The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-10-06

A hundred years further and Won
will find even worse things on the
records. Congreve, WycherIey and
drouhar were dipsomaniacs, and
Jonn' Duke of Marlborough, knocked
out SIX bottles a day
shakespeare in 1916 drank him
sell to death. Marlowe, a few years
before, was killed in a drunken
hraWl. Chaucer died of the snakes.
Inc venerable Bede took the gold
cure. Edmund Spencer died of a
collie caused by wood alcohol.
Among the Greeks and Romans
thlngs We're even worse. AS a writer
IN the Cleveland Plain Dealer recent
ly pointed out, more wine was drunk
III tome IN one day than New York
SooDles IN month. The Plain Deal
er, which is one of the few Ameri-
can newspapers that show an intel
hgent interest in the science of al
cohology, prints a long account of
the celebrated drinkers of antiquity.
From this it appears that julius
caesar, on one occasion, when fud-
dled with Falernian, gave Jack
Eutychus, his charioteer Cor, as we
would say to day, chauffeur), a tip
amounting to $4,000, the largest
money tip on record.
Think of it! The most reckless
OF our young multi-millionaires
thinks he's making an awful splash
when he tips the chauffeur a IS note.
Caesar fed his charger on wine
and barley in a golden vase. One
OF his dinners cost half a million
dollars. His supper bill for four
months was $2O,000,000.
Philip, King of Macedonia, was
a famous kegman. He always left
the banquet table staggering. Alex
ander, his son, inherited the weak
ness for drink. 1t took him two
days and nights to sleep off royal
jag. He died of drink at the age
of 32
"Dionysius, the younger, tyrant of
Sicily, went on sprees which lasted
three months at a time. He lost
his eyesight through overindulgence.
Nero was in the habit of sitting
down at the table at noon and stick
ing there until midnight, eating and
drinking all the time
"Tiberius was sincere and earn
est potsman. After becoming EN-
peror of Rome he was drunk so
often that his army nicknamed him
Biberius, meaning 'souseheimer.
He had two pals, Flaccus and Piso
with whom he went on sprees. At
, the weeping stage they deplored the
prevalence of drunkenness.
"One time Tiberius had a vacancy
for the quaestOrship, and there were
many applicants for the job. The
man who got it drank a whole pitch
er of strong wine which Tiberius
himself had filled. The successful
applicant had neither reputation nor
pull, but Tiberius said that the man
who could drink that amount of wine
was the man for the place
"Tiberius was as cranky about eat
ing as drinking. He gave Sabinus
$4,000 for writing a sketch in which
an oyster, thrush and a mushroom
very fond of mushrooms. and died
from eating the wrong kind.
Nowhere in all the world today
will you find as many confirmed
drunkards as there were among the
Thracians, the Iberians, the Celts OIL
the Scythians. The man who didn'
get drunk every other day was re-
garded as queer.
Eat, drink and amuse yourself
All else is vanity said Sardanapa-
lus, the last King of the Assyrians
and those words were written on his
tomb.
''The ancients were so fond OF
drink that their most popular god
was Bacchus. Their feasts to Bac-
Chus, Venus, Jupiter and the MUSES.
were characterized by rough house
which the most advanced inebriates
of today would shrink from in hor-
ror and disgust. The average gas
tronome of Athens or Rome ate and
drank more in a single day than We
do in year
''The age of drunkenness is not
known. The Old Testament refers
to it. The Persians, whose history
is the oldest recorded, were famous
drunkards.
THE Greeks were moderate drink
ers until they began to copy the lux
ury of the Persian feasts. The Ro-
mans initiated the Greeks. Then the
whole known world went on a mad
drunk. 1t was a saturnalia.
''In the beginning no wrong was
thought of drinking, and the moral
lists even advised drink to dispel
melancholy. Hippocrates upheld
drinking and earnestly advised peo-
pie to drown their sorrows in wine.
When shall we live if not now?'
was the giddy advice of the sober
Seneca
''The Romans carried the science
of alcohology to an extreme never
equaled by any other age. GluttOny
and intemperance reigned and huge
fortunes were spent on single re-
/ pasts.
"Cladius was noted for the rare
wines he served. He usually got
600 guests at his table. Like I'll
beriuS, he died from eating the