Roman Virtue Demanding Abstinence. 129 bibbers (oinophlyges) or overcome by wine? Among hygienic inquiries are these: Why are persons given to wine subject to chills, to pleurisy, and like diseases? Why are those who drink wine, slightly diluted, subject to headaches, while wine much diluted produces vomiting and purging? Why do those who drink undiluted wine have more headache next day than those who drink diluted wine? Why does wine greatly diluted produce vomiting, while wine alone does not? Why does sweet wine counteract the effect of undiluted wine? Why is oil beneficial in intoxication? To the latter of these inquiries the suggested solution is: Because oil is diuretic and prepares the body for the discharge of the liquor. Theophrastus, the pupil of Aristotle, who wrote on the "History of Plants," and on their "Effects," follows up the teachings of his master, both as to the hygienic and moral influence of wines. Thus he compares (Plut. Ait. VI., xvii. 2) the effect of myrrh" (smyrna), of honey-mixture, and of unfermented wine (glukos); declaring the former, in the case mentioned, preferable. He speaks also in his "Ethical" notes of the moral influence of wine-drinking. These minute observations of the great thinker of the ages, whose logic Sir Wm. Hamilton could not improve, whose discoveries in Natural History, Agassiz, up to the last course of lectures he delivered at Harvard University, declared not only anticipated those ascribed to himself, but were still a guide to new explorers, whose ethics and politics are the very foundations on which American and European Constitutions are now made to rest-these minute observations on the "Divine Law as to Wines" certainly are timely for modern consideration. The early fall of Aristotle's brilliant pupil, Alexander the Great, simply from wine-drinking, is a demonstration of the correctness of the philosopher's deductions from a wide range of observation. WINES, INTOXICATING AND UNINTOXICATING, IN THE DECLINE OF GREECE AND THE GRANDEUR OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC. In no respect, more fully than in its influence on wine-drinking, did the declaration of Horace prove true, "Græcia capta ferum victorem cepit"-captured Greece took captive its rude victor. When Athens, B.C. 148, and Corinth, B.C. 146, were conquered by Roman armies, when Aristotle's library was among the most valuable treasures brought to Rome, and when three most eminent leaders in the Grecian schools of philosophy, came as ambassadors to Rome, a new era in practical wisdom as to wine Roman "Must," or Unfermented Wine. 131 drinking, as well as in other customs, dawned on the practical Romans. The stern victor and the politic captive found their common affinities; and they mutually influenced each other according to these affinities. The priceless treasures of Roman and Grecian literature in that age afford the richest lessons of the ages for the cultivation of virtue which brings social prosperity. The grand old Roman integrity displaying itself in Stoics like Cato and Seneca, the opposite Epicurean spirit in Horace and Athenæus, and the middle-ground statesman-like reasonings of Cicero and Plutarch, gave a perfect charm to the study, in any point of view, of this age. The subject of wine-drinking was one prominent in thought and policy; and the fact that the three tendencies of thought just alluded to, spontaneously arising from three classes of human impulses, manifested themselves at this era, is an essential clue in threading the intricacies of the labyrinthine citations on wines and their law which opposing writers may readily draw from the writers of this age. As Judaism at this era had its Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes, so Greeks and Romans alike had their practical conservatives, their pleasure-seeking liberals, and their stern ascetics. The important point is to find the common principles which all these classes, in their impartial statements, admit to be established. These common convictions are "the truth" which ought to guide honest men. When Alexander, the cultured pupil of Aristotle, transformed into the autocratic military conqueror, was seen at thirty to be in danger from wine-drinking, a physician named Androcydes, Pliny tells us (Nat. Hist. xiv. 5), wrote to him, begging him to avoid wine, since it was "a poison." This clear conviction pervaded the noble men under whose guidance the Roman Republic was coming to absorb under its sway all Western Europe and Northern Africa, in addition to all Alexander's conquests. Cato, the earliest of the so-called “rustic,” or agricultural writers, about B.C. 200, describes specially the mode of preparing must, or unfermented wine, thus: "If you wish to have must all the year, put the grape-juice in a flask (amphora), seal over the cork with pitch, and lower it into a cistern (piscina). After thirty days take it out; it will be must all the year” (De Re Rustica, c. 120). It is worthy of note, that the word "mustum" first appears in Latin literature in the age of Cato, about B.C. 200; after which it is often met till Pliny's day, three centuries later. The word appears during this period as an adjective, meaning "fresh, new, young;" Cato using the expression," agna musta," a young ewelamb. Its indirect meaning of "sweet" is seen Roman "Must," or Unfermented Wine. 133 in Varro's expression, "mala mustea," sweet-apples. Sometimes in allusion to grape-juice "vinum mustum" is used, showing that the unfermented juice of the grape was regarded and called wine; just as in modern times fresh applejuice, before ferment begins, is called "new cider." Other suggestions indicate how the stern patriot was seeking methods of utilizing the products of the vine so as to prevent the use of intoxicating wines. These are omitted, because more fully described by Pliny. The poet Plautus in the same age pictures the vice of wine-drinking, and compares its influence with that of those who drink only "mustum" or unfermented grape-juice. Thus in his "Pseudolus" or Liar (Act. V. 1. 6–8), he makes the hero of his comedy say— "Ah, saeviendum mihi Hodie est. Magnum hoc vitium vino est, "Ah, I must get angry to-day. There is this great vice in wine: it first seizes a man by the feet; it is a tricky wrestler." Yet again, Polybius, the philosophic historian, called pragmatic, i. e., systematic or business-like, writing as a Greek, about B.C. 160, to explain to his then unconquered countrymen Roman customs, makes this statement (Hist. Kath. I, ii. 8): 16 Among the Romans the women were allowed |