In the
early nineties of the last century I visited Turkey with a friend. At some
evening we were sitting on the veranda of a pub, looking over a lake in which
the moon was mirrored in water as smooth as indeed a mirror. We were drinking
half litre glasses Efes beer for the equivalent of 50 eurocent. This year my
friend went again and found that the pub was closed and no alcohol was
available in the town, except somewhere in a hotel, in a room where Eastern
European women were doing some carnal business. And the beer was more expensive
than here in the Netherlands.
I came
to think of this when reading the letters Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq (1522-1592;
Latin: Augerius Gislenius Busbequius) wrote in which he told about his
experiences as a diplomat at the Ottoman court. These four Latin letters were
widely after they were published: Busbequius had a keen eye for situations and a
fluent stile of writing and his letters are both informative and entertaining.
It is also thanks to Busbequius that we have a list of words of Crimean Gothic,
a now extinct Germanic language spoken on the Crimean.
Busbequius
admired the Ottoman Empire and what he especially liked, was that offices were
not given to those with the best birth papers, but to those with the best
capacities. He himself was an illegitimate son and though he succeeded, he had
to fight harder for his position than many others.
In the
following passage Busbequius just started his journey to Constantinople and was
spending December 1554 in the Hungarian city of Buda, that time under Turkish
occupation.
Form
Letter 1, 8v (Busbequius is accompanied by some Turks during his dinner because
they have then access to wine. They ask for more wine to drink for once he had left
the table. He agrees and they drink till unconsciousness):
Erant
Budae frequentes mecum in coena Turcae, vini dulcidine illecti, cuius, quo minorem habent copiam, eo sunt avidiores,
eoque largius se ingurgitant, ubi semel contigerit habere. In multam noctem
fiebant invitationes. Post, ibi me ludi
taedebat, surgebam a mensa meque in cubiculum recipiebam; illi, quod vino
nondum obruti ire etiam poterant, tristes abibant. Sed mox puer aderat, qui
nomine ipsorum rogaret, ut iis vini copiam facerem scyphosque argenteos commodarem:
velle, si permittam, in aliquot angulo noctem potando extrahere. Ego vero, quantum vellem vini itemque vasa quae petebant, iubebam
praebere. Illi ante potandi finem non faciebant, quam mero sopiti humi
sternerentur.
frequentes in coena (cena):
accompanying dinner
illecti: attracted
minorem copiam: the less supply / opportunity
ingurgito: to booze
ubi semel contigerit habere: once it happens that they
in multam noctem: deep in the night
se recipio: withdraw to
vino nondum obruti: not yet overwhelmed by wine
nomine ipsorum: on their behalf
scyphus: cup
commodo: to give, provide
potando: by drinking
mero sopiti humi sternerentur:
unconscious by wine they were scattered on the ground
(Drinking
wine is considered a crime by the Turks, but nevertheless they like it and once
started they think they have already sinned and can as well continue drinking):
Vini
potus Turcis magno crimini datur, praesertim aetate provectoribus: iuniores cum
maiore veniae et excusationis spe
peccare consueverunt. Cum vero non minores poenas post hanc vitam sibi paratas
arbitrentur, si vinum minimum biberint
quam si plurimum, ubi semel vinum gustaverint, potare pergunt, quod veluti
poena iam commissa peccent impune ebrietatemque in lucro ponant. Huiusmodi illi
circa vini potum habent opiniones, et his etiam absurdiores.
magno crimini datur: is considered is a great crime
praesertim aetate provectoribus: especially for those advanced in
age
si…quam si: whether…or
gusto: to taste
impune: unpunished
ebrietatemque in lucro ponant: and count drunkenness as gain
(An old
man in Constantinople , about to drink wine,is shouting to his soul to creep away
or leave the body, lest it may become impure by the crime committed):
Vidi
senem quandem Constantinopoli, qui cum calicem sumpsisset in manum, ut biberet,
magnos prius clamores edebat. Rogati a nobis amici, cur ita faceret, respondant
eum his clamoribus commonitam velle animam, ut se reciperet in aliquem corporis
angulum, aut prorsus emigraret, ne rea
eius fieret delicti, quod ipse erat admissurus, neu vino, quod infusurus erat,
pollueretur.
calix calicis (m.): cup
sumo sumpsi sumptum: to
take
clamores edebat: shouted cries
commoneo: to warn, admonish
prorsus: completely
ne rea eius fieret delicti: in order not to become guilty of
his (the old man’s) crime
quod ipse erat admissurus, which he was about to commit
vino… pollueretur: would be polluted by the wine
Rather
free translation from 1881:
BY CHARLES
THORNTON FORSTER, M.A.
Late
Fellmv of Jesus College, Cambridge : Vicar of Hinxton
AND
F. H.
BLACKBURNE DANIELL, M.A.
Late
Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge : Barrisier-at-Law
During
my stay at Buda a good many Turks were
drawn to
my table by the attractions of my wine, a
luxury
in which they have not many opportunities of
indulging.
The effect of this enforced abstinence is to
make
them so eager for drink, that they swill them-
selves
with it whenever they get the chance. I asked
them to
make a night of it, but at last I got tired of
the
game, left the table, and retired to my bedroom.
On this
my Turkish guests made a move to go, and
great
was their grief as they reflected that they were
not yet
dead drunk, and could still use their legs.
Presently
they sent a servant to request that I would
allow
them access to my stock of wine and lend them
some
silver cups. ' With my permission,' they said
they would like to continue their drinking
bout
through
the night ; they were not particular where
they sat
; any odd corner would do for them ' Well I
ordered
them to be furnished with as much wine as they
could
drink, and also with the cups they asked for
Being
thus supplied, the fellows never left off drinking
until
they were one and all stretched on the floor iS
the last
stage of intoxication.
To drink
wine is considered a great sin among the
Turks,
especially in the case of persons advanced in
life :_
when younger people indulge in it the offence is
considered
more venial. Inasmuch, however, as they
think
that they will have to pay the same penalty after
death
whether they drink much or little, if they taste
one drop
of wine they must needs indulge in a
regular
debauch ; their notion being that, inasmuch as
they
have already incurred the penalty, appointed .
such
sin, in another world, it will be an advantage i
them to
have their sin out, and get dead drunk, since it
will
cost them as much in either case. These are their
ideas
about drinking, and they have some other notions
which
are still more ridiculous. I saw an old gentleman
at
Constantinople who, before taking up his cup, shouted
as loud
as he could. I asked my friends the reason,
and they
told me he was shouting to warn his soul to
stow
itself away in some odd corner of his body, or to
leave it
altogether, lest it should be defiled by the wine
he was
about to drink, and have hereafter to answer for
the
offence which the worthy man meant to indulge in.
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