The language of the memorandum is so nearly identical with that of the receipt that it is unnecessary to add a translation.
A considerable number of the amphorae found at Pompeii bear inscriptions, generally written with a pen in black ink, but sometimes painted with a brush in red or white. Most of them contained wine. The percentage of Greek inscriptions is large, an evidence of the strength of the Greek population in the region about the city.
The wine underwent fermentation in large round vats of baked clay, dolia, which stood in the wine cellar of the villa, cella vinaria, or in a court ([p. 364]); from these the amphorae were filled. The vats containing the common wines were ordinarily emptied before the next vintage, when they were needed for the new wine, but the better sorts were allowed to remain in the dolia for a longer time. The wine of one Pompeian amphora was left in the vat till after the harvest of the second year: C. Pomponio C. Anicio cos., ex fund[o] Badiano, diff[usum] id. Aug., bimum,—'Consulship of Gaius Pomponius and Gaius Anicius. From the Badian estate. Poured (into amphorae) August 13. Two years old.' In what year Pomponius and Anicius were consuls we do not know.
The earliest amphora of which the date is certain was filled in 25 A.D.: [Cosso Len]tulo M. Asinio cos. fund. The place from which it came, however, is not so easily determined, since fund. may refer to the town of Fundi, or stand for fundus, 'estate,' the name that followed having been obliterated. The names of two such estates were lately recovered from amphorae in the house of the Vettii, fundus Satrianus and fundus Asinianus.
In addition to the product of Italian vineyards the Pompeians used also imported wines from the coast of Asia Minor and the islands near by. One dealer, M. Fabius Euporus, kept wine from Cnidus, Cnidium. Wine from the island of Cos is frequently mentioned, as in this inscription: Coum vet[us] P. Appulei Bassi,—'Old Coan of Publius Appuleius Bassus.'
Different kinds of wine were sometimes designated by characteristic names. A certain Greek, M. Pomponius Teupon, produced a brand which he called 'Frenzy Wine' (Λύττιος), as if so strong that it would make the drinker frantic. Another Greek, Timarchus, named one of his wines 'White Drink,' Λευκουνάριον.
An amphora in the house of the Vettii was labelled Gustaticium, 'Breakfast Drink'; it no doubt contained mulsum, a kind of mead made by mixing honey with wine, which the ancients drank with the first meal of the day. The word mulsum occurs on another amphora discovered previously.
Fruits and other edibles of all kinds were kept in amphorae. On one was written: Oliva alba dulce (for olivae albae dulces) P. C. E.,—'White sweet olives of P. C. E.'; the name cannot be determined from the initials. On other amphorae the words for bean meal (lomentum), honey, and lentils appear, the last being designated by the Greek word.
A large number of small jars contained the fish sauces,—garum, liquamen, and muria,—of which the ancients were so fond; reference has already been made to Umbricius Scaurus ([p. 15]), who seems to have had several establishments for the making of the sauces, conducted by slaves, freedmen, and perhaps by members of his family.
The best quality of garum, which was probably a thick preparation, a kind of fish jelly, was designated by the letters g. f., for garum—flos, 'garum blossom,' as in the following inscription: g[arum]—f[los] scombr Scauri ab Eutyche Scauri,—'Scaurus's tunny jelly, blossom brand, put up by Eutyches, slave of Scaurus.' We frequently find liquamen optimum, 'best liquamen.'