--- title: "On Drunkenness" author: "Philo of Alexandria" translator: "C. D. Yonge" languages: [en] shelf: "Second Temple" section: 2 of 18 url: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg011-yonge-ogl/2/ cite: "Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge, On Drunkenness, section 2. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg011-yonge-ogl/2/" --- # On Drunkenness *Philo of Alexandria, tr. C. D. Yonge* ## 2. Section 13 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg011-yonge-ogl/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/philo-tlg011-yonge-ogl/2/#p-N [¶0] Thus, at all events, the lawgiver is very indignant with all uninstructed and unmanageable persons, more than he is with any other description of people whatever. And a proof of this is this: who are they who are united in alliance not so much by study as by nature, whether among men or among the other kinds of animals? No one; not even a madman would say that any beings were so closely united as parents and children; for even by the mere untaught instinct of nature the parent always cares for his offspring, and in every case endeavours to provide for its safety and durability. ### Section 14 [¶2] Those, then, who are the natural protectors of others, Moses represents as having crossed over to the ranks of enemies, making those accusers who would naturally have been advocates, I mean the father and mother, in order that the children may be destroyed by those by whom above all others it was natural they should be saved; "For if," says he, "any man’s son be disobedient, or contentious, not obeying the voice of his father and of his mother, and if they reprove him and he does not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take him, and shall bring him before the elders of the city, and shall bring him to the gate of that place, and shall say to the men of their city, This our son is disobedient and contentious, and does not obey our voice, but spends his time in revelling and drunkenness. And the men of that city shall stone him, and you shall destroy that wicked one from among you." Deuteronomy xxi. 18. ### Section 15 [¶4] Therefore, here the accusations are four in number—disobedience, and contentiousness, and love of revelling, and drunkenness; and the last of these is the greatest, deriving its growth from Deuteronomy xxi. 18. the first, namely, from disobedience; for when the soul begins to be restive it advances onward through contention and quarrelsomeness, and arrives at last at the furthest boundary, drunkenness, the cause of alienation of mind and folly. But it is requisite to see the force of each of all these accusations, beginning with the first in order. ### Section 16 [¶6] It is then confessed by all most undeniably, that it is both honourable and advantageous to yield and to become obedient to virtue, so that on the other hand to be disobedient to it must be disgraceful and in no moderate degree disadvantageous. And to be contentious and obstinate is a quality which comprehends every extravagance of evil; for the man who is disobedient is less wicked than he who is contentious, since the one only disregards what he is commanded to do, but the other also exerts himself to do the contrary. ### Section 17 [¶8] Come, now, let us investigate the true nature of these things. Since the law commands, for instance, that men should honour their parents, he who does not honour them is disobedient; but he who dishonours them is contentious. And again, since it is a righteous action to preserve one’s country, we must call the man who admits of hesitation in the pursuit of the object disobedient, but the man who is prepared moreover to betray it we must pronounce perverse and contentious. ### Section 18 [¶10] Again, he who, when requested to requite a favour, contradicts the man who says that he ought to consider himself a debtor, is disobedient; but he who, in addition to making no return, is so carried away by contentiousness that he endeavours to do the person what harm he can, commits unredeemable wickedness. And further, he who never approaches, nor practises sacrifices, or any of the other observances required by piety, disobeys the commandments which the law usually ordains in such matters; but he who resists and turns aside to the opposite disposition, impiety, is a wicked man and a minister of impiety. ### Section 19 [¶12] Such a man as this was he who said, "Who is there whom I am to obey?" and again, "I do not know the Lord." Exodus v. 2. For by his first expression he states that there is no such thing as a Deity; and by the second question he means, that even if there is such a being, still he will not Exodus v. 2. recognize him, which arises from a deficiency in his providence; for if he were possessed of providence he would be recognized. ### Section 20 [¶14] Now to bring contributions and supplies in aid of an entertainment with a view to a participation in that best of all possessions, prudence, is praiseworthy and advantageous. But to do so with a view to the worst of all objects, folly, is disadvantageous and blameable; ### Section 21 [¶16] therefore, the contributions for the most excellent object are the desire of virtue, the imitation of good men, continued care, laborious practise, incessant and unwearied labours; the contributions for the opposite object are relaxation, indifference, luxury, effeminacy, and a complete desertion of what is right. ### Section 22 [¶18] And we may see those who every day descend into the arena to contend in drinking much wine, and practising this quality every day, and striving to gain the victory in greediness and voracity, bringing their contributions as though they had some desirable object in view, and injuring themselves in every thing, in their property, and their bodies, and their souls; for by contributing their property they diminish their substance; and they break down and enervate the powers of their bodies by their luxurious way of life, and as for their souls, inundating them with immoderate food like a swollen torrent, they compel that to sink down to the lowest depth. ### Section 23 [¶20] For the same manner all those, who bring contributions for the destruction of learning, injure the most important thing in them, namely, their mind, cutting off every thing that might save it—prudence, and temperance, and courage, and justice; on which account he seems to me himself to use a compound word, συμβολοϰοπω̃ν, for the more manifest manifestation of his meaning, because they who bring forward attempts at virtue as their offering and contribution, wound and lacerate, and cut to pieces, obedient and learning-loving souls to the extent of their utter destruction. ### Section 24 [¶22] Therefore the wise Abraham is said to have returned again from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings who were with him. Genesis xiv. 17. And on the other hand, Amalek is said to have cut to pieces the rear of the company of the meditator of virtue, Deuteronomy xxv. 18. in strict accordance with the truth of nature; for what is contrary to one is also hostile to the other, Genesis xiv. 17. Deuteronomy xxv. 18. and such things are always meditating the destruction of one another. ### Section 25 [¶24] But one may especially blame a man who contributes offerings on this account, because such an one has not only determined to do wrong, but also to co-operate with others in doing wrong, thinking fit in some things to be the leader himself, and in others to follow the leadership of others; so that, erring both by nature and through what he has learnt, he leaves himself no good hope of safety, and this, too, though the law has expressly said that one must "not follow a multitude to do evil;" Exodus xxiii. 2.