| Pliny the Elder, Natural History (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Plin. Nat.]. | ||
| <<Plin. Nat. 14.28 | Plin. Nat. 14.29 (Latin) | >>Plin. Nat. 15.1 |
The people of the Western world have also their intoxicating drinks, made from corn steeped in water. [Note] 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, [Note] 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, [Note] Virgil, [Note] Celsus, [Note] Cato the Censor, [Note] Saserna, [Note] father and son, Scrofa, [Note] M. Varro, [Note] D. Silanus, [Note] Fabius Pictor, [Note] Trogus, [Note] Hyginus, [Note] Flaccus Verrius, [Note] Græcinus, [Note] Julius Atticus, [Note] Columella, [Note] Massurius Sabinus, [Note] Fenestella, [Note] Tergilla, [Note] Maccius Plautus, [Note] Flavius, [Note] Dossennus, [Note] Scævola, [Note] Ælius, [Note] Ateius Capito, [Note]
cotta Messalinus, L. Piso, [Note] Pompeius Lenæus, [Note] Fabianus, [Note] Sextius Niger, [Note] Vibius Rufus. [Note]
FOREIGN AUTHORS QUOTED.—Hesiod, [Note] Theophrastus, [Note] Aristotle, [Note] Democritus, [Note] King Hiero, [Note] King Attalus Philometor, [Note] Archytas, [Note] Xenophon, [Note] Amphilochus [Note] of Athens, Anaxipolis [Note] of Thasos, Apollodorus [Note] of Lemnos, Aristophanes [Note] of Miletus, Antigonus [Note] of Cymæ, Agathocles [Note] of Chios, Apollonius [Note] of Pergamus, Aristander [Note] of Athens, Botrys [Note] of Athens, Bacchius [Note] of Miletus, Bion [Note] of Soli, Chærea [Note] of Athens, Chæristus [Note] of Athens, Diodorus [Note] of Priene, Dion [Note] of Colophon, Epigenes [Note] of Rhodes, Euagon [Note] of Thasos, Euphronius [Note] of Athens, Androtion [Note] who wrote on agriculture, Æschrion [Note] who wrote on agriculture, Lysimachus [Note] who wrote on agriculture, Dionysius [Note] who translated Mago, Diophanes [Note] who made an Epitome of the work of Dionysius, Asclepiades [Note] the Physician. Onesicritus, [Note] King Juba. [Note] [Note]
| Pliny the Elder, Natural History (English) (XML Header) [genre: prose] [word count] [lemma count] [Plin. Nat.]. | ||
| <<Plin. Nat. 14.28 | Plin. Nat. 14.29 (Latin) | >>Plin. Nat. 15.1 |
