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CHAP. 19.—SIXTY-SIX VARIETIES OF ARTIFICIAL WINE.

The first of the artificial wines has wine for its basis; it is called "adynamon,"1 and is made in the following manner. Twenty sextarii of white must are boiled down with half that quantity of water, until the amount of the water is lost by evaporation. Some persons mix with the must ten sextarii of sea-water and an equal quantity of rain-water, and leave the whole to evaporate in the sun for forty days. This beverage is given to invalids to whom it is apprehended that wine may prove injurious.

The next kind of artificial wine is that made of the ripe grain of millet;2 a pound and a quarter of it with the straw is steeped in two congii of must, and the mixture is poured off at the end of six months. We have already stated3 how various kinds of wine are made from the tree, the shrub, and the herb, respectively known as the lotus.

From fruit, too, the following wines are made, to the list of which we shall only add some necessary explanations:—First of all, we find the fruit of the palm4 employed for this pur- pose by the Parthians as well as the Indians, and, indeed. throughout all the countries of the East. A modius of the kind of ripe date called "chydææ"5 is added to three congii of water, and after being steeped for some time, they are subjected to pressure. Sycites6 is a preparation similarly made from figs: some persons call it "palmiprimum,"7 others, again, "catorchites:" if sweetness is not the maker's object, instead of water there is added the same quantity of husk juice8 of grapes. Of the Cyprian fig9 a very excellent vinegar, too, is made, and of that of Alexandria10 a still superior.

A wine is made, too, of the pods of the Syrian carob,11 of pears, and of all kinds of apples. That known as" rhoites"12 is made from pomegranates, and other varieties are prepared from cornels, medlars, sorb apples, dried mulberries, and pinenuts;13 these last are left to steep in must, and are then pressed; the others produce a sweet liquor of themselves. We shall have occasion before long to show how Cato14 has pointed out the method of making myrtites:15 the Greeks, however, adopt a different method in making it. They first boil tender sprigs of myrtle with the leaves on in white must, and after pounding them, boil down one pound of the mixture in three congii of must, until it is reduced to a couple of congii. The beverage that is prepared in this manner with the berries of wild myrtle is known as "myrtidanum;"16 it will stain the hands.

Among the garden plants we find wines made of the following kinds: the radish, asparagus, cunila, origanum, parsley- seed, abrotonum,17 wild mint, rue,18 catmint,19 wild thyme,20 and horehound.21 A couple of handfuls of these ingredients are put into a cadus of must, as also one sextarius of sapa,22 and half a sextarius of sea-water. A wine is made of the naphew23 turnip by adding two drachms of naphew to two sextarii of must. A wine is made also from the roots of squills.24 Among the flowers, that of the rose furnishes a wine: the leaves are put in a linen cloth and then pounded, after which they are thrown into must with a small weight attached to make them sink to the bottom, the proportion being forty drachms of leaves to twenty sextarii of must; the vessel in which it is kept must not be opened before the end of three months. A wine, too, is made of Gallic nard,25 and another kind of the wild26 variety of that plant.

I find, also, that various kinds of aromatites27 are prepared, differing but very little in their mode of composition from that of the unguents, being made in the first instance, as I have already stated,28 of myrrh, and then at a later period of Celtic nard,29 calamus, and aspalathus,30 of which cakes are made, and are then thrown into either must or sweet wine. Others, again, make these wines of calamus, scented rush,31 costus,32 Syrian nard,33 amomum,34 cassia,35 cinnamon, saffron,36 palm-dates, and foal-foot,37 all of which are made up into cakes in a similar manner. Other persons, again, put half a pound of nard and malobathrum38 to two congii of must; and it is in this manner that at the present day, with the addition of pepper and honey, the wines are made by some known as confection wines,39 and by others as peppered40 wines. We find mention made of nectarites also, a beverage extracted from a herb known to some as "helenion,"41 to others as "Medica,"42 and to others, again, as symphyton,43 Idea, Orestion, or nectaria, the root of which is added in the proportion of forty drachms to six sextarii of must, being first similarly placed in a linen cloth.

As to other kinds of herbs, we find wormwood wine,44 made of Pontic wormwood in the proportion of one pound to forty sextarii of must, which is then boiled down until it is reduced to one third, or else of slips of wormwood put in wine. In a similar manner, hyssop wine45 is made of Cilician hyssop,46 by adding three ounces of it to two congii of must, or else by pounding three ounces of hyssop, and adding them to one congius of must. Both of these wines may be made also in another method, by sowing these plants around the roots of vines. It is in this manner, too, that Cato tells us how to make hellebore47 wine from black hellebore; and a similar method is used for making scammony48 wine. The vine has a remarkable propensity49 of contracting the flavour of any plant that may happen to be growing near it; and hence it is that in the marshy lands of Patavium, the grape has the peculiar flavour of the willow. So, in like manner, we find at Thasos hellebore planted among the vines, or else wild cucumber, or scammony; the wine that is produced from these vines is known by the name of "phthorium," it being productive of abortion.

Wines are made, too, of other herbs, the nature of which will be mentioned in their respective places, the stœchas50 for instance, the root of gentian,51 tragoriganum,52 dittany,53 foal-foot,54 daucus,55 elelisphacus,56 panax,57 acorus,58 conyza,59 thyme,60 mandragore,61 and sweet rush.62 We find the names mentioned, also, of scyzinum,63 itæomelis, and lectisphagites, compounds of which the receipt is now lost.

The wines that are made from the shrubs are mostly extracted from the two kinds of cedar,64 the cypress,65 the laurel,66 the juniper,67 the terebinth,68 and in Gaul the lentisk.69 To make these wines, they boil either the berries or the new wood of the shrub in must. They employ, also, the wood of the dwarf olive,70 the ground-pine,71 and the germander72 for a similar purpose, adding at the same time ten drachms of the flower to a congius of must.

1 From the Greek, meaning" without strength." The mixture, Fee remarks, would appear to be neither potable nor wholesome.

2 See B. xviii. c. 24. A kind of beer might be made with it, Fée says; but this mixture must have been very unpalatable.

3 See B. xiii. c. 32.

4 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.

5 He says "caryotæ," and not chydææ, in B. xiii. c. 4. The modius was something more than our peck.

6 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.

7 "Prime palm" apparently.

8 Tortivum, probably: the second squeezing.

9 See B. xiii. c. 15.

10 See B. xiii. c. 14.

11 See B. xiii. c. 16.

12 From ῥόα, a "pomegranate."

13 Dioscorides calls it "strobilites." Fée says that they could be of no service in producing a vinous drink.

14 See B. xv. c. 37.

15 Or "myrtle wine."

16 Myrtle will not make a wine, but simply a medicament, in which wine is the menstruum.

17 Artemisia abrotonum of Linnæus.

18 Ruta graveolens of Linnæus.

19 Nepeta cataria of Linnæus.

20 Thymus serpyllum of Linnæus.

21 Marrubium vulgare of Linnæus.

22 Grape-juice boiled down to one-third.

23 Brassica napus of Linnæus.

24 Scilla marina of Linnæus.

25 Nardus Gallicus, or Valeriana Celtica of Linnæus. See B. xii. c. 26.

26 Nardus silvestris or baccaris.

27 Aromatic wines.

28 In c. 15 of this Book.

29 Valeriana Celtica.

30 Convolvulus scoparius of Linnæus.

31 Andropogon schœnanthus of Linnæus.

32 Costus Indicus of Linnæus.

33 Andropogon nardus of Linnæus.

34 See B. xiii. c. 2.

35 See B. xii. c. 43.

36 Crocus sativus of Linnæus.

37 Asarum Europæum of Linnæus.

38 See B. xii. c. 59.

39 Condita.

40 Piperata.

41 Inula helenium of Linnæus. See B. xxi. c. 91.

42 Medicago sativa of Linnæus.

43 Symphytum officinale of Linnæus, being all different varieties.

44 "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.

45 Hyssopites.

46 Hyssopites officinalis of Linnæus.

47 Helleborites.

48 Scammonites.

49 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.

50 Lavendula stœchas of Linnæus. See B. xxvii. c. 107.

51 Gentiana lutea of Linnæus. See B. xxv. c. 34. Gentian wine is still made.

52 Thymus tragoriganum of Linnæus. See B. xx. c. 68.

53 Origanum dictamnus of Linnæus. See B. xxv. c. 63.

54 Asarum Europæum of Linnæus. See B. xii. c. 27.

55 Query, if not carrot? See B. xxv. c. 64.

56 A variety of salvia or sage: it will be mentioned again, further on.

57 Laserpitium hirsutum of Linnæus. See B. xxv. cc. 11, 12, and 13.

58 Acorus calamus of Linnæus. See B. xxv. c. 100.

59 See B. xxi. c. 32.

60 See B. xxi. c. 31.

61 Atrapora mandragora of Linnæus. This wine would act as a narcotic poison, it would appear.

62 Andropogon schœnanthus of Linnæus. See B. xxi. c. 72.

63 The origin and meaning of these names are unknown.

64 See B. xii. c. 11. Juniperus Lycia, and Juniperus Phœnicea of Linnæus.

65 Cupressus sempervirens of Linnæus.

66 Laurus nobilis of Linnæus. See B. xv. c. 39.

67 Juniperus communis of Linnæus.

68 See B. xiii. c. 12. The Pistacia terebinthus of Linnæus.

69 See B. xii. c. 36. The Pistacia lentiscus of Linnæus.

70 "Chamelæ." 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.

71 Chamæpitrys. The Teucrium chamæpitrys of Linnæus. See B. xxv. c. 20.

72 Chamædrys. The Teucrium chamædrys of Linnæus. See B. xxiv. c. 80. Dioscorides mentions most of these so-called wines.

The Natural History. Pliny the Elder. John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S. H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A. London. Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. 1855.

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