Tao Qian or Tao Yuanming 陶淵明｜陶渊明 (c. 365-427), Jin dynasty writer and poet

(allusion to Tao Qian 陶潛｜陶潜, who used this phrase when he resigned from government service rather than show subservience to a visiting inspector) to bow and scrape for five pecks of rice (that being a part of his salary as a local magistrate) / (fig.) to compromise one's principles for the sake of a salary