Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1890-08-28
ANCIENT TEMPERANC.
DRUNKENNESS REGARDED BY c
NATIONS AS A DISGRACE.

With Few Exceptions Grave Punis 8
ments Were Prescribed for 1T and
rious Devices Were Employed to r
vent Its Prevalence.
Amid the great variety of treatme
to which drunkenness was subjected
the ancients all law givers seem
agree in treating it as a state Of
grace; and since it is brought on
iberately it is still more odious ii
without excuse. Whatever individul
may think and say no nation treats it
meritorious. Yet Darius il said to ha
ordered it to De stated in his epitaph II NJ
he could drink good deal Of wine
bear it well-a virtue which Dem
themes observed was only the virtue Of q
sponge. At the Greek festival Of Do
nysia it was a crime not to be drunk
this being symptom of ingratitude to
the god of wine-and prizes were award
ed to those who became drunk most
quickly. And the Roman bacchantes.
decked with garlands Of ivy and amid
deafening drums and cynbals, were
equally applauded; but At length even
the bacchanalia were suppressed by a
decree Of the senate about 1856 B. G.
Notwithstanding these exceptions the
offense Of drunkenness was a source Of
great perplexity to the ancients, who
tried nearly every possible way Of deal
ing with it. If none succeeded prob
ably it was because they did not begin
early enough BY intercepting some Of
the ways and means BY which the in
sidious vice i melted and propagated.
Severe treatment was often tried to
little effect. The Mosaic law seems To
have imposed stoning to death, ut least
if the drunkenness was coupled with any
disobedience of parents. The Locrians,
under Zaleucus, made it a capital Of
fense to drink wine if it was not mixed
with water; even an invalid was not ex-
empted from punishment unless acting
under physicians order. Pittacus, of
Mitylene, made a law that he who
when drunk committed an offense
should suffer double the punishment
which lie would do if sober. and Plato,
Aristotle and Plutarch applauded this ~
the height Of wisdom The Roman cen
sors could expel q senator for being
drunk and take away his horse. Ma
homct ordered drunkards to be bastina-
doed with eighty blows.
Other nations thought of limiting the
quantity to be drunk at one time or at
one sitting. The Egyptians put some
limit, though what it was is not stated.
The gpartans had some limit The Ara
bians fixed the quantity at twelve glasses
y man, but the siza of the glass was not,
unfortunately, defined by the historians.
The AnglO-Sax0ns went no further than
to order silver nails to be fixed on the
side of drinking cups, SO that each might
know his proper measure. And it is said
that this was done by King Edgar after
noticing the drunken habits of the Danes.
Lycurgus of Thrace went TO the root of
the matter by ordering the vines to be
cut down, and his conduct was initiated
in 704 BY Terbulus Of Bulgaria The
Suevi prohibited tigimpo Of wine,
and the Spartans tried to turn the vice
into contempt by Systematically making
their slaves drunk once a year to show
their children how foolish and contempt
ible men looked in that state
Drunkenness was deemed much more
vicious in some classes of people than in
others. The ancient Indians held it law
full to kill king when he was drunk.
The Athenians made it capital offense
for magistrate to be drunk, and Char
lemagne caused a law to be enacted that
judges On the bench ana pleaders should
do their business fasting. The Cartha-
ginisns prohibited magistrates, govern
ors, soldiers and servants from any drink
ing.-Green Bag.