Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Antiquity Of Drinking Healths.
THE ANTIQUITY OF DRINKING HEALTHS .
$ 0 R THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE ,
THIS was a custom among the Greeks , and from them derived , like many others , especially of the religious kind , among the Romans , to make libations , to pour out wine , and even to drink wine in honour of the gods . Sometimes this ceremony was introductory to their meals , but , in their more solemn entertainments , it was performed in the interval preceding the mensce secnndce , which answers to our second courseor the de : ert .
, This manner of venerating the gods often occurs in the Classics , and consequently is too well known to want any further enlargement ; yet I will not dismiss it without referring you tothe first book of the iEneid , where Virgil describes the feast with which the Queen of Carthage entertains his and her hero ; or , to save you that trouble } shall here set it down , as translated by Dryden .
A golden bowl , that shone with gems divine , The Queen commanded to be fill'd with wine ; Then , silence through the hall proclaim'd , she spoke : O hospitable Jove , we thus invoke , With solemn rites , thy sacred name and power , Bless to both nations this auspicious hour . Thou BacchusGod of joy and friendly cheer
, , And gracious Jove , both you be present here ; ' And you , my Lords of Tyre , your vows address To heav ' n , with mine , to ratify the peace . The goblet then she took with nectar crown'd , Sprinkling the first libation on the ground ; And rais'd it to her mouth with sober grace , Then sipping offer'd it the next in place .
The grateful custom of drinking to the health of our benefactors , or of our acquaintance , is of a more obscure origin , though numberless instances of it are to be seen in the Grecian poets and historians , no less than in the Roman writers . Ovid , that easy luxuriant genius , that happy proficient in all the literature his age afforded , introduces this usage in his Metamorphoses , as of a very ancient date among the Greeks . The Athenianson the arrival of Theseus from
, killing the Minotaurs , according to him , made public rejoicings , attended with a pompons entertainment , in which they congratulated his safe arrival , and enlarged on his unparalleled exploits , which entitled him to a divine immortality , concluding their panegyric with
Pro te , fortissime , vota , Publica suscipimus : Bacchi tibi sumimus haustus ; SfMcli is just what every good Mason now-a-days does for the King ,
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Antiquity Of Drinking Healths.
THE ANTIQUITY OF DRINKING HEALTHS .
$ 0 R THE FREEMASONS' MAGAZINE ,
THIS was a custom among the Greeks , and from them derived , like many others , especially of the religious kind , among the Romans , to make libations , to pour out wine , and even to drink wine in honour of the gods . Sometimes this ceremony was introductory to their meals , but , in their more solemn entertainments , it was performed in the interval preceding the mensce secnndce , which answers to our second courseor the de : ert .
, This manner of venerating the gods often occurs in the Classics , and consequently is too well known to want any further enlargement ; yet I will not dismiss it without referring you tothe first book of the iEneid , where Virgil describes the feast with which the Queen of Carthage entertains his and her hero ; or , to save you that trouble } shall here set it down , as translated by Dryden .
A golden bowl , that shone with gems divine , The Queen commanded to be fill'd with wine ; Then , silence through the hall proclaim'd , she spoke : O hospitable Jove , we thus invoke , With solemn rites , thy sacred name and power , Bless to both nations this auspicious hour . Thou BacchusGod of joy and friendly cheer
, , And gracious Jove , both you be present here ; ' And you , my Lords of Tyre , your vows address To heav ' n , with mine , to ratify the peace . The goblet then she took with nectar crown'd , Sprinkling the first libation on the ground ; And rais'd it to her mouth with sober grace , Then sipping offer'd it the next in place .
The grateful custom of drinking to the health of our benefactors , or of our acquaintance , is of a more obscure origin , though numberless instances of it are to be seen in the Grecian poets and historians , no less than in the Roman writers . Ovid , that easy luxuriant genius , that happy proficient in all the literature his age afforded , introduces this usage in his Metamorphoses , as of a very ancient date among the Greeks . The Athenianson the arrival of Theseus from
, killing the Minotaurs , according to him , made public rejoicings , attended with a pompons entertainment , in which they congratulated his safe arrival , and enlarged on his unparalleled exploits , which entitled him to a divine immortality , concluding their panegyric with
Pro te , fortissime , vota , Publica suscipimus : Bacchi tibi sumimus haustus ; SfMcli is just what every good Mason now-a-days does for the King ,