(c) Wine. — The culture of the vine was of the highest importance, wine being then, as now, the staple drink of the Mediterranean peoples. Corn- growing in Italy had been largely abandoned in favour of the cultivation of the olive and the vine. Wine was rare and costly in early times in Italy ; even in the ;!rd cent. B.C. it was poor in quality, and till near the end of the Republic Greek wines, especially those of the ./ligean islands, Chios, Cos, Lesbos, Rhodes, and Sainos, held almost undisputed place among the citizens of the Italian cities. Even in Italy, however, the vineyard was the source of greatest ]irolit to the agriculturist. We lirst hear of F.ilcrnian wine under .lulius Ca'sar, but only as two-liflhs of the total supply provided at a Gar- gantuan banquet to the Roman people. Under the Empire, the vine-growers of Latium and Campania had so perfected their vintages that they were sought for even in India. In Pliny's time (died A.D. 79) two-thirds of eighty well- known brands were Italian ; of these the best were the Alban and Ca'ciiban from Latium, and the Massie and the Surrentine (the latter recom- meniled by physicians, e.g. Ciclins Aurelianus, de Cclrrilins vol Acntis Pasnianibu.'i, ii. 37). Colu- mella, the agricultural writer of the 1st cent. A.U., shows that a protit of rather over 6 per cent was iditained from a vineyard of about 4 acres, but there is evidence in a favourable locality of as much as ten times that i)ercentage.
((/) Vegetables and fruit. — Root-crops were not very commonly raised except in Cisalpine Gaul, where the turnip was used, as to-day, for the winter food of cattle. Flax (Xii'oi', linum) yielded large profits ; hemp (cannabis) required a rich soil. Of fruit trees the lemon and the orange, now so characteristic of Italy, were unknown. Peaches and apricots were introduced in the course of the 1st cent., the pistachio nut in its first third, and about the time of the destruction of Pompeii the first melons aroused the interest of students and growers. Every town was surrounded by orchards and kitchen-gardens. The llower-g.ardens produced little but several varieties of lilies, ro.ses, and violets, grown both for natural use and for the manufacture of perfumes. Each town wius supplied with vegetables from its own environs, but these were sometimes also exported further alield ; for ex- amph', Pumpcii exported cabbages, ligs, and onions, and Rome obtained peaches from V^erona, asparagus from Ravenna, and roses from Paistum. It was in the forum holitorium that fruit and vegetables were purchased at Rome. '\'arieties of fruit not already mentioned, which could be obtained there, were apples (Italian, African, Syrian), jiears (Italian, Greek, and African), plums, quinces, medlars, chestnuts, grapes, walnuts, hazel-nuts, lilberts, almonds, pomegranates, cherries. Of dried fruits, damsons, Carian ligs, dates, and raisins (from Si)ain) were on sale. Of vegetables, in addition to those mentioned above, the follow- ing were to be found in the Roman m.arket : squills, garlic (still so chanicteristic of Soul hern Europe), leeks, celery, artichokes (e.g. from Carthage and Cordoba), endives, elecampane, radishes, cucum-
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TRADE AND COMMERCE
TRADE AND COMMERCE
bers, gourds, lettuce, cress, mallow, sorrel (cf. the soupe d. I'oseille of niodeni France), rue, mustard, anise, fennel, coriander, cummin, dill, etc.
(e) Fish. — Fish was the real delicacy of the ancient table. This is seen in the liistory of the word 6tj/ov {opsonin III), which originally indicated any sort of relish taUen with bread, and latterly meant ' fish ' exclusively (cf. Jn 6»-" 21''- ">■"). At lirst little fishing seems to have been engaged in, but in the 1st cent. B.C. there were many aristocratic fish-breeders, who in their private ponds fed various sorts of rare fish for the enjoy- ment of the table. Among the fish eaten by the Romans were the sturgeon, bass, mullet, sea- mullet, the 'ruminating' parrot fish, pearl fish, turbot, eel, conger-eel, murry (a sea-eel), sheath fish, trout, salmon-trout, pike, prickly flounder. The common people esteemed the mackerel, the anchovy, the tunny, and the sand-smelt. Certain of the latter were used in making sauces. The pearl fish was common in the Mediterranean ; the sheath fish was obtained in the Nile, Danube, Moselle, and Dnieper ; the best murries were ob- tained from Tartessus, Messana, and the Car- pathian Sea ; the best turbots were caught off Kavenna ; most eels were caught at Verona. The common fi.sh abounded in the Italian seas.
(/) Meat. — In the meat-market {inacellum, liaKeWov, 1 Co 10'-'' ; cf. Ital. tnacelleria) were to be found beef, goat's flesh, lamb, mutton, and pork. Pork was especially in demand, particu- larly for roasting on festal days. The parts of the animal most ajipreciated were the womb, uddei', liver, ham, and toes, and there was also a great sale for salt beef and various kinds of sausages. A considerable portion of the meat sold in the meat- market had been sacrificed to gods by their priests. The inferior parts of the animal miglit then be burnt, but what the priests did not require for personal consumption was sold in the meat-market (cf. Ac 15=» 21-5, 1 Co 8 [whole chapter] 10'^ Rev 214. 20)_ Salt- and smoked-meat were imported into Rome from Gallia Cisalpina, the Pyrenees, the Cantabri, and the Sequani. In addition to do- mestic animals, game, whether obtained from hunters or from zoological gardens, was also sold, wild boar, sometimes served whole (as at Queen's College, 0.\ford, to-day), hare, venison, dormouse. Nor was poultry overlooked. Birds of various sorts were obtained in all parts of the Roman world, and preserved in aviaries for the table : pigeons of costly and rare types, fattened birds, particularly the diseased goose liver become ab- normally large (cf. the modern pdti de foie gras), also the ptarmigan, woodcock, francolin or black partridge, fieldfare (fattened on pounded figs), partridge, quail, peacock, Guinea-fowl, pheasant, black grouse, capercailzie, crane, stork, and fla- mingo.