has taken a little too much; that's why he doesn't answer—his tongue's not quite steady.
Cust. And who in their senses, do you suppose, would buy such a debauched and drunken rascal? Faugh! how he stinks of unguents! and look how he staggers and goes from side to side as he walks![1] But tell us, now, Mercury, what qualifications he really has, and what he knows anything about.
Merc. Well, he's very pleasant company—good to drink with, and can sing and dance a little—useful to a master who is a man of pleasure and fond of a gay life. Besides, he is a good cook, and clever in made dishes—and, in short, a complete master of the science of luxury. He was brought up at Athens, and was once in the service of the Tyrants of Sicily, who gave him a very good character. The sum of his principles is to despise everything, to make use of everything, and to extract the greatest amount of pleasure from everything.
Cust. Then you must look out for some other purchaser, among the rich and wealthy here; I can't afford to buy such an expensive indulgence.
Merc. I fear, Jupiter, we shall have this lot left on our hands—he's unsaleable.
- ↑ If this be really meant for Aristippus, the founder of the Cyrenaic philosophy, it is the most unfair presentation of all. However some of his followers might have abused his principles, his own character is probably much more fairly described by Horace:—
"All lives sat well on Aristippus; though
He liked the high, he yet could grace the low."
—Ep. I. xvii.
