John Trapp on Isaiah 5:21-22

Ver. 21. Woe unto them that are wiſe in their own eyes] wiſer then Daniel (as the proud Prince of Tyre thought himſelf, Ezek. 28.3.) or than any Prophet of them all. This ſelf conceitedneſs is [non-Latin text not transcribed], ſaid that Heathen, the hinderance of all true Proficiency, and a miſchievous marre-good: here is a Woe hanged at the heels of it. And left any ſhould hold that to be a ſmall matter, let them conſider what befell Meroz after that bitter curſe pronounced againſt it, Judg. 5.23. the very name and memorial of it is utterly extinct and blotted out: as alſo what befell the barren Fig-tree, when once curſed by Chriſt, it withered away ſuddenly, Mat. 21.19, 20. both root and branch; though naturally the Fig-tree is the moſt juyceful of any tree, and beareth the brunt of winter-blaſts.

Scuke.Ver. 22. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine] Iteratò taxat hoc vitium, eò quod invaluerat. The Prophet inveigheth againſt this vice a ſecond time, becauſe it was grown ſo common. Drunkards alſo are a ſottiſh kind of creatures, and had therefore more then need to be double dealt with; like as Phyſicians uſe to give double quantities, to ſuch as have Palſies or Epilepſies; ſo to awaken their dull drowſy ſenſes. Many of theſe ſots take it for a great glory, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Athen. Vopiſc. in Bonoſo. that they are mighty to drink wine; as did Darius King of Perſia who cauſed it to be written upon his tomb, I was a great hunter, I could alſo drink much wine, and bear it bravely. This was (as one well ſaith) to glory in his ſhame: it being rather the commendation of a tun then of a man (for a beaſt will ſcarce abide it) to be able to take in and contain much liquour. When Bonoſus the drunken Roman had hangd himſelf, it went for a byword Amphoram pendere non hominem, that a tun or tankard hung there, and not a man. And when one was commended to King Alphonſus for a great drinker and able to bear it, he anſwered that that was a good praiſe in a ſponge,Gentiles ipſi riſere tales athletas. but not in a Prince. This, if Alexander the Great, and Tiberius the Emperour (thoſe great drinkers and incouragers of others to that vice) had well remembred, they would not have been ſo infamous as they are and will be to all poſterity.

Ariſtoph. in Ranis. Civilis eſt irriſio non carens ſale. Oecolamp. And men of ſtrength] or valour: but to do what? [non-Latin text not transcribed] as the Comedian hath it, to drink and do worſe onely: a goodly prize ſurely, a fair commendation; fortes eſſe & ſtrenuos non contra hoſtes, ſed ad exhauriendos calices; gigantes eſſe non ad bellandum, ſed ad potandum, to be carpet-knights, not of Mars but of Bacchus, and fitter for a canopy then a camp.

To mingle] Or, to pour in, whether into their own wide gullets, or into the cup to make others drunk: for preventing whereof Minos King of Creet, made a Law that men ſhould not drink one to another [non-Latin text not transcribed] to drunkenneſs; So did Lycurgus at Lacedemon. And our King Edgar made an Ordinance for putting pins in cups that none ſhould quaffe whole ones, or cauſe others to do ſo.