---
title: "Dialogues of the Dead · Νεκρικοὶ διάλογοι"
author: "Lucian"
translator: "Matthew Donald Macleod"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
section: 21 of 30
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/21/
cite: "Lucian, tr. Matthew Donald Macleod, Dialogues of the Dead · Νεκρικοὶ διάλογοι, section 21. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/21/"
---

# 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.

## 21. Dialogue 21

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/21/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-dead/21/#p-N

[¶0] 1. CRATES: Diogenes, did you know Moerichus, the rich man, the millionaire from Corinth, who owned a fleet of merchant ships, and had a cousin called Aristeas, another rich man, who used to quote Homer and say, “You try to throw me, or let me try to throw you”?

> Greek: 1. ΚΡΑΤΗΣ: Μοίριχον τὸν πλούσιον ἐγίνωσκες, ὦ Διόγενες, τὸν πάνυ πλούσιον, τὸν ἐκ Κορίνθου, τὸν τὰς πολλὰς ὁλκάδας ἔχοντα, οὗ ἀνεψιὸς Ἀριστέας, πλούσιος καὶ αὐτὸς ὤν, τὸ Ὁμηρικὸν ἐκεῖνο εἰώθει ἐπιλέγειν, ῾ἤ μ' ἀνάειρ' ἢ ἐγὼ σέ'.

[¶1] DIOGENES: Why, Crates?

> Greek: ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Τίνος ἕνεκα, ὦ Κράτης;

[¶2] CRATES: They were of an age and showering attentions each on the other for his property. They made no secret of their wills; Moerichus was leaving Aristeas master of all he had, if he died first, and Aristeas was doing the same for Moerichus. This was all down in black and white, and they tried to outdo each other with obsequious attentions, and not only the prophets, divining the future from stars or from dreams in the best Chaldaean tradition, but even the Delphic god himself would assign the victory first to Aristeas, and then to Moerichus, and the scales would dip in favour now of one, now of the other.

> Greek: ΚΡΑΤΗΣ: Ἐθεράπευον ἀλλήλους τοῦ κλήρου ἕνεκα ἑκάτερος ἡλικιῶται ὄντες, καὶ τὰς διαθήκας εἰς τὸ φανερὸν ἐτίθεντο, Ἀριστέαν μὲν ὁ Μοίριχος, εἰ προαποθάνοι, δεσπότην ἀφιεὶς τῶν ἑαυτοῦ πάντων, Μοίριχον δὲ ὁ Ἀριστέας, εἰ προαπέλθοι αὐτοῦ. ταῦτα μὲν ἐγέγραπτο, οἱ δὲ ἐθεράπευον ὑπερβαλλόμενοι ἀλλήλους τῇ κολακείᾳ. καὶ οἱ μάντεις, εἴτε ἀπὸ τῶν ἄστρων τεκμαιρόμενοι τὸ μέλλον εἴτε ἀπὸ τῶν ὀνειράτων, ὥς γε Χαλδαίων παῖδες, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Πύθιος αὐτὸς ἄρτι μὲν Ἀριστέᾳ παρεῖχε τὸ κράτος, ἄρτι δὲ Μοιρίχῳ, καὶ τὰ τάλαντα ποτὲ μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦτον, νῦν δ’ ἐπ' ἐκεῖνον ἔρρεπε.

[¶3] 2. DIOGENES: Well, what happened in the end? The story’s worth hearing.

> Greek: 2. ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Τί οὖν πέρας ἐγένετο, ὦ Κράτης; ἀκοῦσαι γὰρ ἄξιον.

[¶4] CRATES: Both have died on one day, and the properties have passed on to Eunomius and Thrasycles, two relations who have never imagined things turning out thus. Their ship was halfway across from Sicyon to Cirrha, when a squall from the north-west caught her on the beam and capsized her.

> Greek: ΚΡΑΤΗΣ: Ἄμφω τεθνᾶσιν ἐπὶ μιᾶς ἡμέρας, οἱ δὲ κλῆροι εἰς Εὐνόμιον καὶ Θρασυκλέα περιῆλθον ἄμφω συγγενεῖς ὄντας οὐδὲ πώποτε προμαντευομένους οὕτω γενέσθαι ταῦτα· διαπλέοντες γὰρ ἀπὸ Σικυῶνος εἰς Κίρραν κατὰ μέσον τὸν πόρον πλαγίῳ περιπεσόντες τῷ Ἰάπυγι ἀνετράπησαν.

[¶5] 3. DIOGENES: And a good thing too! We never had such thoughts about each other, when we were alive. I never prayed for the death of Antisthenes, so that I could inherit his staff—though he had a very strong one that he had made for himself from the wild olive—nor did you, Crates, I imagine, wish that I should die and leave you my property, the tub and the bag with its two measures of lupines.

> Greek: 3. ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Εὖ ἐποίησαν. ἡμεῖς δὲ ὁπότε ἐν τῷ βίῳ ἦμεν, οὐδὲν τοιοῦτον ἐνενοοῦμεν περὶ ἀλλήλων· οὔτε πώποτε ηὐξάμην Ἀντισθένην ἀποθανεῖν, ὡς κληρονομήσαιμι τῆς βακτηρίας αὐτοῦ—εἶχεν δὲ πάνυ καρτερὰν ἐκ κοτίνου ποιησάμενος—οὔτε οἶμαι σὺ ὁ Κράτης ἐπεθύμεις κληρονομεῖν ἀποθανόντος ἐμοῦ τὰ κτήματα καὶ τὸν πίθον καὶ τὴν πήραν χοίνικας δύο θέρμων ἔχουσαν.

[¶6] CRATES: No, I didn’t need any of these things; but neither did you, Diogenes. All that was needful you inherited from Antisthenes and I from you—things far more important and august than the Persian empire.

> Greek: ΚΡΑΤΗΣ: Οὐδὲν γάρ μοι τούτων ἔδει, ἀλλ’ οὐδὲ σοί, ὦ Διόγενες· ἃ γὰρ ἐχρῆν, σύ τε Ἀντισθένους ἐκληρονόμησας καὶ ἐγὼ σοῦ, πολλῷ μείζω καὶ σεμνότερα τῆς Περσῶν ἀρχῆς.

[¶7] DIOGENES: What things do you mean?

> Greek: ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Τίνα ταῦτα φῄς;

[¶8] CRATES: Wisdom, independence, truth, plain speaking, freedom.

> Greek: ΚΡΑΤΗΣ: Σοφίαν, αὐτάρκειαν, ἀλήθειαν, παρρησίαν, ἐλευθερίαν.

[¶9] DIOGENES: Good heavens, yes. I remember taking over these riches from Antisthenes, and leaving you them in still greater measure.

> Greek: ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Νὴ Δία, μέμνημαι τοῦτον διαδεξάμενος τὸν πλοῦτον παρὰ Ἀντισθένους καὶ σοὶ ἔτι πλείω καταλιπών.

[¶10] 4. CRATES: But no one else cared for wealth of this sort, or paid us attentions in the hope of inheriting it from us; it was gold on which they all had their eyes.

> Greek: 4. ΚΡΑΤΗΣ: Ἀλλ' οἱ ἄλλοι ἠμέλουν τῶν τοιούτων κτημάτων καὶ οὐδεὶς ἐθεράπευεν ἡμᾶς κληρονομήσειν προσδοκῶν, εἰς δὲ τὸ χρυσίον πάντες ἔβλεπον.

[¶11] DIOGENES: Only to be expected; they had nowhere to put such a legacy from us. They were falling apart from rich living, and were like rotten purses; and so no sooner did one put wisdom or plain speech or truth into them, than it would fall out through a hole, for the bottom couldn’t hold it. It was just like what happens to those daughters of Danaus here, as they pour water into that jar full of holes. But their gold they would keep safe with teeth or nails or any means in their power.

> Greek: ΔΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ: Εἰκότως· οὐ γὰρ εἶχον ἔνθα δέξαιντο τὰ τοιαῦτα παρ' ἡμῶν διερρυηκότες ὑπὸ τρυφῆς, καθάπερ τὰ σαπρὰ τῶν βαλλαντίων· ὥστε εἴ ποτε καὶ ἐμβάλοι τις ἐς αὐτοὺς ἢ σοφίαν ἢ παρρησίαν ἢ ἀλήθειαν, ἐξέπιπτεν εὐθὺς καὶ διέρρει, τοῦ πυθμένος στέγειν οὐ δυναμένου, οἷόν τι πάσχουσιν αἱ τοῦ Δαναοῦ αὗται παρθένοι εἰς τὸν τετρυπημένον πίθον ἐπαντλοῦσαι· τὸ δὲ χρυσίον ὀδοῦσι καὶ ὄνυξι καὶ πάσῃ μηχανῇ ἐφύλαττον.

[¶12] CRATES: In consequence we shall retain our wealth even down here, but they will bring with them no more than an obol, and even that won’t go beyond the ferryman.

> Greek: ΚΡΑΤΗΣ: Οὐκοῦν ἡμεῖς μὲν ἕξομεν κἀνταῦθα τὸν πλοῦτον, οἱ δὲ ὀβολὸν ἥξουσι κομίζοντες καὶ τοῦτον ἄχρι τοῦ πορθμέως.