XIII 



MEAD 



Mead, made from honey and water fermented, was the 

 wine of the Northern peoples, being to them what the 

 Blessed Soma juice was to the Hindus, palm and date wine 

 to the Egyptians, and the fermented juice of the grape 

 to the Greeks and Romans. 



The Hindus also used mead, though as a more common 

 drink, and we know it was used in Greece and Italy both 

 as a drink and for sacrifices. 



Apollonius Rhodius, about 235 B.C., in his "Argonauts," 

 tells that before embarking they rested on the shore. 



" And beside them lay vast stores of food and sweet 

 mead, which cupbearers drew forth in beakers." 



And again he says of Idas, one of the Argonauts, — 



" He spake ; and grasping in both hands a full goblet, 

 drank off the pure sweet mead." 



When about to start they made their oblations, as Apol- 

 lonius Rhodius takes care to inform us, — 



" And now were the cables drawn in, and they poured a 

 cup of mead upon the sea." 



The Abyssinians are also known to have used mead ; in 

 short, nearly all peoples at some time or other have 

 valued it. 



But it is in the heroic Northern age that we find mead 

 the drink of the heroes. In the great feasting halls fair 

 hands held the cup that crowned the feast. 



