The Foundation of the City 
useless cruelty, for the fact is established 
beyond any doubt,— but were you to 
mutilate, or crush, on a piece of comb 
placed a few steps from their dwelling, 
twenty or thirty bees that have all issued 
from the same hive, those you have left 
untouched will not even turn their heads. 
With their tongue, fantastic as a Chinese 
weapon, they will tranquilly continue to 
absorb the liquid they hold more precious 
than life, heedless of the agony whose 
last gestures almost are touching them, 
of the cries of distress that arise all 
around. And when the comb is empty, 
so great is their anxiety that nothing shall 
be lost, that their eagerness to gather the 
honey which clings to the victims will in- 
duce them tranquilly to climb over dead 
and dying, unmoved by the presence of 
the first and never dreaming of helping 
the others. In this case, therefore, they 
have no notion of the danger they run, 
153 
