A theatre of politicall flying-insects wherein especially the nature, the vvorth, the vvork, the wonder, and the manner of right-ordering of the bee, is discovered and described : together with discourses, historical, and observations physical concerning them : and in a second part are annexed meditations, and observations theological and moral, in three centuries upon that subject / by Samuel Purchas ...
About this Item
Title
A theatre of politicall flying-insects wherein especially the nature, the vvorth, the vvork, the wonder, and the manner of right-ordering of the bee, is discovered and described : together with discourses, historical, and observations physical concerning them : and in a second part are annexed meditations, and observations theological and moral, in three centuries upon that subject / by Samuel Purchas ...
Author
Purchas, Samuel, 1577?-1626.
Publication
London :: Printed by R. I. for Thomas Parkhurst ...,
1657.
Rights/Permissions
To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
Subject terms
Bees -- Early works to 1800.
Cite this Item
"A theatre of politicall flying-insects wherein especially the nature, the vvorth, the vvork, the wonder, and the manner of right-ordering of the bee, is discovered and described : together with discourses, historical, and observations physical concerning them : and in a second part are annexed meditations, and observations theological and moral, in three centuries upon that subject / by Samuel Purchas ..." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A56300.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 7, 2024.
Pages
LXXX.
There is no vice in a man, whereof there is not some ana∣logie in the brute creatures: As among us men there are theives by land, and Pirats by sea, that live by spoile and blood; so is there in every kind among them variety of naturall sharkers: the Hawke in the ayre the Pike in the river, the Whale in the sea, the Lion and Tyger in the desert, the Waspe in the hive, the Spider before the hive, sometimes among the flowers in the Bees walke. And see how cunningly this little Arabian spreads out his tent for a prey, how heedfully he watcheth for a passen∣ger? so soone as ever he heares the noyse of a Bee (or a flie) a farre off, how he hastens to his den; and if that silly heedlesse traveller, doe but touch upon the verge of that unsuspected walke, how suddenly doth he seize upon that miserable bootie? and after some strife binding him fast with those subtle cords, drags the helplesse captive after him into his cave. What is this but an Embleme of those spirituall freebooters that lye in waite for our soules; They are the Spiders, we the Bees, they have spread their nets of sinne, if we be once caught, they bind us fast, and hale us into hell. Oh Lord, deliver thou my soule from their craftie ambushes: their poyson is greater, their webs both more strong, and more insensibly woven: Either teach me to avoyd temptation, or make me to breake through it by repentance; oh let me not be a prey to those fiends that lye in waite for my destruction.