In ancient times it was not customary to serve either wine in quantity or any other luxurious [food] unless [people] were doing this for the sake of the gods. For this reason they used to call both banquets and festivities me/qai ['drinkings']: the [banquets] because they made it a custom to get drunk because of the gods; the [festivities] because they gathered together and met for the gods' sake. For this is the "luxuriant banquet" [dai=ta qa/leian].[1] But mequ/ein ["to get drunk"] [is] to use it after [meta/] sacrificing [qu/ein]. And Homer, when he says 'a most delightful rite',[2] is speaking of the sacrifice [qusi/a].