[[387]]herself; for that he was always large." And he is the man of whom Machon writes in this manner:—

They say that Moschion the water drinker
Once, when he was with friends in the Lyceum,
Seeing a parasite who was used to live
Upon a rich old woman, said to him,
"My friend, your fate is truly marvellous;
For your old dame does give you a big belly."

And the same man, hearing of a parasite who was maintained by an old woman, and who lived in habits of daily intimacy with her, said—

Nothing is strange henceforth, she brings forth nothing,
But the man daily doth become big-bellied.

And Ptolemy, the son of Agesarchus, a native of Megalopolis, in the second book of his history of Philopator, says that men to dine with the king were collected from every city, and that they were called jesters.

49. And Posidonius of Apamea, in the twenty-third book of his histories, says, "The Celtæ, even when they make war, take about with them companions to dine with them, whom they call parasites. And these men celebrate their praises before large companies assembled together, and also to private individuals who are willing to listen to them: they have also a description of people called Bards, who make them music; and these are poets, who recite their praises with songs. And in his thirty-fourth book, the same writer speaks of a man whose name was Apollonius, as having been the parasite of Antiochus surnamed Grypus, king of Syria. And Aristodemus relates that Bithys, the parasite of king Lysimachus, once, when Lysimachus threw a wooden figure of a scorpion on his cloak, leaped up in a great fright; but presently, when he perceived the truth, he said, "I, too, will frighten you, O king!—give me a talent." For Lysimachus was very stingy. And Agatharchides the Cnidian, in the twenty-second book of his history of Europe, says that Anthemocritus the pancratiast was the parasite of Aristomachus, the tyrant of the Argives.

50. And Timocles has spoken in general terms of parasites in his Boxer, when he calls them ἐπισίτιοι in these words—

You will find here some of the parasites (ἐπισίτιοι)
Who eat at other men's tables till they burst,
That you might say they give themselves to athletes
To act as quintain sacks.

[[388]] And Pherecrates, in his Old Women, says—

A.But you, my friend Smicythion, will not
Get your food (ἐπισιτίζομαι) quicker.
B.Who, I pray, is this?
A.I bring this greedy stranger everywhere,
As if he were my hired slave or soldier.