Deipnosophistae

Athenaeus of Naucratis

Athenaeus. The Deipnosophists or Banquet Of The Learned Of Athenaeus. Yonge, Charles Duke, translator. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1854.

"Since, then, it is demonstrated that it is the Pleiades

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who were embossed on the goblet, we must understand that two were affixed to each handle, whether we choose to fancy that the damsels were represented under the form of birds or under human form;—at all events they were studded with stars: and as for the expression,
Around each there were golden peleiades,
we are not to understand that as meaning around each separate one; for that would make eight in number: but as each of the handles was divided into two sections, and as these again were united towards the bottom, the poet has used the word ἕκαστος, speaking as if there were four sections of handles; but if he had said ἑκάτερον, that would have applied to the fact of their again becoming united at the highest point which they respectively reach. And accordingly, when he says—
  1. And curling vines, around each handle roll'd,
  2. Bear two Peleiades emboss'd in gold;
  3. On two firm bases stood the mighty bowl;
we are by that to understand one Peleias to. each section of the handles. And he has called them δοιὰς, as being united to one another and grown together as it were. For the word δοιαὶ, signifies simply the number two, as in the passage—
  1. Two tripods (δοιοὺς δὲ τρίποδας), and ten golden talents;
and again—
  1. Two attendants (δοιοὶ θεράπογτες):
and it also at times intimates a natural connexion subsisting between the two things spoken of, as well as that they are two in number; as in these lines:—
  1. There grew two (δοιοὶ) olives, closest of the grove,
  2. With roots entwined and branches interwove,
  3. Alike their leaves, but not alike they smiled
  4. With sister fruits,—one fertile, one was wild:—
and accordingly this calculation will give altogether four Peleiades upon the handles.

"And, then, when he adds this—

  1. And curling vines, around each handle roll'd,
  2. Bear two Peleiades emboss'd in gold:
  3. On two firm bases stood the mighty bowl;
we are to understand not two actual separate bases, nor indeed ought we to read ὑποπυθμένες as two words, like Dionysius the Thracian, but we ought to read it as one word,
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υποπυθμενες, in order to understand it with reference to the Peleiades, that there were four Peleiades on the handles, and two more ὑποπυθμένες, which is equivalent to ὑπὸ τῷ πυθμένι, that is to say, under the pedestal, as if the word were ὑποπυθ- μένιοι. So that the goblet is supported by two Peleiades which lie under the bottom, and in that way there are altogether six Pleiades in all, since that is the number which are seen, though they are said to be seven in number, as Aratus says—
  1. They are indeed declared by mortal man
  2. To be in number seven; yet no more
  3. Than six have e'er been seen by mortal eyes.
  4. Not that a star can e'er have disappear'd
  5. Unnoticed from the pure expanse of heaven
  6. Since we have heard of its existence; but
  7. The number has been stated carelessly,
  8. And therefore they are usually call'd seven.
Accordingly, what is seen in the stars the poet has very suitably described among the ornaments made on the occasion. And many fancy that the poet is here referring to Jupiter, when he says—
  1. No bird of air, nor dove of trembling wing,
  2. That bears ambrosia to th' ethereal king,
  3. But shuns these rocks. In vain she cuts the skies,
  4. They fearful meet, and crush her as she flies.
Meaning in reality, that one of the Pleiades was destroyed by the sharpness of the rocks and their smooth edge, and that another is substituted in her place by Jupiter for the sake of keeping the number undiminished. Expressing by the enigmatical figures of speech common to poets, that, though there are only six Pleiades seen, still their real number is not actually diminished; but there are said to be seven in number, and also the names of the seven are distinctly given.

But as for those people who contend that there is no appropriateness in embossing the Pleiades on this cup, as they are rather indicative of dry food, we must state that this kind of cup is calculated to receive both solid and liquid food; for κυκεὼν [*](κυκεὼν, a mixture, especially a refreshing draught, made of barley- meal, grated cheese, and Pramnian wine (Il. xi. 624), to which Circe adds honey (Od. x. 234), and when it is ready puts in magical drugs.— Vide Liddell & Scott, in voc.) is made in it; and this is a kind of potion, having mixed in it cheese and meal; and the poet tells us

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that both these ingredients are stirred up (κυκωμένα) together and so drunk:—
  1. The draught prescribed fair Hecamede prepares,
  2. Arsinous' daughter, graced with golden hairs
  3. (Whom to his aged arms a royal slave
  4. Greece, as the prize of Nestor's wisdom, gave):
  5. A table first with azure feet she placed,
  6. Whose ample orb a brazen charger graced;
  7. Honey, new press'd, the sacred flour of wheat,
  8. And wholesome garlic crown'd the savoury treat
  9. Next her white hand a spacious goblet brings,
  10. A goblet sacred to the Pylian kings;
  11. Temper'd in this, the nymph of form divine
  12. Pours a large portion of the Pramnian wine;
  13. With goats'-milk cheese a flavorous taste bestows,
  14. And last with flour the smiling surface strows.
  15. This for the wounded prince the dame prepares;
  16. The cordial beverage reverend Nestor shares.

And as for the lines—

  1. A massy weight, yet heav'd with ease by him,
  2. Though all too great for men of smaller limb;
we are not to understand this as referring only to Machaon and Nestor, as some people think, who refer ὃς to Machaon, taking it as if it were ὁ, and say,
  1. Ἀλλ’ ὃς μὲν μογέων ἀποκινήσασκε τρατέζης,—
thinking that
heaved with ease by him
is said of Machaon, as he was the person for whom the cup has been mixed as he had been wounded; but we shall show hereafter that Machaon is never represented in Homer as wounded. But these men do not perceive, that when Homer says ἄλλος, he is not speaking of Machaon and Nestor alone (for these two are drinking of the cup), for in that case he would have said ἕτερος. For ἕτερος is the proper word for the other of two, as in this line— οἴσετε δʼ ἄρνʼ ἕτερον λευκὸν, ἑτέρην δὲ μέλαιναν,—
  1. And bring two lambs, one male, with snow-white fleece,
  2. The other black, who shall the breed increase.
Besides, Homer never uses ὃς for the demonstrative pronoun ὁ; but, on the contrary, he sometimes uses the demonatrative ὃ for the relative ὃς, as in the line—
  1. ἒνθα δὲ σὶσυφος ἒσκεν ὃ κέρδιστος γὲνετʼ ἀνδρῶν,—
  1. There Sisyphus, who of all men that lived
  2. Was the most crafty, held his safe abode.
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"But still, in this line, τις is wanting, for the sentence, when complete, should run—
  1. ᾶλλος μέν τις μογέων ἀποκινήσασκε τραπέζης
  2. πλεῖον ἐὸν, νέστωρ δʼ ὁ γέρων ἀμογητὶ ἄειρεν·
so that the meaning would be, that there is no man who could lift the cup up from the table without an effort, but that Nestor raised it easily, without any labour or distress. For the cup is described as having been large in size, and very heavy in weight; which however Nestor, being very fond of drinking, was easily able to lift, from his constant practice.

"But Sosibius, the solver of questions, quoting the lines—

  1. ἄλλος μὲν μογέων ἀποκινήσασκε τραπέζης
  2. πλεῖον ἐόν· νέστωρ δʼ ζ γέρων ἀμογητὶᾶειρεν,
writes on this expression-'Now, the poet has been often reproached for making that the rest of the men could only lift this cup by a great effort, but that Nestor alone could do so without any extraordinary exertion. For it appeared unreasonable, that when Diomede and Ajax, and even Achilles too were present, Nestor should be represented as more vigorous than they, when he was so far advanced in years. But though these accusations are brought against him, we may release the poet from them by transposing the order. For in that hexameter—
  1. πλεῖον ἐὸν, νέστωρ δʼ ὁ γέρων ἀμογητὶ ἄειρεν,
if we take γέρων out of the middle, we shall unite that to the beginning of the preceding line, after ἄλλος μὲν, and then we shall connect the words as before—
  1. ἄλλος μὲν γέρων μογέων ἀποκινήσασκε τραπέζης·
  2. πλεῖον ἐὸν, ο ʽδὲ νέστωρ ἀπονητὶ ἄειρεν.
Now then, when the words are arranged in this way, Nestor only appears to be represented as the only one of the old men who could lift the cup without an extraordinary effort.'

These are the observations of that admirable solver of difficulties, Sosibius. But Ptolemy Philadelphus the king jested upon him with some wit, on account of this and other much talked-of solutions. For as Sosibius received a royal stipend, Ptolemy, sending for his treasurers, desired them, when Sosibius came to demand his stipend, to tell him that he had received it already. And when, not long after, he did come and ask for his money, they said they had given it to him already, and said no more. But he, going to the king,
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accused the treasurers. And Ptolemy sent for them, and ordered them to come with their books, in which were the lists of those who received those stipends. And when they had arrived, the king took the books into his hands and looking into them himself, also asserted that Sosibius had received his money; making it out in this way:—These names were set down,—Soter, Sosigenes, Bion, Apollon, Dion; and the king, looking on these names, said—My excellent solver of difficulties, if you take σω from σωτὴρ, and σι from σωσιγένης, and the first syllable βι from βίων and the last syllable from ʼαʼπόλλωνος, you will find, on your own principles, that you have received your stipend. And you are caught in this way, not owing to the actions of others, but by your own feathers, as the incomparable Aeschylus says, since you yourself are always occupied about solutions of difficulties which are foreign to the subject in hand.

There is the holmus also. This, too, is a drinking-cup, made in the fashion of a horn. Menesthenes, in the fourth book of his Politics, writes thus—

A twisted albatanes and a golden holmus. But the holmus is a cup wrought after the fashion of a horn, about a cubit in height.

There is also the oxybaphum. Now common usage gives this name to the cruet that holds the vinegar; but it is also the name of a cup; and it is mentioned by Cratinus, in his Putina, in this way:—

  1. How can a man now make him leave off this
  2. Excessive drinking? I can tell a way;
  3. For I will break his jugs and measures all,
  4. And crush his casks as with a thunderbolt,
  5. And all his other vessels which serve to drink:
  6. Nor shall he have a single oxybaphum left,
  7. Fit to hold wine.
But that the oxybaphum is a kind of small κύλιξ, made of earthenware, Antiphanes proves plainly enough, in his Mystis, in the following words.[*](This refers to a line of the Myrmidons of Aeschylus, quoted by Aristophanes— τάδ οὐχ ὑπ’ ἄλλων ἀλλὰ τοῖς αὑτῶν πτεροῖςἁλισκόμεσθα, and (perhaps) imitated by Waller— That eagle's fate and mine are ore,Who on the shaft that made him die,Espied a feather of his own,Wherewith he wont to soar so high." ) There is a wine-bibbing old
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woman praising a large cup, and disparaging the oxybaphum as small. So when some one says to her—
  1. Do you, then, drink;
she answers—
  1. There I will obey you.
  2. And, by the gods, the figure of the cup
  3. Is quite inviting, worthy of the fame
  4. Of this high festival; for have we not—
  5. Have we not, and not long ago, I say,
  6. Drunk out of earthenware oxybapha?
  7. But may the gods, my son, give many blessings
  8. To him who made this cup-a noble cup,
  9. As to its beauty and its good capacity.
And also in the Babylonians of Aristophanes we hear of the oxybaphum as a drinking-cup, when Bacchus speaks of the demagogues at Athens, saying that they demanded of him two oxybapha when he was going away to trial. For we cannot think that they asked him for anything but cups. And the oxybaphum, which is put before the people who play at the cottabus, into which they pour their drops of wine, can be nothing else but a flat cup. Eubulus also, in his Mylothris, mentions the oxybaphum as a cup—
  1. And besides, I measure out for drinking
  2. An oxybaphum all round; and then he swore
  3. The wine was nothing but pure vinegar,
  4. And that the vinegar was wine, at least
  5. Superior to the other.

There is the oinisteria too. The young men, when they are going to cut their hair, says Pamphilus, fill a large cup with wine, and bring it to Hercules; and they call this cup an oinisteria. And when they have poured a libation, they give it to the assembled people to drink.

There is the ollix also. Pamphilus, in his Attic Words, describes this as a wooden cup.

There is also the panathenaicum. Posidonius the philosopher, in the thirty-sixth book of his History, mentions some cups called by this name, speaking thus—

There were also cups made of an onyx, and also of several precious stones joined together, holding about two cotylæ. And very large cups, called panathenaica, some holding two choes, and some even larger.

There is the proaron too. This was a wooden cup, into

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which the Athenians used to pour mixed wine.
In hollow proara,
says Pamphilus.

Then there is the pelica. Callistratus, in his Commentary on the Thracian Women of Cratinus, calls this a κύλιξ. But Crates, in the second book of his treatise on the Attic Dialect, writes thus:—

Choes, as we have already said, were called pelicæ. But the form of this vessel was it first like that of the panathenaica, when it was called pelica; but afterwards it was made of the same shape as the œnochoe, such as those are which are put on the table at festivals, which they formerly used to call olpæ, using them for infus- ing the wine, as Ion the Chian, in his Sons of Eurytus, says—
  1. You make a noise, intemperately drawing
  2. Superfluous wine from the large casks with olpæ.
But now a vessel of that sort, which has been consecrated in some fashion or other, is placed on the table at festivals alone. And that which comes into every-day use has been altered in form, being now generally made like a ladle, and we call it choeus.
But Clitarchus says that the Corinthians, and Byzantians, and Cyprians call an oil-cruet, which is usually called lecythus, olpa; and the Thessalians call it prochous. But Seleucus says that the Bœotians call a κύλιξ pelichna; but Euphronius, in his Commentaries, says that they give this name to a choeus.

There is the pella. This is a vessel resembling the scyphus, having a wider bottom, into which men used to milk the cattle. Homer says—

  1. Thick as beneath some shepherd's thatch'd abode,
  2. The pails πέλλαι high foaming with a milky flood,
  3. The buzzing flies, a persevering train,
  4. Incessant swarm, and chased, return again.
But Hipponax calls this pellis; saying,—
  1. Drinking from pellides; for there was not
  2. A culix there,—the slave had fallen down,
  3. And broken it to pieces;
showing, I imagine, very plainly that the pellis was not a drinking-cup, but that on this occasion they use it as one, from want of a regular culix. And in another place he says—
  1. And they at different times from out the pella
  2. Did drink; and then again Arete pledged them.
But Phœnix the Colophonian, in his Iambics, interprets this word as identical with the phiala; saying,—
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  1. For Thales,—honestest of all the citizens,
  2. And, as they say, by far the best of men
  3. Who at that time were living upon earth,—
  4. Took up a golden pellis.
And in another part he says—
  1. And with one hand he pours from out the pellis,
  2. Weak as he was in all his limbs and fingers,
  3. A sharp libation of sour vinegar,
  4. Trembling, like age, by Boreas much shaken.
But Clitarchus, in his Dialects, says that the Thessalians and Aeolians call the milk-pail pelleter; but that it is a drinking-cup which they call pella. But Philetas, in his Miscellanies, says that the Bœotians give the name of pelleter to a culix.

There is also the pentaploa. Philochorus mentions this, in the second book of his treatise on Attic Affairs. But Aristodemus, in the third book of his Commentary on Pindar, says that on the third day of the Scira, games are celebrated at Athens, in which the young men run races; and that they run, holding in their hands a branch of the vine loaded with fruit, which is called oschus. And they run from the temple of Bacchus to the temple of Minerva Sciras; and he who has gained the victory takes a cup of the species called pentaplous, and feasts with the rest of the runners. But the cup is called pentaplous, as containing five πέντε ingredients; inasmuch as it has in it wine, and honey, and cheese, and meal, and a little oil.

There is the petachnum. This is a cup of a flat shape, which is mentioned by Alexis, in his Dropidas; and the passage has been already cited. And Aristophanes also mentions it in his Dramas, where he says—

  1. And every one in-doors drinks out of petachna.

There is the plemochoe, too. This is an earthenware vessel, shaped like a top, not very steady; and some people call it the cotyliscus, as Pamphilus tells us. But they use it at Eleusis on the last day of the Mysteries, which day they call Plemochoai, from the cups. And on this day they fill two plemochoæ, and place one looking towards the east, and the other looking towards the west, saying over them a mystic form of words; and the author of the Pirithous names them (whoever he was, whether Critias the tyrant, or Euripides), saying,—

  1. That with well-omen'd words we now may pour
  2. These plemochoæ into the gulf below.

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There is a vessel, too, called the pristis; and that this is a species of cup has been already stated in the discussion on the batiacium.

There is the prochytes, too. This is a kind of drinking-cup, as Simaristus says, in the fourth book of his Synonymes. But Ion the Chian, in his Elegies, says—

  1. But let the cupbearing maidens fill for us
  2. A crater with their silver prochytæ;
and Philetas, in his Miscellanies, says it is a wooden vessel, from which the countrymen drink: and Alexander also mentions it in his Tigon. And Xenophon, in the eighth book of his Cyropædia, calls some kinds of culices, prochoides, writing thus (and it is of the Persians that he is speaking):—
But it was a custom among them not to bring prochoides into their banquets, evidently because they think that not drinking too much is good both for the body and the mind. And even now the custom prevails that they do not bring them; but they drink such a quantity of wine that, instead of carrying in their cups, they themselves are carried out, when they can no longer go out themselves in an upright attitude.

There is also the Prusias; and it has been already said that this is an upright kind of cup, and that it derived its name from Prusias king of Bithynia, who was a man very notorious for his luxury and effeminacy; as is mentioned by Nicander the Chalcedonian, in the fourth book of his History of the Events of the Life of Prusias.

There are also rheonta; for this was a name given to some cups: and Astydamas mentions them in his Mercury, speaking thus:—

  1. First of all were two silver craters large,
  2. And fifty phialæ, and ten cymbia,
  3. And twelve rheonta, two of which were gold,
  4. The others silver;-of the gold ones, one
  5. Was like a griffin, one like Pegasus.

There is also the rhysis. This is called a golden phiala by Theodorus; and Cratinus, in his Laws, says—

Pouring a libation from a rhysis.

There is also the Rhodias. Diphilus, in his Stormer of Walls (but Callimachus calls the play The Eunuch), speaks thus—

  1. And they intend to drink more plenteously
  2. Than rhodiaca or rhyta can supply.
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Dioxippus, too, mentions this cup, in his Miser; and so does Aristotle, in his treatise on Drunkenness; and so also does Lynceus the Samian, in his Letters.

There is also the rhytum—ῥυτόν. The υ is short, and the word has an acute accent on the last syllable. Demosthenes, in his speech against Midias, speaks of

rhyta, and cymbia, and phialæ.
But Diphilus, in his Eunuch, or The Soldier, (and this play is a new edition of his Stormer of Walls,) says—
  1. And they intend to drink more plenteously
  2. Than rhodiaca or rhyta can supply.
And Epinicus, in his Supposititious Damsels, says—
  1. A. And of the large-sized rhyta three are here;
  2. To-day one will be forced to drink more steadily,
  3. By the clepsydra.
  4. B. This, I think, will act
  5. Both says.
  6. A. Why, 'tis an elephant!
  7. B. Yes, he
  8. Is bringing round his elephants.
  9. A. A rhytus,
  10. Holding two choes, such as e'en an elephant
  11. Could hardly drink; but I have drunk it often.
  12. B. Yes, for you're very like an elephant.
  13. A. There is besides another kind of cup,
  14. Its name a trireme; this, too, holds one choeus.
And, speaking of the rhytum, he says—
  1. A. Bellerophon, on Pegasus's back,
  2. Fought and subdued the fire-breathing Chimænra.
  3. B. Well, take this cup.
But formerly a drinking-horn was also called a rhytum; and it appears that this kind of vessel was first made by Ptolemy Philadelphus the king, to be carried by the statues of Ar- sinoe: for in her right hand she bears a vessel of this kind, full of all the fruits of the season; by which the makers of it designed to show that this horn is richer than the horn of Amalthea. And it is mentioned by Theocles, in his Ithyphallics, thus—
  1. For all the journeymen to-day
  2. Have sacrificed Soteria;
  3. And in their company I've drunk this cup,
  4. And now I go to my dear king.
But Dionysius of Sinope, in his Female Saviour, giving a list of some cups, has also mentioned the rhytus, as I have said
v.2.p.795
before; but Hedylus, in his Epigrams, mentioning the rhytum made by Ctesibius the engineer or machinist, speaks thus—
  1. Come hither, all ye drinkers of sheer wine,—
  2. Come, and within this shrine behold this rhytus,
  3. The cup of fair Arsinoe Zephyritis,
  4. The true Egyptian Besa, which pours forth
  5. Shrill sounds, what time its stream is open'd wide,—
  6. No sound of war; but from its golden mouth
  7. It gives a signal for delight and feasting,
  8. Such as the Nile, the king of flowing rivers,
  9. Pours as its melody from its holy shrines,
  10. Dear to the priests of sacred mysteries.
  11. But honour this invention of Ctesibius,
  12. And come, O youths, to fair Arsinoe's temple.
But Theophrastus, in his treatise on Drunkenness, says that the cup called the rhytum is given to heroes alone. Dorotheus the Sidonian, says that the rhyta resemble horns, but are perforated at both ends, and men drink of them at the bottom as they send forth a gentle stream; and that it derives its name from the liquor flowing from them ἀπὸτῆς ῥύσεως

There is the sannacra too. Crates, in the fifth book of his treatise on the Attic Dialect, says that it is a drinking-cup which bears this name, but it is a Persian cup. But Philemon, in his Widow, mentioning the batiacia, and jesting on the ridiculousness of the name, says—

  1. The sannacra, and hippotragelaphi,
  2. And batiacia, and sannacia.
There is also the Seleuci; and we have already stated that this cup derives its name from king Seleucus; Apollodorus the Athenian having made the same statement. But Polemo, in the first chapter of his treatise addressed to Adæus, says these goblets are very like one another, the Seleucis, the Rhodias, and the Antigonis.

Then, there is the scallium. This is a small cup ʽκ̔υλίκιον̓, with which the Aeolians pour libations, as Philetas tells us, in his Miscellanies.

There is also the scyphus. Now some people form the genitive of this word σκύθος with a ς invariably; but they are mistaken: for sometimes σκύθος is masculine, like λύχνος, and then we form its genitive case without ς but when σκύθος is neuter, then we must decline with the ς, σκύθος σκύθος, like τεῖχος τείχος.. But the Attic writers use the

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nominative case in both the masculine and neuter genders. And Hesiod, in the second book of his Melampodia, writes the word with a π, σκύπθοσ-—
  1. To him came Mares, a swift messenger,
  2. Straight from his house; he fill'd a silver cup ʽσ̔κύθοσ̓,
  3. And brought it in his hand, and gave it to the king.
And in another place he says—
  1. And then the prophet in his right hand took
  2. The chain that held the bull; and on his back
  3. Iphiclus laid his hand: and following then,
  4. Holding a cup σκύπθος in one hand, in the other
  5. Raising a staff, brave Phylacus advanced,
  6. And, standing amid the servants, thus he spoke.
And in the same manner Anaximander in his Heroology speaks, where he says,
But Amphitryon, when he had divided the booty among his allies, and having the cup ʽσ̔κύπθοσ̓ which he had selected for himself, . . .
And in another place he says—
But Neptune gives his σκύπθος to Teleboas his own son, and Teleboas to Pteselaus; and he when he received it sailed away.
And in the same manner Anacreon has said—
  1. But I, in my right hand holding
  2. A σκύπθος full of wine,
  3. Drank to the health of the white-crested Erxion.
(And in this last line he uses the verb ἐξέπινον instead of προέεπινον For properly speaking προπίνω means to give to some one else to drink before yourself. And so Ulysses, in Homer,—
  1. Gave to Arete first the well-fill'd cup.
And in the Iliad he says—
  1. And first he fill'd a mighty cup of wine,
  2. Then pledg'd the hero, Peleus' son divine;
for they used, when they had filled their cups, to pledge one another with a friendly address.) Panyasis, in the third book of his Heraclea, says—
  1. This wine he pour'd into an ample bowl,
  2. Radiant with gold, and then with frequent draughts
  3. He drain'd the flowing cup.
Euripides, in his Eurystheus, uses the word in the masculine gender—
  1. And a long cup σκύφος τε μακρός
And so does Achæus, in his Omphale—
  1. The goblet of the god invites me ʽὁδὲ σκύθος με τοῦ θεοῦ ʽἈλεἶ.
v.2.p.797
And Simonides too, speaking of a cup with handles, says, οὐατόεντα σκύφον. But Ion, in his Omphale, says—
  1. There is no wine in the cup οἶνος οὐκ ἔνι ἐν τῷ σκύφεἰ,
forming σκύφελ regularly from σκύφος, as a neuter noun. And in the same way Epicharmus, in his Cyclops, says—
  1. Come, pour the wine into the cup ʽἑ̓ς τὸ σκύφοσ̓.
And Alexis, in his Leucadia, says—
  1. And with his aged lips he drank
  2. A mighty cup ʽμ̔έγα σκύφοσ̓ of fragrant wine.
And Epigenes, in his Bacchea, says—
  1. I rejoiced when I received τὸ σκύφος.
And Phædimus, in the first book of his Heraclea, says—
  1. A mighty cup ʽἑὐρὺ σκύφοσ̓ of well-grain'd timber framed,
  2. And fill'd with honied wine.
And also in Homer, Aristophanes the Byzantian writes—
  1. But having filled a cup ʽσ̔κύφοσ̓, he gave it him,
  2. Having himself drunk from the same.
  1. But Aristarchus in this line writes σκύφον, not σκύφος.

But Asclepiades the Myrlean, in his treatise on the Nestoris, says that none of those who lived in the city, and none of the men of moderate property, used the scyphus τῷ σκύφει and the cissybium; but only the swine-herds, and shepherds, and men in the fields, as Eumæus, for instance,

  1. Gave him the cup ʽσ̔κύφοσ̓ from which he drank himself,
  2. Well filled with wine.
And Alæman says—
  1. And often on the highest mountain tops,
  2. When some most tuneful festival of song
  3. Is held in honour of the Gods, you hold
  4. A golden vessel,—a fine, ample cup ʽσ̔κύφον̓,
  5. Such as the shepherds, pasturing their flocks
  6. On the high hills, delight in, . . . . . . . .
  7. . . . . . . . . . . . . have made cheese
  8. Most delicate and white to look upon.
And Aeschylus, in his Perrhæbians, says—
  1. Where are my many gifts and warlike spoils,—
  2. Where are my gold and silver cups ʽσ̔κυφώματἀ?
And Stesichorus cans the cup on the board of Pholus the Centaur σκύφειον δέπας, using σκύφειον as synonymous to σκυφοειδές.. And he says, when speaking of Hercules–
  1. And taking a huge scyphus-shaped cup ʽσ̔κύπφειον δέπασ̓,
  2. Holding three measures, to his lips he raised it,
  3. v.2.p.798
  4. Full of rich wine, which Pholus wisely mix'd
  5. And gave him; and at one good draught he drank it.
And Archippus, in his Amphitryon, has used the word in the neuter gender.

But as for the word λάγυνον, they say that that is the name of a measure among the Greeks, as also are the words χοὸς and κοτύλη. And they say that the λάγυνον contains twelve Attic κότυλαι.. And at Patræ they say that there is a regular measure called ἡ λάγυνος. But Nicostratus, in his Hecate, has used the word in the masculine gender, ὁ λάγυνος, where he says—

  1. A. And yet among the flagons into which
  2. We pour'd the wine out of the casks, now tell me
  3. What is the measure some of them contain ʽπ̔ηλίκοι τινέσ̓?
  4. B. They hold three choes each.
And again he says—
  1. Bring us the full flagon ʽτ̔ὸν μεστὸν λάγυνον̓.
And, in the play entitled The Couch, he says—
  1. And this most odious flagon's ʽλ̔άγυνος οὗτοσ̓ full of vinegar.
Diphilus, in his People Saved, says—
  1. I have an empty flagon, my good woman,
  2. And a full wallet.
And Lynceus the Samian, in his letter to Diagoras, says, —
At the time that you sojourned in Samos, O Diagoras, I know that you often came to banquets at my house, at which a flagon was placed by each man, and filled with wine, so as to allow every one to drink at his pleasure.
And Aristotle, in his Constitution of the Thessalians, says that the word is used by the Thessalians in the feminine gender, as ἡ λάγυνος. And Rhianus the epic poet, in his Epigrams, says—
  1. This flagon ʽἥδε λάγυνοσ̓ O Archinus, seems to hold
  2. One half of pitch from pines, one half of wine;
  3. And I have never met a leaner kid:
  4. And he who sent these dainties to us now,
  5. Hippocrates, has done a friendly deed,
  6. And well deserves to meet with praise from all men.
But Diphilus, in his Brothers, has used the word in the neuter gender—
  1. O conduct worthy of a housebreaker
  2. Or felon, thus to take a flagon now
  3. Under one's arm, and so go round the inns;
  4. And then to sell it, while, as at a picnic,
  5. v.2.p.799
  6. One single vintner doth remain behind,
  7. Defrauded by his wine-merchant.
And the line in the Geryonis of Stesichorus— A measure of three flagons ʽἑ̓́μμετρον ὡς τριλάγυνον̓ leaves it quite uncertain under what gender the word is to be classed as far as respects that line. But Eratosthenes says that the words πέτασος and στάμνος are also used as feminine nouns by some authors.