_Lin._ A very clever man; now he has turn'd To tragic studies; and of all the actors Is the most skilful cook, as those who eat His dishes do declare. And of all cooks By far the cleverest actor. _Her._ He's a man Of noble appetite; say what you wish; For be of this assured, that I am hungry. 58. When Magnus had run through these quotations, Cynulcus, looking at the philosophers who were present, said-- Have you seen the Thasian brine,[264:1] and heard how he does bark? How speedily the fellow did revenge himself, and thoroughly; It does not seem a case of one blind speaking to a deaf man: as Cratinus says, in his Archilochi. For he, forgetting before what a tribunal he was making an exhibition of his fine iambics, read his colabri with his natural greediness, and at the same time with his usual elegance of expression, and Melodies out of time, and tuneless cymbals: and after all this fine ignorant stupidity, he goes round to people's houses, seeking out where any handsome banquet is prepared, carrying his conduct to a length even beyond the Athenian Chærephon, of whom Alexis says in his Fugitive-- That Chærephon has always got some trick, And now he's looking for some feast to share Where he himself will not be call'd upon For any contribution. For wheresoever A pot, such as is let to cooks, does stand, Thither he goeth at the earliest dawn; And if he sees one come to hire it For any feast, he asks the cook the name Of him who gives the feast, and then as soon As the door opens, in he walks the first. But this man has no hesitation, like the excellent Magnus, even to make excursions quite beyond the boundaries for the sake of his stomach, as Alexis said in his Men who Died together-- Chærephon comes to Corinth for a supper, Though he has never had an invitation; But still he flies across the sea, so sweet It is to eat of what another pays for. And Theopompus, in his Ulysses, says-- Well said Euripides, "It is not bad For a rich man to dine at other's cost." 59. And when all laughed at this, Ulpian said, Whence do the voluptuaries who talk so loosely get all their elegance of expression? And Cynulcus replied, But, O you well-seasoned little pig, Phrynichus the Cynic poet, in his Ephialtes, mentions "the elegant speaker" in these terms:-- It is the hardest work of all to guard against such men; For they do carry always at their finger's end a sting, The misanthropic flower of youth; and then they fawn on all With carefully selected sweetness of expression, Always the forum haunting when the citizens are seated; And then they lacerate with wounds severe and unexpected Those whom they have been fawning on, and hide themselves and laugh.