Note 69 — THE WORKS AND DAYS.
George Chapman translation
Shame, which our aid or injury we find.] The verse
No shame is his, Shame, of mankind the injury or aid,
occurs in the Iliad, 24; and in the Odyssey, 17, we meet with
An evil shame the needy beggar holds:
but Le Clerc should have known better than to follow Plutarch in the supposition of the lines being inserted from Homer by some other hand. It is one of the proverbial and traditionary sayings which frequently occur in their writings, and which belong rather to the language than to the poet.
The admirable Jewish scribe, in that ancient book of the Apocrypha entitled Ecclesiasticus, uses the same proverb:
Observe the opportunity and beware of evil; and be not ashamed when it concerneth thy soul.
For there is a shame that bringeth sin; and there is a shame which is glory and grace. Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, iv. 20, 21.