What is not good for the swarm is not good for the bee.

[Τὸ τῷ σμήνει μὴ συμφέρον οὐδὲ τῇ μελίσσῃ συμφέρει.]

Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) Roman emperor (161-180), Stoic philosopher
Meditations [To Himself; Τὰ εἰς ἑαυτόν], Book 6, ch. 54 (6.54) (AD 161-180) [tr. Rendall (1898)]
    (Source)

(Source (Greek)). Alternate translations:

That which is not good for the beehive, cannot be good for the bee.
[tr. Casaubon (1634), 6.49]

That which is not for the Interest of the whole Swarm, is not for the Interest of a single Bee.
[tr. Collier (1701); Collier/Zimmern (1887)]

What is not the interest of the hive, is not the interest of the bee.
[tr. Hutcheson/Moor (1742)]

That which is not for the interest of the whole hive, cannot be so for any single bee.
[tr. Graves (1792), 6.48]

That which is not good for the swarm, neither is it good for the bee.
[tr. Long (1862)]

What profits not the swarm profits not the bee.
[tr. Hutcheson/Chrystal (1902)]

That which is not in the interests of the hive cannot be in the interests of the bee.
[tr. Haines (Loeb) (1916)]

What does not benefit the hive is no benefit to the bee.
[tr. Farquharson (1944)]

What is no good for the hive is no good for the bee.
[tr. Staniforth (1964)]

What brings no benefit to the hive brings none to the bee.
[tr. Hard (1997 ed.)]

What injures the hive injures the bee.
[tr. Hays (2003)]

What does not benefit the hive does not benefit the bee either.
[tr. Hammond (2006)]

What brings no benefit to the hive brings none to the bee.
[tr. Hard (2011 ed.)]

What does not benefit the hive does not benefit the bee.
[tr. Gill (2013)]


 
Added on 17-Apr-20 | Last updated 15-Apr-26
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