Chap. 6.] THE MOST ANCIEKT WINES. 237 



water : he states, also, that this wine is black, 40 has a strong 

 bouquet, and is all the richer for being old. 



The Pramnian wine, too, which Homer 41 has also similarly 

 eulogized, still retains its ancient fame : it is grown in the 

 territory of Smyrna, in the vicinity of the shrine of the 

 Mother 12 of the Gods. 



Among the other wines now known, we do not find any 

 that enjoyed a high reputation in ancient times. In the 

 year of the consulship of L. Opimius, when C. Gracchus, 43 the 

 tribune of the people, engaging in sedition, was slain, the 

 growth of every wine was of the very highest quality. In 

 that year, the weather was remarkable for its sereneness, and 

 the ripening of the grape, the "coctura," 44 as they call it, 

 was fully effected by the heat of the sun. This was in the 

 year of the City 633. There are wines still preserved of this 

 year's growth, nearly two hundred years ago; they have 

 assumed the consistency of honey, with a rough taste ; for 

 such, in fact, is the nature of wines, that, when extremely 

 old, it is impossible to drink them in a pure state ; and they 

 require to be mixed with water, as long keeping renders them 

 intolerably bitter. 45 A very small quantity of the Opimian 

 wine, mixed with them, will suffice for the seasoning of other 

 wines. Let us suppose, according to the estimated value of 

 these wines in those days, that the original price of them was 

 one hundred sesterces per amphora : if we add to this six per 

 cent, per annum, a legal and moderate interest, we shall 

 then be able to ascertain what was the exact price of the 

 twelfth part of an amphora at the beginning of the reign of 

 Caius Ca9sar, the son of Germanicus, one hundred and sixty 

 years after that consulship. In relation to this fact, we have 

 a remarkable instance, 46 when we call to mind the life of Pom- 



40 By " black " wines lie means those that had the same colour as our 

 port. 41 II. xi. 638. Od. x. 234. 



42 Cybele. A wine called " Pramnian " was also grown in the island of 

 Icaria, in Lesbos, and in the territory of Ephesus. The scholiast on Ni- 

 cander says that the grape of the psythia was used in making it. Dios- 

 corides says that it was a "protropum," first-class wine, made of the juice 

 that voluntarily flowed from the grapes, in consequence of their own pres- 

 sure. M B.C. 121. 



44 "Cooking," literally, or "boiling." 



45 The wines of Burgundy, in particular, become bitter when extremely 

 old. 46 See B. vii. c. 18. 



