lead out the young; others pack the purest honey tightly and swell the cells with liquid nectar.
§4.165Sunt quibus ad portas cecidit custodia sorti, §4.166inque vicem speculantur aquas et nubila caeli §4.167aut onera accipiunt venientum aut agmine facto §4.168ignavum fucos pecus a praesepibus arcent.
There are those to whose lot the guard at the gates has fallen, and in turn they watch the rains and the clouds of heaven, or receive the loads of those arriving, or in marshaled column keep the drones, a lazy herd, away from the hives.
§4.169Fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragrantia mella.
The work glows, and the fragrant honey smells of thyme.
§4.170ac veluti lentis Cyclopes fulmina massis §4.171cum properant, alii taurinis follibus auras §4.172accipiunt redduntque, alii stridentia tingunt §4.173aera lacu; gemit impositis incudibus Aetna;
And just as when the Cyclopes from ductile masses of ore hasten to fashion thunderbolts: some with bellows of bull-hide draw in and blow out the air, others dip the hissing bronze in the lake; Mt.
§4.174illi inter sese magna vi bracchia tollunt §4.175in numerum versantque tenaci forcipe ferrum: §4.176non aliter, si parva licet componere magnis, §4.177Cecropias innatus apes amor urget habendi, §4.178munere quamque suo.
Aetna groans beneath the placed anvils; they with great force raise their arms in turn in rhythm, and turn the iron with gripping tongs: not otherwise, if one may compare small things with great, a native love of gain urges the Cecropian bees, each in its own office.
Grandaevis oppida curae §4.179et munire favos et daedala fingere tecta.
The older ones have the towns to care for, both to fortify the combs and to fashion the daedal dwellings.
§4.180At fessae multa referunt se nocte minores, §4.181crura thymo plenae; pascuntur et arbuta passim §4.182et glaucas salices casiamque crocumque rubentem §4.183et pinguem tiliam et ferrugineos hyacinthos.
But the younger ones return weary late at night, their legs packed with thyme; they feed at large on arbutus, and pale-green willows, and casia, and blushing crocus, and rich linden, and dark rust-colored hyacinths.
§4.184Omnibus una quies operum, labor omnibus unus: §4.185mane ruunt portis; nusquam mora; rursus easdem §4.186vesper ubi e pastu tandem decedere campis §4.187admonuit, tum tecta petunt, tum corpora curant; §4.188fit sonitus, mussantque oras et limina circum.
All have one rest from labor, all have one time of work: in the morning they rush from the gates; nowhere is there delay; again, when evening has at last warned them to withdraw from feeding in the fields, then they seek their homes, then they care for their bodies; a sound arises, and they hum around the edges and the thresholds.
§4.189Post, ubi iam thalamis se composuere, siletur §4.190in noctem fessosque sopor suus occupat artus.
Afterwards, when they have already settled themselves in their chambers, silence is kept into the night, and their own sleep possesses their weary limbs.
§4.191Nec vero a stabulis pluvia impendente recedunt §4.192longius aut credunt caelo adventantibus Euris, §4.193sed circum tutae sub moenibus urbis aquantur, §4.194excursusque breves temptant et saepe lapillos, §4.195ut cumbae instabiles fluctu iactante saburram, §4.196tollunt, his sese per inania nubila librant.
Nor indeed, when rain impends, do they withdraw far from their stalls, or trust the sky when East winds are approaching, but fetch water close around under the walls of their safe city, and venture on short excursions, and often lift little stones, as unsteady boats take in ballast when the wave tosses them, and with these they balance themselves through the empty clouds.
§4.197Illum adeo placuisse apibus mirabere morem, §4.198quod neque concubitu indulgent nec corpora segnes §4.199in Venerem solvunt aut fetus nixibus edunt: §4.200verum ipsae e foliis natos, e suavibus herbis §4.201ore legunt, ipsae regem parvosque Quirites §4.202sufficiunt aulasque et cerea regna refigunt.
You will indeed marvel that this custom has pleased the bees, that they neither indulge in mating, nor weaken their bodies in love, or bring forth young with birth-throes; but they themselves gather their young with their mouths from leaves and sweet herbs; they themselves supply the king and little citizens and rebuild their palaces and waxen realms.
§4.203saepe etiam duris errando in cotibus alas §4.204attrivere ultroque animam sub fasce dedere: §4.205tantus amor florum et generandi gloria mellis.
Often, too, while wandering among harsh rocks, they bruise their wings and voluntarily yield up their life beneath their burden: so great is their love of flowers and the glory of producing honey.
§4.206Ergo ipsas quamvis angusti terminus aevi §4.207excipiat, neque enim plus septima ducitur aestas, §4.208at genus immortale manet multosque per annos §4.209stat fortuna domus et avi numerantur avorum.
Therefore, although the limit of a narrow life awaits them (for indeed no more than the seventh summer is spun for them), yet the race remains immortal, and through many years the fortune of the house stands firm, and ancestors of ancestors are numbered.
§4.210Praeterea regem non sic Aegyptus et ingens §4.211Lydia nec populi Parthorum aut Medus Hydaspes §4.212observant.
Moreover, not Egypt, nor mighty Lydia, nor the Parthian peoples, or the Median Hydaspes, pay such reverence to their king.
Rege incolumi mens omnibus una est; §4.213amisso rupere fidem constructaque mella §4.214diripuere ipsae et crates solvere favorum.
While the king is safe, all have one mind; when he is lost, they break their allegiance, and the honey they have built they themselves plunder, and tear open the wattled combs.
§4.215Ille operum custos, illum admiruntur et omnes §4.216circumstant fremitu denso stipantque frequentes §4.217et saepe attollunt umeris et corpora bello §4.218obiectant pulchramque petunt per vulnera mortem.
He is the guardian of their labors; him they admire, and all surround him with thick humming and crowd around him in throngs; and often they lift him on their shoulders and expose their bodies in war, and seek a beautiful death through wounds.
§4.219His quidam signis atque haec exempla secuti §4.220esse apibus partem divinae mentis et haustus §4.221aetherios dixere; deum namque ire per omnes §4.222terrasque tractusque maris caelumque profundum.
Guided by these signs and following these examples, some have said that bees possess a share of the divine mind and ethereal draughts; for they say that god goes through all lands and the tracts of the sea and the deep heaven.
§4.223Hinc pecudes, armenta, viros, genus omne ferarum, §4.224quemque sibi tenues nascentem arcessere vitas; §4.225scilicet huc reddi deinde ac resoluta referri §4.226omnia nec morti esse locum, sed viva volare §4.227sideris in numerum atque alto succedere caelo.
From this source, flocks, herds, men, every kind of wild beast, each at birth draws its slender life; to this place, of course, all things are afterward returned and, dissolved, brought back, nor is there any room for death, but living they fly into the number of the stars and ascend into the high heaven.
§4.228Si quando sedem angustam servataque mella §4.229thesauris relines, prius haustu sparsus aquarum §4.230ora fove fumosque manu praetende sequaces.
If ever you would unseal their narrow home and the honey stored in their treasuries, first sprinkle your mouth with a draught of water and hold forth searching smoke in your hand.
§4.231Bis gravidos cogunt fetus, duo tempora messis, §4.232Taygete simul os terris ostendit honestum §4.233Pleas et Oceani spretos pede reppulit amnes, §4.234aut eadem sidus fugiens ubi Piscis aquosi §4.235tristior hibernas caelo descendit in undas.
Twice they gather the heavy yield, there are two seasons of harvest: as soon as Taygete the Pleiad has shown her comely face to the earth and spurned with her foot the rejected streams of Ocean, or when she, fleeing the constellation of the watery Fish, descends from heaven more sadly into the wintry waves.
§4.236Illis ira modum supra est, laesaeque venenum §4.237morsibus inspirant et spicula caeca relinquunt §4.238adfixae venis animasque in vulnere ponunt.
Their rage is beyond measure, and when injured, they breathe poison into their bites, and leave their hidden stings fastened in the veins, and lay down their lives in the wound.
§4.239Sin duram metues hiemem parcesque futuro §4.240contunsosque animos et res miserabere fractas, §4.241at suffire thymo cerasque recidere inanes
But if you fear a harsh winter and would spare the future, and pity their crushed spirits and broken fortunes, yet to fumigate with thyme and cut away the empty wax who would hesitate?
§4.242quis dubitet? nam saepe favos ignotus adedit
For often an unnoticed lizard has gnawed the combs,