Salt, in fact, is not suited to all creatures! Men born far from the sea do not relish oysters, while I, being a gourmand, even prefer to open them myself so that they may be perfectly fresh, and mix their liquor with my wine." "I do not like any very salt dish, and am glad to leave the opening of all marine produce to my servants," answered Publius.

"Thereby I save both time and unnecessary trouble." "Oh! I know!" cried Euergetes.

"You keep Greek slaves, who must even read and write for you.

Pray is there a market where I may purchase men, who, after a night of carousing, will bear our headache for us?
By the shores of the Tiber you love many things better than learning." "And thereby," added Aristarchus, "deprive yourselves of the noblest and subtlest of pleasures, for the purest enjoyment is ever that which we earn at the cost of some pains and effort." "But all that you earn by this kind of labor," returned Publius, "is petty and unimportant.

It puts me in mind of a man who removes a block of stone in the sweat of his brow only to lay it on a sparrow's feather in order that it may not be carried away by the wind." "And what is great--and what is small ?" asked Aristarchus.