'For you are first when hearing of my feast
When we Akhaioi prepare a feast for the elders.
Then you are happy to eat roast meat or drink
A cup of wine sweet as honey for as long as you like.
But now you would happily see ten lines of Akhaioi
Get ahead of you and fight with pitiless bronze.' “ Diogenes smiled. “You know the poet well.” “I should hope so,” Menedemos said. “My cousin here can give you practically anything new and fancy”— Sostratos stirred at that, but kept quiet—”but Homer's good enough for me.” He didn't mention how fond he was of the bawdy Aristophanes; Diogenes didn't strike him as a man who would laugh at jokes about shitting oneself. The priest asked, “What do you want for your lion skin?” “Four minai,” Menedemos answered. “I'll give you three,” Diogenes said briskly. They settled at three minai, fifty drakhmai almost at once. Diogenes wagged a finger at the bemused Menedemos. “You were expecting a long, noisy haggle, weren't you?” “Well... yes, best one, since you ask,” Menedemos admitted. “I don't like them,” Diogenes said. “Nothing but a waste of time. We would have come to the same place in half an hour, so why not use that half hour for something else?” “I agree,” Sostratos said. “But only a few men do, and so we spend a lot of time dickering. Some people make a game of it, as if it were dice or knucklebones.” “Foolishness,” die priest of Zeus declared. Menedemos dipped his head, but he didn't really think Diogenes was right. Had the priest made an opening offer of two minai and bargained hard, he might have got his hide for three minai instead of three and a half. He'd saved time and cost himself money. Which was more important? Menedemos knew his own opinion. Diomedon went off to get the payment from the temple's treasury. When he came back with it, Sostratos quickly counted out the drakhmai. Diogenes said, “You're a careful man. This is a fine trait in one so young.” “Thank you, sir,” Sostratos said. “Can I have that sack to carry the coins in?” “Of course,” Diogenes replied. “I’ll wrap up the meat in some cloth, too, so you won't get blood on your chiton.” “You're very kind,” Sostratos said. Having done what they'd set out to do, Menedemos and Sostratos left the temple. A tavern stood only a few doors away. “Shall we get our meat roasted there?” Menedemos asked. He leered at his cousin. “If the barmaids are pretty, maybe they can roast our meat, too.” “I knew you were going to say that,” Sostratos told him. “You read the poet all the time, do you? Where does Homer use a line like that?”
