III. v. 11-41, v. 202-326, an exhortation to justice and moral conduct in general. IV. v. 383-693, a didactic discourse on agriculture and navigation, interspersed with exhortations to industry. V. v. 768-828, the doctrine of lucky and unlucky days. VI. v. 327-382, v. 692-764, two general exhortations to virtue, prudence, and moderation. The verses not included in any of the foregoing sections are considered by Twesten as the connecting lines, inserted by the compilers of the existing poem, or perhaps even by the rhapsodists themselves, for the purpose of more continuous recitation. Some of this criticism seems unnecessarily minute; yet it is deserving of attention, at least from all favourers of Wolf's theory and in particular, although the internal evidence of the genuineness of the verses themselves is, with some few exceptions, quite convincing to us, we can scarcely hesitate in considering line $83, Πληϊάδων 'Ατλαγενέων ἐπιτελλομενάων as the commencement of a work distinct from the legendary and moral poetry which precedes it. Still it must be remembered that none of these divisions were recognized by the ancients, who quote all parts of the poem under the title of The Works and Days, or, more briefly, of the Works alone. In the grammarians, indeed, we find such titles as Δαιμονολογία, Πανδώρα, Πιθοιγία, and the like, just as it is well known was the practice in citing the Homeric poems; a practice which naturally arose from the universal habit of recitation by rhapsodists, in consequence of which some particular passages became more popular than others, and were then familiarly designated, for convenience' sake, by appellations derived from the immediate subjects therein treated. The truth is, that the desultory and miscellaneous character of the composition of the Works and Days, even if we consider its present form to be genuine, peculiarly admitted separate recitation and distinct naming; and it is probable that many will be disposed to countenance the conjectures of Twesten, as to Hesiod, who reject, with something like scorn and anger, the scepticism of Heyne as to the individual authorship of the Iliad. The unity of the Works and Days, like that of the Iliad, is a unity of feeling and of style; but this, in the one, arises from the operation of a single mind upon distinct, though not uncongenial, subjects; whilst, in the other, it may seem to be the result of several minds working contemporaneously on one and the same general theme in the catholic spirit of primeval national poetry. Be this, however, as it may, the verses now constituting the Works and Days have been handed down to us from a high antiquity, indissolubly connected in one piece; and a more remarkable, and, in some respects, a more admirable poem does not exist among all the precious reliques of the Greek Muse. It is said,* that a poem of the same name, by Orpheus, was the original of the Works and Days of Hesiod; but-independently of the uncertainty in which we are as to the very existence of the Thracian bard himself, and of the absolute certainty that all the poetry now remaining to us under his name is of a date long subsequent to the age in which he is supposed to have lived-Pliny the elder expressly affirms,† that Hesiod was the first person upon record who had undertaken to deliver precepts on agriculture. It would, however, be a great mistake to suppose that the exclusive, or even the principal, object of the Works and Days, as the poem now stands, is the mere inculcation of rules for good husbandry. The leading aim of the poet is to reform the manners and to strengthen the mind of his brother Perses, by pointing out to him, in strong language, as well the miseries of indigence and consequent dependence on the charity of strangers, as the certain rewards of industry and virtuous habits in the competence and reputation which they can alone ensure. This leads him to that didactic treatise on rural and nautical pursuits, and the propitious days for commencing them respectively, which has given the title and the character to the whole poem. Agriculture and maritime adventures were the only means of obtaining, in a peaceable way, an independent livelihood; and it may be observed, that the word Epya, Works, properly denotes all the duties which may be incumbent upon a good and prudent man in the course of an industrious life. After the invocation-in which Hesiod, or some other congenial poet, declares, in reverential language, the omnipotence and universal providence of God in the moral government of the world— he notices that there are two kinds of rivalry or strife, the one hateful, and the cause of war and trouble-the other, profitable, and rooted deeply in the hearts of men. Under the influence of this honest emulation, tradesmen and artisans endeavour to surpass each other, and beggars and poets (thus ancient is that fatal association!) wrangle among themselves for precedence!— 6 'You, O Perses,' says the poet, should bear this distinction in mind, and not permit a mean litigious spirit to divert you from your proper work, and make you a wretched hanger-on of the judicial assembly. No man ought to go to law who has not previously laid up a whole year's provision in his house. Lately, indeed, you succeeded, on the partition of our patrimony, by bribing the gift-devouring judges! Fools! not to know how much more an honest half is than an ill-gotten whole; nor how much, nor how great good there may be in such humble fare as mallows and the daffodil!' *Fabric. B. G. ii., 8.6. fxiv. 1. xviii. 15. Νήπιοι" Νήπιοι· οὐδ ̓ ἴσασιν ὅσω πλέον ἥμισυ παντὸς, οὐδ ̓ ὅσον ἐν μαλάκῃ τε καὶ ἀσφοδέλῳ μέγ' ὄνειαρ.* He then tells, in allegoric mood, how Jupiter withdrew fire from the earth, and how Prometheus-at once the rebel and the rodeemer-stole it back again for the use of men; and how again Pandora, the first woman, opened upon the seduced and disobedient Epimetheus her box, which held a thousand curses and but one blessing-Hope-beneath its lid. We do not say that Hesiod was conscious of all the inwardness, as Bacon calls it,+ of this mythic figure, yet the imagination that has long pondered over the solemn and expressive fables of early Greece can with difficulty resist the belief that a pregnant germ of traditionary truth lies hidden within this uncouth shrine, or help musing on the name and fate of that other first woman— More lovely than Pandora, whom the gods Of him who had stole Jove's authentic fire.' We are next presented with the original of that often-copied picture of the successive ages of gold, silver, brass, and iron—with reference to which favourite allegory it is observable that, although the notion of a gradual degeneracy of mankind from their primitive state was almost universal among those nations of the old world, with whom we are at all acquainted, the fact of a Fall-a disobedience and forfeiture of one, with which the obedience and redemption of one should be commensurate-is nowhere, unless we are to except the story of Pandora and Epimetheus, and a single shadowy glimpse or guess of Plato, to be met with in the profound and glowing records of pagan philosophy. That most beautiful, most wonderful tale of Cupid and Psyche we do not except; because, though its origin has never been precisely discovered, and its external dress is pagan, we can never believe but that the motive, the germ of the romance, must have been found by Apuleius in the scriptures of the New Testament. But we must withdraw our foot from the starry cavern of old philosophy, and rather remark, that as, according to Hesiod, Pandora, the first woman, was made and placed on earth by Jupiter, who, after the same authority, was not in power till the silver age, it is difficult to resist the ungallant and perplexing inference, that there were no women at all amongst us in the golden epoch. Between the brazen period and that of iron, or his own times, the poet places the heroes of Greecethe warriors against Thebes and Troy-the morning of history clearing up from the bewildering twilight of tradition, yet still streaked with the flying clouds of ignorance, and rendered magically lustrous by the setting moon of fiction. These were the mighty men which were, of old, men of renown—the sons of the giants; and when they died, instead of descending to Hadesobscurity-they passed on the wings of the Muses to Pindar's Isle of the blest, Where ocean-breezes blow Or glorious trees, whence they Wreathe chaplets for the neck and hand!* After this, the poet utters his famous fable of the Hawk and the Nightingale, illustrative of the tendency of men in power to become unjust and tyraunous. This is the earliest instance in profane literature of that species of composition which is now indissolubly associated with the name of Esop-the first specimen existing is Jotham's parable † of the trees electing a king. Then follows a very striking comparison between the prosperous condition of a just, and the miseries which afflict an unjust, community; and, in describing the felicity of the first, Hesiod enters into a palpable imitation of that very remarkable passage in the Odyssey, in which the curious mention is made of fish being plentiful under a good government-an oddity which it is quite intelligible that an imitator should omit, but which no one can believe he would, of his own head, insert; indeed, it is quite unaccountable how Robinson and some other critics, who would make Hesiod anterior to Homer, could overlook the decisive character of originality in the many passages of the Iliad and Odyssey, parallels to which are to be found in the Hesiodic poems. * Olymp. ii. Φίλταθ' Αρμοδί', οὔ τι που τέθνηκας· κ.τ.λ. says Callistratus : 'Loved Harmodius! reft of breath, Yet feel'st thou not the stroke of death! We trust the learned author of these lines will not visit us officially for the slight liberty we have taken with them. They are quoted from a delightful work, (Bland's Anthology,) which we earnestly hope may be soon republished. Mr. Bland, we believe, is dead; but the very amiable and accomplished gentleman who contributed the principal part of the versions is in possession of the work; and although in the new office, to which he has been most worthily appointed, he will for some time have enough to do with administering the law to suitors and teaching it to his fellows of the bench, we hope he may one day find leisure to give to the public the benefit of his already collected stores. The annotations should be much abridged, if not omitted altogether. Judges, ix. 8-15. ‡ Od. T. xix. 108-114. From From v. 247 to v. 297, a very exalted code of ethics is laid down, in which the duty, the necessity, and the rewards of justice and fidelity are especially urged upon the attention of Perses: indeed, throughout the moral parts of the poem, the recollection of the lawsuit seems to have led Hesiod to insist over and over again upon fair dealing, and a sacred observance of oaths, as of supreme importance. He charges kings and judges to be just and merciful, and tells them, in a sublime passage, familiar to us by Milton's imitation, that myriads of ministering spirits watch their actions : * Spirits there are immortal amongst men, Who tyrants, injurers, and atheists ken; Thousands thrice ten their paths on earth they trace, Veil'd in obscurity, they walk the land, And mark the righteous and th' unrighteous hand. Hesiod concludes this grand and most extraordinary sermon on the sacred duty of justice with the following lines, which were among, if not themselves, the most celebrated verses of antiquity. Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle,§ Cicero,|| Livy,¶ we may say half the writers in either language, quote or allude to them. They seem, even in Rome, to have been almost proverbial for a child's school exercise; ** Lucian++ calls them those notorious or popular (navonua) verses of Hesiod about virtue and labour, and the ascent to the summit.' The thought which they contain has been repeated a thousand times since Hesiod lived, yet the solemn sweetness of the original lines has never been equalled. τὴν μέντοι κακότητα καὶ ἐλαδόν ἐστιν ἑλέσθαι *P. L., iv. 677-678. Ethic. Nic., i. 4. ** Cic. ad Fam., i. 18. Rep. ii. Legg. iv. Mem. ii, i. 20. xxii. 29. tt Necyomant. Hermot. Op. et Di., 287-297. Hence Machiavel's well known classification- Sono di tre generazioni cervelli; l'uno intende per se; l'altro intende quanto da altri gli è mostro; il terzo non intende nè per se stesso, nè per demostrazione d' altri.-Il Principe. But |