A Fisherman's Offering to the Goddess for a Rich Catch

Notes

1. §23.2ᾧ ζωή, τὰ δὲ δίκτυα κείνῳ ἄροτρα — The relative pronoun ᾧ and the demonstrative pronoun κείνῳ are both in the dative case referring back to the antecedent τις ἀνὴρ, functioning as datives of possession. The phrase employs a metaphor comparing the fisherman's nets (δίκτυα) to the farmer's plows (ἄροτρα).
2. §23.3ἀκρόνυχος — An adjective meaning "at the edge of night" or "at nightfall" in the nominative singular masculine, agreeing grammatically with the subject tis anēr, but functioning semantically as an adverbial of time.
3. §23.4φιερώτατος — Understood as a Doric form for ἱερώτατος ("most sacred"), picking up the preceding ἱερὸν ἰχθύν ("sacred fish"), meaning "most sacred of all." Although some suggest it is the superlative of φιερός ("active, lively"), the connection to "sacred" is more contextually appropriate.
4. §23.5καί κε λίνα στήσαιτο καὶ ἐξερύσαιτο — The particle κε (= ἄν) with the aorist optatives στήσαιτο and ἐξερύσαιτο expresses potentiality ("he might set... and draw out"), forming the apodosis to the conditional clause in §23.1 (εἴ τις ... αἰτεῖται). The noun lína ("nets") is neuter plural, modified by the adjective empleon in the following line.