stir;
Booms the belly, wind ariseth,
Which, enclosed and pent, surpriseth
With a thousand sighs the ear.

"When the stomach's so inflated,
Blasts are then ejaculated
From both draughts with divers sound;
And that organ thus affected,
All the air is soon infected
By the poison breathed around."

Water thus wine's home-thrust warded:
"All thy life is foul and sordid,
Sunk in misery, steeped in vice;
Those who drink thee lose their morals,
Waste their time in sloth and quarrels,
Rolling down sin's precipice.

"Thou dost teach man's tongue to stutter;
He goes reeling in the gutter
Who hath deigned to kiss thy lips;
Hears men speak without discerning,
Sees a hundred tapers burning
When there are but two poor dips.

"He who feels for thee soul's hunger
Is a murderer or whoremonger,
Davus Geta Birria;
Such are they whom thou dost nourish;
With thy fame and name they flourish
In the tavern's disarray.

"Thou by reason of thy badness
Art confined in prison sadness,
Cramped and small thy dwellings are:
I am great the whole world over,
Spread myself abroad and cover
Every part of earth afar.

"Drink I yield to palates burning;
They who for soul's health are yearning,
Need the aid that I have given;
Since all pilgrims, at their praying,
Far or near, I am conveying
To the palaces of heaven."

Wine replied: "What thou hast vaunted
Proves thee full of fraud; for granted
That thou earnest ships o'er sea,
Yet thou then dost swell and riot;
Till they wreck thou hast no quiet;
Thus they are deceived through thee.

"He whose strength is insufficient
Thee to slake with heat efficient,
Sunk in mortal peril lies:
Trusting thee the poor wretch waneth,
And through thee at length attaineth
To the joys of Paradise.

"I'm a god, as that true poet
Naso testifies; men owe it
Unto me that they are sage;
When they do not drink, professors
Lose their wits and lack assessors
Round about the lecture-stage.

"'Tis impossible to sever
Truth from falsehood if you never
Learn to drink my juices neat.
Thanks to me, dumb speak, deaf listen,
Blind folk see, the senses glisten,
And the lame man finds his feet.

"Eld through me to y