MICYLLUS
For instance, you know my neighbour, of the same trade, Simon, who dined with me not long ago when I boiled the soup for Cronus-day and put in two slices of sausage?
For instance, you know my neighbour, of the same trade, Simon, who dined with me not long ago when I boiled the soup for Cronus-day and put in two slices of sausage?
COCK
Yes, I know him; the snub-nosed, short fellow who filched the earthen bowl and went away with it under his arm after dinner, the only bowl we had— I myself saw him, Micyllus.
Yes, I know him; the snub-nosed, short fellow who filched the earthen bowl and went away with it under his arm after dinner, the only bowl we had— I myself saw him, Micyllus.
MICYLLUS
So it was he that stole it and then swore by so many gods that he did not? But why didn’t you cry out and tell on him then, cock, when you saw us being plundered?
So it was he that stole it and then swore by so many gods that he did not? But why didn’t you cry out and tell on him then, cock, when you saw us being plundered?
COCK
I crowed, and that was all that I could do at the time. But what about Simon? You seemed to be going to say something about him.
I crowed, and that was all that I could do at the time. But what about Simon? You seemed to be going to say something about him.
MICYLLUS
He had a cousin who was enormously rich, named Drimylus. This fellow while he was alive never gave apenny to Simon—why should he, when he himself did not touch his money? But since his death the other day all his property is Simon’s by law, and now he, the man with the dirty rags, the man that used to lick the pot, takes the air pleasantly, dressed in fine woollens and royal purple, the owner of servants and carriages and golden cups and_ ivory-legged tables, receiving homage from everybody and no longer even giving a glance at me. Recently, for example, I saw him coming toward me and said, “Good-day, Simon’; but he replicd: “Tell that pauper not to abbreviate my name; it is not Simon but Simonides.”
1
1 What is more, the women are actually in love with him now, and he flirts with them and slights them, and when he receives some and is gracious to them the others threaten to hang themselves on account of his neglect. You see, don’t you, what blessings gold is able to bestow, when it transforms ugly people and renders them lovely, like the girdle in poetry?
2
And you have heard the poets say: “O gold, thou choicest treasure,”
3
and
Tis gold that over mortal men doth rule.
Source unknown; Nauck, ibid., adesp. 294.
But why did you interrupt me by laughing, cock?
He had a cousin who was enormously rich, named Drimylus. This fellow while he was alive never gave apenny to Simon—why should he, when he himself did not touch his money? But since his death the other day all his property is Simon’s by law, and now he, the man with the dirty rags, the man that used to lick the pot, takes the air pleasantly, dressed in fine woollens and royal purple, the owner of servants and carriages and golden cups and_ ivory-legged tables, receiving homage from everybody and no longer even giving a glance at me. Recently, for example, I saw him coming toward me and said, “Good-day, Simon’; but he replicd: “Tell that pauper not to abbreviate my name; it is not Simon but Simonides.”
1
1 What is more, the women are actually in love with him now, and he flirts with them and slights them, and when he receives some and is gracious to them the others threaten to hang themselves on account of his neglect. You see, don’t you, what blessings gold is able to bestow, when it transforms ugly people and renders them lovely, like the girdle in poetry?
2
And you have heard the poets say: “O gold, thou choicest treasure,”
3
and
Source unknown; Nauck, ibid., adesp. 294.
But why did you interrupt me by laughing, cock?
Tis gold that over mortal men doth rule.
Gallus. Lucian of Samosata. Austin Morris Harmon (Translator). United States. Perseus 5.0.
Funding provided by National Endowment for the Humanities.