Megillus’
Story
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Name: Lucian Date: 125 – 180 CE Region: [modern Turkey] Citation: Dialogues of the Courtesans 5.3-4 |
Leaena Tells Her Friend Clonarium about Her Conversation with Megillus:
When Megilla grew warm, they took off the very
realistic wig they were wearing, revealing a shaved head, with hair as short as
an athlete's.
But then Demonassa said, “Have you ever seen a more
beautiful man?”
And I said, “I don’t see any man here, Megilla.”
And he said, “Don’t think of me as a woman, for I
am called Megillus, and I have married this woman Demonassa, and she is my
wife.”
I laughed at this, and then I said, “Megilla, did
you pull off what Achilles [1] did, and being a man, hide among women? Do you have man parts? Or what about--?”
“No, Leaena,” she said, “I was born similar to
you women. But my mind and orientation and everything else about me is male.”
[1] Before the Trojan War, Achilles
lived on the island of Skyros as a woman named Pyrrha in the court of Princess
Deidamia.
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χρόνῳ δὲ ἡ Μέγιλλα ὑπόθερμος
ἤδη οὖσα τὴν μὲν πηνήκην ἀφείλετο τῆς κεφαλῆς, ἐπέκειτο δὲ πάνυ ὁμοία καὶ
προσφυής, καὶ ἐν χρῷ ὤφθη αὐτὴ καθάπερ οἱ σφόδρα ἀνδρώδεις τῶν ἀθλητῶν ἀποκεκαρμένη:
κἀγὼ ἐταράχθην ἰδοῦσα. ἡ δέ, Ὦ Λέαινα, φησίν, ἑώρακας ἤδη οὕτω καλὸν
νεανίσκον; ἀλλ᾽ οὐχ ὁρῶ γε, ἔφην ἐγώ, νεανίσκον ἐνταῦθα, ὦ Μέγιλλα. μή με
καταθήλυνε, ἔφη, Μέγιλλος γὰρ ἐγὼ λέγομαι καὶ γεγάμηκα πρόπαλαι ταύτην τὴν
Δημώνασσαν, καὶ ἔστιν ἐμὴ γυνή. |
Megilla cum iam
incaluisset, comam, ut illam quidem fictitiam habebat, a capite reiecit, ipsa
autem iacebat omnino similis, atque aequiparanda gladiatori alicui vehementer
virili, atque robusto, ad vivum usque cute detonsa. Ac ego quidem, ubi
aspexi, perterrita sum. “Illa vero,” Leaena
inquit, “ecquidem adolescentem, unquam vidisti ita pulchrum?” “At non video, inquam
ego, ullum hic adolescentem, Megilla.” Tum illa, “ne me,
inquit, effemines, aut mulierem facias: Megillus enim vocor ego, et iam olim
Demonassam hanc uxorem duxi, estque ea uxor mea.” |
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ἐγέλασα, ὦ Κλωνάριον, ἐπὶ
τούτῳ καὶ ἔφην, Οὐκοῦν σύ, ὦ Μέγιλλε, ἀνήρ τις ὢν ἐλελήθεις ἡμᾶς, καθάπερ τὸν
Ἀχιλλέα φασὶν ἐν ταῖς παρθένοις κρυπτόμενον ταῖς ἁλουργίσι; ... οὔκουν, ὦ Λέαινα, ἔφη, ἀλλὰ ἐγεννήθην μὲν ὁμοία
ταῖς ἄλλαις ὑμῖν, ἡ γνώμη δὲ καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυμία καὶ τἆλλα πάντα ἀνδρός ἐστί μοι. |
Risi equidem ad haec,
Clonarium, atque proinde “Megilla, latuisti,” inquam, “tu nos, vir existens,
quemadmodum Achillem aiunt, inter virgines absconditum latuisse, habesque
virile illud?...” “Haudquaquam,” Leaena
inquit, “sed nata equidum sum similis vobis aliis. Sententia autem et libido
ceteraque omnia virilia mihi sunt.” Translated into Latin by Jacob
Micyllus |
Lucian [Lucianus Samosatensis; 125 – 180 CE, modern
Turkey] was a Roman satirist from Samosata [modern Turkey] who wrote in ancient
Greek. His works are a mixture of sarcasm, wit, and biting social criticism. He
is without a doubt one of the most popular authors of the later Roman empire.
