Book 10
85
And of the same kind is the epigram of Theognis the poet,— For a sea-corpse has call'd me now back home, Which, though dead, speaketh with a living mouth. Where he means the cockle. And we may consider of the same character those sentences in which we use words which resemble men's names, as— λαβὼν ἀριστόνικον ἐν μάχῃ κράτος· He gain'd in battle a glorious victory; where ἀριστόνικος sounds like the name of a man, Aristonicus. And there is also that riddle which is so frequently repeated— Five men came to one place in vessels ten, And fought with stones, but might not lift a stone, And died of thirst while water reach'd their chins.
