"Hermippus also, the poet of the old Comedy, composed parodies. But the first writer of this kind who ever descended into the arena of theatrical contests was Hegemon, and he gained the prize at Athens for several parodies; and among them, for his Battle of the Giants. He also wrote a comedy in the ancient fashion, which is called Philinna. Eubœus also was a man who exhibited a good deal of wit in his poems; as, for instance, speaking about the Battle of the Baths, he said—
They one another smote with brazen ἐγχείῃσι,[as if ἐγχεία,, instead of meaning a spear, were derived from ἐγχέω, to pour in.] And speaking of a barber who was being abused by a potter on account of some woman, he said—
But seize not, valiant barber, on this prize,And that these men were held in high estimation among the Sicilians, we learn from Alexander the Aetolian, a composer of tragedies, who, in an elegy, speaks as follows:—
Nor thou Achilles . . . . .1
The man whom fierce Agathocles did drive
An exile from his land, was nobly born
Of an old line of famous ancestors,
And from his early youth he lived among
The foreign visitors; and thoroughly learnt
The dulcet music of Mimnermus' lyre,
And follow'd his example;—and he wrote,
In imitation of great Homer's verse,
The deeds of cobblers, and base shameless thieves,
Jesting with highly-praised felicity,
Loved by the citizens of fair Syracuse.
But he who once has heard Bœotus' song,
Will find but little pleasure in Eubœus."
