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In Greece and Italy: Martial

And again Virgil sings : - "On this side, a hedge planted at the adjoining boundary, whose willow blossoms are ever fed on by Hyblæan bees, shall often court you by its gentle hummings to indulge repose." "Give me, Diadumenus," says Martial, "close kisses. 'How many?' you say. You bid me count the waves of the ocean, the shells scattered on the shore of the Ægean Sea, the bees that wander on Attic Hybla, or the voices and clapping that resound in the full theatre when the people suddenly see the countenance of the Emperor wants but few who can count them." he Concerning the "Attic Hybla," over which the bees in this erotic epigram wander, Martial himself offers an explanation when he says, - "When you make a present of Sicilian honeycomb from amid the hills of Hybla, you may call them Attic."

This license was probably based upon the fact that the Hyblæan honey did much resemble the Hymettian, and was gathered by a colony of people founded by an Athenian. In another epigram Martial thus addresses Nævolus : "Like as flowery Hybla is variegated with many a color, when the Sicilian bees are laying waste the fleeting gifts of spring, so your presses shine with piles of cloaks, your wardrobe glistens with uncounted robes. And your white garments, which the land of Apulia produced from more than one flock, would clothe a whole tribe."

Martial expresses his gratification in the success of his epigrams when writing to Lausus: - "It is reported (if fame says true) that the beautiful town of Vienna counts the perusal of my works among its pleasures. I am read there by every old man, every youth, and every boy, and by the chaste young matron in presence of her grave husband. This triumph affords me more pleasure than if my verse were recited by those who drink the Nile at its very source, or than if my own Tagus loaded me with Spanish gold, or Hybla and Hymettus fed my bees."

Writing upon the favorite of Domitian, whose name, Earinus, signifies spring, Martial says: "You have a name which designates the season of the new-born year, when the Cecropian bees plunder the shortlived vernal flowers." The honey of Corsica was as renowned for its bad qualities as that of Hybla and Hymettus was for its good, and Martial thus refers to it: - In Greece and Italy "He who ventures to send verses to the eloquent Nerva will present common perfumes to Cosmus, violets and privet to the inhabitant of Pæstum, and Corsican honey to the bees of Hybla." -- In an epigram to Cæcilianus he also says, — "You ask for lively epigrams, and propose lifeless subjects. What can I do, Cæcilianus? You expect Hyblæan or Hymethian honey to be produced, and yet offer the Attic bee nothing but Corsican thyme."