Speaker 1: Oh hi, hello, Bet, this is let's talk about mits baby,
Speaker 1: and I am your host live here with a somewhat
Speaker 1: unexpected reading episode.
Speaker 2: So we finished Ovid's Metamorphoses, What a wild ride, and
Speaker 2: I had this goal of reading something called the Alexandra
Speaker 2: I like Apron, and then I started reading it into
Speaker 2: the microphone and that failed miserably, whether due to just
Speaker 2: the nature of the epic poem or the translation. Either way,
Speaker 2: it was not gonna be fun for anyone. So while
Speaker 2: I await a longer idea for reading episodes through you
Speaker 2: all and that poll I set up on Spotify after
Speaker 2: the last Ovid's Metamorphoses episode, we are going to read
Speaker 2: something a little more familiar. Today's reading episode is a
Speaker 2: one off. It is Hesiod's Works and Days. Now the
Speaker 2: Works and Days is something else. So it is mythological,
Speaker 2: but it is also tied to ancient farming, which is interesting,
Speaker 2: and of course it has Hesiod's trademark misogyny that if
Speaker 2: you thought that there was some in the theogony, just wait,
Speaker 2: just wait. I honestly haven't read this from start to
Speaker 2: finish myself until I'm about to do it right now,
Speaker 2: and I think that's kind of the fun of it,
Speaker 2: so you will get to hear my live reaction. I
Speaker 2: do know what I know of what the Works and
Speaker 2: Days is that it contains Hesiod's most misogynistic take on
Speaker 2: Pandora the First Woman. Oh, it should be entertainingly disturbing.
Speaker 2: Now a reminder about he Sid. He is probably somewhat
Speaker 2: like Homer in that he probably was not a real
Speaker 2: guy who wrote this poem. It was probably oral storytelling
Speaker 2: tradition that ended up getting recorded into what we know
Speaker 2: of as he Seed. But there is a story attached
Speaker 2: to this potential human that was he Seed, and that
Speaker 2: is that he was a farmer in Beotia. What that
Speaker 2: means is that both, like I said, there's some farming
Speaker 2: aspects in this, but also that it is quite regionally
Speaker 2: specific to Botia in a way that Homer, which is
Speaker 2: from around the same time as he Sid, is not.
Speaker 2: That was sort of the whole of the Greek world,
Speaker 2: ancient Mediterranean broadly, so he see it as different. He's specific.
Speaker 2: His theogony is of course what we refer to as
Speaker 2: the oldest origin of the gods and the universe story,
Speaker 2: but the Works and Days is something a little different.
Speaker 2: There's myth. There's farming, there's misogyny, It'll be fun. It
Speaker 2: is also presented like this farmer Hesiod is writing or
Speaker 2: telling it to his brother, who is named Percy's. Then
Speaker 2: on that note, let's dive right in. This is Hesiod's
Speaker 2: Works and Days, translated by HG. Evelyn White. Muses of pie,
Speaker 2: who give glory through song, come here. Tell of Zeus,
Speaker 2: your father, and chant his praise through him. Mortal men
Speaker 2: are famed or unfamed, sung or unsung alike. As great
Speaker 2: Zeus wills. For easily he makes strong, and easily he
Speaker 2: brings the strong man low. Easily he humbles the proud,
Speaker 2: and raises the obscure, And easily he straightens the crooked
Speaker 2: and blasts the proud. Zeus, who thunders aloft and has
Speaker 2: his dwelling most high, attend you with eye and ear,
Speaker 2: and make judgments straight with righteousness. And I Percys would
Speaker 2: tell of true things. So after all there was not
Speaker 2: one kind of strife alone, but all over the earth
Speaker 2: there are two. As for the one a man would
Speaker 2: praise her when he came to understand her, but the
Speaker 2: other is blameworth. And they are wholly different in nature.
Speaker 2: For one fosters evil, war and battle, being cruel her
Speaker 2: no man loves, but perforce, through the will of the
Speaker 2: deathless gods, men pay harsh strife her honor due. But
Speaker 2: the other is the elder daughter of dark Night and
Speaker 2: the son of Cronos, who sits above and dwells in
Speaker 2: the ether. Set her in the roots of the earth,
Speaker 2: and she is far kinder to men. She stirs up
Speaker 2: even the shiftless to toil. For a man grows eager
Speaker 2: to work when he considers his neighbor a rich man
Speaker 2: who hastens to plow and plant and put his house
Speaker 2: in good order. And neighbor vies with his neighbor as
Speaker 2: he hurries after wealth. This strife is wholesome for men.
Speaker 2: And potter is angry with potter, and craftsmen with craftsmen,
Speaker 2: and beggar is jealous of beggar, and minstrel of minstrel. Percys,
Speaker 2: lay up these things in your heart, and do not
Speaker 2: let that strife, who delights in mischief, hold your heart
Speaker 2: back from work. While you peep and peer and listen
Speaker 2: to the wrangles of the courthouse. Little concern has he
Speaker 2: with quarrels and courts. Who is not a year's victuals
Speaker 2: laid up betimes, even that which the earth bears demeanors grain.
Speaker 2: When you have got plenty of that, you can raise
Speaker 2: disputes and strive to get another's goods. But you shall
Speaker 2: have no second chance to deal. So again, no let
Speaker 2: us settle our dispute. Here with true judgment divided our inheritance.
Speaker 2: But you seized the greater share and carried it off greatly,
Speaker 2: swelling the glory of our bribes, Swallowing lords who love
Speaker 2: to judge such cause as this fools. They know not
Speaker 2: how much more the half is than the whole, nor
Speaker 2: what great advantage there is in mallow. And Asphodel, for
Speaker 2: the gods keep hidden from men the means of life.
Speaker 2: Else you will easily do work enough in a day
Speaker 2: to supply you for a full year. Even without working,
Speaker 2: Soon would you put away your rudder over the smoke,
Speaker 2: and the fields worked by ox and sturdy mule would
Speaker 2: run to waste. But Zeus, in the anger of his heart,
Speaker 2: hid it, because Prometheus the crafty, deceived him. Therefore he
Speaker 2: planned sorrow and mischief against men. He hid fire, but
Speaker 2: that the noble son of Iapetus stole again for men
Speaker 2: from Zeus the Counselor in a hollow fennel stock, so
Speaker 2: that Zeus, who delights in thunder, did not see it.
Speaker 2: But afterwards Zeus, who gathers the clouds, said to him
Speaker 2: in anger, son of Iapetus, Prometheus, surpassing all in cunning,
Speaker 2: you are glad that you have outwitted me and stolen fire,
Speaker 2: a great plague to you yourself and to men that
Speaker 2: shall be. But I will give men as the price
Speaker 2: of fire, an evil thing in which they may all
Speaker 2: be glad of heart while they embrace their own destruction.
Speaker 2: So said the father of men and gods had laughed aloud,
Speaker 2: and he bade famous Ephestis, make haste and mix earth
Speaker 2: with water, and to put it in the voice and
Speaker 2: strength of human kind, and fashion a sweet, lovely maiden
Speaker 2: shape like to the immortal goddesses in face and athene,
Speaker 2: to teach her needlework and the weaving of the varied
Speaker 2: web and goldenophrodite, to shed grace upon her head and
Speaker 2: cruel longing and care that weary the limbs. And he
Speaker 2: charged Hermes, the guide, the slayer of Argus, to put
Speaker 2: in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature, so
Speaker 2: he ordered, and they obeyed. The Lord Zeus, the son
Speaker 2: of Cronos, forthwith the famous lame god, molded clay in
Speaker 2: the likeness of a modest maid, and the son of
Speaker 2: Cronos purposed, and the goddess bright eyed Athena girded and
Speaker 2: clothed her, and the divine graces and queenly persuasion put
Speaker 2: necklaces of gold upon her, and the rich haired Hours
Speaker 2: crowned her head with spring flowers, and pallas Athene bedecked
Speaker 2: her form with all manners of finery. Also, the guide
Speaker 2: and slayer of Argos contrive within her lies and crafty
Speaker 2: words and a deceitful nature. At the will of loud
Speaker 2: thundering Zeus and the herald of the gods put speech
Speaker 2: in her. And he called this woman Pandora, because all
Speaker 2: they who dwelt on Olympus gave each a gift, a
Speaker 2: plague to men who eat bread. But when he had
Speaker 2: finished the sheer hopeless snare, the Father sent glorious Argoslayer,
Speaker 2: the swift messenger of the gods, to take her to
Speaker 2: Epimetheus as a gift. And Epimetheus did not think on
Speaker 2: what Prometheus had said to him, bidding him never take
Speaker 2: a gift of Olympian Zeus, but to send it back,
Speaker 2: for fear it might prove to be something harmful to men.
Speaker 2: But he took the gift, and afterwards, when the evil
Speaker 2: thing was already his, he understood. For before this the
Speaker 2: tribes of men lived on earth, remote and free from
Speaker 2: ills and hard toil and heavy sickness, which bring the
Speaker 2: fates upon men. For in misery men grow old quickly.
Speaker 2: But the woman took off the great lid of the
Speaker 2: jar with her hands and scattered all these, and her
Speaker 2: thought caused sorrow and mischief to men. Only Hope remained
Speaker 2: there in the unbreakable home within under the rim of
Speaker 2: the great jar, and did not fly out at the door,
Speaker 2: for before that the lid of the jar stopped her
Speaker 2: by the will of Eejus, holding Zeus, who gathers the clouds.
Speaker 2: But the rest countless plagues wander amongst men, for earth
Speaker 2: is full of evils, and the sea is full of themselves.
Speaker 2: Diseases come upon men continually by day and by night,
Speaker 2: bringing mischief to mortals silently. For wise Zeus took away
Speaker 2: speech from them. So there is no way to escape
Speaker 2: the will of Zeus, or if you will, I will
Speaker 2: sum you up another tail well and skillfully, And do
Speaker 2: you lay it up in your heart? How the gods
Speaker 2: and mortal men sprang from one source. First of all
Speaker 2: the deathless gods who dwell on Olympus made a golden
Speaker 2: race of mortal men who lived in the time of Cronos,
Speaker 2: when he was reigning in heaven. And they lived like gods,
Speaker 2: without sorrow of heart, remote and free from toil and grief.
Speaker 2: Miserable age rested not on them, but with legs and
Speaker 2: arms never failing, they made merry with feasting beyond the
Speaker 2: reach of all evils. When they died, it was as
Speaker 2: though they were overcome with sleep, and they had all
Speaker 2: good things, for the fruitful earth unforced bear from them
Speaker 2: fruit abundantly and without stint. They dwelt in ease and
Speaker 2: peace upon their lands, with many good things, rich in flocks,
Speaker 2: and loved by the blessed gods. But after earth had
Speaker 2: covered this generation, they are called pure spirits dwelling on
Speaker 2: the earth, and are kindly delivering from harm and guardians
Speaker 2: of mortal men, For they roam everywhere over our earth,
Speaker 2: clothed in mist, and keep watch on judgments and cruel deeds,
Speaker 2: givers of wealth. For this royal right they also received.
Speaker 2: Then they who dwell on Olympus made a second generation,
Speaker 2: which was of silver and less noble. By far it
Speaker 2: was the Golden Race, neither embodied nor in spirit. A
Speaker 2: child was brought up at his good mother's side, a
Speaker 2: hundred years an utter simpleton, playing childishly in his own home.
Speaker 2: But when they were full grown and were come to
Speaker 2: the full measure of their prime, they lived only a
Speaker 2: little time in sorrow because of their foolishness. For they
Speaker 2: could not keep from sinning and from wronging one another.
Speaker 2: Nor would they serve the immortals, nor sacrifice on the
Speaker 2: holy altars of the blessed ones, as it is right
Speaker 2: for men to do wherever they dwell. Then Zeus, the
Speaker 2: son of Cronos was angry and put them away because
Speaker 2: they would not give honor to the blessed gods who
Speaker 2: live on Olympus. But when earth had covered this generation
Speaker 2: also they are called blessed spirits of the underworld by men,
Speaker 2: And though they are of second order, yet honor attends them.
Speaker 2: Also Zeus the Father made a third generation of mortal men,
Speaker 2: a beresen race, sprung from ash trees, and it was
Speaker 2: in no way equal to the Silver Age, but it
Speaker 2: was terrible and strong. They loved the lamentable works of
Speaker 2: aries and deeds of violence. They ate no bread, but
Speaker 2: were hard of heart, like adamant, fearful men. Great was
Speaker 2: their strength, and unconquerable the arms which grew from their
Speaker 2: shoulders on their strong limbs. Their armor was of bronze,
Speaker 2: and their houses of bronze, And of bronze were their implements.
Speaker 2: There was no black iron. These were destroyed by their
Speaker 2: own hands, and passed to the dank house of chill Hades,
Speaker 2: and left no name. Terrible though they were black, death
Speaker 2: seized them, and they left the bright light of the sun.
Speaker 2: But when earth had covered this generation, also Zeus, the
Speaker 2: son of Cronos, made yet another, the fourth, upon the
Speaker 2: fruitful earth, which was nobler and more righteous, a godlike
Speaker 2: race of hero men, who are called demigods, the race
Speaker 2: before our own. Throughout the boundless earth, grim war and
Speaker 2: dread battle destroyed a part of them. Some in the
Speaker 2: land of Cadmus at seven gated Thebes when they fought
Speaker 2: for the flocks of Oedipus, and some when it had
Speaker 2: brought them in ships over the Great Sea Gulf to Troy,
Speaker 2: for rich haired Helen's sake. There deaths end enshrouded a
Speaker 2: part of them. But to the others, Father Zeus, the
Speaker 2: son of Cronos, gave a living and an abode apart
Speaker 2: from men, and made them dwell at the ends of Earth.
Speaker 2: And they lived untouched by sorrow, in the islands of
Speaker 2: the blest, along the shore of deep swirling ocean, happy heroes,
Speaker 2: for whom the grain giving earth bears honey, sweet fruit,
Speaker 2: flourishing thrice a year, far from the deathless gods, and
Speaker 2: Cronos rules over them. For the father of men and
Speaker 2: gods released him from his bonds. And these last equally
Speaker 2: have honor and glory. And again, far seeing Zeus made
Speaker 2: yet another generation, the fifth of men, who are upon
Speaker 2: the bounteous earth. Thereafter, would that I were not among
Speaker 2: the men of the fifth generation, but either had died
Speaker 2: before or been born afterwards. For now truly is a
Speaker 2: race of iron, and men never rest from labor and
Speaker 2: sorrow by day, and from perishing by night. And the
Speaker 2: gods shall lay sore trouble upon them. But notwithstanding even
Speaker 2: these shall have some good mingled with their evils, and
Speaker 2: Zeus will destroy this race of mortal men. Also when
Speaker 2: they come to have gray hair on the temples at
Speaker 2: their birth, the father will not agree with his children,
Speaker 2: nor the children with their father, nor guests with host,
Speaker 2: nor comrade with comrade, nor will brother be dear to brother.
Speaker 2: As before. Men will dishonor their parents as they grow
Speaker 2: quickly old, and will carpet them, chiding them with bitter words.
Speaker 2: Hard hearted they not knowing the fear of the gods,
Speaker 2: they will not repay their aged parents the cost their
Speaker 2: nurture for might shall be they're right, and one man
Speaker 2: will sack another city. There will be no favor for
Speaker 2: the man who keeps his oath, or for the just,
Speaker 2: or for the good. But rather men will praise the
Speaker 2: evildoer and his violent dealing. Strength will be right, and
Speaker 2: reverence will cease to be. And the wicked will hurt
Speaker 2: the worthy man, speaking false words against him, and will
Speaker 2: swear an oath upon them. Envy, foul mouthed, delighting in evil,
Speaker 2: with scowling face will go along with wretched men, one
Speaker 2: and all. And then Idos and Nemesis, with their sweet
Speaker 2: forms wrapped in white robes, will go from the wide
Speaker 2: path to earth, and forsake mankind to join the company
Speaker 2: of the deathless gods, and bitter sorrows will be left
Speaker 2: for mortal men, and there will be no help against evil.
Speaker 2: And now I will tell a fable for princes who
Speaker 2: themselves understand. Thus said the hawk to the nightingale with
Speaker 2: speckled neck, while he carried her high up among the clouds,
Speaker 2: gripped fast in his talons, and she, pierced by his
Speaker 2: crooked talons, cried pitifully to her. He spoke, disdainfully, miserable thing.
Speaker 2: Why do you cry out? One far stronger than you
Speaker 2: now holds you fast, and you must go wherever I
Speaker 2: take you, songstress, as you are, and if I please,
Speaker 2: I will make my meal of you, or let you go.
Speaker 2: He is a fool who tries to withstand the stronger,
Speaker 2: for he does not get the mastery, and suffers pains
Speaker 2: sides his shame, So said the swiftly flying hawk, the
Speaker 2: long winged bird. But you, percys, listen to right, and
Speaker 2: do not foster violence, for violence is bad for a
Speaker 2: poor man. Even the prosperous cannot easily bear its burden,
Speaker 2: but is weighed down under it when he has fallen
Speaker 2: into delusion. The better path is to go by on
Speaker 2: the other side towards justice. For justice beats outrage when
Speaker 2: she comes at length to the end of the race.
Speaker 2: But only when he is suffered does the fool learn this.
Speaker 2: For oath keeps pace with wrong judgments. There is a
Speaker 2: noise when justice is being dragged in the way, where
Speaker 2: those who devour bribes and give sentence with crooked judgments
Speaker 2: take her, And she wrapped in missed, follows to the
Speaker 2: city and haunts of the people, weeping and bringing mischief
Speaker 2: to men, even to such as have driven her forth,
Speaker 2: and that they did not deal straightly with her. But
Speaker 2: they who give straight judgments to strangers and to the
Speaker 2: men of the land, and go not aside from what
Speaker 2: is just. Their city flourishes, and the people prosper in
Speaker 2: it peace. The nurse of children is abroad in their land,
Speaker 2: and all seeing Zeus never decrees cruel war against them.
Speaker 2: Neither famine nor disaster ever haunt men who do true justice,
Speaker 2: But lightheartedly they tend the fields which are all their care.
Speaker 2: The earth bears them victual in plenty, and on the
Speaker 2: mountains the oak bears acorns upon the top and bees
Speaker 2: in the midst Their wooly sheep are laden with fleeces,
Speaker 2: their women bear children like their parents. They flourish continually
Speaker 2: with good things, and do not travel on ships, for
Speaker 2: the grain giving earth bears them fruit. But for those
Speaker 2: who practice violence and cruel deeds, far seeing Zeus, the
Speaker 2: son of Cronos ordains a punishment. Often even a whole
Speaker 2: city suffers for a bad man who sins and devises
Speaker 2: presumptuous deeds. And the son of Cronos lays great trouble
Speaker 2: upon the people, famine and plague together, so that men
Speaker 2: perish away, and their women do not bear children, and
Speaker 2: their houses become few. Through the contriving of Olympian Zeus.
Speaker 2: And again at another time, the son of Cronos either
Speaker 2: destroys their wide army or their walls, or else makes
Speaker 2: an end of their ships on the sea. You, princes,
Speaker 2: mark well this punishment. You also, for the deathless gods
Speaker 2: are near among men, And mark all those who oppress
Speaker 2: their fellows with crooked judgments and wreck not the anger
Speaker 2: of the gods. For upon the bounteous earth Zeus has
Speaker 2: thrice ten thousand spirits, watchers of mortal mans and these
Speaker 2: keep watch on judgments and deeds of wrong, as they
Speaker 2: roam clothed and mist all over the earth. And there
Speaker 2: is virgin Justice, the daughter of Zeus, who is honored
Speaker 2: and reverenced among the gods who dwell on Olympus. And
Speaker 2: whenever anyone hurts her with lying slander, she sits beside
Speaker 2: her father, Zeus, the son of Cronos, and tells him
Speaker 2: of men's wicked heart. Until the people pay for the
Speaker 2: mad folly of their princes, who evil minded, pervert judgment
Speaker 2: and give sentence crookedly. Keep watch against this, you princes,
Speaker 2: and make straight your judgments. You who devour bribes, put
Speaker 2: crooked judgments all together from your thoughts. He does mischief
Speaker 2: to himself, who does mischief to another? And evil planed
Speaker 2: harms the plotter most. The eye of Zeus, seeing all
Speaker 2: and understanding all, beholds these two. If so he will
Speaker 2: and fails not to mark, what sort of justice is
Speaker 2: this that the city keeps within it? Now? Therefore, may
Speaker 2: neither I myself be righteous among men, nor my son,
Speaker 2: For then it is a bad thing to be righteous,
Speaker 2: If indeed the unrighteous shall have the greater right. But
Speaker 2: I think that all wise, Zeus will not yet bring
Speaker 2: that to pass. But you, perces, lay up these things
Speaker 2: within your heart, and listen now to right, ceasing altogether
Speaker 2: to think of violence. For the son of Cronos has
Speaker 2: ordained this law for men that fishes and beasts and
Speaker 2: winged fowl should not devour one another, for right is
Speaker 2: not in them. But to mankind he gave right, which
Speaker 2: proves far the best. For whoever knows the right and
Speaker 2: is ready to speak it far seeing Zeus gives them prosperity.
Speaker 2: But whoever deliberately lies in his witness and forswears himself,
Speaker 2: and so hurts justice and sins beyond repair, that man's
Speaker 2: generation is left obscure thereafter. But the generation of the
Speaker 2: man who swears truly is better. Thenceforward to you, foolish percies.
Speaker 2: I will speak good sense. Badness can be got easily,
Speaker 2: and in shoals. The road to her is smooth, and
Speaker 2: she lives very near us. But between us and goodness
Speaker 2: the gods have placed the sweat of our brows. Long
Speaker 2: and steep is the path that leads to her, and
Speaker 2: it is rough at the first, But when a man
Speaker 2: has reached the top, then she is easy to reach,
Speaker 2: though before that she was hard. That man is altogether
Speaker 2: best who can considers all things himself and marks what
Speaker 2: will be better afterwards and at the end. And he
Speaker 2: again is good who listens to a good adviser. But
Speaker 2: whoever neither thinks for himself nor keeps in mind what
Speaker 2: another tells him, he is an unprofitable man. But to you,
Speaker 2: at any rate, always remembering my charge work high born
Speaker 2: perses that hunger may hate you, and venerable demeanor, richly crowned,
Speaker 2: may love and fill your barn with food, For hunger
Speaker 2: is altogether a meat comrade for the sluggard. Both gods
Speaker 2: and men are angry with a man who lives idle,
Speaker 2: For in nature he is like the stingless drones who
Speaker 2: waste the labor of the bees, eating without working. But
Speaker 2: let it be your care to order your work properly,
Speaker 2: that in the right season your barns may be full
Speaker 2: of victual Through work, men grow rich in flocks and substance,
Speaker 2: and working they are much better loved by the immortals.
Speaker 2: Work is no discret It is idleness, which is a disgrace.
Speaker 2: But if you work, the idol will soon envy you
Speaker 2: as you grow rich for fame and renown, attend on wealth,
Speaker 2: and whatever be your lot. Work is best for you
Speaker 2: if you turn your misguided mind away from other men's
Speaker 2: property to your work, and attend to your livelihood as
Speaker 2: I bid you and evil. Shame is the needy man's companion,
Speaker 2: shame which both greatly harms and prospers men. Shame is
Speaker 2: with poverty, but confidence with wealth. Wealth should not be seized.
Speaker 2: God given wealth is much better for if a man
Speaker 2: take great wealth violently and perforce, or if he steal
Speaker 2: it through his tongue, as often happens. When gain deceives
Speaker 2: men's sense and dishonor tramples down honor, the gods soon
Speaker 2: blot him out and make that man's house low, and
Speaker 2: wealth attends him only for a little time. Alike with
Speaker 2: him who does wrong to ass zuppliant or a guest,
Speaker 2: or who goes up to his brother's bed and commits
Speaker 2: unnatural sin in lying with his wife, or who infatuately
Speaker 2: offends against fatherless children, or who abuses his old father
Speaker 2: at the cheerless threshold of old age and attacks him
Speaker 2: with harsh words. Truly, Zeus himself is angry, and at
Speaker 2: the last lays on him a heavy recquittal for his
Speaker 2: evil doing. But you turn your foolish heart altogether away
Speaker 2: from these things, and as far as you are able,
Speaker 2: sacrifice to the deathless gods purely and cleanly, and burn
Speaker 2: rich meets. Also, and at other times propitiate him with
Speaker 2: libations and incense, both when you go to bed and
Speaker 2: when the holy light has come back, that they may
Speaker 2: be gracious to you in heart and in spirit, And
Speaker 2: so you may buy another's holding and not another yours.
Speaker 2: Call your friend to a feast, believe your enemy alone,
Speaker 2: and especially call him who lives near you. For if
Speaker 2: any mischief happens in the place, neighbors come on girt,
Speaker 2: but kinsmen stay to gird themselves. A bad neighbor is
Speaker 2: as great a plague as a good one is a
Speaker 2: great blessing. He who enjoys a good neighbor has a
Speaker 2: precious possession. Not even an ox would die but for
Speaker 2: a bad neighbor. Take fair measure from your neighbor, and
Speaker 2: pay him back fairly with the same measure, or better
Speaker 2: if you can, so that if you are in need
Speaker 2: afterwards you may find him. Sure. Do not get base gain.
Speaker 2: Base gain is as bad as ruin. Be friends with
Speaker 2: the friendly, and visit him who visits. You give to
Speaker 2: one who gives, but do not give to one who
Speaker 2: does not give. A man gives to the free handed,
Speaker 2: but no one gives to the clothes fisted. Give is
Speaker 2: a good girl, but take is a bad and she
Speaker 2: brings death. For the man who gives willingly, even though
Speaker 2: he gives a great thing, rejoices in his gift and
Speaker 2: is glad in heart. But whoever gives way to shamelessness
Speaker 2: and takes something himself, even though it be a small thing,
Speaker 2: it freezes his heart. He who adds to what he
Speaker 2: has will keep off bright eyed hunger. For if you
Speaker 2: add only a little to a little, and do this often,
Speaker 2: soon that will become great. What a man has by
Speaker 2: him at home does not trouble him. It is better
Speaker 2: to have your stuff at home, for whatever is abroad
Speaker 2: may mean loss. It is a good thing to draw
Speaker 2: on what you have, but it grieves your heart to
Speaker 2: need something and not to have it. And I bid
Speaker 2: you mark this. Take your fill when the cask is
Speaker 2: first opened, and when it is nearly spent, but midways
Speaker 2: be sparing. It is poor saving. When you come to
Speaker 2: the less. Let the wage promised to a friend be
Speaker 2: fixed even with your brother. Smile and get a witness
Speaker 2: for trust and mistrust alike. Ruined men. Do not let
Speaker 2: a flaunting woman coax and cozen and deceit. She is
Speaker 2: after your barn. The man who trusts womankind trusts deceivers.
Speaker 2: There should be an only son to feed his father's house,
Speaker 2: for so wealth will increase in the home. But if
Speaker 2: you leave a second son, you should die old. Yet
Speaker 2: Zeus can easily give great wealth to a greater number.
Speaker 2: More hands mean more work, and more increase. If your
Speaker 2: heart within you desires wealth, do these things, and work
Speaker 2: with work upon work. When the pleiades daughters of Atlas
Speaker 2: are rising, begin your harvest and your plowing. When they
Speaker 2: are going to set forty nights and days, they are
Speaker 2: hidden and appear again as the year moves round. When
Speaker 2: you first sharpen your sickle. This is the law of
Speaker 2: the plains, and of those who live near the sea,
Speaker 2: and who inhabit rich country the glens and dingles far
Speaker 2: from the tossing sea. Strip to sow, and strip to plow,
Speaker 2: and strip to reap. If you wish to get in
Speaker 2: all demeters fruits in due season, and that each may
Speaker 2: grow in its season. Else afterwards you may chance to
Speaker 2: be in want and go begging to other men's houses,
Speaker 2: but without avail, as you have already come to me.
Speaker 2: But I will give you no more, nor give you
Speaker 2: further measure. Foolish percy is work, the work which the
Speaker 2: Gods ordained for men. Lest in bitter anguish of spirit, you,
Speaker 2: with your wife and children, seek your livelihood amongst your neighbors,
Speaker 2: and they do not heed you. Two or three times,
Speaker 2: maybe you will succeed. But if you trouble them further,
Speaker 2: it will not avail you, and all your talk will
Speaker 2: be in vain, and your word play unprofitable. Nay, I
Speaker 2: bid you find a way to pay your debts and
Speaker 2: avoid hunger. First of all, get a house, and a woman,
Speaker 2: and an ox for the plow, a slave woman and
Speaker 2: not a wife to follow the oxen as well, and
Speaker 2: make everything ready at home, so that you may not
Speaker 2: have to ask of another. And he refuses you, And
Speaker 2: so because you are in lack, the season pass by
Speaker 2: and your work come to nothing. Do not put your
Speaker 2: work off till tomorrow and the day after, For a
Speaker 2: sluggish worker does not fill his barn, nor one who
Speaker 2: puts off his work. Industry makes work go well. But
Speaker 2: a man who puts off work is always at hand
Speaker 2: grips with ruin. When the piercing power and sultry heat
Speaker 2: of the sun abate, and Almighty Zeus sends, the autumn rains,
Speaker 2: and men's flesh comes to feel far easier. For then
Speaker 2: the star of Sirius passes over the heads of men
Speaker 2: who are born to misery only a little while by day,
Speaker 2: and takes greater share of night. Then, when it showers
Speaker 2: its leaves to the ground and stops sprouting, the wood
Speaker 2: you cut with your axe is least liable to worm.
Speaker 2: Then remember to hew your timber. It is the season
Speaker 2: for that work. Cut a mortar three feet wide, and
Speaker 2: a pestle three cubits long, and an axle of seven
Speaker 2: feet for it will do very well. So but if
Speaker 2: you make it eight feet long, you can cut a
Speaker 2: beetle from it as well. Cut a f three spans
Speaker 2: across for a wagon of ten palms with hugh. Also
Speaker 2: many bent timbers, And bring home a plow tree when
Speaker 2: you have found it, and look out on the mountain
Speaker 2: or in the field for one of whole mik, for
Speaker 2: this is the strongest for oxen to plow with. When
Speaker 2: one of Athena's handmen is fixed in the share beam
Speaker 2: and fastened it to the pole with dowels, get two
Speaker 2: plows ready work on them at home, one all of
Speaker 2: a piece and the other jointed. It is far better
Speaker 2: to do this, for if you should break one of them,
Speaker 2: you can put the ox into the other. Poles of
Speaker 2: Laurel or elm are most free from worms, and a
Speaker 2: share beam of oak and a plow tree of hole mik.
Speaker 2: Get two oxen bowls of nine years. For their strength
Speaker 2: is unspent, and they are in the prime of their age.
Speaker 2: They are best for work. They will not fight in
Speaker 2: the furrow and break the plow and then leave the
Speaker 2: work undone. Let a brisk fellow of forty years follow
Speaker 2: them with a loaf of four quarters and eight slices
Speaker 2: for his dinner. One who will attend to his work
Speaker 2: and drive a straight furrow, and is past the age
Speaker 2: for gaping after his fellows, but will keep his mind
Speaker 2: on his work. No younger man will be better than
Speaker 2: he at scattering the seed and avoiding double sewing. For
Speaker 2: a man less staid gets disturbed hankering after his fellows.
Speaker 2: Mark when you hear the voice of the crane who
Speaker 2: cries year by year from the clouds above. For she
Speaker 2: gives the signal for plowing and shows the season of
Speaker 2: rainy winter. But she vexes the heart of the man
Speaker 2: who has no oxen. Then is the time to feed
Speaker 2: up your horned oxen in the beer. For it is
Speaker 2: easy to say, give me a yoke of oxen and
Speaker 2: a wagon, and it is easy to refuse, I have
Speaker 2: work for my oxen. The man who is rich in
Speaker 2: fancy thinks his wagon as good as built already. The
Speaker 2: fool he does not know that there are a hundred
Speaker 2: timbers to a wagon. Take care to lay these up
Speaker 2: beforehand at home. So soon as the time for plowing
Speaker 2: is proclaimed to men, then make haste you and your
Speaker 2: slaves alike and wet in dry to plow in the
Speaker 2: season for plowing, And bestir yourself early in the morning,
Speaker 2: so that your fields may be full. Plow in the spring.
Speaker 2: But fallow broken up in the summer will not belie
Speaker 2: your hopes. So fallow land when the soil is still
Speaker 2: getting light. Fallowland is a defender from harm, and a
Speaker 2: soother of children pray to Zeus of the Earth and
Speaker 2: to pure Demeter, to make Demeter's holy grain sound and heavy.
Speaker 2: When first you begin plowing, when you hold it in
Speaker 2: your hand the end of the plow tail, and bring
Speaker 2: down your stick on the backs of the oxen as
Speaker 2: they draw on the pole bar by the yolk straps.
Speaker 2: Let a slave follow a little behind with the mattic,
Speaker 2: and make trouble for the birds by hiding the seed.
Speaker 2: For good management is the best for mortal men, as
Speaker 2: bad management is the worst. In this way your corn
Speaker 2: ears will bow to the ground with fullness if the
Speaker 2: Olympian himself gives a good result at the last, and
Speaker 2: you will sweep the cobwebs from your bins, and you
Speaker 2: will be glad i ween as you take of your
Speaker 2: garnered substance. And so you will have plenty till you
Speaker 2: come to gray springtime, and will not look wistfully to others.
Speaker 2: But another shall be in need of your help. But
Speaker 2: if you plow the good ground at the solstice, you
Speaker 2: will reap sitting grasping a thin crop in your hand,
Speaker 2: binding the sheaves a ripe dust covered, not glad at all.
Speaker 2: So you will bring all home in a basket, and
Speaker 2: not many will admire you. Yet the will of Zeus,
Speaker 2: who holds the aegis, is different at different times, and
Speaker 2: it is hard for mortal men to tell it. For
Speaker 2: if you should plow late, you may find this remedy
Speaker 2: when the cuckoo first calls in the leaves of the
Speaker 2: oak and makes men glad all over the boundless earth.
Speaker 2: If Zeus should send rain on the third day and
Speaker 2: not cease until it rises neither above an ox hoof
Speaker 2: nor falls short of it, then the late plower will
Speaker 2: vie with the early. Keep all this well in mind,
Speaker 2: and fail not to mark gray springs as it comes,
Speaker 2: and the season of rain pass by the smithy and
Speaker 2: its crowded lounge in wintertime, when the cold keeps men
Speaker 2: from field work, For then an industrious man can greatly
Speaker 2: prosper his house. Lest bitter winter catch you helpless and poor,
Speaker 2: and you chafe a swollen foot with a shrunk hand.
Speaker 2: The idle man who waits an empty hope lacking a livelihood,
Speaker 2: lays to heart mischief making. It is not a wholesome
Speaker 2: hope that accompanies a need man who lulls at ease
Speaker 2: while he has no sure livelihood, while it is yet midsummer.
Speaker 2: Command your slaves, it will not always be summer. Build barns,
Speaker 2: avoid the month linion wretched days, all of them fit
Speaker 2: to skin an ox and the frosts, which are cool.
Speaker 2: When Boreous blows over the earth, he blows across horse
Speaker 2: breeding thrace upon the wide sea and stirs it up.
Speaker 2: While earth and the forest howl on many a high
Speaker 2: leafed oak and thick pine. He falls and brings them
Speaker 2: to the bounteous earth in mountain glens. Then all the
Speaker 2: immense wood roars, and the beasts shudder and put their
Speaker 2: tails between their legs, even those whose hide is covered
Speaker 2: with fur. For with his bitter blast he blows even
Speaker 2: through them, although they are shaggy breasted. He goes even
Speaker 2: through an ox's hide. It does not stop him. Also
Speaker 2: he blows through the goat's fine hair, but through the
Speaker 2: fleeces of sheep, because their wool is abundant. The keen
Speaker 2: wind Boreus pierces not at all, but it makes the
Speaker 2: old man curved as a wheel, And it does not
Speaker 2: blow through the tender maiden, who stays indoors with her
Speaker 2: dear mother unlearned as yet in the works of golden aphrodite,
Speaker 2: and who washes her soft body and anoints herself with oil,
Speaker 2: and lies down in an inner room within the house.
Speaker 2: On a winter's day, when the boneless one gnaws his
Speaker 2: foot in the fireless house and wretched home, for the
Speaker 2: sun shows him no pastures to make for, but goes
Speaker 2: to and fro over the land and city of dusky men,
Speaker 2: and shines more sluggishly upon the whole race of the Hellenes.
Speaker 2: Then the horned and unhorned denizens of the wood, with
Speaker 2: teeth chattering pitifully, flee through the copses and glades and
Speaker 2: all as they seek shelter. Have this one care to
Speaker 2: gain thick coverts or some hollow rock, Then, like the
Speaker 2: three legged one whose back is broken, and whose head
Speaker 2: looks down upon the ground, like him, I say, they
Speaker 2: wander to escape the white snow. Then put on, as
Speaker 2: I bid you, a soft coat and a tunic to
Speaker 2: the feet to shield your body. And should you weave
Speaker 2: thick wolf on a thin strap. In this, clothe yourself
Speaker 2: so that your hair may keep still and not bristle,
Speaker 2: and stand upon and all over your body. Lace on
Speaker 2: your feet close fitting boots of the hide of a
Speaker 2: slaughtered ox, thickly lined with felt inside. And when the
Speaker 2: season of frost comes on, stitch together skins of first
Speaker 2: link kids with ox sinew to put over your back
Speaker 2: and to keep off the rain on your head above
Speaker 2: where a cap of felt to keep your ears from
Speaker 2: getting wet. For the dawn is chill, when Boreas has
Speaker 2: once made his onslaught, And at dawn a fruitful mist
Speaker 2: is spread over from the earth from starry heaven, upon
Speaker 2: the fields of blessed men. It is drawn from the
Speaker 2: ever flowing rivers, and is raised high above the earth
Speaker 2: by windstorm. And sometimes it turns turn to rain toward
Speaker 2: the evening, and sometimes to wind when Thracian Boreas huddles
Speaker 2: by the thick clouds. Finish your work and return home
Speaker 2: ahead of him. And do not let the dark cloud
Speaker 2: from heaven wrap round you and make your body clammy
Speaker 2: and soak your clothes. Avoid it, for this is the
Speaker 2: hardest month, wintry, hard for sheep and hard for men.
Speaker 2: In this season, Let your oxen have half their usual food,
Speaker 2: but let your man have more, for the helpful nights
Speaker 2: are long. Observe all this until the year is ended,
Speaker 2: and you have nights and days of equal length, and Earth,
Speaker 2: the mother of all, bears again her various fruit. When
Speaker 2: Zeus has finished sixty wintry days after the solstice, then
Speaker 2: the star Arcturus leaves the holy stream of ocean and
Speaker 2: first rises brilliant at dusk. After him, the shrilly, wailing
Speaker 2: daughter of Pandeon, the swallow, appears to men when spring
Speaker 2: is just beginning, before she comes ruin the vines, for
Speaker 2: it is best so. But when the house carrier climbs
Speaker 2: up the plants from the earth to escape the pleiades,
Speaker 2: then it is no longer this season for digging vineyards.
Speaker 2: But to wet your sickles and rouse up your slaves,
Speaker 2: avoid shady seats and sleeping until dawn in the harvest season,
Speaker 2: when the sun scorches the body. Then be busy and
Speaker 2: bring home your fruits, getting up early to make your
Speaker 2: livelihood sure. For dawn takes away a third part of
Speaker 2: your work. Dawn advances a man on his journey, and
Speaker 2: advances him in his work. Dawn which appears and sets
Speaker 2: many men on their road, and put yokes on many oxen.
Speaker 2: But when the artichoke flowers and the chirping grasshopper sits
Speaker 2: in a tree and pours down his shrill song continually
Speaker 2: from under his wings. In the season of wearisome heat,
Speaker 2: then goats are plumpest and wine sweetest. Women are most wanton,
Speaker 2: but men are feeblest, because Sirius parches head and knees,
Speaker 2: and the skin is dry through heat. But at that time,
Speaker 2: let me have a shady rock and wine of bibliss,
Speaker 2: a clot of curds, and milk of drained goats, with
Speaker 2: the flesh of a heifer fed in the woods that
Speaker 2: is never calved, and of first link kids. Then also
Speaker 2: let me drink bright wine sitting in the shade, when
Speaker 2: my heart is satisfied with food, and so turning my
Speaker 2: head to face the fresh zephyr from the ever flowing spring,
Speaker 2: which pours down unfouled the rice, pour an offering of water.
Speaker 2: But make a fourth libation of wine. Set your slaves
Speaker 2: to winnow Demeter's holy grain. When strong O'Ryan first appears
Speaker 2: on a smooth threshing floor in an airy place, then
Speaker 2: measure it and store it in jars. And so soon
Speaker 2: of you, as you have safely stored all your stuff indoors,
Speaker 2: I bid you put your bondman out of doors, and
Speaker 2: look out for a servant girl with no children, for
Speaker 2: a servant with a child to nurses troublesome, and look
Speaker 2: after the dog with jagged teeth. Do not grudge him
Speaker 2: as food, or sometime the day's sleeper may take your stuff.
Speaker 2: Bring in fodder and litter so as to have enough
Speaker 2: for your oxen and mules. After that, let your men
Speaker 2: rest their poor knees, and unyoke your pair of oxen.
Speaker 2: But when Orian and Sirius are come into mid heaven
Speaker 2: and rosy fingered dawn seese arcturists, then cut off all
Speaker 2: the grape clusters persees and bring them home, show them
Speaker 2: to the sun ten days and ten nights, then cover
Speaker 2: over them for five and on the sixth day, draw
Speaker 2: off into vessels the gift of joyful Dionysus. But when
Speaker 2: the Pleiades and the Hyades and strong O'rian begin to set,
Speaker 2: then remember to plow in season, and so the completed
Speaker 2: year will fitly pass beneath the earth. But if desire
Speaker 2: for un comfortable seafaring sees you when the Pleieties plunge
Speaker 2: into the misty sea to escape Orion's rude strength, then
Speaker 2: truly gales of all kinds rage, then keep ships no
Speaker 2: longer on the sparkling sea. But bethink you till the
Speaker 2: land as I bid you. Haul up your ship upon
Speaker 2: the land, and pack it closely with stones all round
Speaker 2: to keep off the power of the winds which blow damply.
Speaker 2: And draw out the bilge plug so that the rain
Speaker 2: of heaven may not rot it. Put away all the
Speaker 2: tackle and fittings in your house, and stow the wings
Speaker 2: of the sea going ship neatly, and hang up the
Speaker 2: well shaped rudder over the smoke you yourself. Wait until
Speaker 2: the sea for sailing has come, and then haul your
Speaker 2: swift ship down to the sea, and stow a convenient
Speaker 2: cargo in it, so that you may bring home profit,
Speaker 2: even as your father and mine, foolish percys used to
Speaker 2: sail on shipboard because you lacked sufficient livelihood. And one
Speaker 2: day he came to this very place, crossing over a
Speaker 2: great stretch of sea. He left Eolian Chymi and fled
Speaker 2: not from riches in substance, but from wretched poverty which
Speaker 2: Zeus lays upon men. And he settled near Helicon, in
Speaker 2: a miserable hamlet Ascra, which is bad in winter sultry
Speaker 2: in summer, and good at no time. But you PERCs,
Speaker 2: remember all works in their season, but sailing especially. Admire
Speaker 2: a small ship, but put your freight in a large one,
Speaker 2: for the greater the lading, and the greater will be
Speaker 2: your piled gain. If only the winds will keep back
Speaker 2: their harmful gales. If you ever turn your misguided heart
Speaker 2: to trading and wish to escape from debt and joyless hunger,
Speaker 2: I will show you the measures of the loud, roaring sea,
Speaker 2: though I have no skill in seafaring nor in ships,
Speaker 2: for never yet have I sailed by ship over the
Speaker 2: wide sea, but only to Ubia from our where the
Speaker 2: Achaeans once stayed through much storm, when they had gathered
Speaker 2: a great host from divine hellas for Troy, the land
Speaker 2: of fair women. Then I crossed over to Calcus, the
Speaker 2: games of wise Amphidamus, where the sons of the great
Speaker 2: hearted hero proclaimed and appointed prizes. And there I boasted
Speaker 2: that I gained the victory with a song, and carried
Speaker 2: off and handled tripod, which I dedicated to the muses
Speaker 2: of Helicon in the place where they first set me
Speaker 2: in the way of clear song. Such is all my
Speaker 2: experience of many pegged ships. Nevertheless, I will tell you
Speaker 2: the will of Zeus, who holds the aegis, for the
Speaker 2: muses have taught me to sing in marvelous song. Fifty
Speaker 2: days after the solstice, when the season of wearisome heat
Speaker 2: has come to an end, is the right time for
Speaker 2: me to go sailing. Then you will not wreck your ship,
Speaker 2: nor will the sea destroy the sailors, unless Posidon, the
Speaker 2: earth shaker be set up it, or a Zeus, the
Speaker 2: king of the deathless gods, wishes to slay them, for
Speaker 2: the issues of good and evil alike are with them.
Speaker 2: At that time the winds are steady and the sea
Speaker 2: is harmless. Then trust in the winds without care, and
Speaker 2: haul your swift ship down to the sea, and put
Speaker 2: all the freight on board, But make all haste you
Speaker 2: can return home again, And do not wait till the
Speaker 2: time of the new wine and autumn rain and oncoming
Speaker 2: storms with the fierce gales of Notice who accompanies the
Speaker 2: heavy autumn rain of Zeus and stirs up the sea
Speaker 2: and makes the deep dangerous. Another time for men to
Speaker 2: go sailing is in spring. When a man first sees
Speaker 2: leaves on the topmost shoot of a fig tree as
Speaker 2: large as the footprint that a cow makes. Then the
Speaker 2: sea is passable. And this is the spring sailing time.
Speaker 2: For my part, I do not praise it, for my
Speaker 2: heart does not like it. Such a sailing is snatched,
Speaker 2: and you will hardly avoid mischief. Yet, in their ignorance,
Speaker 2: men do even this. For wealth means life to poor mortals.
Speaker 2: But it is fearful to die among the waves. But
Speaker 2: I bid you consider all these things in your heart.
Speaker 2: As I say, do not put all your goods in
Speaker 2: hallow ships. Leave the greater part behind, and put the
Speaker 2: lesser part on board. For it is bad business to
Speaker 2: meet with disaster among the waves of the sea. And
Speaker 2: it is bad if you put too great a load
Speaker 2: on your wagon and break the axle, and your goods
Speaker 2: are spoiled. Observe do measure and proportion is best in
Speaker 2: all things. Bring home a wife to your house when
Speaker 2: you are of the right age. While you are not
Speaker 2: far short of thirty years, nor much above, this is
Speaker 2: the right age for marriage. Let your wife have been
Speaker 2: grown up four years, and marry her in the fifth
Speaker 2: Marry a maiden so that you can teach her your
Speaker 2: careful ways, And especially marry one who lives near you.
Speaker 2: But look well enough about you, and see that your
Speaker 2: marriage will not be a joke to your neighbors. For
Speaker 2: a man wins nothing better than a good wife, and
Speaker 2: again nothing worse than a bad one. A greedy soul
Speaker 2: who roasts her man without fire, strong though he may be,
Speaker 2: and brings him to a raw old age. Be careful
Speaker 2: to avoid the anger of the deathless gods. Do not
Speaker 2: make a friend equal to a brother. But if you do,
Speaker 2: do not wrong him first, and do not lie to
Speaker 2: please the tongue. But if he wrongs you first, offending
Speaker 2: either in word or indeed, remember to repay him double.
Speaker 2: But if he asks you to be his friend again,
Speaker 2: and be ready to give you satisfaction, welcome him. He
Speaker 2: is a worthless man who makes now one and now
Speaker 2: another his friend. But as for you, do not your
Speaker 2: face put your heart to shame. Do not get a
Speaker 2: name either as lavish or as churlish, as a friend
Speaker 2: of rose or a slanderer of good men. Never dare
Speaker 2: to taunt a man with deadly poverty, which eats out
Speaker 2: of the heart. It is sent by the deathless gods.
Speaker 2: The best treasures a man can have is the sparing tongue,
Speaker 2: and the greatest pleasure one that moves orderly. For if
Speaker 2: you speak evil, you yourself will soon be worse spoken of.
Speaker 2: Do not be boorish at a common feast where there
Speaker 2: are many guests. The pleasure is greatest and the expense
Speaker 2: is least. Never pour a libation of sparkling wine to
Speaker 2: zeus after dawn with unwashed hands, nor do other of
Speaker 2: the deathless gods. Else they do not hear your prayers,
Speaker 2: but spit them back. Do not stand upright facing the
Speaker 2: sun when you make water, but remember to do this
Speaker 2: when he is set towards his rising. And do not
Speaker 2: make water as you go, whether on the road or
Speaker 2: off the road. And do not uncover yourself. The knights
Speaker 2: belong to the blessed gods. A scrupulous man who has
Speaker 2: a wise heart sits down or goes to the wall
Speaker 2: of an enclosed court. Do not expose yourself befouled by
Speaker 2: the fireside in your house, but avoid this. Do not
Speaker 2: beget children when you are come back from ill omened burial,
Speaker 2: but after a festival of the gods. Never cross the
Speaker 2: sweet flowing water of ever rolling rivers afoot until you
Speaker 2: have prayed, gazing into the soft flood, and wash your
Speaker 2: hands in the clear, lovely water. Whoever crosses a river
Speaker 2: with hands unwashed of wickedness, the gods are angry with him,
Speaker 2: and bring trouble upon him afterwards. At a cheerful festival
Speaker 2: of the gods, do not cut the withered from the
Speaker 2: quick upon that which has five branches with bright steel.
Speaker 2: Never put the ladle upon the mixing bowl at a
Speaker 2: wine party, from malignant ill luck is attached to that.
Speaker 2: When you're building a house, do not leave it rough hewn,
Speaker 2: or a cawing crow may settle on it and croak.
Speaker 2: Take nothing to eat or to wash with from uncharmed pots,
Speaker 2: for in them there is mischief. Do not let a
Speaker 2: boy of twelve years sit on things which may not
Speaker 2: be moved, for that is bad and makes a man unmanly.
Speaker 2: Nor yet a child of twelve months, for that has
Speaker 2: the same effect. A man should not clean his body
Speaker 2: with water in which a woman has washed, for there
Speaker 2: is bitter mischief in that. Also. For a time, when
Speaker 2: you come upon a burning sacrifice, do not make a
Speaker 2: mock of mysteries, for Heaven is angry at this also.
Speaker 2: And never make water in the mouths of rivers which
Speaker 2: flow to the sea, nor yet in springs. But be
Speaker 2: careful to avoid this, and do not ease yourself in them.
Speaker 2: And it is not well to do this. So do
Speaker 2: and avoid the talk of men, for talk is mischievous,
Speaker 2: light and easily raised, but hard to bear, and difficult
Speaker 2: to be rid of. Talk never wholly dies away when
Speaker 2: many people voice her. Even talk is in some ways divine.
Speaker 2: Mark the days which come from Zeus, duly telling your
Speaker 2: slaves of them, and that the thirtieth day of the
Speaker 2: month is best for one to look over the work
Speaker 2: and to deal out supplies. For these are days which
Speaker 2: come from Zeus the all wise, when men desern aright
Speaker 2: to begin with the first, the fourth, and the seventh,
Speaker 2: on which leto bear Apollo with the blade of gold.
Speaker 2: Each is a holy day. The eighth and the ninth,
Speaker 2: two days at least from the waxing month, are specially
Speaker 2: good for the works of man. Also, the eleventh and
Speaker 2: twelfth are both excellent, alike for shearing sheep and for
Speaker 2: reaping the kindly fruits. But the twelfth is much better
Speaker 2: than the eleventh, for on it the airy swinging spider
Speaker 2: spins its web in a full day, and then the
Speaker 2: wise one gathers her pile. On that day a woman
Speaker 2: should set up her loom and get forward with her work.
Speaker 2: Avoid the thirteenth of the waxing month for beginning to sew,
Speaker 2: yet it is the best day for setting plants. The
Speaker 2: sixth of the midmonth is very unfavorable for plants, but
Speaker 2: is good for the birth of males, though unfavorable for
Speaker 2: a girl, either to be born at all or to
Speaker 2: be married. Nor is the first sixth a fit day
Speaker 2: for a girl to be born, but it kindly for
Speaker 2: gilding kids and sheep, and for fencing in a sheep coat.
Speaker 2: It is favorable for the birth of a boy, but
Speaker 2: such will be fond of sharp objects, lies and cunning words,
Speaker 2: and stealthy converse. On the eighth day of the month,
Speaker 2: geild the bore and loud bellowing bull, but hard working mules.
Speaker 2: On the twelfth, On the great twentieth, in full day,
Speaker 2: a wise man should be born, such as one is
Speaker 2: very sound witted. The tenth is favorable for a male
Speaker 2: to be born, but for a girl the fourth day
Speaker 2: of the mid month. On that day, tame sheep and
Speaker 2: shambling horned oxen, and the sharp finged dog and hearty
Speaker 2: mules to the touch of the hand, but take care
Speaker 2: to avoid troubles which eat out the heart. On the
Speaker 2: fourth of the beginning and ending of the month, it
Speaker 2: is a day very fraught with fate. On the fourth
Speaker 2: of the month, bring home your bride, but choose the
Speaker 2: omens which are best for this business. Avoid fifth days.
Speaker 2: They are unkindly and terrible. On a fifth day, they
Speaker 2: say the runaways assisted at the birth of Horcus, whom
Speaker 2: strife bear to trouble of the force worn. Look about
Speaker 2: you very carefully, and throw out Demeter's holy grain upon
Speaker 2: the well rolled threshing floor. On the seventh of the
Speaker 2: mid month, let the woodman cut beams for house building,
Speaker 2: and plenty of ships timbers such as are suitable for ships.
Speaker 2: On the fourth day, begin to build narrow ships. The
Speaker 2: ninth of the mid month improves towards evening, but the
Speaker 2: first ninth of all is quite harmless. For men. It
Speaker 2: is a good day on which to beget or to
Speaker 2: be borne, both for male and a female. It is
Speaker 2: never a holy evil day. Again. Few know that the
Speaker 2: twenty seventh of the month is best for opening a
Speaker 2: wine jar and putting yolks on the necks of the oxen,
Speaker 2: and mules and swift footed horses, and for hauling a
Speaker 2: swift ship of many thwarts down to the sparkling sea.
Speaker 2: Few call it by its right name. On the fourth day,
Speaker 2: open a jar. The fourth of the mid month is
Speaker 2: a day wholly above all. And again few men know
Speaker 2: that the fourth day after the twentieth is best. Why well,
Speaker 2: it is mourning. Towards evening it is less good. These
Speaker 2: days are a great blessing to men on earth, but
Speaker 2: the rest are changeable, luckless, and bring nothing. Everyone praises
Speaker 2: a different day, but few know their nature. Sometimes a
Speaker 2: day is a stepmother, sometimes a mother. That man is
Speaker 2: happy and lucky in them, who knows all these things
Speaker 2: and does his work without offending the deathless gods who
Speaker 2: discern the omens of birds and avoid transgressions. Oh nerds,
Speaker 2: thank you so much for listening. That was wild. It
Speaker 2: wasn't what I was expecting. I picked this honestly because
Speaker 2: I have just experience and intense amounts of personal tragedy,
Speaker 2: and also I'm traveling, thankfully, but I had to just
Speaker 2: do a bunch of stuff up front, basically, and also
Speaker 2: try not to cry into this microphone and then reading it,
Speaker 2: I actually almost wanted to cry in this microphone for
Speaker 2: a different reason. I was not expecting it to be
Speaker 2: so poignant to what's happening right now, which I still
Speaker 2: feel like I can't talk about as openly as I
Speaker 2: would like to, because people misunderstand, miss they misrepresent, not misunderstand,
Speaker 2: they misrepresent what people what I have said when I
Speaker 2: say things like I don't think children should be mass murdered.
Speaker 2: But I think this bit of Hesiod is really telling,
Speaker 2: and to be clear, I mean the first half, the
Speaker 2: part that seems to be kind of like a guide
Speaker 2: on how to be a more or human who respects
Speaker 2: human life. I recorded this little bit after reading that
Speaker 2: and before kind of continuing on to all the weird
Speaker 2: farming tips, because even he see it, Okay, he see
Speaker 2: it arguably one of the shittiest ancient Greek sources, and
Speaker 2: he's talking about Zeus, the shittiest ancient Greek god, and
Speaker 2: even he seed talking about Zeus lays down how bad
Speaker 2: it is when humans commit crimes, a certain type of
Speaker 2: crime against other humans, be it mass murder in the
Speaker 2: name of war, be it famine and plague in the
Speaker 2: name of war, he talks about how Zeus this is wild.
Speaker 2: Zeus sees those things. Zeus sees when bribery and money
Speaker 2: takes the place of morality and right and wrong, and
Speaker 2: even he Seed through the mouth of Zeus, thinks that
Speaker 2: that is a crime. And I think that is just
Speaker 2: so telling. You know, I am not I am not
Speaker 2: a religious person of any kind, but I.
Speaker 1: Do think that if you believe that there is a
Speaker 1: god out there, that any God who stands for or
Speaker 1: created or whatever your belief system is, any god that
Speaker 1: is associated with humanity in a way that people still
Speaker 1: actively believe in that God, that God would not be
Speaker 1: okay with the mass killing of innocent people, especially I
Speaker 1: mean that period innocent people, but especially when they are
Speaker 1: primarily children.
Speaker 2: And I think that.
Speaker 1: Whatever you believe religiously or politically, whatever you whatever you
Speaker 1: have going on, you just have to break it down
Speaker 1: like that that if there is a god of whatever religion,
Speaker 1: if there is a god, that God would be against
Speaker 1: killing children on mass And the reasons why you don't
Speaker 1: immediately come to that conclusion they are based in capitalism
Speaker 1: and money and Western supremacy. And it's not your fault
Speaker 1: because that stuff is propaganda and it works, but it is.
Speaker 1: It is propaganda, and it is about money and resources
Speaker 1: and Western supremacy. And I just, you know what, I did.
Speaker 2: Not expect he Seed think you he Sid to prompt
Speaker 2: that I've been you know, I give fewer fucks now
Speaker 2: because the closest thing I've ever had in my life
Speaker 2: for sixteen years has died. And I give fewer fucks
Speaker 2: because of it. And I am thrilled, thrilled that he
Speaker 2: Sid gave me the opportunity to finally say this, huh, well,
Speaker 2: let's talk about MIT's Baby is written and produced by
Speaker 2: me live Albert. Obviously he SID wrote this, but I
Speaker 2: mean a lot of it's relan forever, maybe not all
Speaker 2: the days, and also the general distrust of all women
Speaker 2: and enslavement, but morality, some of it fucking timeless anyway. MICHAELA.
Speaker 2: Smith is the Hermes to My Olympians, better known as
Speaker 2: the assistant producer. Laura Smith is the production assistant and
Speaker 2: audio engineer. The podcast is part of the iHeart Podcast Network.
Speaker 2: All of that said, all these words are always me.
Speaker 2: Listen on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Help
Speaker 2: me continue bringing you the world of Greek mythology and
Speaker 2: the Ancient Mediterranean. By becoming a patron, where you will
Speaker 2: get bonus episodes and more, visit patreon dot com slash
Speaker 2: myths Baby, or click the link in this episode's description.
Speaker 2: Thank you all. He se it's a wild ride. He
Speaker 2: was a good backup though. Thanks he Sid. I am
Speaker 2: live and I love this shit.