_A._ I do entreat you, do not lecture me So very fiercely; do not say so much About the money; recollect I'm your uncle; Be moderate, I beg. _B._ How can I be More moderate than I am? _A._ At least be briefer, And don't deceive me; use diminutives; For fish say fishlings; if you want aught more, Speak of your bits of dishes; and at least I shall be ruin'd with a better grace. 59. But since, as fortune would have it so, in the before-quoted lines,—my excellent Ulpian, or you too, O you sons of grammarians, just tell me what was Ephippus's meaning in what I have just repeated, when he said— The calf Which from Corone[20] came, and we to-morrow Shall surely sup on it. For I think there is here an allusion to some historical fact, and I should like to understand it. And Plutarch said,—There is a Rhodian tale, which, however, I can hardly repeat at the moment, because it is a very long time since I have fallen in with the book in which it occurs. But I know that Phoenix the Colophonian, the Iambic poet, making mention of some men as collecting money for the Jackdaw, speaks as follows— [Sidenote: THE SWALLOW.] My friends, I pray you give a handful now Of barley to the jackdaw, Phoebus' daughter; Or else a plate of wheat; or else a loaf, A halfpenny, or whatsoe'er you please; Give, my good friends, whatever you can spare To the poor jackdaw; e'en a grain of salt; For willingly she feeds on anything; And he who salt bestows to-day, to-morrow May give some honey. Open, boy, the door; Plutus has heard, and straight a serving maid Brings out some figs. Gods, let that maiden be For ever free from harm, and may she find A wealthy husband of distinguish'd name: And may she show unto her aged father A lusty boy, and on her mother's lap Place a fair girl, her daughter, to bring up A happy helpmate for some lucky cousin. But I, where'er my feet conduct my eyes, Sing with alternate melody at the gates Of him who gives, and him who rude denies. At present I'll leave off, and say no more. And at the end of this set of iambics he says— But you, my friends, who have good store at home, Give something. Give, O king; give you too, housewife. It is the law that all should give their hand When the crow begs. And you who know this law, Give what you please, and it shall be sufficient. And those people who went about collecting for the jackdaw (κορώνη) were called Coronistæ, as Pamphilus of Alexandria tells us, in his treatise on Names. And the songs which are sung by them are called coronismata, as Agnocles the Rhodian tells us, in his Coronistæ.