THE FOUNDATION OF THE CITY 89 



as in every case the principle holds, that should the naked 

 truth appear at the moment less interesting, less great and 

 noble than the imaginary embellishment it lies in our power 

 to bestow, the fault must rest with ourselves who still are 

 unable to perceive the astonishing relation in which this 

 truth always must stand to our being and to universal law ; 

 and in that case it is not the truth, but our intellect, that 

 needs embellishment and ennoblement. 



I will frankly confess, therefore, that the marked bee often 



returns alone. Shall we believe that in bees there exists the 



same difference of character as in men : that of them too 



some are gossips, and others prone to silence ? A friend who 



stood by and watched my experiment declared that it was 



evidently mere selfishness or vanity that caused so many of 



the bees to refrain from revealing the source of their wealth, 



and from sharing with others the glory of an achievement 



that must seem miraculous to the hive. These were sad 



vices, indeed, that give not forth the sweet odour, so fragrant 



and loyal, that springs from the home of the many thousand 



sisters. But, whatever the cause, it often will also happen 



that the bee whom fortune has favoured will return to the 



honey accompanied by two or three friends. I am aware 



that Sir John Lubbock, in the appendix to his book on " Ants, 



Bees, and Wasps," records the results of his investigations 



in long and minute tables, and from these we are led to 



infer that it is a matter of rarest occurrence for a single bee 



to follow the one who has made the discovery. The learned 



naturalist does not name the race of bees which he selected 



for his experiments, or tell us whether the conditions were 



especially unfavourable. As for myself, I can only say that 



M 



