4 THE GRAPE-VINE. 
The use of the vine is from remote antiquity, and often men- 
tioned in Holy Writ. Noah planted a vineyard after the 
deluge, and made wine from the grapes (Gen. ix. 20, 21). 
The vine was known to the Egyptians and is represented on 
their monuments (as the writer has seen it pictured in the 
tombs of the kings at Thebes, in Upper Egypt, of a date 
many centuries before the Christian era). The Israelites, in 
their journey through the wilderness, longed for the vines of 
Egypt (Numb. xx. 5). 
Vineyards abounded in Canaan when the Israelites took pos- 
session of it, and in Syria at the present day clusters weighing 
ten and twelve pounds have been gathered. Frequent allu- 
sions are made in the Bible to vineyards, to vine-dressers, to 
rejoicings at the vintage, the gathering and gleaning of the 
grapes, the treading of the grapes, the wine-presses and the 
wine-vats—all indicating the important place which the vine 
occupied among the productions of Palestine. Israel is repre- 
sented as a vine brought from Egypt and planted by the Lord. 
Dwelling under the vine and fig-tree is an emblem of peace 
and tranquility (Zac. iii. 10). 
In Grecian mythology Bacchus, to whom more temples have 
been erected than to any other deity, is said in ancient times 
to have brought the vine from India, where the cultivation in 
modern times has become neglected. The vine, a migratory 
climber, which has run round the globe, twined high in man’s. 
affections, and made surprising inroads on his pocket, has 
several disputed birthplaces. According to the legends, Africa 
owed it to Osiris, and Europe to Bacchus. The Jews claimed 
it for the slopes of Mount Hebron. Its birthplace was perhaps 
that same Persian paradise that produced the fig, the peach, 
and the apricot. 
Alexander the Great found the wild vine on the banks of 
