In that Bœotian old savage, Hesiod,^[1193] however, we undoubtedly find mention of the hive where he is uncourteously comparing women to drones—

As the honey of Attica constantly, in antiquity, enjoyed the reputation of being the finest in the world,^[1194] the management of bees naturally formed in that country an important branch of rural economy. The natural history, moreover, of the bee was studied with singlar enthusiam by the Greeks in general. Aristomachos of Soli, devoted to it fifty-eight years, and Philiscos, the Thasian, who passed his life among bees in a desert, obtained on that account the name of the Wild Man. Both wrote on the subject.^[1195]

This branch of rural economy was carried to very great perfection in Attica. The vocabulary^[1196] connected with it was extensive, as every separate operation had its technical term, by the study of which, chiefly, an insight into their practice is obtained. Thus, from certain expressions employed by Aristotle^[1197] and Pollux, it seems clear that bee-managers, whom we may occasionally call melitturgi, constituted a separate division among the industrious classes; and these, instructed by constant experience, probably anticipated most of the improvements imagined in modern times. For example, instead of destroying the valuable and industrious little insects for the purpose of obtaining possession of their spoils, they in some cases compelled them by smoke to retire temporarily from the hive, whence their treasures were to be taken; and in the mining districts about Laureion they understood the art, concerning which, however, no particulars are known, of procuring the virgin honey pure and unsmoked.^[1198]

The grounds of a melitturgos or bee-keeper were chosen and laid out with peculiar care.^[1199] In a sheltered spot, generally on the thymy slope of a hill, the hives were arranged in the midst of flowers and odoriferous shrubs. And if the necessary kinds had not by nature been scattered there, they were planted by the gardener. Experience soon taught them what blossoms and flowers yielded the best honey,^[1200] and were most agreeable to the bees. These, in Attica, were supposed to be the wild pear-tree, the bean, clover, a pale-coloured vetch, the syria, myrtle, wild poppy, wild thyme, and the almond-tree.^[1201] To which may be added the rose, balm gentle, the galingale or odoriferous rush, basil royal, and above all the cytisus,^[1202] which begins to flower about the vernal equinox, and continues in bloom to the end of September.^[1203] Of all the plants, however, affected by the bee, none is so grateful to it as the thyme, which so extensively abounds in Attica and Messenia^[1204] as to perfume the whole atmosphere. In Sicily too, all the slopes and crests of its beautiful hills, from Palermo to Syracuse, are invested with a mantle of thyme,^[1205] and other odoriferous shrubs, which, according to Varro, gives the superior flavour to the Sicilian honey. Box-wood abounded on mount Cytoros, in Galatia, and in the island of Corsica, on which account the honey of the latter country was bitter.^[1206]

In selecting a spot for hives, the ancients observed a rule which I do not recollect to have been mentioned by modern bee-keepers, and that was to avoid the neighbourhood of an echo,^[1207] which by repeating their own buzzing and murmuring suggested the idea perhaps of invisible rivals. Place them not, says Virgil,^[1208]

Care was taken to conduct near the hives small runnels of the purest water, not exceeding two or three inches in depth with shells or pebbles rising dry above the surface, whereon the bees might alight to drink.^[1209] When of necessity the apiary was situated on the margin of lakes or larger streams other contrivances were had recourse to for the convenience of the airy labourers.

Their hives were of various kinds and shapes. Some, like the modern Circassians, they made with fine wicker-work, of a round form and carefully plastered on the inside with clay.^[1210] Other hives were constructed of bark, especially that of the cork-tree, others of fig, oxya, beech, and pine-wood,^[1211] others, as now in Spain, of the trunk of a hollow tree, others of earthenware, as is the practice in Russia; and others again of plaited cane of a square shape, three feet in length and about one in breadth, but so contrived that, should the honey materials prove scanty, they might be contracted, lest the bees should lose courage if surrounded by a large empty space. The wicker-hives were occasionally plastered both inside and outside with cow-dung to fill up the cavities and smooth the surface.^[1212] A more beautiful species of hive was sometimes made with the lapis specularis,^[1213] which, being almost as transparent as glass, enabled the curious owner to contemplate the movements and works of the bees.^[1214] When finished, they were placed on projecting slabs, so as not to touch or be easily shaken. There were generally three rows of hives rising above each other like Egyptian tombs on the face of the wall, and there was a prejudice against adding a fourth.

The fences of apiaries were made high and strong to protect the inmates from the inroads of the bears,^[1215] which would otherwise have overthrown the hives and devoured all the combs.^[1216] Another enemy of the bee was the Merops,^[1217] which makes its appearance about Hymettos towards the end of summer.^[1218]

There were, in ancient times, two entrances, one on either hand, and on the top a lid, which the Melitturgos could remove when he desired to take the honey, or inspect the condition of the bees. The best of these lids were made of bark, the worst of earthenware, which were cold in winter, and in summer exceedingly hot.^[1219] It was considered necessary during spring and the succeeding season for the bee-keeper to inspect the hives thrice a month, to fumigate them slightly, and remove all filth and vermin. He was careful, likewise, to destroy the usurpers if there were more than one queen,^[1220] since, in Varro’s^[1221] opinion, they gave rise to sedition; but Aristotle thinks there ought to be several, lest one should die, and the hive along with it. Of the queen bees there are three kinds, the black, the ruddy, and the variegated; though Menecrates, who is good authority, speaks only of the black and variegated.^[1222] Aristotle, however, describes the reddish queen bee as the best. Even among the working insects there are two kinds, the smaller, in form round, and variegated in colour, the larger, which is the tame bee, less active and beautiful. The former, or wild bee,^[1223] frequents the mountains, forests, and other solitary places, labours indefatigably, and collects honey in great quantities; the latter, which feeds among gardens, and in man’s neighbourhood, fills its hive more slowly.^[1224] With respect to the drones, or males, which the working bees generally expel at a certain time of the year, the Attic melitturgi got rid of them in a very ingenious manner. It was observed, that these gentlemen though no way inclined to work, would yet occasionally, on very fine days, go abroad for exercise, rushing forth in squadrons, mounting aloft into the air, and there wheeling, and sporting, and manœuvring in the sun.^[1225] Taking advantage of their absence, they spread a fine net over the hive-entrance, the meshes of which, large enough to admit the bee, would exclude the drone. On returning, therefore, they found themselves, according to the old saying, “on the smooth side of the door,” and were compelled to seek fresh lodgings.^[1226]

In late springs, or when there is a drought or blight, the bees breed very little, but make a great deal of honey, whereas in wet seasons they keep more at home, and attend to breeding. Swarms in Greece^[1227] appeared about the ripening of the olive. Aristotle is of opinion, that honey is not manufactured by the bee, but falls perfectly formed from the atmosphere, more especially at the heliacal rising or setting of certain stars, and when the rainbow appears. He observes, too, that no honey is found before the rising of the Pleiades,^[1228] which happens about the thirteenth of May.^[1229] This opinion is in exact conformity with the fact, that at certain seasons of the year what is called the honey dew descends, covering thick the leaves of the oak, and several other trees, which at such times literally drop with honey. On these occasions the bees find little to do beyond the labour of conveying it to their cells, and, accordingly, have been known to fill the hive in one or two days. It has been observed, moreover, that autumn flowers, which yield very little fragrance, yield, also, little or no honey. In the kingdom of Pontos there was a race of white bees which made honey twice a month; and at Themiscyra there were those which built their combs both in hives and in the earth, producing very little wax, but a great deal of honey.^[1230]

When the time of year arrived for robbing the bee, some hives were found to produce five, others ten, others fifteen quarts of honey, still leaving sufficient for winter consumption.^[1231] And in determining what quantity would suffice great judgment was required; for if too much remained the labourers grew indolent, if too little they lost their spirits. However, in this latter case the bee-keepers, having ascertained that they were in need of food, introduced a number of sweet figs, and other similar fruit into the hive, as now we do moist sugar in a split cane. Elsewhere the practice was to boil a number of rich figs in water^[1232] till they were reduced to a jelly, which was then formed into cakes and set near the hive. Together with this, some bee-keepers placed honey-water, wherein they threw locks of purple wool, on which the bees might stand to drink.^[1233] Certain melitturgi, desirous of distinguishing their own bees^[1234] when spread over the meadows, sprinkled them with fine flour. Mention is made of a person who obtained five thousand pounds’ weight of honey annually; and Varro^[1235] speaks of two soldiers who, with a small country house, and an acre of ground left them by their father, realised an independent fortune.

Theophrastus, in a fragment^[1236] of one of his lost works, speaks of three different kinds of honey, one collected from flowers, another which, according to his philosophy, descended pure from heaven, and a third produced from canes. This last, which was sometimes denominated Indian honey, is the sugar of modern times. There appear, likewise, to have been other kinds of sugar manufactured from different substances, as Tamarisk and Wheat.^[1237] The honey-dew, on the production of which the ancients^[1238] held many extraordinary opinions, was supposed to be superior to the nectar of the bee.

Amyntas, in his Stations of Asia, cited by Athenæus, gives a curious account of this sort of honey which was collected in various parts of the East, particularly in Syria. In some cases they gathered the leaves of the tree, chiefly the linden and the oak, on which the dew was most abundantly^[1239] found, and pressed them together like those masses of Syrian figs, which were called palathè. Others allowed it to drop from the leaves and harden into globules, which, when desirous of using, they broke, and, having poured water thereon in wooden bowls called tabaitas, drank the mixture. In the districts of Mount Lebanon^[1240] the honey-dew fell plentifully several times during the year, and was collected by spreading skins under the trees, and shaking into them the liquid honey from the leaves; they then filled therewith numerous vessels, in which it was preserved for use. On these occasions, the peasants used to exclaim, “Zeus has been raining honey!”