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REMAINS OF HESIOD.
Ne'er from unhallow'd vessels[1] hasty feed,
Nor lave therein; for thou mayst rue the deed.
Set not a twelve-day or a twelve-month boy
On moveless stones;[2] they shall his strength destroy.
Ne'er in the female baths thy limbs immerse;
In its own time the guilt shall bring the curse.
Ne'er let the mystic sacrifices move
Deriding scorn; but dread indignant Jove.
Nor lave therein; for thou mayst rue the deed.
Set not a twelve-day or a twelve-month boy
On moveless stones;[2] they shall his strength destroy.
Ne'er in the female baths thy limbs immerse;
In its own time the guilt shall bring the curse.
Ne'er let the mystic sacrifices move
Deriding scorn; but dread indignant Jove.
- ↑ Unhallow’d vessels.] There is here an allusion to the ancient custom of purifying new vessels and consecrating them to a happy use; or, as we say, blessing them. Guietus.
Le Clerc imagines a prohibition against seizing the flesh from the tripods before a sacrifice, which he illustrates by the offence of the sons of Eli, 1 Sam. ii. 13; but what has the bathing to do with this? - ↑ On moveless stones.] By ακινητα, immoveable things, he appears to mean the ground or stones, which are cold and hard; or by sitting on immoveable things we may understand habits of sloth. Guietus.
Proclus interprets the word to mean sepulchres, which it was unlawful to move: but on the same grounds it may be interpreted land-marks. One should rather understand by it any sort of stones; Hesiod preferring that a boy should be placed on wooden slabs that might be moved about. But the being placed on a stone could not be more hurtful to him on the twelfth day or month than at any other period of his childhood. This was a mere superstition; and we may as well seek to interpret the dreams of a man who is light-headed. Le Clerc.
