As. By Bacchus, Minos himself never made a juster Law.
Phily. Do you make no Order as to the Method of Drinking?
Eut. Having consider'd the Matter, I will follow the Example of Agesilaus King of the Lacedæmonians.
Phily. What did he do?
Eut. Upon a certain Time, he being by Lot chosen Master of the Feast, when the Marshal of the Hall ask'd him, how much Wine he should set before every Man; If, says he, you have a great Deal of Wine, let every Man have as much as he calls for, but if you're scarce of Wine, give every Man equally alike.
Phily. What did the Lacedæmonian mean by that?
Eut. He did this, that it might neither be a drunken Feast, nor a querulous one.
Phily. Why so?
Eut. Because some like to drink plentifully, and some sparingly, and some drink no Wine at all; such an one Romulus is said to have been. For if no Body has any Wine but what he asks for, in the first Place no Body is compell'd to drink, and there is no Want to them that love to drink more plentifully. And so it comes to pass that no Body is melancholy at the Table. And again, if of a less quantity of Wine every one has an equal Portion, they that drink moderately have enough; nor can any Body complain in an Equality, and they that would have drank more largely, are contentedly temperate.
Eut. If you like it, this is the Example I would imitate, for I would have this Feast to be a fabulous, but not a drunken one.