Book 6
73
And Antiphanes, in his Lemnian Women, lays it down that flattery is a kind of art, where he says— Is there, or can there be an art more pleasing, Or any source of gain more sure and gainful Than well-judged flattery? Why does the painter Take so much pains and get so out of temper? Why does the farmer undergo such risks? Indeed all men are full of care and trouble. But life for us is full of fun and laughter. For where the greatest business is amusement, To laugh and joke and drink full cups of wine, Is not that pleasant't How can one deny? 'Tis the next thing to being rich oneself.
73
But Menander, in his play called the Flatterer, has given us the character of one as carefully and faithfully as it was possible to manage it: as also Diphilus has of a parasite in his Telesias. And Alexis, in his Liar, has introduced a flatterer speaking in the following manner— By the Olympian Jove and by Minerva I am a happy man. And not alone Because I'm going to a wedding dinner, But because I shall burst, an it please God. And would that I might meet with such a death. And it seems to me, my friends, that that fine epicure would not have scrupled to quote from the Omphale of Ion the tragedian, and to say— For I must speak of a yearly feast As if it came round every day.
