'The Boeotian,'—founded upon one of the same name by Menander:—
"The gods confound the man who first invented
This measuring time by hours! Confound him, too,
Who first set up a sun-dial—chopping up
My day into these miserable slices!
When I was young, I had no dial but appetite,
The very best and truest of all timepieces;
When that said 'Eat,' I ate—if I could get it.
But now, even when I've the chance to eat, I must not,
Unless the sun be willing! for the town
Is grown so full of those same cursed dials,
That more than half the population starve."[1]
These persons are represented, of course, as having not only the habit of living as far as possible at other men's expense, but as bringing an insatiable appetite with them to their entertainers' tables—
"'Tis not to gather strength he eats, but wishes
To gather strength that he may eat the more."[2]
Neither host nor servants are sparing in their gibes as to the gormandising propensities of this class of self-invited guests. The cook in 'The Menæchmi' of Plautus is ordered to provide breakfast for three:—
Cook. What sort of three?
Erotium. Myself, Menæchmus, and his Parasite.
Cook. Then that makes ten. I count the parasite
As good as any eight.
Although the character of the Parasite is a direct importation from the Greek stage, it was likely to be a very common one also in Roman society. The rela-
