THE MASSACRE OF THE MALES 191 



with the genius of the unanimous repubhc. One part of 

 the people renounce their foraging duties to devote them- 

 selves to the work of justice. The great idle drones, asleep 

 in unconscious groups on the melliferous walls, are rudely 

 torn from their slumbers by an army of wrathful virgins. 

 They wake, in pious wonder ; they cannot believe their 

 eyes ; and astonishment struggles through their sloth as a 

 moonbeam through marshy water. They stare amazedly 

 round them, convinced that they must be victims of some 

 mistake ; and the mother-idea of their life being first to 

 assert itself in their dull brain, they take a step towards 

 the vats of honey to seek comfort there. But ended for 

 them are the days of May honey, the wine-flower of lime- 

 trees and fragrant ambrosia of thyme and sage, of marjoram 

 and white clover. Where the path once lay open to the 

 kindly, abundant reservoirs, that so invitingly offered their 

 waxen and sugary mouths, there stands now a burning-bush 

 all alive with poisonous, bristling stings. The atmosphere 

 of the city is changed ; in lieu of the friendly perfume of 

 honey the acrid odour of poison prevails ; thousands of tiny 

 drops glisten at the end of the stings, and diffuse rancour 

 and hatred. Before the bewildered parasites are able to realise 

 that the happy laws of the city have crumbled, dragging 

 down in most inconceivable fashion their own plentiful 

 destiny, each one is assailed by three or four envoys of justice ; 

 and these vigorously proceed to cut off his wings, saw through 

 the petiole that connects the abdomen with the thorax, 

 amputate the feverish antenns, and seek an opening between 

 the rings of his cuirass through which to pass their sword. 

 No defence is attempted by the enormous, but unarmed. 



