PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 315 
for certainly a desert cave is almost the last place in which we 
should look for the true Wild Thyme. 
It is as a bee-plant especially that the Thyme has always 
been celebrated. Spenser speaks of it as “the bees-alluring 
Tyme,” and Ovid says of it, speaking of Chloris or Flora—• 
“Mella meum munus ; volucres ego mella daturos 
Ad violam et cytisos, et Thyma cana voco.”— Fasti , v. 
so that the Thyme became proverbial as the symbol of sweet¬ 
ness. It was the highest compliment that the shepherd could 
pay to his mistress— 
“ Nerine Galatea, Thymo mihi dulcior Hyblae.”— Virgil, Eel. vii. 
And it was because of its wild Thyme that Mount Hymettus 
became so celebrated for its honey—“ Mella Thy mi redolentia 
flore (Ovid). Thyme, for the time it lasteth, yeeldeth most 
and best honni, and therefore in old time was accounted chief 
(Thymus aptissimus ad mellificum—Pastus gratissimus apibus 
Thy mum est—Plinii, 1 His. Nat.’) 
‘ Dum thymo pascentur apes, dum rore cicadse.’— Virgil, Georg. 
Hymettus in Greece and Hybla in Sicily were so famous for 
Bees and Honni, because there grew such store of Tyme; 
propter hoc Siculum mel fert palmam, quod ibi Thymum bonum 
et frequens est. —Varro,” The Feminine Monarchies 1634. 
The Wild Thyme can scarcely be considered a garden plant, 
except in its variegated and golden varieties, which are very 
handsome, but if it should ever come naturally in the turf, it 
should be welcomed and cherished for its sweet scent. The 
garden Thyme (T. vulgaris) must of course be in every herb 
garden; and there are a few species which make good plants 
for the rockwork, such as T. lanceolatus from Greece, a very 
low-growing shrub, with narrow, pointed leaves; T. carnosus , 
which makes a pretty little shrub, and others; while the 
Corsican Thyme ( Mentha Requieni) is perhaps the lowest and 
closest-growing of all herbs, making a dark-green covering to 
the soil, and having a very strong scent, though more resembling 
Peppermint than Thyme. 
