Making a poor and slender meal; some simple pulse made savoury with salt, being the usual diet of the poor, and such as many of the ancient philosophers were contented with. Diogenes being invited to dine with a wealthy nobleman, refused his offer, being more pleased to lick salt at Athens, he said; that is, to make a frugal repast there, than to feed on the richest dainties. «Leaving the nobles, clad in purple, and their splendid tables», Seneca says, «partake of the frugal board of Demetrius. When I hear this excellent man discoursing from his couch of straw, I perceive in him, not a preceptor only, but a witness of the truth; and I cannot doubt that Providence has endowed him with such virtues and talents, that he might be an example, and a monitor of the present age». Demetrius was banished from Rome, on account of the freedom he used in reproving the vices of the great.