fairly quote the verses of Antiphanes and apply them to him:-- You court the heav'nly muse with ceaseless zeal, And seek to open all the varied stores Of high philosophy. And as the Theban lyric poet[4:2] says:-- Nor less renown'd his hand essays To wake the muse's choicest lays, Such as the social feast around Full oft our tuneful band inspire. And when inviting people to his feasts, he causes Rome to be looked upon as the common country of all of them. For who can regret what he has left in his own country, while dwelling with a man who thus opens his house to all his friends. For as Apollodorus the comic poet says:-- Whene'er you cross the threshhold of a friend, How welcome you may be needs no long time To feel assured of; blithe the porter looks, The house-dog wags his tail, and rubs his nose Against your legs; and servants hasten quick, Unbidden all, since their lord's secret wish Is known full well, to place an easy chair To rest your weary limbs. 5. It would be a good thing if other rich men were like him; since when a man acts in a different manner, people are apt to say to him, "Why are you so mean? Your tents are full of wine." Call the elders to the feast, Such a course befits you best. Such as this was the magnanimity of the great Alexander. And Conon, after he had conquered the Lacedæmonians in the sea-fight off Cnidus, and fortified the Piræus, sacrificed a real hecatomb, which deserved the name, and feasted all the Athenians. And Alcibiades, who conquered in the chariot race at the Olympic games, getting the first, and second, and fourth prizes, (for which victories Euripides wrote a triumphal ode,) having sacrificed to Olympian Jupiter, feasted the whole assembly. And Leophron did the same at the Olympic games, Simonides of Ceos writing a triumphal ode for him. And Empedocles of Agrigentum, having gained the victory in the horse race at the Olympic games, as he was himself a Pythagorean, and as such one who abstained from meat, made an image of an ox of myrrh, and frankincense, and the most expensive spices, and distributed it among all who came to that festival. And Ion of Chios, having gained the tragic crown at Athens, gave a pot of Chian wine to every Athenian citizen. For Antiphanes says:-- For why should any man wealth desire, And seek to pile his treasures higher, If it were not to aid his friends in their need, And to gain for himself love's and gratitude's meed? For all can drink and all can eat, And it is not only the richest meat, Or the oldest wine in the well-chased bowl Which can banish hunger and thirst from the soul. And Xenophanes of Chalcedon, and Speusippus the Academic philosopher, and Aristotle, have all written drinking songs.