Chap. 4.] 
VAEIETIES OF THE yiNE. 
229 
ably stout in its resistance to rain and the effects of old age, 
though it will hardly produce wine every year ; it i? remark- 
able for the abundant crops which it bears, though the graphs 
are held but in small esteem for eating. The vine known as 
the metica" lasts well for years, and offers a successful re- 
sistance to all changes of weather ; the grape is black, and the 
wine assumes a tawny hue when old. 
(3.) The varieties that have been mentioned thus far are 
those that are generally known ; the others belong to peculiar 
countries or individual localities, or else are of a mixed nature, 
the produce of grafting. Thus the vine known as the Tuder- 
nis,"^^ is peculiar to the districts of Etruria, and so too is the 
vine that bears the name of Florentia." At Arretium the 
talpona, the etesiaca, and the consemina, are particularly ex- 
cellent."^^ The talpona,'"'' which is a black grape, jjroduces a 
pale, straw-coloured^^ must : the etesiaca '^^ is apt to deceive ; 
the more the wine it produces the better the quality, but it 
is a remarkable fact, that just as it has reached that point its 
fecundity ceases altogether. The consemina ®^ bears a black 
grape, but its wine will not keep, though the grape itself is 
a most excellent keeper ; it is gathered fifteen days later than 
any other kind of grape : this vine is very fruitful, but its 
grape is only good for eating. The leaves of this tree, like 
those of the wild vine, turn the colour of blood just before the 
fall : the same is the case also with some other varieties, but 
it is a proof that they are of very inferior quality. 
The irtiola^^ is a vine peculiar to TJmbria and the terri- 
''^ Hardouin thinks that it is so called from Tuder, a town of Etruria. 
See B. hi. c. 19. 
''^ Sillig suggests that the reading here is corrupt, and that Pliny 
means to say that the vine called Florentia is particularly excellent, and 
merely to state that the talpona, &c., are peculiar to Arretium : for, as 
he says, speaking directly afterwards in disparagement of them, it is not 
likely he would pronounce them '-opima," of first-rate quality." 
" From ^' talpa/' a " mole," in consequence of its black colour. 
78 " Album." 
''^ Probably so caUed from the Etesian winds, which improved its growth. 
80 Perhaps meaning double-seeded." We may here remark, that the 
wines of Tuscany, though held in little esteem in ancient times, are highly 
esteemed at the present day, 
81 The leaves of most varieties turn red just before the fall. 
^2 And Baccius thinks that this is the kind from which the raisins of the 
