Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/455

Rh of the two schools likewise differed ; for while the Homeric poems were recited under the accompani- ment of the cithara, those of Hesiod were recited without any musical instrument, the reciter holding in his hand only a laurel branch or staff {f>d€Sos, (TKrjiTTpou, Hesiod, Tlieog. 30 ; Pans. ix. 30, x. 7. $ 2 ; Vmdi. Isthm. iii. 55, with Dissen's note ; Cal- liniach. Fragm. 138). As Boeotia, Phocis, and Euboea were the principal parts of Greece where the Hesiodic poetry flourished, we cannot be sur- prised at finding that the Delphic oracle is a great subject of veneration with this school, and that there exists a strong resemblance between the hexameter oracles of the Pythia and the verses of Hesiod ; nay, there is a verse in Hesiod {Op. et Dies, 283), which is also mentioned by Herodotus (vi. 86) as a Pythian oracle, and Hesiod himself is said to have possessed the gift of prophecy, and to have acquired it in Acamania. A great many alle- gorical expressions, such as we frequently find in the oracular language, are common also in the poems of Hesiod. This circumstance, as well as certain grammatical forms in the language of Hesiod, constitute another point of difference between the Homeric and Hesiodic poetry, although the dialect in which the poems of both schools are composed is, on the whole, the same, — that is, the Ionic-epic, which had become established as the language of epic poetry through the influence of Homer.

The ancients attributed to the one poet Hesiod a great variety of works ; that is, all those which in form and substance answered to the spirit of the Hesiodic school, and thus seemed to be of a common origin. We shall subjoin a list of them, beginning with those which are still extant.

1. "Eprya or ''Ep7a kolL rj^uepat, commonly called Opera et Dies. In the time of Pausanias (ix. 31. § 3, &c.), this was the only poem which the people about Mount Helicon considered to be a genuine production of Hesiod, with the exception of the first ten lines, which certainly appear to have been prefixed by a later hand. There are also several other parts of this poem which seem to be later interpolations ; but, on the whole, it bears the impress of a genuine production of very high an- tiquity, though in its present form it may consist only of disjointed portions of the original. It is written in the most homely and simple style, with scarcely any poetical imagery or ornament, and must be looked upon as the most ancient specimen of didactic poetry. It contains ethical, political, and economical precepts, the last of which constitute the greater part of the work, consisting of rules about choosing a wife, the education of children, .igriculture, commerce, and navigation. A poem on these subjects was not of course held in much esteem by the powerful and ruling classes in Greece at the time, and made the Spartan Cleomenes con- temptuously call Hesiod the poet of helots, in con- trast with Homer, the delight of the warrior. (Pint. Jpophth. Lac. Cleom. 1.) The conclusion of the poem, from v. 750 to 828 is a sort of calendar, and was probably appended to it in later times, and the addition Koi riix4pai in the title of the poem seems to have been added in consequence of this appendage, for the poem is sometimes simply called 'Epya. It would further seem that three distinct poems have been inserted in it ; viz. 1. The fable of Prometheus and Pandora (47 — 105); 2. On the ages of the world, which are designated by the names of metals (109—201) ; and, 3. A descrip- tion of winter (504 — 558). The first two of these poems are not so much out of keeping with the whole as the third, which is manifestly the most recent production of all, and most foreign to the spirit of Hesiod. That which remains, after the deduction of these probable interpolations, consists of a collection of maxims, proverbs, and wise sav- ings, containing a considerable amount of practical wisdom ; and some of these yvoijMii or virodrJKai may be as old as the Greek nation itself. (Isocrat. c. Nicocl. p. 23, ed. Steph. ; Lucian, Dial, de Hes. 1, 8.) Now, admitting that the "'Ep7a originally consisted only of such maxims and precepts, it is difficult to understand how the author could de- rive from his production a reputation like that enjoyed by Hesiod, especially if we remember that at Thespiae, to which the village of Ascra was sub- ject, agriculture was held' degrading to a freeman. (Heraclid. Pont. 42.) In order to account for this phenomenon, it must be supposed that Hesiod was a poet of the people and peasantry rather than of the ruling nobles, but that afterwards, when the warlike spirit of the heroic ages subsided, and peaceful pursuits began to be held in higher esteem, the poet of the plough also rose from his obscurity, and was looked upon as a sage ; nay, the very con- trast with the Homeric poetry may have contributed to raise his fame. At all events, the poem, not- withstanding its want of unity and the incoherence of its parts, gives to us an attractive picture of the simplicity of the early Greek mode of life, of their manners and their domestic relations. (Comp. Twesten, Commentat. Critica de Hesiodi Carmine, quod insciib. Opera et Dies, Kiel, 1815, 8vo. ; F. L. Hug, Hesiodi "Epya /jLeyaKa, Freiburg, 1835 ; Ranke, De Hesiodi Op. et Diehus, 1838, 4to ; Lehrs, Quaest. Epic. p. 180, &c. ; G. Hermann, in the Jahrbuclier fur Philol. vol. xxi. 2. p. 1 1 7, &c.)

2. @eoyopla. This poem was, as we remarked above, not considered by Hesiod's countrymen to be a genuine production of the poet. It presents, indeed, great differences from the preceding one : its very subject is apparently foreign to the homely author of the "£^70 ; but the Alexandrian gram- marians, especially Zenodotus and Aristarchus, appear to have had no doubt about its genuineness (Schol. Venet. ad II. xviii. 39), though their opinion cannot be taken to mean anything else than that the poem contained nothing that was opposed to the character -of the Hesiodic school ; and thus much we may therefore take for granted, that the Theogony is not the production of the same poet as the "E/rya, and that it probably belongs to a later date. In order to understand why the ancients, nevertheless, regarded the Theogony as an Hesiodic work, we must recollect the traditions of the poet's parentage, and the marvellous events of his life. It was on mount Helicon, the ancient seat of the Thracian muses, that he was believed to have been born and bred, and his descent was traced to Apollo ; the idea of his having composed a work on the genealogies of the gods and heroes cannot therefore have appeared to the ancients as very surprising. That the author of the Theogony was a Boeotian is evident, from certain peculiarities of the language. The Theogony gives an account of the origin of the world and the birth of the gods, explaining the whole order of nature in a series of genealogies, for every part of physical as well as moral nature there appears personified in the cha-