XVI | The Garrulous Man
(Ἀδολεσχία)
Garrulity is incessant heedless talk. Your garrulous man is one, for instance, who sits down beside a stranger, and after recounting the virtues of his wife tells the dream he had last night, and everything he ate for supper. Then, if his efforts seem to meet with favor, he goes on to declare that the present age is sadly degenerate, says wheat is selling very low, that hosts of strangers are in town, and that since the Dionysia22 the weather is good again for shipping; and that, if Zeus would only send more rain, the crops would be much heavier, and that he’s proposing to have a farm himself next year; and that life’s a constant struggle, and that at the Mysteries23 Damippus set up an enormous torch;24 and tells how many columns the Odeon has, and “Yesterday,” says he, “I had an awful turn with my stomach,” and “What day’s to-day?” and “In Boëdromion25 come the Mysteries, and in Pyanopsion25 the Apaturia, and in Poseideon25 the country Dionysia,” and so on; for, unless you refuse to listen, he never stops.
Notes
22 The festival of Dionysus.
23 The religious celebration held in honor of Demeter (Ceres).
24 Ancient works of art often exhibit representations of votive torches. They are usually depicted as wound with serpents.
25 Various months of the Attic year.