The Cock (9-10)

Mikyllos

I thought I should bore you if I described that, too; but since you wish it, I will certainly tell it. Never in all my life before, Pythagoras, had I dined with a rich man, when by some good-fortune I chanced upon Eukrates yesterday. I addressed him as usual, with "Good-morning, sir," and said no more lest I should mortify him by accompanying him in my shabby clothes. But he said, “Mikyllos, I am celebrating my daughter's birthday to-day, and I have asked a good many friends. Now I hear that one of them is poorly and not able to dine with me, so come yourself in his place after your bath, unless, indeed, the man I invited sends word finally that he will come. At present he is undecided." When I heard this I made him a low bow and went off praying to all the gods to send a fever of some sort, or a pleurisy, or the gout, to that invalid whose successor and substitute I had been asked to be. The interval before bathing seemed ages long, because I was forever looking to see

what o'clock it was and at what hour one ought to have had his bath. And as soon as the time came I scrubbed myself in a hurry, and went off dressed with great propriety, having so adjusted my tunic that the cleaner part might be thrown over my shoulder.

Mikyllos

At the door I found a crowd, and among them, carried by four men in a litter, the man in whose stead I was to have dined, the one that was said to be ill, and indeed he was evidently in a bad way, for he groaned a little and had a slight cough, and cleared his throat from far down and with difficulty. He was of a uniform yellow and bloated, and nearly sixty years old. He was said to be a philosopher of the school that talks nonsense to boys. At all events, he wore a goat-like beard of an absurd length; and when Archibios, the doctor, blamed him for having come in this condition, he said, "Duty must be done, above all by a philosopher, even though a thousand diseases stand in the way; for Eukrates would think I held him lightly.” "Not at all," said I. "On the contrary, he will commend you if you prefer dying at home by yourself to coughing up your soul at the dinner." To preserve his dignity he pretended that he had not heard the scoff. Presently Eukrates appeared from the bath, and when he saw Thesmopolis- for that was the philosopher's name "Professor," said he, “it is kind of you to come

to me. Still you would have lost nothing if you had stayed away, for your dinner would have been sent to you course by course." As he spoke he entered the house, leading Thesmopolis by the hand, who was also supported by his servants.