e so in a woman. It
seems in those times to have been done by persons who wished to
give themselves airs in the houses of private persons; at the
present day it is probably confined to wine-vaults and sale-rooms
where wine is put up to auction, and even there it is practiced
much more than is either necessary or agreeable. Doubtless Bacchis
did it to show her exquisite taste in the matter of wines.]

[Footnote 54: _Is too acid_)--Ver. 458. "Asperum;" meaning that
the wine was not old enough for her palate. The great fault of the
Greek wines was their tartness, for which reason sea-water was
mixed with them all except the Chian, which was the highest class
of wine.]

[Footnote 55: _Respected sir_)--Ver. 459. "Pater," literally
"father;" a title by which the young generally addressed aged
persons who were strangers to them.]

[Footnote 56: _All the casks, all the vessels_)--Ver. 460. "Dolia
omnia, omnes serias." The finer kinds of wine were drawn off from
the "dolia," or large vessels, into the "amphorae," which, like the
"dolia," were made of earth, and sometimes of glass. The mouths of
the vessels were stopped tight by a plug of wood or cork, which
was made impervious to the atmosphere by being rubbed over with a
composition of pitch, clay, wax, or gypsum. On the outside, the
title of the wine was painted, and among the Romans the date of
the vintage was denoted by the names of the Consuls then in
office. When the vessels were of glass, small tickets or labels,
called "pittacia," were suspended from them, stating to a similar
effect. The "seriae" were much the same as the "dolia," perhaps
somewhat smaller; they were both long, bell-mouthed vessels of
earthen-ware, formed of the best clay, and lined with pitch while
hot from the furnace. "Seriae" were also used to contain oil and
other liquids; and in the Captivi of Plautus the word is applied
to pans used for the purpose of salting meat. "Relino" signifies
the act of taking the seal of pitch or wax off the stopper of the
wine-vessel.]

[Footnote 57: _With that servant of yours_)--Ver. 473. Dromo.]

[Footnote 58: _What an inlet_)--Ver. 482. "Fenestram;" literally,
"a window."]

[Footnote 59: _This night with my eyes_)--Ver. 491. Colman has the
following Note here: "Hedelin obstinately contends from this
passage, that neither Chremes nor any of his family went to bed
the whole night;