[It is said that] when Astydamas the son of Morsimus was in high repute for his staging of the tragedy Parthenopaeus,[1] the Athenians decided to dedicate a statue of him in the theater. And that he composed the following boastful epigram for himself: "If only I had been born in their time, or they in ours, those who are thought to take first prize in delightful speech, then I would be judged on the basis of truth, having been given the starter's signal as a face-to-face competitor; but as it is, they hold forth with time, those upon whom envy does not follow."[2] As it happens the inscription was turned down on account of its excessive boastfulness. And it became a proverb among the comic poets, such as in Philemon.[3] It is also spoken in abbreviated form as "you are praising yourself."