220 plint's natural HISTORY. [Book XIV. 



So numerous are the varieties of the vine which even Italy- 

 alone presents. 



In some of the provinces the vine is able to stand of itself 

 without anything to support it, drawing in its bending 

 branches, and making up in its thickness for its stunted size. 

 In other places, again, the winds will not allow of this mode of 

 culture, as in Africa, for instance, and various parts of the 

 province of Gallia Narbonensis. These vines, being prevented 

 from growing beyond the first branches, and hence always 

 retaining a resemblance to those plants which stand in need 

 of the hoe, trail along the ground just like them, and every 

 here and there suck 19 up the juices from the earth to fill their 

 grapes : it is in consequence of this, that in the interior of Africa 

 the clusters 20 are known to exceed the body of an infant in size. 

 The wine of no country is more acid than those of Africa, but 

 there is nowhere to be found a grape that is more agreeable 

 for its firmness, a circumstance which may very probably have 

 given rise to its name of the "hard grape." 21 As to the 

 varieties of the grape, although they are rendered innumerable 

 by the size, the colour, and the flavour of the berry, they are 

 multiplied even still more by the wines that they produce. 

 In one part they are lustrous with a rich purple colour, while 

 in another, again, they glow with a rosy tint, or else are glossy 

 with their verdant hue. The grapes that are merely white 

 or black are the common sorts. The bumastus 22 swells out 

 in form like a breast, while that known as the " dactylus," 2S 

 has a berry of remarkable length. Nature, too, displays such 

 varieties in these productions of hers, that small grapes are 

 often to be found adhering to the largest vines, but of sur- 

 passing sweetness ; they are known by the name of " lep- 

 torragse." 24 Some, again, will keep throughout the winter, if 

 care is taken to hang them to the ceiling 25 with a string ; 



19 By throwing out fresh shoots every here and there. Fee, however, 

 seems to think that he means that the grapes themselves, as they trail 

 along the ground, suck up the juices with their pores. These are known 

 in France as " running vines," and are found in Berry and Anjou. 



20 He must evidently be speaking of the size of the bunches. See the 

 account of the grapes of Canaan, in Numbers xiii. 24. 



21 " Durus acinus," or, according to some readings, " duracinus." 



22 From the Greek (Sov^iaaTog, a cow's teat, mentioned by Virgil, Georg. 

 ii. 102. 23 Or finger-grape. 



24 From the Greek Xs-rrTopayeQ, " small-berried." 



25 Pensili concamaratae nodo. 



