But whereas some declare that wine is like a medicine securing the health and strength of the body, and banishing pain by cheering the soul, others think that wine was bestowed on men as a punishment, to make them mad, which means that wine is seen as bringing both wisdom and folly to mortals.

"[Wine] makes the person who drinks it more jovial than he was before, and the more he imbibes it, the more he becomes filled with high hopes and a sense of power, till finally, puffed up with conceit, he abounds in every kind of licence of speech and action and every kind of audacity, without a scruple as to what he says or what he does."  [Plato, Laws  649a]

Because of this divine beverage's power, experience has established that wine, which may provide strength in both mind and body, is a blessing only to those who use it with measure, and that is why Dionysus 2  has been called "health-giver".