In Greece and Italy 



287 



the sweetness of that persuasive eloquence for which he 

 was so noted." 



Xenophon, who was as eloquent as a writer as he was 

 excellent as a leader and a swordsman, was called the Attic 

 Bee. 



Sophocles was also called the Attic Bee ; and Pindar, 

 as he lay sleeping, was visited by bees who refreshed the 

 darling of the Muses with delicious honey. 



" The divine Homer," too, is said to have received his 

 first nourishment from a priestess whose breasts distilled 

 honey. In short, there are very few of the sweet singers 

 or eloquent pleaders of ancient days whose future renown 

 was not fabled to have been foretold in this way by the 

 bees. 



