a name given to any inebriating liquor by the Hellenistic Jews. St Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Theophilus of Antioch, who were Syrians, and who therefore ought to know the signification and nature of "sicera," assure us, that it properly signifies palm-wine. Pliny acknowledges, that the wine of the palm-tree was very well known through all the east, and that it was made by taking a bushel of the dates of the palm-tree, and throwing them into three gallons of water; then squeezing out the juice, it would intoxicate like wine. The wine of the palm-tree is white: when it is drunk new, it has the taste of the cocoa, and is sweet as honey. When it is kept longer, it grows stronger, and intoxicates. After long keeping, it becomes vinegar.