“This self-styled sophist” (Prologue is now speaking) “once came to Olympia, purposing to deliver




 

to those who should attend the festival a speech
which he had written long before. The subject of
his composition was the exclusion of Pythagoras (by
one of the Athenians, I suppose) from participation
in the Eleusinian mysteries as a barbarian, because
Pythagoras himself was in the habit of saying that
before being Pythagoras he had once been Euphorbus. Euphorbus was one of Homer’s Trojans. See Lucian’s Cock, 13, 17, and 20 (II, pp. 204-214). In truth, his speech was after the pattern of
Aesop’s jackdaw, cobbled up out of motley feathers
from others. Wanting, of course, to have it thought
that he was not repeating a stale composition but
making up offhand what really came from his book,
he requested one of his familiars (it was the one from
Patras, who has so much business in the courts) to
select Pythagoras for him when he asked for subjects
to talk about. The man did so, and prevailed upon
the audience to hear that speech about Pythagoras.
 
In the sequel, he was very unconvincing in his
delivery, glibly reciting (as was natural) what he had
thought out long before and learned by heart, no
matter how much his shamelessness, standing by
him, defended him, lent him ahelping hand, and aided
him in the struggle. There was a great deal of
laughter from his hearers, some of whom, by looking
from time to time at that man from Patras, indicated
that they had not failed to detect his part in the
improvisation, while others, recognising the expressions themselves, throughout the performance continued to have that as their sole occupation, testing
each other to find out how good their memories were
at distinguishing which one of those sophists who
achieved fame a little before our time for their


 


so-called “exercises” was the author of each
expression.