prevent themselves from falling on those
behind them; a basin is brought too late by a reluctant servant, and
the faded flower, which is ready to drop from their heated hands, is
intended to be characteristic of their own sensations.

That the consumption of wine in Egypt was very great is evident from
the sculptures, and from the accounts of ancient authors, some of whom
have censured the Egyptians for their excesses; and so much did the
quantity used exceed that made in the country, that, in the time of
Herodotus, twice every year a large importation was received from
Phoenicia and Greece.

Notwithstanding all the injunctions or exhortations of the priests in
favor of temperance, the Egyptians of both sexes appear from the
sculptures to have committed occasional excesses, and men were
sometimes unable to walk from a feast, and were carried home by
servants. These scenes, however, do not appear to refer to members of
the higher, but of the lower, classes, some of whom indulged in
extravagant buffoonery, dancing in a ludicrous manner, or standing on
their heads, and frequently in amusements which terminated in a fight.

At the tables of the rich, stimulants were sometimes introduced, to
excite the palate before drinking, and Athenaeus mentions cabbages as
one of the vegetables used by the Egyptians for this purpose.

Besides beer, the Egyptians had what Pliny calls factitious, or
artificial, wine, extracted from various fruits, as figs, _myxas_,
pomegranates, as well as herbs, some of which were selected for their
medicinal properties. The Greeks and Latins comprehended every kind of
beverage made by the process of fermentation under the same general
name, and beer was designated as barley-_wine_; but, by the use of the
name zythos, they show that the Egyptians distinguished it by its own
peculiar appellation. Palm-wine was also made in Egypt, and used in
the process of embalming.

The palm-wine now made in Egypt and the Oases is simply from an
incision in the heart of the tree, immediately below the base of the
upper branches, and a jar is attached to the part to catch the juice
which exudes from it. But a palm thus tapped is rendered perfectly
useless as a fruit-bearing tree, and generally dies in consequence;
and it is reasonable to suppose that so great a sacrifice is seldom
made except when date-trees are to be felled, or when they grow in
great abundance.

The modern name of this beverage in Egypt is _lowb