This [is in reference to] those trained for beauty, meaning something like this: "the wage is worthy, so that [one should] take it." It is in Cratinus. Homer was the first to use this figure:[1] "for you shall be easier to slay, with that man dead." [2] And elsewhere: "it is very hard to cross, for there are stakes in it." [3] And Sophocles [writes]: "for a woman quick to anger, like a man who is the same way, is easier to guard against than a quietly clever woman."[4] The sense [is]: someone might more easily guard against the hot-tempered person than [against] someone hiding the anger with silence.
Also [sc. attested is the proverbial phrase] "worth a hair"; in reference to something cheap and commonplace; inasmuch as hair is worth nothing.[5]
Aristophanes [writes]: "if I stole something of yours that is worth even a hair".[6] Meaning any old thing.
Also [sc. attested is the phrase] "worth not even a single", meaning [worth] nothing. It is said from dice-games.[7]
And [there is] a proverb: "worth a skewer", and "from a skewer", a proverb in reference to things of high value.[8] Also [sc. attested is] "worth everything".