Luciānus

, a celebrated writer of Samosata. His father was poor in his circumstances, and Lucian was early bound to one of his uncles, who was a sculptor. This employment highly displeased him; he made no proficiency in the art, and resolved to seek his livelihood by better means. A dream in which Learning seemed to draw him to her, and to promise fame and immortality, confirmed his resolutions, and he began to write. The artifices and unfair dealings of a lawyer, a life which he had embraced, disgusted him, and he began to study philosophy and eloquence. He visited different places, and Antioch, Ionia, Greece, Italy, Gaul, and more particularly Athens, became succe ively acquainted with the depth of his learning and the power of his eloquence. The emperor Marcus Aurelius was sensible of his merit, and appointed him registrar to the Roman governor of Egypt. He died A.D. 180, in his 90th year, and some of the moderns have a erted that he was torn to pieces by dogs for his impiety, particularly for ridiculing the religion of Christ. The works of Lucian, which are numerous, and written in the Attic dialect, consist partly of dialogues, in which he introduces different characters with much dramatic propriety. His style is easy, simple, elegant, and animated, and he has stored his compositions with many lively sentiments, and much of the true Attic wit. His frequent obscenities, and his manner of exposing to ridicule, not only the religion of his country, but also that of every nation, have deservedly drawn upon him the censure of every age, and branded him with the appellation of atheist and blasphemer. He also wrote the life of Sostrates, a philosopher of Bœotia, as also that of the philosopher Demonax. Some have also attributed to him, with great impropriety, the life of A poll on i us Thyaneus. The best editions of Lucian are that of Grævius, 2  vols. , 8vo, Amsterdam, 1687, and that of Reitzius, 4  vols. , 4to, Amsterdam, 1743.