Deipnosophistae

And so great was the luxury of the ancients in respect of their sumptuous meals, that they not only had cupbearers, but also men whom they called œnoptæ (inspectors of wines). At all events, the office of œnoptæ is a regular office among the Athenians; and it is mentioned by Eupolis, in his play called The Cities, in the following lines—

1. And men whom heretofore you'd not have thought
2. Fit e'en to make œnoptæ of, we now
3. See made commanders. But oh, city, city!
4. How much your fortune does outrun your sense.

And these œnoptæ superintended the arrangement of banquets, taking care that the guests should drink on equal terms. But it was an office of no great dignity, as Philinus the orator tells us, in his debate on the Croconidæ. And he tells us, too, that the œnoptæ were three in number, and that they also provided the guests with lamps and wicks. And some. people called them

eyes;

but among the Ephesians, the youths who acted as cupbearers at the festival of Neptune were called

bulls,

as Amerias tells us. And the people of the Hellespont call the cupbearer ἐπεγχύτης, or the pourer out; and they call carving, which we call κρεωνομία, κρεωδαισία, as Demetrius of Scepsis tells us, in the twenty-sixth book of his Arrangement of the Trojan Forces. And some say that the nymph Harmonia acted as cupbearer to the gods; as Capito the epic poet relates (and he was a native of Alexandria by birth), in the second book of his Love Poems. But Alcæus also represents Mercury as their cupbearer; as also does Sappho, who says—

1. And with ambrosia was a goblet mix'd,
2. And Mercury pour'd it out to all the gods.

But the ancients used to call the men who discharged this office, heralds (κήρυκες). Homer says—

1. Meanwhile the heralds through the crowded town
2. Bring the rich wine and destined victims down.
3. Idæus's arms the golden goblets prest,
4. Who thus the venerable king addrest.

And a few lines further on he says—

1. On either side a sacred herald stands;
2. The wine they mix, and on each monarch's hands
3. Pour the full urn.

But Clidemus says that the cooks used to be called heralds. And some people have represented Hebe as acting as cupbearer to the gods, perhaps because their banquets were called Hebeteria. And Ptolemy, the son of Agesarchus, speaks of a damsel named Cleino as the cupbearer of Ptolemy the king, who was surnamed Philadelphus, mentioning her in the third book of his History of Philopator. But Polybius, in the fourteenth book of his History, adds that there are statues of her in Alexandria, in many parts of the city, clad in a tunic alone, holding a cup in her hand.

And so, after this conversation, Ulpian drinking a goblet of wine, said—

1. I drink this cup, a pledge of friendship dear,
2. To all my kinsmen, naming them.

And while he was still drinking, one of those who were present quoted the rest of the passage—

1. When I have drunk, I'll say
2. The rest; for I am choked: but now drink this.

And Ulpian, when he had drunk it up, said,—Clearchus has these lines in his Harp Player; but I, as is said in the Wool-spinners of Amphis, recommend—

1. Let the boy wait on all with frequent goblets.

And again—

1. You fill for me, and I will give you drink;
2. So shall the almond with the almond play:

as Xenarchus says, in his Twins. And accordingly, where some of the guests asked for more wine, and others wished to have it mixed half-and-half, and when some one mentioned that Archippus, in the second edition of his Amphitryon, said—

1. Wretch, who has mix'd for you this half-and-half?

and that Cratinus had said—

1. Giving him half-and-half; but I'm undone;

every one seemed to agree to speak of the way of mixing wine among the ancients.

And when some one mentioned that Menander, in his Hero, said—

1. Here is a measure of well-temper'd wine;
2. Take it, and drink it up;—

Democritus said—Hesiod, my friends, recommends men

1. To pour three parts of water in the cup,
2. And let the fourth part be the vinous juice.

And, perhaps, it was on account of Hesiod that Anaxilas said, in his Nereus,—

1. And this is much more pleasant; for I'd never
2. Have drunk one part of wine to three of water.

And Alexis, in his Nurse, recommends even a more moderate mixture than this—

1. See, here is wine. Shall I, then, give to Criton
2. Equal proportions? This is better far,
3. One part of wine to four of limpid water:
4. Perhaps you'll call that weak; but still, when you
5. Have drunk your fill of this, you'll find your head
6. Clear for discussion,—and the drink lasts longer.

And Diocles, in his Bees, says—

1. A. In what proportions should the wine be mix'd?
2. B. Four parts of water to two parts of wine.

And this mixture, as it is not that in ordinary use, put the questioner in mind of the well-known proverb,—

1. Drink waters three or five; but never four.

That they mean is, You had better take two parts wine with five of water, or one of wine to three of water. But, concerning this mixture, Ion the poet, in his book on Chios, says that Palamedes the soothsayer discovered and prophesied to the Greeks, that they would have a favourable voyage if they drank one portion of wine to three of water. But they, applying themselves to their drink very vigorously, took two pints of wine to five of water;—accordingly Nicochares in his Amymone, playing on the name, says—

1. Here, you Œnornaus,—here. you two and five,—
2. Let you and I now have a drink together.

And he said nearly the same in his Lemnian Women: and Ameipsias, in his Men Playing the Cottabus, says—

1. But I (it is Bacchus who is represented as speaking) am five and two to all of you.

And Eupolis says, in his Goats,—

1. Hail, my friend Bacchus, are you two to five?

And Hermippus says, in his Gods,—

1. A. Then, when we drink, or when we thirsty are,
2. We pray our wine may be in due proportion.
3. B. I do not bring it from a roguish wine-vault,
4. Meaning to mock you: this which I do bring
5. Is, as before, the proper two and five.

But in Anacreon we find one measure of wine to two of water spoken of—

1. Come, my boy, and bring to me
2. Such a cup as I may drink
3. At one easy draught: pour in
4. Ten cyathi of water pure,
5. And five of richest Chian wine;
6. That I may drink, from fear removed,
7. And free from drunken insolence.

And going on presently, he calls the drinking of unmixed wine, a Scythian draught—

1. Come hither, now, and let us not
2. Give way to vulgar shouts and noise,
3. Indulging in the Scythian draughts
4. While o'er our wine; but let us drink,
5. Singing well-omen'd, pious hymns.

And the Lacedæmonians, according to the statement of Herodotus, in his sixth book, say that Cleomenes the king, having lived among the Scythians, and got the habit of drinking unmixed wine, became perfectly mad from his habit of drunkenness. And the Lacedæmonians themselves, when they take it into their heads to drink hard, say that they are Episcythising. Accordingly, Chamæleon of Heraclea, in his book on Drunkenness, writes thus concerning them:—

Since the Lacedæmonians say also, that Cleomenes the Spartan became ma d from having lived among the Scythians, and there learnt to drink unmixed wine; on which account, when they take a fancy to drink unmixed wine they desire their slaves to pour out in the Scythian fashion.

And Achæus, in his Aethon, a satyric drama, represents the Satyrs as indignant at being compelled to drink their wine watered, and as saying—

1. Was the whole Achelous in this wine?
2. But even then this race would not cease drinking,
3. For this is all a Scythian's happiness.

But the habit of pouring libations of pure wine, as Theophrastus says, in his treatise on Drinking, was not ancient; but originally libations were what is given to the Gods, and the cottabus, what was devoted to the object of one's love. For men practised throwing the cottabus with great care, it being originally a Sicilian sport, as Anacreon - the Teian says—

1. Throwing, with his well-bent arm
2. The Sicilian cottabus.

On which account those songs of the ancient poets, which are called scolia, are full of mention of the cottabus.[*](The cottabus was a Sicilian game, much in vogue at the drinking-parties of young men in Athens. The simplest mode was when each threw the wine left in his cup so as to strike smartly in a metal basin, at the same time invoking his mistress's name. If all fell in the basin, and the sound was clear, it was a sign that he stood well with her. The basin was called κοτταβεῖον, the action of throwing ἀποκοτταβίζειν, and the wine thrown λάταγες, or λαταγή. The game afterwards became more complicated, and was played in various ways; sometimes a number of little cups (ὀξύβαφα) were set floating, and he who threw his cottabus so as to upset the greatest number, in a given number of throws, won the prize, which was also called κοτταβεῖον. Sometimes the wine was thrown upon a scale (πλάστιξ), suspended over a little image (μάνης) placed in water: here the cottabus was to be thrown so as to make the scale descend upon the head of the image. It seems quite uncertain what the word is derived from.—Vide L. & S. Gr. Eng. Lex. υ. κότταβος. ) I mean, for instance, such a scolion as Pindar composed—

1. And rightly I adore the Graces,
2. Nymphs of Venus and of Love,
3. While drinking with a loving heart
4. This sounding cottabus I pour
5. To Agathon, my heart's delight.

And they also consecrated to those of their friends who were dead, all that portion of their victuals which fell from their tables. On which account Euripides says of Sthenoboea, when she thinks that Bellerophon is dead—

1. Nothing escaped her from her hand which fell,
2. But in a moment she did couple it
3. With the loved name of the Corinthian stranger.

But the ancients were not in the habit of getting drunk. But Pittacus recommended Periander of Priene not to get drunk, nor to become too much addicted to feasting,

so that,

says he,

it may not be discovered what sort of a

v.2.p.675

person you really are, and that you are not what you pretend to be.

—

1. For brass may be a mirror for the face,—
2. Wine for the mind.

On which account they were wise men who invited the proverb,

Wine has no rudder.

Accordingly, Xenophon the son of Gryllus, (when once at the table of Dionysius the tyrant of Sicily, the cupbearer was compelling the guests to drink,) addressed the tyrant himself by name, and said,

Why, O Dionysius, does not also the confectioner, who is a skilful man in his way, and one who understands a great many different recipes for dressing things, compel us also, when we are at a banquet, to eat even when we do not wish to; but why, on the contrary, does he spread the table for us in an orderly manner, in silence?

And Sophocles, in one of his Satyric dramas, says—

1. To be compell'd to drink is quite as hard
2. As to be forced to bear with thirst.

From which also is derived the saying—

1. Wine makes an old man dance against his will.

And Sthenelus the poet said very well—

1. Wine can bring e'en the wise to acts of folly.

And Phocylides says—

1. It should be a rule for all wine-bibbing people
2. Not to let the jug limp round the board like a cripple,
3. But gaily to chat while enjoying their tipple:

and to this day this custom prevails among some of the Greeks. But since they have begun to be luxurious and have got effeminate they have given up their chairs and taken to couches; and having taken indolence and laziness for their allies, they have indulged in drinking in an immoderate and disorderly manner; the very way in which the tables were laid contributing, as I imagine, to luxury.

And it is on this account that Hesiod, in his Eoæ, has said—

1. What joys and also what exceeding pains
2. Has Bacchus given to mortal men who drink,
3. Indulging in excess: for to such men
4. Wine is an insolent master, binding fast'
5. Their feet and hands, their tongues and intellects,
6. With chains unspeakable, unnoticeable;
7. And tender sleep loves on their eyes to fall.

And Theognis says—

1. I come like wine, the sweetest drink of men,—
2. I am not sober, nor yet very drunk;
3. But he who goes to great excess in drink
4. Is no more master of his mind or senses;
5. Then he talks unintelligible nonsense,
6. Which seems to sober men a shameful thing;
7. But he, when drunk, is not ashamed of anything,
8. E'en though at other times a modest man
9. And gentle-minded. Mind you this, my friend,
10. And don't indulge in drinking to excess,
11. But rise from table ere the wine begins
12. To take effect; nor let your appetite
13. Reduce you to become its daily slave.

But Anacharsis the philosopher, wishing to exhibit the power of the vine to the king of the Scythians, and showing him some of its branches, said that if the Greeks did not prune it every year it would by this time have reached to Scythia.