266 
Pliny's katueal histoet. 
[Book XIY. 
to mitigate the harsliness of the wine and subdue its asperity, 
and when the wine is thin and fiat, to give it additional 
strength and body. It is in Liguria more particularly, and 
the districts in the vicinity of the Padus, that the utility is 
recognized of mixing crapula with the must, in doing which 
the following rule is adopted : with wines of a strong and 
generous nature they mix a larger quantity, while with those 
that are poor and thin they use it more sparingly. There are 
some who would have the wine seasoned with both crapula 
and flower of resin at the same time.^^ Pitch too, when used 
for this purpose, has much the same properties as must when 
so employed. 
In some places, the must is subject to a spontaneous fermen- 
tation a second time : when this unfortunately happens it loses 
all its flavour, and then receives the name of vappa,"^^ a word 
which is applied as an opprobrious appellation even to worth- 
less men of degenerate spirit : in vinegar, on the other hand, 
notwithstanding its tart and acrid taste, there are very con- 
siderable virtues, and without it we should miss many of the 
comforts of civilized life. 
In addition to what we have already stated, the treatment 
and preparation of wines are the object of such remarkable at- 
tention, that we find some persons employing ashes, and others 
gj^sum and other substances of which we have already 
spoken, for the purpose of improving its condition : the ashes,^^ 
however, of the shoots of vines or of the wood of the quercus, are 
in general preferred for this purpose. It is recommended also, 
these effects, and hence obtained the name. This kind of wine was used 
itself, as we see above, in seasoning the other kinds. Fee remarks, that 
in reality resins have no such effect as imparting body to weak wines. 
31 The whole of this passage is hopelessly corrupt, and we can only 
guess at the meaning. 
32 We have already stated that " vappa is properly vinegar, which 
has been exposed to the air and has lost its flavour. In this fresh che- 
mical change, which he calls a second fermentation, the wine becomes 
vinegar ; and probably in the cases he mentions, for some peculiar reason, 
its speedy transition to "vappa" could not be arrested. 
33"" Mixed with water, it was the " posca," or common drink of the Eoman 
soldiers ; and it was used extensively both by Greeks and Komans in their 
cooking, and at meals. 
31 In c. 24. 
35 By the mixture of ashes, Fee says, the wines would lose their colour, 
and have a detestable alkaline flavour. 
