APELLES OF EPHESUS AND PTOLEMY PHILOPATOR.
Reading edition
During a voyage in the eastern part of the Mediterranean, Apelles was driven into Alexandria, in Egypt, by stress of weather. Not being in favor with king Ptolemy, he did not venture to appear at the court; but some of his enemies suborned one of the royal buffoons to invite him to supper in the king’s name, Apelles attended accordingly, but Ptolemy, indignant at the intrusion, demanded by whom he had been invited; whereupon the painter, seizing an extinguished coal from the hearth, drew upon the wall the features of the man who had invited him, with such accuracy, that the king, even from the first lines, immediately recognized the buffoon, and thenceforth received Apelles into his favor.