Abstract

The climactic moment of Lucian's Necyomantia occurs when the ludic Cynic preacher, Menippus, finds Tiresias in Hades and poses to him the question which provoked his Homeric quest: what is the best way of life (ποῖόν τινα ήγεῖται τòν ἂριοτον βίον, 21)? The first part of the Theban's response is clear. He praises the life of ‘the ordinary guy’ (ό τῶν ὶδιωτῶ ἂριστος βίος . . .21) and urges the Cynic to ignore the philosophers with their metaphysical speculations and instead to pursue one end alone (τοῦτο μόνον έξ ἄριστος θηράσῃ, 21.3–4). It is this end, the kernel of Tiresias' wisdom, which has not been successfully construed by commentators.

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