Athenaeus, The Deipnosophists
C. D. Yonge, B.A., Ed.

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And Menander, in his Passion, speaking of a friend who had refused an invitation to a marriage feast, says—

This is to be a real friend; not one
Who asks, What time is dinner? as the rest do.
And, Why should we not all at once sit down?
And fishes for another invitation
To-morrow and next day, and then again
Asks if there's not a funeral feast to follow.

And Alexis in his Orestes, Nicostratus in his Plutus, Menander in his Drunkenness, and in his Lawgiver, speak in the same way; and Philonides, in his Buskins, says—

I being abstinent cannot endure
Such things as these.

But there are many other kindred nouns to the noun παράσιτος: there is ἐπίσιτος, which has already been mentioned; and οἰκόσιτος, and σιτόκουρος, and αὐτόσιτος; and besides these, there is κακόσιτος and ὀλιγόσιτος: and Anaxandrides uses the word οἰκόσιτος in his Huntsmen—

A son who feeds at home (οἰκόσιτος) is a great comfort.

And a man is called οἰκόσιτος who serves the city, not for hire, but gratis. Antiphanes, in his Scythian, says—

The οἰκόσιτος quickly doth become
A regular attendant at th' assembly.

And Menander says, in his Ring—

We found a bridegroom willing to keep house (οἰκόσιτος）
At his own charges, for no dowry seeking.

And in his Harp-player he says—

You do not get your hearers there for nothing (οἰκοσίτους).

Crates uses the word ἐπισίτιος in his Deeds of Daring, saying—

He feeds his messmate (ἐπισίτιον) while he shivers thus
In Megabyzus' house, and he will have
Food for his wages.

And he also uses the word in a peculiar sense in his Women dining together, where he says—

It is a well-bred custom not to assemble
A crowd of women, nor to feast a multitude;
But to make a domestic (οἰκοσίτους) wedding feast.

[p. 390] And the word σιτόκουρος is used by Alexis, in his Woman sitting up all Night or the Weavers—

You will be but a walking bread-devourer (σιτόκουρος）

And Menander calls a man who is useless, and who lives to no purpose, σιτόκουρος, in his Thrasyleon, saying—

A lazy ever-procrastinating fellow,
A σιτόκουρος, miserable, useless,
Owning himself a burden on the earth.

And in his Venal People he says—

Wretch, you were standing at the door the while,
Having laid down your burden; while, for us,
We took the wretched σιτόκουρος in.

And Crobylus used the word αὐτόσιτος (bringing one's own provisions), in The Man hanged—

A parasite αὐτόσιτος, feeding himself,
You do contribute much to aid your master.

And Eubulus has the word κακόσιτος (eating badly, having no appetite), in his Ganymede—

Sleep nourishes him since he's no appetite (κακόσιτος).

And the word ὀλιγόσιτος (a sparing eater) occurs in Phrynichus, in his The solitary Man—

What does that sparing eater (ὀλιγόσιτος) Hercules there?

And Pherecrates, or Strattis, in his Good Men—

How sparingly you eat, who in one day
Swallow the food of an entire trireme.