Sol 5.6

  1. That I should chide my drinking-companion when he grew tipsy was forbidden me—

    when he spoke ugly words to me under the sway of drink—

  2. by my dignity, and by my knowledge of wine and its people.

    No one companions noble men like a man of discernment.

  3. Thus I am not one to blame a companion of mine for a slip,

    nor for a blunder committed while we are over the wine.

  4. I let the words of my intimate, my friend, chafe against my side,

    while we drank tawny wine, fragrant on the air.

  5. When he went on and on, I said, “Take it—of ancient stock;

    for you spring from a tribe of radiant, mighty lords.”

  6. I went on pouring for him and drinking, just as

    I poured for my brother, until the white of dawn appeared.

  7. But he had a tongue that, whenever he was sober,

    he wielded through every mode of poetry.

Sol 5.6