Plinies Natural! Hiftorie, 405 



A unto them: and fo being fuffered to wind and clalpc about them as their husb3nds,yca,and with 

 their wanton armes or tendrils to climbc aloftjand with their joints to run up their boughesjthey 

 reach up to their head, yea^and overtop them : infomuch as the grape-gatherer in time of Vin- 

 tagejputtcth in a claufe in the covenants of his bargaine when hee ishire^, that in cafe his foot 

 fhould faile himjand he breake his necke^his maifter who fets him aworke iTiould give order for 

 his funerallfire and tombeat his owne proper coft and charges. And in truth Vines will grow in- 

 finitely : and unpoffible it is to part them^or rather to plucke them from the trees which they be 

 joined and coupled mio.Valertanm Cornehus making mention of many properties and {ingula- 

 ritiesof a Vine, thought this among the rcttworthieofefpeciall note and remembrancejThai 

 oneonclyftockeof a Vinewas fufficient to compaflfe and environ round about a good ferme- 

 B houfe or countrey mefluagejwith the branches and pliablefhoots that it did put forth.AtRome 

 there is one Vine growing within the cloiftures of the porches and galleries built by the Em- 

 preflfe ZivWjwhich running and trailing upon an open frame of railesjcovereth and fhaddoweth 

 the ouvert allies made for to walkein : and the fame Vine yeeldeth oneycare with another a do- 

 fen Amphores of good new wine yearely. An ordinarie thing it is^ that Vines will liirmount any 

 Elmes wherefoeverjbe they never fo tall and lofiie. It is reported^that Cymas the EmbafTadour of 

 king Pyrrhu^ ^v^ondtnno^ at the Vines of Aricia, for that they grew and mounted fo high ; would 

 needs taft of the wine that came of their grapes: and finding it to bee hard and tart^merrily skof- 

 fed and faid. That by good right and juiticc they had done well, to hang the mother that bard 

 fuch unpleafant wine, upon fo high a gibbet.Beyond the river Po in Icalie^there is a tree growing 

 C which the peafants there call Rumboiinus5and by another name'^Opulus 5 jt putteth forth great 

 armes and boughes, and thofe fpread broad andbearearoundcompaflej howbeit, the Vines 

 that be planted at the root of thefe trees, doe fill and cover the faid boughes : for yce fball have 

 the very old crooked braunches of the Vine (bare as they be and naked of leaves) to wind about 

 the armes, andcrawlein mannerof a ferpent or dragon along the broader and flutter bafe of 

 the boughs,and then the new fboots,toptwig^ V^nd tendrils, will devide themfelves to the utmol^ 

 branches and fhoots of the tree,that they will iode and clog her withall.Thefe Vines again grow 

 fometime no taller than theordinarie height oi a man of middle ftature, and being^fupported 

 and underpropped with ftakes and forkes, cleave and cling thickc togethetjand in this order fill 

 whole Vineyards. Others alfo there bee, which v\'iduheirexceflive creeping upon frames, with 

 D their overgrowne braunchesjand fome artificial! helpe of the maiflers handjfprcad fo far every 

 wayjthat they take up wide and large courts,overfpreading not onely the fides,but the very mids 

 thereof. See what fundrie forts of Vines even lalie alone is able to affourdi But in fome proving 

 ces without Italie,ycfhall fee a Vine fland of it felfe without any prop or flay at all,gathering and 

 drawing in her boughes andbraunchestogether:thus indeed iliegroweth butihort^howbeitfo 

 clofe couched and truffedroundjthat the thicknefle makes amends for all. Andyetotherwhiles 

 in fomecoaftsiioc winds are fo big and boifterous, that they will not fuffer them thus togroW 

 uprightj as namelyin Atfclckejand Languedoc,the province of Narbon.Vines being thus de- 

 burred to run up in-height, rcftmg upon iheir owne joints and braunches, and ever like to thofe 

 that be laid along whiles they are a trimming,by delving about their rootSjand pruning their fu- 

 E perfluous branches, traile and creepe too and fro along the ground, as wecdes and heaibesjand 

 all the way as they fpreadjfucke the humor of the earth into their grapes: by which meanes, no 

 marvellitis,if in the inland parts of Affricke there bee found fome of thofe grapesbigger than 

 pretie babes. And in nocountrie are the grapes of a thicker skin than thofe of Affricke,whercup- 

 on it may well bejthat they tooke the name "^Duracim p. having hard skins.] For infinite forts *QHap<iutk 

 there be of grapes, according to the difference obferved in their quantitie and bigneffCjin their 

 colour, n% If ones or kernils : and yet more fhil,in regard of the divers wines made of them. In 

 one place they are of a ftefh and bright purple, in another,of a glittering,incarnate,and rofate 

 colour : and yee fhall have them of a faire and lively gteenc. As for the white andblacke grapes^ 

 they be common every where.The grapes Bumafli have their name, for that they bee fo fwclling 

 F and roundjlike firuttmg paps or dugs. The Date- grapes Da6tyli,are long,both grape and ker- 

 nill/afhioncd in manner of fingers. Moreover,Naturc feemethtotakeherpleafureand make 

 good fport in fome kind of them^ where ye fhall find among them fome that be exceeding great, 

 others againe that be as fmall,howbeit pleafant they arc,and as fweet as the reft : and fuch be cal- 

 led LepiorrhagsBs.Some laft all wintei longjbeing knit inbunches togcther^and fo hanged aloft 



