BOOK XIV. XXVII. 136-XXV111. 139 



and must of new wine should be boiled when there is 

 no nioon, which means at the conjunction of that 

 planet, and not on any other day ; and moreover 

 leaden and not copper jars should be used, and 

 some wahiuts should be thrown into the hquor, for 

 those are said to absorb the smoke. The best way 

 of treating the finest wines of Campania seems to 

 be to set them out in casks in the open air, exposed 

 to the sun, moon, rain and wind. 



XXMII. And if anybody cares to consider the TrouUe 

 matter more carefully , there is no department of man's wine ^ 

 Ufe on which more labour is spent — as if nature had ^^j^^g 

 not given us the most healthy of beverages to drink, Excessive 

 water, which all other animals make use of, whereas "" *"^' 

 we coinpel even our beasts of burden to drink wine ! « 

 and so much toil and labour and outlay is paid as the 

 price of a thing that perverts men's minds and pro- 

 duces madness, having caused the commission of thou- 

 sands of crimes, and being so attractive that a large 

 part of mankind knows of nothing else worth hving 

 for! Nay, what is more, to enable us to take more, 

 we reduce its strength by means of a hnen strainer, 

 and other enticements are devised and even poisonous 

 mixtures are invented to promote drinking, some men 

 taking a dose of hemlock before they begin, in order 

 that fear of death may compel them to drink, while 

 others take powdered pumice and preparations which 

 I am ashamed to teach the use of by describing them. 

 The most cautious of these topers we see getting 

 themselves boiled in hot baths and being carried out 

 of the bathroom unconscious, and others actually 

 unable to wait to get to the dinner table, no, not even 

 to put their clothes on, but straight away on the spot, 

 while still naked and panting, they snatch up huge 



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