[2]
TYCHIADES
Really, would anyone who was not insane call that an art, Simon?SIMON
I do; and if you think I am insane, think also that my insanity is the reason for my not knowing any other art and acquit me of your charges at once. They say, you know, that this malign spirit, cruel in all else to those whom she inhabits, at least secures them remission of their sins, like a schoolmaster or a tutor, by taking the blame for them upon herself. ~TYCHIADES
Well then, Simon, Parasitic is an art?SIMON
Indeed it is, and I am a craftsman in it. 1TYCHIADES
Then you are a parasite?SIMON
That was a cruel thrust, Tychiades!TYCHIADES
But do not you blush to call yourself a parasite?SIMON
Not at all; I should be ashamed not to speak it out.TYCHIADES
Then, by Zeus, when we wish to tell about you to someone who does not know you, when he wants to find out about you, of course we shall be correct in referring to you as “the parasite”?SIMON
Far more correct in referring to me so than in referring to Phidias as a sculptor, for I take quite as much joy in my art as Phidias did in his Zeus.TYCHIADES
I say, here is a point; as I think of it, a gale of laughter has come over me!SIMON
What is it?TYCHIADES
What if we should address you in due form at the top of our letters as “Simon the Parasite”!SIMON
Why, you would do me greater pleasure than you would Dion by addressing him as “the Philosopher.” 2De parasito sive artem esse parasiticam. Lucian of Samosata. Austin Morris Harmon (Translator). United States. Perseus 5.0.
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