Virgil actually wreaths the bowls with garlands.—Æneid. iii. 525.—Homer, however, crowns his bowls only with wine.-Il. ε. 471. Footnote 784: Homer. Iliad. δ. 2. γ. 232. β. 813. Odyss. ο. 327. Juven. Sat. v. 60. Cf. Philo. Jud. de Vit. Contempl. t. ii. p. 479. Mangey. ----- When the goblets were all crowned with the nectar of earth, the Master of the Feast[785] set the example of good-fellowship by drinking to his guests, beginning with the most distinguished.[786] Originally, custom required him who drank to the health of another to drain off his cup while his comrade did the same; but, in after ages, they sipped only a portion of the wine, and, as they still do in the East, presented the remainder to their friend. The latter, by the rules of politeness, was bound to finish the goblet, or, where the antique fashion prevailed, to drink one of equal size.[787] The Macedonians, who, probably, excelled the Greeks in drinking, if in nothing else, disdained small cups as supplying a very roundabout way to intoxication, and plunged into Lethe at once by the aid of most capacious bowls. It was customary, when the practice of passing round the goblet had been introduced, for the king of the feast to drink to the next man on his right hand, who, in his turn, drank to the next, and so on till the bowl had circulated round the board. But different customs prevailed in the different parts of Greece. At Athens, small cups, like our wine-glasses, were in use; among the Chians, Thracians, and Thessalians, nations more prone to sensual indulgences, the goblets were of larger dimensions; but, at Sparta, where sobriety and frugality long flourished, the practice was to drink from diminutive vessels, which, as often as required, were replenished by the attendants.[788] ----- Footnote 785: There were certain barbarians, who, to cement their friendships, drank wine tinged with each other’s blood.—Athen. xv. 47. Footnote 786: Plut. Symp. i. 2. 2. The first cup was drunk to the Agathodemon.—Schol. Aristoph. Eq. 85. Athen. xv. 47. Footnote 787: Athen. v. 20. Footnote 788: Athen. x. 39. Plut. Cleom. § 13. -----