And when I Thasos reach'd they took up filth, And pelted me therewith, by which aroused Thus a bystander spoke with pitiless heart:— O most accursed of men, who e'er advised you To put such dirty feet in such fine slippers? And quickly I did this brief answer make:— 'Twas gain that moved me, though against my will, (But I am old;) and bitter penury; Which many Thasians also drives on shipboard, Ill-manner'd youths, and long-ruin'd old men: Who now sing worthless songs about the place. Those men I join'd when fit for nothing else; But I will not depart again for gain, But doing nothing wrong, I'll here deposit My lovely money among the Thasians: Lest any of the Grecian dames at home Should be enraged when they behold my wife Making Greek bread, a poor and scanty meal. Or if they see a cheesecake small, should say,— "Philion, who sang the 'Fierce Attack' at Athens, Got fifty drachmas, and yet this is all That you sent home."—While I was thinking thus, And in my mind revolving all these things, Pallas Minerva at my side appear'd, And touch'd me with her golden sceptre, saying, "O miserable and ill-treated man, Poor Lentil, haste thee to the sacred games." Then I took heart, and sang a louder strain. [Sidenote: PARODIES.] 56. "Hermippus also, the poet of the old Comedy, composed parodies. But the first writer of this kind who ever descended into the arena of theatrical contests was Hegemon, and he gained the prize at Athens for several parodies; and among them, for his Battle of the Giants. He also wrote a comedy in the ancient fashion, which is called Philinna. Eubœus also was a man who exhibited a good deal of wit in his poems; as, for instance, speaking about the Battle of the Baths, he said— They one another smote with brazen ἐγχείῃσι, [as if ἐγχεία, instead of meaning a spear, were derived from ἐγχέω, to pour in.] And speaking of a barber who was being abused by a potter on account of some woman, he said— But seize not, valiant barber, on this prize, Nor thou Achilles....[143] And that these men were held in high estimation among the Sicilians, we learn from Alexander the Ætolian, a composer of tragedies, who, in an elegy, speaks as follows:—