Living, Literature, and the Fabled Grape:
      Imbibing Through the Ages in Literature (Part I)

             by Gospodin Petr Alexandr Donovich

    Copyright 1996 by Joey Bishop. All rights reserved.


The formula is quite simple--lifestyle affects culture, and
drink affects lifestyle. The student of zymurgy may find it
interesting to reflect on how a culture viewed the use of
alcoholic beverages --or at least how the views of the times
were echoed in the works of the contemporary authors. Below
is a list of quotations taken from writers who lived before
the end of the Middle Ages (let's date this 1620 A.D.). Many
of the pre-medieval writers were known to medieval
audiences--especially the Greek and Roman poets. Certain
trends in attitude are remarkable, and remarkably evident.
The Bible, for instance, is very tolerant of strong drink
(Jesus of Nazareth's first recorded miracle was to turn
water into wine at the marriage feast in Caanan). The Greek
and Roman authors had some wry, and wise, observations
about the use of wine. Shakespeare, on the other hand,
places wine and beer in a negative light almost every time.
The first glimmer of the coming Puritain mindset, perhaps?

I. The Holy Bible.

--1)Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy
stomach's sake. Colossians.

--2)Forsake not an old friend, for the new is not
comparable to him; a new friend is like a new wine, when it
is old thou shalt drink it with pleasure. The Wisdom of
Jesus of Sirach 9:10 (Apocrypha).

--3)Thou hast showed thy people hard things; thou hast made
us to drink the wine of astonishment. Psalm 60:3.

--4)Wine that maketh glad the heart of man. Psalm 104:15.

--5)Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and
wine unto those that be of heavy hearts; let him drink and
forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
Proverbs 31:6-7.

--6)Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it
giveth his color to the cup, when it moveth itself aright:
at the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an
adder. Proverbs 23:31-32.

--7)Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a rager. Proverbs
20:1.

--8)A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry,
but money answers all things. Ecclesiastis 10:19.

--9)Like the best wine...that goeth down sweetly, causing
the lips of those who are asleep to speak--How much better
is thy love than wine! Song of Solomon 4:10.

--10)Neither do men put new wine in old bottles. Matthew
9:17.

II. Ancient Period.

--1)As I long for your love; my heart stands still inside
me; sweet pomegranite wine in my mouth is bitter as the gall
of birds. A Love Song of the Egyptian New Kingdom. 1080 B.C.

--2)She [Helen of Troy] threw into the wine which they were
drinking a drug which takes away grief and passion and
brings forgetfulness to all ills. Homer, The Odyssey, Book
IV, line 220 (700 B.C.).

--3)The wine urges me on, the bewitching wine which sets
even a wise man to singing and laughing gently and rouses
him to dance and brings forth words which were better
unspoken. Homer, The Odyssey, Book XIV, line 463.

--4)Wine, dear boy, and truth! Alcaeus, 625-575 B.C.

--5)Wine is a peephole on a man. Alcaeus.

--6)Bring water! Bring wine, boy! Bring flowering garlands
to me! Yes, bring them so that I may try a bout with love.
Anacreon, 570-480 B.C.

--7)It is better to hide ignorance, but it is hard to do
this when we relax with wine. Heraclitus, 540-480 B.C.

--8)There is no other medicine for misery than wine.
Euripides, The Bacchae, line 274. 407 B.C.

--9)When men drink, then they are rich and successful and
win lawsuits and are happy and help their friends.
Aristophanes, 450-385 B.C.

--10)You are walking by the tomb of Callimachus, who knew
well how to write poetry, and enjoy laughter at the right
moment, over the wine. Callimachus, 300-240 B.C.

III. Roman Period.

--1)In wine there is truth. Traditional, quoted by Pliny
the Elder.

--2)It was a wine jar when the molding began; as the
potter's wheel runs round why does it turn out a water
pitcher? Horace, Epistles, Book 2, line 21. 65-8 B.C.

--3)You need not hang up the ivy branch over the wine that
will sell. Publilius Syrus, 1st century B.C. (after the
Roman custom of hanging an ivy branch over the door of an
open pub).

IV. Medieval Period.

--1)I intend to die in a tavern; let the wine be placed
near my dying mouth, so that when the choirs of angels come,
they may say "God be merciful to this drinker!" Walter Map,
De Nugis Curialium. 1140-1210 A.D.

--2)Well he loved garlic, and onions, and leeks, and to
drink strong wine, red as blood. Chaucer, The Canterbury
Tales, Prologue line 634.

--3)Alonso of Aragon was wont to say in commendation of
age, that age appears to be best in four things: old wood
best to burn; old wine to drink; old friends to trust; and
old authors to read. Francis Bacon, Apothegms. 1624 A.D.

--4)One should write not unskillfully in the cunning hand,
be able to sing in a pleasing voice and keep good time to
music, and lastly a man should not refuse a little wine
when it is pressed upon him. Yoshida Kenko, Essays in
Idleness. Japan, 1340 A.D.

V. Shakespeare.

A. Othello.

--1)O thou invisible spirit of wine! If thou hast no name
to be known by, let us call you Devil! Act II, Scene III,
line 285.

--2)Good wine is a good familiar creature if it is well
used. Act II, Scene III, line 315.

--3)To suckle fools and chronicle small beer. Act II, Scene
I, line 160.

B. Henry IV.

--1)I will make it a felony to drink small beer. Part 2,
Act IV, Scene II, line 75.

--2)Doth it not show vilely in me to desire small beer?
Part 2, Act II, Scene II, line 7.

C. The Tragedy of the Trill.

--1)That questionable superfluity--small beer!

D. MacBeth.

--1)The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees is left
this vault to brag of. Act II, Scene III, line 98.

E. Coriolanus.

--1)A cup of hot wine, with not a drop of allaying Tiber in
it. Act II, Scene I, line 52.


Next Issue: Part II--Slavic, Scandanavian, and Celtic
quotations.