Deipnosophistae

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.