66. Then there is the κωθων, which is mentioned by Xenophon, in the

first book of his Cyropædia. But Critias, in his Constitution of the

Lacedæmonians, writes as follows—"And other small things besides which

belong to human life; such as the Lacedæmonian shoes, which are the

best, and the Lacedæmonian garments, which are the most pleasant to

wear, and the most useful. There is also the Lacedæmonian κωθων,which

is a kind of drinking-cup most convenient when one is on an expedition,

and the most easily carried in a knapsack. And the reason why it is

so peculiarly well-suited to a soldier is, because a soldier often is

forced to drink water which is not very clean; and, in the first place,

this cup is not one in which it can be very easily seen what one is

drinking; and, secondly, as its brim is rather curved inwards, it is

likely to retain what is not quite clean in it." And Polemo, in his

work addressed to Adæus and Antigonus, says that the Lacedæmonians used

to use vessels made of earthenware; and proceeds to say further—"And

this was a very common practice among the ancients, such as is now

adopted in some of the Greek tribes. At Argos, for instance, in the

public banquets, and in Lacedæmon, they drink out of cups made of

earthenware at the festivals, and in the feasts in honour of victory,

and at the marriage-feasts of their maidens. But at other banquets

and at their Phiditia[66] they use small casks." And Archilochus also

mentions the cothon as a kind of cup, in his Elegies, where he says—

But come now, with your cothon in your hand,

Move o'er the benches of the speedy ship,

And lift the covers from the hollow casks,

And drain the rosy wine down to the dregs;

For while we're keeping such a guard as this,

We shan't be able to forego our wine;

as if the κύλιξ were here called κώθων. Aristophanes, in his Knights,

says—

They leapt into th' horse-transports gallantly,

Buying cothones; but some bought instead

Garlic and onions.

And Heniochus, in his Gorgons, says—

Let a man give me wine to drink at once,

Taking that capital servant of the throat,

The ample cothon,—fire-wrought, and round,

Broad-ear'd, wide-mouth'd.

And Theopompus, in his Female Soldiers, says—

Shall I, then, drink from out a wryneck'd cothon,

Breaking my own neck in the hard attempt?

And Alexis, in his Spinners, says—

And then he hurl'd a four-pint cothon at me,

An ancient piece of plate, an heirloom too.

And it is from this cup that they call those who drink a great deal

of unmixed wine (ὐκράτον) ἀκρτοκώθωνες, as Hyperides does in his

oration against Demosthenes. But Callixenus, in the fourth book of his

History of Alexandria, giving an account of the procession of Ptolemy

Philadelphus, and giving a catalogue of a number of drinking-cups, adds

these words: "And two cothons, each holding two measures of wine."

67. But with respect to drinking, (which from the name of this kind of

cup is sometimes called in the verb κωθωνίζομαι, and in the substantive

κωθωνισμὸς,) that occasional drinking is good for the health is stated

by Mnesitheus the Athenian physician, in his letter on the subject of

Drinking (κωθωνισμὸς), where he speaks as follows: "It happens that

those who drink a great quantity of unmixed wine at banquets often

receive great injury from so doing, both in their bodies and minds; but

still occasional hard drinking (κωθωνιζεσθαι) for some days appears to

me to produce a certain purging of the body and a certain relaxation

of the mind. For there are some little roughnesses on the surface,

arising from daily banquets; now for getting rid of these there is no

easier channel than the wine. But of all modes of purging, that which

is caused by hard drinking is the most advantageous; for then the body

is as it were washed out by the wine; for the wine is both liquid and

heating: but the wine which we secrete is harsh; accordingly, fullers

use it as a cleanser when they are cleaning garments. But when you are

drinking hard, you should guard against three things,—against drinking

bad wine, against drinking unmixed wine, and against eating sweetmeats

while you are drinking. And when you have had enough, then do not go

to sleep, until you have had a vomit, moderate or copious as the case

may be; and when you have vomited, then go to sleep after having taken

a slight bath. And if you are not able to empty yourself sufficiently,

then you must take a more copious bath, and lie down in the bath in

exceedingly warm water." But Polemo, in the fifth book of his treatise

addressed to Antigonus and Adæus, says—"Bacchus being full grown,

sitting on a rock, and on his left hand a satyr, bald, holding in his

right hand a cothon of striped colours, with one handle."

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS]

68. There is also the labronia. This is a species of Persian

drinking-cup, so named from the eagerness (λαβρότης) with which people

drink: and its shape is wide, and its size large, and it has large

handles. Menander, in his Fisherman, says—

We are abundantly well off at this time

For golden cylinders; and all those robes

From Persia, all those quaintly carved works,

Are now within, and richly-chased goblets,

Figures and faces variously carved,

Tragelaphi and labronia.

And in his Philadelphi he says—

And now the drinking of healths began, and now

Labroniæ, inlaid with precious stones,

Were set upon the board; and slaves stood round

With Persian fly-flappers.

And Hipparchus, in his Thais, says—

But this labronius is an omen now.

O Hercules! it is a cup which weighs

Of standard gold more than two hundred pieces.

Just think, my friend, of this superb labronius.

And Diphilus, in his Pithraustes, giving a catalogue of other kinds of

cups, says—

_A._ The tragelaphus, and likewise the pristis,

The batiace, and labronius too.

_B._ These seem to me to be the names of slaves.

_A._ By no means; they are all the names of cups;

And this labronius is worth twenty pieces.

And Didymus says that it resembles the bombylium and the batiacium.

69. There is also the lacæna. And this is a kind of cup so called

either from the potter, as the Attic vessels usually are, or from the

form which is usual in that district, on the same principle as the

thericlean cups derive their name. Aristophanes, in his Daitaleis,

says—

He gladly shared the Sybaritic feasts,

And drank the Chian wine from out the cups

Called the lacænæ, with a cheerful look.

70. Then there is the lepaste. Some mark this word λεπαστη with an

acute accent on the last syllable, like καλή; but some mark the

penultima with an acute, as μεγάλη. And this kind of cup derived its

name from those who spend a great deal of money on their drinking and

intemperance, whom men call λάφυκται. Aristophanes, in his Peace, says—

What will you do, then, when you've drunk

One single lepaste full of new wine?

And it is from this word λεπαστὴ that the verb λάπτω comes, which

means to swallow all at once, having a meaning just opposite to the

bombylium; for the same author says, somewhere or other,—

You've drunk up all my blood, O king, my master!

which is as much as to say, you have utterly drained me. And in his

Gerytades he says—

But there was then a festival: a slave

Went round, and brought us all a lepaste,

And pour'd in wine dark as the deep-blue sea;

but the poet means here to indicate the depth of the cup. And

Antiphanes, in his Æsculapius, says—

He took an agèd woman, who had been

A long time ill, sick of a ling'ring fever,

And bruising some small root, and putting it

Into a noble-sized lepaste there,

He made her drink it all, to cure her sickness.

Philyllius, in his Auge, says—

For she was always in the company

Of young men, who did nothing else but drink;

And with a lot of aged women too,

Who always do delight in good-sized cups.

And Theopompus says in his Pamphila—

A sponge, a dish, a feather; and, besides,

A stout lepaste, which, when full, they drain

To the Good Deity, raising loud his praises,

As chirps a grasshopper upon a tree.

And in his Mede he says—

Callimachus, 'tis stated, once did charm

The Grecian heroes by some promised gain,

When he was seeking for their aid and friendship.

The only thing he fail'd in was th' attempt

To gain the poor, thin-bodied Rhadamanthus

Lysander with a cothon, ere he gave him

A full lepaste.

But Amerias says that the ladle with which the wine is poured into the

cups is called lepaste; but Aristophanes and Apollodorus say that it is

a sort of cup of the class κύλιξ. Pherecrates, in his Crapatalli, says—

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

If there was one of the spectators thirsty,

He would a full lepaste seize, and drain

The whole contents.

But Nicander the Colophonian says that "the Dolopians give the name of

λεπαστὴ to the κύλιξ; but Lycophron, in the ninth book of his treatise

on Comedy, quoting this passage of Pherecrates, himself also asserts

the lepaste to be kind of κύλιξ; but Moschus, in his Interpretation of

Rhodiat Words, says that it is an earthenware vessel resembling those

which are called ptomatides, but flatter and wider: but Artemidorus,

the pupil of Aristophanes, says that it is some sort of drinking-cup.

And Apollophanes, in his Cretans, says—

And the lepasta, fill'd with fragrant wine,

Shall fill me with delight the livelong day.

And Theopompus says in his Pamphila—

A stout lepaste, which, well-fill'd with wine,

They drain in honour of the Happy Deity,

Rousing the village with their noise and clamour.

But Nicander of Thyatira says it is a larger kind of κύλιξ, quoting the

expressions of Teleclides out of his Prytanes—

To drink sweet wine from a sweet-smelling lepaste.

And Hermippus, in his Fates, says—

If anything should happen to me when

I've drain'd this promising lepaste, then

I give my whole possessions unto Bacchus.

71. There is also the loibasium. This, too, is a κύλιξ, as Clearchus

and Nicander of Thyatira say; with which they pour libations of oil

over the sacred offerings and victims.

Spondeum is the name given to the cup out of which they pour libations

of wine. And he says that the spondea are also called loibides, by

Antimachus of Colophon.

Then we have the lesbium. This also is a kind of cup, as Hedylus proves

in his Epigrams, where he says—

Callistion, contending against men

In drinking, ('tis a marvellous thing, but true,)

When fasting, drank three whole choeis of wine;

And now her cup, fashion'd of purple glass,

Adorn'd with bands fragrant of luscious wine,

She offers here to you, O Paphian queen.

Preserve this first, that so your walls may bear

The spoils of all the love excited so.

There is also the luterium. Epigenes, in his Tomb, where he gives a

catalogue of cups of different kinds, says—

Crateres, cadi, holcia, cruneia—

Are they cruneia? aye, and luteria.

But why need I each separate article

Enumerate? for you yourself shall see them.

72. There is also the Lyciurges. The things which are so called are

some kinds of phialæ, which derive their name from Lycon who made them,

just as the Cononii are the cups made by Conon. Now, Demosthenes, in

his Oration for the Crown, mentions Lycon; and he does so again, in his

oration against Timotheus for an assault, where he says—"Two lyciurgeis

phialæ." And in his speech against Timotheus he also says—"He gives

Phormion, with the money, also two lyciurgeis phialæ to put away." And

Didymus the grammarian says that these are cups made by Lycius. And

this Lycius was a Bœotian by birth, of the town of Eleutheræ, a son of

Myron the sculptor, as Polemo relates in the first book of his treatise

on the Acropolis of Athens; but the grammarian is ignorant that one

could never find such a formation of a word as that derived from proper

names, but only from cities or nations. For Aristophanes, in his Peace,

says—

The vessel is a Nαξιονργὴς cantharus;

that is to say, made at Naxos.

And Critias, in his Constitution of the Lacedæmonians, has the

expressions, κλίνη μιλησιουργὴς, and again, δίφρος λησιουργής: and

κλινὴ χιουργὴς, and τράπεξα ρηνιοεργής: made at Miletus, or Chios, or

Rhenea. And Herodotus, in his seventh book, speaks of "two spears,

λυκοεργέες." But perhaps we ought to read λυκιοεργέες in Herodotus as

we do in Demosthenes, so as to understand by the word things made in

Lycia.

73. There is also the mele. This is a name given to some cups which are

mentioned by Anaxippus in his Well, where he says—

And you, Syriscus, now this mele take,

And bring it to her tomb—do you understand?

Then pour a due libation.

There is also the metaniptrum. This is the kind of cup which is offered

after dinner, when men have washed their hands. Antiphanes, in his

Lamp, says—

The metaniptrum of the Fortunate God;

Feasting, libations, and applause . . .

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

And Diphilus, in his Sappho, says—

Archilochus, receive this metaniptris,

The brimming cup of Jupiter the Saviour.

But some people say that this is rather the name of the draught itself

which was given to the guests after they had washed their hands; as,

for instance, Seleucus says in his Dialects. But Callias, in his

Cyclops, says—

Receive this metaniptris of Hygeia.

And Philetærus, in his Æsculapius, says—

He raised aloft a mighty metaniptris,

Brimfull of wine, in equal portions mix'd,

Repeating all the time Hygeia's name.

And Philoxenus the Dithyrambic poet, in his ode entitled the Supper,

pledging some one after they have washed their hands, says—

Do you, my friend, receive

This metaniptris full of wine,

The sweetly dewy gift of Bacchus.

Bromius gives this placid joy,

To lead all men to happiness.

And Antiphanes, in his Torch, says—

Our table shall now be this barley-cake,

And then this metaniptrum of Good Fortune . . . . .

Nicostratus, in his Woman returning Love, says—

Pour over him the metaniptrum of health.

74. Then there is the mastus. Apollodorus the Cyrenæan, as Pamphilus

says, states that this is a name given to drinking-cups by the Paphians.

There are also the mathalides. Blæsus, in his Saturn, says—

Pour out for us now seven mathalides

Full of sweet wine.

And Pamphilus says, "Perhaps this is a kind of cup, or is it only a

measure like the cyathus" But Diodorus calls it a cup of the κύλιξ

class.

75. There is also the manes, which is a species of cup. Nicon, in his

Harp-player, says—

And some seasonably then exclaim'd,

My fellow-countryman, I drink to you;

And in his hand he held an earthenware manes,

Of ample size, well able to contain

Five cotylæ of wine; and I received it.

And both Didymus and Pamphilus have quoted these iambics. But that is

also called manes which stands upon the cottabus, on which they throw

the drops of wine in that game, which Sophocles, in his Salmoneus,

called the brazen head, saying—

This is a contest, and a noise of kisses;

I give a prize to him who gains the victory

In elegantly throwing the cottabus,

And striking with just aim the brazen head.

And Antiphanes, in his Birthday of Venus, says—

_A._ I then will show you how: whoever throws

The cottabus direct against the scale (πλάστιγξ),

So as to make it fall—

_B._ What scale? Do you

Mean this small dish which here is placed above?

_A._ That is the scale—he is the conqueror.

_B._ How shall a man know this?

_A._ Why, if he throw

So as to reach it barely, it will fall

Upon the manes,[65] and there'll be great noise.

_B._ Does manes, then, watch o'er the cottabus,

As if he were a slave?

And Hermippus says in his Fates—

You'll see, says he, a cottabus rod,

Wallowing round among the chaff;

But the manes hears no drops,—

And you the wretched scale may see

Lying by the garden gate,

And thrown away among the rubbish.

76. There is the Nestoris also. Now concerning the shape of the cup of

Nestor, the poet speaks thus—

Next her white hand a spacious goblet brings,

A goblet sacred to the Pylian kings

From eldest times; the massy, sculptured vase,

Glittering with golden studs, four handles grace,

And curling vines, around each handle roll'd,

Support two turtle-doves emboss'd in gold.

On two firm bases stood the mighty bowl,

Lest the topweight should make it loosely roll:

A massy weight, yet heaved with ease by him,

Though all too great for men of lesser limb.

Now with reference to this passage a question is raised, what is the

meaning of "glittering with golden studs:"—and again, what is meant by

"the massy, sculptured vase four handles grace." For Asclepiades the

Myrlean, in his treatise on the Nestoris, says that the other cups have

two handles.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

And again, how could any one give a representation of turtle-doves

feeding around each of the handles? How also can he say, "On two

firm bases stood the mighty bowl?" And this also is a very peculiar

statement that he makes, that he could heave it with ease, "though all

too great for men of lesser limb." Now Asclepiades proposes all these

difficulties, and especially raises the question about the studs, as to

how we are to understand that they were fastened on. Now some say that

golden studs must be fastened on a silver goblet from the outside, on

the principles of embossing, as is mentioned in the case of the sceptre

of Achilles—

He spoke,—and, furious, hurl'd against the ground

His sceptre, starr'd with golden studs around;

for it is plain here that the studs were let into the sceptre, as

clubs are strengthened with iron nails. He also says of the sword of

Agamemnon—

A radiant baldric, o'er his shoulder tied,

Sustain'd the sword that glitter'd at his side:

Gold were the studs—a silver sheath encased

The shining blade.

But Apelles the engraver, he says, showed us on some articles of

Corinthian workmanship the way in which studs were put on. For there

was a small projection raised up by the chisel, to form, as it were,

the heads of the nails. And these studs are said by the poet to be

fixed in, not because they are on the outside and are fixed by nails,

but because they resemble nails driven through, and project a little on

the outside, being above the rest of the surface.

77. And with respect to the handles, they tell us that this cup had

indeed two handles above, like other cups; but that it had also two

more on the middle of its convex surface, one on each side, of small

size, resembling the Corinthian water-ewers. But Apelles explained

the system of the four handles very artistically in the following

manner. He said, that from one root, as it were, which is attached

to the bottom of the cup, there are diverging lines extending along

each handle, at no great distance from each other: and these reach

up to the brim of the cup, and even rise a little above it, and are

at the greatest distance from each other at the point where they are

furthest from the vessel itself; but at the lower extremity, where

they join the rim, they are again united. And in this way there are

four handles; but this kind of ornament is not seen in every cup, but

only on some, and especially on those which are called seleucides. But

with respect to the question raised about the two bases, how it can be

said, "On two firm bases stood the mighty bowl," some people explain

that line thus:—that some cups have one bottom, the natural one, being

wrought at the same time as, and of one piece with, the whole cup;

as for instance, those which are called cymbia, and the phialæ, and

others of the same shape as the phialæ. But some have two bottoms; as

for instance, the egg-shaped cups called ooscyphia, and those called

cantharia, and the seleucides, and the carchesia, and others of this

kind. For they say that one of these bottoms is wrought of the same

piece as the entire cup, and the other is attached to it, being sharp

at the upper part, and broader towards the lower end, as a support for

the cup; and this cup of Nestor's, they say, was of this fashion. But

the poet may have represented this cup as having two bottoms; the one,

that is to say, bearing the whole weight of the cup, and having an

elevation proportionate to the height, in accordance with its greater

circumference; and the other bottom might be smaller in circumference,

so as to be contained within the circumference of the larger circle,

where the natural bottom of the cup becomes sharper; so that the whole

cup should be supported on two bases.

But Dionysius the Thracian is said to have made the cup called

Nestor's, at Rhodes, all his pupils contributing silver for the work;

of which Promethidas of Heraclea, explaining the way in which it was

made on the system of Dionysius, says that it is a cup having its

handles made side by side, as the ships with two prows have their prows

made; and that turtle-doves are represented sitting on the handles;

and that two small sticks, as it were, are placed under the cup as a

support to it, running transversely across in a longitudinal direction,

and that these are the two bottoms meant by Homer. And we may to this

day see a cup of that fashion at Capua, a city of Campania, consecrated

to Diana; and the Capuans assert that that is the identical cup which

belonged to Nestor. And it is a silver cup, having on it the lines of

Homer engraved in golden characters.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

78. "But I," said the Myrlean, "have this to say about the cup:—the

ancients, who first brought men over to a more civilized system of

life, believing that the world was spherical, and taking their ideas

of form from the visible forms of the sun and moon which they beheld,

and adapting these figures to their own use in the daily concerns of

life, thought it right to make all their vessels and other articles

of furniture resemble, in shape at least, the heaven which surrounds

everything: on which account they made tables round; and so also they

made the tripods which they dedicated to the Gods, and they also

made their cakes round and marked with stars, which they also call

moons. And this is the origin of their giving bread the name of ἄρτος,

because of all figures the circle is the one which is the most complete

(ἀπήρτισται), and it is a perfect figure. And accordingly they made a

drinking-cup, being that which receives moist nourishment, circular,

in imitation of the shape of the world. But the cup of Nestor has

something peculiar about it, for it has stars on it, which the poet

compares to studs, because the stars are as round as the studs, and

are, as it were, fixed in the heaven; as also Aratus says of them—

There do they shine in heaven,—ornaments

Fix'd there for ever as the night comes round.

But the poet has expressed this very beautifully, attaching the golden

studs to the main body of the silver cup, and so indicating the nature

of the stars and of the heaven by the colour of the ornaments. For the

heaven is like silver, and the stars resemble gold from their fiery

colour.

79. "So after the poet had represented the cup of Nestor as studded

with stars, he then proceeds on to the most brilliant of the fixed

stars, by contemplating which men form their conjectures of what is to

happen to them in their lives. I mean the Pleiades. For when he says

δύο δὲ πελειάδες were placed in gold around each handle, he does not

mean the birds called πελειάδες, that is to say, turtle-doves; and

those who think that he does use πελειάδες here as synonymous with

περιστεραὶ are wrong. For Aristotle says expressly that the πελειὰς

is one bird, and the περιστερὰ another. But the poet calls that

constellation πελειάδες which at present w call πλειάδες; by the rising

of which men regulate their swing and their reaping, and the beginning

of their raising their crops, and their collection of them; as Hesiod

says:—

When the seven daughters of the Libyan king

Rise in the heavens, then begin to mow;

And when they hide their heads, then plough the ground.

And Aratus says—

Their size is small, their light but moderate,

Yet are they famous over all the world;

At early dawn and late at eve they roll,

Jove regulating all their tranquil motions;

He has ordain'd them to give signs to men,

When winter, and when summer too begins,—

What is the time for ploughing, what for sowing.

And accordingly it is with great appropriateness that the poet has

represented the Pleiades, who indicate the time of the generation and

approach to perfection of the fruits of the earth, as forming parts of

the ornaments of the cup of that wise prince Nestor. For this vessel

was intended to contain any kind of food, whether solid or liquid; on

which account he also says that the turtle-doves bring ambrosia to

Jupiter:—

No bird of air, nor dove of trembling wing,

That bears ambrosia to th' ethereal king,

But shuns these rocks.

For we must not think here that it is really the birds called

turtle-doves which bring ambrosia to Jupiter, which is the opinion of

many; for that were inconsistent with the majesty of Jupiter; but the

daughters of Atlas, turned into the constellation of Pleiades or doves.

For it is natural enough that they who indicate the appropriate seasons

to the human race should also bring ambrosia to Jupiter, on which

account also he distinguishes between them and other birds, saying—

No bird of air, nor dove of trembling wing;

and that he considers the Pleiades as the most famous of all fixed

stars is plain, from his having placed them in the first rank when

giving a list of other constellations:—

There earth, there heaven, there ocean he design'd,—

Th' unwearied sun, the moon completely round,—

The starry lights, that heaven's high convex crown'd,—

The Pleiades, Hyads, with the Northern Team,

And great Orion's more refulgent beam;

To which, around the axle of the sky,

The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye;

Still shines exalted on th' ethereal plain,

Nor bathes his blazing forehead in the main,—

The Bear, whom trusting rustics call the Wain.

[Sidenote: THE PLEIADES.]

"But people in general have been deceived by fancying the πελειάδες

here spoken of to be birds, first of all from the poetical form of the

word, because of the insertion of the letter ε; and secondly, because

they have taken the word τρήρωνες, 'trembling,' as an epithet only of

doves; since, owing to its weakness, that is a very cautious bird; and

when he calls it τρήρων, this word is derived from τρέω, and τρέω is

the same as εὐλαβέομαι, to be cautious. But still there is a good deal

of reason in attributing the same characteristic also to the Pleiades:

for the fable is, that they are always fleeing from Orion, since their

mother Pleione is constantly pursued by Orion.

80. "And the variation of the name, so that the Pleiades are called

both πέλειαι and πελειάδες, occurs in many poets. First of all, Myro

the Byzantian admirably caught the feeling of the Homeric poems,

saying in her poem entitled Memory, that the Pleiades convey ambrosia

to Jupiter. But Crates the critic, endeavouring to appropriate to

himself the credit due to her, produces that assertion as his own.

Simonides also has called the Pleiades Πελειάδες, in the following

lines:—

And may great Mercury, whose protecting pow'r

Watches o'er contests, Maia's mighty son,

Grant you success. But Atlas was the sire

Of seven dark-hair'd daughters, beautiful,

Surpassing all the maidens upon earth,

And now in heaven they're call'd Peleiades.

Here he distinctly calls the Pleiades Πελειάδες, for they it was who

were the daughters of Atlas; as Pindar says—

And it is natural

That great Orion should advance

Not far from the seven Pleiades, at the tail (ὀρίας).

For, in the arrangement of the stars, Orion is not far from the

Pleiades; from which circumstance has arisen the fable about them, that

they, with their mother Pleione, are always fleeing from Orion. But

when he calls the Pleiades ὄριαι here, he means οὔριαι, only he has

left out the v, because the Pleiades are close to the tail of the Bull.

And Æschylus has spoken still more plainly, playing on their name on

account of the resemblance of its sound, where he says—

The seven celebrated daughters of

The mighty Atlas, much bewail'd with tears

Their father's heaven-supporting toil; where they

Now take the form of night-appearing visions,

The wingless Peleiades.

For he calls them here wingless on account of the similarity of the

sound of their name to that of the birds Ππελειάδες. And Myro

herself also speaks in the same manner—

The mighty Jove was nourish'd long in Crete,

Nor yet had any of the heav'nly beings

E'er recognised their king; meanwhile he grew

In all his limbs; and him the trembling doves

Cherish'd, while hidden in the holy cave,

Bringing him, from the distant streams of ocean,

Divine ambrosia: and a mighty eagle,

Incessant drawing with his curved beak

Nectar from out the rock, triumphant brought

The son of Saturn's necessary drink.

Him, when the God of mighty voice had cast

His father Saturn from his unjust throne,

He made immortal, and in heaven placed.

And so, too, did he give the trembling doves (πελειάσιν)

Deserved honour; they who are to men

Winters and summer's surest harbingers.

And Simmias, in his Gorgo, says—

The swiftest ministers of air came near,

The quivering peleiades.

And Posidippus, in his Asopia, says—

Nor do the evening cool πέλειαι set.

But Lamprocles the Dithyrambic poet has also expressly and poetically

said that the word πελειάδες is in every sense synonymous with

περιστεραὶ, in the following lines—

And now you have your home in heaven,

Showing your title with the winged doves.

And the author of the poem called Astronomy, which is attributed to

Hesiod, always calls the Pleiades Πελειάδες, saying—

Which mortals call Peleiades.

And in another place he says—

And now the Peleiades of winter set.

And in another passage we find—

Then the Peleiades do hide their heads;

so that there is nothing at all improbable in the idea of Homer having

lengthened the name Πλειάδες by poetic licence into Πελειάδες.

[Sidenote: MEANING OF PARTICULAR WORDS.]

81. "Since, then, it is demonstrated that it is the Pleiades who

were embossed on the goblet, we must understand that two were affixed

to each handle, whether we choose to fancy that the damsels were

represented under the form of birds or under human form;—at all events

they were studded with stars: and as for the expression, "Around each

there were golden peleiades," we are not to understand that as meaning

around each separate one; for that would make eight in number: but as

each of the handles was divided into two sections, and as these again

were united towards the bottom, the poet has the word ἕκαστος, speaking

as if there were four sections of handles; but if he had said ἑκάτερον,

that would have applied to the fact of their again becoming united at

the highest point which they respectively reach. And accordingly, when

he says—

And curling vines, around each handle roll'd,

Bear two Peleiades emboss'd in gold;

On two firm bases stood the mighty bowl;

we are by that to understand one Peleias to. each section of the

handles. And he has called them δοιὰς, as being united to one another

and grown together as it were. For the word δοιοὶ, δοιαὶ, signifies

simply the number two, as in the passage—

Two tripods (δοιοὺς δὲ τρίποδας), and ten golden talents;

and again—

Two attendants (δοιοὶ θεράπογτες):

and it also at times intimates a natural connexion subsisting between

the two things spoken of, as well as that they are two in number; as in

these lines:—

There grew two (δοιοὶ) olives, closest of the grove,

With roots entwined and branches interwove,

Alike their leaves, but not alike they smiled

With sister fruits,—one fertile, one was wild:—

and accordingly this calculation will give altogether four Peleiades

upon the handles.

82. "And, then, when he adds this—

And curling vines, around each handle roll'd,

Bear two Peleiades emboss'd in gold:

On two firm bases stood the mighty bowl;

we are to understand not two actual separate bases, nor indeed

ought we to read ὑποπυθμένες as two words, like Dionysius the Thracian,

but we ought to read it as one word, υποπυθμενες, in order to

understand it with reference to the Peleiades, that there were four

Peleiades on the handles, and two more ὑποπυθμένες, which is equivalent

to ὑπὸ τῷ πυθμένι, that is to say, under the pedestal, as if the word

were ὑποπυθμένιοι. So that the goblet is supported by two Peleiades

which lie under the bottom, and in that way there are altogether six

Pleiades in all, since that is the number which are seen, though they

are said to be seven in number, as Aratus says—

They are indeed declared by mortal man

To be in number seven; yet no more

Than six have e'er been seen by mortal eyes.

Not that a star can e'er have disappear'd

Unnoticed from the pure expanse of heaven

Since we have heard of its existence; but

The number has been stated carelessly,

And therefore they are usually call'd seven.

Accordingly, what is seen in the stars the poet has very suitably

described among the ornaments made on the occasion. And many fancy that

the poet is here referring to Jupiter, when he says—

No bird of air, nor dove of trembling wing,

That bears ambrosia to th' ethereal king,

But shuns these rocks. In vain she cuts the skies,

They fearful meet, and crush her as she flies.

Meaning in reality, that one of the Pleiades was destroyed by the

sharpness of the rocks and their smooth edge, and that another is

substituted in her place by Jupiter for the sake of keeping the number

undiminished. Expressing by the enigmatical figures of speech common to

poets, that, though there are only six Pleiades seen, still their real

number is not actually diminished; but there are said to be seven in

number, and also the names of the seven are distinctly given.

83. But as for those people who contend that there is no

appropriateness in embossing the Pleiades on this cup, as they are

rather indicative of dry food, we must state that this kind of cup is

calculated to receive both solid and liquid food; for κυκεὼν[67] is

made in it; and this is a kind of potion, having mixed in it cheese and

meal; and the poet tells us that both these ingredients are stirred up

(κυκωμένα) together and so drunk:—

[Sidenote: MEANING OF PARTICULAR WORDS.]

The draught prescribed fair Hecamede prepares,

Arsinous' daughter, graced with golden hairs

(Whom to his aged arms a royal slave

Greece, as the prize of Nestor's wisdom, gave):

A table first with azure feet she placed,

Whose ample orb a brazen charger graced;

Honey, new press'd, the sacred flour of wheat,

And wholesome garlic crown'd the savoury treat.

Next her white hand a spacious goblet brings,

A goblet sacred to the Pylian kings;

Temper'd in this, the nymph of form divine

Pours a large portion of the Pramnian wine;

With goats'-milk cheese a flavorous taste bestows,

And last with flour the smiling surface strows.

This for the wounded prince the dame prepares;

The cordial beverage reverend Nestor shares.

84. And as for the lines—

A massy weight, yet heav'd with ease by him,

Though all too great for men of smaller limb;

we are not to understand this as referring only to Machaon and Nestor,

as some people think, who refer ὃς to Machaon, taking it as if it were

ὁ, and say,

Ἀλλ᾽ δ̓ς μὲν μογέων ἀποκινήσασκε τραπέζης,—

thinking that "heaved with ease by him" is said of Machaon, as he was

the person for whom the cup has been mixed, as he had been wounded; but

we shall show hereafter that Machaon is never represented in Homer as

wounded. But these men do not perceive, that when Homer says ἄλλος, he

is not speaking of Machaon and Nestor alone (for these two are drinking

of the cup), for in that case he would have said ἕτερος. For ἕτερος is

the proper word for the other of two, as in this line—

οἴσετε δ᾽ ἄρν᾽ ἕτερον λευκὸν, ἑτέρην δὲ μέλαιναν,—

And bring two lambs, one male, with snow-white fleece,

The other black, who shall the breed increase.

Besides, Homer never uses ὁς for the demonstrative pronoun

ὁ; but, on the contrary, he sometimes uses the demonstrative

ὁ for the relative ὁς, as in the line—

ἒνθα δὲ σὶσυφος ἒσκεν ὃ κέρδιστος γὲνετ᾽ ἀνδρῶν,—

There Sisyphus, who of all men that lived

Was the most crafty, held his safe abode.

"But still, in this line, τις is wanting, for the sentence,

when complete, should run—

ᾶλλος μέν τις μογέων ἀποκινήσασκε τραπέζης

πλεῖον ἐὸν, νέστωρ δ᾽ ὁ γέρων ἀμογητὶ ἄειρεν:

so that the meaning would be, that there is no man who could lift the

cup up from the table without an effort, but that Nestor raised it

easily, without any labour or distress. For the cup is described as

having been large in size, and very heavy in weight; which however

Nestor, being very fond of drinking, was easily able to lift, from his

constant practice.

85. "But Sosibius, the solver of questions, quoting the lines—

ἄλλος μὲν μογέων ἀποκινήσασκε τραπέζης

πλεῖον ἐόν: νέστωρ δ᾽ ζ γέρων ἀμογητὶᾶειρεν,

writes on this expression—'Now, the poet has been often reproached for

making that the rest of the men could only lift this cup by a great

effort, but that Nestor alone could do so without any extraordinary

exertion. For it appeared unreasonable, that when Diomede and Ajax, and

even Achilles too were present, Nestor should be represented as more

vigorous than they, when he was so far advanced in years. But though

these accusations are brought against him, we may release the poet from

them by transposing the order. For in that hexameter—

πλεῖον ἐὸν, Νέστωρ δ᾽ ὁ γέρων ἀμογητὶ ἄειρεν,

if we take γέρων out of the middle, we shall unite that to the

beginning of the preceding line, after ἄλλος μὲν, and then we shall

connect the words as before—

ἄλλος μὲν γέρων μογέων ἀποκινήσασκε τραπέζης

πλεῖον ἐὸν, ὁ δὲ νέστωρ ἀπονητὶ ἄειρεν.

Now then, when the words are arranged in this way, Nestor only appears

to be represented as the only one of the old men who could lift the cup

without an extraordinary effort.'

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

"These are the observations of that admirable solver of difficulties,

Sosibius. But Ptolemy Philadelphus the king jested upon him with some

wit, on account of this and other much talked-of solutions. For as

Sosibius received a royal stipend, Ptolemy, sending for his treasurers,

desired them, when Sosibius came to demand his stipend, to tell him

that he had received it already. And when, not long after, he did come

and ask for his money, they said they had given it to him already, and

said no more. But he, going to the king,

accused the treasurers. And Ptolemy sent for them, and ordered them to

come with their books, in which were the lists of those who received

those stipends. And when they had arrived, the king took the books into

his hands, and looking into them himself, also asserted that Sosibius

had received his money; making it out in this way:—These names were

set down,—Soter, Sosigenes, Bion, Apollon, Dion; and the king, looking

on these names, said—My excellent solver of difficulties, if you take

Σω from Σωτὴρ, and σι from Σωσιγένης, and the first syllable βι from

Βίων and the last syllable from Ἀπόλλωνος, you will find, on your own

principles, that you have received your stipend. And you are caught in

this way, not owing to the actions of others, but by your own feathers,

as the incomparable Æschylus says, since you yourself are always

occupied about solutions of difficulties which are foreign to the

subject in hand."

86. There is the holmus also. This, too, is a drinking-cup, made in the

fashion of a horn. Menesthenes, in the fourth book of his Politics,

writes thus—"A twisted albatanes and a golden holmus. But the holmus

is a cup wrought after the fashion of a horn, about a cubit in height."

87. There is also the oxybaphum. Now common usage gives this name to

the cruet that holds the vinegar; but it is also the name of a cup; and

it is mentioned by Cratinus, in his Putina, in this way:—

How can a man now make him leave off this

Excessive drinking? I can tell a way;

For I will break his jugs and measures all,

And crush his casks as with a thunderbolt,

And all his other vessels which serve to drink:

Nor shall he have a single oxybaphum left,

Fit to hold wine.

But that the oxybaphum is a kind of small κύλιξ, made of earthenware,

Antiphanes proves plainly enough, in his Mystis, in the following

words.[68] There is a wine-bibbing old woman praising a large cup, and

disparaging the oxybaphum as small. So when some one says to her—

Do you, then, drink;

she answers—

There I will obey you.

And, by the gods, the figure of the cup

Is quite inviting, worthy of the fame

Of this high festival; for have we not—

Have we not, and not long ago, I say,

Drunk out of earthenware oxybapha?

But may the gods, my son, give many blessings

To him who made this cup—a noble cup,

As to its beauty and its good capacity.

And also in the Babylonians of Aristophanes we hear of the oxybaphum as

a drinking-cup, when Bacchus speaks of the demagogues at Athens, saying

that they demanded of him two oxybapha when he was going away to trial.

For we cannot think that they asked him for anything but cups. And the

oxybaphum, which is put before the people who play at the cottabus,

into which they pour their drops of wine, can be nothing else but a

flat cup. Eubulus also, in his Mylothris, mentions the oxybaphum as a

cup—

And besides, I measure out for drinking

An oxybaphum all round; and then he swore

The wine was nothing but pure vinegar,

And that the vinegar was wine, at least

Superior to the other.

88. There is the oinisteria too. The young men, when they are going to

cut their hair, says Pamphilus, fill a large cup with wine, and bring

it to Hercules; and they call this cup an oinisteria. And when they

have poured a libation, they give it to the assembled people to drink.

There is the ollix also. Pamphilus, in his Attic Words, describes this

as a wooden cup.

89. There is also the panathenaicum. Posidonius the philosopher, in the

thirty-sixth book of his History, mentions some cups called by this

name, speaking thus—"There were also cups made of an onyx, and also of

several precious stones joined together, holding about two cotylæ. And

very large cups, called panathenaica, some holding two choes, and some

even larger."

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

There is the proaron too. This was a wooden cup, into which the

Athenians used to pour mixed wine. "In hollow proara," says Pamphilus.

90. Then there is the pelica. Callistratus, in his Commentary on the

Thracian Women of Cratinus, calls this a κύλιξ. But Crates, in the

second book of his treatise on the Attic Dialect, writes thus:—"Choes,

as we have already said, were called pelicæ. But the form of this

vessel was at first like that of the panathenaica, when it was called

pelica; but afterwards it was made of the same shape as the œnochoe,

such as those are which are put on the table at festivals, which they

formerly used to call olpæ, using them for infusing the wine, as Ion

the Chian, in his Sons of Eurytus, says—

You make a noise, intemperately drawing

Superfluous wine from the large casks with olpæ.

But now a vessel of that sort, which has been consecrated in some

fashion or other, is placed on the table at festivals alone. And that

which comes into every-day use has been altered in form, being now

generally made like a ladle, and we call it choeus." But Clitarchus

says that the Corinthians, and Byzantians, and Cyprians call an

oil-cruet, which is usually called lecythus, olpa; and the Thessalians

call it prochous. But Seleucus says that the Bœotians call a κύλιξ

pelichna; but Euphronius, in his Commentaries, says that they give this

name to a choeus.

91. There is the pella. This is a vessel resembling the scyphus, having

a wider bottom, into which men used to milk the cattle. Homer says—

Thick as beneath some shepherd's thatch'd abode,

The pails πέλλαι high foaming with a milky flood,

The buzzing flies, a persevering train,

Incessant swarm, and chased, return again.

But Hipponax calls this pellis; saying,—

Drinking from pellides; for there was not

A culix there,—the slave had fallen down,

And broken it to pieces;

showing, I imagine, very plainly that the pellis was not a

drinking-cup, but that on this occasion they used it as one, from want

of a regular culix. And in another place he says—

And they at different times from out the pella

Did drink; and then again Arete pledged them.

But Phoenix the Colophonian, in his Iambics, interprets this word as

identical with the phiala; saying,—

For Thales,—honestest of all the citizens,

And, as they say, by far the best of men

Who at that time were living upon earth,—

Took up a golden pellis.

And in another part he says—

And with one hand he pours from out the pellis,

Weak as he was in all his limbs and fingers,

A sharp libation of sour vinegar,

Trembling, like age, by Boreas much shaken.

But Clitarchus, in his Dialects, says that the Thessalians and Æolians

call the milk-pail pelleter; but that it is a drinking-cup which they

call pella. But Philetas, in his Miscellanies, says that the Bœotians

give the name of pelleter to a culix.

92. There is also the pentaploa. Philochorus mentions this, in the

second book of his treatise on Attic Affairs. But Aristodemus, in the

third book of his Commentary on Pindar, says that on the third day of

the Scira, games are celebrated at Athens, in which the young men run

races; and that they run, holding in their hands a branch of the vine

loaded with fruit, which is called oschus. And they run from the temple

of Bacchus to the temple of Minerva Sciras; and he who has gained

the victory takes a cup of the species called pentaplous, and feasts

with the rest of the runners. But the cup is called pentaplous, as

containing five (πέντε) ingredients; inasmuch as it has in it wine, and

honey, and cheese, and meal, and a little oil.

There is the petachnum. This is a cup of a flat shape, which is

mentioned by Alexis, in his Dropidas; and the passage has been already

cited. And Aristophanes also mentions it in his Dramas, where he says—

And every one indoors drinks out of petachna.

93. There is the plemochoe, too. This is an earthenware vessel, shaped

like a top, not very steady; and some people call it the cotyliscus, as

Pamphilus tells us. But they use it at Eleusis on the last day of the

Mysteries, which day they call Plemochoai, from the cups. And on this

day they fill two plemochoæ, and place one looking towards the east,

and the other looking towards the west, saying over them a mystic form

of words; and the author of the Pirithous names them (whoever he was,

whether Critias the tyrant, or Euripides), saying,—

That with well-omen'd words we now may pour

These plemochoæ into the gulf below.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

There is a vessel, too, called the pristis; and that this is a species

of cup has been already stated in the discussion on the batiacium.

94. There is the prochytes, too. This is a kind of drinking-cup, as

Simaristus says, in the fourth book of his Synonymes. But Ion the

Chian, in his Elegies, says—

But let the cupbearing maidens fill for us

A crater with their silver prochytæ;

and Philetas, in his Miscellanies, says it is a wooden vessel, from

which the countrymen drink: and Alexander also mentions it in his

Tigon. And Xenophon, in the eighth book of his Cyropædia, calls some

kinds of culices, prochoides, writing thus (and it is of the Persians

that he is speaking):—"But it was a custom among them not to bring

prochoides into their banquets, evidently because they think that not

drinking too much is good both for the body and the mind. And even

now the custom prevails that they do not bring them; but they drink

such a quantity of wine that, instead of carrying in their cups, they

themselves are carried out, when they can no longer go out themselves

in an upright attitude."

There is also the Prusias; and it has been already said that this is an

upright kind of cup, and that it derived its name from Prusias king of

Bithynia, who was a man very notorious for his luxury and effeminacy;

as is mentioned by Nicander the Chalcedonian, in the fourth book of his

History of the Events of the Life of Prusias.

95. There are also rheonta; for this was a name given to some cups: and

Astydamas mentions them in his Mercury, speaking thus:—

First of all were two silver craters large,

And fifty phialæ, and ten cymbia,

And twelve rheonta, two of which were gold,

The others silver;—of the gold ones, one

Was like a griffin, one like Pegasus.

There is also the rhysis. This is called a golden phiala by Theodorus;

and Cratinus, in his Laws, says—"Pouring a libation from a rhysis."

96. There is also the Rhodias. Diphilus, in his Stormer of Walls (but

Callimachus calls the play The Eunuch), speaks thus—

And they intend to drink more plenteously

Than rhodiaca or rhyta can supply.

Dioxippus, too, mentions this cup, in his Miser; and so does Aristotle,

in his treatise on Drunkenness; and so also does Lynceus the Samian, in

his Letters.

97. There is also the rhytum—ῥυτόν. The υ is short, and the word has an

acute accent on the last syllable. Demosthenes, in his speech against

Midias, speaks of "rhyta, and cymbia, and phialæ." But Diphilus, in his

Eunuch, or The Soldier, (and this play is a new edition of his Stormer

of Walls,) says—

And they intend to drink more plenteously

Than rhodiaca or rhyta can supply.

And Epinicus, in his Supposititious Damsels, says—

_A._ And of the large-sized rhyta three are here;

To-day one will be forced to drink more steadily,

By the clepsydra.

_B._ This, I think, will act

Both ways.

_A._ Why, 'tis an elephant!

_B._ Yes, he

Is bringing round his elephants.

_A._ A rhytus,

Holding two choes, such as e'en an elephant

Could hardly drink; but I have drunk it often.

_B._ Yes, for you're very like an elephant.

_A._ There is besides another kind of cup,

Its name a trireme; this, too, holds one choeus.

And, speaking of the rhytum, he says—

_A._ Bellerophon, on Pegasus's back,

Fought and subdued the fire-breathing Chimæra.

_B._ Well, take this cup.

But formerly a drinking-horn was also called a rhytum; and it appears

that this kind of vessel was first made by Ptolemy Philadelphus the

king, to be carried by the statues of Arsinoe: for in her right hand

she bears a vessel of this kind, full of all the fruits of the season;

by which the makers of it designed to show that this horn is richer

than the horn of Amalthea. And it is mentioned by Theocles, in his

Ithyphallics, thus—

For all the journeymen to-day

Have sacrificed Soteria;

And in their company I've drunk this cup,

And now I go to my dear king.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

But Dionysius of Sinope, in his Female Saviour, giving a list of some

cups, has also mentioned the rhytus, as I have said before; but

Hedylus, in his Epigrams, mentioning the rhytum made by Ctesibius the

engineer or machinist, speaks thus—

Come hither, all ye drinkers of sheer wine,—

Come, and within this shrine behold this rhytus,

The cup of fair Arsinoe Zephyritis,

The true Egyptian Besa, which pours forth

Shrill sounds, what time its stream is open'd wide,—

No sound of war; but from its golden mouth

It gives a signal for delight and feasting,

Such as the Nile, the king of flowing rivers,

Pours as its melody from its holy shrines,

Dear to the priests of sacred mysteries.

But honour this invention of Ctesibius,

And come, O youths, to fair Arsinoe's temple.

But Theophrastus, in his treatise on Drunkenness, says that the cup

called the rhytum is given to heroes alone. Dorotheus the Sidonian,

says that the rhyta resemble horns, but are perforated at both ends,

and men drink of them at the bottom as they send forth a gentle stream;

and that it derives its name from the liquor flowing from them (ἀπὸ τῆς

ῥύσεως).

98. There is the sannacra too. Crates, in the fifth book of his

treatise on the Attic Dialect, says that it is a drinking-cup which

bears this name, but it is a Persian cup. But Philemon, in his Widow,

mentioning the batiacia, and jesting on the ridiculousness of the name,

says—

The sannacra, and hippotragelaphi,

And batiacia, and sannacia.

There is also the Seleuci; and we have already stated that this cup

derives its name from king Seleucus; Apollodorus the Athenian having

made the same statement. But Polemo, in the first chapter of his

treatise addressed to Adæus, says these goblets are very like one

another, the Seleucis, the Rhodias, and the Antigonis.

Then, there is the scallium. This is a small cup (κυλίκον), with which

the Æolians pour libations, as Philetas tells us, in his Miscellanies.

99. There is also the scyphus. Now some people form the genitive of

this word σκύθος with a ς invariably; but they are mistaken: for

sometimes σκύθος is masculine, like λύχνος, and then we form its

genitive case without ς but when σκύθος is neuter, then we must decline

with the ς, σκύθος σκύθους, like τεῖχος τείχους. But the Attic writers

use the nominative case in both the masculine and neuter genders. And

Hesiod, in the second book of his Melampodia, writes the word with

a π, σκύπθοσ—

To him came Mares, a swift messenger,

Straight from his house; he fill'd a silver cup (σκύθος),

And brought it in his hand, and gave it to the king.

And in another place he says—

And then the prophet in his right hand took

The chain that held the bull; and on his back

Iphiclus laid his hand: and following then,

Holding a cup (σκύπθος) in one hand, in the other

Raising a staff, brave Phylacus advanced,

And, standing amid the servants, thus he spoke.

And in the same manner Anaximander in his Heroology speaks, where he

says, "But Amphitryon, when he had divided the booty among his allies,

and having the cup (σκύπθος) which he had selected for himself, . . . "

And in another place he says—"But Neptune gives his σκύπθος to Teleboas

his own son, and Teleboas to Pteselaus; and he when he received it

sailed away." And in the same manner Anacreon has said—

But I, in my right hand holding

A σκύπθος full of wine,

Drank to the health of the white-crested Erxion.

(And in this last line he uses the verb ἐξέπινον instead of προέεπινον

For properly speaking προπίνω means to give to some one else to drink

before yourself. And so Ulysses, in Homer,—

Gave to Arete first the well-fill'd cup.

And in the Iliad he says—

And first he fill'd a mighty cup of wine,

Then pledg'd the hero, Peleus' son divine;

for they used, when they had filled their cups, to pledge one another

with a friendly address.) Panyasis, in the third book of his Heraclea,

says—

This wine he pour'd into an ample bowl,

Radiant with gold, and then with frequent draughts

He drain'd the flowing cup.

Euripides, in his Eurystheus, uses the word in the masculine gender—

And a long cup (σκύφος τε μακρός).

And so does Achæus, in his Omphale—

The goblet of the god invites me (ὁ δὲ σκύθος με τοῦ θεοῦ ῾Ἀλεἶ).

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

And Simonides too, speaking of a cup with handles, says, οὐατόεντα

σκύφον. But Ion, in his Omphale, says—

There is no wine in the cup (οἶνος οὐκ ἔνι ἐν τῷ σκύφεἰ),

forming σκύφει regularly from σκύφος, as a neuter noun. And in the same

way Epicharmus, in his Cyclops, says—

Come, pour the wine into the cup (ἐς τὸ σκύφος).

And Alexis, in his Leucadia, says—

And with his aged lips he drank

A mighty cup μέγα σκύφος of fragrant wine.

And Epigenes, in his Bacchea, says—

I rejoiced when I received τὸ σκύφος.

And Phædimus, in the first book of his Heraclea, says—

A mighty cup (εὐρὺ σκύφος) of well-grain'd timber framed,

And fill'd with honied wine.

And also in Homer, Aristophanes the Byzantian writes—

But having filled a cup σκύφος, he gave it him,

Having himself drunk from the same.

But Aristarchus in this line writes σκύφον, not σκύφος.

But Asclepiades the Myrlean, in his treatise on the Nestoris, says that

none of those who lived in the city, and none of the men of moderate

property, used the scyphus (τῷ σκύφει) and the cissybium; but only

the swineherds, and shepherds, and men in the fields, as Eumæus, for

instance,

Gave him the cup (σκύφος) from which he drank himself,

Well fill'd with wine.

And Alcman says—

And often on the highest mountain tops,

When some most tuneful festival of song

Is held in honour of the Gods, you hold

A golden vessel,—a fine, ample cup σκύφον̓,

Such as the shepherds, pasturing their flocks

On the high hills, delight in, . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . have made cheese

Most delicate and white to look upon.

And Æschylus, in his Perrhæbians, says—

Where are my many gifts and warlike spoils,—

Where are my gold and silver cups (σκυφώματα)̣?

And Stesichorus calls the cup on the board of Pholus the Centaur

σκύφειον δέπας, using σκύφειον as synonymous to σκυφοειδές. And he

says, when speaking of Hercules—

And taking a huge scyphus-shaped cup (σκύπφειον δέπας),

Holding three measures, to his lips he raised it,

Full of rich wine, which Pholus wisely mix'd

And gave him; and at one good draught he drank it.

And Archippus, in his Amphitryon, has used the word in the neuter

gender.

100. But as for the word λάγυνον, they say that that is the name of

a measure among the Greeks, as also are the words χοὸς and κοτύλη.

And they say that the λάγυνον contains twelve Attic κότυλαι. And at

Patræ they say that there is a regular measure called ἡ λάγυνος. But

Nicostratus, in his Hecate, has used the word in the masculine gender,

ὁ λάγυνος, where he says—

_A._ And yet among the flagons into which

We pour'd the wine out of the casks, now tell me

What is the measure some of them contain (πηλίκοι τινές̣)?

_B._ They hold three choes each.

And again he says—

Bring us the full flagon (τὸν μεστὸν λάγυνον).

And, in the play entitled The Couch, he says—

And this most odious flagon's (λάγυνος οὗτος) full of vinegar.

Diphilus, in his People Saved, says—

I have an empty flagon, my good woman,

And a full wallet.

And Lynceus the Samian, in his letter to Diagoras, says,—"At the time

that you sojourned in Samos, O Diagoras, I know that you often came to

banquets at my house, at which a flagon was placed by each man, and

filled with wine, so as to allow every one to drink at his pleasure."

And Aristotle, in his Constitution of the Thessalians, says that the

word is used by the Thessalians in the feminine gender, as ἡ λάγυνος.

And Rhianus the epic poet, in his Epigrams, says—

This flagon (ἥδε λάγυνος), O Archinus, seems to hold

One half of pitch from pines, one half of wine;

And I have never met a leaner kid:

And he who sent these dainties to us now,

Hippocrates, has done a friendly deed,

And well deserves to meet with praise from all men.

But Diphilus, in his Brothers, has used the word in the neuter gender—

O conduct worthy of a housebreaker

Or felon, thus to take a flagon now

Under one's arm, and so go round the inns;

And then to sell it, while, as at a picnic,

One single vintner doth remain behind,

Defrauded by his wine-merchant.

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

And the line in the Geryonis of Stesichorus—

A measure of three flagons (ἔμμετρον ὡς τριλάγυνον̓),

leaves it quite uncertain under what gender the word is to be classed

as far as respects that line. But Eratosthenes says that the words

πέτασος and στάμνος are also used as feminine nouns by some authors.

101. But the name σκύφος is derived from σκαφὶς, a little boat. And

this likewise is a round vessel made of wood, intended to receive milk,

or whey; as it is said in Homer—

Capacious chargers all around were laid,

Full pails (σκαφίδες), and vessels of the milking trade.

Unless, indeed, σκύφος is quasi σκύθος, because the Scythians were in

the habit of drinking more than was decent. But Hieronymus the Rhodian,

in his treatise on Drunkenness, says to get drunk is called σκυθίζω;

for that θ is a cognate letter to φ. But at subsequent times scyphi

were made of earthenware and of silver, in imitation of the wooden

ones. And the first makers of cups of this kind were the Bœotians,

who obtained a high reputation for their manufacture; because Hercules

originally used these cups in his expeditions. On which account they

are called Heracleotici by some people. And they are different from

other cups; for they have on their handles what is called the chain of

Hercules. And Bacchylides mentions the Bœotian scyphi in these words,

(addressing his discourse to Castor and Pollux, and invoking their

attendance at a banquet)—

Here there are no mighty joints

Of oxen slain,—no golden plate,

No purple rich embroidery;

But there is a cheerful mind,

And a sweetly-sounding Muse,

And plenty of delicious wine,

In cups of Theban workmanship (Βοιωτίοισιν ἐν σκύφοισιν̓).

And next to the Bœotian scyphi, those which had the highest reputation

were the Rhodian ones, of the workmanship of Damocrates. And the

next to them were the Syracusan cups. But the σκύφος is called by

the Epirotes λυρτὸς, as Seleucus reports; and by the Methymnæans it

is called σκύθος, as Parmeno says, in his book on Dialects. And

Dercyllidas the Lacedæmonian was nicknamed Σκύθος, as Ephorus relates

in his eighteenth book, where he speaks as follows:—"The Lacedæmonians

sent Dercyllidas into Asia in the place of Thymbron, having heard that

the barbarians were in the habit of doing everything by deceit and

trick; on which account they sent Dercyllidas, thinking that he was

the least likely of all men to be taken in; for he was not at all of

a Lacedæmonian and simple disposition, but exceedingly cunning and

fierce; on which account the Lacedæmonians themselves used to call him

Σκύθον."

102. There is the tabaitas also. Amyntas, in the first book of his

treatise on the Stations of Asia, speaking of what is called aerial

honey, writes as follows:—"They gather it with the leaves, and store it

up, making it up in the same manner as the Syrian cakes of fruit, but

some make it into balls; and when they are about to use it for food,

they break pieces off these cakes into wooden cups, which they call

tabaitæ, and soak them, and then strain them off and drink the liquor;

and the drink is very like diluted honey, but this is much the sweeter

of the two."

There is also the tragelaphus. And this is the name given to some cups,

as Alexis mentions, in his Coniates—

Cymbia, phialæ, tragelaphi, culices.

And Eubulus, in his Man Glued on, says—

But there are five phialæ, and two tragelaphi.

And Menander, in his Fisherman, says—

Tragelaphi, labronii.

And Antiphanes, in his Chrysis, says—

And for this rich and sordid bridegroom now,

Who owns so many talents, slaves, and stewards,

And pairs of horses, camels, coverlets,—

Such loads of silver plate, such phialæ,

Triremes, tragelaphi, carchesia,

Milkpails of solid gold, vessels of all sorts;

For all the gluttons and the epicures

Call casks brimful of wine mere simple milkpails.

There is also the trireme. And that trireme is the name of a species of

drinking-cup Epicurus has shown, in his Supposititious Damsels; and the

passage which is a proof of this has been already quoted.

There is also the hystiacum, which is some sort of drinking-cup.

Rhinthon, in his Hercules, says—

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

You swallow'd, in one small hystiacum,

A cheesecake of pure meal, and groats, and flour.

103. There is the phiale too. Homer, when he says—

He placed a phiale upon the board,

By both hands to be raised (ἀμφίθετον), untouch'd by fire;

and again, when he says—

A golden phiale, and doubled fat;

is not speaking of a drinking-cup, but of a brazen vessel of a flat

shape like a caldron, having perhaps two handles, one on each side. But

Parthenius the pupil of Dionysius understands by ἀμφίθετον a phiale

without any bottom. But Apollodorus the Athenian, in his short essay on

the Crater, says that it means a cup which cannot be firmly placed and

steadied on its bottom, but only on its mouth. But some say, that just

as the word ἀμφιφορεὺς is used for a cup which can be lifted by its

handles on both sides, the same is meant by the expression ἀμφίθετος φιάλη.

But Aristarchus says that it means a cup which can be placed on

either end, on its mouth or on its bottom. But Dionysius the Thracian

says that the word ἀμφίθετος means round, running round (ἀμφιθέων) in a

circular form. And Asclepiades the Myrlean says,—"The word φιάλη, by a

change of letters, becomes πιάλη, a cup which contains enough to drink

(πιεῖν ἅλις); for it is larger than the ποτήριον. But when Homer calls

it also ἀπύρωτος, he means either that it was wrought without fire, or

never put on the fire. On which account he calls a kettle which may be

put on the fire ἐμπυριβήτης, and one which is not so used ἄπυρος. And

when he says—

An ample charger, of unsullied frame,

With flowers high wrought, not blacken'd yet by flame,

he perhaps means one intended to receive cold water. So that the

phiale would in that case resemble a flat brazen vessel, holding cold

water. But when he calls it ἀμφίθετος, can we understand that it has

two bases, one on each side; or is ἀμφὶ here to be taken as equivalent

to περὶ, and then again is περὶ to be taken as equivalent to περιττὸν,

so that in fact all that is meant by the epithet is beautifully made;

since θεῖναι was often used by the ancients for 'to make?' It may also

mean, ' being capable of being placed either on its bottom or upon its

mouth;' and such a placing of cups is an Ionian [p. 802] and an ancient

fashion. And even now the Massilians often adopt it, and set their

goblets down on their mouths."

104. But as Cratinus has said, in his Female Runaways—

Receive from me these round-bottom'd phialæ,

Eratosthenes, in the eleventh book of his treatise on Comedy, says that

Lycophron did not understand the meaning of the word (βαλανειόμφαλος),

for that the word ὀμφαλὸς, as applied to a phiale, and the word θόλος,

as applied to a bath, were nearly similar in meaning; and that, in

the word, allusion is neatly enough made to the umbilical form. But

Apion and Diodorus say, "There are some kinds of phialæ of which the

boss is similar to a strainer." But Asclepiades the Myrlean, in his

Essays on Cratinus, says—"βαλανειόμφαλοι are the phialæ called, because

their bosses and the vaulted roofs of the baths are much alike." And

Didymus, saying the same thing, cites the words of Lycophron, which run

thus:—"From the bosses in the women's baths, out of which they ladle

the water in small cups." But Timarchus, in the fourth book of his

Essay on the Mercury of Eratosthenes, says,—"Any one may suppose that

this word contains a secret allusion in it, because most of the baths

at Athens, being circular in their shape, and in all their furniture,

have slight projections in the middle, on which a brazen boss is

placed. Ion, in his Omphale, says—

Go quick, O damsels; hither bring the cups,

And the mesomphali;—

and by μεσόμφαλοι here, he means the same things as those which

Cratinus calls βαλανειόμφαλοι, where he says—

Receive from me these round-bottom'd phialæ.

And Theopompus, in his Althæa, said—

She took a golden round-bottom'd (μεσόμφαλον) phiale,

Brimful of wine; to which Telestes gave

The name of acatos;

as Telestes had called the phiale an acatos, or boat. But Pherecrates,

or whoever the poet was who composed the Persæ, which are attributed to

him, says, in that play—

Garlands to all, and well-boss'd chrysides (ὀμφαλωταὶ χρυσίδες).

105. But the Athenians call silver phialæ ἀργυρίδες, and golden ones

they call χρυσίδες. And Pherecrates mentions the silver phiale in the

following words in his Persæ—

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

Here, you sir; where are you now carrying

That silver phiale (τὴν ἀργυρίδα τηνδί)?

And Cratinus mentions the golden one in his Laws—

Making libations with a golden phiale (χρυσίδἰ),

He gave the serpents drink.

And Hermippus, in his Cercopes, says—

He first completely drain'd an ample cup,

Golden (χρυσίδα) and round, then carried it away.

There was also a kind of cup called the βαλανωτὴ phiale, under the

bottom of which were placed golden feet. And Teneus says, that among

the offerings at Delos there was a brazen palm-tree, the offering of

the Naxians, and some golden phialæ, to which he gives the epithet

καρυωταί. But Anaxandrides calls cups of this fashion the phialæ of

Mars. But the Æolians call the phiale an aracis.

106. There is also the phthoïs; these are wide-shaped phialæ with

bosses. Eupolis says—

He pledged the guests in phthoïdes,

writing the dative plural φθοῖσι; but it ought to have an acute on the

last syllable; like καρσὶ, παισὶ, φθειρσί.

There is the philotesia also. This is a kind of κύλιξ, in which

they pledged one another out of friendship, as Pamphilus says. And

Demosthenes says, "And he pledged him in the philotesia." And Alexis

says—

We, in our private and public capacity,

Do pledge you now in this philotesian culix.

But, besides being the name of a cup, a company feasting together was

also called φιλοτήσιον. Aristophanes says—

Now does the shadow of the descending sun

Mark seven feet: 'tis time for supper now,

And the philotesian company invites me.

But it was from the system of pledging one another at these banquets

that the cup got the name of philotesia—as in the Lysistrata—

O thou Persuasion, mistress of my soul!

And you, O philotesian cup of wine.

There are also chonni. Among the Gortynians this is the name given to a

species of cup resembling the thericleum, made of brass, which Hermonax

says is given by lovers to the objects of their affection.

There are also Chalcidic goblets, having their name and reputation

perhaps from Chalcis in Thrace.

107. There are also χυτρίδες; Alexis, in his Supposititious Child, says—

I, seeking to do honour to the king,

To Ptolemy and to his sister, took

Four χυτρίδια of strong, untemper'd wine,

And drank them at a draught, with as much pleasure

As any one ever swallow'd half-and-half:

And, for the sake of this agreement, why

Should I not now feast in this splendid light?

But Herodotus, in the fifth book of his History, says "that the Argives

and Æginetans made a law that no one should ever use any Attic vessel

of any kind in their sacrifices, not even if made of earthenware;

but that for the future every one should drink out of the χυτρίδες

of the country." And Meleager the Cynic, in his Symposium, writes as

follows—"And in the meantime he proposed a deep pledge to his health,

twelve deep χυτρίδια full of wine."

108. There is also the ψυγεὺς or ψυκτήρ. Plato, in his Symposium,

says,—"But, O boy, bring, said he, that psycter hither (for he had

seen one which held more than eight cotylæ). Accordingly, when he had

filled it, first of all he drank it himself, and then he ordered it to

be filled again for Socrates . . . . . as Archebulus was attempting to

be prolix, the boy, pouring the wine out at a very seasonable time,

overturned the psycter." And Alexis, in his Colonist, says—

A psygeus, holding three full cotylæ.

And Dioxippus, in his Miser, says—

And from Olympicus he then received

Six thericlean cups, and then two psycters.

And Menander, in his play entitled The Brazier's Shop, says—

And, as the present fashion is, they shouted

For more untemper'd wine; and some one took

A mighty psycter, giving them to drink,

And so destroy'd them wretchedly.

And Epigenes, in his Heroine, giving a list of many cups, among them

mentions the psygeus thus—

Now take the boys, and make them hither bring

The thericlean and the Rhodian cups;

But bring yourself the psycter and the cyathus,

Some cymbia too.

And Strattis, in his Psychastæ—

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

And one man having stolen a psycter,

And his companion, who has taken away

A brazen cyathus, both lie perplex'd,

Looking for a chœnix and a cotylis.

But Alexis, in his Hippiscus, uses the diminutive form, and calls it a

ψυκτηρίδιον, saying—

I went to see my friend while at his inn,

And there I met a dark-complexion'd man,

And told my slaves, for I brought two from home,

To put in sight the well-clean'd drinking-cups:

There was a silver cyathus, and cups

Weighing two drachmas each; a cymbium,

Whose weight was four; a ψυκτηρίδιον,

Weighing two obols, thinner than Philippides.

109. But Heracleon of Ephesus says, "The cup which we call ψυγεὺς some

name the ψυκτηρία, but the Attic writers make jokes upon the ψυγεὺς, as

being a foreign name." Euphorion, in his Woman Restoring, says—

But when they call a ψυγεὺς a ψυκτηρία,

And σεύτλιον τεῦλα, and the φακῆ φακεὺς,

What can one do? For I rightly said,

Give me, I pray, Pyrgothemis, some change

For this your language, as for foreign money.

And Antiphanes, in his Knights, says—

How then are we to live? Our bedclothes are

A saddlecloth, and our well-fitting hat

Only a psycter. What would you have more?

Here is the very Amalthean horn.

And in the Carna he declares plainly that, when pouring out wine, they

used the psycter for a cyathus. For after he had said—

And putting on the board a tripod and cask,

And psycter too, he gets drunk on the wine;

in the passage following, he represents his man as saying—

So will the drink be fiercer: therefore now,

If any one should say it is not fit

T' indulge in wine at present, just leave out

This cask, and this one single drinking-cup,

And carry all the rest away at once.

But Dionysius the pupil of Tryphon, in his treatise on Names, says—"The

ancients used to call the psygeus dinus." But Nicander of Thyatira

says, that woods and shady places dedicated to the gods are also called

ψυκτῆρες, as being places where one may cool oneself (ἀναψύξαι).

Æschylus, in his Young Men, says—

And gentle airs, in the cool, shady places (ψυκτηρίοις);

and Euripides, in his Phaethon, says—

The trees, affording a cool shade (ψυκτήρια),

Shall now embrace him in their loving arms;

and the author of the poem called Ægimius, whether it really was

Hesiod, or only Cecrops of Miletus, says—

There shall my cool shade (ψυκτήριον) be, O king of men.

110. There is also the oidos. This was the name of a drinking-cup, as

we are told by Tryphon, in his Onomasticon; a cup given to him who sang

the scolia—as Antiphanes shows in his Doubles—

_A._ What will there be, then, for the gods?

_B._ Why, nothing,

Unless now some one mixes wine for them.

_A._ Stop; take this ᾠδὸς, and abandon all

Those other worn-out fashions; sing no more

Of Telamon, or Pæon, or Harmodius.

There are also the ooscyphia. Now respecting the shape of these cups,

Asclepiades the Myrlean, in his Essay on the Nestoris, says that it

has two bottoms, one of them wrought on to the bowl of the cup, and of

the same piece with it; but the other attached to it, beginning with a

sharp point, and ending in a broad bottom, on which the cup stands.

There is also the ὠὸν, or egg-cup. Dinon, in the third book of his

Affairs of Persia, speaks as follows:—There is also a bread called

potibazis, made of barley and roasted wheat; and a crown of cypress

leaves; and wine tempered in a golden oon, from which the king himself

drinks."

111. Plutarch having said this, and being applauded by every one,

asked for a phiala, from which he made a libation to the Muses, and

to Mnemosyne their mother, and drank the health of every one present,

saying,—As if any one, taking a cup in his hand, being a rich man, were

to make a present of it, foaming over with the juice of the vine;"—and

drinking not only to the young bridegroom, but also to all his friends;

and he gave the cup to the boy, desiring him to carry it round to

every one, saying that this was the proper meaning of the phrase κύκλῳ

πίνειν, reciting the verses of Menander in his Perinthian Woman—

And the old woman did not leave untouch'd

One single cup, but drank of all that came.

And again, in his Fanatical Woman, he says—

[Sidenote: DRINKING-CUPS.]

And then again she carries round to all

A cup of unmix'd wine.

And Euripides, in his Cretan Women, says—

Farewell all other things, as long

As cups of wine go freely round.

And then, when Leonidas the grammarian demanded a larger cup, and

said,—Let us drink hard (κρατηρίζωμεν), my friends, (for that was the

word which Lysanias the Cyrenean says that Herodorus used to apply

to drinking-parties, when he says, "But when they had finished the

sacrifice they turned to the banquet, and to craters, and prayers,

and pæans;" and the poet, who was the author of the poem called the

Buffoons—a play which Duris says that the wise Plato always had in

his hands—says, somewhere, ἐκεκρατηρίχημες, for "we had drunk;") But

now, in the name of the gods, said Pontianus, you are drinking in a

manner which is scarcely becoming, out of large cups, having that most

delightful and witty author Xenophon before your eyes, who in his

Banquet says,—"But Socrates, in his turn, said, But it seems to me

now, O men, that we ought to drink hard. For wine, in reality, while

it moistens the spirit, lulls the griefs to sleep as mandragora does

men; but it awakens all cheerful feelings, as oil does fire. And it

appears to me that the bodies of men are liable to the same influences

which affect the bodies of those things which grow in the ground; for

the very plants, when God gives them too much to drink, cannot hold up

their heads, nor can they expand at their proper seasons. But when they

drink just as much as is good for them, and no more, then they grow in

an upright attitude, and flourish, and come in a flourishing state to

produce fruit. And so, too, in our case, if we take too much drink all

at once, our bodies and our minds rapidly get disordered, and we cannot

even breathe correctly, much less speak. But if our slaves bedew us (to

use Gorgias-like language) in small quantities with small cups, then

we are not compelled to be intoxicated by the wine; but being gently

induced, we proceed to a merry and cheerful temperament."

112. Now, any one who considers these expressions of the accomplished

Xenophon, may understand how it was that the brilliant Plato displayed

such jealousy of him. But perhaps the fact may partly be because these

men did from the very beginning feel a spirit of rivalry towards one

another, each being aware of his own powers; and perhaps they began

very early to contend for the preeminence, as we may conjecture not

only from what they have both written about Cyrus, but also from other

writings of theirs on similar subjects. For they have both written a

piece called the Banquet; and in these two pieces, one of them turns

out the female flute-players, and the other introduces them; and one,

as has been already said, refuses to drink out of large cups, but the

other represents Socrates as drinking out of a psycter till morning.

And in his treatise concerning the Soul, Plato, reckoning up all who

were present, does not make even the slightest mention of Xenophon.

And concerning Cyrus, the one says that from his earliest youth he was

trained up in all the national practices of his country; but Plato, as

if in the express spirit of contradiction, says, in the third book of

his Laws,—"But with respect to Cyrus, I consider that, as to other

things, he was indeed a skilful and careful general, but that he had

never had the very least particle of a proper education, and that he

had never turned his mind the least in the world to the administration

of affairs. But he appears from his earliest youth to have been engaged

in war, and to have given his children to his wives to bring up." And

again, Xenophon, who joined Cyrus with the Ten Thousand Greeks, in his

expedition into Persia, and who was thoroughly acquainted with the

treachery of Meno the Thessalian, and knew that he was the cause of the

murder of Clearchus by Tissaphernes, and who knew also the disposition

of the man, how morose and debauched he was,—has given us a full

account of everything concerning him. But the exquisite Plato, who all

but says, "All this is not true," goes through a long panegyric on him,

who was incessantly calumniating every one else. And in his Polity, he

banishes Homer from his city, and all poetry of the theatrical kind;

and yet he himself wrote dialogues in a theatrical style,—a manner of

writing of which he himself was not the inventor; for Alexamenus the

Teian had, before him, invented this style of dialogue, as Nicias of

Nicæa and Sotion both agree in relating. And Aristotle, in his treatise

on Poets, writes thus:—"Let us not then call those Mimes, as they

are called, of Sophron, which are written in metre, Discourses and

Imitations; or those Dialogues of Alexamenus

of Teos, which were written before the Socratic Dialogues;"—Aristotle,

the most learned of all men, stating here most expressly that

Alexamenus composed his Dialogues before Plato. And Plato also

calumniates Thrasymachus of Chalcedon, saying that he was a sophist in

a way consistent with his name.[69] And he also attacks Hippias, and

Gorgias, and Parmenides; and in one dialogue, called Protagoras, he

attacks a great many;—a man who in his Republic has said, "When, as I

think, a city which has been governed by a democracy, feels a thirst

for liberty, and meets with bad cupbearers, and so it gets intoxicated

by too untempered a draught . . . ."

[Sidenote: PLATO.]

113. And it is said also, that Gorgias himself, when he read the

dialogue to which Plato has given his name, said to his friends, "How

well Plato knows how to write iambics!" And Hermippus, in his book on

Gorgias, says,—"When Gorgias was sojourning at Athens, after he had

offered up at Delphi the golden image of himself which is there now,

and when Plato said when he had seen it, The beautiful and golden

Gorgias is come among us, Gorgias replied, This is indeed a fine young

Archilochus whom Athens has now brought forth." But others say that

Gorgias, having read the dialogue of Plato, said to the bystanders

that he had never said any of the things there attributed to him, and

had never heard any such things said by Plato. And they say that Phædo

also said the same when he had read the treatise on the Soul, on which

account it was well said by Timon, respecting him,—

"How that learned Plato invented fictitious marvels!"

For their respective ages will scarcely admit of the Socrates of Plato

ever having really had a conference with Parmenides, so as to have

addressed him and to have been addressed by him in such language. And

what is worst of all is, that he has said, though there was not the

slightest occasion for making any such assertion, that Zeno had been

beloved by Parmenides, who was his fellow-citizen. Nor, indeed, is

it possible that Phædrus should have lived in the time of Socrates,

much less that he should have been beloved by him. Nor, again, is it

possible that Paralus and Xanthippus, the sons of Pericles, who died

of the plague, should have conversed with Protagoras when he came

the second time to Athens, as they had died before. And we might

mention many other particulars respecting his works to show how wholly

fictitious his Dialogues are.

114. But that Plato was ill-natured to everybody is plain from what

he says in his dialogue entitled Ion; in which first of all he

abuses all the poets, and then all those who have been promoted to

the highest dignities by the people, such as Phanosthenes of Andros,

and Apollodorus of Cyzicus, and also Heraclides of Clazomenæ. And in

his Menon he abuses those who have been the greatest men among the

Athenians—Aristides and Themistocles; and he extols Meno, who betrayed

the Greeks. But in his Euthydemus he attacks this same Meno and his

brother Dionysiodorus, and calls them men slow to learn any good

thing, and contentious people, reproaching them with their flight from

Chios, which was their native place, from which they went and settled

in Thurii. And, in his essay on Manly Courage, he attacks Melesias,

the son of that Thucydides who headed the opposite party to Pericles,

and Lysimachus, the son of Aristides the Just, saying that they both

fell far short of their fathers' virtues. And as to what he said about

Alcibiades, in his Banquet, that is not fit to be produced to light;

nor is what he says in the first of the Dialogues which go by his

name. For the second Alcibiades is said by some people to be the work

of Xenophon; as also the Halcyon is said to be the work of Leon the

Academician, as Nicias of Nicæa says. Now, the things which he has said

against Alcibiades I will pass over; but I cannot forbear to mention

his calling the Athenian people a random judge, guided only by outward

appearance. And he praises the Lacedæmonians, and extols also the

Persians, who are the enemies of all the Greeks.

And he calls Cleinias the brother of Alcibiades a madman; and the sons

of Pericles he makes out to be fools; and Meidias he calls a man fit

for nothing but killing quails; and of the people of the Athenians he

says, that it wears a fair mask, but that one ought to strip the mask

off, and look at it then; for he says that it will then be seen that

it is only clothed with a specious appearance of a beauty which is not

genuine.

[Sidenote: PLATO.]

115. But in the Cimon he does not abstain from accusing Themistocles,

and Alcibiades, and Myronides, and even Cimon himself; and his Crito

contains an invective against Sophocles; and his Gorgias contains an

invective not only against the man from whom it is named, but also

against Archelaus, king of Macedon, whom he reproaches not only with

his ignoble birth, but also with having killed his master. And this

is the very same Plato whom Speusippus represents as having, while he

professed to be a great friend of Archelaus, assisted Philip to get

possession of the kingdom. At all events, Carystius of Pergamus, in

his Historical Commentaries, writes as follows:—"Speusippus, hearing

that Philip used calumnious language respecting Plato, wrote something

of this sort in his letter to him: 'Just as if men did not know that

Philip originally obtained the kingdom by the assistance of Plato.'

For Plato sent Euphræus of Oreum to Perdiccas, who persuaded him to

apportion a certain district to Philip; and so he, maintaining a force

in that country, when Perdiccas died, having all his forces in a state

of preparation, seized the supreme power." But whether all this is true

or not, God knows.

But his fine Protagoras, besides that it contains attacks on many poets

and wise men, also shows up the life of Callias with much greater

severity than Eupolis does in his Flatterers. And in his Menexenus, not

only is Hippias the Elean turned into ridicule, but also Antipho the

Rhamnusian, and Lamprus the musician. And the day would fail me, if I

were inclined to go through the names of all those who have been abused

by that wise man. Nor indeed do I praise Antisthenes; for he, having

abused many men, did not abstain even from Plato himself, but, having

given him the odious name of Sathon, he then published a dialogue under

this name.

116. But Hegesander the Delphian, in his Commentaries, speaking

about the universal ill-nature of Plato towards everybody, writes

as follows:—"After the death of Socrates, when a great many of his

friends, being present at a banquet, were very much out of spirits,

Plato, being present, taking the cup, exhorted them not to despond,

as he himself was well able to lead the school; and, so saying, he

pledged Apollodorus: and he said, 'I would rather have taken the

cup of poison from Socrates than that pledge of wine from you.' For

Plato was considered to be an envious man, and to have a disposition

which was far from praiseworthy; for he ridiculed Aristippus when he

went to visit Dionysius, though he himself had three times sailed to

Sicily,—once for the purpose of investigating the torrents of lava

which flow from Mount Ætna, when he lived with the elder Dionysius,

and was in danger from his displeasure; and twice he went to visit the

younger Dionysius."

And again, though Æschines was a poor man, and had but one pupil,

Xenocrates, he seduced him from him; and he was also detected in

instigating the commencement of a prosecution against Phædo, which,

if successful, would have reduced him to slavery; and altogether he

displayed the feelings of a stepmother towards all the pupils of

Socrates. On which account, Socrates, making a not very unreasonable

conjecture respecting him, said in the presence of several persons

that he had had a dream, in which he thought he had seen the following

vision. "For I thought," said he, "that Plato had become a crow, and

leaped on my head, and began to scratch my bald place, and to take a

firm hold, and so to look about him. I think, therefore," said he,

"that you, O Plato, will say a good many things which are false about

my head." And Plato, besides his ill-nature, was very ambitious and

vainglorious; and he said, "My last tunic, my desire of glory, I lay

aside in death itself—in my will, and in my funeral procession, and

in my burial;" as Dioscorides relates in his Memorabilia. And as for

his desire of founding cities and making laws, who will not say that

these are very ambitious feelings? And this is plain from what he says

in the Timæus—"I have the same feelings towards my constitution that a

painter would have towards his works; for as he would wish to see them

possessed of the power of motion and action, so too do I wish to see

the citizens whom I here describe."

117. But concerning the things which he has said in his Dialogues, what

can any one say? For the doctrine respecting the soul, which he makes

out to be immortal, even after it is separated from the body, and after

the dissolution of this latter, was first mentioned by Homer; for he

has said, that the soul of Patroclus—

Fled to the shades below,

Lamenting its untimely fate, and leaving

Its vigour and its youth.

[Sidenote: PLATO.]

If, then, any one were to say that this is also the argument of

Plato, still I do not see what good we have got from him; for if any

one were to agree that the souls of those who are dead do migrate into

other natures, and do mount up to some higher and purer district, as

partaking of its lightness, still what should we get by that theory?

For, as we have neither any recollection of where we formerly were, nor

any perception whether we really existed at all, what do we get by such

an immortality as that?

And as to the book of the Laws composed by him, and the Polity which

was written before the Laws, what good have they done us? And yet

he ought (as Lycurgus did the Lacedæmonians, and as Solon did the

Athenians, and Zaleucus the Thurians), if they were excellent, to have

persuaded some of the Greeks to adopt them. For a law (as Aristotle

says) is a form of words decided on by the common agreement of a city,

pointing out how one ought to do everything. And how can we consider

Plato's conduct anything but ridiculous; since, when there were already

three Athenian lawgivers who had a great name,—Draco, and Plato

himself, and Solon,—the citizens abide by the laws of the other two,

but ridicule those of Plato? And the case of the Polity is the same.

Even if his Constitution is the best of all possible constitutions,

yet, if it does not persuade us to adopt it, what are we the better for

it? Plato, then, appears to have written his laws, not for men who have

any real existence, but rather for a set of men invented by himself; so

that one has to look for people who will use them. But it would have

been better for him to write such things as he could persuade men of;

and not to act like people who only pray, but rather like those who

seize hold of what offers itself to them.

118. However, to say no more on this point, if any one were to go

through his Timæus and his Gorgias, and his other dialogues of the

same character, in which he discusses the different subjects of

education, and subjects of natural philosophy, and several other

circumstances,—even when considered in this light, he is not to be

admired on this account; for one may find these same topics handled

by others, either better than by him, or at all events not worse. For

Theopompus the Chian, in his book Against the School of Plato, says—

"We shall find the greater part of his Dialogues useless and false, and

a still greater number borrowed from other people; as some of them

come from the school of Aristippus, and some from that of Antisthenes,

and a great many from that of Bryson of Heraclea." And as to the

disquisitions which he enters into about man, we also seek in his

arguments for what we do not find. But what we do find are banquets,

and conversations about love, and other very unseemly harangues, which

he composed with great contempt for those who were to read them, as

the greater part of his pupils were of a tyrannical and calumnious

disposition.

119. For Euphræus, when he was sojourning with king Perdiccas in

Macedonia, was not less a king than the other, being a man of a

depraved and calumnious disposition, who managed all the companionship

of the king in so cold a manner, that no one was allowed to partake

of his entertainments unless he knew something about geometry or

philosophy; on which account, after Philip obtained the government,

Parmenio, having caught him in Oreum, put him to death; as Carystius

relates in his Historical Commentaries. And Callippus the Athenian, who

was himself a pupil of Plato, having been a companion and fellow-pupil

of Dion, and having travelled with him to Syracuse, when he saw that

Dion was attempting to make himself master of the kingdom, slew him;

and afterwards, attempting to usurp the supreme power himself, was

slain too. And Euagon of Lampsacus (as Eurypylus says, and Dicæocles

of Cnidus, in the ninety-first book of his Commentaries, and also

Demochares the orator, in his argument in defence of Sophocles, against

Philo), having lent his native city money on the security of its

Acropolis, and being afterwards unable to recover it, endeavoured to

seize on the tyranny, until the Lampsacenes attacked him, and repaid

him the money, and drove him out of the city. And Timæus of Cyzicus

(as the same Demochares relates), having given largesses of money and

corn to his fellow-citizens, and being on this account believed by the

Cyzicenes to be an excellent man, after having waited a little time,

attempted to overturn the constitution with the assistance of Aridæus;

and being brought to trial and convicted, and branded with infamy, he

remained in the city to an extreme old age, being always, however,

considered dishonoured and infamous.

[Sidenote: PLATO.]

And such now are some of the Academicians, who live in a scandalous

and infamous manner. For they, having by impious and unnatural means

acquired vast wealth by trickery, are at present highly thought of; as

Chæron of Pellene, who was not only a pupil of Plato, but of Xenocrates

also. And he too, having usurped the supreme power in his country, and

having exercised it with great severity, not only banished the most

virtuous men in the city, but also gave the property of the masters to

their slaves, and gave their wives also to them, compelling them to

receive them as their husbands; having got all these admirable ideas

from that excellent Polity and those illegal Laws of Plato.

120. On which account Ephippus the comic poet, in his Shipwrecked Man,

has turned into ridicule Plato himself, and some of his acquaintances,

as being sycophants for money, showing that they used to dress in a

most costly manner, and that they paid more attention to the elegance

of their persons than even the most extravagant people among us. And he

speaks as follows—

Then some ingenious young man rising up,

Some pupil of the New Academy,

Brought up at Plato's feet and those of Bryso,

That bold, contentious, covetous philosopher,—

And urged by strong necessity, and able,

By means of his small-wages-seeking art,

To speak before th' assembly, in a manner

Not altogether bad; having his hair

Carefully trimm'd with a new-sharpen'd razor,

And letting down his beard in graceful fall,

Putting his well-shod foot in his neat slipper,

Binding his ancles in the equal folds

Of his well-fitting hose, and well protected

Across the chest with the breastplate of his cloak,

And leaning, in a posture dignified,

Upon his staff; said, as it seems to me,

With mouthing emphasis, the following speech,

More like a stranger than a citizen,—

"Men of the land of wise Athenians."

And here let us put an end to this part of the discussion, my friend

Timocrates. And we will next proceed to speak of those who have been

notorious for their luxury.

LONDON:

R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD STREET HILL.

FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 54: "The following is the note of Dalccampius on this

line:—While the corpse of a dead person was being burnt, those who

attended the funeral, going round the funeral pile, in order to see

the face of the corpse from all sides, walked round as the undertaker

bade them, sometimes turning ἐπὶ δεξιὰ, sometimes ἐπ' ἀριστερά.

The writers on Greek antiquities have observed that those who were

following a corpse to the tomb went round the funeral pile from right

to left, and when the funeral was over, returned going from left to

right."—_Schweig._]

[Footnote 55: Odyss. xi. 209.]

[Footnote 56: Iliad, xvi. 225, Pope's version.]

[Footnote 57: Iliad, iv. 3.]

[Footnote 58: The Attic talent weighed within a fraction of fifty-seven

pounds, and the Babylonian talent was to the Attic as seven to six; but

Boeckh considers the Babylonian talent as equal to the Æginetan, which

was about eighty-two pounds and a quarter. The Attic mina was not quite

a pound; the Æginetan not quite one pound six ounces, being always

one-sixtieth part of a talent.]

[Footnote 59: Odyss. iii. 40.]

[Footnote 60: The Greek has ἕνδεκα, eleven, being the number of letters

in Διὸς Σωτῆρος. I have altered the number to make it correspond to the

letters in "To Jupiter the Saviour."]

[Footnote 61: Liddell and Scott say the word κύλιξ is "probably from

the same root as λυλίνδω, κύλινδρος, from their round shape, for the υ

is against any connexion with κίω or κοῖλος."]

[Footnote 62: The cantharus was also a kind of beetle worshipped in

Egypt, and as such occasionally invoked in an oath.]

[Footnote 63: There is a pun here on the name, as if Peleus were

derived from πηλὸς, clay.]

[Footnote 64: This quotation from Nicomachus is hopelessly corrupt.]

[Footnote 65: The manes was a small brazen figure.]

[Footnote 66: This was the name given to the Spartan syssitia;

apparently derived from φείδομαι (to spare), but probably being rather

a corruption of φιλίτια (love feasts), a term answering to the Cretan

ἑταιρεῖα, from which they were said to be borrowed. Anciently they were

called ἀνδρεῖα, as in Crete.—_Vide_ Smith, Dict. Ant. _v._ Syssitia.]

[Footnote 67: Κυκεὼν, a mixture, especially a refreshing draught, made

of barley-meal, grated cheese, and Pramnian wine (_Il._ xi. 624), to

which Circe adds honey (_Od._ x. 234), and when it is ready puts in

magical drugs.—_Vide_ Liddell & Scott, in voc.]

[Footnote 68: This refers to a line of the Myrmidons of Æschylus, quoted

by Aristophanes—

τάδ οὐχ ὑπ̓ ἄλλων ἀλλὰ τοῖς αὑτῶν πτεροῖς ἁλισκόμεσθα,

and (perhaps) imitated by Waller—

"That eagle's fate and mine are one,

Who on the shaft that made him die,

Espied a feather of his own,

Wherewith he wont to soar so high."]

[Footnote 69: θρασύμαχος, an audacious disputant; a name

derived from θρασὺς, audacious, and μάχομαι, to

contend.]

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES.

1. Silently corrected simple spelling, grammar, and typographical

errors.

2. Retained anachronistic and non-standard spellings as

printed.

3. The last chapter (BOOK VII) of Volume I. is repeated as the first

chapter of this Volume (Volume II). The repetition has not been deleted.