274 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XIY. 



this book of his, from which we have no great difficulty in 

 coming to the conclusion, that drunk as he already was with 

 the blood of his fellow-citizens, the only result was that he 

 thirsted for it all the more. Tor, in fact, such is the infallible 

 characteristic of drunkenness, the more a person is in the 

 habit of drinking, the more eager he is for drink ; and the 

 remark of the Scythian ambassador is as true as it is well 

 known— the more the Parthians drank, the thirstier they were 

 for it. 



CHAP. 29. LIQUORS WITH THE STRENGTH OE WINE MADE FROM 



WATER AND CORN. 



The people of the Western world have also their intoxi- 

 cating drinks, made from corn steeped in water. 76 These 

 beverages are prepared in different ways throughout Gaul 

 and the provinces 'of Spain; under different names, too, 

 though in their results they are the same. The Spanish 

 provinces have even taught us the fact that these liquors are 

 capable of beiug kept till they have attained a considerable 

 age. Egj T pt, 77 too, has invented for its use a very similar beve- 

 rage made from corn; indeed, in no part of the world is 

 drunkenness ever at a loss. And then, besides, they take these 

 drinks unmixed, and do not dilute them with water, the way 

 that wine is modified ; and yet, by Hercules ! one really might 

 have supposed that there the earth produced nothing but corn 

 for the peoj)le's use. Alas! what wondrous skill, and yet 

 how misplaced ! means have absolutely been discovered for 

 getting drunk upon water even. 



There are two liquids that are peculiarly grateful to the 

 human body, wine within and oil without; both of them 

 the produce of trees, and most excellent in their respective 

 kinds. Oil, indeed, we may pronounce an absolute necessary, 

 nor has mankind been slow to employ all the arts of invention 

 in the manufacture of it. How much more ingenious, how- 

 ever, man has shown himself in devising various kinds of 

 drink will be evident from the fact, that there are no less 



76 He alludes to beer, or ratlier sweet wort, for hops were not used till 

 the latter part, probably, of the middle ages. Lupines were sometimes used 

 for flavouring beer. 



77 Diodorus Siculus says that the Egyptian beer was nearly equal to 

 wine in strength and flavour. 



