4.8–17

Choose a location for your hive out of the way of wind, livestock, and predators. 

It is hard for bees to carry home their forage in windy weather. Field animals like sheep, goats, and cows can destroy the flowers and dew that bees need for the hive. Lizards and some birds may also prey upon the bees themselves.

8 Prīncipiō: “first.”

8 sēdēs…statiōque: two nouns are used here with a conjunction, instead of a noun and a modifier (a figure called hendiadys, AG 640), “a residential base.” While sēdēs and statiō are roughly synonymous, statiō can be used of military outposts and public places in the urbs, which enhances both Vergil’s conception of the hive as a city and the bees as soldiers.

8 petenda: supply est; the gerundive is feminine singular, since it agrees with the closest subject (statiō) in a passive periphrastic construction (AG 158d).

8 apibus: dative of reference (AG 377). The beekeeper should seek out a home for the bees.

9 quō: “where,” relative clause of purpose, introduced by a relative adverb (AG 531.2), hence the subjunctive sit.

9–10 nam…prohibent = nam ventī prohibent <eās> pābula domum ferre. Honeybees are sensitive to wind, and beekeepers often keep bees out of the path of direct gusts or create windbreaks in front of the hives.

10 domum: accusative of motion toward without ad (AG 427.2).

10–11: neque…īnsultent: supply ubī for this clause, parallel with quō…sit in line 9.

11 flōribus: the object of īnsultent; many such compound verbs take the dative (AG 370).

11 campō: take closely with errāns; ablative of place where without a preposition, as is common in poetry (AG 429.4).

13 absint: jussive subjunctive (AG 439).

13 squālentia: “scaly.”

13 terga: accusative of respect with a body part (AG 397b). Probably Lacerta viridis, a common species in Italy even today. Lizards (along with many other animals) are acknowledged predators of honeybee hives.

14 stabulīs: the hives.

14 meropēs: a bird, the European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster), which does in fact eat bees.

15 et: “especially.”

15 manibus…cruentīs: take closely with signāta.

15 Procnē: the barn swallow (Hirundo rustica). In Greek myth, Procne was an Athenian princess who punished her husband Tereus for raping her sister, Philomela, by killing their son and serving him as a meal to Tereus, before they are all transformed into birds. The marks on the swallow’s chest are supposedly the residue from Procne wiping her bloody hands on her chest.

15 pectus: accusative of respect with a body part (AG 397b).

16 omnia: accusative, plural, neuter.

16 ipsās: the bees.

16 volantēs: “while flying,” accusative with ipsās.

17 dulcem…ēscam: “as sweet food,” in apposition to ipsās.

17 nīdīs immītibus: the nestlings, literally “merciless nests,” dative of indirect object.