10 



to Pliny (Hist. Nat. lib. xii. cap. \.) the first who made known the 

 vine and its juice, and the advantages of its cultivation, was a Helve- 

 tian, named Helicon, who having made his fortune at Rome, wished, 

 on leaving Italy, to enrich his own country, and those parts of Galha 

 he should pass through, with the knowledge of this precious plant. 

 Plutarch and Livy, on the contrary, affirm that it was aTuscan emi- 

 grant, who in revenge for his exile and expatriation intoxicated some 

 Gauhsh chieftains with the finest ItaUan wines ; and by this tempta- 

 tion engaged them and their armed tribes to undertake the pillage 

 and sack of Rome, and possess themselves of the Peninsula. The 

 opinion of Cicero seems more to the purpose ; he t h inks the introduc- 

 tion of the Vine due to the interchanges brought about by commerce ; 

 a sentiment confirmed by Varro, Strabo and Juhus Caesar. Diodorus 

 of Sicily tells us the same, and that in the most positive manner. 

 Justin is another witness in its favor ; he declares that the Phocian 

 colony of Marseilles brought with them to their asylima from tyranny, 

 the Vine, which they had cultivated at home with such signal success. 



What or when its origin, at least we are certain that from the first 

 of its appearance in France, the cultivation spread into every dispo- 

 sable corner, wherever a fitting soil and exposure, and active arms and 

 spirits were to be found. Its rapid adoption and progress excited the 

 jealousy of Rome, who, under pretence of preventing the recurrence 

 of famine, decreed that the vine-yards should be turned into wheat 

 fields ; and by a second edict, aimed directly at this merciless object, 

 ordered a general grubbing up of the Vine throughout the territories 

 of Gaul. This took place A. D. 92. It was so rigorously executed, 

 that the inhabitants were obliged to resort to metheghn, beer, and 

 fermented drinks, such as had been in use before the introduction oi' 

 the grape. This inroad on private rigiits was not committed with 

 impunity. The yeomanry, whose sturdy arms draw from the soil the 

 nourishment of a country, are prompt to resist the tyranny that would 

 grind them to the earth ; they are not patient abiders of the yoke and 

 fetter. The ferocious Domitian, who had decreed the extirpation of 

 the Vine, was forewarned of his fate in the follov;ing distich ; When 

 thou shalt have gnawed me down to the root, (says the Vine to the 

 goat browsing among her branches ) I still shall bear fruit enough for 

 a libation to be poured at the immolation of our Emperor." 



I repeat it, the prevention of dearth was only a pretence made use 

 of to render Gaul entirely tributary to Italy, and to take from her the 

 high reputation she had gained by her wines, which were in request 

 among the most distant nations ; for tlie edict was kept in force for 

 two centuries. It wa? not until A. i). 283 that Probu.? restored the 



