But Phylarchus, in the twenty-first book of his History, says that Philip laughed at this, and invited Arcadion to supper, and that in that way he got rid of his enmity. But of Nicesias the flatterer of Alexander, Hegesander gives the following account:—"When Alexander complained of being bitten by the flies and was eagerly brushing them off, a man of the name of Nicesias, one of his flatterers who happened to be present, said,—Beyond all doubt those flies will be far superior to all other flies, now that they have tasted your blood." And the same man says that Cheirisophus also, the flatterer of Dionysius, when he saw Dionysius laughing with some of his acquaintances, (but he was some way off himself, so that he could not hear what they were laughing at,) laughed also. And when Dionysius asked him on what account he, who could not possibly hear what was said, laughed, said—I feel that confidence in you that I am quite sure that what has been said is worth laughing at.

56. His son also, the second Dionysius, had numerous flatterers, who were called by the common people Dionysiocolaces. And they, because Dionysius himself was not very sharp sighted, used to pretend while at supper not to be able to see very far, but they would touch whatever was near them as if they could not see it, until Dionysius himself guided their hands to the dishes. And when Dionysius spat, they would often put out their own faces for him to spit upon: and then

[[393]]licking off the spittle and even his vomit, they declared that it was sweeter than honey. And Timæus, in the twenty-second book of his Histories, says that Democles the flatterer of the younger Dionysius, as it was customary in Sicily to make a sacrifice from house to house in honour of the nymphs, and for men to spend the night around their statues when quite drunk, and to dance around the goddesses—Democles neglecting the nymphs, and saying that there was no use in attending to lifeless deities, went and danced before Dionysius. And at a subsequent time being once sent on an embassy with some colleagues to Dion, when they were all proceeding in a trireme, he being accused by the rest of behaving in a seditious manner in respect of this journey, and of having injured the general interests of Dionysius, when Dionysius was very indignant, he said that differences had arisen between himself and his colleagues, because after supper they took a pæan of Phrynichus or Stesichorus, and some of them took one of Pindar's and sang it; but he, with those who agreed with him, went entirely through the hymns which had been composed by Dionysius himself. And he undertook to bring forward undeniable proof of this assertion. For that his accusers were not acquainted with the modulation of those songs, but that he on the contrary was ready to sing them all through one after the other. And so, when Dionysius was pacified, Democles continued, and said, "But you would do me a great favour, O Dionysius, if you were to order any one of those who knows it to teach me the pæan which you composed in honour of Æsculapius; for I hear that you have taken great pains with that."

And once, when some friends were invited to supper by Dionysius, Dionysius coming into the room, said, "O, my friends, letters have been sent to us from the generals who have been despatched to Naples;" and Democles interrupting him, said, "By the gods, they have done well, O Dionysius." And he, looking upon him, said, "But how do you know whether what they have written is in accordance with my expectation or the contrary?" And Democles replied, "By the gods, you have properly rebuked me, O Dionysius." Timæus also affirms that there was a man named Satyrus, who was a flatterer of both the Dionysii.

57. And Hegesander relates that Hiero the tyrant was

[[394]]also rather weak in his eyes; and that his friends who supped with him made mistakes in the dishes on purpose, in order to let him set them right, and to give him an opportunity of appearing clearer-sighted than the rest. And Hegesander says that Euclides, who was surnamed Seutlus, (and he too was a parasite,) once when a great quantity of sow-thistles (σόγκος) was set before him at a banquet, said, "Capaneus, who is introduced by Euripides in his Suppliant Women, was a very witty man—

Detesting tables where there was too much pride (ὄγκος).

But those who were the leaders of the people at Athens, says he, in the Chremonidean war, flattered the Athenians, and said, "that everything else was common to all the Greeks; but that the Athenians were the only men who knew the road which leads to heaven." And Satyrus, in his Lives, says that Anaxarchus, the Eudæmonical philosopher, was one of the flatterers of Alexander; and that he once, when on a journey in company with the king, when a violent and terrible thunderstorm took place, so as to frighten everybody, said—"Was it you, O Alexander, son of Jupiter, who caused this?" And that he laughed and said—"Not I; for I do not wish to be formidable, as you make me out; you also desire me to have brought to me at supper the heads of satraps and kings." And Aristobulus of Cassandria says that Dioxippus the Athenian, a pancratiast, once when Alexander was wounded and when the blood flowed, said—

'Tis ichor, such as flows from the blessed gods.

58. And Epicrates the Athenian, having gone on an embassy to the king, according to the statement of Hegesander, and having received many presents from him, was not ashamed to flatter the king openly and boldly, so as even to say that the best way was not to choose nine archons every year, but nine ambassadors to the king. But I wonder at the Athenians, how they allowed him to make such a speech without bringing him to trial, and yet fined Demades ten talents, because he thought Alexander a god; and they put Evagoras to death, because when he went as ambassador to the king he adored him. And Timon the Phliasian, in the third book of his Silli, says that Ariston the Chian, an acquaintance and pupil of Zeno the Citiean, was a flatterer