>
> In Peter Abelard's Letter of Direction to Abbess Heloise (the so-
> called "rule", altho' there's no evidence to suggest that it was ever
> adopted in this form at the Paraclete, but I digress...) insists that
> monastic wine should be watered. This may be to prevent over-
> indulgence, or for ascetic reasons (Abelard wanted the Paraclete
> nuns to eat day-old bread, which was not to be made exclusively from
> the finest wheat.
>This is in response to Heloise's plea for a modification of the rule in the case of women. She
points out that everyone knows that it is almost impossible for a woman to get drunk. As Aristotle
and Macrobius have shown, this is because women's bodies have more holes than men's, and
therefore the effects of the alcohol are more easily dissipated. This being so, she asks, could the
girls at the Paraclete not have a little more wine in the daily allowance? Abelard wasn't having any,
and told them to take a little water with it. (No, this isn't a :- ) - they really said all that. Oriens.)
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