Home > Work > Storia vera

Storia vera QUOTES

Storia vera QUOTES

1 " The only business of the historian is to relate things exactly as they are: this he can never do as long as he is afraid "

― Lucian of Samosata , Storia vera

2 " Give me a scholar, therefore, who is able to think and to write, to look with an eye of discernment into things, and to do business himself, if called upon, who hath both civil and military knowledge; one, moreover, who has been in camps, and has seen armies in the field and out of it; knows the use of arms, and machines, and warlike engines of every kind; can tell what the front, and what the horn is, how the ranks are to be disposed, how the horse is to be directed, and from whence to advance or to retreat; one, in short, who does not stay at home and trust to the reports of others: but, above all, let him be of a noble and liberal mind; let him neither fear nor hope for anything; otherwise he will only resemble those unjust judges who determine from partiality or prejudice, and give sentence for hire: but, whatever the man is, as such let him be described. "

― Lucian of Samosata , Storia vera

3 " The good historian, then, must be thus described: he must be fearless, uncorrupted, free, the friend of truth and of liberty; one who, to use the words of the comic poet, calls a fig a fig, and a skiff a skiff, neither giving nor withholding from any, from favour or from enmity, not influenced by pity, by shame, or by remorse; a just judge, so far benevolent to all as never to give more than is due to any in his work; a stranger to all, of no country, bound only by his own laws, acknowledging no sovereign, never considering what this or that man may say of him, but relating faithfully everything as it happened. "

― Lucian of Samosata , Storia vera

4 " SOCRATE
Come va ad Atene?

MENIPPO
Molti giovanotti dicono di far filosofia, e a giudicare dai vestiti e dal modo di camminare, si tratterebbe di sommi filosofi!

SOCRATE
Ah, ne ho visti tanti davvero! [...] E di me che pensano?

MENIPPO
In questo, Socrate, sei un uomo fortunato. Tutti credono infatti che tu sia un uomo ammirevole, e tu sappia tutto, e per giunta senza sapere nulla! Quest'ultima cosa, però, penso che sia vera.

SOCRATE
Anch'io glielo dicevo sempre, ma loro credevano che si trattasse di un'ironia!

(Dialoghi dei morti, 6, Menippo ed Eaco) "

― Lucian of Samosata , Storia vera

5 " Anch'io, pertanto, mi impegnai, per civetteria, a lasciare qualcosa di mio ai posteri [...]; e visto che non avevo a disposizione fatti veri da raccontare —perché purtroppo non mi era mai successo niente di interessante— mi decisi a dire le bugie, ma bugie che si potessero riconoscere molto meglio di quelle che dicono gli altri: perché, infatti, almeno su un punto dirò la verità, se dichiaro che sto mentendo!

(Storia vera, I, 4) "

― Lucian of Samosata , Storia vera

6 " In size the men were as large as the Colossus of Rhodes from the waist up, and the horses were as large as a great merchantman. Their number, however, I leave unrecorded for fear that someone may think it incredible, it was so great. "

― Lucian of Samosata , Storia vera