Deipnosophistae

But Philochorus says that men who drink hard do not only show what sort of disposition they themselves are of, but

do also reveal in their chattering the characters of every one else whom they know. Whence comes the proverb,

1. Wine and truth;[*](We find something like this in Theoc. xxix. 1. οἶνος, ὦ φίλε παῖ, λέγεται καὶ ἀλάθεα. )

and the sentence,

1. Wine lays bare the heart of man.

And so in the contests of Bacchus the prize of victory is a tripod: and we have a proverb of those who speak truth, that

they are speaking from the tripod;

in which the tripod meant is the cup of Bacchus. For there were among the ancients two kinds of tripods, each of which, as it happened, bore the name of λέβης, or bowl; one, which was used to be put on the fire, being a sort of kettle for bathing, as Aeschylus says—

1. They pour'd the water in a three-legg'd bowl,
2. Which always has its place upon the fire:

and the other is what is also called κρατὴρ, goblet. Homer says—

1. And seven fireless tripods.

And in these last they mixed wine; and it is this last tripod that is the tripod of truth; and it is considered appropriate to Apollo, because of the truth of his prophetic art; and to Bacchus, because of the truth which people speak when drunk. And Semus the Delian says—

A brazen tripod, not the Pythian one, but that which they now call a bowl. And of these bowls some were never put on the fire, and men mixed their wine in them; and the others held water for baths, and in them they warmed the water, putting them on the fire; and of these some had ears, and having their bottom supported by three feet they were called tripods.

Ephippus says somewhere or other—

1. A. That load of wine makes you a chatterer.
2. B. That's why they say that drunken men speak truth.

And Antiphanes writes—

1. There are only two secrets a man cannot keep,
2. One when he's in love, t' other when he's drunk deep:
3. For these facts are so proved by his tongue or his eyes,
4. That we see it more plainly the more he denies.

And Philochorus relates that Amphictyon, the king of the Athenians, having learnt of Bacchus the art of mixing wine,

was the first man who ever did mix it: and that it is owing to him that men who have been drinking on his system can walk straight afterwards, when before they used to blunder about after drinking sheer wine: and on this account he erected an altar to the Straight Bacchus in the temple of the Seasons; for they are the Nymphs who cherish the fruit or the vine. And near it he built also an altar to the Nymphs, as a memorial to all who use mixed drink; for the Nymphs are said to have been the nurses of Bacchus. And he made a law to bring an unmixed wine after meals only just enough to taste, as a token of the power of the Good Deity. But the rest of the wined was put on the table ready mixed, in whatever quantity any one chose. And then he enjoined the guests to invoke in addition the name of Jupiter the Saviour, for the sake of instructing and reminding the drinkers that by drinking in that fashion they would be preserved from injury. But Plato, in his second book of the Laws, says that the use of wine is to be encouraged for the sake of health. But on account of the look which habitual drunkards get, they liken Bacchus to a bull; and to a leopard, because he excites drunkards to acts of violence. And Alcæus says—

1. Wine sometimes than honey sweeter,
2. Sometimes more than nettles bitter.

Some men, too, are apt to get in a rage when drunk; and they are like a bull. Euripides says—

1. Fierce bulls, their passion with their horns displaying.

And some men, from their quarrelsome disposition when drunk, are like wild beasts, on which account it is that Bacchus is likened to a leopard.

Well was it then that Ariston the Chian said that that was the most agreeable drink which partook at the same time of both sweetness and fragrance; for which reason some people prepare what is called nectar about the Olympus which is in Lydia, mixing wine and honeycombs and the most fragrant flowers together. Though I am aware indeed that Anaxandrides says that nectar is not the drink, but the meat of the gods:—

1. Nectar I eat, and well do gnaw it;
2. Ambrosia drink, (you never saw it);
3. I act as cupbearer to Jove,
4. And chat to Juno—not of love;
v.1.p.64
5. And oftentimes I sit by Venus,
6. With marplot none to come between us.

And Alcman says—

1. Nectar they eat at will.

And Sappho says—

1. The goblets rich were with ambrosia crown'd,
2. Which Hermes bore to all the gods around.

But Homer was acquainted with nectar as the drink of the gods. And Ibycus says that ambrosia is nine times as sweet as honey; stating expressly that honey has just one-ninth part of the power of ambrosia as far as sweetness goes.