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Epigram on His Own Book is a short elegiac poem transmitted at the head of manuscripts of Lucian of Samosata. It names Lucian as its author, though whether he actually wrote it is uncertain. The speaker says that he wrote these things with a knowledge of old follies, since even what seems wise to men is foolishness: no human thought is clear-cut, and what one person admires, others laugh at.
The epigram offers a fitting introduction to Lucian's satirical outlook, summing up his skepticism about human wisdom and pretension. It shows how ancient editors and readers framed a collection of works with a characteristic statement from its author, and it offers a compact example of the gnomic epigram.
About this edition. The Greek text comes from the Eulogikon open corpus of public-domain editions. Every word has been analyzed with odyCy, a neural language model for Ancient Greek — click or tap any word for its dictionary form, part of speech, and complete morphology, together with the full entry from the Liddell–Scott–Jones Greek–English Lexicon (LSJ). This epigram, headed 'On his own book' and naming Lucian, is transmitted at the head of Lucian manuscripts; whether Lucian wrote it is uncertain.