The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 13

If with water you fill up your gla.s.ses, You'll never write anything wise But wine is the horse of Parna.s.sus, That carries a bard to the skies.

And this was Cratinus's thought, Who was ne'er with one bottle content, But stuck to his cups as he ought, And to Bacchus his heart and voice lent.

His house all with garlands did s.h.i.+ne, And with ivy he circled his brow, To show he nought wors.h.i.+pp'd but wine, As, if he still lived, he'd do now.

Polemo says that in Munychia a hero is honoured of the name of Acratopotes:[64:1] and that among the Spartans statues of the heroes Matton and Ceraon were erected by some cooks in the hall of the Phiditia.[64:2] And in Achaia a hero is honoured called Deipneus, having his name from de?p???, a supper. But from a dry meal there arise no jokes, nor extempore poems, though, on the other hand, such an one does not cause any boasting or insolence of mind; so that it is well said--

Where are the empty boasts which Lemnos heard When season'd dishes press'd the ample board, When the rich goblets overflow'd with wine?

though Aristarchus the grammarian put a mark against the line which represents the Greeks as getting insolent through much eating. For he said that it was not every sort of cheerfulness and satiety which engendered boasting and jesting and ridiculous actions; but that these things proceeded only from such revelling as made men beside themselves, and inclined them to falsehood,--from drunkenness, in fact.

10. On which account Bacchylides says:--

Sweet force, from wine proceeding, Now warms my soul with love, And on my spirit leading, With hopes my heart does move.

It drives dull care away, And laughs at walls and towers; And bids us think and say, That all the world is ours.

The man who drinks plenty of wine, Will never for wealth be wis.h.i.+ng; For his cellar's a ceaseless mine, And an undisturb'd heart he is rich in.

And Sophocles says--

Drinking is a cure for woe.

And other poets call wine--

Fruit of the field, which makes the heart to leap.

And the king of all poets introduces Ulysses saying--

Let generous food supplies of strength produce, Let rising spirits flow from sprightly juice, Let their warm heads with scenes of battle glow,[65:1]

and so on.

11. It is in consequence of wine that both comedy and tragedy were discovered in Icarium, a village of Attica; and it was at the time of the grape harvest that these inventions were first introduced, from which comedy was at first called t????d?a.

Euripides, in the Bacchae, says that Bacchus

Gave men the wine which every grief dispels; Where wine is not, there Venus never dwells, Nor any other thing which men hold dear.

And Astydamas says that Bacchus

Gave men the vine which cures all mortal grief, Parent of genial wine.

"For," says Antiphanes, "a man who continually fills himself with wine becomes indifferent and careless; but he who drinks but little is very meditative." And Alexis says--

I'm not beside myself with drink; nor have I so much taken As not to be quite understood by those to whom I'm speaking.

But Seleucus says that it was not an ancient custom to indulge in wine or any other luxury to excess, except, indeed, on the occasion of some sacred festival; which is the origin of the names ????a?, and ????a?, and ??a?--T???a? meaning that men thought it right d?? ?e??? ?????s?a?, to drink wine on account of the G.o.ds; ????a? meaning that ????? ?e?? ??????t?, they a.s.sembled and met together in honour of the G.o.ds. And this comes to the same as the Homeric expression da?ta ???e?a?. And Aristotle says that the word e??e?? is derived from the fact that men used wine et? t? ??e?? after sacrificing.

12. Euripides says that it is possible that

Those who with humble gifts approach the G.o.ds, May often holier be, than those who load The groaning altars with whole hecatombs;

and the word t????, which he employs in the first line, means "sacrifice."

And Homer uses the same word when he says--

G.o.d holds no sacrifice in more esteem, Than hearts where pious joy and pleasure beam.[66:1]

And we call those festivals which are of greater magnitude and which are celebrated with certain mysterious traditions, te?eta?, on account of the expense which is lavished on them. For the word te??? means _to spend_.

And men who spend a great deal are called p???te?e??; and those who spend but little are called e?te?e??. Alexis says--

Those who with fair prosperity are bless'd, Should always keep themselves before the world; Glad to display the bounty of the G.o.ds.

For they, the givers of all good, deserve A holy grat.i.tude; and they will have it.

But if, when they their gifts have shower'd, they see The objects of their bounty live like churls, Useless to all around them; who can wonder If they recall what seems so ill bestow'd?

13. A man is not fond of wine who has been used from his earliest years to drink water. But--

'Tis sweet, at a banquet or festival meeting, To chat o'er one's wine, when the guests have done eating,

says Hesiod in his Melampodia.

It has not occurred to any one of you to say a word about water, though wine is made of it, and though Pindar, the most grandiloquent of poets, has said that "water is the best of all things." And Homer, too, the most divine of all poets, recognised it as a most nutritious thing, when he spoke of a grove of poplars nourished by the water. He also praises its transparent nature--

Four fountains flow'd with clearest water white;[67:1]

and the water which is of a lighter nature, and of greater value, he calls "lovely:" at all events he calls the t.i.taresius lovely which falls into the Peneus. And he mentions also some water as especially good for was.h.i.+ng; and Praxagoras of Cos, following his example, speaks of a water as beauteous--

Beauteous it flows, to wash all dirt away.

And he distinguishes also between sweet water and brackish (p?at??) water; though when he calls the h.e.l.lespont p?at??, he uses the word in the sense of broad. But with respect to sweet water, he says--

Near the sweet waters then our s.h.i.+ps we stay'd.[67:2]

14. He was acquainted too with the effect which warm water has on wounds: at all events he describes Eurypylus's wounds as being washed with it; and yet, if the object was to stop the haemorrhage, cold water would have been useful, since that contracts and closes up wounds; but with the view of relieving the pain, he bathes these with warm water, which has a soothing effect. And in Homer the word ??a??? is used for what we call ?e???, _warm_. And he shows that plainly enough in what he says about the fountains of the Scamander, saying--

Next by Scamander's double source they bound, Where two famed fountains burst the parted ground; This warm, through scorching clefts is seen to rise, With exhalations steaming to the skies.[67:3]

Can we call that only _warm_ from which a steam of fire, and a fiery smoke arises? But of the other source he says--

That, the green banks in summer's heat o'erflows, Like crystal clear, and cold as winter's snows.

And he often speaks of men newly wounded being bathed in warm water. In the case of Agamemnon he says--

With his warm blood still welling from the wound.[67:4]

And in the case of a stag fleeing after it had been wounded, he says, in a sort of paraphrase--

While his warm blood and mighty limbs were strong.[68:1]