He for himself, as he more than once declares, would not have feared poverty, and with the touch of the dramatic element in his nature, which was peculiar to him, would perhaps have found a certain pleasure in going through the world, an artistic Belisarius asking the lovers of his art for their obolus.
"Correspondence of Wagner and Liszt, Volume 1"
Francis Hueffer (translator)
I said to myself that this was Styx and the fare an obolus.
"Prose Fancies"
Richard Le Gallienne
"I had intended to put up a thousand ducats," he said, defiantly, "but with that woman Portia on board I won't give a red obolus!"
"The Pursuit of the House-Boat"
John Kendrick Bangs