Demonax
Lucian of Samosata
Lucian, Vol. 1. Harmon, A. M., editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1913.
When he was taking a bath and hesitated to enter the steaming water, a man reproached him with cowardice. “Tell me,’ said he, “was my country at stake in the matter?”
When someone asked him: “What do you think it is like in Hades?” he replied: “Wait a bit, and I'll send you word from there!”
A vile poet named Admetus told him that he had written an epitaph in a single line and had given instructions in his will to have it carved on his tomb- . stone. I may as well quote it exactly :
Earth, in thy bosom receive Admetus’s husk ; he’s a god now!Demonax said with a laugh: “The epitaph is so fine that I wish it were already carved!”
A man saw on the legs of Demonax a discoloration of the sort that is natural to old people, and enquired: