The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1911-02-16
SOBRIETY A MODERN VIRTUE.
Some of the Ancients were Past Mas
tiers in the Art of Getting Soused-


The world is nearer real temper
ance to-day than at any time in it's
history
Teetotalers may not believe this,
but if they read the following they
will realize that the world at least
is forgetting how to get really good
and drunk" There are few per-
sons who have gained regulations
for the amount of food and drink
they habitually consume, but only
q few. In comparison with pre-
vious generations, this is most ao-
stemious age. The men of go or 70
years ago were great drinkers, but
for pointers on how to get drunk and
spend money it is necessary to turn
to the ancients.
Caesar, on certain OCCASION, while
drunk on wine, is said to have given
Eutychus, his charioteer, tip
amounting to $4,000, the largest
money tip on record. The most reck-
less of our modern millionaires
thinks he's making an awful splash
when he tips his chauffeur twenty
dollar note. t....
One of the Caesars fed his charger
on wine and barley in golden vase.
One of his dinners cost half million
dollars. His supper bill for four
months was s20,O0O,000.
Philip of Macedon, was drunkard.
He always left the banquet table
staggering. Alexander the Great, his
son, inherited the weakness for
drink. 1t took him two days and two
nights to sleep off a royal jag. He
died of drink at the age of 80.
Dionysius, the younger, tyrant of
Sicily, went on sprees which lasted
three months at time. He lost
his eyesight through overindulgence.
Nero was in the habit of sitting
down at noon and sticking there un-
til midnight, eating and drinking all
the time.
Tiberius was a sincere drunkard.
After becoming emperor of Rome he
was drunk so often that his army
nicknamed him "Biberius," meaning
'tippler." He had two pals, Flaccus
and Piso, with whom he went on
sprees. At the weeping stage they
deplored the prevalence of durnken-
ness.
One time Tiberius had vacancy
for the quaestorship, and there were
many applicants for the job. The
man who got it drank whole pitcher
of strong wine which Tiberius him
self had filled. The successful ap-
plicant had no pull" but Tiberius
said 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 sketch in which
an oyster, a thrush and mushroom
figured as characters. Tiberius Xas
very fond of mushrooms and died
from eating the wrong kind.
Nowhere in all the world to-day
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 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 in honor of
Bacchus, Venus and Saturn were
characterized by debauches from
which the most advanced inebriates
would shrink in horror and disgust
The average gourmand of Athens or
Rome ate and drank more in a day
then we do in week.
The antiquity of drunkenness is
not known, but one of the most an
cient accounts of q jag is that Of
Lot, which is told in the book of
Genesis. The Persians, whose his
tory goes back as far as any, were
famous drunkards in the old days.
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 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 advised pooD1o fo 5roup