100 Observations on the Climate of Italy 



Xpovov. (Lib. iv. c. 5.) Thus, too, Tacitus : " Ccelum crebris 



imbribus ac nebulis fcedurn; asperitas frigorum abest 



(fruges) tarde mitescunt, cito proveniunt : eadem utriusque 

 rei causa, multus humor terrarum ccelique." (Agricol. c. 12.) 

 And Minucius Felix, in a passage (§ 18.), for which I am in- 

 debted to the Archteologia, vol. iii. p. 54* : " Britannia sole de- 

 ficitur, sed circumfluentis maris tepore reficitur." 



Several authors have quoted a passage from Vopiscus *, 

 stating that the Emperor Probus gave permission to the 

 Spaniards, Gauls and Britons to plant vines; which per- 

 mission to the Britons, it is said, would have been a derision, 

 had the climate been too cold for the cultivation of that plant. 

 The first objection that arises, is that Eutropius t> an earlier 

 historian, and Aurelius Victor, in speaking of the same cir- 

 cumstance, mention Gaul and Pannonia, but not Britain. 

 Let us assume, however, the statement of Vopiscus to be cor- 

 rect. Why, it may be asked, was the Imperial permission 

 necessary for this cultivation ? To this it is replied, that Do- 

 mitian, according to Suetonius^, had forbidden the laying out 

 of new vineyards in Italy, and ordered the destruction to the 

 extent of at least one half of those existing in the provinces. 

 Unfortunately, Suetonius adds, " nee exsequi rem perseve- 

 ravit." Waving, however, this second difficulty, let us sup- 

 pose, for the sake of argument, that the edict of Domitian 

 was enforced. 



Now as Tacitus, who wrote after Domitian, expressly denies 

 Britain the vine, the olive, " ceteraque calidioribus terris oriri 

 sueta," it follows that the vine could not have been cultivated 

 in that island before the time of Probus, and that conse- 

 quently (unless the Britons are introduced by a mistake of 

 Vopiscus) the permission of that emperor could only have 

 been a permission to make the experiment of the culture. 



I believe the real explanation of the cause of the edict of 

 Probus is to be found in a passage of Cicero de Republica, 

 which shows that the prohibition to plant the vine in the pro- 

 vinces was a portion of Roman policy even during the Re- 

 public. This passage, which is remarkable in more respects 

 than one, is as follows: " Nos vero, justissimi homines, qui 

 Transalpinas gentes oleam et vitem serere non sinimus, quo 

 pluris sint nostra oliveta, nostraaque vineae." (Lib. iii. c. 13.) 

 The edict of Domitian, and various passages of ancient au- 

 thors, (among whom I may mention Martial, who speaks of 

 the wines of Marseilles, Vienne in Gaul, and Tarragona,) 



* In Probo, c. 18. 



t ix. c. 17. " Vineas etiam Gallos et Pannonios habere permisit." 



J Domitian. c, 7. 



