The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-06-03

THE
ished the drausht, We could no longer Tor
bear. and. in spite Of myself. my v tears
were flowing fast" Presently. a movement
was heard. and the attendants uncovered
hin: his eyes we're set. and CIito closed MS
eyes and mouth. Such was the end OF our
friend, concerning whom ! may truly say thai
| Of all the men of his time whom ! have known
he was the wisest and justest and best III
Is agreed by all" says Xenophon In his Memo
| rabilia,- that no man ever suffered death
with greater constancy than Socrates" Now
let us turn TO the version of his death scene
beoueathed 10 us by Lucian: "Csrberus: Az
a distance. that is before death stared him
in the face. Socrates was Of good countenance
and seemed not 10 fear death at all; ana Nc
evidently wished to impress those looking on
by his fearlessness. But. when he bent down
to enter the cavern. that is, when upon INC
point OF death. when he saw the dark voio
before him; when the hemlock tortured nm
and I. Cerberus. tugged away at his ieet' 'hen
he screamed like an infant. lamented his lost
children and would not be comforted.' Ne
nippus: The man, then. was an impostor.
who was anything but Indifferent to death''
Cevberus; Not quite that. when he found
death was inevitable. he plucked up his cour-
aRe and made a merit Of necessity. in order
TO gain the applause OF the bystanders. IL
is evident that all the death Of Socrates meant
to Lucian was that there was one philosopher
less in the world.
Let us pass to the agreeable writings. such
as the "Imagines" or -Zsuxis, in which ancient
works of art are described. Here, for in
stance, is Lucian' S description Of .ftion's picture.
The Marriage Of Alexander the Great" which
so delighted Raphael that he painted a picture
on the same subject: The scene is a handsome
inner chamber with the nuptial bed in il, on
which Roxana. a beautiful girl, is reclining
with her eyes fixed on the ground. as though
ashamed Of looking at Alexander, who stands
by. she is attended by several laughing
cupids, one of whom is raising her veil to dis
cover her beauty to the bridegroom. while an
other, in the capacity Of a slave. is pulling of
her slippers. A third lays hold Of Alexander's
robe and seems to be drawing him with might
and main toward the bride. Alexander appears
In the act Of offering her a garland. Hephes-
ton stands close TO him with a torch In his
hand, leaning upon a handsome youth, whom
! suppose TO be Hymen. In another part OF
the picture are a number Of cupids playing
with Alexander's armor. Two OF them. imitat-
Ing porters tottering under an immense bur-
den, are carrying his spear. At a little dis
lance another, lying upon his shield. is borne
aloft. like a king in triumph, by several others;
while yet another gets into his coat of mail
and ~conceals himself, with the evident design
Of frightening the rest il they come that way"
In the "Imagines, which contains a pane
gyric upon Panthea. the mistress of the En-
peror Lucius verus, Lucian supposes the crea-
ton Of a statue Of perfect grace and beauty
by uniting parts Of celebrated existing statues:
From the Cnidi1n Venus" he says. Il shall
take the head alone: the forehead. hair, and per-
feet shape of the eyebrows shall be exactly as
Praxiteles has made them, together with that
swimming ~softness and vivacity OF the eyes
which he has so well represented The cheeks
and expression of the face. the well-propor-
toned wrists and the fingers tapering gently
toward the tips. shall be taken from the Celes-
tial Venus Of Alcamenes. Phidias and his
Athene Of the Lemnians shall supply us with
the contour Of the face and the happy pro-
portion Of the nose. The lips and neck shall be
taken from the Amazon OF the same artist.
From Calamis We shall borrow the simple dig
nifty Of his Sosandra, her solemn and almost
imperceptible smile. and her becoming and
modest robe"
OF Iucian's wit and humor IL IL. OF course.
impossible to convey a just notion in a mod
ern tongue and at such a great distance OF
lime, although the late Mr.. H., d. Trail under
took TO do so, and attained no mail measure
" 81 ccess. 1t is impossible to translate even
a c~Intemporary humorist into a foreign Ian
guaie without maltreating him Imagine a
Ger man translation of Pick Col. Hime
s2vsthat he has seen one, but nobody will envy
him the experience. All English translations
Of Moliere and Cervantes labor under like In
superable obstacles. Then. again. wit and
humor cannot be exhibited by sample. Such
an experiment would be equivalent TO tearing
jewels from their settings. We must not,
therefore, he surprised il the examples OF
Lucian's sallies which Col. Hime presents are not
particularly striking. Where have they
buried you?" asks Diogenes of Alexander the
Great on his arrival in the Shades. Nowhere.
as yet" replies the disconsolate monarch.
This Is the third day that I an lying in state
in Babylon"
I" Fi'i' W ist'iul VAkoFt
the habitual miscarriage Of Justice in the
Athenian law courts Of his time. Justice
is ordered by Jupiter to descend TO Athens,
accompanied by Mercury. TO decide certain
cases, on the way down her movements are so
erratic that Mercury at length exclaims: why,
you seem to have forgotten the way" Lucian's
description Of Truth in "Piscator" Ia worth quot
ing. Philosophy points out TO him Temper
ance and Justice. and adds: "Yonder ~colcrless
and almost imperoeptible form is Truth" II
do not see her, replies Lucian. DO you not
see her there. naked and unadorned. shrink
ing back, and seemingly trying to elude u.s."
answers Philosophy. The leading philoso-
pliers in "Piscator" declare that they will lay
their charges against Lucian before Philosophy
herself. do so by all means, replies Incian.
where she lives: I have searched for her house
long and vainly. Meeting with many cloaked
and bearded persons, your own followers,
who declared they had just come from her.
I begged them To direct me to her house: but,
while some OF them returned me no answer at
all, others pointed out. some one. some an
other door" A Cynic in "Piscator," failin TO
undergo cross-examination before Philosophy,
Virtue and Truth, files In such confusion that
he leaves his bag behind him. open IL" says
Philosophy: The Cynics mortify the flesh,
and you will only find a few beans and black
bread, or, perhaps. a book" Not at all"
says Parrhesiades. producing the contents: