Page:The Deipnosophists (Volume 3).djvu/361

 "A word to th' wise," and show thyself my scholar! There thou may'st filch and revel; all may yield Some secret profit to thy sharking hand. 'Tis an old miser gives a sordid dinner, And weeps o'er every sparing dish at table; Then if I do not find thou dost devour All thou canst touch, e'en to the very coals, I will disown thee! Lo! old Skin-flint comes; In his dry eyes what parsimony stares!—

(Book ix. § 22, p. 595.)

A. If you consider well, my Demylus, Our art is neither low nor despicable; But since each rude and untaught blockhead dares Present himself as cook profess'd, the art Has sunk in estimation, nor is held In that respect and honour as of old.— Imagine to yourself a cook indeed, Versed from his infancy in all the arts And mysteries of his trade; a person, too, Of shining talents, well instructed in The theory and practice of his art; From such a one you will be taught to prize And value as you ought, this first of arts. There are but three of any character Now living: Boidion is one, and then Chariades, and, to crown all, myself; The rest, depend upon it, are beneath Your notice.

B.        How is that?

A.                     Believe me, truth; We three are the supporters of the school Of Sicyon; he, indeed, was prince of cooks, And as a skill'd professor, taught us first The motion of the stars, and the whole scheme And science of astrology; he then Inform'd us of the rules of architecture, And next instructed us in physics, and The laws of motion, and th' inventions rare