Ebrietatis Encomium Part 11

Balzac made also some little debauches with some of his friends at his country-house; and what he wrote to an officer who was then prisoner in Germany, makes it evidently appear that he thought it lawful so to do.

"In relation," says he, "to the German manner of drinking healths, which you speak of with such trouble, as if they were so many Turkish bastinadoes, I think your sobriety in that respect to be a little too delicate, you must learn to howl when you are in company of wolves, as the proverb has it, and not to instance great generals. Don't you know, that wise amba.s.sadors of kings have heretofore got drunk for the good of their master's affairs, and sacrificed all their prudence and gravity to the necessity of great men, and the custom of the country where they were. I do not advise you here to any forbidden acts of intemperance, but I think it no manner of harm now and then to drown your chagrin in Rhenish wine, and to make use of that agreeable means to shorten the time, the long continuance of which is ever extremely tedious to prisoners[16]."

The ill.u.s.trious professor of Utrecht, whose name shall live as long as the republic of letters shall subsist, was a great drinker, and valued himself for drinking a great deal. It is reported of this learned man, that at the congress of the last peace, a certain German prince, of a sovereign house, came on purpose to have a brush with our professor, who accepted the challenge, and came off victorious, having fairly laid his enemy speechless on the floor.

[Footnote 1: Vide Preface, p. 17, l. 6, where are these words, viz. Thus shall princes love and cherish you as their most faithful children and servants, and take delight to commune with you, inasmuch as amongst you are found men excellent in all kinds of sciences, and who, thereby, may make their names, who love and cherish you, immortal]

[Footnote 2: Page 6, l. 9.]

[Footnote 3: Page 16, l. 19.]

[Footnote 4: Page 5, l. 12. Page 42, l. 13.]

[Footnote 5: Oeuv. div. du Sieur D'Espreaux, p. 246.]

[Footnote 6: Martial.]

[Footnote 7: Parna.s.s. Franc, p. 97.]

[Footnote 8: Bayle Dict. Art. Ammon.]

[Footnote 9: Menagian, t. i. p. 26.]

[Footnote 10: Patinian, p. 106.]

[Footnote 11: Rec. de Partic. p. 318, ed. 4.]

[Footnote 12: Scaliger, p. 409.]

[[Footnote 12a: Propertius I.i.1-2.]]

[Footnote 13: Bayle Dict. Art. Buchan. D.]

[Footnote 14: Ep. x.x.xiii. centur. 3.]

[Footnote 15: Ep. xxvi. centur. 3.]

[Footnote 16: Lett. Chois. lib. ii. lett. 5.]

CHAP. XVI.

OF NATIONS THAT USED TO GET DRUNK.

The plot now begins to thicken upon us, and we are come to give an account of such nations with whom the custom of getting drunk was heretofore very much in vogue; and of those with whom this same custom reigns at this very day.

When we consult ancient histories upon this point, we learn from Plato[1], that the Scythians, Thracians, Celtae and Iberians, were the greatest drinkers that ever were. aelian[2] says the same in relation to the Thracians and Illyrians. It is also reported of the Parthians[3], that the more they drink the more thirsty they grow.

Athenaeus[4] also a.s.sures us, that the Thracians were great drinkers; and he says the same thing of the Milesians, Illyrians, Lydians, Persians, Carthaginians, Gauls, and Spaniards.

The Tapyrians were so much given to wine, that they past their whole lives in drinking, and even bathed their bodies in wine[5].

The Tarentins used to drink from morning till night, and got quite drunk in public[6].

The Leontins, a people in Sicily, were such great drunkards, that they occasioned this proverb, viz. the Leontins are always near a cup of wine[7].

The Byzantins must not be refused a place in this chapter. aelian reports[8], that Leonides, their general, being besieged, and unable to make his men keep their posts, which they quitted every moment to go and get drunk at the taverns, he immediately gave orders that the vintners should repair with all their liquors to the ramparts, by which stratagem he kept them to their duty.

But as it may be said that the nations we have already mentioned were all barbarous, we shall, for that reason, verify what Montaigne says, that amongst nations the best regulated, and most polite, this essay of drinking deep was very much in use[9].

The Greeks, whom one may look upon as the only nation of the world for politeness and good sense, are a proof of what I advance. They celebrated the feasts of Bacchus with a great deal of solemnity; it is from them that Pergraecari, of which every one knows the signification, is derived. aelian a.s.sures us, that they were so very luxurious, that they put perfumed oils into their wine, which they called wine of myrrh.

The Romans had also a very strong pa.s.sion for wine, so that at Rome there were frequently very great seditions for want of it. _Seditiones sunt concitatae graves ob inopiam vini_[10], says Ammia.n.u.s Marcellinus, in the Life of Constantius and Gallus; and in the reign of Constantius only, the same historian says, there was a sedition also upon that very account.

t.i.tus Livius tells us, that the Clusians pa.s.sed the Alps, and came to inhabit the country that the Etrurians possessed before, to have the pleasure of drinking wine[11].

Let us now descend to some nations, with whom, at present, this custom of getting drunk is received.

Sir Paul Ricaut[12] a.s.sures us, that the Turks considering that wine rejoices the heart, and comforts the stomach, have begun to drink it; adding, that at present there are only a few (ulamah) ecclesiastical hypocrites or some ignorant bigots, or superannuated people, that abstain from that liquor; but at the same time drunkenness is grown very common amongst them.

M. Du Mont confirms this truth, "As to wine," says he, "though it be as expressly forbidden as swine's flesh, it is nevertheless very certain that a great many Mahometans transgress that precept; and the justest thing that I can say in that respect is, that abstinence from wine is observed there almost after the same manner as Lent in France[13]."

The Persians too drink wine to excess, though their law forbids the use of it; and they say for an excuse, "That it is to pa.s.s away the time, and sweeten the cares that surprise them[14]."

The Armenians are no way behind the Persians, if we may believe Tavernier, who says, that with them, "He that treats thinks he has handsomely acquitted himself of his entertainment, if his guests cannot find the door when they have a mind to go home, which would very often happen, without the a.s.sistance of their servants, who lead them, and yet have not power enough sometimes to keep them from falling down in the room, or in the street, which is a great satisfaction to the host; for if he finds any of them master of so much judgment as to guide himself, though he reels never so much, he laments very much, as having the misfortune of spending his money to no purpose[15].

The Siameze drink wine very heartily when they can get it, though every thing that may intoxicate them is forbidden by their law[16].

Father le Clerc, author of a Relation of Gaspesia, a.s.sures us, that drunkenness is the favourite vice of the inhabitants of that country[17].

The inhabitants of the coast of Africa are great drunkards; they would give all they had in the world for a gla.s.s of brandy. At Loanda, capital of the kingdom of Angola, a firkin of wine sells for above thirty pounds sterling. They love it extremely, and they tell you a pleasant story hereupon of the great duke of Bamba, which is a province of the king of Congo, viz. that he once refused the crown, as he himself owned to the fathers missioners, that he might be always near the Portuguese, and drink, by their means, sometimes a little wine or brandy[18].

The Muscovites love wine with a kind of fury, and it has been known, that when a man who has drunk to excess, and can swallow no more, they wash him soundly with it. And in Germany you are not looked upon to have treated your guest like a friend, if you do not reduce him to that condition, as quite to forget himself, and know not what he does[19].

"As Georgia produces strong wines, so its inhabitants are great drunkards, the strongest liquors is what they love most; and at their entertainments they drink more brandy than wine, women as well as men.[20]"

Sir John Chardin[21] a.s.sures us, That there is no country in the world where they drink so much wine, and more excellent, than they do at Georgia; adding, that the Georgians are great drunkards, and that the clergy get drunk as well as the laity.

Like people like priest.

Quales populus talis sacerdos.

We have taken care not to forget Germany. _Vocabitur haec quoque votis._ Which we reserve to the next chapter.