Smith, William: A smaller dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities (London, 1871)

416

VINUM.

strueted in a safe place at some distance
from the besieged town, and then carried or
wheeled (agere) close to its -walls. Here
several of them were frequently joined to-
gether, so that a great number of soldiers
might be employed under them. When
vineae had taken their place close to the
■walls, the soldiers began their operations,
either by undermining the walls, and thus
opening a breach, or by employing the bat-
tering-ram [aries).

VINUM (olyos). The general term for the
fermented juice of the grape. In the Ho-
meric poems the cultivation of the grape is
represented as familiar to the Greeks. It is
■worth remarking that the only wine upon
whose excellence Homer dilates in a tone
approaching to hyperbole is represented as
having been produced on the coast of Thrace,
the region from which poetry and civilisation
spread into Hellas, and the scene of several
of the more remarkable exploits of Bacchus.
Hence we might infer that the Pelasgians
introduced the culture of the vine when they
wandered westward across the Hellespont,
and that in like manner it was conveyed to
the valley of the Po, when at a subsequent
period they made their way round the head
of the Adriatic. It seems certain that wine
was both rare and costly in the earlier ages
of Roman history. As late as the time of the
Samnite wars, l'apirius the dictator, when
about to join in battle with the Samnites,
vowed to Jupiter only a small cupful [vim
pociUum) if he should gain the victory. In
the times of Marius and Sulla foreign wines
were considered far superior to native
growths ; but the rapidity with which luxury
spread in this matter is well illustrated by
the saying of M. Varro, that Lucullus when a
boy never saw an entertainment in his
father's house, however splendid, at which
Greek wine was handed round more than
once, but when in manhood he returned from
his Asiatic conquests he bestowed on the
people a largess of more than a hundred
thousand cadi. Four different kinds of wine
are said to have been presented for the first
time at the feast given by Julius Caesar in
his third consulship (n. c. 46.), these being
Falernian, Chian, Lesbian, and Mamertine,
and not until after this date were the merits
of the numerous varieties, foreign and do-
mestic, accurately known and fully appre-
ciated. But during the reign of Augustus
and his immediate successors the study of
wines became a passion, and the most scrupu-
lous care was bestowed upon every process
connected with their production and preser-
vation. Pliny calculates that the number of
wines in the whole world deserving to be ac-

counted of high quality (uobilia) amounted to
eighty, of which his own country could claim
two-thirds; and that 195 distinct kinds
might be reckoned up, and that if all the
varieties of these were to be included in the
computation, the sum would be almost doubled.
—The process followed in wine-making was
essentially the same among both the Greeks
and the Romans. After the grapes had been
gathered they were first trodden with the
feet in a Tat (A-qvof, torcular) ; but as this
process did not press out all the juice of the
grapes, they were subjected to the more
powerful pressure of a thick and heavy beam
[prelum) for the purpose of obtaining all the
juice yet remaining in them. From the press
the sweet unfermented juice flowed into
another large vat, which was sunk below the
level of the press, and therefore called the
under wine-vat, in Greek inrohrjViov, in Latin
lacus. A portion of the must was used at
once, being drunk fresh after it had been cla-
rified with vinegar. When it was desired to
preserve a quantity in the sweet state, an
amphora was taken and coated with pitch
within and without, and corked so as to be
perfectly air-tight. It was then immersed in
a tank of cold fresh wate" or buried in wet
sand, and allowed to remain for six weeks or
two months. The contents after this process
were found to remain unchanged for a year,
and hence the name aei yAeu/cos, i. e. semper
mustunt. A considerable quantity of must from
the best and oldest vines was inspissated by
boiling, being then distinguished by the
Greeks under the general names of t^ixa or
■yAu'fi;, while the Latin writers have various
terms according to the extent to which the
evaporation was carried. Thus, wnen the
must was reduced to two-thirds of its original
volume it became carenum, when one-half
had evaporated defrutum, when two-thirds
sapa (known also by the Greek names siraeum
and hepsema), but these words are frequently
interchanged. Similar preparations are at
the present time called in Italy musto cotto
and sapa, and in France sabe. The process
was carried on in large caldrons of lead [vasa
defrutaria), over a slow fire of chips, on a
night when there was no moon, the scum
being carefully removed with leaves, and the
liquid constantly stirred to prevent it from
burning. These grape-jellies, for they were
nothing else, were used extensively for giving
body to poor wines and making them keep,
and entered as ingredients into many drinks,
such as the burranica potio, so called from
its red colour, which was formed by mixing
sapa with milk. The whole of the mustum
not employed for some of the above purposes
was conveyed from the lacus to the ceVa oi-