6 - mægene binumen: The Failure of Human Mastery in the Wine and Mead Riddles

Summary

In the New King James Bible version of the Proverbs it is said that ‘Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise’ (Proverbs 20.1). True to its Hebrew source, the New King James Bible personifies alcoholic drinks and reminds readers of the folly of drinking to excess. This literary technique is absent in the Vulgate version, which states, luxuriosa res vinum, et tumultuosa ebrietas: quicumque his delectatur non erit sapiens ‘Wine is a luxurious thing, and drunkenness riotous: whoever is delighted therewith shall not be wise’. Because of the playful literary genre of which they are a part, Riddles 11 and 27 realise the value of the personification of drink, producing texts that resonate surprisingly well with the New King James Bible version of Proverbs 20.1. The mead of Riddle 27 is a brawler, using warrior-like strength to throw young and old to the ground, whilst the wine of Riddle 11 is more artful and cunning in its use of power, being able to steer its drinkers on unwise journeys. Mocker or brawler, both personified subjects have mastery over humans, a mastery that is rare among the riddles’ obedient subjects. I aim to show how the two riddles diversely depict the mastery of alcohol and how Riddle 27's depiction of alcohol's mastery invites an ecotheological reading. Where Riddle 11 remains largely faithful to the depiction of wine in biblical texts, including Proverbs, describing its allure and the dangers of its consumption, Riddle 27 develops its Proverbs-like personification of strong drink into a resistance narrative, whereby the natural resource, transformed by human hands, asserts mastery over its human users through a physical assault.

Resistance is one of the key principles of ecotheology, a principle that ‘claims that the earth and its components actively resist those injustices imposed by humans’. The principle involves both imagining the earth ‘as a subject capable of agency’ and seeking out those ‘earth voices’ in the Scriptures which resist the construction of ‘earth as victim’. The idea that nature might resist or take revenge on humanity has been discussed by Rudd in relation to late medieval literature, albeit from an ecocritical rather than ecotheological perspective.