BOOK XIV. VIII. 68 70 



seasoning other wines. The importance of the wine 

 of Beziers does not cxtend outside the GalHc })ro- 

 vinces ; and about the rest of the wines grown in the 

 Province of Narbonne no positive statement can be 

 made, inasmuch as the dealcrs have set up a regular 

 factory for the puq:)ose and colour them by means of 

 smoke, and I regret to '^ay also by employing noxious 

 hcrbs and drugs — inasmuch as a dealer actually uses 

 aloe for adulterating the flavour and the colour of 

 his wines. 



But also the wincs of Italy grown further away from 

 the Ausonian Sea are not without note, those of 

 Taranto and San Scvcrino, and those grown at 

 Cosenza and Tempsa and Bari, and the Lucanian 

 vintages, which hold a better place than those of 

 Tliurii. But the wincs of Lagara, grown not far from 

 Grumentum, are the most famous of them all, on 

 the ground of their having restored the health of 

 Messala Potitius. Campania, whethcr by means of 

 carcful cultivation or by accident, has lately excited 

 considcration by some new names — boasting the 

 TrebeUian vintage four miles from Naples, the Cau- 

 line close to Capua, and the Trebulan when grown in 

 the district of the samc name (though otherwise it is 

 ahvays classed as a common wine), and the TrifoHne. 

 As for the wines of Pompci, their topmost improve- 

 ment is a matter of ten years, and they gain nothing 

 from age ; also they are detected as unwholesome 

 because of a headache which lasts till noon on the 

 following day. These instances,if I amnot mistakcn, 

 go to show that it is the country and the soil that 

 matter, not the grape, and that it is supcrfluous 

 to go on with a long enumeration of kinds, sincc 

 the same vine has a diiferent value in difFercnt 



