The Swarm 
people, who have attained the topmost pin- 
nacle of prosperity and power, suddenly 
abandon to the generation to come their 
wealth and their palaces, their homes and 
the fruits of their labour; themselves 
content to encounter the hardships and 
perils of a new and distant country. This 
act, be it conscious or not, undoubtedly 
passes the limits of human morality. Its 
result will sometimes be ruin, but poverty 
always; and the thrice-happy city is scat- 
tered abroad in obedience to a law superior 
to its own happiness. Where has this law 
been decreed, which, as we soon shall find, 
is by no means as blind and _ inevitable 
as one might believe? Where, in what 
assembly, what council, what intellectual 
and moral sphere, does this spirit reside to 
whom all must submit, itself being vassal 
to an heroic duty, to an intelligence whose 
eyes are persistently fixed on the future? 
It comes to pass with the bees as with 
most of the things in this world; we 
remark some few of their habits: we 
say, they do this, they work in such and 
such fashion, their queens are born thus, 
37 
