EFFECT OF ALCOHOL.
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
SIR,--
A DIALOGUE OF THE CODS.
DIONYSOS, ASKLEPICS.
Dionysos : Why, Asklepios, have you become my enemy ? Your disciples, not long ago, gave wine to the sick, nor did they forbid the healthy to use it. Now they tell all that the god is harmful and they do their best to keep my shrines empty of worshippers.
Asklepios : I, myself, Dionysos, am not your enemy, but your friend, and to me nothing is better than your festivals. It is so with many of my disciples, but, of late, a number of these, professing to be directly inspired by Athena, declare that they have carefully examined the matter and that they can prove wine to be the cause of sickness in the bodies of men and of ruin to their minds and to their fortunes. You cannot but admit, Dionysos, that such evils fall on people w ho worship you overmuch.
Dionysos : In Hellas there is a wise saying that the half is more than the whole, and this is true, Asklepios, both of my worshippers and of your disciples.
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