Philosophy in the Farmyard: The Speaking Cock in Lucian’s Gallus sive Somnium
Résumé
This paper focuses on Lucian’s Gallus sive Somnium and his use of a speaking animal as a literary tool that fits the serio-comic flavour of the dialogue particularly well. The provocative “hero” of this dialogue, that is the poor cobbler Micyllus’ speaking cock, is far from being a straightforward character. The ambiguity inherent to both, his nature and his narrative status, strongly impacts on the meaning of his speech, and consequently on the interpretation of the dialogue.