Adam Bunni PhD thesis - Research@StAndrews:FullText ...

ante novis rubeant quam prata coloribus, ante
garrula quam tignis nidum suspendat hirundo.
Interea teneris tepefactus in ossibus umor
aestuat, et visenda modis animalia miris,
trunca pedum primo, mox et stridentia pennis, 310
miscentur, tenuemque magis magis aëra carpunt,
donec ut aestivis effusus nubibus imber,
erupere, aut ut nervo pulsante sagittae,
prima leves ineunt si quando proelia Parthi.
The shower of bees which issue forth as a result of bugonia are an undoubted miracle.
At present, however, it is specifically the timing of this marvellous event which
attracts attention. Among his other instructions, in lines 305-7 Vergil is very specific
about the time at which bugonia is to be carried out: not simply spring, but early
spring, when the agent of the season’s growth, the Zephyr, is prominent once again.
Although it is unlikely that anyone in the ancient world with even a passing
interest in beekeeping would have regarded bugonia as “scientific fact”, much as they
would have been sceptical about the notion that mares could be impregnated by the
wind, its value as a symbol is not to be underestimated. Vergil’s placement of this
practice in the spring season, whether it is foolproof or fool’s gold, begins to arouse
greater attention when viewed in the context of the wider tradition regarding bugonia.
There are several other descriptions of bugonia in ancient literature; it is described
before Vergil by Philetas, Nicander, and most notably by Varro, 66 and after him, by
Ovid, 67 Pliny the Elder, 68 and Columella. 69 While the exact details of the practice vary
slightly, with some prescribing the burial and exhumation of the carcasses, the
important issue is that those who provide a time of year for the execution of bugonia
suggest summer, rather than spring. 70 Summer would indeed appear a more suitable
time, since, presumably, the extreme heat of the season would speed up the process of
decomposition of the ox carcasses. 71 As was the case with regard to his treatment of
the breeding habits of certain animals in Book 3, Vergil shows little concern for
tradition, or even “science”, when pursuing his own ends. If the placing of bugonia in
101
66
Rust. 2.5.5; 3.16.4.
67
Fast. 1.363-80; Met. 15.3.64.
68
HN 11.70.
69
Rust. 9.14.6.
70
Wilkinson (1969), 194. Columella (9.14.6) also suggests that his authorities ‘prescribe the thirty days
between midsummer and the rising of the Dog-star’: Mynors, (1990), ad 305-7.
71
It must be noted that the spring date of the bugonia in 4.281-314 ‘does not follow the date of the first
performance, which fell in the Dog-days [of summer]’ (Mynors, 1990, ad 4.305-7). There are a number
of discrepancies between the descriptions of bugonia at the middle and at the end of Book 4, which are
discussed in Appendix II of this thesis.