298 The Honey-Makers 



" Those of them, I mean, who are quick-witted, and, like 

 bees on the wing, light on every flower, and out of all 

 they hear, gather inferences as to the character and way of 

 hfe which are best for them." 



Plutarch, in his "Life of Lycurgus," has the following: 



" Upon the whole, he taught his citizens to think nothing 

 more disagreeable than to live by or for themselves. Like 

 bees, they acted with one impulse for the public good, and 

 always assembled about their prince." 



And again, explaining how Greece was kept in voluntary 

 obedience by her rulers, he says : " Thus bees, when their 

 prince appears, compose their quarrels, and unite in one 

 swarm." 



Very much can be said about the use of honey as food 

 among the ancients. With them it was one of the staples 

 of life, as well as a luxury ; and the incomparable book 

 of Athenaeus, " The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the 

 Learned," has preserved for us many quaint and interesting 

 customs of the people during and before his time. From 

 him we learn of the various ways in which honey was 

 served, and of its place in tlie feast as well as of its 

 importance as a nutrient. Concerning this last he tells 

 us: — 



" And it is said that Democritus, the philosopher of 

 Abdera, after he had determined to rid himself of life on 

 account of his extreme old age, and when he had begun 

 to diminish his food day by day, when the day of the 

 Thesmophorian festival came round, and the women of his 

 household besought him not to die during the festival, in 

 order that they might not be debarred from their share in 

 the festivities, was persuaded, and ordered a vessel full of 

 honey to be set near him ; and in this way he lived many 

 days with no other support than honey; and then some 

 days after, when the honey had been taken away, he 



