STRATONICUS. have mentioned the harp-player Stratonicus, to say something also concerning his readiness in repartee. For when he was teaching people to play the harp, and as he had in his school nine statues of the nine Muses, and one of Apollo, and had also two pupils, when some one asked him how many pupils he had, he said, "Gods and all, twelve." And once when he had travelled to Mylassa, and saw there a great number of temples, but very few citizens, standing in the middle of the forum, he cried out—
[Greek: Akouete naoi.][1]
And Macho has recorded some memorials of him in these lines:—
Once Stratonicus travell'd down to Pella,
And having heard from many men before
That the baths of that city were accustom'd
To give the bathers spleen; and finding, too,
That many of the youths did exercise
Before the fire, who preserved their colour
And vigour of their body unimpair'd;
He said that those who told him so were wrong.
But finding afterwards, when he left the bath,
A man whose spleen was twice his belly's size,—
"This man," said he, "appears to me here now
To sit and keep the garments of the men
Who go to bathe, and all their spleens beside,
That all the people may have room enough."
A miserable singer once did give
A feast to Stratonicus and his friends,
And, while the cup was freely going round,
Exhibited his art to all the company.
And as the feast was rich and liberal,
Poor Stratonicus, wearied with the song,
And having no one near him he could speak to,
Knock'd down his cup, and asked for a larger.
And when he'd drunk full many a draught, he made
A last libation to the glorious sun,
And then composed himself to sleep, and left
The rest to fortune. Presently more guests
Came, as good luck would have it, to the singer,
To feast with him; still Stratonicus slept,
Heavy with wine; and when they ask'd him why
A man so much accustom'd to drink wine
Had been so soon o'ercome by drink this day,
"This treacherous, cursed singing man," said he,
"Treated me like a bullock in a stall;
For first he fed me up, and then he kill'd me."
,—Hear, O people. [Greek: Naoi] means temples.]
- ↑ This was a parody on the first words of the crier's usual proclamation,—[Greek: Akouete
laoi
