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Hesiod: Works and Days

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Hesiod: Works and Days
    Click to Expand/Collapse Option Complete text
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionProoemium
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionTwo kinds of Strife
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionStrife in courts
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionPrometheus
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionPandora
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionEpimetheus
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionThe Golden Age
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionThe Silver Age
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionThe Bronze Age
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionThe Heroic Age
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionThe Iron Age
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionFable of the Nightingale
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionDike
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionZeus’ Punishment
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionEye of Zeus
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCatalogue of Virtues
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionGifts and Friendship
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionOikos
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionPloughing
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionReaping
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionWinter
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionSpring
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionSummer
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionAutumn
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionSailing
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionSailing the ocean
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionMarriage and Honour
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionFestivals
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionReputation
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionCalendar
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionEnd
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εὔχεσθαι δὲ Διὶ χθονίῳ Δημήτερί θ᾽ ἁγνῇ,
ἐκτελέα βρίθειν Δημήτερος ἱερὸν ἀκτήν,
ἀρχόμενος τὰ πρῶτ᾽ ἀρότου, ὅτ᾽ ἂν ἄκρον ἐχέτλης
χειρὶ λαβὼν ὅρπηκα βοῶν ἐπὶ νῶτον ἵκηαι
ἔνδρυον ἑλκόντων μεσάβων. ὁ δὲ τυτθὸς ὄπισθε
δμῷος ἔχων μακέλην πόνον ὀρνίθεσσι τιθείη
σπέρμα κατακρύπτων: ἐυθημοσύνη γὰρ ἀρίστη
θνητοῖς ἀνθρώποις, κακοθημοσύνη δὲ κακίστη.
ὧδέ κεν ἀδροσύνῃ στάχυες νεύοιεν ἔραζε,
εἰ τέλος αὐτὸς ὄπισθεν Ὀλύμπιος ἐσθλὸν ὀπάζοι,
ἐκ δ᾽ ἀγγέων ἐλάσειας ἀράχνια: καί σε ἔολπα
γηθήσειν βιότου αἰρεύμενον ἔνδον ἐόντος.
εὐοχθέων δ᾽ ἵξεαι πολιὸν ἔαρ, οὐδὲ πρὸς ἄλλους
αὐγάσεαι: σέο δ᾽ ἄλλος ἀνὴρ κεχρημένος ἔσται. 
(Reaping 465-478) Pray to Zeus of the Earth and to pure Demeter to make Demeter’s holy grain sound and heavy, when first you begin ploughing, when you hold in your hand the end of the plough-tail and bring down your stick on the backs of the oxen as they draw on the pole-bar by the yoke-straps. Let a slave follow a little behind with a mattock and make trouble for the birds by hiding the seed; for good management is the best for mortal men as bad management is the worst. In this way your corn-ears will bow to the ground with fullness if the Olympian himself gives a good result at the last, and you will sweep the cobwebs from your bins and you will be glad, I ween, as you take of your garnered substance. And so you will have plenty till you come to grey springtime, and will not look wistfully to others, but another shall be in need of your help. 
εἰ δέ κεν ἠελίοιο τροπῇς ἀρόῳς χθόνα δῖαν,
ἥμενος ἀμήσεις ὀλίγον περὶ χειρὸς ἐέργων,
ἀντία δεσμεύων κεκονιμένος, οὐ μάλα χαίρων,
οἴσεις δ᾽ ἐν φορμῷ: παῦροι δέ σε θηήσονται.
ἄλλοτε δ᾽ ἀλλοῖος Ζηνὸς νόος αἰγιόχοιο,
ἀργαλέος δ᾽ ἄνδρεσσι καταθνητοῖσι νοῆσαι.
εἰ δέ κεν ὄψ᾽ ἀρόσῃς, τόδε κέν τοι φάρμακον εἴη:
ἦμος κόκκυξ κοκκύζει δρυὸς ἐν πετάλοισι
τὸ πρῶτον, τέρπει δὲ βροτοὺς ἐπ᾽ ἀπείρονα γαῖαν,
τῆμος Ζεὺς ὕοι τρίτῳ ἤματι μηδ᾽ ἀπολήγοι,
μήτ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ὑπερβάλλων βοὸς ὁπλὴν μήτ᾽ ἀπολείπων:
οὕτω κ᾽ ὀψαρότης πρῳηρότῃ ἰσοφαρίζοι.
ἐν θυμῷ δ᾽ εὖ πάντα φυλάσσεο: μηδέ σε λήθοι
μήτ᾽ ἔαρ γιγνόμενον πολιὸν μήθ᾽ ὥριος ὄμβρος. 
(479-492) But if you plough the good ground at the solstice, you will reap sitting, grasping a thin crop in your hand, binding the sheaves awry, dust-covered, not glad at all; so you will bring all home in a basket and not many will admire you. Yet the will of Zeus who holds the aegis is different at different times; and it is hard for mortal men to tell it; for if you should plough late, you may find this remedy--when the cuckoo first calls in the leaves of the oak and makes men glad all over the boundless earth, if Zeus should send rain on the third day and not cease until it rises neither above an ox’s hoof nor falls short of it, then the late-plougher will vie with the early. Keep all this well in mind, and fail not to mark grey spring as it comes and the season of rain. 
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