Woe unto [them that are] mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
Ver. 22. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine.] Iterate taxat hoc vitium, eo quod invaluerat. The prophet inveigheth against this vice a second time, because it was grown so common. Drunkards also are a sottish kind of creatures, and had therefore more than need to be double dealt with; like as physicians use to give double quantities to such as have palsies or epilepsies, so to awaken their dull, drowsy senses. Many of these sots take it for a great glory that they are mighty to drink wine; as did Darius King of Persia, who caused it to be written upon his tomb, I was a great hunter; I could also drink much wine, and bear it bravely. a This was, as one well saith, to glory in his shame; it being rather the commendation of a tun b than of a man, for a beast will scarce abide it, to be able to take in and contain much liquor. When Bonosus the drunken Roman had hanged himself, it went for a by-word Amphoram pendere non hominem, c that a tun or tankard hung there, and not a man. And when one was commended to King Alphonsus for a great drinker, and able to bear it, he answered that that was a good praise in a sponge, but not in a prince. d This, if Alexander the Great and Tiberius the Emperor - those great drinkers and encouragers of others to that vice - had well remembered, they would not have been so infamous as they are and will be to all posterity.
And men of strength.] Or, Valour. But to do what? Pινειν και βινειν μονον, e as the comedian hath it: To drink and do worse only. A goodly prize surely, a fair commendation. e Fortes esse et strenuos non contra hostes, sed ad exhauriendos calices; gigantes esse non ad bellandum, sed ad potandum. To be carpet knights, not of Mars, but of Bacchus, and fitter for a canopy than a camp.
To mingle.] Or, To pour in. Whether into their own wide gullets, or into the cup to make others drunk; for preventing whereof Minos, King of Crete, made a law that men should not drink one to another, εις μεθην, to drunkenness. So did Lycurgus at Lacedemon. And our King Edgar made an ordinance for putting pins in cups that none should quaff whole ones, or cause others to do so.
a Kυνηγειν εκρατουν, οινον πολυν πινειν εδυναμην και τουτον φερειν καλως. - Athen.
b A large cask or barrel, usually for liquids, esp. wine, ale, or beer, or for various provisions. Now less common than cask.
c Vopsic. in Bonoso.
d Gentiles ipsi risere tales athletas.
e Arist, in Ranis.
f Civilis est irrisio non carens sale. - Oecolamp.