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LUCIAN was born A.D. 120, at Samosata, on the Euphrates. His father, a poor man, intended him to become a stone-mason, and carver of images of Hermes, which were common at the street corners. He tells us how he disliked this work, and how he managed to get a literary education in spite of it. He composed orations, practiced as an advocate, and gave lectures on public speaking till his 40th year. He then settled down at Athens, and devoted himself to the study of philosophy and literary work. A large number of his works remain; they consist of satires on the Greek theology, on the philosophers, and on society generally.
When we compare Lucian with the two satirists -- Juvenal and Aristophanes -- we are struck by his more modern spirit. He is always humorous and never bitter, and he has the modern love for an imaginary world. He draws the characters of the old mythology, and relates their legends with the complacent humor of one who is completely emancipated from the old beliefs, and who yet retains an affection for them. In his stories of imaginary adventure, his easy diction and the wealth of his fancy remind us of the most literary of modern novelists. In his social satires he is sometimes directly indebted to Juvenal, but, unlike him, he is never personal in his attacks. He takes a strong interest in all sides of human life; but shows the favorite bent of his mind by a constant recurrence to philosophers and theological questions. In the Dialogues of the Dead, where the wit and liveliness of his dialogue and his vivid drawing of character are seen at their best, we find many deep and true thoughts on the nature of death, the vanity of personal pride and wealth, the terrors of an evil conscience, and the reward of a good life in the permanence of its results and in the memory of men.
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| This biography is
reprinted from The New Calendar of Great Men. Ed. Frederic
Harrison. London: Macmillan and Co., 1920. |
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