wish to enquire of you in private, on which subjects I would have you
not to be untruthful to me. (_They step aside._)

PHIL. I will not be, as to that which I shall know; if I shall not know
anything, that which I don't know I'll tell you of.

TYND. (_aside_). Now is the old fellow in the barber's shop; now,
at this very instant, is _Philocrates_ wielding the razor [2]. He
hasn't cared, indeed, to put on the barber's cloth [3], so as not to
soil his dress. But whether to say that he's going to share him close,
or _trim him_ [4] through the comb [5], I don't know; but if he's
wise, he'll scrape him right well to the very quick.

HEG. (_to_ PHILOCRATES). Which would you? Would you prefer to be a
slave, or a free man?--Tell me.

PHIL. That which is the nearest to good, and the furthest off from evil,
do I prefer; although my servitude hasn't proved very grievous _to
me_, nor has it been otherwise to me than if I had been a son in the
family.

TYND. (_aside_). Capital! I wouldn't purchase, at a talent's price
_even_, Thales the Milesian [6]; for compared with this man's
wisdom, he was a very twaddler. How cleverly has he suited his language
to the slave's condition.

HEG. Of what family is this Philocrates born?

PHIL. The Polyplusian [7]; which one family is flourishing there, and
held in highest esteem.