Note 2621 — THE MALCONTENT

“’Tis reported that Parmeno, being very famous for imitating the grunting of a pig, some endeavoured to rival and outdo him. And when the hearers, being prejudiced, cried out, ‘Very well, indeed, but nothing comparable to Parmeno’s sow,’ one took a pig under his arm and came upon the stage; and when, tho’ they heard the very pig, they still continued, ‘This is nothing comparable to Parmeno’s sow,’ he threw the pig among them to show that they judged according to opinion and not truth.” (Plutarch’s Symposium, V. I., cited by “L. S.” and Bullen.)