That witty fellow Chærephon delay'd me,
Saying that he should make a marriage feast
The twenty-second of the month, that then
He might dine with his friends the twenty-fourth,
For that the goddess's affairs were prospering.

And he mentions him also in his Man-woman, or the Cretan. But Timocles in his Letters mentions him especially as having attached himself as a parasite to Demotion, who was an intemperate man—

But Demotion was one who spared for nothing,
Thinking his money never could run dry,
But dinners gave to all who liked to come.
And Chærephon, that wretchedest of men,
Treated his house as though it were his own.
And yet is not this a most shameful thing,
To take a branded slave for a parasite?
For he's a perfect clown, and not in want.

And Antiphanes says in his Scythian—

Let us go now to sup, just as we are,
Bearing our torches and our garlands with us;
'Twas thus that Chærephon, when supperless,
Used to manœuvre for an invitation.

And Timotheus says in his Puppy—

Let us start off to go to supper now,
'Tis one of twenty covers as he told me;
Though Chærephon perhaps may add himself.

43. And Apollodorus the Carystian, in his Priestess, says—

They say that Chærephon all uninvited
Came to the wedding feast of Ophelas,

[[383]] Thrusting himself in in unheard-of fashion.
For carrying a basket and a garland
When it was dark, he said that he had come
By order of the bride, bringing some birds,
And on this pretext he did get his supper.