But Didymus says that the Pramnian wine comes from a vine called Pramnian; and some say that the name means merely dark-coloured. But others affirm that it is a generic name for wine suitable for long keeping, as being παραμένιος, that is to say, _such as can be kept_. And some say that it is so called from πραΰνειν τὸ μένος, _mollifying anger_, because those who drink it become good-humoured. 56. Amphis praises also the wine which comes from the city of Acanthus, saying,-- _A._ Whence do you come, friend? speak. _B._ From Acanthus I. _A._ Acanthus? then I trow, Since you're a countryman of wine so strong, You must be fierce yourself; Your country's name is thorny,[50:1] but I hope Your manners are not quite so rough and prickly. And Alexis mentions Corinthian wine as a harsh wine-- And foreign wine was there; for that from Corinth Is painful drinking. He speaks, too, of wine from Eubœa-- Drinking deep draughts of harsh Eubœan wine. The Naxian wine is compared by Archilochus to nectar. And he says in some one of his poems-- My spear finds corn, my spear finds wine, From Ismarus; on my spear I dine, And on it, when fatigued, recline. But Strattis praises the wine of Sciathus-- The black Sciathian wine mix'd half and half, Invites the traveller to halt and quaff. And Achæus praises the Bibline wine-- He pledged him in a cup of Bibline wine. While it has its name from some district which is called by a similar appellation. And Philyllius says,-- I'll give you Lesbian, Chian wine, Thasian, Mendæan, and Bibline; Sweet wines, but none so strong and heady As that you shall next day feel seedy. But Epicharmus says that it is named from some mountains of a similar name. And Armenidas says that there is a district of Thrace called the Biblian, the same which was afterwards called Tisara, and Œsyma. And it was very natural for Thrace to be admired as a country producing fine wines; and indeed all the adjacent country deserves the same character. Full of rich wine the ships from Lemnos came. But Hippias the Rhegian says that the wine called _the creeper_ was also called Biblian; and that Pollis the Argive, who was king of Syracuse, was the first person who brought it to Syracuse from Italy. And if that be true, probably the sweet wine which among the Sicilians is called Pollian, is the same as the Bibline wine. There is an ancient oracle:-- Drink wine where lees abound, since Fate has not Placed you amid Anthedon's flowery plains, Or in the streets of sacred Hypera, Where purer wine abounds.