OPSOPHAGT. 523 



signed to its own misguidance : Tiberius NerOj or Bibe- 

 rius Mero, as he was jocosely called by bis drinking 

 friends, having assembled all the greatest drinkers of the 

 day, proposed' a prize for him who should swallow most 

 wine at a standing ; on which one of the Circean troop 

 despatched three gallons at a pull, and so delighted the 

 Emperor that he created him knight of the three gal- 

 lons — tricongariits — on the spot. Alexander the Great, 

 who died, not in the arms of Victory, but of Bacchus, 

 had instituted similar rewards for the man who should 

 carry away most liquor in hold : the first prize, which 

 was a talent, fell to the lot of one Promachus, who drank 

 off continuously four gallons of unmixed wine ; the other 

 prizes were not awarded, as thirty of the contenders 

 died rhyton in hand, and six more afterwards in the 

 tents — as both iBlian and Athenseus relate. Eumenes, 

 king of Pergamus, was another appvOfiOTroTrjii who died 

 drunk J and indeed, the loss of. human life from hard 

 drinking was so great in ancient days, that, had society 

 been differently constituted, the obits of so many worth- 

 less members would have been a gain ; as it was, so wide 

 was the baneful practice spread, that if aU had sunk 

 imder strong drink who were addicted to it, the world 

 would have been impeopled. Most of the poets were 

 bibacious on principle ; (Cratinus who is represented to 

 have died on seeing wine leak from a hogshead) says 

 that no verse written by water-drinkers is good for any- 

 thing ;* Homer, by his praises of wine, shows his love 

 of boozing, and old Ennius would not sound hip war- 

 notes till he was drunk ; Alceeus and Aristophanes also 

 wrote under the same influence ; and ' ever since Bac- 



* Pindar's motto, apiarov jmv vSiop, seems to dissent from this, 

 and to speak highly of water ; hut this may refer to its excel- 

 lence for the purposes of washing, cooking, etc., and not for 

 draught. 



