Μέθη
strong drink, drunkenness
Translated by Catharine Roth14 Feb 2006Vetting: high3 revisions
Translation
In ancient times it was not customary to serve either wine in quantity or any other luxurious [food] unless [people] were doing this for the sake of the gods. For this reason they used to call both banquets and festivities me/qai ['drinkings']: the [banquets] because they made it a custom to get drunk because of the gods; the [festivities] because they gathered together and met for the gods' sake. For this is the "luxuriant banquet" [dai=ta qa/leian ].1 But mequ/ein ["to get drunk"] [is] to use it after [meta/ ] sacrificing [qu/ein ]. And Homer, when he says 'a most delightful rite',2 is speaking of the sacrifice [qusi/a ].
Greek original · Adler’s text
Μέθη· τὸ παλαιὸν οὐκ ἦν ἔθος οὔτ' οἶνον ἐπὶ πλεῖον οὔτ' ἄλλην ἡδυπάθειαν προσφέρεσθαι, μὴ θεῶν ἕνεκα τοῦτο δρῶντας. διὸ καὶ θοίνας καὶ θαλίας καὶ μέθας ὠνόμαζον· τὰς μὲν ὅτι διὰ θεοὺς οἰνοῦσθαι ἐνόμιζον· τὰς δὲ ὅτι θεῶν χάριν ἡλίζοντο καὶ συνίεσαν. τοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ δαῖτα θάλειαν. τὸ δὲ μεθύειν, τὸ μετὰ τὸ θύειν αὐτῷ χρῆσθαι. καὶ Ὅμηρος, ὅτε λέγει τέλος χαριέστατον, τὴν θυσίαν φησί.
Betacode
*me/qh: to\ palaio\n ou)k h)=n e)/qos ou)/t' oi)=non e)pi\ plei=on ou)/t' a)/llhn h(dupa/qeian prosfe/resqai, mh\ qew=n e(/neka tou=to drw=ntas. dio\ kai\ qoi/nas kai\ qali/as kai\ me/qas w)no/mazon: ta\s me\n o(/ti dia\ qeou\s oi)nou=sqai e)no/mizon: ta\s de\ o(/ti qew=n xa/rin h(li/zonto kai\ suni/esan. tou=to ga/r e)sti to\ dai=ta qa/leian. to\ de\ mequ/ein, to\ meta\ to\ qu/ein au)tw=| xrh=sqai. kai\ *(/omhros, o(/te le/gei te/los xarie/staton, th\n qusi/an fhsi/.
Notes (2)
Neighbouring entries
Revision history3 revisions · last 16 Jan 2015
- expanded a ref — David Whitehead
- Revised — David Whitehead
- tweaked tr; augmented notes and keywords — David Whitehead
- Translated — Catharine Roth