The people of the Western world have also their intoxicating drinks, made from corn steeped in water.1565 These beverages are prepared in different ways throughout Gaul and the provinces of Spain; under different names, too, though in their results they are the same. The Spanish provinces have even taught us the fact that these liquors are capable of being kept till they have attained a considerable age. Egypt,1566 too, has invented for its use a very similar beverage made from corn; indeed, in no part of the world is drunkenness ever at a loss. And then, besides, they take these drinks unmixed, and do not dilute them with water, the way that wine is modified; and yet, by Hercules! one really might have supposed that there the earth produced nothing but corn for the people’s use. Alas! what wondrous skill, and yet how misplaced! means have absolutely been discovered for getting drunk upon water even.

There are two liquids that are peculiarly grateful to the human body, wine within and oil without; both of them the produce of trees, and most excellent in their respective kinds. Oil, indeed, we may pronounce an absolute necessary, nor has mankind been slow to employ all the arts of invention in the manufacture of it. How much more ingenious, however, man has shown himself in devising various kinds of drink will be evident from the fact, that there are no less than one hundred and ninety-five different kinds of it; indeed, if all the varieties are reckoned, they will amount to nearly double that number. The various kinds of oil are much less numerous—we shall proceed to give an account of them in the following Book.

Summary.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations, five hundred and ten.

Roman authors quoted.—Cornelius Valerianus,1567 Virgil,1568 Celsus,1569 Cato the Censor,1570 Saserna,1571 father and son, Scrofa,1572 M. Varro,1573 D. Silanus,1574 Fabius Pictor,1575 Trogus,1576 Hyginus,1577 Flaccus Verrius,1578 Græcinus,1579 Julius Atticus,1580 Columella,1581 Massurius Sabinus,1582 Fenestella,1583 Tergilla,1584 Maccius Plautus,1585 Flavius,1586 Dossennus,1587 Scævola,1588 Ælius,1589 Ateius Capito,1590 Cotta Messalinus,1591 L. Piso,1592 Pompeius Lenæus,1593 Fabianus,1594 Sextius Niger,1595 Vibius Rufus.1596

Foreign authors quoted.—Hesiod,1597 Theophrastus,1598 Aristotle,1599 Democritus,1600 King Hiero,1601 King Attalus Philometor,1602 Archytas,1603 Xenophon,1604 Amphilochus1605 of Athens, Anaxipolis1606 of Thasos, Apollodorus1607 of Lemnos, Aristophanes1608 of Miletus, Antigonus1609 of Cymæ, Agathocles1610 of Chios, Apollonius1611 of Pergamus, Aristander1612 of Athens, Botrys1613 of Athens, Bacchius1614 of Miletus, Bion1615 of Soli, Chærea1616 of Athens, Chæristus1617 of Athens, Diodorus1618 of Priene, Dion1619 of Colophon, Epigenes1620 of Rhodes, Euagon1621 of Thasos, Euphronius1622 of Athens, Androtion1623 who wrote on agriculture, Æschrion1624 who wrote on agriculture, Lysimachus1625 who wrote on agriculture, Dionysius1626 who translated Mago, Diophanes1627 who made an Epitome of the work of Dionysius, Asclepiades1628 the Physician, Onesicritus,1629 King Juba.1630