Drinkers destroy their own senses and bodies

But in devising to have an unfillable appetite for drinking, they suffer the opposite of what they intend. For by the constant indulgence they deaden their senses. Just as excessive brightness dulls the eyes, and just as those struck by great noises are brought by the excess of the blow to the point of hearing nothing at all, so these people have escaped their own notice, having lost the pleasure itself through their excessive love of pleasure. For the wine is to them without quality and watery, even if it is unmixed; and the perception of the fresh drink is faint, even if it is the purest, even if it is snow itself, unable to quench the flame burning within them from the excess of wine. Woe to whom? Tumult to whom? Judgments to whom? Unpleasantnesses and idle talk to whom? Bruises for no reason to whom? Whose eyes are livid? Is it not those who linger over wine, and who spy out where drinking parties happen? The woe is a mournful cry. And drunkards are worthy of mourning, because drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 6:10). Tumult, because of the disturbance that comes upon their reasoning from wine. And unpleasantnesses, because of the bitter after-effects of the pleasure of drinking. For their feet are bound, and their hands are bound, by the rheums sent upon them from drunkenness. And indeed, even before these sufferings, at the very time of drinking, the afflictions of the frenzied fall upon them. For when the membranes become full of the soot that the wine sends up as it evaporates, the head is struck with unbearable pains; and unable to stay upright on the shoulders, it falls now one way, now another, slipping along the vertebrae. By idle talk he means the immoderate and quarrelsome conversation at drinking parties. And bruises for no reason happen to the wine-bibbers, who cannot stand upright because of drunkenness. For they are overturned into every kind of falling posture, so that they necessarily have bruises for no reason upon their body. But who will say these things to the wine-stricken? For they are heavy-headed from the hangover; they doze, they yawn, they see dimly, they are nauseated. Therefore they do not hear the teachers shouting at them from many directions: Do not get drunk with wine, in which is debauchery (Ephesians 5:18); and again: Wine is unrestrained, and drunkenness is insolent (Proverbs 20:1). Ignoring these things, they have from the very source the fruits of drunkenness. For the bulk swells, the eyes are watery, the mouth is dry and burning. For just as ravines, as long as the torrents flow into them, seem to be full, but when the flood has passed they are left dry, so also the mouth of the wine-bibbers, while the wine is pooling, is somehow full and moist, but when it has run off a little, it is exposed as dry and parched. And being constantly swept along and flooded by the excess of wine, it also loses its vital moisture. For what human constitution is so strong as to withstand the evils from drunkenness? For what device can prevent a body that is always heated and always soaked with wine from becoming washed out, faded, and dissolved? From this come the tremblings and the weaknesses; for when their breath is cut short by the excess of wine, and the nerves are loosened from their tension, the shaking comes upon the whole bulk of the body.