9
I thought I should bore you if I described that, too; but since you wish it, I will certainly tell it. Never in all my life before, Pythagoras, had I dined with a rich man, when by some good-fortune I chanced upon Eukrates yesterday. I addressed him as usual, with "Good-morning, sir," and said no more lest I should mortify him by accompanying him in my shabby clothes. But he said, “Mikyllos, I am celebrating my daughter's birthday to-day, and I have asked a good many friends. Now I hear that one of them is poorly and not able to dine with me, so come yourself in his place after your bath, unless, indeed, the man I invited sends word finally that he will come. At present he is undecided." When I heard this I made him a low bow and went off praying to all the gods to send a fever of some sort, or a pleurisy, or the gout, to that invalid whose successor and substitute I had been asked to be. The interval before bathing seemed ages long, because I was forever looking to see what o'clock it was and at what hour one ought to have had his bath. And as soon as the time came I scrubbed myself in a hurry, and went off dressed with great propriety, having so adjusted my tunic that the cleaner part might be thrown over my shoulder.
