OBSERVATIONS
OF HESIOD.
Universal Anthology - v03
" She said: the nurse began to quicken her pace with an old wife's zeal.
But Dido, wildered and maddened by her enormous resolve, rolling her bloodshot eye, her quivering cheeks stained with fiery streaks, and pale with the shadow of death, bursts the door of the inner palace, and frantically climbs the tall pile, and unsheathes the Dardan sword, a gift procured for a far different end. Then, after surveying the Trojan garments and the bed, too well known, and pausing awhile to weep and
if such the requirement of Jove's
88 QUEEN DIDO'S LOVE AND FATE.
think, she pressed her bosom to the couch, and uttered her last words: —
" Relics, once darlings of mine, while Fate and Heaven gave leave, receive this my soul, and release me from these my sor rows. I have lived my life — the course assigned me by For tune is run, and now the august phantom of Dido shall pass
I have built a splendid city. I have seen my walls completed. In vengeance for a husband, I have punished a brother that hated me — blest, ah ! blest beyond human" bliss, if only Dardan ships had never touched coasts of ours ! She
underground.
spoke — and kissing the couch: "Is it to be death without revenge? But be it death," she cries — "this, this is the road by which I love to pass to the shades. Let the heartless Dar- danian's eyes drink in this flame from the deep, and let him carry with him the presage of my death. "
She spoke, and even while she was yet speaking, her attend ants see her fallen on the sword, the blade spouting blood, and her hands dabbled in it. Their shrieks rise to the lofty roof; Fame runs wild through the convulsed city. With wail ing and groaning, and screams of women, the palace rings ; the sky resounds with mighty cries and beating of breasts — even as if the foe were to burst the gates and topple down Carthage or ancient Tyre, and the infuriate flame were leaping from roof to roof among the dwellings of men and gods.
Her sister heard it. Breathless and frantic, with wild speed, disfiguring her cheeks with her nails, her bosom with her fists, she bursts through the press, and calls by name on the dying queen: "Was this your secret, sister? Were you plotting to cheat me ? Was this what your pile was preparing for me, your fires, and your altars ? What should a lone heart grieve for first? Did you disdain your sister's company in death? You should have called me to share your fate — the same keen sword pang, the same hour, should have been the end of both. And did these hands build the pile, this voice call on the gods of our house, that you might lie there, while I, hard-hearted wretch, was away? Yes, sister, you have destroyed yourself and me, the people and the elders of Sidon, and your own fair city. Let in the water to the wounds ; let me cleanse them, and if any remains of breath be still flickering, catch them in my mouth ! " As she thus spoke, she was at the top of the lofty steps, and was embracing and fondling in her bosom her dying sister, and stanching with her robe the black streams of
ZEND-AVESTA. 89
blood. Dido strives to raise her heavy eyes, and sinks down again ; the deep stab gurgles in her breast. Thrice, with an effort, she lifted and reared herself up on her elbow ; thrice she fell back on the couch, and with helpless wandering eyes aloft in the sky, sought for the light and groaned when she found it.
Then Juno almighty, in compassion for her lengthened agony and her trouble in dying, sent down Iris from Olympus to part the struggling soul and its prison of flesh. For, as she was dying, not in the course of fate, nor for any crime of hers, but in mere misery, before her time, the victim of sudden frenzy, not yet had Proserpine carried off a lock of her yellow hair, and thus doomed her head to Styx and the place of death. So then Iris glides down the sky with saffron wings dew-besprent, trailing a thousand various colors in the face of the sun, and alights above her head. " This I am bidden to bear away as an offering to Pluto, and hereby set you free from the body. " So saying, she stretches her hand and cuts the lock : at once all heat parts from the frame, and the life has passed into air.
Precepts, Praters, and Hymns from the ZEND-AVESTA.
(Translated by James Darmesteter and L. H. Mills. )
[The Avesta (Zend means commentary ; the name has also been given to the old Persian language of the most antique portion) is the collection of sacred books — chiefly liturgy — of the ancient Persians, and of the modern Parsee sect, their descendants who have not become Mohammedans. The portion called the Gathas is represented to be the utterances of Zoroaster or Zarathushtra himself, the lawgiver and religious founder whose existence is still a hopeless problem : even of the associated translators above, Professor Darmesteter decisively pro nounces him mythical ; Mr. Mills with equal confidence holds him historical and the Gathas substantially authentic. He assigns him to a period probably not earlier than b. c. 1500, or later than 900. " Let the Zendist study the Gathas well," he says, " and then let him turn to the Yatts or the Vendtdad : he will go from the land of reality to the land of fable. He leaves in the one a toiling prophet, to meet in the other a phantastic demi-god. "]
Keeping Contracts and Oaths.
Ip men of the same faith, either friends or brothers, come to an agreement together, that one may obtain from the other either goods, or a wife, or knowledge, let him who wants to
90 ZEND-AVESTA.
have goods have them delivered to him; let him who wants to have a wife receive and wed her; let him who wants to have knowledge be taught the holy word.
He shall learn on, during the first part of the day and the last, during the first part of the night and the last, that his mind may be increased in knowledge and wax strong in holi ness ; so shall he sit up, giving thanks and praying to the gods, that he may be increased in knowledge; he shall rest during the middle part of the day, during the middle part of the night, and thus shall he continue until he can say all the words which former Aethrapaitis (teaching priests) have said.
Before the water and the blazing fire, O Spitama Zarathu*- tra! let no one make bold to deny having received from his neighbor the ox or the garment.
Verily I say it unto thee, O Spitama Zarathu*tra! the man who has a wife is far above him who begets no sons; he who keeps a house is far above him who has none; he who has children is far above the childless man; he who has riches is far above him who has none.
And of two men, he who fills himself with meat is filled with the good spirit much more than he who does not do so: the latter is all but dead; the former is above him by the worth of an asperena (dirhem, dime), by the worth of a sheep, by the worth of an ox, by the worth of a man.
It is this man that can strive against the onsets of Asto- Vidhotu; that can strive against the self-moving arrow; that can strive against the winter fiend, with thinnest garment on; that can strive against the wicked tyrant and smite him on the head; it is this man that can strive against the ungodly Ashe- maogha who does not eat.
The Holiness op Husbandry.
(Ahura Mazda said:) "Unhappy is the land that has long lain unsown with the seed of the sower and wants a good hus bandman, like a well-shapen maiden who has long gone child less and wants a good husband.
"He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him will she bring forth plenty like a loving bride on her bed, unto her beloved; the bride will bring forth children, the earth will bring forth plenty of fruit.
Ahura Mazda answered : again, O Spitama Zarathustra !
ZEND-AVESTA.
91
" He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra ! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him thus says the Earth : ' O thou man ! who dost till me with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, hither shall people ever come and beg for bread ; here shall I ever go on bearing, bringing forth all manner of food, bringing forth profusion of corn. '
" He who does not till the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra ! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him thus says the Earth : ' O thou man ! who dost not till me with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, ever shalt thou stand at the door of the stranger, among those who beg for bread ; ever shalt thou wait there for the refuse that is brought unto thee, brought by those who have profusion of wealth. ' "
"It is sowing corn again and
" When barley is coming forth, the Daevas start up ; when the corn is growing rank, then faint the Daevas' hearts ; when the corn is being bound, the Daevas groan ; when wheat is coming forth, the Daevas are destroyed. In that house they can no longer stay, from that house they are beaten away, wherein wheat is thus coming forth. It is as though red-hot iron were turned about in their throats, when there is plenty of corn.
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! What is the food that fills the law of Mazda?
" He who sows corn, soweth holiness ; he makes the law of Mazda grow higher and higher ; he makes the law of Mazda as fat as he can with a hundred acts of adoration, a thousand oblations, ten thousand sacrifices.
"Then let the priest teach people this saying: 'No one who does not eat has strength to do works of holiness, strength to do works of husbandry, strength to beget children. By eating, every material creature lives; by not eating it dies away. '" . . .
" He who, tilling the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra ! would not kindly and piously give to one of the faithful, he shall fall down into the darkness of Spewta Armaiti (the earth), down into the world of woe, the dismal realm, down into the house of hell. "
92 ZEND-AVESTA.
To THE Strs.
Unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun;
Be propitiation, with sacrifice, prayer, propitiation, and glorification.
We sacrifice unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun.
When the light of the sun waxes warmer, when the bright ness of the Sun waxes warmer, then up stand the heavenly Yazatas, by hundreds and thousands ; they gather together its Glory, they make its Glory pass down, they pour its Glory upon the earth, made by Ahura, for the increase of the world of holi ness, for the increase of the creatures of holiness, for the in crease of the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun.
And when the Sun rises up, then the earth, made by Ahura, becomes clean ; the running waters become clean, the waters of the wells become clean, the waters of the Sea become clean; the standing waters become clean ; all the holy creatures, the creatures of the Good Spirit, become clean.
Should not the Sun rise up, then the Daevas would destroy all the things that are in the Seven Karshvares, nor would the heavenly Yazatas find any way of withstanding or repelling them in the material world.
He who offers up a sacrifice unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun — to withstand darkness, to withstand the Daevas born of darkness, to withstand the robbers and bandits, to withstand the Yatus and Pairikas, to withstand death that creeps in unseen — offers it up to Ahura Mazda, offers it up to the Amesha-Speratas, offers it up to his own soul. He rejoices all the heavenly and worldly Yazatas, who offers up a sacrifice unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun.
I will sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, who has a thousand ears, ten thousand eyes.
I will sacrifice unto the club of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, well struck down upon the skulls of the Daevas.
I will sacrifice unto that friendship, the best of all friend ships, that reigns between the moon and the sun.
For his brightness and glory, I will offer unto him a sacri fice worth being heard, namely, unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun. Unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun we offer up the libations, the Haoma and meat, the bar- esma, the wisdom of the tongue, the holy spells, the speech, the deeds, the libations, and the rightly spoken words.
ZEND-AVESTA. 93
TO MltHBA.
We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, sleep less, and ever awake.
To whom Ahura Mazda offered up a sacrifice in the shining
Garo-nmana (Paradise).
With his arms lifted up towards Immortality, Mithra, the
lord of wide pastures, drives forward from the shining Garo- nmana, in a beautiful chariot that drives on, ever-swift, adorned with all sorts of ornaments, and made of gold.
At his right hand drives Rashnu Razista, the most benefi cent and well-shapen.
At his left hand drives the most upright JHsta, the holy one, bearing libations in her hands, clothed with white clothes, and white herself; and the cursing thought of the Law of Mazda.
Close by him drives the strong cursing thought of the wise man, opposing foes in the shape of a boar, a sharp-toothed he- boar, a sharp-jawed boar, that kills at one stroke, pursuing, wrathful, with a dripping face, strong and swift to run, and rushing all around.
Behind him drives Atar (the Genius of Fire), all in a blaze, and the awful kingly Glory.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, stand a thousand bows well made, with a string of cowgut; they go through the heavenly space, they fall through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, stand a thousand vulture-feathered arrows, with a golden mouth, with a horn shaft, with a brass tail, and well made. They go through the heavenly space, they fall through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, stand a thousand spears, well made and sharp-piercing. They
go through the heavenly space, they fall through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pas tures, stand a thousand steel hammers, two-edged, well made. They go through the heavenly space, they fall through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pas tures, stand a thousand swords, two-edged and well made.
94 ZEND-AVESTA.
They go through the heavenly space, they fall through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pas
tures, stand a thousand maces of iron, well made.
through the heavenly space, they fall through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pas tures, stands a beautiful well-falling club, with a hundred knots, a hundred edges, that rushes forward and fells men down ; a club cast out of red brass, of strong, golden brass ; the strong est of all weapons, the most victorious of all weapons. It goes through the heavenly space, it falls through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
After he has smitten the Daevas, after he has smitten down the man who lied unto Mithra, Mithra, the lord of wide pas tures, drives forward. . . .
Angra Mainyu (Ahriman), who is all death, flees away in fear ; Aeshma, the evil-doing Peshotanu, flees away in fear ; the long-handed Boshyaster flees away in fear ; all the Daevas unseen and the Varenya fiends flee away in fear.
Oh ! May we never fall across the rush of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, when in anger ! May Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, never smite us in his anger ; he who stands up upon this earth as the strongest of all gods, the most valiant of all gods, the most energetic of all gods, the swiftest of all gods, the most fiend-smiting of all gods, he, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures.
Gatha-Dualism of Good and Evtl.
The primeval spirits as a pair, each independent in his action, have been famed. A better thing, and a worse, they two, as to thought, as to word, and as to deed. And between these two let the wisely acting choose aright. Choose ye not as the evil-doers !
When the two spirits came together at the first to make life, and life's absence, and to determine how the world at last shall be ordered, for the wicked the worst life (Hell), for the holy the Best Mental State (Heaven).
He who was the evil of them both chose the evil, thereby making the worst of possible results ; but the more bounteous spirit chose the Divine Righteousness.
They go
TANTALUS AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES. 95
And between these two spirits the Demon-Gods and their worshipers can make no righteous choice, since we have be guiled them. As they were questioning and debating in their council, the worst mind approached them that he might be chosen. And thereupon they rushed together unto the Demon of Fury, that they might pollute the lives of mortals.
Upon this Aramaiti (Saints' Piety) approached, and with her came the Sovereign Power, the Good Mind, and the Right eous Order. And Aramaiti gave a body (to the spiritual crea tions of good and evil).
And when vengeance shall have come upon these wretches (Devil-worshipers), then, O Mazda ! the kingdom shall have been gained by thee by thy Good Mind within thy Folk.
And may we be such as those who bring on this great renovation, and make this world progressive. The Ahuras of Mazda may we be in helpful readiness to meet thy people, pre senting benefits in union with the Righteous Order.
LEGEND OF TANTALUS AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES.
By PINDAR. (Translated by Ernest Myers. )
[Pindab, one of the greatest lyric artists of the world, was born about b. c. 622, near Thebes. Though sought as a court star by the greatest princes of his age, he refused to give up independence or Thehan citizenship. He died prob ably in 443. His life work was writing odes to be sung in honor of victories in athletic contests at the great Greek religious festivals. These he made vehicles for the legendary lore of old Greece, at first so lavishly that the elder poetess Corinna told him " one should sow with the hand and not the sack. "]
Fibst Olympian Ode : for Hieron of Syracuse, Winner in the Horse Race.
Best is Water of all, and Gold as a flaming fire in the night shineth eminent amid lordly wealth; but if of prizes in the games thou art fain, O my soul, to tell, then, as for no bright star more quickening than the sun must thou search in the void firmament by day, so neither shall we find any games greater
96 TANTALUS AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES.
than the Olympic whereof to utter our voice : for hence cometh the glorious hymn and entereth into the minds of the skilled in song, so that they celebrate the son of Kronos [Zeus], when to the rich and happy hearth of Hieron they are come ; for he wieldeth the scepter of justice in Sicily of many flocks, culling the choice fruits of all kinds of excellence : and with the flower of music is he made splendid, even such strains as we sing blithely at the table of a friend.
Take from the peg the Dorian lute, if in anywise the glory of Pherenikos [the winning horse] at Pisa hath swayed thy soul unto glad thoughts, when by the banks of Alpheos he ran, and gave his body ungoaded in the course, and brought victory to his master, the Syracusans' king, who delighteth in horses.
Bright is his fame in Lydian Pelops' colony [Peloponnesos], inhabited of a goodly race, whose founder mighty earth-enfold ing Poseidon loved, what time from the vessel of purifying Klotho took him with the bright ivory furnishment of his
shoulder [i. e. at birth].
Verily many things are wondrous, and haply tales decked out
with cunning fables beyond the truth make false men's speech concerning them. For Charis [goddess of Grace or Beauty], who maketh all sweet things for mortal men, by lending honor unto such maketh oft the unbelievable thing to be believed ; but the days that follow after are the wisest witnesses.
Meet is it for a man that concerning gods he speak honor ably ; for the reproach is less. Of thee, son of Tantalos, I will speak contrariwise to them who have gone before me, and I will tell how when thy father had bidden thee to that most seemly feast at his beloved Sipylos, repaying to the gods their banquet, then did he of the Bright Trident [Poseidon], his heart vanquished by love, snatch thee and bear thee behind bis golden steeds to the house of august Zeus in the highest, whither again on a like errand came Ganymede in the after time.
But when thou hadst vanished, and the men who sought thee long brought thee not to thy mother, some one of the envious neighbors said secretly that over water heated to boil ing they had hewn asunder with a knife thy limbs, and at the tables had shared among them and eaten sodden fragments of thy flesh. But to me it is impossible to call one of the blessed gods
I keep aloof ; in telling ill tales is often little gain. Tantalos was that man ; but his high fortune he could not digest,
cannibal ;
Now if any man ever had honor of the guardians of Olympus,
TANTALUS AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES. 97
and by excess thereof won him an overwhelming woe, in that the Father hath hung above him a mighty stone that he would fain ward from his head, and therewithal he is fallen from joy.
This hopeless life of endless misery he endureth with other three [Sisyphos, Ixion, and Tityos], for that he stole from the immortals and gave to his fellows at a feast the nectar and ambrosia, whereby the gods had made him incorruptible. But if a man thinketh that in doing aught he shall be hidden from God, he erreth.
Therefore also the immortals sent back again his son to be once more counted with the short-lived race of men. And he, when toward the bloom of his sweet youth the down began to shade his darkening cheek, took counsel with himself speedily to take to him for his wife the noble Hippodameia from her Pisan father's hand.
And he came and stood upon the margin of the hoary sea, alone in the darkness of the night, and called aloud on the deep- voiced Wielder of the Trident ; and he appeared unto him nigh at his foot. "
Lo now, O Poseidon, if the kind gifts of the Cyprian goddess are anywise pleasant in thine eyes, restrain Oinomaos' bronze spear, and send me unto Elis upon
a chariot exceeding swift, and give the victory to my hands. Thirteen lovers already hath Oinomaos slain, and still delayeth to give his daughter in marriage. Now a great peril alloweth not of a coward : and forasmuch as men must die, wherefore should one sit vainly in the dark through a dull and nameless age, and without lot in noble deeds ? Not so, but I will dare this strife : do thou give the issue I desire. "
Thus spake he, nor were his words in vain 5 for the god made him a glorious gift of a golden car and winged, untiring steeds : so he overcame Oinomaos and won the maiden for his bride.
And he begat six sons, chieftains, whose thoughts were ever of brave deeds : and now hath he part in honor of blood-offer ings in his grave beside Alpheos' stream, and hath a frequented tomb, whereto many strangers resort : and from afar off he be- holdeth the glory of the Olympian games in the courses called of Pelops, where is striving of swift feet and of strong bodies brave to labor ; but he that overcometh hath for the sake of those games a sweet tranquillity throughout his life for ever more.
VOL. Hi — 7
Then he said unto him :
98 THE MISPLACED FINE LADY.
Now the good that cometh of to-day is ever sovereign unto every man. My part it is to crown Hieron with an equestrian strain in ^Eolian mood : and sure am I that no host among men that now are shall I ever glorify in sounding labyrinths of song more learned in the learning of honor and withal with more might to work thereto. A god hath guard over thy hopes, O Hieron, and taketh care for them with a peculiar care: and if he fail thee not, I trust that I shall again proclaim in song a sweeter glory yet, and find thereto in words a ready way, when to the fair-shining hill of Kronos I am come. Her strongest- winged dart my Muse hath yet in store.
Of many kinds is the greatness of men ; but the highest is to be achieved by kings. Look not thou for more than this. May it be thine to walk loftily all thy life, and mine to be the friend of winners in the games, winning honor for my art among Hellenes everywhere.
THE MISPLACED FINE LADY. By SIMONIDES OF AMORGOS.
[About 660 b. c. The lines are from a poem on the genesis of the different kinds of women, from different animals. The slut is from a hog, the cunning from a fox, the snarling and prying from a dog, the lazy glutton from mud, the capricious from the sea, the strong but balky and incontinent from an ass, the sullen and thievish from a weasel, the fine lady from a thoroughbred, the ugly,
sly, and malicious from an ape, the good housewife from a bee. Is Mure's. ]
The translation
Next in the lot a gallant dame we see,
Sprung from a mare of noble pedigree.
No servile work her spirit proud can brook ;
Her hands were never taught to bake or cook ;
The vapor of the oven makes her ill ;
She scorns to empty slops or turn the mill.
No household washings her fair skin deface,
Her own ablutions are her chief solace.
Three baths a day, with balms and perfumes rare, Refresh her tender limbs ; her long rich hair,
Each time she combs, and decks with blooming flowers,
No spouse more fit than she the idle hours Of wealthy lords or kings to recreate,
And grace the splendor of their courtly state. For men of humbler sort no better guide Heaven in its wrath to ruin can provide.
OBSERVATIONS OF HESIOD. 99
OBSERVATIONS OF HESIOD. (From the " Works and Days. ")
[Hesiod : A celebrated Greek poet, probably of the century after Homer, say about b. c. 800. He was a native of Ascra in Boeotia. His authentic writ ings are the " Theogony " (genealogy of the gods) and " Works and Days " (that is, labors of the year, and the proper seasons for them), full of shrewd and often bitter comments on and advice concerning all the affairs of life. There are also fragments. The first-named work is probably much altered from his own composition ; possibly the second, but its best things must belong to one mind. ]
Competition is good for men.
Potter is jealous of potter, and mechanic of mechanic ; beggar has a grudge against beggar, poet against poet. [" Two of a trade can never agree. " Note that beggars and
poets were both dependent on the doles of the property-own
ing classes. ]
Half is more than the whole.
The avenger of perjury runs side by side with unjust judg ments ; the course of Justice is resistless, though she be dragged where her bribe devourers lead her. [" Truth crushed to earth shall rise again. "] Clad in mist, she follows wailing cities and settlements, bringing evil on men who have driven her out. A whole city often reaps the fruit of a bad man's deeds.
A man works evil for himself in working it for another, and the wicked scheme is worst for him who devises it. [" Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein. "]
To be a just man is an evil if the unjust is to have the whip hand of justice. [Personal wrong here overpowers Hesiod's abstract philosophy. ] But do you heed justice and forbear violence. Fishes, beasts, and fowls are to eat each other
["Let dogs delight"], for they have no justice; but to men is given justice, which is for the best.
Whoever swears a false oath leaves the human race the worse; a true-swearing man leaves it the better.
Wickedness you can pick up in heaps ; the road is level, and it dwells close by. But to virtue the gods have attached labor; the way to it is long, steep, and rugged at first, but when you have reached the summit the way is easy.
Famine is the sluggard's companion. Both immortals and mortals hate sluggards.
100 OBSERVATIONS OF HESIOD.
Labor is best, turning a foolish mind from others' goods to work, you will study your own living.
A false shame possesses needy man.
Invite the man who loves you to dinner, but let your enemy alone. Especially invite your neighbor for anything hap pens to you, neighbors will come running half dressed, but relatives will wait to dress first. A bad neighbor as great
misfortune as good one blessing. Not an ox would die there were no bad neighbors.
Pay back all you borrow from neighbor in full measure, and better you can, so that you may have something to rely on in case of need.
Dishonest gains are as bad as losses. Whatever man shamelessly seizes, be ever so little, poisons his blood.
Love the man who loves you, and keep close to him who sticks to you, and give to him who has given to you — not to him who has not. No one gives to the stingy.
Take your fill at the beginning and the end of the cask, but spare in the middle sparingness too late at the bottom.
[The rich and the poor may get what they are able to buy the middling must be cautious. The young with spare strength and the old with their work done can be reckless the middle-
aged cannot. ]
Pay your friend as fairly as another.
Call in witnesses even for dealings with your brother trust has ruined as many men as mistrust.
Twice or thrice you may get help from neighbors but you trouble them further, you will talk in vain.
Put nothing off till to-morrow or the day after. A dilatory man forever wrestling with losses.
It will not always be summer build houses for your selves.
Hire man servant without house of his own, and female servant without children keep sharp-toothed dog, and feed him well.
Praise small vessel lade your goods in large one, as your gain will be greater.
It dreadful to die in the waves.
Do not put all your means into ship cargoes leave the major part on shore. It sad, too, when you have loaded your wagon too heavily the axle breaks, and the load lost.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket. "]
["
if a
is
;
if
is
is is it
a ;
;
if is
a
a
if
a
;
:
a
;
a
a
;
is ; a ;
a if
:
it
is a a
if,
OBSERVATIONS OF HESIOD. 101
Marry a maiden living near, for fear you may marry one who will give your neighbors cause to mock you.
Don't make your friend equal to a brother ; but if you do, be careful not to give the first provocation. But if he talks against you, pay him back double. If he wishes to be recon ciled, however, and make amends, accept them. A man is in bad case when he keeps changing friends.
Don't lie for the sake of talking.
Don't let your face tell tales on your mind.
Don't be called host to everybody or to nobody ; nor one
who keeps bad company or abuses good men.
Never sneer at a man's poverty. The greatest treasure is
a reticent tongue.
If you speak ill of others, you may hear more of yourself. Don't be boorish at a feast where the guests all pay ; for
there one gets the greatest pleasure at the least expense.
Don't go to church with dirty clothes on. [Literally, Do not make libations to Zeus with unwashed hands. ] For your prayers will not be heard. [That is, if you do not think your
religion of importance enough to make some effort at decency in its rites, it will not do you much good. ]
The Hawk and the Nightingale.
Now then will I speak a fable to kings, wise even though they are. Thus the hawk addressed the nightingale of varie gated throat, as he carried her in his talons, when he had caught her, very high in the clouds.
She then, pierced on all sides by his crooked talons, was wailing piteously, whilst he victoriously addressed his speech to her. " Wretch, wherefore criest thou ? 'tis a much stronger that holds thee. Thou wilt go that way by which I may lead thee, songstress though thou art ; and my supper, if I choose, I shall make, or shall let go. But senseless is he who chooses to contend against them that are stronger, and he is robbed of victory, and suffers griefs in addition to indignities. "
Pandora's Box.
Now the gods keep hidden for men their means of sub sistence ; for else easily mightest thou even in one day have wrought, so that thou shouldest have enough for the year,
102 OBSERVATIONS OF HESIOD.
even though being idle : else straightway wouldst thou lay by the rudder above the smoke, and the labors of oxen and of toil- enduring mules would be undone. But Jove in wrath at his heart concealed it, because wily Prometheus had beguiled him. Therefore, I ween, he devised baneful cares for men. And fire he hid, which indeed the good son of Iapetus stole back for mankind from counselor Jove in a hollow fennel stalk, after he had escaped the notice of Jove delighting in the thunder bolt.
Him then cloud-compelling Jove addressed in wrath: "O son of Iapetus, knowing beyond all in counsels, thou exultest in having stolen fire, and deceived my wisdom, a severe woe to thyself and to men that shall come after. To them now will I give evil instead of fire, wherewith all may delight them selves at heart, hugging their own evil. " So spake he: and outlaughed the sire of men and gods; but he bade Vulcan the illustrious with all speed mix earth with water, and endue it with man's voice and strength, and to liken in countenance to immortal goddesses the fair, lovely beauty of a maiden; then he bade Minerva teach her work, to weave the highly wrought web; and golden Aphrodite to shed around her head grace, and painful desire, and cares that waste the limbs; but to endue her with a shameless mind and tricksy manners he charged the conductor, Argicide Mercury.
So he bade; but they obeyed Jove, the sovereign son of Cronus, and forthwith out of the earth the famous crippled god fashioned one like unto a modest maiden, through the counsels of Jove, the son of Cronus, and the goddess, gleaming- eyed Minerva, girdled and arrayed her; and around her skin the goddess Graces and august Persuasion hung golden chains, whilst fair-tressed Hours crowned her about with flowers of spring, and Pallas Minerva adapted every ornament to her person. But in her breast, I wot, conductor Mercury wrought falsehoods, and wily speeches, and tricksy manners, by the counsels of deep- thundering Jove; and the herald of the gods placed within her, I ween, a winning voice; and this woman he called Pandora, because all, inhabiting Olympian mansions, bestowed on her a gift — a mischief to inventive men.
But when he had perfected the dire inextricable snare, father Jove proceeded to send to Epimetheus the famous slayer of Argus, swift messenger of the gods, carrying her as a gift; nor did Epimetheus consider how Prometheus had told him never
FRAGMENTS OF ARCHILOCHUS.
108
to accept a gift from Olympian Jove, but to send it back, lest haply any ill should arise to mortals. But he, after receiving it, felt the evil, when now he possessed it.
Now aforetime, indeed, the races of men were wont to live on the earth apart and free from ills, and without harsh labor, and painful diseases, which have brought death on mor tals. For in wretchedness men presently grow old. But the woman having with her hands removed the great lid from the vessel, dispersed them; then contrived she baneful cares for men. And Hope alone there in unbroken abode kept re maining within, beneath the verge of the vessel, nor did it flit forth abroad; for before that, she had placed on the lid of the vessel, by the counsels of aegis-bearing, cloud-compeller Jove. But myriad other ills have roamed forth among men. For full indeed is earth of woes, and full the sea; and in the day as well as at night diseases unbidden haunt mankind, silently bearing ills to men, for counselor Jove hath taken from them their voice. Thus not in any way is it possible to escape the will of Jove.
FRAGMENTS OF ARCHILOCHUS.
[Archilochcs was the earliest of Greek satirists, about b. c. 700, inventor of the iambic verse ; by the ancients ranked second only to Homer, and equally first in his own department, inferior rather in subject than in genius. He was famed for personal lampoons' so stinging that they are said to have driven their subjects to suicide ; but he wrote also better things. All that would exhibit his surpassing greatness, however, is lost: the first piece following is the longest remnant that survives.
All translations not credited are made for this work. ]
L
On Self-Control. (Translated by William Hay. )
Tossed on a sea of troubles, Soul, my Soul, Thyself do thou control ;
And to the weapons of advancing foes A stubborn breast oppose ;
Undaunted 'mid the hostile might Of squadrons burning for the fight.
104
FRAGMENTS OP ARCHILOCHUS.
Thine be no boasting when the victor's crown Wins thee deserved renown ;
Thine no dejected sorrow, when defeat Would urge a base retreat :
Rejoice in joyous things — nor overmuch Let grief thy bosom touch
'Midst evil, and still bear in mind
How changeful are the ways of humankind.
rx Fate.
Cast all care upon the gods : for often from the dust they raise
Men who grovel in abasement, toiling in the meanest ways ;
Often too they hurl men headlong — trip and throw us on our face, While we strut in pride, and leave us, beggared, homeless, in a daze, Once again to seek our fortune, all misfortunes at our heels.
ra.
The Daily Miracle.
There is naught to be despaired of, naught to be avowed absurd, Naught a wonder, when the Father of the Skies
From the noonday brings the night, with the hiding of the light, Sunshine goes, and gloomy fear upon us lies.
Just from this alone we know there is nothing here below Unbelievable or desperate for men ;
None should wonder at whatever they behold in our affairs. Should the very dolphins of the ocean for a den
Of the beasts of earth exchange their briny fields and lairs, These the thundering wave prefer to mainland home,
Those the mountain find more grateful than the foam.
XT.
The Fox's Invocation.
0 Father Zeus, thy might in heaven controls all mortals' fate ; Thou seest the deeds of humankind, the crooked and the straight ; In brutes as well thou lov'st the just, the wrongful has thy hate.
v.
Cameo op a Girl. (Translated by J. A. Symonds. )
Holding a myrtle rod she blithely moved,
And a fair blossoming rose ; the flowing hair "Shadowed her shoulders, falling to her girdle.
NIGHT. 105
vx
The Ideal Captain.
A long-legged straddling giant is not my choice for a chief— Curled and haughty and shaven, a proper sort of a beau :
Give me a bow-legged bantam, stout if his body is brief, Firm on his feet, quick-witted, full of spirit and go.
His Discretion the Better Part op his Valor.
Some Thracian is pluming himself on the shield that he found in a bush,
Where blameless I left my armor, sorely against my grain ;
But I saved myself from the consequence of death that day, at least:
Let the shield go — I can get one no worse when I want it again.
VIII.
His Autobiography.
I am an expert craftsman in one tremendous art —
To wreak full vengeance on the one who plays a foeman'g part.
NIGHT.
By ALCMAN. (Translated by William Mure. )
[Alcman (flourished about 650) was one of the founders of Greek lyric poetry : identified with Sparta, though not a native. ]
Over the drowsy earth still night prevails ; Calm sleep the mountain tops and shady vales,
The rugged cliffs and hollow glens, The castle on the hill. Deep in the sea
The countless finny race and monster brood Tranquil repose. Even the busy bee
Forgets her daily toil. The silent wood No more with noisy hum of insect rings,
And all the feathered tribes, by gentle sleep subdued, Roost in the glade, and hang their drooping wings.
106 SOCIALISM IN SPARTA.
SOCIALISM IN SPARTA. By PLUTARCH.
(From the "Life of Lycurgus. ")
Lycukgus found a prodigious inequality : the city was overcharged with many indigent persons who had no land, and the wealth centered in the hands of a few. Determined, therefore, to root out the evils of insolence, envy, avarice, and luxury, and those distempers of a state still more inveterate and fatal, — I mean poverty and riches, — he persuaded them to cancel all former divisions of land, and to make new ones, in such a manner that they might be perfectly equal in their possessions and way of living. Hence, if they were ambitious of distinction they might seek it in virtue, as no other differ ence was left between them but that which arises from the dishonor of base actions and the praise of good ones. His proposal was put in practice. He made nine thousand lots for the territory of Sparta, which he distributed among so many citizens, and thirty thousand for the inhabitants of the rest of Laconia. Each lot was capable of producing (one year with another) seventy bushels of grain for each man, and twelve for each woman, besides a quantity of wine and oil in proportion. Such a provision they thought sufficient for health and a good habit of body, and they wanted nothing more. A story goes of our legislator, that some time after returning from a journey through the fields just reaped, and seeing the shocks standing parallel and equal, he smiled, and said to some that were by, " How like is Laconia to an estate newly divided among many , brothers ! "
After this, he attempted to divide also the movables, in order to take away all appearance of inequality; but he soon perceived that they could not bear to have their goods directly taken from them, and therefore took another method, counterworking their avarice by a stratagem. First he stopped the currency of the gold and silver coin, and ordered that they should make use of iron money only, then to a great quantity and weight of this he assigned but a small value ; so that to lay up ten mince, a whole room was required, and to remove nothing less than
yoke of oxen. When this became current, many kinds of injustice ceased in Lacedaemon. Who would steal or take
a
a
it,
I
SOCIALISM IN SPARTA. 107
bribe, who would defraud or rob, when he could not conceal the booty ; when he could neither be dignified by the posses sion of it, nor if cut in pieces be served by its use ? For we are told that, when hot they quenched it in vinegar, to make it brittle and unmalleable, and consequently unfit for any other service.
In the next place, he excluded unprofitable and superfluous arts : indeed, if he had not done this, most of them would have fallen of themselves, when the new money took place, as the manufactures could not be disposed of. Their iron coin would not pass in the rest of Greece, but was ridiculed and despised ; so that the Spartans had no means of purchasing any foreign or curious wares; nor did any merchant ship unlade in their harbors. There were not even to be found in all their country either sophists, wandering fortune tellers, keepers of infamous houses or dealers in gold and silver trinkets, because there was no money. Thus luxury, losing by degrees the means that cherished and supported it, died away of itself : even they who had great possessions had no advantage from them, since they could not be displayed in public, but must lie useless in unregarded repositories. Hence it was that excellent work manship was shown in their useful and necessary furniture, as beds, chairs, and tables; and the Lacedaemonian cup called cothon, as Critias informs us, was highly valued, particularly in campaigns ; for the water, which must then of necessity be drank, though it would often otherwise offend the sight, had its muddiness concealed by the color of the cup, and the thick part stopping at the shelving brim, it came clearer to the lips.
Desirous to complete the conquest of luxury, and exter minate the love of riches, he introduced a third institution, which was wisely enough and ingeniously contrived. This was the use of public tables, where all were to eat in common of the same meat, and such kinds of it as were appointed by law. At the same time they were forbidden to eat at home, upon ex pensive couches and tables, to call in the assistance of butchers and cooks, or to fatten like voracious animals in private. For so not only their manners would be corrupted, but their bodies disordered ; abandoned to all manner of sensuality and disso luteness, they would require long sleep, warm baths, and the same indulgence as in perpetual sickness. To effect this was certainly very great ; but it was greater still, to secure riches from rapine and from envy, as Theophrastus expresses it, or
108 SOCIALISM IN SPARTA.
rather by their eating in common, and by the frugality of their table, to take from riches their very being. For what use or enjoyment of them, what peculiar display of magnificence could there be, where the poor man went to the same refreshment with the rich ? It must further be observed, that they had not the privilege to eat at home, and so to come without appetite to the public repast : they made a point of it to observe any one that did not eat and drink with them, and to reproach him as an intemperate and effeminate person that was sick of the common diet.
There were fifteen persons to a table, or a few more or less. Each of them was obliged to bring in monthly a bushel of meal, eight gallons of wine, five pounds of cheese, two pounds and a half of figs, and a little money to buy flesh and fish. If any of them happened to offer a sacrifice of first fruits, or to kill venison, he sent a part of it to the public table ; for after a sacrifice or hunting, he was at liberty to sup at home ; but the rest were to appear at the usual place. For a long time this eating in common was observed with great exactness : so that when king Agis returned from a successful expedition against the Athenians, and from a desire to sup with his wife, requested to have his portion at home, the Polemarchs refused to send it : nay, when, through resentment, he neglected, the day following, to offer the sacrifice usual on occasion of victory, they set a fine upon him.
Children also were introduced at these public tables, as so many schools of sobriety. There they heard discourses con cerning government, and were instructed in the most liberal breeding. There they were allowed to jest without scurrility, and were not to take it ill when the raillery was returned. For it was reckoned worthy of a Lacedaemonian to bear a jest ; but if any one's patience failed, he had only to desire them to be quiet, and they left off immediately. When they first entered, the oldest man present pointed to the door, and said, " Not a word spoken in this company goes out there. "
The admitting of any man to a particular table was under the following regulation. Each member of that small society took a little ball of soft bread in his hand. This he was to drop, without saying a word, into a vessel called caddot, which the waiter carried upon his head. In case he approved of the candi date, he did it without altering the figure, if not, he first pressed it flat in his hand ; for a flatted ball was considered as a nega
SOCIALISM IN SPARTA. 109
tive. And if but one such was found, the person was not ad mitted, as they thought it proper that the whole company should be satisfied with each other. He who was thus rejected, was said to have no luck in the caddog.
The dish that was in the highest esteem amongst them was the black broth. The old men were so fond of it that they ranged themselves on one side and eat leaving the meat to the young people. It related of king of Pontus, that he pur chased Lacedaemonian cook, for the sake of this broth. But when he came to taste he strongly expressed his dislike, and the cook made answer, " Sir, to make this broth relish, necessary first to bathe in the Eurotas. " After they had drunk moderately, they went home without lights. Indeed, they were forbidden to walk with light either on this or any other occa sion, that they might accustom themselves to march in the darkest night boldly and resolutely. Such was the order of their public repasts.
But Dido, wildered and maddened by her enormous resolve, rolling her bloodshot eye, her quivering cheeks stained with fiery streaks, and pale with the shadow of death, bursts the door of the inner palace, and frantically climbs the tall pile, and unsheathes the Dardan sword, a gift procured for a far different end. Then, after surveying the Trojan garments and the bed, too well known, and pausing awhile to weep and
if such the requirement of Jove's
88 QUEEN DIDO'S LOVE AND FATE.
think, she pressed her bosom to the couch, and uttered her last words: —
" Relics, once darlings of mine, while Fate and Heaven gave leave, receive this my soul, and release me from these my sor rows. I have lived my life — the course assigned me by For tune is run, and now the august phantom of Dido shall pass
I have built a splendid city. I have seen my walls completed. In vengeance for a husband, I have punished a brother that hated me — blest, ah ! blest beyond human" bliss, if only Dardan ships had never touched coasts of ours ! She
underground.
spoke — and kissing the couch: "Is it to be death without revenge? But be it death," she cries — "this, this is the road by which I love to pass to the shades. Let the heartless Dar- danian's eyes drink in this flame from the deep, and let him carry with him the presage of my death. "
She spoke, and even while she was yet speaking, her attend ants see her fallen on the sword, the blade spouting blood, and her hands dabbled in it. Their shrieks rise to the lofty roof; Fame runs wild through the convulsed city. With wail ing and groaning, and screams of women, the palace rings ; the sky resounds with mighty cries and beating of breasts — even as if the foe were to burst the gates and topple down Carthage or ancient Tyre, and the infuriate flame were leaping from roof to roof among the dwellings of men and gods.
Her sister heard it. Breathless and frantic, with wild speed, disfiguring her cheeks with her nails, her bosom with her fists, she bursts through the press, and calls by name on the dying queen: "Was this your secret, sister? Were you plotting to cheat me ? Was this what your pile was preparing for me, your fires, and your altars ? What should a lone heart grieve for first? Did you disdain your sister's company in death? You should have called me to share your fate — the same keen sword pang, the same hour, should have been the end of both. And did these hands build the pile, this voice call on the gods of our house, that you might lie there, while I, hard-hearted wretch, was away? Yes, sister, you have destroyed yourself and me, the people and the elders of Sidon, and your own fair city. Let in the water to the wounds ; let me cleanse them, and if any remains of breath be still flickering, catch them in my mouth ! " As she thus spoke, she was at the top of the lofty steps, and was embracing and fondling in her bosom her dying sister, and stanching with her robe the black streams of
ZEND-AVESTA. 89
blood. Dido strives to raise her heavy eyes, and sinks down again ; the deep stab gurgles in her breast. Thrice, with an effort, she lifted and reared herself up on her elbow ; thrice she fell back on the couch, and with helpless wandering eyes aloft in the sky, sought for the light and groaned when she found it.
Then Juno almighty, in compassion for her lengthened agony and her trouble in dying, sent down Iris from Olympus to part the struggling soul and its prison of flesh. For, as she was dying, not in the course of fate, nor for any crime of hers, but in mere misery, before her time, the victim of sudden frenzy, not yet had Proserpine carried off a lock of her yellow hair, and thus doomed her head to Styx and the place of death. So then Iris glides down the sky with saffron wings dew-besprent, trailing a thousand various colors in the face of the sun, and alights above her head. " This I am bidden to bear away as an offering to Pluto, and hereby set you free from the body. " So saying, she stretches her hand and cuts the lock : at once all heat parts from the frame, and the life has passed into air.
Precepts, Praters, and Hymns from the ZEND-AVESTA.
(Translated by James Darmesteter and L. H. Mills. )
[The Avesta (Zend means commentary ; the name has also been given to the old Persian language of the most antique portion) is the collection of sacred books — chiefly liturgy — of the ancient Persians, and of the modern Parsee sect, their descendants who have not become Mohammedans. The portion called the Gathas is represented to be the utterances of Zoroaster or Zarathushtra himself, the lawgiver and religious founder whose existence is still a hopeless problem : even of the associated translators above, Professor Darmesteter decisively pro nounces him mythical ; Mr. Mills with equal confidence holds him historical and the Gathas substantially authentic. He assigns him to a period probably not earlier than b. c. 1500, or later than 900. " Let the Zendist study the Gathas well," he says, " and then let him turn to the Yatts or the Vendtdad : he will go from the land of reality to the land of fable. He leaves in the one a toiling prophet, to meet in the other a phantastic demi-god. "]
Keeping Contracts and Oaths.
Ip men of the same faith, either friends or brothers, come to an agreement together, that one may obtain from the other either goods, or a wife, or knowledge, let him who wants to
90 ZEND-AVESTA.
have goods have them delivered to him; let him who wants to have a wife receive and wed her; let him who wants to have knowledge be taught the holy word.
He shall learn on, during the first part of the day and the last, during the first part of the night and the last, that his mind may be increased in knowledge and wax strong in holi ness ; so shall he sit up, giving thanks and praying to the gods, that he may be increased in knowledge; he shall rest during the middle part of the day, during the middle part of the night, and thus shall he continue until he can say all the words which former Aethrapaitis (teaching priests) have said.
Before the water and the blazing fire, O Spitama Zarathu*- tra! let no one make bold to deny having received from his neighbor the ox or the garment.
Verily I say it unto thee, O Spitama Zarathu*tra! the man who has a wife is far above him who begets no sons; he who keeps a house is far above him who has none; he who has children is far above the childless man; he who has riches is far above him who has none.
And of two men, he who fills himself with meat is filled with the good spirit much more than he who does not do so: the latter is all but dead; the former is above him by the worth of an asperena (dirhem, dime), by the worth of a sheep, by the worth of an ox, by the worth of a man.
It is this man that can strive against the onsets of Asto- Vidhotu; that can strive against the self-moving arrow; that can strive against the winter fiend, with thinnest garment on; that can strive against the wicked tyrant and smite him on the head; it is this man that can strive against the ungodly Ashe- maogha who does not eat.
The Holiness op Husbandry.
(Ahura Mazda said:) "Unhappy is the land that has long lain unsown with the seed of the sower and wants a good hus bandman, like a well-shapen maiden who has long gone child less and wants a good husband.
"He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him will she bring forth plenty like a loving bride on her bed, unto her beloved; the bride will bring forth children, the earth will bring forth plenty of fruit.
Ahura Mazda answered : again, O Spitama Zarathustra !
ZEND-AVESTA.
91
" He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra ! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him thus says the Earth : ' O thou man ! who dost till me with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, hither shall people ever come and beg for bread ; here shall I ever go on bearing, bringing forth all manner of food, bringing forth profusion of corn. '
" He who does not till the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra ! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him thus says the Earth : ' O thou man ! who dost not till me with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, ever shalt thou stand at the door of the stranger, among those who beg for bread ; ever shalt thou wait there for the refuse that is brought unto thee, brought by those who have profusion of wealth. ' "
"It is sowing corn again and
" When barley is coming forth, the Daevas start up ; when the corn is growing rank, then faint the Daevas' hearts ; when the corn is being bound, the Daevas groan ; when wheat is coming forth, the Daevas are destroyed. In that house they can no longer stay, from that house they are beaten away, wherein wheat is thus coming forth. It is as though red-hot iron were turned about in their throats, when there is plenty of corn.
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! What is the food that fills the law of Mazda?
" He who sows corn, soweth holiness ; he makes the law of Mazda grow higher and higher ; he makes the law of Mazda as fat as he can with a hundred acts of adoration, a thousand oblations, ten thousand sacrifices.
"Then let the priest teach people this saying: 'No one who does not eat has strength to do works of holiness, strength to do works of husbandry, strength to beget children. By eating, every material creature lives; by not eating it dies away. '" . . .
" He who, tilling the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra ! would not kindly and piously give to one of the faithful, he shall fall down into the darkness of Spewta Armaiti (the earth), down into the world of woe, the dismal realm, down into the house of hell. "
92 ZEND-AVESTA.
To THE Strs.
Unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun;
Be propitiation, with sacrifice, prayer, propitiation, and glorification.
We sacrifice unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun.
When the light of the sun waxes warmer, when the bright ness of the Sun waxes warmer, then up stand the heavenly Yazatas, by hundreds and thousands ; they gather together its Glory, they make its Glory pass down, they pour its Glory upon the earth, made by Ahura, for the increase of the world of holi ness, for the increase of the creatures of holiness, for the in crease of the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun.
And when the Sun rises up, then the earth, made by Ahura, becomes clean ; the running waters become clean, the waters of the wells become clean, the waters of the Sea become clean; the standing waters become clean ; all the holy creatures, the creatures of the Good Spirit, become clean.
Should not the Sun rise up, then the Daevas would destroy all the things that are in the Seven Karshvares, nor would the heavenly Yazatas find any way of withstanding or repelling them in the material world.
He who offers up a sacrifice unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun — to withstand darkness, to withstand the Daevas born of darkness, to withstand the robbers and bandits, to withstand the Yatus and Pairikas, to withstand death that creeps in unseen — offers it up to Ahura Mazda, offers it up to the Amesha-Speratas, offers it up to his own soul. He rejoices all the heavenly and worldly Yazatas, who offers up a sacrifice unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun.
I will sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, who has a thousand ears, ten thousand eyes.
I will sacrifice unto the club of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, well struck down upon the skulls of the Daevas.
I will sacrifice unto that friendship, the best of all friend ships, that reigns between the moon and the sun.
For his brightness and glory, I will offer unto him a sacri fice worth being heard, namely, unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun. Unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun we offer up the libations, the Haoma and meat, the bar- esma, the wisdom of the tongue, the holy spells, the speech, the deeds, the libations, and the rightly spoken words.
ZEND-AVESTA. 93
TO MltHBA.
We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, sleep less, and ever awake.
To whom Ahura Mazda offered up a sacrifice in the shining
Garo-nmana (Paradise).
With his arms lifted up towards Immortality, Mithra, the
lord of wide pastures, drives forward from the shining Garo- nmana, in a beautiful chariot that drives on, ever-swift, adorned with all sorts of ornaments, and made of gold.
At his right hand drives Rashnu Razista, the most benefi cent and well-shapen.
At his left hand drives the most upright JHsta, the holy one, bearing libations in her hands, clothed with white clothes, and white herself; and the cursing thought of the Law of Mazda.
Close by him drives the strong cursing thought of the wise man, opposing foes in the shape of a boar, a sharp-toothed he- boar, a sharp-jawed boar, that kills at one stroke, pursuing, wrathful, with a dripping face, strong and swift to run, and rushing all around.
Behind him drives Atar (the Genius of Fire), all in a blaze, and the awful kingly Glory.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, stand a thousand bows well made, with a string of cowgut; they go through the heavenly space, they fall through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, stand a thousand vulture-feathered arrows, with a golden mouth, with a horn shaft, with a brass tail, and well made. They go through the heavenly space, they fall through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, stand a thousand spears, well made and sharp-piercing. They
go through the heavenly space, they fall through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pas tures, stand a thousand steel hammers, two-edged, well made. They go through the heavenly space, they fall through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pas tures, stand a thousand swords, two-edged and well made.
94 ZEND-AVESTA.
They go through the heavenly space, they fall through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pas
tures, stand a thousand maces of iron, well made.
through the heavenly space, they fall through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
On a side of the chariot of Mithra, the lord of wide pas tures, stands a beautiful well-falling club, with a hundred knots, a hundred edges, that rushes forward and fells men down ; a club cast out of red brass, of strong, golden brass ; the strong est of all weapons, the most victorious of all weapons. It goes through the heavenly space, it falls through the heavenly space upon the skulls of the Daevas.
After he has smitten the Daevas, after he has smitten down the man who lied unto Mithra, Mithra, the lord of wide pas tures, drives forward. . . .
Angra Mainyu (Ahriman), who is all death, flees away in fear ; Aeshma, the evil-doing Peshotanu, flees away in fear ; the long-handed Boshyaster flees away in fear ; all the Daevas unseen and the Varenya fiends flee away in fear.
Oh ! May we never fall across the rush of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, when in anger ! May Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, never smite us in his anger ; he who stands up upon this earth as the strongest of all gods, the most valiant of all gods, the most energetic of all gods, the swiftest of all gods, the most fiend-smiting of all gods, he, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures.
Gatha-Dualism of Good and Evtl.
The primeval spirits as a pair, each independent in his action, have been famed. A better thing, and a worse, they two, as to thought, as to word, and as to deed. And between these two let the wisely acting choose aright. Choose ye not as the evil-doers !
When the two spirits came together at the first to make life, and life's absence, and to determine how the world at last shall be ordered, for the wicked the worst life (Hell), for the holy the Best Mental State (Heaven).
He who was the evil of them both chose the evil, thereby making the worst of possible results ; but the more bounteous spirit chose the Divine Righteousness.
They go
TANTALUS AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES. 95
And between these two spirits the Demon-Gods and their worshipers can make no righteous choice, since we have be guiled them. As they were questioning and debating in their council, the worst mind approached them that he might be chosen. And thereupon they rushed together unto the Demon of Fury, that they might pollute the lives of mortals.
Upon this Aramaiti (Saints' Piety) approached, and with her came the Sovereign Power, the Good Mind, and the Right eous Order. And Aramaiti gave a body (to the spiritual crea tions of good and evil).
And when vengeance shall have come upon these wretches (Devil-worshipers), then, O Mazda ! the kingdom shall have been gained by thee by thy Good Mind within thy Folk.
And may we be such as those who bring on this great renovation, and make this world progressive. The Ahuras of Mazda may we be in helpful readiness to meet thy people, pre senting benefits in union with the Righteous Order.
LEGEND OF TANTALUS AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES.
By PINDAR. (Translated by Ernest Myers. )
[Pindab, one of the greatest lyric artists of the world, was born about b. c. 622, near Thebes. Though sought as a court star by the greatest princes of his age, he refused to give up independence or Thehan citizenship. He died prob ably in 443. His life work was writing odes to be sung in honor of victories in athletic contests at the great Greek religious festivals. These he made vehicles for the legendary lore of old Greece, at first so lavishly that the elder poetess Corinna told him " one should sow with the hand and not the sack. "]
Fibst Olympian Ode : for Hieron of Syracuse, Winner in the Horse Race.
Best is Water of all, and Gold as a flaming fire in the night shineth eminent amid lordly wealth; but if of prizes in the games thou art fain, O my soul, to tell, then, as for no bright star more quickening than the sun must thou search in the void firmament by day, so neither shall we find any games greater
96 TANTALUS AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES.
than the Olympic whereof to utter our voice : for hence cometh the glorious hymn and entereth into the minds of the skilled in song, so that they celebrate the son of Kronos [Zeus], when to the rich and happy hearth of Hieron they are come ; for he wieldeth the scepter of justice in Sicily of many flocks, culling the choice fruits of all kinds of excellence : and with the flower of music is he made splendid, even such strains as we sing blithely at the table of a friend.
Take from the peg the Dorian lute, if in anywise the glory of Pherenikos [the winning horse] at Pisa hath swayed thy soul unto glad thoughts, when by the banks of Alpheos he ran, and gave his body ungoaded in the course, and brought victory to his master, the Syracusans' king, who delighteth in horses.
Bright is his fame in Lydian Pelops' colony [Peloponnesos], inhabited of a goodly race, whose founder mighty earth-enfold ing Poseidon loved, what time from the vessel of purifying Klotho took him with the bright ivory furnishment of his
shoulder [i. e. at birth].
Verily many things are wondrous, and haply tales decked out
with cunning fables beyond the truth make false men's speech concerning them. For Charis [goddess of Grace or Beauty], who maketh all sweet things for mortal men, by lending honor unto such maketh oft the unbelievable thing to be believed ; but the days that follow after are the wisest witnesses.
Meet is it for a man that concerning gods he speak honor ably ; for the reproach is less. Of thee, son of Tantalos, I will speak contrariwise to them who have gone before me, and I will tell how when thy father had bidden thee to that most seemly feast at his beloved Sipylos, repaying to the gods their banquet, then did he of the Bright Trident [Poseidon], his heart vanquished by love, snatch thee and bear thee behind bis golden steeds to the house of august Zeus in the highest, whither again on a like errand came Ganymede in the after time.
But when thou hadst vanished, and the men who sought thee long brought thee not to thy mother, some one of the envious neighbors said secretly that over water heated to boil ing they had hewn asunder with a knife thy limbs, and at the tables had shared among them and eaten sodden fragments of thy flesh. But to me it is impossible to call one of the blessed gods
I keep aloof ; in telling ill tales is often little gain. Tantalos was that man ; but his high fortune he could not digest,
cannibal ;
Now if any man ever had honor of the guardians of Olympus,
TANTALUS AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES. 97
and by excess thereof won him an overwhelming woe, in that the Father hath hung above him a mighty stone that he would fain ward from his head, and therewithal he is fallen from joy.
This hopeless life of endless misery he endureth with other three [Sisyphos, Ixion, and Tityos], for that he stole from the immortals and gave to his fellows at a feast the nectar and ambrosia, whereby the gods had made him incorruptible. But if a man thinketh that in doing aught he shall be hidden from God, he erreth.
Therefore also the immortals sent back again his son to be once more counted with the short-lived race of men. And he, when toward the bloom of his sweet youth the down began to shade his darkening cheek, took counsel with himself speedily to take to him for his wife the noble Hippodameia from her Pisan father's hand.
And he came and stood upon the margin of the hoary sea, alone in the darkness of the night, and called aloud on the deep- voiced Wielder of the Trident ; and he appeared unto him nigh at his foot. "
Lo now, O Poseidon, if the kind gifts of the Cyprian goddess are anywise pleasant in thine eyes, restrain Oinomaos' bronze spear, and send me unto Elis upon
a chariot exceeding swift, and give the victory to my hands. Thirteen lovers already hath Oinomaos slain, and still delayeth to give his daughter in marriage. Now a great peril alloweth not of a coward : and forasmuch as men must die, wherefore should one sit vainly in the dark through a dull and nameless age, and without lot in noble deeds ? Not so, but I will dare this strife : do thou give the issue I desire. "
Thus spake he, nor were his words in vain 5 for the god made him a glorious gift of a golden car and winged, untiring steeds : so he overcame Oinomaos and won the maiden for his bride.
And he begat six sons, chieftains, whose thoughts were ever of brave deeds : and now hath he part in honor of blood-offer ings in his grave beside Alpheos' stream, and hath a frequented tomb, whereto many strangers resort : and from afar off he be- holdeth the glory of the Olympian games in the courses called of Pelops, where is striving of swift feet and of strong bodies brave to labor ; but he that overcometh hath for the sake of those games a sweet tranquillity throughout his life for ever more.
VOL. Hi — 7
Then he said unto him :
98 THE MISPLACED FINE LADY.
Now the good that cometh of to-day is ever sovereign unto every man. My part it is to crown Hieron with an equestrian strain in ^Eolian mood : and sure am I that no host among men that now are shall I ever glorify in sounding labyrinths of song more learned in the learning of honor and withal with more might to work thereto. A god hath guard over thy hopes, O Hieron, and taketh care for them with a peculiar care: and if he fail thee not, I trust that I shall again proclaim in song a sweeter glory yet, and find thereto in words a ready way, when to the fair-shining hill of Kronos I am come. Her strongest- winged dart my Muse hath yet in store.
Of many kinds is the greatness of men ; but the highest is to be achieved by kings. Look not thou for more than this. May it be thine to walk loftily all thy life, and mine to be the friend of winners in the games, winning honor for my art among Hellenes everywhere.
THE MISPLACED FINE LADY. By SIMONIDES OF AMORGOS.
[About 660 b. c. The lines are from a poem on the genesis of the different kinds of women, from different animals. The slut is from a hog, the cunning from a fox, the snarling and prying from a dog, the lazy glutton from mud, the capricious from the sea, the strong but balky and incontinent from an ass, the sullen and thievish from a weasel, the fine lady from a thoroughbred, the ugly,
sly, and malicious from an ape, the good housewife from a bee. Is Mure's. ]
The translation
Next in the lot a gallant dame we see,
Sprung from a mare of noble pedigree.
No servile work her spirit proud can brook ;
Her hands were never taught to bake or cook ;
The vapor of the oven makes her ill ;
She scorns to empty slops or turn the mill.
No household washings her fair skin deface,
Her own ablutions are her chief solace.
Three baths a day, with balms and perfumes rare, Refresh her tender limbs ; her long rich hair,
Each time she combs, and decks with blooming flowers,
No spouse more fit than she the idle hours Of wealthy lords or kings to recreate,
And grace the splendor of their courtly state. For men of humbler sort no better guide Heaven in its wrath to ruin can provide.
OBSERVATIONS OF HESIOD. 99
OBSERVATIONS OF HESIOD. (From the " Works and Days. ")
[Hesiod : A celebrated Greek poet, probably of the century after Homer, say about b. c. 800. He was a native of Ascra in Boeotia. His authentic writ ings are the " Theogony " (genealogy of the gods) and " Works and Days " (that is, labors of the year, and the proper seasons for them), full of shrewd and often bitter comments on and advice concerning all the affairs of life. There are also fragments. The first-named work is probably much altered from his own composition ; possibly the second, but its best things must belong to one mind. ]
Competition is good for men.
Potter is jealous of potter, and mechanic of mechanic ; beggar has a grudge against beggar, poet against poet. [" Two of a trade can never agree. " Note that beggars and
poets were both dependent on the doles of the property-own
ing classes. ]
Half is more than the whole.
The avenger of perjury runs side by side with unjust judg ments ; the course of Justice is resistless, though she be dragged where her bribe devourers lead her. [" Truth crushed to earth shall rise again. "] Clad in mist, she follows wailing cities and settlements, bringing evil on men who have driven her out. A whole city often reaps the fruit of a bad man's deeds.
A man works evil for himself in working it for another, and the wicked scheme is worst for him who devises it. [" Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein. "]
To be a just man is an evil if the unjust is to have the whip hand of justice. [Personal wrong here overpowers Hesiod's abstract philosophy. ] But do you heed justice and forbear violence. Fishes, beasts, and fowls are to eat each other
["Let dogs delight"], for they have no justice; but to men is given justice, which is for the best.
Whoever swears a false oath leaves the human race the worse; a true-swearing man leaves it the better.
Wickedness you can pick up in heaps ; the road is level, and it dwells close by. But to virtue the gods have attached labor; the way to it is long, steep, and rugged at first, but when you have reached the summit the way is easy.
Famine is the sluggard's companion. Both immortals and mortals hate sluggards.
100 OBSERVATIONS OF HESIOD.
Labor is best, turning a foolish mind from others' goods to work, you will study your own living.
A false shame possesses needy man.
Invite the man who loves you to dinner, but let your enemy alone. Especially invite your neighbor for anything hap pens to you, neighbors will come running half dressed, but relatives will wait to dress first. A bad neighbor as great
misfortune as good one blessing. Not an ox would die there were no bad neighbors.
Pay back all you borrow from neighbor in full measure, and better you can, so that you may have something to rely on in case of need.
Dishonest gains are as bad as losses. Whatever man shamelessly seizes, be ever so little, poisons his blood.
Love the man who loves you, and keep close to him who sticks to you, and give to him who has given to you — not to him who has not. No one gives to the stingy.
Take your fill at the beginning and the end of the cask, but spare in the middle sparingness too late at the bottom.
[The rich and the poor may get what they are able to buy the middling must be cautious. The young with spare strength and the old with their work done can be reckless the middle-
aged cannot. ]
Pay your friend as fairly as another.
Call in witnesses even for dealings with your brother trust has ruined as many men as mistrust.
Twice or thrice you may get help from neighbors but you trouble them further, you will talk in vain.
Put nothing off till to-morrow or the day after. A dilatory man forever wrestling with losses.
It will not always be summer build houses for your selves.
Hire man servant without house of his own, and female servant without children keep sharp-toothed dog, and feed him well.
Praise small vessel lade your goods in large one, as your gain will be greater.
It dreadful to die in the waves.
Do not put all your means into ship cargoes leave the major part on shore. It sad, too, when you have loaded your wagon too heavily the axle breaks, and the load lost.
Don't put all your eggs in one basket. "]
["
if a
is
;
if
is
is is it
a ;
;
if is
a
a
if
a
;
:
a
;
a
a
;
is ; a ;
a if
:
it
is a a
if,
OBSERVATIONS OF HESIOD. 101
Marry a maiden living near, for fear you may marry one who will give your neighbors cause to mock you.
Don't make your friend equal to a brother ; but if you do, be careful not to give the first provocation. But if he talks against you, pay him back double. If he wishes to be recon ciled, however, and make amends, accept them. A man is in bad case when he keeps changing friends.
Don't lie for the sake of talking.
Don't let your face tell tales on your mind.
Don't be called host to everybody or to nobody ; nor one
who keeps bad company or abuses good men.
Never sneer at a man's poverty. The greatest treasure is
a reticent tongue.
If you speak ill of others, you may hear more of yourself. Don't be boorish at a feast where the guests all pay ; for
there one gets the greatest pleasure at the least expense.
Don't go to church with dirty clothes on. [Literally, Do not make libations to Zeus with unwashed hands. ] For your prayers will not be heard. [That is, if you do not think your
religion of importance enough to make some effort at decency in its rites, it will not do you much good. ]
The Hawk and the Nightingale.
Now then will I speak a fable to kings, wise even though they are. Thus the hawk addressed the nightingale of varie gated throat, as he carried her in his talons, when he had caught her, very high in the clouds.
She then, pierced on all sides by his crooked talons, was wailing piteously, whilst he victoriously addressed his speech to her. " Wretch, wherefore criest thou ? 'tis a much stronger that holds thee. Thou wilt go that way by which I may lead thee, songstress though thou art ; and my supper, if I choose, I shall make, or shall let go. But senseless is he who chooses to contend against them that are stronger, and he is robbed of victory, and suffers griefs in addition to indignities. "
Pandora's Box.
Now the gods keep hidden for men their means of sub sistence ; for else easily mightest thou even in one day have wrought, so that thou shouldest have enough for the year,
102 OBSERVATIONS OF HESIOD.
even though being idle : else straightway wouldst thou lay by the rudder above the smoke, and the labors of oxen and of toil- enduring mules would be undone. But Jove in wrath at his heart concealed it, because wily Prometheus had beguiled him. Therefore, I ween, he devised baneful cares for men. And fire he hid, which indeed the good son of Iapetus stole back for mankind from counselor Jove in a hollow fennel stalk, after he had escaped the notice of Jove delighting in the thunder bolt.
Him then cloud-compelling Jove addressed in wrath: "O son of Iapetus, knowing beyond all in counsels, thou exultest in having stolen fire, and deceived my wisdom, a severe woe to thyself and to men that shall come after. To them now will I give evil instead of fire, wherewith all may delight them selves at heart, hugging their own evil. " So spake he: and outlaughed the sire of men and gods; but he bade Vulcan the illustrious with all speed mix earth with water, and endue it with man's voice and strength, and to liken in countenance to immortal goddesses the fair, lovely beauty of a maiden; then he bade Minerva teach her work, to weave the highly wrought web; and golden Aphrodite to shed around her head grace, and painful desire, and cares that waste the limbs; but to endue her with a shameless mind and tricksy manners he charged the conductor, Argicide Mercury.
So he bade; but they obeyed Jove, the sovereign son of Cronus, and forthwith out of the earth the famous crippled god fashioned one like unto a modest maiden, through the counsels of Jove, the son of Cronus, and the goddess, gleaming- eyed Minerva, girdled and arrayed her; and around her skin the goddess Graces and august Persuasion hung golden chains, whilst fair-tressed Hours crowned her about with flowers of spring, and Pallas Minerva adapted every ornament to her person. But in her breast, I wot, conductor Mercury wrought falsehoods, and wily speeches, and tricksy manners, by the counsels of deep- thundering Jove; and the herald of the gods placed within her, I ween, a winning voice; and this woman he called Pandora, because all, inhabiting Olympian mansions, bestowed on her a gift — a mischief to inventive men.
But when he had perfected the dire inextricable snare, father Jove proceeded to send to Epimetheus the famous slayer of Argus, swift messenger of the gods, carrying her as a gift; nor did Epimetheus consider how Prometheus had told him never
FRAGMENTS OF ARCHILOCHUS.
108
to accept a gift from Olympian Jove, but to send it back, lest haply any ill should arise to mortals. But he, after receiving it, felt the evil, when now he possessed it.
Now aforetime, indeed, the races of men were wont to live on the earth apart and free from ills, and without harsh labor, and painful diseases, which have brought death on mor tals. For in wretchedness men presently grow old. But the woman having with her hands removed the great lid from the vessel, dispersed them; then contrived she baneful cares for men. And Hope alone there in unbroken abode kept re maining within, beneath the verge of the vessel, nor did it flit forth abroad; for before that, she had placed on the lid of the vessel, by the counsels of aegis-bearing, cloud-compeller Jove. But myriad other ills have roamed forth among men. For full indeed is earth of woes, and full the sea; and in the day as well as at night diseases unbidden haunt mankind, silently bearing ills to men, for counselor Jove hath taken from them their voice. Thus not in any way is it possible to escape the will of Jove.
FRAGMENTS OF ARCHILOCHUS.
[Archilochcs was the earliest of Greek satirists, about b. c. 700, inventor of the iambic verse ; by the ancients ranked second only to Homer, and equally first in his own department, inferior rather in subject than in genius. He was famed for personal lampoons' so stinging that they are said to have driven their subjects to suicide ; but he wrote also better things. All that would exhibit his surpassing greatness, however, is lost: the first piece following is the longest remnant that survives.
All translations not credited are made for this work. ]
L
On Self-Control. (Translated by William Hay. )
Tossed on a sea of troubles, Soul, my Soul, Thyself do thou control ;
And to the weapons of advancing foes A stubborn breast oppose ;
Undaunted 'mid the hostile might Of squadrons burning for the fight.
104
FRAGMENTS OP ARCHILOCHUS.
Thine be no boasting when the victor's crown Wins thee deserved renown ;
Thine no dejected sorrow, when defeat Would urge a base retreat :
Rejoice in joyous things — nor overmuch Let grief thy bosom touch
'Midst evil, and still bear in mind
How changeful are the ways of humankind.
rx Fate.
Cast all care upon the gods : for often from the dust they raise
Men who grovel in abasement, toiling in the meanest ways ;
Often too they hurl men headlong — trip and throw us on our face, While we strut in pride, and leave us, beggared, homeless, in a daze, Once again to seek our fortune, all misfortunes at our heels.
ra.
The Daily Miracle.
There is naught to be despaired of, naught to be avowed absurd, Naught a wonder, when the Father of the Skies
From the noonday brings the night, with the hiding of the light, Sunshine goes, and gloomy fear upon us lies.
Just from this alone we know there is nothing here below Unbelievable or desperate for men ;
None should wonder at whatever they behold in our affairs. Should the very dolphins of the ocean for a den
Of the beasts of earth exchange their briny fields and lairs, These the thundering wave prefer to mainland home,
Those the mountain find more grateful than the foam.
XT.
The Fox's Invocation.
0 Father Zeus, thy might in heaven controls all mortals' fate ; Thou seest the deeds of humankind, the crooked and the straight ; In brutes as well thou lov'st the just, the wrongful has thy hate.
v.
Cameo op a Girl. (Translated by J. A. Symonds. )
Holding a myrtle rod she blithely moved,
And a fair blossoming rose ; the flowing hair "Shadowed her shoulders, falling to her girdle.
NIGHT. 105
vx
The Ideal Captain.
A long-legged straddling giant is not my choice for a chief— Curled and haughty and shaven, a proper sort of a beau :
Give me a bow-legged bantam, stout if his body is brief, Firm on his feet, quick-witted, full of spirit and go.
His Discretion the Better Part op his Valor.
Some Thracian is pluming himself on the shield that he found in a bush,
Where blameless I left my armor, sorely against my grain ;
But I saved myself from the consequence of death that day, at least:
Let the shield go — I can get one no worse when I want it again.
VIII.
His Autobiography.
I am an expert craftsman in one tremendous art —
To wreak full vengeance on the one who plays a foeman'g part.
NIGHT.
By ALCMAN. (Translated by William Mure. )
[Alcman (flourished about 650) was one of the founders of Greek lyric poetry : identified with Sparta, though not a native. ]
Over the drowsy earth still night prevails ; Calm sleep the mountain tops and shady vales,
The rugged cliffs and hollow glens, The castle on the hill. Deep in the sea
The countless finny race and monster brood Tranquil repose. Even the busy bee
Forgets her daily toil. The silent wood No more with noisy hum of insect rings,
And all the feathered tribes, by gentle sleep subdued, Roost in the glade, and hang their drooping wings.
106 SOCIALISM IN SPARTA.
SOCIALISM IN SPARTA. By PLUTARCH.
(From the "Life of Lycurgus. ")
Lycukgus found a prodigious inequality : the city was overcharged with many indigent persons who had no land, and the wealth centered in the hands of a few. Determined, therefore, to root out the evils of insolence, envy, avarice, and luxury, and those distempers of a state still more inveterate and fatal, — I mean poverty and riches, — he persuaded them to cancel all former divisions of land, and to make new ones, in such a manner that they might be perfectly equal in their possessions and way of living. Hence, if they were ambitious of distinction they might seek it in virtue, as no other differ ence was left between them but that which arises from the dishonor of base actions and the praise of good ones. His proposal was put in practice. He made nine thousand lots for the territory of Sparta, which he distributed among so many citizens, and thirty thousand for the inhabitants of the rest of Laconia. Each lot was capable of producing (one year with another) seventy bushels of grain for each man, and twelve for each woman, besides a quantity of wine and oil in proportion. Such a provision they thought sufficient for health and a good habit of body, and they wanted nothing more. A story goes of our legislator, that some time after returning from a journey through the fields just reaped, and seeing the shocks standing parallel and equal, he smiled, and said to some that were by, " How like is Laconia to an estate newly divided among many , brothers ! "
After this, he attempted to divide also the movables, in order to take away all appearance of inequality; but he soon perceived that they could not bear to have their goods directly taken from them, and therefore took another method, counterworking their avarice by a stratagem. First he stopped the currency of the gold and silver coin, and ordered that they should make use of iron money only, then to a great quantity and weight of this he assigned but a small value ; so that to lay up ten mince, a whole room was required, and to remove nothing less than
yoke of oxen. When this became current, many kinds of injustice ceased in Lacedaemon. Who would steal or take
a
a
it,
I
SOCIALISM IN SPARTA. 107
bribe, who would defraud or rob, when he could not conceal the booty ; when he could neither be dignified by the posses sion of it, nor if cut in pieces be served by its use ? For we are told that, when hot they quenched it in vinegar, to make it brittle and unmalleable, and consequently unfit for any other service.
In the next place, he excluded unprofitable and superfluous arts : indeed, if he had not done this, most of them would have fallen of themselves, when the new money took place, as the manufactures could not be disposed of. Their iron coin would not pass in the rest of Greece, but was ridiculed and despised ; so that the Spartans had no means of purchasing any foreign or curious wares; nor did any merchant ship unlade in their harbors. There were not even to be found in all their country either sophists, wandering fortune tellers, keepers of infamous houses or dealers in gold and silver trinkets, because there was no money. Thus luxury, losing by degrees the means that cherished and supported it, died away of itself : even they who had great possessions had no advantage from them, since they could not be displayed in public, but must lie useless in unregarded repositories. Hence it was that excellent work manship was shown in their useful and necessary furniture, as beds, chairs, and tables; and the Lacedaemonian cup called cothon, as Critias informs us, was highly valued, particularly in campaigns ; for the water, which must then of necessity be drank, though it would often otherwise offend the sight, had its muddiness concealed by the color of the cup, and the thick part stopping at the shelving brim, it came clearer to the lips.
Desirous to complete the conquest of luxury, and exter minate the love of riches, he introduced a third institution, which was wisely enough and ingeniously contrived. This was the use of public tables, where all were to eat in common of the same meat, and such kinds of it as were appointed by law. At the same time they were forbidden to eat at home, upon ex pensive couches and tables, to call in the assistance of butchers and cooks, or to fatten like voracious animals in private. For so not only their manners would be corrupted, but their bodies disordered ; abandoned to all manner of sensuality and disso luteness, they would require long sleep, warm baths, and the same indulgence as in perpetual sickness. To effect this was certainly very great ; but it was greater still, to secure riches from rapine and from envy, as Theophrastus expresses it, or
108 SOCIALISM IN SPARTA.
rather by their eating in common, and by the frugality of their table, to take from riches their very being. For what use or enjoyment of them, what peculiar display of magnificence could there be, where the poor man went to the same refreshment with the rich ? It must further be observed, that they had not the privilege to eat at home, and so to come without appetite to the public repast : they made a point of it to observe any one that did not eat and drink with them, and to reproach him as an intemperate and effeminate person that was sick of the common diet.
There were fifteen persons to a table, or a few more or less. Each of them was obliged to bring in monthly a bushel of meal, eight gallons of wine, five pounds of cheese, two pounds and a half of figs, and a little money to buy flesh and fish. If any of them happened to offer a sacrifice of first fruits, or to kill venison, he sent a part of it to the public table ; for after a sacrifice or hunting, he was at liberty to sup at home ; but the rest were to appear at the usual place. For a long time this eating in common was observed with great exactness : so that when king Agis returned from a successful expedition against the Athenians, and from a desire to sup with his wife, requested to have his portion at home, the Polemarchs refused to send it : nay, when, through resentment, he neglected, the day following, to offer the sacrifice usual on occasion of victory, they set a fine upon him.
Children also were introduced at these public tables, as so many schools of sobriety. There they heard discourses con cerning government, and were instructed in the most liberal breeding. There they were allowed to jest without scurrility, and were not to take it ill when the raillery was returned. For it was reckoned worthy of a Lacedaemonian to bear a jest ; but if any one's patience failed, he had only to desire them to be quiet, and they left off immediately. When they first entered, the oldest man present pointed to the door, and said, " Not a word spoken in this company goes out there. "
The admitting of any man to a particular table was under the following regulation. Each member of that small society took a little ball of soft bread in his hand. This he was to drop, without saying a word, into a vessel called caddot, which the waiter carried upon his head. In case he approved of the candi date, he did it without altering the figure, if not, he first pressed it flat in his hand ; for a flatted ball was considered as a nega
SOCIALISM IN SPARTA. 109
tive. And if but one such was found, the person was not ad mitted, as they thought it proper that the whole company should be satisfied with each other. He who was thus rejected, was said to have no luck in the caddog.
The dish that was in the highest esteem amongst them was the black broth. The old men were so fond of it that they ranged themselves on one side and eat leaving the meat to the young people. It related of king of Pontus, that he pur chased Lacedaemonian cook, for the sake of this broth. But when he came to taste he strongly expressed his dislike, and the cook made answer, " Sir, to make this broth relish, necessary first to bathe in the Eurotas. " After they had drunk moderately, they went home without lights. Indeed, they were forbidden to walk with light either on this or any other occa sion, that they might accustom themselves to march in the darkest night boldly and resolutely. Such was the order of their public repasts.
