Deipnosophistae

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 . . . .

But Eratosthenes, in his letter addressed to Ageton the Lacedæmonian, says, that the cymbium is a vessel of the shape of the cyathus, writing thus—

But these men marvel how a man who had not got a cyathus, but only a cymbium, had, besides that, also a phiale. Now it seems to me, that he had one for the use of men, but the other for the purpose of doing honour to the Gods. And at that time they never used the cyathus nor the cotyla. For they used to employ, in the sacrifices of the Gods, a crater, not made of silver nor inlaid with precious stones, but made of Coliad clay. And as often as they replenished this, pouring a libation to the Gods out of the phiale, they then poured out wine to all the company in order, bailing out the newly-mixed wine in a cymbium, as they do now among us at the phiditia. And if ever they wished to drink more, they also placed on the table beside them the cups called cotyli, which are the most beautiful of all cups, and the most convenient to drink out of. And these, too, were all made of the same earthenware.

But when Ephippus says, in his Ephebi—

1. Chæremon brings no culices to supper,
2. Nor did Euripides with cymbia fight,

he does not mean the tragic poet, but some namesake of his, who was either very fond of wine, or who had an evil reputation on some other account, as Antiochus of Alexandria says, in his treatise on the Poets, who are ridiculed by the comic writers of the Middle Comedy. For the circumstance of cymbia being introduced into entertainments, and being used to fight with in drunken quarrels, bears on each point. And Anaxandrides mentions him in his Nereids—

1. Give him a choeus then of wine, O messmate,
2. And let him bring his cymbium, and be
3. A second Euripides to-day.

And Ephippus, in his Similitudes, or Obeliaphori, says—

1. But it were well to learn the plays of Bacchus,
2. And all the verses which Demophoon
3. Made upon Cotys; and, at supper-time,
4. To spout the eclogues of the wise Theorus.
5. * * * * * *
6. And let Euripides, that banquet-hunter,
7. Bring me his cymbia.

And that the κύμβη is the name of a boat too we are shown by Sophocles, who, in his Andromeda, says—

1. Come you on horseback hither, or in a boat (κύμβαισι)?

And Apollodorus, in his Paphians, says there is a kind of drinking-cup called κύμβα.

Then there is the κύπελλον. Now, is this the same as the ἄλεισον and the δέπας, and different from them only in name

1. Then rising, all with goblets (κυπέλλοις) in their hands,
2. The peers and leaders of the Achaian bands
3. Hail'd their return.

Or was their form different also? For this kind has not the character of the amphicupellum, as the depas and aleison have, but is only of a curved form. For the κύπελλον is so called from its curved shape, as also is the ἀμφικύπελλον. Or is it so called as being in shape like a milk-pail (πέλλα), only contracted a little, so as to have an additional curve? And the word ἀμφικύπελλα is equivalent to ἀμφίκυρτα, being so called from its handles, because they are of a curved shape. For the poet calls this cup—

1. Golden, two-handled.

But Antimachus, in the fifth book of his Thebais, says—

1. And heralds, going round among the chiefs,
2. Gave each a golden cup (κύπελλον) with labour wrought.

And Silenus says, the κύπελλα are a kind of cup resembling the σκύφα, as Nicander the Colophonian says—

1. The swineherd gave a goblet (κύπελλον) full to each.

And Eumolpus says that it is a kind of cup, so called from its being of a curved shape (κυφόν.) But Simaristus says that this is a name given by the Cyprians to a cup with two handles, and by the Cretans to a kind of cup with two handles, and to another with four. And Philetas says that the Syracusans give the name of κύπελλον to the fragments of barley-cakes and loaves which are left on the tables.

There is also the κύμβη. Philemon, in his Attic Dialect, calls it

a species of κύλιξ.

And Apollodorus, in his treatise on Etymologies, says, that the Paphians call a drinking-cup κύμβα.

Then there is the κώθων, 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

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κώθων, 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[*](This was the name given to the Spartan syssitia; apparently de- rived 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.) they use small casks.

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

1. But come now, with your cothon in your hand,
2. Move o'er the benches of the speedy ship,
3. And lift the covers from the hollow casks,
4. And drain the rosy wine down to the dregs;
5. For while we're keeping such a guard as this,
6. We shan't be able to forego our wine;

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

1. They leapt into th' horse-transports gallantly,
2. Buying cothones; but some bought instead
3. Garlic and onions.

And Heniochus, in his Gorgons, says—

1. Let a man give me wine to drink at once,
2. Taking that capital servant of the throat,
3. The ample cothon—fire-wrought, and round,
4. Broad-ear'd, wide-mouth'd.

And Theopompus, in his Female Soldiers, says—

1. Shall I, then, drink from out a wryneck'd cothon,
2. Breaking my own neck in the hard attempt?

And Alexis, in his Spinners, says—

1. And then he hurl'd a four-pint cothon at me,
2. 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 (ἀκράτον) 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.

But with respect to drinking, (which from the name of this kind of cup is sometimes called in the verb κωθωνί- ζομαι, 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 (κωθωνι- ζεσθαι) 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

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on a rock, and on his left hand a satyr, bald, holding in his right hand a cothon of striped colours, with one handle.

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—

1. We are abundantly well off at this time
2. For golden cylinders; and all those robes
3. From Persia, all those quaintly carved works,
4. Are now within, and richly-chased goblets,
5. Figures and faces variously carved,
6. Tragelaphi and labronia.

And in his Philadelphi he says—

1. And now the drinking of healths began, and now
2. Labroniæ, inlaid with precious stones,
3. Were set upon the board; and slaves stood round
4. 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—

1. A. The tragelaphus, and likewise the pristis,
2. The batiace, and labronius too.
3. B. These seem to me to be the names of slaves.
4. A. By no means; they are all the names of cups;
5. And this lambronius is worth twenty pieces.

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

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—

1. He gladly shared the Sybaritic feasts,
2. And drank the Chian wine from out the cups
3. Called the lacecnæ, with a cheerful look.

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—

1. What will you do, then, when you've drunk
2. 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,—

1. 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—

1. But there was then a festival: a slave
2. Went round, and brought us all a lepaste,
3. And pour'd in wine dark as the deep-blue sea;
4. but the poet means here to indicate the depth of the cup.

And Antiphanes, in his Aesculapius, says—

1. He took an agèd woman, who had been
2. A long time ill, sick of a ling'ring fever,
3. And bruising some small root, and putting it
4. Into a noble-sized lepaste there,
5. He made her drink it all, to cure her sickness.

Philyllius, in his Auge, says—

1. For she was always in the company
2. Of young men, who did nothing else but drink;
3. And with a lot of aged women too,
4. Who always do delight in good-sized cups.

And Theopompus says in his Pamphila—

1. A sponge, a dish, a feather; and, besides,
2. A stout lepaste, which, when full, they drain
3. To the Good Deity, raising loud his praises,
4. As chirps a grasshopper upon a tree.

And in his Mede he says—

1. Callimachus, 'tis stated, once did charm
2. The Grecian heroes by some promised gain,
3. When he was seeking for their aid and friendship.
4. The only thing he fail'd in was th' attempt
5. To gain the poor, thin-bodied Rhadamanthus
6. Lysander with a cothon, ere he gave him
7. 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—

1. If there was one of the spectators thirsty,
2. He would a full lepaste seize, and drain
3. The whole contents.

But Nicander the Colophonian says that "the Dolopans 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—

1. And the lepasta, fill'd with fragrant wine,
2. Shall fill me with delight the livelong day.

And Theopompus says in his Pamphila—

1. A stout lepaste, which, well-fill'd with wine,
2. They drain in honour of the Happy Deity,
3. 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—

1. To drink sweet wine from a sweet-smelling lepaste.

And Hermippus, in his Fates, says—

1. If anything should happen to me when
2. I've drain'd this promising lepaste, then
3. I give my whole possessions unto Bacchus.

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—

1. Callistion, contending against men
2. In drinking, ('tis a marvellous thing, but true,)
3. When fasting, drank three whole choeis of wine;
4. And now her cup, fashion'd of purple glass,
5. Adorn'd with bands fragrant of luscious wine,
6. She offers here to you, O Paphian queen.
7. Preserve this first, that so your walls may bear
8. 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—

1. Craters, cadi, holcia, cruneia—
2. Are they cruneia? aye, and luteria.
3. But why need I each separate article
4. Enumerate? for you yourself shall see them.

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—

1. The vessel is a ναξιονργὴς 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.

There is also the mele. This is a name given to some cups which are mentioned by Anaxippus in his Well, where he says—

1. And you, Syriscus, now this mele take,
2. And bring it to her tomb—do you understand
3. 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. Autiphanes, in his Lamp, says—

1. The metaniptrum of the Fortunate God;
2. Feasting, libations, and applause . . .

And Diphilus, in his Sappho, says—

1. Archilochus, receive this metaniptris,
2. 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—

1. Receive this metaniptris of Hygeia.

And Philetærus, in his Aesculapius, says—

1. He raised aloft a mighty metaniptris,
2. Brimfull of wine, in equal portions mix'd,
3. Repeating all the tine Hygeia's name.

And Philoxenus the Dithyrambic poet, in his ode entitled the Supper, pledging some one after they have washed their hands, says—

1. Do you, my friend, receive
2. This metaniptris full of wine,
3. The sweetly dewy gift of Bacchus.
4. Bromius gives this placid joy,
5. To lead all men to happiness.

And Antiphanes, in his Torch, says—

1. Our table shall now be this barley cake,
2. And then this metaniptrum of Good Fortune . . . . .

Nicostratus, in his Woman returning Love, says—

1. Pour over him the metaniptrum of health.

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—

1. Pour out for us now seven mathalides
2. 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.

There is also the manes, which is a species of cup. Nicon, in his Harp-player, says—

1. And some seasonably then exclaim'd,
2. My fellow-countryman, I drink to you;
3. And in his hand he held an earthenware manes,
4. Of ample size, well able to contain
5. 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—

1. This is a contest, and a noise of kisses;
2. I give a prize to him who gains the victory
3. In elegantly throwing the cottabus,
4. And striking with just aim the brazen head.

And Antiphanes, in his Birthday of Venus, says—

1. A. I then will show you how: whoever throws
2. The cottabus direct against the scale (πλώστιγξ,)
3. So as to make it fall—
4. B. What scale? Do you
5. Mean this small dish which here is placed above?
6. A. That is the scale-he is the conqueror.
7. B. How shall a man know this?
8. A. Why, if he throw
9. So as to reach it barely, it will fall
10. Upon the manes,[*](The manes was a small brazen figure.) and there'll be great noise.
11. B. Does manes, then, watch o'er the cottabus,
12. As if he were a slave?

And Hermippus says in his Fates—

1. You'll see, says he, a cottabus rod.
2. Wallowing round among the chaff;
3. But the manes hears no drops,—
4. And you the wretched scale may see
5. Lying by the garden gate,
6. And thrown away among the rubbish.

There is the Nestoris also. Now concerning the shape of the cup of Nestor, the poet speaks thus—

1. Next her white hand a spacious goblet brings,
2. A goblet sacred to the Pylian kings
3. From eldest times; the massy, sculptured vase,
4. Glittering with golden studs, four handles grace,
5. And curling vines, around each handle roll'd,
6. Support two turtle-doves emboss'd in gold.
7. On two firm bases stood the mighty bowl,
8. Lest the top weight should make it loosely roll:
9. A massy weight, yet heaved with ease by him,
10. 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. 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—

1. He spoke,—and, furious, hurl'd against the ground
2. 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—

1. A radiant baldric, o'er his shoulder tied,
2. Sustain'd the sword that glittered at his side:
3. Gold were the studs—a silver sheath encased
4. 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.

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 Corinthia water- ewers. But Apelles explained the system of the four handles very artistically in the following manner. He said, tat 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.

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—

1. There do they shine in heaven,—ornaments
2. 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.

"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:—

1. When the seven daughters of the Libyan king
2. Rise in the heavens, then begin to mow;
3. And when they hide their heads, then plough the ground.

And Aratus says—

1. Their size is small, their light but moderate,
2. Yet are they famous over all the world;
3. At early dawn and late at eve they roll,
4. Jove regulating all their tranquil motions;
5. He has ordain'd them to give signs to men,
6. When winter, and when summer too begins,—
7. 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:—

1. No bird of air, nor dove of trembling wing,
2. That bears ambrosia to th' ethereal king,
3. 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—

1. 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:—

1. There earth, there heaven, there ocean he design'd,—
2. Th' unwearied sun, the moon completely round,—
3. The starry lights, that heaven's high convex crown'd,—
4. The Pleiads, Hyads, with the Northern Team,
5. And great Orion's more refulgent beam;
6. To which, around the axle of the sky,
7. The Bear, revolving, points his golden eye;
8. Still shines exalted on th' ethereal plain,
9. Nor bathes his blazing forehead in the main,—
10. The Bear, whom trusting rustics call the Wain.

"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.

"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:—

1. And may great Mercury, whose protecting pow'r
2. Watches o'er contests, Maia's mighty son,
3. Grant you success. But Atlas was the sire
4. Of seven dark-hair'd daughters, beautiful,
5. Surpassing all the maidens upon earth,
6. 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—

1. And it is natural
2. That great Oarion should advance
3. 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 arise 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 Aechylus has spoken still more plainly, playing on their name on account of the resemblance of its sound, where he says—

1. The seven celebrated daughters of
2. The mighty Atlas, much bewail'd with tears
v.2.p.784
3. Their father's heaven-supporting toil; where they
4. Now take the form of night-appearing visions,
5. 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 πελειάδες And Myro herself also speaks in the same manner—

1. The mighty Jove was nourished long in Crete,
2. Nor yet had any of the heav'nly beings
3. E'er recognised their king; meanwhile he grew
4. In all his limbs; and him the trembling doves
5. Cherish'd, while hidden in the holy cave,
6. Bringing him, from the distant streams of ocean,
7. Divine ambrosia: and a mighty eagle,
8. Incessant drawing with his curved beak
9. Nectar from out the rock, triumphant brought
10. The son of Saturn's necessary drink.
11. Him, when the God of mighty voice had cast
12. His father Saturn from his unjust throne,
13. He made immortal, and in heaven placed.
14. And so, too, did he give the trembling doves (πελειάσιν)
15. Deserved honour; they who are to men
16. Winter's and summer's surest harbingers.

And Simmias, in his Gorge, says—

1. The swiftest ministers of air came near,
2. The quivering peleiades.

And Posidippus, in his Asopia, says—

1. 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—

1. And now you have your home in heaven,
2. 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—

1. Which mortals call Peleiades.

And in another place he says—

1. And now the Peleiades of winter set.

And in another passage we find—

1. 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.