Lucian, who
was emulous of this Menippus, seems to have imitated both his
manners and his style in many of his dialogues, where Menippus
himself is often introduced as a speaker in them and as a perpetual
buffoon; particularly his character is expressed in the beginning of
that dialogue which is called [Greek text which cannot be
reproduced]. But Varro in imitating him avoids his impudence and
filthiness, and only expresses his witty pleasantry.
This we may believe for certain--that as his subjects were various,
so most of them were tales or stories of his own invention; which is
also manifest from antiquity by those authors who are acknowledged
to have written Varronian satires in imitation of his--of whom the
chief is Petronius Arbiter, whose satire, they say, is now printing
in Holland, wholly recovered, and made complete; when it is made
public, it will easily be seen by any one sentence whether it be
supposititious or genuine. Many of Lucian's dialogues may also
properly be called Varronian satires, particularly his true history;
and consequently the "Golden Ass" of Apuleius, which is taken from
him.
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