The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 8

48. Respecting the Italian wines, Galen is represented by this sophist as saying, that the Falernian wine is fit to drink from the time that it is ten or fifteen years old, till it is twenty; but after that time it falls off, and is apt to give headaches, and affects the nervous system.

There are two kinds of Falernian wine, the dry and the sweet. The sweet wine is made when the south wind blows through the vineyard; which also makes it darker in colour. But that which is not made at this time is dry and yellow. Of the Alban wine there are also two kinds, one sweet and one sour; and both are in their prime after they are fifteen years old. The wine of Surrentum begins to be drinkable when five-and-twenty years old; for as it has no oil of any sort in it, and is very thin, it is a long time ripening: and when it is old it is nearly the only wine that is wholesome to be drunk for a continuance. But the Rhegian wine, being richer than the Surrentine, may be used as soon as it is fifteen years old. The wine of Privernum too is very good, being thinner than the Rhegian wine, and one which does not take much effect on the head.

And the Formian wine is like it; and is a wine which soon comes to its prime; it is, however, a richer wine than the other. But the Trifoline wine is slower ripening, and has a more earthy taste than the Surrentine. The Setine is a wine of the first cla.s.s, like the Falernian wine, but lighter, and not so apt to make a man drunk. The wine of Tibur is thin, and evaporates easily, being at its best as soon as it is ten years old. Still it is better as it gets older. The Labican wine is sweet and oily to the taste, being something between the Falernian and the Alban: and you may drink that when it is ten years old. There is the Gauran wine too, a scarce and very fine wine, and likewise very powerful and oily; more so indeed than the wine of Praeneste or of Tibur.

The Marsic is a very dry wine; and very good for the stomach. Around c.u.mae in Campania there is a wine made which is called Ulban, a light wine, fit to be drunk when five years old. The wine of Ancona is a fine wine, and rather oily. The Buxentine is like the Alban, as far as being rather sour; but it is a strong wine, and good for the stomach. The Veliternian wine is very sweet to drink and good for the stomach; but it has this peculiarity, that it does not taste like a pure wine, but always has an appearance as if some other was mixed with it. The Calenian wine is light, and better for the stomach than the Falernian.

The Caecuban is a n.o.ble wine, full of strength and easily affecting the head; but it does not come to its prime till after many years. The Fundan wine is strong, and nutritious, and affects the head and stomach, on which account it is not much used at banquets. But the Sabine wine is lighter than any of these, and is fit to be drunk from the time that it is seven years old till it is fifteen; and the Signine wine is available at six years old, but as it gets older it is far more valuable. The wine of Nomentum gets in season very early, and can be drunk as soon as it is five years old; it is not very sweet, and not very thin; but that of Spoletum is very sweet to the taste, and has a golden colour. The wine of Capua is in many respects like the Surrentine wine. The Barbine is very dry and continually improving. The Caucine too is a n.o.ble wine, and resembles the Falernian. The wine of Venafrum is good for the stomach, and light. The Trebellian wine, which is made round Naples, is of moderate strength, good for the stomach, and pleasant to the taste. The Erbulian wine is at first dark coloured, but in a few years it becomes white; and it is a very light and delicate wine. That of Ma.r.s.eilles is a fine wine, but it is scarce, and thick, with a good deal of body. The Tarentine, and all the other wines of that district, are delicate wines, without very much strength or body, sweet, and good for the stomach. The Mamertine is a foreign wine, made out of Italy. There is also another wine, made in Sicily, and called Iotaline; it is a sweet wine and light, but there is some strength in it.

Among the Indians a deity is worshipped, according to the account of Chares of Mitylene, who is called Soroadeus; which name, as interpreted in Greek, means Winemaker.

49. Antiphanes, that witty man, catalogues all the things which are peculiar to each city thus:--

Cooks come from Elis, pots from Argos, Corinth blankets sends in barges, Phlius wine, and Sicyon fish, While cheese is a Sicilian dish.

aegium sends flute-playing maids; Perfumers ply their dainty trades At Athens, under Pallas' eye; Botia sends us eels to fry.

And Hermippus says,

Tell me, ye Muses, who th' Olympic height Cheer with your holy songs and presence bright; Tell me what blessings Bacchus gave to man, Since first his vessel o'er the waters ran.

Ox-hides from Libya's coasts, and juicy kail: The narrow sea, still vocal with the wail Of lost Leander's bride, the tunny sends, And our first meal with kipper'd salmon mends.

Groats come from Italy, and ribs of beef; While Thrace sends many a lie and many a thief.

Still do the Spartans scratch their sides in vain, Mad with the itching of th' Odrysian pain.

Then Syracuse gives cheese and well-fed pigs; Fair Athens olives sends, and luscious figs.

Cursed of all islands let Corcyra be, Where no especial excellence we see.

Sails come from Egypt, and this paper too; Incense from Syria; Crete upholds to view The cypress tall; and, dear to mighty Jove, In Paphlagonia grows the almond grove.

The elephant sends its teeth from Afric's sands; Pears and fat sheep grow on Euba's lands; Rhodes sends us raisins, and beguiles the night With figs that make our dreams and slumbers light; From Phrygia slaves, allies from Arca's land; The Pagasaean ports their hirelings brand; Phnicia sends us dates across the billows, And Carthage, carpets rich, and well-stuff'd pillows.

50. Pindar too, in the Pythian ode addressed to Hiero, says,

Give me the n.o.ble Spartan hound With whose deep voice Eurotas' banks resound; While the dark rocks Of Scyrus give the choicest flocks Of milky goats; and, prompt at war's alarms, Brave Argos burnishes the well-proved arms, The Sicels build the rapid car, And the fierce Thebans urge the chariot to the war.[46:1]

Critias tells us--

Know ye the land of the fair Proserpine, Where the cottabus splashes the ominous wine; Where the lightest and handsomest cars . . . .

And what can for tired limbs compare With the soft and yielding Thessalian chair?

But no town with Miletus vies In the bridal bed's rich canopies.

But none the golden bowl can chase, Or give to bra.s.s such varied grace, As that renowned hardy race That dwells by Arno's tide; Phnicia, mother of the arts, Letters to learned men imparts; Thebes scaled the mountain's side, Bade the tough ash its trunk to yield, And fill'd with cars the battle-field; While Carians, masters of the seas, First launch'd the boat to woo the breeze.

Offspring of clay and furnace bright, The choicest porcelain clear and light Boasts, as its birth-place, of the towers Which Neptune's and Minerva's powers From ills and dangers shield; Which beat back war's barbaric wave When Mede and Persian found a grave In Marathon's undying field.

And indeed the pottery of Attica is deservedly praised. But Eubulus says, "Cnidian pots, Sicilian platters, and Megarian jars." And Antiphanes enumerates "mustard, and also scammony juice from Cyprus; cardamums from Miletus; onions from Samothrace; cabbages, kail, and a.s.saftida from Carthage; thyme from Hymettus, and marjoram from Tenedos."

51. The Persian king used to drink no other wine but that called the Chalybonian, which Posidonius says is made in Damascus of Syria, from vines which were planted there by the Persians; and at Issa, which is an island in the Adriatic, Agatharchides says that wine is made which is superior to every other wine whatever. The Chian and Thasian wines are mentioned by Epilycus; who says that "the Chian and the Thasian wine must be strained." And also,--

For all the ills that men endure, Thasian is a certain cure; For any head or stomach ache, Thasian wine I always take, And think it, as I home am reeling, A present from the G.o.d of healing.

Clearchus speaks of "Lesbian wine, which Maro himself appears to me to have been the maker of."

And Alexis says--

All wise men think The Lesbian is the nicest wine to drink.

And again he says--

His whole thoughts every day incline To drink what rich and rosy wine From Thasos and from Lesbos comes, And dainty cakes and sugarplums.

And again--

Hail, O Bacchus, ever dear, You who from Lesbos drove dull care With sparkling rosy wine; He who would give one gla.s.s away, Too vile on cheerful earth to stay, Shall be no friend of mine.

And Ephippus sings--

Oh how luscious, oh how fine Is the Pramnian Lesbian wine!

All who 're brave, and all who 're wise, Much the wine of Lesbos prize.

And Antiphanes--

There is good meat, and plenteous dainty cheer; And Thasian wine, perfumes, and garlands here; Venus loves comfort; but where folks are poor, The merry G.o.ddess ever shuns their door.

And Eubulus--

In Thasian wine or Chian soak your throttle, Or take of Lesbian an old cobwebb'd bottle.

He speaks too of Psithian wine--

Give me some Psithian nectar, rich and neat, To cool my thirst, and quench the burning heat.

And Anaxandrides mentions "a jar full of Psithian wine."

52. Thesmophorius of Trzene ent.i.tles the second Tes?f???????sa? of Aristophanes Tes?f????sasa?. In that play the poet speaks of Peparethian wine:--

Shun, my boy, the Pramnian cup, Nor Thasian drink, nor Chian sup; Nor let your gla.s.s with Peparethian brighten-- For bachelors that liquor's too exciting.

Eubulus says--

As sweet as Wine from Leucas or Miletus.

Archestratus, the author of "The Art of giving a Banquet," says,--

When a libation to the G.o.ds you make, Let your wine worthy be, and ripe and old; Whose h.o.a.ry locks droop o'er his purple lake, Such as in Lesbos' sea-girt isle is sold.

Phnicia doth a generous liquor bear, But still the Lesbian I would rather quaff; For though through age the former rich appear, You'll find its fragrance will with use go off.

But Lesbian is the true ambrosial juice, And so the G.o.ds, whose home's Olympus, think it; And if some rather the Phnician choose, Let them, as long as they don't make you drink it.

The Thasian isle, too, n.o.ble wine doth grow, When pa.s.sing years have made its flavour mellow, And other places too; still all I know Is that the Lesbian liquor has no fellow.

I need not stop to tell you all the names Of towns which in the generous contest vie, Each for itself the vict'ry hotly claims; But still the Lesbian wine beats all, say I.

53. Ephippus, too, mentions the Phnician wine, saying, "Nuts, pomegranates, dates, and other sweetmeats, and small casks of Phnician wine." And again,--

A cask of good Phnician wine was tapp'd.