Book 4
52
For I will speak freely to them. If you are so fond of contentment, O philosopher, why do you not admire those dis- ciples of Pythagoras, concerning whom Antiphanes says, in his Monuments— Some miserable Pythagoreans came Gnawing some salt food in a deep ravine, And picking up such refuse in a wallet. And in the play which is especially entitled the Wallet, he says— First, like a pupil of Pythagoras, He eats no living thing, but peels some husks Of barley which he's bought for half an obol, Discolour'd dirty husks, and those he eats. And Alexis says, in his Tarentines— For, as we hear, the pupils of Pythagoras Eat no good meat nor any living thing, And they alone of men do drink no wine. But Epicharides will bitches eat; The only one of all the sect; but then He kills them first, and says they are not living. And proceeding a little further, he says— A. Shreds of Pythagoras and subtleties And well-fill'd thoughts are their sufficient food. Their daily meals are these-a simple loaf To every man, and a pure cup of water. And this is all. B. You speak of prison fare. A. This is the way that all the wise men live. These are the hardships that they all endure. B. Where do they live in such a way? A. Yet they procure Dainties after their sort for one another; Know you not Melanippides and Phaon, Phyromachus and Phanus are companions? And they together sup on each fifth day On one full cotyla of wheaten meal. And, in his Female Pythagorean, he says— A. The banquet shall be figs and grapes and cheese, For these the victims are which the strict law Allows Pythagoras' sect to sacrifice. B. By Jove, as fine a sacrifice as possible. And a few lines afterwards, he says— One must for a short time, my friend, endure Hunger, and dirt, and cold, and speechlessness, And sullen frowns, and an unwashen face.
