And Diodorus of Sinope, in his Female Flute-player, says—When any one, O Crito, drinks ten cups,Consider, I do beg you, whether heWho never once allows the wine to passIs in a fit state for discussion. And it was not without some wit that Lysander the Spartan, as Hegesander relates in his Commentaries, when some vintners sold wine which had been much watered in hi camp, ordered some one to supply it properly tempered, that his men might buy it with less water in it. And Alexis has said something which comes to nearly the same thing, in his Aesop; thus—A. That is a good idea of yours, O Solon,And cleverly imagined, which you haveAdopted in your city.S. What is that?A. You don't let men drink neat wine at their feasts.S. Why, if I did, 'twould not be very easyFor men to get it, when the innkeepersWater it ere it comes out of the waggon.No doubt they do not do so to make money,But only out of prudent care for thoseWho buy the liquor; so that they may haveTheir heads from every pang of headache free.This now is, as you see, a Grecian drink;So that men, drinking cups of moderate strength,May chat and gossip cheerfully with each other:For too much water is more like a bathThan like a wine-cup; and the wine-coolerMix'd with the cask, my friend, is death itself.
Διόδωρος δ’ ὁ Σινωπεὺς ἐν Αὐλητρίδι· ἐπὰν κυάθους πίῃ τις, ὦ Κρίτων, δέκα, ἀεὶ παρ’ ἕκαστον ἐνδελεχῶς τὸ ποτήριον πίνει τὸ λοιπόν, τοὺς λογισμοὺς δ’ ἐξεμεῖ. ταῦτα σκόπει πρὸς σαυτόν. οὐκ ἀγλαφύρως δὲ Λύσανδρος ὁ Σπαρτιάτης, ὥς φησιν Ἡγήσανδρος ἐν ὑπομνήμασι, τὸν οἶνον ὑδαρῆ πωλούντων τῶν καπήλων ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ, κεκραμένον ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν πωλεῖν, ἵν’ αὐτὸν ἀκρατέστερον ὠνοῖντο. τὸ παραπλήσιον καὶ Ἄλεξις εἴρηκεν ἐν Αἰσώπῳ οὕτως· κομψόν γε τοῦτ’ ἐστὶν παρ’ ὑμῖν, ὦ Σόλων, ἐν ταῖς Ἀθήναις δεξιῶς θ’ εὑρημένον. σο. τὸ ποῖον; α. ἐν τοῖς συμποσίοις οὐ πίνετε ἄκρατον. σο. οὐ γὰρ ῥᾴδιον πωλοῦσι γὰρ ἐν ταῖς ἁμάξαις εὐθέως κεκραμένον, οὐχ ἵνα τι κερδαίνωσι, τῶν δ’ ὠνουμένων προνοούμενοι τοῦ τὰς κεφαλὰς ὑγιεῖς ἔχειν ἐκ κραιπάλης, τοῦτ’ ἐσθ᾽, ὁρᾷς, Ἑλληνικὸς πότος, μετρίοισι χρωμένους ποτηρίοις λαλεῖν τι καὶ ληρεῖν πρὸς αὑτοὺς ἡδέως. τὸ μὲν γὰρ ἕτερον λουτρόν ἐστιν, οὐ πότος, ψυκτῆρι πίνειν καὶ κάδοις· α. θάνατος μὲν οὖν.
“But to drink to the degree of drunkenness,” says Plato, in his sixth book of the Laws, is neither becoming any- Where—except perhaps in the days of festival of the god who gave men wine for their banquets,—nor is it wholesome: and, above all, a man ought to guard against such a thing who has any thoughts of marriage; for at such a time, above all other times, both bride and bridegroom ought to be in full possession of their faculties; when they are entering upon what is no small change in the circumstances of their life; and also they ought to be influenced by anxiety that their offspring shall be the offspring of parents in the fullest possible possession of all their faculties; for it is very uncertain what day or what night will be the originating cause of it. “And in the first book of his Laws he says—” But respecting drunkenness it may be a question, whether we ought to give way to it as the Lydians do, and the Persians, and the Carthaginians, and the Celtæ, and the Spaniards, and the Thracians, and other nations like them; or whether like you, O Lacedæmonians, one ought wholly to abstain from it. But the Scythians and the Thracians, who indulge altogether in drinking unmixed wine, both the women and all the men, and who spill it all over their clothes, think that they are maintaining a very honourable practice, and one that tends to their happiness. And the Persians indulge to a great extent in other modes of luxury which you reject; but still they practise them with more moderation than the Scythians and Thracians. And a great many of the guests were drinking, and putting lumps of meal into their wine, a custom which Hegesander of Delphi mentions. Accordingly Epinicus, when Mnesiptolemus had given a recitation of his history, in which it was written how Seleucus had used meal in his wine, having written a drama entitled Mnesiptolemus, and having turned him into ridicule, as the comic poets do, and using his own words about that sort of drink, represents him as saying:—Once I beheld the noble king Seleucus,One summer's day, drinking with mighty pleasureSome wine with meal steep'd in it. (So I tookA note of it, and show'd it to a crowd,Although it was an unimportant thing,Yet still my genius could make it serious.)He took some fine old Thasian wine, and ekeSome of the liquor which the Attic beeDistils who culls the sweets from every flower;And that he mingled in a marble cup,And mix'd the liquor with fair Ceres' corn,And took the draught, a respite from the heat.And the same writer tells us that in the Therades islands men mash lentils and pease into meal, instead of ordinary corn, and put that into the wine, and that this drink is said to be better than that in which the meal is mixed.
πίνειν δ’ εἰς μέθην φησὶν ἐν ἕκτῳ Νόμων Πλάτων, ᾽ οὔτε ἄλλοθί που πρέπει πλὴν ἐν ταῖς τοῦ τὸν οἶνον δόντος θεοῦ ἑορταῖς οὐδ’ ἀσφαλές, οὔτ’ οὖν περὶ γάμους ἐσπουδακότα, ἐν οἷς ἔμφρονα εἶναι πρέπει μάλιστα νύμφην καὶ νυμφίον μεταβολὴν βίου οὐ μικρὰν μεταλλάττοντας, ἅμα δὲ καὶ τὸ γεννώμενον ὅπως ὅτι μάλιστα ἐξ ἐμφρόνων αἰεὶ γίγνηται. σχεδὸν γὰρ ἄδηλον ὁποία νὺξ ἢ φῶς αὐτὸ γεννήσει κἀν τῷ αʹ δὲ τῶν Νόμων φησί· ʽμέθης δὲ αὐτῆς, ὥσπερ Λυδοὶ χρῶνται καὶ Πέρσαι καὶ Καρχηδόνιοι καὶ Κελτοὶ καὶ Ἴβηρες καὶ Θρᾷκες καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα γένη, καθάπερ ὑμεῖς, ὦ Λακεδαιμόνιοι, τὸ παράπαν ἀπέχεσθε. Σκύθαι δὲ καὶ Θρᾷκες ἀκράτῳ παντάπασι χρώμενοι, γυναῖκές τε καὶ πάντες αὐτοί, καὶ κατὰ τῶν ἱματίων καταχεόμενοι καλὸν καὶ εὔδαιμον ἐπιτήδευμα ἐπιτηδεύειν νενομίκασι. Πέρσαι δὲ καὶ σφόδρα μὲν χρῶνται καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις τρυφαῖς ἃς ὑμεῖς ἀποβάλλετε, ἐν τάξει δὲ μᾶλλον τούτων ἔπινον πολλοὶ καὶ ἄλφιτα ἐπιβάλλοντες τῷ οἴνῳ, ὡς ὁ Δελφὸς Ἡγήσανδρος φησίν. Ἐπίνικος γοῦν, Μνησιπτολέμου ἀνάγνωσιν ποιησαμένου τῶν ἱστοριῶν ἐν αἷς ἐγέγραπτο ὡς Σέλευκος ἐπηλφίτωσε, γράψας δρᾶμα Μνησιπτόλεμον καὶ κωμῳδῶν αὐτὸν καὶ περὶ τῆς πόσεως ταῖς ἐκείνου χρώμενος φωναῖς ἐποίησε λέγοντα· ἐπ’ ἀλφίτου πίνοντα τοῦ θέρους ποτὲ ἰδὼν Σέλευκον ἡδέως τὸν βασιλέα ἔγραψα καὶ παρέδειξα τοῖς πολλοῖς ὅτι κἂν τὸ τυχὸν ᾖ πραγμάτιον ἢ σφόδρ’ εὐτελές, σεμνὸν δύναται τοῦθ’ ἡ δύναμις ἡ ᾽μὴ ποιεῖν. ᾽ γέροντα Θάσιον τόν τε γῆς ἀπ’ ᾽ Ἀτθίδος ἑσμὸν μελίσσης τῆς ἀκραχόλου γλυκὺν συγκυρκανήσας ἐν σκύφῳ χυτῆς λίθου, Δήμητρος ἀκτῇ πᾶν γεφυρώσας ὑγρόν, κατῃσίμωσα πῶμα, καύματος λύσιν. ὁ δ’ αὐτὸς ἱστορεῖ κἀν Θηράσι ταῖς νήσοις ἐπιπάττοντας λέκιθον ἀντὶ ἀλφίτου πίνειν, καὶ λέγεσθαι ταύτην τὴν πόσιν καλλίονα τῆς ἐξ ἀλφίτων.
Now it was not the fashion among the Lacedæmonians to practise the system of pledging healths at their banquets, nor to salute one another with mutual greetings and caresses at their feasts. And Critias shows us this in his Elegies:—And this is an old fashion, well establish'd,And sanction'd by the laws of noble Sparta,That all should drink from one well-fill'd cup;And that no healths should then be drunk to anyone,Naming the tender object: also thatThe cup should not go round towards the right.The Lydian goblets....* * * *And to drink healths with skill and well-turn'd phrase,Naming the person whom one means to pledge.For, after draughts like this, the tongue gets loose,And turns to most unseemly conversation;They make the body weak; they throw a mistOver the eyes; and make forgetfulnessEat recollection out of the full heart.The mind no longer stands on solid ground;The slaves are all corrupted by licentiousness,And sad extravagance eats up the house.But those wise youths whom Lacedæmon breedsDrink only what may stimulate their soulsTo deeds of daring in th' adventurous war,And rouse the tongue to wit and moderate mirth.Such draughts are wholesome both for mind and body,And not injurious to the pocket either:Good, too, for deeds of love; authors of sleep,That wholesome harbour after toil and care:Good, too, for health-that best of goddessesWho mortal man befriend: and likewise goodFor piety's best neigbour temperance.And presently afterwards he goes on—For fierce, immoderate draughts of heady wineGive momentary pleasure, but engenderA long-enduring pain which follows it.But men at Sparta love a mode of lifeWhich is more equal; they but eat and drinkThat which is wholesome, so that they may beFit to endure hard pains, and do great deeds.Nor have they stated days in all the yearWhen it is lawful to indulge too much.
προπόσεις δὲ τὰς γινομένας ἐν τοῖς συμποσίοις Λακεδαιμονίοις οὐκ ἦν ἔθος ποιεῖν οὐδὲ φιλοτησίας διὰ τούτων πρὸς ἀλλήλους ποιεῖσθαι. δηλοῖ δὲ ταῦτα Κριτίας ἐν τοῖς ἐλεγείοις· καὶ τόδ’ ἔθος Σπάρτῃ μελέτημά τε κείμενὸν ἐστι πίνειν τὴν αὐτὴν οἰνοφόρον κύλικα, μηδ’ ἀποδωρεῖσθαι προπόσεις ὀνομαστὶ λέγοντα μηδ’ ἐπὶ δεξιτερὰν χεῖρα κύκλῳ θιάσου. ἄγγε’ ἃ Λυδὴ χεὶρ εὗρ’ Ἀσιατογενὴς καὶ προπόσεις ὀρέγειν ἐπὶ δεξιὰ καὶ προκαλεῖσθαι ἐξονομακλήδην ᾧ προπιεῖν ἐθέλει. εἶτ’ ἀπὸ τοιούτων πόσεων γλώσσας τε λύουσιν εἰς αἰσχροὺς μύθους σῶμά τ’ ἀμαυρότερον τεύχουσιν πρὸς δ’ ὄμμ’ ἀχλὺς ἀμαλωπὸς ἐφίζει· λῆστις δὲ ἐκτήκει μνημοσύνην πραπίδων νοῦς δὲ παρέσφαλται· δμῶες δ’ ἀκόλαστον ἔχουσιν ἦθος· ἐπεισπίπτει δ’ οἰκοτριβὴς δαπάνη. οἱ Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ κόροι πίνουσι τοσοῦτον ὥστε φρέν’ εἰς ἱλαρὰν ἐλπίδα πάντας ἄγειν εἴς τε φιλοφροσύνην γλῶσσαν μέτριόν τε γέλωτα. τοιαύτη δὲ πόσις σώματί τ’ ὠφέλιμος γνώμῃ τε κτήσει τε· καλῶς δ’ εἰς ἔργ’ Ἀφροδίτης πρός θ’ ὕπνον ἥρμοσται, τὸν καμάτων λιμένα, πρὸς τὴν τερπνοτάτην τε θεῶν θνητοῖς Ὑγίειαν, καὶ τὴν Εὐσεβίης γείτονα Σωφροσύνην. ἑξῆς τε πάλιν φησὶν αἱ γάρ ὑπὲρ τὸ μέτρον κυλίκων προπόσεις παραχρῆμα τέρψασαι λυποῦσ’ εἰς τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον. ἡ Λακεδαιμονίων δὲ δίαιθ’ ὁμαλῶς διάκειται, ἔσθειν καὶ πίνειν σύμμετρα πρὸς τὸ φρονεῖν καὶ τὸ πονεῖν εἶναι δυνατούς· οὔκ ἐστ᾽ ἀπότακτος ἡμέρα οἰνῶσαι σῶμ’ ἀμέτροισι πότοις.
And a man who is always ready for wine is called φίλοινος.. But he is called φιλοπότης who is always ready to drink anything; and he is called φιλοκωθωνιστὴς who drinks to the degree of drunkenness. And of all heroes, the greatest drinker is Nestor, who lived three times as long as other men; for he evidently used to stick to his wine more closely than other people, and even than Agamemnon himself, whom Achilles upbraids as a man given to much drinking. But Nestor, even when a most important battle was impending, could not keep away from drinking. Accordingly Homer says—But not the genial feast or flowing bowlCould charm the cares of Nestor's watchful soul.And he is the only hero whose drinking-cup he has described, as he has the shield of Achilles; for he went to the war with his goblet just as he did with that shield, the fame of which Hector says had reached to heaven. And a man would not be very wrong who called that cup of his the Goblet of Mars, like the Cæneus of Antiphanes, in which it is said—The hero stood and brandish'd Mars's cup,Like great Timotheus, and his polish'd spear.And indeed it was on account of his fondness for drinking that Nestor, in the games instituted in honour of Patroclus, received a drinking-cup as a present from Achilles; not but what Achilles also gave a cup to the competitor who was defeated: for victory does not commonly attend hard drinkers, on account of their usual inactivity; or perhaps it is owing to their thirst that boxers usually fail, from being fatigued with holding out their hands too long. But Eumelus receives a breastplate after having run a course with great danger, and having been torn, the breastplate being a serviceable piece of defensive armour.
φίλοινος δ’ ἐστὶν ὁ πρὸς οἶνον ἕτοιμος, φιλοπότης δὲ ὁ πρὸς πότους, κωθωνιστὴς δὲ ὁ μέχρι μέθης, πλεῖστον δὲ ἔπινε τῶν μὲν ἡρώων Νέστωρ ὁ τριγέρων· φανερῶς γὰρ αὐτὸς προσέκειτο τῶν ἄλλων μᾶλλον τῷ οἴνῳ καὶ τοῦ Ἀγαμέμνονος αὐτοῦ, ὃν ὡς πολυπότην ἐπιπλήσσει ὁ Ἀχιλλεύς. ὁ δὲ Νέστωρ καὶ τῆς μεγίστης μάχης ἐνεστηκυίας οὐκ ἀπέχεται τοῦ πίνειν. φησὶ γοῦν Ὅμηρος· Νέστορα δ’ οὐκ ἔλαθεν ἰαχὴ πίνοντά περ ἔμπης. καὶ μόνου σὲ τούτου τῶν ἡρώων τὸ ποτήριον ἡρμήνευκεν, ὡς τὴν Ἀχιλλέως ἀσπίδα. ἐστρατεύετο γάρ μετ’ αὐτοῦ καθάπερ καὶ τῆς ἀσπίδος ἐκείνης ἧς φησιν ὁ Ἕκτωρ καὶ μέχρι οὐρανοῦ ἥκειν τὸ κλέος, οὐκ ἂν ἁμάρτοι δέ τις καὶ τὸ ποτήριον αὐτοῦ λέγων φιάλην Ἄρεως κατὰ τὸν Ἀντιφάνους Καινέα, ἐν ᾧ λέγεται οὕτως· εἶτ’ ἤδη δὸς φιάλην Ἄρεως, κατὰ Τιμόθεον, ξυστόν τε βέλος. ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ διὰ τὴν φιλοποσίαν ὁ Νέστωρ καὶ παρἈχιλλέως φιάλην λαμβάνει δῶρον ἐν τῷ ἐπὶ Πατρόκλῳ ἐπιτελουμένῳ ἀγῶνι, οὐχ ὅτι ἀκονιτὶ τῷ νικηθέντι ἔδωκε δέπας ὁ Ἀχιλλεύς τοῖς γὰρ φιλοπόταις οὐ παρέπεται τὸ νικᾶν διὰ τὸ ῥᾴθυμον ἢ ὅτι διὰ δίψαν μάλιστα λείπονται οἱ πύκται διὰ τὸ βαρεῖσθαι τὰς χεῖρας ἀνατείνοντες. ὁ δὲ Εὔμηλος λαμβάνει θώρακα δραμὼν ἆθλον ἐπισφαλῶς καὶ ἀμυχθείς, ἀσφαλείας ὅπλον.
But there is nothing more covetous than thirst; on which account the poet has called Argos thirsty, or rather causing great thirst, as having been much desired on account of the length of time the person of whom he is speaking had been absent from it. For thirst engenders in all men a violent desire for abundant enjoyment; on which account Sophocles says—Though you were to unfold unnumber'd treasuresOf wisdom to a thirsty man, you'd findYou pleased him less than if you gave him drink.And Archilochus says—I wish to fight with you, as much as e'erA thirsty man desired to quench his thirst.And one of the tragic poets has said—I bid you check your hand which thirsts for blood.And Anacreon says—For you are kind to every stranger,So let me drink and quench my thirst.And Xenophon, in the third book of his Cyropædia, represents Cyrus as speaking in this manner:—“I thirst to gratify you.” And Plato, in his Polity, says—“But if, as I imagine, any city which is governed by a democracy, thirsting for its liberty, should have evil-disposed cupbearers to wait upon it, and should be intoxicated to an improper degree with unmixed wine....”
τῆς δὲ δίψης οὐδέν ἐστι πολυποθητότερον. διόπερ καὶ τὸ Ἄργος πολυδίψιον ὁ ποιητὴς ἔφη, τὸ πολυπόθητον διὰ τὸν χρόνον. τὸ δίψος γὰρ πᾶσιν ἰσχυρὰν ἐπιθυμίαν ἐμποιεῖ τῆς περιττῆς ἀπολαύσεως. διὸ καὶ ὁ Σοφοκλῆς φησι· διψῶντι γάρ τοι πάντα προσφέρων σοφὰ οὐκ ἂν πλέον τέρψειας ἢ ᾽μπιεῖν διδούς. καὶ ὁ Ἀρχίλοχος· μάχης δὲ τῆς σῆς, ὥστε διψέων πιεῖν, ὣς ἐρέω. καὶ τῶν τραγικῶν δέ τις ἔφη· ἴσχειν κελεύω χεῖρα διψῶσαν φόνου, καὶ Ἀνακρέων; φίλη γὰρ εἶς ξείνοις· ἔασον δέ με διψῶντα πιεῖν. καὶ Ξενοφῶν δ’ ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ τῆς Παιδείας ποιεῖ τὸν Κῦρον τάδε λέγοντα· ᾽ ἐγὼ ὑμῖν διψῶ χαρίσασθαι.᾽ Πλάτων δ’ ἐν τῇ Πολιτείᾳ· ὅταν οἶμαι δημοκρατουμένη πόλις ἐλευθερίας διψήσασα κακῶν οἰνοχόων προστατούντων τύχῃ καὶ πορρωτέρω τοῦ δέοντος ἀκράτου μεθυσθῇ.
Proteas the Macedonian was also a very great drinker, as Ephippus tells us in his treatise on the Funeral of Alexander and Hephæstion: and he had an admirable constitution, and he had practised drinking to a great degree. Accordingly, Alexander, having once asked for a cup containing two choes, and having drank from it, pledged Proteas; and he, having taken it, and having sung the praises of the king a great deal, drank it in such a manner as to be applauded by every one. And presently Proteas asked for the same cup again, and again he drank and pledged the king. And Alexander, having taken the cup, drank it off in a princely manner, but he could not stand it, but leaned back on the pillow, letting the cup fall from his hands; and after this he fell sick and died, Bacchus, as it is said, being angry with him because he had besieged his native city of Thebes. And Alexander drank a great deal too, so that he once, after a drunken bout, slept without interruption two days and two nights. And this is shown in his Journals, which were compiled by Eumenes the Cardian, and Diodotus the Erythræan. But Menander, in his Flatterer, says—A. My good friend, Struthias, I thrice have drunkA golden cup in Cappadocia,Containing ten full cotylæ of wine.St. Why, then you drank more than king Alexander.A. At all events not less, I swear by Pallas.St. A wondrous feat.But Nicobule, or whoever it was who wrote the books attributed to her, says that “Alexander, once supping with Medeus the Thessalian, when there were twenty people present at the party, pledged every one of the guests, receiving a similar pledge from all of them, and then, rising up from the party, he presently went off to sleep.” And Callisthenes the Sophist, as Lynceus the Samian says in his Commentaries, and Aristobulus and Chares in their Histories, when in a banquet given by Alexander, a cup of unmixed wine came to him, rejected it; and when some one said to him, Why do you not drink? I do not wish, said he, after having drunk the cup of Alexander, to stand in need of the cup of Aesculapius." But Darius, who destroyed the Magi, had an inscription written on his tomb,—“I was able to drink a great deal of wine, and to bear it well.” And Ctesias says, that among the Indians it is not lawful for the king to get drunk; but among the Persians it is permitted to the king to get drunk one day in the year,—the day, namely, on which they sacrifice to Mithras. And Duris writes thus, with respect to this circumstance, in the seventh book of his Histories:—"The king gets drunk and dances the Persian dance on that festival only which is celebrated by the Persians in honour of Mithras; but no one else does so in all Asia; but all abstain during this day from dancing at all. For the Persians learn to dance as they learn to ride; and they think that the motion originated by this sort of exercise contains in it a good kind of practice tending to the strength of the body. But Alexander used to get so drunk, as Carystius of Pergamus relates in his Historic Commentaries, that he used even to celebrate banquets in a chariot drawn by asses; and the Persian kings too, says he, did the same thing. And perhaps it was owing to this that he had so little inclination for amatory pleasures; for Aristotle, in his Problems of Natural History, says, that the powers of men who drink to any great excess are much weakened. And Hieronymus, in his Letters, says, that Theophrastus says, that Alexander was not much of a man for women; and accordingly, when Olympias had given him Callixene, a Thessalian courtesan, for a mistress, who was a most beautiful woman, (and all this was done with the consent of Philip, for they were afraid that he was quite impotent,) she was constantly obliged to ask him herself to do his duty by her.
ἔπινε δὲ καὶ Πρωτέας ὁ Μακεδὼν πλεῖστον, ὥς φησιν Ἔφιππος ἐν τῷ περὶ τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου καὶ Ἡφαιστίωνος ταφῆς, καὶ εὐρώστῳ τῷ σώματι διῆγε, καίτοι τῷ πιεῖν ἐγγεγυμνασμένος ὤν. Ἀλέξανδρος γοῦν αἰτήσας ποτὲ ποτήριον δίχουν καὶ πιὼν προὔπιε τῷ Πρωτέᾳ. καὶ ὃς λαβὼν καὶ πολλὰ ὑμνήσας τὸν βασιλέα ἔπιεν, ὡς ὑπὸ πάντων κροταλισθῆναι. καὶ μετ’ ὀλίγον τὸ αὐτὸ ποτήριον αἰτήσας ὁ Πρωτέας καὶ πάλιν πιὼν προὔπιε τῷ βασιλεῖ. ὁ δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος λαβὼν ἔσπασε μὲν γενναίως, οὐ μὴν ὑπήνεγκεν, ἀλλ’ ἀπέκλινεν ἐπὶ τὸ προσκεφάλαιον ἀφεὶς τῶν χειρῶν τὸ ποτήριον. καὶ ἐκ τούτου νοσήσας ἀπέθανε, τοῦ Διονύσου, φησί, μηνίσαντος αὐτῷ, διότι τὴν πατρίδα αὐτοῦ τὰς Θήβας ἐπολιόρκησεν. ἔπινε δὲ ὁ ᾽ Ἀλέξανδρος πλεῖστον, ὡς καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς μέθης συνεχῶς κοιμᾶσθαι δύο ἡμέρας καὶ δύο νύκτας, δηλοῦται δὲ τοῦτο ἐν ταῖς Ἐφημερίσιν αὐτοῦ, ἃς ἀνέγραψαν Εὐμένης τε ὁ Καρδιανὸς καὶ Διόδοτος ὁ Ἐρυθραῖος. Μένανδρος δὲ ἐν Κόλακί φησι· κοτύλας χωροῦν δέκα ἐν Καππαδοκίᾳ κόνδυ χρυσοῦν, Στρουθία, τρὶς ἐξέπιον μεστὸν γ᾽. στρ. Ἀλεξάνδρου πλέον τοῦ βασιλέως πέπωκας. α. οὐκ ἔλαττον, οὐ μὰ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν. στρ. μέγα γε. Νικοβούλη δὲ ἢ ὁ ἀναθεὶς ταύτῃ τὰ συγγράμματά φησιν ὅτι παρὰ Μηδείῳ τῷ Θεσσαλῷ δειπνῶν ὁ Ἀλέξανδρος εἴκοσιν οὖσιν ἐν τῷ συμποσίῳ πᾶσι προὔπιε, παρὰ πάντων τὰ ἴσα λαμβάνων, καὶ ἀναστὰς ἐκ τοῦ συμποσίου μετ’ οὐ πολὺ ἀνεπαύετο. Καλλισθένης δὲ ὁ σοφιστής, ὡς Λυγκεὺς ὁ Σάμιός φησιν ἐν τοῖς ἀπομνημονεύμασι καὶ Ἀριστόβουλος καὶ Χάρης ἐν ταῖς ἱστορίαις, ἐν τῷ συμποσίῳ τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου τῆς τοῦ ἀκράτου κύλικος εἰς αὐτὸν ἐλθούσης ὡς διωθεῖτο, εἰπόντος τέ τινος αὐτῷ ᾽ διὰ τί οὐ πίνεις; ᾽ ᾽ οὐδὲν δέομαι ἔφη, ᾽ Ἀλεξάνδρου πιὼν τοῦ Ἀσκληπιοῦ δεῖσθαι.᾽ Δαρεῖος δὲ ὁ τοὺς μάγους ἀνελὼν ἐπιγεγραμμένον εἶχεν ἐπὶ τοῦ μνήματος· ʽ ἠδυνάμην καὶ οἶνον πίνειν πολὺν καὶ τοῦτον φέρειν καλῶς.᾽ Κτησίας δὲ παρ’ Ἰνδοῖς φησιν οὐκ εἶναι τῷ βασιλεῖ μεθυσθῆναι. παρὰ δὲ Πέρσαις τῷ βασιλεῖ ἐφίεται μεθύσκεσθαι μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ, ἐν ᾗ θύουσι τῷ Μίθρῃ. γράφει δὲ οὕτως περὶ τούτου Δοῦρις ἐν τῇ ἑβδόμῃ τῶν ἱστοριῶν ᾽ ἐν μόνῃ τῶν ἑορτῶν τῶν ἀγομένων ὑπὸ Περσῶν τῷ Μίθρῃ βασιλεὺς μεθύσκεται καὶ τὸ Περσικὸν ὀρχεῖται· τῶν δὲ λοιπῶν οὐδεὶς κατὰ τὴν Ἀσίαν, ἀλλὰ πάντες ἀπέχονται κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν ταύτην τῆς ὀρχήσεως. Πέρσαι γὰρ ὥσπερ ἱππεύειν οὕτω καὶ ὀρχεῖσθαι μανθάνουσι καὶ νομίζουσι τὴν ἐκ τῆς ἐργασίας ταύτης κίνησιν ἐμμελῆ τινα λαμβάνειν γυμνασίαν τῆς τοῦ σώματος ῥώμης.} εἰς τοσοῦτον δὲ Ἀλέξανδρος ἐμέθυεν, ὥς φησι Καρύστιος ὁ Περγαμηνὸς ἐν ἱστορικοῖς ὑπομνήμασιν, ὡς καὶ ἐπὶ ὄνων ἅρματος κωμάζειν ἐποίουν δὲ τοῦτο, φησί, καὶ οἱ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεῖς· μήποτ’ οὖν διὰ τοῦτο οὐδὲ πρὸς τὰ ἀφροδίσια εἶχεν ὁρμὴν ἐξυδαροῦσθαι γάρ φησιν ὁ ι Ἀριστοτέλης ἐν τοῖς φυσικοῖς προβλήμασι τῶν τοιούτων τὴν γονὴν Ἱερώνυμός τε ἐν ταῖς Ἐπιστολαῖς Θεόφραστόν φησι λέγειν ὅτι Ἀλέξανδρος οὐκ εὖ διέκειτο πρὸς τὰ ἀφροδίσια. Ὀλυμπιάδος γοῦν καὶ παρανακλινάσης αὐτῷ Καλλιξείναν τὴν Θετταλὴν ἑταίραν περικαλλεστάτην οὖσαν, συνειδότος τοῦτο καὶ τοῦ Φιλίππου εὐλαβοῦντο γὰρ μὴ γύννις εἴη, πολλάκις ᾔτει αὐτῇ τὸν Ἀλέξανδρον συγγενέσθαι.
And Philip, the father of Alexander, was a man very fond of drinking, as Theopompus relates in the twenty-sixth book of his History. And in another part of his History he writes, “Philip was a man of violent temper and fond of courting dangers, partly by nature, and partly too from drinking; for he was a very hard drinker, and very often he would attack the enemy while he was drunk.” And in his fifty-third book, speaking of the things that took place at Chæronea, and relating how he invited to supper the ambassadors of the Athenians who were present there, he says, "But Philip, when they had gone away, immediately sent for some of his companions, and bade the slaves summon the female flute-players, and Aristonicus the harp-player, and Durion the flute-player, and all the rest who were accustomed to drink with him; for Philip always took people of that sort about with him, and he had also invented for himself many instruments for banquets and drinking parties; for being very fond of drinking and a man intemperate in his manners, he used to keep a good many buffoons an musicians and professed jesters about him. And when he had spent the whole night in drinking, and had got very drunk and violent, he then dismissed all the rest, and when it was day-break proceeded in a riotous manner to the ambssadors of the Athenians. And Carystius in his Historical Commentaries says, that Philip, when he intended to get drunk, spoke in this way: “Now we may drink; for it is quite sufficient if Antipater is sober.” And once, when he was playing at dice, and some one told him that Antipater was coming, he hesitated a moment, and then thrust the board under the couch. And Theopompus gives a regular catalogue of men fond of drinking and addicted to drunkenness; and among them he mentions the younger Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily, whose eyes were a good deal injured by wine. And Aristotle, in his Polity of the Syracusans, says that he sometimes was drunk for three months at a time together, owing to which he had got somewhat weak in the eyes. And Theophrastus says that his companions also, who were flatterers of the supreme power, pretended not to see well, and to be led by the hand by Dionysius, and not to be able to see the meat that was served up before them, nor the cups of wine, on which account they got the name of Dionysiocolaces, or flatterers of Dionysius Nysæus also, who was tyrant of Syracuse, drank a great deal, and so did Apollocrates; and these men were the sons of the former Dionysius, as Theopompus tells us in the fortieth and forty-first books of his History; and he writes thus about Nysæus: “Nysæus, who was afterwards tyrant of Syracuse, when he was taken for the purpose of being put to death, and knew that he had only a few months to live, spent them wholly in eating and drinking.” And in his thirty-ninth book he says: “Apollocrates, the son of Dionysius the tyrant, was an intemperate man, and addicted to drinking; and some of his flatterers worked upon him so as to alienate him as much as possible from his father.” And he says that Hipparinus, the son of Dionysius, who behaved like a tyrant when drunk, was put to death. And about Nyssus he writes as follows: “Nysæus, the son of the elder Dionysius, having made himself master of Syracuse, got a four-horse chariot, and put on an embroidered robe, and devoted himself to gluttony and hard drinking, and to insulting boys and ravishing women, and to all other acts which are consistent with such conduct. And he passed his life in this manner.” And in his forty-fifth book the same historian, speaking of Timolaus the Theban, says: “For though there have been a great many men who have been intemperate in their daily life, and in their drinking, I do not believe that there has ever been any one who was concerned in state affairs, more intemperate, or a greater glutton, or a more complete slave to his pleasures than Timolaus, whom I have mentioned.” And in his twenty-third book, speaking of Charidemus of Oreum, whom the Athenians made a citizen, he says: “For it was notorious that he spent every day in the greatest intemperance, and in such a manner that he was always drinking and getting drunk, and endeavoring to seduce free-born women; and he carried his intemperance to such a height that he ventured to beg a young boy, who was very beautiful and elegant, from the senate of the Olynthians, who had happened to be taken prisoner in the company of Derdas the Macedonian.”
καὶ Φίλιππος δ’ ὁ τοῦ Ἀλεξάνδρου πατήρ φιλοπότης ἦν, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Θεόπομπος ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ καὶ εἰκοστῇ τῶν ἱστοριῶν, κἀν ἄλλῳ δὲ μέρει τῆς ἱστορίας γράφει Φίλιππος ἦν τὰ μὲν φύσει μανικὸς καὶ προπετὴς ἐπὶ τῶν κινδύνων, τὰ δὲ διὰ μέθην ἦν γὰρ πολυπότης καὶ πολλάκις μεθύων ἐξεβοήθει.᾽ ἐν δὲ τῇ τρίτῃ καὶ πεντηκοστῇ περὶ τῶν ἐν Χαιρωνείᾳ· γενομένων εἰπὼν καὶ ὡς ἐπὶ δεῖπνον ἐκάλεσε τοὺς παραγενομένους τῶν Ἀθηναίων πρέσβεις φησίν ᾽ὁ δὲ Φίλιππος ἀποχωρησάντων ἐκείνων εὐθέως μετεπέμπετό τινας τῶν ἑταίρων, καλεῖν δ’ ἐκέλευε τὰς αὐλητρίδας καὶ Ἀριστόνικον τὸν κιθαρῳδὸν καὶ Δωρίωνα τὸν αὐλητὴν καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους τοὺς εἰθισμένους αὐτῷ συμπίνειν περιήγετο γὰρ πανταχοῦ τοὺς τοιούτους ὁ Φίλιππος καὶ κατασκευασάμενος ἦν ὄργανα πολλὰ συμποσίου καὶ συνουσίας, ὢν γὰρ φιλοπότης καὶ τὸν τρόπον ἀκόλαστος καὶ βωμολόχους εἶχε περὶ αὑτὸν συχνοὺς καὶ τῶν περὶ τὴν μουσικὴν ὄντων καὶ τῶν τὰ γέλοια λεγόντων, πιὼν δὲ τὴν νύκτα πᾶσαν καὶ μεθυσθεὶς ἐπὶ πολὺ καὶ παραπαίσας ἀφεὶς ἅπαντας τοὺς ἄλλους ἀπαλλάττεσθαι ἤδη πρὸς ἡμέραν ἐκώμαζεν ὡς τοὺς πρέσβεις τοὺς τῶν Ἀθηναίων.᾽ Καρύστιος δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἱστορικοῖς ὑπομνήμασιν ὅτε φησί, ᾽ μεθύειν προῃρεῖτο Φίλιππος, τοῦτ’ ἔλεγε χρὴ πίνειν Ἀντίπατρος γὰρ ἱκανός ἐστι νήφων. κυβεύοντος δέ ποτε αὐτοῦ καί τινος ἀγγείλαντος ὡς Ἀντίπατρος πάρεστι, διαπορήσας ὦσεν ὑπὸ τὴν κλίνην τὸν ἄβακα.᾽ φιλοπότας δὲ καὶ μεθύσους καταλέγει Θεόπομπος Διονύσιον τὸν νεώτερον, Σικελίας τύραννον, ὃν καὶ τὰς ὄψεις ὑπὸ τοῦ οἴνου διαφθαρῆναι. Ἀριστοτέλης δ’ ἐν τῇ Συρακοσίων Πολιτείᾳ καὶ συνεχῶς φησιν αὐτὸν ἔσθ’ ὅτε ἐπὶ ἡμέρας ἐνενήκοντα μεθύειν διὸ καὶ ἀμβλυωπότερον γενέσθαι τὰς ὄψεις. Θεόφραστος δὲ φησι καὶ τοὺς ἑταίρους αὐτοῦ κολακεύοντας τὴν τυραννίδα προσποιεῖσθαι μὴ βλέπειν καὶ ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Διονυσίου χειραγωγεῖσθαι καὶ μήτε τὰς παρατιθέμενα τῶν ἐδεσμάτων μήτε τὰς κύλικας ὁρᾶν διὸ κληθῆναι Διονυσιοκόλακας. ἔπινε δὲ πλεῖστον καὶ Νυσαῖος ὁ τυραννήσας Συρακοσίων καὶ Ἀπολλοκράτης· Διονυσίου δὲ τοῦ προτέρου οὗτοι υἱοί, ὡς ὁ Θεόπομπος ἱστορεῖ ἐν τῇ μ’ κἀν τῇ ἑξῆς τῶν ἱστοριῶν, γράφει δὲ οὕτως περὶ τοῦ Νυσαίου· ` Νυσαῖος ὁ τυραννήσας ὕστερον Συρακοσίων ὥσπερ ἐπὶ θανάτῳ συνειλημμένος καὶ προειδὼς ὅτι μῆνας ὀλίγους ἤμελλεν ἐπιβιώσεσθαι γαστριζόμενος καὶ μεθύων διῆγεν.᾽ ἐν δὲ τῇ τριακοστῇ ἐνάτῃ φησὶν· ‘Ἀπολλοκράτης ὁ Διονυσίου τοῦ τυράννου υἱὸς ἀκόλαστος ἦν καὶ φιλοπότης· καὶ τῶν κολακευόντων τινὲς αὐτὸν παρεσκεύαζον ὡς ἔνι μάλιστα ἀλλοτριώτατα πρὸς τὸν πατέρα διακεῖσθαι.᾽ καὶ Ἱππαρῖνον δὲ τὸν Διονυσίου φησὶν ὑπὸ μέθης τυραννοῦντα ἀποσφαγῆναι. περὶ δὲ τοῦ Νυσαίου καὶ τάδε γράφει· ᾽ Νυσαῖος ὁ Διονυσίου τοῦ προτέρου υἱὸς κύριος τῶν ἐν Συρακούσαις γενόμενος πραγμάτων κατεσκευάσατο τέθριππον καὶ τὴν ἐσθῆτα τὴν ποικίλην ἀνέλαβεν, ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὴν ὀψοφαγίαν καὶ τὴν οἰνοφλυγίαν καὶ τὴν τῶν παίδων καὶ τὴν τῶν γυναικῶν ὕβριν καὶ τὴν τῶν ἄλλων ὅσα συντελῆ ὁ τούτοις πέφυκε καὶ τὴν δίαιταν διῆγεν οὕτως.᾽ ἐν δὲ τῇ τεσσαρακοστῇ πέμπτῃ ὁ αὐτὸς περὶ Τιμολάου λέγων τοῦ Θηβαίου φησὶν ᾽ οὐκ ὀλίγων γάρ ἤδη γενομένων ἀσελγῶν περὶ τὸν βίον τὸν καθ’ ἡμέραν καὶ τοὺς πότους οὐδένα νομίζω τῶν ἐν ταῖς πολιτείαις ὄντων οὔτ᾽ ἀκρατέστερον οὔτε λιχνότερον οὔτε δοῦλον γεγονέναι μᾶλλον τῶν ἡδονῶν, εἰ μή, ὥσπερ εἶπον, Τιμόλαον.᾽ ἐν δὲ τῇ τρίτῃ καὶ εἰκοστῇ περὶ Χαριδήμου τοῦ ᾽ Ὠρείτου διηγούμενος, ὃν Ἀθηναῖοι πολίτην ἐποιήσαντο, φησὶν ᾽τ᾽ήν τε γὰρ δίαιταν ἑωρᾶτο τὴν καθ’ ἡμέραν ἀσελγῆ καὶ τοιαύτην ποιούμενος ὥστε πίνειν καὶ μεθύειν αἰεί, καὶ γυναῖκας ἐλευθέρας ἐτόλμα διαφθείρειν καὶ εἰς τοσοῦτον προῆλθεν ἀκρασίας ὥστε μειράκιόν τι παρὰ τῆς βουλῆς τῆς τῶν Ὀλυνθίων αἰτεῖν ἐπεχείρησεν, ὃ τὴν μὲν ὄψιν ἦν εὐειδὲς καὶ χάριεν, ἐτύγχανε δὲ μετὰ Δέρδου τοῦ Μακεδόνος αἰχμάλωτον γεγενημένον.᾽
A man of the name of Arcadion, too, was a very great drinker, (but it is uncertain whether this is the same man who was at enmity with Philip,) as the epigram shows which Polemo has preserved in his treatise on the Inscriptions existing in different Cities—This is the monument of that great drinker,Arcadion; and his two loving sons,Dorcon and Charmylus, have placed it here,At this the entrance of his native city:And know, traveller, the man did dieFrom drinking strong wine in too large a cup.And the inscription over some man of the name of Erasixenus says that he also drank a great deal.Twice was this cup, full of the strongest wine,Drain'd by the thirsty Erasixenus,And then in turn it carried him away.Alcetas the Macedonian also used to drink a great deal, as Aristos the Salaminian relates; and so did Diotimus the Athenian: and he was the man who was surnamed the Funnel. For he put a funnel into his mouth, and would then drink without ceasing while the wine was being poured into it, according to the account of Polemo. And it has been already mentioned that Cleomenes the Lacedæmonian was a great drinker of unmixed wine; and that in consequence of his drunkenness he cut himself to pieces with a sword, is related by Herodotus. And Alcæus the poet also was very fond of drinking, as I have already mentioned. And Baton of Sinope, in his essay on Ion the poet, says that Ion was a man fond of drinking and amorous to excess; and he himself, too, in his Elegies, confesses that he loved Chrysilla the Corinthian, the daughter of Teleas, with whom Teleclides, in his Hesiods, says that the Olympian Pericles also was in love. And Xenarchus the Rhodian, on account of the excessive way in which he used to drink, was surnamed “The Nine-gallon Cask;” and Euphorion the Epic poet mentions him in his Chiliades.
ἔπινε δὲ πλεῖστον καὶ Ἀρκαδίων ἄδηλον δ’ εἰ ὁ Φιλίππῳ διεχθρεύσας, ὡς τὸ ἐπίγραμμα δηλοῖ, ὅπερ ἀνέγραψε Πολέμων ἐν τῷ περὶ τῶν κατὰ πόλεις ἐπιγραμμάτων τοῦ πολυκώθωνος τοῦτ’ ἠρίον Ἀρκαδίωνος ἄστεος ὤρθωσαν τῇδε παρ’ ἀτραπιτῷ υἱῆες Δόρκων καὶ Χαρμύλος. ἔφθιτο δ’ ὡνήρ, ὤνθρωπ᾽, ἐκ χανδῆς ζωροποτῶν κύλικος. Ἐρασίξενον δέ τινα πεπωκέναι πλεῖστόν φησι τὸ ἐπ’ αὐτῷ ἐπίγραμμα· τὸν βαθὺν οἰνοπότην Ἐρασίξενον ἡ δὶς ἐφεξῆς ἀκρήτου προποθεῖσ’ ᾤχετ’ ἔχουσα κύλιξ. ἔπινε δὲ πλεῖστον καὶ Ἀλκέτας ὁ Μακεδών, ὥς φησιν Ἄριστος ὁ Σαλαμίνιος, καὶ Διότιμος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος. οὗτος δὲ καὶ Χώνη ἐπεκαλεῖτο· ἐντιθέμενος γὰρ τῷ στόματι χώνην ἀπαύστως ἔπινεν ἐπιχεομένου οἴνου· ὅθεν καὶ Χώνη ἐπεκλήθη, ὥς φησι Πολέμων. Κλεομένης δὲ ὁ Λακεδαιμόνιος ὅτι καὶ ἀκρατοπότης ἦν προείρηται· ὅτι δὲ διὰ μέθην ἑαυτὸν καὶ μαχαίρᾳ κατέτεμεν ʽ Ἡρόδοτος ἱστόρησε. καὶ Ἀλκαῖος δ’ ὁ ποιητὴς φιλοπότης ἦν, ὡς προεῖπον. Βάτων δ’ ὁ Σινωπεὺς ἐν τοῖς περὶ Ἴωνος τοῦ ποιητοῦ φιλοπότην φησὶ γενέσθαι καὶ ἐρωτικώτατον τὸν Ἴωνα. καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἐλεγείοις ἐρᾶν μὲν ὁμολογεῖ Χρυσίλλης τῆς Κορινθίας, Τελέου δὲ θυγατρός· ἧς καὶ Περικλέα τὸν Ὀλύμπιον ἐρᾶν φησι Τηλεκλείδης ἐν Ἡσιόδοις. Ξέναρχος δὲ ὁ Ῥόδιος διὰ τὴν πολυποσίαν Μετρητὴς ἐπεκαλεῖτο· μνημονεύει αὐτοῦ Εὐφορίων ὁ ἐποποιὸς ἐν Χιλιάσι.
And Chares the Mitylenæan, in his History of Alexander, speaking of Calanus the Indian philosopher, and saying that he threw himself on a funeral pile that had been raised, and so died, says also that Alexander instituted some gymnastic games at his tomb, and also a musical contest of panegyrics on him.—“And he instituted,” says Chares, “because of the great fondness of the Indians for wine, a contest as to who should drink the greatest quantity of unmixed wine; and the prize was a talent for the first, and thirty mince for the second, and ten mince for the third. And of those who entered for the prize and drank the wine, thirty-five died at once by reason of the cold; and a little afterwards six more died in their tents. And he who drank the greatest quantity and won the prize, drank four choes of unmixed wine, and received the talent; and he lived four days after it; and he was called the Champion.” And Timæus says that “Dionysius the tyrant gave, at the festival of the Choes, to the first man who should drink a choeus, a golden crown as a prize:” and he says also that “Xenocrates the philosopher was the first person who drank it; and that he, taking the golden crown, and departing, offered it up to the Mercury who was placed in his vestibule, on which statue he was always accustomed on every occasion to offer up the garlands of flowers which he had, every evening as he returned home; and he was much admired for this conduct.” And Phanodemus says, that the festival of the Choes was established at Athens by Demophoon the king, when he was desirous to receive Orestes in hospitality on his arrival at Athens. And that, as he did not like him to come to the temples, or to share in the libations offered to the gods, before his trial was decided, he ordered all the temples to be shut, and a choeus of wine to be set before everybody, saying that a cheesecake should be given as a prize to the first person who drank it up. And he bade them, when they had finished drinking, not to offer up the garlands, with which they had been crowned, in the temples, because they had been under the same roof with Orestes; but he desired each man to place his garland round his own cup, and so to bring them to the priestess at the temple which is in the Marshes, and after that to perform the rest of the sacred ceremonies in the temple. And from thence it was that this festival got the name of the Choes. But on the day of the festival of the Choes, it is customary for the Athenians to send presents and pay to the sophists, who also themselves invite their acquaintances to a banquet, as Eubulides the dialectician shows us in his drama entitled the Revellers, where he says—You're acting like a sophist now, you wretch,And long for the pay-giving feast of Choes.
Χάρης δ’ ὁ Μυτιληναῖος ἐν ταῖς περὶ Ἀλέξανδρον ἱστορίαις περὶ Καλάνου εἰπὼν τοῦ Ἰνδοῦ φιλοσόφου, ὅτι ῥίψας ἑαυτὸν εἰς πυρὰν νενημένην ἀπέθανε, φησὶν ὅτι καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ μνήματι αὐτοῦ διέθηκεν Ἀλέξανδρος γυμνικὸν ἀγῶνα καὶ μουσικὸν ἐγκωμίων. ᾽ ἔθηκε δέ, ᾽ φησί, ʽκαὶ διὰ τὴν φιλοινίαν τῶν Ἰνδῶν καὶ ἀκρατοποσίας ἀγῶνα, καὶ ἦν ἆθλον τῷ μὲν πρώτῳ τάλαντον, τῷ δὲ δευτέρῳ τριάκοντα μναῖ καὶ τῷ τρίτῳ δέκα. τῶν οὖν πιόντων τὸν οἶνον παραχρῆμα μὲν ἐτελεύτησαν ὑπὸ τοῦ ψύχους τριάκοντα καὶ πέντε, μικρὸν δὲ διαλιπόντες ἐν ταῖς σκηναῖς ἕξ. ὁ δὲ πλεῖστον πιὼν καὶ νικήσας ἔπιε μὲν ἀκράτου χοᾶς τέσσαρας καὶ τὸ τάλαντον ἔλαβεν, ἐπεβίωσε δὲ ἡμέρας τέσσαρας· ἐκαλεῖτο δὲ Πρόμαχος. Τίμαιος δέ φησιν ὡς ᾽ Διονύσιος ὁ τύραννος τῇ τῶν Χοῶν ἑορτῇ τῷ πρώτῳ ἐκπιόντι χοᾶ ἆθλον ἔθηκε στέφανον χρυσοῦν· καὶ ὅτι πρῶτος ἐξέπιε Ξενοκράτης ὁ φιλόσοφος καὶ λαβὼν τὸν χρυσοῦν στέφανον καὶ ἀναλύων τῷ Ἑρμῇ τῷ ἱδρυμένῳ ἐπὶ τῆς αὐλῆς ἐπέθηκεν, ᾧπερ εἰώθει καὶ τοὺς ἀνθινοὺς ἑκάστοτε ἐπιτιθέναι στεφάνους ἑσπέρας ἀπαλλασσόμενος ὡς αὑτόν, καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ ἐθαυμάσθη.᾽ τὴν δὲ τῶν Χοῶν ἑορτὴν τὴν Ἀθήνησιν ἐπιτελουμένην Φανόδημός φησι Δημοφῶντα τὸν βασιλέα.., βουλόμενον ὑποδέξασθαι παραγενόμενον τὸν ᾽ Ὀρέστην Ἀθήναζε. πρὸς δὲ τὰ ἱερὰ οὐ θέλων αὐτὸν προσιέναι οὐδ’ ὁμόσπονδον γενέσθαι μήπω δικασθέντα ἐκέλευσε συγκλεισθῆναί τε τὰ ἱερὰ καὶ χοᾶ οἴνου ἑκάστῳ παρατεθῆναι, τῷ πρώτῳ ἐκπιόντι εἰπὼν ἆθλον δοθήσεσθαι πλακοῦντα, παρήγγειλέ τε καὶ τοῦ πότου παυσαμένους τοὺς μὲν στεφάνους οἷς ἐστεφάνωντο πρὸς τὰ ἱερὰ μὴ τιθέναι διὰ τὸ ὁμορόφους γενέσθαι τῷ Ὀρέστῃ, περὶ δὲ τὸν χοᾶ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἕκαστον περιθεῖναι καὶ τῇ ἱερείᾳ ἀποφέρειν τοὺς στεφάνους πρὸς τὸ ἐν Λίμναις τέμενος, ἔπειτα θύειν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ τὰ ἐπίλοιπα, καὶ ἔκτοτε τὴν ἑορτὴν κληθῆναι Χοᾶς. τῇ δὲ ἑορτῇ τῶν Χοῶν ἔθος ἐστὶν Ἀθήνησι πέμπεσθαι δῶρά τε καὶ τοὺς μισθοὺς τοῖς σοφισταῖς, οἵπερ καὶ αὐτοὶ συνεκάλουν ἐπὶ ξένια τοὺς γνωρίμους, ὥς φησιν Εὐβουλίδης ὁ διαλεκτικὸς ἐν δράματι. Κωμασταῖς οὕτως· σοφιστιᾷς, κάκιστε, καὶ Χοῶν δέῃ τῶν μισθοδώρων οὐκ ἀδείπνων ἐν τρυφῇ.
But Antigonus the Carystian, in his essay on the Life of Dionysius of Heraclea, who was called the Turncoat, says that Dionysius, when he was feasting with his slaves at the festival of the Choes, and was not able, by reason of his old age, to avail himself of the courtesan whom they brought him, turned round and said to those who were feasting with him—I cannot now, so let another take her.But Dionysius, as Nicias of Nicæa tells us in his Successions, had been from the time he was a boy very furious in the indulgence of his amorous propensities; and he used to go to all the common women promiscuously. And once, when walking with some of his acquaintances, when he came near the house where the girls are kept, and where, having been there the day before, he had left some money owing, as he happened to have some with him then, he put out his hand and paid it in the presence of all of them. And Anacharsis the Scythian, when a prize for drinking was proposed at the table of Periander, demanded the prize, because he was the first man to be drunk of all the guests who were present; as if to get to the end were the goal to be aimed at and the victory to be achieved in drinking as in running a race. But Lacydes and Timon the philosophers, being invited to an entertainment which was to last two days, by one of their friends, and wishing to adapt themselves to the rest of the guests, drank with great eagerness. And accordingly, in the first day, Lacydes went away first, as soon as he was quite satiated with drink. And Timon, seeing him as he was departing, said—Now have we gain'd immortal praise and fame,Since we have slain great Hector.But on the next day Timon went away first because he could not drink up the goblet in which he had been pledged, and Lacydes seeing him departing, said—Wretched are they who dare encounter me.
Ἀντίγονος δ’ ὁ Καρύστιος ἐν τῷ περὶ τοῦ Διονυσίου βίου τοῦ Ἡρακλεώτου τοῦ ἐπικληθέντος Μεταθεμένου φησὶ τὸν Διονύσιον τοῖς οἰκέταις συνεορτάζοντα ἐν τῇ τῶν Χοῶν ἑορτῇ καὶ μὴ δυνάμενον διὰ γῆρας χρῆσθαι ᾗ παρειλήφεσαν ἑταίρᾳ ὑποστρέψαντα εἰπεῖν πρὸς τοὺς συνδειπνοῦντας· οὐ δύναμαι τανύσαι, λαβέτω δὲ καὶ ἄλλος. ἦν δὲ ὁ Διονύσιος ἔτι ἐκ νέου, ὥς φησι Νικίας ὁ Νικαεὺς ἐν ταῖς Διαδοχαῖς, πρὸς τὰ ἀφροδίσια ἐκμανὴς καὶ πρὸς τὰς δημοσίας εἰσῄει παιδίσκας ἀδιαφόρως. καί ποτε πορευόμενος μετά τινων γνωρίμων ὡς ἐγένετο κατὰ τὸ παιδισκεῖον, εἰς ὃ τῇ προτεραίᾳ παρεληλυθὼς ὤφειλε χαλκοῦς, ἔχων τότε κατὰ τύχην ἐκτείνας τὴν χεῖρα, πάντων ὁρώντων ἀπεδίδου. Ἀνάχαρσις δ’ ὁ Σκύθης παρὰ Περιάνδρῳ τεθέντος ἄθλου περὶ τοῦ πίνειν ᾔτησε τὸ νικητήριον πρῶτος μεθυσθεὶς τῶν συμπαρόντων, ὡς ὄντος τέλους τούτου καὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ πότῳ νίκης ὥσπερ καὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ τρέχειν. Λακύδης δὲ καὶ Τίμων οἱ φιλόσοφοι κληθέντες πρός τινα τῶν γνωρίμων ἐπὶ δύο ἡμέρας καὶ βουλόμενοι συμπεριφέρεσθαι τοῖς παροῦσιν ἔπινον προθυμότερον. τῇ μὲν οὖν πρώτῃ τῶν ἡμερῶν ὁ Λακύδης ἀπῄει πρότερος ἐπιπολάσαντος αὐτῷ τοῦ ποτοῦ, καὶ ὁ Τίμων ὁρῶν αὐτὸν ἀπιόντα ἔφη· ἠράμεθα μέγα κῦδος, ἐπέφνομεν Ἕκτορα δῖον. τῇ δ’ ὑστεραίᾳ προαπιόντος τοῦ Τίμωνος διὰ τὸ μὴ δυνηθῆναι ἐκπιεῖν τὴν προποθεῖσαν αὐτῷ κύλικα ὁ Λακύδης ἰδὼν αὐτὸν ἐπανάγοντα εἶπε· δυστήνων δέ τε παῖδες ἐμῷ μένει ἀντιόωσιν.
And Herodotus, in his second book, relates that Myce- rinus the Egyptian, having been told by the soothsayers that he was fated to live but a short time, used to light a great number of lamps when night arrived, and spend all his time in drinking and luxury, relaxing neither by day nor by night; and when he withdrew into the marshes and into the groves, or wherever he heard that there were meetings of young people to amuse themselves, he always got drunk. And Herodotus tells us that Amasis also, who was another of the Egyptian kings, was a very hard drinker indeed. And Hermeas the Methymnæan, in the third book of his History of Sicily, says that Nicoteles the Corinthian was a man greatly addicted to drinking. And Phænias the Eresian, in the book entitled, The Slaying of Tyrants out of Revenge, says that Scopas the son of Creon, and the grandson of the former Scopas, was throughout his whole life very fond of drinking; and that he used to return from banquets at which he had been present, sitting on a throne, and carried by four palanquin-bearers, and in that way he used to enter his house. And Phylarchus, in the sixth book of his Histories, says that Antiochus the king was a man very fond of wine; and that he used to get drunk, and then go to sleep for a long time, and then, as evening came on, he would wake up, and drink again. And it was very seldom, says he, that he transacted the affairs of his kingdom when he was sober, but much more frequently when he was drunk; on which account there were two men about him who managed all the real business of the state as they pleased, namely Aristos and Themiso, Cyprians by birth, and brothers; and they were both on terms of the greatest intimacy with Antiochus. And Antiochus the king, who was surnamed Epiphanes, was also a great drinker,—the one, I mean, who had been a hostage among the Romans, whom Ptolemy Euergetes mentions in the third book of his Commentaries, and also in the fifth; saying that he turned to Indian revellings and drunkenness, and spent a vast quantity of money in those practices; and for the rest of the money which he had at hand, he spent a part of it in his daily revels, and the rest he would scatter about, standing in the public streets, and saying, “Let whoever chance gives it to, take it:” and then, throwing the money about, he would depart. And very often, having a plaited garland of roses on his head, and wearing a golden embroidered robe, he would walk about alone, having stones under his arm, which he would throw at those of his friends who were following him. And he used to bathe also in the public baths, anointed all over with perfumes; and, on one occasion, some private individual, seeing him, said, “You are a happy man, O king; you smell in a most costly manner:” and he, being much pleased, said, “I will give you as much as you can desire of this perfume.” And so he ordered an ewer containing more than two choes of thick perfumed unguent to be poured over his head; so that the multitude of the poorer people who were about all collected to gather up what was spilt; and, as the place was made very slippery by it, Antiochus himself slipped and fell, laughing a great deal, and most of the bathers did the same. But Polybius, in the twenty-sixth book of his Histories, calls this man Epimanes (mad), and not Epiphanes (illustrious), on account of his actions. “For he not only used to go to entertainments of the common citizens, but he also would drink with any strangers who happened to be sojourning in the city, and even with those of the meanest class. And if,” says Polybius, “he heard that any of the younger men were making a feast anywhere whatever, he would come with an earthen bowl, and with music, so that the greater part of the feasters fled away alarmed at his unexpected appearance. And very often he would put off his royal robes, and take a common cloak, and in that dress go round the market.” And in the thirty-first book of his Histories, the same Polybius tells us “that when Antiochus was celebrating some public games at Antioch, he invited all the Greeks and any of the multitude who chose to come to the spectacle. And when a great many people came, he anointed them all in the gymnasia with ointment of saffron, and cinnamon, and nard, and amaracus, and lilies, out of golden vessels: and then, inviting them all to a feast, he filled sometimes a thousand and sometimes fifteen hundred triclinia with the most expensive preparations; and he himself personally attended to waiting on the guests. For, standing at the entrance, he introduced some, and others he placed upon the couches; and he himself marshalled the servants who brought in the different courses; and, walking about among the guests, at times he sat down in one place, and at times he lay down in another. And sometimes he would put down what he was eating, and at other times he would lay down his cup, and jump up, and change his place, and go all round the party, standing up himself, and pledging different people at different times; and then, mingling with the musicians, he would be brought in by the actors, entirely covered up, and laid down on the ground, as if he had been one of the actors himself; and then, when the music gave the signal, the king would leap up, and dance and sport among the actors, so that they were all ashamed. To such absurdities does a want of education, when joined with drunkenness, reduce miserable men.” And his namesake, the Antiochus who carried on war in Media against Arsaces, was very fond of drinking; as Posidonius of Apamea relates in the sixteenth book of his History. Accordingly, when he was slain, he says that Arsaces, when he buried him, said—Your courage and your drunkenness have ruined you, O Antiochus; for you hoped that, in your great cups, you would be able to drink up the kingdom of Arsaces."
Μυκερῖνον δὲ τὸν Αἰγύπτιον ὁ ʽ Ἡρόδοτος ἱστορεῖ διὰ τῆς δευτέρας ἀκούσαντα παρὰ τῶν μάντεων ὅτι ὀλιγοχρόνιός ἐστι, λύχνα ποιησάμενον πολλὰ ὁπότε γένοιτο νὺξ πίνειν καὶ εὐπαθεῖν οὔτε ἡμέρας οὔτε νυκτὸς ἀνιέντα· καὶ εἰς τὰ ἕλεα δὲ καὶ τὰ ἄλση νεμόμενον, ἔτι τε ὅπου πύθοιτο ἡβητήρια εἶναι μεθύσκεσθαι. καὶ Ἄμασιν δὲ τὸν καὶ αὐτὸν Αἰγυπτίων βασιλέα ʽ Ἡρόδοτος πολλὰ πεπωκέναι φησίν. Ἑρμείας δ’ ὁ Μηθυμναῖος ἐν τρίτῃ Σικελικῶν φιλοπότην φησὶ γενέσθαι Νικοτέλη τὸν Κορίνθιον. Φαινίας δὲ ὁ Ἐρέσιος ἐν τῷ ἐπιγραφομένῳ Τυράννων ἀναίρεσις ἐκ τιμωρίας Σκόπα φησὶ τὸν Κρέοντος μὲν υἱόν, Σκόπα δὲ τοῦ παλαιοῦ ὑιδοῦν φιλοποτοῦντα διατελέσαι καὶ τὴν ἐπάνοδον τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν συμποσίων ποιεῖσθαι ἐπὶ θρόνου καθήμενον καὶ ὑπὸ τεσσάρων βασταζόμενον οὕτως οἴκαδε ἀπιέναι. Φύλαρχος δὲ ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ τῶν ἱστοριῶν Ἀντίοχόν φησι τὸν βασιλέα φίλοινον γενόμενον μεθύσκεσθαί τε καὶ κοιμᾶσθαι ἐπὶ πλέον, εἶθ’ ἑσπέρας πάλιν ἀφυπνιζόμενον ἐπιπίνειν. ʽ ʽἐχρημάτιζέ τε, ᾽ φησί, ᾽ νήφων μὲν βραχέα τελέως, μεθύων δὲ τὰ πολλά, διὸ περὶ αὐτὸν δύο ἦσαν οἱ διοικοῦντες τὴν βασιλείαν, Ἄριστος καὶ Θεμίσων, Κύπριοι μὲν γένος καὶ ἀδελφοί, ἐρώμενοι δὲ ἀμφότεροι τοῦ Ἀντιόχου πολυπότης δὲ ἦν καὶ Ἀντίοχος ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁ κληθεὶς Ἐπιφανής, ὁ ὁμηρεύσας παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Πτολεμαῖος ὁ Εὐεργέτης ἐν τῷ τρίτῳ τῶν ὑπομνημάτων κἀν τῷ πέμπτῳ φάσκων αὐτὸν εἰς τοὺς Ἰνδικοὺς κώμους καὶ μέθας τραπέντα πολλὰ ἀναλίσκειν, καὶ τὰ περιλειπόμενα δὲ τῶν χρημάτων μεθ’ ἡμέραν κωμάζων ὁτὲ μὲν ἐξέχει, ἄλλοτε δὲ ἐν ταῖς δημοσίαις ὁδοῖς ἱστάμενος ἔλεγε, ᾽ τίνι ἡ τύχη δίδωσι, λαβέτω.᾽ καὶ ῥίψας τὸ ἀργύριον ᾤχετο. πολλάκις δὲ καὶ πλεκτὸν στέφανον ῥόδων ἔχων ἐπὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς καὶ χρυσοϋφῆ τήβενναν φορῶν μόνος ἐρέμβετο λίθους ὑπὸ μάλης ἔχων, οἷς ἔβαλλε τῶν ἰδιωτῶν τοὺς ἀκολουθοῦντας αὐτῷ. ἐλούετο δὲ καὶ εἰς τοὺς κοινοὺς λουτρῶνας μύροις ἀλειφόμενος, ὅτε καί ποτε συνιδών τις αὐτὸν ἰδιώτης ἔφη ᾽ μακάριος εἶ, ὦ βασιλεῦ, πολυτελὲς ὄζεις. καὶ ὃς ἡσθεὶς ἐγώ σε, φησίν, ὑπέρκορον τούτου· ποιήσω καὶ κατὰ τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ ὑδρίσκην ὑπὲρ δύο χοᾶς ἔχουσαν παχέος μύρου καταχυθῆναι ἐκέλευσεν, ὡς καὶ τὸ πλῆθος τῶν ἀγοραιοτέρων εἰς τὸ ἐκχυθὲν συγκυλισθῆναι. ὀλίσθου τε γενομένου αὐτός τε ὁ Ἀντίοχος ἔπεσε καγχάζων καὶ οἱ πλεῖστοι τῶν λουσμένων τὸ αὐτὸ ἔπασχον. Πολύβιος δ’ ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ καὶ εἰκοστῇ τῶν ἱστοριῶν καλεῖ αὐτὸν Ἐπιμανῆ καὶ οὐκ Ἐπιφανῆ διὰ τὰς πράξεις ʽ οὐ μόνον γὰρ μετὰ δημοτῶν ἀνθρώπων κατέβαινεν εἰς ὁμιλίας, ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ τῶν παρεπιδημούντων ξένων καί τῶν εὐτελεστάτων συνέπινεν. εἰ δὲ καὶ τῶν νεωτέρων φησί αἴσθοιτό τινας συνευωχουμένους ὁπουδήποτε, παρῆν μετὰ κερατίου· καὶ συμφωνίας, ὥστε τοὺς πολλοὺς διὰ τὸ παράδοξον ἀνισταμένους φεύγειν. πολλάκις δὲ καὶ τὴν βασιλικὴν ἐσθῆτα ἀποβαλὼν τήβενναν ἀναλαβὼν περιῄει τὴν ἀγοράν ἐν δὲ τῇ πρώτῃ καὶ τριακοστῇ ὁ αὐτὸς Πολύβιός φησι συντελοῦντα αὐτὸν ἐν τῇ Ἀντιοχείᾳ ἀγῶνας συγκαλέσαι πάντας Ἕλληνας καὶ τῶν ἄλλων τοὺς βουλομένους ἐπὶ τὴν θέαν. καὶ πλείστων παραγινομένων ἐν τοῖς γυμνασίοις, πάντας ἐκ χρυσῶν ὁλκείων ἤλειφε κροκίνῳ μύρῳ καὶ κινναμωμίνῳ καὶ ναρδίνῳ καὶ ἀμαρακίνῳ καὶ ἰρίνῳ. καὶ συγκαλῶν αὐτοὺς εἰς εὐωχίαν ποτὲ μὲν χίλια τρίκλινα, ποτὲ δὲ χίλια πεντακόσια συνεπλήρου μετὰ πολυτελεστάτης κατασκευῆς, καὶ ὁ χειρισμὸς τῆς διακονίας δι’ αὐτοῦ ἐγίνετο κατὰ γὰρ τὰς εἰσόδους ἐφιστάμενος οὓς μὲν εἰσῆγεν, οὓς δ’ ἀνέκλινεν, καὶ τοὺς διακόνους δὲ τοὺς τὰς παραθέσεις εἰσφέροντας αὐτὸς εἰσῆγε, καὶ περιπορευόμενος οὗ μὲν προσεκάθιζεν, οὗ δὲ προσανέπιπτε. καὶ ποτὲ μὲν ἀποθέμενος μεταξὺ τὸν ψωμόν, ποτὲ δὲ τὸ ποτήριον ἀνεπήδα καὶ μετανίστατο καὶ περιῄει τὸν πότον προπόσεις λαμβάνων ὀρθὸς ἄλλοτε παρ’ ἄλλοις, ἅμα δὲ τοῖς ἀκροάμασι προσπαίζων. καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν μίμων εἰσεφέρετο ὅλος συγκεκαλυμμένος καὶ ἐτίθετο εἰς τὴν γῆν ὡς εἷς ὢν τῶν μίμων καὶ τῆς συμφωνίας προκαλουμένης ὁ βασιλεὺς ἀναπηδήσας ὠρχεῖτο γυμνὸς καὶ προσέπαιζε τοῖς μίμοις, ὥστε πάντας αἰσχύνεσθαι. τοιαῦτα ἀπεργάζεται τοὺς ταλαιπώρους ἡ πρὸς τῇ μέθῃ ἀπαιδευσία. φιλοπότης δ’ ἦν καὶ ὁ ὁμώνυμος αὐτῷ Ἀντίοχος, ὁ ἐν Μηδίᾳ πρὸς Ἀρσάκην πολεμήσας, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Ποσειδώνιος ὁ Ἀπαμεὺς ἐν τῇ ἑκκαιδεκάτῃ τῶν ἱστοριῶν. ἀναιρεθέντος γοῦν αὐτοῦ τὸν ᾽ Ἀρσάκην θάπτοντα αὐτὸν λέγειν ᾽ ἔσφηλέν σε, Ἀντίοχε, θάρσος καὶ μέθη· ἤλπιζες γάρ ἐν μεγάλοις ποτηρίοις τὴν Ἀρσάκου βασιλείαν ἐκπιεῖν.᾽
But the Antiochus who was surnamed the Great, who was subdued by the Romans (as Polybius relates in his twentieth book), having arrived at Chalcis, in Euboea, celebrated a marriage when he was fifty years of age; and after he had undertaken two most enormous and important affairs, namely, the liberation of the Greeks (as he himself professed) and the war against the Romans. At all events, he, being smitten with love for a damsel of Chalcis, was very anxious to marry her at the very time that he was engaged in this war, being a man very fond of drinking and delighting in drunkenness. And she was the daughter of Cleophanes, one of the nobles, and superior to all the maidens of her country in beauty. Accordingly, he celebrated his marriage in Chalcis, and remained there all the winter, not once giving the smallest thought to the important affairs which he had in hand. And he gave the damsel the name of Eubœa. Accordingly, being defeated in the war, he fled to Ephesus, with his newly-married bride. And in the second book, the same Polybius relates that Agron, the king of the Illyrians, being delighted at having gained a victory over the haughty Aetolians, being a man much addicted to drinking, and to drunkenness, and banqueting, fell ill of a pleurisy, and died. And the same historian says, in his twenty-ninth book, that Genthion, the king of the Illyrians, on account of his great fondness for drinking, did a great many intemperate things during his life, being incessantly drunk, both night and day; and having murdered Pleuratus, his brother, who was about to marry the daughter of Menunius, he married the damsel himself, and treated his subjects with great cruelty. And he says, in the thirty-third book of his History, that Demetrius, when he fled after having been a hostage at Rome, and became king of the Syrians, became a great drinker, and was drunk the greater part of the day. And he also, in his thirty-second book, says that Orophernes, who was for a short time king of Cappadocia, disregarded all the customs of his country, and introduced the artificial luxury of the Ionians.
Ἀντίοχος δὲ ὁ μέγας ἐπικαλούμενος, ὃν Ῥωμαῖοι καθεῖλον, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Πολύβιος ἐν τῇ εἰκοστῇ, παρελθὼν εἰς Χαλκίδα τῆς Εὐβοίας συνετέλει γάμους, πεντήκοντα μὲν ἔτη γεγονὼς καὶ δύο τὰ μέγιστα τῶν ἔργων ἀνειληφώς, τήν τε τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἐλευθέρωσιν, ὡς αὐτὸς ἐπηγγέλλετο, καὶ τὸν πρὸς Ῥωμαίους πόλεμον. ἐρασθεὶς οὖν παρθένου Χαλκιδικῆς κατὰ τὸν τοῦ πολέμου καιρὸν ἐφιλοτιμήσατο γῆμαι αὐτήν, οἰνοπότης ὢν καὶ μέθαις χαίρων ἦν δ’ αὕτη Κλεοπτολέμου μὲν θυγάτηρ ἑνὸς τῶν ἐπιφανῶν, κάλλει δὲ πάσας ὑπερβάλλουσα· καὶ τοὺς γάμους συντελῶν ἐν τῇ Χαλκίδι αὐτόθι διέτριψε τὸν χειμῶνα, τῶν ἐνεστώτων οὐδ’ ἡντινοῦν ποιούμενος πρόνοιαν. ἔθετο δὲ καὶ τῇ παιδὶ ὄνομα Εὔβοιαν. ἡττηθεὶς οὖν τῷ πολέμῳ ἔφυγεν εἰς Ἔφεσον μετὰ τῆς νεογάμου. ἐν δὲ τῇ δευτέρᾳ ὁ αὐτὸς Πολύβιος ἱστορεῖ Ἄγρωνα τὸν Ἰλλυριῶν βασιλέα ἡσθέντα ἐπὶ τῷ νενικηκέναι τοὺς μέγα φρονοῦντας Αἰτωλοὺς πολυπότην ὄντα καὶ εἰς μέθας καὶ εὐωχίας τραπέντα πλευρίτιδι ληφθέντα ἀποθανεῖν. ἐν δὲ τῇ ἐνάτῃ καὶ εἰκοστῇ ὁ αὐτὸς Γενθίωνά φησι τὸν τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν βασιλέα διὰ τὴν πολυποσίαν πολλὰ ποιεῖν ἀσελγῆ κατὰ τὸν βίον, νύκτωρ τε αἰεὶ καὶ μεθ’ ἡμέραν μεθύοντα. ἀποκτείναντα δὲ καὶ Πλεύρατον τὸν ἀδελφὸν γαμεῖν μέλλοντα τὴν Μονουνίου θυγατέρα αὐτὸν γῆμαι τὴν παῖδα καὶ ὠμῶς χρῆσθαι τοῖς ἀρχομένοις. καὶ Δημήτριον δέ φησι, τὸν ἐκ τῆς Ῥώμης τὴν ὁμηρείαν διαφυγόντα, ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ καὶ τριακοστῇ βασιλεύσαντα Σύρων πολυπότην ὄντα τὸ πλεῖστον τῆς ἡμέρας μεθύσκεσθαι. Ὀροφέρνην τε ὀλίγον χρόνον Καππαδοκίας βασιλεύσαντα καὶ παριδόντα τὰς πατρίους ἀγωγάς φησιν ἐν τῇ τριακοστῇ δευτέρᾳ εἰσαγαγεῖν τὴν Ἰακὴν καὶ τεχνιτικὴν ἀσωτίαν.
On which account, that divinest of writers, Plato, lays down admirable laws in his second book—“That boys, till they are eighteen years of age, should absolutely never taste wine at all; for that it is not well to heap fire on fire: that men up to thirty years of age may drink wine in moderation; and that the young man should wholly abstain from much wine and from drunkenness. But that a man, when he arrives at forty years of age, may feast in large banquets, and invoke the other gods, and especially Bacchus, to the feasts and amusements of the older men; since he it is who has given men this means of indulgence, as an ally against the austerity of old age, for which wine was the best medicine; so that, owing to it, we grow young again, and forget our moroseness.” And then he proceeds to say—“But there is a report and story told that this god was once deprived of his mind and senses by his mother-in-law, Juno; on which account he sent Bacchic frenzy, and all sorts of frantic rage, among men, out of revenge for the treatment which he had experienced; on which account also he gave wine to men.” But Phalæcus, in his Epigrams, makes mention of a woman, whose name was Cleo, as having been a very hard drinker—Cleo bestow'd this splendid gift on Bacchus,The tunic, fringed with gold and saffron hues,Which long she wore herself; so great she wasAt feasts and revelry: there was no manWho could at all contend with her in drinking.And it is a well-known fact that all the race of women is fond of drinking. And it was not without some wit that Xenarchus introduces, in his Pentathlum, a woman swearing this most horrible oath:—May it be granted me to pass from lifeDrinking abundant draughts of wine, while you,My darling daughter, live and prosper here.But among the Romans, as Polybius says, in his sixth book, it was forbidden to women to drink wine at all. However, they drink what is called Passum; and that is made of raisins, and when drank is very like the sweet Aegosthenite and Cretan wine, on which account men use it when oppressed by excessive thirst. And it is impossible for a woman to drink wine without being detected: for, first of all, she has not the key of the cellar; and, in the next place, she is bound to kiss her relations, and those of her husband, down to cousins, and to do this every day when she first sees them; and besides this, she is forced to be on her best behaviour, as it is quite uncertain whom she may chance to meet; for if she has merely tasted wine, it needs no informer, but is sure to betray itself." And Alcimus the Sicilian, in that book of his which is entitled the Italian History, says that all the women in Italy avoid drinking wine on this account: “When Hercules was in the district of the Crotoniatæ, he one day was very thirsty, and came to a certain house by the wayside and asked for something to drink; and it happened that the wife of the master of the house had privily opened a cask of wine, and therefore she said to her husband that it would be a shameful thing for him to open this cask for a stranger; and so she bade him give Hercules some water. But Hercules, who was standing at the door, and heard all this, praised her husband very much, but advised him to go indoors himself and look at the cask. And when he had gone in, he found that the cask had become petrified. And this fact is proved by the conduct of the women of the country, among whom it is reckoned disgraceful, to this day, to drink wine, on account of the above-mentioned reason.” 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 wayIn which to mix my wine; and makes it notToo 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 takesAll tend to th' honour of the heavenly gods.And Alexis, in his Female Dancer, says—A. But women are quite sure to be contentIf they have only wine enough to drink.B. But, by the heavenly twins, we now shall haveAs much as we can wish; and it shall beSweet, 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.
διόπερ ὁ θειότατος Πλάτων καλῶς νομοθετεῖ ἐν τῷ δευτέρῳ ᾽τοὺς παῖδας μέχρι ἐτῶν ὀκτωκαίδεκα τὸ παράπαν οἴνου μὴ γεύεσθαι οὐ γὰρ χρὴ πῦρ ἐπὶ πῦρ ὀχετεύειν οἴνου δὲ μετρίου γεύεσθαι μέχρι τριάκοντα ἐτῶν, μέθης δὲ καὶ πολυοινίας τὸ παράπαν τὸν νέον ἀπέχεσθαι· τετταράκοντα δὲ ἐπιβαίνοντα ἐτῶν ἐν τοῖς συσσιτίοις εὐωχηθέντα καλεῖν τούς τε ἄλλους θεοὺς καὶ δὴ καὶ Διόνυσον παρακαλεῖν εἰς τὴν τῶν πρεσβυτῶν τελετὴν ἅμα καὶ παιδιάν, ἣν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ἐπίκουρον τῆς τοῦ γήρως αὐστηρότητος ἐδωρήσατο τὸν οἶνον φάρμακον, ὥστε ἀνηβᾶν ἡμᾶς καὶ δυσθυμίας λήθην γίγνεσθαι καὶ ἑξῆς δέ φησι· ʽλόγος καὶ φήμη ὑπορρεῖ, ὡς ὁ θεὸς οὗτος ὑπὸ τῆς μητρυιᾶς Ἥρας διεφορήθη τῆς ψυχῆς τὴν γνώμην διὸ τάς τε βακχείας καὶ τὴν μανικὴν πᾶσαν ἐμβάλλει χορείαν τιμωρούμενος, ὅθεν καὶ τὸν οἶνον ἐπὶ τοῦτ’ αὐτὸ δεδώρηται.᾽ Φάλαικος δ’ ἐν τοῖς ἐπιγράμμασι γυναῖκά τινα ἀναγράφει πολυπότιν Κλεὼ ὄνομα· χρυσῷ τὸν κροκόεντα περιζώσασα χιτῶνα τόνδε Διωνύσῳ δῶρον ἔδωκε Κλεώ, οὕνεκα συμποσίοισι μετέπρεπεν ἶσα δὲ πίνειν οὔτις οἱ ἀνδρῶν ἤρισεν οὐδαμά πω. ὅτι δὲ φίλοινον τὸ τῶν γυναικῶν γένος κοινόν. οὐκ ἀχαρίτως δὲ καὶ ὁ Ξέναρχος ἐν τῷ Πεντάθλῳ γυναῖκά τινα παράγει φρικτότατον ὅρκον ὀμνύουσαν τόνδε· οὕτως ἐμοὶ γένοιτο σοῦ ζώσης, τέκνον, ἐλευθέριον πιοῦσαν οἶνον ἀποθανεῖν. παρὰ Ῥωμαίοις δέ, ὥς φησι Πολύβιος ἐν τῇ ἕκτῃ, ἀπείρηται γυναιξὶ πίνειν οἶνον· τὸ δὲ καλούμενον πάσσον πίνουσι. τοῦτο δὲ ποιεῖται μὲν ἐκ τῆς ἀσταφίδος καί ἐστι παραπλήσιος πινόμενος τῷ Αἰγοσθενίτῃ τῷ γλυκεῖ καὶ τῷ Κρητικῷ· διὸ πρὸς τὸ κατεπεῖγον τοῦ δίψους χρῶνται αὐτῷ. λαθεῖν δὲ ἐστὶν ἀδύνατον τὴν γυναῖκα πιοῦσαν οἶνον ι πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ οὐδ’ ἔχει οἴνου κυρείαν ἡ γυνή· πρὸς δὲ τούτοις φιλεῖν δεῖ τοὺς συγγενεῖς τοὺς ἑαυτῆς καὶ τοὺς τοῦ ἀνδρὸς ἕως ἐξανεψιῶν καὶ τοῦτο ποιεῖν καθ’ ἡμέραν, ὁπόταν ἴδῃ πρῶτον, λοιπὸν ἀδήλου τῆς ἐντυχίας οὔσης τίσιν ἀπαντήσει φυλάσσεται· τὸ γὰρ πρᾶγμα κἂν γεύσηται μόνον οὐ προσδεῖ διαβολῆς. ἄλκιμος δ’ ὁ Σικελιώτης ἐν τῇ ἐπιγραφομένῃ τῶν βίβλων Ἰταλικῇ πάσας φησὶ τὰς ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ γυναῖκας μὴ πίνειν οἶνον ἀπὸ τοιαύτης· αἰτίας ᾽ Ἡρακλῆς περὶ τὴν Κροτωνιᾶτιν γενόμενος ἐπεὶ πρός τινα οἰκίαν οὖσαν παρὰ τὴν ὁδὸν διψῶν ἀφίκετο, προσελθὼν ᾔτει πιεῖν ἐντεῦθεν, ἔτυχε δ’ ἡ γυνὴ τοῦ τὴν οἰκίαν κεκτημένου πίθον οἴνου λαθραίως ὑποίξασα· καὶ πρὸς μὲν τὸν ἄνδρα δεινὸν ἔφη ποιήσειν αὐτὸν εἰ ξένου χάριν τὸν πίθον τοῦτον ἀνοίξειεν, ὕδωρ δ’ ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν προσενεγκεῖν. Ἡρακλῆς δ’ ἐπὶ θύραις ἑστὼς καὶ ἀκούσας ταῦτα τὸν μὲν ἄνδρα αὐτῆς σφόδρα ἐπῄνεσεν, ὃν ἐκέλευσεν αὐτὸν παρελθόντα εἴσω σκοπεῖν τὸν πίθον. καὶ ὃς εἰσελθὼν λίθινον εὗρε τὸν πίθον γεγονότα, τοῦτο δὲ τὸ σημεῖον ἔτι καὶ νῦν ἐστιν ἐν ταῖς ἐπιχωρίαις γυναιξὶν πάσαις ἐν αἰσχρῷ κεῖσθαι τὸ πίνειν οἶνον διὰ τὴν προκειμένην αἰτίαν οἷαι δ’ εἰσὶ παρὰ τοῖς Ἕλλησι μεθύουσαι αἱ γυναῖκες παραδίδωσιν Ἀντιφάνης μὲν ἐν τῇ Ἀκοντιζομένῃ οὕτω· γείτων ἐστί τις κάπηλος· οὗτος εὐθὺς ὅταν ἔλθω ποτὲ διψῶσα, μόνος οἶδ’ ὣς γ’ ἐμοὶ κεράννυται. οὔθ’ ὑδαρὲς οὔτ’ ἄκρατον οἶδ’ ἐγώ ποτε πιοῦσα. καὶ ἐν Μύστιδι· γυναῖκες δέ εἰσιν αἱ διαλεγόμεναι· βούλει καὶ σύ, φιλτάτη, πιεῖν; β. καλῶς ἔχει μοι. α. τοιγαροῦν ἐμοὶ φέρε. μέχρι γὰρ τριῶν δεῖν φασι τιμᾶν τοὺς θεούς. Ἄλεξις δὲ Ὀρχηστρίδι· γυναιξὶ δ’ ἀρκεῖ πάντ’ ἐὰν οἶνος παρῇ πίνειν διαρκής. β. ἀλλὰ μήν, νὴ τὼ θεώ, ὁ ἔσται γ’ ὅσον ἂν βουλώμεθ᾽, ἔσται καὶ μάλα ἡδὺς γ᾽, ὀδόντας οὐκ ἔχων, ἤδη σαπρὸς γεγώς, γέρων γε δαιμονίως. λ. ἀσπάζομαι γραῦν σφίγγα πρὸς ἐμὲ … ὡς αἰνίγματα λέγε καὶ τὰ λοιπά. ἐν δὲ Δὶς πενθοῦντι Ζωπύρας τινὸς μνημονεύων φησί· καὶ Ζωπύρα, οἰνηρὸν ἀγγεῖον. Ἀντιφάνης Βάκχαις· ἐπεὶ δὲ τοῦτ’ οὐκ ἔστι, κακοδαίμων σφόδρα ὅστις γαμεῖ γυναῖκα, πλὴν ἐν τοῖς Σκύθαις· ἐκεῖ μόνον γὰρ οὐδὲ φύετ’ ἄμπελος. Ξέναρχος Πεντάθλῳ· ὅρκον δ’ ἐγὼ γυναικὸς εἰς οἶνον γράφω.