Jean Sirmond

Jean Sirmond (1589–1649) was a neo-Latin poet and French man of letters, historiographer of Louis XIII.

Quotes

 * If on my theme I rightly think, There are five reasons why men drink,— Good wine, a friend, because I'm dry, Or lest I should be by and by, Or any other reason why.
 * Causæ Bibendi, reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919). These lines are a poetic translation of a Latin epigram (erroneously ascribed to Henry Aldrich in the Biographia Britannica, second edition, vol. i. p. 131), which Menage and De la Monnoye attribute to Père Sirmond:
 * Si bene commemini, causæ sunt quinque bibendi: Hospitis adventus; præsens sitis atque futura; Et vini bonitas, et quælibet altera causa. Menagiana, vol. i. p. 172.