Deipnosophistae

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.