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O
CUPS
AND
THEIR
CUSTOMS.
some
occasions
each
person
had
his
own
cup,
which
a
servant
replenished
as
soon
as
it
was
emptied,
as
described
in
the
feast
of
Homer^s
heroes.
The
vessels
from
which
they
drank
were
generally
made
of
wood,
decorated
with gold
and
silver,
and
crowned
with
garlands,
as
also
were
their
heads,
particular
flowers
and
herbs
being
selected,
which
were
supposed
to
keep
all
noxious
vapours
from
the
brain.
In
some
cases
their
cups were
formed
entirely
of
gold,
silver,
or
bronze.
A
beautiful
example
of
a
bronze
cup
was
found
in
Wilt-
shire,
having
the
names
of
five
Roman
towns
as
an
inscription,
and
richly
decorated
with
scenes
of
the
chase,
from
which
it
has
been
imagined
that
it
belonged
to
a
club
or
society
of
persons,
probably
hunters,
and
may
have
been
one
of
their
prizes
:
they
also
used
cups
made
from
the
horns
of
animals.
The
chief
beverage
among
the
Greeks
and
Romans
was
the
fermented
juice
of
the
grape,
but
the
particular
form
of
it
is
a
matter
of
some
uncertainty.
The^^
vinum
albinum
^^
was
probably
a
kind
of
Frontignac,
and
of
all
wines
was
most
esteemed
by
the
Romans,
—
though Horace
speaks
in
such
glowing
terms
of
Falernian,
which
was
a
strong
and
rough
wine,
and
was
not
fit
for
drinking
till
it
had
been
kept
ten
years,
and
even
then
it
was
customary
to
mix
honey
with
it
to
soften
it.
Homer
speaks
of
a
famous
wine
of
Maronea
in
Thrace,
which
would
bear
mixing
with
twenty
times
the
quantity
of
water,
although
it
was
a
common
practice
among
the
natives
to
drink
it
in
its
pure
state.
The
customary
dilution
among
the
Greeks
appears
to
have
consisted
of
one
part
of
wine
to
three