Dialogi mortuorum

Lucian of Samosata

The Works of Lucian of Samosata, complete, with exceptions specified in thepreface, Vol. 1. Fowler, H. W. and Fowlere, F.G., translators. Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1905.

Diogenes Yes, yes, my esteemed son of Amphitryon,—that would be all very well if you were a body; but you see you are a

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phantom, you have no body. At this rate we shall get three Heracleses.

Heracles Three?

Diogenes Yes; look here. One in Heaven: one in Hades, that’s you, the phantom: and lastly the body, which by this time has returned to dust. That makes three, Can you think of a good father for number Three?

Heracles Impudent quibbler! And who art thou?

Diogenes I am Diogenes’s phantom, late of Sinope. But my original, I assure you, is not ‘among th’ immortal Gods,’ but here among dead men; where he enjoys the best of company, and snaps my fingers at Homer and all hair-splitting.