Atossa[232] brings for the ghost of Darius a _pelanos_, as was meet. She brings also all manner of ‘soothing gifts’ (μειλικτήρια), but she pours wine also: ‘A holy heifer’s milk, white, fair to drink, Bright honey drops from flowers bee-distilled, With draughts of water from a virgin fount, And from the ancient vine its mother wild An unmixed draught, this gladness; and fair fruit Of gleaming olive ever blossoming And woven flowers, children of mother earth.’ The dead fare as the living; wine is added to milk and honey and olive oil and water, but wine perhaps significantly as an innovation is never _named_. Atossa seems also consciously to insist over much on its being wild, primitive, ancient, and therefore permissible. We are reminded of the religious shifts to which the Romans were put by the introduction of wine into their daily life and thence into their ritual. Plutarch[233] in his _Roman Questions_ says that ‘when the women poured libations of wine to Bona Dea, they called it by the name of milk,’ and Macrobius[234] adds ‘that wine could not be brought in under its own name, but the wine was called milk and the vessel containing it a honey-jar.’ The ghosts of the dead admit and even welcome the addition of wine, but actual chthonic divinities are stricter. When Oedipus[235] came to the precinct of the Semnae, the Chorus bid him make atonement, because, though unwittingly, he has violated the precinct. He asks the precise ritual to be observed. The answer, though it is thrice familiar, is so important for the understanding of chthonic ceremonies that it must be given in full: ‘_Oed._ And with what rites, O strangers? teach me this. _Chor._ First, fetch thou from an ever-flowing fount, Borne in clean hands, an holy drink-offering. _Oed._ And next, when I have brought the holy draught? _Chor._ Bowls are there next, a cunning craftsman’s work, Crown thou their lips and handles at the brim. _Oed._ With branches, woollen webs, or in what wise? _Chor._ Of the ewe-lamb take thou the fresh-shorn wool. _Oed._ So be it, and then to what last rite I pass? _Chor._ Pour thy drink offerings, facewards to the dawn. _Oed._ With these same vessels do I pour the draught? _Chor._ Yes, in three streams, the last pour wholly out. _Oed._ And filled wherewith this last? teach me this also. _Chor._ _Water and honey—bring no wine thereto._ _Oed._ When the dark shadowed earth hath drunk of this? _Chor._ Lay on it thrice nine sprays of olive tree With both thine hands, and make thy prayer the while. _Oed._ That prayer? vouchsafe to teach, for mighty is it. _Chor._ Pray thou that, as they are called the Kindly Ones, With kindly hearts they may receive and bless. Be this thy prayer, thine own or his who prays For thee. Whisper thy prayer nor lift thy voice, Then go, look not behind, so all is well.’