124 OTJK COMMON PETJITS. 



borne cluster of Eschol. Tlie latter are supposed to have 

 been of the kind now grown on Mount Libanus, where 

 the vines creep along the surface of the ground and bear 

 grapes as large as plums. InMadeira, too, there is a dessert 

 grape, the clusters of which are said often to weigh 20 Ibs. 

 An interesting account is given by the French writer, 

 Noisette, of the early history of the vine in his country, 

 now one of its most congenial homes. Among the many 

 diverse accounts as to who first introduced this tree into 

 Gaul, he assigns most weight to the authority of Strabo 

 and Justin, who say that it was brought there by the 

 Phocians when they founded the colony of Marseilles, 

 about GOO years B.C. For nearly seven centuries it con- 

 tinued to nourish, but in A.D. 92, a scarcity of grain 

 throughout the empire happening to coincide with a very 

 abundant vintage, the one was thought to have had some 

 effect in causing the other, and consequently Domitian, 

 who was then emperor, issued an edict, ordering that a 

 large proportion of the vines should be everywhere up- 

 rooted, and that throughout Gaul the plant should be 

 entirely eradicated a command which was so ruthlessly 

 obeyed that the inhabitants of that country were reduced 

 to resume the use of hydromel and such other poor drinks 

 as they had been obliged to content themselves with be- 

 fore the introduction of wine. A Greek distich against 

 the Goat, having by a slight change been adapted into an 

 epigram against Domitian, in which the vine, addressing 

 him, exclaims, " If you should destroy me down to the 

 very roots, I will still bear fruit enough to furnish a liba- 

 tion when you are immolated," exciting a fear that the 

 general dissatisfaction might expose him to the danger of 

 assassination, induced the tyrant to relax the stringency of 

 this law in the other provinces ; but in Gaul it continued 

 in full force even after his death, and it was not till the 

 year 282 that the Emperor Probus, after having restored 

 peace to the empire, gave the Gauls permission once more 

 to plant the vine. An author named Dunod, giving an 

 account of this event, says that it was a truly delightful 

 spectacle to see crowds of both sexes and of all ages 

 joyously assembling to aid in the grand restoration of their 



