CHAP. 29.—LIQUORS WITH THE STRENGTH OF WINE MADE FROM WATER AND CORN.
The people of the Western world have also their intoxicating drinks, made from corn steeped in water.[1] 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,[2] too, has invented for its use a very similar beverage 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, however, man has shown himself in devising various kinds of
drink will be evident from the fact, that there are no less
than one hundred and ninety-five different kinds of it; indeed, if all the varieties are reckoned, they will amount to
nearly double that number. The various kinds of oil are
much less numerous—we shall proceed to give an account of
them in the following Book.
SUMMARY.—Remarkable facts, narratives, and observations,
five hundred and ten.
ROMAN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Cornelius Valerianus,[3] Virgil,[4]
Celsus,[5] Cato the Censor,[6] Saserna,[7] father and son, Scrofa,[8]
M. Varro,[9] D. Silanus,[10] Fabius Pictor,[11] Trogus,[12] Hyginus,[13]
Flaccus Verrius,[14] Græcinus,[15] Julius Atticus,[16] Columella,[17]
Massurius Sabinus,[18] Fenestella,[19] Tergilla,[20] Maccius Plautus,[21]
Flavius,[22] Dossennus,[23] Scævola,[24] Ælius,[25] Ateius Capito,[26]
cotta Messalinus, L. Piso,[27] Pompeius Lenæus,[28] Fabianus,[29]
Sextius Niger,[30] Vibius Rufus.[31]
FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Hesiod,[32] Theophrastus,[33] Aristotle,[34] Democritus,[35] King Hiero,[36] King Attalus Philometor,[37]
Archytas,[38] Xenophon,[39] Amphilochus[40] of Athens, Anaxipolis[41]
of Thasos, Apollodorus[42] of Lemnos, Aristophanes[43] of Miletus,
Antigonus[44] of Cymæ, Agathocles[45] of Chios, Apollonius[46] of
Pergamus, Aristander[47] of Athens, Botrys[48] of Athens, Bacchius[49]
of Miletus, Bion[50] of Soli, Chærea[51] of Athens, Chæristus[52] of
Athens, Diodorus[53] of Priene, Dion[54] of Colophon, Epigenes[55]
of Rhodes, Euagon[56] of Thasos, Euphronius[57] of Athens, Androtion[58] who wrote on agriculture, Æschrion[59] who wrote on
agriculture, Lysimachus[60] who wrote on agriculture, Dionysius[61] who translated Mago, Diophanes[62] who made an
Epitome of the work of Dionysius, Asclepiades[63] the Physician.
Onesicritus,[64] King Juba.[65]
[66]
1. 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.
2. Diodorus Siculus says that the Egyptian beer was nearly equal to
wine in strength and flavour.
3. See end of B. iii.
4. See end of B. vii.
5. See end of B. vii.
6. See end of B. iii.
7. See end of B.. x.
8. See end of B. xi.
9. See end of B. ii.
10. Decimus Junius Silanus. He was commissioned by the senate, about
B.C. 146, to translate into Latin the twenty-eight books of Mago, the
Carthaginian, on Agriculture. See B. xviii. c. 5.
11. See end of B. x.
12. See end of B. vii.
13. See end of B. iii.
14. See end of B. iii.
15. Julius Greecinus. He was one of the most distinguished orators of
his time. Having refused to accuse M. Julius Silanus, he was put to death
A.D. 39. He wrote a work, in two books, on the culture of the vine.
16. He was a contemporary of Celsus and Columella, the latter of whom
states that he wrote a work on a peculiar method of cultivating the vine.
See also B. xvii. c. 18.
17. See end of B. viii.
18. See end of B. vii.
19. See end of B. viii.
20. Nothing is known of him. He may possibly have written on Husbandry, and seems to have spoken in dispraise of the son of Cicero. See
c 28 of the present Book.
21. The famous Roman Comic poet, born B.C. 184. Twenty of his comedies are still in existence.
22. For Alfius Flavius, see end of B. ix.; for Cneius Flavius, see end of
B. xii.
23. Or Dorsenus Fabius, an ancient Comic dramatist, censured by Horace
for the buffoonery of his characters, and the carelessness of his productions.
In the 15th Chapter of this Book, Pliny quotes a line from his Acharistio.
24. Q. Mutius Scævola, consul B.C. 95, and assassinated by C. Flavius
Fimbria, having been proscribed by the Marian faction. He wrote several
works on the Roman law, and Cicero was in the number of his disciples.
25. Sextus Ælius Pætus Catus, a celebrated jurisconsult, and consul B.C.
198. He wrote a work on the Twelve Tables.
26. See end of B. iii.
27. A freedman of Pompey, by whose command he translated into Latin
the work of Mithridates on Poisons. After Pompey's death, he maintained
himself by keeping a school at Rome.
28. See end of B. ii.
29. For Fabianus Papirius, see end of B. ii. Fabianus Sabinus is supposed to have been the same person.
30. See end of B. xii.
31. He is mentioned by the elder Seneca, but nothing whatever is known
of him.
32. See end of B. vii.
33. See end of B. iii.
34. See end of B. ii.
35. See end of B. ii.
36. See end of B. viii.
37. See end of B. viii.
38. See end of B. viii.
39. See end of B. iv.
40. See end of B. viii.
41. See end of B. viii.
42. See end of B. viii.
43. See end of B. viii.
44. See end of B. viii.
45. See end of B. viii.
46. See end of B. viii.
47. See end of B. viii.
48. See end of B. xiii.
49. See end of B. viii.
50. See end of B. vi.
51. See end of B. viii.
52. Supposed to have been a writer on Agriculture, but nothing further is
known of him.
53. See end of B. viii.
54. See end of B. viii.
55. See end of B. ii.
56. See end of B. x.
57. See end of B. viii.
58. See end of B. viii.
59. See end of B. viii.
60. See end of B. viii.
61. See end of B. xii.
62. See end of B. viii.
63. See end of B vii.
64. See end of B. ii.
65. See end of B. v.
66. Son of Corvinus Messala. He appears to have been a man of bad repute: of his writings nothing seems to be known.