4.67–87

Swarming and fighting.

Vergil describes a swarm in fuller detail, but fancifully. He stages an epic battle (complete with epic language) between two swarms. But honeybees rarely attack each other, and certainly not in this way. Instead, Vergil uses this as an opportunity to personify honeybees as “armies” engaged like epic heroes in mortal combat. Vergil’s bees are eager for war, sound battle trumpets, sharpen their stingers, and pour out of the hive to offer their chests to the enemy.

67 sīn: the condition that is started is never completed (an anacoluthon), as Vergil interrupts himself and only returns to the instructions in lines 86–87. A verse in dactylic hexameter normally has a caesura in the middle of the third foot. If not, it typically has caesurae in the 2nd and 4th feet (AG 615.c).

68 rēgibus: in reality, the queens.

68 incessit: “seizes,” (incedo II.B.2.α) + dative (rēgibus) as with intransitive compound verbs (AG 366).

68 motū: “passion,” “agitation,” (motus II.A).

69–70 continuōque…praesciscere: Order: continuōque licet longē praesciscere animōs vulgī et corda trepidantia bellō. trepidantia (and trepidae at line 75) suggests not fear but keyed-up excitement.

69 bellō: “for war,” dative of purpose with trepidantia (AG 382). Bees do guard against invaders at the hive entrance but do not fight en masse as swarms.

69 morantēs: “the slackers,” accusative plural feminine, direct object of increpat, referring to bees.

71 ille…canor: comparison to a battle trumpet, personifying the bee armies.

71 aeris: “bronze,” < aes, aeris (n).

72 fractōs sonitūs: object of imitāta; fractōs = interrupted or staccato sounds. Vergil likely refers to queen piping.

73 pennīs: ablative of respect or specification, akin to manner or cause (AG 418, 418aN).

74 spīculaque exacuunt rōstrīs: a personification—bees don’t sharpen their stingers with their noses.

74 aptant lacertōs: “limbering up their limbs” for battle.

75 praetōria: the general’s quarters in a Roman camp. Bees cluster around the queen when swarming (Arist. HA 625b8–9).

76 miscentur: “they are assembled,” a technical battle term.

76 vocant…hostem: the bees taunt like epic warriors.

77 nactae: supply sunt; perfect of nanciscor.

77 campōs: the battlefield—here, the air, not the ground.

78 portīs: ablative of place from which (AG 428g).

78 concurritur: impersonal; “there is a rushing together.”

79 magnum…orbem: what swarming bees look like, though they’re often docile when doing so.

80 āëre: “in the air.”

80 grandō: subject; supply est or pluit (from line 81).

81 tantum…glandis: “so many acorns,” subject of pluit; glandis = partitive genitive (AG 346a.3).

81 īlice: the holm oak, Quercus ilex.

82 ipsī = rēgēs.

82 īnsignibus ālīs: “with distinguished wings.” Another personification.

84 usque adeō: “right up to then.”

84 obnīxī: “determined.”

84–85 dum…subēgit: “until the weighty victor has compelled one side to flee.”

87 compressa: modifies tanta certāmina (line 86). The battle is ironically ended with a handful of dust—see irony.