Chapter XVIII.
How disgraceful and destructive the drunkenness of women is, even to those who witness it! And when one laments this evil, it reveals how beneficial sobriety is and how harmful intemperance is, as exemplified by the Israelites.
But why should we speak about men, when even women, who should exercise greater vigilance in preserving their chastity and sobriety, consume alcohol to the point of drunkenness? Then, when they rise, they dare to go out in public, without veiling their heads and with a bold expression, even though it is not appropriate for them to be heard by others or seen outside the intimate confines of the home. The Apostle (1 Cor. 14:35) commands women to remain silent even in the Church, and at home, he instructs them to question their husbands. Those women, in the streets, shamelessly even lead immodest dances in front of young men, tossing their hair, pulling their tunics, their garments torn, their bare arms exposed, clapping their hands, dancing with their feet, making noisy voices, arousing the lustful desires of the youths with their theatrical movements, their provocative gaze, their shameful mockery. The crowd of young people watches, and a pitiful spectacle is created. Amidst the ruin of the dancers and the falling of the spectators, the sky is polluted by impure gaze, the earth is defiled by indecent movements, which are beaten by obscene dances.
67. How can I speak with patience, pass by with piety, and appropriately lament? Wine has brought us the loss of so many souls. For if wine and women lead us away from God, since either drunkenness or the allure of lustful transgression, if each of these alone accomplishes this, what will they accomplish when united? Therefore, it is not without reason that a certain wise man before us says: A drunken woman, a great anger (Sirach XXVI, 11).
68. But what wonder if the souls of women are deceived by wine, when all those tribes of the fathers, when they drank water from the rock, ate manna, conquered mighty nations, and there was no weak among them: but when they began to desire meat, and they were turned back to Egypt by their desires, they did not deserve to arrive in the promised land except for two out of so many thousands of people? Therefore, what good sobriety is, what evil intemperance is, can be gathered from here: when they murmured seeking the delights of Egypt, they were bitten by serpents: when they crossed the path through the Red Sea, they drank water. So, are we not afraid of setting an example, not avoiding pleasures, lest we deprive ourselves of the attainment of future goods?