4.228–250

Challenges of opening the hive and keeping it healthy. 

When preparing to harvest honey, first wash your face and prepare a torch. It is possible to harvest honey twice each year, in May and November. The attempt to harvest will anger the bees, who will give up their lives as they sting to protect their honey. If you fear a harsh winter, you may take special care of the hive. Fumigate the hive with thyme, cut out empty wax, and look out for predators, such as newts, beetles, hornets, moth larvae, and spiders. Though the hive may be damaged, bees will eagerly work to repair it.

228  quandō: the indefinite aliquandō, after sī (AG 310a).

228  augustam: an interesting usage. Some manuscripts read angustam, “narrow” or “simple,” which possibly makes more sense when talking about a beehive. Yet, often Vergil elevates the status of the bees using mock-heroic descriptions, and so in calling the hive an “august seat,” he may be gently poking fun at them again. Note too that Octavian was named “Augustus” by the Senate in January 27 BCE, and the Georgics were (according to the ancient commentator Servius) edited and re-released after 26 BCE. Is this some sly reference to the princeps as well?

229  thēsaurīs: “in the storehouses,” ablative of place where without a preposition, as is common in poetry (AG 429.4). 

229  relinēs: “unseal.” This is nearly a metaphor, likening the uncapping of cells of honey to the opening of wine jars. 

229–230  prius…fovē: “having first sprinkled yourself, clean your mouth/face with a draught of water.” Sparsus has a middle or reflexive sense here. Haustū aquārum can be taken with sparsus, fovē or both. Vergil has mentioned earlier (line 48) that the bees don’t like bad smells; here, it seems to be either the breath or a bodily smell. Even today beekeepers take care with how they smell: one advised me, for example, not to eat bananas before opening a hive, since the smell is similar to the bees’ “danger” pheromone. 

230  fūmōsque…sequācēs: “stretch out with your hand searching smoke,” that is, use a torch to smoke the bees. Although Vergil is likely following the same belief that guided Columella (9.15) and Pliny (11.45), who thought bees dislike the smell of smoke and fled it, Aristotle (HA 9.40) knew that it makes them gorge themselves on honey. Modern beekeepers still use smoke to quiet bees, in order to check hives and harvest honey. 

231  bis: supply annō; that is, in the spring and the fall. Though many beekeepers in North America harvest only once a year, one beekeeper I spoke with mentioned that he always harvests near Fathers’ Day (mid-June) and Labor Day (early September). 

231  cogunt: the subject is unspecified agricolae (as in Georgics 3.123-4), who collect the weighty honey harvest. 

231  fētūs: “produce,” that is, the honey. 

231  messis: genitive singular.

232  Tāygetē: one of the Pleiades, the seven sisters, daughters of Pleione and Atlas, who form a constellation. The Pleiades rise in the spring and set in the fall, traditionally marking the beginning and ending of the farming and sailing seasons. The appearance of Taygete’s “fine face” marks the time for the first harvest (May), and her disappearance the time for the second one (November). 

232  simul: “as soon as,” for simul ac. 

232  terrīs: dative of indirect object (AG 362).  

233  Plēas: Pleiad, in apposition to Taygete. 

233  Ōceanī…amnēs:amnēs is accusative plural masculine, modified by sprētōs. We should imagine here the Homeric river of the Ocean that encircles the world. Take pede closely with sprētōs. It is as if Taygete is stepping up to heaven from earth as the constellation rises.

234-235  aut…undās = aut ubi eadem <Tāygetē> fugiēns sīdus aquōsī Piscis tristior dēscendit caelō in hībernās undās. 

234  sīdus…Piscis aquōsī: the zodiacal sign. Although the sun does not enter Pisces until February, it is often used as a metaphor for winter weather. 

235  caelō: ablative of place from which, without a preposition (AG 428g).

236  illīs: referring to the bees whose hive is about to be opened; dative of possession (AG 373).

236  modum suprā: “beyond measure” or “extreme” (that is, suprā modum). 

236  suprā est: scan as supra’st; this is called prodelision.

237  morsibus īnspīrant: wounded bees “breathe in venom with their bites.” This seems a deliberately metaphoric rendering of a bee sting (which is not a “bite”), though morsus can also mean “sting,” and inspirāre “infuse.” 

237  caeca: “invisible” or “hidden.”

238  adfīxae vēnīs: “having stuck their stingers into (human) veins.” spīcula (line 237) is the direct object of both relinquunt and adfīxae. 

238  animāsque…pōnunt: “they lay down their lives in the wound.” This is both true and unusual. Honeybees, like many of their kin, sting, but the other kinds of bees can sting repeatedly (as those ever stung by a wasp may attest). Honeybees, however, have a barbed stinger that, when employed, essentially disembowels them. 

239-240  sīn…fractas: protasis of a future more vivid condition. 

239  parcēsque futūrō: “and you will refrain from harming their future.” parcere can mean not just “spare,” but “refrain from injuring,” and takes a dative (AG 367 n.1). 

240  contusōs animōs: “their bruised spirits.” 

240  rēs: “fortunes.”

241-242  at suffīre…dubitet = at quis dubitet suffīre <tectum> thymō et recīdere cerās inānēs? The apodosis of the future more vivid condition. While the apodosis typically also has a verb in the future tense, any verb that conveys a sense of futurity can be used (as in this case, a deliberative subjunctive, AG 516a). at indicates a shift away from the protasis, “at any rate.” Varro also recommends fumigating a sick hive with thyme to purify it (RR 3.16.36). Vergil advises cutting away the empty cells so as not to attract pests, but bees will typically rework wax and refill empty cells. 

241  thymō: ablative of means (AG 409). Thymus vulgaris does have antimicrobial properties. 

242  ignōtus: “inconspicuous” or “unfamiliar.” The usage of ignōtus here is a little unusual. 

242  adēdit: “nibbled,” < adedō, adēsse, adēdī, adēsus. The long ē indicates this is the perfect tense, used in this case because it is what generally happens (gnomic perfect, AG 475). Thomas argues convincingly to consider stēlio (243), cubīlia (243) and fūcus (244) as subjects of adēdit, as they all could eat up the honey stores of the hive.

243  stēliō: likely some sort of gecko, which may prey on hives, though some beekeepers see them as allies, who devour other hive pests (such as moths). The i must be treated as a consonant for the line to scan: steljo. 

243  lūcifugīs…blattīs: “the lairs crammed with light-sensitive moths.” 

243  blattīs:blatta is a rather generic term for an insect. Moths and beetles are especially fond of hives; this could refer to either or both. 

244  immūnis: “without employment.” The primary meaning, however, of immūnis is a social one, and refers to a citizen who has been exempted from taxes or is not fulfilling his duty to the state. 

244  aliēna ad pābula: “among the food of others.”

245  crābrō: hornet, likely the Vespa crabro, or European hornet. 

245  imparibus…armīs:“the inferior weapons (of the bees).” immiscēre (“to mix one thing with another”) takes both an accusative (“one thing”) and a dative (“with another”) (AG 413a). Vergil uses se immiscuit armis twice in the Aeneid, in explicitly military contexts (Aeneid 10.796, 11.815).

246  tiniae: the larva of a moth or a beetle. 

246–247  invīsa…cassīs: aut Aranea, invisa Minervae, suspendit laxōs cassīs (“webs”) in foribus (tēctī).

246  invīsa Minervae: “hateful to Minerva,” modifying arānea in line 247. Minerva is the goddess of applied knowledge, including weaving. She famously punished a girl, Arachne, who claimed to be a better weaver than the goddess, by turning her into a spider (see Ovid Metamorphoses 6.1-145).

247  in foribus: “in the entryways” of the hive. 

248  quō magis…hōc ācrius: “the more…the more keenly,” ablative of degree of difference (AG 414a).

249  generis lāpsī…ruīnās: “the fallen ruins of the race;” lāpsī is a transferred epithet. 

249  sarcīre: an infinitive of purpose. Although Latin prefers other constructions to show purpose (for example, purpose clauses, supines, gerundives), one does occasionally encounter it in poetry (AG 460c).

250  complēbunt forōs et flōribus texent: more of Vergil’s fanciful personification of the bees. forōs are properly gangways of ships or rows of seats in a theater, used to convey an image of the rows of cells in the hive. The horrea, woven with flowers, paints an image of an adorned barn, but “barn” (that is, the wax and the stores inside it) is literally made from the pollen and nectar foraged from flowers.