157 / 374
DRINKS,
15.7
which
they
had
infused
berries
of
the
lentiscus,
or
a
portion
of
its
tender
wood.
The
artificial
wines
made
either
with
this
lentiscus,
or
with
other
aromatic
herbs,
called
by
Gregory
of
Tours
vina
odoramentis
immixta^
were
the
only
approaches
to
the
modern
liqueurs,
even
some
time
after
the
discovery
of
the
process
of
distil-
lation.
Among
these
liqueur
wines
must
be
mentioned
that
species
of
cooked
wine
which
was
the
result
of
a
por-
tion
of
must
reduced
to
half
or
a
third
of
its
original
bulk
by
boiling.
The
capitularies
of
Charlemagne
speak
of
this
drink
as
vinum
coctum,
and
the
southern
pro-
vinces
called
it
Sabe,
from
the
Latin
sapa,
which
with
the
Romans
had
the
same
signification.
Both
Galen
and
Hippocrates
refer
to
a
Greek
composition
called
SircEum
or
Hepsema,
which,
says
Pliny,
we
call
sapa.
The
fashion
in
which
this
wine
was
cooked
is
shown
in
the
Picture
antiche
cV
ErcolanOy
t.
I.,
tab.
35.
Those
artificial
wines
which
consisted
solely
of
infu-
sions
of
aromatic
or
medicinal
plants,
such
as
absinthe,
aloes,
anise,
rosemary,
hyssop,
and
so
on,
were
called
herb
wines,
and
were
frequently
employed
as
remedies
and
preventives.
With
a
herb
wine,
the
wine
of
a
honied
absinthe,
it
was
that
Fredegonda
poisoned
him
who
reproached
her
with
the
murder
of
the
Pretextate.
The
most
famous
of
these
wines
were
those
into
which
entered,
besides
honey,
the
spices
and
aromatic
confec-
tions
of
Asia,
to
which
were
given
the
name
of
pig-
ments.
The
highly
spiced
and
"most
odoriferous"
wine
sweetened
with
honey
is
one
of
those
drinks
which
Cedric
bids
Oswald,
in
Ivanhoe,^
to
place
upon