BOOK XIV. XVII. 97-xix. loo 



kinds of wine were served. It follows that all the 

 rest of the vintages came into fame afterwards, and 

 aboiit 54 B.C." 



XVIII. I am not surprised therefore that many Arti/iciai 

 centuries ago ahnost innumerable kinds of artificial "^""- 

 wine have been invented, which we will now specify, 



all of them being used for medicinal purposes. In 

 an earher volume we stated the method of making xii. i30. 

 omphacium, which is used for unguents. What is 

 called vine-flower wine is made from the claret vine, 

 that is the wild vine, by steeping two pounds of the 

 flowers of this plant in a jar of must ; 30 days after- 

 wards they are changed. Beside this the root and 

 the grape-skins of the claret-vine are used indressing 

 leather. These grape-skins, a Uttle after the blossom 

 has gone oif, provide a remarkable specific for coohng 

 attacks of fevcrish heat in cases of disease, being 

 said to be of an extremely cold nature. A portion 

 of these grapes die off from the heat before the 

 rest — these are called midsummer grapes ; the 

 whole of them never come to maturity, and if a 

 bunch in an unripe state before it completely withers 

 is fed to poultry it produces in them a distaste 

 for steahng grapes. 



XIX. The first of the artificial wines, which is called Manufacture 

 weak wine, is made from real wine in the following ^^^JJ"* 

 manner: ten quarts of white must and half that 

 quantity of water are kept boihng till a considerable 

 amount of the water is boiled away. Other people 



put in five quarts of sea-water and the same amount 

 of rain-water and leave the mixture in the sun for 

 40 days to evaporate. This drink is given to 

 invahds for whom it is feared that wine may be 

 harmful. 



253 



