1398 This writer is unknown.
1399 Or amphora.
1400 Vessels containing a congius, or the eighth of an amphora, nearly six pints English.
1402 B.C. 46.
1404 Or “labrusca.” “Œnanthinum” means “made of vine flowers.” The wild vine is not a distinct species from the cultivated vine: it is only a variety of it, known in botany as the Vitis silvestris labrusca of Tournefort. Fée thinks that as the must could only be used in autumn, when the wild vine was not flowering, the flowers of it must have been dried.
1405 “Solstitiales.” Because they withstand the heat of the solstice. Marcellus Empiricus calls them “caniculati,” because they bear the heat of the Dog-star.
1406 Fée remarks that this assertion is quite erroneous.
1407 From the Greek, meaning “without strength.” The mixture, Fée remarks, would appear to be neither potable nor wholesome.
1408 See B. xviii. c. 24. A kind of beer might be made with it, Fée says; but this mixture must have been very unpalatable.
1410 A vinous drink may be made in the manner here stated; but the palm-wine of the peoples of Asia and Africa is only made of the fermented sap of the tree. See B. xiii. c. 9.
1411 He says “caryotæ,” and not chydææ, in B. xiii. c. 4. The modius was something more than our peck.
1412 From the Greek σύκη, a “fig.” This wine was made, Fée thinks, from the produce of some variety of the sycamore. See B. xiii. c. 14.
1413 “Prime palm” apparently.
1414 Tortivum, probably: the second squeezing.
1418 From ῥόα, a “pomegranate.”
1419 Dioscorides calls it “strobilites.” Fée says that they could be of no service in producing a vinous drink.
1421 Or “myrtle wine.”
1422 Myrtle will not make a wine, but simply a medicament, in which wine is the menstruum.
1423 Artemisia abrotonum of Linnæus.
1424 Ruta graveolens of Linnæus.
1425 Nepeta cataria of Linnæus.
1426 Thymus serpyllum of Linnæus.
1427 Marrubium vulgare of Linnæus.
1428 Grape-juice boiled down to one-third.
1429 Brassica napus of Linnæus.
1430 Scilla marina of Linnæus.
1432 Nardus silvestris or baccaris.
1433 Aromatic wines.
1435 Valeriana Celtica.
1436 Convolvulus scoparius of Linnæus.
1437 Andropogon schœnanthus of Linnæus.
1438 Costus Indicus of Linnæus.
1439 Andropogon nardus of Linnæus.
1442 Crocus sativus of Linnæus.
1443 Asarum Europæum of Linnæus.
1445 Condita.
1446 Piperata.
1447 Inula helenium of Linnæus. See B. xxi. c. 91.
1448 Medicago sativa of Linnæus.
1449 Symphytum officinale of Linnæus, being all different varieties.
1450 “Absinthites” made of the Artemisia Pontica of Linnæus. A medicinal wine is still prepared with wormwood; and “apsinthe,” a liqueur much esteemed in France, is made from it.
1451 Hyssopites.
1452 Hyssopites officinalis of Linnæus.
1453 Helleborites.
1454 Scammonites.
1455 Fée says that this is not the fact; and queries whether the vulgar notion still entertained on this subject, may not be traced up to our author. It is a not uncommon belief that roses smell all the sweeter if onions are planted near them.
1456 Lavendula stœchas of Linnæus. See B. xxvii. c. 107.
1457 Gentiana lutea of Linnæus. See B. xxv. c. 34. Gentian wine is still made.
1458 Thymus tragoriganum of Linnæus. See B. xx. c. 68.
1459 Origanum dictamnus of Linnæus. See B. xxv. c. 63.
1461 Query, if not carrot? See B. xxv. c. 64.
1462 A variety of salvia or sage: it will be mentioned again, further on.
1463 Laserpitium hirsutum of Linnæus. See B. xxv. cc. 11, 12, and 13.
1464 Acorus calamus of Linnæus. See B. xxv. c. 100.
1465 See B. xxi. c. 32.
1466 See B. xxi. c. 31.
1467 Atrapora mandragora of Linnæus. This wine would act as a narcotic poison, it would appear.
1468 Andropogon schœnanthus of Linnæus. See B. xxi. c. 72.
1469 The origin and meaning of these names are unknown.
1471 Cupressus sempervirens of Linnæus.
1473 Juniperus communis of Linnæus.
1476 “Chamelæa.” The Granium Cnidium, Daphne Cnidium, and Daphne cneorum of Linnæus. See B. xiii. c. 35. Venomous plants, which, taken internally, would be productive of dangerous results.
1477 Chamæpitrys. The Teucrium chamæpitrys of Linnæus. See B. xxv. c. 20.
1478 Chamædrys. The Teucrium chamædrys of Linnæus. See B. xxiv. c. 80. Dioscorides mentions most of these so-called wines.
1479 Mead, or metheglin. See B. xxii. c. 51.
1480 There is no ground, Fée says, for this recommendation.
1481 Stoves are now used for this purpose.
1482 “Hydromēlum,” on the other hand, made of water and apples, was the same as our modern cider.
1483 See B. xxiii. c. 9.
1484 “Subfervefactis.” “Just come on the boil.”
1485 The oxymel of modern times contains no salt, and is only used as a medicament.
1486 As drinks, no doubt; and with good reason, as to most of them.
1487 Coactus.
1488 Our medicinal wines will mostly keep longer than this, owing probably to the difference in the mode of making the real wines that form their basis.
1489 There is little doubt that this is fabulous: wine taken in excess, we know, is productive of loss of the senses, frenzy in the shape of delirium tremens.
1490 This is not unlikely; for, as Fée remarks, the red wines, containing a large proportion of alcohol, act upon the brain and promote sleep, while the white wines, charged with carbonic gas, are productive of wakefulness.
1491 Or healing vine. See B. xxiii. c. 11.
1492 “Libanios.” Probably incense was put in this wine, to produce the flavour.
1493 From ἀ, “not,” and σπένδειν, “to make libation.”
1495 From ἐκβάλλω, “to eject.”
1496 Apothecis.
1497 He alludes to the working of wines in periods of extreme heat; also in the spring.
1498 Of our modern wines, Madeira and Bourdeaux improve by being carried across sea. Burgundy, if any thing, deteriorates, by the diminution of its bouquet.
1499 After the grapes had been trodden and pressed, the husks were taken out and their edges cut, and then again subjected to pressure: the result was known as “tortivum,” or “circumcisivum,” a wine of very inferior quality.
1500 He alludes to the young shoots, which have an agreeable acidity, owing to acetic and tartaric acids.
1501 Acetic acid; the result, no doubt, of the faulty mode of manufacture universally prevalent; their wines contained evidently but little alcohol.
1502 See B. xxiii. c. 24, and B. xxxvi. c. 48.
1503 A process very likely, as Fée remarks, to turn the wines speedily to vinegar.
1504 Down to one-third. This practice of using boiled grape-juice as a seasoning, is still followed in Spain in making some of the liqueurs; but it is not generally recommended.
1506 Asia Minor, namely.
1509 It produces but a very minute quantity of resin, which is no longer an article of commerce.
1510 See B. xiii. c. 11, and B. xvi. c. 21. Not the cedar of Lebanon, probably, which only gives a very small quantity of resin, but one of the junipers.
1511 Fée suggests that this may have been the resin of the Arabian terebinth.
1512 See B. xxiv. c. 22.
1513 Perhaps from the Pistacia terebinthus of Linnæus.
1514 This was made from the terebinth: but the modern resin of Colophon is extracted from varieties of the coniferæ.
1515 See B. xxiv. c. 22.
1516 Earths are not soluble in oils.
1517 As being a mark of extreme effeminacy.
1518 The greater the quantity of alcohol, the more resin the wine would be able to hold in solution.
1520 “Crapula” properly means head-ache, and what is not uncommonly known as “seediness.” Resined wine was thought to be productive of these effects, and hence obtained the name. This kind of wine was used itself, as we see above, in seasoning the other kinds. Fée remarks, that in reality resins have no such effect as imparting body to weak wines.
1521 The whole of this passage is hopelessly corrupt, and we can only guess at the meaning.
1522 We have already stated that “vappa” is properly vinegar, which has been exposed to the air and has lost its flavour. In this fresh chemical change, which he calls a second fermentation, the wine becomes vinegar; and probably in the cases he mentions, for some peculiar reason, its speedy transition to “vappa” could not be arrested.
1523 Mixed with water, it was the “posca,” or common drink of the Roman soldiers; and it was used extensively both by Greeks and Romans in their cooking, and at meals.
1525 By the mixture of ashes, Fée says, the wines would lose their colour, and have a detestable alkaline flavour.
1526 A perfect absurdity, Fée remarks.
1528 Bitterness, driness, and a disagreeable smell.
1529 Georg. ii. 498.
1530 See B. iv. c. 12.
1532 See B. xxi. c. 19.
1533 Bees’ wax, Fée remarks, would not have this effect, but vinegar vessels would.
1534 De Re Rust. c. 23.
1535 The second “squeezings.”
1536 If the wine is turning to vinegar, subacetate of lead will be formed.
1537 They are tartrates, and have no affinity at all with nitre.
1538 Casks, in fact, similar to those used in France at the present day. In Spain they use earthen jars and the skins of animals.
1539 Oblong earthen vessels, used as vats.
1540 “Ventruosa.” He means “round.”
1541 As oblong ones, probably.
1542 While fermenting, and before racking off.
1543 Flos vini, the Mycoderma vini of Desmazieres, a mould or pellicule which forms on the surface, and afterwards falls and is held in suspension.
1544 Vessels of lead are never used for this purpose at the present day; as that metal would oxidize too rapidly, and liquids would have great difficulty in coming to a boil. A slow fire must have been used by the ancients.
1545 They were thought to give a bad flavour to the sapa or defrutum.