when he who proposes the griphus desires us to mention some name in which some particular letter is or is not. Such are those which are called sigma-less griphi; on which account Pindar has composed an ode on the [Greek: s], as if some griphus had been proposed to him as a subject for a lyric poem. Then griphi are said to be in the syllable, when we are desired to recite some verse which begins with the syllable [Greek: ba], as with [Greek: basileus], for instance, or which ends with [Greek: nax], as [Greek: Kallianax], or some in which the syllables [Greek: Leôn] take the lead, as [Greek: Leônidês], or on the other hand close the sentence, as [Greek: Thrasyleôn]. They are in the name, when we utter simple or compound names of two syllables, by which some tragic figure, or on the other hand some humble one, is indicated; or some names which have no connexion with anything divine, as [Greek: Kleônymos], or which have some such connexion, as [Greek: Dionysios]: and this, too, whether the connexion be with one God or with more, as [Greek: Hermaphroditos]; or whether the name begins with Jupiter, as [Greek: Dioklês], or with Mercury, as [Greek: Hermodôros]; or whether it ends, as it perhaps may, with [Greek: nikos]. And then they who were desired to say such and such things, and could not, had to drain the cup." And Clearchus defined the word in this way. And now you, my good friend Ulpian, may inquire what the cup to be drained is.
70. But concerning these griphi, Antiphanes says, in his Cnœthis, or the Pot-bellied Man—
A. I thought before that those who while at meals
Bade me solve griphi, were the silliest triflers,
Talking mere nonsense. And when any one
Was bade to say what a man bore and bore not,
I laugh'd and thought it utter childishness;
And did not think that truth did lie beneath,
But reckon'd them as traps for the unwary.
But now, indeed, I see there is some truth in them;
For we, ten men, contribute now for supper,
But no one of them all bears what he brings,
So here's a case where he who bears bears not,
And this is just the meaning of a griphus.
So surely this may fairly be excused;
But others play tricks with the things themselves,
Paying no money, as, for instance, Philip.
B. A wise and fortunate man, by Jove, is he.
And in his Aphrodisian he says—
A. Suppose I want to say now "dish" to you,
Shall I say "dish," or shall I rather say,
