Nature
Fragment of the Berenice (Lang)
Translated by Andrew Lang (1880) · From Theocritus, Bion and Moschus rendered into English Prose (Macmillan, 1889)
AND if any man that hath his livelihood from the salt sea, and whose nets serve him for ploughs, prays for wealth, and luck in fishing, let him sacrifice, at midnight, to this goddess, the sacred fish that they call ‘silver white,’ for that it is brightest of sheen of all,—then let the fisher set his nets, and he shall draw them full from the sea.
This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.
Codex Note
Athenaeus (vii. 284 A) quotes this fragment, which probably was part of a panegyric on Berenice, the mother of Ptolemy Philadelphus.
Cite this poem
MLA
Theocritus. “Fragment of the Berenice (Lang).” Translated by Andrew Lang. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/theocritus/167/.
Chicago
Theocritus. “Fragment of the Berenice (Lang).” Translated by Andrew Lang. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/theocritus/167/.
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