De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam

Lucian of Samosata

Lucian, Vol. 3. Harmon, A. M., editor. London: William Heinemann, Ltd.; Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1921.

SIMON Come, then, answer me another question. Which seems to you to be the better, and which should you choose if both were open to you, to voyage or to voyage with someone else ?

TYCHIADES To voyage with someone else, for my part.

v.3.p.317

SIMON To run, or to run with someone else ?

TYCHIADES To run with someone else.

SIMON To ride, or to ride with someone else?

TYCHIADES To ride with someone else.

SIMON To throw the javelin, or to throw it with someone else ?

TYCHIADES To throw it with someone else.

SIMON Then, in like manner, should you not choose to eat with someone else, rather than just to eat ?

TYCHIADES I cannot but admit it. Hereafter I shall go to you _ like a schoolboy both in the morning and after luncheon to learn your art. You, for your part, ought to teach me ungrudgingly, for I shall be your first pupil. They say that mothers love their first children more.