Lucian of Samosata (c.120–c.200 CE,) also Lūciānus, was a Greek satirical writer of about eighty prose pieces in various forms—essays, speeches, letters, dialogues, and stories, generally satirical in tone. Celebrated for his mastery of Greek prose and satirical dialogue, he was a remorseless but enjoyable critic of mythological and philosophical dogmas.
Lucian was born in Samosata on the Euphrates in Syria, now in Turkey. His native language was probably Aramaic, but he received an excellent Greek education in rhetoric and became first an advocate and then, like many of his day, a traveling lecturer, though he was a satirist instead of a sophist.
The details of Lucian’s life are recognized only from his writings; no contemporary or near-contemporary mentions him. Nonetheless, he says little about himself—and not all that he says is to be received seriously. He toured through Asia, Greece, Italy, and Gaul, but, in middle age, he moved to Athens and aborted rhetoric for philosophy. It may have been after that that he developed the dialogue form (well known from Plato,) which made him renowned, even though it is impractical to date his works beyond doubt.
Lucian’s primary literary models were the satires of Cynic Menippus, which lampooned institutions, ideas, and conventions in a mixture of prose and verse. Lucian’s writings were also influenced by Greek iambic poetry, Attic Old Comedy, and the Dialogues of Plato. In later life, Lucian was appointed to a minor post in the Roman bureaucracy in Egypt.
Lucian’s notable works include Deorum Dialogi (‘Dialogues of the Gods,’) Mortuorum Dialogi (‘Dialogues of the Dead’) and Charan. Vera Historia (‘True History’) parodies the fantastic adventure tales of the ‘new’ literature. A Selected Works (1965) was edited by B. P. Reardon.
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Some men by ancestry are only the shadow of a mighty name.
—Lucian
Topics: Ancestry
The gods conceal from men the happiness of death, that they may endure life.
—Lucian
Topics: Dying, Death
God cheats men into living on by hiding how blest it is to die
—Lucian
Topics: One liners, Cheating
The happy think a lifetime short, but to the unhappy one night can be an eternity.
—Lucian
Topics: Happiness
The mere apprehension of a coming evil has put many into a situation of the utmost danger.
—Lucian
It is not lawful or proper for you to know everything.
—Lucian
Topics: Knowledge
The mere apprehension of a coming evil has put many into a situation of the utmost danger.
—Lucian
Not for himself, but for the world he lives.
—Lucian
Topics: Philanthropy, World
I have a wife, I have sons: all of them hostages given to fate.
—Lucian
Topics: Fate
Wise is the person at either end. Who can in due measure spare as well as spend.
—Lucian
Topics: Money
Delay has always been injurious to those who are prepared.
—Lucian
Topics: Delay
The historian should be fearless and incorruptible; a man of independence, loving frankness and truth; one who, as the poet says, calls a fig a fig and a spade a spade. He should yield to neither hatred nor affection, but should be unsparing and unpitying. He should be neither shy nor deprecating, but an impartial judge, giving each side all it deserves but no more. He should know in his writings no country and no city; he should bow to no authority and acknowledge no king. He should never consider what this or that man will think, but should state the facts as they really occurred.
—Lucian
The best mask for demoralization is daring.
—Lucian
Topics: Self-Pity, Hedonism
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