A CERTAIN MAN made a wooden image of Mercury and offered it for
sale. When no one appeared willing to buy it, in order to
attract purchasers, he cried out that he had the statue to sell
of a benefactor who bestowed wealth and helped to heap up riches.
One of the bystanders said to him, “My good fellow, why do you
sell him, being such a one as you describe, when you may yourself
enjoy the good things he has to give?’ “Why,” he replied, “I am
in need of immediate help, and he is wont to give his good gifts
very slowly.”