Deipnosophistae

And Cynulcus said;—There have been many poets who have applied themselves to the composition of parodies, my good friend; of whom the most celebrated was Eubœus of Paros, who lived in the time of Philip; and he is the man who attacked the Athenians a great deal. And four books of his Parodies are preserved. And Timon also mentions him, in

the first book of his Silli. But Polemo, in the twelfth book of his Argument against Timæus, speaking of the men who have written parodies, writes thus—"And I should call Bœotus and Eubœus, who wrote parodies, men of great reputation, on account of their cleverness in sportive composition, and I consider that they surpass those ancient poets whose followers they were. Now, the invention of this kind of poetry we must attribute to Hipponax the Iambic poet. For he writes thus, in his Hexameters,—

1. Muse, sing me now the praises of Eurymedon,
2. That great Charybdis of the sea, who holds
3. A sword within his stomach, never weary
4. With eating. Tell me how the votes may pass
5. Condemning him to death, by public judgment,
6. On the loud-sounding shore of the barren sea.

Epicharmus of Syracuse also uses the same kind of poetry, in a small degree, in some of his plays; and so does Cratinus, a poet of the old Comedy, in his Eunidæ, and so also does his contemporary, Hegemon of Thasos, whom they used to call Lentil. For he writes thus—

1. And when I Thasos reach'd they took up filth,
2. And pelted me therewith, by which aroused
3. Thus a bystander spoke with pitiless heart:—
4. O most accursed of men, who e'er advised you
5. To put such dirty feet in such fine slippers?
6. And quickly I did this brief answer make:—
7. 'Twas gain that moved me, though against my will,
8. (But I am old;) and bitter penury;
9. Which many Thasians also drives on shipboard,
10. Ill-manner'd youths, and long-ruin'd old men:
11. Who now sing worthless songs about the place.
12. Those men I join'd when fit for nothing else;
13. But I will not depart again for gain,
14. But doing nothing wrong, I'll here deposit
15. My lovely money among the Thasians:
16. Lest any of the Grecian dames at home
17. Should be enraged when they behold my wife
18. Making Greek bread, a poor and scanty meal.
19. Or if they see a cheesecake small, should say,—
20. "Philion, who sang the 'Fierce Attack' at Athens,
21. Got fifty drachmas, and yet this is all
22. That you sent home."—While I was thinking thus,
23. And in my mind revolving all these things,
24. Pallas Minerva at my side appeared,
25. And touch'd me with her golden sceptre, saying,
26. "O miserable and ill-treated man,
27. Poor Lentil, haste thee to the sacred games."
28. Then I took heart, and sang a louder strain.

"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—

1. 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—

1. But seize not, valiant barber, on this prize,
2. Nor thou Achilles . . . . .[*](This is a parody on Iliad, i. 275,— μήτε σὺ τόνδʼ ἀγαθός περ ἐὼν, ἀποαίρεο κούρην, where Eubœus changes κούρην, maiden, into κουρεῖ, barber.)

And that these men were held in high estimation among the Sicilians, we learn from Alexander the Aetolian, a composer of tragedies, who, in an elegy, speaks as follows:—

1. The man whom fierce Agathocles did drive
2. An exile from his land, was nobly born
3. Of an old line of famous ancestors,
4. And from his early youth he lived among
5. The foreign visitors; and thoroughly learnt
6. The dulcet music of Mimnermus' lyre,
7. And follow'd his example;—and he wrote,
8. In imitation of great Homer's verse,
9. The deeds of cobblers, and base shameless thieves,
10. Jesting with highly-praised felicity,
11. Loved by the citizens of fair Syracuse.
12. But he who once has heard Bœotus' song,
13. Will find but little pleasure in Eubœus."

After all this discussion had been entered into on many occasions, once when evening overtook us, one of us said,—Boy, bring a light (λύχνειον). But some one else used the word λυχνεὼς, and a third called it λοφνίας, saying hat that was the proper name for a torch made of bark; another called it πανός; and another φανός.—This one used the word λυχνοῦχος, and that one λύχνος. Some one else again said ἐλάνη, and another said ἕλαναι, insisting on it that that was the proper name for a lamp, being derived frome ἕλη,, brightness;

and urging that Neanthes used this word in the first book of his History of Attalus. Others, again, of the party made use of whatever other words they fancied; so that there was no ordinary noise; while all were vying with one another in adducing every sort of argument which bore upon the question. For one man said that Silenus, the dictionary-maker, mentioned that the Athenians call lamps φανοί. But Tima- chidas of Rhodes asserts that for φανός, the word more properly used is δέλετρον, being a sort of lantern which young men use when out at night, and which they themselves call ἕλαναι. But Amerias for φανὸς uses the word γράβιον. And this word is thus explained by Seleucus:—

γράβιον is a stick of ilex or common oak, which, being pounded and split, is set on fire, and used to give light to travellers. Accordingly Theodoridas of Syracuse, in his Centaurs, which is a dithyrambic poem, says—

1. The pitch dropp'd down beneath the γράβια,,
2. As if from torches.

Strattis also, mentions the γράβια in his Phœnician Women.

But that what are now called φανοὶ used to be called λυχνοῦχοι, we learn from Aristophanes, in his Aeolosicon—

1. I see the light shining all o'er his cloak,
2. As from a new λυχνοῦχος.

And, in the second edition of the Niobus, having already used the word λυχνοῦχος, he writes—

1. Alas, unhappy man! my λύχνιον's lost;

after which, he adds— And, in his play called The Dramas, he calls the same thing λυχνίδιον, in the following lines—

1. But you all lie
2. Fast as a candle in a candlestick (λυχνίδιον).

Plato also, in his Long Night, says—

1. The undertakers sure will have λυχνοῦχοι.

And Pherecrates, in his Slave Teacher, writes—

1. Make haste and go, for now the night descends,
2. And bring a lantern (λυχνοῦχον) with a candle furnish'd.

Alexis too, in his Forbidden Thing, says—

1. So taking out the candle from the lantern (λύχνιον),
2. He very nearly set himself on fire,
3. Carrying the light beneath his arm much nearer
4. His clothes than any need at all required.

And Eumelus, in his Murdered Man. . . . having said first—

1. A. Take now a pitchfork and a lantern (λυχνοῦχον),

adds—

1. B. But I now in my right hand hold this fork,
2. An iron weapon 'gainst the monsters of the sea;
3. And this light too, a well-lit horn lantern (λύχνου).

And Alexis says, in his Midon—

1. The man who first invented the idea
2. Of walking out by night with such a lantern (λυχνούχου),
3. Was very careful not to hurt his fingers.

But the same Alexis says, in his Fanatic—

1. I think that some of those I meet will blame
2. For being drunk so early in the day;
3. But yet I pray you where's a lantern (φανὸς) equal
4. To the sweet light of the eternal sun?

And Anaxandrides, in his Insolence, says—

1. Will you take your lantern (φανόν) now, and quickly
2. Light me a candle (λύχνον)?

But others assert that it is a lamp which is properly called φανός. And others assert that φανὸς means a bundle of matches made of split wood. Menander says, in his Cousins—

1. This φανὸς is quite full of water now,
2. I must not shake (σείω) it, but throw it away (ἀποσείω).

And Nicostratus, in his Fellow-Countrymen, says—

1. For when this vintner in our neighbourhood
2. Sells any one some wine, or e'en a φανὸς,
3. Or vinegar, he always gives him water.

And Philippides, in his Women Sailing together, says—

1. A. The φανὸς did not give a bit of light.
2. B. Well, then, you wretched man, could not you blow it?