Meaning & Analysis
The activities of gambling, pursuing women, and drinking wine, while appearing to be sources of joy and laughter, ultimately cause men to suffer, waste away, and be destroyed.
Insights
Deceptive Nature of Pleasure
The proverb serves as a powerful metaphor for the deceptive nature of hedonism. The 'laughing' symbolizes the immediate, superficial pleasure of vice, which conceals the inevitable, long-term suffering and decay ('pine') that follows indulgence.
The Danger of Unchecked Appetites
It illustrates the peril of losing self-control. 'Gaming, women, and wine' represent powerful impulses that, if left unchecked, can erode a person's health, wealth, and social standing, leading to a state of utter ruin.
Fleeting Joy vs. Lasting Sorrow
The proverb highlights a fundamental conflict between fleeting gratification and lasting well-being. It argues that a life dedicated to ephemeral joys ('laughing') is inherently unstable and will ultimately lead to profound and enduring misery ('pining').
Historical Trope of Vice
The triad of 'gaming, women, and wine' is a classic moralistic trope in Western literature, representing worldly temptations that lead men to spiritual and financial ruin. This proverb reflects deep-seated historical anxieties, particularly in patriarchal societies, about the perceived corrupting influence of sensual pleasures on masculine responsibility and virtue.
Psychology of Temptation
The proverb personifies these temptations as 'laughing' entities, suggesting they are active, predatory forces that mock their victims. This captures the psychological experience of addiction, where the source of pleasure becomes an agent of destruction, seeming to revel in the individual's downfall.
Modern Relevance
The proverb's warning against ruinous indulgence remains a potent metaphor for modern forms of destructive behavior, from financial speculation to substance abuse. The core insight—that short-term gratification often masks long-term disaster—is a timeless observation on human self-control.
Rhetorical Devices
Personification
The proverb gives human qualities to abstract temptations ('gaming', 'wine') and 'women', portraying them as actively 'laughing' at the ruin they cause. This makes the warning more vivid and menacing.
Antithesis
A stark contrast is drawn between the immediate joy of 'laugh' and the prolonged suffering of 'pine'. This juxtaposition creates a memorable and impactful paradox at the heart of the proverb's meaning.
Parallelism (Tricolon)
The use of a list of three ('Gaming, women, and wine') creates a powerful, rhythmic, and seemingly exhaustive catalog of worldly vices, strengthening the proverb's moral authority.
Internal Rhyme
The end rhyme between 'wine' and 'pine' creates a pleasing phonetic link, reinforcing the causal connection between the vice and its sorrowful consequence, which aids in memorability.
Transcription
Quotations
Weeman, dise and drinke, lets him nothing keepe.
It is play, wine, and wantonnesse, that feedeth a louer as fat as a foole.
Women, Wine, and Dice, will bring a man to Lice.
Drinking, drabbing, dicing, and the Devil, bring men to destruction.
Women, wealth and wine have their good and their venom.
(whilest they laugh make men pine).
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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