Chap. 18.] OMENS AFFOEDED BY A SWARM OF BEES. 19 
when he is quite tired, they carry him outright. If one of them 
falls in the rear from weariness, or happens to go astray, it is 
able to follow the others by the aid of its acuteness of smell. 
"Wherever the king bee happens to settle, that becomes the 
encampment of all. 
CHAP. 18. — HAPPY OMENS SOMETIMES AFEOEDED BY A SWAEM 
OF BEES. 
And then, too, it is that they afford presages both of private 
and public interest, clustering, as they do, like a bunch of 
grapes, upon houses or temples ; presages, in fact, that are often 
accounted for by great events. Eees settled upon the lips of 
Plato when still an infant even, announcing thereby the sweet- 
ness of that persuasive eloquence for which he was so noted. 
Bees settled, too, in the camp of the chieftain Drusus when 
he gained the brilliant victory at Arbalo ;^ a proof, indeed, 
that the conjectures of soothsayers are not by any means in- 
fallible, seeing that they are of opinion that this is always of 
evil augury. When their leader is withheld from them, the 
swarm can always be detained ; and when lost, it will disperse 
and take its departure to find other kings. "Without a king, ' 
in fact, they cannot exist, and it is with the greatest reluct- 
ance that they put them to death when there are several ; they 
prefer, too, to destroy the cells of the young ones, if they find 
reason to despair of providing food ; in such case they then 
expel the drones. And yet, with regard to the last, I find that 
some doubts are entertained ; and that there are some authors 
who are of opinion that they form a peculiar species, like that 
bee, the very largest among them all, which is known by the 
name of the thief,"^^ because it furtively devours the honey ; 
it is distinguished by its black colour and the largeness of its 
body. It is a well-known fact, however, that the bees are in 
the habit of kiUing the drones. These last have no king of 
their own ; but how it is that they are produced without a 
sting, is a matter still undetermined. 
In a wet spring the young swarms are more numerous ; in 
a dry one the honey is most abundant. If food happens to 
A place in Germany, where Drusus, the brother of Tiberius, gained 
a victory over the Germans : the locality is unknown. 
61 u f'uj." A variety, probably, of the drone. 
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