Before her drives Disease and wild Affright,

Lifts day by day her head, and tow'rs to boundless

height.

From bleating flocks a mournful murmur fills

500

The streams, and withering banks, and tainted hills.
Now herds on herds in death confusedly fall,
And swell the putrid mass in every stall,

Ere use had taught to hide beneath the ground 505
The buried corse, or plunge in pits profound.
Through fire, through flood, contagion inly cleaves,
No shepherd shears the fleece, no virgin weaves:
Who rashly handled, scarr'd with boils all o'er,
And bathed in sweat that poison'd every pore; 510
Wasted away till the accursed flame
Ere long consumed the pestilential frame

GEORGIC IV.

ARGUMENT.

VIRGIL opens his Fourth Georgic on the Management of Bees, by a brief notice of its subject-He then claims the attention of Mæcenas to a theme, in itself seemingly trivial, by announcing his design of enlarging on the wonderful actions, instincts, offices, and battles of the bees-He begins by pointing out a proper station for the hive, and enumerates what may be hurtful and what advantageous in different situations--He then treats of the structure of the hive: of the swarming of the bees; of their preparation for war; of their encounter; of the external marks which distinguish the different species; of the means of preventing them from deserting their station, and of alluring them to their accustomed haunts-As, for this latter purpose, he had recommended the culture of their favourite plants and flowers, he naturally digresses to the subject of the cultivation of gardens in general, and to the skill and industry of the old

Corycian planter-He now expatiates on the economy and polity of the bees, and enumerates their various distinctive offices conducive to the public weal--Thence he mentions the renewal of their race, and their obedience to their kings-He then remarks that, from various instances of the sagacity of these insects, some have supposed them to be endowed with a portion of the Divine mind; and this induces a brief and beautiful account of the Platonic system-He next mentions the proper seasons for taking the honey; then the manner of treating the hives in which the honey had been left for the support of the bees in winter; then their diseases and remedies, and how their total loss may be repaired by new swarms generated from the putrid carcasses of bullocks-This introduces the fable of Aristæus, to whom that secret had been divinely imparted; and in this fable he skilfully interweaves, in inimitable poetry, the mythological tale of Orpheus and Eurydice; and thus he completes the Georgics, with the mention of his own name, as author of the poem, and with information of the time and place of its composition.

Now while th' aerial honey's nectar dews,
Gift of a god, once more invite the Muse,
Mæcenas! deign attend: at large I trace,
Worthy of wonder, all the insect race,

Their chiefs how glorious, what their order'd fight, 5
What studies claim their care, what arts delight;
The lowly theme shall claim no vulgar praise,
If fav'ring gods and Phœbus aid the lays.

First, seek a station where no ruthless gale

10

Can the still hive and shelter'd bees assail:
Lest, as they homeward speed, o'erdone with toil,
Inclement blasts their loaded wings despoil;
There let no sheep, no kids in wanton play,
Crush the fresh flow'rs that bloom around their way,
No heifers, as they rove, the meadow bruise,
Crush the new herbs, and dash away the dews;
Nor birds, nor bright-scaled lizards dare molest,
Merops, nor Procne's blood-empurpled breast.

15

1 Virgil calls honey aerial and celestial, because it was the opinion of the ancient philosophers that it was derived from the dew of heaven.--Martyn.

17 Merops. The bee-eater is about the size of a blackbird,

20

These widely waste, and, seized upon the wing,
To their fierce nests the food luxurious bring.
But there let pools invite with moss array'd,
Clear fount and rill that purls along the glade,
Palms o'er their porch a grateful gloom extend,
Or the wild olive's shelt'ring boughs defend.
There when new kings the swarms at spring-tide
lead,

25

And bursting myriads gladden all the mead,
Dim banks at noon may lure to cool repose,
And trees with hospitable arms enclose.
Whether the pools repose, or currents flow,
Huge stones and willows 'mid the water throw; 30
That if rude gales across their passage sweep,
And headlong dash the loiterer in the deep,
On many a bridge the bee may safely stand,
And his wet plumes to summer suns expand.
There, all around, let verdant casia bloom,
There, far and wide, the wild thyme breathe per-
fume,

Thick knots of savory pow'rful odours fling,
And beds of violets drink the copious spring.
Alike, if hollow cork their fabric form,
Or flexile twigs enclose the settled swarm,
With narrow entrance guard, lest frosts congeal,
Or summer suns the melting cells unseal.

35

40

and shaped like a kingfisher. The bill is like that of the halcyon tribe, except that it is somewhat more incurvated; the feet exactly like the kingfisher's: the top of the head reddish; the neck and shoulders green, with a mixture of red. It is found in Italy but observed to be most frequent in Candy, ancient Crete.Stawell.

Procne, the swallow. The feathers of its breast, stained with red, probably suggested the fable of Tereus and Procne in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

It is an error that the swallow ever feeds on bees. The small flies are attracted to the bee-hive by the smell of the honey; and the swallow comes there in pursuit of them, but it never attacks the bees.

Hence not in vain the bees their domes prepare,
And smear the chinks that open to the air,
With flow'rs and fucus close each pervious pore, 45
With wax cement, and thicken o'er and o'er.
Stor❜d for this use they hive the clammy dew,
And load their garners with tenacious glue,
As birdlime thick, or pitch that slow distils
In unctuous drops on Ida's pine-crown'd hills.
And oft ('tis said) they delve beneath the earth,
Hide in worn stones and hollow trees their birth:
Aid thou their toil! with mud their walls o'erlay,
And lightly shade the roof with leafy spray.
There let no yew its baleful shadow cast,
Nor crabs on glowing embers taint the blast;

50

55

43 The propolis, or bee-bread, is a glutinous substance, which is found about the entrance to the hive. The erithace is that with which they glue the honeycomb together, to prevent the entrance of the air. It seems therefore to be the erithace which Virgil means under the several appellations of flowers, and fucus, and wax.-Martyn.

M. Maraldi vit un jour un gros limaçon, qui eut l'imprudence d'entrer dans une ruche. Aussitôt l'imbécille animal fut expédié par les abeilles. Mais ce n'étoit point là le plus difficile. Il s'agissoit de transporter au dehors le cadavre, dont l'odeur auroit pu les infecter par la suite. C'étoit une masse énorme : toutes les forces de nos petites abeilles réunies ne pouvoient la soulever: le cas étoit embarrassant. Dans une circonstance aussi critique, elles eurent recours à leur propolis, dont elles mastiquèrent le corps de leur ennemi mort et l'embaumèrent comme une momie. -De Lille.

46 It is questionable whether bees derive their wax from the vegetable world, or whether it be an animal exudation. It is not the substance which is carried on their thighs; that is the pollen of plants, with which they feed their young. The wax apparently exudes, as John Hunter has shown, between the scales of their bellies; but I have ventured to suggest a doubt on this point. Much weight however belongs to J. Hunter' opinion on this, as on other subjects.-T. A. Knight.

55 The yew has always been accounted poisonous; and, ir the ninth eclogue, the poet mentions the yows of Corsica as particularly injurious to bees.-Martyn.

The Romans were wont to burn crabs to ushes, and used them as a remedy for scalds and burns.-Wartoa.

Far from their roof deep fens that poison breathe, Thick fogs that float from beds of mud beneath, Caves from whose depth redoubled echoes rise, And rock to rock in circling shout replies.

60

Now when the sun beneath the realms of night Dark winter drives, and spreads the summer light, The bees from flow'r to flow'r, o'er lawn and wood Sweep, and light sip the summit of the flood. Hence with unusual joy in fondling mood Cling to their nests and rear their cherish'd brood, With wondrous art their waxen toil renew, And thicken in the hive the honied dew.

65

Lo! from their cells when swarms through ether stream,

70

75

And float at noon along the liquid beam,
And on the breeze that rings beneath their flight
Draw out in darkling clouds their airy height,
Mark, where they seek dark grove or chrystal spring,
There the bruised balm and wild cerinthe fling;
And tinklings raise till echo rings around,
And the great mother's clashing cymbals sound:
Soon shall they haunt the medicated seat,
And to their chamber's inmost cells retreat.
But if contending factions arm the hive,
When rival kings in doubtful battle strive,
Tumultuous crowds the dread event prepare,
And palpitating hearts that beat to war;
Deep brazen peals the lingering crowds excite,
And harsh the voice like trumpets hoarse in fight.
Onward they troop, and brandishing their wings, 85
Fit their fierce claws, and point their poison'd stings;

80

75 The priests of Cybele, the mother of the gods, used to beat brazen drums or cymbals in the sacrifices to that goddess.-Martyn.

86 I believe bees never use their stings in combat with each other. Both bees and wasps seem naturally very peaceably inclined, and are not disposed to attack those who approach their homes, unless commissioned by higher powers. I have stated in my Paper on Bees, that if all intercourse between the wasps which are out of the nest, and those within, be cut off, before