Book 3
72
Ulpian was not pleased at this; and being much vexed, he looked at us, and repeating these iambics from the Orthanus of Eubulus, said— How well has Myrtilus, cursed by the gods, Come now to shipwreck on this frying-pan. For certainly I well know that he never ate any of these things at his own expense; and I heard as much from one of his own servants, who once quoted me these iambics from the Pornoboscus of Eubulus— My master comes from Thessaly; a man Of temper stern; wealthy, but covetous; A wicked man; a glutton; fond of dainties, Yet sparing to bestow a farthing on them. But as the young man was well educated, and that not by Myrtilus, but by some one else, when I asked him how he fell in with the young Myrtilus, he repeated to me these lines from the Neottis of Antiphanes— While still a boy, bearing my sister company, I came to Athens, by some merchant brought; For Syria was my birthplace. There that merchant Saw us when we were both put up for sale, And bought us, driving a most stingy bargain. No man could e'er in wickedness surpass him; So miserly, that nothing except thyme Was ever bought by him for food, not e'en So much as might have fed Pythagoras.
