Ill 



THE FOUNDATION OF THE CITY 



40 



LET us rather consider the proceedings of the swarm 

 J the apiarist shall have gathered into his hive. And, 

 first of all, let us not be forgetful of the sacrifice 

 these fifty thousand virgins have made, who, as Ronsard sings, 



" In a little body bear so true a heart," 



and let us, yet once again, admire the courage with which 

 they begin life anew in the desert whereon they have fallen. 

 They have forgotten the splendour and wealth of their native 

 city, where existence had been so admirably organised and 

 certain ; where the essence of every flower reminiscent of sun- 

 shine had enabled them to smile at the menace of winter. 

 There, asleep in the depths of their cradles, they have left 

 thousands and thousands of daughters, whom they never again 

 will see. They have abandoned, not only the enormous treasure 

 of pollen and propolis they had gathered together, but also 

 more than 120 pounds of honey, a quantity representing 

 more than twelve times the entire weight of the population, 

 and close on 600,000 times that of the individual bee. To 

 man this would mean 42,000 tons of provisions, a vast fleet 

 of mighty ships laden with nourishment more precious than 

 any known to us, for to the bee honey is a kind of liquid life, 



73 K 



