The Works of Lucian of Samosata, Vol. 4

Apology for "The Dependent Scholar."
A Slip of the Tongue.

In conclusion, we must say that this arrangement by M. Croiset, which we have merely tabulated without intentionally departing from it in any way, seems to us well-considered in its broad outlines. There are a few modifications we would have been disposed to make, but we thought it better to accept the list in its entirety rather than to exercise our own judgment in a matter where we felt very little confidence.

3. CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE TIME

"Marcus Aurelius has for us moderns a great superiority in interest over Saint Louis or Alfred, in that he lived and acted in a state of society modern by its essential characteristics, in an epoch akin to our own, in a brilliant center of civilization. Trajan speaks of 'our enlightened age' just as glibly as The Times speaks of it." — M. Arnold, Essays in Criticism, Marcus Aurelius.

The age of Marcus Aurelius is also the age of Lucian. With any man of that age who has—like these two—left us a still-legible message, we can enter into a relationship quite different from that possible with those whom M. Arnold calls, in the same essay, "classical-dictionary heroes." A twentieth-century Englishman and a second-century Greek or Roman would feel much more at home in each other’s century (if they possessed the gift of tongues) than in most of the centuries that have intervened. It is neither necessary nor possible to explore this resemblance in depth here 1 Some words of Sir Leslie Stephen may be cited, however, describing the chaos of religious opinions that prevailed at both epochs: "The analogy between the present age and that which witnessed the introduction of Christianity is too striking to have been missed by many observers. The most superficial acquaintance with the general facts shows how close a parallel might be drawn by a competent historian. There are none of the striking manifestations of the present day to which it would not be easy to produce an analogy, though in some respects on a smaller scale."; all that need be done is to review those points.