The vocative [is] 'w)= *filh=mon'[1].
"This man, though he lived to be 101 years old,[2] suffered no bodily disability; moreover by some miracle of fortune he kept all his senses intact. And of course this is agreed to as well: when the Athenians were at war with Antigonos,[3] Philemon, who was living in Piraieus, had a dream in which 9 girls came out of his house, and he dreamt that he asked them for what purpose they were leaving him; and he thought he heard them saying that they were going outdoors, since it was not right for them to hear. At this point the dream came to an end, and he, when he woke up, explained to his slave what he had seen and what he had heard and what he had said. But then he wrote the rest of the play which he happened to be conducting during the present crisis. When he was done with that task he lay down in peace and then began to snore lightly. Those who were in the house thought that he was sleeping; but when this went on for a long time, they pulled his covers back and saw that he was dead. Therefore, Epicurus, it was the nine Muses who visited Philemon, and when he was about to go on his fated and final journey, they departed. For it is not at all proper for gods to see people still when they are dead,[4] even if they are extremely beloved, nor to stain their vision with mortal expirations. But you, you fool, say that they do not pay attention to us." So says Aelian in his On Providence.[5]