Isaiah 5:22

Isa 5:22 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.