Since I flew down without mischance, I began to
aspire high and used to take wing from Parnes or
Hymettus, flying to Geraneia and from there up to
Acrocorinthus and then over Pholoe and Erymanthus
clear to Taygetus.
Now that I had thoroughly practised my experiment and had become an adept and a lofty soarer,
I no longer had fledgling aspirations but ascended
Olympus, provisioned myself as lightly as I could
and this time made straight for Heaven. At first
I was dizzied by the height, but afterwards I stood
even that without discomfort. But when I had
left the clouds far below and had got close to
the moon, I felt myself getting tired, especially in
the left wing, the vulture’s. Flying up, therefore,
and perching on the moon, I rested myself, looking
down on the earth from on high and like Homer’s
Zeus,Iliad 13, 4. now observing the land of the horse-loving
Thracians, now the land of the Mysians, and
presently, if I liked, Greece, Persia and India; and
from all this I got my fill of kaleidoscopic pleasure.
Then do tell me about it, Menippus, so that I
may not miss a single detail of the trip, but may even
know whatever you may have found out incidentally.
I assure you, I am looking forward to hearing a good
deal about the shape of the earth and about
everything upon it as it looked to you, viewing it all
from above.
You are right in your assumption, my friend, so
mount up to the moon in fancy as best you can and
share my trip and my view of the whole scheme of
things on earth.
In the first place, imagine that the
earth you see is very small, far less than the moon, [
mean; so that when I suddenly peered down I was
long uncertain where the big mountains and the
great sea were, and if I had not spied the Colossus of
RhodesThe Colossus of Rhodes had been lying prostrate for several centuries at the time this dialogue was written. It stood upright for only 56 years (ca. 283-2278.¢.). Consequently the allusion is thought to come from Menippus. and the lighthouse on Pharos, I vow I
shouldn’t have known the earth at all. But as it
was, the fact that they were high and prominent
and that the ocean glinted in the sun showed me
that what I saw was the earth. But as soon as I
had concentrated my gaze fixedly, the life of man
in its entirety disclosed itself to me, and not only
the nations and cities but the people themselves
as clear as could be, the traders, the soldiers, the
farmers, the litigants, the women, the animals and,
in a word, all the life that the good green earth
supports.A reminiscence of Homer; cf. Il. 2, 548 ; Od. 4, 229; 9, 357- 2 Od. 16, 187
What you say is completely beyond belief and
self-contradictory, for you told me just now that you
had to look for the earth because it was diminished
by the intervening distance, and that if the Colossus
hadn’t given you your bearings, perhaps you would
have thought you were looking at something else.
How is it, then, that you have suddenly turned into a
Lynceus and can make out everything on earth—
the men, the animals and very nearly the nests of
the mosquitoes ?
Thanks for reminding me; somehow or other I
neglected to say what I certainly should have said.
When I recognised the earth by sight, but was
unable to distinguish anything else on account of the
height, because my vision did not carry so far, the
thing annoyed me excessively and put me in a great
quandary. I was downcast and almost in tears when
the philosopher Empedocles came and stood behind
me, looking like a cinder, as he was covered with
ashes and all burned up. On catching sight of him
I wasa bit startled, to tell the truth, and thought I
beheld a lunar spirit ; but he said “Don’t be alarmed,
Menippus;
No god am I: why liken me to them? Od. 16, 187.
I am the natural philosopher Empedocles, at your
service. You see, when I threw myself head-first
into the crater, the smoke snatched me out of
Aetna and brought me up here, and now I dwell in
the moon, although I walk the air a great deal, and
I live on dew. So I have come to get you out of
your present quandary ; for it annoys and torments
you, I take it, that you cannot clearly see everything
on earth.” “Thank you very much, Empedocles,”
said I; “you are most kind, and as soon as I fly
down to Greece again I will remember to pour you a
drink-offering in the chimneyJn the chimney, because the burned and blackened appearance of Empedocles suggested this as the most appropriate spot; and then too, the smoke goes up to the moon. and on the first: of
every month to open my mouth at the moon three
times and make a prayer.” “Great Endymion !”
said he, “I didn’t come here for pay; my heart was
touched a bit when I saw you sorrowful. Do you
know what to do in order to become sharp-sighted ?”
“No,” said I, “unless you are going to take the mist
from my eyes somehow. At present my sight seems
to be uncommonly blurred.” “Why,” said he, “you
won’t need my services at all, for you yourself have
brought the power of sharp sight with you from
the earth.” “What is it, then, for I don’t know?” I
said. “Don’t you know,” said he, “that you are
wearing the right wing of an cagle?” “Of course,”
said I, “but what is the connection between wings
and eyes?” “This,” said he; “the eagle so far
surpasses all the other creatures in strength of sight
that he alone can look square at the sun, and the
mark of the genuine royal cagle is that he can face
its rays without winking an eye.” “So they say,” I
replied, “and I am sorry now that when I came up
here I did not take out my own eyes and put in those
of the eagle. As things are, I have come in a_halffinished condition and with an equipment which is
not fully royal; in fact, I am like the bastard, disowned eaglets they tell about.”If an eaglet failed to stand the test, he was pushed out of the nest; cf. Aelian de Nat, Anim, 2, 26. “Why,” said he,
“it is in your power this minute to have one eye
royal, for if you choose to stand up a moment, hold
the vulture’s wing still, and flap only the other one,
you will become sharp-sighted in the right eye to
match the wing; the other eye cannot possibly help
being duller, as it is on the inferior side.” It will
satisfy me,” said I, “if only the right one has the
sight of an eagle; it would do just as well, for I am
sure I have often seen carpenters getting on better
with only one eye when they were trimming off
timbers to the straight-edge.”
This said, I set about doing as Empedocles advised,
while he receded little by little and gradually dissolved into smoke.