7
After him, another man went up at once,Evidently the Cynic had spoken from a high place (perhaps the portico of the asium) to which the new speaker now ascends. What Lucian has previously said (§ 2), together with his failure here to say a word about the identity or personality of the author of these remarks, puts it beyond doubt that the “other man” is Lucian himself, and that he expects his readers to draw this inference. The device is so transparent that its intent can be regarded only as artistic. It is employed also in The Hunuch, 10 (p. 341). Somewhat similar is his borrowing a Prologue from Menander to speak for him in The Mistaken Critic (p. 379). not permitting the throng to disperse, but pouring a libation on the previous sacrificial offerings while they were still ablaze. At first he laughed a long time, and obviously did it from the heart. Then he began somewhat after this fashion: “Since that accursed Theagenes terminated his pestilential remarks with the tears of Heraclitus, I, on the contrary, shall begin with the laughter of Democritus.” And again he went on laughing a long time, so that he drew most of us into doing likewise.
8
Then, changing countenance, he said, “Pray, what else, gentlemen, are we to do when we hear utterances so ridiculous, and see old men all but standing on their heads in public for the sake of a little despicable notoriety? That you may know what manner of thing is this ‘holy image’ which is about to be burned up, give me your ears, for I have observed his character and kept an eye on his career from the beginning, and have ascertained various particulars from his fellow-citizens and people who cannot have helped knowing him thoroughly.
