OPSOPHA&Y. 505 



As parasitism first flouxish'ed in Greece^ so its .later 

 triumphs, when the sole meaning of the word was that 

 of living at another man's board,* were principally con- 

 fined to her sons. 



That land of treason, Pegasus, and lies, 

 Bred and sent forth, these viUains in disgmse. 



Toadies indeed were characters familiar enough at 

 Rome, but then they were mostly Achaean importations, 

 and, debased and pretextatized as the Imperial city had 

 become in Juvenal's time, no Roman was a match for 

 them. 



Prompt to discern, and swift to seize his time, 

 Your G-reeh stands forth in impudence sublime ! 

 Yield, yield the palm ! he must outrun thee far 

 Who makes another's mood his mling star ; 

 Is all he wiUs to be, by night or day, 

 Nor fears one honest feature will betray. 

 An Greeks are actors, every one imbued 

 With plastic powers o'er every human mood ; 

 Laugh, and his sides shake twice as long as yours. 

 Weep, and what agony his soul endures ! 

 He'U sweat in simple complaisance to you. 

 And when you 're cold, he clings to his surtout! 

 In festive hours you happen to transgress, 

 He swears he would not Kke one hiccup less ; 

 You belch with grace,t and, not to do you wrong. 

 He never knew a man — ^half so strong.J 



The above, as we shall see, is very much the character 

 of a Grecian parasite as drawn by himself. Terence pre- 



* Latinfe, ' aliena vivere quadra,' literally, to live ' on another's 

 four-barred bread,' or cross-bun; sometimes the divisions marked 

 in the loaf were eight, when it was called in Greece, okto- 



t ' Monsieur, vous toussez a merveiUe ! ' says a yoimg intri- 

 guante in MoHfere, to an old gentleman whom she wishes to 

 marry ui spite of his age and asthma. 



J Badham's Juvenal. 



