BOOK XXII. xLix. io6 L. 109 



risk of misleadin^ guessing, for nobody is sufRciently 

 careful, in making mixtures, to observe the sym- 

 pathies and antipathies of the essential natures of 

 the ingredients. I shall go more into detail later." 



L. 'Ihe vahie of honey in popular esteem would be Uoney 

 no less than that of hiser, were not honey produced 

 everywhere. Granted that Nature herself created 

 the one, she yet created an insect, as I have said,^ 

 to make the other for countless uses, if we try to 

 reckon the compounds of wliich it is an ingredient. 

 First there is bee-glue in the hives, about which I 

 have spoken ; " it extracts stings and all substances 

 embedded in the flesh, reduces sweUings, softens in- 

 durations, soothes pains of the sinews, and heals sores 

 when it seems hopeless for them to mend. Honey 

 itself has a nature that prevents a body from decaying, 

 with a pleasant and not harsh taste, essentially diifer- 

 ent from salt, very good for the throat, tonsils, quinsy, 

 all complaints of the mouth, and for tongues parched 

 by fever ; moreover, the decoction is excellent for 

 pneumonia and pleurisy, while for vvounds, snake bites, 

 poisons, fungi and paralysis, it is prescribed in honey 

 wine,<^ although that has pecuHar virtues of its own. 

 Honey and rose oil are injected into the ears, and 

 kill nits and offensive parasites on the head. Honey 

 is improved by being skimmed, but it causes flatu- 

 lence, biHousness and nausea ; some think it of itself 

 injurious to the eyes, though there are others on the 

 other hand who recommend that ulcers in the corners 

 be touched with honey. How honey is produced,* 

 the difFerent kinds of it, the countries famous for it 



• Mellifi cansas is a strange phrase, the exact meaning of 

 which depends upon its context. " Why the bees make it," 

 is another sense possible here, but less Hkely. 



