A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

VINDĒMĬĀLIS FĒRĬA. [[Feriae].]

VINDEX. [[Actio].]

VINDICTA. [[Manumissio].]

VĪNĔA, in its literal signification, is a bower formed of the branches of vines; and, from the protection which such a leafy roof affords, the name was applied by the Romans to a roof under which the besiegers of a town protected themselves against darts, stones, fire, and the like, which were thrown by the besieged upon the assailants. The whole machine formed a roof, resting upon posts eight feet in height. The roof itself was generally sixteen feet long and seven broad. The wooden frame was in most cases light, so that it could be carried by the soldiers; sometimes, however, when the purpose which it was to serve required great strength, it was heavy, and then the whole fabric probably was moved by wheels attached to the posts. The roof was formed of planks and wicker-work, and the uppermost layer or layers consisted of raw hides or wet cloth, as a protection against fire, by which the besieged frequently destroyed the vineae. The sides of a vinea were likewise protected by wicker-work. Such machines were constructed in a safe place at some distance from the besieged town, and then carried or wheeled (agere) close to its walls. Here several of them were frequently joined together, so that a great number of soldiers might be employed under them. When vineae had taken their place close to the walls, the soldiers began their operations, either by undermining the walls, and thus opening a breach, or by employing the battering-ram (aries).

VĪNUM (οἴνος). The general term for the fermented juice of the grape. In the Homeric poems the cultivation of the grape is represented as familiar to the Greeks. It is worth remarking that the only wine upon whose excellence Homer dilates in a tone approaching to hyperbole is represented as having been produced on the coast of Thrace, the region from which poetry and civilisation spread into Hellas, and the scene of several of the more remarkable exploits of Bacchus. Hence we might infer that the Pelasgians introduced the culture of the vine when they wandered westward across the Hellespont, and that in like manner it was conveyed to the valley of the Po, when at a subsequent period they made their way round the head of the Adriatic. It seems certain that wine was both rare and costly in the earlier ages of Roman history. As late as the time of the Samnite wars, Papirius the dictator, when about to join in battle with the Samnites, vowed to Jupiter only a small cupful (vini pocillum) if he should gain the victory. In the times of Marius and Sulla foreign wines were considered far superior to native growths; but the rapidity with which luxury spread in this matter is well illustrated by the saying of M. Varro, that Lucullus when a boy never saw an entertainment in his father’s house, however splendid, at which Greek wine was handed round more than once, but when in manhood he returned from his Asiatic conquests he bestowed on the people a largess of more than a hundred thousand cadi. Four different kinds of wine are said to have been presented for the first time at the feast given by Julius Caesar in his third consulship (B.C. 46.), these being Falernian, Chian, Lesbian, and Mamertine, and not until after this date were the merits of the numerous varieties, foreign and domestic, accurately known and fully appreciated. But during the reign of Augustus and his immediate successors the study of wines became a passion, and the most scrupulous care was bestowed upon every process connected with their production and preservation. Pliny calculates that the number of wines in the whole world deserving to be accounted of high quality (nobilia) amounted to eighty, of which his own country could claim two-thirds; and that 195 distinct kinds might be reckoned up, and that if all the varieties of these were to be included in the computation, the sum would be almost doubled.—The process followed in wine-making was essentially the same among both the Greeks and the Romans. After the grapes had been gathered they were first trodden with the feet in a vat (ληνός, torcular); but as this process did not press out all the juice of the grapes, they were subjected to the more powerful pressure of a thick and heavy beam (prelum) for the purpose of obtaining all the juice yet remaining in them. From the press the sweet unfermented juice flowed into another large vat, which was sunk below the level of the press, and therefore called the under wine-vat, in Greek ὑπολήνιον, in Latin lacus. A portion of the must was used at once, being drunk fresh after it had been clarified with vinegar. When it was desired to preserve a quantity in the sweet state, an amphora was taken and coated with pitch within and without, and corked so as to be perfectly air-tight. It was then immersed in a tank of cold fresh water or buried in wet sand, and allowed to remain for six weeks or two months. The contents after this process were found to remain unchanged for a year, and hence the name ἀεὶ γλεῦκος, i.e. semper mustum. A considerable quantity of must from the best and oldest vines was inspissated by boiling, being then distinguished by the Greeks under the general names of ἕψημα or γλύξις, while the Latin writers have various terms according to the extent to which the evaporation was carried. Thus, when the must was reduced to two-thirds of its original volume it became carenum, when one-half had evaporated defrutum, when two-thirds sapa (known also by the Greek names siraeum and hepsema), but these words are frequently interchanged. Similar preparations are at the present time called in Italy musto cotto and sapa, and in France sabe. The process was carried on in large caldrons of lead (vasa defrutaria), over a slow fire of chips, on a night when there was no moon, the scum being carefully removed with leaves, and the liquid constantly stirred to prevent it from burning. These grape-jellies, for they were nothing else, were used extensively for giving body to poor wines and making them keep, and entered as ingredients into many drinks, such as the burranica potio, so called from its red colour, which was formed by mixing sapa with milk. The whole of the mustum not employed for some of the above purposes was conveyed from the lacus to the cella vinaria, an apartment on the ground-floor or a little below the surface. Here were the dolia (πίθοι), otherwise called seriae or cupae, long bell-mouthed vessels of earthenware, very carefully formed of the best clay, and lined with a coating of pitch. They were usually sunk (depressa, defossa, demersa) one-half or two-thirds in the ground; to the former depth, if the wine to be contained was likely to prove strong, to the latter if weak. In these dolia the process of fermentation took place, which usually lasted for about nine days, and as soon as it had subsided, and the mustum had become vinum, the dolia were closely covered. The lids (opercula doliorum), were taken off about once every thirty-six days, and oftener in hot weather, in order to cool and give air to the contents, to add any preparation required to preserve them sound, and to remove any impurities that might be thrown up. The commoner sorts of wine were drunk direct from the dolium, and hence draught wine was called vinum doliare or vinum de cupa, but the finer kinds were drawn off (diffundere, μεταγγίζειν), into amphorae. On the outside the title of the wine was painted, the date of the vintage being marked by the names of the consuls then in office. [[Amphora].] The amphorae were then stored up in repositories (apothecae, horrea, tabulata), completely distinct from the cella vinaria, and usually placed in the upper story of the house (whence descende, testa, and deripere horreo in Horace), for a reason explained afterwards. It is manifest that wine prepared and bottled in the manner described above must have contained a great quantity of dregs and sediment, and it became absolutely necessary to separate these before it was drunk. This was sometimes effected by fining with yolks of eggs, those of pigeons being considered most appropriate by the fastidious, but more commonly by simply straining through small cup-like utensils of silver or bronze perforated with numerous small holes. Occasionally a piece of linen cloth (σάκκος, saccus) was placed over the colum, and the wine filtered through. [[Colum].] In all the best wines hitherto described the grapes are supposed to have been gathered as soon as they were fully ripe, and fermentation to have run its full course. But a great variety of sweet wines were manufactured by checking the fermentation, or by partially drying the grapes, or by converting them completely into raisins. Passum or raisin-wine was made from grapes dried in the sun until they had lost half their weight, or they were plunged into boiling oil, which produced a similar effect, or the bunches after they were ripe were allowed to hang for some weeks upon the vine, the stalks being twisted or an incision made into the pith of the bearing shoot so as to put a stop to vegetation. The stalks and stones were removed, the raisins were steeped in must or good wine, and then trodden or subjected to the gentle action of the press. The quantity of juice which flowed forth was measured, and an equal quantity of water added to the pulpy residuum, which was again pressed, and the product employed for an inferior passum called secundarium. The passum of Crete was most prized, and next in rank were those of Cilicia, Africa, Italy, and the neighbouring provinces. The kinds known as Psythium and Melampsythium possessed the peculiar flavour of the grape and not that of wine. The grapes most suitable for passum were those which ripened early, especially the varieties Apiana, Scirpula, and Psithia. The Greeks recognised three colours in wines: red (μέλας), white, i.e. pale straw-colour (λευκός), and brown or amber-coloured (κιῤῥός). The Romans distinguish four: albus, answering to λευκός, fulvus to κιῤῥός, while μέλας is subdivided into sanguineus and niger, the former being doubtless applied to bright glowing wines like Tent and Burgundy, while the niger or ater would resemble Port. We have seen that wine intended for keeping was racked off from the dolia into amphorae. When it was necessary in the first instance to transport it from one place to another, or when carried by travellers on a journey, it was contained in bags made of goat-skin (ἀσκοί, utres) well pitched over so as to make the seams perfectly tight.

Silenus astride upon a Wine-skin. (Museo Borbonico. vol. iii. tav. 28.)

As the process of wine-making among the ancients was for the most part conducted in an unscientific manner, it was found necessary, except in the case of the finest varieties, to have recourse to various devices for preventing or correcting acidity, heightening the flavour, and increasing the durability of the second growths. The object in view was accomplished sometimes by merely mixing different kinds of wine together, but more frequently by throwing into the dolia or amphorae various condiments or seasonings (ἀρτύσεις, medicamina, conditurae). The principal substances employed as conditurae were, 1. sea-water; 2. turpentine, either pure, or in the form of pitch (pix), tar (pix liquida), or resin (resina). 3. Lime, in the form of gypsum, burnt marble, or calcined shells. 4. Inspissated must. 5. Aromatic herbs, spices, and gums; and these were used either singly, or cooked up into a great variety of complicated confections. But not only were spices and gums steeped in wine or incorporated during fermentation, but even the precious perfumed essential oils (unguenta) were mixed with it before it was drunk (μυῤῥίνη, murrhina.) Of these compound beverages the most popular was the oenomeli (οἰνόμελι) of the Greeks, the mulsum of the Romans. This was of two kinds; in the one honey was mixed with wine, in the other with must. The former was said to have been invented by the legendary hero Aristaeus, the first cultivator of bees, and was considered most perfect and palatable when made of some old rough (austerum) wine, such as Massic or Falernian (although Horace objects to the latter for this purpose), and new Attic honey. The proportions were four, by measure, of wine to one of honey, and various spices and perfumes, such as myrrh, cassia, costum, malobathrum, nard, and pepper, might be added. The second kind was made of must evaporated to one half of its original bulk, Attic honey being added in the proportion of one to ten. This, therefore, was merely a very rich fruit syrup, in no way allied to wine. Mulsum was considered the most appropriate draught upon an empty stomach, and was therefore swallowed immediately before the regular business of a repast began and hence the whet (gustatio) coming before the cup of mulsum was called the promulsis. Mulsum was given at a triumph by the imperator to his soldiers. Mulsum (sc. vinum) or oenomeli (οἰνόμελι) is perfectly distinct from mulsa (sc. aqua). The latter, or mead, being made of honey and water mixed and fermented, is the melicraton (μελίκρατον) or hydromeli (ὑδρόμελι) of the Greeks. The ancients considered old wine not only more grateful to the palate, but also more wholesome and invigorating. Generally speaking the Greek wines do not seem to have required a long time to ripen. Nestor in the Odyssey, indeed, drinks wine ten years old; but the connoisseurs under the empire pronounced that all transmarine wines arrived at a moderate degree of maturity in six or seven. Many of the Italian varieties, however, required to be kept for twenty or twenty-five years before they were drinkable (which is now considered ample for our strongest ports), and even the humble growths of Sabinum were stored up for from four to fifteen. Hence it became a matter of importance to hasten, if possible, the natural process. This was attempted in various ways, sometimes by elaborate condiments, sometimes by sinking vessels containing the must in the sea, by which an artificial mellowness was induced (praecox vetustas) and the wine in consequence termed thalassites; but more usually by the application of heat. Thus it was customary to expose the amphorae for some years to the full fervour of the sun’s rays, or to construct the apothecae in such a manner as to be exposed to the hot air and smoke of the bath-furnaces, and hence the name fumaria applied to such apartments, and the phrases fumosos, fumum bibere, fuligine testae, in reference to the wines. If the operation was not conducted with care, and the amphorae not stoppered down perfectly tight, a disagreeable effect would be produced on the contents. In Italy, in the first century of the Christian aera, the lowest market price of the most ordinary quality of wine was 300 sesterces for 40 urnae, that is, 15 sesterces for the amphora, or 6d. a gallon nearly. At a much earlier date, the triumph of L. Metellus during the first Punic war (B.C. 250), wine was sold at the rate of 8 asses the amphora. The price of native wine at Athens was four drachmas for the metretes, that is, about 4½d. the gallon, when necessaries were dear, and we may perhaps assume one half of this sum as the average of cheaper times. On the other hand, high prices were given freely for the varieties held in esteem, since as early as the time of Socrates a metretes of Chian sold for a mina.—With respect to the way in which wine was drunk, and the customs observed by the Greeks and Romans at their drinking entertainments, the reader is referred to the article [Symposium].—The wine of most early celebrity was that which the minister of Apollo, Maron, who dwelt upon the skirts of Thracian Ismarus, gave to Ulysses. It was red (ἐρυθρόν), and honey-sweet (μελιηδέα), so precious, that it was unknown to all in the mansion save the wife of the priest and one trusty house-keeper; so strong, that a single cup was mingled with twenty of water; so fragrant, that even when thus diluted it diffused a divine and most tempting perfume. Homer mentions also more than once Pramnian wine (οἴνος Πραμνεῖος), an epithet which is variously interpreted by different writers. In after times a wine bearing the same name was produced in the island of Icaria, around the hill village of Latorea in the vicinity of Ephesus, in the neighbourhood of Smyrna, near the shrine of Cybele, and in Lesbos. But the wines of greatest renown at a later period were grown in the islands of Thasos, Lesbos, Chios, and Cos, and in a few favoured spots on the opposite coast of Asia, such as the slopes of Mount Tmolus, the ridge which separates the valley of the Hermus from that of the Caÿster, Mount Messogis, which divides the tributaries of the Caÿster from those of the Meander, the volcanic region of the Catacecaumene, which still retains its fame, the environs of Ephesus, of Cnidus, of Miletus, and of Clazomenae. Among these the first place seems to have been by general consent conceded to the Chian, of which the most delicious varieties were brought from the heights of Ariusium in the central parts, and from the promontory of Phanae at the southern extremity of the island. The Thasian and Lesbian occupied the second place, and the Coan disputed the palm with them. In Lesbos the most highly prized vineyards were around Mytilene and Methymna. There is no foundation whatever for the remark that the finest Greek wines, especially the products of the islands in the Aegean and Ionian seas, belonged for the most part to the luscious sweet class. The very reverse is proved by the epithets αὐστηρός, σκληρός, λεπτός, and the like, applied to a great number, while γλυκύς and γλυκάζων are designations comparatively rare, except in the vague language of poetry.—The most noble Italian wines, with a very few exceptions, were derived from Latium and Campania, and for the most part grew within a short distance of the sea. In the first rank we must place the Setinum, which fairly deserves the title of Imperial, since it was the chosen beverage of Augustus and most of his courtiers. It grew upon the hills of Setia, above Forum Appii, looking down upon the Pomptine marshes. Before the age of Augustus the Caecubum was the most prized of all. It grew in the poplar swamps bordering on the gulf of Amyclae, close to Fundi. In the time of Pliny its reputation was entirely gone, partly in consequence of the carelessness of the cultivators, and partly from its proper soil, originally a very limited space, having been cut up by the canal of Nero extending from Baiae to Ostia. It was full-bodied and heady, not arriving at maturity until it had been kept for many years. The second rank was occupied by the Falernum, of which the Faustianum was the most choice variety, having gained its character from the care and skill exercised in the cultivation of the vines. The Falernus ager commenced at the Pons Campanus, on the left hand of those journeying towards the Urbana Colonia of Sulla, the Faustianus ager at a village about six miles from Sinuessa, so that the whole district in question may be regarded as stretching from the Massic hills to the river Vulturnus. Falernian became fit for drinking in ten years, and might be used until twenty years old, but when kept longer gave headaches, and proved injurious to the nervous system. Pliny distinguishes three kinds, the rough (austerum), the sweet (dulce), and the thin (tenue). Others arranged the varieties differently; that which grew upon the hill tops they called Caucinum, that on the middle slopes Faustianum, and that on the plain Falernum. In the third rank was the Albanum, from the Mons Albanus, of various kinds, very sweet (praedulce), sweetish, rough, and sharp; it was invigorating (nervis utile), and in perfection after being kept for fifteen years. Here too we place the Surrentinum, from the promontory forming the southern horn of the bay of Naples, which was not drinkable until it had been kept for five-and-twenty years, for, being destitute of richness, and very dry, it required a long time to ripen, but was strongly recommended to convalescents, on account of its thinness and wholesomeness. Of equal reputation were the Massicum, from the hills which formed the boundary between Latium and Campania, although somewhat harsh, and the Gauranum, from the ridge above Baiae and Puteoli, produced in small quantity, but of very high quality, full-bodied, and thick. In the same class are to be included the Calenum from Cales, and the Fundanum from Fundi. The Calenum was light and better for the stomach than Falernian; the Fundanum was full-bodied and nourishing, but apt to attack both stomach and head; therefore little sought after at banquets. This list is closed by the Veliturninum, Privernatinum, and Signinum, from Velitrae, Privernum, and Signia, towns on the Volscian hills; the first was a sound wine, but had this peculiarity, that it always tasted as if mixed with some foreign substance; the second was thin and pleasant; the last was looked upon only in the light of a medicine valuable for its astringent qualities. We may safely bring in one more, the Formianum, from the Gulf of Caieta, associated by Horace with the Caecuban, Falernian, and Calenian. The fourth rank contained the Mamertinum, from the neighbourhood of Messana, first brought into fashion by Julius Caesar. The finest was sound, light, and at the same time not without body.

VIRGĬNES VESTĀLES. [[Vestales Virgines].]

VIS. Leges were passed at Rome for the purpose of preventing acts of violence. The Lex Plotia or Plautia was enacted against those who occupied public places and carried arms. The lex proposed by the consul Q. Catulus on the subject, with the assistance of Plautius the tribunus, appears to be the Lex Plotia. There was a Lex Julia of the dictator Caesar on this subject, which imposed the penalty of exile. Two Juliae Leges were passed as to this matter in the time of Augustus, which were respectively entitled De Vi Publica and De Vi Privata.