The Greek
text of (pseudo?) Lucian (second century A.D.) Iudicium
vocalium 12 reads:
οὕτω μὲν οὖν ὅσον ἐς φωνὴν ἀνθρώπους ἀδικεῖ: ἔργῳ,δὲ πῶς; κλάουσιν ἄνθρωποι καὶ τὴν αὑτῶν
τύχην ὀδύρονται καὶ Κάδμῳ καταρῶνται πολλάκις, ὅτι τὸ Ταῦ ἐς τὸ τῶν στοιχείων
γένος παρήγαγε: τῷ γάρ τούτου σώματί φασι τοὺς τυράννους ἀκολουθήσαντας καὶ
μιμησαμένους αὐτοῦ τὸ πλάσμα ἔπειτα σχήματι τοιούτῳ ξύλα τεκτήναντας ἀνθρώπους ἀνασκολοπίζειν
ἐπ᾽ αὐτά: ἀπὸ δὲ τούτου καὶ τῷ τεχνήματι τῷ πονηρῷ τὴν πονηρὰν ἐπωνυμίαν
συνελθεῖν. τούτων οὖν ἁπάντων ἕνεκα πόσων θανάτων τὸ Ταῦ ἄξιον εἶναι νομίζετε; ἐγὼ
μὲν γὰρ οἶμαι δικαίως τοῦτο μόνον ἐς τὴν τοῦ Ταῦ τιμωρίαν ὑπολείπεσθαι, τὸ τῷ
σχήματι τῷ αὑτοῦ τὴν δίκην ὑποσχεῖν.
Chapman and
Schnabel offers the following translation
Therefore, thus much by [his] voice he [Tau]
injures men, but how about by [his] work? Men weep and mourn their fortune, and
frequently utter imprecations against Cadmus because he placed the Tau in the
offspring of the letters. For, it is said that tyrants, having followed Tau’s
body and having imitated his form, then having devised wooden beams in such a
from, crucify men on them; and from him [Tau] and by his evil handiwork the
evil consider the Tau to be worthy of many deaths? For I think it right to leave
him behind alone unto the vengeance of the Tau, to undergo the judgment which
accords to his own form, [which certainly was fabricated to be a cross from
this one, but was named by men.] (David W. Chapman and Eckhard J. Schnabel, The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus: Texts
and Commentary [Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 2019], 311)
As Chapman
and Schnabel notes, “Lucian . . . intentionally mimicked crucifixion practice
when he applied cross terminology to the myth of Prometheus. Lucian indicated
that the god’s arms would be spread out that he would barely be able to stand
on tiptoe on a narrow ledge”: (p. 310). Furthermore, they provide this
commentary:
In this mock court battle, the alphabetic
letter Sigma prosecutes the letter Tau before a jury consisting of the Vowels.
Tau has been supplanting Sigma in a host of Greek words, and Sigma asks that
Tau be condemned for his actions. Modern grammarians of late Hellenistic Greek
do indeed attest to the tendency of Greek speakers and authors to write tau in place of sigma in many Greek words during this (and later) periods. The
vital material comes at the end of the dialogue, where the Sigma (since Tau has
supplanted other letters), have also injured humankind physically by serving as
the form of the cross employed in crucifixion (note ανασκολοπιζειν). By way of punishment, Sigma
calls Tau to be crucified on a Tau-shaped cross. Certainly this short ironic
discourse implies that its author believed it common practice to attach a
crossbar to an upright pole in order to crucify those condemned by a court of
law. (Ibid., 311)
