---
title: "Dialogues of the Dead · Νεκρικοὶ διάλογοι"
author: "Lucian"
translator: "Matthew Donald Macleod"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
section: 18 of 30
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/18/
cite: "Lucian, tr. Matthew Donald Macleod, Dialogues of the Dead · Νεκρικοὶ διάλογοι, section 18. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/18/"
---

# 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.

## 18. Dialogue 18

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/18/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/18/#p-N

[¶0] 1. CNEMON: It’s just like the proverb; the fawn’s caught the lion. DAMNIPPUS: Why so angry, Cnemon? CNEMON: You ask why I’m angry? I’ve been outsmarted, poor fool that I am, and have left an heir I didn’t want, passing over those I’d have preferred to have my property. DAMNIPPUS: How did it happen? CNEMON: I’d been showering my attentions on Hermolaus, the childless millionaire, in hopes of his death, and he was glad enough to have them. So I thought of another clever move, and decided to make my will public. I’ve left him all my property in it, hoping he in turn would emulate me, and do the same by me. DAMNIPPUS: Well, what did he do? CNEMON: What he put in his own will, I don’t know; I can only tell you that I myself died suddenly, when my roof fell down upon me, and now Hermolaus is in possession of my property, like a greedy bass that has swallowed both hook and bait. DAMNIPPUS: Not only that, but he’s swallowed you the fisherman as well; you’ve been caught by your own cunning. CNEMON: So it seems; that’s why I’m so sorry for myself.

> Greek: 1. ΚΝΗΜΩΝ: Τοῦτο ἐκεῖνο τὸ τῆς παροιμίας· ὁ νεβρὸς τὸν λέοντα. ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ: Τί ἀγανακτεῖς, ὦ Κνήμων; ΚΝΗΜΩΝ: Πυνθάνῃ ὅ τι ἀγανακτῶ; κληρονόμον ἀκούσιον καταλέλοιπα κατασοφισθεὶς ἄθλιος, οὓς ἐβουλόμην ἂν μάλιστα σχεῖν τἀμὰ παραλιπών. ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ: Πῶς τοῦτο ἐγένετο; ΚΝΗΜΩΝ: Ἑρμόλαον τὸν πάνυ πλούσιον ἄτεκνον ὄντα ἐθεράπευον ἐπὶ θανάτῳ, κἀκεῖνος οὐκ ἀηδῶς τὴν θεραπείαν προσίετο. ἔδοξε δή μοι καὶ σοφὸν τοῦτο εἶναι, θέσθαι διαθήκας εἰς τὸ φανερόν, ἐν αἷς ἐκείνῳ καταλέλοιπα τἀμὰ πάντα, ὡς κἀκεῖνος ζηλώσειεν καὶ τὰ αὐτὰ πράξειεν. ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ: Τί οὖν δὴ ἐκεῖνος; ΚΝΗΜΩΝ: Ὅ τι μὲν αὐτὸς ἐνέγραψεν ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ διαθήκαις οὐκ οἶδα· ἐγὼ γοῦν ἄφνω ἀπέθανον τοῦ τέγους μοι ἐπιπεσόντος, καὶ νῦν Ἑρμόλαος ἔχει τἀμὰ ὥσπερ τις λάβραξ καὶ τὸ ἄγκιστρον τῷ δελέατι συγκατασπάσας. ΔΑΜΝΙΠΠΟΣ: Οὐ μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτόν σε τὸν ἁλιέα· ὥστε τὸ σόφισμα κατὰ σαυτοῦ συντέθεικας. ΚΝΗΜΩΝ: Ἔοικα· οἰμώζω τοιγαροῦν.