Page:Hesiod, and Theognis.djvu/74

 expression, save in the substitution of the word "acts" for "suffers;" and it is exceedingly probable that both adapted to their immediate purposes the words of a pre-existing proverb. Hesiod had already glanced at the same proverb, when, in v. 89 of the 'Works and Days,' he said of the improvident Epimetheus that "he first took the gift "(Pandora)," and after grieved;" and it is probable that we have in it the germ of very many adagial expressions about the teaching of experience—such as those about "the stung fisherman," "the burnt child," and "the scalded cat" of the Latin, English, and Spanish languages respectively. The Ojis, according to Burton, say, "He whom a serpent has bitten, dreads a slow-worm." Of a kindred tone of high heathen morality are several proverbial expressions in the 'Works and Days' touching uprightness and justice in communities and individuals. Thus in one place we read that

In another, that mischief and malice recoil on their author:—