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SUMMARY: The Death of Peregrinus is ostensibly an attack on the eponymous sham philosopher and holy man, but when one looks more closely at how this attack is constructed, other targets emerge. This article argues that Lucian carries out his satire in terms that lead the reader back to his own authorial persona and implicate him in the same desperate striving for fame. But Lucian is not simply undermining himself nihilistically; instead the work becomes a satire on the culture of agonistic display in which both figures were so deeply invested.
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"I mean," said Sancho, "that we should begin to be saints, and then we'll win the fame we want in a much shorter time."
Miguel de Cervantes
THE AIM OF THIS ARTICLE IS TO CALL ATTENTION TO SELF-REFLEXIVITY IN central elements of Lucian's attack on Peregrinus, in order to reveal a new dimension of Lucian's critical engagement with prominent features of elite Greek public life in the High Empire, particularly the pervasive culture of agonistic display. There has been sufficient discussion elsewhere of how Lucian's Death of Peregrinus dismantles point for point all the authoritative figures and traditions on which Peregrinus draws.1 These reach from the archaic period to the contemporary world of the Roman Empire and include such diverse features as the history of illustrious suicide,2 the legacy of various philosophical schools (but particularly the Cynics and other ascetics), the cachet of exile at a time when this had become a badge of philosophical authenticity, and the appeal of a new breed of charismatic religious leaders, most notably Jesus.3
However, readers often overlook the fact that many of the traits that Lucian condemns in Peregrinus are also well-known characteristics of Lucian's own authorial persona.4 The interpretation of Jason König (2005) comes closest to my own, yet he reads grudging admiration beneath Lucian's satirical tone, where I see self-directed satire. Furthermore, although König insightfully identifies the relationship between the two men as competitive, he sees the author as claiming victory over Peregrinus, while I believe the work leaves the outcome more ambiguous. I read the similarities between the author and his target as introducing an alternate register that can illuminate Lucian's satirical self-representations, despite (and also because...