Vineyards are a familiar sight in countries with climates gentle enough for grapes to grow: row upon row of wires stretched in parallel lines on metal frames, giving the countryside an orderly appearance and growing into a vast corduroy effect as the vines come into leaf. The rose bushes planted at the head of some of the rows look like a decorative touch, but in fact they are there to provide the wine-grower with early warning: roses are more susceptible than vines to mildew, and when he sees it, it is time to treat the vineyard with a protective dose of copper sulphate. Roman vineyards were very different: the supports that vines were grown over were trees, an arrangement that Horace and others represents as a marriage. See Horace’s Latin with an English translation here, as he describes an Italian countryside at peace and celebrating Augustus’s safe return from campaign.
Peace as Augustus returns
