Juppiter Tragoedus

Lucian of Samosata

Selections from Lucian. Smith, Emily James, translators. New York; Harper Brothers, 1892.

On the contrary, if I must speak candidly, we sit and watch for just one thing, whether haply some one is sacrificing and sending up the savor of burnt-offerings beside the

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altars. Everything else drifts down stream as chance carries it. Accordingly, our present experience is natural, and what we have yet in store for us, too, when little by little mortals lift their heads and find that it does them no good to offer us sacrifices and pageants. Then you will soon see your Epicurus and your Metrodoros and your Damis jeering, and the speakers on our side overcome and stopped by them. Not that Momos has much to lose if he falls into disrepute, for I was never one of the reputable ones, even while you were still prosperous and had a monopoly of the sacrifices.