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1 The usual custom was to inscribe the name of the trainer, etc., and chief magistrate. He grudges at once praise to other,, and the money wbLch a larger scroll would cost. 2 It was contrary to etiquette for an Athenian lady
to go out unattended. The mean man will not give his wife a regular attendant,
but hires a girl by the hour.
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MEANNESS is an excessive desire
to save at the cost of one’s dignity. The mean man, when he has won in
a tragic competition, dedicates a wooden scroll to Dionysos, patron of
drama, and inscribes on it only his own name.1 When a public
subscription is being raised for the state, he either rises with the rest,
but in silence, or goes out altogether. When he is giving away his daughter
in marriage he will sell the flesh of the animal sacrificed, except the
parts that must go to the priest, and will hire attendants for the wedding
on the understanding that they find their own food. When he is in command
of a ship he takes the steersman’s rug to spread beneath him on the deck,
and carefully packs away his own. He is sure not to send his children
to school at the school-children's festival to the Muses, but will say
they are not well, so that they need not contribute. When be has got provisions
he himself carries home the meat and the vegetables wrapped up in his
cloak from the market. Should he have to send his cloak away to be cleaned
he stays inside till it comes back. If a friend is collecting subscriptions
and has mentioned it to him he turns out of his road if he sees him approaching
and goes home a roundabout way. He will refuse to buy an attendant for
his wife who brought him a dowry, but will hire for her walks2
a girl from the Ladies’ bazaar. He will wear shoes all patched and mended
and say horn ones don’t excel them for lasting. He will sweep out his
house himself when be rises, polish the couches, and when he sits down
will thrust aside the rough cloak which is all he wears by way of dress.
