No. 1. Wine-press, explained in the text.
No. 2. A large vase, in which a man is sitting, supposed to be Diogenes. This amphora is broken, and the pieces are joined by ties of lead, cut dove-tailed. It is a bass-relief, from the Villa Albani, published by Winkelman.
No. 3. Represents a beast of burthen, with a pack saddle, loaded with two amphoræ. This piece of terra cotta, drawn the size of the original, is taken from the collection of children’s playthings of Prince de Biscari. The difficulty of carriage was so great in mountainous countries, that the inhabitants of the Alps substituted for vessels of terra cotta, casks, or wooden tubs, put together with wooden circles, similar to our own. (See [Plate III]., No. 4., Chariot with four wheels, loaded with a cask.)
to the top piece, were placed underneath. The grapes occupied the space between the vat and the lower plank. Between each of the cross planks wedges were introduced, and two persons kept striking them with hammers, one on each side; it is thus the pressure was effected.[XXVIII_53] Wine from the press, inferior to those just mentioned, served for the ordinary consumption of the family, and for the servants.[XXVIII_54] It was not racked, but simply taken from the barrel as it was wanted.[XXVIII_55]
The lees were taken from the press when it yielded no more liquor; a certain quantity of water was poured over them, and the whole subjected to a second pressure. The weak kind of wine obtained by this new operation must have somewhat resembled that acrid stuff called piquette, in France; it was the beverage of the people, and especially of the country people during the winter.[XXVIII_56]
A part of the wort—that which was required for immediate use—was put aside, and clarified with vinegar.[XXVIII_57] A portion of that obtained from the crushed grapes was put to boil on furnaces, supported on three legs, at a little distance from the press, in coppers, the contents of which were continually stirred.[XXVIII_58] This liquor, reduced by a third, was called carenum;[XXVIII_59] when the half only remained, it was called defrutum;[XXVIII_60] and, lastly, when the ebullition left only a third part remaining, this substance, very similar to honey, took the name of sapa.[XXVIII_61] It was mixed with flour, to fatten the snails reared by skilful speculators, who reserved them for the Roman sybarites.[XXVIII_62]
This wort, thus prepared by night, when the moon did not shine,[XXVIII_63] and carefully skimmed,[XXVIII_64] served to preserve wines, to give more body to those which were thought too weak, and became the base of several beverages sought in preference by Roman ladies, at that period of life when maturity of years made alliance with sensuality.[XXVIII_65]
Those who wished to preserve sweet wine during a whole year, filled with the second wort—that is to say, that which was produced by the pression of the feet—some amphoræ covered with pitch inside and out. They were then hermetically sealed, and buried in the sand, or plunged in cold water, where they remained at least two months.[XXVIII_66]
There still was left a large quantity of wort as it came from the grapes. This was taken into the cellar,[XXVIII_67] which was always situated a little below the level of the ground; or to the ground floor, where no kind of smell was allowed to penetrate, or any emanation capable of spoiling the bouquet of the wine it contained.[XXVIII_68]