As far as I can judge from what has been said. But wait a bit: give us a first-class definition of Parasitic.
Right. It seems to me that the definition might best be expressed’ thus: Parasitic is that art which is concerned with food and drink and what must be said and done to obtain them, and its end is pleasure.
That, to my mind, is a tip-top definition of your
art; but look out that you do not get into conflict
with some of the philosophers over the end. With the Epicureans, who claimed the same summum bonum, and the Stoics, who rejected it. The Stoics are met tirst, with the argument that not virtue but Parasitic is the consummation of happiness. The sense of τέλος shifts slightly, to prepare for its use in the citation from Homer.