The Sting
THE ancients were as familiar with the stings of bees from a practical point of view as we are, but they were more concerned in discovering a moral than a scientific reason for these inflictions, as were their successors, and even as late as the seventeenth century we find Moffett as puzzled over it as are a certain class of people to-day over the use of the mosquito to man, he and they believing that every living thing was created specially and wholly for the benefit of the genus homo.
After searching long for some good use in the sting of the bee Moffett was reduced to the following statement: "The Ancients (that we may prove the sting of bees to be converted to some good use) were wont to punish cheaters with them on this manner: They stripped the malefactor stark naked, and besmeared his body all over with honey, which done, and his hands and feet being bound, they exposed him to the heat of the scorching sun, that what with the piercing raies beating upon his body, what with the stinging of the bees and flies, and their often stabbing and wounding him, he did at length suffer a death answerable to his life. But if you would indeed resolve to go sting-free, or at least heal yourself being stung; expel out of your minde, idleness, impiety, theft, malice; for those that are defil'd with those vices, they set upon to chuse as it were, and out of natural instinct."
The Sting According to this pious sentiment a visit to a bee-hive would be a simple and final test of character, but one which few of us sceptical moderns would have fortitude enough to try, no matter how good of heart we might know ourselves to be.
We feel assured that bees discriminate, and while savage towards one are friendly towards another. But if theirs is a moral standard it is different from ours, for in these days they are as prone to attack the most inoffensive of the human race - according to our estimation - as they are to grant immunity to the greatest rascal. It is to be feared that manner of moving, texture of skin, or exhalations from the body influence modern bees more surely than goodness or badness of heart.
Other uses of bee stings are recorded, a knowledge of which no doubt would have filled the mind of our historian with satisfaction.
We learn from L'Abbé Della Rocca, who resided at one time in the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, that: "A small corsair, equipped with forty or fifty men, and having on board some bees, purposely taken from a neighboring island, and confined in earthen hives, was pursued by a Turkish galley. As the latter boarded her, the sailors threw the hives from the masts down into the galley. The earthen hives broke into fragments and the bees dispersed all over the boat. The Turks, who had looked on the small corsair with contempt, as an easy prey, did not expect so singular an attack. Finding themselves defenceless against the stings, they were so frightened, that the men of the corsair, who had provided themselves with masks and gloves, took possession of the galley, almost without resistance."
And again : - "Amurat, Emperor of Turkey, having besieged Alba [in Greece] and made a breach in the walls, found the breach defended by bees, whose hives had been brought on the ruins. The Janissaries, the bravest militia of the Ottoman Empire, refused to clear the obstacle."
Various strongholds in Germany are reported to have borrowed the weapon of the bee in time of need, and these mercenaries could always be depended upon to fight - and also to conquer.
Friedrich tells a story of a man who in time of war made his bees protect him from plunderers.
He had before his door six bee-hives, to each of which he fastened a string, taking the other end to his room. As soon as he saw soldiers approaching he pulled the strings until the hives were thoroughly shaken up, whereupon the angry bees fell upon the intruders in such numbers that they at once took to flight. "Sesser tells us that in 1525, during the confusion occasioned by a time of war, a mob of peasants assembling in Hohnstein (in Thuringia) attempted to pillage the house of the minister of Elende; who having in vain employed all his eloquence to dissuade them from their design, ordered his domestics to fetch his bee-hives, and throw them in the middle of this furious mob. The effect was what might be expected; they were immediately put to flight, and happy if they escaped unstung." "Olearius relates in the description of his celebrated Travels in Persia that his whole travelling escort was once driven out of a Russian village by a swarm of bees. The peasants themselves had excited the bees to this to be rid of their unwelcome guests, and they often used this device upon similar occasions." "Pigneron relates that the Spaniards experienced the fury of the bees at the siege of Tanly. When they were preparing to make the assault, the besieged placed a num- The Sting ber of hives in the breaches, which attacked the besiegers so furiously that they were obliged to retire."