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REMAINS OF HESIOD.
The goods for which he pawn'd his soul decay,
The breath and shining bubble of a day.
Alike the man of sin is he confest,
Who spurns the suppliant[1] and who wrongs the guest;
Who climbs, by lure of stolen embraces led,
With ill-timed act, a brother's marriage bed;
Who dares by crafty wickedness abuse
His trust, and robs the orphans of their dues;
Who, on the threshold of afflictive age,
His hoary parent stings with taunting rage:
On him shall Jove in anger look from high,
And deep requite the dark iniquity:
But wholly thou from these refrain thy mind,
Weak as it is, and wavering as the wind.
With thy best means perform the ritual part,
Outwardly pure and spotless at the heart,
And on thy altar let unblemish'd thighs
In fragrant savour to th' immortals rise.
The breath and shining bubble of a day.
Alike the man of sin is he confest,
Who spurns the suppliant[1] and who wrongs the guest;
Who climbs, by lure of stolen embraces led,
With ill-timed act, a brother's marriage bed;
Who dares by crafty wickedness abuse
His trust, and robs the orphans of their dues;
Who, on the threshold of afflictive age,
His hoary parent stings with taunting rage:
On him shall Jove in anger look from high,
And deep requite the dark iniquity:
But wholly thou from these refrain thy mind,
Weak as it is, and wavering as the wind.
With thy best means perform the ritual part,
Outwardly pure and spotless at the heart,
And on thy altar let unblemish'd thighs
In fragrant savour to th' immortals rise.
- ↑ Who spurns the suppliant.] The ninth book of the Odyssey exhibits a beautiful passage illustrative of the high reverence in which the Grecians held the duties of hospitality.Illustrious lord! respect the gods, and us
Thy suitors: suppliants are the care of Jove
The hospitable: he their wrongs resents,
And where the stranger sojourns there is he.Cowper.
