Plutarch, de Garrulitate 4:
‘And he hurled forth a word which was better left unsaid.’(Odyssey 14.464)
“Perhaps the poet said this to resolve the question posed by the philosophers when he spoke of the difference between inebriation and drunkenness; noting the relaxation of inebriation and the stupidity of drunkenness. For that which is in the heart of the sober man is on the tip of the drunkard’s tongue, as the proverb has it. But the philosophers and those who define such things say that drunkenness is a kind of wine-inspired silliness. Thus, drinking is not at fault if it is coupled with silence, but idiotic talk turns ‘inebriation’ into ‘drunkenness’.”
Plutarchus de garrulitate 4: „καί τι ἔπος προέηκεν ὅπερ τ’ ἄρρητον ἄμεινον” (Od. ξ, 464—466) … καὶ μήποτε τὸ ζητούμενον παρὰ τοῖς φιλοσόφοις λύων ὁ ποιητὴς οἰνώσεως καὶ μέθης διαφορὰν εἴρηκεν, οἰνώσεως μὲν ἄνεσιν, μέθης δὲ φλυαρίαν. τὸ γὰρ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ τοῦ νήφοντος ἐπὶ τῆς γλώττης ἐστὶ τοῦ μεθύοντος, ὡς οἱ παροιμιαζόμενοί φασιν … οἱ δὲ φιλόσοφοι καὶ ὁριζόμενοι τὴν μέθην λέγουσιν εἶναι λήρησιν πάροινον. οὕτως οὐ ψέγεται τὸ πίνειν, εἰ προσείη τῷ πίνειν τὸ σιωπᾶν, ἀλλ’ ἡ μωρολογία μέθην ποιεῖ τὴν οἴνωσιν. ὁ μὲν οὖν μεθύων ληρεῖ παρ’ οἶνον …
