8First a site and station must be sought for the bees, where there is no access for winds (for winds prevent them carrying their food home), and where no sheep or butting kids trample on the flowers, or a heifer straying on the plain shakes off the dew and wears down the springing grass. 13Let the painted lizard with scaly back keep far from the rich hives, and bee-eaters and other birds, and Procne, her breast marked by bloody hands; 16for they lay waste everything far and wide, and carry off the bees themselves in flight in their beaks, a sweet morsel for their cruel nestlings. 18But let clear springs and pools green with moss be near, and a thin stream slipping through the grass, and let a palm or huge wild olive shade the entrance, so that when the new kings lead out the first swarms in their own spring, and the young, let out from the combs, are at play, a bank nearby may invite them to withdraw from the heat, and a tree in their path may hold them in its leafy hospitality.
25In the middle, whether the water stands still or flows on, throw willows crosswise and great stones, so that they may have many bridges to stand on and spread their wings to the summer sun, if by chance the East Wind has scattered them as they linger, or plunged them headlong into Neptune. 30Around these let green cassia and far-scented wild thyme and an abundance of strongly breathing savory flower, and let violet beds drink from the watering spring. 33But the hives themselves, whether you have them sewn from hollowed bark or woven of pliant osier, should have narrow entrances: for winter congeals the honey with cold, and heat likewise melts it and lets it run.
37Both forces are equally to be feared by bees; 37and not for nothing do they vie in smearing with wax the tiny vents in their dwellings, and fill the edges with bee-glue and flowers, and keep a gum gathered for this very task, more clinging than birdlime and the pitch of Phrygian Ida. 42Often too, if the report is true, they have kept house in burrows dug underground, and have been found deep in hollow pumice and in the cavity of a decayed tree. 45Yet you should smear their cracked chambers around with smooth mud, warming them, and throw a few leaves on top. 47And do not let a yew grow too near their dwellings, or roast reddening crabs on your hearth, or trust a deep marsh, or a place where there is a heavy smell of mud, or where hollow rocks ring when struck and the image of a voice rebounds from them.