Man works together with providence
Perhaps, too, in what one might call the wars of the bees a lesson is laid up: that wars among men, if ever they must be fought, should be just and orderly. And there are no cities and outskirts among bees; rather, the hives and the six-sided cells, the labours of the bees and the handing on of them among them, exist for the sake of men, who need honey for many purposes, both for treating ailing bodies and as pure food.
Nor should what the bees do against the drones be compared with the penalties against the idle and the wicked in cities and with the punishments inflicted on them. But, as I said before, in these things we must marvel at nature; and we must commend man, who can reason about all things and set all things in order, as one who works together with providence, accomplishing works not of God’s providence alone but also of man’s own.
Greek
Τάχα δὲ καὶ οἱ οἱονεὶ πόλεμοι τῶν μελισσῶν διδασκαλία ἔγκειται πρὸς τὸ δικαίους καὶ τεταγμένους πολέμους. εἴ ποτε δέοι, γίνεσθαι ἐν ἀνθρώποις. καὶ οὐ πόλεις μὲν καὶ προπόλεις ἐν μελίσσαις, ἀλλ᾿ οἱ σίμβλοι καὶ τὰ ἑξάγωνα καὶ (τὰ) τῶν μελισσῶν ἔργα καὶ ἡ παρ᾿ ἐκείναις διαδοχὴ αὐτῶν διὰ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους εἰς πολλὰ τοῦ μέλιτος χρῄζοντας. θεραπείας τε σωμάτων πεπονθότων καὶ τροφὴν καθάριον. οὐ παραβλητέον δὲ τὰ (κατὰ) τῶν κηφήνων ὑπὸ τῶν μελισσῶν ἐπιτελούμενα ταῖς κατὰ τῶν ἀργῶν ἐν ταῖς πόλεσι καὶ πονηρῶν δίκαις καὶ ταῖς κατ᾿ αὐτῶν κολάσεσιν. ἀλλ᾿, ὡς προεῖπον, τὴν μὲν φύσιν ἐν τούτοις θαυμαστέον· τὸν δ᾿ ἄνθρωπον, ἐπιλογίσασθαι τὰ περὶ πάντων δυνάμενον καὶ κοσμῆσαι τὰ πάντων, ἅτε συνεργοῦντα τῇ προνοίᾳ ἀποδεκτέον, καὶ οὐ μόνης προνοίας θεοῦ ἔργα ἐπιτελοῦντα ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ.