Page:Hesiod, and Theognis.djvu/73

 moderation;" and whilst in the first clause a sound mind is the end proposed, the latter part evidently has reference to the frugal diet, which bespeaks contentment and an absence of covetousness, such as breathes in Horace's prayer:—

and which, moreover, favours health and a sound body. It is unnecessary to point out the similarity of this proverb to that of Solomon respecting the "dinner of herbs," or to our own adage that "enough is as good as a feast;" but it may be pertinent to note that this Hesiodian maxim is, like the former, quoted by Plato, who in his Laws (iii. 690) explains Hesiod's meaning, "that when the whole was injurious and the half moderate, then the moderate was more and better than the immoderate." The next which presents itself in the 'Works and Days' owes its interest as much to the fact that it occurs almost totidem verbis in Homer, as to its resemblance to a whole host of later proverbs and adages amongst all nations. When Hesiod would fain enforce the advantage of doing right, and acting justly, without constraint, he, as it were, glances at the case of those who do not see this till justice has taught them its lesson, and says, in the language of proverb,

In the 17th Book of the Iliad, Homer has the same