Hide browse bar Your current position in the text is marked in blue. Click anywhere in the line to jump to another position:
This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Table of Contents:
1 Lacus.
2 The testa or amphora, made of earth.
3 As the wife of Augustus is meant, this reading appears preferable to "Julia."
4 Dion Cassius says "eighty-sixth."
5 See B. iii. c. 22, and B. xvii. c. 3. Pucinum was in Istria, and the district is said still to produce good wine; according to Dalechamps, the place is called Pizzino d'Istria.
6 The hills of Setia, looking down on the Pomptine Marshes: now Sezza, the wine of which is of no repute.
7 See B. iii. c. 9.
8 See B. iii. c. 9. Between Fundi and Setia; a locality now of no repute for its wines. In B. xxiii. c. 19, Pliny says, that the Cæcuban vine was extinct: but in B. xvii. c. 3, he says that in the Pomptine Marshes it was to be found.
9 This was the case, it has been remarked, with Madeira some years ago.
10 This is the most celebrated of all the ancient wines, as being more especially the theme of the poets.
11 See B. xi. c. 97. The wines of the Falernian district are no longer held in any esteem; indeed, all the Campanian wines are sour, and of a disagreeable flavour.
12 It appears to have been exceedingly rich in alcohol.
13 But in B. xxiii. c. 20, he assigns the first rank to the Albanum; possibly, however, as a medicinal wine. The wines of Latium are no longer held in esteem.
14 See B. xxiii. c. 21.
15 From Surrentum, the promontory forming the southern horn of the Bay of Naples. Ovid and Martial speak in praise of these wines; they were destitute of richness and very dry, in consequence of which they required twenty-five years to ripen.
16 Or "dead vinegar." "Vappa" was vinegar exposed to the air, and so destitute of its properties, and quite insipid.
17 Excellent wines are still produced in the vicinity of this place. Massicum was one of the perfumed wines. Gaurus itself produced the "Gauranum," in small quantity, but of high quality, full-bodied and thick.
18 For the Calenian Hills, see B. iii. c. 9; see also B. xxiii. c. 12, for some further account of the wines of Stata. The wines of that district are now held in no esteem.
19 From Fundi. See B. iii. c. 9.
20 Now Castel del Volturno: although covered with vineyards, its wines are of no account. This wine always tasted as if mixed with some foreign substance.
21 Now Piperno. It was a thin and pleasant wine.
22 Now Segni, in the States of the Church.
23 Written to the Senate, also to Cicero. We learn from Suetonius that they were partly written in cipher.
24 Messina, at the present day, exports wines of very good quality, and which attain a great age.
25 It was sound, light, and not without body.
26 "Lagenæ." The same spot, now Taormina in Sicily, between Catania and Messina, still produces excellent wines.
27 See B. iii. c. 18. Fée says that this is thought to have been the wine of Syrol, of last century, grown near Ancona.
28 "Palma." Notwithstanding this suggestion, it is more generally supposed that they had their name from the place called Palma, near Marano, on the Adriatic. Its wines are still considered of agreeable flavour.
29 The wines of modern Cezena enjoy no repute, owing, probably, to the mode of making them.
30 Probably so called because it was brought into fashion by Mæcenas.
31 See Georg. ii. 95. The wines of the Tyrol, the ancient Rhætia, are still considered as of excellent quality.
32 Of Adria, or the Adriatic Sea.
33 See B. iii. c. 20. These wines are of little repute.
34 In Latium. See B. iii. c. 9.
35 From Graviscæ. See B. iii. c. 8.
36 See B. ii. c. 96, B. iii. c. 9, and B. xxxvi. c. 49.
37 The wines of Genoa are of middling quality only, and but little known.
38 Or "juicy" wine.
39 Now Beziers, in the south of France. The wines of this part are considered excellent at the present day. That of Frontignan grows in its vicinity. Fée is inclined to think, from Pliny's remarks here, that the ancients and the moderns differed entirely in their notions as to what constitutes good or bad wine.
40 He means, beyond modern Provence, and Languedoc: districts famous for their excellent wines, more particularly the latter.
41 Fée deems all this quite incredible. Our English experience, however, tells us that it is by no means so; much of the wine that is drunk in this country is indebted for flavour as well as colour to anything but the grape.
42 The wines of modern Otranto are ordinarily of good quality.
43 Baccius reads "Seberiniana," but is probably wrong. If he is not, it might allude to the place now known as San Severino, and which produces excellent wine. Fée thinks that these wines were grown in the territory of Salerno, which still enjoys celebrity for its muscatel wines.
44 See B. iii. c. 10. The wines of modern Cosenza still enjoy a high reputation.
45 M. Valerius Messala Corvinus, the writer and partisan of Augustus. See end of B. ix.
46 A place supposed to have been situated near Thurii.
47 See B. iii. c. 15.
48 Said by Galen to be very wholesome, as well as pleasant. The wines of the vicinity of Naples are still held in high esteem.
49 Galen says that it was very similar to the Falernian.
50 See B. iii. c. 9.
51 The Trifoline territory was in the vicinity of Cumæ. It is possible that the wine may have had its name from taking three years to come to maturity; or possibly it was owing to some peculiarity in the vine.
52 They have been already mentioned in c. 4. See B. iii. c. 9.
53 Twelve o'clock in the day.
54 See B. iii. c. 4.
55 In Catalonia, which still produces abundance of wine, but in general of inferior repute.
56 The wines of Tarragona are still considered good.
57 A place in the province of Hispania Tarraconensis, destroyed by Sertorius.
58 They still enjoy a high repute. The fame of their Malvoisie has extended all over the world.
59 He means to illustrate the capricious tastes that existed as to the merits of wines.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.
View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.
- Cross-references to this page
(5):
- A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), VINUM
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), AMYCLAE
- Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), RHAETIA
- Smith's Bio, Li'via
- Smith's Bio, Maece'nas, C. Ci'lnius
- Cross-references in general dictionaries to this page
(1):
- Lewis & Short, Ămīnaeus