Icaromenippus

Lucian of Samosata

Lucian, Vol. 2. Harmon, A. M., editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1915.

Moreover, was it not silly and completely absurd that when they were talking about things so uncertain they did not make a single assertion hypothetically but were vehement in their insistence and gave the rest no chance to outdo them in exaggeration; all but swearing that the sun is a mass of molten metal, that the moon is inhabited, and that the stars drink water, the sun drawing up the moisture from the sea with a rope and bucket, as it were, and distributing the beverage to all of them in order?

As for the contradictory nature of their theories, that is easy to appreciate. Just see for yourself, in Heaven’s name, whether their doctrines are akin and not widely divergent. First of all, there is their difference of opinion about the universe. Some

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think it is without beginning and without end, but others have even ventured to tell who made it and how it was constructed; and these latter surprised me most, for they made some god or other the creator of the universe, but did not tell where he came from or where he stood when he created it all; and yet it is impossible to conceive of time and space before the genesis of the universe.

FRIEND They are very presumptuous charlatans by what you say, Menippus.

MENIPPUS But my dear man, what if I should tell you all they said about “ideas” and incorporeal entities, or their theories about the finite and the infinite? On the latter point also they had a childish dispute, some of them setting a limit to the universe and others considering it to be unlimited; nay more, they asserted that there are many worlds and censured those who talked as if there were but one. Another, not a man of peace, opined that war was the father of the universe.[*](Heraclitus. The lack of connection between this sentence and the foregoing leads me to suspect that we have lost a ortion of the Greek text containing a reference to the theories of the other Ionians.)

As for the gods, why speak of them at all, seeing that to some a number was god, while others swore by geese and dogs and plane-trees?[*](Socrates. See Philosophies for Sale, 16.) Moreover, some banished all the rest of the gods and assigned the governance of the universe to one only, so that it made me a little disgusted to hear that gods were so scarce. Others, however, lavishly declared them

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to be many and drew a distinction between them, calling one a first god and ascribing to others second and third rank in divinity. Furthermore, some thought that the godhead was without form and substance, while others defined it as body. Then too they did not all think that the gods exercise providence in our affairs; there were some who relieved them of every bit of responsibility as we are accustomed to relieve old men of public duties; indeed, the part that they give them to play is just like that of supers in comedy. A few went beyond all this and did not even believe that there were any gods at all, but left the world to wag on unruled and ungoverned.

When I heard all this, the result was that I did not venture to disbelieve “high-thundering” gentlemen with goodly beards, and yet did not know where to turn in order to find a point of doctrine that was unassailable and not in any way subject to refutation by someone else. So I went through just what Homer speaks of; again and again I was fain to believe one of them,

“but other counsel drew me back.

Od. 9, 302. At my wit’s end in view of all this, I despaired of hearing any truth about these matters on earth and thought that the only way out of my whole dilemma would be to get wings somehow and go up to Heaven. The wish was father to the thought, of course, but the story-teller Aesop had something to do with it also, for he makes Heaven accessible to eagles and beetles and now and then even to camels.

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Well, that I myself could ever grow wings was not in any way possible, I thought; butif L put on the wings of a vulture or an eagle (for no others would be large enough to uphold the weight of a man’s body), perhaps my attempt would succeed. So catching my birds, I carefully cut of the right wing of the eagle and the left wing of the vulture, tied them tightly together, fitted them to my shoulders with stout straps and made grips for my hands at the ends of the primary feathers. Then I first tried myself by jumping up and down, working my arms and doing as geese do—lifting myself along the ground and running on tiptoe as I flew. When the thing began to work well for me, I went in for the experiment with greater boldness. Going up to the acropolis, I let myself drop down the cliff right into the theatre.

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

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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.

FRIEND 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.

MENIPPUS 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 Rhodes[*](The 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

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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) FRIEND 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 ?