Book 10
43
But there is nothing more covetous than thirst; on which account the poet has called Argos thirsty, or rather causing great thirst, as having been much desired on account of the length of time the person of whom he is speaking had been absent from it. For thirst engenders in all men a violent desire for abundant enjoyment; on which account Sophocles says— Though you were to unfold unnumber'd treasures Of wisdom to a thirsty man, you'd find You pleased him less than if you gave him drink. And Archilochus says— I wish to fight with you, as much as e'er A thirsty man desired to quench his thirst. And one of the tragic poets has said— I bid you check your hand which thirsts for blood. And Anacreon says— For you are kind to every stranger, So let me drink and quench my thirst. And Xenophon, in the third book of his Cyropædia, represents Cyrus as speaking in this manner:—I thirst to gratify you. And Plato, in his Polity, says—But if, as I imagine, any city which is governed by a democracy, thirsting for its liberty, should have evil-disposed cupbearers to wait upon it, and should be intoxicated to an improper degree with unmixed wine . . . .
