Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/287

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. 26S the body, and violent emotions of the mind, restored him CHAP, to a more lively sense of his existence. In the dull in- ^^' tervals of peace, these barbarians were immoderately addicted to deep gaming and excessive drinking ; both of which, by different means, the one by inflaming their passions, the other by extinguishing their reason, alike relieved them from the pain of thinking. They gloried in passing whole days and nights at table ; and the blood of friends and relations often stained their numerous and drunken assemblies ^, Their debts of honour (for in that light they have transmitted to us those of play) they discharged with the most romantic fidelity. The desperate gamester, who had staked his person and liberty on a last throw of the dice, patiently submitted to the decision of fortune, and suffered himself to be bound, chastised, and sold into remote slavery, by his weaker but more lucky antagonist '. Strong beer, a liquor extracted with very little art Their taste from wheat or barley, and corrupted (as it is strongly [P"^ ^^^°°° expressed by Tacitus) into a certain semblance of wine, was sufficient for the gross purposes of German de- bauchery. But those who had tasted the rich wines of Italy, and afterwards of Gaul, sighed for that more delicious species of intoxication. They attempted not, however, (as has since been executed with so much success,) to naturalize the vine on the banks of the Rhine and Danube ; nor did they endeavour to pro- cure by industry the materials of an advantageous commerce. To sohcit by labour what might be ra- vished by arms, was esteemed unworthy of the Ger- man spirit^. The intemperate thirst of strong liquors often urged the barbarians to invade the provinces on which art or nature had bestowed those much envied presents. The Tuscan who betrayed his country to the Celtic nations, attracted them into Italy by the prospect of the rich fruits and delicious wines, the h Tacit. Germ. 22, 23. ' Ibid. 24. The Germans might borrow the arts of play from the Ro- mans ; but the passion is wonderfully inherent in the human species. " Tacit. Germ. 14.