by Hesiod
194. . . . judgments: Crooked-counseled, bribe-devouring elders falsely swear that their judgments are just. Justice is personified as a woman running along a road; but she can be dragged off—raped—by evil men who lie in wait.
196. . . . path: Here Hesiod changes the picture of Justice from a woman raped to that of a vengeful spirit coursing over the earth.
204. surface: Acorns were a primitive food, a food for the poor that grows without cultivation. (They were a staple of the Indians of northern California.)
206. parents: That is, they are legitimate, not products of adultery.
258. divine lineage: What exactly Hesiod means by this is unclear, because Persês does not seem to be of high social status. Perhaps through work Persês can improve his status.
273. . . . helps them: That is, if one is in need, it is not helpful to hold back from requesting assistance because of the shame of poverty; but shame is helpful in keeping one from falling into poverty in the first place through a disinclination to work.
295. themselves: That is, your neighbors come at once, whereas your in-laws, if living far away, must prepare themselves and so come later.
326. . . . to set: The Pleiadês are a group of six (or seven) bright stars in the constellation Taurus that appear just before sunrise in May (the heliacal rising) and disappear in November (the cosmical setting). In myth they were said to be daughters of the Titan Atlas and the Oceanid Pleionê. The hunter Orion pursued them until Zeus changed them into stars. The meaning of the word is unknown but was early equated with Peleiadês, “doves.”
328. . . . the iron: The Pleiadês disappear in the brightness of the sun from the end of March until the beginning of May, when the scythe (“the iron”) is sharpened in preparation for the harvest.
354. at that time: In late September and early October. Sirius (“scorcher”), called the Dog Star because of its prominence in the constellation of Orion’s dog (Canis Major, “Greater Dog”), is the brightest star in the sky. It rises along with the sun in July (its heliacal rising) and introduces the Dog Days, the time of the most intense heat and accompanying fevers and other ailments in the Mediterranean, when plants wilted, men weakened or became ill, and women were aroused.
361. . . . four-foot cart: The mortar and pestle are for grinding wheat. The axle is for a cart. It is so long because presumably the axle projected on either side from the wheel and rotated with it. The mallet is for pounding and breaking up clods of dirt (see fig. 14). The cart wheel is probably made of solid wood, but the Greek is obscure.
366. . . . the stock: The yoke Hesiod describes looks like the figure shown here (a modification of the drawing in M. L. West, ed., Hesiod: Works and Days [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978], 276; see also fig. 16 here):
The pole attaches to the yoke of the oxen; the plowman guides the plow by the handle; the peg holds (or else pegs hold) the plow-tree to the stock; the iron share is affixed to front of the stock. “One of Athena’s servants” (lines 364–65) is the craftsman, because Athena sponsors craft.
371. holm oak: Also called “holly oak,” because the leaves are spiny and resemble holly leaves. Holm oak is a large evergreen native to the Mediterranean. A similar tree growing in California is called “live oak.”
376. . . . eight-part loaf: It is not clear what the Greek means.
379. oversowing: The plowman needs both hands for the plow and flail, and so a second man is required to follow behind and scatter the seed.
383. winter: In mid-November.
385. wagon: For taking the seed to the field.
393. disappoint you: Crops were ordinarily sown in a given field in alternate years. During the fallow year the land was plowed two, three, or even four times during the spring and midsummer.
394. still friable: That is, before winter rains have turned it to mud.
395. . . . of children: Apparently a proverb, but the meaning of the Greek is unclear.
396. the earth: Either Hades or the sky god Zeus functioning as a fructifying power beneath the earth.
411. in a basket: The winter solstice is around December 20, the shortest day and longest night of the year. Ordinarily one harvests standing up, taking hold of the stalks with the left hand and cutting with the right. If the crop is poor, it is necessary to sit while harvesting. The ties will not hold if the stalks are too short unless they are turned so that the ears are at both ends of the sheath, the situation Hesiod describes. Usually the crops are placed in a cart, but with a poor crop a basket will do.
415–16. . . . third day: Evidently two days after the first cuckoo is heard, in March.
419. season: . . . That is, the best time for plowing is at the beginning of the rainy season, in the fall, and when it starts to rain again in the spring.
424. thin hand: Malnutrition causes the feet to swell.
429. Lenaion: The second half of January and early February.
441. like a wheel: The image is of an old man bent far over struggling against the fierce wind.
445. . . . boneless one: All ancient commentators take this odd expression as a kenning for the octopus, which does in fact occasionally eat its tentacles. A kenning is a circumlocution in the form of a compound that uses figurative language instead of a single noun, notably common in Anglo-Saxon and Old Norse poetry. Hesiod is fond of them.
449. Hellenes: According to Greek thought the sun spent more time in Africa than in Greece during the winter.
454. . . . to the ground: That is, an old man who uses a walking stick (the third foot) as, bent over, he walks along.
458. . . . warp: The farmer makes his own clothes. On the Greek vertical loom the warp threads dangle down and the weft threads are woven horizontally across. Evidently Hesiod means that the warp threads should be far apart so that the weft threads can be closely packed, but his meaning is not clear.
475. a help: That is, give your slaves more than half-rations, not more than full rations. The long nights justify a reduction in rations because the shorter work days put fewer demands on the need for nutrition.
480. . . . at dusk: The river Ocean is a bath surrounding the world into which the stars plunge, to emerge more brightly than before. Arcturus, “guardian of the bear,” is the brightest star in the constellation Boötês, “herdsman,” in the northern sky, the fourth-brightest star in the night sky. The spring solstice falls in the second half of February.
481. Pandion: A legendary king of Athens, father of Proknê and Philomela, who were transformed into a hoopoe (a colorful, crested European bird) and a swallow, respectively.
485. . . . Pleiadês: “House-carrier” is a kenning for a snail. Hesiod now jumps from the spring solstice to harvest time in mid-May.
495. heat: In mid-July.
497. . . . knees: The head and knees were thought to be places of procreative power.
499. Bibline wine: A fine wine from Thrace.
501. woods: That is, she is not stall-fed.
505. wine: Evidently not a reference to libations, but to mixing the wine with water in a weak but refreshing drink.
508. first appears: About June 20, a month before the rising of Sirius. The grain is strewn on the threshing-floor, and yoked oxen are driven round and round until the hulls fall away from the grain.
514. . . . possessions: “Day sleeper” is a kenning for a thief.
518. . . . Arcturus: In the “middle of the sky”: that is, due south, in mid-September.
522. set: In October. The constellation of the Hyadês, the “rainy ones,” sisters of the Pleiadês, lies between the Pleiadês and Orion and sets soon after them. Orion’s feet set at the same time, but his head is still visible until the second half of November.
524. . . . earth: But usually the meaning of pleion, here translated as “seed,” is “year,” so that the meaning of this line is much debated.
526. of Orion: In November.
532–533. . . . wings of the sea-crossing boat: Probably the sails are meant. Ancient ships are
often compared to birds.
533. smoke: See line 44.
541. . . . never nice: Aiolian Kymê (Latin Cumae) was located north of the HERMOS RIVER, in ASIA MINOR on the coast, one of the most important of the twelve cities of Aiolis, in northern Asia Minor, apparently founded by settlers from Thessaly and Boeotia after the breakup of the Bronze Age civilization in mainland Greece around the eleventh century B.C. The Aiolians were a northern Greek tribe who spoke a unique dialect. Kymê (Cumae) was also the name of the earliest Greek colony in Italy, founded ca. 750 B.C. by settlers from the island of EUBOEA, where Hesiod’s poems may have been recorded. There is today a town called Kymê on the east coast of Euboea. The poor village of Askra (see map 3) was on the slopes of Helikon and was abandoned by the fifth century B.C.
549. . . . from Aulis: A distance of about 200 feet across the EURIPOS CHANNEL, which separates Boeotia from Euboea! Aulis, on the Boeotian side, was the port from which the Trojan expedition set out.
554. a poem: Thought by many to be a version of the Theogony.
561. for sailing: From the end of June until August.
571. sea dangerous: In late September. “South Wind” in Greek is Notos.
574. to travel on: In the latter part of April.
578. on the waves: Because the drowned man received no honorable burial.
596. tongue: That is, don’t speak lies just to please him.
602. appearance: That is, “Handsome is as handsome does.”
611. is least: Hesiod refers to a potluck, a no-host dinner called an eranos.
617–18. blessed ones: Apparently such behavior will offend the gods.
621. avoid this: Because the fire, a sacred element, would be polluted.
628. . . . water: The prayer would be to the river itself.
632. . . . shining iron: “five-brancher” is a kenning for “hand.” He means don’t pare your fingernails at a feast.
633. for this: The reason for this prohibition is not clear.
635. croak: This would be a bad omen; if the house is already finished, then the evil cannot befall it.
637. . . . punishment: The meaning is unclear; perhaps pots can be polluted by being used by an unclean person.
640. . . . effect: Apparently “things unmoved” means tombs. One might place a male child on a tomb to absorb the manly qualities of whoever was buried there, but according to Hesiod this would be deleterious to his reproductive powers.
643. . . . this too: That is, a casual observer may complain that either too much meat or too little is being offered to the gods.
651. . . . the truth: That is, deciding what is the correct thirtieth day, always a problem when working with a lunar calendar. The lunar calendar governs the rest of Hesiod’s discussion of the days.
658. Wise One: A kenning for the ant, famous for its wisdom and its ability to prognosticate the weather.
661. . . . for plants: The month is divided into three periods, the waxing month, the midmonth, and the waning month, corresponding to the phases of the moon. So counting from the beginning, the sixth day of the midmonth would be the sixteenth day.
679. . . . perjurer: Perjurers are punished by the deified Oath (Horkos), the child of Strife (Eris), or by the Erinyes, the Furies, born from the drops of blood from the severed genitals of Sky.
696. . . . a mother: Stepmothers were traditionally malignant.
698. . . . transgression: Many think that from here Hesiod went on to discuss divination by birds, but if so the lines have been lost.
THE SHIELD OF HERAKLES
1. like her: The Shield of Herakles begins with an excerpt from The Catalogue of Women, sometimes called the Ehoiai after the Greek formula ê hoiê, “or such as,” words that begin each section of the Catalogue devoted to a specific heroine.
3. . . . Elektryon: Amphitryon was the son of Alkaios, the king of TIRYNS, a citadel just a few miles from the great fortress MYCENAE. Alkaios was a son of Andromeda and the great hero Perseus and brother to Elektryon, the king of Mycenae, which Perseus founded. Amphitryon was married to his niece Alkmenê, the daughter of Elektryon, but he accidentally killed his father-in-law, Elektryon.
12. Kadmeians: The Thebans, because Kadmos from Phoenicia had founded the city.
16. Taphians and Teleboans: The Taphians and Teleboans lived on an island (it is not clear which) in the Ionian Sea, off the northwest coast of Greece. They were famous pirates and slave traders who killed Alkmenê’s brothers in a raid on Mycenae. Alkmenê would not sleep with her new husband before he exacted vengeance for these murders.
23. . . . followed along: For BOEOTIA, PHOCIS, and LOCRIS, areas in central Greece, see Map 3.
30. . . . Phikion: Typhaonion seems to have been a village near Thebes, for some reason named after the monster Typhon. The nearby Mount Phikion was named after the Sphinx that persecuted Thebes. (The Sphinx is called Phiks in the Greek of the Theogony line 261.)
34. task: That is, taking vengeance on the Taphians and the Teleboans.
64. Pagasaian: PAGASAI was a coastal harbor town in THESSALY, near IOLKOS that had a shrine to Apollo. It was the starting point for Jason’s expedition to obtain the Golden Fleece.
67. Iolaos: Iolaos is Herakles’ nephew, the son of Herakles’ half-brother, Iphiklês (see Geneaolgical Chart 20). Iolaos sometimes accompanies Herakles on his adventures.
75. Heniochê: Heniochê (“female charioteer”) is the wife of Kreon. Kreon and his sister, Jocasta, were descendants of Kadmos. In the story of Oedipus, Jocasta is the mother and wife of Oedipus. Kreon is the father of Megara, the first wife of Herakles.
82. cruel man: Eurystheus is a grandson of Perseus (as Herakles is Perseus’ great-grandson), a king of Mycenae who had power over Herakles and sent him on his labors.
92. Shaker of the Earth: Poseidon.
100. Alkidês: “son of Alkaios,” but usually “Alkidês” refers to the grandson of Alkaios, Herakles; here, however, it refers to Amphitryon, the son of Alkaios. Although Herakles is really the son of Zeus, his mortal father is Amphitryon, who is the father of Iphiklês, who is the father of Iolaos.
108. Arion: A fabulous swift horse, the offspring of Poseidon and Demeter. Poseidon desired Demeter, but she changed into a mare to escape his attentions. Poseidon changed himself into a stallion and covered her; so Arion was conceived.
122. steel: The Greek word is adamas, an “unconquerable substance.” Probably this was some kind of steel, made of iron with an admixture of carbon.
130. . . . Strife: Fear (Phobos) is the child of Aphrodite and Ares. He accompanied Ares into battle along with Strife (Eris), a sister of Ares, and Phobos’ twin brother, Terror (Deimos).
135. Sirius: See note on line 25 to Works and Days.
160. . . . gods: These names belong to prominent Lapiths, a Thessalian tribe who battled with the monstrous centaurs. Kaineus was born a woman, but when Poseidon raped her, she begged him to be changed into a man so that she should never have to undergo such indignity again. As a man Kaineus was invulnerable to weapons, so the centaurs destroyed him by pounding him into the ground with their staves (fig. 20). Dryas, “oak,” was a leader in the war, numbered by Nestor in the Iliad (1.265–68) among “the strongest men that the earth has bred, the strongest men against the strongest enemies, a savage mountain-dwelling tribe [the centaurs] whom they destroyed completely.” The war began at the wedding of the Lapith king, Peirithoös, when the centaurs became drunk and attempted to rape the bride, Hippodameia, and her attendants (see fig. 21). Peirithoös was a good friend of the Athenian hero Theseus, son of Aegeus, who also fought in the war. Hopleus is a son of Poseidon, otherwise unknown, as are Exakios, Phaleros, and Prolochos. Mopsos lived near the Thessalian river Titaressos, a tributary of the PENEIOS RIVER, which flows through central Thessaly. He was a famous seer who was also an Argonaut.
166. . . . in their hands: The centaurs (“bullkillers”) were originally a wild race that lived in the mountains of Thessaly, rough, covered with hair, given
to rape and rapine. Later they were thought of as being part horse and part human. They carried boughs as weapons. Their names seem made up here to agree with their bestiality: Petraios, “rocky”; Asbolos, “sooty”; Arktos, “like a bear”; Oureios, “of the mountain”; Mimas, “imitator”(?); Peukeus, “of the pine forest”; Perimedes, “planner”(?); Dryalos, “like an oak.”
173. Tritogeneia: An obscure epithet of Athena.
195. Lame One: Hephaistos.
202. night: The helmet of Hades made the wearer invisible.
210. . . . quaking: The great hero Perseus was the founder of Mycenae and the great-grandfather of Herakles. The son of the princess Danaê and Zeus, he beheaded the Gorgon Medusa and saved Andromeda from a sea monster.
233. Death Mist: The Greek is Achlys, first appearing here as a personification of the cloud that overcomes a man when he is dying.
239. guarded it: Only Thebes had seven towers in Greek tradition; the poet must be thinking of Thebes.
287. Lynkeus: One of the sons of Aigyptos, who founded the royal house of Argos. Perseus was descended from Aigyptos, and Perseus was the father of Alkaios, the father of Amphitryon, Herakles’ mortal father.
297. Zeus-born: That is, favored by the gods. (Iolaos is not related to Zeus.)
309. Themistonoê: Otherwise unknown.
312. Pylos: In the southwestern PELOPONNESUS, where Herakles fought Ares on an earlier occasion.
323. Enyalios: Another name for Ares.
331. . . . their voices: The Myrmidons are the followers of Achilles in the Iliad; their town is PHTHIA, someplace in southern THESSALY. Iolkos (modern Volo), whence Jason set out, is at the head of the GULF OF PAGASAI. Arnê, Helikê, and Antheia are other towns in Thessaly, of unknown location.
345. fought: That is, in mid-July.
Bibliography