upon all occasions ; they cultivated Violets, Roses, the Nar- 

 cissus, Iris, &c.* which were extensively sold at Athens, in a 

 Market Place appropriated to their disposal.! 



Hesiod is the most ancient author on the cultivation of the 

 earth, whose work has descended to us. His History is ob- 

 scure and uncertain. The most probable incidents of his life 

 appear as follows. He was born at A sera, in Boeotia, and 

 flourished about the same time with Homer. He is said to 

 have carried off a prize in a contest of Poetry with that writer. 

 Being murdered and his body thrown into the Sea by his 

 slayers, it was thrown ashore, and his fate being thus revealed, 

 the murderers were detected by the Poet's dcgs. 



Hesiod is to be admired both as a Poet and Philosopher, 

 we have here however only to consider him as an Agricultural 

 writer. His Poem entitled *' the Works and Days" Pliny con- 

 sidered as the first positively known work that contained di- 

 rections for cultivating the ground, Tzctzes, who lived in the 

 twelfth Century, in his Scholia on Hesiod, mentions two 

 Poems by Orpheus, entitled " Works" and " Diaries," the 

 latter of which from its title would promise to be of more 

 utility than Hesiod's superstitious Calendar. It admits of 

 considerable doubt whether Orpheus ever existed, if he did, 

 he lived about the time of the Argonautic expedition, 1263, 

 B. C. At all events, Hesiod's work is the earliest on Agricul- 

 ture that has descended to us. He wrote a Treatise on herbs 

 now lost, and there is strong reason to believe, "The Works," 

 is mutilated and imperfect, for Pliny (b. 15.) adverts to Hesiod's 

 opinion of the unprofitableness of the Olive ; and Manlius in 

 his Astronomicon refers to his Treatise on Grafting, and on 

 the situations suited to Corn and Vines, none of which pas- 

 sages occur in any of our copies. From what remains, we 

 can glean but small information as to the Agricultural practices 



Theophrastus vi, c 5. + Aristophau. Acham. v. 212. 



