Βοῦς ἕβδομος
seventh ox
Translated by Jennifer Benedict5 Jun 2002Vetting: high5 revisions
Translation
[sc. A proverbial phrase] in reference to those without feeling. For paupers when they did not have anything living to sacrifice used to mould [an ox] out of dough. When the 6 living [beasts] were being sacrificed -- sheep, pig, ram, ox, bird, goose -- a seventh, the one [made] from dough, was sacrificed; and on account of its being lifeless, it was adapted into a proverb.1
An epigram to an ox and goat carved on a silver plaque: "How, being an ox, do you not cut furrows of earth, but lie down like a rustic drunkard? And how are you, goat, not running off to pastures but stood up as a silver image? I have criticised and checked your laziness."2
An epigram to an ox and goat carved on a silver plaque: "How, being an ox, do you not cut furrows of earth, but lie down like a rustic drunkard? And how are you, goat, not running off to pastures but stood up as a silver image? I have criticised and checked your laziness."2