Nature
Book IX, 404
Translated by W. R. Paton (1916–18) · From The Greek Anthology (Loeb, vol. III, 1917)
Ah lovely is the liquor of the bees, self-wrought in the ether, and the cells self-moulded and not with hands; a gift unrequited to the life of men, needing no mattock, or oxen, or crooked sickle, but only a little vessel into which the bee pours forth the sweet stream in abundance from its tiny body. Hail! ye pure creatures; pasture on the flowers, ye winged makers of ethereal nectar.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Byzantium, Antiphilus of. “Book IX, 404.” Translated by W. R. Paton. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/antiphilus/37/.
Chicago
Byzantium, Antiphilus of. “Book IX, 404.” Translated by W. R. Paton. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/antiphilus/37/.
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