Chap. 8.] FIFTY KINDS OP WINES. 239 



for slaying his friends 53 in his drunken fits. In fact, we may- 

 feel ourselves quite justified in saying that there is nothing 

 more useful than wine for strengthening the body, while, at 

 the same time, there is nothing more pernicious as a luxury, 

 if we are not on our guard against excess. 



CHAP. 8. (6.) FIFTY KINDS OF GENEEOTJS WINES. 



Who can entertain a doubt that some kinds of wine are 

 more agreeable to the palate than others, or that even out 

 of the very same vat 54 there are occasionally produced wines 

 that are by no means of equal goodness, the one being much 

 superior to the other, whether it is that it is owing to the 

 cask, 55 or to some other fortuitous circumstance ? Let each 

 person, therefore, constitute himself his own judge as to which 

 kind it is that occupies the pre-eminence. Li via 56 Augusta, 

 who lived to her eighty-second year, 57 attributed her longevity 

 to the wine of Pucinum, 68 as she never drank any other. This 

 wine is grown near a bay of the Adriatic, not far from Mount 

 Timavus, upon a piece of elevated rocky ground, where the 

 sea-breeze ripens a few grapes, the produce of which supplies 

 a few amphorae : there is not a wine that is deemed superior 

 to this for medicinal purposes. I am strongly of opinion that 

 this is the same wine, the produce of the Adriatic Gulf, upon 

 which the Greeks have bestowed such wonderful encomiums, 

 under the name of Praetetianum. 



The late Emperor Augustus preferred the Setinum to all 

 others, and nearly all the emperors that have succeeded him 

 have followed his example, having learnt from actual expe- 

 rience that there is no danger of indigestion and flatulence 

 resulting from the use of this liquor : this wine is grown in 

 the country 59 that lies just above Forum Appii. 60 In former 

 times the Csecubum enjoyed the reputation of being the most 



53 Clitus and Callisthenes. 5i Lacus. 



55 The testa or amphora, made of earth. 



56 As the wife of Augustus is meant, this reading appears preferable to 

 " Julia." 



57 Dion Cassius says " eighty-sixth." 



58 See B. iii. c. 22, and B. xvii. c. 3. Pucinum was in Istria, and the 

 district is said still to produce good wine ; according to Dalechamps, the 

 place is called Pizzino d' Istria. 



59 The hills of Setia, looking down on the Pomptine Marshes : now 

 Sezza, the wine of which is of no repute. 



eo See B. iii. c. 9. 



