He went to a man who was mourning the death
of a son and had shut himself up in the dark, and
told him that he was a sorcerer and could raise the
boy’s shade for him if only he would name three
men who had never mourned for anyone. When the
man hesitated long arfd was perplexed—I suppose he
could not name a single one—Demonax said: “You
ridiculous fellow, do you think, then, that you alone
suffer beyond endurance, when you see that nobody
is unacquainted with mourning?”

 
He also liked to poke fun at those who use
obsolete and unusual. words in conversation. For
instance, to a man who had been asked a certain
question by him and had answered in far-fetched
book-language, he said: “I asked you now, but you
answer me as if I had asked in Agamemnon’s
day.”