BOOK XI.

1. Come now, where shall our conversation rise?

as Cephisodorus the comic poet says, my good friend Timocrates; for

when we were all met together at a convenient season, and with serious

minds, to discuss the goblets, Ulpian, while every one was sitting

still, and before any one began to speak at all, said,—At the court

of Adrastus, my friends, the chief men of the nation sup while sitting

down. But Polyidus, while sacrificing on the road, detained Peteos as

he was passing by, and while lying on the grass, strewing some leaves

which he had broken off on the ground by way of a table, set before him

some part of the victim which he had sacrificed. And when Autolycus had

come to the rich people of Ithaca, and while he was sitting down, (for

the men of that time ate their meals while sitting down,) the nurse

took Ulysses, (as the poet says—

His course to Ithaca the hero sped

When first the product of Laertes' bed

Was new disclosed to birth; the banquet ends

When Euryclea from the queen descends,

And to his fond embrace the babe commends:)

and placed him on his knees, not near his knees. So let us not waste

time now, but let us lie down, that Plutarch may lead the way in the

lecture which he promised us on the subject of goblets, and that he may

pledge us all in bumpers.

2. But I imagine that Simonides of Amorgos is the first poet who has

spoken of drinking-cups (ποτήρια) by name in his iambics, thus—

The cups away did lead him from the table.

And the author of the poem called the Alcmæonis says—

He placed the corpses lowly on the shore

On a broad couch of leaves; and by their side

A dainty feast he spread, and brimming cups,

And garlands on their noble temples wreathed.

And the word ποτήριον comes from πόσις, drink, as the Attic word ἔκπωμα

also does; but they form the word with ω, as they also say ὑδροπωτέω,

to drink water, and οἰνοπωτέω, to drink wine. Aristophanes, in his

Knights, says—

A stupid serpent drinking deep of blood (αἱματοπώτης).

But he also says in the same play—

Much then did Bacis use the cup (ποτήριον).

And Pherecrates, in his Tyranny, says—

One is better than a thousand cups (ποτήρια).

And Anacreon said—

I am become a wine-bibber (οἰνοπώτης).

And the verb occurs also in the same poet, for he says οἰνοποτάζων. And

Sappho, in her second Ode, says—

And many countless cups (ποτήρια), O beauteous Iphis.

And Alcæus says—

And from the cups (ποτηρία) . . . . . .

And in Achaia Ceres is honoured under the title of Δημήτηρ ποτηριοφόρος,

in the territories of the Antheans, as Autocrates informs us in the

second book of his History of Achaia.

[Sidenote: CUPS.]

3. And I think it right that you should inquire, before we begin to

make a catalogue of the cups of which this sideboard (κυλικεῖον) is

full,—(for that name is given to the cupboard where the cups are kept,

by Aristophanes, in his Farmers—

As a cloth is placed in front of a sideboard (κυλικεῖον);

and the same word occurs also in Anaxandrides in his Melilotus; and

Eubulus in his Leda says—

As if he had been offering a libation,

He's broken all the goblets in the sideboard (κυλικεῖον).

And in his Female Singer he says—

And he found out the use of sideboards (κυλικεῖα) for us.

And in his Semele or Bacchus he says—

Hermes the son of Maia, polish'd well

Upon the sideboard . . . . .

And the younger Cratinus, in his Chiron, says—

But, after many years, I now have come

Home from my enemies; and scarce have found

Relations who would own me, or companions

Of the same tribe or borough. I enroll'd

My name among a club of cup-collectors (κυλικεῖον):

Jupiter is the guardian of my doors—

Protector of my tribe. I pay my taxes.)

4. It is worth while, I say, to inquire whether the ancients drank out

of large cups. For Dicæarchus the Messenian, the pupil of Aristotle,

in his Essay on Alcæus, says that they used small cups, and that they

drank their wine mixed with a good deal of water. But Chamæleon of

Heraclea, in his essay on Drunkenness, (if I only recollect his words

correctly,) says—"But if those who are in power and who are rich prefer

this drunkenness to other pleasures, it is no great wonder, for as

they have no other pleasure superior to this, nor more easy to obtain,

they naturally fly to wine: on which account it has become customary

among the nobles to use large drinking-cups. For this is not at all

an ancient custom among the Greeks; but one that has been lately

adopted, and imported from the barbarians. For they, being destitute

of education, rush eagerly to much wine, and provide themselves with

all kinds of superfluous delicacies. But in the various countries of

Greece, we neither find in pictures nor in poems any trace of any cups

of large size being made, except indeed in the heroic times. For the

cup which is called ῥυτὸν they attributed only to the heroes, which

fact will appear a perplexing one to some people; unless indeed any

one should choose to say that this custom was introduced because of

the fierceness of the appearance of these demigods. For they think the

heroes irascible and quarrelsome, and more so by night than by day. In

order, then, that they may appear to be so, not in consequence of their

natural disposition, but because of their propensity for drinking, they

represent them as drinking out of large cups. And it appears to me not

to have been a bad idea on the part of those people who said that a

large cup was a silver well."

In all this Chamæleon appears to be ignorant that it is not a small

cup which in Homer is given to the Cyclops by Ulysses; for if it had

been a small one, he would not have been so overcome with drunkenness

after drinking it three times only, when he was a man of such a

monstrous size. There were therefore large cups at that time; unless

any one chooses to impute it to the strength of the wine, which Homer

himself has mentioned, or to the little practice which the Cyclops had

in drinking, since his usual beverage was milk; or perhaps it was a

barbaric cup, since it was a big one, forming perhaps a part of the

plunder of the Cicones. What then are we to say about Nestor's cup,

which a young man would scarcely have had strength enough to carry,

but which the aged Nestor lifted without any labour; concerning which

identical cup Plutarch shall give us some information. However, it is

time now to lie down at table.

5. And when they had all laid themselves down;—But, said Plutarch,

according to the Phliasian poet Pratinas—

Not ploughing ready-furrow'd ground,

But, seeking for a goblet,

I come to speak about the cups (κυλικηγορήσων)

Nor indeed am I one of those κυλίκρανοι whom Hermippus, the

comic poet, ridicules in his iambics, where he says—

I've come now to the vineyard of the Cylicranes,

And seen Heraclea, a beauteous city.

[Sidenote: CUPS.]

But these are Heracleans who live at the foot of Mount Œta, as Nicander

of Thyatira says; saying that they are so named from a certain Cylix,

a Lydian by birth, who was one of the comrades of Hercules. And they

are mentioned also by Scythinus the Teian, in his work entitled The

History, where he says, "Hercules, having taking Eurytus and his son,

put them to death for exacting tribute from the people of Euboea.

And he laid waste the territory of the Cylicranes for behaving like

robbers; and there he built a city called Heraclea of Trachis." And

Polemo, in the first of his books, addressed to Adæus and Antigonus,

speaks thus—"But the inhabitants of the Heraclea which is at the foot

of Mount Œta, and of Trachis, are partly some Cylicranes who came with

Hercules from Lydia, and partly Athamanes, some of whose towns remain

to this day. And the people of Heraclea did not admit them to any of

the privileges of citizenship, considering them only as foreigners

sojourning amongst them; and they were called Cylicranes, because they

had the figure of a cup (κύλιξ) branded on their shoulders."

6. I am aware, too, that Hellanicus says, in his treatise on the Names

of Races, that "Some of the Libyan nomades have no other possessions

than a cup, and a sword, and a ewer, and they have small houses made

of the stalks of asphodel, merely just to serve as a shade, and they

even carry them about with them wherever they go." There is also a

spot amongst the Illyrians, which has been celebrated by many people,

which is called Κύλικες, near to which is the tomb of Cadmus

and Harmonia, as Phylarchus relates in the twenty-second book of his

Histories. And Polemo, in his book on Morychus, says that at Syracuse,

on the highest spot of the part called the Island, there is an altar

near the temple of Olympia, outside the walls, from which he says

that people when putting to sea carry a goblet with them, keeping it

until they get to such a distance that the shield in the temple of

Minerva cannot be seen; and then they let it fall into the sea, being

an earthenware cup, putting into it flowers and honeycombs, and uncut

frankincense, and all sorts of other spices besides.

7. And since I now see your banquet, as Xenophanes the Colophonian

says, full of all kinds of pleasure—

For now the floor and all men's hands are clean,

And all the cups, and since the feasters' brows

Are wreathed with garlands, while the slaves around

Bring fragrant perfume in well-suited dishes;

And in the middle stands the joyful bowl,

And wine's at hand, which ne'er deserts the guests

Who know its worth, in earthen jars well kept,

Well flavour'd, fragrant with the sweet fresh flowers;

And in the midst the frankincense sends forth

Its holy perfume; and the water's cold,

And sweet, and pure; and golden bread's at hand,

And duly honour'd tables, groaning under

Their weight of cheese and honey;—then an altar,

Placed in the centre, all with flow'rs is crown'd.

And song and feasting occupies the house,

And dancing, and all sorts of revelry:—

Therefore it does become right-minded men

First with well-omen'd words and pious prayers

To hymn the praises of the Gods; and so,

With pure libations and well-order'd vows,

To win from them the power to act with justice—

For this comes from the favour of the Gods;

And you may drink as much as shall not hinder

You from returning home without assistance,

Unless, indeed, you're very old: and he

Deserves to be above his fellows lauded

Who drinks and then says good and witty things,

Such as his memory and taste suggests,—

Who lays down rules, and tells fine tales of virtue;

Not raking up the old Titanic fables,

Wars of the Giants, or the Lapithæ,

Figments of ancient times, mere pleasing trifles,

Full of no solid good; but always speaking

Things that may lead to right ideas of God.

8. And the exquisite Anacreon says—

I do not love the man who, 'midst his cups,

Says nothing but old tales of war and strife,

But him who gives its honour due to mirth,

Praising the Muses and the bright-faced Venus.

And Ion of Chios says—

Hail, our great king, our saviour, and our father!

And let the cupbearers now mix us wine

In silver jugs: and let the golden bowl

Pour forth its pure libations on the ground,

While duly honouring the mighty Jove.

First of the Gods, and first in all our hearts,

We pour libations to Alcmena's son,

And to the queen herself,—to Procles too,

And the invincible chiefs of Perseus' line.

Thus let us drink and sport; and let the song

Make the night cheerful; let the glad guests dance;

And do thou willingly preside among us:

But let the man who's a fair wife at home

Drink far more lustily than those less happy.

Those also who were called the seven wise men used to make drinking

parties; "for wine comforts the natural moroseness of old age," as

Theophrastus says, in his treatise on Drunkenness.

[Sidenote: DRINKING PLEDGES.]

9. On which account, when we are met together in these Dionysiac

conversaziones, no one, as is said in the Tarentines of Alexis—

No one can find a just pretence to grudge us

Our harmless pleasure, since we never injure

One of our neighbours. Know you not, my friend,

That what is called life is but a name,

Well soften'd down (to make it palatable),

For human fate? And whether any one

Thinks that I'm right or wrong in what I say,

I cannot change a word; for well I know,

And long have I consider'd the whole matter,

That all th' affairs of men are full of madness,

And we who live are only sojourners,

Like men who go to some great festival,

Starting from death and darkness to a pastime,

And to this light which we behold before us.

But he who laughs and drinks most cheerfully,

And most enjoys the charming gifts of Venus,

And most attends on feasts and festivals,

He goes through life, and then departs most happily.

And, in the words of the beautiful Sappho,—

Come, O Venus, hither come,

Bringing us thy goblets fair,

Mingled with the merry feast;

And pour out sparkling wine, I pray,

To your and my companions gay.

10. And we may add to all this, that different cities have peculiar

fashions of drinking and pledging one another; as Critias mentions,

in his Constitution of the Lacedæmonians, where he says—"The Chian

and the Thasian drink out of large cups, passing them on towards the

right hand; and the Athenian also passes the wine round towards the

right, but drinks out of small cups. But the Thessalian uses large

cups, pledging whoever he pleases, without reference to where he may

be; but among the Lacedæmonians, every one drinks out of his own cup,

and a slave, acting as cupbearer, fills up again the cup when each has

drained it." And Anaxandrides also mentions the fashion of passing

the cup round towards the right hand, in his Countrymen, speaking as

follows:—

_A._ In what way are you now prepared to drink?

Tell me, I pray.

_B._ In what way are we now

Prepared to drink? Why any way you please.

_A._ Shall we then now, my father, tell the guests

To push the wine to the right?

_B._ What! to the right?

That would be just as though this were a funeral.[54]

11. But we may decline entering on the subject of goblets of

earthenware; for Ctesias says—"Among the Persians, that man only uses

an earthenware who is dishonoured by the king." And Choerilus the epic

poet says—

Here in my hands I hold a wretched piece

Of earthen goblet, broken all around,

Sad relic of a band of merry feasters;

And often the fierce gale of wanton Bacchus

Dashes such wrecks with insult on the shore.

But I am well aware that earthenware cups are often very pleasant, as

those which are imported among us from Coptus; for they are made of

earth which is mixed up with spices. And Aristotle, in his treatise on

Drunkenness, says—"The cups which are called Rhodiacan are brought

into drinking-parties, because of the pleasure which they afford, and

also because, when they are warmed, they deprive the wine of some of

its intoxicating properties; for they are filled with myrrh and rushes,

and other things of the same sort, put into water and then boiled;

and when this mixture is put into the wine, the drinkers are less apt

to become intoxicated." And in another place he says—"The Rhodiacan

cups consist of myrrh, flowery rushes, saffron, balsam, spikenard, and

cinnamon, all boiled together; and when some of this compound is added

to the wine, it has such effect in preventing intoxication, that it

even diminishes the amorous propensities, checking the breath in some

degree."

[Sidenote: ATHENIAN BANQUETS.]

12. We ought not, then, to drink madly, looking at the multitude of

these beautiful cups, made as they are with every sort of various art,

in various countries. "But the common people," says Chrysippus, in the

introduction to his treatise on what is Good and Evil, "apply the term

madly to a great number of things; and so they call a desire for women

γυναικομανία, a fondness for quails ὀρτυγομανία; and some also call

those who are very anxious for fame δοξομανεῖς; just as they call those

who are fond of women γυναικομανεῖς, and those who are fond of birds

ὀρνιθομανεῖς: all these nouns having the same notion of a propensity

to the degree of madness. So that there is nothing inconsistent in

other feelings and circumstances having this name applied to them; as

a person who is very fond of delicacies, and who is properly called

φίλοψος and ὀψοφάγος, may be called ὀψομανής; and a man very fond of

wine maybe called οἰνομανής; and so in similar instances. And there is

nothing unreasonable in attributing madness to such people, since they

carry their errors to a very mad pitch, and wander a great distance

from the real truth.

13. Let us, then, as was the custom among the Athenians, drink our wine

while listening to these jesters and buffoons, and to other artists of

the same kind. And Philochorus speaks of this kind of people in these

terms—"The Athenians, in the festivals of Bacchus, originally used to

go to the spectacle after they had dined and drunk their wine; and they

used to witness the games with garlands on their heads. But during the

whole time that the games were going on, wine was continually being

offered to them, and sweetmeats were constantly being brought round;

and when the choruses entered, they were offered wine; and also when

the exhibition was over, and they were departing, wine was offered to

them again. And Pherecrates the comic poet bears witness to all these

things, and to the fact that down to his own time the spectators were

never left without refreshment." And Phanodemus says—"At the temple

of Bacchus, which is in the Marshes (ἐν Λίμναις), the Athenians bring

wine, and mix it out of the cask for the god, and then drink of it

themselves; on which account Bacchus is also called Λιμναῖος, because

the wine was first drunk at that festival mixed with water. On which

account the fountains were called Nymphs and the Nurses of Bacchus,

because the water being mingled with the wine increases the quantity of

the wine.

Accordingly, men being delighted with this mixture, celebrated Bacchus

in their songs, dancing and invoking him under the names of Euanthes,

and Dithyrambus, and Baccheutes, and Bromius." And Theophrastus, in his

treatise on Drunkenness, says—"The nymphs are really the nurses of

Bacchus; for the vines, when cut, pour forth a great deal of moisture,

and after their own nature weep." On which account Euripides says that

one of the Horses of the Sun is

Æthops, who with his fervent heat doth ripen

Th' autumnal vines of sweetly flow'ring Bacchus,

From which men also call wine Æthops (αἴθοπα οἶνον).

And Ulysses gave

Twelve large vessels of unmix'd red wine,

Mellifluous, undecaying, and divine,

Which now (some ages from his race conceal'd)

The hoary sire in gratitude reveal'd.

Such was the wine, to quench whose fervent steam

Scarce twenty measures from the living stream

To cool one cup sufficed; the goblet crown'd,

Breathed aromatic fragrancies around.[55]

And Timotheus, in his Cyclops, says—

He fill'd one cup, of well-turn'd iv'ry made,

With dark ambrosial drops of foaming wine;

And twenty measures of the sober stream

He poured in, and with the blood of Bacchus

Mingled fresh tears, shed by the weeping nymphs.

14. And I know, my messmates, of some men who were proud, not so much

of their wealth in money as of the possession of many cups of silver

and gold; one of whom is Pytheas the Arcadian, of the town of Phigalea,

who, even when dying, did not hesitate to enjoin his servants to

inscribe the following verses on his tomb:—

This is the tomb of Pytheas, a man

Both wise and good, the fortunate possessor

Of a most countless number of fine cups,

Of silver made, and gold, and brilliant amber.

These were his treasures, and of them he had

A store, surpassing all who lived before him.

And Harmodius the Lepreatian mentions this fact in his treatise on the

Laws and Customs subsisting in Phigalea. And Xenophon, in the eighth

book of his Cyropædia, speaking of the Persians, writes as follows—"And

also they pride themselves exceedingly on the possession of as many

goblets as possible; and even if they have acquired them by notorious

malpractices, they are not at all ashamed of so doing; for injustice

and covetousness are carried on to a great degree among them." But

Œdipus cursed his sons on account of some drinking-cups (as the author

of the Cyclic poem called the Thebaïs says), because they set before

him a goblet which he had forbidden; speaking as follows:—

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

But the divine, the golden-hair'd hero,

Great Polynices, set before his father first

A silver table, beautifully wrought,

Whilome the property of th' immortal Cadmus;

And then he fill'd a beauteous golden cup

Up to the brim with sweet and fragrant wine;

But Œdipus, when with angry eyes he saw

The ornaments belonging to his sire

Now set before him, felt a mighty rage,

Which glow'd within his breast, and straightway pour'd

The bitterest curses forth on both his sons,

(Nor were they by the Fury all unheard,)

Praying that they might never share in peace

The treasures of their father, but for ever

With one another strive in arms and war.

15. And Cæcilius the orator who came from Cale Acte, in his treatise

on History, says that Agathocles the Great, when displaying his golden

drinking-cups to his companions, said that he had got all these from

the earthenware cups which he had previously made. And in Sophocles,

in the Larissæans, Acrisius had a great many drinking-cups; where the

tragedian speaks as follows:—

And he proclaims to strangers from all quarters

A mighty contest, promising among them

Goblets well wrought in brass, and beauteous vases

Inlaid with gold, and silver drinking-cups,

Full twice threescore in number, fair to see.

And Posidonius, in the twenty-sixth book of his Histories, says that

Lysimachus the Babylonian, having invited Himerus to a banquet (who

was tyrant not only over the people of Babylon, but also over the

citizens of Seleucia), with three hundred of his companions, after

the tables were removed, gave every one of the three hundred a silver

cup, weighing four minæ; and when he had made a libation, he pledged

them all at once, and gave them the cups to carry away with them. And

Anticlides the Athenian, in the sixteenth book of his Returns, speaking

of Gra, who, with other kings, first led a colony into the island of

Lesbos, and saying that those colonists had received an answer from

the oracle, bidding them, while sailing, throw a virgin into the sea,

as an offering to Neptune, proceeds as follows:—"And some people,

who treat of the history and affairs of Methymna, relate a fable

about the virgin who was thrown into the sea; and say that one of the

leaders was in love with her, whose name was Enalus, and that he dived

down, wishing to save the damsel; and that then both of them, being

hidden by the waves, disappeared. But that in the course of time, when

Methymna had now become populous, Enalus appeared again, and related

what had happened, and how it had happened: and said that the damsel

was still abiding among the Nereids, and that he himself had become the

superintendent of Neptune's horses; but that a great wave having been

cast on the shore, he had swam with it, and so come to land: and he had

in his hand a goblet made of gold, of such wondrous workmanship that

the golden goblets which they had, when compared with his, looked no

better than brass."

16. And in former times the possession of drinking-cups was reckoned a

very honourable thing. Accordingly, Achilles had a very superb cup as a

sort of heirloom:—

But, mindful of the gods, Achilles went

To the rich coffer in his shady tent,

(There lay the presents of the royal dame;)

From thence he took a bowl of antique frame,

Which never man had stain'd with ruddy wine,

Nor raised in offerings to the pow'rs divine,

But Peleus' son; and Peleus' son to none

Had raised in offerings but to Jove alone.[56]

And Priam, when offering ransom for his son, amid all his most

beautiful treasures especially offers a very exquisitely wrought cup.

And Jupiter himself, on the occasion of the birth of Hercules, thinks

a drinking-cup a gift worthy to be given to Alcmena; which he, having

likened himself to Amphitryon, presents to her:—

And she received the gift, and on the bowl

Admiring gazed with much delighted soul.

And Stesichorus says that the sun sails over the whole ocean in a bowl;

in which also Hercules passed over the sea, on the occasion of his

going to fetch the cows of Geryon. We are acquainted, too, with the cup

of Bathycles the Arcadian, which Bathycles left behind him as a prize

of wisdom to him who should be pronounced the best of those who were

called the wise men.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

And a great many people have handled the cup of Nestor; for many have

written books about it. And drinking-cups were favourites even among

the Gods; at all events—

They pledged each other in their golden cups.[57]

But it is a mark of a gentleman to be moderate in his use of wine, not

drinking too greedily, nor drinking large draughts without drawing

one's breath, after the fashion of the Thracians; but to mingle

conversation with his cups, as a sort of wholesome medicine.

17. And the ancients affixed a great value to such goblets as had

any story engraved upon them; and in the art of engraving cups in

this manner, a high reputation was enjoyed by Cimon and Athenocles.

They used also drinking-cups inlaid with precious stones. And

Menander, somewhere or other, speaks of drinking-cups turned by the

turning-lathe, and chased; and Antiphanes says—

And others drain with eager lips the cup,

Full of the juice of ancient wine, o'ershadow'd

With sparkling foam,—the golden-wrought rich cup,

Which circled round they raised: one long, deep draught

They drain, and raise the bottom to the skies.

And Nicomachus says to some one—

O you, who . . . . . and vomit golden . . . .

And Philippides says—

Could you but see the well-prepared cups,

All made of gold, my Trophimus; by heaven,

They are magnificent! I stood amazed

When I beheld them first. Then there were also

Large silver cups, and jugs larger than I.

And Parmenio, in his letter to Alexander, summing up the spoils of

the Persians, says, "The weight of goblets of gold is seventy-three

Babylonian talents, and fifty-two minæ.[58] The weight of goblets inlaid

with precious stones, is fifty-six Babylonian talents, and thirty-four

minæ."

18. And the custom was, to put the water into the cup first, and the

wine afterwards. Accordingly, Xenophanes says—

And never let a man a goblet take,

And first pour in the wine; but let the water

Come first, and after that, then add the wine.

And Anacreon says—

Bring me water—bring me wine,

Quick, O boy; and bring, besides,

Garlands, rich with varied flowers;

And fill the cup, that I may not

Engage in hopeless strife with love.

And before either of them Hesiod had said—

Pour in three measures of the limpid stream,

Pure from an everflowing spring; and then

Add a fourth cup of sacred rosy wine.

And Theophrastus says—"The ancient fashion of the mixture of wine was

quite opposite to the way in which it is managed at the present day;

for they were not accustomed to pour the water on the wine, but the

wine on the water, in order, when drinking, not to have their liquor

too strong, and in order also, when they had drunk to satiety, to

have less desire for more. And they also consumed a good deal of this

liquor, mixed as it was, in the game of the cottabus."

19. Now of carvers of goblets the following men had a high

reputation,—Athenocles, Crates, Stratonicus, Myrmecides the Milesian,

Callicrates the Lacedæmonian, and Mys; by which last artist we have

seen a Heraclean cup, having most beautifully wrought on it the capture

of Troy, and bearing also this inscription—

The sketch was by Parrhasius;—by Mys

The workmanship; and now I represent

The lofty Troy, which great Achilles took.

20. Now among the Cretans, the epithet κλεινὸς, illustrious, is often

given to the objects of one's affection. And it is a matter of great

desire among them to carry off beautiful boys; and among them it is

considered discreditable to a beautiful boy not to have a lover.

And the name given to the boys who are carried off in that manner is

παρασταθέντες. And they give to the boy who has been carried off a

robe, and an ox, and a drinking-cup. And the robe they wear even when

they are become old, in order to show that they have been κλεινοί.

21. You see that when men drink, they then are rich;

They do whate'er they please,—they gain their actions,

They're happy themselves, and they assist their friends.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

For amusing oneself with wine exalts, and cherishes, and elevates the

mind, since it inflames and arouses the soul, and fills it with lofty

thoughts, as Pindar says—

When the sad, laborious cares

Flee from the weary hearts of men,

And in the wide, expansive ocean

Of golden wealth we all set sail,

Floating towards the treacherous shore.

E'en he who is poor, is rich when he

Has fill'd his soul with rosy wine;

And he who's rich . . . . .

And then he goes on—

becomes elated

Beneath the glad dominion of the vine.

22. There is a kind of drinking-cup also called ancyla, or curved; a

kind especially useful for the play of the cottabus. Cratinus says—

'Tis death to drink of wine when water's mix'd:

But she took equal shares, two choes full

Of unmix'd wine, in a large ancyla:

And calling on her dear Corinthian lover

By name, threw in his honour a cottabus.

And Bacchylides says—

When she does throw to the youths a cottabus

From her ancyla, stretching her white arm forth.

And it is with reference to this ancyla that we understand the

expression of Æschylus—

The cottabus of th' ancyla (ἀγκυλήτους κοττάβους).

Spears are also called ἀγκύλητα, or curved; and also μεσάγκυλα, held by

a string in the middle. There is also the expression ἀπ᾽ ἀγκύλης, which

means, from the right hand. And the cup is called ἀγκύλη, from the fact

that the right hand is curved, in throwing the cottabus from it. For it

was a matter to which great attention was paid by the ancients—namely,

that of throwing the cottabus dexterously and gracefully. And men in

general prided themselves more on their dexterity in this than in

throwing the javelin skilfully. And this got its name from the manner

in which the hand was brandished in throwing the cottabus, when they

threw it elegantly and dexterously into the cottabium. And they also

built rooms especially designed for this sport.

23. In Timachides there is also a kind of drinking-cup mentioned,

called the æacis.

There is another kind also, called the ἄκατος,or boat, being shaped

like a boat. Epicrates sayss—

Throw down th' acatia,

(using here the diminutive form,)

and take instead

The larger goblets; and the old woman lead

Straight to the cup; . . . the younger maiden . . . .

. . . . . . . fill it; have your oar

All ready, loose the cables, bend the sails.

Among the Cyprians there is also a kind of cup called the aotus, as

Pamphilus tells us: and Philetas says, this is a cup which has no ears

(ὤτους).

There is also a kind of cup called aroclum, which is mentioned by

Nicander the Colophonian.

24. The cup called ἄλεισον, is the same as that called δέπας. Homer,

in his Odyssey, speaking of Pisistratus, says—

In a rich golden cup he pour'd the wine;[59]

and proceeding, he says, in the same manner—

To each a portion of the feast he bore,

And held the golden goblet (ἄλεισον) foaming o'er;

and presently afterwards he says—

And gave the goblet (δέπας) to Ulysses' son.

And, accordingly, Asclepiades the Myrlean says—"The δέπας appears to

me to have been much of the same shape as the φιάλη. For men make

libations with it. Accordingly, Homer says, δέπαϛ—

The cup which Peleus' son

Had raised in offerings to Jove alone.

And it is called δέπας, either because it is given to all (δίδοται

πᾶσι) who wish to make libations, or who wish to drink; or because it

has two ears (δύο ὦπας), for ὦπες must be the same as ὦτα. And it has

the name of ἄλεισον, either from being very smooth (ἄγαν λεῖον), or

because the liquor is collected (ἁλίζεται) in it. And that it had two

ears is plain—

High in his hands he rear'd the golden bowl

By both its ears.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

But when he applies the word ἀμφικύπελλον to it, he means nothing more

than ἀμφίκυρτον curved on both sides." But Silenus interprets the word

ἀμφικύπελλον to mean devoid of ears, while others say that ἀμφὶ here is

equivalent to περὶ, and that it means a cup which you may put to your

mouth all round, at any part of it. But Parthenius says that it means

that the ears are curved (περικεκυρτῶσθαι), for that is synonymous with

κυρτός. But Anicetus says that the κύπελλον is a kind of cup (φίαλη),

and that the word ἀμφικύπελλον is equivalent to ὑπερφίαλον, that is

to say, superb and magnificent; unless, indeed, any one chooses to

interpret the word ἄλεισον as something very highly ornamented, and

therefore not at all smooth (α,λεῖον). And Pisander says, Hercules gave

Telamon a cup (ἄλεισον) as the prize of his preeminent valour in the

expedition against Troy.

25. There is also a kind of cup called the horn of Amalthea, and

another called ἐνιαυτὸς, or the year.

There is also a kind of cup made of wood, called ἄμφωτις, which

Philetas says that the countrymen use, who milk their cattle into it,

and then drink the milk.

There is also a kind of drinking called ἄμυστις, when any one drinks a

long draught without taking breath and without winking (μὴ μύσαντα).

And they give the same name to the goblets from which it is easy to

drink in this manner. And they also use a verb (ἐκμυστίζω) for drinking

without taking breath, as Plato the comic poet says—

And opening a fair cask of fragrant wine,

He pours it straight into the hollow cup;

And then he drank it sheer and not disturb'd,

And drain'd it at one draught (ἐξεμύστισε).

And they also drank the ἄμυστις draught to an accompaniment of music;

the melody being measured out according to the quickness of the time;

as Ameipsias says—

Gentle musician, let that dulcet strain

Proceed; and, while I drink this luscious draught,

Play you a tune; then you shall drink yourself.

For mortal man has no great wants on earth,

Except to love and eat;—and you're too stingy.

26. There is also a kind of cup called Antigonis, from the name of king

Antigonus: like the Seleucis from king Seleucus; and the Prusis, from

king Prusias.

There is also a kind of cup known in Crete, and called anaphæa, which

they use for hot drinks.

There is also a kind of cup called aryballus. This kind of cup is wider

at the bottom, and contracted at top like a purse when it is drawn

together; and, indeed, some people call purses ἀρύβαλλοι, from their

resemblance to this kind of cup. Aristophanes says, in his Knights—

He pour'd upon his head

Ambrosia from a holy cup (ἀρύβαλλος).

And the aryballus is not very different from the arystichus, being

derived from the verbs ἀρύτω and βάλλω; they also call a jug ἄρυστις.

Sophocles says—

You are most accursed of all women,

Who come to supper with your ἀρύστεις.

There is also a city of the Ionians called arystis.

There is another kind of cup called argyris, which is not necessarily

made of silver. Anaxilas says—

And drinking out of golden argyrides.

27. Then batiacium, labronius, tragelaphus, pristis, are all names of

different kinds of cups. The batiaca is a Persian goblet. And among the

letters of the great Alexander to the Satraps of Asia there is inserted

one letter in which the following passage occurs:—"There are three

batiacæ of silver-gilt, and a hundred and seventy-six silver condya;

and of these last thirty-three are gilt. There is also one silver

tigisites, and thirty-two silver-gilt mystri. There is one silver

vegetable dish, and one highly wrought wine-stand of silver ornamented

in a barbaric style. There are other small cups from every country,

and of every kind of fashion, to the number of twenty-nine: and other

small-sized cups called rhyta, adbatia, and Lycurgi, all gilt, and

incense-burners and spoons."

There is a cup used by the Alexandrians named bessa, wider in the lower

parts, and narrow above.

28. There is also a kind of cup called baucalis: and this, too, is

chiefly used in Alexandria, as Sopater the parodist says—

A baucalis, with four rings mark'd on it.

And in another passage he says—

'Tis sweet for men to drink (καταβαυκαλίσαι)

Cups of the juice by bees afforded,

At early dawn, when parch'd by thirst,

Caused by too much wine overnight.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

And the men in Alexandria, it is said, have a way of working crystal,

forming it often into various shapes of goblets, and imitating in this

material every sort of earthenware cup which is imported from any

possible country. And they say that Lysippus the statuary, wishing to

gratify Cassander, when he was founding the colony of Cassandria, and

when he conceived the ambition of inventing some peculiar kind of

utensil in earthenware, on account of the extraordinary quantity of

Mendean wine which was exported from the city, took a great deal of

pains with that study, and brought Cassander a great number of cups of

every imaginable fashion, all made of earthenware, and taking a part of

the pattern of each, thus made one goblet of a design of his own.

29. There is also a kind of cup called bicus. Xenophon, in

the first book of his Anabasis, says:—

"And Cyrus sent him a number of goblets (βίκους) of wine half full;

and it is a cup of a flat shallow shape, like a φιάλη, according to the

description given of it by Pollux the Parian.

There is another kind of cup called the bombylius; a sort of Rhodian

Thericlean cup; concerning the shape of which Socrates says,—"Those

who drink out of the phiale as much as they please will very soon give

over; but those who drink out of a bombylius drink by small drops."

There is also an animal of the same name.

There is also a kind of drinking-cup called the bromias, in form like

the larger kind of scyphus.

30. There is another kind called the lettered cup, having writing

engraved round it. Alexis says—

_A._ Shall I describe to you the appearance first

O' the cup you speak of? Know, then, it was round;

Exceeding small; old, sadly broken too

About the ears; and all around the brim

Were carved letters.

_B._ Were there those nineteen

Engraved in gold,—To Jupiter the Saviour?[60]

_A._ Those, and no others.

And we have seen a lettered cup of this kind lying at Capua in

Campania, in the temple of Diana; covered with writing taken from the

poems of Homer, and beautifully engraved; having the verses inlaid

in golden characters, like the drinking-cup of Nestor. And Achæus

the tragic poet, in his Omphale, himself also represents the Satyrs

speaking in the following manner about a lettered drinking-cup—

And the god's cup long since has call'd me,

Showing this writing,—delta, then iota,

The third letter was omega, then nu,

Then u came next, and after that a sigma

And omicron were not deficient.

But in this passage we want the final υ which ought to have ended the

word. Since all the ancients used the omicron not only with the power

which it has now, but also when they meant to indicate the diphthong

ου they wrote it by ο only. And they did the same when they wished to

write the vowel ε, whether it is sounded by itself, or when they wish

to indicate the diphthong ει by the addition of iota. And accordingly,

in the above-cited verses, the Satyrs wrote the final syllable of the

genitive case Διονύσου with ο only; as being short to engrave: so

that we are in these lines to understand the final upsilon, so as to

make the whole word Διονύσου. And the Dorians called sigma san; for

the musicians, as Aristoxenus often tells us, used to avoid saying

sigma whenever they could, because it was a hard-sounding letter, and

unsuited to the flute; but they were fond of using the letter rho,

because of the ease of pronouncing it. And the horses which have the

letter Σ branded on them, they call samphoras. Aristophanes, in his

Clouds, says—

Neither you, nor the carriage-horse, nor samphoras.

And Pindar says—

Before long series of songs were heard,

And the ill-sounding san from out men's mouths.

And Eubulus also, in his Neottis, speaks of a lettered cup as being

called by that identical name, saying—

_A._ Above all things I hate a letter'd cup,

Since he, my son, the time he went away,

Had such a cup with him.

_B._ There are many like it.

31. There is a kind of cup also called gyala. Philetas, in his

Miscellanies, says that the Megarians call their cups gyalæ. And

Parthenius, the pupil of Dionysius, in the first book of his

Discussions upon Words found in the Historians, says—"The gyala is a

kind of drinking-cup, as Marsyas the priest of Hercules writes, where

he says, 'Whenever the king comes into the city, a man meets him

having a cup (γυάλην) full of wine; and the king takes it, and pours a

libation from it.'"

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

32. There is another sort of cup called the deinus. And that this is

the name of a cup we are assured by Dionysius of Sinope, in his Female

Saviour, where he gives a catalogue of the names of cups, and mentions

this among them, speaking as follows—

And as for all the kinds of drinking-cups,

Lady, all fair to see,—dicotyli,

Tricotyli besides, the mighty deinus,

Which holds an entire measure, and the cymbion,

The scyphus and the rhytum; on all these

The old woman keeps her eyes, and minds nought else.

And Cleanthes the philosopher, in his book on Interpretation, says,

that the cups called the Thericlean, and that called the Deinias, are

both named from the original makers of them. And Seleucus, saying that

the deinus is a kind of cup, quotes some lines of Stratis, from his

Medea—

Dost know, O Creon, what the upper part

Of your head doth resemble? I can tell you:

'Tis like a deinus turned upside down.

And Archedicus, in his Man in Error, introducing a servant speaking of

some courtesans, says—

_A._ I lately introduced a hook-nosed woman,

Her name Nicostrata; but surnamed also

Scotodeina, since (at least that is the story)

She stole a silver deinus in the dark.

_B._ A terrible thing (δεινὸν), by Jove; a terrible thing!

The deinus is also the name of a kind of dance, as Apollophanes tells

us in his Dalis, where he says—

A strange thing (δεινὸν) is this deinus and calathiscus.

And Telesilla the Argive calls a threshing-floor also δεῖνος. And the

Cyrenæans give the same name to a foot-tub, as Philetas tells us in his

Attic Miscellanies.

33. There is also a kind of drinking-cup called δέπαστρον. Silenus

and Clitarchus, in their Dialects, say that this is a name given to

drinking-cups among the Clitorians; but Antimachus the Colophonian, in

the fifth book of his Thebais, says—

And carefully they all commands obey'd

Which wise Adrastus laid on them. They took

A silver goblet, and they pour'd therein

Water, and honey pure, compounding deftly;

And quickly then they all distributed

The cups (δέπαστπα) among the princes of the Greeks,

Who there were feasting; and from a golden jug

They pour'd them wine for due libations.

And in another place he says—

Let others bring the bowl of solid silver,

Or golden cups (δέπαστρα), which in my halls are stored.

And immediately afterwards he says—

And golden cups (δέπαστρα), and a pure untouch'd vessel

Of honey sweet, which will be best for him.

34. There is also a kind of cup called δακτυλωτὸν, with

finger-like handles; and it is called so by Ion, in the Agamemnon—

And you shall have a gift worth running for,

A finger-handled cup, not touch'd by fire,

The mighty prize once given by Pelias,

And by swift Castor won.

But by this expression Epigenes understands merely having two ears,

into which a person could put his fingers on each side. Others, again,

explain it as meaning, having figures like fingers engraved all round

it; or having small projections like the Sidonian cups;—or, again,

some interpret the word as meaning merely smooth. But when he says,

untouched by fire, that has the same meaning as Homer's phrase—

ἄπυρον κατέθηκε λέβητα,

meaning a caldron fit for the reception of cold water, or suitable for

drinking cold drinks out of. But by this expression some understand

a horn; and about the Molossian district the oxen are said to have

enormous horns; and the way in which they are made into cups is

explained by Theopompus: and it is very likely that Pelias may have had

cups made of these horns; and Iolcos is near the Molossian district,

and it was at Iolcos that these contests spoken of were exhibited by

Pelias.—"But," says Didymus, in his Explanation of the play here spoken

of, "it is better to say that Ion misunderstood Homer's words, where he

says—

And for the fifth he gave a double bowl,

Which fire had never touch'd;

for he fancied that this meant a drinking-cup, while it was in reality

a large flat vessel made of brass in the form of a caldron, suitable to

receive cold water. And he has spoken of the dactylotus cup, as if it

were a goblet that had a hollow place all round the inside of it, so as

to be taken hold of inside by the fingers of the drinkers. And some say

that the cup which has never been touched by fire means a cup of horn;

for that that is not worked by the agency of fire. And perhaps a man

might call a φιάλη a drinking-cup by a metaphorical use of the word."

But Philemon, in his treatise on Attic Nouns and Attic Dialects, under

the word καλπὶς says, "The dactylotus cup is the same as the two-headed

cup into which a person can insert his fingers on both sides. But some

say that it is one which has figures in the shape of fingers carved all

round it."

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

35. There is also the elephant; and this was the name of a kind of cup,

as we are told by Damoxenus, in the Man who laments himself—

_A._ If that is not enough, here is the boy

Bringing the elephant.

_B._ In God's name tell me,

What beast is that?

_A._ 'Tis a mighty cup,

Pregnant with double springs of rosy wine,

And able to contain three ample measures:

The work of Alcon. When I was at Cypseli,

Adæus pledged me in this self-same cup.

And Epinicus also mentions this cup, in his Supposititious Damsels; and

I will quote his testimony when I come to speak of the rhytum.

36. There is another kind of cup called the Ephebus. And Philemon the

Athenian, in his treatise on Attic Nouns and Attic Dialects, says that

this cup is also called the embasicoitas; but Stephanus the comic poet,

in his Friend of the Lacedæmonians, says—

_Sos._ The king then pledged him in a certain village.

_B._ A wondrous thing. What can you mean? Is this

A kind of goblet?

_Sos._ No; I mean a village

Near Thyria.

_B._ Why, my whole thoughts were borne

Off to the Rhodian cups, O Sosia,

And to those heavy bowls they call ephebi.

37. There are also some cups which are called ἡδυποτίδες. "These," says

Lynceus the Samian, "were made by the Rhodians in emulation of the

Thericlean goblets which were in use at Athens. But as the Athenians,

on account of the great weight of metal employed in them, only made

this shape for the use of the richer classes, the Rhodians made theirs

so light that they were able to put these ornaments within the reach

even of the poor. And Epigenes mentions them, in his Heroine, in these

words—

A psycter, and a cyathus, and cymbia,

Four rhyta, and three hedypotides,

A silver strainer, too.

And Semus, in the fifth book of his Delias, says that there is among

the offerings at Delos a golden hedypotis, the gift of Echenica, a

woman of the country, whom he mentions also, in his eighth book. And

Cratinus the younger says, using the diminutive form,—

And Archephon had twelve ἡδυπότια.

38. There was another kind of cup called the Herculeum. Pisander, in

the second book of his Herculead, says that the cup in which Hercules

sailed across the ocean belonged to the Sun; and that Hercules received

it from Oceanus for that purpose. But, perhaps, as the hero was fond of

large cups, the poets and historians jesting because of the great size

of this one, invented the fable of his having gone to sea in a cup.

But Panyasis, in the first book of his Herculead, says that Hercules

obtained the cup of the Sun from Nereus, and sailed even to Erythea in

it. And we have said before that Hercules was one of the inordinate

drinkers. And that the sun was borne on towards his setting in a cup,

Stesichorus tells us, where he says—

And then the Sun, great Hyperion's offspring,

Embarked in his golden cup, that he

Might cross the ocean's wide expanse, and come

To the deep foundations of immortal Night;

To his fond mother, and his virgin bride,

And his dear children. And the son of Jove

Came to the grove

Shaded with laurels and with bays.

And Antimachus speaks thus—

And then the most illustrious Erythea

Sent the Sun forth in a convenient cup.

And Æschylus, in his Daughters of the Sun, says—

There in the west is found the golden cup,

Great Vulcan's work, your father's property,

In which he's borne along his rapid course

O'er the dark waters of the boundless sea.

When, his work done, he flies before dark Night,

Borne on her black-horsed chariot.

39. And Mimnermus, in his Nannus, says that the Sun when asleep is

borne round to the east, lying on a golden bed which was made for this

express purpose by Vulcan; by which enigmatical statement hie indicates

the hollow form of the cup; and he speaks thus—

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

For the Sun labours every day, nor ever

Do he or his fleet steeds know pleasing rest

From that bright hour when the rosy Morn,

Leaving her ocean-bed, mounts up to heaven.

For all across the sea, a lovely bed

Of precious gold, the work of Vulcan's hands,

Conveys the god; passing on rapid wings

Along the water, while he sleeps therein,

From the bright region of th' Hesperides,

To th' Ethiopian shore, where his swift car

And fiery horses wait within their stalls

Till bright Aurora comes again and opes

Her rosy portals. Then Hyperion's son

Ascends again his swift untiring car.

But Theolytus, in the second book of his Annals, says that the Sun

crosses the sea in a cup, and that the first person who invented this

statement was the author of the poem called the Battle of the Titans.

And Pherecydes, in the third book of his Histories, having previously

spoken about the ocean, adds—"But Hercules drew his bow against him,

as if he meant to shoot him: and the Sun bade him desist, and so he,

being afraid, did desist. And in return for his forbearance, the Sun

gave him the golden cup in which he himself used to travel with his

horses when he has set, going all night across the ocean to the east,

where he again rises. And so then Hercules went in this cup to Erythea.

And when he was at sea, Oceanus, to tempt him, appeared to him in

visible form, tossing his cup about in the waves; and he then was on

the point of shooting Oceanus; but Oceanus being frightened desired him

to forbear."

40. There is also a cup of the name of ethanion. Hellanicus, in his

account of the History and Manners of the Egyptians, writes thus—"In

the houses of the Egyptians are found a brazen φιάλη, and a brazen

κύαθος, and a brazen ἠθάνιον."

There is another kind called hemitomus; a sort of cup in use among the

Athenians, so called from its shape; and it is mentioned by Pamphilus,

in his Dialects.

41. Then there is the cup called the thericlean cup; this kind is

depressed at the sides, sufficiently deep, having short ears, as being

of the class of cup called κύλιξ.[61] And, perhaps, it is out of a

thericlean cup that Alexis, in his Hesione, represents Hercules to be

drinking, when he speaks thus—

And when he had, though scarcely, come t' himself,

He begg'd a cup of wine (κύλικα), and when he'd got it,

He drank down frequent draughts, and drain'd it well;

And, as the proverb says, the man sometimes

Is quite a bladder, and sometimes a sack.

And that the thericlean cup belongs to the class κύλιξ is plainly

stated by Theophrastus, in his History of Plants. For speaking of the

turpentine-tree, be says—"And thericlean cups (κύλικες θηρίκλειοι)

are turned of this wood, in such a manner that no one can distinguish

them from earthenware ones." And Thericles the Corinthian is said to

have been the first maker of this kind of cup, and he was a potter

originally, and it is after him that they have their name; and he lived

about the same time as Aristophanes the comic poet. And Theopompus

speaks of this cup, in his Nemea, where he says—

_A._ Come hither you, you faithful child of Thericles,

You noble shape, and what name shall we give you

Are you a looking-glass of nature? If

You were but full, then I could wish for nothing

Beyond your presence. Come then—

_B._ How I hate you,

You old Theolyta.

_A._ Old dost thou call me, friend?

_B._ What can I call you else? but hither come,

Let me embrace you; come to your fellow-servant:

Is it not so?

_A._ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . you try me.

_B._ See here I pledge you in fair friendship's cup.

_A._ And when you've drunk your fill, then hand the cup

Over to me the first.

But Cleanthes, in his treatise on Interpretation, says—"And as for all

these inventions, and whatever others there are of the same kind, such

as the thericlean cup, the deinias, the iphicratis, it is quite plain

that these, by their very names, indicate their inventors. And the same

appears to be the case even now. And if they fail to do so, the name

must have changed its meaning a little. But, as has been said before,

one cannot in every case trust to a name." But others state that the

thericlean cup has its name from the skins of wild beasts (θηρίων)

being carved on it. And Pamphilus of Alexandria says that it is so

called from the fact of Bacchus disturbing the beasts (τοὺς θῆρας) by

pouring libations out of these cups over them.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

42. And Antiphanes mentions this kind of cup, in his Similitudes,

saying—

And when they had done supper, (for I wish

To put all things that happen'd in the interval

Together,) then the thericlean cup

Of Jove the Saviour was introduced,

Full of the luscious drops which o'er the sea

Came from the isle of the delicious drinks,

The sea-girt Lesbos, full, and foaming up,

And each one in his right hand gladly seized it.

And Eubulus, in his Dolon, says—

I never drain'd a cup more carefully,

For I did make the earthen cask more clean

Than Thericles did make his well-turn'd cups

E'en in his youth.

And, in his Dice-players, he says—

And then they drain'd the valiant cup yclept

The thericlean; foaming o'er the brim,

With Lacedæmonian lip, loud sounding

As if 'twere full of pebbles, dark in colour,

A beauteous circle, with a narrow bottom,

Sparkling and brilliant, beautifully wash'd,

All crown'd with ivy; and the while they call'd

On the great name of Jove the Saviour.

And Ararus, or Eubulus, whichever it was who was the author of the

Campylion, says—

O potter's earth, you whom great Thericles

Once fashion'd, widening out the circling depth

Of your large hollow sides; right well must you

Have known the natures and the hearts of women,

That they are not well pleased with scanty cups.

And Alexis, in his Horseman, says—

There is, besides, a thericlean cup,

Having a golden wreath of ivy round it,

Carved on it, not appended.

And in his Little Horse he says—

He drank a thericlean cup of unmix'd wine,

Right full, and foaming o'er the brim.

43. But Timæus, in the twenty-eighth book of his History, calls the cup

thericlea, writing thus:—"There was a man of the name of Polyxenus who

was appointed one of the ambassadors from Tauromenium, and he returned

having received several other presents from Nicodemus, and also a

cup of the kind called thericlea." And Adæus, in his treatise on

Descriptions, considers that the thericleum and the carchesium are the

same. But that they are different is plainly shown by Callixenus, who,

in his Account of Alexandria and its customs, says—"And some people

marched in the procession, bearing thericlea (and he uses the masculine

form θηρικλείους), and others bearing carchesia." And what kind of

cup the carchesium was, shall be explained in due time. There is also

another kind called the thericlean bowl (θηρίκλειος κρατὴρ), which is

mentioned by Alexis, in his Cycnus—

And in the midst a thericlean bowl

Resplendent stood; full of old clear white wine,

And foaming to the brim. I took it empty,

And wiped it round, and made it shine, and placed it

Firm on its base, and crown'd it round with branches

Of Bacchus' favourite ivy.

Menander also has used the form θηρίκλειος as feminine, in his Fanatic

Woman, when he says—

And being moderately drunk, he took

nd drain'd the thericleum (τὴν θηρίκλειον).

And in his Begging Priest he says—

Drinking a thericleum of three pints.

And Dioxippus, in his Miser, says—

_A._ I want now the large thericlean cup (τῆς θηρικλείου τῆς μεγάλης).

_B._ I know it well.

_A._ Likewise the Rhodian cups;

For when I've pour'd the liquor into them,

I always seem to drink it with most pleasure.

And Polemo, in the first book of his treatise on the Acropolis at

Athens, has used the word in the neuter gender, saying— "Neoptolemus

offered up some golden thericlean cups (τὰ θηρίκλεια) wrought on

foundations of wood."

44. And Apollodorus of Gela, in his Philadelphia or the Man who killed

himself by Starvation, says—

Then there were robes of fine embroidery,

And silver plate, and very skilful chasers

Who ornament the thericlean cups,

And many other noble bowls besides.

And Aristophon, in his Philonides, says—

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

Therefore my master very lately took

The well-turn'd orb of a thericlean cup,

Full foaming to the brim with luscious wine,

Mix'd half-and-half, a most luxurious draught,

And gave it me as a reward for virtue;

I think because of my tried honesty;

And then, by steeping me completely in it,

He set me free.

And Theophilus, in his Boeotia, says—

He mixes beautifully a large cup

Of earthenware, of thericlean fashion,

Holding four pints, and foaming o'er the brim;

Not Autocles himself, by earth I swear,

Could in his hand more gracefully have borne it.

And, in his Proetides, he says—

And bring a thericlean cup, which holds

More than four pints, and 's sacred to good fortune.

There is also a cup called the Isthmian cup: and Pamphilus, in his

treatise on Names, says that this is a name given to a certain kind of

cup by the inhabitants of Cyprus.

45. There is also a kind of vessel called cadus; which Simmias states

to be a kind of cup, quoting this verse of Anacreon—

I breakfasted on one small piece of cheesecake,

And drank a cadus full of wine.

And Epigenes, in his Little Monument, says—

_A._ Craters, and cadi, olkia, and crunea.

_B._ Are these crunea?

_A._ To be sure these are,

Luteria, too. But why need I name each?

For you yourself shall see them.

_B._ Do you say

That the great monarch's son, Pixodarus,

Has come to this our land?

And Hedylus, in his Epigrams, says—

Let us then drink; perhaps among our cups

We may on some new wise and merry plan

With all good fortune light. Come, soak me well

In cups (κάδοις) of Chian wine, and say to me,

"Come, sport and drink, good Hedylus;" I hate

To live an empty life, debarr'd from wine.

And in another place he says—

From morn till night, and then from night till morn,

The thirsty Pasisocles sits and drinks,

In monstrous goblets (κάδοις), holding quite four quarts,

And then departs whatever way he pleases.

But midst his cups he sports more mirthfully,

And is much stronger than Sicelides.

How his wit sparkles! Follow his example,

And ever as you write, my friend, drink too.

But Clitarchus, in his treatise on Dialects, says that the Ionians

call an earthenware cask κάδος. And Herodotus, in his third book,

speaks of a cask (κάδος) of palm wine.

46. There is also the καδίσκος. Philemon, in his treatise before

mentioned, says that this too is a species of cup. And it is a vessel

in which they place the Ctesian Jupiters, as Anticlides says, in his

Book on Omens, where he writes,—"The statuettes of Jupiter Ctesius

ought to be erected in this manner. One ought to place a new cadiscus

with two ears . . . . —and crown the ears with white wool; and on the

right shoulder, and on the forehead . . . . and put on it what you find

there, and pour ambrosia over it. But ambrosia is compounded of pure

water, and oil, and all kinds of fruits; and these you must pour over."

Stratis the comic poet also mentions the cadiscus, in his Lemnomeda,

where he says—

The wine of Mercury, which some draw forth

From a large jug, and some from a cadiscus,

Mix'd with pure water, half-and-half.

47. There is also the cantharus. Now, that this is the name of a kind

of boat is well known. And that there is a kind of cup also called by

this name we find from Ameipsias, in his Men Playing at the Cottabus,

or Madness, where he says—

Bring here the vinegar cruets, and canthari.

And Alexis, in his Creation (the sentence refers to some one drinking

in a wine-shop), says—

And then I saw Hermaiscus turning over

One of these mighty canthari, and near him

There lay a blanket, and his well-fill'd wallet.

And Eubulus, who often mentions this cup by name, in his Pamphilus,

says—

But I (for opposite the house there was

A wine-shop recently establish'd)

There watch'd the damsel's nurse; and bade the vintner

Mix me a measure of wine worth an obol,

And set before me a full-sized cantharus.

And in another place he says—

How dry and empty is this cantharus!

And again, in another place—

Soon as she took it, she did drink it up,—

How much d'ye think? a most enormous draught;

And drain'd the cantharus completely dry.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

And Xenarchus, in his Priapus, says this—

Pour, boy, no longer in the silver tankard,

But let us have again recourse to the deep.

Pour, boy, I bid you, in the cantharus,

Pour quick, by Jove, aye, by the Cantharus,[62] pour.

And Epigenes, in his Heroine, says—

But now they do no longer canthari make,

At least not large ones; but small shallow cups

Are come in fashion, and they call them neater,

As if they drank the cups, and not the wine.

48. And Sosicrates, in his Philadelphi, says—

A gentle breeze mocking the curling waves,

Sciron's fair daughter, gently on its course

Brought with a noiseless foot the cantharus;

where cantharus evidently means a boat.

And Phrynichus, in his Revellers, says—

And then Chærestratus, in his own abode,

Working with modest zeal, did weep each day

A hundred canthari well fill'd with wine.

And Nicostratus, in his Calumniator, says—

_A._ Is it a ship of twenty banks of oars,

Or a swan, or a cantharus? For when

I have learnt that, I then shall be prepared

Myself t' encounter everything.

_B._ It is

A cycnocantharus, an animal

Compounded carefully of each.

And Menander, in his Captain of a Ship, says—

_A._ Leaving the salt depths of the Ægean sea,

Theophilus has come to us, O Strato.

How seasonably now do I say your son

Is in a prosperous and good condition,

And so's that golden cantharus.

_B._ What cantharus?

_A._ Your vessel.

And a few lines afterwards he says—

_B._ You say my ship is safe?

_A._ Indeed I do,

That gallant ship which Callicles did build,

And which the Thurian Euphranor steer'd.

And Polemo, in his treatise on Painters, addressed to Antigonus,

says—"At Athens, at the marriage of Pirithous, Hippeus made a wine

jug and goblet of stone, inlaying its edges with gold. And he provided

also couches of pinewood placed on the ground, adorned with coverlets

of every sort, and for drinking-cups there were canthari made of

earthenware. And moreover, the lamp which was suspended from the roof,

had a number of lights all kept distinct from one another. And that

this kind of cup got its name originally from Cantharus a potter, who

invented it, Philetærus tells us in his Achilles—

Peleus?—but Peleus[63] is a potter's name,

The name of some dry wither'd lamp-maker,

Known too as Cantharus, exceeding poor,

Far other than a king, by Jove.

And that cantharus is also the name of a piece of female ornament, we

may gather from Antiphanes in his Boeotia.

49. There is also a kind of cup called carchesium. Callixenus the

Rhodian, in his History of the Affairs and Customs of Alexandria, says

that it is a cup of an oblong shape, slightly contracted in the middle,

having ears which reach down to the bottom. And indeed, the carchesium

is a tolerably oblong cup, and perhaps it has its name from its being

stretched upwards. But the carchesium is an extremely old description

of cup; if at least it is true that Jupiter, when he had gained the

affections of Alcmena, gave her one as a love gift, as Pherecydes

relates in his second book, and Herodorus of Heraclea tells the same

story. But Asclepiades the Myrlean says that this cup derives its name

from some one of the parts of the equipment of a ship. For the lower

part of the mast is called the pterna, which goes down into the socket;

and the middle of the mast is called the neck; and towards the upper

part it is called carchesium. And the carchesium has yards running out

on each side, and in it there is placed what is called the breastplate,

being four-cornered on all sides, except just at the bottom and at the

top. Both of which extend a little outwards in a straight line. And

above the breastplate is a part which is called the distaff, running up

to a great height, and being sharp-pointed. And Sappho also speaks of

the carchesia, where she says—

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

And they all had well-fill'd carchesia,

And out of them they pour'd libations, wishing

All manner of good fortune to the bridegroom.

And Sophocles, in his Tyro, says—

And they were at the table in the middle,

Between the dishes and carchesia;

saying that the dragons came up to the table, and took up a position

between the meats and the carchesia, or cups of wine. For it was the

fashion among the ancients to place upon the table goblets containing

mixed wine; as Homer also represents the tables in his time. And the

carchesium was named so from having on it rough masses like millet

(κεγχροειδὴς), and the α is by enallage instead of ε, καρχήσιον for

κερχήσιον. On which account Homer calls those who are overcome by

thirst καρχαλέους. And Charon of Lampsacus, in his Annals, says that

among the Lacedæmonians there is still shown the very same cup which

was given by Jupiter to Alcmena, when he took upon himself the likeness

of Amphitryon.

There is another kind of cup called calpium, a sort of Erythræan

goblet, as Pamphilus says; and I imagine it is the same as the one

called scaphium.

50. There is another kind of cup called celebe. And this description of

drinking-cup is mentioned by Anacreon, where he says—

Come, O boy, and bring me now

A celebe, that I may drink

A long deep draught, and draw no breath.

It will ten measures of water hold,

And five of mighty Chian wine.

But it is uncertain what description of cup it is, or whether every

cup is not called celebe, because one pours libations into it (ἀπὸ τοῦ

χέειν λοιβὴν),or from one's pouring libations (λείβειν). And the verb

λείβω is applied habitually to every sort of liquid, from which also

the word λέβης is derived. But Silenus and Clitarchus say that celebe

is a name given to drinking-cups by the Æolians. But Pamphilus says

that the celebe is the same cup which is also called thermopotis, a

cup to drink warm water from. And Nicander the Colophonian, in his

Dialects, says that the celebe is a vessel used by the shepherds in

which they preserve honey. For Antimachus the Colophonian, in the

fifth book of his Thebais, says—

He bade the heralds bear to them a bladder

Fill'd with dark wine, and the most choice of all,

The celebea in his house which lay,

Fill'd with pure honey.

And in a subsequent passage he says—

But taking up a mighty celebeum

In both his hands, well fill'd with richest honey,

Which in great store he had most excellent.

And again he says—

And golden cups of wine, and then besides,

A celebeum yet untouch'd by man,

Full of pure honey, his most choice of treasures.

And in this passage he very evidently speaks of the celebeum as some

kind of vessel distinct from a drinking-cup, since he has already

mentioned drinking-cups under the title of δέπαστρα. And Theocritus the

Syracusan, in his Female Witches, says—

And crown this celebeum with the wool,

Well dyed in scarlet, of the fleecy sheep.

And Euphorion says—

Or whether you from any other stream

Have fill'd your celebe with limpid water.

And Anacreon says—

And the attendant pour'd forth luscious wine,

Holding a celebe of goodly size.

But Dionysius, surnamed the Slender, explaining the poem of

Theodoridas, which is addressed to Love, says that celebe is a name

given to a kind of upstanding cup, something like the prusias and the

thericleum.

51. There is also the horn. It is said that the first men drank out

of the horns of oxen; from which circumstance Bacchus often figured

with horns on his head, and is moreover called a bull by many of the

poets. And at Cyzicus there is a statue of him with a bull's head. But

that men drank out of horns (κερατα) is plain from the fact that to

this very day, when men mix water with wine, they say that they κερασαι

(mix it). And the vessel in which the wine is mixed is called κρατηρ,

from the fact of the water being mingled (συγκιρνασθαι) in it, as if

the word were κερατηρ, from the drink being poured εις το κερας (into

the horn); and even to this day the fashion of making horns into cups

continues: but some people call these cups rhyta. And many of the poets

represent the ancients as drinking out of horns. Pindar, speaking of

the Centaurs, says—

[Sidenote: DRINKING-HORNS.]

After those monsters fierce

Learnt the invincible strength of luscious wine;

Then with a sudden fury,

With mighty hands they threw the snow-white milk

Down from the board,

And of their own accord

Drank away their senses in the silver-mounted horns.

And Xenophon, in the seventh book of his Anabasis, giving an account of

the banquet which was given by the Thracian Seuthes, writes thus: "But

when Xenophon, with his companions, arrived at Seuthes's palace, first

of all they embraced one another, and then, according to the Thracian

fashion, they were presented with horns of wine." And in his sixth book

he says, when he is speaking of the Paphlagonians, "And they supped

lying on couches made of leaves, and they drank out of cups made of

horn." And Æschylus, in his Perrhæbi, represents the Perrhæbi as using

horns for cups, in the following lines:—

With silver-mounted horns,

Fitted with mouthpieces of rich-wrought gold.

And Sophocles, in his Pandora, says—

And when a man has drain'd the golden cup,

She, pressing it beneath her tender arm,

Returns it to him full.

And Hermippus, in his Fates, says—

Do you now know the thing you ought to do?

Give not that cup to me; but from this horn

Give me but once more now to drink a draught.

And Lycurgus the orator, in his Oration against Demades, says that

Philip the king pledged those men whom he loved in a horn. And

Theopompus, in the second book of his history of the Affairs and

Actions of Philip, says that the kings of the Pæonians, as the oxen

in their countries have enormous horns, so large as to contain three

or four choes of wine, make drinking-cups of them, covering over the

brims with silver or with gold. And Philoxenus of Cythera, in his poem

entitled The Supper, says—

He then the sacred drink of nectar quaff'd

From the gold-mounted brims of th' ample horns,

And then they all did drink awhile.

And the Athenians made also silver goblets in the shape of horns, and

drank out of them. And one may ascertain that by seeing the articles

mentioned in writing among the list of confiscated goods on the pillar

which lies in the Acropolis, which contains the sacred offerings—"There

is also a silver horn drinking-cup, very solid."

52. There is also the cernus. This is a vessel made of earthenware,

having many little cup-like figures fastened to it, in which are white

poppies, wheat-ears, grains of barley, peas, pulse, vetches, and

lentils. And he who carries it, like the man who carries the mystic

fan, eats of these things, as Ammonius relates in the third book of his

treatise on Altars and Sacrifices.

53. There is also the cup called the cissybium. This is a cup with but

one handle, as Philemon says. And Neoptolemus the Parian, in the third

book of his Dialects, says that this word is used by Euripides in the

Andromache, to signify a cup made of (κίσσινον)—

And all the crowd of shepherds flock'd together,

One hearing a huge ivy bowl of milk,

Refreshing medicine of weary toil;

Another brought the juice o' the purple vine.

For, says he, the cissybium is mentioned in a rustic assembly, where it

is most natural that the cups should be made of wood. But Clitarchus

says that the Æolians called the cup which is elsewhere called scyphus,

cissybium. And Marsyas says that it is a wooden cup, the same as the

κύπελλον. But Eumolpus says that it is a species of cup which perhaps

(says he) was originally made of the wood of the ivy. But Nicander

the Colophonian, in the first book of his History of Ætolia, writes

thus:—"In the sacred festival of Jupiter Didymæus they pour libations

from leaves of ivy (κισσοῦ), from which circumstance the ancient cups

are called cissybia. Homer says—

Holding a cup (κισσύβιον) of dark rich-colour'd wine.

And Asclepiades the Myrlean, in his essay on the cup called Nestoris,

says, "No one of the men in the city or of the men of moderate fortune

used to use the σκύφος or the κισσύβιον, but only the swineherds

and the shepherds, and the men in the fields. Polyphemus used the

cissybium, and Eumæus the other kind." But Callimachus seems to make a

blunder in the use of these names, speaking of an intimate friend of

his who was entertained with him at a banquet by Pollis the Athenian,

for he says—

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

For he abhorr'd to drink at one long draught

Th' amystis loved in Thrace, not drawing breath:

And soberly preferr'd a small cissybium:

And when for the third time the cup (ἄλεισον) went round,

I thus address'd him . . . . . .

For, as he here calls the same cup both κισσύβιον and ἄλεισον, he does

not preserve the accurate distinction between the names. And any one

may conjecture that the κισσύβιον was originally made by the shepherds

out of the wood of the ivy (κισσός). But some derive it from the verb

χεύμαι, used in the same sense as χωρέω, to contain; as it occurs in

the following line:—

This threshold shall contain (χείσεται) them both.

And the hole of the serpent is also called χείη, as containing the

animal; and they also give the name of κήθιον, that is, χήτιον, to the

box which holds the dice. And Dionysius of Samos, in his treatise on

the Cyclic Poets, calls the cup which Homer calls κισσύβιον, κύμβιον,

writing thus—"And Ulysses, when he saw him acting thus, having filled a

κύμβιον with wine, gave it to him to drink."

54. There is also the ciborium. Hegesander the Delphian says that

Euphorion the poet, when supping with the Prytanis, when the Prytanis

exhibited to him some ciboria, which appeared to be made in a most

exquisite and costly manner, . . . . . . . . And when the cup had gone

round pretty often, he, having drunk very hard and being intoxicated,

took one of the ciboria and defiled it. And Didymus says that it is

a kind of drinking-cup; and perhaps it may be the same as that which

is called scyphium, which derives its name from being contracted to a

narrow space at the bottom, like the Egyptian ciboria.

55. There is also the condu, an Asiatic cup. Menander, in his play

entitled the Flatterer, says—

Then, too, there is in Cappadocia,

O Struthion, a noble golden cup,

Call'd condu, holding ten full cotylæ.

And Hipparchus says, in his Men Saved,—

_A._ Why do you so attend to this one soldier?

He has no silver anywhere, I know well;

But at the most one small embroider'd carpet,

(And that is quite enough for him,) on which

Some Persian figures and preposterous shapes

Of Persian griffins, and such beasts, are work'd.

_B._ Away with you, you wretch.

_A._ And then he has

A condu, a wine-cooler, and a cymbium.

And Nicomachus, in the first book of his treatise on the Egyptian

Festivals, says—"But the condu is a Persian cup; and it was first

introduced by Hermippus the astrologer.[64] . . . . . . . . . . . . .

on which account libations are poured out of it." But Pancrates, in the

first book of his Conchoreis, says—

But he first pour'd libations to the gods

From a large silver condu; then he rose,

And straight departed by another road.

There is also the cononius. Ister, the pupil of Callimachus, in the

first book of his History of Ptolemais, the city in Egypt, writes

thus:—"A pair of cups, called cononii, and a pair of thericlean cups

with golden covers.

56. There is also the cotylus. The cotylus is a cup with one handle,

which is also mentioned by Alcæus. But Diodorus, in his book addressed

to Lycophoron, says that this cup is greatly used by the Sicyonians and

Tarentines, and that it is like a deep luterium, and sometimes it has

an ear. And Ion the Chian also mentions it, speaking of "a cotylus full

of wine." And Hermippus, in his Gods, says—

He brought a cotylus first, a pledge for his neighbours.

And Plato, in his Jupiter Afflicted, says—

He brings a cotylus.

Aristophanes also, in his Babylonians, mentions the cotylus; and

Eubulus, in his Ulysses, or the Panoptæ, says—

And then the priest utt'ring well-omen'd prayers,

Stood in the midst, and in a gorgeous dress,

Pour'd a libation from the cotylus.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

And Pamphilus says that it is a kind of cup, and peculiar to Bacchus.

But Polemo, in his treatise on the Fleece of the Sheep sacrificed to

Jupiter, says—"And after this he celebrates a sacrifice, and takes the

sacred fleece out of its shrine, and distributes it among all those who

have borne the cernus in the procession: and this is a vessel made of

earthenware, having a number of little cups glued to it; and in these

little cups there is put sage, and white poppies, and ears of wheat,

and grains of barley, and peas, and pulse, and rye, and lentils, and

beans, and vetches, and bruised figs, and chaff, and oil, and honey,

and milk, and wine, and pieces of unwashed sheep's-wool. And he who

has carried this cernus eats of all these things, like the man who has

carried the mystic fan."

57. There is also the cotyle. Aristophanes, in his Cocalus, says—

And other women, more advanced in age,

Into their stomachs pour'd, without restraint,

From good-sized cotylæ, dark Thasian wine,

The whole contents of a large earthen jar,

Urged by their mighty love for the dark wine.

And Silenus, and Clitarchus, and also Zenodotus, say that it is a kind

of κύλιξ, and say—

And all around the corpse the black blood flow'd,

As if pour'd out from some full cotyle.

And again—

There is many a slip

'Twixt the cup (κοτύλης) and the lip.

And Simaristus says that it is a very small-sized cup which is called

by this name; and Diodorus says that the poet has here called the cup

by the name of cotyle, which is by others called cotylus, as where we

find—

πύρνον (bread) καὶ κοτύλην;

and that it is not of the class κύλιξ, for that it has no handles,

but that it is very like a deep luterium, and a kind of drinking cup

(ποτηρίου); and that it is the same as that which by the Ætolians, and

by some tribes of the Ionians, is called cotylus, which is like those

which have been already described, except that it has only one ear:

and Crates mentions it in his Sports, and Hermippus in his Gods. But

the Athenians give the name of κοτύλη to a certain measure. Thucydides

says—"They gave to each of them provisions for eight months, at the

rate of a cotyla of water and two cotylæ of corn a-day." Aristophanes,

in his Proagon, says—

And having bought three chœnixes of meal,

All but one cotyla, he accounts for twenty.

But Apollodorus says that it is a kind of cup, deep and hollow; and he

says—"The ancients used to call everything that was hollow κοτύλη,

as, for instance, the hollow of the hand; on which account we find the

expression κοτολήρυτον αἷμα meaning, blood in such quantities that it

could be taken up in the hand. And there was a game called ἐγκοτύλη,

in which those who are defeated make their hands hollow, and then take

hold of the knees of those who have won the game and carry them." And

Diodorus, in his Italian Dialects, and Heraclitus (as Pamphilus says),

relate that the cotyla is also called hemina, quoting the following

passage of Epicharmus:—

And then to drink a double measure,

Two heminæ of tepid water full.

And Sophron says—

Turn up the hemina, O boy.

But Pherecrates calls it a cotylisca, in his Corianno, saying—

The cotylisca? By no means.

And Aristophanes, in his Acharnians, uses a still more diminutive form,

and says—

A cotyliscium (κοτυλίσκιον) with a broken lip.

And even the hollow of the hip is called κοτύλη; and the excrescences

on the feelers of the polypus are, by a slight extension of the word,

called κοτυληδών. And Æschylus, in his Edonians, has called cymbals

also κότυλαι, saying—

And he makes music with his brazen κότυλαι.

But Marsyas says that the bone of the hip is also called ἄλεισον and

κύλιξ. And the sacred bowl of Bacchus is called κοτυλίσκος; and so are

those goblets which the initiated use for their libations; as Nicander

of Thyatira says, adducing the following passage from the Clouds of

Aristophanes:—

Nor will I crown the cotyliscus.

And Simmias interprets the word κοτύλη by ἄλεισον.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

58. There is also the cottabis. Harmodius of Lepreum, in his treatise

on the Laws and Customs of Phigalea, going through the entertainments

peculiar to different countries, writes as follows:—"When they

have performed all these purificatory ceremonies, a small draught

is offered to each person to drink in a cottabis of earthenware;

and he who offers it says, 'May you sup well.'" But Hegesander the

Delphian, in his Commentaries (the beginning of which is "In the best

Form of Government"), says—"That which is called the cottabus has

been introduced into entertainments, the Sicilians (as Dicæarchus

relates) having been the first people to introduce it. And such great

fondness was exhibited for this amusement, that men even introduced

into entertainments contests, which were called cottabian games; and

then cups of the form which appeared to be most suitable for such an

exercise were made, called cottabides. And besides all this, rooms

were built of a round figure, in order that all, the cottabus being

placed in the middle, might contest the victory, all being at an equal

distance, and in similar situations. For they vied with one another,

not only in throwing their liquor at the mark, but also in doing

everything with elegance; for a man was bound to lean on his left

elbow, and, making a circuit with his right hand, to throw his drops

(τὴν λάταγα) over gently— for that was the name which they gave to the

liquor which fell from the cup: so that some prided themselves more on

playing elegantly at the cottabus than others did on their skill with

the javelin."

59. There is also the cratanium. But perhaps this is the same cup,

under an ancient name, as that which is now called the craneum:

accordingly, Polemo (or whoever it is who wrote the treatise on the

Manners and Customs of the Greeks), speaking of the temple of the

Metapontines which is at Olympia, writes as follows:—"The temple of

the Metapontines, in which there are a hundred and thirty-two silver

phialæ, and two silver wine-jars, and a silver apothystanium, and three

gilt phialæ. The temple of the Byzantians, in which there is a figure

of Triton, made of cypress-wood, holding a silver cratanium, a silver

siren, two silver carchesia, a silver culix, a golden wine-jar, and two

horns. But in the old temple of Juno, there are thirty silver phialæ,

two silver cratania, a silver dish, a golden apothystanium, a golden

crater (the offering of the Cyrenæans), and a silver batiacium."

There is also the crounea. Epigenes, in his Monument, says—

_A._ Crateres, cadi, holcia, crounea,

_B._ Are these crounea?

_A._ Yes, indeed these are.

There is the cyathis also. This is a vessel with a great resemblance to

the cotyla. Sophron, in his play entitled the Buffoon, represents the

women who profess to exhibit the goddess as present, as saying—

Three sovereign antidotes for poison

Are buried in a single cyathis.

60. Then there is the κύλιξ. Pherecrates, in his Slave-Tutor, says—

Now wash the κύλιξ out; I'll give you then

Some wine to drink: put o'er the cup a strainer,

And then pour in some wine.

But the κύλιξ is a drinking-cup made of earthenware, and it is so

called from being made circular (ἀπὸ τοῦ κυλίεσθαι) by the potter's

wheel; from which also the κυλικεῖον, the place in which the cups are

stored up, gets its name, even when the cups put away in it are made

of silver. There is also the verb κυλικηγορέω, derived from the same

source, when any one makes an harangue over his cups But the Athenians

also call a medicine chest κυλικὶς, because it is made round in a

turning-lathe. And the κύλικες, both at Argos and at Athens, were in

great repute; and Pindar mentions the Attic κύλικες in the following

lines—

O Thrasybulus, now I send

This pair of pleasantly-meant odes

As an after-supper entertainment for you.

May it, I pray, be pleasing

To all the guests, and may it be a spur

To draw on cups of wine,

And richly-fill'd Athenian κύλικες.

61. But the Argive κύλικες appear to have been of a different shape

from the Athenian ones. At all events, they tapered towards a point at

the brims, as Simonides of Amorgos says—

But this is taper-brimm'd (φοξίχειλος),

that is to say, drawn up to a point towards the top; such as those

which are called ἄμβικες. For they use the word φοξὸς in this sense, as

Homer does when speaking of Thersites—

His head was sharp at top.

And the word is equivalent to φαοξὸς,—it being perceived to be sharp

(ὀξὺς) in the part where the eyes (τὰ φάη) are.

And very exquisitely wrought κύλικες are made at Naucratis, the native

place of our companion Athenæus. For some are in the form of phialæ,

not made in a lathe, but formed by hand, and having four handles, and

being widened considerably towards the bottom: (and there are a great

many potters at Naucratis, from whom the gate nearest to the potteries

(κεραμείων) is called the Ceramic gate:) and they are dyed in such a

manner as to appear like silver. The Chian κύλικες also are highly

extolled, which Hermippus mentions in his Soldiers—

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

And a Chian κύλιξ hung on a peg aloft.

But Glaucon, in his Dialects, says that the inhabitants of Cyprus call

the cotyle culix. And Hipponax, in his Synonymes, writes thus—"The

aleisum, the poterium, the cupellum, the amphotis, the scyphus, the

culix, the cothon, the carchesium, the phiale." Alcmæon, instead of

κύλικες, has lengthened the word, and written κυλιχνίδες, in these

lines—

But it is best to bring, as soon as possible,

Dark wine, and one large common bowl for all,

And some κυλιχνίδες besides

And Alcæus says—

Let us at once sit down and drink our wine,

Why do we wait for lights? Our day is but

A finger's span. Bring forth large goblets (κύλιχναι) now

Of various sorts. For the kind liberal son

Of Jove and Semele gave rosy wine,

Which bids us all forget our griefs and cares;

So pour it forth, and mix in due proportion.

And in his tenth Ode he says—

Drops of wine (λάταγες) fly from Teian culichnæ,

showing, by this expression, that the κύλικες of Teos were exceedingly

beautiful.

62. Pherecrates also says, in his Corianno—

_A._ For I am coming almost boil'd away

From the hot bath; my throat is parch'd and dry;

Give me some wine. I vow my mouth and all

My jaws are sticky with the heat.

_B._ Shall I

Then take the κυλίσκη, O damsel, now?

_A._ By no means, 'tis so small; and all my bile

Has been stirr'd up since I did drink from it,

Not long ago, some medicine. Take this cup

Of mine, 'tis larger, and fill that for me.

And that the women were in the habit of using large cups, Pherecrates

himself expressly tells us in his Tyranny, where he says—

And then they bade the potter to prepare

Some goblets for the men, of broader shape,

Having no walls, but only a foundation,

And scarcely holding more than a mere shell.

More like to tasting cups; but for themselves

They order good deep κύλικες, good-sized,

Downright wine-carrying transports, wide and round,

Of delicate substance, swelling in the middle.

A crafty order: for with prudent foresight

They were providing how, without much notice,

They might procure the largest quantity

Of wine to drink themselves; and then when we

Reproach them that 'tis they who've drunk up everything,

They heap abuse on us, and swear that they,

Poor injured dears, have only drunk one cup,

Though their one's larger than a thousand common cups.

63. Then there are cymbia. These are a small hollow kind of cup,

according to Simaristus. But Dorotheus says, "The cymbium is a kind

of deep cup, upright, having no pedestal and no handles." But Ptolemy

the father of Aristonicus calls them "curved goblets." And Nicander

of Thyatira says that Theopompus, in his Mede, called a cup without

handles cymbium. Philemon, in his Vision, says—

But when fair Rhode came and shook above you

A cymbium full of mighty unmix'd wine.

But Dionysius of Samos, in the sixth book of his treatise on the Cyclic

Poets, thinks that the κισσύβιον and the κύμβιον are the same. For he

says that Ulysses, having filled a cymbium with unmixed wine, gave it

to the Cyclops. But the cup mentioned in Homer,

as having been given to him by Ulysses, is a good-sized cissybium;

for if it had been a small cup, he, who was so enormous a monster,

would not have been so quickly overcome by drunkenness, when he had

only drunk it three times. And Demosthenes mentions the cymbium in his

oration against Midias, saying that he was accompanied by rhyta and

cymbia: and in his orations against Euergus and Mnesibulus. But Didymus

the grammarian says that is a cup of an oblong shape, and narrow in

figure, very like the shape of a boat. And Anaxandrides, in his Clowns,

says—

Perhaps large cups (ποτήρια) immoderately drain'd,

And cymbia full of strong unmixed wine,

Have bow'd your heads, and check'd your usual spirit.

And Alexis, in his Knight, says—

_A._ Had then those cymbia the faces of damsels

Carved on them in pure gold?

_B._ Indeed they had.

_A._ Wretched am I, and wholly lost . . . .

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

64. But Eratosthenes, in his letter addressed to Ageton the

Lacedæmonian, says, that the cymbium is a vessel of the shape of the

cyathus, writing thus—"But these men marvel how a man who had not got a

cyathus, but only a cymbium, had, besides that, also a phiale. Now it

seems to me, that he had one for the use of men, but the other for the

purpose of doing honour to the Gods. And at that time they never used

the cyathus nor the cotyla. For they used to employ, in the sacrifices

of the Gods, a crater, not made of silver nor inlaid with precious

stones, but made of Coliad clay. And as often as they replenished this,

pouring a libation to the Gods out of the phiale, they then poured out

wine to all the company in order, bailing out the newly-mixed wine in

a cymbium, as they do now among us at the phiditia. And if ever they

wished to drink more, they also placed on the table beside them the

cups called cotyli, which are the most beautiful of all cups, and the

most convenient to drink out of. And these, too, were all made of the

same earthenware." But when Ephippus says, in his Ephebi—

Chæremon brings no culices to supper,

Nor did Euripides with cymbia fight,

he does not mean the tragic poet, but some namesake of his, who was

either very fond of wine, or who had an evil reputation on some other

account, as Antiochus of Alexandria says, in his treatise on the Poets,

who are ridiculed by the comic writers of the Middle Comedy. For the

circumstance of cymbia being introduced into entertainments, and being

used to fight with in drunken quarrels, bears on each point. And

Anaxandrides mentions him in his Nereids—

Give him a choeus then of wine, O messmate,

And let him bring his cymbium, and be

A second Euripides to-day.

And Ephippus, in his Similitudes, or Obeliaphori, says—

But it were well to learn the plays of Bacchus,

And all the verses which Demophoon

Made upon Cotys; and, at supper-time,

To spout the eclogues of the wise Theorus.

* * * * * *

And let Euripides, that banquet-hunter,

Bring me his cymbia.

And that the κύμβη is the name of a boat too we are shown by Sophocles,

who, in his Andromeda, says—

Come you on horseback hither, or in a boat (κύμβαισι)?

And Apollodorus, in his Paphians, says there is a kind of drinking-cup

called κύμβα.

65. Then there is the κύπελλον. Now, is this the same as the ἄλεισον

and the δέπας, and different from them only in name?

Then rising, all with goblets (κυπέλλοις) in their hands,

The peers and leaders of the Achaian bands

Hail'd their return.

Or was their form different also? For this kind has not the character

of the amphicupellum, as the depas and aleison have, but is only of

a curved form. For the κύπελλον is so called from its curved shape,

as also is the ἀμφικύπελλον. Or is it so called as being in shape

like a milk-pail (πέλλα), only contracted a little, so as to have an

additional curve? And the word ἀμφικύπελλα is equivalent to ἀμφίκυρτα,

being so called from its handles, because they are of a curved shape.

For the poet calls this cup—

Golden, two-handled.

But Antimachus, in the fifth book of his Thebais, says—

And heralds, going round among the chiefs,

Gave each a golden cup (κύπελλον) with labour wrought.

And Silenus says, the κύπελλα are a kind of cup resembling the σκύφα,

as Nicander the Colophonian says—

The swineherd gave a goblet (κύπελλον) full to each.

And Eumolpus says that it is a kind of cup, so called from its being

of a curved shape (κυφόν). But Simaristus says that this is a name

given by the Cyprians to a cup with two handles, and by the Cretans to

a kind of cup with two handles, and to another with four. And Philetas

says that the Syracusans give the name of κύπελλον to the fragments of

barley-cakes and loaves which are left on the tables.

There is also the κύμβη. Philemon, in his Attic Dialect, calls it "a

species of κύλιξ." And Apollodorus, in his treatise on Etymologies,

says, that the Paphians call a drinking-cup κύμβα.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS]