By some the vine was even thought to delight in the rich alluvial soil of plains, such as is found in Egypt,[[1499]] where, in later times, the banks of the Nile, from Elephantinè to the sea, seem to have presented one vast succession of vineyards.[[1500]] But superior vines were produced on a few spots only, as at Koptos, and in the neighbourhood of Lake Mareotis, where showers of sand, pouring in from the desert or the sea-shore, diminished the fatness of the ground. With respect to Koptos, we possess, however, no precise information,[[1501]] but are expressly told, that the Mareotic vineyards covered a series of sandy swells, stretching eastward from the lake towards Rosetta.[[1502]] On the southern confines of Egypt, in the rocky and picturesque island of Elephantinè, the vine was said[[1503]] never to shed its leaves; but as none grow there at present, the traveller has no opportunity of deciding this question. In Greece the vineyards of the plains were generally appropriated to the production of the green grape, the purple being supposed to prefer the sides of hills, or even of mountains, provided it were not exposed to the furious winds upon their summits. Several sorts of white grape, also, as the Psillian, Corcyrean, and the Chlorian, delighted in elevated vineyards,[[1504]] though it was often judged necessary to reverse these rules, and compel the hill-nurslings to descend to the plains, while those of the plains were in their turn exposed to the climate of the mountains.
Much judgment was thought to be required in selecting the site of a vineyard, though almost everything depended on the climate and general configuration of the district in which it was situated. Thus in warm countries, as in the Pentapolis of Cyrene, the vineyards sloped towards the north; in Laconia, they occupied the eastern face of Mount Taygetos, while in Attica and the islands, the hills often appear to have been encircled with vines. Upon the whole, however, those were most esteemed which looked towards the rising sun and enjoyed, without obstruction, the first rays of the morning.[[1505]] And this also is the case in the Côte d’Or, where the best wines, as the Chambertin, the Vin de Beaune, and that of the Clos Vougeot, are grown on eastern declivities. In some parts of Greece, the vine was strongly affected by the prevalence of certain winds, as those of the east and the west in Thessaly, which in the forty cold days of winter were attended by frost that killed its upper extremities, and sometimes the whole trunk. At Chalcis, in Eubœa likewise, the Olympias, a western wind, parched and shrivelled, or, as the Greeks express it, burnt up the leaves, sometimes completely destroying the shrub itself.[[1506]] In such situations it was accordingly found necessary to protect it by a covering[[1507]] during the prevalence of cold winds. At Methana, in Argolis, when the south-east in spring blew up the Saronic gulf,[[1508]] the inhabitants, to defend them from it, spread over their vines the invisible teguments of a spell; which was effected in the following manner: taking a milk-white cock, and cutting it in halves, two men seized each a part, and then, standing back to back, started off in opposite directions, made the tour of the vineyard, and, returning whence they had set out, buried the cock’s remains in the earth. After this the Libs might blow as it listed, since it possessed no power to injure any man’s property within the consecrated circle.[[1509]] The prevalence of the north wind during autumn was considered auspicious, as they supposed it to hasten the ripening of the fruit.
When the husbandman had resolved on the formation of a new vineyard, he first, of course, encircled the spot with a hedge[[1510]] which was made both thick and strong for the purpose of repelling the flocks and herds, which, as well as goats, foxes, and soldiers, loved to prey upon the vine.[[1511]] His next care was to root up the hazel bush and the oleaster, the roots of the former being supposed to be inimical to the Dionysiac tree, while the oily bark of the latter rendered it peculiarly susceptible of taking fire, by which means vineyards would often appear to have been reduced to ashes. So at least says Virgil.[[1512]]
Root up wild olives from thy laboured lands,
For sparkling fire from hinds’ unwary hands
Is often scattered o’er their unctuous rinds,
And often spread abroad by raging winds;
For first the smouldering flame the trunk receives,
Ascending thence it crackles in the leaves;
At length victorious to the top aspires,