Source edition
Lucian. Luciani Samosatensis Opera, Vol. 3. Jacobitz, Karl, editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1913.
Source data
Perseus Digital Library · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This work is a satirical and comical drama centered on Podagra, the personification of gout as an invincible goddess who torments humanity. The play begins with a narrator agonizing over severe joint pain, who then encounters a mysterious group of initiates devoted to the goddess. Upon her appearance, Podagra mocks and dismisses various human attempts to cure the disease, listing numerous futile medical treatments, folk remedies, and magic spells. She boasts of her absolute power, citing mythical heroes who ultimately succumbed to her. In the climax, challengers arrive with a secret panacea to defy her, but their medicine fails utterly, confirming Podagra's supreme victory. Through this humorous depiction of physical suffering, the drama highlights the vanity of human medicine against an inescapable ailment.