4
Mikyllos
Do you mean the sophist, the impostor, who made laws against tasting meat or eating beans-declaring my favorite dish banished from the table-and who moreover persuaded people to keep silence for five years?
Cock
Of course you know this, too, that before he was Pythagoras he was Euphorbos?
5
Mikyllos
They say that fellow was a juggler and a conjurer.
Cock
I myself am none other than that Pythagoras; so stop your railing at me, my friend, particularly since you do not know what manner of man I was.
Mikyllos
This is an even greater prodigy than the other, to find a cock a philosopher! However, tell me, son of Mnesarchos, how is it that you have appeared to me as a bird instead of a man, and a Tanagrian instead of a Samian. The thing is incredible. I can't readily believe it, for I think I have observed two traits in you already very unlike Pythagoras.
Mikyllos
For one thing, you are talkative and noisy, while he, I believe, used to enjoin five whole years of silence. And the other thing is also entirely contrary to his law, for yesterday, when I had no food to scatter for you, I came and brought some beans, as you know, and you did not hesitate to pick them up. So that either you have lied and are somebody else, or else, if you are Pythagoras, you have broken the law, and by eating beans have committed as great an impiety as if you had devoured your father's head.
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