Posted on 08/17/2023 4:32:38 PM PDT by nickcarraway
He had just marched to the Indus and back, much of that through desert. He had around five serious wounds in his combats. He was very much in the front fighting. When he was laying up at Babylon there was a fever... Babylon was swampy in those days. Speculation is when he took ill he drank for medicinal reasons and inadvertently drank himself to death.
The standards by which we judge someone to be an alcoholic are remarkably low in our puritanical finger wagging world we live in today. Everyone that drinks to excess is not an alcoholic, although many Karen’s would love to label them as such. When I was in the Marine Corps in the 90’s we certainly drank a lot and many would instantly call us alcoholics, though I can’t remember anyone in my squadron who actually was one. I travel a lot in Europe for my job and by American standards the majority of Germans, French, and Italians would be considered alcoholics, though few of them are really alcoholics.
Well, that all will do it. Still, people manage to drink themselves to death on too much water (yet another case reported just a week or two ago) - so I’ll remain a bit sceptic on the “the alcohol killed him” angle.
I was going to say that I didn’t think drinking alcohol was his worst vice.
High-functioning alcoholic.
Yes, he was. Next.
No one knows what actually killed him but the most likely cause was either typhoid fever or malaria. It’s also possible he was poisoned.
Thanks nickcarraway.
ā I speared a man in Maracanda just to watch him dieā¦.ā š¶šµ
Yes if he murdered someone in a drunken rage, that would be alcoholism to me.
No doubt many of us can thank our existence to alcohol....both in preserving life and in making ugly girls look hot - at least for the night.
When asked if he ever drank water, W.C. Fields replied, “I never touch the stuff! Fish f__k in it!”...............
Good point! Even children drank beer and wine because of water impurities.
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