The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 9

Xenophon, too, mentions it in his Anabasis. The Mendaean wine is mentioned by Cratinus:--

When a man tastes Mendaean wine, How rich, says he, how sweet, how fine!

I wonder where it can be bought, or What's the right quant.i.ty of water.

And Hermippus somewhere introduces Bacchus as mentioning several different kinds of wine:--

Mendaean wine such as the G.o.ds distil, And sweet Magnesian, cures for every ill, And Thasian, redolent of mild perfume; But of them all the most inviting bloom Mantles above old Homer's Chian gla.s.s; That wine doth all its rivals far surpa.s.s.

There is a wine, which Saprian they call, Soon as the seals from whose rich hogshead fall, Violets and roses mix their lovely scent, And hyacinths, in one rich fragrance blent; You might believe Jove's nectar sparkled there, With such ambrosial odour reeks the air.

This is the wine I'll to my friends disclose; The Peparethian trash may suit my foes.

And Phanias the Eresian poet says that the Mendaeans are in the habit of syringing the grapes with opening medicine, even while still on the vine; and that this makes the wine soft.

54. Themistocles received from the king of Persia Lampsacus, to supply him with wine; Magnesia, for bread; Myus, for meat; and Percope and Palaescepsis were to provide him with bedclothes and garments. The king moreover enjoined him to wear a cloak such as is worn by the barbarians, as he had previously bade Demaratus do; and he gave him the same presents as he had formerly given to Demaratus, and added also a robe such as is worn by the sons-in-law of the king, on condition of his never rea.s.suming the Greek attire. And Cyrus the Great gave Pytharchus of Cyzicus, being a friend of his, seven cities, as is related by Agathocles of Babylon; namely, Pedasus, and Olympius, and Cama, and Tium, and Sceptra, and Artypsus, and Tortyra. But he, being made insolent and having his head turned by this liberality, attempted to make himself tyrant of his country, and collected an army for that purpose. On which the people of Cyzicus went out to battle against him, and attacked him eagerly, and so preserved their liberties.

Among the people of Lampsacus Priapus is held in high honour, being the same as Bacchus, and having this name Priapus only as an epithet, just as Thriambus and Dithyrambus are.

The Mitylenaeans have a sweet wine which they call p??d????, and others call it p??t??p??.

55. The Icarian wine, too, is held in high estimation, as Amphis says:--

Thurium gives the olive juice, Lentils Gela's fields produce; Icarian wine well merits praise, And figs which the Cimolians raise.

The Pramnian wine, too, according to Eparchides, is produced in Icarus.

It is a peculiar kind of wine; and it is neither sweet nor thick, but dry and hard, and of extraordinary strength; and Aristophanes says that the Athenians did not like it, for that "the Athenian people did not like hard and sour poets, nor hard Pramnian wines, which contract the eyebrows and the stomach; but they prefer a fragrant wine, ripe, and flavoured like nectar." For Semus says that there is in Icarus a rock called the Pramnian rock; and near it is a great mountain, from which the Pramnian wine has its name, and some call it a medicinal wine. Now Icarus used formerly to be called the Fishy Icarus, from the number of fish around it; just as the Echinades had their name from the sea-urchins, and the promontory Sepias from the number of cuttle-fish which are taken near it. And in like manner the Lagussae islands are so called from ?a???, a hare, as being full of hares. And other islands are called Phycussae, and Lopadussae, for similar reasons. And according to Eparchides, the vine which produces the Icarian Pramnian wine, is called by the strangers the Holy vine, and by the people of noe the Dionysiac vine. And noe is a city in the island.

But Didymus says that the Pramnian wine comes from a vine called Pramnian; and some say that the name means merely dark-coloured. But others affirm that it is a generic name for wine suitable for long keeping, as being pa?a?????, that is to say, _such as can be kept_. And some say that it is so called from p?a??e?? t? ????, _mollifying anger_, because those who drink it become good-humoured.

56. Amphis praises also the wine which comes from the city of Acanthus, saying,--

_A._ Whence do you come, friend? speak.

_B._ From Acanthus I.

_A._ Acanthus? then I trow, Since you're a countryman of wine so strong, You must be fierce yourself; Your country's name is th.o.r.n.y,[50:1] but I hope Your manners are not quite so rough and p.r.i.c.kly.

And Alexis mentions Corinthian wine as a harsh wine--

And foreign wine was there; for that from Corinth Is painful drinking.

He speaks, too, of wine from Euba--

Drinking deep draughts of harsh Euban wine.

The Naxian wine is compared by Archilochus to nectar. And he says in some one of his poems--

My spear finds corn, my spear finds wine, From Ismarus; on my spear I dine, And on it, when fatigued, recline.

But Strattis praises the wine of Sciathus--

The black Sciathian wine mix'd half and half, Invites the traveller to halt and quaff.

And Achaeus praises the Bibline wine--

He pledged him in a cup of Bibline wine.

While it has its name from some district which is called by a similar appellation. And Philyllius says,--

I'll give you Lesbian, Chian wine, Thasian, Mendaean, and Bibline; Sweet wines, but none so strong and heady As that you shall next day feel seedy.

But Epicharmus says that it is named from some mountains of a similar name. And Armenidas says that there is a district of Thrace called the Biblian, the same which was afterwards called Tisara, and syma. And it was very natural for Thrace to be admired as a country producing fine wines; and indeed all the adjacent country deserves the same character.

Full of rich wine the ships from Lemnos came.

But Hippias the Rhegian says that the wine called _the creeper_ was also called Biblian; and that Pollis the Argive, who was king of Syracuse, was the first person who brought it to Syracuse from Italy. And if that be true, probably the sweet wine which among the Sicilians is called Pollian, is the same as the Bibline wine. There is an ancient oracle:--

Drink wine where lees abound, since Fate has not Placed you amid Anthedon's flowery plains, Or in the streets of sacred Hypera, Where purer wine abounds.

And there was a vine among the people of Trzene, (as Aristotle says, in his book on their polity,) called Anthedonian, and another called Hyperian; from men of the name of Anthus and Hyperus, just as the Althephian vine is named after a man of the name of Althephias, one of the descendants of Alpheus.

57. Alcman somewhere speaks of a wine as free from fire, and smelling of flowers, which is produced from the Five Hills, a place about seven furlongs from Sparta. And he mentions another wine which comes from Denthiades, a small fortress, and another from Oenus, and another from Onoglae and Stathmi. And these places are all near Pitane. Accordingly, he says, "And wine from Oenus, or from Denthis, or from Carystus, or from Onoglae, or from Stathmi." The Carystian wine is that which comes from Carystus in Laconia, on the borders of Arcadia. And he calls it "free from fire," as not having been boiled; for they often used boiled wines. Polybius says that there was an admirable wine made at Capua; which was called ??ade?d??t??, to which no other wine was at all comparable. But Alciphron of the Maeander says, that there was a mountain village near the Ephesian territories, which was formerly called Latona's, but is now called Latorea, from Latorea the Amazon; and that there also Pramnian wine is made. Timachidas the Rhodian calls a wine made at Rhodes ?p???t??, or _the adulterated wine_, being near akin to sweet wine. But that wine is called ?????? which goes through no process of decoction.

There is also a Rhodian wine, which Polyzelus calls a?t?t??:[52:1] and another which Plato the comic writer calls ?ap??a?;[52:2] and this wine is made in the greatest perfection at Beneventum, a city in Italy. But the wine Amphis is spoken of as a very poor wine by Sosicrates. The ancients used also a certain wine made of spices, which they called t??a. But Theophrastus, in his History of Plants, says, that a wine is made in Heraea in Arcadia which, when it is drunk, drives men out of their senses, and makes women inclined to pregnancy: and that around Cerunia in Achaia there is a kind of vine, from which a wine is made which has a tendency to cause abortion in pregnant women; and if they eat the grapes too, says he, they miscarry;--and the Trzenian wine, he says, makes those who drink it barren: and at Thasos, says he, they make a wine which produces sleep, and another which causes those who drink it to keep awake.

58. But concerning the manufacture of scented wine, Phanias of Eresus says, "There is infused into the wine one portion of sea-water to fifty of wine, and that becomes scented wine." And again he says, "Scented wine is made stronger of young than of old vines;" and he subjoins, "Having trodden on the unripe grapes they put the wine away, and it becomes scented." But Theophrastus says, that "the wine at Thasos, which is given in the prytaneum, is wonderfully delicious; for it is well seasoned; for they knead up dough with honey, and put that into the earthen jars; so that the wine receives fragrance from itself, and sweetness from the honey." And he proceeds to say, "If any one mixes harsh wine which has no smell with soft and fragrant wine, such, for instance, as the Heraclean wine with that of Erythrae, softness is derived from the one, and wholesomeness from the other." And the Myrt.i.te or Myrrhine wine is spoken of by Posidippus:--

A tasteless, dry, and foolish wine I consider the myrrhine.

Hermes, too, is mentioned by Strattis as the name of a drink. And Chaereas says, that a wine is made in Babylon which is called nectar.

The bard of Ceos says--

'Tis not enough to mix your wine with taste, Unless sweet converse seasons the repast; And Bacchus' gifts well such regard deserve, That we should e'en the stones of grapes preserve.

59. Now of wines some are white, some yellow, and some red. The white is the thinnest in its nature, diuretic, and warm; and being a promoter of digestion it causes a heat in the head; for it is a wine which has a tendency to move upwards. But of red wine that which is not sweet is very nutritious, and is astringent; but that which is sweet (as is the case with even white and yellow wine also) is the most nutritious of all: for it softens all the ducts and pa.s.sages, and thickens the fluid parts of the body, and does not at all confuse the head. For in reality the nature of sweet wine lingers about the ribs, and engenders spittle, as Diocles and Praxagoras a.s.sert. But Mnesitheus the Athenian says, "Red wine is the most nutritious; but white is the most diuretic and the thinnest; and the yellow is a dry wine, and that which most a.s.sists in the digestion of the food."

Now the wines which have been very carefully prepared with sea-water never cause headaches; and they open the bowels, and sometimes gripe the stomach, and produce flatulency, and a.s.sist in the digestion of food. Of this character is the Myndian wine, and that of Halicarna.s.sus. And so Menippus the Cynic calls Myndus "brine-drinking." The Coan wine too has a good deal of sea-water in it. The Rhodian has not so much sea-water; but a great deal of that wine is good for nothing. Wine made in the islands is very good to drink, and not at all ill-calculated for daily use. But Cnidian wine makes blood, is nutritious, and keeps the bowels in a healthy state; though if it is drunk in great quant.i.ties it relaxes the stomach. The Lesbian wine is less astringent, and more diuretic. But the Chian is a nicer wine; and of all the Chian wine, that called the Aryusian is the best. And of this there are three varieties: for there is a dry kind, and a sweet kind; and that the flavour of which is between the two is called _autocratic_, that is, self-mixed. Now the dry kind is pleasant to the taste, nutritious, and more diuretic than the others; but the sweet kind is nutritious, filling, and apt to soften the bowels. The autocratic wine in its effects also is something between the two. But, generally speaking, the Chian wine is digestible, nutritious, a producer of good blood, mild, and filling, inasmuch as it has a great deal of body. But the nicest of all wines are the Alban and Falernian wines of Italy; but these, if they have been kept a length of time and are old, acquire a medicinal effect, and rapidly produce a sensation of heaviness. But the wine called Adrian relieves any oppression of the breath, is very digestible, and wholly free from all unpleasant consequences; but these wines require to be made with rapidity, and then to be set in an open place, so as to allow the thicker portions of their body to evaporate. But the best wine to keep a length of time is the Corcyrean. The Zacynthian and Leucadian wines also are apt to be bad for the head, because they contain chalk. There is a wine from Cilicia, called Abates, which has no effect except that of relaxing the bowels.

But hard water, such as that from springs, or from rain if it is filtered, and has stood some time, agrees very well with Coan and Myndian and Halicarna.s.sian wine, and indeed with every wine which has plenty of salt-water in it. And accordingly these wines are of the greatest use at Athens and Sicyon, because the waters in those cities are harsh. But for those wines which have no sea-water, and which are of a more astringent nature, especially for the Chian and Lesbian wine, the purest water is the most suitable.

Oh thou my tongue, whom silence long hath bound, How wilt thou bear this tale of thine t' unfold?

Hard is their fate to whom compulsion stern Leaves no alternative; which now compels thee To open what thy lord would fain conceal.

These are the words of Sophocles.

60. The Mareotic wine, which comes from Alexandria, had its name from a fountain in the district of Alexandria called Marea; and from a town of the same name which was close to it; which was formerly a place of great importance, but is now reduced to a petty village. And the fountain and town derived their name from Maro, who was one of the companions of Bacchus in his expedition. And there are many vines in that country, which produce grapes very good to eat when raw, and the wine which is made from them is excellent. For it is white, and sweet, and good for the breath, and digestible, and then, it never produces any ill effect on the head, and is diuretic. And still better than this is the wine called Taeniotic. The word ta???a means a riband; and there is in that district a long narrow riband of land, the wines produced from which are of a slightly green colour, with something oily in them, which is quickly dissolved when it is mixed with water; just as the Attic honey is dissolved by the same process. This Taeniotic wine, in addition to being sweet, has something aromatic in it, of a slightly astringent character. But there are vines near the Nile in great quant.i.ties as far as the river extends; and there are many peculiarities in those vines, both as to their colour and as to their use. However, the best of all the wines made in that district is that made near the city of Antylla (which is not far from Alexandria), the revenues from which the kings of those ages, both the Egyptian and Persian kings, used to give to their wives for pin-money. But the wine which is made in the Thebais, especially that near the city Coptos, is light, and easy of digestion, and also so great an a.s.sistant in the digestion of the rest of one's food, that it is given to people in fevers without injury.

You praise yourself, as does Astydamas, woman!

(Astydamas was a tragic poet.)