The Life of the Bee 
to the mother-hive. The queens will 
meet on the comb; the workers will 
gather around and watch their combat; 
and, when the stronger has overcome 
the weaker they will then, in’ their ardour 
for work and hatred of disorder, expel 
the corpses, close the door on the vio- 
lence of the future, forget the past, return 
to their cells, and resume their peaceful 
path to the flowers that await them. 
[76] 
We will now, in order to simplify 
matters, return to the queen whom the 
bees have permitted to slaughter her 
sisters, and resume the account of her 
adventures. As I have already stated, 
this massacre will be often prevented, and 
often sanctioned, at times even when the 
bees apparently do not intend to issue a 
second swarm; for we notice the same 
diversity of political spirit in the differ- 
268 
