digies, or portents This is likewife mentioned by Paufanias Oslo Roger divine fpeeches; which Maximus Tyrus takes notice of in his fixteenth differtation Μεγάλα έργα reat or remarkable actions. We had the title of this work in the eighth book of Athens Knoxes an ace our Plutor. the marriage of Ceyx. We have pcm, both by Athenæus, and Sympefracs. | daffodil, or afphodelos. Quintilian, in his fi book denies the fables of Ælop to have been written originally by him, but fays the first author of them was Hefiod, and Plutarch informs us that Æfor was his difciple: but this opinion, though countenanced by fome, is exploded by others. When we reflect on the number of titles, the poems to which are irreparably loft, we fhould confider them as fo many monuments to raise our concern for the lofs of fo much treasure never to Of als ut labours of this great poet, we fee be retrieved. Let us turn our thoughts from that nothing but the titles remaining, excepting fome melancholy theme, and view the poet in his livfragments p.eferved by Pau'anias, Plutarch, Poly-ing writings; let us read him ourselves, and incite bius, &c. We are told that our poet compofed fome other works, of which we have not even the titles. We are affured, from diverfe paffages in Pliny, that he wrote of the virtues of herbs; but here Fabricius judiciously obferves, that he might, in other poems occafionally treat of various herbs; as in the beginning of his Works and Days, he fpeaks of the wholefomencis of mallows, and the our countrymen to a taste of the politeness of Greece. Scaliger, in an epifle to Salmafius, divides the state of poetry in Greece into four pericds of time: in the first arofe Homer and Hefiod; on which he has the juft obfervation that concludes my difcourfe: this, fays he, you may not improperly call the fpring of poefy; but it is rather the bloom than infancy. GENERAL ARGUMENT TO THE WORKS AND DAYS. and Menelaus; and fuch as are recorded by the The poet begins with the difference of the two contentions; and rejecting that which is attended with difgrace, he advifes his brother Perfes to prefer the other. One is the lover of ftrife, and the occafion of troubles: the other prompts us on to procure the neceffaries of life in a fair and honeft way. After Prometheus had by fubtlery ftole the fire clandeftinely from Jove (the fire is by the divine Plato, in his aliufion to this paffage, called the neceffaries, or abundance of life; and thofe are called fubtle, who were folicitous after the abund. ance of life), the god created a great evil, which was Pandora, that is Fortune, who was endowed with all the gifts of the gods, meaning all the benefits of nature: fo Fortune may from thence be faid to have the difpofal of the comforts of life; and from that time care and prudence are requir-not be tired with his precepts, because of a too ed in the management of human affairs. Before much fameness. Hence he paffes to rules of ecoPrometheus had purloined the fire, all the com- nomy, beginning with agriculture. He points mon neceffaries of life were near at hand, and ea- out the proper feafon for the plough, the harvest, fily attained; for Saturn had firft made a golden the vintage, and for felling wood; he fhows the age of men, to which the earth yielded all her fruits of induftry, and the ill confequences of fruits fpontaneously: the mortals of the golden negligence. He defcribes the different feafons, age fubmitted to a foft and pleasant death, and and tells us what works are proper to each. were afterwards made demons; and honour at Thefe are the fubjects of the first part of his Ecotended their names. To this iucceeded the fecond, nomy. In procels of time, and the thirft of gain the filver age, worse in all things than the first, increasing in men, every method was tried to the and better than the following; which Jupiter, or procuring iche; men begun to extend their Fate, took from the earth, and made happy in commerce over the feas: for which reafon the their death. Hence the poet paffes to the third, poct laid down precepts for navigation. He next the brafen age; the men of which, he fays, were proceeds to a recommendation of divine worship, fierce and terrible, who ignobly fell by their own the adoration due to the immortal gods, and the folly and civil difcord; nor was their future fate various ways of paying our homage to them. He like to the other, for they defcended to hell. This concludes with a fhort obfervation on days, digeneration is followed by a race of heroes, Eteo-viding them into the good, bad, and indifferent cles and Polynices, and the reft who were in the firft and oldeft Theban war, and Agamemnon I fuppofe Heinfius means Homer. COOKE'S HESIOD. WORKS AND DAYS*. BOOK I. THE ARGUMENT. This book contains the invocation to the whole, the general propofition, the ftory of Prometheus Epimetheus, and Pandora; a défcription of the golden age, filver age, brafen age, the age of heroes, and the iron age; a recommendation of virtue, from the temporal bleffings with which good men are attended, and the condition of the wicked, and feveral moral precepts proper to be observed through the course of our lives. SING, mufes, fing, from the Pierian grove; The foboliaft Tzetzes tells us, this poem was firft called the Works and Days of Hefiod, to diffinguifb it from another on the fame fubje&, and of the fame title, wrote by Orpheus. How much this may be depended on I cannot fay; but Fabricius affures us from Pliny, book 18. chap. 25. that Hefiod was the first who laid doran rules for agriculture. It is certain, that of all the pieces of this nature which were before Virgil, and extent in bis days, this was mofi efteemed by bim, otberwife be would not have fbowed that refpect to our auther which be does quite through his Georgic. In one place be propofes him as a pattern in that great work, where, addrefing to bis country, be fays, -tibi res antiquæ laudis et artis For thee my tuneful accents will I raise, Quid faciat lætas fegetes, quo fidere terram What makes a plenteous harveft, when to turn The fruitly foil, and when to fow the corn. DRYDEN. for by Works is meant the art of agriculture, and by Days the proper feafons for works. See farther in my Difcourfe on the Writings of Heliod. ΤΟ To him alone, to his great will we owe, Such Jove, who thunders terrible from high, And let my judgment be by juftice fway'd; 21 As here on earth we tread the maze of life, And one Jove planted in the womb of earth, He fees another with induttrious care, 41 Idle himself he fees them hafte to rife, How much the half is better than the whole, 60 Thus fpoke the cloud-compelling god in ire: 80 90 ICO 110 Next Hermes, artful god, must form her mind, With falfehoods fruitful, and detraction hung. 120 } Because a tribute fhe receiv'd from all : 149 151 Soon as the deathlefs gods were born, and man, A mortal race, with voice endow'd, began, The heav'nly pow'rs from high their work behold, And the firft age they ftyle an age of gold. Men spent a life like gods in Saturn's reign, 160 Nor felt their mind a care, nor body pain; From labour free, they ev'ry sense enjoy ; Nor could the ills of time their peace deftroy; In banquets they delight, remov'd from care; Nor troublesome old age intruded there: They die, or rather feem to die, they feem From hence transported in a pleafing dream, The fields, as yet untill'd, their fruits afford, When in the grave this race of men was laid, And mark our actions, good, or bad, below; They can reward with glory, or with geld; 180 Worfe than the first, a fecond age appears, Which the celeftials call the filver years. The golden age's virtues are no more; Nature grows weaker than fhe was before; la ftrength of body mortals much decay; And human wisdom feems to fade away. An hundred years the careful dames employ, Before they form'd to man th' unpolish'd boy; Who when he reach'd his bloom, his age's prime, Found, meafur'd by his joys, but fhort his time. 191 Men, prone to ill, deny'd the gods their due, And by their follies, made their days but few. The altars of the blefs'd neglected stand, Without the off'rings which the laws demand; But angry Jove in duft this people laid, Because no honours to the gods they paid. This fecond race, when clos'd their life's fhort span, Was happy deem'd beyond the state of man; 199 Their names were grateful to their children made; Each paid a rev'rence to his father's fhade. [ed might, And now a third, a brazen people rife, Unlike the former, men of monstrous size: Strong arms extensive from their fhoulders grow, Their limbs of equal magnitude below; Potent in arms, and dreadful at the spear, They live injurious, and devoid of fear: On the crade flesh of beafts they feed alone, Savage their nature, and their hearts of flone; Their houses braís, of brafs the warlike blade, 210 Iron was yet unknown, in brafs they trade: Fericus, robuft, impatient for the fight, War is their only care, and fole delight, To the dark shades of death this race defcend, By civil difcords, an ignoble end! Strong though they were, death quell'd their boastAnd fore'd their stubborn fouls to leave the light. To thefe a fourth, a better race fucceeds, Of godlike heroes, fam'd for martial deeds; Them demigods, at first, their matchlefs worth 220 Prociaim aloud all through the boundless earth, Thele, horrid wars, their love of arms destroy, Some at the gates of Thebes, and fome at Troy. Thefe, for the brothers fell, detefted strife! For beauty those, the lovely Grecian wife! To thefe does Jove a second life ordain, Some happy foil far in the diftant main, Where live the hero-shades in rich repast, Remote from mortals of a vulgar caft: There in the island of the blefs'd they find. 230 Where Saturn reigns, an endless calm of mind; And there the choiceft fruits adorn the fields, And thrice the fertile year a harvest yields. O! would I had my hours of life began Before this fifth, this finful race of man; Or had I not been call'd to breathe the day, Till the rough iron age had pafs'd away: For now, the times are fuch, the gods ordain, That every moment fhall be wing'd with pain; Condemn'd to forrows, and to toil we live; 240 Reft to our labour death alone can give; And yet, amid the cares our lives annoy, The gods will grant fome intervals of joy : But how degen'rate is the human state! Virtue no more diflinguifhes the great; No fafe reception fball the stranger find; Nor fhall the ties of blood or friendship bind; Nor fhall the parent, when his fons are nigh, Look with the fondnefs of a parent's eye, Nor to the fire the fon obedience pay, 250 Nor look with rev'rence on the locks of gray, But O! regardlef of the pow'rs divine, With bitter taunts fhall load his life's decline. Revenge and rapine fhall respect command, The pious, juft, and good, neglected stand. The wicked fhall the better man distress, The righteous fuffer, and without redress; Strict honefty, and naked truth, shall fail, The perjur'd villain in his arts prevail. Hoarse envy fhall, unfeen, exert her voice, Attend the wretched, and in ill rejoice, At laft fair modefty and juftice fly, Rob'd their pure limbs in white, and gain the sky, From the wide earth they reach the bleft abodes, And join the grand affembly of the gods, While mortal men, abandon'd to their grief, Sink in their forrows, hopeless of relief. 260 270 While now my fable from the birds I bring, The good man, injur'd, to revenge is flow, 295 Difperfing evils, to reward the crimes 300 310 Of those who banish justice from the times. 330 Think, O ye judges! and reform betimes, And trace the infant thoughts of fature fin. 349 O! when I hear the upright man complain. And, by his injuries, the judge arraign, If to be wicked is to find fuccefs, I cry, and to be just to meet diftrefs. May I nor mine the righteous path pursue, at int'rest only ever keep in view: Thefe doctrines, Perfes, treasure in thy heart, And never from the paths of justice part: Never by brutal violence be fway'd; But be the will of Jove in thefe obey'd. 371 380 In these the brute creation men exceed, They, void of reafon, by each other bleed, While man by juftice should be keep'd in awe, Juftice of nature, well ordain'd, the law. Who right efpouses through a righteous love, Shall meet the bounty of the hands of Jove; But he that will not be by laws confin'd, Whom not the facrament of oaths can bind, Who, with a willing foul, can juftice leave, A wound immortal fhall that man receive; His houfe's honour daily fhall decline: Fair flourish shall the just from line to line. O! Perfes, foolish Perfes, bow thine ear To the good counfels of a foul fincere. To wickedness the road is quickly found, Short is the way, and on an eafy ground. The paths of virtue must be reach'd by toil, Arduous and long, and on a rugged foil, Thorny the gate, but when the top you gain, Fair is the future, and the profpect plain, Far does the man all other men excel, Who from his wifdom, thinks in all things well, Wifely confid'ring, to himfelf a friend, 390 All for the present best, and for the end: Nor is the man without his fhare of praife, Who well the dictates of the wife obeys; But he that is not wife himfeif, nor can Harken to wifdom, is a ufclefs man. Ever obferve, Perfes, of birth divine, My precepts, and the profit fhall be thine; Then famine always fhall avoid thy door, And Ceres, fair-wreath'd goddeis, blefs thy ftore. 401 The flothful wretch, who lives from labour free, 410 Strictly obferve the wholesome rules I give, And, blefs'd in all, thou like a god fhalt live. Ne'er to thy neighbour's goods extend thy cares, Nor be neglectful of thine own affairs. Let no degen'rate fhame debafe thy mind, Shame that is never to the needy kind; The man that has it will continue poor; He must be bold that would enlarge his ftore 420 |