Critias tells us—

And indeed the pottery of Attica is deservedly praised. But Eubulus says, "Cnidian pots, Sicilian platters, and Megarian jars." And Antiphanes enumerates "mustard, and also scammony juice from Cyprus; cardamums from Miletus; onions from Samothrace; cabbages, kail, and assafœtida from Carthage; thyme from Hymettus, and marjoram from Tenedos."

51. The Persian king used to drink no other wine but that called the Chalybonian, which Posidonius says is made in Damascus of Syria, from vines which were planted there by the Persians; and at Issa, which is an island in the Adriatic, Agatharchides says that wine is made which is superior to every other wine whatever. The Chian and Thasian wines [47]are mentioned by Epilycus; who says that "the Chian and the Thasian wine must be strained." And also,—

Clearchus speaks of "Lesbian wine, which Maro himself appears to me to have been the maker of."

And Alexis says—

And again he says—

And again—

And Ephippus sings—

And Antiphanes—

And Eubulus—

He speaks too of Psithian wine—

And Anaxandrides mentions "a jar full of Psithian wine."

[48] 52. Thesmophorius of Trœzene entitles the second Θεσμοφοριάζουσαι of Aristophanes Θεσμοφοριάσασαι. In that play the poet speaks of Peparethian wine:—

Eubulus says—

Archestratus, the author of "The Art of giving a Banquet," says,—

53. Ephippus, too, mentions the Phœnician wine, saying, "Nuts, pomegranates, dates, and other sweetmeats, and small casks of Phœnician wine." And again,—

Xenophon, too, mentions it in his Anabasis. The Mendæan wine is mentioned by Cratinus:—

And Hermippus somewhere introduces Bacchus as mentioning several different kinds of wine:—

And Phanias the Eresian poet says that the Mendæans are in the habit of syringing the grapes with opening medicine, even while still on the vine; and that this makes the wine soft.

54. Themistocles received from the king of Persia Lampsacus, to supply him with wine; Magnesia, for bread; Myus, for meat; and Percope and Palæscepsis were to provide him with bedclothes and garments. The king moreover enjoined him to wear a cloak such as is worn by the barbarians, as he had previously bade Demaratus do; and he gave him the same presents as he had formerly given to Demaratus, and added also a robe such as is worn by the sons-in-law of the king, on condition of his never reassuming the Greek attire. And Cyrus the Great gave Pytharchus of Cyzicus, being a friend of his, seven cities, as is related by Agathocles of Babylon; namely, Pedasus, and Olympius, and Cama, and Tium, and Sceptra, and Artypsus, and Tortyra. But he, being made insolent and having his head turned by this liberality, attempted to make himself tyrant of his country, and collected an army for that purpose. On which the people of Cyzicus went out to battle against him, and attacked him eagerly, and so preserved their liberties.

Among the people of Lampsacus Priapus is held in high honour, being the same as Bacchus, and having this name Priapus only as an epithet, just as Thriambus and Dithyrambus are.

The Mitylenæans have a sweet wine which they call πρόδρομος, and others call it πρότροπος.

55. The Icarian wine, too, is held in high estimation, as Amphis says:—

The Pramnian wine, too, according to Eparchides, is produced in Icarus. It is a peculiar kind of wine; and it is neither sweet nor thick, but dry and hard, and of extraordinary strength; and Aristophanes says that the Athenians did not like it, for that "the Athenian people did not like hard and sour poets, nor hard Pramnian wines, which contract the eyebrows and the stomach; but they prefer a fragrant wine, ripe, and flavoured like nectar." For Semus says that there is in Icarus a rock called the Pramnian rock; and near it is a great mountain, from which the Pramnian wine has its name, and some call it a medicinal wine. Now Icarus used formerly to be called the Fishy Icarus, from the number of fish around it; just as the Echinades had their name from the sea-urchins, and the promontory Sepias from the number of cuttle-fish which are taken near it. And in like manner the Lagussæ islands are so called from λαγὼς, a hare, as being full of hares. And other islands are called Phycussæ, and Lopadussæ, for similar reasons. And according to Eparchides, the vine which produces the Icarian Pramnian wine, is called by the strangers the Holy vine, and by the people of Œnoe the Dionysiac vine. And Œnoe is a city in the island.

But Didymus says that the Pramnian wine comes from a vine called Pramnian; and some say that the name means merely dark-coloured. But others affirm that it is a generic name for wine suitable for long keeping, as being παραμένιος, that is to say, such as can be kept. And some say that it is so called from πραΰνειν τὸ μένος, mollifying anger, because those who drink it become good-humoured.

56. Amphis praises also the wine which comes from the city of Acanthus, saying,—

[51] And Alexis mentions Corinthian wine as a harsh wine—

He speaks, too, of wine from Eubœa—

The Naxian wine is compared by Archilochus to nectar. And he says in some one of his poems—

But Strattis praises the wine of Sciathus—

And Achæus praises the Bibline wine—

While it has its name from some district which is called by a similar appellation. And Philyllius says,—

But Epicharmus says that it is named from some mountains of a similar name. And Armenidas says that there is a district of Thrace called the Biblian, the same which was afterwards called Tisara, and Œsyma. And it was very natural for Thrace to be admired as a country producing fine wines; and indeed all the adjacent country deserves the same character.

But Hippias the Rhegian says that the wine called the creeper was also called Biblian; and that Pollis the Argive, who was king of Syracuse, was the first person who brought it to Syracuse from Italy. And if that be true, probably the sweet wine which among the Sicilians is called Pollian, is the same as the Bibline wine. There is an ancient oracle:—

[52]And there was a vine among the people of Trœzene, (as Aristotle says, in his book on their polity,) called Anthedonian, and another called Hyperian; from men of the name of Anthus and Hyperus, just as the Althephian vine is named after a man of the name of Althephias, one of the descendants of Alpheus.

57. Alcman somewhere speaks of a wine as free from fire, and smelling of flowers, which is produced from the Five Hills, a place about seven furlongs from Sparta. And he mentions another wine which comes from Denthiades, a small fortress, and another from Œnus, and another from Onoglæ and Stathmi. And these places are all near Pitane. Accordingly, he says, "And wine from Œnus, or from Denthis, or from Carystus, or from Onoglæ, or from Stathmi." The Carystian wine is that which comes from Carystus in Laconia, on the borders of Arcadia. And he calls it "free from fire," as not having been boiled; for they often used boiled wines. Polybius says that there was an admirable wine made at Capua; which was called ἀναδενδρίτης, to which no other wine was at all comparable. But Alciphron of the Mæander says, that there was a mountain village near the Ephesian territories, which was formerly called Latona's, but is now called Latorea, from Latorea the Amazon; and that there also Pramnian wine is made. Timachidas the Rhodian calls a wine made at Rhodes ὑπόχυτος, or the adulterated wine, being near akin to sweet wine. But that wine is called γλύξις which goes through no process of decoction.

There is also a Rhodian wine, which Polyzelus calls αὐτίτης:[52:1] and another which Plato the comic writer calls καπνίας;[52:2] and this wine is made in the greatest perfection at Beneventum, a city in Italy. But the wine Amphis is spoken of as a very poor wine by Sosicrates. The ancients used also a certain wine made of spices, which they called τρίμμα. But Theophrastus, in his History of Plants, says, that a wine is made in Heræa in Arcadia which, when it is drunk, drives men out of their senses, and makes women inclined to pregnancy: and that around Cerunia in Achaia there is a kind of vine, from which a wine is made which has a tendency to cause abortion in pregnant women; and if they eat the grapes too, says he, they miscarry;—and the Trœzenian wine, he says, makes those who drink it barren: and at Thasos, [53]says he, they make a wine which produces sleep, and another which causes those who drink it to keep awake.

58. But concerning the manufacture of scented wine, Phanias of Eresus says, "There is infused into the wine one portion of sea-water to fifty of wine, and that becomes scented wine." And again he says, "Scented wine is made stronger of young than of old vines;" and he subjoins, "Having trodden on the unripe grapes they put the wine away, and it becomes scented." But Theophrastus says, that "the wine at Thasos, which is given in the prytaneum, is wonderfully delicious; for it is well seasoned; for they knead up dough with honey, and put that into the earthen jars; so that the wine receives fragrance from itself, and sweetness from the honey." And he proceeds to say, "If any one mixes harsh wine which has no smell with soft and fragrant wine, such, for instance, as the Heraclean wine with that of Erythræ, softness is derived from the one, and wholesomeness from the other." And the Myrtite or Myrrhine wine is spoken of by Posidippus:—

Hermes, too, is mentioned by Strattis as the name of a drink. And Chæreas says, that a wine is made in Babylon which is called nectar.

The bard of Ceos says—

59. Now of wines some are white, some yellow, and some red. The white is the thinnest in its nature, diuretic, and warm; and being a promoter of digestion it causes a heat in the head; for it is a wine which has a tendency to move upwards. But of red wine that which is not sweet is very nutritious, and is astringent; but that which is sweet (as is the case with even white and yellow wine also) is the most nutritious of all: for it softens all the ducts and passages, and thickens the fluid parts of the body, and does not at all confuse the head. For in reality the nature of sweet wine lingers about the ribs, and engenders spittle, as Diocles and Praxagoras assert. But Mnesitheus the Athenian says, "Red wine is the most nutritious; but white is the most diuretic and the thinnest; and the [54]yellow is a dry wine, and that which most assists in the digestion of the food."

Now the wines which have been very carefully prepared with sea-water never cause headaches; and they open the bowels, and sometimes gripe the stomach, and produce flatulency, and assist in the digestion of food. Of this character is the Myndian wine, and that of Halicarnassus. And so Menippus the Cynic calls Myndus "brine-drinking." The Coan wine too has a good deal of sea-water in it. The Rhodian has not so much sea-water; but a great deal of that wine is good for nothing. Wine made in the islands is very good to drink, and not at all ill-calculated for daily use. But Cnidian wine makes blood, is nutritious, and keeps the bowels in a healthy state; though if it is drunk in great quantities it relaxes the stomach. The Lesbian wine is less astringent, and more diuretic. But the Chian is a nicer wine; and of all the Chian wine, that called the Aryusian is the best. And of this there are three varieties: for there is a dry kind, and a sweet kind; and that the flavour of which is between the two is called autocratic, that is, self-mixed. Now the dry kind is pleasant to the taste, nutritious, and more diuretic than the others; but the sweet kind is nutritious, filling, and apt to soften the bowels. The autocratic wine in its effects also is something between the two. But, generally speaking, the Chian wine is digestible, nutritious, a producer of good blood, mild, and filling, inasmuch as it has a great deal of body. But the nicest of all wines are the Alban and Falernian wines of Italy; but these, if they have been kept a length of time and are old, acquire a medicinal effect, and rapidly produce a sensation of heaviness. But the wine called Adrian relieves any oppression of the breath, is very digestible, and wholly free from all unpleasant consequences; but these wines require to be made with rapidity, and then to be set in an open place, so as to allow the thicker portions of their body to evaporate. But the best wine to keep a length of time is the Corcyrean. The Zacynthian and Leucadian wines also are apt to be bad for the head, because they contain chalk. There is a wine from Cilicia, called Abates, which has no effect except that of relaxing the bowels. But hard water, such as that from springs, or from rain if it is filtered, and has stood some time, agrees very well with Coan and Myndian and Halicarnassian wine, [55]and indeed with every wine which has plenty of salt-water in it. And accordingly these wines are of the greatest use at Athens and Sicyon, because the waters in those cities are harsh. But for those wines which have no sea-water, and which are of a more astringent nature, especially for the Chian and Lesbian wine, the purest water is the most suitable.

These are the words of Sophocles.

60. The Mareotic wine, which comes from Alexandria, had its name from a fountain in the district of Alexandria called Marea; and from a town of the same name which was close to it; which was formerly a place of great importance, but is now reduced to a petty village. And the fountain and town derived their name from Maro, who was one of the companions of Bacchus in his expedition. And there are many vines in that country, which produce grapes very good to eat when raw, and the wine which is made from them is excellent. For it is white, and sweet, and good for the breath, and digestible, and then, it never produces any ill effect on the head, and is diuretic. And still better than this is the wine called Tæniotic. The word ταινία means a riband; and there is in that district a long narrow riband of land, the wines produced from which are of a slightly green colour, with something oily in them, which is quickly dissolved when it is mixed with water; just as the Attic honey is dissolved by the same process. This Tæniotic wine, in addition to being sweet, has something aromatic in it, of a slightly astringent character. But there are vines near the Nile in great quantities as far as the river extends; and there are many peculiarities in those vines, both as to their colour and as to their use. However, the best of all the wines made in that district is that made near the city of Antylla (which is not far from Alexandria), the revenues from which the kings of those ages, both the Egyptian and Persian kings, used to give to their wives for pin-money. But the wine which is made in the Thebais, especially that near the city Coptos, is light, and easy of digestion, and also so great an assistant in [56]the digestion of the rest of one's food, that it is given to people in fevers without injury.

(Astydamas was a tragic poet.)

61. Theopompus the Chian says, that the vine is found at Olympia, near the Alpheus; and that there is a place about eight furlongs from Elis where the natives at the time of the Dionysian games close up three empty brazen vessels, and seal them in the presence of all the people round about; and at a subsequent time they open them and find them full of wine. But Hellanicus says, that the vine was first discovered in Plinthina, a city of Egypt; on which account Dion, the academic philosopher, calls the Egyptians fond of wine and fond of drinking: and also, that as subsidiary to wine, in the case of those who, on account of their poverty, could not get wine, there was introduced a custom of drinking beer made of barley; and moreover, that those who drank this beer were so pleased with it that they sung and danced, and did everything like men drunk with wine. Now Aristotle says, that men who are drunk with wine show it in their faces; but that those who have drunk too much beer fall back and go to sleep; for wine is stimulating, but beer has a tendency to stupefy.

62. Now that the Egyptians really are fond of wine this is a proof, that they are the only people among whom it is a custom at their feasts to eat boiled cabbages before all the rest of their food; and even to this very time they do so. And many people add cabbage seed to potions which they prepare as preventives against drunkenness. And wherever a vineyard has cabbages growing in it, there the wine is weaker. On which account the citizens of Sybaris also, as Timæus says, used to eat cabbages before drinking. And so Alexis says—

And Eubulus says, somewhere or other—

[57] For the ancients used to call cabbage ῥάφανος. And so Apollodorus of Carystus expressly says—

And Anaxandrides says—

And Nicochares says—

And Amphis tells us—

And Theophrastus also speaks of the effect which the cabbage produces, saying that the vine as long as it lives always turns away from the smell of cabbage.

FOOTNOTES: