BOOK FIFTEEN.
BOOK FIFTEEN.
These things are in this Book, being indeed the Fifteenth of the Select Precepts of Agriculture, and comprising natural sympathy and antipathy; and concerning the care of bees, and the making of honey; and that a person may not be stung by bees or wasps; and concerning the destroying of drones.
Nature has found many things having sympathy and antipathy in respect of each other, as Plutarch says in his second book of his Convivial Tracts. I have therefore deemed it necessary to arrange the most wonderful of these in this treatise of mine; for I have taken pains that not only the lovers of agriculture should collect what is useful from my labours, but that my discourse should be likewise adapted to the lovers of literature.
Literature. You must know then that an elephant in consummate fury becomes tame at the sight of a ram; and that he abhors the grunting of a pig. A wild bull becomes composed and gentle when tied to a fig-tree. A horse bit by a wolf will be a good and a swift one; and sheep bit by wolves have their flesh of a sweeter flavour, but their wool produces vermin: these things are indeed mentioned by Plutarch. Pamphilus also says, in his Treatise on the Philosophy of Nature, that horses treading in the steps of wolves become torpid in their limbs; and that a wolf, when he touches a squill, becomes spasmodic, for which reason foxes lay squills in their holes on account of the wolves. A wolf, if he first sees a man, renders him feeble and speechless, as Plato says in his Treatise on Politics; but when the wolf is first seen by the human creature, his powers desert him. A lion treading on the leaves of the holm-oak becomes motionless: he also dreads a cock and his crowing; and if he sees him, he flies away.
amato Anbywa, some natural instinct, when it treats on the nocturnal shade of a dog, formed by the moon, lets itself down from a height as if by a rope. And Nestor says in his Panacea, that a hyena, when it sees a man or a dog asleep, lays its body along the creature that is asleep; and if it indeed finds itself of a greater size than the creature that is sleeping, it naturally, from its length, renders it delirious, and it feeds from its hands without any reluctance; but if it perceives itself to be shorter than it, it runs away with the utmost speed. When a hyæena advances towards you, beware lest it come upon you from the right side, for you will become motionless, and you will not have the power to help yourself: but when it comes upon you from the left side, attack it with confidence, for you will be sure to kill it. If a person holds the tongue of a hyana in his hand, he will have the surest protection against against the attack of dogs. If the polyparker approach a crab, it casts its claws. When there is a fumigation of ivy, bats perish. Vultures perish from the smell of perfume. A serpent dies, when leaves of the oak are thrown upon it. A serpent will not stir, when a quill of the ibis is thrown at it. A viper, being once struck with a reed, becomes motionless; but repeatedly, it gathers strength. If you apply a branch of the beech to a viper, it is intimidated. If a testudo eats serpents, it becomes sick; but when it eats oriranum, it is convalescent. Storks lay leaves of the plane-tree in their nests, on account of bats. Swallows lay in parsley, on account of beetles; ring-doves lay in bay; the circi, lettuce; the harpa, ivy: crows lay in agnuse; the upupa, amianthus; ravens, vervain;
vervain; larks lay in agrostis, whence the adage,
Thrushes lay in myrtle; the partridge, the tops of reeds; the ardea, a crab: the eagle lays in maiden-hair.
Theophrastus and Aristotle say, that animals are not only generated one from another, but that they are spontaneously produced, and that they arise from putrid mould, and that some animals and plants are changed into others: for they say that the caterpillar is changed into another winged creature, called the butterfly; and that the worms from the fig-tree are changed into cantharides; and the hydrush into a viper, when ponds are dried. It seems also, that some animals are transformed according to the seasons; as the hawk is changed into the upupa; and as the erithacus and the summer phoenicuri are transformed in the same way as the ficedula and the melancoryphi are metamorphosed; for it is the ficedula about autumn, and immediately after the vintage it becomes a melancoruphos. If sea-birds are hurt in their beaks, they are cured with origanum. A radish, when laid on a scorpioni, kills it. If a person stung by a scorpion sit in an erect posture on an ass, looking towards its tail, the ass will suffer for him, and it gives an unequivocal proof of it. If a person stung by a scorpion says to the ass, "A scorpion has stung me," he will suffer no pain, it being transferred to the ass. Ants, that the wheat accumulated by them may not grow, eat the interior part of the grain. The seeds that, in sowing, touch the horn of the ox, are not affected by fire; and these are called kerasbola. The magnet, or sideritis, attracts iron; but it is divested of this power, when rubbed with garlic: it recovers its power, if the blood of a goat is poured upon it. Amber, or succinum, attracts to itself chaff and all light things, except basil. There are two sorts of ætites; the one indeed is dense and solid, the other rarefied and light; but that indeed which is solid, being tied to females, promotes the growth of the foetus. Coral in a house keeps off all violence and treachery; and shoots of ebony have have the same effect, as well as the roots of as palathus, and the sweet-scented anagallis, and dried squill, lying in the vestibule of a house. A fumigation of the stone called gagates, drives away reptiles; and this stone, when besprinkled with cold water, and brought to the fire, burns with much splendor, as Nestor says in his Panacæa; but when oil is poured on it, it ceases to burn. Amianthus is superior to the power of fire, and it is not burnt, although it should remain long time in the fire. The salamander, a very small animal, is produced from fire, and it lives in fire, and is not consumed by its flame. Bulls, when their nostrils are rubbed with a preparation of roses, become vertiginous. A he-goat will not run away, if you cut his beard.
Eleven. Concerning Bees, and how they may be produced from an Ox, which is called Bougoune.
Eleven. Concerning Bees, and how they may be produced from an Ox, which is called Bougoune.
THE place in which the bees are to be, ought to be turned to the aspect where the sun rises.
in the winter or in the spring, that they may be cherished in the winter, and that the vernal air blowing on them, may refresh them. The best water for the bees is that which runs through rough gravel, clear and not turbid; for it renders the bees healthy, and it makes good honey. But it is proper to set pebbles and stones, and wood, rising a little above the water, that they may rest upon them, and drink at their ease: and if there is no spring-water, you must draw water out of a well into clean vessels or cisterns, and let them be near the bees, that they may not be fatigued in going to water. They are very fond of thyme; and when they are well fed with it, they make the greatest quantity of honey, and they breed well. Sage also, and thymbra, and cytisus, are very grateful food to bees, and the fresh swarms are very apt to pitch on cytisus, and they receive nourishment from it without much labour. But the best hives, that is, the vessels to receive the bees, are made of boards of the mountain ash, or of the fig-tree, and of the pine likewise, and of the beech. Let the breadth of them be a cubit, and the length two cubits; and let them be covered on the outside with a preparation of plaster and cow-dung; for they will be less apt to rot. It is also proper to perforate them obliquely, that the air gently blowing, may dry the cobweb and other obstacles, and that it may refresh the bees. But this animal delights in a solitary situation, and it detests the approach of human creatures; for which reason, the bee-keeper must build a wall of hollow stones around them, that they, flying into the holes, may have the power to escape the birds that lie in wait for them, and the dew. They are attached to their accustomed pastures, and they do not willingly come into strange grounds: for which reason it is proper to keep them in the same place. But if it be necessary for a purchaser, or for some other reason, that they should be removed, let the person tie the hives, in the night, carefully in leather, and let him take them away before day; for in this private manner he will neither disturb the combs, nor harass the bees. When they indeed feed on spurge, and taste its juice, they contract a looseness; it is therefore proper to remove and to extirpate that which grows near them, and to cure them with the rind of the fruit of the pomegranate, that is, with the integument,
having pounded it, and sifted it through a fine sieve, having mixed it with honey and with rough wine, and having set it for them. You will also cure them of vermin, by burning branches of the apple-tree, and of the wild fig-tree, and by making a suffumigation. You will likewise cure them of dimness of sight with the smoke of the leaves of origanum. Now, as bees produced from an ox come to life on the one-and-twentieth day, so are swarms produced in the same number of days. The kings indeed are found in the upper parts of the combs: and it is proper to leave one in every hive, and to destroy the rest; for the bees being divided between them, raise a sedition, and they desist from their work. The best indeed of the kings are those of a yellow colour, of a size larger than that of a bee by the half; the second are those that are variegated, rather of dark colour, of double size. But it is proper to remove from the place spurge, and hellebore, and thapsia, and absinthium, and the wild cucumber, and all things that are pernicious to the bees; for they indeed make bad honey, and they take it from these. You will also destroy creatures that lie in wait for them; and they are wasps,
wasps, the titmouse, the bee-eater, swallows, crocodiles, and lizards; and drive away and destroy all things that are pernicious to the bee. They indeed become unmanageable at the approach of human creatures, and they fall upon them, and they are more severe on such as smell of wine, and of perfume; and they fall upon women, especially upon such as are of an amorous complexion. But let the hives in which the bees are, be carefully rubbed with the choicest thyme, or with the white poplar: and that they may like their hives and remain in them, pound an equal quantity of nard and myrrh, and mix them with a quadruple proportion of honey, and you are to rub the hives with these. Iobas, king of Libya, says, that bees might be raised in a wooden coffer: and Democritus, and Varro, in the Roman tongue, say that bees are to be raised in a house, which is much better; and the method is this: let there be a building ten cubits high, and, of the same number of cubits in breadth,
of equal dimensions, at all sides, and let there be one entrance, and four windows made insit, one window in each wall: then bring into this building a bullock, two years and a half old; fleshy, very fat: set to work a number of young men, and let them powerfully beat it, and by beating, let them kill it with their bludgeon, pervading the bones along with the flesh: but let them take care that they do not make the beast bloody (for the bee is not produced from blood), not falling on with so much violence with the first blows: and let all the apertures be stopped with clean and fine cloths dipped in pitch; as the eyes, and the mouth, and such as are formed by nature for necessary evacuation: then, having scattered a good quantity of thyme, and having laid the bullock on it, let them immediately go out of the house, and let them cover the door and the windows with strong clay, that there may be no entrance nor vent to the air, nor to the wind. The third week it is proper to open the building of equal dimensions', at all sides, ' ando lot therd be one entrance, and four windows made 'insit, one window in each wall : then bring into! this building a bullock, two years" and a half old; fleshy, very fat : set to work a number of young men, and let them powerfully beat it, and by beating, let them kill it with their bludgeong, pervading the bones along with the flesh : bdt tet them take care that they do not make the beast bloody (for the bee is not produced from blood), not falling on with so much violence with the first blows : and let all the apertures be stopped with clean and fine cloths dipped in pitch; as the eyes, and the mouth, and such as are formed by nature for necessary evacuation : then, having scattered a good quantity of thyme, and having laid the bullock on it, let them immediately go out of the house, and let them cover the door and the windows with strong clay, that there .. may be no entrance nor vent to the air, nor to the . wind. The third week it is proper to open the building
The building was a cube; that is, the six sides consisted of an equal number of cubits, and the angles were right angles.
Thirty months, in the Greek. This method of raising building on all sides; that the light and pure, air may be admitted, except the side where a strong wind blows: in; for if this be the case, it is proper to keep the windows shut on this side: but when the materials seem to be animated, having attracted a sufficient portion of air, it is again proper to secure the building with clay according to the former method: having then opened it on the eleventh day after this period, you will find it full of bees crowded in clusters on each other, and the horns, and the bones, and the hair, and nothing else of the bullock left. They say indeed that the kings are produced from the brain, but the other bees from the flesh. Kings are also produced from the spinal marrow. But those that are produced from the brain are superior to the others in size and beauty, and in strength. But the first change and transformation of the flesh into living creatures, and as it were a conception and birth, you will thus know; for when the building is opened, you will see things small and white in appearance, and like one another, and not perfect, nor yet such as may be properly called living animals, in great number about the bullock, all indeed motionless, but gradually increasing in size. You may then see the form of the the wings with their divisions, and the bees assuming their proper colour, and seated around their king, and flying, but to a small distance, and with tremulous wings, on account of their want of practice, and the debility of their members. They also settle on the windows with a murmuring noise, impelling and forcing one another, from the desire of approaching the light. But it is better to open and to shut the windows every other day, as it has been intimated; for it is proper, lest they change the nature of the bees, from longer confinement; for when the dwelling receives no air, the bees perish as from suffocation. Let the apiary be near the house; and when the bees fly out, when the windows are opened, make a suffumigation of thyme and of cneorume; for by the smell you will draw them into the apiary, being attracted by the fragrance of the flowers; for when you make a fumigation of these things, you will easily bring them in; for bees like fragrance and flowers, which, as they fabricate honey, they ought to do.