BOOK XIV. IV. 42 -V. 44 



The kind called ' table-grapes,' one of the hard-berry 

 group, are grown on trelHses — they are both white and 

 black — and so are the ' co\v's-udder ' grapes, also of 

 both colours, and those of Aegium and of llhodes, not 

 mentioned before, and the ' one-ounce ' grape, appar- 

 ently named from the weight of the berry, and also the 

 ' pitch grape,' the darkest in colour of all the black 

 grapes, and the ' garland ' grape, the clusters of which 

 by a sport of nature are arranged in a wreath with 

 leaves interspersed among the berries, and the grapes 

 called ' market-grapes,' a very quick bearer that 

 attracts buyers by its appearance and stands carriage 

 well. On the other hand the ashy grape and the dusky 

 grape and the donkey-grape " are condemned even 

 by their appearance, though this is less the case with 

 the alopecis,* which resembles a fox's brush. A 

 grape growing in the vicinity of Phalacra is called 

 the Alexandrian grape ; it is a low-growing vine with 

 branches only eighteen inches long and a black grape 

 the size of a bean, with a soft and very small stone ; 

 the clusters hang aslant and are extremely sw^eet ; the 

 leaf is small and round, and has no clefts. Within the 

 last seven years there has been discovered at Viviers 

 in the province of Narbonne a vine whose blossoms 

 wither in a day and which is consequently extremely 

 immune to bad weather ; it is called the ' charcoal- 

 vine,' and is now^ grown by the whole province. 



V. The elder Cato,^ who w^as exceptionally cele- catoon 

 brated for his triumph and his censorship, though yet JJ^/"^ 

 more for his Hterary distinction and for the precepts 

 that he has given to the Roman nation upon every 

 matter of utiHty, and in particular as to agriculture — 

 a man who by the admission of his contemporaries 

 was a supremely competent and unrivaUed agricul- 



215 



