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
12. We ought not, then, to drink madly, looking at the multitude of
these beautiful cups, made as they are with every sort of various art,
in various countries. "But the common people," says Chrysippus, in the
introduction to his treatise on what is Good and Evil, "apply the term
madly to a great number of things; and so they call a desire for women
γυναικομανία, a fondness for quails ὀρτυγομανία; and some also call
those who are very anxious for fame δοξομανεῖς; just as they call those
who are fond of women γυναικομανεῖς, and those who are fond of birds
ὀρνιθομανεῖς: all these nouns having the same notion of a propensity
to the degree of madness. So that there is nothing inconsistent in
other feelings and circumstances having this name applied to them; as
a person who is very fond of delicacies, and who is properly called
φίλοψος and ὀψοφάγος, may be called ὀψομανής; and a man very fond of
wine maybe called οἰνομανής; and so in similar instances. And there is
nothing unreasonable in attributing madness to such people, since they
carry their errors to a very mad pitch, and wander a great distance
from the real truth.
13. Let us, then, as was the custom among the Athenians, drink our wine
while listening to these jesters and buffoons, and to other artists of
the same kind. And Philochorus speaks of this kind of people in these
terms—"The Athenians, in the festivals of Bacchus, originally used to
go to the spectacle after they had dined and drunk their wine; and they
used to witness the games with garlands on their heads. But during the
whole time that the games were going on, wine was continually being
offered to them, and sweetmeats were constantly being brought round;
and when the choruses entered, they were offered wine; and also when
the exhibition was over, and they were departing, wine was offered to
them again. And Pherecrates the comic poet bears witness to all these
things, and to the fact that down to his own time the spectators were
never left without refreshment." And Phanodemus says—"At the temple
of Bacchus, which is in the Marshes (ἐν Λίμναις), the Athenians bring
wine, and mix it out of the cask for the god, and then drink of it
themselves; on which account Bacchus is also called Λιμναῖος, because
the wine was first drunk at that festival mixed with water. On which
account the fountains were called Nymphs and the Nurses of Bacchus,
because the water being mingled with the wine increases the quantity of
the wine.
Accordingly, men being delighted with this mixture, celebrated Bacchus
in their songs, dancing and invoking him under the names of Euanthes,
and Dithyrambus, and Baccheutes, and Bromius." And Theophrastus, in his
treatise on Drunkenness, says—"The nymphs are really the nurses of
Bacchus; for the vines, when cut, pour forth a great deal of moisture,
and after their own nature weep." On which account Euripides says that
one of the Horses of the Sun is
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