Laudator Temporis Acti

C.M. Bowra (1898-1971), Greek Lyric Poetry from Alcman to Simonides, 2nd rev. ed. (1961; rpt. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000), p. 158 (Alcaeus, fragment 346; notes omitted):

πώνωμεν· τί τὰ λύχν᾿ ὀμμένομεν; δάκτυλος ἀμέρα.
κὰδ δἄερρε κυλίχναις μεγάλαις αἶψ' ἀπὺ πασσάλων.
οἶνον γὰρ Σεμέλας καὶ Δίος υἶος λαθικάδεον
ἀνθρώποισιν ἔδωκ᾿. ἔγχεε κέρναις ἔνα καὶ δύο
πλήαις κὰκ κεφάλας, <ἀ> δ᾿ ἀτέρα τὰν ἀτέραν κύλιξ
ὠθήτω.

Let us drink. Why do we wait for the lamps? The day has but an inch to go. Lift down the big cups at once from the pegs. For the son of Semele and Zeus gave wine to men to forget their cares. Mix one of water and two of wine, pour them in to the brim, and let one cup jostle another.

Here is the essential ritual of Greek drinking—the mention of the time of day, the drill of taking the cups from their pegs, the justification of wine because it gets rid of cares, the precise proportions of wine and water, and the call to keep the proceedings going by emptying thc cups quickly and calling for more. All is in order, but not quite usual. The drink is a good deal stronger than normally. When Alcaeus says ἔνα καὶ δύο he can only mean one part of water to two of wine, since in such phrases the water comes first and the wine second. This is evidently a special occasion when the wine is not only abundant but taken strong.