Summary
Montaigne tackles the uncomfortable truth that not all vices are equal, using drunkenness as his primary example. He argues that while stealing a cabbage and committing sacrilege are both wrong, pretending they're equally bad is dangerous—it lets serious criminals off the hook while unfairly condemning minor offenders. Drunkenness, he claims, is particularly degrading because it's purely physical, robbing us of the one thing that makes us human: self-control and rational thought. Through vivid examples from history and personal anecdotes, including a shocking story about a widow who was assaulted while drunk, Montaigne shows how alcohol strips away our defenses and dignity. Yet he acknowledges the complexity of human nature—some great leaders were heavy drinkers, and even ancient philosophers saw occasional drunkenness as beneficial. He reflects on his own relationship with wine, admitting that while he finds drunkenness brutish, he understands why people, especially the elderly, might seek its comfort. The essay culminates in a broader meditation on human weakness: even the wisest person is still fundamentally fragile, subject to disease, fear, and physical limitations. Montaigne argues that true wisdom isn't about achieving superhuman strength, but about honestly acknowledging our vulnerabilities while trying to manage them with dignity.
Coming Up in Chapter 60
Having explored how we judge our own vices, Montaigne turns to an even more disturbing question: when might a society actually encourage its members to end their own lives? The next chapter examines a custom from ancient times that challenges everything we think we know about the value of life.
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An excerpt from the original text.(~500 words)
F DRUNKENNESS The world is nothing but variety and disemblance, vices are all alike, as they are vices, and peradventure the Stoics understand them so; but although they are equally vices, yet they are not all equal vices; and he who has transgressed the ordinary bounds a hundred paces: “Quos ultra citraque nequit consistere rectum,” [“Beyond or within which the right cannot exist.” --Horace, Sat., i, 1, 107.] should not be in a worse condition than he that has advanced but ten, is not to be believed; or that sacrilege is not worse than stealing a cabbage: “Nec vincet ratio hoc, tantumdem ut peccet, idemque, Qui teneros caules alieni fregerit horti, Et qui nocturnus divum sacra legerit.” There is in this as great diversity as in anything whatever. The confounding of the order and measure of sins is dangerous: murderers, traitors, and tyrants get too much by it, and it is not reasonable they should flatter their consciences, because another man is idle, lascivious, or not assiduous at his devotion. Every one overrates the offence of his companions, but extenuates his own. Our very instructors themselves rank them sometimes, in my opinion, very ill. As Socrates said that the principal office of wisdom was to distinguish good from evil, we, the best of whom are vicious, ought also to say the same of the science of distinguishing betwixt vice and vice, without which, and that very exactly performed, the virtuous and the wicked will remain confounded and unrecognised. Now, amongst the rest, drunkenness seems to me to be a gross and brutish vice. The soul has greater part in the rest, and there are some vices that have something, if a man may so say, of generous in them; there are vices wherein there is a mixture of knowledge, diligence, valour, prudence, dexterity, and address; this one is totally corporeal and earthly. And the rudest nation this day in Europe is that alone where it is in fashion. Other vices discompose the understanding: this totally overthrows it and renders the body stupid: “Cum vini vis penetravit . . . Consequitur gravitas membrorum, praepediuntur Crura vacillanti, tardescit lingua, madet mens, Nant oculi; clamor, singultus, jurgia, gliscunt.” [“When the power of wine has penetrated us, a heaviness of the limbs follows, the legs of the tottering person are impeded; the tongue grows torpid, the mind is dimmed, the eyes swim; noise, hiccup, and quarrels arise.--“Lucretius, i. 3, 475.] The worst state of man is that wherein he loses the knowledge and government of himself. And ‘tis said amongst other things upon this subject, that, as the must fermenting in a vessel, works up to the top whatever it has in the bottom, so wine, in those who have drunk beyond measure, vents the most inward secrets: “Tu sapientum Curas et arcanum jocoso Consilium retegis Lyaeo.” [“Thou disclosest to the merry Lyacus the cares and secret counsel of the wise.”--Horace, Od., xxi. 1, 114.] [Lyacus, a name given to Bacchus.] Josephus tells us...
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Intelligence Amplifier™ Analysis
The Road of False Equivalence - When All Wrongs Look the Same
The tendency to treat all wrongdoing as equally serious, which prevents appropriate responses and enables worse behavior to hide among minor infractions.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to identify when different levels of wrongdoing are being treated as identical, which actually makes real problems harder to solve.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when someone uses 'wrong is wrong' thinking—at work, in news coverage, or in family conflicts—and ask yourself what the actual harm levels are.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Terms to Know
Stoicism
An ancient philosophy that taught people to accept what they can't control and focus on their own actions and responses. Stoics believed all vices were equally bad because they all came from lack of wisdom.
Modern Usage:
We see this in modern self-help advice about 'controlling what you can control' and not sweating the small stuff.
Vice hierarchy
The idea that some wrongdoings are worse than others, even though they're all wrong. Montaigne argues it's dangerous to treat stealing a cabbage the same as murder.
Modern Usage:
This shows up in our legal system with different punishments for different crimes, and in workplace policies that distinguish between being late and embezzling.
Rational soul
What Renaissance thinkers believed separated humans from animals - our ability to think, reason, and control our impulses. Losing this through drunkenness was seen as becoming beast-like.
Modern Usage:
Today we talk about 'losing control' or 'acting like an animal' when someone can't manage their behavior due to substances or emotions.
Temperance
The virtue of moderation and self-control, especially regarding physical pleasures like food and drink. One of the four cardinal virtues in classical philosophy.
Modern Usage:
We see this in modern discussions about work-life balance, healthy eating, and responsible drinking.
Classical examples
Montaigne constantly references historical figures from ancient Greece and Rome to illustrate his points. This was standard practice for educated Renaissance writers.
Modern Usage:
Similar to how we use celebrity scandals or historical events to make points about human nature in conversations today.
Moral relativism
The dangerous idea that all moral choices are equal or that there are no real standards for right and wrong. Montaigne warns against this thinking.
Modern Usage:
This appears in modern debates about whether we can judge other cultures or whether all opinions are equally valid.
Characters in This Chapter
Socrates
Philosophical authority
Montaigne quotes him saying that wisdom's main job is telling good from evil. This supports Montaigne's argument that we need to distinguish between different levels of wrongdoing.
Modern Equivalent:
The wise mentor who cuts through BS
The widow
Cautionary example
A woman who was sexually assaulted while drunk. Montaigne uses her story to show how drunkenness leaves us completely defenseless and vulnerable.
Modern Equivalent:
The person whose night out went horribly wrong
Ancient philosophers
Contradictory authorities
Some said occasional drunkenness was good for health and happiness. Montaigne presents them to show even experts disagree about vice and virtue.
Modern Equivalent:
The conflicting health experts on TV
Great leaders who drank
Complicating examples
Historical figures who achieved great things despite heavy drinking. They challenge simple moral judgments about vice.
Modern Equivalent:
The successful person with obvious flaws
Key Quotes & Analysis
"The confounding of the order and measure of sins is dangerous: murderers, traitors, and tyrants get too much by it"
Context: He's arguing against treating all vices as equally bad
This shows Montaigne's practical wisdom - when we say all wrongs are equal, we accidentally protect the worst criminals. It's about maintaining proportional justice and moral clarity.
In Today's Words:
When we act like shoplifting and murder are the same, we're basically giving murderers a free pass.
"Every one overrates the offence of his companions, but extenuates his own"
Context: Discussing how people judge others versus themselves
Montaigne identifies a universal human tendency toward hypocrisy. We're harsh judges of others but lenient with ourselves, which clouds our moral judgment.
In Today's Words:
Everyone thinks their own mistakes are no big deal while everyone else's are terrible.
"Drunkenness is a gross and brutish vice"
Context: His main judgment on excessive drinking
Despite his nuanced approach to most topics, Montaigne is unusually direct here. He sees drunkenness as particularly degrading because it attacks our essential humanity - our ability to reason.
In Today's Words:
Getting wasted is just straight-up trashy behavior.
Thematic Threads
Judgment
In This Chapter
Montaigne argues for nuanced moral judgment rather than blanket condemnation of all vices
Development
Builds on earlier themes of avoiding rigid thinking and embracing complexity
In Your Life:
You face this when deciding how seriously to take different mistakes your kids, coworkers, or friends make.
Human Weakness
In This Chapter
Drunkenness represents the ultimate human vulnerability—losing the rational control that defines us
Development
Continues Montaigne's exploration of human frailty and the need for honest self-assessment
In Your Life:
You see this in your own moments of poor self-control, whether with food, spending, anger, or other impulses.
Social Expectations
In This Chapter
Society's blanket condemnation of drunkenness ignores the complexity of human behavior and circumstances
Development
Extends earlier discussions about the gap between social ideals and human reality
In Your Life:
You experience this when others judge your struggles without understanding your circumstances or pressures.
Personal Growth
In This Chapter
True wisdom involves acknowledging our vulnerabilities rather than pretending to be invulnerable
Development
Deepens the theme of honest self-knowledge as the foundation for growth
In Your Life:
You grow when you stop pretending you don't have weaknesses and start managing them realistically.
Class
In This Chapter
Different social classes have different relationships with alcohol and different consequences for the same behaviors
Development
Continues exploring how social position affects judgment and consequences
In Your Life:
You notice this in how the same mistake gets treated differently depending on who makes it and their social standing.
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
Montaigne argues that treating all wrongdoing as equally serious creates problems. What examples does he give, and what's his main concern about this approach?
analysis • surface - 2
Why does Montaigne single out drunkenness as particularly degrading compared to other vices? What does he think it takes away from us that makes us human?
analysis • medium - 3
Where do you see this 'all wrongs are equal' thinking in your workplace, school, or community? How does it play out in practice?
application • medium - 4
Think about a situation where someone you know faced consequences that didn't match the actual harm they caused. How would you have handled it differently using Montaigne's approach?
application • deep - 5
Montaigne ends by saying even the wisest person is fundamentally fragile and vulnerable. What does this suggest about how we should judge ourselves and others when we make mistakes?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Scale the Consequences
Think of three different 'wrong' behaviors you've witnessed recently - maybe at work, in your family, or in the news. Write them down, then rank them by actual harm caused (not by how 'wrong' they seem). For each one, design a consequence that matches the real impact rather than the category of wrongdoing.
Consider:
- •Consider who was actually hurt and how severely
- •Think about whether the person can make amends or learn from this
- •Ask what response would prevent future harm without crushing the person
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you were judged too harshly for a minor mistake, or when someone you cared about faced consequences that didn't fit their actions. How did that experience change your view of fairness?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 60: Death as the Ultimate Freedom
Having explored how we judge our own vices, Montaigne turns to an even more disturbing question: when might a society actually encourage its members to end their own lives? The next chapter examines a custom from ancient times that challenges everything we think we know about the value of life.
