The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1874-07-25
at as early a!day as practicable.> On motion,
the meeting then adjourned. s44sifo 9l4aie Il
gae .esd, +. w. BENNETT; Chairman. T
MILTON KELLY, Secretary. !.
ii !. from Wilson'S Refiector.]
j WINES, OF THE ANCIENTS.

VI There was an elegance in the Grecian mind
which seldom sinks into the grovelling debau.
cherry which sullied the grosser manners Of
Rome, especially under the Emperors In
Rome, as ia modern capitals, it was the rage
to place the highest value on whatever was
rarest; and enormous sums we're often given
for wines which were literally not drinkable
from age. Such seems to have been the case
with the famous vintage Of the year B. G. 80,
when Opimine Nepos was consul, and in which,
from the great warmth of the summer, all the
productions of the earth attained an uncom-
mon degree of perfection. The taste of the
Romans for mixed potations, such as wine fla
yOred with honey or. aromatic substances was
transmitted to the cOnquer0rs of their descend
ants. It became later, favorite practice to
correct the harshness and acidity common to
the wines Of the period by spicing them. When
thus compounded, the liquor passed under the
general name of piment, probably because pre-
pared by the pigmentari or apothecaries, or
rather, we should Opine, because the spices
were sold BY those persons; for it was custom.
ary to serve the wine and spices separately,
that the guests might mix them at will.
OF the principal Roman wines, the names at
least are familiar to every reader. The Cam
pagna Felice boasted the most celebrated
growth; and however minute questions of To-
cality may be determined. the Falernian, Mas
sican. Setine and Surrentine wines were all the
produce Of that region, The 6rst three Of
these have been immortalized by Horace, who
has expatiated on their qualities with all the
fervOr Of the amateur. The C9cuban is de-
scribed by Galen as generous wine, ripening
only after long term Of years. The Massican
closely resembled the Falernian, if it indeed
were not of the same stock. Of mighty Fa.
lernian" itself. little more is known than that
it was highly priced, was kept for thirty, forty.
or even fifty years. and was naturally so strong
and rough that it could only be drank when
mellowed by age. The Setine was q light, del
icate wine, the favorite, according to Pliny, of
Augustus. who gave the preference to it as be-
ing of all kinds the least apt to injure the stom-
ach. These are the only wines Of ancient Ita-
ly that have attained any renown, unless the
poetic eulogies of Horace and Juvenal be
thought of weight enough to rescue the Alba
mean from the degradation which PliDy has as
signed it amongst third-rate wines.
There was peculinr system of refined lux
ury attendant upon the orgies Of the Greeks;
and their entertainments were certainly graced
with many voluptuous appurtenances. When
they adopted the enervating Eastern custom of
reclining at their meals, invention was racked
to fashion the couches in the most convenient
manner. Those, with their tables and side.
boards, were inlaid with ivory, tortoise-shell,
and the precious metals, and carved into all
the fanciful varieties of decoration Of their
artists it may be with truth affirmed that they
embelshed everything which they touched. To
the commonest utensil they gave the stamp Of
beauty; and it is from their cups and vases
that the moderns have borrowed the happiest
models for the furniture of their dinner-tables.
The same luxurious refinement of taste which
formed their drinking vessels, crowned the in-
toxicating cup with wreatts of flowers; and it
was the same sentiment that bound their brows
with the myrtle, and mingled in that chaplet
the gayer colors of the rose with the violet:
Some of these customs might have been deriv-
ed from the Asiatics, and were communicated
to the Romans; but their true accord was the
Grecian mind. The extravagances Of fashion
are confined to no age or cline. qg 8ef'ts
AN OHIO GIANT.-A Cleveland paper re-
lates number of anecdotes illustrating of the
strength and size Of Abner M'Ilrath, whom it
dubs giant. 1t appears that M'llrath issix-
ty one years of age, and is six feet seven and Q
half inches, standing in his bots, fairly proper
3-a ~ ~E 0~nh