83Besides, there is not just one kind of sturdy elm, nor of willow and lotus, nor of Idaean cypresses, nor do rich olives grow in a single form — the orchad and the radius and the pausia with its bitter berry — nor do apples and the orchards of Alcinous, nor is the slip the same for Crustumian and Syrian pears and the heavy volema. 89Not the same vintage hangs on our trees as Lesbos gathers from the Methymnaean vine; 91there are Thasian vines, there are white Mareotic too, these suited to rich soils, those to lighter; and the Psithian, better for raisin-wine, and the thin Lagean, which will one day trip the feet and tie the tongue; the purple and the early-ripening; and with what song shall I tell of you, Rhaetic?
96Yet do not on that account compete with Falernian cellars. 97There are Aminean vines too, the soundest of wines, before which Tmolian and royal Phanaean itself rise in deference; 99and the lesser Argitis, which none could rival either in flowing so freely or in lasting through so many years. 101I would not pass you by, Rhodian, welcome to the gods and the second course, nor you, Bumastus, with your swelling clusters. 103But how many kinds there are, and what their names, there is no counting; 104nor indeed does it matter to comprise them in a count; 105whoever would wish to know it would wish likewise to learn how many grains of sand on the Libyan plain are whirled by the west wind, or, when the east wind falls more violently on ships, to know how many waves of the Ionian come to the shores.