ABSTRACT
Since most of what is to be found here is said in jest and contains jokes that are different in all languages, a regular translation proved to be impossible to undertake. There are even passages in the book that have proved untranslatable because they depend completely on the intrinsic value of the Greek words and would not be understood beyond them. All comparisons dealing with love speak of the love of boys, a custom not strange among the Greeks, even though it seems horrible to us. The author keeps quoting lines from Homer. Doing so now would create the impression of pedantry. He also keeps quoting old hackneyed stories, proverbs, examples, and outworn comparisons sure to produce, in our time, an effect contrary to the author’s intention, since we are dealing with jocularity here, not with erudition. I had to change all of this accordingly if I wanted to produce something that is pleasing. It would not be Lucian if it were not, but what is pleasing in his language would not be bearable in ours. When you look at a beautiful face you will always discover some feature in it which you wish were not there. Similarly, the best authors contain passages that need to be touched up or clarified, certainly when the text has been written with the sole aim to please, since in that case you are not allowed to make even the slightest mistake, and if you are just a trifle indelicate you will bore your readers instead of entertaining them.
