The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 2 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Philosophy
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 2 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
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.
58. Plato, in his Phaon, relating how many things happen to women
because of wine, says—
Come now, ye women, long ago have I
Pray'd that this wine may thus become your folly;
For you don't think, as the old proverb goes,
That there is any wisdom at a vintner's.
For if you now desire to see Phaon,
You first must all these solemn rites perform.
First, as the nurse of youths, I must receive
A vigorous cheesecake, and a pregnant mealcake,
And sixteen thrushes whole, well smear'd with honey,
Twelve hares, all taken when the moon was full;
But all the other things may be got cheaply.
Now listen. Three half-measures of fine onions;
These for Orthanna. For Conisalus
And his two mates, a plate of myrtleberries,
Pluck'd with the hand: for the great Gods above
Dislike the smell of lamps. . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . for the dogs and huntsmen.
A drachma for Lordon; for Cybdasus,
Three obols; for the mighty hero Celes,
Some hides and incense. Now if you bring
These things, you'll certainly obtain admittance;
But if you don't, you'll knock in vain, and long
In vain to enter, and get nothing by it.
And Axionicus says, in his Philinna—
Just trust a woman to drink only water.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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