Philetas of Cos

Philetas was born in Cos, an island off the southwest corner of Asia Minor. He was one of the best poets of the Alexandrine school, 3d century B. C., and was imitated by both Theocritus and Propertius. His leanness made him the laughing-stock of his comic contemporaries. One of their witticisms AElian, four hundred years after, caught up and chronicled. According to this tradition, Philetas was so emaciated that he had his sandalsoles made of lead lest he should be blown over by the wind. AElian, however, wonders, if the poet was too weak to withstand the wind, how he could carry lead enough to serve him as ballast. "Varia Historia IX., 14."

Shakespeare had in mind such a lean man as Philetas when he made Falstaff say, "And this same half-faced fellow, shadow, give me this man: he presents no mark to the enemy; the foeman may with as great ease level at the edge of a penknife. O give me the spare men and spare me the fat ones." But a certain epigrammatist beats even Shakespeare, saying--