Chaps. 9-17.

Chap. 9. (7.)—Thirty-Eight Varieties of Foreign Wines.

We will now, in a similar manner, give a description of the varieties found in the parts beyond sea. After the wines mentioned by Homer, and of which we have already spoken, [In c. of this Book.] those held in the highest esteem were the wines of Thasos and Chios, [The Chian held the first rank, the Thasian the second.] and of the latter more particularly the sort known as “Arvisium.” [From Arvisium, or Ariusium, a hilly district in the centre of the island. The wine of Chios still retains its ancient celebrity.] By the side of these has been placed the wine of Lesbos, [It was remarkable for its sweetness, and aromatics were sometimes mixed with it. Homer calls it harmless. Lesbos still produces choice wines.] upon the authority of Erasistratus, a famous physician, who flourished about the year of the City of Rome 450. At the present day, the most esteemed of all is the wine of Clazomenæ, [Near Smyrna. Probably similar to the Pramnian wine, mentioned in c..] since they have learned to season it more sparingly with sea-water. The wine of Lesbos has naturally a taste of sea-water. That from Mount Tmolus [See B. v. c. 30. This wine is mentioned again in the next page; it is generally thought, that he is wrong in making the Tmolites and the Mesogites distinct wines, for they are supposed to have been identical.] is not so much esteemed by itself [If drunk by itself, and not as a flavouring for other wines.] for its qualities as a wine, as for its peculiar sweetness. It is on account of this that it is mixed with other wines, for the purpose of modifying their harsh flavour, by imparting to them a portion of its own sweetness; while at the same time it gives them age, for immediately after the mixture they appear to be much older than they really are. Next in esteem after these are the wines of Sicyon, [Bacchus had a temple there.] Cyprus, [The wines of Cyprus are the most choice of all the Grecian wines at the present day.] Telmessus, [In Lycia.] Tripolis, [In Syria. Wine is no longer made there, but the grapes are excellent, and are dried for raisins.] Berytus, [Now Beyrout. It does not seem that wine is made there now. The Mahometan religion may have tended to the extinction of many of these wines.] Tyre, [At the village of Sour, on the site of ancient Tyre, the grape is only cultivated for raisins.] and Sebennys; this last is grown in Egypt, being the produce of three varieties of grape of the very highest quality, known as the Thasian, [See also c.: probably introduced from Thasos.] the æthalus, [The “smoky” grape.] and the peuce. [The “pitchy” grape.] Next in rank are the hippodamantian [A strong wine, Hardouin thinks, from whence its name—“strong enough to subdue a horse.”] wine, the Mystic, [From the small island of Mystus, near Cephallenia.] the cantharite, [So called from the vine the name of which was “canthareus.”] the protropum [Made, as already stated, from the juice that flowed spontaneously from the grapes. See also p..] of Cnidos, the wine of the catacecaumene, [Or the “burnt up” country, a volcanic district of Mysia, which still retains its ancient fame for its wine. Virgil alludes to this wine in Georg. iv. l. 380:— —Cape Mæonii carchesia Bacchi.] the Petritan, [Perhaps from Petra in Arabia: though Fée suggests Petra in the Balearic Islands.] and the Myconian; [See B. iv. c. 22. In the island of Myconos in the Archipelago an excellent wine is still grown.] as to the Mesogitic, [From Mount Mesogis, which divides the tributaries of the Caÿster from those of the Meander. It is generally considered the same as the Tmolites.] it has been found to give head-ache, while that of Ephesus is far from wholesome, being seasoned with sea-water and defrutum. [Must or grape-juice boiled down to one half.] It is said that the wine of Apamea [See B. v. c. 29.] is remarkably well adapted for making mulsum, [“Mulsum,” or honied wine, was of two kinds; honey mixed with wine, and honey mixed with must or grape-juice.] like that of Prætutia in Italy: for this is a quality peculiar to only certain kinds of wine, the mixture of two sweet liquids being in general not attended with good results. The protagion [From its Greek name, it would seem to mean “of first quality.”] is quite gone out of date, a wine which the school of Asclepiades has reckoned as next in merit to those of Italy. The physician Apollodorus, in the work which he wrote recommending King Ptolemy what wines in particular to drink—for in his time the wines of Italy were not generally known—has spoken in high terms of that of Naspercene in Pontus, next to which he places the Oretic, [So called from a place in Eubœa, the modern Negropont. See. B. iv. c. 20. Negropont produces good wines at the present day.] and then the Œneatian, [The locality is unknown.] the Leucadian, [From Leucadia, or Leucate; see B. iv. c. 2; the vine was very abundant there.] the Ambraciotic, [From Ambracia. See B. iv. c. 2.] and the Peparethian, [From the island of Peparethus. See B. iv. c. 23, where he says that from its abundance of vines it was called εὐοινὸς, or “Evenus.”] to which last he gives the preference over all the rest, though he states that it enjoyed an inferior reputation, from the fact of its not being considered fit for drinking until it had been kept six years.

Chap. 10. (8.)—Seven Kinds of Salted Wines.

Thus far we have treated of wines, the goodness of which is due to the country of their growth. In Greece the wine that is known by the name of “bion,” and which is administered for its curative qualities in several maladies (as we shall have occasion to remark when we come to speak on the subject of Medicine [B. xxiii. c. 1, and c. 26.]), has been justly held in the very highest esteem. This wine is made in the following manner: the grapes are plucked before they are quite ripe, and then dried in a hot sun: for three days they are turned three times a day, and on the fourth day they are pressed, after which the juice is put in casks, [“Cadis.”] and left to acquire age in the heat of the sun. [Fée remarks that this method is still adopted in making several of the liqueurs.]

The people of Cos mix sea-water in large quantities with their wines, an invention which they first learned from a slave, who adopted this method of supplying the deficiency that had been caused by his thievish propensities. When this is mixed with white must, the mixture receives the name of “leucocoum.” [White wine of Cos. Fée thinks that Pliny means to say that the sea water turns the must of a white or pale straw colour, and is of opinion that he has been wrongly informed.] In other countries again, they follow a similar plan in making a wine called “tethalassomenon.” [“Sea-water” wine.] They make a wine also known as “thalassites,” [“Sea-seasoned” wine.] by placing vessels full of must in the sea, a method which quickly imparts to the wine all the qualities of old age. [Fée says, that if the vessels were closed hermetically this would have little or no appreciable effect; if not, it would tend to spoil the wine.] In our own country too, Cato has shown the method of making Italian wine into Coan: in addition to the modes of preparation above stated, he tells us that it must be left exposed four years to the heat of the sun, in order to bring it to maturity. The Rhodian [Athenæus says that the Rhodian wine will not mix so well with sea-water as the Coan. Fée remarks that if Cato’s plan were followed, the wine would become vinegar long before the end of the four years.] wine is similar to that of Cos, and the Phorinean is of a still salter flavour. It is generally thought that all the wines from beyond sea arrive at their middle state of maturity in the course of six [Sillig thinks that the proper reading is “in six” only.] or seven years.

Chap. 11. (9.)—Eighteen Varieties of Sweet Wine. Raisin-wine and Hepsema.

All the luscious wines have but little [The sweet wines, in modern times, have the most bouquet or aroma.] aroma: the thinner the wine the more aroma it has. The colours of wines are four, white, [“Albus,” pale straw-colour.] brown, [“Fulvus,” amber-colour.] blood-coloured, [Bright and glowing, like Tent and Burgundy.] and black. [“Niger,” the colour of our port.] Psythium [Supposed to be a species of Pramnian wine, mentioned in c.. This was used, as also the Aminean, for making omphacium, as mentioned in B. xii. c.. See also c. of this Book.] and melampsythium [“Black psythian.”] are varieties of raisin-wine which have the peculiar flavour of the grape, and not that of wine. Scybelites [Mentioned by Galen among the sweet wines.] is a wine grown in Galatia, and Aluntium [See B. iii. c. 14. Now Solana in Sicily, which produces excellent wine.] is a wine of Sicily, both of which have the flavour of mulsum. [Honied wine.] As to siræum, by some known as “hepsema,” and which in our language is called “sapa,” [This was evidently a kind of grape sirop, or grape jelly. “Rob” is perhaps, as Hardouin suggests, a not inappropriate name for it.] it is a product of art and not of Nature, being prepared from must boiled down to one-third: when must is boiled down to one-half only, we give it the name of “defrutum.” All these mixtures have been devised for the adulteration of honey. [When cold, they would have nearly the same consistency.] As to those varieties which we have previously mentioned, their merits depend upon the grape, and the soil in which it is grown. Next after the raisin-wine of Crete, [The raisin wine of Crete was the most prized of all as a class.] those of Cilicia and Africa are held in the highest esteem, both in Italy as well as the adjoining provinces. It is well known that it is made of a grape to which the Greeks have given the name of “stica,” and which by us is called “apiana:” [Mentioned in c.. Probably a muscatel grape.] it is also made of the scirpula. [See c. of this Book.] The grapes are left on the vine to dry in the sun, or else are boiled in the dolium. [Or “vat.” The common reading was “oleo,” which would imply that they were plunged into boiling oil. Columella favours the latter reading, B. xii. c. 16.] Some persons make this wine of the sweet and early white [The reading is probably defective here.] grape: they leave the grapes to dry in the sun, until they have lost pretty nearly half their weight, after which they crush them and subject them to a gentle pressure. They then draw off the juice, and add to the pulp that is left an equal quantity of well-water, the product of which is raisin-wine of second quality. [Passum secundarium.] The more careful makers not only do this, but take care also after drying the grapes to remove the stalks, and then steep the raisins in wine of good quality until they swell, after which they press them. This kind of raisin-wine is preferred to all others: with the addition of water, they follow the same plan in making the wine of second quality.

The liquor to which the Greeks give the name of “aigleucos,” [Or “always sweet.”] is of middle quality, between the sirops and what is properly called wine; with us it is called “semper mustum.” [“Always must.”] It is only made by using great precaution, and taking care that the must does not ferment; [Fervere, “boil,” or “effervesce.”] such being the state of the must in its transformation into wine. To attain this object, the must is taken from the vat and put into casks, which are immediately plunged into water, and there left to remain until the winter solstice is past, and frosty weather has made its appearance. There is another kind, again, of natural aigleucos, which is known in the province of Narbonensis by the name of “dulce,” [“Sweet” drink. Fée seems to think that this sweet wine must have been something similar to champagne. Hardouin says that it corresponds to the vin doux de Limoux, or blanquette de Limoux, and the vin Muscat d’Azile.] and more particularly in the district of the Vocontii. In order to make it, they keep the grape hanging on the tree for a considerable time, taking care to twist the stalk. Some, again, make an incision in the bearing shoot, as deep as the pith, while others leave the grapes to dry on tiles. The only grape, however, that is used in these various processes is that of the vine known as the “helvennaca.” [See c. of this Book.]

Some persons add to the list of these sweet wines that known as “diachyton.” [“Poured,” or “strained through.”] It is made by drying grapes in the sun, and then placing them for seven days in a closed place upon hurdles, some seven feet from the ground, care being taken to protect them at night from the dews: on the eighth day they are trodden out: this method, it is said, produces a liquor of exquisite bouquet and flavour. The liquor known as melitites [“Honey wine.” A disagreeable medicament, Fée thinks, rather than a wine.] is also one of the sweet wines: it differs from mulsum, in being made of must; to five congii of rough-flavoured must they put one congius of honey, and one cyathus of salt, and they are then brought to a gentle boil: this mixture is of a rough flavour. Among these varieties, I ought to place what is known as “protropum;” [Somewhat similar to the vin de premiere goutte of the French. It would seem to have been more of a liqueur than a wine. Tokay is made in a somewhat similar manner.] such being the name given by some to the must that runs spontaneously from the grapes before they are trodden out. Directly it flows it is put into flaggons, and allowed to ferment; after which it is left to ripen for forty days in a summer sun, about the rising of the Dog-star.

Chap. 12. (10.)—Three Varieties of Second-rate Wine.

Those cannot properly be termed wines, which by the Greeks are known under the name of “deuteria,” [Or “second” press wines.] and to which, in common with Cato, we in Italy give the name of “lora,” [De Re Rust. c. 153.] being made from the husks of grapes steeped in water. Still, however, this beverage is reckoned as making one of the “labourers’” [Vinum operarium.] wines. There are three varieties of it: the first [This method is still adopted, Fée says, in making “piquette,” or “small wine,” throughout most of the countries of Europe.] is made in the following manner:—After the must is drawn off, one-tenth of its amount in water is added to the husks, which are then left to soak a day and a night, and then are again subjected to pressure. A second kind, that which the Greeks are in the habit of making, is prepared by adding one-third in water of the quantity of must that has been drawn off, and after submitting the pulp to pressure, the result is reduced by boiling to one-third of its original quantity. A third kind, again, is pressed out from the wine-lees; Cato gives it the name of “fæcatum.” [Or “wine-lee drink.” It would make an acid beverage, of disagreeable taste.] None of these beverages, however, will keep for more than a single year.

Chap. 13. (11.)—At What Period Generous Wines Were First Commonly Made in Italy.

While treating of these various details, it occurs to me to mention that of the eighty different kinds throughout the whole earth, which may with propriety be reckoned in the class of generous [“Nobilia.” In c. he speaks of 195 kinds, and, reckoning all the varieties, double that number.] wines, fully two-thirds [Fée observes that the varieties of the modern wines are quite innumerable. He remarks also that Pliny does not speak of the Asiatic wines mentioned by Athenæus, which were kept in large bottles, hung in the chimney corner; where the liquid, by evaporation, acquired the consistency of salt. The wines of other countries evidently were little known to Pliny.] are the produce of Italy, which consequently in this respect far surpasses any other country: and on tracing this subject somewhat higher up, the fact suggests itself, that the wines of Italy have not been in any great favour from an early period, their high repute having only been acquired since the six hundredth year of the City.

Chap. 14. (12.)—The Inspection of Wine Ordered by King Romulus.

Romulus made libations, not with wine but with milk; a fact which is fully established by the religious rites which owe their foundation to him, and are observed even to the present day. The Posthumian Law, promulgated by King Numa, has an injunction to the following effect:—“Sprinkle not the funeral pyre with wine;” a law to which he gave his sanction, no doubt, in consequence of the remarkable scarcity of that commodity in those days. By the same law, he also pronounced it illegal to make a libation to the gods of wine that was the produce of an unpruned vine, his object being to compel the husbandmen to prune their vines; a duty which they showed themselves reluctant to perform, in consequence of the danger which attended climbing the trees. [“Circa pericula arbusti.” This is probably the meaning of this very elliptical passage. See p..] M. Varro informs us, that Mezentius, the king of Etruria, succoured the Rutuli against the Latini, upon condition that he should receive all the wine that was then in the territory of Latium.

(13.) At Rome it was not lawful for women to drink wine. Among the various anecdotes connected with this subject, we find that the wife of Egnatius Mecenius [Called Metellus, by Valerius Maximus, B. vi. c. 3.] was slain by her husband with a stick, because she had drunk some wine from the vat, and that he was absolved from the murder by Romulus. Fabius Pictor, in his Book of Annals, has stated that a certain lady, for having opened a purse in which the keys of the wine-cellar were kept, was starved to death by her family: and Cato tells us, that it was the usage for the male relatives to give the females a kiss, in order to ascertain whether they smelt of “temetum;” for it was by that name that wine was then known, whence our word “temulentia,” signifying drunkenness. Cn. Domitius, the judge, once gave it as his opinion, that a certain woman appeared to him to have drunk more wine than was requisite for her health, and without the knowledge of her husband, for which reason he condemned her to lose her dower. For a very long time there was the greatest economy manifested at Rome in the use of this article. L. Papirius, [See B. xvii. c..] the general, who, on one occasion, commanded against the Samnites, when about to engage, vowed an offering to Jupiter of a small cupfull of wine, if he should gain the victory. In fact, among the gifts presented to the gods, we find mention made of offerings of sextarii of milk, but never of wine.

The same Cato, while on his voyage to Spain, from which he afterwards returned triumphant, [Over the Celtiberi.] would drink of no other wine but that which was served out to the rowers—very different, indeed, to the conduct of those who are in the habit of giving to their guests even inferior wine [The younger Pliny, B. ii. Ep. 2, censures this stingy practice. See also Martial, B. iii. Epig. 60.] to that which they drink themselves, or else contrive to substitute inferior in the course of the repast. [That this, however, was not uncommonly done, we may judge from the remark made by the governor of the feast, John ii. 10, to the bridegroom.]

Chap. 15.—Wines Drunk by the Ancient Romans.

The wines that were the most esteemed among the ancient Romans were those perfumed with myrrh, [Called “myrrhina.” Fée remarks that the flavour of myrrh is acrid and bitter, its odour strong and disagreeable, and says that it is difficult to conceive how the ancients could drink wine with this substance in solution.] as mentioned in the play of Plautus, entitled the “Persian,” [As the “Persa” has come down to us, we find no mention of myrrh in the passage alluded to.] though we find it there stated that calamus [See B. xii. c.. This is mentioned in the Persa, A. i. sc. 3, l. 7.] ought to be added to it. Hence it is, that some persons are of opinion that they were particularly fond of aromatites: [Aromatic or perfumed wines.] but Fabius Dossennus quite decides the question, in the following line:—“I sent them good wine, myrrh-wine;” [Murrhinam.] and in his play called “Acharistio,” we find these words—“Bread and pearled barley, myrrh-wine too.” I find, too, that Scævola and L. Ælius, and Ateius Capito, were of the same opinion; and then we read in the play known as the “Pseudolus:” [The Cheat or Impostor: a play of Plautus. See A. ii. sc. 4, l. 51, et seq.] —“But if it is requisite for him to draw forth what is sweet from the place, has he aught of that?” to which Charinus makes answer, “Do you ask the question? He has myrrh wine, raisin wine, defrutum, [Must boiled down to half its original quantity.] and honey;” from which it would appear that myrrh wine was not only reckoned among the wines, but among the sweet wines too.

Chap. 16. (14.)—Some Remarkable Facts Connected with Wine-lofts. The Opimian Wine.

The fact of the existence of the Opimian wine gives undoubted proof that there were wine-lofts, [Apothecas. The “apothecæ” were rooms at the top of the house, in which the wines were placed for the purpose of seasoning. Sometimes a current of smoke was directed through them. They were quite distinct from the “cella vinaria,” or “wine-cellar.” The Opimian wine is mentioned in c..] and that wine was racked off in the year of Rome 633, Italy being already alive to the blessings she enjoyed. Still, however, the several varieties that are now so celebrated were not so in those days; and hence it is that all the wines that were grown at that period have only the one general name of “Opimian” wines, from the then consul Opimius. So, too, for a long time afterwards, and, indeed, so late as the times of our grandfathers, the wines from beyond sea were held in the highest esteem, even though Falernian was already known, a fact which we learn from the line of the Comic writer, [This writer is unknown.] “I shall draw five cups of Thasian and two of Falernian.”

P. Licinius Crassus, and L. Julius Cæsar, who were Censors in the year from the Building of the City 665, issued an edict forbidding the sale of either Greek or Aminean wine at a higher price than eight asses the quadrantal [Or amphora.] —for such, in fact, are the exact words of the edict. Indeed, the Greek wines were so highly valued, that not more than a single cup was served to a guest during the repast.

Chap. 17.—At What Period Four Kinds of Wine Were First Served at Table.

M. Varro gives us the following statement as to the wines that were held in the highest esteem at table in his day: “L. Lucullus, when a boy, never saw an entertainment at his father’s house, however sumptuous it might be, at which Greek wine was handed round more than once during the repast: whereas he himself, when he returned from Asia, distributed as a largess among the people more than a hundred thousand congiaria [Vessels containing a congius, or the eighth of an amphora, nearly six pints English.] of the same wine. C. Sentius, whom we have seen Prætor, used to say that Chian wine never entered his house until his physician prescribed it to him for the cardiac [As to this malady, see B. xi. c..] disease. On the other hand, Hortensius left ten thousand casks of it to his heir.” Such is the statement made by Varro.

(15.) And besides, is it not a well-known fact that Cæsar, when Dictator, at the banquet given on the occasion of his triumph, allotted to each table an amphora of Falernian and a cadus of Chian? On the occasion, too, of his triumph for his victories in Spain, he put before the guests both Chian as well as Falernian; and again, at the banquet given on his third consulship, [B.C. 46.] he gave Falernian, Chian, Lesbian, and Mamertine; indeed, it is generally agreed that this was the first occasion on which four different kinds of wine were served at table. It was after this, then, that all the other sorts came into such very high repute, somewhere about the year of the City 700.