As if a man at a luxurious feast,
When cheese cakes are before him, chooses nought
But anise, parsley, and such silly fare,
And ill-dress'd cardamums . . . .
so, too, this Pot-friend, Ulpian,—to use a word of my fellow-Megalopolitan, Cercidas,—appears to me to eat nothing that a man ought to eat, but to watch those who are eating, to see if they have passed over any spine or any callous or gristly morsel of the meat set before them; never once considering what the admirable and brilliant Æschylus has said, who called his tragedies, "Relics of the noble banquets of Homer." But Æschylus was one of the greatest of philosophers,—a man who, being once defeated undeservedly, as Theophrastus or Chamæleon (whichever was really the author of the book), in his treatise on Pleasure, has related, said that he committed his tragedies to time, well knowing that, he should hereafter receive the honour due to him.
40. But whence could Ulpian know what Stratonicus the harp-player said about Propis the Rhodian harp-player? For Clearchus, in his book on Proverbs, says that Stratonicus, when he had seen Propis, who was a man of great size, but a very inferior artist, with a mind much less than his body, said to some one who asked him what sort of player he was,
οὐδεὶς κακὸς μέγας ἰχθῖς;
speaking enigmatically, and saying, first of all, that he is οὐδεὶς, no one, or good-for-nothing; secondly, that he is κακὸς, bad; and, in addition to this, that he is μέγας, great; and, lastly, ἰχθὺς, a fish, as having no voice. But Theophrastus, in his book on The Laughable, says that this was a proverb originating with Stratonicus, but applied to Simmychas the actor; for that he uttered the proverb, dividing the words distinctly—
μέγας οὐδεὶς σαπρὸς ἰχθῦς.
And Aristotle, in his Constitution of the Naxians, speaks thus of this proverb—"Of the rich men among the Naxians, the greater part lived in the city, but the remainder lived scattered about in the villages. Accordingly, in one of these villages, the name of which was Lestadæ, Telestagoras lived, a man of great riches and of very high reputation, and greatly honoured by the people in other respects, and also with daily presents which they used to send him. And whenever people from the city, going down to the market, wanted to drive a hard bargain for anything they wished to purchase, the sellers would say that they would rather give it to Telestagoras than sell it for such a price as was offered. So some young men, buying a large fish, when the fisherman made this speech, being annoyed at hearing this so often, having already drunk a good deal, went to his house to sup; and Telestagoras received them in a very friendly and hospitable manner, but the young men insulted him, and his two marriageable daughters. At which the Naxians were very indignant, and took up arms and attacked the young men; and there was a great sedition, Lygdamis being the leader of the Naxians, who, having got the chief command in this sedition, became the tyrant of his country."
STRATONICUS.
41. And I do not think it unseasonable myself, since I have mentioned the harp-player Stratonicus, to say something also concerning his readiness in repartee. For when he was teaching people to play the harp, and as he had in his school nine statues of the nine Muses, and one of Apollo, and had also two pupils, when some one asked him how many pupils he had, he said, "Gods and all, twelve." And once when he had travelled to Mylassa, and saw there a great number of temples, but very few citizens, standing in the middle of the forum, he cried out—
᾿ακούετε ναοί.[11]