[9.] La Motte, Od. la Vanité.
[10.] Od. Thalia.
[CHAP. XXIII.]
AN ANSWER TO THE OBJECTION, THAT ONE CANNOT TRUST A MAN THAT GETS DRUNK.
There is a proverb amongst the Jews. “[1]Ingrediente vino egreditur secretum.” As the wine goes in so the secret goes out. Seneca[2] makes the same objection. “As,” says he, “new wine bursts the vessel, and the heat makes every thing go upwards, so the force of wine is such, that it brings to light, and discovers, what is most secret and hidden.”
In answer to this objection I say, that people who are naturally secret, are not less so after drinking. “[3]And Bacchus was not said to be the inventor of wine, on account of the liberty of his tongue, but because he freed our minds from disquiet, and makes them more firm and resolute in what we undertake.”
Besides, do we not see every day, people of all ranks, conditions, and characters, get drunk, and yet we trust them with secrets, and it very rarely happens they speak of them when they are drunk. Thus, if we consult history, we shall learn from Seneca[4] himself, that the design of killing Cæsar was as well communicated to Tullius Cimber, who was a great drinker, as to C. Cassius, who drank nothing but water. And though L. Piso, governor of Rome, got frequently drunk, he, notwithstanding, excellently acquitted himself of his duty. Augustus made no manner of difficulty to give him secret instructions, bestowing on him the government of Thrace, the conquest of which he entirely completed. Tiberius, before he left Rome, where he was generally hated, in order to retire into the Campania, made choice of Costus, who was extremely given to wine, for governor of that city, to whom he communicated such things as he dared not trust his own ministers with.
[1.] Voyage de Rouvie, p. 497.
[2.] Ep. 83.
[3.] Seneca de Tranquill.
[4.] Seneca, ep. 83.