Nunc age, naturas apibus quas Jupiter ipse 150 Solæ communes natos, consortia tecta Urbis habent, magnisque agitant sub legibus ævum; Et patriam solæ, et certos novere penates : 155 Venturæque hyemis memores, æstate laborem Experiuntur, et in medium quæsita reponunt. 160 165 Fervet opus, redolentque thymo fragrantia mella. Ac veluti, lentis Cyclopes fulmina massis At fessæ multa referunt se nocte minores, that they are expelled by the zons. Ac veluti, &c.] The poet compares the labour of the bees to that of the Cyclops, in forming thunderbolts; and then speaks of the various offices which are assigned to these political insects in their republic, and the cautions which they use in defending themselves against rising winds. In numerum.] That is, in a certain order, making a sort of harmony with the regular strokes of their hammers of different weights. Cecropias.] The poet calls he bees Cecropias, from Ce 170 175 180 crops king of Attica, where the honey was famous. Grandævis oppida curæ.] This passage is taken from Aristotle, who observes, that the older bees work within doors, and thence become more hairy; but that the younger sort go abroad, and therefore are smoother. Crura thymo plenæ.] The hairiness of the bees legs serves to retain the juices which they gather from flowers. Crocumque rubentem.] The petal of the saffron flower is purple, but the three divisions of the style, which are the only part in use, are of the colour of fire. Ferrugineos hyacinthos.] There are many flowers commonly known in gardens under the name of hyacinth, but none of them agree with the description 190 Omnibus una quies operum, labor omnibus unus. which we find of this flower among the poets, who represent it as having the letters A I inscribed on its petals. The poets feign that the boy Hyacinthus, who was unfortunately killed by Apollo, was changed by that deity into a hyacinth, which therefore was marked with these notes of lamentation to express Apollo's grief. It is also feigned, that the same flower arose from the blood of Ajax, when he slew himself; those letters being half the name of that hero. We are told, that the flower in question was shaped like a lily, was of a red colour, and was marked with the letters A I. Virgil calls it, in this place, ferrugineus, and in the third eclogue he calls it suave rubens. Hence we can only gather, that the colour of this flower is a deep shining red. I take the epithet ferrugineos, in this place, only to express the deepness of the colour. 195 I am pretty well satisfied, that the flower celebrated by the poets, is what we now are acquainted with under the name of lilium floribus reflexis, or martagon, and perhaps may be that very species which we call imperial martagon. The flowers of most sorts of martagons have many spots of a deeper colour; and sometimes I have seen these spots run together in such a manner, as to form the letters AI in several places. Omnibus una quies, &c.] This passage is taken from Aristotle, who says, that in the morning they are all silent, till one of them calls the rest up with two or three hums: then they all go out to work. And when they return, they are at first tumultuous, but grow more quiet by degrees, till at last one flies buzzing round the rest, as if it commanded silence, upon which they are all immediately quiet. |