DRINKING-CUPS. And Diphilus, in his Sappho, says—
Archilochus, receive this metaniptris,
The brimming cup of Jupiter the Saviour.
But some people say that this is rather the name of the draught itself which was given to the guests after they had washed their hands; as, for instance, Seleucus says in his Dialects. But Callias, in his Cyclops, says—
Receive this metaniptris of Hygeia.
And Philetærus, in his Æsculapius, says—
He raised aloft a mighty metaniptris,
Brimfull of wine, in equal portions mix'd,
Repeating all the time Hygeia's name.
And Philoxenus the Dithyrambic poet, in his ode entitled the Supper, pledging some one after they have washed their hands, says—
Do you, my friend, receive
This metaniptris full of wine,
The sweetly dewy gift of Bacchus.
Bromius gives this placid joy,
To lead all men to happiness.
And Antiphanes, in his Torch, says—
Our table shall now be this barley cake,
And then this metaniptrum of Good Fortune. . . .
Nicostratus, in his Woman returning Love, says—
Pour over him the metaniptrum of health.
74. Then there is the mastus. Apollodorus the Cyrenæan, as Pamphilus says, states that this is a name given to drinking-cups by the Paphians.
There are also the mathalides. Blæsus, in his Saturn, says—
Pour out for us now seven mathalides
Full of sweet wine.
And Pamphilus says, "Perhaps this is a kind of cup, or is it only a measure like the cyathus?" But Diodorus calls it a cup of the [Greek: kylix] class.
75. There is also the manes, which is a species of cup. Nicon, in his Harp-player, says—
And some seasonably then exclaim'd,
My fellow-countryman, I drink to you;
And in his hand he held an earthenware manes,
Of ample size, well able to contain
Five cotylæ of wine; and I received it.
And both Didymus and Pamphilus have quoted these iambics.
