42. 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 bowl Gould 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. [Sidenote: THIRST.] 43. 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 treasures Of wisdom to a thirsty man, you'd find You pleased him less than if you gave him drink. And Archilochus says— I wish to fight with you, as much as e'er A 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. . . ."