DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.61894#0350
320
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. IX.
reader for its delicious wines. It has often been
asked, why Italy does not now produce wines so
excellent, and in such variety as anciently■ and
it has been as often answered, either that the cli-
mate has changed, or that the cultivation of the
grape has been neglected, and the vines allowed
to degenerate for want of skill and attention. As
for the first of these reasons, we find nothing in
ancient authors that can furnish the least reason
to suppose that any such revolution has happen-
ed. The productions of the soil are the same,
and appear at the same stated periods; the sea-
sons correspond exactly with the descriptions of
the poets ; the air is in general genial and serene,
though chilled occasionally (at least in many pro-
vinces) with hard wintry frosts, and sometimes
disturbed by sudden unseasonable storms full as
grand and as mischievous as that described by
Virgil*. Neglect and ignorance are reasons
more plausible, but will not perhaps on exami-
nation be found much more satisfactory. Arts
essential to the existence of man, when once
known are never forgotten, and articles so neces-
sary as bread and wine cannot possibly be entirely
neglected. The science of tillage passes from
father to son, and cannot be obliterated unless
* Georg, i.
CLASSICAL TOUR
Ch. IX.
reader for its delicious wines. It has often been
asked, why Italy does not now produce wines so
excellent, and in such variety as anciently■ and
it has been as often answered, either that the cli-
mate has changed, or that the cultivation of the
grape has been neglected, and the vines allowed
to degenerate for want of skill and attention. As
for the first of these reasons, we find nothing in
ancient authors that can furnish the least reason
to suppose that any such revolution has happen-
ed. The productions of the soil are the same,
and appear at the same stated periods; the sea-
sons correspond exactly with the descriptions of
the poets ; the air is in general genial and serene,
though chilled occasionally (at least in many pro-
vinces) with hard wintry frosts, and sometimes
disturbed by sudden unseasonable storms full as
grand and as mischievous as that described by
Virgil*. Neglect and ignorance are reasons
more plausible, but will not perhaps on exami-
nation be found much more satisfactory. Arts
essential to the existence of man, when once
known are never forgotten, and articles so neces-
sary as bread and wine cannot possibly be entirely
neglected. The science of tillage passes from
father to son, and cannot be obliterated unless
* Georg, i.