And in the play, which is entitled The Parasite, he says—
A surly man should never be a parasite.
52. And Menander, in his Passion, speaking of a friend who had refused an invitation to a marriage feast, says—
This is to be a real friend: not one
Who asks, What time is dinner? as the rest do.
And, Why should we not all at once sit down?
And fishes for another invitation
To-morrow and next day, and then again
Asks if there's not a funeral feast to follow.
And Alexis in his Orestes, Nicostratus in his Plutus, Menander in his Drunkenness, and in his Lawgiver, speak in the same way; and Philonides, in his Buskins, says—
I being abstinent cannot endure
Such things as these.
But there are many other kindred nouns to the noun παράσιτος: there is ἐπίσιτος, which has already been mentioned; and οἰκόσιτος, and σιτόκουρος, and αὐτόσιτος; and besides these, there is κακόσιτος and ὀλιγόσιτος: and Anaxandrides uses the word οἰκόσιτος in his Huntsmen—
A son who feeds at home (οἰκόσιτος) is a great comfort.
And a man is called οἰκόσιτος who serves the city, not for hire, but gratis. Antiphanes, in his Scythian, says—
The οἰκόσιτος quickly doth become
A regular attendant at th' assembly.