Κατάχει τοὔλαιον ἐν τῷ χαλκείῳ

Aristophanes [sc. writes this].¹ Meaning into the hub of the shield, in order to make it brighter. For there are some who tell the future by looking in oil. So he is wiping the shield pouring the oil on the bronze plate; then when it has been made shiny, he looks into it like a mirror and says "I see in it an old man being prosecuted for cowardice", and as it were unable to see the shield, for its brightness. And Homer [says]:² "and eyes were blinded by the blaze of bronze from gleaming helmets".³
"You would say that seeing Bacchus in such a state, he should be deluged with whips rather than with spring flowers."⁴