And this expression means the application of a cupping-glass. And a similar one is that of Panarces, mentioned by Clearchus, in his Essay on Griphi, that "A man who is not a man, with a stone which was not a stone, struck a bird which was not a bird, sitting on a tree which was not a tree." For the things alluded to here are a eunuch, a piece of pumice-stone, a bat, and a narthex[1]. And Plato, in the fifth book of his Laws,[2] alludes to this riddle, where he says, that those philosophers who occupy themselves about minute arts, are like those who, at banquets, doubt what to eat, and resemble too the boys' riddle about the stone thrown by the eunuch, and about the bat, and about the place from which they say that the eunuch struck down the bat, and the engine with which he did it.
77. And of this sort also are those enigmatical sayings of Pythagoras, as Demetrius of Byzantium says, in the fourth book of his treatise on Poets, where, for instance, he says, "A man should not eat his heart;" meaning, "a man should cultivate cheerfulness." "One should not stir the fire with a sword;" meaning, "one should not provoke an angry man;" for anger is fire, and quarrelsomeness is a sword. "One should not step over a yoke;" meaning, "one should avoid and hate all kinds of covetousness, but seek equality." "One should not travel along the high road;" meaning, "one should not follow the opinions of the multitude, (for the common people approve of whatever they take in their heads without any fixed principle,) but one should rather go on the straight road, using sense as one's guide." "One should not sit down upon a bushel;" meaning, "one should not be content with merely considering what is sufficient for the present day, but one should always have an eye to the future" * * *
- * * * * *[3] "For death is the
boundary and limit of life;" and this saying is meant to forbid us approaching the subject with anxiety and grief.
78. And Dromeas the Coan used to play at riddles in, a tall umbelliferous plant, (Lat. ferula,) with a slight knotted pithy stalk, in which Prometheus conveyed the spark of fire from heaven to earth."—L. & S. Gr. Eng. Lex. in voc. [Greek: narthêx].]
