Preamble

They, the Poets, who birthed these Blessed Odes, did so – by the witness of the smiling Gods – most Spontaneously on the penultimate night of the Isthmian Games of the CCXXVIth Olympiad, on the Occasion of a Symposium attended by the Emperor’s Favourite, Antinous; the Orator, Favorinus; the student, Cornelius Fronto; the Lauded Poet, Septimus Darius; and the Lauded Poet, Titus Fulvius.

It is Known that the Revellers were, by the Hour of these Compositions, already in the Hand of Dionysus, having Imbibed for some Time.