Chap. 19.] VARIETIES OF ARTIFICIAL WINE. 259 



pepper and honey, the wines are made by some known as con- 

 fection wines, 53 and by others as peppered 54 wines. We find 

 mention made of nectarites also, a beverage extracted from a 

 herb known to some as " helenion," 55 to others as " Me- 

 dica," 56 and to others, again, as symphyton, 57 Idaea, Orestion, 

 or nectaria, the root of which is added in the proportion of 

 forty drachms to six sextarii of must, being first similarly 

 placed in a linen cloth. 



As to other kinds of herbs, we find wormwood wine, 58 made 

 of Pontic wormwood in the proportion of one pound to forty 

 sextarii of must, which is then boiled down until it is reduced 

 to one third, or else of slips of wormwood put in wine. In a 

 similar manner, hyssop wine 59 is made of Cilician hyssop, 60 by 

 adding three ounces of it to two congii of must, or else by 

 pounding three ounces of hyssop, and adding them to one 

 congius of must. Both of these wines may be made also in 

 another method, by sowing these plants around the roots of 

 vines. It is in this manner, too, that Cato tells us how to 

 make hellebore 61 wine from black hellebore ; and a similar 

 method is used for making scammony 63 wine. The vine has a 

 remarkable propensity 63 of contracting the flavour of any plant 

 that may happen to be growing near it ; and hence it is that 

 in the marshy lands of Patavium, the grape has the peculiar 

 flavour of the willow. So, in like manner, we find at Thasos 

 hellebore planted among the vines, or else wild cucumber, or 

 scammony ; the wine that is produced from these vines is 

 known by the name of " phthorium," it being productive of 

 abortion. 



53 Condita. 54 Piperata. 



55 Inula helenium of Linnaeus. See B. xxi. c. 91. 



56 Medicago sativa of Linnaeus. 



57 Symphytum officinale of Linnaeus, being all different varieties. 



58 " Absinthites ;" made of the Artemisia Pontica orLinnseus. A medi- 

 cinal wine is still prepared with wormwood ; and " apsinthe," a liqueur 

 much esteemed in France, is made from it. 



i9 Hyssopites. 



60 Hyssopites officinalis of Linnaeus. 



61 Helleborites. 62 Scammonites. 



63 Fee says that this is not the fact ; and queries whether the vulgar 

 notion still entertained on- this subject, may not be traced up to our author.. 

 It is a not uncommon belief that roses smell all the sweeter if onions are 

 planted near them. 



