A history of Greek mathematics - Wilbourhall.org

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THE COLLECTION. BOOKS IV, V 389
Book V. Preface on the Sagacity of Bees.
It is characteristic of the great Greek mathematicians that,
whenever they were free from the restraint of the technical
language of mathematics, as when for instance they had occasion
to write a preface, they were able to write in language of
the highest literary quality, comparable with that of the
philosophers, historians, and poets. We have only to recall
the introductions to Archimedes's treatises and the prefaces
to the different Books of Apollonius's Conies. Heron, though
severely practical, is no exception when he has any general
explanation, historical or other, to give. We have now to
note a like case in Pappus, namely the preface to Book V of
the Collection. The editor, Hultsch, draws attention to the
elegance and purity of the language and the careful writing
the latter is illustrated by the studied avoidance of hiatus. 1
The subject is one which a writer of taste and imagination
would naturally find attractive, namely the practical intelligence
shown by bees in
selecting the hexagonal form for the
cells in the honeycomb. Pappus does not disappoint us ; the
passage is as attractive as the subject, and deserves to be
reproduced.
'
It is of course to men that God has given the best and
most perfect notion of wisdom in general and of mathematical
science in particular, but a partial share in these things he
allotted to some of the unreasoning animals as well. To men,
as being endowed with reason, he vouchsafed that they should
do everything in the light of reason and demonstration, but to
the other animals, while denying them reason, he granted
that each of them should, by virtue of a certain natural
instinct, obtain just so much as is needful to support life.
This instinct may be observed to exist in very many other
In the first
species of living creatures, but most of all in bees.
place their orderliness and their submission to the queens who
rule in their state are truly admirable, but much more admirable
still is their emulation, the cleanliness they observe in the
gathering of honey, and the forethought and housewifely care
they devote to its custody. Presumably because they know
themselves to be entrusted with the task of bringing from
the gods to the accomplished portion of mankind a share of
1
Pappus, vol. iii, p. 1233.