ART OF DRINKING.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4587, 18 July 1923, Page 4

ART OF DRINKING.

EIGHT QUARTS OF WINE AT ONE DRAUGHT. We hear a lot sometimes of the large amount of beer, wines, and spirits that New Zealanders consume, but if we were put into c ompetition with the ancients we would never have a hope of winning a prize, as Hhe following account will show:— Not only were the men of the early Roman era wonderful eaters, they were still more wonderful drinkers. It was customary for the Roman youth to proclaim themselves disciples of Gambrinus, a mythical King of Flanders to whom is ascribed the invention of beer. It is not uncommon even now in European countries, especially in Germany and Italy,, to see pictures of the legendary Gambinus seated astride a cask with a foaming tankard- in his hand. There was a time when historians of distinction, such as Pliny» and Marcus Antonius, were glad to perpetuate the fame of the greatest Falstaffs of their age.

The old Pliny in his fourteenth volume of his work on Natural Science had a great deal to say about the vineyards and the wine consumption at the time of the Roman emperors. The ordinary drinking cup of that period was the so-called “congius,” containing over a quart,, but this was the minimum measure, as Pliny mentions other drinking cups with a capacity -of ten or more quarts. Novellius Torquatos, for example, was said to empty one of these gigantic cups at. one draught. Emperor Tiberius was prese.nt at one of these drinking bouts, and Pliny relates that the “drinking artist,” upon whom had been bestowed (the title of “Triconius,” enjpyed the highest respect of his countrymen. Second only to Novellius Torquatos as a capacious drinker was the son of the orator and statesman, Marcus Tullius Cicero. During his student days in Athens the youthful Marcus consumed enormous quantities of the native wines, bull, never achieved the fame of the great Novellius, as the limit of his capacity was eight, quarts at one draught. Still another notorious drinker was Marcus Antonins, who just before the Battle of Actium, . which occurred about 30 8.C., wrote a treatise glorifying the “Art of Drinking.”