FEMALE DRINKERS.
57. And what sort of women those among the Greeks are
who get drunk, Antiphanes tells us, in his Female Darter;
where he says—
There is a certain neighbouring victualler,
And he, whenever I arrive, being thirsty,
Is th' only man who knows the proper way
In which to mix my wine; and makes it not
Too full of water, nor too strong and heady:
I recollect that once when I was drinking. . . .
And, in his Woman Initiated, (and it is women who are conversing,) he writes—
A. Would you now like, my dearest friend, to drink?
B. No doubt I should.
A. Well come, then, take a cup;
For they do say the first three cups one takes
All tend to th' honour of the heavenly gods.
And Alexis, in his Female Dancer, says—
A. But women are quite sure to be content
If they have only wine enough to drink.
B. But, by the heavenly twins, we now shall have
As much as we can wish; and it shall be
Sweet, and not griping,—rich, well-season'd wine,
Exceeding old.
A. I like this aged sphinx;
For hear how now she talks to me in riddles.
And so on. And, in his Jupiter the Mourner, he mentions a certain woman named Zopyra, and says—
Zopyra, that wine-cask.
Antiphanes, in his Female Bacchanalians—
But since this now is not the case, I'm sure
He is a wretched man who ever marries
Except among the Scythians; for their country
Is the sole land which does not bear the vine.
And Xenarchus, in his Pentathlum, says—
I write a woman's oath in mighty wine.
58. Plato, in his Phaon, relating how many things happen to women because of wine, says—
Come now, ye women, long ago have I
Pray'd that this wine may thus become your folly;
For you don't think, as the old proverb goes,
That there is any wisdom at a vintner's.
For if you now desire to see Phaon,
You first must all these solemn rites perform.
First, as the nurse of youths, I must receive
A vigorous cheesecake, and a pregnant mealcake,
And sixteen thrushes whole, well smear'd with honey,
