Page:HintsfromHesiod.pdf/58

 of the poem, seems to have been added in consequence of this appendage, for the poem is sometimes simply called "." It would further seem that three distinct poems have been inserted in it, viz.: 1. The fable of Prometheus and Pandora; 2. On the ages of the world, which are designated by the names of metals; and, 3. A description of winter. 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 reduction of the probable interpolations, consists of a collection of maxims, proverbs, and wise sayings, containing a considerable amount of practical wisdom, and some of these maxims may be as old as the Greek nation itself. Now, admitting that the Works originally consisted only of such maxims and precepts, it is difficult to understand how the author could derive from his production a reputation like that enjoyed by Hesiod, especially if we remember that at Thespiae, to which the village of Ascra was subject, agriculture was held degrading to a freeman. 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 contrast with the Homeric poetry may have contributed to raise his fame. At all events, the poem, notwithstanding 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.

2., or birth and genealogy of the gods. This poem, as we remarked above, was 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 but the Alexandrian grammarians, especially Zenodotus and Aristarchus, appear to have had no doubt about its genuineness, 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  is not the production of the same poet as the, and that it probably belongs to a later date. In order to understand why the ancients, nevertheless, regarded the Theogony as a Hesiodic work, we must recollect the traditions of the poet's