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--- home:texts_and_library:essays:the-true-history [2019/07/08 22:49] – [Contents] frank
+++ home:texts_and_library:essays:the-true-history [2019/07/08 22:50] – [Section 15] frank
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-True History Decrypted
+====== True History Decrypted ======
 Full text and commentary of Lucian’s //True History//
-====== Contents ======
+===== Contents =====
   * **True History Decrypted: Full text and Commentary of Lucian’s**//**True History**//
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   * Chicago, Illinois, United States of America
-====== Introduction ======
+===== Introduction =====
 One of the translators of Lucian, Thomas Francklin, bemoaned in his introduction to //True History//, “We cannot but lament that the humour of many of the references has been lost to us; therefore, Lucian’s //True History// cannot be half as pleasurable as when it was first written, but there are enough remaining allusions which we understand to secure it from being unrelatable.” This work, //True History Decrypted//, attempts to take those “remaining allusions” and make them relatable to the modern reader. Modern audiences rarely have the background to fully understand all of the allusions made in //True History// and classical texts in general. It would be unfortunate if there were not a book that could help guide the reader through each section and provide the necessary background to fully enjoy the work.
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 **During the meal there is music and song [1]. In the latter kind, Homer’s verse is the favorite; he is himself a member of the festal company, reclining next above Odysseus [2]. The choirs are of boys and girls, conducted and led by Eunomus the Locrian [3], Arion of Lesbos [4], Anacreon [5] and Stesichorus [6]; this last had made his peace with Helen, and I saw him there. When these have finished, a second choir succeeds, of swans [7] and swallows and nightingales; and when their turn is done, all the trees begin to pipe, conducted by the winds.**
-[1] Epic poetry was performed by a bard, like Demodocus in the //Odyssey//, accompanied by the lyre and song. It appears that Lucian had a real respect for Homer, notwithstanding what he said about him in his preface. //Odyssey// 8.42-45: “And summon hither the divine minstrel, Demodocus; for to him above all others has the god granted skill in song, to give delight in whatever way his spirit prompts.”(( H H H H H H H H H H H H H H H Homer, , George E. Dimock, and A T. Murray. //Odyssey//. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1919. Print.
+[1] Epic poetry was performed by a bard, like Demodocus in the //Odyssey//, accompanied by the lyre and song. It appears that Lucian had a real respect for Homer, notwithstanding what he said about him in his preface. //Odyssey// 8.42-45: “And summon hither the divine minstrel, Demodocus; for to him above all others has the god granted skill in song, to give delight in whatever way his spirit prompts.”((Homer, George E. Dimock, and A T. Murray. //Odyssey//. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1919. Print.
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 [4] Lais the Courtesan | The celebrated courtesan of Corinth who had real life relations with Aristippus for whom Lucian substitutes Diogenes, the founder of the Cynic School which held opposing beliefs to Aristippus.
-[5] Steep hill of Virtue | A reference to Hesiod //Works and Days// 286-292: “To you, foolish Perses, I will speak good sense. Badness can be got easily and in shoals; the road to her is smooth, and she lives very near us. But between us and Goodness [Virtue] the gods have placed the sweat of our brows; long and steep is the path that leads to her, and it is rough at the first; but when a man has reached the top, then is she easy to reach, though before that she was hard.”(( H H H H H H H Hesiod, , and Hugh G. Evelyn-White. //The Homeric Hymns: Homerica//. Cambridge (Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1914. Print.
+[5] Steep hill of Virtue | A reference to Hesiod //Works and Days// 286-292: “To you, foolish Perses, I will speak good sense. Badness can be got easily and in shoals; the road to her is smooth, and she lives very near us. But between us and Goodness [Virtue] the gods have placed the sweat of our brows; long and steep is the path that leads to her, and it is rough at the first; but when a man has reached the top, then is she easy to reach, though before that she was hard.”((Hesiod, and Hugh G. Evelyn-White. //The Homeric Hymns: Homerica//. Cambridge (Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1914. Print.
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 [5] Scyron | Scyron and Pityocamptes were two famous robbers who used to seize on travelers and commit the most horrid cruelties on them.
-[6] At Delium | Socrates fought at the Battle of Delium, 424 BC, and, when the Athenians were routed and fled in disorder, he retreated quietly and steadily, calmingly surveying friends and foes. On this occasion his superior courage was shown by not retreating at all. Plato //Symposium// 36: “And further let me tell you, gentlemen, what a notable figure he made when the army was retiring in flight from Delium: I happened to be there on horseback, while he marched under arms. The troops were in utter disorder, and he was retreating along with Laches, when I chanced to come up with them and, as soon as I saw them, passed them the word to have no fear, saying I would not abandon them. Here, indeed, I had an even finer view of Socrates than at Potidaea—for personally I had less reason for alarm, as I was mounted; and I noticed, first, how far he outdid Laches in collectedness, and next I felt—to use a phrase of yours, Aristophanes—how there he stepped along, as his wont is in our streets, ‘strutting like a proud marsh-goose, with ever a side-long glance,’ turning a calm sidelong look on friend and foe alike, and convincing anyone even from afar that whoever cares to touch this person will find he can put up a stout enough defense. The result was that both he and his comrade got away unscathed: for, as a rule, people will not lay a finger on those who show this disposition in war; it is men flying in headlong rout that they pursue.”(( P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P Plato, ; Benjamin Jowett. //Dialogues//. New York: C. Scribner's sons, 1871. Print.
+[6] At Delium | Socrates fought at the Battle of Delium, 424 BC, and, when the Athenians were routed and fled in disorder, he retreated quietly and steadily, calmingly surveying friends and foes. On this occasion his superior courage was shown by not retreating at all. Plato //Symposium// 36: “And further let me tell you, gentlemen, what a notable figure he made when the army was retiring in flight from Delium: I happened to be there on horseback, while he marched under arms. The troops were in utter disorder, and he was retreating along with Laches, when I chanced to come up with them and, as soon as I saw them, passed them the word to have no fear, saying I would not abandon them. Here, indeed, I had an even finer view of Socrates than at Potidaea—for personally I had less reason for alarm, as I was mounted; and I noticed, first, how far he outdid Laches in collectedness, and next I felt—to use a phrase of yours, Aristophanes—how there he stepped along, as his wont is in our streets, ‘strutting like a proud marsh-goose, with ever a side-long glance,’ turning a calm sidelong look on friend and foe alike, and convincing anyone even from afar that whoever cares to touch this person will find he can put up a stout enough defense. The result was that both he and his comrade got away unscathed: for, as a rule, people will not lay a finger on those who show this disposition in war; it is men flying in headlong rout that they pursue.”((Plato, ; Benjamin Jowett. //Dialogues//. New York: C. Scribner's sons, 1871. Print.
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