The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-03-21

fourteen quarts, English measured of pure
| unmiXed wine, dying from the effects in three
| days after. Thirty men in their efforts to win
| prizes died on the spot and soon after six
| more fell victims to drink. Plutarch on the
| authority of CharOs, says that forty-one per.
| sons died from excessive drink and the Sc
| verely cold weather.
| Alexander's habits caused his DEATH AT
| a wild carousal, gotten up by MeGias, he
| drank all day and night, consuming fourteen
! quarts of wine, i'll drinking to the health Of
| Proteas. This brought on a fever from which
| he died. Seneca says of him: This hero,
| inyincible by all the tolls of prodigious
marches, by all the dangers of sieges and
| combats, by the most violent extremes of heat
and cold, lies conquered by his intcmpcrance."
| The Thracans and Scythans were notorious
| for their intemperance. Both, but more eSpe-
| cialy the Scythians. were celebrated for mod
| GRAFTON and strength in the early part of their
! history, but in the latter part they were
| known as hard drinkers" After Cleomenes,
| Prince of Sparta, visited the Scythians, his
| COuntrymen said that his communication with
| the Scythians had made him drnl1er Of wine,
| and the wine had made him mad. "When per-
| sons wished TO drink to excess" said HerOdO--
| tus, they said Let us drink like Scythans."
| Both Thracians and ScYthians considered
! themselves happy only when filed with I'M
| mixed wine, and they even poured il upon
| the garments The "Ihracan way" of
| drinking and the ''Scythian way Of acting
| are simply to drink quantities of pure wine,
and act Ike maniac or IL fool
The history of the Thracians contains the
| story of the vile treachery of Rhescuporis
| and his murder ofhis nephew Cotys, who as
| surCdly fell Il victim to the "Ihracian way
of drinking" and to the "Scythian way of act.
| ing
The history of the Gauls is fun Of instances
| of the effects of Indulgence in strong drink
! Under Brannus the Gauls invaded the Roman
! Empire and took the Capital, but they drank
| so freely of wine that they lost their precau-
| ton, and Camillus, the Roman hero, living in
| ret rement ut Ardea, resolved to save his city,
| and knowing their condition, surprised them
| and put them to flight
Germancus won his victories over the Marsf
"a German people-because of their intern
| perance Or the Germans Tacltus SAYS In
| dulge their love of liquor to the excess they
| require, and you need not employ the terror
| OF your arms; their own Will subdue them"
| lbeir customs were similar to those of the
! Persians. Travellers at various times have.
noticed the habits of drinking in Germany
and the Duke Of ROhan says that they seem
| to have discovered perpetual motion i'll the
| use of the wiuC-Cup.
Not an ancient nation can he mentioned
| that was not the victim of intemperance. The
! Carthagcnians, the Lydians, the ByZantines,
| the ParthianS, the people of Tarcntum the
| BabylOpianS and AsSyrianS, the MpdeS and
| Persians, the Greeks and Romans, all drank
! to excess and fell victims to their own vices.
! The ancient BritOns, race of savages, are
! supposed to have been frugal and temperate,
| but from using the dress and language OF the
| Romans, they, by degrees, initiated and
| adopted the vices and luXuries, BY the time
| of the Norman conquest they had become so
! corrupt that soon the vigorous and warlike
| Normans fell under the spell and adopted the
| habits one by one.
As to the effects of incompetence on the
| moral and intellectual powers history is vo-
| luminous. and furnishes numerous examples.
| In ancient times Cambyses; PhlOpater,
! fourth King of Egypt, called Zapcur, because
! of his extravaganza and debaucdery; Prussia,
| King of Bythnia Q49 b. c.; 1iberus dcrsively
| niCknamed Biberius; Nero Claudius: Sy la, ty-
rannical and ambit GUS; MaXiminus, ferocious,
and pitiless, and indeed nearly all rulers of
| the Old World way into modern times, until
| the Reformation, prove beyond doubt the
| brutaliz.ng effect of immOderate drink on the
feelings and its destruction of all natural feel
! ing.
! While admitting that wines are only inju-
| rfouS in the abuse, not in the right use of
| them, it is none the less true that the misery
| of every city is prOportionate to the number
OF saloons. The French boast of the few in
stances in their country of drunkenness, and
yet they drink regularly" If it is true it
must be because they, better than any others,
| know how to manage and conceal vices, since
! all history proves that i'll a nat Onal point of
| view, in the effect on mind and morals on re-
| ligion and the physical cond on of man, in
| temperance has most unfa ling and diSas-
| trOus effect. In this age when civilization has
| so far advanced, that sat ated men are I'M
ceasngy seeking for variety and excitement,
! we can only look with horror upon the adop-'
| ton of SO many luxurious habits and wonder
| if the history of intemperance like all other
history, will repeat itsef.-Ciereldnd Leader.