Deipnosophistae

The CottabusGarlandsDyesPerfumesLibationsScoliaParodiesTorches.

1. E'en should the Phrygian God enrich my tongue
2. With honey'd eloquence, such as erst did fall
3. From Nestor's or Antenor's lips,
[*](This is one of the fragments of unknown plays of Euripides.)

as the all-accomplished Euripides says, my good Timocrates—

1. I never should be able

to recapitulate to you the numerous things which were said in those most admirable banquets, on account of the varied nature of the topics introduced, and the novel mode in which they were continually treated. For there were frequent discussions about the order in which the dishes were served up, and about the things which are done after the chief part of the supper is over, such as I can hardly recollect; and some one of the guests quoted the following iambics from The Lacedæmonians of Plato—

1. Now nearly all the men have done their supper;
2. 'Tis well.—Why don't you run and clear the tables
3. But I will go and straight some water get
4. For the guests' hands; and have the floor well swept;
5. And then, when I have offer'd due libations,
6. I'll introduce the cottabus. This girl
7. Ought now to have her flutes all well prepared,
8. Ready to play them. Quick now, slave, and bring
9. Egyptian ointment, extract of lilies too,
v.3.p.1063
10. And sprinkle it around; and I myself
11. Will bring a garland to each guest, and give it;
12. Let some one mix the wine.—Lo! now it's mix'd
13. Put in the frankincense, and say aloud,

14. Now the libation is perform'd.

    [*](The original text here is very corrupt, and the meaning uncertain.) The guests
15. Have deeply drunk already; and the scolium
16. Is sung; the cottabus, that merry sport,
17. Is taken out of doors: a female slave
18. Plays on the flute a cheerful strain, well pleasing
19. To the delighted guest; another strikes
20. The clear triangle, and, with well-tuned voice,
21. Accompanies it with an Ionian song.

And after this quotation there arose, I think, a discussion about the cottabus and cottabus-players. Now by the term ἀποκοτταβίζοντες, one of the physicians who were present thought those people were meant, who, after the bath, for the sake of purging their stomach, drink a full draught of wine and then throw it up again; and he said that this was not an ancient custom, and that he was not aware of any ancient author who had alluded to this mode of purging. On which account Erasistratus of Julia, in his treatise on Universal Medicine, reproves those who act in this way, pointing out that it is a practice very injurious to the eyes, and having a very astringent effect on the stomach. And Ulpian addressed him thus—

1. Arise, Machaon, great Charoneus calls.

[*](This is parodied from Homer, Iliad, iv. 204,— ῎ὄρσʼ, ʼασκληπιάδη, καλέελ κρείων ʼαγαμέμνων. ) For it was wittily said by one of our companions, that if there were no physicians there would be nothing more stupid than grammarians. For who is there of us who does not know that this kind of ἀποκοτταβισμὸς was not that of the ancients? unless you think that the cottabus-players of Ameipsias vomited. Since, then, you are ignorant of what this is which is the subject of our present discussion, learn from me, in the first place, that the cottabus is a sport of Sicilian invention, the Sicilians having been the original contrivers of it, as Critias the son of Callæschrus tells us in his Elegies, where he says—

1. The cottabus comes from Sicilian lands,
2. And a glorious invention I think it,
3. Where we put up a target to shoot at with drops
4. From our wine-cup whenever we drink it.

And Dicæarchus the Messenian, the pupil of Aristotle, in his treatise on Alcæus, says that the word λατάγη is also a Sicilian noun. But λατάγη means the drops which are left in the bottom after the cup is drained, and which the players used to throw with inverted hand into the κοτταβεῖον. But Clitarchus, in his treatise on Words, says that the Thessalians and Rhodians both call the κότταβος itself, or splash made by the cups, λατάγη.

The prize also which was proposed for those who gained the victory in drinking was called κότταβος, as Euripides shows us in his Œneus, where he says—

1. And then with many a dart of Bacchus' juice,
2. They struck the old man's head. And I was set
3. To crown the victor with deserved reward,
4. And give the cottabus to such.

The vessel, too, into which they threw the drops was also called κότταβος, as Cratinus shows in his Nemesis. But Plato the comic poet, in his Jupiter Ill-treated, makes out that the cottabus was a sort of drunken game, in which those who were defeated yielded up their tools[*](Casaubon says these tools (σκευάρια) were the κρηπῖδες (boots) and κότυλος (small cup) mentioned in the following iambics.) to the victor. And these are his words—

1. A. I wish you all to play at cottabus
2. While I am here preparing you your supper.
3. * * * * * * * *
4. Bring, too, some balls to play with, quick,-some balls,
5. And draw some water, and bring round some cups.
6. B. Now let us play for kisses.[*](This line, and one or two others in this fragment, are hopelessly corrupt.) A. No; such games
7. I never suffer.
8. I challenge you all to play the cottabus,
9. And for the prizes, here are these new slippers
10. Which she doth wear, and this your cotylus.
11. B. A mighty game! This is a greater contest
12. Than e'en the Isthmian festival can furnish.

There was a kind of cottabus also which they used to call κάτακτος, that is, when lamps are lifted up and then let down again. Eubulus, in his Bellerophon, says—

1. Who now will take hold of my leg below?
2. For I am lifted up like a κοτταβεῖον.

And Antiphanes, in his Birthday of Venus, says—

1. A. This now is what I mean; don't you perceive
2. This lamp's the cottabus: attend awhile;
3. The eggs, and sweetmeats, and confectionery
4. Are the prize of victory. B. Sure you will play
v.3.p.1065
5. For a most laughable prize. How shall you do?
6. A. I then will show you how: whoever throws
7. The cottabus direct against the scale (πλάστιγξ),
8. So as to make it fall——B. What scale? Do you
9. Mean this small dish which here is placed above?
10. A. That is the scale—he is the conqueror.
11. B. How shall a man know this? A. Why, if he throw
12. So as to reach it barely, it will fall
13. Upon the manes,[*](The manes was a small brazen figure.) and there'll be great noise.
14. B. Does manes, then, watch o'er the cottabus,
15. As if he were a slave?

And in a subsequent passage he says—

1. B. Just take the cup and show me how 'tis done.
2. A. Now bend your fingers like a flute-player,
3. Pour in a little wine, and not too much,
4. Then throw it. B. How? A. Look here; throw it like this
5. B. O mighty Neptune, what a height he throws it!
6. A. Now do the same. B. Not even with a sling
7. Could I throw such a distance. A. Well, but learn.