Noah: the Original Dionysiac!

Now, even as Noah--that sainted man to whom we are all beholden and indebted since it was he who planted the vine from which comes to us that nectar-like, precious, heavenly, joyful and deifying liquor that we call piot--was deceived when he drank of it since he was ignorant of its great virtues and power: so likewise did the men and women of the time partake with great pleasure of that lovely plump fruit.

(Francois Rabelais, Pantagruel, Gargantua and Pantagruel; trans. M.A. Screech)

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