Chapter XVI.
Drunken dogs are like the persecutors of the Lord, in fact even more miserable than the demons themselves: they are depicted in their own colors: upon whom the holy Doctor declares the words of Jeremiah to fall.
58. Finally, Cain, exiting from the sight of God, dwelt in the land of Nod, which in interpretation means disturbance. Therefore, whoever is intoxicated with the golden cup is moved by sin. Why do you place yourself under the curse of Cain, the murderer, so that you may tremble and be moved? But even the persecutors of the Lord were stirred as they passed by. For the evil spirit, accustomed to filling bodies and moving them, would agitate them. And when that spirit is absent, the trembling ceases; but drunkenness continually causes trembling. The bodies of the intoxicated sweat wine: if you touch them lightly, you squeeze out the wine.
Drunkenness is the fuel of desire, drunkenness is the incentive of madness, drunkenness is the poison of folly. This frenzy changes the minds and forms of men, turning them into neighing horses. For when the natural heat of the body is inflamed by the unnatural heat of wine, they are unable to restrain themselves and are aroused to bestial desires, so that they have no defined time in which it is suitable to indulge in sexual intercourse. They lose their voice, their color changes, their eyes blaze, they breathe heavily, they snort, they grow furious, they surpass reason. Hence dangerous madness, hence severe punishment of stones, hence deadly rawness, hence frequent vomiting of half-digested feasts mixed with the blood of the internal organs pouring forth. I lie, unless the same Lord spoke through Jeremiah saying: Drink and be drunk, and vomit, and fall, and do not rise (Jer. XXV, 27).
Also from here come empty images, uncertain visions, unstable steps, they often jump over shadows like ditches. The ground appears to sway with these things, suddenly seeming to rise and lean, and as if it were turning, they rush in fear on their faces, and grasp only with their hands, or they seem to be enclosed by approaching mountains. The murmuring in their ears is like the roar of a fluctuating sea, and the shore echoes with the waves. If they see dogs, they think they are lions and flee. Some are dissolved in uncontrolled laughter, others deplore with inconsolable grief, others see irrational terrors. The awake dream, the sleeping quarrel. Life is a dream to them, death is sleep to them: they cannot be awakened by any voices; however much you may think of arousing them with an impulse, unless they come to their senses, they cannot be awakened.
61. Therefore, Jeremiah considers a man like this as a superfluous creature, to be mourned. For what is a drunken man but a superfluous creature? Thus he says: Like Jazer, I will weep for you, O vineyard; because the city of Jazer is deserted (Jer. 48:32). And further: They have not trodden wine in your winepresses, neither have they made wine in the daytime (Ibid. 48:33). Jazer is a superfluous work, it is a superfluous creation. For moderation is natural: anything that exceeds the measure is considered superfluous, and so is drunkenness, which is lamented with prophetic weeping. Where the Apostle says: 'Do not be drunk with wine, in which there is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit' (Ephesians 5:18). Therefore, there is drunkenness of sin, and there is also drunkenness of grace. And perhaps it is the nature of the grace that we, who are made in the image and likeness of God, should be filled with the Holy Spirit.