Deipnosophistae

But we may decline entering on the subject of goblets of earthenware; for Ctesias says–

Among the Persians, that man only uses an earthenware who is dishonoured by the king.

1. Here in my hands I hold a wretched piece
2. Of earthen goblet, broken all around,
3. Sad relic of a band of merry feasters;
4. And often the fierce gale of wanton Bacchus
5. Dashes such wrecks with insult on the shore.

The cups which are called Rhodiacan are brought into drinking parties, because of the pleasure which they afford, and also because, when they are warmed, they deprive the wine of some of its intoxicating properties; for they are filled with myrrh and rushes, and other things of the same sort, put into water and then boiled; and when this mixture is put into the wine, the drinkers are less apt to become intoxicated.

The Rhodiacan cups consist of myrrh, flowery rushes, saffron, balsam, spikenard, and cinnamon, all boiled together; and when some of this compound is added to the wine, it has such effect in preventing intoxication, that it even diminishes the amorous propensities, checking the breath in some degree.

We ought not, then, to drink madly, looking at the multitude of these beautiful cups, made as they are with every sort of various art, in various countries.

But the common people,

Let us, then, as was the custom among the Athenians, drink our wine while listening to these jesters and buffoons, and to other artists of the same kind. And Philochorus speaks of this kind of people in these terms—

The Athenians, in the festivals of Bacchus, originally used to go to the spectacle after they had dined and drunk their wine; and they used to witness the games with garlands on their heads. But during the whole time that the games were going on, wine was continually being offered to them, and sweetmeats were constantly being brought round; and when the choruses entered, they were offered wine; and also when the exhibition was over, and they were departing, wine was offered to them again. And Pherecrates the comic poet bears witness to all these things, and to the fact that down to his own time the spectators were never left without refreshment.

Accordingly, men being delighted with this mixture, celebrated Bacchus in their songs, dancing and invoking him under the names of Euanthes, and Dithyrambus, and Baccheutes, and Bromius." And Theophrastus, in hi treatise on Drunkenness, says—

The nymphs are really the nurses of

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Bacchus; for the vines, when cut, pour forth a great deal of moisture, and after their own nature weep.

1. Aethops, who with his fervent heat doth ripen
2. Th' autumnal vines of sweetly flow'ring Bacchus,
3. From which men also call wine Aethops (αἴθοπα οἶνον).

1. Twelve large vessels of unmix'd red wine,
2. Mellifluous, undecaying, and divine,
3. Which now (some ages from his race conceal'd)
4. The hoary sire in gratitude reveal'd.
5. Such was the wine, to quench whose fervent steam
6. Scarce twenty measures from the living stream
7. To cool one cup sufficed; the goblet crown'd,
8. Breathed aromatic fragrancies around.[*](Odyss. xi. 209.)

1. He fill'd one cup, of well-turn'd iv'ry made,
2. With dark ambrosial drops of foaming wine;
3. And twenty measures of the sober stream
4. He poured in, and with the blood of Bacchus
5. Mingled fresh tears, shed by the weeping nymphs.

And I know, my messmates, of some men who were proud, not so much of their wealth in money as of the possession of many cups of silver and gold; one of whom is Pytheas the Arcadian, of the town of Phigalea, who, even when dying, did not hesitate to enjoin his servants to inscribe the following verses on his tomb:—

1. This is the tomb of Pytheas, a man
2. Both wise and good, the fortunate possessor
3. Of a most countless number of fine cups,
4. Of silver made, and gold, and brilliant amber.
5. These were his treasures, and of them he had
6. A store, surpassing all who lived before him.

And also they pride themselves exceedingly on the possession of as many goblets as possible; and even if they have acquired them by notorious malpractices, they are not at all ashamed of so doing; for injustice and covetousness are carried on to a great degree among them.

1. But the divine, the golden-hair'd hero,
2. Great Polynices, set before his father first
3. A silver table, beautifully wrought,
4. Whilome the property of th' immortal Cadmus;
5. And then he fill'd a beauteous golden cup
6. Up to the brim with sweet and fragrant wine;
7. But Œdipus, when with angry eyes he saw
8. The ornaments belonging to his sire
9. Now set before him, felt a mighty rage,
10. Which glow'd within his breast, and straightway pour'd
11. The bitterest curses forth on both his sons,
12. (Nor were they by the Fury all unheard,)
13. Praying that they might never share in peace
14. The treasures of their father, but for ever
15. With one another strive in arms and war.

And Cæcilius the orator who came from Cale Acte, in his treatise on History, says that Agathocles the Great, when displaying his golden drinking-cups to his companions, said that he had got all these from the earthenware cups which he had previously made. And in Sophocles, in the Larissæans, Acrisius had a great many drinking-cups; where the tragedian speaks as follows:—

1. And he proclaims to strangers from all quarters
2. A mighty contest, promising among them
3. Goblets well wrought in brass, and beauteous vases
4. Inlaid with gold, and silver drinking-cups,
5. Full twice threescore in number, fair to see.

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

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about the virgin who was thrown into the sea; and say that one of the leaders was in love with her, whose name was Enalus, and that he dived down, wishing to save the damsel; and that then both of them, being hidden by the waves, disappeared. But that in the course of time, when Methymna had now become populous, Enalus appeared again, and related what had happened, and how it had happened; and said that the damsel was still abiding among the Nereids, and that he himself had become the superintendent of Neptune's horses; but that a great wave having been cast on the shore, he had swam with it, and so come to land: and he had in his hand a goblet made of gold, of such wondrous workmanship that the golden goblets which they had, when compared with his, looked no better than brass.

And in former times the possession of drinking-cups was reckoned a very honourable thing. Accordingly, Achilles had a very superb cup as a sort of heirloom:—

1. But, mindful of the gods, Achilles went
2. To the rich coffer in his shady tent,
3. (There lay the presents of the royal dame;)
4. From thence he took a bowl of antique frame,
5. Which never man had stain'd with ruddy wine,
6. Nor raised in offerings to the pow'rs divine,
7. But Peleus' son; and Peleus' son to none
8. Had raised in offerings but to Jove alone.[*](Iliad, xvi. 225, Pope's version.)

1. And she received the gift, and on the bowl
2. Admiring gazed with much delighted soul.

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

1. They pledged each other in their golden cups.[*](Iliad, iv. 3.)

And the ancients affixed a great value to such goblets as had any story engraved upon them; and in the art of engraving cups in this manner, a high reputation was enjoyed by Cimon and Athenocles. They used also drinking-cups inlaid with precious stones. And Menander, somewhere or other, speaks of drinking-cups turned by the turning-lathe, and chased; and Antiphanes says—

1. And others drain with eager lips the cup,
2. Full of the juice of ancient wine, o'ershadow'd
3. With sparkling foam,—the golden-wrought rich cup,
4. Which circled round they raised: one long, deep draught
5. They drain, and raise the bottom to the skies.

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

1. Could you but see the well-prepared cups,
2. All made of gold, my Trophimus; by heaven,
3. They are magnificent! I stood amazed
4. When I beheld them first. Then there were also
5. Large silver cups, and jugs larger than I.

The weight of goblets of gold is seventy-three Babylonian talents, and fifty-two mitæ.[*](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 Aeginetan, which was about eighty-two pounds and a quarter. The Attic mina was not quite a pound; the Aeginetan not quite one pound six ounces, being always one-sixteenth part of a talent.) The weight of goblets inlaid with precious stones, is fifty-six Babylonian talents, and thirty-four minæ.

And the custom was, to put the water into the cup first, and the wine afterwards. Accordingly, Xenophanes says—

1. And never let a man a goblet take,
2. And first pour in the wine; but let the water
3. Come first, and after that, then add the wine.

1. Bring me water -bring me wine,
2. Quick, O boy; and bring, besides,
3. Garlands, rich with varied flowers;
4. And fill the cup, that I may not
5. Engage in hopeless strife with love.

1. Pour in three measures of the limpid stream,
2. Pure from an everflowing spring; and then
3. Add a fourth cup of sacred rosy wine.

The ancient fashion of the mixture of wine was quite opposite to the way in which it is managed at the present day; for they were not accustomed to pour the water on the wine, but the wine on the water, in order, when drinking, not to have their liquor too strong, and in order also, when they had drunk to satiety, to have less desire for more. And they also consumed a good deal of this liquor, mixed as it was, in the game of the cottabus.

Now of carvers of goblets the following men had a high reputation,—Athenocles, Crates, Stratonicus, Myrmecides the Milesian, Callicrates the Lacedæmonian, and Mys; by which last artist we have seen a Heraclean cup, having most beautifully wrought on it the capture of Troy, and bearing also this inscription—

1. The sketch was by Parrhasius,—by Mys
2. The workmanship; and now I represent
3. The lofty Troy, which great Achilles took.

Now among the Cretans, the epithet κλεινὸς, illustrious, is often given to the objects of one's affection. And it is a matter of great desire among them to carry off beautiful boys; and among them it is considered discreditable to a beautiful boy not to have a lover. And the name given to the boys who are carried off in that manner is παρασταθέντες. And they give to the boy who has been carried off a robe, and an ox, and a drinking-cup. And the robe they wear even when they are become old, in order to show that they have been κλεινοί.

1. You see that when men drink, they then are rich;
2. They do whate'er they please,—they gain their actions,
3. They're happy themselves, and they assist their friends.

1. When the sad, laborious cares
2. Flee from the weary hearts of men,
3. And in the wide, expansive ocean
4. Of golden wealth we all set sail,
5. Floating towards the treacherous shore.
6. E'en he who is poor, is rich when he
7. Has fill'd his soul with rosy wine;
8. And he who's rich. . . .

1. becomes elated
2. Beneath the glad dominion of the vine.

There is a kind of drinking-cup also called ancyla, or curved; a kind especially useful for the play of the cottabus. Cratinus says—

1. 'Tis death to drink of wine when water's mix'd:
2. But she took equal shares, two choes full
3. Of unmix'd wine, in a large ancyla:
4. And calling on her dear Corinthian lover
5. By name, threw in his honour a cottabus.

1. When she does throw to the youths a cottabus
2. From her ancyla, stretching her white arm forth.

1. The cottabus of th' ancyla (ἀγκυλήτους κοττάβους).

In Timachides there is also a kind of drinking-cup mentioned, called the æacis.

There is another kind also, called the ἄκατος,or boat, being shaped like a boat. Epicrates says—

1. Throw down th' acatia,

1. and take instead
2. The larger goblets; and the old woman lead
3. Straight to the cup; . . . the younger maiden . . . .
4. . . . . . . . fill it; have your oar
5. All ready, loose the cables, bend the sails.

There is also a kind of cup called aroclum, which is mentioned by Nicander the Colophonian.

The cup called ἄλεισον, is the same as that called δέπας. Homer, in his Odyssey, speaking of Pisistratus, says—

1. In a rich golden cup he pour'd the wine;[*](Odyss. iii. 40.)

1. To each a portion of the feast he bore,
2. And held the golden goblet (ἄλεισον) foaming o'er;

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

The δέπας appears to me to have been much of the same shape as the φιάλη. For men make libations with it. Accordingly, Homer says,—

1. The cup which Peleus' son
2. Had raised in offerings to Jove alone.

And it is called δέπας, either because it is given to all (δίδοται πᾶσι) who wish to make libations, or who wish to drink; or because it has two ears (δύο ὦπας), for ὦπες must be the same as ὦτα. And it has the name of ἄλεισον, either from being very smooth (ἄγαν λεῖον), or because the liquor is collected (ἁλίζεται) in it. And that it had two ears is plain—

1. High in his hands he rear'd the golden bowl
2. By both its ears.

But when he applies the word ἀμφικύπελλον to it, he means nothing more than ἀμφίκυρτον curved on both sides.

There is also a kind of cup called the horn of Amalthea, and another called ἐνιαυτὸς, or the year.

There is also a kind of cup made of wood, called ἄμφωτις, which Philetas says that the countrymen use, who milk their cattle into it, and then drink the milk.

There is also a kind of drinking called ἄμυστις, when any one drinks a long draught without taking breath and without winking (μὴ μύσαντα). And they give the same name to the goblets from which it is easy to drink in this manner. And they also use a verb (ἐκμυστίζω) for drinking without taking breath, as Plato the comic poet says—

1. And opening a fair cask of fragrant wine,
2. He pours it straight into the hollow cup;
3. And then he drank it sheer and not disturb'd,
4. And drain'd it at one draught (ἐξεμύστισε).

1. Gentle musician, let that dulcet strain
2. Proceed; and, while I drink this luscious draught,
3. Play you a tune; then you shall drink yourself.
4. For mortal man has no great wants on earth,
5. Except to love and eat;-and you're too stingy.

There is also a kind of cup called Antigonis, from the name of king Antigonus: like the Seleucis from kin Seleucus; and the Prusis, from king Prusias.

There is also a kind of cup known in Crete, and called anaphæa, which they use for hot drinks.

There is also a kind of cup called aryballus. This kind of cup is wider at the bottom, and contracted at to like a purse when it is drawn together; and, indeed, some people call purses ἀρύβαλλοι, from their resemblance to this kind of cup. Aristophanes says, in his Knights—

1. He pour'd upon his head
2. Ambrosia from a holy cup (ἀρύβαλλος).

1. You are most accursed of all women,
2. Who come to supper with your ἀρύστεις.

There is another kind of cup called argyris, which is not necessarily made of silver. Anaxilas says—

1. And drinking out of golden argyrides.

Then batiacium, labronius, tragelaphus, pristis, are all names of different kinds of cups. The batiaca is a Persian goblet. And among the letters of the great Alexander to the Satraps of Asia there is inserted one letter in which the following passage occurs:—

There are three batiacæ of silver gilt, and a hundred and seventy-six silver condya; and of these last thirty-three are gilt. There is also one silver tigisites, and thirty-two silver-gilt mystri. There is one silver vegetable dish, and one highly wrought wine-stand of silver ornamented in a barbaric style. There are other small cups from every country, and of every kind of fashion, to the number of twenty-nine: and other small-sized cups called rhyta, adbatia, and Lycurgi, all gilt, and incense-burners and spoons.

There is a cup used by the Alexandrians named bessa, wider in the lower parts, and narrow above.

There is also a kind of cup called baucalis: and this, too, is chiefly used in Alexandria, as Sopater the parodist says—

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

1. 'Tis sweet for men to drink (καταβαυκαλίσαι)
2. Cups of the juice by bees afforded,
3. At early dawn, when parch'd by thirst,
4. Caused by too much wine overnight.

There is also a kind of cup called bicus. Xenophon, in the first book of his Anabasis, says:—"And Cyrus sent him a number of goblets (βίκους) of wine half full; and it is a cup of a flat shallow shape, like a φιάλη, according to the description given of it by Pollux the Parian.

There is another kind of cup called the bombylius; a sort of Rhodian Thericlean cup; concerning the shape of which Socrates says,—

Those who drink out of the phiale as much as they please will very soon give over; but those who drink out of a bombylius drink by small drops.

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

There is another kind called the lettered cup, having writing engraved round it. Alexis says—

1. A. Shall I describe to you the appearance first
2. O' the cup you speak of? Know, then, it was round;
3. Exceeding small; old, sadly broken too
4. About the ears; and all around the brim
5. Were carved letters.
6. B. Were there those nineteen
7. Engraved in gold,—To Jupiter the Saviour?[*](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. )
8. A. Those, and no others.

1. And the god's cup long since has call'd me,
2. Showing this writing,—delta, then iota,
3. The third letter was omega, then nu,
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4. Then u came next, and after that a sigma
5. And omicron were not deficient.

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

1. Before long series of songs were heard,
2. And the ill-sounding san from out men's mouths.

1. A. Above all things I hate a letter'd cup,
2. Since he, my son, the time he went away,
3. Had such a cup with him.
4. B. There are many like it.