Wine for Older Men

Plutarch, Table Talk 4, 2, 677ef

“But I was demonstrating that their own struggle was rather juvenile since they were too frightened to agree that zôteron means stronger because this would make things strange for Achilles. Zoilos from Amphipolis did just this when he did not understand that Achilles was telling Patroklos to make the wine stronger because he understood that older men like Phoenix and Odysseus do not enjoy watery wine.”

ἀλλὰ μειρακιώδη τὴν φιλοτιμίαν αὐτῶν ἀπέφαινον, δεδιότων ὁμολογεῖν ἀκρατότερον εἰρῆσθαι τὸ ζωρότερον, ὡς ἐν ἀτόπωι τινὶ τοῦ ᾽Αχιλλέως ἐσομένου· καθάπερ ὁ ᾽Αμφιπολίτης Ζωίλος ὑπελάμβανεν, ἀγνοῶν ὅτι πρῶτον μὲν ὁ Ἀχιλλεὺς τὸν Φοίνικα καὶ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα πρεσβυτέρους ὄντας εἰδὼς οὐχ ὑδαρεῖ χαίροντες, ἀλλ’ ἀκρατοτέρῳ, καθάπερ οἱ ἄλλοι γέρονες, ἐπιτεῖναι κελεύει τὴν κρᾶσιν.

File:Greek - Wine Jug with Boy Riding Goat - Walters 4895.jpg
Wine jug with boy riding goat

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