Laudator Temporis Acti

The Works of Lucian of Samosata. Complete with exceptions specified in the preface. Translated by H.W. Fowler and F.G. Fowler, Vol. I (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905), p. xxiii:

[W]e are occasionally offended by his frankness on subjects to which we are not accustomed to allude; he is not an unclean or a sensual writer, but the waters of decency have risen since his time and submerged some things which were then visible.

Id., p. iii:

In the following list of omissions, italics denote that the piece is marked as spurious both by Dindorf and by Jacobitz. The other omissions are mainly by way of expurgation. In a very few other passages some isolated words and phrases have been excised; but it has not been thought necessary to mark these in the texts by asterisks.

Halcyon; Deorum Dialogi, iv, v, ix, x, xvii, xxii, xxiii; Dialogi Marini, xiii; Vera Historia, I.22, II.19; Alexander, 41, 42; Eunuchus; De Astrologia; Amores; Lucius sive Asinus; Rhetorum Preceptor, 23; Hippias; Adversus Indoctum, 23; Pseudologista; Longaevi; Dialogi Meretricii, v, vi, x; De Syria Dea; Philopatris; Charidemus; Nero; Tragodopodagra; Ocypus; Epigrammata.

As one who loves to dive beneath the waters of decency, I am grateful for this handy list of Lucian's naughty bits. Here is the list with the spurious titles removed:

Deorum Dialogi, iv, v, ix, x, xvii, xxii, xxiii; Dialogi Marini, xiii; Vera Historia, I.22, II.19; Alexander, 41, 42; Eunuchus; Rhetorum Preceptor, 23; Adversus Indoctum, 23; Pseudologista; Dialogi Meretricii, v, vi, x; De Syria Dea; Tragodopodagra; Ocypus; Epigrammata.

The epigrams are conveniently collected by Barry Baldwin, "The Epigrams of Lucian," Phoenix 29.4 (Winter, 1975) 311-335.

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