change those things which before were [Greek omitted],
UNMIXED, should then be [Greek omitted], affirmed that [Greek omitted]
there signified [Greek omitted], WELL-TEMPERED, and that Achilles might
with a great deal of reason bid Patroclus provide well-tempered wine
for the entertainment of his friends; and it was absurd (he said) to use
[Greek omitted] for [Greek omitted] any more than [Greek omitted]
for [Greek omitted], or [Greek omitted] for [Greek omitted], for
the comparatives are very properly put for the positives. My friend
Antipater said that years were anciently called [Greek omitted], and
that the particle [Greek omitted] in composition signified greatness;
and therefore old wine, that had been kept for many years, was called by
Achilles [Greek omitted].

I put them in mind that some imagine that [Greek omitted], hot, is
signified by [Greek omitted], and that hotter means really faster, as
when we command servants to move themselves more hotly or in hotter
haste. But I must confess, your dispute is frivolous, since it is raised
upon this supposition that if [Greek omitted], signifies more pure wine,
Achilles's command would be absurd, as Zoilus of Amphipolis imagined.
For first he did not consider that Achilles saw Phoenix and Ulysses to
be old men, who are not pleased with diluted wine, and upon that account
forbade any mixture. Besides, he having been Chiron's scholar, and from
him having learned the rules of diet, he considered that weaker and more
diluted liquors were fittest for those bodies that lay at ease, and were
not employed in their customary exercise or labor. Thus with the other
provender he gave his horses smallage, and this upon very good reason;
for horses that lie still grow sore in their feet, and smallage is the
best remedy in the world against that. And you will not find smallage
or anything of the same nature given to any other horses in the whole
"Iliad." Thus Achilles, being experienced in physic, provided suitable
provender for his horses, and used the lightest diet himself, as the
fittest whilst he lay at ease. But those that had been wearied all day
in fight he did not think convenient to treat like those that had lain
at ease, but commanded more pure and stronger wine to be prepared.
Besides, Achilles doth not appear to be naturally addicted to drinking,
but he was of a haughty, inexorable temper.

No pleasant humor, no, soft mind he bore,
But was all fire and rage.