He placed a phiale upon the board,
By both hands to be raised (ἀμφίθετον), untouch'd by fire;
and again, when he says—
A golden phiale, and doubled fat;
is not speaking of a drinking-cup, but of a brazen vessel of a flat shape like a caldron, having perhaps two handles, one on each side. But Parthenius the pupil of Dionysius understands by ἀμφίθετον a phiale without any bottom. But Apollodorus the Athenian, in his short essay on the Crater, says that it means a cup which cannot be firmly placed and steadied on its bottom, but only on its mouth. But some say, that just as the word ἀμφιφορεὺς is used for a cup which can be lifted by its handles on both sides, the same is meant by the expression ἀμφίθετος φιάλη. But Aristarchus says that it means a cup which can be placed on either end, on its mouth or on its bottom. But Dionysius the Thracian says that the word ἀμφίθετος means round, running round (ἀμφιθέων) in a circular form. And Asclepiades the Myrlean says,—"The word φιάλη, by a change of letters, becomes πιάλη, a cup which contains enough to drink (πιεῖν ἅλις); for it is larger than the ποτήριον. But when Homer calls it also ἀπύρωτος, he means either that it was wrought without fire, or never put on the fire. On which account he calls a kettle which may be put on the fire ἐμπυριβήτης, and one which is not so used ἄπυρος. And when he says—
An ample charger, of unsullied frame,
With flowers high wrought, not blacken'd yet by flame,
he perhaps means one intended to receive cold water. So that the phiale would in that case resemble a flat brazen vessel, holding cold water. But when he calls it ἀμφίθετος, can we understand that it has two bases, one on each side; or is ἀμφὶ here to be taken as equivalent to περὶ, and then again is περὶ to be taken as equivalent to περιττὸν, so that in fact all that is meant by the epithet is beautifully made; since θεῖναι was often used by the ancients for 'to make?' It may also mean, ' being capable of being placed either on its bottom or upon its mouth;' and such a placing of cups is an Ionian [p. 802] and an ancient fashion. And even now the Massilians often adopt it, and set their goblets down on their mouths."
104. But as Cratinus has said, in his Female Runaways—
Receive from me these round-bottom'd phialæ,
Eratosthenes, in the eleventh book of his treatise on Comedy, says that Lycophron did not understand the meaning of the word (βαλανειόμφαλος), for that the word ὀμφαλὸς, as applied to a phiale, and the word θόλος, as applied to a bath, were nearly similar in meaning; and that, in the word, allusion is neatly enough made to the umbilical form. But Apion and Diodorus say, "There are some kinds of phialæ of which the boss is similar to a strainer." But Asclepiades the Myrlean, in his Essays on Cratinus, says— "βαλανειόμφαλοι are the phialæ called, because their bosses and the vaulted roofs of the baths are much alike." And Didymus, saying the same thing, cites the words of Lycophron, which run thus:—"From the bosses in the women's baths, out of which they ladle the water in small cups." But Timarchus, in the fourth book of his Essay on the Mercury of Eratosthenes, says,—"Any one may suppose that this word contains a secret allusion in it, because most of the baths at Athens, being circular in their shape, and in all their furniture, have slight projections in the middle, on which a brazen boss is placed. Ion, in his Omphale, says—
Go quick, O damsels; hither bring the cups,
And the mesomphali;—