A harp, and tripods, chariots too, and tables
Of brass Corinthian, and wash-hand basins ([Greek: cheironiba]),
Cups for libations, brazen caldrons too.
But it is more usual to say [Greek: kata cheiros hydôr] (water to be poured over the hands), as Eupolis does say in his Golden Age, and Ameipsias in his Sling, and Alcæus in his Sacred Wedding: and this is a very common expression. But Philyllius, in his Auge, says [Greek: kata cheirôn], not [Greek: cheiros], in these lines:—
And since the women all have dined well,
'Tis time to take away the tables now,
And wipe them, and then give each damsel water
To wash her hands ([Greek: kata cheirôn]), and perfumes to anoint them.
And Menander, in his Pitcher, says—
And they having had water for their hands ([Greek: kata cheirôn labontes]),
Wait in a friendly manner.
76. But Aristophanes the grammarian, in his Commentary on the Tablets of Callimachus, laughs at those who do not know the difference between the two expressions, [Greek: kata cheiros] and [Greek: aponipsasthai]; for he says that among the ancients the way in which people washed their hands before breakfast and supper was called [Greek: kata cheiros], but what was done after those meals was called [Greek: aponipsasthai]. But the grammarian appears to have taken this observation from the Attic writers, since Homer says, somewhere or other—
Marshall'd in order due, to each a sewer
Presents, to bathe his hands ([Greek: nipsasthai]), a radiant ewer;
Luxuriant then they feast.
And somewhere else he says—
The golden ewer a maid obsequious brings,
Replenish'd from the cool translucent springs,
With copious water the bright vase supplies,
A silver laver of capacious size;
They wash ([Greek: hydôr epi cheiras echeuan]). The tables in fair order spread,
They heap the glittering canisters with bread.
And Sophron, in his Female Actresses, says—
O hard-work'd Cæcoa, give us water for our hands ([Greek: kata cheiros]),
And then prepare the table for our food.
And among both the tragic and comic writers the word [Greek: cherniba] is read with an acute accent on the penultima. By Euripides, in his Hercules—
Which great Alcmena's son might in the basin ([Greek: cherniba]) dip.
And also by Eupolis, in his Goats—
Here make an end of your lustration ([Greek: cherniba]).
