Kitap 6
5
And Amphis says in his Impostor— 'Tis easier to get access to the general, And one is met by language far more courteous, And by more civil answer from his grace, Than from those cursed fishfags in the market. For when one asks them anything, or offers To buy aught of them, mute they stand like Telephus, And just as stubborn; ('tis an apt comparison, For in a word they all are homicides;) And neither listen nor appear to heed, But shake a dirty polypus in your face; Or else turn sulky, and scarce say a word, But as if half a syllable were enough, Say se'n s'lings this, this turb't eight'n-pence. This is the treatment which a man must bear Who seeks to buy a dinner in the fish-market. And Alexis says in his Apeglaucomenos— When I behold a general looking stern, I think him wrong, but do not greatly wonder, That one in high command should think himself Above the common herd. But when I see The fishmongers, of all tribes far the worst, Bending their sulky eyes down to the ground, And lifting up their eyebrows to their foreheads, I am disgusted. And if you should ask, Tell me, I pray you, what's this pair of mullets? Tenpence. Oh, that's too much; you'll eightpence take Yes, if you'll be content with half the pair. Come, eightpence; that is plenty. "I will not Take half a farthing less: don't waste my time." Is it not bitter to endure such insolence?
