IX 



THE DRONE 



The drone occupies a position tliat is unique, but not 

 enviable. He has been obliged to endure the slings and 

 arrows of outrageous fortune in his own family, and also, 

 from all time, the disapproval of the human race. This 

 last misfortune, however, he is said to bear with extreme 

 fortitude. 



We find him abused in Greek and Latin as well as in 

 all the modern tongues. 



Aristotle and Pliny call him a thief. 



Virgil says he is ignavum fucos pecus, while modern 

 writers brand him as lazy and good-for-nothing. 



" I would be loath 

 To be a burden, or feed like a drone 

 On the industrious labor of the bee," 



say Beaumont and Fletcher in their " Honest Man's For- 

 tune." And Butler joins the hue and cry, saying, — 



" The drone is a gross stingless bee, that spendeth his 

 time in gluttony and idleness. For howsoever he brave 

 it with his round velvet cap, his side gown, his full paunch, 

 and his loud voice, yet is he but an idle companion, living 

 by the sweat of others' brows. He worketh not at all, 

 either at home or abroad, and yet spendeth as much as 

 two labourers : you shall never find his maw without a drop 

 of the purest nectar. In the heat of the day he flieth abroad, 

 aloft and about, and that with no small noise, as though 



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