---
title: "Dialogues of the Gods · Θεῶν διάλογοι"
author: "Lucian"
translator: "Matthew Donald Macleod"
languages: [grc, en]
shelf: "Classical Greek"
section: 23 of 25
url: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-gods/23/
cite: "Lucian, tr. Matthew Donald Macleod, Dialogues of the Gods · Θεῶν διάλογοι, section 23. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-gods/23/"
---

# Dialogues of the Gods · Θεῶν διάλογοι

*Lucian, tr. Matthew Donald Macleod*

The Olympians gossip, quarrel and complain: Zeus, Hera, Hermes, Ganymede and Eros.

> Greek: ed. Matthew Donald Macleod, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0062.tlg068, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Matthew Donald Macleod, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0062.tlg068.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.

## 23. Dialogue 23

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-gods/23/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/lucian-dialogues-of-the-gods/23/#p-N

[¶0] 1. APHRODITE: Why is it, Eros, that though you’ve triumphed over all the other gods, Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Rhea and myself, your mother, you make an exception of Athena and keep clear of her, and for her your torch has no fire, your quiver no arrows, and you no bow or sense of aim?

> Greek: 1. ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ: Τί δήποτε, ὦ Ἔρως, τοὺς μὲν ἄλλους θεοὺς κατηγωνίσω ἅπαντας, τὸν Δία, τὸν Ποσειδῶ, τὸν Ἀπόλλω, τὴν Ῥέαν, ἐμὲ τὴν μητέρα, μόνης δὲ ἀπέχῃ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ ἐπ' ἐκείνης ἄπυρος μέν σοι ἡ δᾴς, κενὴ δὲ οἰστῶν ἡ φαρέτρα, σὺ δὲ ἄτοξος εἶ καὶ ἄστοχος;

[¶1] EROS: I’m afraid of her, mother. She scares me with her flashing eyes, and she’s terribly like a man. Why, when I string my bow and go after her, I get terrified at the first shake of her crest, and start trembling and dropping my arrows from my hands.

> Greek: ΕΡΩΣ: Δέδια, ὦ μῆτερ, αὐτήν· φοβερὰ γάρ ἐστι καὶ χαροπὴ καὶ δεινῶς ἀνδρική· ὁπόταν γοῦν ἐντεινάμενος τὸ τόξον ἴω ἐπ' αὐτήν, ἐπισείουσα τὸν λόφον ἐκπλήττει με καὶ ὑπότρομος γίνομαι καὶ ἀπορρεῖ μου τὰ τοξεύματα ἐκ τῶν χειρῶν.

[¶2] APHRODITE: Well, didn’t you find Ares more frightening? Yet you disarmed him and conquered him.

> Greek: ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ: Ὁ Ἄρης γὰρ οὐ φοβερώτερος ἦν; καὶ ὅμως ἀφώπλισας αὐτὸν καὶ νενίκηκας.

[¶3] EROS: No. He’s glad to welcome and encourage me, but Athena always glowers at me. Once I just flew past with my torch near her, and says she, “If you come near me, as sure as I’m Zeus’ daughter, I’ll run my spear through you, or catch you by the foot and throw you into Tartarus, or I’ll tear you to bits with my own hands and then”—she hurled many threats like that at me. Besides she stares at me so grimly and, oh, she’s got on her breast that terrible face with the snaky hair—that’s what scares me most of all. It gives me the creeps and makes me run the moment I see it.

> Greek: ΕΡΩΣ: Ἀλλὰ ἐκεῖνος ἑκὼν προσίεταί με καὶ προσκαλεῖται, ἡ Ἀθηνᾶ δὲ ὑφορᾶται ἀεί, καί ποτε ἐγὼ μὲν ἄλλως παρέπτην πλησίον ἔχων τὴν λαμπάδα, ἡ δέ, Εἴ μοι πρόσει, φησί, νὴ τὸν πατέρα, τῷ δορατίῳ σε διαπείρασα ἢ τοῦ ποδὸς λαβομένη καὶ ἐς τὸν Τάρταρον ἐμβαλοῦσα ἢ αὐτὴ διασπασαμένη—πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἠπείλησε· καὶ ὁρᾷ δὲ δριμὺ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ στήθους ἔχει πρόσωπόν τι φοβερὸν ἐχίδναις κατάκομον, ὅπερ ἐγὼ μάλιστα δέδια· μορμολύττεται γάρ με καὶ φεύγω, ὅταν ἴδω αὐτό.

[¶4] 2. APHRODITE: Do you mean to tell me you’re afraid of Athena and her Gorgon, though you don’t fear the thunderbolt of Zeus? But why do you leave the Muses unwounded? Why are they safe from your arrows? Do they too have tossing plumes and Gorgons on display?

> Greek: 2. ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ: Ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν Ἀθηνᾶν δέδιας, ὡς φῄς, καὶ τὴν Γοργόνα, καὶ ταῦτα μὴ φοβηθεὶς τὸν κεραυνὸν τοῦ Διός. αἱ δὲ Μοῦσαι διὰ τί σοι ἄτρωτοι καὶ ἔξω βελῶν εἰσιν; κἀκεῖναι λόφους ἐπισείουσιν καὶ Γοργόνας προφαίνουσιν;

[¶5] EROS: I have respect for them, mother; they’re so solemn, always with something to think about or busy with their music; I often stand beside them, bewitched by their melodies.

> Greek: ΕΡΩΣ: Αἰδοῦμαι αὐτάς, ὦ μῆτερ· σεμναὶ γάρ εἰσιν καὶ ἀεί τι φροντίζουσιν καὶ περὶ ᾠδὴν ἔχουσι καὶ ἐγὼ παρίσταμαι πολλάκις αὐταῖς κηλούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ μέλους.

[¶6] APHRODITE: Never mind them, then, seeing that they’re so solemn; but why don’t you wound Artemis?

> Greek: ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ: Ἔα καὶ ταύτας, ὅτι σεμναί· τὴν δὲ Ἄρτεμιν τίνος ἕνεκα οὐ τιτρώσκεις;

[¶7] EROS: It’s quite impossible to catch her; she’s always running away over the mountains. Besides, she’s now got a love of her own.

> Greek: ΕΡΩΣ: Τὸ μὲν ὅλον οὐδὲ καταλαβεῖν αὐτὴν οἷόν τε φεύγουσαν ἀεὶ διὰ τῶν ὀρῶν· εἶτα καὶ ἴδιόν τινα ἔρωτα ἤδη ἐρᾷ.

[¶8] APHRODITE: And its object, my child?

> Greek: ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ: Τίνος, ὦ τέκνον;

[¶9] EROS: Hunting deer and fawn, chasing them and catching them, or shooting them down; that’s all she cares about. But that brother of hers, though he’s an archer too and a long shot— APHRODITE: I know, my boy, you’ve hit him often enough with your arrows.

> Greek: ΕΡΩΣ: Θήρας καὶ ἐλάφων καὶ νεβρῶν, αἱρεῖν τε διώκουσα καὶ κατατοξεύειν, καὶ ὅλως πρὸς τῷ τοιούτῳ ἐστίν· ἐπεὶ τόν γε ἀδελφὸν αὐτῆς, καίτοι τοξότην καὶ αὐτὸν ὄντα καὶ ἑκηβόλον— ΑΦΡΟΔΙΤΗ: Οἶδα, ὦ τέκνον, πολλὰ ἐκεῖνον ἐτόξευσας.