And ever after that they became very intimate, so that they say Theophrastus was much annoyed, and said, “That a most ingenious and well-disposed young man had deserted his school.” IV. For he was not only very impressive in his discourse, and displayed a great deal of learning in it, but he also tried his hand at poetry, and there is extant an epigram which is attributed to him, addressed to Attalus, which is as follows:— Pergamus is not famed for arms alone, But often hears its praise resound For its fine horses, at the holy Pisa. Yet, if a mortal may declare, Its fate as hidden in the breast of Jove, It will be famous for its woes. There is another addressed to Menodorus the son of Eudamus, who was attached to one of his fellow pupils:— Phrygia is a distant land, and so Is sacred Thyatira, and Cadanade, Your country Menodorus. But from all, As the unvaried song of bards relates, An equal road does lie to Acheron, That dark unmentioned river; so you lie Here far from home; and here Eudamus raises This tomb above your bones, for he did love you, Though you were poor, with an undying love. But he admired Homer above all poets, and always used to read a portion of his works before going to sleep; and in the morning he would say that he was going to the object of his love, when he was going to read him. He said, too, that Pindar was a wonderful man for filling the voice, and pouring forth an abundant variety of words and expressions. He also, when he was a young man, wrote a criticism on Ion. V. And he was a pupil likewise of Hipponicus, the geometrican whom he used to ridicule on other points as being lazy and gaping; but he admitted that in his own profession he was clear sighted enough, and said that geometry had flown into his mouth while he was yawning. And when he went out of his mind, he took him to his own house, and took care of him till he recovered his senses. VI. And when Crates died, he succeeded him in the presidency of his schools, a man of the name of Socrates willingly yielding to him. VII. And as he suspended his judgment on every point, he never, as it is said, wrote one single book. But others say that he was once detected correcting some passages in a work of his; and some assert that he published it, while others deny it, and affirm that he threw it into the fire. VIII. He seems to have been a great admirer of Plato, and he possessed all his writings. He also, according to some authorities, had a very high opinion of Pyrrho. IX. He also studied dialectics, and the discussions of the Eretrian school; on which account Ariston said of him:— First Plato comes, and Pyrrho last, And in the middle Diodorus. And Timon speaks thus of him:— For having on this side the heavy load Of Menedemus plac’d beneath his breast, He’ll to stout Pyrrho run, or Diodorus. And presently afterwards he represents him as saying:—