The inventor of wine is called Liber — not because wine loosens our tongues, but because it frees our minds from worry. Wine liberates us, lifts our spirits, and makes us bolder in whatever we try. But we need moderation in both freedom and wine. People say that Solon and Arcesilaus were heavy drinkers. Critics attack Cato for being drunk too often. But anyone who throws this accusation at Cato will find it easier to turn their insult into praise than to prove Cato actually did anything wrong. Still, we shouldn't drink heavily too often — our minds might pick up bad habits. But sometimes we should force ourselves into playfulness and honesty, and shake off gloomy sobriety for a while.
The inventor of wine is called Liber, not from the licence which he gives to our tongues, but because he liberates the mind from the bondage of cares, and emancipates it, animates it, and renders it more daring in all that it attempts. Yet moderation is wholesome both in freedom and in wine. It is believed that Solon and Arcesilaus used to drink deep. Cato is reproached with drunkenness: but whoever casts this in his teeth will find it easier to turn his reproach into a commendation than to prove that Cato did anything wrong: however, we ought not to do it often, for fear the mind should contract evil habits, though it ought sometimes to be forced into frolic and frankness, and to cast off dull sobriety for a while.