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If possible avoid drinking-parties altogether,For drinking-parties in Athens see Isocrates’ picture in Isoc. 15.286-7. but if ever occasion arises when you must be present, rise and take your leave before you become intoxicated;Theognis gives the same advice, Theog. 484 ff. for when the mind is impaired by wine it is like chariots which have lost their drivers; for just as these plunge along in wild disorder when they miss the hands which should guide them, so the soul stumbles again and again when the intellect is impaired.This recalls the figure of the charioteer and the two horses in Plat. Phaedrus 247a-c. There is an exact parallel in Libanius, xii. 40. Cultivate the thoughts of an immortal by being lofty of soul, but of a mortal by enjoying in due measure the good things which you possess.Cf. Isoc. 1.9
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Consider culture to be a good so far superior to the lack of culture that while in general everyone derives gain from the practice of vice, boorishnessThe translation of this perplexing sentence takes αὔτη to refer to ἀπαιδυεσία, following Sandys. is the one vice which actually penalizes its possessors; for the latter are often punished in deed for the offences they give by their words. When you desire to make a friend of anyone, say good things about him to those who are wont to report them; for praise is the foundation of friendship, as blame is that of enmity.
