Deipnosophistae

There is also a cup of the name of ethanion. Hellanicus, in his account of the History and Manners of the Egyptians, writes thus—

In the houses of the Egyptians are found a brazen φιάλη, and a brazen κύαθος, and a brazen ἠθάνιον.

There is another kind called hemitomus; a sort of cup in use among the Athenians, so called from its shape and it is mentioned by Pamphilus, in his Dialects.

Then there is the cup called the thericlean cup; this kind is depressed at the sides, sufficiently deep, having short ears, as being of the class of cup called κύλιξ. [*](Liddell and Scott say the word κύλιξ is probably from the same root as λυλίνδω, κύλινδρος, from their round shape, for the is against any connexion with κίω or κοῖλος. ) And, perhaps, it is out of a thericlean cup that Alexis, in his Hesione, represents Hercules to be drinking, when he speaks thus—

1. And when he had, though scarcely, come t' himself,
2. He begg'd a cup of wine (κύλικα), and when he'd got it,
3. He drank down frequent draughts, and drain'd it well;
4. And, as the proverb says, the man sometimes
5. Is quite a bladder, and sometimes a sack.

And that the thericlean cup belongs to the class κύλιξ is plainly stated by Theophrastus, in his History of Plants. For speaking of the turpentine-tree, be says—

And thericlean cups (κύλικες θηρίκλειοι) are turned of this wood, in such a manner that no one can distinguish them from earthenware ones.

And Thericles the Corinthian is said to have been the first maker of this kind of cup, and he was a potter originally, and it is after him that they have their name; and he lived about the same time as Aristophanes the comic poet. And Theopompus speaks of this cup, in his Nemea, where he says—

1. A. Come hither you, you faithful child of Thericles,
2. You noble shape, and what name shall we give you
3. Are you a looking-glass of nature? If
4. You were but full, then I could wish for nothing
5. Beyond your presence. Come then—
6. B. How I hate you,
7. You old Theolyta.
8. A. Old dost thou call me, friend?
9. B. What can I call you else? but hither come,
10. Let me embrace you; come to your fellow-servant:
11. Is it not so?
12. A. . . . . . . . . . . . . . you try me.
13. B. See here I pledge you in fair friendship's cup.
14. A. And when you've drunk your fill, then hand the cup
15. Over to me the first.

But Cleanthes, in his treatise on Interpretation, says—

And as for all these inventions, and whatever others there are of the same kind, such as the thericlean cup, the deinias, the iphicratis, it is quite plain that these, by their very names, indicate their inventors. And the same appears to be the case even now. And if they fail to do so, the name must have changed its meaning a little. But, as has been said before, one cannot in every case trust to a name.

But others state that the thericlean cup has its name from the skins of wild beasts (θηρίων) being carved on it. And Pamphilus of Alexandria says that it is so called from the fact of Bacchus disturbing the beasts (τοὺς θῆρας) by pouring libations out of these cups over them.

And Antiphanes mentions this kind of cup, in his Similitudes, saying—

1. And when they had done supper, (for I wish
2. To put all things that happen'd in the interval
3. Together,) then the thericlean cup
4. Of Jove the Saviour was introduced,
5. Full of the luscious drops which o'er the sea
6. Came from the isle of the delicious drinks,
7. The sea-girt Lesbos, full, and foaming up,
8. And each one in his right hand gladly seized it.

And Eubulus, in his Dolon, says—

1. I never drain'd a cup more carefully,
2. For I did make the earthen cask more clean
3. Than Thericles did make his well-turn'd cups
4. E'en in his youth.

And, in his Dice-players, he says—

1. And then they drain'd the valiant cup yclept
2. The thericlean; foaming o'er the brim,
3. With Lacedæmonian lip, loud sounding
4. As if 'twere full of pebbles, dark in colour,
5. A beauteous circle, with a narrow bottom,
6. Sparkling and brilliant, beautifully wash'd,
7. All crown'd with ivy; and the while they call'd
8. On the great name of Jove the Saviour.

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

1. O potter's earth, you whom great Thericles
2. Once fashion'd, widening out the circling depth
3. Of your large hollow sides; right well must you
4. Have known the natures and the hearts of women,
5. That they are not well pleased with scanty cups.

And Alexis, in his Horseman, says—

1. There is, besides, a thericlean cup,
2. Having a golden wreath of ivy round it,
3. Carved on it, not appended.

And in his Little Horse he says—

1. He drank a thericlean cup of unmix'd wine,
2. Right full, and foaming o'er the brim.

But Timæus, in the twenty-eighth book of his History, calls the cup thericlea, writing thus:—

There was man of the name of Polyxenus who was appointed one of the ambassadors from Tauromenium, and he returned having received several other presents from Nicodemus, and also a cup of the kind called thericlea.

And Adæus, in his treatise on Descriptions, considers that the thericleum and the car- chesium are the same. But that they are different is plainly shown by Callixenus, who, in his Account of Alexandria and its customs, says—

And some people marched in the procession, bearing thericlea (and he uses the masculine form θηρικλείους), and others bearing carchesia.

And what kind of cup the carchesium was, shall be explained in due time. There is also another kind called the thericlean bowl (θηρίκλειος κρατὴρ), which is mentioned by Alexis, in his Cycnus—

1. And in the midst a thericlean bowl
2. Resplendent stood; full of old clear white wine,
3. And foaming to the brim. I took it empty,
4. And wiped it round, and made it shine, and placed it
5. Firm on its base, and crown'd it round with branches
6. Of Bacchus' favourite ivy.

Menander also has used the form θηρίκλειος as feminine, in his Fanatic Woman, when he says—

1. And being moderately drunk, he took
2. And drain'd the thericleum (τὴν θηρίκλειον).

And in his Begging Priest he says—

1. Drinking a thericleum of three pints.

And Deoxippus, in his Miser, says—

1. A. I want now the large thericlean cup (τῆς θηρικλείου τῆς μεγάλης).
2. B. I know it well.
3. A. Likewise the Rhodian cups;
4. For when I've pour'd the liquor into them,
5. I always seem to drink it with most pleasure.

And Polemo, in the first book of his treatise on the Acropolis at Athens, has used the word in the neuter gender, saying—

Neoptolemus offered up some golden thericlean cups (τὰ θηρίκλεια) wrought on foundations of wood.

And Apollodorus of Gela, in his Philadelphi, or the Man who killed himself by Starvation, says—

1. Then there were robes of fine embroidery,
2. And silver plate, and very skilful chasers
3. Who ornament the thericlean cups,
4. And many other noble bowls besides.

And Aristophon, in his Philonides, says—

1. Therefore my master very lately took
2. The well-turn'd orb of a thericlean cup,
3. Full foaming to the brim with luscious wine,
4. Mix'd half-and-half, a most luxurious draught,
v.2.p.753
5. And gave it me as a reward for virtue;
6. I think because of my tried honesty;
7. And then, by steeping me completely in it,
8. He set me free.

And Theophilus, in his Bœotia, says—

1. He mixes beautifully a large cup
2. Of earthenware, of thericlean fashion,
3. Holding four pints, and foaming o'er the brim;
4. Not Autocles himself, by earth I swear,
5. Could in his hand more gracefully have borne it.

And, in his Prœtides, he says—

1. And bring a thericlean cup, which holds
2. More than four pints, and's sacred to good fortune.

There is also a cup called the Isthmian cup: and Pamphilus, in his treatise on Names, says that this is a name given to a certain kind of cup by the inhabitants of Cyprus.

There is also a kind of vessel called cadus; which Simmias states to be a kind of cup, quoting this verse of Anacreon—

1. I breakfasted on one small piece of cheesecake,
2. And drank a cadus full of wine.

And Epigenes, in his Little Monument, says—

1. A. Craters, and cadi, olkia, and crunea.
2. B. Are these crunea?
3. A. To be sure these are,
4. Luteria, too. But why need I name each
5. For you yourself shall see them.
6. B. Do you say
7. That the great monarch's son, Pixodarus,
8. Has come to this our land?

And Hedylus, in his Epigrams, says—

1. Let us then drink; perhaps among our cups
2. We may on some new wise and merry plan
3. With all good fortune light. Come, soak me well
4. In cups (κάδοις) of Chian wine, and say to me,

5. Come, sport and drink, good Hedylus;

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

And in another place he says—

1. From morn till night, and then from night till morn,
2. The thirsty Pasisocles sits and drinks,
3. In monstrous goblets (κάδοις), holding quite four quarts,
4. And then departs whatever way he pleases.
5. But midst his cups he sports more mirthfully,
6. And is much stronger than Sicelides.
7. How his wit sparkles I Follow his example,
8. And ever as you write, my friend, drink too.

But Clitarchus, in his treatise on Dialects, says that the Ionians call an earthenware cask κάδος. And Herodotus, in his third book, speaks of a cask (κάδος) of palm wine.

There is also the καδίσκος Philemon, in his treatise before mentioned, says that this too is a species of cup. And it is a vessel in which they place the Ctesian Jupiters, as Anticlides says, in his Book on Omens, where he writes,—

The statuettes of Jupiter Ctesius ought to be erected in this manner. One ought to place a new cadiscus with two ears . . .—and crown the ears with white wool; and on the right shoulder, and on the forehead . . . . and put on it what you find there, and pour ambrosia over it. But ambrosia is compounded of pure water, and oil, and all kinds of fruits; and these you must pour over.

Stratis the comic poet also mentions the cadiscus, in his Lemnomeda, where he says—

1. The wine of Mercury, which some draw forth
2. From a large jug, and some from a cadiscus,
3. Mix'd with pure water, half-and-half.

There is also the cantharus. Now, that this is the name of a kind of boat is well known. And that there is a kind of cup also called by this name we find from Ameipsias, in his Men Playing at the Cottabus, or Madness, where he says—

1. Bring here the vinegar cruets, and canthari.

And Alexis, in his Creation (the sentence refers to some one drinking in a wine-shop), says—

1. And then I saw Hermaiscus turning over
2. One of these mighty canthari, and near him
3. There lay a blanket, and his well-fill'd wallet.

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

1. But I (for opposite the house there was
2. A wine-shop recently establish'd)
3. There watch'd the damsel's nurse; and bade the vintner
4. Mix me a measure of wine worth an obol,
5. And set before me a full-sized cantharus.

And in another place he says—

1. How dry and empty is this cantharus!
2. And again, in another place-
3. Soon as she took it, she did drink it up,—
4. How much d'ye think? a most enormous draught;
5. And drain'd the cantharus completely dry.

And Xenarchus, in his Priapus, says this—

1. Pour, boy, no longer in the silver tankard,
2. But let us have again recourse to the deep.
3. Pour, boy, I bid you, in the cantharus,
4. Pour quick, by Jove, aye, by the Cantharus,[*](The cantharus was also a kind of beetle worshipped in Egypt, and as such occasionally invoked in an oath.) pour.

And Epigenes, in his Heroine, says—

1. But now they do no longer canthari make,
2. At least not large ones; but small shallow cups
3. Are come in fashion, and they call them neater,
4. As if they drank the cups, and not the wine.