Here wheat, more happily there grows the grape.
Those nations, with whom there are no vines, have invented other drinks to make themselves merry. Pliny[2] tells us, That the western people got drunk with certain liquors made with fruits; and that these liquors have different names in Gaul and Spain, though they produce the same effect.
Ammianus Marcellinus reports, That the Gauls having no wine in their country, though they are very fond of it, contrive a great many sorts of liquors, which produce the same effect as wine. Vini avidum genus adfectans ad vini similitum dinem multiplices potus.
The Scythians had no wine, as appears by the answer of Anacharsis, the philosopher, who being asked, If they had none that played on the flute in Scythia, replied, That they had not so much as any wine there. However, for all that, they got drunk with certain liquors which had the force and strength of wine. This also we learn from these words of Virgil:—
“Ipsi in defossis specubus, secura subaltâ
Otia agunt terrâ, congestaque robora tolasque
Advolvere focis ulmos, ignique dedere.
Hic noctem ludo ducunt, et pocula læti
Fermento, atque acidis imitantur vitea sorbis.”[2a]
Secure, in quiet ease, they dwell in caves