The laughable stories collected by Mâr Gregory John Bar Hebræ

I 6
THE LAUGHABLE STORIES OF BAR-HEBR^US.
"thou desire to eat such [food] as this?" And he replied,
"I leave it until I do desire to eat it."
LVIIL When Alexander was going to wage war
against the Amazons he said, "If we conquer this race
"it will not be a matter of boasting for us, and if they
"vanquish me it will be a great disgrace."^
LIX. Hippocrates said, "Whosoever injureth him-
"self in order to do his neighbour any good what-
"soever is a fool."
LX. Dixit idem philosophus, "Duobus tantum com-
"miscere fas est feminae—conjugi scilicet et pulveri se-
"pulchri."^
LXI. It was to him that his wife said, "Behold thy
"son doth not resemble thee in any way." He replied,
"I gave thee the shapeless matter for his physical form
"only, and it is others who have given it shape," meaning
by "others" the various natural formative forces which
fashion the child in the womb.
LXII. It was he who said also, "It is meet for the
"wise man to look at his face in a mirror. If his
"countenance be ugly let him not add foulness of deeds
^ Compare the words of the Amazons to Alexander:—^ r^a
^isao ^J^^ca=n .iIiiyimi pdaibrtV^ja ^ cucrA Jlm.t »^i.i^
vftA\ ocn rdioA.T r^—cixSa See my History of Alexander,
Syr. text, p. 229.
^
Or, "Duo tantum lecti ascendendi sunt feminae — genialis scilicet
et funebris.