Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-02-10

One time TiberiuS had vacancy LOT
the quaestorship, and there were many
applicants for the job. The man who
got it drank whole pitcher of strong
wine which Tiberius himself had fill
ed. The successful applicant had
neither position nor pull" but Tiber-
ius said the man who could drink that
amount of wine was the man for the
place.
Tiberius was as cranky about eating
as drinking. He gave Sabinus $4,000
for writing a sketch in which an oys-
ter a thrush and a mushroom figured
as characters. Tiberius was 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 or the Scythians
The man who didn't get drunk every
day or two was regarded as queer.
Eat, drink and amuse yourself. All
else is vanity" said Sardanapalus, the
last king Of the Assyrians and those
words were written on his tomb.
The ancients were so found of drink
that their most popular god was Bac-
chus. Their feasts in honor of Bacchus,
Venus and Saturn were characterized
by debauches from which the most ad-
vanced inebriates would shrink in hor-
ror and disgust. The average gour-
mand of Athens or Rome ate and
drank more in single day than we do
in q week.
The antiquity of drunkenness is not
known, but one of the most ancient ac-
counts of jag is that Of Lot, which is
told in the book Of Genesis. The Per-
slams, whose history goes back as far as
any, were famous drunkards in the old
days.
The Greeks were moderate drinkers
until they began to copy the luxury
Of the Persian feasts. The Romans
initiated the Greeks. Then the whole
world went on a mad drunk. 1t was a
saturnalia.
In the beginning no wrong was
thought of drinking, and the moralists
even advised drink to dispel melan-
choly. Hippocrates upheld drinking
and earnestly advised people to drown
their sorrows in wine.
when shall we live If not now?'
was the giddy advice of the sober
Seneca.
The Romans carried er-indulgence
to an extreme never equaled in anoth-
er age. Gluttony and intemperance
reigned and huge fortunes were spent
in single repasts.
Claudius was noted for the rare
wines he served. He often had 600
guests at his table. Like Tiberius, he
died from eating the wrong kind of
mushrooms.
Caligula owes his niche in the hall OF
fame to the drunken banquets with
which he made even Rome marvel
The excesses made fashionable by such
potentates as Lucullus, Nero, Verres
Tiberius, Caligula, Vitellius and Domi-
tian really began in the days of Pom
pey, and they marked the beginning OF
the end of the republic.
At the feasts of these rulers the
amphorae, enormous vases, some with
a capacity of many barrels, were filled
with wine. Even the fountains flowed
oh
youthful servants and handed to the
guests while young girls sang and
danced.
OF the many feasts given by Vitellius
not one cost less than $1,5OO, and his
reign was almost a continuous de-
bauch. Commodus was a notorious
drunkard, and Septimus was not much
better. Severus died of over-indulg-
ence in the flowing bowl.
The Romans borrowed from the
Greeks the custom Of appointing the
master of the feast, whose duty it was
to name the number Of cups of wine
each guest should be allowed to drink
1t was famous sport to see a guest
drink a cup Of wine for every letter in
the name of his mistress.
Then, as now, the high and great
were responsible for the fashions
which the others followed. The no.
bles and even the rich business men
were as prodigal and Incorporate as
the Triumvirs, consuls and emperors.
Petronius Arbiter tells of the rare
wines served at the notorious feasts OF
Trimalcho, the land owner, who was
often a host to the emperor, and whose
professional meat carver, Carpus, was
noted as a lord in his day. At one OF
his dinners a servant appeared bearing
a skeleton of silver, the points of which
were so ingeniously arranged that the
limbs dangled and danced. Trimalcho
exclaimed:
"Of such are we-let us live while
we may"
The expression lived long in Rome.
The murrhine vases possessed by
Nero were the marvel of the age, and
and his wines were the rarest to be
obtained anywhere in the world. His
orgies baffled description.
The Sybarites bestowed public hon
ors on those who gave the most splen-
did banquets, drank the most wine and
got the druukest.-New York Herald