‘O heavy with wine, who hast the eyes of a dog and the heart of a stag[20],’
[390] and of the words which follow? Would you say that these, or any similar impertinences which private individuals are supposed to address to their rulers, whether in verse or prose, are well or ill spoken?
[20] Ib. i. 225.
They are ill spoken.
They may very possibly afford some amusement, but they do not conduce to temperance. And therefore they are likely to do harm to our young men—you would agree with me there?
Yes.
The praises of eating and drinking, and the tale of the improper behaviour of Zeus and Here, are not to be repeated to the young. And then, again, to make the wisest of men say that nothing in his opinion is more glorious than
[B] ‘When the tables are full of bread and meat, and the cup-bearer carries round wine which he draws from the bowl and pours into the cups[21],’
is it fit or conducive to temperance for a young man to hear such words? Or the verse
‘The saddest of fates is to die and meet destiny from hunger[22]?’