The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-06

From the Chicago Inter Ocean.
 THE world is nearer real temperance
 today than at any time in its his
 \ tory. 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 ana drunk" There are a few persons who have gained regulations for the amount or food and drink they habitually consume but only a few in comparison with pre- vious generations, this is most absteml- ous 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 ancient, ses.r
 Caesar, on a certain occasion, while drunk on wine, is said to have given Eut- chyus. his charioteer, tip amounting 10 SSC, 900. the largest money tip on record The most reckless of our modern million aires thinks he's making an awful splash when he tips his chauffeur SEQ note. One Of the Caesars fed his charger on wine and barley in a golden vase One or his dinners cost s5o0,O0o. His supper bill for four months was $2O,0Oo,COo.
 Philip of Macedon was drunkard. lie always left the banquet table staggering Alexander the Great, his son, inherited the weakness for drink. It took him two days and two nights to sleep off a royal jag. He died of drink at the age of 92.
 Dionysius the Younger, tyrant of Sic ily, went on sprees which lasted three months at time. He lost his eyesight | .l,,o,,oI, ovar-ipdr1pance
 Nero was in the habit of sitting down at noon and sticking there until 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 i he went on sprees. At the weeping stage they deplored the prevalence of drunken ness
 One time Tiberius had vacancy for the ouaestorship, and there were many ap- plicants for the job. The man who got it drank a whole pitcher of strong wine which Tiberius himself had filled. The suc- cessful applicant had neither position nor pull" but Tiberius 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 sSOo0 for writ ing a sketch in which an oyster, 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 Iber- ians the Celts or the Scythians. The man who didn't get drunk every day or 1 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 fond of drink that their most popular god was Bacchus. l Their feasts in honor of Bacchus, Venus and Saturn were characterized by de- | bauches from which the most advanced inebriates would shrink in horror and dis gust. The average gourmand of Athens | or Rome ate and drank more in single day than we do in a week.
 l The antiquity of drunkenness is not | known, but one of the most ancient ac- counts of a jag is that of Lot, which is told in the Book of Genesis. The Per sians whose history goes back as far as any, were famous drunkards in the old days.
 1 The Greeks were moderate drinkers un- | til they began to copy the luxury of the l Persian feasts The Romans initiated the l Greeks. Then the whole world went or , a mad drunk. It was a saturnalia. | In the beginning no wrong was thousn' 1 of drinking, and the moralists even ad-
 vised drink to dspel melancholy Hippo crates upheld drinking and earnestly ad-
 vised people to drown their sorrows in wine.
 'When shall be live if not now?' was
 the giddy advice of the sober Seneca.
 The Romans carried over-ndulgence tt an extreme never equaled in another age l Gluttony and intemperance reigned and
 huge fortunes were spent in single re- pasts.