Of the two first choruses I have already spoken, and I have now to speak of the third, or Dionysian chorus, which is composed of those who are between thirty and sixty years old.

'Let us hear.' We are agreed (are we not ?) that men, women, and children should be always charming themselves with strains of virtue, and that there should be a variety in the strains, that they may not weary of them?
Now the fairest and most useful of strains will be uttered by the elder men, and therefore we cannot let them off.

But how can we make them sing?
For a discreet elderly man is ashamed to hear the sound of his own voice in private, and still more in public.

The only way is to give them drink; this will mellow the sourness of age.

No one should be allowed to taste wine until they are eighteen; from eighteen to thirty they may take a little; but when they have reached forty years, they may be initiated into the mystery of drinking.