242 plint's NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XIV. 



them into favour, as we find stated in his Letters 76 — to the 

 Mamertine wines, the produce of the country in the vicinity 

 of Messana, 77 in Sicily. The finest of these was the Potu- 

 lanum, 78 so called from its original cultivator, and grown on 

 the spots that lie nearest to the mainland of Italy. The Tau- 

 romenitanum also, a wine of Sicily, enjoys a high repute, and 

 flaggons 79 of it are occasionally passed off for Mamertmuin. 



Among the other wines, we find mentioned upon the Upper 

 Sea those of Praetutia and Ancona, as also those known as 

 the "Palmensia," 80 not improbably because the cluster springs 

 from a single shoot. 81 In the interior we find the wines of 

 Caesena 82 and that known as the Meecenatian, 83 while in the 

 territory of Verona there are the Rhaetian wines, only inferior, 

 in the estimation of Virgil, to the Falernian. 84 Then, too, at 

 the bottom of the Gulf 85 we find the wines of Adria. 86 _ On 

 the shores of the Lower Sea there are the Latmiensian 8 ' 

 wines, the Graviscan, 88 and the Statonian : 89 in Etruria, the 

 wines of Luna bear away the palm, and those of Genua 9 m 

 Liguria. Massilia, which lies between the Pyrenees and the 

 Alps, produces two varieties of wine, one of which is richer 

 and thicker than the other, and is used for seasoning other 

 wines, being generally known as " succosum." 91 The repu- 

 te Written to the Senate, also to Cicero. We learn from Suetonius that 

 they were partly written in cipher. 



" Messina, at the present day, exports wines of very good quality, ana 

 which attain a great age. 



78 It was sound, light, and not without hody. 



™ "Lagenoe." The same spot, now Taormina in Sicily, between Latama 

 and Messina, still produces excellent wines. 



«> See B. iii. c. 18. Fee says that this is thought to have been the 

 wine of Syrol, of last century, grown near Ancona. 



si " Palma." Notwithstanding this suggestion, it is more generally sup- 

 posed that they had their name from the place called Palma, near Marano, 

 on the Adriatic. Its wines are still considered of agreeable flavour. 



sa The wines of modern Cezena enjoy no repute, owing, probably, to the 

 mode of making them. 



83 Probably so called because it was Drought into fashion by Maecenas. 



a* See Georg. ii. 95. The wines of the Tyrol, the ancient Rhsetia, are 

 still considered as of excellent quality. 



85 Of Adria, or the Adriatic Sea. 



86 See B. iii. c. 20. These wines are of little repute. 



87 In Latium. See B. iii. c. 9. 



88 From Graviscse. See B. iii. c. 8. 



89 See B ii. c. 96, B. iii. c. 9, and B. xxxvi. c. 49. 



so The wines of Genoa are of middling quality only, and but little known. 

 9i Or "juicy" wine. 



