II. Cf. xxviii. 1, 3, 7, Habak. ii. Eccles. x. 17.

σίκερα] The Semitic word.

μένοντες τὸ ὀψὲ] For the phrase cf. Thucyd. III. 22, τηρήσαντες νύκτα χειμέριον ὕδατι καὶ ἀνέμῳ, ‘watching for a night that was stormy with rain and wind.’

ὁ γὰρ οἶνος συγκαύσει] Heb. the same, except that there is no conjunction: the best authorities interpret it as a circumstantial clause, ‘while wine inflames them’: in effect like those, generally ablative absolute, with which Tacitus interprets and weights the ends of many of his sentences: e.g. Ann. III. 16, “nec illum sponte extinctum, verum immisso percussore”; XII. 57, “quin et convivium lacus adpositum magna formidine cunctos adfecit, quia vis aquarum prorumpens proxima trahebat, convulsis ulterioribus aut fragore et sonitu exterritis.”

12. τὰ δὲ ἔργα κ.τ.λ.] Cf. i. 3, as well as for the next note.