The Swarm 



have no idea of the kind ; that their care 

 for the future, love of the race, and many 

 other feehngs we choose to ascribe to 

 them, are truly no more than forms as- 

 sumed by the necessities of life, the fear 

 of suffering or death, and the attraction of 

 pleasure. Let it be so ; look on it all as 

 a figure of speech ; it is a matter to which 

 I attach no importance. The one thing 

 certain here, as it is the one thing certain 

 in all other cases, is that, under special 

 circumstances, the bees will treat their 

 queen in a special manner. The rest is 

 all mystery, around which we only can 

 weave more or less ingenious and pleasant 

 conjecture. And yet, were we speaking 

 of man in the manner wherein it were 

 wise perhaps to speak of the bee, is there 

 very much more we could say ? He too 

 yields only to necessity, the attraction of 

 pleasure, and the fear of suffering; and 

 what we call our intellect has the same 



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