Chap. 21.] now MUST is puepaeed. 263 



laxative qualities. On the other hand, there is in Lycia a 

 certain grape which proves astringent to the stomach when 

 relaxed. Egypt has a wine, too, known as " ecbolas," 4 which 

 is prod active of abortion. There are some wines, which at 

 the rising of the Dog-star change their nature in the wine- 

 lofts 5 where they are kept, and afterwards recover 6 their 

 original quality. The same is the case, too, with wines when 

 carried across the seas : those that are able to withstand the 

 motion of the waves, appear afterwards to be twice as old 7 as 

 they really are. 



CUAP. 23. (19.) WHAT WINES IT IS NOT LAWFUL TO USE IN THE 



BACKED BITES. 



As religion is the great basis of the ordinary usages of life. 

 I shall here remark that it is considered improper to offer 

 libations to the gods with any wines which are the produce of 

 an unpruned vine, or of one that has been struck by lightning, 

 or near to which a dead man has been hung, or of grapes that 

 have been trodden out by sore feet, or made of must from 

 husks that have been cut, 8 or from grapes that have been 

 polluted by the fall of any unclean thing upon them. The 

 Greek wines are excluded also from the sacred ministrations, 

 because they contain a portion of water. 



The vine itself is sometimes eaten ; the tops of the shoots 9 

 are taken off and boiled, and are then pickled in vinegar 10 

 and brine. 



CHAP. 24. HOW MUST IS USUALLY PEEPAEED. 



It will be as well now to make some mention of the methods 



4 From UfiaWo), u to eject." 5 Apothecis. 



6 He alludes to the working of wines in periods of extreme heat ; also 

 in the spring. 



7 Of our modern wines, Madeira and Bourdeaux improve by being carried 

 across 'sea. Burgundy, if any thing, deteriorates, by the diminution of its 

 bouquet. 



8 After the grapes had been trodden and pressed, the husks were taken 

 out and their edges cut, and then again subjected to pressure : the result 

 was known as u tortivum," or " circumcisivum," a wine of very inferior 

 quality. 



: ' He alludes to the young shoots, which have an agreeable acidity, 

 owing to acetic and tartaric acids. 



10 Acetic acid ; the result, no doubt, of the faulty mode of manufacture 

 universally prevalent ; their wines contained evidently but little alcohol. 



