Note 801 — Chapter VIII · THE HEBREW SABBATH
Reading edition
Exodus, xvi, 29. On this text Dositheus, the founder of an ascetic Samaritan sect, is said to have based the requirement that, in whatever habit, place, or posture the Sabbath found a man, in this he was to continue till the close of the sacred festival; if he was found sitting, he must sit still all the day, or, if reclining, he must lie down all the day (Origen, De principiis, iv, 1, 17). S. Reinach wittily compares the Dosithean injunction to the practice of various animals, which, when in danger and unable to flee, fait le mort (“Le sabbat hébraïque,” Cultes, mythes, et religions, Paris, 1906-1912, ii, 444). For some mediæval stories illustrating the rule of absolute repose on the Sabbath, see R. Basset, “L’observation du sabbat,” Revue des traditions populaires, 1893, viii, 250-254.