14 plint's natural history. [Book XI. 



CHAP. 15. (15.) HOW HONEY IS TESTED. ERICUETJM. TETRA- 



LIX, OR SISIRTTM. 



The crop of honey is most abundant if gathered at full 

 moon, and it is richest when the weather is fine. In all 

 honey, that which flows of itself, like must or oil, has received 

 from'us the name of acetum.™ The summer honey is the most 

 esteemed of all, from the fact of its being made when the 

 weather is driest : it is looked upon as the most serviceable 

 when made from thyme f it is then of a golden colour, and 

 of a most delicious flavour. The honey that we see formed 

 in the calix of flowers is of a rich and unctuous nature ; that 

 which is made from rosemary is thick, while that which is 

 candied is little esteemed. Thyme honey does not coagulate, 

 and on being touched will draw out into thin viscous threads, 

 a thing which is the principal proof of its heaviness. When 

 honey shows no tenacity, and the drops immediately part 

 from one another, it is looked upon as a sign of its worthless- 

 ness. The other proofs of its goodness are the fine aroma of 

 its smell, its being of a sweetness that closely borders on the 

 sour, 38 and being glutinous and pellucid. _ 



Cassius Dionysius is of opinion that in the summer gathering 

 the tenth part of the honey ought to be left for the bees if the 

 hives should happen to be well filled, and even if not, still in 

 the same proportion ; while, on the other hand, if there is but 

 little in them, he recommends that it should not be touched 

 at all. The people of Attica have fixed the period for com- 

 mencing this gathering at the first ripening of the wild fig ; 

 others 39 have made it the day that is sacred to Yulcan. 40 



(16.) The third kind of honey, which is the least esteemed 

 of all, is the wild honey, known by the name of ericaum* It 

 is collected by the bees after the first showers of autumn 

 when the heather 42 alone is blooming in the woods, from which 

 circumstance it derives its sandy appearance. It is mostly pro- 

 se " Vinegar " is the ordinary meaning. 

 3' Sillig remarks that the whole of this passage is corrupt. 



38 Hence, perhaps, its name of "acetum." 



39 The people of Italy. 



40 The 10th of the calends of September, or 23rd August. 



4i Or " heath-honey." In the north of England the hives are purposely 

 taken to the moors. . „ 



*» "Erice," "heather," seems to be a preferable reading to myrice, 

 " tamarisk," which is adopted by Sillig. 



