MIXING WINE. large cup had been given to him, he said,—But, O boy, draw out and pour into my cup a liquor with not quite so much water in it; not like the man in the comic poet Antiphanes, who, in the Twins, says—
He took and brought me an enormous cup,
And I pour'd into it unmixed wine,
Not to the honour of a boy, but all
My cups, and they were numberless, I quaff'd
To all the gods and goddesses of heaven.
Then, after them, I drank twice as much more
To the great goddess and the noble king.
So do you now, O boy, pour me out something stronger; for I do not prescribe to you the exact number of cyathi.[1] But I will show you that the words [Greek: kyathos] and [Greek: akratesteron] (wine with less water in it) are both used: and then, too, I will give you a lecture about cupbearers.
22. But, first of all, I will speak about the habit of drinking strong drinks, with reference to which we find the word [Greek: zôroteron]. Antiphanes, in his Milanion, says—
I think this man does drink the cup of health,
Making his cupbearer shun too much water ([Greek: zôroterô chrômenon oinochoô]).
And in his Lampon he says—
My friend Iapyx, mix it somewhat stronger ([Greek: euzôresteron]).
And Ephippus, in his Ephebi, says—
He gave him in each hand a brimming flagon,
Mixing in strong wine ([Greek: zôroteron]), in Homer's fashion.
And you find some people say that the expression in Homer—
Take care and give less water ([Greek: zôroteron keraire]),
does not mean that there is to be less water, but that the draught is to be hot; urging that [Greek: zôros] is derived from
- ↑ The cyathus held the twelfth part of a sextarius, which was about a
pint; and the Romans who wished to preserve a character for moderation
used to mix their wine in the proportion of nine cyathi of water to
three of wine. Poets, who, according to Horace, were good for nothing
till they were inebriated, reversed these proportions:—
Tribus aut novem
Miscentur cyathis pocula commodis.
Qui Musas amat impares,
Ternos ter cyathos attonitus petit
Vates. Tres prohibet supra
Rixarum metuens tangere Gratia,
Nudis juncta sororibus.—Hor. iii. 19. 11.
