symposium   

words of Aristodemus:

He said that he met Socrates fresh from the bath and sandalled;

and as the sight of the sandals was unusual, he asked him whither he

was going that he had been converted into such a beau:-

To a banquet at Agathon's, he replied, whose invitation to his

sacrifice of victory I refused yesterday, fearing a crowd, but

promising that I would come to-day instead; and so I have put on my

finery, because he is such a fine man. What say you to going with me

unasked?

I will do as you bid me, I replied.

Follow then, he said, and let us demolish the proverb:



To the feasts of inferior men the good unbidden go;



instead of which our proverb will run:-



To the feasts of the good the good unbidden go;



and this alteration may be supported by the authority of Homer

himself, who not only demolishes but literally outrages the proverb.

For, after picturing Agamemnon as the most valiant of men, he makes

Menelaus, who is but a fainthearted warrior, come unbidden to the

banquet of Agamemnon, who is feasting and offering sacrifices, not the

better to the worse, but the worse to the better.

I rather fear, Socrates, said Aristodemus, lest this may still be my

case; and that, like Menelaus in Homer, I shall be the inferior

person, who



To the leasts of the wise unbidden goes.



But I shall say that I was bidden of you, and then you will have to

make an excuse.