[659] “Cato refreshed his mind with wine when it was wearied with the cares of the commonwealth.”
[660] “Cato has been blamed for drunkenness, but it is easier to find reason to praise, than to blame Cato.”
[661] “Drunkenness will be sometimes considered as honourable, and to drink a great quantity of pure wine as a virtue.”
[662] “When the wine sparkled on the lips of Democritus, it was then that he could not restrain himself from laughter. Another [Heraclius] on the contrary, often drank thy tears, O bottle, in order to dry his own tears. Diogenes lived in a barrel so that he might always smell the odour of divine wine. It is said that Empedocles, when he jumped down burning Etna, had first warmed himself with no small quantity of wine. They also say that thou, O Epicurus, didst prefer even the smallest drops of old wine to thine atoms. In imitation of these examples, I do not hesitate in drinking, for he who tastes drinks, consequently he that drinks is wise.” It is almost impossible to translate this last line, on account of the pun contained in the verb sapere, which at the same time means “to taste” and “to be wise.” The second line is evidently imperfect.
[663] Harl. MSS., 6200, p. 68.
[664] This alludes to the well-known plot of a bandbox sent to the Lord Treasurer, containing a very poor infernal machine, made of inkhorns. The affair, however, has never been satisfactorily cleared up. Swift is called a rogue by the indignant Partridge, because he had made a droll ballad and epitaph upon the “Supposed death of Partridge, the Almanac-maker,” which Swift had predicted and Partridge publicly denied.
[665] See [Appendix].