Ants
animal · 6 works · 8 mentions · 8 anchored passages
ants · ant · the Wise One · the ants
spoken of as
3 expressionsAnt3 mentions
Stromata (Greek) · Works and Days (Greek) · Letters (Greek)
"Go to the ant, you sluggard, and become wiser than it, which lays up in the harvest much and varied nourishment against the threat of winter;
The Wise One“ant”1 mention
Works and Days (Greek)
but the twelfth is much better than the eleventh, for on it the airy-swinging spider spins its web in full day, and then the Wise One, gathers her pile.
the ant1 mention
Letters (Greek)
Let him, then, who vaunts the knowledge of beings first tell the nature of the ant;
in the texts
Orations
Ants, cited twice as an example of peaceful, cooperative creatures.
but ants, walking in such dense throngs, never trouble one another, but meet very gently, and pass by, and help one another.
And indeed it is also very pleasant to watch ants — how contentedly they dwell with one another, how they go forth, how they share the burdens among them, how they give way to one another on the paths.
Among the ants too," he said, "is it not likely that one is swifter than another?
Letters
A small creature used as proof that even simple beings exceed human comprehension.
Let him, then, who vaunts the knowledge of beings first tell the nature of the ant;
Let him, then, who boasts that he has grasped the knowledge of beings explain what nature the smallest of the things that appear has, and let him tell what the nature of the ant is:
Stromata
The ant, cited as an example of industrious foresight.
"Go to the ant, you sluggard, and become wiser than it, which lays up in the harvest much and varied nourishment against the threat of winter;
Works and Days
A creature referred to as 'the Wise One' (traditionally understood as the ant), described gathering her store on the favorable twelfth day.
but the twelfth is much better than the eleventh, for on it the airy-swinging spider spins its web in full day, and then the Wise One, gathers her pile.
On Tranquillity of Mind
Creeping insects used as a simile for the aimless, driven wandering of the restless crowd.
Their course is aimless and idle, like that of ants creeping over a thicket, that are driven empty-handed up to the topmost tip and from there down to the bottom;
Law in a Free State
Social insects cited as an example of co-operation, having working and fighting castes each dependent on the other for the survival of the whole society.
Certain tribes of ants have working members and fighting members.