Virgil Speaks on Honey Bees...

VIRGIL'S GEORGICS - BOOK FOUR (WRITTEN 29 BCE)

Somehow Virgil the talking fish has taken a liking to these old works, wanting them preserved for posterity.....there is a bountiful beehive in an old grove of trees, centuries old, where the bees produce honey for the Hermitage and surrounding district. Fear not for the honeybees, as they go about their work, as they never swarm at people visiting...they just swarm when they hear nature's call to move on...

"First of all a home must be sought for bees, and a post where neither winds may have entry--for winds hinder them carrying their forage home--nor sheep and butting kids tread down the flowers, or the straying heifer brush the dew from the meadow and trample the springing grass. Likewise let the bright scale-backed lizard be far from their rich folds, and the birds that come with the bee-eater, and the swallow, her breast marked with those blood-stained hands: for they spread universal havoc, and carry off the bees on the wing, dainty morsels for their fierce nestlings. But let clear springs be nigh, and ponds green with moss, and a thread of rill fleeting through the grass; and let a palm or tall wild-olive overshadow the entrance, that when the new kings shall lead forth their earliest swarms in the sweet springtime, and the young brood disport unprisoned from the comb, the bordering bank may woo them to cool retreat, and the tree meet and stay them in her leafy shelter. Amid the water, whether it stagnate or run, cast large stones and willow-boughs crosswise, that they may have many a bridge to stand on and spread their wings to the summer sun if haply a shower overtake them or a gust of wind plunge them in the watery realm. All round green casia and far-fragrant wild thyme and wealth of heavy-scented savory should bloom, and violet beds drink the channelled spring. Let thy hives moreover, whether they be stitched of hollow bark or woven from pliant osier, have
narrow doorways; for the honey freezes in winter cold, and again melts and wastes in the heat. Extreme of either the bees dread alike; nor in vain do they eagerly plaster with wax the draughty chinks in the roof and stop up the rims with pollen of flowers, and for this very service gather and store their gum, stickier than bird-lime or pitch from Phrygian Ida. Often likewise, if the tale is true, they keep house in recesses scooped out underground, or are found deep in hollow sandstone or the cavern of a mouldering tree. Yet do thou smear smooth clay warmly round about their creviced chambers, and spread on the top a thin coat of leaves. Neither suffer the yew too near their house, neither burn crab-shells to redness in the fire, neither trust them where a marsh is deep or by a strong smell of mire, or where encircling rocks echo to a stroke and fling back the phantom of a call."

According to J.W. McKail these works were written for Augustus and read to him when he returned from the East. Virgil wanted the works suppressed and went on to write the Aeneid. Augustus intervened, ensuring the works were preserved. As we can see they hold many secrets of agriculture which are priceless. I have a fascination with bees and love the lore surrounding them, and the mystery of them never ceases.

(From J.W. McKail's translation in 1936 which can be found through Google.)