uines. 



BOOK XIV. XIX. II2-XXI. 115 



berries or else the new wood being boiled down in 

 must ; and similarly is used the wood of the dwarf 

 oHve, the ground-pine, and the germander, and in 

 the same way wine is also made from their blossom, 

 by adding ten drams' weight of it to three quarters 

 of a gallon of must. 



XX. A wine is also made of only water and honey. Honev 

 For this it is recommended that rain-water should be ' " ° 

 stored for five years. Some who are more expert 

 use rain-water as soon as it has fallen, boiUng it down 

 to a third of the quantity and adding one part of old 

 honey to three parts of water, and then keeping the 

 mixture in the sun for 40 days after the rising of the 

 Dog-star. Others pour it offafter nine days and then 

 cork it up. This beverage is called in Greek ' water- 

 honey ' ; with age it attains the flavour of wine. It 

 is nowhere rated more highly than in Phrygia. XXI. 

 Also honey used even to be mixed with vinegar, so 

 exhaustive have been men's experiments in Hving. 

 This mixture was called in Greek * sour honey ' ; it 

 was made with ten pounds of honey, 2J pints of old 

 vinegar, one pound of sea salt and 5 pints of rain- 

 water, heated to boihng ten times, after which the 

 Hquor was drawn off and so kept tiH it was old. AH 

 these wines are condemned by Themison, who is a 

 very high authority ; and, I vow, the employment of 

 them does appear to be a iour de force, unless any- 

 body beHeves that aromatic wine and wines com- 

 pounded of perfumes are products of nature, or 

 that nature gave birth to shrubs in order for them 

 to be used for drink ! Contrivances of this sort are 

 amusing to learn of, owing to the ingenuity of the 

 human mind that investigates everything. There 

 can be no doubt that none of these wines wiH keep 



261 



