Nature

Idyll XIX: Love Stealing Honey

by Theocritus fl. c. 270 BC

Translated by C. S. Calverley (1869) · From Idylls

Nature

Once thievish Love the honeyed hives would rob,
When a bee stung him: soon he felt a throb
Through all his finger-tips, and, wild with pain,
Blew on his hands and stamped and jumped in vain.
To Aphroditè then he told his woe:
'How can a thing so tiny hurt one so?'
She smiled and said; 'Why thou'rt a tiny thing,
As is the bee; yet sorely thou canst sting.'

MLA

Theocritus. “Idyll XIX: Love Stealing Honey.” Translated by C. S. Calverley. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theocritus/18/.

Chicago

Theocritus. “Idyll XIX: Love Stealing Honey.” Translated by C. S. Calverley. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theocritus/18/.

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