HONEY, AS FOOD AND MEDICINE. 7 
Pramnian wine, produced near Smyrna, in Asia Minor, 
was, when mixed with honey, a favorite and celebrated bev- 
erage. Virgil calls it ‘‘ the gift of heaven,” and Pythagoras 
used and praised it. Democritus recommends it to all who 
wish to live long. When mixed with honey, many wines are 
more pleasant to the taste, and hence the Grecians and 
Spaniards of our day, even, thus prepare their wines,—known 
to the trade as ‘‘ ese Wine.” 
Aristotle, inhis celebrated ‘‘ History of Animals,” written 
about the middle of the fourth Century before the Christian 
era, gave the first detinitive description of the Honey Bee. 
Varroremarks : ‘* Nothing is sweeter than honey ; grateful 
to gods and men, it is used on the altars.” a 
“At the feast of the gods,” described by Ovid, which 
required costly aliments and precious wines, “‘ the delicious 
honey-cakes were never wanting.” These were composed of 
meal, honey and oil, and in number were the same as the 
years of the offerer. ; 
It was also extensively used in domestic worship ; at the 
special worship of Ceresin Nov. it was indispensable. . Ceres 
was regarded as the ‘‘honey dispenser” and who by her 
union with the rain-god, Zeus, caused fruitful seasons. Her 
priestesses were called ‘‘ bees,”’ because honey was the first 
food of the infant Dionysus, the son of Bacchus, whom 
Ceres bore in her arms, as Isis carried Horus;and she was 
the instructor of Aristeus in bee-culture. Bacchus too, 
demanded a share, as the ‘discoverer of honey,” the 
‘‘admirer of all sweetness,’? and the ‘‘decorator of the 
blooming meadows.” 
The Greeks and Romans used honey in embalming their 
dead, and sprinkled it over the graves in the funeral service. 
In India, honey is abundant, and Alexander’s triumphant 
warriors laid a tribute of ‘‘honey and wax” upon the 
Rong ured people; as did also the Romans, years afterwards, 
on the Corsicans. The latter paid Rome 200,000 lbs. of wax, 
yearly,assuch tribute. Atthe triumphal celebration, Pontus 
distributed honey to the victorious army. 
The Roman Emperor Charles IV. was favorable to bee- 
culture, and owned a forest, as did also the Holy Roman 
See ; both of which were called bee-gardens. 
The Bee Masters’ Association (or guild) paid him an 
annual tribute of 4,000 gold florins, and in the year A. D. 
1350, he granted them a diploma which regulated their order. 
These guilds transmitted bee-knowledge from father to son, 
—as then the art of printing was unknown. 
On the Statute books of ancient nations, laws. are found 
_ for the protection of bees. The thieft of a swarm of bees, 
according to old Saxon law, was punishable with death. 
In Germany, history informs us, that a honey tribute was 
often levied, long before the reign of Henry IV. 
