L'ebbrezza e le regole giuridiche

As far as we know, Pittacus, aisymnetes in Mytilene, was the only ancient lawgiver in Greece who made a general law concerning drunkenness. He established a stricter sanction (in duplum, according to some) for those who committed an offence while intoxicated. The different explanations given by some later authors to explain the reason why Pittacus proposed the law provide a too sophisticated justification. Instead, the ratio of the law becomes clearer if, relying on contemporary sources (Alcaeus, of course), we consider the political and social background of Mytilene. Since the symposion was the usual background of any aristocratic attempt to regain power, a law regulating drunkenness was first of all a law against the elite drinking-groups.