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It seems fairly certain, Nicarchus, that the lapse of time will bring about
much obscurity and complete uncertainty regarding actual events, if at the
present time, in the case of events so fresh and recent, false accounts that
have been concocted obtain credence. For, in the first place, the dinner was
not a dinner of the Seven alone, as you and your friends have been told, but
of more than twice that number, including myself ; for I was on intimate
terms with Periander by virtue of my profession,1 and I was also the host of
Thales, for he stayed at my house by command of Periander. In the second
place, your informant, whoever he was, did not report the conversation
correctly; apparently he was not one of those at the dinner. However, since
there is nothing that demands my attention just now, and old age is too
untrustworthy to warrant postponing the narration, I will begin at the
beginning, and tell you, without any omissions, the story which you all seem
eager to hear.
1 He was apparently a seer versed in ritual purification; see infra, 149 D.