The Foundation of the City 



useless cruelty, for the fact is established 

 beyond any doubt, — but were you to 

 mutilate, or crush, on a piece of comb 

 placed a few steps from their dwelling, 

 twenty or thirty bees that have all issued 

 from the same hive, those you have left 

 untouched will not even turn their heads. 

 With their tongue, fantastic as a Chinese 

 weapon, they will tranquilly continue to 

 absorb the liquid they hold more precious 

 than life, heedless of the agony whose 

 last gestures almost are touching them, 

 of the cries of distress that arise all 

 around. And when the comb is empty, 

 so great is their anxiety that nothing shall 

 be lost, that their eagerness to gather the 

 honey which clings to the victims will in- 

 duce them, tranquilly to climb over dead 

 and dying, unmoved by the presence of 

 the first and never dreaming of helping 

 the others. In this case, therefore, they 

 have no notion of the danger they run, 



153 



