Tavern Measures

"Phryx was blind of of one eye and bleary of the other. Heras his doctor, told him, 'Don't drink. If you drink wine, you'll lose your sight altogether.' Phryx laughs, and says to his eye 'Good-bye'; then forthwith orders deunces mixed for him and plenty of them. You want to know the outcome? Phryx drank wine and his eye drank poison." (Martial, Epigrams VI.78)

"Boy, mix me trientes half and half, such as [the page] Pythogoras used to give to Nero; mix them, Dindymus, and not so long between them. I can do nothing sober, but when I drink, fifteen poets will come to my aid." (Martial, Epigrams XI.6)

Taverns were willing and able to cater to heavy drinkers. The deunx-strictly speaking, a dry measure of 11 unciae-was a beaker that could hold about 7 cyathi or about two-thirds of a U.S. pint [0.31 liters].

A triens measure was about a third of a sextarius, thus 0.38 pints [0.18 liters].