Page:The Deipnosophists (Volume 2).djvu/384

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107. There are also [Greek: chytrides]; Alexis, in his Supposititious Child, says—

I, seeking to do honour to the king,
To Ptolemy and to his sister, took
Four [Greek: chytridia] of strong, untemper'd wine,
And drank them at a draught, with as much pleasure
As any one ever swallow'd half-and-half:
And, for the sake of this agreement, why
Should I not now feast in this splendid light?

But Herodotus, in the fifth book of his History, says "that the Argives and Æginetans made a law that no one should ever use any Attic vessel of any kind in their sacrifices, not even if made of earthenware; but that for the future every one should drink out of the [Greek: chytrides] of the country." And Meleager the Cynic, in his Symposium, writes as follows—"And in the meantime he proposed a deep pledge to his health, twelve deep [Greek: chytridia] full of wine."

108. There is also the [Greek: psygeus] or [Greek: psyktêr]. Plato, in his Symposium, says,—"But, O boy, bring, said he, that psycter hither (for he had seen one which held more than eight cotylæ). Accordingly, when he had filled it, first of all he drank it himself, and then he ordered it to be filled again for Socrates . . . as Archebulus was attempting to be prolix, the boy, pouring the wine out at a very seasonable time, overturned the psycter." And Alexis, in his Colonist, says—

A psygeus, holding three full cotylæ.

And Dioxippus, in his Miser, says—

And from Olympicus he then received
Six thericlean cups, and then two psycters.

And Menander, in his play entitled The Brazier's Shop, says—

And, as the present fashion is, they shouted
For more untemper'd wine; and some one took
A mighty psycter, giving them to drink,
And so destroy'd them wretchedly.

And Epigenes, in his Heroine, giving a list of many cups, among them mentions the psygeus thus—

Now take the boys, and make them hither bring
The thericlean and the Rhodian cups;
But bring yourself the psycter and the cyathus,
Some cymbia too.

And Strattis, in his Psychastæ—