Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, BOOK XIV. THE NATURAL HISTORY OF THE FRUIT TREES., CHAP. 29.—LIQUORS WITH THE STRENGTH OF WINE MADE FROM WATER AND CORN.

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CHAP. 29.—LIQUORS WITH THE STRENGTH OF WINE MADE FROM WATER AND CORN.

The people of the Western world have also their intoxicating drinks, made from corn steeped in water.¹ 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,² 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,³ Virgil,⁴ Celsus,⁵ Cato the Censor,⁶ Saserna,⁷ father and son, Scrofa,⁸ M. Varro,⁹ D. Silanus,¹⁰ Fabius Pictor,¹¹ Trogus,¹² Hyginus,¹³ Flaccus Verrius,¹⁴ Græcinus,¹⁵ Julius Atticus,¹⁶ Columella,¹⁷ Massurius Sabinus,¹⁸ Fenestella,¹⁹ Tergilla,²⁰ Maccius Plautus,²¹ Flavius,²² Dossennus,²³ Scævola,²⁴ Ælius,²⁵ Ateius Capito,²⁶ cotta Messalinus, L. Piso,²⁷ Pompeius Lenæus,²⁸ Fabianus,²⁹ Sextius Niger,³⁰ Vibius Rufus.³¹

FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Hesiod,³² Theophrastus,³³ Aristotle,³⁴ Democritus,³⁵ King Hiero,³⁶ King Attalus Philometor,³⁷ Archytas,³⁸ Xenophon,³⁹ Amphilochus⁴⁰ of Athens, Anaxipolis⁴¹ of Thasos, Apollodorus⁴² of Lemnos, Aristophanes⁴³ of Miletus, Antigonus⁴⁴ of Cymæ, Agathocles⁴⁵ of Chios, Apollonius⁴⁶ of Pergamus, Aristander⁴⁷ of Athens, Botrys⁴⁸ of Athens, Bacchius⁴⁹ of Miletus, Bion⁵⁰ of Soli, Chærea⁵¹ of Athens, Chæristus⁵² of Athens, Diodorus⁵³ of Priene, Dion⁵⁴ of Colophon, Epigenes⁵⁵ of Rhodes, Euagon⁵⁶ of Thasos, Euphronius⁵⁷ of Athens, Androtion⁵⁸ who wrote on agriculture, Æschrion⁵⁹ who wrote on agriculture, Lysimachus⁶⁰ who wrote on agriculture, Dionysius⁶¹ who translated Mago, Diophanes⁶² who made an Epitome of the work of Dionysius, Asclepiades⁶³ the Physician. Onesicritus,⁶⁴ King Juba.⁶⁵ ⁶⁶

1 He alludes to beer, or rather sweet wort, for hops were not used till the latter part, probably, of the middle ages. Lupines were sometimes used for flavouring beer.

2 Diodorus Siculus says that the Egyptian beer was nearly equal to wine in strength and flavour.

3 See end of B. iii.

4 See end of B. vii.

5 See end of B. vii.

6 See end of B. iii.

7 See end of B.. x.

8 See end of B. xi.

9 See end of B. ii.

10 Decimus Junius Silanus. He was commissioned by the senate, about B.C. 146, to translate into Latin the twenty-eight books of Mago, the Carthaginian, on Agriculture. See B. xviii. c. 5.

11 See end of B. x.

12 See end of B. vii.

13 See end of B. iii.

14 See end of B. iii.

15 Julius Greecinus. He was one of the most distinguished orators of his time. Having refused to accuse M. Julius Silanus, he was put to death A.D. 39. He wrote a work, in two books, on the culture of the vine.

16 He was a contemporary of Celsus and Columella, the latter of whom states that he wrote a work on a peculiar method of cultivating the vine. See also B. xvii. c. 18.

17 See end of B. viii.

18 See end of B. vii.

19 See end of B. viii.

20 Nothing is known of him. He may possibly have written on Husbandry, and seems to have spoken in dispraise of the son of Cicero. See c 28 of the present Book.

21 The famous Roman Comic poet, born B.C. 184. Twenty of his comedies are still in existence.

22 For Alfius Flavius, see end of B. ix.; for Cneius Flavius, see end of B. xii.

23 Or Dorsenus Fabius, an ancient Comic dramatist, censured by Horace for the buffoonery of his characters, and the carelessness of his productions. In the 15th Chapter of this Book, Pliny quotes a line from his Acharistio.

24 Q. Mutius Scævola, consul B.C. 95, and assassinated by C. Flavius Fimbria, having been proscribed by the Marian faction. He wrote several works on the Roman law, and Cicero was in the number of his disciples.

25 Sextus Ælius Pætus Catus, a celebrated jurisconsult, and consul B.C. 198. He wrote a work on the Twelve Tables.

26 See end of B. iii.

27 A freedman of Pompey, by whose command he translated into Latin the work of Mithridates on Poisons. After Pompey's death, he maintained himself by keeping a school at Rome.

28 See end of B. ii.

29 For Fabianus Papirius, see end of B. ii. Fabianus Sabinus is supposed to have been the same person.

30 See end of B. xii.

31 He is mentioned by the elder Seneca, but nothing whatever is known of him.

32 See end of B. vii.

33 See end of B. iii.

34 See end of B. ii.

35 See end of B. ii.

36 See end of B. viii.

37 See end of B. viii.

38 See end of B. viii.

39 See end of B. iv.

40 See end of B. viii.

41 See end of B. viii.

42 See end of B. viii.

43 See end of B. viii.

44 See end of B. viii.

45 See end of B. viii.

46 See end of B. viii.

47 See end of B. viii.

48 See end of B. xiii.

49 See end of B. viii.

50 See end of B. vi.

51 See end of B. viii.

52 Supposed to have been a writer on Agriculture, but nothing further is known of him.

53 See end of B. viii.

54 See end of B. viii.

55 See end of B. ii.

56 See end of B. x.

57 See end of B. viii.

58 See end of B. viii.

59 See end of B. viii.

60 See end of B. viii.

61 See end of B. xii.

62 See end of B. viii.

63 See end of B vii.

64 See end of B. ii.

65 See end of B. v.

66 Son of Corvinus Messala. He appears to have been a man of bad repute: of his writings nothing seems to be known.

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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Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 29.—LIQUORS WITH THE STRENGTH OF WINE MADE FROM WATER AND CORN.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.

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CHAP. 29.—LIQUORS WITH THE STRENGTH OF WINE MADE FROM WATER AND CORN.

Pliny the Elder, The Natural History
John Bostock, M.D., F.R.S., H.T. Riley, Esq., B.A., Ed.