4.264–280

Methods to treat a sick hive. 

An ill hive can be treated in various ways. Both fumigating it with a resin or feeding it with honey (via straws) is advised. You can also treat it with an astringent mixture, a syrup made from raisins, and thyme or centuary. The roots of the Michaelmas daisy cooked with wine can be fed to the bees at the entrance of the hive. 

Some of these treatments may in fact be efficacious, depending on the problem with your hive (which, of course, is not clear from Vergil’s description).

264  hīc: “here,” at this point in the disease. 

264  galbaneōs: made of galbanum, the resin from a umbelliferous Persian plant, Ferula gummosa.

264  suādēbō incendere…inferre: supply tē as the subject of the infinitives. Typically, one finds suādeō with an indirect command (ut + subjunctive), but accusative + infinitive is common in poetry (AG 563).

265  harundineīs…canālibus: ablative of means (AG 409). Vergil advises feeding the ailing bees to speed recovery by using reeds as troughs to deliver honey to the interior of the hive.

266  fessās: the bees, worn out by sickness.

267  prōderit < prōsum, prōdesse, prōfui; “it will be beneficial.” 

267  tunsum gallae…sapōrem: “the flavor of ground gallnut.” tunsum is a transferred epithet. galla is the gallnut or oak-apple; galls are abnormal growths (like tumors) on plants. The galls of oak trees in particular have long been prized (and still are) because they are rich in tannins, and were used as astringents to treat diarrhea. 

268  rosās: the roses of antiquity are not what one typically thinks of as roses today. They would have been much simpler, with fewer petals, like Rosa rubinginosa or Rosa canina. 

268-269  ignī pinguia multō dēfruta: “grape juice thick with much fire,” that is, boiled down to a thick syrup. Contemporary beekeepers who need to feed hives also employ syrups, if unable to feed them honey.

269  psithiā…racēmōs: “dried clusters from the Psithian vine.” Vergil advocates feeding the bees a boiled down raisin wine, and not the raisins themselves. Not much is known about Psithian grapes, though multiple sources name them as a source of raisins.

270  Cēcropiumque thymum: “Athenian thyme.” The thyme (Thymus vulgaris) found on Mount Hymettus was famous in antiquity. Cecrops was a mythical early king of Athens. 

270  centaurēa: a plant from the genus Centaurium, a member of the gentian family, possibly Centaurium erythraea, and intensely bitter. Notice that this is one of a very few places where we find a spondee in the fifth foot.  

271  cui: dative of indirect object (AG 362).

271  amellō:Aster amellus, the Michaelmas daisy. amellō should be accusative (as is nōmen), but has been attracted into the dative case (AG 306a).

272  fēcēre: 3rd person plural perfect active indicative < faciō, facere, fēci, factus (AG 163a).

272  facilis quaerentibus: “easy for those looking for it.” 

273-274  namque ūnō ingentem tollit dē caespite silvam aureus ipse: “for the golden center itself raises a huge forest of stalks from one mass of roots.” caespes usually refers to turf, but here the tangle of roots is so thick that it’s like a clump of sod. Perhaps its size is from the perspective of the bees. 

274  foliīs: these are petals, not the leaves of the plant. 

274  circum: “all around,” adverb.

275  violae…nigrae: “dark violet,” dative with sublūcet, “gleams out from under.” The petals are darker nearer the center of the flower (AG 370).

276  deum: genitive plural masculine of deus (AG 49g).

276  nexīs: wreaths or garlands of flowers. 

276  ōrnātae: supply sunt; ārae is the subject.

277  asper…sapor: supply est. 

277  tōnsīs in vallibus: “in shorn valleys.” These are valleys either cultivated for hay (and so the flowers grow there after the haying) or, more likely, used for pasturage (and thus are mown by livestock). 

277  illum = the Michaelmas daisy.

278  curva…prope flūmina Mellae: “near the curved stream of the Mella.” The Mella is a river in Lombardy in northern Italy, a tributary of the Oglio which feeds the Po, northwest of Mantua, Vergil’s native home. 

279  huius = the Michaelmas daisy. 

279  incoque: 2nd person singular present imperative. 

279  odōrātō… Bacchō: “with fragrant wine.”

280  pābula: the roots of amellus cooked in wine are food for the bees. 

280  plēnīs: modifies canistrīs, ablative of place where without a preposition, as is common in poetry (AG 429.4). Modern beekeepers will feed bees a kind of candy that will last long, as well as syrups, but the image of baskets of a cooked daisy root and wine mélange left at their doorways, seems another attempt to personify the bees.