In Greece and Italy 271 



Aristeus was born to Apollo by the river nymph Cyrene, 

 and was initiated into the mysteries of bee-keeping by no 

 less a one than Ceres herself. It was he who taught the 

 art to mankind. 



It was he, too, who discovered the method — said to 

 have originated with the Egyptians — of procreating bees 

 from dead cattle, thus replacing his lost swarms. Virgil 

 tells the story of the renewal of Aristseus' bees in his fourth 

 *' Georgic." 



Having lost them through disease and famine, AristcCus 

 appealed to his mother Cyrene for aid, and visited her in 

 her dwelling under the river Peneus. 



She sent him to Proteus, of many forms, whose wisdom 

 could only be evoked when, in spite of his quick trans- 

 formations into frightful shapes, he had been captured and 

 securely bound. 



Aristseus subdued Proteus and learned, in consequence, 

 that the loss of his bees was a punishment for an offence he 

 had committed against Eurydice, unwittingly causing her 

 death and arousing the vengeance of Orpheus and the 

 wood nymphs. 



When Aristoeus returned with this information to Cyrene, 

 she told him what he must do to regain his bees. 



It is the old story, supposed to have come from Egypt, 

 of the birth of bees from the carcass of a sacrificed bull. 



Virgil causes Cyrene thus to speak : — 



" Single out four choice bulls of beauteous form, which 

 now graze for you on the tops of green Lycseus ; and as 

 many heifers whose necks are untouched by the yoke. 

 For these erect four altars at the lofty temples of the god- 

 desses ; from their throats emit the sacred blood, and leave 

 the bodies of the cattle in the leafy grove. 



" Afterwards, when the ninth moon has displayed her ris- 

 ing beams, you may offer Lethsean poppies as the funeral 



