Collection of Hesiod, Homer and Homerica | Page 9

of heroines who bare children to
the gods: from the title we must suppose it to have been much longer
that the simple "Eoiae", but its extent is unknown. Lehmann, remarking
that the heroines are all Boeotian and Thessalian (while the heroines of

the "Catalogues" belong to all parts of the Greek world), believes the
author to have been either a Boeotian or Thessalian.
Two other poems are ascribed to Hesiod. Of these the "Aegimius" (also
ascribed by Athenaeus to Cercops of Miletus), is thought by
Valckenaer to deal with the war of Aegimus against the Lapithae and
the aid furnished to him by Heracles, and with the history of Aegimius
and his sons. Otto Muller suggests that the introduction of Thetis and of
Phrixus (frags. 1-2) is to be connected with notices of the allies of the
Lapithae from Phthiotis and Iolchus, and that the story of Io was
incidental to a narrative of Heracles' expedition against Euboea. The
remaining poem, the "Melampodia", was a work in three books, whose
plan it is impossible to recover. Its subject, however, seems to have
been the histories of famous seers like Mopsus, Calchas, and Teiresias,
and it probably took its name from Melampus, the most famous of
them all.
Date of the Hesiodic Poems
There is no doubt that the "Works and Days" is the oldest, as it is the
most original, of the Hesiodic poems. It seems to be distinctly earlier
than the "Theogony", which refers to it, apparently, as a poem already
renowned. Two considerations help us to fix a relative date for the
"Works". 1) In diction, dialect and style it is obviously dependent upon
Homer, and is therefore considerably later than the "Iliad" and
"Odyssey": moreover, as we have seen, it is in revolt against the
romantic school, already grown decadent, and while the digamma is
still living, it is obviously growing weak, and is by no means uniformly
effective.
2) On the other hand while tradition steadily puts the Cyclic poets at
various dates from 776 B.C. downwards, it is equally consistent in
regarding Homer and Hesiod as `prehistoric'. Herodotus indeed puts
both poets 400 years before his own time; that is, at about 830-820 B.C.,
and the evidence stated above points to the middle of the ninth century
as the probable date for the "Works and Days". The "Theogony" might
be tentatively placed a century later; and the "Catalogues" and "Eoiae"
are again later, but not greatly later, than the "Theogony": the "Shield
of Heracles" may be ascribed to the later half of the seventh century,
but there is not evidence enough to show whether the other `developed'
poems are to be regarded as of a date so low as this.

Literary Value of Homer
Quintillian's (11) judgment on Hesiod that `he rarely rises to great
heights... and to him is given the palm in the middle-class of speech' is
just, but is liable to give a wrong impression. Hesiod has nothing that
remotely approaches such scenes as that between Priam and Achilles,
or the pathos of Andromache's preparations for Hector's return, even as
he was falling before the walls of Troy; but in matters that come within
the range or ordinary experience, he rarely fails to rise to the
appropriate level. Take, for instance, the description of the Iron Age
("Works and Days", 182 ff.) with its catalogue of wrongdoings and
violence ever increasing until Aidos and Nemesis are forced to leave
mankind who thenceforward shall have `no remedy against evil'. Such
occasions, however, rarely occur and are perhaps not characteristic of
Hesiod's genius: if we would see Hesiod at his best, in his most natural
vein, we must turn to such a passage as that which he himself --
according to the compiler of the "Contest of Hesiod and Homer" --
selected as best in all his work, `When the Pleiades, Atlas' daughters,
begin to rise...' ("Works and Days, 383 ff.). The value of such a passage
cannot be analysed: it can only be said that given such a subject, this
alone is the right method of treatment.
Hesiod's diction is in the main Homeric, but one of his charms is the
use of quaint allusive phrases derived, perhaps, from a pre- Hesiodic
peasant poetry: thus the season when Boreas blows is the time when
`the Boneless One gnaws his foot by his fireless hearth in his cheerless
house'; to cut one's nails is `to sever the withered from the quick upon
that which has five branches'; similarly the burglar is the `day-sleeper',
and the serpent is the `hairless one'. Very similar is his reference to
seasons through what happens or is done in that season: `when the
House- carrier, fleeing the Pleiades, climbs up the plants from the earth',
is the season for harvesting;