Social Commentaries
Book XI, 110
Translated by W. R. Paton (1916–18) · From The Greek Anthology (Loeb, vol. IV, 1918)
Three thin men were competing the other day about thinness, to see which of them would be adjudged the very thinnest. The one, Hermon, exhibited great skill and went through the eye of a needle holding the thread. But Demas coming out of a hole stopped at a spider’s web, and the spider spinning hung him from it. But Sosipater exclaimed, “ Give me the prize, for I lose it if I am seen, since I am nothing but air.”
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Cite this poem
MLA
Nicarchus. “Book XI, 110.” Translated by W. R. Paton. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/nicarchus/17/.
Chicago
Nicarchus. “Book XI, 110.” Translated by W. R. Paton. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/nicarchus/17/.
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