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So few in the vast Hive remain;
The Hundredth part they can’t maintain
Against th’ Insults of numerous Foes;
Whom yet they valiantly oppose:
Till some well-fenced Retreat is found;
And here they die, or stand their Ground,
No Hireling in their Armies known;
But bravely fighting for their own,
Their Courage and Integrity
At last were crown’d with Victory.
They triumph’d not without their Cost;
For many Thousand Bees were lost.
Hard’ned with Toils, and Exercise
They counted Ease it self a Vice;
Which so improv’d their Temperance;
That, to avoid Extravagance,
They flew into a hollow Tree,
Blest with content and Honesty.
The Hundredth part they can’t maintain
Against th’ Insults of numerous Foes;
Whom yet they valiantly oppose:
Till some well-fenced Retreat is found;
And here they die, or stand their Ground,
No Hireling in their Armies known;
But bravely fighting for their own,
Their Courage and Integrity
At last were crown’d with Victory.
They triumph’d not without their Cost;
For many Thousand Bees were lost.
Hard’ned with Toils, and Exercise
They counted Ease it self a Vice;
Which so improv’d their Temperance;
That, to avoid Extravagance,
They flew into a hollow Tree,
Blest with content and Honesty.
The
