The Drone
THE drone occupies a position that is unique, but not enviable. He has been obliged to endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune in his own family, and also, from all time, the disapproval of the human race. last misfortune, however, he is said to bear with extreme fortitude.
This We find him abused in Greek and Latin as well as in all the modern tongues.
Aristotle and Pliny call him a thief.
Virgil says he is ignavum fucos pecus, while modern writers brand him as lazy and good-for-nothing. "I would be loath To be a burden, or feed like a drone On the industrious labor of the bee," say Beaumont and Fletcher in their "Honest Man's Fortune." And Butler joins the hue and cry, saying, - "The drone is a gross stingless bee, that spendeth his time in gluttony and idleness. For howsoever he brave it with his round velvet cap, his side gown, his full paunch, and his loud voice, yet is he but an idle companion, living by the sweat of others' brows. He worketh not at all, either at home or abroad, and yet spendeth as much as two labourers: you shall never find his maw without a drop of the purest nectar. In the heat of the day he flieth abroad, aloft and about, and that with no small noise, as though he would do some great act; but it is only for his pleasure, and to get him a stomach, and then returns he presently to his cheer."