---
title: "Dialogues of the Dead · Νεκρικοὶ διάλογοι"
author: "Lucian"
translator: "Matthew Donald Macleod"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
section: 11 of 30
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/11/
cite: "Lucian, tr. Matthew Donald Macleod, Dialogues of the Dead · Νεκρικοὶ διάλογοι, section 11. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/11/"
---

# Dialogues of the Dead · Νεκρικοὶ διάλογοι

*Lucian, tr. Matthew Donald Macleod*

Diogenes, Menippus, Alexander, Achilles and the rest in Hades, where beauty, wealth and power count for nothing.

> Greek: ed. Matthew Donald Macleod, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0062.tlg066, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Matthew Donald Macleod, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0062.tlg066.perseus-eng3). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 11. Dialogue 11

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/11/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/11/#p-N

[¶0] 1. DIOGENES: Isn’t that Heracles? No one else, by Heracles! Bow, club, lionskin, bulk—Heracles from head to toe. Is he dead, then, though a son of Zeus? Tell me, conquering hero, are you a shade? I used to sacrifice to you on earth above, thinking you a god. HERACLES: And quite right too. The real Heracles is in heaven with the gods, and “hath beauteous-ankled Hebe for his wife”; I am his wraith.

> Greek: 1. ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Οὐχ Ἡρακλῆς οὗτός ἐστιν; οὐ μὲν οὖν ἄλλος, μὰ τὸν Ἡρακλέα. τὸ τόξον, τὸ ῥόπαλον, ἡ λεοντῆ, τὸ μέγεθος, ὅλος Ἡρακλῆς ἐστιν. εἶτα τέθνηκεν Διὸς υἱὸς ὤν; εἰπέ μοι, ὦ καλλίνικε, νεκρὸς εἶ; ἐγὼ γάρ σοι ἔθυον ὑπὲρ γῆς ὡς θεῷ. ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ: Καὶ ὀρθῶς ἔθυες· αὐτὸς μὲν γὰρ ὁ Ἡρακλῆς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ τοῖς θεοῖς σύνεστι “καὶ ἔχει καλλίσφυρον Ἥβην,” ἐγὼ δὲ εἴδωλόν εἰμι αὐτοῦ.

[¶1] DIOGENES: What do you mean? The god’s wraith? Is it possible for anyone to be half god, and half dead? HERACLES: Yes, for Heracles is not dead, but only I his likeness.

> Greek: ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Πῶς λέγεις; εἴδωλον τοῦ θεοῦ; καὶ δυνατὸν ἐξ ἡμισείας μέν τινα θεὸν εἶναι, τεθνάναι δὲ τῷ ἡμίσει; ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ: Ναί· οὐ γὰρ ἐκεῖνος τέθνηκεν, ἀλλ’ ἐγὼ ἡ εἰκὼν αὐτοῦ.

[¶2] 2. DIOGENES: I understand. He has given you to Pluto in his own place as a substitute, and you are now dead instead of him. HERACLES: Something like that.

> Greek: 2. ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Μανθάνω· ἄντανδρόν σε τῷ Πλούτωνι παραδέδωκεν ἀνθ' ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ σὺ νῦν ἀντ' ἐκείνου νεκρὸς εἶ. ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ: Τοιοῦτό τι.

[¶3] DIOGENES: But Aeacus is very exact. How did he fail to spot that you were a fraud? How did he accept a changeling Heracles whom he saw face to face? HERACLES: Because I was exactly like him.

> Greek: ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Πῶς οὖν ἀκριβὴς ὢν ὁ Ἀἰακὸς οὐ διέγνω σε μὴ ὄντα ἐκεῖνον, ἀλλὰ παρεδέξατο ὑποβολιμαῖον Ἡρακλέα παρόντα; ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ: Ὅτι ἐῴκειν ἀκριβῶς.

[¶4] DIOGENES: Very true; an exact likeness indeed; you might be the fellow himself. But perhaps it’s the other way round, and you are Heracles, and the wraith has married Hebe in heaven.

> Greek: ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Ἀληθῆ λέγεις· ἀκριβῶς γάρ, ὥστε αὐτὸς ἐκεῖνος εἶναι. ὅρα γοῦν μὴ τὸ ἐναντίον ἐστὶ καὶ σὺ μὲν εἶ ὁ Ἡρακλῆς, τὸ δὲ εἴδωλον γεγάμηκεν τὴν Ἥβην παρὰ τοῖς θεοῖς.

[¶5] 3. HERACLES: What impudence! You talk too much. If you don’t stop these gibes at me, I’ll soon show you what sort of god has me for a wraith. DIOGENES: The bow is out and ready. But why should I fear you now? I’ve died once and for all. But please tell me, in the name of your Heracles; when he was alive, were you with him then too, as his wraith? Or were you both one during his lifetime, but split up when you died, Heracles flying off to heaven, while you, his wraith, came here to Hades, as was only right? HERACLES: One who makes it his business to poke fun doesn’t so much as deserve a reply. However, I’ll let you have one more answer. All of Amphitryon that was in Heracles is dead, and I am all that part; but the part that came from Zeus is in heaven living with the gods.

> Greek: 3. ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ: Θρασύς εἶ καὶ λάλος, καὶ εἰ μὴ παύσῃ σκώπτων εἰς ἐμέ, εἴσῃ αὐτίκα οἵου θεοῦ εἴδωλόν εἰμι. ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Τὸ μὲν τόξον γυμνὸν καὶ πρόχειρον· ἐγὼ δὲ τί ἂν ἔτι φοβοίμην σε ἅπαξ τεθνεώς; ἀτὰρ εἰπέ μοι πρὸς τοῦ σοῦ Ἡρακλέους, ὁπότε ἐκεῖνος ἔζη, συνῆς αὐτῷ καὶ τότε εἴδωλον ὤν; ἢ εἷς μὲν ἦτε παρὰ τὸν βίον, ἐπεὶ δὲ ἀπεθάνετε, διαιρεθέντες ὁ μὲν εἰς θεοὺς ἀπέπτατο, σὺ δὲ τὸ εἴδωλον, ὥσπερ εἰκὸς ἦν, εἰς ᾅδου πάρει; ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ: Ἐχρῆν μὲν μηδὲ ἀποκρίνεσθαι πρὸς ἄνδρα ἐξεπίτηδες ἐρεσχηλοῦντα· ὅμως δ’ οὖν καὶ τοῦτο ἄκουσον· ὁπόσον μὲν γὰρ Ἀμφιτρύωνος ἐν τῷ Ἡρακλεῖ ἦν, τοῦτο τέθνηκεν καί εἰμι ἐγὼ ἐκεῖνο πᾶν, ὃ δὲ ἦν τοῦ Διός, ἐν οὐρανῷ σύνεστι τοῖς θεοῖς.

[¶6] 4. DIOGENES: Now I understand perfectly. Alcmena, you mean, bore two Heracleses at the same time, one by Amphitryon, the other from Zeus, and so you were twin sons of the same mother—though nobody knew about it? HERACLES: No, you fool. We were both the same person.

> Greek: 4. ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Σαφῶς νῦν μανθάνω· δύο γὰρ φῂς ἔτεκεν ἡ Ἀλκμήνη κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ Ἡρακλέας, τὸν μὲν ὑπ' Ἀμφιτρύωνι, τὸν δὲ παρὰ τοῦ Διός, ὥστε ἐλελήθειτε δίδυμοι ὄντες ὁμομήτριοι. ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ: Οὔκ, ὦ μάταιε· ὁ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἄμφω ἦμεν.

[¶7] DIOGENES: That’s difficult to understand, two Heracleses in a compound, unless you were man and god fused together, like horse and man in a Centaur. HERACLES: Well, don’t you think everyone is compounded of two parts, soul and body? What then prevents the soul, the part which came from Zeus, from being in heaven, and me, the mortal part, from being with the dead?

> Greek: ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Οὐκ ἔστι μαθεῖν τοῦτο ῥᾴδιον, συνθέτους δύο ὄντας Ἡρακλέας, ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ ὥσπερ ἱπποκένταυρός τις ἦτε εἰς ἓν συμπεφυκότες ἄνθρωπός τε καὶ θεός. ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ: Οὐ γὰρ καὶ πάντες οὕτως σοι δοκοῦσι συγκεῖσθαι ἐκ δυεῖν, ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος; ὥστε τί τὸ κωλῦόν ἐστι τὴν μὲν ψυχὴν ἐν οὐρανῷ εἶναι, ἥπερ ἦν ἐκ Διός, τὸ δὲ θνητὸν ἐμὲ παρὰ τοῖς νεκροῖς;

[¶8] 5. DIOGENES: But, most excellent son of Amphitryon, you would be right enough, if you were a body, but in fact you are a bodiless wraith. So it looks as if you’re now making Heracles triple. HERACLES: How triple?

> Greek: 5. ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Ἀλλ', ὦ βέλτιστε Ἀμφιτρυωνιάδη, καλῶς ἂν ταῦτα ἔλεγες, εἰ σῶμα ἦσθα, νῦν δὲ ἀσώματον εἴδωλον εἶ· ὥστε κινδυνεύεις τριπλοῦν ἤδη ποιῆσαι τὸν Ἡρακλέα. ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ: Πῶς τριπλοῦν;

[¶9] DIOGENES: Like this. If there’s one of him in heaven, and one here with us (that’s you the wraith), and there’s his body on Oeta, now dust, he’s now become three. You’d better start thinking what third father you’ll invent for your body. HERACLES: You’re an impudent quibbler. Who the blazes are you?

> Greek: ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Ὧδέ πως· εἰ γὰρ ὁ μέν τις ἐν οὐρανῷ, ὁ δὲ παρ' ἡμῖν σὺ τὸ εἴδωλον, τὸ δὲ σῶμα ἐν Οἴτῃ κόνις ἤδη γενόμενον, τρία ταῦτα ἤδη γεγένηται· καὶ σκόπει ὅντινα τὸν τρίτον πατέρα ἐπινοήσεις τῷσώματι. ΗΡΑΚΛΗΣ: Θρασὺς εἶ καὶ σοφιστής· τίς δαὶ καὶ ὢν τυγ χάνεις;

[¶10] DIOGENES: I’m the wraith of Diogenes of Sinope, but Diogenes himself isn’t “among the gods that know not death”, no indeed, but in the company of the finest of the ghosts, laughing at Homer and nonsensical stories like this.

> Greek: ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Διογένους τοῦ Σινωπέως εἴδωλον, αὐτὸς δὲ οὐ μὰ Δία “μετ' ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσιν,” ἀλλὰ τοῖς βελτίστοις τῶν νεκρῶν σύνεστιν Ὁμήρου καὶ τῆς τοιαύτης ψυχρολογίας καταγελῶν.