XXV. But I would have you marvel at the natural
knowledge even of irrational creatures, and if you can, explain its
cause. How is it that birds have for nests rocks and trees and
roofs, and adapt them both for safety and beauty, and suitably for the
comfort of their nurslings? Whence do bees and spiders get their
love of work and art, by which the former plan their honeycombs, and
join them together by hexagonal and co-ordinate tubes, and construct
the foundation by means of a partition and an alternation of the angles
with straight lines; and this, as is the case, in such dusky hives and
dark combs; and the latter weave their intricate webs by such light and
almost airy threads stretched in divers ways, and this from almost
invisible beginnings, to be at once a precious dwelling, and a trap for
weaker creatures with a view to enjoyment of food? What Euclid
ever imitated these, while pursuing philosophical enquiries with lines
that have no real existence, and wearying himself with
demonstrations? From what Palamedes came the tactics, and, as the
saying is, the movements and configurations of cranes, and the systems
of their movement in ranks and their complicated flight? Who were
their Phidiæ and Zeuxides, and who were the Parrhasii and
Aglaophons who knew how to draw and mould excessively beautiful
things? What harmonious
Gnossian chorus of Dædalus, wrought for a girl The allusion is to a
group made by Dædalus for Ariadne, representing a chorus of youths
and maidens, which seemed to be moving in musical rhythm. It is
described by Homer (Il., xviii., 592 sqq.). to the highest pitch of beauty? What
Cretan Labyrinth, hard to get through, hard to unravel, as the poets
say, and continually crossing itself through the tricks of its
construction? I will not speak of the ants’ storehouses and
storekeepers, and of their treasurings of wood in quantities
corresponding to the time for which it is wanted, and all the other
details which we know are told of their marches and leaders and their
good order in their works.