Book 6
34
And Aristophon, in his Physician, says— I wish now to inform him What is my disposition. If any one gives a dinner, I'm always to be found, So that the young men scoffing Because I come in first Do call me gravy soup. Then if there be occasion To check a drunken guest, Or turn him out by force, You'd think I were Antæus; Or must a door be forced? I butt like any ram; Or would you scale a ladder? I'm Capaneus, and eager To climb like him to heaven. Are blows to be endured? A very anvil I; Or Telamon or Ajax, If wounds are to be given; While as a beauty-hunter E'en smoke itself can't beat me.It is said to have been a proverb among the Greek women, Smoke follows the fairest. And in his Pythagorean he says— For being hungry, and yet eating nothing, He is a Tithymallus or Philippides; For water-drinking he's a regular frog; For eating thyme and cabbages, a snail; For hating washing he's a pig; for living Out in the open air, a perfect blackbird; For standing cold and chattering all the day, A second grasshopper; in hating oil He's dust; for walking barefoot in the morning, A crane; for passing sleepless nights, a bat.
