The works of Horace : with English notes, critical and ... - Cristo Raul

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EXCURSUS IV. WINE-CELLARS. 691
uults of different dimensions" which Bany has figured to himself; but^
as tbey were so careful to secure the benefit of a cool and equable atmosphere
for their wines, we can hardly suppose tbat they would overlook
the advantages to be derived from this mode of building. The directions
given by Falladiua for the construction of a wine-cellar show that it was,
at least in part, excavated ; for he recommends that it should be three or
four steps below the level of the calcatorium, or place where the grapes
were trodden, so that the liquor that collected in the vats could be drawn
off into the casks, as they stood ranged against the walls, by means of
conduits or earthen tabes.' When the quantity of wine made was greater
than the casks could conveniently hold, a row of tuns {cuptB) was disposed
alo&g the middle of the floor, on raised stands, so as to leave a free
passage between them and the casks ; or, if these were buried in the
ground, with a gang-way over them.
In these cellars, which may he considered as analogous to the eelliers
of the French, the lighter wines, or such as lasted only from one vintage
to another, were kept; but the stronger and more' durable kinds were
transferred to another apartment, which by the Greeks was called aizoQij-
K1I or iriSuv, and which, among the Romans, was generally placed above
the^wmariuTn, or drying kiln, in order that the vessels might be exposed
to such a degree of amoke as was calculated to bring the wines to an early
maturity.* This, however, was an invention of the later ages. When
Telemachus goes to draw the necessary sdpply of wine for bis voyage, he
is represented as descending to his father's high-roofed chamber {inl/opoijiov
^dyMfjtov eitpiiv), which seems to have been a sort of treasury or storebouse,
where, with jars of fragrant oil, and chests containing gold, and
brass, and raiment,
*' Many a cask with season'd nectar fiU'd,
The grape's pure juice divine, beside the wall
Stood waiting, orderly arranged ;"'
and he desires to fill him twelve amphoree with the wine next in richness
to that which was reserved for bis sire's return, and to adapt fit stoppers
to the whole.* From this account, it is manifest that, in the earliest times,
there was no separate repository for wines, but that it was kept in largo
vessels, and in a vaulted apartment, along with other articles of value, and
was drawn off into amphoree' as it was wanted for use.
From some allusions in the classics,' it has been contended that the an-
1. *' Basilics ipsius forma, calcatorium loco habeat altiore conBtructum ; ad quod
inter duos lacus, qui ad excipienda vina hinc inde deprcssi slnt, gradibus tribus
fere aut quatuor aflcendatur. Ex his lacubus canales Btructi, vel tubi fictiles circa
extremoB parietes currant, et aubjoctia lateri suo doliia per vicinoa meatus manantia
vina defundant"—De Re RuBtioa, i., 18.
2. " Apothecffi recte Buperponentur Mb locis, unde plerumque fiunas (balnearum)
exoritur, quoniam vina celerius veterascunt, quifi fumi quodam tenore prsBCOcem
maturitatem trahunt." Colum., i., 6.
3 'Ev 5i TtWoi otPOto iTa\aioti f/SvirdToto
Saraaav axpriToVt &iiov TT0T6vt ivrds ixovnSi
g
4^
l^eiris wan nlX" ipfpoTes.—Oijse., ii., 340.
AttiScKa 5' ifiTT^ijoov Ka} iri^iiaaiv &paov htatnai.—Odyss., li, 353.
6. for., Carm., ii., 3.