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And I speak, said Mnesiphilus, with full knowledge that it is Solon’s opinion that the task of every art and faculty, both human and divine, is the thing that is produced rather than the means employed in its production, and the end itself rather than the means that contribute to that end. For a weaver, I imagine, would hold that his task was a cloak or a mantle rather than the arrangement of shuttle-rods or the hanging of loom weights; and so a smith would regard the welding of iron or the tempering of an axe rather than any one of the things that have to be done for this purpose, such as blowing up the fire or getting ready a flux. Even more would an architect find fault with us, if we should declare that his task is not a temple or a house, but to bore timbers and mix mortar. And the Muses would most assuredly feel aggrieved, if we should regard as their task a lyre or flutes, and not the development of the characters and the soothing of the emotions of those who make use of songs and melodies. And so again the task of Aphrodite is not carnal intercourse, nor is that of Dionysus strong drink and wine, but rather the friendly feeling, the longing, the association, and the intimacy, one with another, which they create in us through these agencies. These are what Solon calls tasks divine, and these he says he loves and pursues above all else, now that he has become an old man. And Aphrodite is the artisan who creates concord and friendship between men and women, for through their bodies, under the influence of pleasure, she at the same time unites and welds together their souls. Cf. Moralia, 769 A. And in the case of the majority of people, who are not altogether intimate or too well known to one another, Dionysus softens and relaxes their characters with wine, as in a fire, and so provides some means for beginning a union and friendship with one another. However, when such men as you, whom Periander has invited here, come together, I think there is nothing for the wine-cup or ladle to accomplish, but the Muses set discourse in the midst before all, a non-intoxicating bowl as it were, containing a maximum of pleasure in jest and seriousness combined; and with this they awaken and foster and dispense friendliness, allowing the ladle, for the most part, to lie untouched atop of the bowl—a thing which Hesiod Works and Days, 744. would prohibit in a company of men better able to drink than to converse. As a matter of fact,he continued, as nearly as I can make out, among the men of olden time the practice of drinking healths was not in vogue, since each man drank one goblet, as Homer Homer, Il. iv. 262. has said, that is a measured quantity, and later, like Ajax,Plutarch seems to have made a natural slip in referring this to Ajax, when, in fact, Homer records this of Odysseus (Od. viii. 475); Ajax, of course, was the great eater, as witness Il. vii. 321, where Agamemnon favours Ajax with the sirloin and tenderloin entire. Cf. also Athenaeus, 14 a. shared a portion with his neighbour.
