Tiresias: The Ancient Mediterranean Religions Source Database

7486

Lucian, Charon Or The Inspectors, 4
nan HERM: Why not? We are gods; I should hope we are as good as those two infants. CH: Yes; but I should never have thought we could do such a job as that. HERM: Ah, my dear Charon, you don't understand these things; you have no imagination. To the lofty spirit of Homer this is simplicity itself. Just a couple of lines, and the mountains are in place; — we have only to walk up. I wonder you make such a marvel of this. You know Atlas, of course? He holds up the entire heaven by himself, Gods and all. And I dare say you have heard how my brother Heracles relieved him once, and took the burden on his own shoulders for a time? CH: Yes, I have heard it. But you and the poets best know whether it is true. HERM: Oh, perfectly true. What should induce wise men to lie? — Come, let us get to work on Ossa first; for so the master-builder directs: Ossa first; On Ossa leafy Pelion. There! What think you of this? Is it suave work? is it poetry? I must run up, and see whether we shall want another
nan Ch. What, shall we two be able to lift Pelion or Ossa?Her. Why not? We are gods; I should hope we are as good as those two infants.Ch. Yes; but I should never have thought we could do such a job as that.Her. Ah, my dear Charon, you don’t understand these things; you have no imagination. To the lofty spirit of Homer, this is simplicity itself. Just a couple of lines, and the mountains are in place;— we have only to walk up. I wonder you make such a marvel of this. You know Atlas, of course? He holds up the entire heaven by himself, Gods and all. And I dare say you have heard how my brother Heracles relieved him once, and took the burden on his own shoulders for a time?Ch. Yes, I have heard it. But you and the poets best know whether it is true.Her. Oh, perfectly true. What should induce wise men to lie?— Come, let us get to work on Ossa first; for so the master builder directs:Ossa first; On Ossa leafy Pelion.There! What think you of this? Is it suave work? is it poetry? I must run up, and see whether we shall want another storey.

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Subjects of this text:

subject	book bibliographic info
allegory	Alexiou and Cairns, Greek Laughter and Tears: Antiquity and After (2017) 67
ekphrasis	Alexiou and Cairns, Greek Laughter and Tears: Antiquity and After (2017) 67
heterotopias, comic	Alexiou and Cairns, Greek Laughter and Tears: Antiquity and After (2017) 67
homer, parody/pastiche	Alexiou and Cairns, Greek Laughter and Tears: Antiquity and After (2017) 67
parody, of classical literature	Alexiou and Cairns, Greek Laughter and Tears: Antiquity and After (2017) 67
satire'	Alexiou and Cairns, Greek Laughter and Tears: Antiquity and After (2017) 67