Sobriè potandum.

Drink soberly!

Monstra alit Aegyptus, Niloque latentia passim
Sunt mala, non tutum ut sit posuisse sitim.
Id canis expertus, simul ut sitis urget amara,
Non properat gelidis mergere guttur aquis:
Sed leviter fauces adhibet, lambitque cavendo,
Noxia ne potans amne venena trahat.
A multo refugit potu, & tetigisse paludes
Sufficit, hoc vitam sustinet ille modo.
Foediùs his[1] peccant sine qui discrimine semper
Implentur cyathis, brutaque se efficiunt.
Ingenium evertunt, rixis agitantur iniquis,
Forma refert homines, sed rationis egent.

Egypt nurses monsters, and many evils lie hidden in the Nile: hence, it’s not safe to lay your thirst to rest. So learned the dog, who, though tortured by cruel thirst, does not hurry to sink his throat into the chilly waters, but lets his head down gingerly, and laps them up with care, so that he should not catch some evil contagion from the river. He does not drink much, and is satisifed just to touch the moisture, only enough to sustain life. Those who always without measure fill their cups with wine commit a crime far worse, and turn themselves into brute beasts. They destroy their minds, and are shaken with evil quarrels; their shape is that of men, but they lack reason.