Chap. 18.] OMENS AFFORDED BY A SWARM OF BEES. 19 



when he is quite tired, they cany him outright. If one of them 

 falls in the rear from weariness, or happens to go astray, it is 

 able to follow the others by the aid of its acuteness of smell. 

 Wherever the king bee happens to settle, that becomes the 

 encampment of all. 



CHAP. 18. HAPPY OMENS SOMETIMES AFFORDED BY A SWARM 



OE BEES. 



And then, too, it is that they afford presages both of private 

 and public interest, clustering, as they do, like a bunch of 

 grapes, upon houses or temples ; presages, in fact, that are often 

 accounted for by great events. Bees settled upon the lips of 

 Plato when still an infant even, announcing thereby the sweet- 

 ness of that persuasive eloquence for which he was so noted. 

 Bees settled, too, in the camp of the chieftain Drusus when 

 he gained the brilliant -victory at Arbalo ; 60 a proof, indeed, 

 that the conjectures of soothsayers are not by any means in- 

 fallible, seeing that they are of opinion that this is always of 

 evil augury. When their leader is withheld from them, the 

 swarm can always be detained ; and when lost, it will disperse 

 and take its departure to find other kings. Without a king, 

 in fact, they cannot exist, and it is with the greatest reluct- 

 ance that they put them to death when there are several ; they 

 prefer, too, to destroy the cells of the young ones, if they find 

 reason to despair of providing food ; in such case they then 

 expel the drones. And yet, with regard to the last, I find that 

 some doubts are entertained ; and that there are some authors 

 who are of opinion that they form a peculiar species, like that 

 bee, the very largest among them all, which is known by the 

 name of the " thief," 61 because it furtively devours the honey ; 

 it is distinguished by its black colour and the largeness of its 

 body. It is a well-known fact, however, that" the bees are in 

 the habit of killing the drones. These last have no king of 

 their own ; but how it is that they are produced without a 

 sting, is a matter still undetermined. 



In a wet spring the young swarms are more numerous ; in 

 a dry one the honey is most abundant. If food happens to 



60 A place in Germany, where Drusus, the brother of Tiberius, gained 

 a victory over the Germans : the locality is unknown. 

 G1 " Fur." A variety, probablv, of the drone. 



c2 



