VINUM
VINUM (
οἶνος). The general termn
for the fermented juice of the grape.
It appears pretty well established that the use of wine came to the Greeks
from a Semitic source. The word
vinum is
undoubtedly borrowed from
οἶνος, the
neuter form, as in other cases, being due to a misunderstood accusative; and
in spite of Curtius (
Gr. Etym. No. 594) and A.
Müller (Bezzenberger's
Beiträge, 1.294),
οἷνος almost certainly of Semitic
origin (cf. Arab. and Ethiop.
wain, Heb.
jain, which can hardly be, as Renan,
Hist.
gén. des Langues Sémitiques, p. 193,
holds, borrowed from the Aryans). Mommsen's belief that
vinum is not borrowed from
οἶνος, but that both words go back to the common vocabulary of
the two languages, is based mainly upon the hypothesis, now generally
discredited, of a Graeco-Italic unity. The earliest home of the vine was the
fertile country south of the Caucasus and the Caspian; and here we must
place probably the first home of the Semites. So that the use of wine must
be regarded as extending partly by land through Asia Minor and Thrace, in
connexion with which it is worth while remembering the legend of Lycurgus,
and also that Homer lays especial stress on the excellence of Thracian wine,
and partly by the agency of Phoenician traders and Carian settlers. Mommsen
argues that wine cannot have been introduced into Italy by Greeks: first,
because the Latins kept their wine-feasts in honour of the native god Liber,
not the Greek Bacchus; secondly, because according to the legend Mezentius
demanded from the Latins or the Rutulians a tribute of wine, and the Kelts
were attracted to invade Italy by the fame of its wine; and thirdly, because
of the place which wine held in the early sacrificial ritual (
Hist.
of Rome, Bk: 1.100.13). A further proof is found in the name
Oenotria,
“land of the vine-pole,” by which Italy was known to the
Greeks. Hehn holds that legends point clearly to a time when wine was
unknown; and that the fact that Jupiter Liber was the father of the vine
only indicates a borrowing from
Ζεὺς
Ἐλευθέριος or
Δύλσιος. Both
in Greece and in Italy wine was the only drink (besides water) at all in
common use, and even slaves were freely supplied with it in historic times.
But it is plain that wine was both rare and costly in the earlier ages of
Italian and Roman history. Romulus is said to have used milk only in his
offerings to the gods (Plin.
l.c.): Numa to have
prohibited the sprinkling of wine upon the funeral pyre; a law which Pliny
(
14.88) quotes to prove the costliness
of wine, but which, like the story about Romulus, rather shows that it was
believed to have been unknown in the earliest times. To stimulate the
energies of the rustic population, Numa is also said to have ordained that
it should be held impious to offer a libation to the gods of wine which had
flowed from an unpruned stock. The story that Papirius the dictator, when
about to join in battle with the Samnites, vowed to Jupiter a small cupful
of honeyed wine (
mulsi pocillum) if he should
gain the victory, does not so much prove, as Pliny thinks, the dearness of
wine, as the rough jesting humour of the general, especially as he added
that he should follow this with a draught of
temetum for himself. Soldiers, too, drank it at a triumph (see
below). That wine was racked off into amphorae and stored up in regular
cellars as early as the era of the Gracchi, Pliny considers proved by the
existence in his own day of the
Vinum
Opimianum, described hereafter. But even then no specific
appellation was given to the produce of different localities, and the jar
was marked with the name of the consul alone. For many years after this
foreign wines were considered far superior to native growths (one of the
most
[p. 2.963]interesting signs of this being the 23
Rhodian amphorae recently found at Praeneste); and so precious were the
Greek vintages esteemed in the times of Marius and Sulla that a single
draught only was offered to the guests at a banquet. The rapidity with which
luxury spread in this matter is well illustrated by the saying of M. Varro
(
Plin. Nat. 14.96), that Lucullus when
a boy never saw an entertainment in his father's house, however splenldid,
at which Greek wine was handed round more than once; but when in manhood he
returned from his Asiatic conquests, he bestowed on the people a largess of
more than a hundred thousand cadi. An imitated Greek wine was made at an
early date, for making which Cato, 24, 112, and
Col.
12.37, give rules. Four different kinds of wine are said to have
been presented for the first time at the feast given by Julius Caesar in his
third consulship (B.C. 46), these being Falernian, Chian, Lesbian, and
Mamertine; and not until after this date were the merits of the numerous
varieties, foreign and domestic, accurately known and fully appreciated. But
during the reign of Augustus and his immediate successors the study of wines
became a passion, and the most scrupulous care was bestowed upon every
process connected with their production and preservation. Viticulture was
very profitable, and the Italian wines became famous even as far as India
(Arrian,
Peripl. 6, 49). Pliny calculates that the number of
wines in the whole world deserving to be accounted of high quality (
nobilia) amounted to eighty, of which his own
country could claim two-thirds (14.87); and in another passage (14.150) he
asserts that 195 distinct kinds might be reckoned up, and that if all the
varieties of these were to be included in the computation, the sum would be
almost doubled (
Plin. Nat. 14.150).
The process followed in wine-making was essentially the same among both the
Greeks and the Romans. After the grapes had been gathered, they were first
trodden with the feet, as is represented in the following cut from an
ancient relief (Mon.
Matth. iii. tab. 45). Afterwards
|
Treading the grapes. (From a rellef.)
|
they were submitted to the action of the press. [
TORCULAR]
The sweet unfermented juice of the grape was termed
γλεῦκος by the Greeks and
mustum by the Romans, the latter word being properly an adjective
signifying
new or
fresh (cf.
Cato,
Cat. Agr. 115). Of this there were
several kinds distinguished according to the manner in which each was
originally obtained and subsequently treated. That which flowed from the
clusters, in consequence merely of their pressure upon each other before any
force was applied, was known as
πρόχυμα
(Geopon. 6.16) or
protropum (
Plin. Nat. 14.85), and was reserved for
manufacturing a particular species of rich wine described by Pliny (
l.c.) to which the inhabitants of Mytilene gave the
name of
πρόδρομος or
πρότροπος (
Athen.
1.30 b, ii. p. 45 e). That which was obtained next, before the grapes
had been fully trodden, was the
mustum lixivum,
and was considered best for keeping (Cato,
Cat. Agr.
23; Geopon. 6.16;
Col. 12.41). After
the grapes had been fully trodden and pressed, the mass was taken out, the
edges of the husks cut (
circumcidunt extrena), and
the whole again subjected to the press: the result was the
mustum tortivum or
circumcisicium (Cato,
Cat. Agr. 23;
Varr. 1.54;
Col. 12.36), which was set apart and
used for inferior purposes.
A portion of the must was used at once, being. drunk fresh after it had been
clarified with vinegar (Geopon. 6.15). When it was desired to preserve a
quantity in the sweet state, an amphora was taken and coated with pitch
within and without; it was filled with
mustum
lixivum, and corked so as to be perfectly air-tight. It was then
immersed in a tank of cold fresh water or buried in wet sand, and allowed to
remain for a month, six weeks, or two months. The contents after this
process were found to remain unchanged for a year, and hence the name
ἀεὶ γλεῦκος, i.e.
semper mustum (Geopon. 6.16; Plut.
Quaest.
Nat. 26; Cato,
Cat. Agr. 120;
Col. 12.29;
Plin. Nat. 14.83). This was probably the
οἶνος of the Gospel parable of the wine-skins: at least it
alone fulfils the necessary conditions of the case: cf. Farrar,
Excursus III. on St. Luke. A considerable quantity of
must from the best and oldest vines was inspissated by boiling, being then
distinguished by the Greeks under the general names of
ἕψημα or
γλύξις (
Ath. 1.31 e), while the Latin writers have various
terms according to the extent to which the evaporation was carried. Thus,
when the must was reduced to two-thirds of its original volume, it became
caroenum (Pallad. Octobr. tit. xviii.); when
one-half had evaporated,
defrutum (Plin.
H.
N. x. 14.80); when twothirds,
sapa
(known also by the Greek names
siraeum and
hepsema, Plin.
l.c.), but these words are frequently interchanged. (See Varr. ap.
Non. p. 551 M.;
Col. 12.19.) Similar
preparations are at the present time called in Italy
musto cotto and
sapa, and in France
sabe. The process was carried on in large
caldrons (
vasa defrutaria), over a slow fire of
chips, on a night when there was no moon (
Plin.
Nat. 18.318), the scum being carefully removed with leaves (Plin.
l.c.;
Verg. G. 1.296,
4.269), and the liquid constantly stirred to prevent it from
burning (
Plin. Nat. 23.62; Cato,
Cat. Agr. 105;
Col.
12.19,
20,
21; Pallad. 11.18; Dioscorid. 5.9). These grape-jellies--for they
were nothing else--were used extensively for giving body to poor wines and
making them keep, and entered as ingredients into many drinks, such as the
burranica potio, so called from its red
colour ( “a rufo colore quem burrum vocant” ), which was formed
by mixing
sapa with milk (Paul. D., s. v.
Burranica; compare Ovid,
Ov. Fast. 4.782), and others described
hereafter.
[p. 2.964]
The whole of the mustum not employed for some of the above purposes was
conveyed from the
lacus to the
cella vinaria (
οἰνοθήκη,
πιθεῶν, Geopon. 6.2, 12), an apartment on the groundfloor or
a little below the surface, placed in such a situation as to secure a
moderate and equable temperature, and at a distance from dunghills or other
objects emitting a strong odour (Varro,
R. R. 1.13, 6;
Plin. Nat. 14.133; Geopon.
l.c.). Here were the
dolia (
πίθοι), otherwise called
seriae [
DOLIUM], long bell-mouthed vessels of earthenware
[hooped tubs of wood (
cupae = lqinea vasa) being
employed in cold climates only,
Plin. Nat.
14.132], very carefully formed of the best clay and lined with a
coating of pitch (
πισσωθέντα,
picata), the operation (
πίσσωσις,
picatio) being usually performed while they were hot
from the furnace. They were usually sunk (
depressa,
defossa, demersa) one-half or two-thirds in the ground; to the
former depth if the wine to be contained was likely to prove strong, to the
latter if weak, and attention was paid that they should repose upon a dry
bed. They were moreover sprinkled with sea-water or brine, fumigated with
aromatic plants and rubbed with their ashes; all rank-smelling substances,
such as rotten leather, garlic, cheese, and the like, being removed, lest
they should impart a taint to the wine (Geopon. 6.2, 3, 4; Cato,
R.
R 23; Varro, 1.13;
Col. 12.18,
25;
Dig. 33,
6,
3). In these
dolia the process of fermentation took place. They
were not filled quite full, in order that the scum only might boil over, and
this was also cleared off at regular intervals by skimming, and carried to a
distance. The fermentation usually lasted for about nine days; and as soon
as it had subsided and the
mustum had become
vinum, the dolia were closely covered, the
upper portion of their interior surface as well as the lids (
opercula doliorum) having been previously well
rubbed over with a compound of defrutum, saffron, old pitch, mastic, and
fircones (Geopon. 6.12; Cato,
Cat. Agr. 107;
Varro, 1.65;
Col. 12.25,
80). The
opercula were taken off about
once every thirty-six days, and oftener in hot weather, in order to cool and
give air to the contents, to add any preparation required to preserve them
sound, and to remove any impurities that might be thrown up. Particular
attention was paid to the peculiar light scum, the
ἄνθος οἴνου (
flos vini), which
frequently appeared on the surface after a certain time, since it was
supposed to afford indications by its colour and consistence of the quality
of the wine. If red (
πορφυρίζον), broad,
and soft, it was a sign that the wine was sound, though Pliny regards it as
a bad sign, except with red wine; if glutinous, it was a bad symptom; if
black or yellow, it denoted want of body; if white, it was a proof that the
wine would keep well (
μόνιμον). Each time
that the opercula were replaced they were well rubbed with fircones (Geopon.
7.15;
Col. 12.38). [
THYRSUS]
The commoner sorts of wine were drunk direct from the dolium, and hence
draught wine was called
vinum doliare or
vinum de cupa (
Dig.
18,
6,
1,
4; Hor.
Epod. 2.47, “horna dulci
vina promens dolio;”
Cic. in Pis. 27, 67,
“vinum de cupa” ); but the finer kinds, such as were
yielded by choice localities and possessed sufficient body to bear keeping,
were drawn off (
diffundere,
μεταγγίζειν), generally the next spring,
into
amphorae, cadi or
lagoenae, many fanciful precautions being observed in transferring
them from the larger to the smaller vessel (Geopon. 7.5, 6). These
amphorae were made of earthenware, and in later
times occasionally of glass; they were stoppered tight by a plug of wood or
cork (
cortex, suber), which was rendered
impervious to air by being smeared over with pitch, clay, or gypsum (Cato,
Cat. Agr. 120;
Hor. Carm. 3.8.10). The practice of using
cork seems to have been comparatively late, and to have been introduced from
Gaul (Hehn,
Kulturpflanzen,3 p. 511). On
the outside the title of the wine was painted, the date of the vintage being
marked by the names of the consuls then in office; or when the jars were of
glass, little tickets (
pittacia, tesserae) were
suspended from them indicating these particulars (Petron. 34). The amphorae
were then stored up in repositories (
apothecae,
Col. 1.6;
Plin. Ep.
2.17;
horrea, Senec.
Ep.
115;
tabulata,
Col. 12.41) completely distinct from the
cella vinaria, and usually placed in the
upper story of the house (whence
descende, testa,
Hor. Carm. 3.21.7;
deripere horreo, 3.28, 7) for a reason explained afterwards.
It is manifest that wines prepared and bottled, if we may use the phrase, in
the manner described above, must have contained a great quantity of dregs
and sediment, and it became absolutely necessary to separate these before it
was drunk. This was sometimes effected by fining with yolks of eggs, those
of pigeons being considered most appropriate by the fastidious (Hor.
Sat. 2.4, 56), or with the whites whipped
up with salt (Geopon. 7.22), but more commonly by simply straining through
small cuplike utensils of silver or bronze perforated with numerous small
holes, and distinguished by the various names
ὑλιστήρ, τρύγοιπος, ἠθμός,
colum vinarium (Geopon. 7.37). [
COLUM] Occasionally a piece of
linen cloth (
σάκκος,
saccus) was placed over the
τρύγοιπος or
colum
(Pollux, 6.19, 10.75) and the wine (
σακκίας,
saccatus) filtered through (Martial,
8.45). The use of the
saccus was considered objectionable for all delicate wines, since
it was believed to injure (Hor.
Sat. 2.4, 54)
if not entirely to destroy their flavour, and in every instance to diminish
the strength of the liquor. For this reason it was employed by the
dissipated in order that they might be able to swallow a greater quantity
without becoming intoxicated (
Plin. Nat.
14.138, cf. 19.53; Cic.
de Fin. 2.8,
23). The double purpose of cooling and weakening was effectually
accomplished by placing ice or snow in the filter, which under such
circumstances became a
colum nivarium (Martial,
14.103) or
saccus
nivarius (14.104).
The wine procured from the
mustum tortivum, which was
always kept by itself, must have been thin and poor enough, but a still
inferior beverage was made by pouring water upon the husks and stalks after
they had been fully pressed, allowing them to soak, pressing again, and
fermenting the liquor thus obtained. This, which was given to labourers in
winter instead of wine, was the
θάμνα or
δευτέριος of the Greeks, the
lora or
vinum operarium
of the Romans, and according to Varro (Non. p. 551 M.) was, along with sapa,
defrutum, and passum, the drink of
[p. 2.965]elderly women.
(See
Athen. 10.440.) The Greeks
added the water in the proportion of 1/3 of the must previously pressed out,
and then boiled down the mixture until had evaporated; the Italians added
the water in the proportion of 1/10 of the must, and threw in the skimmings
of the defrutum and the dregs of the lacus. Another drink of the same
character was the
faecatum from wine-lees, and
we hear also of
vinum praeliganeum given to the
vintagers, which appears to have been manufactured from inferior and
half-ripe fruit gathered before the regular period (Geopon. 6.3; Cato,
Cat. Agr. 23,
57,
153; Varro, 1.54;
Col. 12.40;
Plin. Nat. 14.86).
We find an analogy to the above processes in the manufacture of cider, the
best being obtained from the first squeezing of the apples and the worst
from the pulp and skins macerated in water.
In all the best wines hitherto described the grapes are supposed to have been
gathered as soon as they were fully ripe and fermentation to have run its
full course. But a great variety of sweet wines were manufactured by
checking the fermentation, or by partially drying the grapes, or by
converting them completely into raisins. The
γλυκὺς
οἶνος of the Geoponic writers (7.19) belongs to the first
class. Must obtained in the ordinary manner was thrown into the dolia, which
remained open for three days only and were then partially covered for two
more; a small aperture was left until the seventh day, when they were luted
up. If the wine was wished to be still sweeter, the dolia were left open for
five days and then at once closed. The free admission of air being necessary
for brisk fermentation, and this usually continuing for nine days, it is
evident that it would proceed weakly and imperfectly under the above
circumstances. For the
Vinum Dulce of Columella
(12.27) the grapes were to be dried in the sun for three days after they
were gathered, and trodden on the fourth during the full fervour of the
mid-day heat. The
mustum lixivum alone was to
be used, and after the fermentation was finished an ounce of well-ground
iris-root was added to each 50 sextarii; the wine was racked off from the
lees, and was found to be sweet, sound, and wholesome (Colum.
l.c.). For the
Vinum Diachytum, more
luscious still, the grapes were exposed to the, sun for seven days upon
hurdles (
Plin. Nat. 14.84).
Lastly,
Passum or
raisin-wine was made from grapes which were dried in the sun until
they had lost half their weight, or plunged into boiling oil, which produced
a similar effect, or the bunches after they were ripe were allowed to hang
for some weeks upon the vine, the stalks being twisted or an incision made
into the pith of the bearing shoot so as to put a stop to vegetation. The
stalks and stones were removed, the raisins were steeped in must or good
wine, and then trodden or subjected to the gentle action of the press. The
quantity of juice which flowed forth was measured, and an equal quantity of
water added to the pulpy residuum, which was again pressed and the product
employed for an inferior passum called
secundarium, an expression exactly analogous to the
δευτέριος mentioned above. The passum of Crete
was most prized (
Mart. 13.106;
Juv. 14.270), and next in rank were those of
Cilicia, Africa, Italy, and the neighbouring provinces. The kinds known as
Psithium or
Psythium and
Melampsythium possessed
the peculiar flavour of the grape and not that of wine; the
Scybelites from Galatia and the
Aluntium from Sicily in like manner tasted like must. The
grapes most suitable for passum were those which ripened early, especially
the varieties
Apiana (called by the Greeks
Psithia) and
Scripula (Geopon. 7.18;
Col. 12.39;
Plin. Nat. 14.8;
Verg. G. 2.93;
Stat.
Silv. 4.9,
38). Passum was
known to Plautus (
Pseud. 741).
The Greeks recognised three colours in wines:
red
(
μέλας),
white,
i.e. pale straw-colour (
λευκός), and
brown or amber-coloured (
κιῤῥός). (
Athen.
1.32 c.) Pliny distinguishes four:
albus
answering to
λευκός
fulvus to
κιῤῥός, while
μέλας is
subdivided into
sanguineus and
niger, the former being doubtless applied to bright
glowing wines like Tent and Burgundy, while the
niger or
ater (Plaut.
Menaech. 915) would resemble Port. (Ussing on
v. 900 is probably wrong in regarding the epithet as
an intentionally absurd one. In modern Greek red wine is called
κρασὶ μαυρό.) In the ordinary Greek authors the
epithet
ἐρυθρὸς is as common as
μέλας, and will represent the
sanguineus.
We have seen that wine intended for keeping was racked off from the dolia
into amphorae. When it was necessary in the first instance to transport it
from one place to another, or when carried by travellers on a journey, it
was put into bags made of goat-skin (
ἀσκοί,
utres), well pitched over so as to make the seams
perfectly tight. (Cf. the commentators on Matt. 9.17=Mark 2.22, Luke 5.37,
and especially Tristram,
Nat. Hist. Bib. p. 92.) The cut
below, from a bronze found at Herculaneum (
Mus. Borbon. vol.
iii. tav. 28), exhibits a Silenus astride upon
|
Silenus on a wine-skin. ( Mus. Borbon )
|
one of them. When the quantity was large, a number of hides were
sewn together, and the leathern tun thus constructed carried from place to
place in a cart, as shown in the illustration
[p. 2.966]under
AMPHORA (Compare
Lucian,
Lex. 6.)
Among the ancients recourse was had to various devices for preventing or
correcting acidity, heightening the flavour, and increasing the durability
of the inferior kinds of wine. This subject was reduced to a regular system
by the Greeks: Pliny,
14.120, mentions
four authors who had written formal treatises, and the authors of the
Geoponic collection, together with Cato, Varro, and Columella, supply a
multitude of precepts upon the same topic. The object in view was
accomplished sometimes by merely mixing different kinds of wine together,
but more frequently by throwing into the dolia or amphorae various
condiments or seasonings (
ἀρτύσεις,
medicamina, conditurae). When two wines were
mixed together, those were selected which possessed opposite good qualities
and defects (
Athen. 1.32, 6).
Connoisseurs, however, justly valued most those wines which needed no such
treatment (Col. 12.19, 2;
Plin. Nat.
23.45).
The principal substances employed as
conditurae
were--1. sea-water; 2. turpentine, either pure, or in the form of pitch (
pix),
tar (pix liquida), or
resin (
resina); 3. lime, in the form of gypsum,
burnt marble, or calcined shells; 4. inspissated must; 5. aromatic herbs,
spices, and gums: and these were used either singly, or cooked up into a
great variety of complicated confections.
We have already seen that it was customary to line the interior of both the
dolia and the amphorae with a coating of pitch; but besides this it was
common to add this substance, or resin, in powder, to the must during the
fermentation, from a conviction that it not only rendered the wine more
full-bodied, but also communicated an agreeable bouquet, together with a
certain degree of raciness or piquancy (
Plin.
Nat. 14.124; Plutarch,
Symp. 5.3). In Greece the
peasants still drink little but
ῥετσινατό,
which is supposed to be a wholesome corrective to bad food. Wine of this
sort, however, when new (
novicium resinatum)
was accounted unwholesome and apt to induce headache and giddiness (
Plin. Nat. 23.46). From this circumstance it
was denominated
crapula. It was found to be
serviceable in checking the fermentation of the must when too violent.
It must be remembered, that when the vinous fermentation is not well
regulated, it is apt to be renewed, in which case a fresh chemical change
takes place, and the wine is converted into vinegar (
ὄξος,
acetum), and this acid, again, if exposed to the
air, loses its properties and becomes perfectly insipid, in which form it
was called
vappa by the Romans, who used the
word figuratively for a worthless blockhead.
Now the great majority of inferior wines, being thin and watery, and
containing little alcohol, are constantly liable to undergo these changes,
and hence the disposition to acescence was closely watched and combated as
far as possible. With this view those substances were thrown into the dolia
which it was known would neutralise any acid which might be formed, such as
vegetable ashes, which contain an alkali, gypsum, and pure lime, besides
which we find a long list of articles, which must be regarded as preventives
rather than correctives, such as the various preparations of turpentine
already noticed, almonds, raisins steeped in must, parched salt, goat's
milk, cedar-cones, gall-nuts, blazing pine-torches, or red-hot irons
quenched in the liquid, and a multitude of others (Geopon. 7.12, 15, 16,
&c.). But in addition to these, which are all harmless, we find some
traces of the use of the highly poisonous salts of lead for the same purpose
(Geopon. 7.19), a practice which produced the most fatal consequences in the
Middle Ages, and was prohibited by a series of the most stringent
enactments. (See Beckmann's
History of Inventions, vol. i. p.
396, trans.)
Defrutum also was employed to a great extent; but being itself
liable to turn sour, it was not used until its soundness had been tested by
keeping it for a year. It was then introduced, either in its simple state,
in the proportion of a sextarius to the amphora--that is, of 1 to 48--or it
was combined with a great variety of aromatics, according to a prescription
furnished by Columella (12.20). In this receipt, and others of the same
kind, the various herbs were intended to give additional efficacy to the
nourishing powers of the defrutum, and great pains were taken to prevent
them from affecting the taste of the wine. But from a very early period it
was customary to flavour wines highly by a large admixture of perfumes,
plants, and spices. We find a spiced drink (et
ἐξ
ἀ᾽ρωμάταν κατασκευαζόμενος) noticed under the name of
τρίμμα by Athenaeus and the writers of
the New Comedy (
Athen. 1.31 e;
Pollux, 6.18), and for the whole class Pliny has the general term
aromatites (14.107).
There was another and very numerous family of wines, entitled
οἶνο ι ὑγιεινοί, into which drugs were
introduced to produce medicinal effects. Such were
vinum
marrubii (horehound) for coughs; the
scillites (squill-wine), to assist digestion, promote
expectoration, and act as a general tonic;
absithites (wine of wormwood), corresponding to the modern
vermuth, and above all the
myrtites (myrtle-berry wine), which possessed innumerable
virtues (Columell. 12.32-39; Geopon. 8.1, &c.).
Pliny, under the head of
vina ficticia, includes not
only the
ὑγνοι ὑγιεινοί, but a vast
number of others bearing a strong analogy to our British home-made wines,
such as cowslip, ginger, elderberry, and the like; and as we manufacture
champagne out of gooseberries, so the Italians had their imitations of the
costly vintages of the most favoured Asiatic isles. These
vina ficticia were, as may be imagined, almost countless, every
variety of fruit, flower, vegetable, shrub, and perfume being put in
requisition: figs, cornels, medlars, roses, asparagus, parsley, radishes,
laurels, junipers, cassia, cinnamon, saffron, nard, malobathrum, afford but
a small sample. It must be remarked, that there was one material difference
between the method followed by the Greeks and that adopted by the Romans in
cooking these potions. The former included the drug, or whatever it might
be, in a bag, which was suspended in a jar of wine and allowed to remain as
long as was thought necessary; the latter mixed the flavouring ingredient
with the sweet must, and fermented them together, thus obtaining a much more
powerful extract; and this is the plan pursued
[p. 2.967]for
British wines, except that we are obliged to substitute sugar and water for
grape-juice (Geopon. 8.32, 33, 34;
Plin. Nat.
14.98 ff.; Colum.
ll. cc.; Cato,
Cat. Agr. 114,
115).
But not only were spices, fragrant roots, leaves, and gums steeped in wine or
incorporated during fermentation, but even the precious perfumed essential
oils (
unguenta) were mixed with it before it
was drunk. The Greeks were exceedingly partial to this kind of drink
(Aelian,
Ael. VH 12.31). We also learn from
Aelian (
l.c.) that it was named
μυῤῥινίτης, which seems to be the same with
the
μυῤῥίνης of Poseidippus (
Athen. 1.32b), the
μυῤῥίνη of Hesychius, the
μυρίνης of Pollux (6.2), and the
murrina of Plautus (
Pseudol. 745;
compare
nardini amphoraas, Miles Gl. 824; Paul. D., s. vv.
Murrata potio and
Murrina). Others, however, take the
murrina to be identical with
myrtites, i.e. wine either made from myrtle-berries or with an
infusion of them (Col.
l.c.; cf. Ussing
ad loc.) The Romans were not slow to follow the
example set them, valuing bitterness so highly, says Pliny (
Plin. Nat. 13.25), that they were resolved
to enjoy costly perfumes with two senses; and hence the expressions
foliata sitire in Martial (
14.110) and
perfusa mero spumant unguenta
Falerno in Juvenal (6.303).
In a more primitive age we detect the same fondness for the admixture of
something extraneous. Hecamede, when preparing a draught for Nestor, fills
his cup with Pramnian wine, over which she grates goat-milk cheese and
sprinkles the whole with flour (
Il.
11.638), the latter being a common addition at a much later epoch
(
Athen. 10.432). So also the
draught administered by Circe (
Od. 10.234)
consisted of wine, cheese, barley-meal, and honey; and according to
Theophrastus (
Athen. 1.32 a) the wine
drunk in the prytaneum of the Thasians was rendered delicious by their
throwing into the jar which contained it a cake of wheaten flour kneaded up
with honey. (Compare Plut.
Symp. 1.1, 4.)
This leads us on to notice the most generally popular of all these compound
beverages, the
οἰνόμελι of the Greeks, the
mulsum of the Romans. This was of two
kinds; in the one honey was mixed with wine, in the other with must. The
former was said to have been invented by the legendary hero Aristaeus, the
first cultivator of bees (
Plin. Nat.
14.53), and was considered most perfect and palatable when made of
some old rough (
austerum) wine, such as Massic
or Falernian (although Horace objects to the latter for this purpose,
Sat. 2.4, 24), and new Attic honey (
Mart. 4.13,
13.108;
Dioscor. 5.16;
Macr. 7.12). The proportions as
stated in the Geoponic collection were four, by measure, of wine to one of
honey; and various spices and perfumes, such as myrrh, cassia, costum,
malobathrum, nard, and pepper, might be added. The second kind, the
oenomelum of Isidore (
Orig. 20.3.11),
according to the Greek authorities (Geopon. 8.26), was made of must
evaporated to one-half of its original bulk, Attic honey being added in the
proportion of one to ten. This, therefore, was merely a very rich fruit
syrup, in no way allied to wine. The virtues of
mulsum are detailed by Pliny (
Plin.
Nat. 22.60; cf. Geopon.
l.c.); it was
considered the most appropriate draught upon an empty stomach, and was
therefore swallowed immediately before the regular business of a repast
began (Hor.
Sat. 2.4, 25; Senec.
Ep. 122; Petron. 34), and hence the whet (
gustatio) coming before the cup of mulsum was called the
promulsis (
Cic.
Fam. 9.1. 6,
8, and 20, 1). We
infer from Plautus (
Bacch. 967, 1071; compare
Liv. 38.55,
2) that
mulsum was given at a triumph by the
Imperator to his soldiers.
Mulsum (sc.
vinum)
or
οἰνόμελι is perfectly distinct from
mulsa (sc.
aqua). The latter, or
mead, being made of
honey and water mixed and fermented, is the
μελίκρατον or
ὑδρόμελι of
the Greeks (Geopon. 8.28; Dioscorid. 5.9; Col. 12.12, 3; Isidor.
Orig. 20.3.10;
Plin. Nat.
14.113), although Pollux confounds (6.2)
μελίκρατον with
οἰνόμελι.
Again,
ὑδρόμηλον (Geopon. 8.27) or
hydromelum (Isidor.
Orig. 20.3.11)
was cider;
ὀξύμελι (
Plin. Nat. 14.114) was a compound of
vinegar, honey, salt, and pure water, boiled together and kept for a long
time;
ῥοδόμελι was a mere confection of
expressed juice of rose-leaves and honey (Geopon. 8.29).
The ancients considered old wine not only more grateful to the palate but
also more wholesome and invigorating (
Athen.
1.26 a; ii. p. 36 e). Generally speaking, the Greek wines do not
seem to have required a long time to ripen (cf. Theocr. 7.147). Nestor in
the Odyssey, indeed, drinks wine ten years old (3.391), and wine kept for
sixteen years is incidentally mentioned by Athenaeus (xiii. p. 584 b); but
the connoisseurs under the Empire pronounced that all transmarine wines
arrived at a moderate degree of maturity (
ad vetustatem
mediam) in six or seven (
Plin. Nat.
14.79). Many of the Italian varieties, however, as we shall see
below, required to be kept for twenty or twenty-five years before they were
drinkable (which is now considered ample for our strongest ports), and even
the humble growths of Sabinum were stored up for from four to fifteen (
Hor. Carm. 1.9.7;
Athen.
1.26). Hence it became a matter of importance to hasten, if
possible, the natural process. This was attempted in various ways: sometimes
by elaborate condiments (Geopon. 7.24), sometimes by sinking vessels
containing the must in the sea, by which an artificial mellowness was
induced (
praecox vetustas), and the wine in
consequence termed
thalassites (
Plin. Nat. 14.78); but more usually by the
application of heat (Plut.
Symp. 5.3). Thus it was customary
to expose the amphorae for some years to the full fervour of the sun's rays,
or to construct the
apothecae in such a manner
as to be exposed to the hot air and smoke of the bath-furnaces (
Col. 1.6,
20); and hence
the name
fumaria applied to such apartments,
and the phrases
fumosos, fumum bibere, fuligine
testae in reference to the wines (
Tib.
2.1,
26;
Hor.
Carm. 3.8.11;
Juv. 5.35). If the
operation was not conducted with care, and the amphorae not stoppered down
perfectly tight, a disagreeable effect would be produced on the contents,
and it is in consequence of such carelessness that Martial pours forth his
maledictions on the fumaria of Marseilles (10.36; 3.82, 22; 13.123).
The year B.C. 121 is said to have been a season singularly favourable for all
the productions of the earth; from the great heat of the autumn
[p. 2.968]the wine was of an unprecedented quality, and
remained long celebrated as the
Vinum
Opimianum, from L. Opimius the consul of that year, who slew C.
Gracchus. (
Cic. Brut. 83,
287;
Mart.
1.26,
5, &c.) A great quantity had
been treasured up and sedulously preserved, so that samples were still in
existence in the days of the elder Pliny, nearly two hundred years
afterwards. It was reduced, he says, to the consistence of rough honey, and,
like other very old wines, so strong and harsh and bitter as to be
undrinkable until largely diluted with water. Such wines, however, he adds,
were useful for flavouring others when mixed in small quantities (14.
§ § 55, 94).
Our most direct information with regard to the price of common wine in Italy
is derived from Columella (3.3.10), who reckons that the lowest market price
of the most ordinary quality was 300 sesterces for 40 urnae; that is, 15
sesterces for the amphora, or 6
d. a gallon nearly.
At a much earlier date, the triumph of L. Metellus during the First Punic
War (B.C. 250), wine was sold at the rate of 8 asses the amphora (Varro, ap.
Plin. Nat. 18.17), but this is quoted
as an instance of extraordinary cheapness, and in the year B.C. 89 the
censors P. Licinius Crassus and L. Julius Caesar issued a proclamation that
no one should sell Greek and Aminean wine at so high a rate as 8 asses the
amphora; but this was probably intended as a prohibition to their being sold
at all, in order to check the taste then beginning to display itself for
foreign luxuries, for we find that at the same time they positively forbade
the use of exotic unguents (
Plin. Nat.
14.95, 13.24).
The price of native wine at Athens was four drachmas for the metretes--that
is, about 4 1/2
d. the gallon--when necessaries were
dear, and Boeckh considers that we may assume one-half of this sum as the
average of cheaper times. In fact, we find in an agreement in Demosthenes
(
in Lacrit. p. 928) 3000 jars (
κεράμια) of Mendaean wine, which we know was used at the
most sumptuous Macedonian entertainments (
Athen.
4.129 d), valued at 600 drachmas. If the
κεράμιον is rightly estimated as about two-thirds of the
ἀμφορεύς, and as holding nearly six
gallons, this gives little more than 2
d. a gallon;
but still more astonishing is the marvellous cheapness of Lusitanian wine,
of which more than ten gallons were sold for 3
d. Of
course we must remember that the purchasing power of money was far higher
then than at present. On the other hand, high prices were given freely for
the varieties held in esteem, since, as early as the time of Socrates, a
metretes of Chian sold for a mina (Plut.
de Anim. Tranquill.
10; Boeckh,
P. E., Book i. c. xvi.).
With respect to the way in which wine was drunk, and the customs observed by
the Greeks and Romans at their drinking entertainments, the reader is
referred to the article
SYMPOSIUM
It now remains for us to name the most esteemed wines, and to point out their
localities; but our limits will allow us to enumerate none but the most
celebrated. As far as those of Greece are concerned, our information is
scanty; since in the older writers we find but a small number defined by
specific appellations, the general term
οἶνος usually standing alone without any distinguishing
epithet. The wine of most early celebrity was that which the minister of
Apollo, Maron, who dwelt upon the skirts of Thracian Ismarus, gave to
Ulysses. It was red (
ἐρυθρόν), and
honey-sweet (
μελιηδέα): so precious, that
it was unknown to all in the mansion, save the wife of the priest and one
trusty housekeeper; so strong, that a single cup was mingled with twenty of
water; so fragrant, that even when thus diluted it diffused a divine and
most tempting perfume (
Od. 9.208). Pliny
(
Plin. Nat. 14.54) asserts that wine
was produced in the same region in his own day, which would bear eight times
its own amount of water. Homer mentions also more than once (
Il. 11.638;
Od.
10.234)
Pramnian wine (
οἶνος Πράμνειος), an epithet which is variously
interpreted by certain different writers (
Athen. 1.22 f). The Scholiast on
Il. l.c.
explains that it got its name from a hill in Caria. It seems to have been
rather the name of a kind of vine. (Cf. Ebeling,
Lex. Hom. s.
v.) In after-times a wine bearing the same name was produced in the island
of Icaria, around the hill village of Latorea, in the vicinity of Ephesus,
in the neighbourhood of Smyrna near the shrine of Cybele, and in Lesbos
(
Athen. 1.30 c, &c.;
Plin. Nat. 14.54). The Pramnian of Icaria is
characterised by Eparchides as dry (
σκληρός), harsh (
αὐστηρός),
astringent and remarkably strong,--qualities which, according to
Aristophanes, rendered it particularly unpalatable to the Athenians (
Athen. 1.30 c).
But the wines of greatest renown during the brilliant period of Grecian
history and after the Roman conquest were grown in the islands of Thasos,
Lesbos, Chios, and Cos, and in a few favoured spots on the opposite coast of
Asia (
Strabo xiv. p.637), such as the
slopes of Mount Tmolus, the ridge which separates the valley of the Hermus
from that of the Caÿster (
Plin. Nat.
5.110;
Verg. G. 2.97; Ovid,
Ov. Met. 6.15); Mount Messogis, which divides
the tributaries of the Caÿster from those of the Maeander (
Strabo xiv. p.650); the volcanic region of
the Catacecaumene (
Vitr. 3.3), which still
retains its fame (Keppel's
Travels, ii. p. 355); the environs
of Ephesus (Dioscorid. 5.12), of Cnidus (
Athen.
1.29 a), of Miletus (Athen.
l.c.), and of
Clazomenae (
Plin. Nat. 14.73 f). Among
these the first place seems to have been by general consent conceded to the
Chian, of which the most delicious varieties were brought
from the heights of Ariusium, in the central parts (
Verg. Ecl. 5.71;
Plin. Nat. 14.73; Silius, 7.210), and from the promontory of
Phanae at the southern extremity of the island (
Verg. G. 2.98). The
Thasian and
Lesbian occupied the second place, and the
Coan disputed the palm with them (Athen. i. pp. 28, 29,
&c.). In Lesbos the most highly prized vineyards were around
Mytilene (
Athen. 1.30 b; iii. p. 86 e, p. 92 d),
and Methymna (
Athen. 8.363 b;
Paus. 10.19;
Verg.
G. 2.89; Ovid,
Ar. Am. 1.57). Pliny (
14.73), who gives the preference over all
others to the
Clazomenian because it was least flavoured with
brine, says that the Lesbian had naturally a taste of salt water, while the
epithet “innocens,” applied by Horace (
Hor. Carm. 1.17.21), seems to point out
that it was light and wholesome.
It may here be observed that there is no foundation whatever for the remark
that the
[p. 2.969]finest Greek wines, especially the
products of the islands in the Aegean and Ionian seas, belonged for the most
part to the luscious sweet class. The very reverse is proved by the epithets
αὐστηρός, σκληρός, λεπτός, and the
like, applied to a great number, while
γλυκὺς and
γλυκάζων are
designations comparatively rare, except in the vague language of poetry.
“Vinum omne dulce minus odoratum,” says Pliny (
Plin. Nat. 14.80), and the ancients appear
to have been fully sensible that sweet wines could not be swallowed either
with pleasure or safety, except in small quantities. The mistake has arisen
from not perceiving that the expressions
οἶνος
γλυκὺς and
λἶνος ἡδὺς are
by no means necessarily synonymous. The former-signifies wine
positively sweet, the latter wine agreeable to the
taste from the
absence of acidity, in most cases
indicating nothing more than
sound wine.
It is well known that all the most noble Italian wines, with a very few
exceptions, were derived from Latium and Campania, and for the most part
grew within a short distance of the sea. “The whole of these
places,” says Strabo (
v. p.234), when
describing this coast, “yield excellent wine; among the most
celebrated are the Caecuban, the Fundanian, the Setinian, and so also
are the Falernian, the Alban, and the Statinian.” But the
classification adopted by Pliny (
14.59 f.)
will prove our best guide, and this we shall follow to a certain extent.
In the first rank, then, we must place the
Setinum, which fairly deserves the title of
Imperial, since it was the chosen beverage of Augustus and
most of his courtiers. It grew upon the hills of Setia, above Forum Appii,
looking down upon the Pomptine marshes. ( “Pendula Pomptinos quae
spectat Setia campos,”
Mart. 13.112; see also 6.86, 9.3, 10.74,
13.112;
Juv. 5.34; Silius, 8.378; Plin.
H.
N.
l.c.) Before the age of Augustus the
Caecubum was the most prized of all. It grew in the
poplar swamps bordering on the gulf of Amyclae, close to Fundi (
Mart. 13.115). In the time of Pliny its
reputation was entirely gone, partly in consequence of the carelessness of
the cultivators, and partly from its proper soil, originally a very limited
space, having been cut up by the canal of Nero extending from Baiae to
Ostia. Cf.
Plin. Nat. 23.35:
“Caecuba jam non gignuntur.” The name, however, continued
to be used for any first-class wine (Galen, x. p. 834). Galen (
Athen. 1.27 a) represents it as generous,
full-bodied, and heady, not arriving at maturity until it had been kept for
many years (Plin.
l.c.;
Strabo v. p.231;
Mart. 13.115;
Hor. Carm.
1.20.9, 3.23, 2, &c.).
The second rank was occupied by the
Falernum, of
which the
Faustianum was the most choice variety, having
gained its character from the care and skill exercised in the cultivation of
the vines; but when Pliny wrote, it was beginning to fall in public
estimation, in consequence of the growers being more solicitous about
quantity than quality. The
Falernus ager, concerning the
precise limits of which there have been many controversies, commenced at the
Pons Campanus, on the left hand of those journeying towards the Urbana
Colonia of Sulla (cf.
Dict. Geog. s. v.); the
Faustianus ager at a village about six miles from
Sinuessa, so that the whole district in question may be regarded as
stretching from the Massic hills to the river Vulturnus. Falernian became
fit for drinking in ten years, and might be used when twenty years old, but
when kept longer gave headaches, and proved injurious to the nervous system
(
Plin. Nat. 23.34). Pliny
distinguishes three kinds, the rough (
austerum), the sweet (
dulce), and
the thin (
tenue); Galen (ap.
Athen. 1.26 c) two only, the rough (
αὐστηρὸς) and the sweetish (
γλυκάζων). When the south wind prevailed during
the season of the vintage, the wine was sweetish and darker in colour
(
μελάντερος); but if the grapes were
gathered during weather of a different de scription, it was rough and tawny
or ambercoloured. (
κιῤῥός). The ordinary
appearance of Falernian, which has been made a theme of considerable
discussion, seems to be determined by a passage in Pliny (
Plin. Nat. 37.47), in which we are informed
that the finest amber was named
Falerna. Others
arranged the varieties differently; that which grew upon the hilltops they
called
Caucinum, that on the middle slopes
Faustianum, that on the plain
Falernum (Plin.
l.c.;
Athen. 1.26 c;
Hor.
Carm. 1.20.10;
Prop. 4.6; Martial,
9.95: Silius, 7.159). It was unknown to
Plautus and Cato, but occurs in Catullus and Varro.
In the third rank was the
Albanum, from the Mons
Albanus (
Mons Iuleus,
Mart. 13.109), of various kinds, very sweet
(
praedulce), sweetish (
γλυκάζων), rough (
Plin. Nat. 23.36), and sharp (
ὀμφακίας); it was invigorating (
nervis
utile), and in perfection after being kept for fifteen years
(Plin.
ll. cc.;
Mart. 13.109; Hor.
Sat. 2.8, 14;
Juv. 5.33;
Athen. 1.26 d). Here too we place the
Surrentinum, from the promontory forming the
southern horn of the bay of Naples, which was not drinkable until it had
been kept for five-and-twenty years; for, being destitute of richness
(
ἀλιπὴς) and very dry (
ψαφαρός), it required a long time to ripen, but
was strongly recommended to convalescents, on account of its thinness and
wholesomeness. Galen, however, was of opinion that it agreed with those only
who were accustomed to use it constantly; Tiberius was wont to say that the
physicians had conspired to dignify what was only
generous vinegar; while his successor, Gaius Caesar, styled it
nobilis vappa (
Plin. Nat. 14.64; Athen.
l.c.). Of equal
reputation were the
Massicum, from the hills
which formed the boundary between Latium and Campania, although somewhat
harsh, as would seem, from the precautions recommended by the epicure in
Horace (
Sat. 2.4, 51: cf.
Carm.
1.1, 19; 1.7, 21; 3.21;--
Mart. 13.111; Silius,
7.207), and the
Gauranum, from the ridge above Baiae and
Puteoli, produced in small quantity, but of very high quality, full-bodied
(
εὔτονος) and thick (
πάχυς). (Athen.
l.c.;
Plin. Nat. 14.63: cf. 3.60;
Flor. 3.5.) In the same class are to be included
the
Calenum from Cales, and the
Fundanum from Fundi. Both had formerly held a higher
place, “but vineyards,” moralises Pliny (
14.65), “as well as states, have their
periods of rise, of glory, and of fall.” The
Calenum was light (
κοῦφος),
and better for the stomach than Falernian; the
Fundanum was full-bodied (
εὔτονος) and nourishing, but apt to attack both stomach and
head; therefore little sought after at banquets (
Strabo v. p.234;
Athen. 1.27 a;
[p. 2.970]Hor. Carm.
1.31.9;
Juv. 1.69;
Mart. 10.35,
13.113). This list is
closed by the
Veliternum, Privernas, and
Signinum, from Velitrae, Privernum, and Signia, towns on the
Volscian hills: the first was a sound wine, but had this peculiarity, that
it always tasted as if mixed with some foreign substance; the second was
thin and pleasant; the last was looked upon only in the light of a medicine,
valuable for its astringent qualities (
Athen.
1.27 b; Plin.
l.c.;
Mart. 13.116). We may safely bring in one
more, the
Formianum, from the gulf of Caieta (
“Laestrygonia Bacchus in amphora,”
Hor. Carm. 3.16.34), associated by
Horace with the Caecuban, Falernian, and Calene (
Hor. Carm. 1.20), and compared by Galen (ap.
Athen. 1.26 e) to the Privernas and Rheginum, but richer
(
λιπαρωτέρος), and ripening quickly.
The fourth rank contained the
Mamertinum, from
the neighbourhood of Messana, first brought into fashion by Julius Caesar
(
Mart. 13.117). The finest, called
Potitianum (
Ἰωταλῖνος,
Athen. 1.27 d), from the fields nearest to the
main land, was sound (
ἡδύς), light, and at
the same time not without body. The
Tauromenitanum was frequently substituted fraudulently for the
Mamertinum, which it resembled (
Athen. 1.27 d;
Plin.
l.c.).
The wine of Etruria was proverbially bad, even that of the Mons Vaticanus
(
Mart. 1.26,
6;
6.92,
3,
&c.). At Ravenna wine was very cheap and abundant (
Mart. 3.56,
57), and
the Rhaetian wine of Verona was famous (
Verg. G.
2.96;
Plin. Nat. 14.67).
Of the wines in Southern Gaul, that of
Baeterrae alone bore a
high character. The rest were looked upon with suspicion, in consequence of
the notorious frauds of the dealers in the Province, who carried on the
business of adulteration to a great extent, and did not scruple to have
recourse to noxious drugs. Among other things, it was known that they
purchased aloes, to heighten the flavour and improve the colour of their
merchandise, and conducted the process of artificial ripening so unskilfully
as to impart a taste of smoke, which called forth, as we have seen above,
the malediction of Martial on the fumaria of Marseilles (
Plin. Nat. 14.68).
The produce of the Balearic isles was compared to the first growths of Italy,
and the same praise was shared by the vineyards of
Tarraco and
Lauron, while those
of the
Laletani were not so much famed for the
quality as for the abundance of their supply (
Plin. Nat. 14.71;
Mart. 13.118;
Silius, 3.370).
Returning to the East, several districts of Pontus, Paphlagonia, and
Bithynia, Lampsacus on the Hellespont, Telmessus in Caria, Cyprus, Tripolis,
Berytus, and Tyre, all claimed distinction; and above all the
Chalybonium, originally from Beroea, but afterwards grown
in the neighbourhood of Damascus also, was the chosen and only drink of the
Great King (
Plin. Nat. 14.73; Geopon.
5.2;
Athen. 1.28 d), to which we may join the
Babylonium, called nectar by Chaereus
(
Athen. 1.29 f), and the
Βύβλινος from Phoenicia, which found many
admirers (
Athen. 1.29 b). The last is spoken of
else--where as Thracian, or Grecian, or Sicilian, which may have arisen from
the same grape having been disseminated through these countries. (Compare
Hdt. 2.35;
Athen.
1.31 a.)
Passing on, in the last place, to Egypt, where, according to Hellanicus, the
vine was first discovered, the
Mareoticum, from
near Alexandria, demands our attention. It is highly extolled by Athenaeus,
being white, sweet, fragrant, light (
λεπτός), circulating quickly through the frame, and not flying
to the head; but superior even to this was the
Taenioticum,
so named from a long narrow sandy ridge (
ταινία) near the western extremity of the Delta; it was
aromatic, slightly astringent, and of an oily consistency, which disappeared
when it was mixed with water: besides these we hear of the
Sebennyticum, and the wine of Antylla, a town not far
from Alexandria. Advancing up the valley, the wine of the Thebaïs,
and especially of Coptos, was so thin and easily thrown off that it could be
given without injury to fever patients; and ascending through Nubia we reach
Meroë, whose wine has been immortalised by Lucan
(
Athen. 1.33 f;
Strab. xvii. p.799;
Hor. Carm.
1.37.14;
Verg. G. 2.91;
Lucan 10.162;
Plin.
Nat. 14.74). Martial appears to have held them all very cheap,
since he pronounces the vinegar of Egypt better than its wine (13.122).
We read of several wines which received their designation, not from the
region to which they belonged, but from the particular kind of grape from
which they were made, like the Pramnian, or from some circumstance connected
with their history or qualities. Names belonging to the former class were in
all likelihood bestowed before the most favoured districts were generally
known, and before the effects produced upon the vine, by change of soil and
climate, had been accurately observed and studied. After these matters were
better understood, habit and mercantile usage would tend to perpetuate the
ancient appellation. Thus, down to a late period, we hear of the
Aminneum (
Ἀμιναῖος
οἶνος, Hesych.), from the
Aminnea vitis, which
held the first place among vines, and embraced many varieties, carefully
discriminated and cultivated according to different methods (
Plin. Nat. 14.46; Cato,
Cat. Agr. 6 and 7;
Col.
3.2.7;
9.3). It was of Grecian
origin, having been conveyed by a Thessalian tribe to Italy (a story which
would seem to refer to some early migration), and reared chiefly in Campania
around Naples, and in the Falernus ager. Its characteristic excellence was
the great body and consequent durability of its wine (
firmissima vina,
Verg. G. 2.97; Galen,
Meth.
med. 12.4; Geopon. 8.22; Cels. 4.2; Macrob. 2.16; Auson.
Ep. 18.32; Seren. Samm. 29.544). So, in like manner, the
ψιθίος οἶνος (
Athen. 1.28 f), from the
ψιθία
ἄμπελος (
Col. 3.2.24), which Virgil
tells us (
Georg. 2.93) was particularly suitable for
passum, and the
καπνίας (smoke-wine) of Plato the comic poet (
Athen. 1.31 e), prepared in greatest perfection
near Beneventum, from the
κάπνεος
ἄμπελος, so named in consequence of the clusters being neither
white nor black, but of an intermediate dusky or smoky hue (Theophr.
II. P. 2.4,
C. P. 5.3; Aristot.
de Gener. 4.4;
Plin.
Nat. 14.39; compare 37.118, on the gem
Capnias).
On the other hand, the
Σαπρίας, on whose
divine fragrance Hermippus descants in such glowing language (
Athen. 1.29 e), is simply some rich wine of great
age, “toothless, and
[p. 2.971]sere, and wondrous
old” (
ὀδόντας οὐκ ἔχων, ἤδη σαπρὸς . .
. γέρων γε δαιμονίως,
Athen. 10.441 d; see Eustath.
ad
Hom. Od. 2.340; Casaub.
ad
Athen. 1.29). The origin of the title
ἀνθοσμίας is somewhat more doubtful: some will
have it to denote wine from a sweet-smelling spot (Suid. s. v.); others more
reasonably refer it to the “bouquet” of the wine itself (
Hesych. sub voce); according to Phanias of
Eresus, in one passage, it was a compound formed by adding one part of
sea-water to fifty of must, although in another place he seems to say, that
it was wine obtained from grapes gathered before they were ripe (
Athen. 1.32 a; compare p. 462 e).
Those who desire more minute details upon this very extensive subject may
consult the Geoponic Collection, books iii. to viii. inclusive; the whole of
the 14th book of Pliny's
Natural History, together with the
first sixty sections of the 23rd; the 12th book of Columella, with the
commentary of Schneider and others; the 2nd book of Virgil's
Georgics, with the remarks of Heyne, Voss, and the old
grammarians; Galen, vol. 6.334--339, 14.28 ff.; Pollux, vi. foll.;
Athenaeus, lib. i. and lib. x.; besides which there are a multitude of
passages in other parts of the above authors, in Cato, Varro, and in the
classics generally, which bear more or less upon these topics.
Of modern writers we may notice particularly, Prosper Rendella,
Tractatus de Vinea, Vindemia et Vino, Venet. 1629;
Galeatius Landrinus,
Quaestio de Mixtione Vini et Aquae,
Ferrar. 1593; Andreas Baccius,
de Naturali Vinorum
Historia, &c., Rom. 1596,
de
Conviviis Antiquorum, &c., Gronov. Thes. Graec.
Antiq.; Sir Edward Barry,
Observations on the Wines of the
Ancients, Lond. 1775; Henudelson,
History of Ancient and
modern Wines, Lond. 1824. Some of the most important facts are
presented in a condensed form in Becker-Göll's
Gallus, vol. iii. pp. 412-442, and
Charikles,
vol. 2.337-352; and in Marquardt,
Röm. Privutalt.
2.54-84: cf. also V. Hehn,
Kulturpflanzen,3 pp. 63-84.
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