Chap. 9.] 
FOREIGN WINES. 
245 
new to me, and it is hj no means of first-rate quality ; the 
emperor, however, you will sec, will drink of no other." 
Indeed I have no wish to deny that there may be other wines 
deserving of a very high reputation, but those which I have 
already enumerated are the varieties upon the excellence of 
which the world is at present agreed. 
CHAP. 9. (7.) THIETY-EIGHT VARIETIES OF FOEEIGN WINES. 
We will now, in a similar manner, give a description of the 
varieties found in the parts beyond sea. After the wines 
mentioned by Homer, and of which we have already spoken,^* 
those held in the highest esteem were the wines of Thasos 
and Chios, and of the latter more particularly the sort known 
as Arvisium."^^ Ey the side of these has been placed the 
wine of Lesbos,^''' upon the authority of Erasistratus, a famous 
physician, who flourished about the year of the City of Eome 
450. At the present day, the most esteemed of all is the wine 
of Clazomense,^^ since they have learned to season it more 
sparingly with sea- water. The wine of Lesbos has naturally 
a taste of sea- water. That from Mount Tmolus^^ is not so 
much esteemed by itself for its qualities as a wine, as for its 
peculiar sweetness. It is on account of this that it is mixed 
with other wines, for the purpose of modifying their harsh 
flavour, by imparting to them a portion of its own sweetness ; 
while at the same time it gives them age, for immediately 
after the mixture they appear to be much older than they 
really are. Next in esteem after these are the wines of 
^3 He means to illustrate the capricious tastes that existed as to the 
merits of wines. In c. 6 of this Book. 
15 The Chian held the first rank, the Thasian the second. 
1^ From Arvisium, or Ariusium, a hilly district in the centre of the 
island. The wine of Chios still retains its ancient celehrity. 
It was remarkable for its sweetness, and aromatics were sometimes 
mixed with it. Homer calls it harmless. Lesbos still produces choice 
wines. 
1^ Near Smyrna. Vrobably similar to the Pramnian wine, mentioned 
in c. 6, 
1^ See B. V. c. 30. This wine is mentioned again in the next page ; it is 
generally thought, that he is wrong in making the Tmolites and the Meso- 
gites distinct wines, for they are supposed to have been identical. 
20 If drunk by itself, and not as a flavouring for other wines. 
