But Amphis, in his Philadelphi, praising the life of those who are fond of drinking, says:—
69. And when Ulpian was about to add something to this Æmilianus said,—It is time for us, my friends, to inquire in some degree about γρῖφοι, that we may leave our cups for a little while, not indeed in the spirit of that work which is entitled the Grammatical Tragedy of Callias the Athenian: but let us first inquire what is the definition of what we call a γρῖφος . . . . And we may omit what Cleobulina of Lindus has proposed in her Epigrams; for our companion, Diotimus of Olympia, has discussed that point sufficiently; but we must consider how the comic poets have mentioned it, and what punishment those who have failed to solve it have undergone. And Laurentius said,—Clearchus the Solensian defines the word thus: "Γρῖφος," says he, "is a sportive problem, in which we are bidden to seek out, by the exertion of our intellect and powers of investigation, what is proposed to us, which has been uttered for the sake of some honour or some penalty." And in his discussion on these griphi, the same Clearchus asserts that "there are seven kinds of griphi. In the letter, when we say that there is a certain name of a fish or plant, beginning with α. And similarly, when he who proposes the griphus desires us to mention some name in which some particular letter is or is not. Such are those which are called sigma-less griphi; on which account Pindar has composed an ode on the ς, as if some griphus had been proposed to him as a subject for a lyric poem. Then griphi are said to be in the syllable, when we are desired to recite some verse which begins with the syllable βα, as with βασιλεὺς, for instance, or which ends with ναξ, as Καλλιάναξ, or some in which the syllables Λεων take the lead, as Λεωνίδης, or on the other hand close the sentence, as Θρασυλέων. They are in the name, when we utter simple or compound names of two syllables, by which some tragic figure, or on the other hand some humble one, is indicated; or some names which have no connexion with anything divine, as Κλεώνυμος, or which have some such connexion, as Διονύσιος: and this, too, whether the connexion be with one God or with more, as ῾Eρμαφρόδιτος; or whether the name begins with Jupiter, as Διοκλῆς, or with Mercury, as Ὲρμόδωρος; or whether it ends, as it perhaps may, with νῖκος. And then they who were desired to say such and such things, and could not, had to drain the cup.” And Clearchus defined the word in this way. And now you, my good friend Ulpian, may inquire what the cup to be drained is.
70. But concerning these griphi, Antiphanes says, in his Cnoethis, or the Pot-bellied Man—
And in his Aphrodisian he says—
71. And Alexis, in his Sleep, proposes a griphus of this kind—
And Eubulus, in his Sphingocarion, proposes griphi of this kind, himself afterwards giving the solution of them—
Again:—
('Tis the Egyptian ichneumon.)
Again:—
This is thistledown. For it—
Listen, now, to this one—
And you yourselves may decide here, that he means the box into which the votes are thrown, so that we may not borrow everything from Eubulus.
72. And Antiphanes, in his Problem, says—
73. And in his play called Sappho, Antiphanes represents the poetess herself as proposing griphi, which we may call riddles, in this manner: and then some one else is represented as solving them. For she says—
And some one, solving this riddle, says—
And so then he introduces Sappho herself solving the riddle, thus—
74. And Diphilus, in his Theseus, says that there were once three Samian damsels, who, on the day of the festival of Adonis, used to delight themselves in solving riddles at their feasts. And that when some one had proposed to them this riddle, "What is the strongest of all things?" one said iron, and alleged the following reasons for her opinion, because that is the instrument with which men dig and cut, and that is the material which they use for all purposes. And when she had been applauded, the second damsel said that a blacksmith exerted much greater strength, for that he, when he was at work, bent this strong iron, and softened it, and used it for whatever purposes he chose. And the third said, they were both wrong, and that love was the strongest thing of all, for that love could subdue a blacksmith.
And Achæus the Eretrian, though he is usually a very clear poet as respects the structure of his poems, sometimes makes his language obscure, and says many things in an enigmatical style; as, for instance, in his Iris, which is a satyric play. For he says, "A cruet of litharge full of ointment was suspended from a Spartan tablet, written upon and twisted on a double stick;" meaning to say a white strap, from which a silver cruet was suspended; and he has spoken of a Spartan written tablet when he merely meant the Spartan scytale. And that the Lacedæmonians put a white strap, on which they wrote whatever they wished, around the scytale, we are told plainly enough by Apollonius Rhodius, in his Treatise on Archilochus. And Stesichorus, in his Helen, speaks of a footpan of litharge; and Ion, in his Phoenix or Cæneus, calls the birdlime the sweat of the oak, saying—
75. And Hermippus says, that Theodectes of Phaselus, in his book on the Pupils of Isocrates, was a wonderfully clever man at discovering any riddles that might be proposed to him, and that he too could propose riddles to others with great acuteness. As that riddle about shade, for instance;—for he said that there was a nature which is greatest at its birth and at its decease, and least when at its height. And he speaks thus:—
And in the Œdipus, which is a tragedy, he speaks of night and day in the following riddle:—
And Callisthenes, in his Greek History, tells the following story, that "when the Arcadians were besieging Cromnus, (and that is a small town near Megalopolis,) Hippodamus the Lacedæmonian, being one of the besieged persons, gave a message to the herald who came to them from the Lacedæmonians, showing the condition in which they were by a riddle, and he bade him tell his mother—'to be sure and release within the next ten days the little woman who was bound in the temple of Apollo; as it would not be possible to release her if they let those days elapse.' And by this message he plainly enough intimated what he was desirous to have understood; for the little woman meant is Famine, of which there was a picture in the temple of Apollo, near the throne of Apollo, and it was represented under a woman's form; so it was evident to every one that those who were besieged could hold out only ten days more because of famine. So the Lacedæmonians, understanding the meaning of what had been said, brought succour with great speed to the men in Cromnus."
76. There are also many other riddles, such as this:—
77. And of this sort also are those enigmatical sayings of Pythagoras, as Demetrius of Byzantium says, in the fourth book of his treatise on Poets, where, for instance, he says, "A man should not eat his heart;" meaning, "a man should cultivate cheerfulness." "One should not stir the fire with a sword;" meaning, "one should not provoke an angry man;" for anger is fire, and quarrelsomeness is a sword. "One should not step over a yoke;" meaning, "one should avoid and hate all kinds of covetousness, but seek equality." "One should not travel along the high road;" meaning, "one should not follow the opinions of the multitude, (for the common people approve of whatever they take in their heads without any fixed principle,) but one should rather go on the straight road, using sense as one's guide." "One should not sit down upon a bushel;" meaning, "one should not be content with merely considering what is sufficient for the present day, but one should always have an eye to the future" * * * * * * * * *[50] "For death is the boundary and limit of life;" and this saying is meant to forbid us approaching the subject with anxiety and grief.
78. And Dromeas the Coan used to play at riddles in much the same way as Theodectes, according to the statement of Clearchus: and so did Aristonymus, the player on the harp, without any vocal accompaniment: and so did that Cleon who was surnamed Mimaulus, who was the best actor of Italian mimes that ever appeared on the stage without a mask. For in the style of play which I have mentioned already, he was superior even to Nymphodorus. And Ischomachus the herald was an imitator of his, who used to give his representations in the middle of a crowd, and after he had become celebrated, he altered his style and used to act mimes at the jugglers' shows. And the riddles which these men used to propose were of the following kind:—A clown once had eaten too much, and was very unwell, and when the physician asked him whether he had eaten to vomit, No, said he, but I ate to my stomach. And another was,—A poor woman had a pain in her stomach, and when the physician asked her whether she had anything[51] in her stomach, How should I, said she, when I have eaten nothing for three days?
And the writings of Aristonymus were full of pompous expressions: and Sosiphanes the poet said to Cephisocles the actor, reproaching him as a man fond of long words, "I would throw a stone at your loins, if I were not afraid of wetting the bystanders." But the logical griphus is the oldest kind, and the one most suited to the natural character of such enigmatical language. "What do we all teach when we do not know it ourselves?" and, "What is the same nowhere and everywhere?" and also, "What is the same in the heavens and on the earth and in the sea?" But this is a riddle arising from an identity of name; for there is a bear, and a serpent, and an eagle, and a dog, both in the heavens and on the earth and in the sea. And the other riddle means Time; for that is the same to all people and everywhere, because it has not its nature depending on one place. And the first riddle means "How to live:" for though no one knows this himself, he teaches his neighbour.
79. And Callias the Athenian, whom we were discussing just now, and who was a little before Strattis in point of time, wrote a play which he called Grammatical Science; and the plot of it was as follows. The prologue consists of the elements, and the actor should recite it, dividing it into paragraphs, and making the termination in the manner of a dramatic catastrophe, into "Alpha, beta, gamma, delta, eta, theta. For ει is sacred to the God; iota, cappa, lambda, mu, nu, xu, the diphthong ou, pi, rho, sigma, tau, the present υ, phi, chi, which is next to psi, all down to omega." And the chorus consisted of women, in pairs, made of two elements taken together, composed in metre and lyrical odes in this fashion;—"Beta alpha ba, beta ei be, beta eta be, beta iota bi, beta ou bo, beta upsilon bu, beta omega bo." And then, again, in the antistrophe of the ode and of the metre, "Gamma alpha, gamma ei, gamma eta, gamma iota, gamma omicron, gamma upsilon, gamma omega." And in the same way he dealt with all other syllables—all which have the same melody and the same metre in the antistrophes. So that people not only suspect that Euripides drew all his Medea from this drama, but they think that it is perfectly plain that he drew the system of his choruses from it. And they say that Sophocles, after he had heard this drama, endeavoured to divide his poem in respect of the metre, and did it thus, in the Œdipus,—
On which account, all the rest admitted the system of antistrophes from his example, as it should seem, into their tragedies. Then, after this chorus, Callias introduces another speech of vowels, in this manner: (and this also the reciter must divide into paragraphs in the same way as the previous portions, in order that that delivery may be preserved which the author originally intended)—
80. Callias was also the first man who taught the elements of learning by iambics, in a licentious sort of language, described in the following manner—
And afterwards, following this example, as any one may suspect, Mæandrius the prose writer, turning away a little from the usual pronunciation in his descriptions, wrote those things which are found in his Precepts, in a less polished style than the above-mentioned Callias. And Euripides appears to have followed the same model when he composed those verses, in his Theseus, in which the elements of writing are described. But the character is an illiterate shepherd, who is showing that the name of Theseus is inscribed in the place in this way—
[So as to make Θ Ε Σ Ε Υ Σ]
And Agathon the tragic poet has composed a similar passage, in his Telephus; for there also some illiterate man explains the way of spelling Theseus thus:—
And Theodectes of Phaselus introduces an illiterate clown, who also represents the name of Theseus in his own way—
And Sophocles has said something like this, in his Amphiaraus, which is a satyric drama, where he introduces an actor dancing in unison with his explanation of the letters.
81. But Neoptolemus the Parian, in his treatise on Inscriptions, says that this inscription is engraved on the tomb of Thrasymachus the sophist at Chalcedon—
And there is a poem of this kind upon Pan, by Castorion the Solensian, as Clearchus says: every foot[52] consists of one entire word, and so every line has its feet in pairs, so that they may either precede or follow each other; as for instance—
[Which may be translated thus—
And so on in the same manner. And in whatever order you place each of these pairs of feet it will give the same metre; as you may, for instance, transpose the first line, and instead of—
you may read it—
You may also remark that each pair of feet consists of ten[53] letters; and you may produce the same effect not in this way, but in a different one, so as to have many ways of putting one line; for instead you may read—
or this way—
[And you may take this line too—]
[and transpose it thus—]
82. But Pindar, with reference to the ode which was composed without a σ in it, as the same Clearchus tells us, as if some griphus had been proposed to him to be expressed in a lyric ode,—as many were offended because they considered it impossible to abstain from the σ, and because they did not approve of the way in which the idea was executed, uttered this sentence—
And we may make use of this observation in opposition to those who pronounce the sigma-less ode of Lasus of Hermione to be spurious, which is entitled The Centaurs. And the ode which was composed by Lasus to the Ceres in Hermione, has not a σ in it, as Heraclides of Pontus says, in the third book of his treatise on Music, which begins—
83. And there are great numbers of other griphi. Here is one—
By the conspicuous land (φανερὰ) he means Delos (as δῆλος is synonymous with φανερὸς), and that is an island surrounded by the sea. And the mother meant is Latona, who is the daughter of Coius, and the Macedonians use κοῖος as synonymous with ἀριθμός. And the one on barley-water (πτυσάνη)—
And the name πτισάνη is derived from the verbs πτίσσω, to pound, and ἄνω, to bruise. There is also the one on the snail, which is quoted in the Definitions of Teucer—
And Antiphanes, in the Man who admires himself, says—
And Anaxandrides, in his Ugly Woman, says—
And Timocles, in his Heroes, says—
And Plato, in his Adonis, saying that an oracle was given to Cinyras concerning his son Adonis, reports it in these words—
He means Venus and Bacchus; for both of them loved Adonis. And the enigma of the Sphinx is reported by Asclepiades, in his essay on the Subjects on which Tragedies have been written, to have been such as this—
84. And there are also some sayings partaking of the character of griphi, composed by Simonides, as is reported by Chamæleon of Heraclea, in his treatise on the Life and Writings of Simonides—
But some say that these verses were inscribed on some one of the ancient offerings which were dedicated at Chalcis; and that on it were represented the figures of a goat and a dolphin; to which animals allusion is made in the above lines. And others say that a dolphin and a goat were embossed in that part of a psaltery where the strings are put in, and that they are what is meant here; and that the bull-slaying servant of Bacchus is the dithyrambic. And others say that the ox which is sacrificed to Bacchus in the town of Iulis is struck with an axe by some one of the young men: and that the festival being near, the axe had been sent to a forge, and Simonides, being then a young man, went to the smith to fetch it; and that when he found the man asleep, and his bellows and his tongs lying loosely about with their fore parts touching one another, he then came back, and told the before-mentioned problem to his friends. For the father of a kid he called the bellows, and the sad fish the tongs (which is called καρκῖνος, or the crab). The son of Night is sleep, and the bull-slaying servant of Bacchus is the axe. And Simonides composed also another epigram which causes perplexity to those who are ignorant of history—
And it is said, that when he was sojourning at Carthea he used to train choruses; and that the place where these exercises took place was in the upper part of the city, near the temple of Apollo, a long way from the sea; so that all the rest of the citizens, and Simonides himself, went down to get water, to a place where there was a fountain; and that an ass, whose name was Epeus, used to carry the water up for them; and they gave him this name, because there was a fable that Epeus himself used to do this; and there was also represented in a picture, in the temple of Apollo, the Trojan fable, in which Epeus is represented as drawing water for the Atridæ; as Stesichorus also relates—
And as this was the case, they say that it was a burden imposed on every member of the choruses who was not present at the appointed time, that he should give the ass a chœnix of barley; and that this is stated by the same poet; and that what is meant by not liking to win the grasshopper's prize, is not liking to sing; and that by Panopeiadean is meant the ass, and the mighty feast is the chœnix of barley.
85. And of the same kind is the epigram of Theognis the poet,—
Where he means the cockle. And we may consider of the same character those sentences in which we use words which resemble men's names, as—
where ἀριστόνικος sounds like the name of a man, Aristonicus. And there is also that riddle which is so frequently repeated—
86. And what punishment had the Athenians who could not solve this riddle when proposed to them, if it was only to drink a bowl of mixed wine, as Clearchus has stated in his Definition? And, in the first book of his treatise on Proverbs, he writes thus—"The investigation of riddles is not unconnected with philosophy; for the ancients used to make a display of their erudition by such things; for they used at their entertainments to ask questions, not such as the men of the present day ask one another, as to what sort of amorous enjoyment is the most delicious, or what kind of fish is nicest, or what is most in season at the moment; or again, what fish is best to eat at the time of Arcturus, or what after the rising of the Pleiades, or of the Dog-star. And then they offer kisses as prizes for those who gain the victory in such questions; such as are hateful to men of liberal sentiments; and as a punishment for those who are defeated they enjoin them to drink sheer wine; which they drink more willingly than the cup of health. For these things are well adapted to any one who has devoted his attention to the writings of Philænis and Archestratus, or who has studied the books called Gastrologies.
They preferred such plays as these;—when the first person had recited a verse, the others were bound to quote the verse following; or if any one had quoted a sentence from some poet, the rest were bound to produce a sentence from some other poet expressing the same sentiments. After that, every one was bound to repeat an iambic. And then, each person was to repeat a line of such and such a number of syllables precisely; and so on with everything that related to any acquaintance with letters and syllables. And in a similar manner they would be bound to repeat the names of all the commanders in the army which attacked Troy, or of all the Trojan leaders: or to tell the name of some city in Asia beginning with a given letter; and then the next person was to tell the name of a city in Europe: and then they were to go through the rest according as they were desired to give the names of Grecian or barbarian cities; so that this sport, not being an inconsiderate one, was a sort of exhibition of the ability and learning of each individual. And the prizes given were a garland and applause, things by which love for one another is especially sweetened."
87. This, then, was what Clearchus said; and the things which he says one ought to propose, are, I imagine, such as these. For one person to quote a line in Homer beginning with Alpha, and ending with the same letter, such as—
And, again, they quoted iambics on a similar principle—
Or lines in Homer beginning and ending with ε, as—
And iambics on the same principle—
And lines of Homer beginning and ending with η, as—
And iambics—
Lines in Homer beginning and ending with ι, as—
Beginning and ending with σ, as—
And iambics as—
And beginning and ending with ω, as—
And iambics as—
Sometimes too, it is well to propound lines without a sigma, as—
and again, to quote lines of Homer, of which the first syllable when connected with the last, will make some name, such as—
There are also other lines in Homer expressing the names of vessels from the first and last syllable, such as—
which makes Ὄλμος, a mortar;
which makes Μύλος, a millstone;
which makes λύρη, a lyre.
And other lines, the first and last syllables of which give some eatable, as—
which makes ἄρτος, bread;
which makes μῆλα, apples.
88. And since we have made a pretty long digression about griphi, we must now say what punishment those people underwent who failed to solve the griphus which was proposed to them. They drank brine mingled with their drink, and were bound to drink the whole cup up at one draught; as Antiphanes shows in his Ganymede, where he says—
So when the Deipnosophists had said all this about the griphi, since it has taken us till evening to recollect all they said, we will put off the discussion about cups till to-morrow. For as Metagenes says in his Philothytes—
taking the discussion about cups next.
Footnotes
[36] The passage from Pindar is hopelessly corrupt.
[37] A mina was something less than a pound.
[38] A χοεὺς was something under three quarts.
[39] It is not quite certain what was the size of the chœnix; some make it about a pint and a half, while others make it nearly four pints. The λίτρα is only the Greek form of the Roman libra, and was a little more than three-quarters of a pound.
[40] Sito is from σῖτος, food.
[41] It is uncertain what this name means, or how it should be spelt. Some write it Simalis.
[42] This name appears to mean, "having unexpected gain," ἕρμαιον ἔχων.
[43] Megalartus, from μέγας, large, and ἄρτος, a loaf. Megalomazus, from μέγας, great, and μάζα, a barley-cake.
[44] The cyathus held the twelfth part of a sextarius, which was about a pint; and the Romans who wished to preserve a character for moderation used to mix their wine in the proportion of nine cyathi of water to three of wine. Poets, who, according to Horace, were good for nothing till they were inebriated, reversed these proportions:—
Tribus aut novem
Miscentur cyathis pocula commodis.
Qui Musas amat impares,
Ternos ter cyathos attonitus petit
Vates. Tres prohibet supra
Rixarum metuens tangere Gratia,
Nudis juncta sororibus.—Hor. iii. 19. 11.[45] The cottabus was a Sicilian game, much in vogue at the drinking-parties of young men in Athens. The simplest mode was when each threw the wine left in his cup so as to strike smartly in a metal basin, at the same time invoking his mistress's name. If all fell in the basin, and the sound was clear, it was a sign that he stood well with her. The basin was called κοτταβεῖον, the action of throwing ἀποκοτταβίζειν, and the wine thrown λάταγες, or λαταγή. The game afterwards became more complicated, and was played in various ways; sometimes a number of little cups (ὀξύβαφα) were set floating, and he who threw his cottabus so as to upset the greatest number, in a given number of throws, won the prize, which was also called κοτταβεῖον. Sometimes the wine was thrown upon a scale (πλάστιξ), suspended over a little image (μάνης) placed in water: here the cottabus was to be thrown so as to make the scale descend upon the head of the image. It seems quite uncertain what the word is derived from.—Vide L. & S. Gr. Eng. Lex. υ. κότταβος.
[46] Schlegel gives a very different interpretation to this story. He says—"In Æschylus the tragic style is as yet imperfect, and not unfrequently runs into either unmixed epic or lyric. It is often abrupt, irregular, and harsh. To compose more regular and skilful tragedies than those of Æschylus was by no means difficult; but in the more than mortal grandeur which he displayed, it was impossible that he should ever be surpassed, and even Sophocles, his younger and more fortunate rival, did not in this respect equal him. The latter, in speaking of Æschylus, gave a proof that he was himself a thoughtful artist;—'Æschylus does what is right, without knowing it.' These few simple words, exhaust the whole of what we understand by the phrase, powerful working unconsciously." This is the comment of a man of real sense, learning, taste, and judgment.—Dramatic Literature, p. 95. (Bohn's Standard Library.)
[47] This was a name given to Pericles by Aristophanes, Acharn. 531.
[48] "Νάρθηξ, a tall umbelliferous plant, (Lat. ferula,) with a slight knotted pithy stalk, in which Prometheus conveyed the spark of fire from heaven to earth." —L. & S. Gr. Eng. Lex. in voc. νάρθηξ.
[49] This is a mistake of Athenæus. The passage referred to occurs in the fifth book of the De Republica.
[50] A line or two is lost here, containing probably the enigmatical sentence subsequently referred to.
[51] The Greek is ἐν γάστρι ἔχει, which also signifies to be pregnant.
[52] There is probably some corruption in the text here.
[53] There is some mistake here, for they consist of eleven.
1.
as Cephisodorus the comic poet says, my good friend Timocrates; for when we were all met together at a convenient season, and with serious minds, to discuss the goblets, Ulpian, while every one was sitting still, and before any one began to speak at all, said,—At the court of Adrastus, my friends, the chief men of the nation sup while sitting down. But Polyidus, while sacrificing on the road, detained Peteos as he was passing by, and while lying on the grass, strewing some leaves which he had broken off on the ground by way of a table, set before him some part of the victim which he had sacrificed. And when Autolycus had come to the rich people of Ithaca, and while he was sitting down, (for the men of that time ate their meals while sitting down,) the nurse took Ulysses, (as the poet says—
and placed him on his knees, not near his knees. So let us not waste time now, but let us lie down, that Plutarch may lead the way in the lecture which he promised us on the subject of goblets, and that he may pledge us all in bumpers.
2.But I imagine that Simonides of Amorgos is the first poet who has spoken of drinking-cups (ποτήρια) by name in his iambics, thus—
And the author of the poem called the Alcmæonis says—
And the word ποτήριον comes from πόσις, drink, as the Attic word ἔκπωμα also does; but they form the word with ω, as they also say ὑδροπωτέω, to drink water, and οἰνοπωτέω, to drink wine. Aristophanes, in his Knights, says—
But he also says in the same play—
And Pherecrates, in his Tyranny, says—
And Anacreon said—
And the verb occurs also in the same poet, for he says οἰνοποτάζων. And Sappho, in her second Ode, says—
And Alcæus says—
And in Achaia Ceres is honoured under the title of Δημήτηρ ποτηριοφόρος, in the territories of the Antheans, as Autocrates informs us in the second book of his History of Achaia.
3. And I think it right that you should inquire, before we begin to make a catalogue of the cups of which this sideboard (κυλικεῖον) is full,—(for that name is given to the cupboard where the cups are kept, by Aristophanes, in his Farmers—
and the same word occurs also in Anaxandrides in his Melilotus; and Eubulus in his Leda says—
And in his Female Singer he says—
And in his Semele or Bacchus he says—
And the younger Cratinus, in his Chiron, says—
4. It is worth while, I say, to inquire whether the ancients drank out of large cups. For Dicæarchus the Messenian, the pupil of Aristotle, in his Essay on Alcæus, says that they used small cups, and that they drank their wine mixed with a good deal of water. But Chamæleon of Heraclea, in his essay on Drunkenness, (if I only recollect his words correctly,) says—"But if those who are in power and who are rich prefer this drunkenness to other pleasures, it is no great wonder, for as they have no other pleasure superior to this, nor more easy to obtain, they naturally fly to wine: on which account it has become customary among the nobles to use large drinking-cups. For this is not at all an ancient custom among the Greeks; but one that has been lately adopted, and imported from the barbarians. For they, being destitute of education, rush eagerly to much wine, and provide themselves with all kinds of superfluous delicacies. But in the various countries of Greece, we neither find in pictures nor in poems any trace of any cups of large size being made, except indeed in the heroic times. For the cup which is called ῥυτὸν they attributed only to the heroes, which fact will appear a perplexing one to some people; unless indeed any one should choose to say that this custom was introduced because of the fierceness of the appearance of these demigods. For they think the heroes irascible and quarrelsome, and more so by night than by day. In order, then, that they may appear to be so, not in consequence of their natural disposition, but because of their propensity for drinking, they represent them as drinking out of large cups. And it appears to me not to have been a bad idea on the part of those people who said that a large cup was a silver well."
In all this Chamæleon appears to be ignorant that it is not a small cup which in Homer is given to the Cyclops by Ulysses; for if it had been a small one, he would not have been so overcome with drunkenness after drinking it three times only, when he was a man of such a monstrous size. There were therefore large cups at that time; unless any one chooses to impute it to the strength of the wine, which Homer himself has mentioned, or to the little practice which the Cyclops had in drinking, since his usual beverage was milk; or perhaps it was a barbaric cup, since it was a big one, forming perhaps a part of the plunder of the Cicones. What then are we to say about Nestor's cup, which a young man would scarcely have had strength enough to carry, but which the aged Nestor lifted without any labour; concerning which identical cup Plutarch shall give us some information. However, it is time now to lie down at table.
5. And when they had all laid themselves down;—But, said Plutarch, according to the Phliasian poet Pratinas—
Nor indeed am I one of those κυλίκρανοι whom Hermippus, the comic poet, ridicules in his iambics, where he says—
But these are Heracleans who live at the foot of Mount Œta, as Nicander of Thyatira says; saying that they are so named from a certain Cylix, a Lydian by birth, who was one of the comrades of Hercules. And they are mentioned also by Scythinus the Teian, in his work entitled The History, where he says, "Hercules, having taking Eurytus and his son, put them to death for exacting tribute from the people of Euboea. And he laid waste the territory of the Cylicranes for behaving like robbers; and there he built a city called Heraclea of Trachis." And Polemo, in the first of his books, addressed to Adæus and Antigonus, speaks thus—"But the inhabitants of the Heraclea which is at the foot of Mount Œta, and of Trachis, are partly some Cylicranes who came with Hercules from Lydia, and partly Athamanes, some of whose towns remain to this day. And the people of Heraclea did not admit them to any of the privileges of citizenship, considering them only as foreigners sojourning amongst them; and they were called Cylicranes, because they had the figure of a cup (κύλιξ) branded on their shoulders."
6. I am aware, too, that Hellanicus says, in his treatise on the Names of Races, that "Some of the Libyan nomades have no other possessions than a cup, and a sword, and a ewer, and they have small houses made of the stalks of asphodel, merely just to serve as a shade, and they even carry them about with them wherever they go." There is also a spot amongst the Illyrians, which has been celebrated by many people, which is called Κύλικες, near to which is the tomb of Cadmus and Harmonia, as Phylarchus relates in the twenty-second book of his Histories. And Polemo, in his book on Morychus, says that at Syracuse, on the highest spot of the part called the Island, there is an altar near the temple of Olympia, outside the walls, from which he says that people when putting to sea carry a goblet with them, keeping it until they get to such a distance that the shield in the temple of Minerva cannot be seen; and then they let it fall into the sea, being an earthenware cup, putting into it flowers and honeycombs, and uncut frankincense, and all sorts of other spices besides.
7. And since I now see your banquet, as Xenophanes the Colophonian says, full of all kinds of pleasure—
8. And the exquisite Anacreon says—
And Ion of Chios says—
Those also who were called the seven wise men used to make drinking parties; "for wine comforts the natural moroseness of old age," as Theophrastus says, in his treatise on Drunkenness.
9. On which account, when we are met together in these Dionysiac conversaziones, no one, as is said in the Tarentines of Alexis—
And, in the words of the beautiful Sappho,—
10. And we may add to all this, that different cities have peculiar fashions of drinking and pledging one another; as Critias mentions, in his Constitution of the Lacedæmonians, where he says—"The Chian and the Thasian drink out of large cups, passing them on towards the right hand; and the Athenian also passes the wine round towards the right, but drinks out of small cups. But the Thessalian uses large cups, pledging whoever he pleases, without reference to where he may be; but among the Lacedæmonians, every one drinks out of his own cup, and a slave, acting as cupbearer, fills up again the cup when each has drained it." And Anaxandrides also mentions the fashion of passing the cup round towards the right hand, in his Countrymen, speaking as follows:—
11. But we may decline entering on the subject of goblets of earthenware; for Ctesias says—"Among the Persians, that man only uses an earthenware who is dishonoured by the king." And Choerilus the epic poet says—
But I am well aware that earthenware cups are often very pleasant, as those which are imported among us from Coptus; for they are made of earth which is mixed up with spices. And Aristotle, in his treatise on Drunkenness, says—"The cups which are called Rhodiacan are brought into drinking-parties, because of the pleasure which they afford, and also because, when they are warmed, they deprive the wine of some of its intoxicating properties; for they are filled with myrrh and rushes, and other things of the same sort, put into water and then boiled; and when this mixture is put into the wine, the drinkers are less apt to become intoxicated." And in another place he says—"The Rhodiacan cups consist of myrrh, flowery rushes, saffron, balsam, spikenard, and cinnamon, all boiled together; and when some of this compound is added to the wine, it has such effect in preventing intoxication, that it even diminishes the amorous propensities, checking the breath in some degree."
12. We ought not, then, to drink madly, looking at the multitude of these beautiful cups, made as they are with every sort of various art, in various countries. "But the common people," says Chrysippus, in the introduction to his treatise on what is Good and Evil, "apply the term madly to a great number of things; and so they call a desire for women γυναικομανία, a fondness for quails ὀρτυγομανία; and some also call those who are very anxious for fame δοξομανεῖς; just as they call those who are fond of women γυναικομανεῖς, and those who are fond of birds ὀρνιθομανεῖς: all these nouns having the same notion of a propensity to the degree of madness. So that there is nothing inconsistent in other feelings and circumstances having this name applied to them; as a person who is very fond of delicacies, and who is properly called φίλοψος and ὀψοφάγος, may be called ὀψομανής; and a man very fond of wine maybe called οἰνομανής; and so in similar instances. And there is nothing unreasonable in attributing madness to such people, since they carry their errors to a very mad pitch, and wander a great distance from the real truth.
13. Let us, then, as was the custom among the Athenians, drink our wine while listening to these jesters and buffoons, and to other artists of the same kind. And Philochorus speaks of this kind of people in these terms—"The Athenians, in the festivals of Bacchus, originally used to go to the spectacle after they had dined and drunk their wine; and they used to witness the games with garlands on their heads. But during the whole time that the games were going on, wine was continually being offered to them, and sweetmeats were constantly being brought round; and when the choruses entered, they were offered wine; and also when the exhibition was over, and they were departing, wine was offered to them again. And Pherecrates the comic poet bears witness to all these things, and to the fact that down to his own time the spectators were never left without refreshment." And Phanodemus says—"At the temple of Bacchus, which is in the Marshes (ἐν Λίμναις), the Athenians bring wine, and mix it out of the cask for the god, and then drink of it themselves; on which account Bacchus is also called Λιμναῖος,because the wine was first drunk at that festival mixed with water. On which account the fountains were called Nymphs and the Nurses of Bacchus, because the water being mingled with the wine increases the quantity of the wine.
Accordingly, men being delighted with this mixture, celebrated Bacchus in their songs, dancing and invoking him under the names of Euanthes, and Dithyrambus, and Baccheutes, and Bromius." And Theophrastus, in his treatise on Drunkenness, says—"The nymphs are really the nurses of Bacchus; for the vines, when cut, pour forth a great deal of moisture, and after their own nature weep." On which account Euripides says that one of the Horses of the Sun is
And Ulysses gave
And Timotheus, in his Cyclops, says—
14. And I know, my messmates, of some men who were proud, not so much of their wealth in money as of the possession of many cups of silver and gold; one of whom is Pytheas the Arcadian, of the town of Phigalea, who, even when dying, did not hesitate to enjoin his servants to inscribe the following verses on his tomb:—
And Harmodius the Lepreatian mentions this fact in his treatise on the Laws and Customs subsisting in Phigalea. And Xenophon, in the eighth book of his Cyropædia, speaking of the Persians, writes as follows—"And also they pride themselves exceedingly on the possession of as many goblets as possible; and even if they have acquired them by notorious malpractices, they are not at all ashamed of so doing; for injustice and covetousness are carried on to a great degree among them." But Œdipus cursed his sons on account of some drinking-cups (as the author of the Cyclic poem called the Thebaïs says), because they set before him a goblet which he had forbidden; speaking as follows:—
15. And Cæcilius the orator who came from Cale Acte, in his treatise on History, says that Agathocles the Great, when displaying his golden drinking-cups to his companions, said that he had got all these from the earthenware cups which he had previously made. And in Sophocles, in the Larissæans, Acrisius had a great many drinking-cups; where the tragedian speaks as follows:—
And Posidonius, in the twenty-sixth book of his Histories, says that Lysimachus the Babylonian, having invited Himerus to a banquet (who was tyrant not only over the people of Babylon, but also over the citizens of Seleucia), with three hundred of his companions, after the tables were removed, gave every one of the three hundred a silver cup, weighing four minæ; and when he had made a libation, he pledged them all at once, and gave them the cups to carry away with them. And Anticlides the Athenian, in the sixteenth book of his Returns, speaking of Gra, who, with other kings, first led a colony into the island of Lesbos, and saying that those colonists had received an answer from the oracle, bidding them, while sailing, throw a virgin into the sea, as an offering to Neptune, proceeds as follows:—"And some people, who treat of the history and affairs of Methymna, relate a fable about the virgin who was thrown into the sea; and say that one of the leaders was in love with her, whose name was Enalus, and that he dived down, wishing to save the damsel; and that then both of them, being hidden by the waves, disappeared. But that in the course of time, when Methymna had now become populous, Enalus appeared again, and related what had happened, and how it had happened: and said that the damsel was still abiding among the Nereids, and that he himself had become the superintendent of Neptune's horses; but that a great wave having been cast on the shore, he had swam with it, and so come to land: and he had in his hand a goblet made of gold, of such wondrous workmanship that the golden goblets which they had, when compared with his, looked no better than brass."
16. And in former times the possession of drinking-cups was reckoned a very honourable thing. Accordingly, Achilles had a very superb cup as a sort of heirloom:—
And Priam, when offering ransom for his son, amid all his most beautiful treasures especially offers a very exquisitely wrought cup. And Jupiter himself, on the occasion of the birth of Hercules, thinks a drinking-cup a gift worthy to be given to Alcmena; which he, having likened himself to Amphitryon, presents to her:—
And Stesichorus says that the sun sails over the whole ocean in a bowl; in which also Hercules passed over the sea, on the occasion of his going to fetch the cows of Geryon. We are acquainted, too, with the cup of Bathycles the Arcadian, which Bathycles left behind him as a prize of wisdom to him who should be pronounced the best of those who were called the wise men.
And a great many people have handled the cup of Nestor; for many have written books about it. And drinking-cups were favourites even among the Gods; at all events—
But it is a mark of a gentleman to be moderate in his use of wine, not drinking too greedily, nor drinking large draughts without drawing one's breath, after the fashion of the Thracians; but to mingle conversation with his cups, as a sort of wholesome medicine.
17. And the ancients affixed a great value to such goblets as had any story engraved upon them; and in the art of engraving cups in this manner, a high reputation was enjoyed by Cimon and Athenocles. They used also drinking-cups inlaid with precious stones. And Menander, somewhere or other, speaks of drinking-cups turned by the turning-lathe, and chased; and Antiphanes says—
And Nicomachus says to some one—
And Philippides says—
And Parmenio, in his letter to Alexander, summing up the spoils of the Persians, says, "The weight of goblets of gold is seventy-three Babylonian talents, and fifty-two minæ.[58] The weight of goblets inlaid with precious stones, is fifty-six Babylonian talents, and thirty-four minæ."
18. And the custom was, to put the water into the cup first, and the wine afterwards. Accordingly, Xenophanes says—
And Anacreon says—
And before either of them Hesiod had said—
And Theophrastus says—"The ancient fashion of the mixture of wine was quite opposite to the way in which it is managed at the present day; for they were not accustomed to pour the water on the wine, but the wine on the water, in order, when drinking, not to have their liquor too strong, and in order also, when they had drunk to satiety, to have less desire for more. And they also consumed a good deal of this liquor, mixed as it was, in the game of the cottabus."
19. Now of carvers of goblets the following men had a high reputation,—Athenocles, Crates, Stratonicus, Myrmecides the Milesian, Callicrates the Lacedæmonian, and Mys; by which last artist we have seen a Heraclean cup, having most beautifully wrought on it the capture of Troy, and bearing also this inscription—
20. Now among the Cretans, the epithet κλεινὸς, illustrious, is often given to the objects of one's affection. And it is a matter of great desire among them to carry off beautiful boys; and among them it is considered discreditable to a beautiful boy not to have a lover. And the name given to the boys who are carried off in that manner is παρασταθέντες. And they give to the boy who has been carried off a robe, and an ox, and a drinking-cup. And the robe they wear even when they are become old, in order to show that they have been κλεινοί.
21. You see that when men drink, they then are rich;