﻿80 THE AGE OF PETRONIUS ARBITER. 



respect any institution established and favored by Augustus, and in this case more 

 particularly, on account of the addition of the worship of the Genius of Augustus, 

 a rite so intimately connected with the person and family of the ruler. 



There can be no doubt that A\-ine of that vintage was still extant, not only at that 

 time, but at a much later period. The vmtage of the year 121 B. C. (633 U. C.) had 

 been remarkable both as regards quantity and qviality. Cf. Plin. Nat. Hist. 1-4. 4. 6. 

 55 : " In reliquis claritas generi non fuit alicui ; anno fuit omnium generum bonitas 

 L. Opimio consule, cum C. Gracchus tribunus plebem seditionibus agitans interemp- 

 tus ; ea coeli temperies fulsit, cocturam vocant, solis opere natali urbis DCXXXIII. 

 Durantque adhuc vina ducentis fere annis, jam in speciem redacta mellis asperi; etenim 

 haec natura vinis in vetustate est, nee potari per se queant, si non pervincat aqua, 

 usque in amaritudinem carie indomita." This statement of Pliny cannot but satisfy 

 an unbiassed mind that wine of the Opimian vintage continued for nearly two hundred 

 years. In recei'sing the testimony of Pliny, I do not intend, nor is it necessary for my 

 present purpose, to deny the truth of the many charges of fraud and adulteration which 

 are met with in ancient writers, for example. Martial.* The point of importance is 

 this, — that, if we adopt a strictly literal construction of the passage, it goes to prove 

 that the work of Petronius was written about 21 B. C. (733 U. C), or, if we admit a 

 freer interpretation, it may have been written any time previously to 77 A. D., when 

 Pliny finished his work. For it is to be observed, that the interpreters of this passage 

 diff"er as to the meaning which is to be given to it. Many, rejecting the literal inter- 

 pretation, consider it as an instance of the boastful ignorance of Trimalchio, displayed 

 in so many ways. W. A. Becker belongs to these, and says : " Die Amphorae an 

 der Tafel Trimalchios tragen die Etikette, ' Falernum Opimianum annorum centum,' 

 worin die doppelte Lacherlichkeit liegt, dem Weine, der jahrlich alter wird, ein 

 bestimmtes Alter anzuschreiben, und das Opimianum hundertjahrig zu nenneu, da 

 dieser Jahrgang, der ausgezeichnetste, welchen ItaHen kannte, dem Jahre der Stadt 633 

 angehorte, und damals wenigstens 160-170 Jahre alt sein musste."-|" It is apparent, 



• 3. 62. 2 : " Quod sub rege Numa condita vina bibis." 

 13. Ill : " De Sinuessanis venerunt Massica praelis ; 



Condita quo quaeris consule .' Nullus erat." 



t Gallus, Vol. II. p. 172. " The amphorte on the table of Trimalchio bear the inscription, ' Falernum 

 Opimianum annorum centum,' in which there is a twofold absurdity, to ascribe a definite age to wine which 

 annually increases in age, and to call the Opimian a hundred years old, when this vintage, the most remark- 

 able that Italy knew, belongs to the year 633 of the city, and could not but be, at that time, at least from 

 160 to 170 years old." 



