20 WINliS. 



where a fire was burning, tire liot air ascended through 

 a pipe to the upper chamber in wliicli the wine stood. 

 The flavour of the wine could not be injured in the 

 process as it was in well covered vessels. But what 

 would be the flavour of that wine to which sea water 

 had been added, while yet unfermented ? This was a 

 ver\' common practice among the ancient inhabitants of 

 Asia Minor and Greece. Gvpsuni, marble, clay, pitch 

 and resin were also added to make the wine keep 

 longer and to improve its flavour. Yet Pliny said tlrat 

 the most wholesome wine was that which contained no 

 foreign matter, for even the strongest man must distrust 

 such admixtures as marble, gypsum, and lime. Plin\' 

 complains particularh' of the wine-trade ; it had readied 

 such a pitch that the price of wine was regulated soleh' 

 according to the repute of tlie dealer, and that tlie un- 

 fermented liquor was adulterated even in the wine-press. 

 So that, strange as it max seem, the least renowned 

 wines were olten the most harmless. Tiie mixing of sea 

 ^^'ater with wine is recommended b^' Plinv as very wliole- 

 some. His warning to those who do not wish to grow 

 stout reminds one of a new and well-known cure, which 

 consists in drinking little or nothing at meal time. By 

 decoctions and infusion.s of herbs the ancients also tried 

 to increase the keeping properties of wine, just as we 

 do now-a-days by the addition of alcohol. Aromatic 

 grasses of the genus Andropogon were esteemed as spices 

 to impart a flavour to the clay drinking cups known bv 

 the name of "Rhodian goblets". All this would scarcely 

 appeal to our modern taste, ^'et the Romans of the 



