Annotatio LXXXVI

”Noah planted a vineyard, and drinking the wine was made drunk.” — Genesis 9:20–21

Francesco Giorgio, in the first volume, Problem 101, so explains these words that he seems to subvert the truth of the history,¹ affirming that Noah was not made drunk from the wine of the vine which he had planted (as Moses seems to indicate) — because from a pure drunkenness of wine so many evils would not have followed. But he was drunk either from an excessive affection for his own [people], or from the wisdom of earthly things, which in very many places is designated by “wine.” For those who pursue this [earthly wisdom] go so far away from God that they many times rush into scandal — as happened to Balaam, Ahithophel, and Solomon.