And touch'd me with her golden sceptre, saying,
"O miserable and ill-treated man,
Poor Lentil, haste thee to the sacred games."
Then I took heart, and sang a louder strain.
PARODIES.
56. "Hermippus also, the poet of the old Comedy, composed parodies. But the first writer of this kind who ever descended into the arena of theatrical contests was Hegemon, and he gained the prize at Athens for several parodies; and among them, for his Battle of the Giants. He also wrote a comedy in the ancient fashion, which is called Philinna. Eubœus also was a man who exhibited a good deal of wit in his poems; as, for instance, speaking about the Battle of the Baths, he said—
They one another smote with brazen ἐγχείῃσι,
[as if ἐγχεία, instead of meaning a spear, were derived from ἐγχέω, to pour in.] And speaking of a barber who was being abused by a potter on account of some woman, he said—
But seize not, valiant barber, on this prize,
Nor thou Achilles....[143]