1254 See B. iii. c. 22, and B. xvii. c. 3. Pucinum was in Istria, and the district is said still to produce good wine; according to Dalechamps, the place is called Pizzino d’Istria.
1255 The hills of Setia, looking down on the Pomptine Marshes: now Sezza, the wine of which is of no repute.
1256 See B. iii. c. 9.
1257 See B. iii. c. 9. Between Fundi and Setia; a locality now of no repute for its wines. In B. xxiii. c. 19, Pliny says, that the Cæcuban vine was extinct: but in B. xvii. c. 3, he says that in the Pomptine Marshes it was to be found.
1258 This was the case, it has been remarked, with Madeira some years ago.
1259 This is the most celebrated of all the ancient wines, as being more especially the theme of the poets.
1260 See B. xi. c. 97. The wines of the Falernian district are no longer held in any esteem; indeed, all the Campanian wines are sour, and of a disagreeable flavour.
1261 It appears to have been exceedingly rich in alcohol.
1262 But in B. xxiii. c. 20, he assigns the first rank to the Albanum; possibly, however, as a medicinal wine. The wines of Latium are no longer held in esteem.
1263 See B. xxiii. c. 21.
1264 From Surrentum, the promontory forming the southern horn of the Bay of Naples. Ovid and Martial speak in praise of these wines; they were destitute of richness and very dry, in consequence of which they required twenty-five years to ripen.
1265 Or “dead vinegar.” “Vappa” was vinegar exposed to the air, and so destitute of its properties, and quite insipid.
1266 Excellent wines are still produced in the vicinity of this place. Massicum was one of the perfumed wines. Gaurus itself produced the “Gauranum,” in small quantity, but of high quality, full-bodied and thick.
1267 For the Calenian Hills, see B. iii. c. 9; see also B. xxiii. c. 12, for some further account of the wines of Stata. The wines of that district are now held in no esteem.
1268 From Fundi. See B. iii. c. 9.
1269 Now Castel del Volturno: although covered with vineyards, its wines are of no account. This wine always tasted as if mixed with some foreign substance.
1270 Now Piperno. It was a thin and pleasant wine.
1271 Now Segni, in the States of the Church.
1272 Written to the Senate, also to Cicero. We learn from Suetonius that they were partly written in cipher.
1273 Messina, at the present day, exports wines of very good quality, and which attain a great age.
1274 It was sound, light, and not without body.
1275 “Lagenæ.” The same spot, now Taormina in Sicily, between Catania and Messina, still produces excellent wines.
1276 See B. iii. c. 18. Fée says that this is thought to have been the wine of Syrol, of last century, grown near Ancona.
1277 “Palma.” Notwithstanding this suggestion, it is more generally supposed that they had their name from the place called Palma, near Marano, on the Adriatic. Its wines are still considered of agreeable flavour.
1278 The wines of modern Cezena enjoy no repute, owing, probably, to the mode of making them.
1279 Probably so called because it was brought into fashion by Mæcenas.
1280 See Georg. ii. 95. The wines of the Tyrol, the ancient Rhætia, are still considered as of excellent quality.
1281 Of Adria, or the Adriatic Sea.
1282 See B. iii. c. 20. These wines are of little repute.
1283 In Latium. See B. iii. c. 9.
1284 From Graviscæ. See B. iii. c. 8.
1285 See B. ii. c. 96, B. iii. c. 9, and B. xxxvi. c. 49.
1286 The wines of Genoa are of middling quality only, and but little known.
1287 Or “juicy” wine.
1288 Now Beziers, in the south of France. The wines of this part are considered excellent at the present day. That of Frontignan grows in its vicinity. Fée is inclined to think, from Pliny’s remarks here, that the ancients and the moderns differed entirely in their notions as to what constitutes good or bad wine.
1289 He means, beyond modern Provence, and Languedoc: districts famous for their excellent wines, more particularly the latter.
1290 Fée deems all this quite incredible. Our English experience, however, tells us that it is by no means so; much of the wine that is drunk in this country is indebted for flavour as well as colour to anything but the grape.
1291 The wines of modern Otranto are ordinarily of good quality.
1292 Baccius reads “Seberiniana,” but is probably wrong. If he is not, it might allude to the place now known as San Severino, and which produces excellent wine. Fée thinks that these wines were grown in the territory of Salerno, which still enjoys celebrity for its muscatel wines.
1293 See B. iii. c. 10. The wines of modern Cosenza still enjoy a high reputation.
1294 M. Valerius Messala Corvinus, the writer and partisan of Augustus. See end of B. ix.
1295 A place supposed to have been situated near Thurii.
1296 See B. iii. c. 15.
1297 Said by Galen to be very wholesome, as well as pleasant. The wines of the vicinity of Naples are still held in high esteem.
1298 Galen says that it was very similar to the Falernian.
1299 See B. iii. c. 9.
1300 The Trifoline territory was in the vicinity of Cumæ. It is possible that the wine may have had its name from taking three years to come to maturity; or possibly it was owing to some peculiarity in the vine.
1302 Twelve o’clock in the day.
1303 See B. iii. c. 4.
1304 In Catalonia, which still produces abundance of wine, but in general of inferior repute.
1305 The wines of Tarragona are still considered good.
1306 A place in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis, destroyed by Sertorius.
1307 They still enjoy a high repute. The fame of their Malvoisie has extended all over the world.
1308 He means to illustrate the capricious tastes that existed as to the merits of wines.
1310 The Chian held the first rank, the Thasian the second.
1311 From Arvisium, or Ariusium, a hilly district in the centre of the island. The wine of Chios still retains its ancient celebrity.
1312 It was remarkable for its sweetness, and aromatics were sometimes mixed with it. Homer calls it harmless. Lesbos still produces choice wines.
1314 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.
1315 If drunk by itself, and not as a flavouring for other wines.
1316 Bacchus had a temple there.
1317 The wines of Cyprus are the most choice of all the Grecian wines at the present day.
1318 In Lycia.
1319 In Syria. Wine is no longer made there, but the grapes are excellent, and are dried for raisins.
1320 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.
1321 At the village of Sour, on the site of ancient Tyre, the grape is only cultivated for raisins.
1323 The “smoky” grape.
1324 The “pitchy” grape.
1325 A strong wine, Hardouin thinks, from whence its name—“strong enough to subdue a horse.”
1326 From the small island of Mystus, near Cephallenia.
1327 So called from the vine the name of which was “canthareus.”
1328 Made, as already stated, from the juice that flowed spontaneously from the grapes. See also p. 250.
1329 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:—
1330 Perhaps from Petra in Arabia: though Fée suggests Petra in the Balearic Islands.
1331 See B. iv. c. 22. In the island of Myconos in the Archipelago an excellent wine is still grown.
1332 From Mount Mesogis, which divides the tributaries of the Caÿster from those of the Meander. It is generally considered the same as the Tmolites.
1333 Must or grape-juice boiled down to one half.
1334 See B. v. c. 29.
1335 “Mulsum,” or honied wine, was of two kinds; honey mixed with wine, and honey mixed with must or grape-juice.
1336 From its Greek name, it would seem to mean “of first quality.”
1337 So called from a place in Eubœa, the modern Negropont. See. B. iv. c. 20. Negropont produces good wines at the present day.
1338 The locality is unknown.
1339 From Leucadia, or Leucate; see B. iv. c. 2; the vine was very abundant there.
1340 From Ambracia. See B. iv. c. 2.
1341 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.”
1342 B. xxiii. c. 1, and c. 26.
1343 “Cadis.”
1344 Fée remarks that this method is still adopted in making several of the liqueurs.
1345 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.
1346 “Sea-water” wine.
1347 “Sea-seasoned” wine.
1348 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.
1349 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.
1350 Sillig thinks that the proper reading is “in six” only.
1351 The sweet wines, in modern times, have the most bouquet or aroma.
1352 “Albus,” pale straw-colour.
1353 “Fulvus,” amber-colour.
1354 Bright and glowing, like Tent and Burgundy.
1355 “Niger,” the colour of our port.
1356 Supposed to be a species of Pramnian wine, mentioned in c. 6. This was used, as also the Aminean, for making omphacium, as mentioned in B. xii. c. 60. See also c. 18 of this Book.
1357 “Black psythian.”
1358 Mentioned by Galen among the sweet wines.
1359 See B. iii. c. 14. Now Solana in Sicily, which produces excellent wine.
1360 Honied wine.
1361 This was evidently a kind of grape sirop, or grape jelly. “Rob” is perhaps, as Hardouin suggests, a not inappropriate name for it.
1362 When cold, they would have nearly the same consistency.
1363 The raisin wine of Crete was the most prized of all as a class.
1366 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.
1367 The reading is probably defective here.
1368 Passum secundarium.
1369 Or “always sweet.”
1370 “Always must.”
1371 Fervere, “boil,” or “effervesce.”
1372 “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.
1374 “Poured,” or “strained through.”
1375 “Honey wine.” A disagreeable medicament, Fée thinks, rather than a wine.
1376 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.
1377 Or “second” press wines.
1378 De Re Rust. c. 153.
1379 Vinum operarium.
1380 This method is still adopted, Fée says, in making “piquette,” or “small wine,” throughout most of the countries of Europe.
1381 Or “wine-lee drink.” It would make an acid beverage, of disagreeable taste.
1382 “Nobilia.” In c. 29 he speaks of 195 kinds, and, reckoning all the varieties, double that number.
1383 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.
1384 “Circa pericula arbusti.” This is probably the meaning of this very elliptical passage. See p. 218.
1385 Called Metellus, by Valerius Maximus, B. vi. c. 3.
1387 Over the Celtiberi.
1388 The younger Pliny, B. ii. Ep. 2, censures this stingy practice. See also Martial, B. iii. Epig. 60.
1389 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.
1390 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.
1391 As the “Persa” has come down to us, we find no mention of myrrh in the passage alluded to.
1393 Aromatic or perfumed wines.
1394 Murrhinam.
1395 The Cheat or Impostor: a play of Plautus. See A. ii. sc. 4, l. 51, et seq.
1396 Must boiled down to half its original quantity.