Chap. 28.] DEUNKENKESS. 271 



same purpose, and various other mixtures, "which I should 

 feel quite ashamed any further to enlarge upon. 



We see the more prudent among those who are given to this 

 habit have themselves parboiled in hot-baths, from whence they 

 are carried away half dead. Others there are, again, who can- 

 not wait till they have got to the banqueting couch, 62 no, not 

 so much as till they have got their shirt on, 63 but all naked 

 and panting as they are, the instant they leave the bath they 

 seize hold of large vessels filled with wine, to show off, as it 

 were, their mighty powers, and so gulp down the whole of the 

 contents only to vomit them up again the very next moment. 

 This they will repeat, too, a second and even a third time, 

 just as though they had only been begotten for the purpose of 

 wasting wine, and as if that liquor could not be thrown away 

 without having first passed through the human body. It is 

 to encourage habits such as these that we have introduced the 

 athletic exercises 64 of other countries, such as rolling in the 

 mud, for instance, and throwing the arms back to show off a 

 brawny neck and chest. Of all these exercises, thirst, it is 

 said, is the chief and primary object. 



And then, too, what vessels are employed for holding wine ! 

 carved all over with the representations of adulterous intrigues, 

 as if, in fact, drunkenness itself was not sufficiently capable of 

 teaching us lessons of lustfulness. Thus we see wines quaffed 

 out of impurities, and inebriety invited even by the hope of a 

 reward, — invited, did I say ? — -may the gods forgive me for 

 saying so, purchased outright. We find one person induced 

 to drink upon the condition that he shall have as much to eat 

 as he has previously drunk, while another has to quaff as 

 many cups as he has thrown points on the dice. Then it is 

 that the roving, insatiate eyes are setting a price upon the 

 matron's chastity ; and yet, heavy as they are with wine, they 

 do not fail to betray their designs to her "husband. Then 

 it is that all the secrets of the mind are revealed ; one man is 

 heard to disclose the provisions of his will, another lets fall 

 some expression of fatal import, and so fails to keep to himself 

 words which will be sure to come home to him with a cut 



62 This seems to be the. meaning of " lectuni ;" but the passage is ob- 

 scure. 6i Tunicam. 



61 He satirizes, probably, some kind of gymnastic exercises that had 

 been introduced to promote the speedy passage of the wine through the body. 



