410 The Animal-Lore of ShaJcspeare’s Time . 
The comparison of a well-governed State to the 
monarchy of the bees, observes M. Panl Stapfer in his 
recent work, Shakespeare and Classical Antiquity (p. 88), 
“ is met with in Plato’s 4 Republic,’ as well as in a frag¬ 
ment preserved by Augustine of Cicero’s long lost 
treatise, 4 De Republica.’ ” In the reign of Elizabeth 
there was no translation of Plato, with the exception of 
a single dialogue by Spenser. M. Stapfer comments on 
the wonderful power possessed by Shakspeare of grasping 
an idea, and, from the slightest suggestion of an author’s 
thought, of reproducing it almost in its original shape. 
“ It must be remembered,” be writes, “ that tlie comparison of a 
well-ordered government to a concert in which every instrument plays 
its part, or to a bee-hive, has long since become a commonplace in 
literature. Ever since it was set in circulation by Plato and Cicero in 
their respective treatises on the £ Republic,’ there has probably been 
no ancient philosopher or poet from whose writings some analogous 
simile could not be quoted. . . . Lyly, the author of Euphues , borrowed 
the name of his hero from Plato’s f Republic/ and his romance teems 
with comparisons between human governments and those presented to 
us in nature, especially in the case of bees. The tedious length of his 
exemplification places it far below the poetry of Shakespeare’s passage, 
and makes it infinitely less worthy to be compared to the antique 
model, but it is precisely in such cases as this that we catch a glimpse 
of genius at work in one of its most marvellous operations, by virtue 
of which, diving through all the prolixity and exaggeration that a 
whole host of imitators have lost themselves in, it re-discovers an 
ancient conception, and makes it live again in all its first freshness and 
truth: for there is a brotherhood among all great minds, and Shake¬ 
speare happening to meet with the enfeebled expression of what had 
once been a thought of Plato’s, was able to re-think it, almost back to 
its original form.” 
To return to the insects. Thomas Hyll, in 15,93, 
published a treatise on the right ordering of bees, with 
instructions for keeping them, and for preparing the wax. 
His information is gathered almost entirely from the 
works of Aristotle, Pliny, Yarro, and other classical 
authors. Topsell also perpetuates much ancient lore 
