Deipnosophistae

There is also the cotylus. The cotylus is a cup with one handle, which is also mentioned by Alcæus. But Diodorus, in his book addressed to Lycophron, says that this cup is greatly used by the Sicyonians and Tarentines, and that it is like a deep luterium, and sometimes it has an ear. And Ion the Chian also mentions it, speaking of

a cotylus full of wine.

! And Hermippus, in his Gods, says—

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

And Plato, in his Jupiter Afflicted, says—

1. He brings a cotylus.

Aristophanes also, in his Babylonians, mentions the cotylus; and Eubulus, in his Ulysses, or the Panoptæ, says—

1. And then the priest utt'ring well-omen'd prayers,
2. Stood in the midst, and in a gorgeous dress,
3. Pour'd a libation from the cotylus.

And Pamphilus says that it is a kind of cup, and peculiar to Bacchus. But Polemo, in his treatise on the Fleece of the Sheep sacrificed to Jupiter, says—

And after this he celebrates a sacrifice, and takes the sacred fleece out of its shrine, and distributes it among all those who have borne the cernus in the procession: and this is a vessel made of earthenware, having a number of little cups glued to it; and in these little

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cups there is put sage, and white poppies, and ears of wheat, and grains of barley, and peas, and pulse, and rye, and lentils, and beans, and vetches, and bruised figs, and chaff and oil, and honey, and milk, and wine, and pieces of unwashed sheep's-wool. And he who has carried this cernus eats of all these things, like the man who has carried the mystic fan.

There is also the cotyle. Aristophanes, in his Cocalus, says—

1. And other women, more advanced in age,
2. Into their stomachs pour'd, without restraint,
3. From good-sized cotylæ, dark Thasian wine,
4. The whole contents of a large earthen jar,
5. Urged by their mighty love for the dark wine.

And Silenus, and Clitarchus, and also Zenodotus; say that it is a kind of κύλιξ, and say—

1. And all around the corpse the black blood flow'd,
2. As if pour'd out from some full cotyle.

And again—

1. There is many a slip
2. 'Twixt the cup (κοτύλης) and the lip.

And Simaristus says that it is a very small-sized cup which is called by this name; and Diodorus says that the poet has here called the cup by the name of cotyle, which is by others called cotylus, as where we find- πύρνον (bread) καὶ κοτύλην; and that it is not of the class κύλιξ, for that it has no handles, but that it is very like a deep luterium, and a kind of drinking cup (ποτηρίου); and that it is the same as that which by the Aetolians, and by some tribes of the Ionians, is called cotylus, which is like those which have been already described, except that it has only one ear: and Crates mentions it in his Sports, and Hermippus in his Gods. But the Athenians give the name of κοτύλη to a certain measure. Thucydides says—

They gave to each of them provisions for eight months, at the rate of a cotyla of water and two cotylæ of corn a-day.

Aristophanes, in his Proagon, says—

1. And having bought three chœnixes of meal,
2. All but one cotyla, he accounts for twenty.

But Apollodorus says that it is a kind of cup, deep and hollow; and he says—

The ancients used to call everything that was hollow κοτύλη, as, for instance, the hollow of the hand; on which account we find the expression κοτολήρυτον

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αἷμα—meaning, blood in such quantities that it could be taken up in the hand. And there was a game called ἐγκοτύλη, in which those who are defeated make their hands hollow, and then take hold of the knees of those who have won the game and carry them.

And Diodorus, in his Italian Dialects, and Heraclitus (as Pamphilus says), relate that the cotyla is also called hemina, quoting the following passage of Epicharmus:—

1. And then to drink a double measure,
2. Two heminæ of tepid water full,

And Sophron says—

1. Turn up the hemina, O boy.

But Pherecrates calls it a cotylisca, in his Corianno, saying—

1. The cotylisca? By no means.

And Aristophanes, in his Acharnians, uses a still more diminutive form, and says—

1. A cotyliscium (κοτυλίσκιον) with a broken lip.

And even the hollow of the hip is called κοτύλη; and the excrescences on the feelers of the polypus are, by a slight extension of the word, called κοτυληδών. And Aeschylus, in his Edonians, has called cymbals also κότυλαι, saying—

1. And he makes music with his brazen κότυλαι.

But Marsyas says that the bone of the hip is also called ἄλεισον and κύλιξ. And the sacred bowl of Bacchus is called κοτυλίσκος; and so are those goblets which the initiated use for their libations; as Nicander of Thyatira says, adducing the following passage from the Clouds of Aristophanes:—

1. Nor will I crown the cotyliscus.

1. And Simmias interprets the word κοτύλη by ἄλεισον.

There is also the cottabis. Harmodius of Lepreum, in his treatise on the Laws and Customs of Phigalea, going through the entertainments peculiar to different countries, writes as follows:—

When they have performed all these purificatory ceremonies, a small draught is offered to each person to drink in a cottabis of earthenware; and he who offers it says, 'May you sup well.'

But Hegesander the Delphian, in his Commentaries (the beginning of which is

In the best Form of Government

), says—

That which is called the cottabus has been introduced into entertainments, the Sicilians (as Dicæarchus relates) having been the first people to introduce it. And such great fondness was ex-

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hibited for this amusement, that men even introduced into entertainments contests, which were called cottabia games; and then cups of the form which appeared to be most suitable for such an exercise were made, called cottabide. And besides all this, rooms were built of a round figure, in order that all, the cottabus being placed in the middle might contest the victory, all being at an equal distance, and in similar situations. For they vied with one another, not only in throwing their liquor at the mark, but also in doing everything with elegance; for a man was bound to lean on his left elbow, and, making a circuit with his right hand, to throw his drops (τὴν λάταγα) over gently—for that was the name which they gave to the liquor which fell from the cup: so that some prided themselves more on playing elegantly at the cottabus than others did on their skill with the javelin.

There is also the cratanium. But perhaps this is the same cup, under an ancient name, as that which is now called the craneum: accordingly, Polemo (or whoever it is who wrote the treatise on the Manners and Customs of the Greeks), speaking of the temple of the Metapontines which is at Olympia, writes as follows:—

The temple of the Metapontines, in which there are a hundred and thirty-two silver phialæ, and two silver wine-jars, and a silver apothystanium, and three gilt phialæ. The temple of the Byzantians, in which there is a figure of Triton, made of cypress-wood, holding a silver cratanium, a silver siren, two silver carchesia, a silver culix, a golden wine-jar, and two horns. But in the old temple of Juno, there are thirty silver phialæ, two silver cratania, a silver dish, a golden apothystanium, a golden crater (the offering of the Cyrenæans), and a silver batiacium.

There is also the crounea. Epigenes, in his Monument, says—

1. A. Crateres, cadi, holcia, crounea,
2. B. Are these crounea?
3. A. Yes, indeed these are.

There is the cyathis also. This is a vessel with a great resemblance to the cotyla. Sophron, in his play entitled the Buffoon, represents the women who profess to exhibit the goddess as present, as saying—

1. Three sovereign antidotes for poison
2. Are buried in a single cyathis.

Then there is the κύλιξ. Pherecrates, in his Slave Tutor, says—

1. Now wash the κύλιξ out; I'll give you then
2. Some wine to drink: put o'er the cup a strainer,
3. And then pour in some wine.

But the κύλιξ is a drinking-cup made of earthenware, and it is so called from being made circular (ἀπὸ τοῦ κυλίεσθαι) by the potter's wheel; from which also the κυλικεῖον, the place in which the cups are stored up, gets its name, even when the cups put away in it are made of silver. There is also the verb κυλικηγορέω, derived from the same source, when any one makes an harangue over his cups But the Athenians also call a medicine chest κυλικὶς, because it is made round in a turning-lathe. And the κύλικες, both at Argos and at Athens, were in great repute; and Pindar mentions the Attic κύλικες in the following lines—

1. O Thrasybulus, now I send
2. This pair of pleasantly-meant odes
3. As an after-supper entertainment for you.
4. May it, I pray, be pleasing
5. To all the guests, and may it be a spur
6. To draw on cups of wine,

And richly-fill'd Athenian κύλικες.

But the Argive κύλικες appear to have been of a different shape from the Athenian ones. At all events, they tapered towards a point at the brims, as Simonides of Amorgos says—

1. But this is taper-brimm'd (φοξίχειλος),

that is to say, drawn up to a point towards the top; such as those which are called ἄμβικες. For they use the word φοξὸς in this sense, as Homer does when speaking of Thersites—

1. His head was sharp at top.

And the word is equivalent to φαοξὸς,—it being perceived to be sharp (ὀξὺς) in the part where the eyes (τὰ φάη) are.

And very exquisitely wrought κύλικες are made at Naucratis, the native place of our companion Athenæus. For some are in the form of phialæ, not made in a lathe, but formed by hand, and having four handles, and being widened considerably towards the bottom: (and there are a great many potters at Naucratis, from whom the gate nearest to the potteries (κεραμείων) is called the Ceramic gate:) and they are dyed in such a manner as to appear like silver. The

Chian κύλικες also are highly extolled, which Hermippus mentions in his Soldiers—

1. And a Chian κύλιξ hung on a peg aloft.

But Glaucon, in his Dialects, says that the inhabitants of Cyprus call the cotyle culix. And Hipponax, in his Synonymes, writes thus—

The aleisum, the poterium, the cupellum, the amphotis, the scyphus, the culix, the cothon, the carchesium, the phiale.

And Achæus of Eretria, in his Alcmæon, instead of κύλικες, has lengthened the word, and written κυλιχνίδες, in these lines—

1. But it is best to bring, as soon as possible,
2. Dark wine, and one large common bowl for all,
3. And some κυλιχνίδες besides

And Alcæus says—

1. Let us at once sit down and drink our wine,
2. Why do we wait for lights? Our day is but
3. A finger's span. Bring forth large goblets (κύλιχναι) now
4. Of various sorts. For the kind liberal son
5. Of Jove and Semele gave rosy wine,
6. Which bids us all forget our griefs and cares;
7. So pour it forth, and mix in due proportion.

And in his tenth Ode he says—

1. Drops of wine (λάταγες) fly from Teian culichnæ,

showing, by this expression, that the κύλικες of Teos were exceedingly beautiful.

Pherecrates also says, in his Corianno—

1. A. For I am coming almost boil'd away
2. From the hot bath; my throat is parch'd and dry;
3. Give me some wine. I vow my mouth and all
4. My jaws are sticky with the heat.
5. B. Shall I
6. Then take the κυλίσκη, O damsel, now?
7. A. By no means, 'tis so small; and all my bile
8. Has been stirr'd up since I did drink from it,
9. Not long ago, some medicine. Take this cup
10. Of mine, 'tis larger, and fill that for me.

And that the women were in the habit of using large cups, Pherecrates himself expressly tells us in his Tyranny, where he says—

1. And then they bade the potter to prepare
2. Some goblets for the men, of broader shape,
3. Having no walls, but only a foundation,
4. And scarcely holding more than a mere shell.
5. More like to tasting cups; but for themselves
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6. They order good deep κύλικες, good-sized,
7. Downright wine-carrying transports, wide and round,
8. Of delicate substance, swelling in the middle.
9. A crafty order: for with prudent foresight
10. They were providing how, without much notice,
11. They might procure the largest quantity
12. Of wine to drink themselves; and then when we
13. Reproach them that 'tis they who've drunk up everything,
14. They heap abuse on us, and swear that they,
15. Poor injured dears, have only drunk one cup,
16. Though their one's larger than a thousand common cups.

Then there are cymbia. These are a small hollow kind of cup, according to Simaristus. But Dorotheus says,

The cymbium is a kind of deep cup, upright, having no pedestal and no handles.

But Ptolemy the father of Aristonicus calls them

curved goblets.

And Nicander of Thyatira says that Theopompus, in his Mede, called a cup without handles cymbium. Philemon, in his Vision, says—

1. But when fair Rhode came and shook above you
2. A cymbium full of mighty unmix'd wine.

But Dionysius of Samos, in the sixth book of his treatise on the Cyclic Poets, thinks that the κισσύβιον and the κύμβιον are the same. For he says that Ulysses, having filled a cymbium with unmixed wine, gave it to the Cyclops. But the cup mentioned in Homer, as having been given to him by Ulysses, is a good-sized cissybium; for if it had been a small cup, he, who was so enormous a monster, would not have been so quickly overcome by drunkenness, when he had only drunk it three times. And Demosthenes mentions the cymbium in his oration against Midias, saying that he was accompanied by rhyta and cymbia: and in his orations against Euergus and Mnesibulus. But Didymus the grammarian says that is a cup of an oblong shape, and narrow in figure, very like the shape of a boat. And Anaxandrides, in his Clowns, says—

1. Perhaps large cups (ποτήρια) immoderately drain'd,
2. And cymbia full of strong unmixed wine,
3. Have bow'd your heads, and check'd your usual spirit.

And Alexis, in his Knight, says—

1. A. Had then those cymbia the faces of damsels
2. Carved on them in pure gold?
3. B. Indeed they had.
4. A. Wretched am I, and wholly lost . . . .