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Show THE STC)RYQP ALCOHOL" Mow It lias Spread Through the World 1 low It Has Been Conquered v ..... . . . . 1 , ... '- ......'.'.. . -v.' ' . " ' - J ' . v ' 1 ' ' - " ' ' ' ' ' S v" M K - . . lit .J Vv. : . tlM - ; r I v . ,. .... , -...,) , ,-- r .-. ;.'.-..-.-.-, . ' .,( . ' " - ' ! ' 1 v ,-.'.'..'1 , ' . . ' " . i-.t I l- -i - . ; . - : ' i . i V, 1 ) .. ' , ' ,; . ,; , ;, ... .-. v; I . : 1 S . - 1 L ! ' - . t ' ' . -,! . i k ........ . . ......... ,. f j Xo. Id- GD I US IS HO 31 E. German historians have boon fond of contrasting the rutin ylrtucs of tho tribesmen w ho overwhelmed Homo with the drunkenness and debauchery of the empire. The legend Una grown up that these unlettered barbarians who camo out of tho northern forests were a sturdy and sober race, who found it e&sy to trample upon the enervated en-ervated and luxury-loving citizens of Rome. But this is an exasperated picture. The Germans were not no refined in their pleasures as the Romans; they were sturdier and better fighters because be-cause they lived more in the open and did not hire other people to flj;bt for them. They were, however, almost as much given to alcohol as tho more j clYilued people whom they conquered. Tho Goths proved prccdy drinkers of the delicate and rich wines ih;:t they found in Italy. Tb'-ir first thought upon Hcizim; u i!la w;i;i of tho v;nc cellar, and they apparently act' d much ns their d-sct.n:Iar.t wen- later to art in rjideiuin and northern rrancc in the p real ar. In their northern forests they brewed brew-ed brer from wheat or barley, a b"er that was ei'ii:ly much more intoxicating intox-icating that the be- r of today, for it was a:; pu-.ei-;'ul an imnxicaiu as the Koman wine;. Winn they went to war tlicy were hardy fighters, ah!e n go without rich foods and hi ady liquors ar. lnn as th'-ir rnmit s w i jtl tho field. P.ut in iheir rude .-.etiie-mentj. durini: iiKervais of peace ti-.v envo hemselvos unreservedly to ha d drinkiaC. The women d:d not par'ieipa'e in tiieso orgies, so that they were free from the v,'or:-rt aspects of the Roman decadence. The men, however, drank and trembled excessively, spending v hole days and nit: his at the table, as Gibbon observes. As the participants partici-pants wero all men. they quarreled much more than the Romans did at th'r fi rsts, and their revels often end-id end-id in i he murder of friends and relatives rela-tives who had inilamed the anger of d:1i:i!:''p. feastcrs. When Alario kd h;s victorious host of (;otlis i urolith Italy, the barbarians c.ivc UieiMselvcs eagerly to drunken-m drunken-m .-s. Th y found the 'wines of the MiiiHi pitasTTtcT to drink than the r.lron beer of the north, and they in-dultu-d freely. -Their tremLdrrg captives," cap-tives," says Gibbons, "the so..? and d;umr.urs of Roman senators, pre-s pre-s ill; d, in nhlrts (-f edd arid gem?. large draughts of Falernian wine to the haughty victors; who stretched their huge limbs under the shade of plane- j trees, artificially disposed to exclude : the scorching rays, and to admit the genial warmth, of the sun." It is such a scene that is recalled-by the painting paint-ing reproduced above. Some historians have attributed the love of the ancient Germans for strong drink to the 'cold, damp climate of their northern land. Whatever may have been the cause, it is certain that they did not acquire their t?.ste for alcohol al-cohol from the Romans. They liked the Italian and Greek wines that they found in the south so much so that they were as eager drinkers of them as the Romans, but they knew Just as much at Jut getting intoxicated before they venture' out of their forests to the sunny plains |