BOOK IX. IX. 5-7 



The bees, therefore, which behave like this ought 5 

 especially to be kept under obsei-vation, so that, 

 whether they sally forth to battle (for they wage a 

 kind of civil war amongst themselves and as it were 

 foreign wars with other swarms) or break out in order 

 to escape, the keeper may be at hand, ready for either 

 event. Fighting either of the bees of one swarm 6 

 quarrelling amongst themselves or of two swarms at 

 variance with one another is easily quelled; for, as 

 the same poet says, 



By casting of a little dust the strife 

 Is stayed and laid to rest," 



or else by sprinkling over them honey-water or 

 raisin-wine or some similar liquid, that is to say the 

 sweet taste of things familiar to them, abates their 

 wrath. The same expedients too are wonderfully 

 efficacious for reconciling king-bees when they are 

 at enmity ; for there are often several leaders of one 

 people, and the common herd is as it were divided 

 into factions by the quarrels of its chiefs. This must 

 be prevented from happening often, since whole 

 nations are destroyed by civil war. And so, if good 7 

 feeling exists between the princes, peace continues 

 and no blood is shed. If, however, you have often 

 noticed them fighting a pitched battle, you will take 

 care to put to death the leaders of the factions ; but 

 when they are actually fighting, their battles can be 

 calmed by the above-mentioned remedies. Next, 

 when a host of bees has settled in a mass on the 

 neighbouring branch of a leafy shrub, you should 

 take notice whether the whole swarm hangs down 

 in the form of a single bunch of grapes. This will 

 be a sign either that there is only one king-bee in it 



463 



