LUCIAN'S DIALOGUES: NAMELY THE DIALOGUES OF THE GODS, OF THE SEA-GODS, AND OF THE DEAD; ZEUS THE TRAGEDIAN, THE FERRY-BOAT, ETC.
Book Details + Condition: George Bell and Sons (London). Early Edition, 1903 (first published in 1888). Very scarce. Hardcover. Dark blue boards with embossed decoration to front, and gilt to spine. 315 pages with Index, followed with publisher catalogue. By Howard Williams. Translated with Notes and a Preliminary Memoir. "Lucian (ca. 120–190 CE), the satirist from Samosata on the Euphrates, started as an apprentice sculptor, turned to rhetoric and visited Italy and Gaul as a successful travelling lecturer, before settling in Athens and developing his original brand of satire. Late in life he fell on hard times and accepted an official post in Egypt. Although notable for the Attic purity and elegance of his Greek and his literary versatility, Lucian is chiefly famed for the lively, cynical wit of the humorous dialogues in which he satirises human folly, superstition and hypocrisy. His aim was to amuse rather than to instruct. Among his best works are A True Story (the tallest of tall stories about a voyage to the moon), Dialogues of the Gods (a 'reductio ad absurdum' of traditional mythology), Dialogues of the Dead (on the vanity of human wishes), Philosophies for Sale (great philosophers of the past are auctioned off as slaves), The Fisherman (the degeneracy of modern philosophers), The Carousal or Symposium (philosophers misbehave at a party), Timon (the problems of being rich), Twice Accused (Lucian's defence of his literary career) and (if by Lucian) The Ass (the amusing adventures of a man who is turned into an ass)". [Loeb Classical Library] Chapters include:
- Prometheus Obtains His Release from Zeus
- Zeus Threatens to put Eros in fetters
- Aphrodite Charges Selene with her Love for Endymion
- Poseidon Questions Alpheius, a River-God
- The Rape of Amymone by Poseidon
- Pluto Directs Hermes to Bring Him the Fortune and Legacy-Hunters
- Ghosts at the River Styx
- And much more.
Firm binding; rubbed corners and edges; book slightly cocked; interior is clean and free of markings, save some inked notes to ffep and stamp to lower text block. Several pages remain uncut.
