Kitap 13
47
And Lynceus has recorded many repartees of Gnathæna. There was a parasite who used to live upon an old woman, and kept himself in very good condition; and Gnathæna, seeing him, said, My young friend, you appear to be in very good case. What then do you think, said he, that I should be if I slept by myself? Why, I think you would starve, said she. Once, when Pausanius, who was nicknamed Laccus, λάκκος, a cistern; a cellar. was dancing, he fell into a cask. The cellar, says Gnathæna, has fallen into the cask. On one occasion, some one put a very little wine into a wine-cooler, and said that it was sixteen years old. It is very Little of its age, said she, to be as old as that. Once at a dinking party, some young men were fighting about her, and seating one another, and she said to the one who was worsted, Be of good cheer, my boy; for it is not a contest to be decided by crowns, but by guineas. There was a man who once gave her daughter a mina, and never brought her anything more, though he came to see her very often. Do you think, my boy, said she, that now you have once paid your mina, you are to come here for ever, as if you were going to Hippomachus the trainer? On one occasion, when Phryne said to her, with some bitterness, What would become of you if you had the stone? I would give it to you, said she, to sharpen your wit upon. For it was said that Gnathæna was liable to the stone, while the other certainly wanted it as Gnathæna hinted. On one occasion, some men were drinking in her house, and were eating some lentils dressed with onions (βολβοφάκη); as the maidservant was clearing the table, and putting some of the lentils in her bosom (κόλπον), Gnathæna said, She is thinking of making some κολποφάκη.
