24. But the word ἀκρατέστερον, meaning the same as ζωρότερον, is used by Hyperides in his oration against Demosthenes; where he writes thus—"If any one drank any wine of much strength (ἀκρατέστερον), it grieved you." And a similar form is ἀνιαρέστερον, and also the expression in the Heliades of Æschylus— ἀφθονέστερον λίβα. And Epicharmus, in his Pyrrha, has the word εὐωνέστερον (cheaper); and Hyperides, in his Oration against Demades, has used the expression— ῥαδιεστέραν τὴν πόλιν. And as for the word κεραννύω (to mix), that is used by Plato in his Philebus—"Let us, O Protarchus, pray to the gods, and mingle cups (κεραννύωμεν) to pour libations to them." And Alcæus, in his Sacred Marriage, says— They mix the cups (κεραννύουσιν) and drink them. And Hyperides, in his Delian Oration, says—"And the Greeks mix (κεραννύουσι) the Panionian goblet all together." And among the ancients they were the most nobly born youths who acted as cupbearers; as, for instance, the son of Menelaus:— And the king's noble son pour'd out the wine. And Euripides the poet, when he was a boy, acted as cupbearer. Accordingly, Theophrastus, in his treatise on Drinking, says—"But I hear that Euripides the poet also acted as a cupbearer at Athens, among those who are called the dancers: and these men were they who used to dance around the temple of the Delian Apollo, being some of the noblest of the Athenians, and they were clothed in garments of the Theræans. And this is that Apollo in whose honour they celebrate the Thargelian festival; and a writing concerning them is kept at Phylæ, in the Daphnephorium." And Hieronymus the Rhodian gives the same account, who was a disciple of Aristotle, and that too in a book of his entitled a Treatise on Drunkenness. And the beautiful Sappho often praises her brother Larichus, as having acted as cupbearer to the Mitylenæans in the Prytaneum. And among the Romans, the most nobly born of the youths perform this office in the public sacrifices, imitating the Æolians in everything, as even in the tones of their voices. 25. And so great was the luxury of the ancients in respect of their sumptuous meals, that they not only had cupbearers, but also men whom they called œnoptæ (inspectors of wines). At all events, the office of œnoptæ is a regular office among the Athenians; and it is mentioned by Eupolis, in his play called The Cities, in the following lines— And men whom heretofore you'd not have thought Fit e'en to make œnoptæ of, we now See made commanders. But oh, city, city! How much your fortune does out-run your sense.