1 Esdras 3

Now when Darius reigned, he ^amade a great feast unto all his subjects, and unto all his household, and unto all the ^bprinces of ^cMedia and Persia, ²and to all the ^kgovernors and captains and lieutenants that were under him, ^dfrom India unto Ethiopia, of an hundred twenty and seven provinces. ³And when they had eaten and drunken, and being satisfied ^ewere gone home, then Darius the king ^ewent into his bedchamber, and slept, and soon after ^fawaked. ⁴Then three young men, that were of the guard that kept the king’s body, spake one to another; ⁵Let every one of us speak a sentence: he that shall overcome, and whose sentence shall seem wiser than the others, unto him shall the king Darius give great gifts, and great things in token of victory: ⁶as, ^gto be clothed in purple, to drink in gold, and to sleep upon gold, and ^ha chariot with bridles of gold, and a headtire of ^hfine linen, and ^gha chain about his neck: ⁷and he shall sit next to Darius because of his wisdom, and shall be called Darius his cousin. ⁸And then every one wrote his sentence, sealed it, and laid it under king Darius his pillow; ⁹and said that, when the king is risen, ⁱsome will give him the writings; and of whose side the king and ^jthe three ^bprinces of Persia shall judge that his sentence is the wisest, to him shall the victory be given, as was appointed. ¹⁰The first wrote, Wine is the strongest. ¹¹The second wrote, The king is strongest. ¹²The third wrote, Women are strongest: but above all things truth beareth away the victory.

¹³Now when the king was risen up, they took their writings, and delivered them unto him, and so he read them: ¹⁴and sending forth he called all the ^bprinces of Persia and Media, and the ^kgovernors, and the captains, and the lieutenants, and the chief officers; ¹⁵and sat him down in the royal seat of judgment; and the writings were read before them. ¹⁶And he said, Call the young men, and they shall declare their own sentences. So they were called, and came in. ¹⁷And he said unto them, Declare unto us your mind concerning the writings. Then began the first, who had spoken of the strength of wine; ¹⁸And he said thus, O ye men, how exceeding strong is wine! it causeth all men to err that drink it: ¹⁹it maketh the mind of the king and of the fatherless child to be all one; of the bondman and of the freeman, of the poor man and of the rich: ^20lit turneth also every thought into ^mjollity and mirth, so that a man remembereth neither sorrow nor debt: ²¹and it maketh every heart rich, so that a man remembereth neither king nor governor; and it maketh to speak all things by talents: ²²and when they are in their cups, they forget their love both to friends and brethren, and a little after draw out swords: ²³but when they are from the wine, they remember not what they have done. ²⁴O ye men, is not wine the strongest, that enforceth to do thus? And when he had so spoken, he held his peace.

IV.