If the fruit of the bees puts us in admiration, much more admirable is the order and concert that they have in their dealings and manner of life. For whoever has knowledge of what very grave authors write of them will see a republic very well ordered, where there is a king, and nobles, and officers who occupy themselves in their offices, and vulgar and plebeian people who serve these, and where there are also arms for fighting, and chastisement and penalties for whoever does not do what he ought. He will likewise see in them the image of a family very well governed, where no one is idle, and each one is treated according to his merit. He will also see here the image of a congregation of religious of great observance. For first, the bees have their prelate or president, whom they obey and follow. They live in common without
anything of their own, because all things among them are common. They also have their offices divided, in which they occupy themselves. They have their chastisements and penances for the guilty. They all eat together at one same hour, they make their signal at nightfall for silence, which they keep most strictly, without the buzzing of any one of them being heard. They make another signal in the morning to awaken to the common work, and they punish those that do not at once begin to work. They have their watchers, who keep watch by night, to guard the house and so that the drones may not eat their honey. They have their porters at the door to defend the entrance against those who would wish to rob. They also have their lay brothers, which are certain imperfect bees, which do not make wax or honey, but serve to carry provisions and water, and for other necessary and low offices. All this that sovereign artificer traced and ordered with so much order and providence, that it puts great admiration in whoever knows how to contemplate it. It is written of the queen of Sheba that, seeing the order and concert of the house of Solomon, her spirit fainted, seeing the things so well ordered by the head and plan of this great king. It is not much to marvel that a man who exceeded all men in wisdom should do things worthy of so great admiration, but that so small a little animal should do the same things so well ordered in its manner of life, that is a thing that surpasses all admiration, notwithstanding that the daily custom of seeing these things takes away from them a great part of it. Pliny writes that Aristomachus of Soli marveled and delighted so much in contemplating the properties of the bees, that for the space of fifty-eight years he did no other thing more principally than this. And of another distinguished man he writes that he dwelt in the fields near the hives, in order better to attain the properties and secrets of these little animals, both of whom wrote many things that this so long experience and diligences attained.
I shall here compile what two grave authors, Pliny and Aelian, write of this matter, in which there is nothing that is not admirable, and that is not giving testimony of the wisdom and providence of that sovereign artificer who made all this. And I ask the Christian reader not to hold as incredible the things that shall here be said, considering on the one hand the authority and experience of those who wrote them and, on the other, that it is not so much the bees that do this, as God, who wished to give himself to us to be known by working in them all these marvels. But the feeling of this I remit to the devotion and prudence of the reader, because, if with each of these things I had to join its exclamation, a very prolix treatise would be made. I shall only say that, man being created in the image of God, because he received in his soul that divine light of reason, with which he not only attains divine things, but also knows how to trace a very well ordered republic, with all the parts and offices that are required for it, this being so, he will see that all this that man attains with this divine light, this little animal traces and executes much more perfectly than that same man. Let this consideration serve for each one of the things that we shall here say, remembering (as I say) that God does all this so that we may recognize his greatness and providence, and according to this knowledge honor and venerate him.
I shall begin, then, with what we all know, that is: that the bees have their king, whom they obey and follow wherever he goes. And as kings among men have their royal insignia, which are crown and scepter, and other such things, with which they are differentiated from their vassals, so the Creator differentiated this king from his own, giving him a greater and more
beautiful and resplendent body than to them. So that what art invented there, here nature itself provided. From each swarm there are commonly born three or four kings (so that there may be no lack of a king, if one should be in danger), but they understand that no more than one single king is fitting for them, and for that reason they kill the others, although with much feeling of their own. But necessity and the love of peace conquer just sorrow, because they understand that this is fitting for them in order to excuse war and divisions. Aristotle, at the end of his Metaphysics, presupposing that the multitude of principalities is bad, concludes that in all this great republic of the world there is no more than one single prince, who is one single God. But the bees, without having learned this from Aristotle, understand the harm that follows from having many princes, and for this reason, choosing one, they kill the others, although not without feeling and sorrow. Already in this we see a great discretion and marvel in so small a little animal.
Having chosen the king, they treat of building their houses, and first they give a bitumen to all the walls of the house, which is the hive, made of very bitter herbs, because, as they know that the work they have to make is much coveted by many little animals (as are wasps, spiders, frogs, swallows, serpents, and ants), they wish to set this offense before it, so that, exasperated by this first bitterness, they may desist from their theft. And for this same cause the first three orders of the little cells that are in the honeycombs nearest the mouth of the hive are empty of honey, so that the thief may not at once find at hand something on which he can feed. This too is another providence and discretion.
This repair being made, they make their houses. And first, for the king, they build a great and magnificent house, according to royal dignity, and they surround it with a fence, as with a wall for more authority and security. Then they build a house for themselves, which are those little cells that we see in the honeycombs, which serve them for their habitation, and for the raising of their children, and to keep in them as in vessels the provision of their honey, which cells they make so perfect and proportioned, each one with six sides, and so similar one to another as we see, for which they have need neither of rule, nor of plumb line, nor of other instruments more than their little mouth and their little feet so delicate, where you will not know at what you have more to marvel, either at the perfection of the work, or at the instruments with which it is made. Nor do they forget also to make houses for their servants, which are the drones, although smaller than their own, while they themselves are larger.
The house being made and its places and offices ordered, there follows the work and the distribution of the offices for the work in the following form: the oldest, and those that are already as retired and exempt from work, serve to accompany the king, so that he may be more authorized and honored with them. Those that in age follow after these, as more skillful and experienced than the newer ones, attend to making the honey. The others, newer and stronger, go out to the countryside to seek the materials from which both the honey and the wax have to be made. And each one brings with herself four loads. For with the front feet they load the plates of their little thighs, which plate is not smooth, but rough, so that they may not cast off from themselves the load that they put on it, and with the beak they load the front feet, and thus they return to the hive with these four loads that we say. Others attend, two by two, or three by three, to receiving these and unloading them when they come. Others carry these materials to those that make the honey, placing them at the foot of the work. Others serve to give a hand to
these officers so that they may make it. Others attend to polishing and burnishing the honeycombs, which is like whitewashing the house after it is made. Others occupy themselves in bringing provisions of certain things of which they eat. Others serve as water carriers, who bring water for those that reside within the house, which they bring in the mouth and in certain little hairs or down that they have over the body, with which, coming wet, they cool the thirst of those that are within working. And of this office of carrying water and of bringing provisions the drones principally serve. There are others that serve as sentinels and guards, who stand at the door, to defend the entrance against thieves. Over all this the king presides, and goes through his chambers, looking at the offices and labors of his vassals, and exhorting them to work with his sight and royal presence, without himself putting his hands to the work. For he was not born to serve, but to be served as king. And near him go other bees that serve to accompany him as king.
It is well seen by what has been said how admirable is the power and wisdom of the Creator in having placed such order and such distribution of offices to provide this suave and pleasing liquor for men, who give him so many displeasures with their evil works. But I shall add still other marvels to these, of which one is that within the hives they have their privies, as there are in monasteries, which is a separate place where all go to discharge the belly. For since the Creator deputed this liquor of honey for the maintenance of men, many of whom are very fastidious, for this reason he ordained that it should be most pure and very clean, as we see it. And they have still another thing of signal providence, and it is that on the days when they do not go out to the field, because they are tempestuous, they have deputies to take these excrements out of the hive and throw them outside. For they do not wish to lose the working day by this occasion, nor do they wish to be idle on the day that is not so, keeping what matters more for the better time, and what matters less for that which is not such.
Another marvel and providence is written of them, no less than this, and it is that they know how to ballast themselves on windy days in order to resist the wind, because they take a little stone in their hands, in order to make with it the load of their little body heavier, and less subject to the impetus of the wind. Then who does not see in all these things the providence of that sovereign President, who could equal the prudence of these little animals with that of men? They have another thing also: that if perchance night overtakes them in the field, they sleep lying on their backs, so that their little wings may not be wetted with the dew of the morning, and they be left unable to fly. What more shall I say? They all eat at one hour, so that the time of refection and of work may be equal. And thus also they gather themselves to sleep at one same time, which is at nightfall, at which time there is great murmuring among them. And then the crier gives three or four great buzzings, which is to make a signal for sleep, and they are so observant and obedient, that then suddenly all are silent, keeping most perfectly the rule of silence. And when another day dawns, which is already time to work, this same bee gives three or four great buzzings so that they may awaken and go each one to attend to the office that falls to her, and the one that grows lazy and does not wish to go to work, they chastise with no lesser penalty than death. In the rigor of this penalty it is seen that the republic of the bees is better governed than ours, which is full of idlers and idle people, who are the pest of the republic, whose office is to gnaw at the lives of others, and to go about in dishonest dealings and to join, and to join passions and disturbances that follow from here, and other
similar vices that are born of idleness, of which those who have no more to attend to all day than their offices are free.
They also have by night their watches, which guard the house so that no one may enter to steal their treasures, especially the drones, who are thieves of the house, who, feeling that the bees sleep, rise up very quietly to eat of others’ labors. But if the watches take them with the theft in their hands, they punish them gently, but they do not kill them, pardoning them that first fault, but they do not for that amend themselves, because by their nature they are gluttonous and idle, which are two evils not small. And for this reason, when the bees go out to the field, they stay hidden in the house (because the more cowardly and more unarmed they are, the more basenesses and tricks they use), and then they give themselves over to their pleasure in the honeycombs. And the bees returning, and seeing the havoc done in their house, no longer use clemency with them, but fall upon them with anger and fierceness, and kill them.
And just as with these thieves and idlers they keep rigor of justice, so they use great charity with their sick sisters, because they bring them out to the ray of the sun at the mouth of the hive, and bring them there to eat, and accompany them. And at night they put them inside so that the night air may not harm them. And while they are suffering, they do not consent that they work until they are restored to their first strength, and if they die, they accompany them and carry them outside to give them a place of burial. It will seem to someone that I recount fables here.
I recount nothing except things referred by very grave authors or, to speak better, I recount nothing except praises of that Lord who, as he could give food without bread to the children of Israel in the desert, so is powerful to make these little creatures that lack reason do all their things as perfectly as men who have it, and even go further, as we shall presently say.
When they have to move to another place, they must not take a step without their king. All take him in the midst so that he may not easily be seen, and all seek to draw nearer to him, and to show themselves more serviceable to him. And if he is already old, so that he cannot fly thus, they take him upon their shoulders, and thus carry him. And where he settles, there all the army settles. And if by chance he disappears and strays from them, they seek him with great diligence, and find him by the smell, which they have very keen, and restore him to his vassals, because, lacking him, the whole army scatters and is lost. It has not been known until now whether he has a sting or not, but what is known is that, if he has it, he does not use it, because it is a thing unworthy of royal majesty to execute by his person the office of executioner, understanding the refinement that philosophers teach, saying that kings must do benefits by themselves, and by others execute punishments, and that nothing adorns the estate of kings more than clemency, and nothing makes them more lovable and secures more their estates and their lives. And by this virtue the bees are so friendly to their king, and so loyal that, if he dies, all surround and accompany him, and they neither wish to eat nor drink, and finally, if he is not taken away from before them, there they would let themselves die with him: so great is the faith and loyalty that they have with their king.
Nor did the Creator leave this little animal unarmed, rather, according to the quantity of its body, there are no arms stronger than its own, which is that sting with which they prick and wound
those who come to steal. For, since they have charge of so great a treasure, and coveted by so many, it was right that he who created them should give them competent arms to defend it. And for this same cause they have watches at the door, so that no one may enter to steal without being felt and resisted in the manner that is possible to them.
They do not go out to the field in all the times of the year, but when there are flowers in it, because they profit from every kind of flower for their office. But in time of cold and snows they are quiet in their house, maintaining themselves in winter from the labors of summer, as ants do. They do not stray more than sixty paces from the hive and, this space being exhausted, they send their spies ahead to reconnoiter the land and give them news of the pasture that there is. And because nothing should be lacking in which these animals should fail to imitate men, as well in the good as in the bad, one swarm also fights with another over the pasture, although the fight is more bloody when maintenance is lacking to them, because then they undertake to rob provisions from one another. And for this the captains go out with their armies, and some intending to rob and others to defend, a cruel battle is joined among them, in which many die: so powerful is necessity, which makes all the laws of humanity and justice be despised.
All that we have said here is a manifest imitation of the polity and prudence of humans. And if it puts us in admiration that these little animals do what men do, how much greater ought it to put us in to know that they know something of what God knows, because only he knows the things that are to come, and this too these little animals know in the things that pertain to their conservation; because they know when there is to be rain and storms before they come, and in these times they do not go far to graze, but go about with their buzzing around the hive. Which, seen by those who have charge of them, they are wont to give notice to the laborers of the change of weather, so that, according to it, they may repair and provide themselves. In which we already see how inferior the knowledge of men remains to that of the bees, since they attain what men do not attain. Then, who will hold it as an incredible thing that the bees imitate what men do, since there are things in which they pass beyond, knowing the future, which is proper to God?
But what makes me in this matter remain astonished is the fruit of the honey, to which all these aforesaid abilities are ordered, because we see how many diligences and instruments are required to make a conserve of citrons or of lemons, or any other, because for this fire is necessary, and one cooking, and another cooking, and vessels and instruments that serve for this, and officers skilled in this office. I ask, then, now: what instruments does this little animal so small have, except some little feet as thin as threads, and a little sting as thin as they? Then how with such weak instruments and without more cookings or fire do they make this so sweet conserve and this transformation of flowers into so suave a liquor of honey, at times yellow as wax, at times white as snow, and this not in small quantity (such as could be expected from so small a little animal), but in as much quantity as is drawn in good time from a hive? Who taught this animal to make this alchemy, which is to convert one substance into another so different? Let as many confectioners as there are gather together, with all their art and tools and with all their cookings, and let them convert flowers into honey. Not only has human wit not reached here, but it has not even been able to attain how this so strange
change is made. And mad men wish to scrutinize the mysteries of heaven, when the whole capital of their wit does not reach to understanding what every day they see at the door of their house.
Nor is it lacking in admiration to see how, from that load that they bring on feet and hands, one part they spend in making wax, and another in honey. How do they make things so different from one same matter, as honey and wax are? And if there are in it different parts, who taught them this so secret difference that we do not see? Who showed them the more subtle for honey, the more gross for wax? What will he not be able to do who knew how to do this? Truly admirable is that sovereign Maker in all his works, and no less in the small than in the very great.
Then what remains here except to give thanks to the Creator, who provided all these so strange abilities to these little animals, not so much for them as for us, who enjoy the fruit of their labors? But men are of such quality, that they enjoy this fruit, but neither give thanks for it, nor in it contemplate the greatness of the power and wisdom of the Creator, who in so small a head placed so great art and knowledge. Which Ecclesiasticus did not keep silent when he said that, “though the bee is so small among the things that fly, the fruit of its labors is the beginning of all sweetness.” And for that reason I said at the beginning that, while men go swimming among so many marvels of God, we have neither eyes to see them, nor ears to hear what in silence they preach to us, nor hearts to lift up our spirit to the knowledge of the Maker by the admirable artifice of his works.