Two years after that the King of
Ts'u was described as being at his wine, and therefore in the
proper frame of mind to listen to representations.
In 541 the Ts'u envoy was entertained at a _punch d'honneur_
by the Tsin statesmen, one of whom seized the occasion to chant
one of the Odes warning people against drunkenness. It is well
known that Confucius enjoyed his dram; indeed, it is said of him:
"As to wine, he had no measure, but he did not fuddle himself." In
the year 506 the ruler of Ts'in is described as being a heavy
drinker. In 489 a Ts'i councillor is described as being drunk. A
few years later the ruler of Ts'i and his wife are seen drinking
together on the verandah, and some prisoners escape owing to the
gaoler having been judiciously plied with drink.
Meat seems to have been much more generally consumed in old China
(by those who could afford it) than in modern times; and, as we
might expect, among the Tartar infected people, horse-flesh in
particular. In the second century B.C. the question of eating
horse-liver is compared by a witty Emperor with the danger of
revolutionary talk.
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