CHAP. 7. (5.)—THE NATURE OF WINES.

It is the property of wine, when drunk, to cause a Feeling of warmth in the interior of the viscera, and, when poured upon the exterior of the body, to be cool and refreshing. It will not be foreign to my purpose on the present occasion to state the advice which Androcydes, a man famous for his wisdom, wrote to Alexander the Great, with the view of putting a check on his intemperance: "When you are about to drink wine, O king!" said he, "remember that you are about to drink the blood of the earth: hemlock is a poison to man, wine a poison[1] to hemlock." And if Alexander had only followed this advice, he certainly would not have had to answer for slaying his friends[2] in his drunken fits. In fact, we may Feel ourselves quite justified in saying that there is nothing more useful than wine for strengthening the body, while, at the same time, there is nothing more pernicious as a luxury, if we are not on our guard against excess.

1. He implies that wine is an antidote to the poisonous effects of hemlock. This is not the case, but it is said by some that vinegar is. It is the plant hemlock (cicuta) that is meant, and not the fatal draught that was drunk by Socrates and Philopœmen. See further in B. xxiii. c. 23, and B. xxv. c. 95.

2. Clitus and Callisthenes.