"But after her there came the son of Semele,
who matched her present by inventing liquid wine
as his gift to man. For filled with that good gift
suffering mankind forgets its grief; from it
comes sleep; with it oblivion of the troubles
of the day. There is no other medicine
for misery. And when we pour libations
to the gods, we pour the god of wine himself
that through his intercession man may win
the favor of heaven." -Teiresias in the Bacchae by Euripides


"They knew the men they sent,
but now in place of men
ashes and urns comes back
to every hearth.

War, War, the great gold-broker of corpses
holds the balance of the battle on his spear!
Home from the pyres he sends them,
home from Troy to the loved ones,
heavy with tears, the urns brimmed full...."
-The Oresteia, Aeschylus