“tu regibus alas

Eripe.”iv. 106.

And,—

“ipsæ regem parvosque Quirites

Sufficiunt, aulasque ei cerea regna refingunt.”iv, 201.

[157]. At a time even later than Shakespeare’s the idea of a king-bee prevailed; Waller, the poet of the Commonwealth, adopted it, as in the lines to Zelinda,—

“Should you no honey vow to taste

But what the master-bees have placed

In compass of their cells, how small

A portion to your share will fall.”