BOOK XIV. V. 51-V1. 54 



the most learned person of the day, and eminent in 

 power which ultimately grew to excess and came 

 crashing about his ears — a man who was at all events 

 no admirer of frivoUties — was seized with such a 

 passionate desire for this estate that he was not 

 ashamed to concede this victory to one whom he other- 

 wise hated and who was sure to make the most of this 

 advertisement, by buying the vineyards in question 

 at four times the price Palaemon had paid for it 

 within hardly more than ten years of its being under 

 his management. This was a method of cultivation 

 which it would be profitable to apply to the farms of 

 Caecubum and Setia, since even subsequently the 

 estate has frequently produced seven sacks, that is 140 

 jars, of must to the iugerum. And to prevent anyone 

 from supposing that the records of the days of old were 

 beaten on this occasion, Cato also wrote that there 

 were returns of 10 sacks to the iugerum, these in- 

 stances conchisively proving that the merchant does 

 not obtain more profit by rashly trespassing on the 

 seas nor by going as far as the coast of the Red Sea 

 or of tlie Indian Ocean to seek for merchandise, 

 than is yielded by a diligently cultivated homestead. 



VI. The most ancient celebrity belongs to the wine Famous 

 of Maronea grown in the seaboard parts of Thrace, ^"l^^''^^^^ 

 as we learn from Homer. However, we need not 

 pursue the legendary or variously reported stories qj. ix. 197 

 concerning its origin, except the statement that 

 Aristaeus was the first person of all in the same nation 

 who mixed honey with wine, because of the out- 

 standingly agreeable quahty of each of these natural 

 products. Homer has recorded the mixing of Maro- Od. ix. 20!i 

 nean wine with water in the proportion of 20 parts of 

 water to one of wine. This class of wine in the same 



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