274 
plint's katueal history. 
[Book XIY. 
this book of his, from which we have no great difficulty in 
coming to the conclusion, that drunk as he already was with 
the blood of his fellow- citizens, the only result was that he 
thirsted for it all the more. For, in fact, such is the infallible 
characteristic of drunkenness, the more a person is in the 
habit of drinking, the more eager he is for drink ; and the 
remark of the Scythian ambassador is as true as it is well 
known — the more the Parthians drank, the thirstier they were 
for it. 
CKAP. 29. LTQIJOES WITH THE STREI^^GTH OF WINE MADE EKOM 
WATEK AND CORN. 
The people of the Western world have also their intoxi- 
cating drinks, made from corn steeped in water.'''^ These 
beverages are prepared in different ways throughout Gaul 
and the provinces of Spain; under different names, too, 
though in their results they are the same. The Spanish 
provinces have even taught us the fact that these liquors are 
capable of being kept till they have attained a considerable 
age. Egypt, "^^ too, has invented for its use a very similar beve- 
rage made from corn; indeed, in no part of the world is 
drunkenness ever at a loss. And then, besides, they take these 
drinks unmixed, and do not dilute them with water, the way 
that wine is modified ; and yet, by Hercules ! one really might 
have supposed that there the earth produced nothing but corn 
for the people's use. Alas! what wondrous skill, and yet 
how misplaced ! means have absolutely been discovered for 
getting drunk upon water even. 
There are two liquids that are peculiarly grateful to the 
human body, wine within and oil without; both of them 
the produce of trees, and most excellent in their respective 
kinds. Oil, indeed, we may pronounce an absolute necessary, 
nor has mankind been slow to employ all the arts of invention 
in the manufacture of it. How much more ingenious, how- 
ever, man has shown himself in devising various kinds of 
drink will be evident from the fact, that there are no less 
''^ He alludes to beer, or rather sweet wort, for hops were not used till 
the latter part, probably, of the middle ages. Lupines were sometimes used 
for flavouring beer. 
"^^ Diodorus Siculus says that the Egyptian beer was nearly equal to 
■\vine in strength and flavour. 
