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[613] μὴ τεχνησάμενος. Translate, ‘May he who stored up [the design of] that belt in his craft’ (i. e. ‘in his inventive mind,’ cp. Od.23. 223“ἑῷ ἐγκάτθετο θυμῷ”), ‘having once fashioned it, never fashion any other work.’ It was the highest effort of genius, any further attempt would mar rather than increase the artist's glory: so Pliny, N. H. 36. 1. 7 ‘praeclarum opus etiamsi totius vitae fuisset;’ Od.8. 176“οὐδέ κεν ἄλλως”

“οὐδὲ θεὸς τεύξειε”. This notion that a man should not attempt a second effort when the first was perfect is illustrated by the story of Iwan the Terrible, who was said to have put out the eyes of the architect, who had built his royal palace, for fear he might try and reproduce the work. Nitzsch well compares for the use of “μή . . μηδέ” Hdt.8. 144“μὴ ποιέειν μήδ᾽ ἢν ἐθέλωμεν”, Plutarch. Flamin. 17. E “μὴ τοίνυν, ἔφη, μήδ᾽ ὑμεῖς θαυμάζετε”. It is probable however that we have here no mere periphrasis for the highest praise, but a naïve expression of terror at the ghastliness and the reality of the representations. The emphatic position of σμερδαλέος is not without force; so that we may render, ‘Would that he had never made it (so terrible a sight it was), but now that he has made it may he never make anything else like it!’ etc. This interpretation falls in better with the somewhat similar passage in Hom. Od.4. 684, because in both cases the participle following “μή” stands instead of a separate clause expressing a wish. We might state the whole sentence thus—“μὴ ὤφελε μὲν τοῦτο τεχνήσασθαι, νῦν δὲ, μὴ ἄλλο τι τεχνήσαιτο”. The var. lect. of Schol. H. (see above) must mean, ‘who put all his inventive power into that work.’

Homer's Odyssey. W. Walter Merry. James Riddell. D. B. Monro. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1886-1901.

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