Pour in three measures of the limpid stream,
Pure from an everflowing spring; and then
Add a fourth cup of sacred rosy wine.
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—
The sketch was by Parrhasius;—by Mys
The workmanship; and now I represent
The lofty Troy, which great Achilles took.
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.
DRINKING-CUPS.
For amusing oneself with wine exalts, and cherishes, and elevates the mind, since it inflames and arouses the soul, and fills it with lofty thoughts, as Pindar says—
When the sad, laborious cares
Flee from the weary hearts of men,
And in the wide, expansive ocean
Of golden wealth we all set sail,
Floating towards the treacherous shore.
E'en he who is poor, is rich when he
Has fill'd his soul with rosy wine;
And he who's rich . . . . .
And then he goes on—
becomes elated
Beneath the glad dominion of the vine.