But, mindful of the gods, Achilles went
To the rich coffer in his shady tent,
(There lay the presents of the royal dame;)
From thence he took a bowl of antique frame,
Which never man had stain'd with ruddy wine,
Nor raised in offerings to the pow'rs divine,
But Peleus' son; and Peleus' son to none
Had raised in offerings but to Jove alone.[56]
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 she received the gift, and on the bowl
Admiring gazed with much delighted soul.
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.
DRINKING-CUPS.
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—
They pledged each other in their golden cups.[57]
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 others drain with eager lips the cup,
Full of the juice of ancient wine, o'ershadow'd
With sparkling foam,—the golden-wrought rich cup,
Which circled round they raised: one long, deep draught
They drain, and raise the bottom to the skies.