_This little piece is but doubtfully ascribed to Theocritus_. _The motif
is that of a well-known Anacreontic Ode_. _The idyl has been translated
by Ronsard_.
* * * * *
THE thievish Love,—a cruel bee once stung him, as he was rifling honey
from the hives, and pricked his finger-tips all; then he was in pain, and
blew upon his hand, and leaped, and stamped the ground. And then he
showed his hurt to Aphrodite, and made much complaint, how that the bee
is a tiny creature, and yet what wounds it deals! And his mother laughed
out, and said, ‘Art thou not even such a creature as the bees, for tiny
art thou, but what wounds thou dealest!’