rense quite different to what the poet designed. I shall now proceed to point out those passages to which Manilius particularly alludes: his first line relates to the poem in general, the generation of the gods; though we must take notice that he had that part of Hesiod's system in view where he makes natter precede all things, and even the gods themselves; for by divûm parentes the Latin poet means Chaos, Heaven, Earth, &c. which the Greek poet makes the parents of the gods. Hesiod tells us, verse the hundred and sixteenth, Chaos brought forth the earth her first offspring; to which the Fecond line here quoted has a plain reference; and orbemque sub illo infantem, which Mr. Creech has ›mitted, may either mean the world in general, or, by sub illo being annexed, Hell, which, according o our poet, was made a subterranean world. Primum, titubantia sidera, corpus, which is here endered, And infant stars first stagger'd in their way, are the Sun and Moon; our poet calls them TEMOV TE Mɛyar, hauπpar te σɛhnny, the great sun, and the bright moon; the Roman calls them the vandering planets, the chief bodies in the firmament, not the first works of Heaven, as is interpreted n the Dauphin's edition of Manilius: the fourth verse, which refers to the birth of Jove, and the vars of the giants and the gods, one of the greatest subjects of the Theogony, the English translator as left untouched. I am not ignorant of a various reading of this passage; viz. Titanasque juvisse senis cunabula magni, vhich has a stronger allusion to the battle of the gods than the other reading, senis cunabula magni neaning the second childhood, or old age, of Saturn. The next verse, which is beautifully expressed a these two lines, How name of brother veil'd an husband's love, And Juno bore unaided by her Jove, lainly directs to Jupiter taking his sister Juno to wife, and Juno bearing Vulcan, & photnti miyaca, by which Hesiod means without the mutual joys of love. The succeeding line has a reference to the irth of Bacchus, and the seventh to the whole poem; so that he may be said to begin and end his Janegyric on the Theogony with a general allusion to the whole. The Latin poet, in his six verses on the Works and Days, begins, as on the Theogony, with a general observation on the whole poem: Hesiod, says he, inquired into the tillage and management of the country, and into the laws, or rules, of agriculture; I do not question but Manilius, in legesque rogavit, had his eye on these words of our poet, OUT TOL wediwy wedɛtai voprog, this is the law of the fields. What the Roman there says of Bacchus loving hills, and of grafting, has no allusion to any part of the present Works and Days; but we are aot to infer from thence that this is not the poem alluded to, but that those passages are lost; of which I have not the least doubt, when I consider of some parts of the Works and Days, which are not so well connected as I wish they were. I think it is indisputable that Hesiod writ more of the vintage than we have now extant, and that he likewise laid down rules for the care of trees: this will appear more clearly, if we observe in what manner Virgil introduces this line, ! Ascræumque cano, Romana per oppida, carmen. This is in the second book of the Georgics, the chief subjects of which book are the different methods of producing trees, of transplanting, grafting, of the various kinds of trees, the proper soil for each kind, and of the care of vines, and olives; and he has in that book the very expression Manilius applies to Hesiod. Bacchus amat colles, says Virgil; rogavit quos colles Bacchus amaret, says the other of our poet, he inquired after what hills Bacchus loved. I should not have used Mr. Creech, and Mr. Kennet, with so much freedom as I have, had not the translation of one, and the remark of the other, so nearly concerned our poet; but I hope the clearing a difficult and remarkable passage in a classic will, in some measure, atone for the liberties I have took with those gentlemen. We have now, ascribed to Hesiod, a poem under the title of Aanç Haxhis, the Shield of Hercules; which Aristophanes the grammarian supposes to be spurious, and that it is an imitation of the Shield of Achilles in Homer. Lilius Gyraldus, and Fabricius, bring all the testimonies they can for it being writ by Hesiod; but none of them amount to a proof. Fabricius gives us the opinion of Tanaquil Faber, in these words; "I am much surprised that this should formerly have been, and is now, a matter ✅ dispute; those who suppose the Shield not to be of Hesiod, have a very slender knowledge of the Greek poetry." This is only the judgment of one man against a number, and that founded on zo authority. I know not what could induce Tanaquil Faber so confidently to assert this, which looks, E I may use the expression, like a sort of bullying a person into his opinion, by forcing him into the dreadful apprehension of being thought no judge of Greek poetry if he will not come in: I say, I know not what could induce him to assert this, for there is no manner of similitude to the other works of our poet: and here I must call in question the judgment of Aristophanes, and of such as have followed him, for supposing it to be an imitation of the Shield of Achilles. The whole poem consists of fuz hundred and fourscore verses; of which the description of the shield is but one hundred and fourscore; in this description are some similar passages to that of Achilles, but not sufficient to jus that opinion: there are likewise a few lines the same in both; but after a strict examination thự may possibly appear as much to the disadvantage of Homer as to the author of this poem. Th other parts have no affinity to any book in the two poems of Homer. The poet begins with a bear ful description of the person of Alemena, her love to Amphitryon, and her amour with Jupiter; fros thence he proceeds to the characters of Hercules, and Iphiclus, and goes on regularly to the death Cygnus, which concludes the poem, with many other particulars, which, as I said before, hate as relation to any part of Homer. Among the writings of our poet which are lost we have the tits f Γυναικών, οι Ηρωίδων, Καταλογος, and of Γυναικών Κατάλογος, or Hσαι Μεγαλαι: both these titles are likely to belong but to one poem, and to that which Suidas mentions, the Catalogue of Heroic men, in five books: that he composed such a work is probable from the two last verses of the Ther, and it being often mentioned by ancient writers: we have an account of another poem under the title of Hewyovia, the Generation of Heroes: the favourers of the Shield of Hercules would have that poem received as a fragment of one of these; and all that Le Clerc says in defence of it is," since Hercules was the most famous of heroes, it is not absurd to imagine the Shield to be a part of the Ha though it is handed down to us as a distinct work, and yet is but a fragment of it." Thus we see: their arguments, both for it being genuine, and a fragment of another poem, are but conjectures. I think they ought not to suspect it a part of another work, unless they could tell when, where, or by whom, the title was changed. It is certainly a very ancient piece, and well worth the notice of met of genius. Besides the pieces just mentioned, we find the following catalogue in Fabricius attributed to Hess, but now lost. Παραίνεσις oι Υποθήκαι χειρώνος: this was concerning the education of Achilles under Chiron; which Aristophanes, in one of his comedies, banters as the work of Hesiod. Μελαμποδια or εις τον Μαντιν Μελαμποδα: a poem on divination: the title is supposed to be took fram Melampus an ancient physician, said to be skilled in divination by birds. Part of this work is collmended by Athenæus, book 13. Aspovoμia μsyahn or Aspiun B.Sños: a treatise of astronomy. Pliny says, "according to Hesiod. whose name we have a book of astrology extant, the early setting of the Pleiades is about the end d the autumu equinox." Notwithstanding this quotation, Fabricius tell us, that Athenæus and Pliny, in some other place, have given us reason to believe they thought the poem of astronomy supposititi Επικήδειος εις Βατραχυν: this is mentioned by Suidas, with the addition of τινα εξωμένον αυτό, a funeral song on Batrachus, whom he loved. Пegi Idaιwv Aaxтuawy: this was of the Idæi Dactyli, “who," says Pliny, in his seventh book, “17, recorded by Hesiod, as discoverers of iron in Crete:" this is likewise in the catalogue of Suidas. Επιθαλάμιος Πελεως και Θετίδος: an epithalamium on the marriage of Peleus and Thetis; two reser of which are in the Prolegomena of Isaac Tzetzes to Lycophron. Tng modos: this book of geography is mentioned by Strabo. Ayios: a poem on one Ægimius; this, Athenæus tells us, was writ by Hesiod, or Cercops; wretch whose name is now remembered only for being to Hesiod what Zoilus was to Homer. Onσews His Toy aidny xarabaois: the descent of Theseus into Hell: this is attributed to Hesiod by Pat sanias, in his Booties. Επη μαντικα και εξηγήσεις επι τεραίν: on prophecies or divination, with an exposition of prodigisi or portents: this is likewise mentioned by Pausanias. En 2001: divine speeches; which Maximus Tyrius takes notice of in his sixteenth dissertation Meyaha ya: great or remarkable actions: we find the title of this work in the eighth book of Athenæus. Knuxaç yapos: the marriage of Ceyx; we have an account of this poem both by Athenæus, and Plutarch in his Symposiacs. Of all these labours of this great poet we see nothing but the titles remaining, excepting some fragments preserved by Pausanias, Plutarch, Polybius, &c. We are told that our poet composed some other works, of which we have not even the titles. We are assured, from divers passages in Pliny, that he wrote of the virtues of herbs; but here Fabricius judiciously observes, that he might, in other poems, occasionally treat of various herbs; as in the beginning of his Works and Days he speaks of the wholesomeness of mallows, and the daffodil, or asphodelos. Quintilian, in his fifth book, denies the fables of Æsop to have been written originally by him, but says the first author of them was Hesiod; and Plutarch informs us that Esop was his disciple: but this opinion, though countenanced by some, is exploded by others. When we reflect on the number of titles, the poems to which are irreparably lost, we should consider them as so many monuments to raise our concern for the loss of so much treasure never to be retrieved. Let us turn our thoughts from that melancholy theme, and view the poet in his living writings; let us read him ourselves, and incite our countrymen to a taste of the politeness of Greece. Scaliger, in an epistle of Salmasius, divides the state of poetry in Greece into four periods of time: in the first arose Homer and Hesiod; on which he has the just observation that concludes my discourse: "this," says he, "you may not improperly call the spring of poesy, but it is rather the bloom than infancy." THE GENERAL ARGUMENT TO THE WORKS AND DAYS, FROM THE GREEK OF DANIEL HEINSIUS. THE poet begins with the difference of the two contentions, and, rejecting that which is attended with disgrace, he advises his brother Perses to prefer the other. One is the lover of strife, and the occasion of troubles. The other prompts us on to procure the necessaries of life in a fair and honest way. After Prometheus had, by subtlety, stole the fire clandestinely from Jove (the fire is by the divine Plato, in his allusion to this passage, called the necessaries or abundance of life; and those are called subtle who were solicitous after the abundance of life) the god created a great evil, which was Pandora, that is Fortune, who was endowed with all the gifts of the gods, meaning all the benefits of nature: so Fortune may from thence be said to have the disposal of the comforts of life; and, from that time, care and prudence are required in the management of human affairs. Before Prometheus had purloined the fire, all the common necessaries of life were near at hand, and easily attained; for Saturn had first made a golden age of men, to which the earth yielded all her fruits spontaneously: the mortals of the golden age submitted to a soft and pleasant death, and were afterwards made demons, and honour attended their names. To this succeeded the second, the silver age, worse in al things than the first, and better than the following; which Jupiter, or Fate, took from the Earth, and made happy in their death. Hence the poet passes to the third, the brazen age, the men of which, he says, were fierce and terrible, who ignobly fell by their own folly and civil discord; nor was their future fate like to the other, for they descended to Hell. This generation is followed by a race of heroes, Etcocles and Polynices, and the rest who were in the first and oldest Theban war, and Aga memnon and Menelaus, and such as are recorded by the poet' to be in the Trojan war, of whom some perished entirely by death, and some now inhabit the isles of the blessed. Next he describes the iron age, and the injustice which prevailed in it. He greatly reproves the judges, and taxes them with corruption, in a short and beautiful fable. In the other part of the book, he sets before our eyes the consequences of justice and injustice; and then, in the most sagacious manner, lays down some of the wisest precepts to Perses. The part which contains the precepts is chiefly writ in an irregular, free, and easy way; and his frequent repetitions, which custom modern writers have quite avoided, bear no small marks of his antiquity. He often digresses, that his brother night not be tired with his precepts, because of a too much sameness. Hence he passes to rules of economy, beginning with agriculture. He points out the proper season for the plough, the harvest, the vintage, and for felling wood; he shows the fruits of industry, and the ill consequences of negligence. He describes the different seasons, and tells us what works are proper to each. These are the subjects of the first part of his economy. In process of time, and the thirst of gain increasing in men, every method was tried to the procuring riches; men began to extend their commerce over the seas; for which reason. the poet laid down precepts for navigation. He next proceeds to a recommendation of divine worsh p, the adoration due to the immortal gods, and the various ways of paying our homage to them. He concludes with a short observation on days, dividing them into the good, bad, and indifferent. I suppose Heinsius means Homer. THE WORKS OF HESIOD. TRANSLATED BY COOKE. WORKS AND DAYS. THE ARGUMENT. This book contains the invocation to the whole, the general proposition, the story of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Pandora, a description of the golden age, silver age, brazen age, the age of heroes, and the iron age, a recommendation of virtue, from the temporal blessings with which good men are attended, and the condition of the wicked, and several moral precepts proper to be observed through the course of our lives. SING, Muses, sing, from the Pierian grove; From your immortal sire deduce your lays; As here on Earth we tread the maze of life, Idle himself he sees them haste to rise, Perses, attend, my just decrees observe, |