And Philomnestus, in his treatise on the Festival of Apollo at Rhodes, which is called the Sminthian festival, says—"Since the sycophant got his name from these circumstances, because

[[126]]at that time there were fines and taxes imposed upon figs and oil and wine, by the produce of which imposts they found money for the public expenses; they called those who exacted these fines and laid these informations sycophants, which was very natural, selecting those who were accounted the most considerable of the citizens.

7. And Aristophanes mentions the fig, in his "Farmers;" speaking as follows:—

I am planting figs of all sorts except the Lacedæmonian,
For this kind is the fig of an enemy and a tyrant:
And it would not have been so small a fruit if it had not been a great hater of the people.

But he called it small because it was not a large plant. But Alexis, in his "Olynthian," mentioning the Phrygian figs, says—

And the beautiful fig,
The wonderful invention of the Phrygian fig,
The divine object of my mother's care.

And of those figs which are called φιβάλεοι, mention is made by many of the comic writers; and Pherecrates, in his "Crapatalli," says—

O my good friend, make haste and catch a fever,
And then alarm yourself with no anxiety,
But eat Phibalean figs all the summer;
And then, when you have eaten your fill, sleep the whole of the midday;
And than feel violent pains, get in a fever, and holloa.

And Teleclides, in his Amphictyons, says—

How beautiful those Phibalean figs are!