Plautus on Parasites

Parasite: (from Greek, meaning to “sit beside” or “eat beside”). Someone who habitually eats off someone else’s table. Someone who lives at another’s expense.

“And here in this town, unless a parasite can take a few slaps in the face and bear having wine jars broken on his head, he’d better go out beyond the city gate and carry a porter’s sack for a living.”

Plautus, Prisoners of War (3rd Century B.C.)

On a scale of 1 to 10—2. Unsustainable as a vocation, except by the rare and extraordinary dinner companion. And even then.