out both his
husbandman wants rain; the fuller, sunshine. long feathers, much to the discomfiture of PythaZeus himself is represented as a partial judge, goras, whom, however, the cobbler consoles by
and as influenced by the largeness of the rewards telling that he looks much handsomer so than he
promised to him. At the end he pronounces judg- would with only one. Being now invisible, Pyment against the philosophers, and threatens in thagoras. and Micyllus go round to the houses of
four days to destroy them all. Then he cuts Me- several rich men, and behold their miseries and
nippus's wings, and hands him over to Hermes, vices. This piece may be reckoned among the:
who carries him to earth by the ear. With a best of Lucian's. Als Kar7yopoeQP evor, Bis Accu-.
malicious pleasure Menippus hastens to the Poecile satus, so called from Lucian's being arraigned by:
to announce to the assembled philosophers their Rhetoric and Dialogue, is chiefly valuable for the
approaching destruction. Xacipv J;7rtoKo7rovYTes, information it contains of the author's life and
Contemplantes, is a very elegant dialogue, but of a literary pursuits. Zeus finds fault with Homer
graver turn than the preceding. Charon visits the for calling the gods happy, when they have got so
earth to see the course of life there, and what it is much to do, and when there are still so many inthat always makes men weep when they enter his decided causes on hand. To clear these off'a court
boat. He requests Hermes to be his Cicerone. is appointed, at which Justice is to preside. The
To get a good view they pile Pelion upon Ossa; fir'st cause is Drunkenness versus the Academy, for
but this not being high enough, Oeta must follow, depriving him of Polemo. The plaintiff being
and then Parnassus: a passage evidently meant.to naturally disqualified for pleading, the Academy
ridicule Homer. Parnassus being at top Charon undertakes both sides of the question. Next we
and Hermes seat themselves: on each of: the peaks. have the Porch versus Pleasure, which is defended
Then pass in review Milo the wrestler, Cyrus, by Epicurus. After two or three more causes
Croeslus, and other celebrated characters. In this Lucian is accused by Rhetoric of desertion, and- by
piece, as Hemsterhuis observes., our author has not Dialogue of having lowered and perverted his style.
been -very scrupulous about chronology. In the We may here also mention the Kpovoir&Awv, Crono.
interview between Croesus and Solon, Lucian Solon, and the'Erltoxosa Kpovycal, EpistolaeSafollows Herodotus, but inverts the order of the turnales, which turn on the institution and customs
happy. Of all Lucian's dialogues this is perhaps of the Saturnalia.:the most, poetical.: as in the description of the Amongst the dialogues which may be regarded
passions flying about; the comparison of cities to as mere pictures of manners, without any polemical
bee-hives attacked: by wasps; the likening of.tendency, may be reckoned the VEpwTsC, to which
human lives to babbles; the death- of cities as well allusion has already been made in a former part of
as individuals.. The whole is a picture:of the this notice. The'ErTaepcot A'\o7ot,'Dialogi
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