To the state of Roman society in Pliny’s day we shall return presently, but although this is not a technical treatise on intoxicating liquors, it is probable that some of our readers might desire to know something of the character of the wines to which reference has been made in the preceding observations, and we will therefore describe as concisely as circumstances admit the method of their manufacture, and will add one or two matters of interest bearing upon their use. The manufacture of wine in Italy and Greece had been brought to great perfection about the commencement of the Christian era, and from that time to the fall of the Roman Empire its quality and varieties occupied the attention of some of the most learned critics and historians. Three distinct descriptions or qualities of wine were usually pressed from the same grapes. The first may be compared to “virgin honey,” for it was merely the juice or “must” which flowed from the fruit through the simple pressure of the mass of grapes when they were put into the wine-press. It was called _protrupum_, and was reserved for the manufacture of a peculiarly fine description of wine. The second quality, _mustum lixivium_, was the product of the first pressure; and after the grapes had been completely pressed, the solid mass was taken out and once more submitted to the same operation. The liquor from the second pressing was known as _mustum tortivum_, and was used for the manufacture of inferior wines, or for mixing with the better qualities. The “must” or sweet juice was transferred to “_dolia_,” long bell-mouthed earthenware vases, partially sunk in the earth, in an apartment on the ground floor called the _cella vinaria_, and in these vessels the fermentation took place, usually lasting nine days. After this, the upper part of the inside of the _dolia_ having been previously smeared with a composition of saffron, pitch, mastic, and fir cones, those vessels were closed with lids, which were taken off from time to time to give air to the contents, to remove impurities, and to add any substances which were deemed necessary to give soundness to the wine. From the _dolia_ the finer kinds of wine were transferred to other vessels called _amphoræ_, made of earthenware or glass, and closed with a plug of wood or cork, which was rendered impervious to air by being coated with clay or gypsum. These _amphoræ_ bore the name of the wine they held, just as do our bottles, and they were usually deposited in the upper floor of the house, it being supposed that the smoke or warmth from the floors below, in passing upwards, improved the quality of the wine. This effect was heightened by constructing the bath furnaces below the apartments (_apothecæ_) in which the wine was stored.[160] The commoner kinds were drawn direct from the _dolia_, the original vessels in which fermentation had taken place; and for the sale of wine in the streets and markets, or for its transport,