Works and Days
Works and Days () is a didactic poem written by ancient Greek poet Hesiod around 700 BC. It is in dactylic hexameter and contains 828 lines. At its center, the Works and Days is a farmer's almanac in which Hesiod instructs his brother Perses in the agricultural arts. Scholars have seen this work against a background of agrarian crisis in mainland Greece, which inspired a wave of colonial expeditions in search of new land. In the poem, Hesiod also offers his brother extensive moralizing advice on how he should live his life. Works and Days is perhaps best known for its two mythological aetiologies for the toil and pain that define the human condition - the story of Prometheus and Pandora, and the so-called Myth of Five Ages. Synopsis In Works and Days, Hesiod describes himself as the heir of a farm bequeathed to his brother Perses and him. Perses, though, apparently squandered his wealth and came back for what is owned by Hesiod. Perses went to the law and bribed the lords to judge in his favour. The poem contains a sharp attack against unjust judges like those who decided in favour of Perses; they are depicted as pocketing bribes as they render their unfair verdicts. Hesiod seems to have thought that instead of giving him money or property, which he will again spend in no time, teaching him the virtues of work and impart his wisdom, which can be used to generate an income, would be better. Like the Theogony, Works and Days begins with a hymnic invocation to the Muses, albeit much shorter (10 lines to the Theogony 115) and with a different focus. The poet invokes the "Pierian Muses" to sing of their father Zeus and his control of the fates of mankind. Through the power of Zeus, men might be famous or nameless; he easily strengthens and oppresses the strong, reduces the conspicuous and raises up the inconspicuous; easily he straightens the crooked and withers the many. Hesiod then appeals to Zeus to guide his undertaking: "Hearken, seeing and hearing, and through justice put straight the laws; and may I speak the truth to Perses." Hesiod begins the poem proper by directly engaging with the content of the Theogony. There was after all not one Eris (, "Strife"), as in that poem, but two: one is quite blameworthy and provokes wars and disagreement among mankind; but the other is commended by all who know her, for she compels men to work honorably, rivaling each other: Hesiod encourages Perses to avoid the bad Eris and not let her persuade him to frequent the arguments in the agora, but to focus on working for his livelihood. Family business follows, as Hesiod implores his brother to join him in sorting out their fraternal discord through the "justice of Zeus". It comes out that they had previously divided their patrimony, but that Perses claimed more than his fair share by influencing "bribe-devouring kings" (, dōrophagoi basileis). The following few