Wine and Kissing

Bombaugh

By the ancient expression “cups of kisses,” reference is most probably made to a favorite gallantry among the Greeks and Romans of drinking when the lips of their mistresses had touched the brim.  Ben Jonson’s oft-quoted verses to Celia, in which occur the lines—

“Or leave a kiss within the cup,

And I’ll not ask for wine,” –

Lucian has a conceit upon the same idea: “that you may at once both drink and kiss.”