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Then again, there is no man of modesty and civility but would be careful of preserving himself from drunkenness. For anger, as some are of opinion, is the next neighbor to madness, while drunkenness doth dwell in the very same house with it; or rather, drunkenness is madness itself, inferior to it in continuance of time, yet far exceeding it as it is voluntary, since it is a madness of our own choice. Now there is nothing for which drunkenness is so much abominated and decried, as for that it is the cause of inordinate and unlimited babbling and prating. Heated with wine, the man at other times Both wise and grave sings loose and wanton rhymes; lie minds not loud indecent laughter then, Nor mimic dancing, scorned by sober men.See Odyss. XIV. 464. And yet both singing, laughing, and dancing are all but trifles to that which follows, the consequences of which are oft-times fatal: He blurts those secrets forth, which once revealed, Too late he wishes they had been concealed. This is that which oftentimes proves dangerous, if not terrible, to the discoverer. And who knows but that the poet might here design to resolve a question much disputed among philosophers,—that is to say, what the difference is between being tipsy and stark drunk,—by attributing to the former only mirth and jollity of humor, but branding the latter with the foul reproach of noxious babbling? For, according to the proverb, What the sober heart conceals, That the drunken heart reveals. Wherefore it is reported of Bias, that sitting very silent at a compotation, drinking only when it came to his turn, and being laughed at by one whose tongue ran at random, who for his silence called him mope and fool, he made this reply: Find me out that fool, said he, that e’er could hold his tongue in his cups.
