BOOK XIV. VI. 54-56 



district still retains its strength and its insuperable 

 vigour, inasniuch as one of the most recent authors, 

 Mucianus, who was thrce times consul, ascertained 

 when actually visiting tliat region that it is the 

 custom to mix with one pint of this wine eight pints 

 of water, and that it is bhick in colour, has a strong 

 bouquet, and improves in substance with age. 



The Pramnian wine as well, also celebrated by 

 Homer, still retains its fame. It is grown in the 11. xi. 639, 

 territory of Smyrna, in the neighbourhood of the ^'^' -^" '"^^" 

 shrine of the Mother of the Gods. 



Among the remaining wines no kind was particu- Winesof 

 larly famous, but the year of the consulship of Lucius a^g^JiT"' 

 Opimius, when the tribune Gaius Gracchus was "^'"^- 

 assassinated for stirring up the common people with 

 seditions, was renowned for the excellence of its 

 vintages of all kinds — the weather was so fine and 

 bright (they call it the ' boiling ' of the grape) 

 thanks to the power of the sun, in the 633rd year 121 b.o. 

 from the birth of the city ; and wines of that year 

 still survive, having kept for nearly 200 years, 

 though they have now been reduced to the con- 

 sistency of honey with a rough flavour, for such in 

 fact is the nature of wines in their old age ; and 

 it w^ould not be possible to drink them neat or to 

 counteract them with water, as their over-ripeness 

 predominates even to the point of bitterness, but 

 with a very small admixture they serve as a seasoning 

 for improving all other wines. Assuming that by 

 the valuation of that period their cost may be put 

 at 100 sesterces per amphora, but that the interest 

 on this sum has been adding up at 6 per cent. 

 per annum, which is a legal and moderate rate, 

 we have shown by a famous instance that in the 



223 



