O dronke man, disfigured is thy face, Sour is thy breeth, foul artow to embrace... Thou fallest as it were a styked swyn; Thy tonge is lost, and al thyn honeste cure, For dronkenesse is verray sepulture Of mannes wit and his discrecioun. In whom that drynke hath dominacioun He kan no conseil kepe; it is no drede.

O dronke man, disfigured is thy face,
Sour is thy breeth, foul artow to embrace…
Thou fallest as it were a styked swyn;
Thy tonge is lost, and al thyn honeste cure,
For dronkenesse is verray sepulture
Of mannes wit and his discrecioun.
In whom that drynke hath dominacioun
He kan no conseil kepe; it is no drede.

– Geoffrey Chaucer

The Canterbury Tales, The Pardoner’s Tale. When the Seven Deadly Sins are represented as animals, gluttony is symbolized as a pig. The Pardoner uses the simile here of the slaughtered pig, staggering and falling after havings its throat cut, to depict the drunken man. And it’s not a pretty picture: face disfigured, breath that stinks, reason gone, no care for honor or discretion, and can keep no secret. Could the Pardoner, with his taste for regular wine and ale himself, be speaking from personal knowledge here?

Geoffrey Chaucer Quotes