1808.] 
that sheep may be shorn on the eleventh 
or twelfth, but that the twelfth is better ; 
that the tenth is most favourable to the 
generation of males, and the fourteenth to 
that of females, and many other instruc- 
tions equally singular, ‘These were un- 
doubtedly the superstitious reveries of 
his times, but it may be remarked, that 
they are not to be found in Homer, 
The ‘ Works and Days’ is the earliest 
poem we have upon agriculture,* though 
Dr, Kennet seems rather disposed to call 
it, A Body of Economics. It contains 
many admirable precepts, delivered in a 
style of great simplicity and_ purity. 
But it has the defect when considered as 
a poem of being too minute and dry.f 
The instructions are conveyed without 
either method or order, the style is uni- 
formly even and temperate. Raro assur- 
gut Hesiodus (says Quintiliant) magnaque 
pars ejus in nominibus est occupaia, tamen 
utiles circa precepta sententia, lenitasgue 
werborum et sentertiarum probabilis, da- 
turg. ev palma in illo medio genere dicendi, 
His principal merit is an engaging sim- 
plicity, which attracts the attention of 
the reader, and the purity of the lan- 
guage may satisfy the nicestear. It is, 
besides, easy of comprehension; and a 
Hesiod, with Pasozis’ Lexicon at the end 
of it, may be recommended as one of the 
best lielps to the attaining ef Greek. As 
a didactic poem, it is rather a sketch of. 
the rules upon which agriculture is 
founded, than a@ regular treatise upon the 
science ‘itself. a we wish to see that 
sketch expand into an enlarged and lu- 
minous system, with views more correct, 
a colouring more brillant, and a tout- 
ensemble moye perfect, we must resort 
to Virgil, who has treated this subject in 
a manner equally instructive and. prac- 
pea F 
The ‘ Theogony,’ or the ‘ Birth of the 
Gade? isa sort of poetical review of all 
the deities which eraced the ancient my- 
thology. The propriety of ascribing ‘it 
to Hesiod, has been sometimes disputed, 
but Fabricius, || who seems to have writ- 
ten the best account of this poet, asserts 
it to be undoubtedly his. Hesiod and 
Homer were ‘the first who introduced a 
Thecgony among the Greeks; the first 
who gave a name to the gods, ascribing 
to then honours and functions, and 
ing particular descriptions of their 
re was a supposed poem of Orpheus, 
the same title. 
Anc. Greek poets, 57. 
Fh Bae 
weca in Hesiod, 
Lyceum of Ancient Literature— Hesiod. 123 
persons. Hesiod begins with the first 
principle of the heathen system, that 
Chaos was the parent of all, and heaven 
and earth the parents of all visible things, 
That Heaven was the father, says Plutarch 
in his Inguiry afier God, appears from 
his pouring down the waters which have 
the spermatic faculty; and Earth the 
mother, because she generates and brings 
forth, "This, according to Plutarch and 
others, was th e origin of that multiplicity 
of vods and goddesses which formed the 
religious system of the ancients. They 
considered those bodies in the heavens, 
or on the an, from which they re- 
ceived so much benefit, as the imme- 
diate objects of their gratitude and ado- 
ration. From similar motives they were 
afterwards induced to pay divine honours 
to mortal men, by whose wisdom or ex- 
ploits the rest of mankind were improved 
or protected. The design of the poet 
was to give a catalogue of the deities 
who were in any sense esteemed as such, 
in the age in ‘which he. lived, whether 
fabulous, historical, or physical. But it 
may be remarked, that even where a 
story took its rise from history or fable, 
he labours to reduce it to natural causes, 
The one half of the Theogony is a con- 
tinual nomenclature of gods and god- 
desses, of every rank and species. Quin- 
tilian, + has justly remarked that they 
occur too frequently, but those who are 
accustomed to admire in Homer the 
beautiful order, and even poetical effect 
which he gives to the names of the cities 
and heroes he describes, will be equally 
disposed;to admire the same excellence 
in Hesiod. It is observable of this poct, 
whose style is in general so soft and 
easy, assumes towards the end of the 
poem, a degree of unexpected vigour and 
Tajesty, when he describes he ietor 
the eods against the giants, a fabulous 
tradition of which he makes the earliest 
mention, This description and. that of 
winter in the ‘ Works and Days,’ may be 
compared with some of the finest passages 
in Homer, but the comparison cannot be 
long maintained in favour of Hesiod. 
The description of Tartarus into which 
the Titans are precipitated by the thun- 
der of Jupiter, offers so striking a resems 
blanee to the hell of Milton, that. dt.as 
dithicult not to imagine that the one served 
as 2 model for the other. The confor- 
mity of ideas in a subject which the dif- 
ference of religion would have appeared 
to render so little probable, inay be cited 
1 
* Quint. abi supra. 
