De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam

Again, was not Aristogeiton, who was a man of the people and a pauper, as Thucydides says, parasite to Harmodius?[*](Thucydides 6, 54,2. ) Was he not his lover also? Naturally parasites are lovers of those who support them. Well, this parasite restored the city of Athens to freedom when she was in bondage to a tyrant, and now his statue stands in bronze in the public square along with that of his favourite.

Certainly these men, who were of such distinction, were very doughty parasites.