191Nor indeed, when rain threatens, do they go far from their stalls, or trust the sky when East Winds are approaching, but in safety they fetch water around them beneath the walls of their city, and try short sallies, and often, as unsteady skiffs take on ballast in the tossing waves, they lift little stones, and with these balance themselves through the empty clouds. 197You will marvel that this custom above all has pleased the bees, that they do not indulge in mating, nor idly relax their bodies in love, or bring forth young in birth-pangs: but they themselves gather their children with their mouths from leaves and sweet herbs, they themselves supply a king and little citizens, and rebuild their courts and waxen realms.
203often too, wandering on hard rocks, they have worn out their wings and freely given up their life under their burden: so great is their love of flowers and their glory in producing honey. 206So, though the limit of a narrow lifespan awaits the bees themselves (for it extends no further than a seventh summer), yet the race remains immortal, and for many years the fortune of the house stands firm, and grandfathers' grandfathers are counted. 210Moreover, not Egypt and mighty Lydia, nor the peoples of the Parthians, nor the Median Hydaspes so revere their king. 212While the king is safe, all have one mind; 213when he is lost, they break faith, and themselves tear apart the honey they have built and break up the lattices of the combs.
215He is the guardian of their works; him they revere, and all stand around him with a dense humming and throng him in crowds, and often lift him on their shoulders, and expose their bodies to war, and seek a glorious death through wounds.