Ebrietatis Encomium Part 4

[Footnote 9: Boileau.]

[Footnote 10: The names of two jesuits, the former a famous preacher, and the other as famous a casuist.]

[Footnote 11: Esprit de Pat. p. 51.]

[Footnote 12: Owen, Ep.]

[[John Owen (1564-1622): _possibly_ I.ii.42.]]

[Footnote 13: Qu'il faut a chaque mois.

Du moin s'enyvrer une fois.

Fureteriana.]

CHAP. IV.

THAT OLD PEOPLE OUGHT TO GET DRUNK SOMETIMES.

Wine taken with some excess is excellent for old people.

---- Ubi jam validis qua.s.satum est viribus aevi Corpus et obtusis ceciderunt viribus artus[1].

When shaken by the powerful force of age The body languid grows, and ev'ry joint Its proper juice exhal'd, all feeble droops.

And is not the reason plain? because it moistens their dry temperament, and nourishes their radical moisture. Hence came the proverb, which says, "That wine is the milk of old men[2]." Tirellus, in his history, declares the same thing, when he says, "That wine is the nutriment of natural heat[3]." Conformably to this truth that old man acted, of whom Seneca makes mention, who being pressed to drink wine cooled in snow, said, "That his age made him cold enough, and that he did not desire to be more cold than he was[4]." Than which, certainly no answer could be more just and true.

Besides, the infirmities of an advanced age require some consolation and diversion. Let us see what Montaigne says, who was not much given to tippling; for he plainly says, that his gout and complexion were greater enemies to drunkenness than his discourse. His words are these, "The inconveniencies attending old age, which stand in need of some support and refreshment, might with reason produce in me a desire of this faculty, since it is as it were the last pleasure that the course of years steals from us. The natural heat, say the boon companions, begins first at the feet; this is the case of infancy; thence it ascends to the middle region, where it continues a long while, and there produces in my mind the only true pleasures of the corporal life; at last exhaling itself like a vapour, it moves upwards, till it comes to the throat, and there it makes its last little stay[5]."

Athenaeus, after Theophrastus, says, That wine drives away those irksome inquietudes to which old people are unhappily subject[6]. And to conclude, the divine Plato a.s.sures us, that, "Wine is a medicine as well for the body as the mind, the dryness of old people have great occasion for this kind of moistening, and their severe genius of the brisk gaiety inspired by wine, without which they would not be able to perform their part in the concert, and consequently would be no longer useful members in the commonwealth, which is no other ways supported and preserved than by harmony."

[Footnote 1: Lucret. lib. iii.]

[Footnote 2: Vinum lac senum.]

[Footnote 3: Vina calidi innati pabula.]

[Footnote 4: aetas meo frigore contenta est.]

[Footnote 5: Essays, lib. ii. cap. 2.]

[Footnote 6: Lib. xi. cap. 7.]

CHAP. V.

THAT WINE CREATES WIT.

As wine increases the quant.i.ty of animal spirits, by the fumes which it sends to the brain, it is easy to comprehend that it cannot but be of great advantage to dull and heavy wits; so that one may particularly apply to them the common proverb, "Wine sets an edge to wit[1]." And the emblem of Adr. Junius, in which he represents Bacchus as a youth with wings on, and with this inscription, "Wine kindles wit[2]," agrees admirably well with these people. But the application of both proverb and emblem is no less just in relation to all the world; for it is most certain, that the G.o.d Bacchus, by warming the thoughts, renders them more acute, and inspires a greater plenty of witty sallies. For "Bacchus had not the name of Lysian, or Opener, if I may use the term, bestowed upon him for nothing but purely because he opens the mind, by putting it into an agreeable humour, and renders it more subtile and judicious[3]."

For this reason it is grown into a proverb, That water-drinkers are not near so knowing as those who drink wine[4].

Plutarch a.s.sures us, That wine collects and increases the powers of the mind. He observes also, That it produces excellent effects on the minds of persons, who, though naturally timid, want no penetration. Plato maintains, as I have observed in the foregoing chapter, That wine warms as well the mind as the body. Monsieur Hofman says a great deal more, viz. That experience proves, that those climates which produce good wine, produce also people that "have infinitely more wit than those of the north, who drink nothing but beer. Gryllus believes, That the Greeks were called fathers of wisdom, on account of the excellency of their wine; and, that they lost their ancient l.u.s.tre by reason of the Turks rooting out their vines. The Heathens placed Pallas and Bacchus in the same temple, to shew, that wine increased their wisdom, and that the G.o.ds were represented wiser than men, only because they drank nectar and ambrosia."

In respect of poets the world was always so sensible of the necessity they lay under, of having their imagination roused by wine, that n.o.body ever had any good opinion of the productions of a poet that drank water, that _Non est Dythyrambus si aquam bibat_; and wine was called the poets great horse. "There never were any excellent poets," says Mr. Bayle, "that could versify, till after drinking pretty plentifully[5]."

And if we believe Plato, "He could never open the gates of poesy till he was a little beyond himself. The soul can speak nothing grand, or above the common, if it be not somewhat agitated[6]."

Horace[7], who knew by experience this truth, goes yet farther.

Nulla placere diu, nec vivere carmina possint, Quae scribuntur aquae potoribus.

Poor water-drinkers sing an irksome tune, Short-liv'd their numbers, and their airs jejune.

Ovid bewailed himself very bitterly for want of wine in his exile.

"Impetus ille sacer, qui vatum pectora nutrit Qui prius in n.o.bis esse solebat, abest."[7a]

That sacred rage that feeds a poet's breast, Common to me, is now no more possest.

La Motte[8], my beloved Frenchman, has something not unlike it.

"Loin une raison trop timide Les froids poetes qu'elle guide Languissent et tombent souvent.

Venez yvresse temeraire, Transports ignorez du vulgaire Tels que vous m'agitiez vivant."

Away, too fearful reason, haste, be gone, Those frozen poets, whom thy phantoms guide, Languish, and often feebly slide, Down to the lowest ebb of wretchless song, Insipid notes, and lifeless numbers sing.

O come, sweet drunkenness, thou heady thing, With transports to the vulgar herd unknown, Which agitates my soul, and gives it wing.

With kind enthusiasms then ecstatic grown, It takes unusual flights, sublimely soars, Spurns the dull globe below, and endless worlds explores.

One may very well apply to Bacchus, what the same gentleman says of the graces in this ode[9].

"Tout fleurit par vous au Parna.s.se, Apollon languit, et nous glace, Sitot que vous l'avez quitte, Mieux que les traits les plus sublimes Vous allez verser sur mes rimes Le don de l'immortalite.

The sprightly influence you shed, Bright constellation! makes Parna.s.sus gay.

Apollo droops and hangs his head, His frozen fingers know not how to play; And we his sons the sad distemper find, Which chills the fancy, and benumbs the mind, When cruel you withdraw your magic ray.

You finely paint on ev'ry rhyme Features most n.o.ble and sublime, Resplendent all the images, In rich immortal draperies.

You give me colours that can never die, But baffle time, and live through all eternity.

It is to wine we owe the productions of Eschylus and Anacreon, whose muses were very chilly, till Bacchus warmed them. Aurelius, the sophist, composed his best declamations in his cups. Herodes, called Saginatus Orator, the fattened Orator, never talked better, than after drinking pretty plentifully. And according to Horace, this was the case with Ennius.

"Ennius ipse pater nunquam nisi potus ad arma Prosiluit dicenda ------------ [10]."

Ennius himself ne'er sung of arms, Martial exploits and wars alarms, Till the good father's face did shine, Enrich'd with ruby beams of wine.