Book 15
63
Ariphron the Sicyonian composed this Pæan to Health— O holiest Health, all other gods excelling, May I be ever blest With thy kind favour, and for all the rest Of life I pray thee ne'er desert my dwelling; For if riches pleasure bring, Or the power of a king, Or children smiling round the board, Or partner honour'd and adored, Or any other joy Which the all-bounteous gods employ To raise the hearts of men, Consoling them for long laborious pain; All their chief brightness owe, kind Health, to you; You are the Graces' spring, 'Tis you the only real bliss can bring, And no man's blest when you are not in view, * * * * * *
64
They know.—For Sopater the farce-writer, in his play entitled The Lentil, speaks thus— I can both carve and drink Etruscan wine, In due proportion mix'd.
64
These things, my good Timocrates, are not, as Plato says, the sportive conversations of Socrates in his youth and beauty, but the serious discussions of the Deipnosophists; for, as Dionysius the Brazen says,— What, whether you begin or end a work, Is better than the thing you most require?
