XVII 



IN GREECE AND ITALY {continued) 



The bee is mentioned in one way or another by nearly 

 all the writers of classical antiquity. 



The poets used the bees, after the manner of poets, to 

 beautify their verse, and from ^schylus to Theocritus the 

 bees and their honey grace the pages of the Greek and 

 Roman singers. 



Homer compares a great army to a swarm of bees, but 

 his bees are the wild, rock-dwelling tribes, as in the 

 second book of the " Iliad," where Nestor calls to arms the 

 host : — 



" So spake he, and led the way forth from the council, 

 and all the other sceptred chiefs rose with him and 

 obeyed the shepherd of the host ; and the people hastened 

 to them. Even as when the tribes of thronging bees issue 

 from some hollow rock, ever in fresh procession, and fly 

 clustering among the flowers of spring, and some on this 

 hand and some on that fly thick ; even so from ships and 

 huts before the low beach marched forth their many tribes 

 by companies to the place of assembly." 



In the first book of the " Iliad " honey is used by Homer 

 in the poetical sense so often used by his successors, where 

 he describes Nestor : — 



" Then in their midst rose up Nestor, pleasant of speech, 

 the clear-voiced orator of the Pylians, he from whose 

 tongue flowed discourse sweeter than honey," 



