Gruppe, Veber
Hesiodic
poems, viz.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
p.
251, ed.
Göttling; comp.
Paus.
have emigrated to Orchomenos, where he spent the ix. 31. § 3. ) All that we can say, under these
remainder of his life. (Pind. ap. Proclum, yévos circumstances, is that a poet or hero of the name of
'Hosódov, p. xliv. in Göttling's edit. of Hesiod. ) | Hesiod was regarded by the ancients as the head
At Orchomenos he is also said to have been buried, and representative of that school of poetry which
and his tomb was shown there in later times. This was based on the Thracian or Pierian bards, and
is all that can be said, with any degree of certainty, was developed in Boeotia as distinct from the Ho-
about the life of Hesiod. Proclus, Tzetzes, and meric or Ionic school.
others relate a variety of anecdotes and marvellous The differences between the two schools of poetry
tales about his life and death, but very little value are plain and obvious, and were recognised in
can be attached to them, though they may have ancient times no less than at present, as may be
been derived from comparatively early sources. We seen from the 'Agwv 'Ouñípov kal 'Hoiódov (p. 248,
have to lament the loss of some ancient works on the ed. Göttling). In their mode of delivery the poets
## p. 441 (#457) ############################################
HESIODUS.
441
HESIODUS.
of the two schools likewise differed; for while the tion of winter (504–558). The first two of these
Homeric poems were recited under the accompani- poems are not so much out of keeping with the
ment of the cithara, those of Hesiod were recited whole as the third, which is manifestly the most
without any musical instrument, the reciter holding recent production of all, and most foreign to the
in his hand only a laurel branch or staff (pábbos, spirit of lesiod. That which remains, after the
ornat pov, Hesiod, Theog. 30 ; Paus. ix. 30, x. 7. deduction of these probable interpolations, consists
$2; Pind. Isthin. iii
. 55, with Dissen's note ; Cal. of a collection of maxime, proverbs, and wise say.
limach. Fragm. 138). As Boeotia, Phocis, and ings, containing a considerable amount of practicul
Euboea were the principal parts of Greece where wisdom ; and some of these guwuar or toonnau
the Hesiodic poetry flourished, we cannot be sur- may be as old as the Greek nation itself. (Isocrat.
prised at finding that the Delphic oracle is a great c. Nicod. p. 23, ed. Steph. ; Lucian, Dial. de Hos.
subject of veneration with this school, and that 1, 8. ) Now, admitting that the 'Epya originally
there exists a strong resemblance between the consisted only of such maxims and precepts, it is
hexameter oracles of the Pythia and the verses of difficult to understand how the author could de-
Hesiod ; nay, there is a verse in Hesiod (Op. et rive from his production & reputation like that
Dies, 283), which is also mentioned by Herodotus enjoyed by Hesiod, especially if we remembo that
(vi. 86) as a Pythian oracle, and Hesiod himself is at Thespiae, to which the village of Ascra was sub-
said to have possessed the gift of prophecy, and to ject, agriculture was held degrading to a freeman.
have acquired it in Acarnania. A great many alle (Heraclid. Pont. 42. ) In order to account for this
gorical expressions, such as we frequently find in phenomenon, it must be supposed that Ilesiod was
the oracular language, are common also in the a poet of the people and peasantry rather than
poems of Hesiod. This circumstance, as well as of the ruling nobles, but that afterwards, when the
certain grammatical forins in the language of Hesiod, warlike spirit of the heroic ages subsided, and
constitute another point of difference between the peaceful pursuits began to be held in higher esteein,
Homeric and Hesiodic poetry, although the dialect the poet of the plough also rose from his obscurity,
in which the poems of both schools are composed and was looked upon as a sage ; nay, the very con-
is, on the whole, the same,--that is, the Ionic-epic, trast with the Homeric poetry may have contributed
which had become established as the language of to raise his fame. At all events, the poem, not-
epic poetry through the influence of Homer.
withstanding its want of unity and the incoherence
The ancients attributed to the one poet Hesiod a of its parts, gives to us an attractive picture of the
great variety of works; that is, all those which in simplicity of the early Greek mode of life, of their
form and substance answered to the spirit of the manners and their domestic relations. " (Comp.
Hesiodic school, and thus seemed to be of a common Twesten, Commentat. Critica de Hesiodi Carmine,
origin. We shall subjoin a list of them, beginning | quod inscrib. Opera et Dies, Kiel, 1815, 8vo. ; F. L.
with those which are still extant,
Hug, Hesiodi "Epya méyala, Freiburg, 1835 ;
1. "Epya or "Epya kai nuépai, commonly called Ranke, De Hesiodi Op. et Diebus, 1838, 410;
Opera el Dies. In the time of Pausanias (ix. 31. Lehrs, Quaest. Epic. p. 180, &c. ; G. Hermann,
$ 3, &c. ), this was the only poem which the people in the Jahrbücher für Philol. vol. xxi. 2. p. 117,
about Mount Helicon considered to be a genuine &c. )
production of Hesiod, with the exception of the 2. Ocoyovia. This poem was, as we remarked
first ten lines, which certainly appear to have been above, not considered by Hesiod's countrymen to
prefixed by a later hand. There are also several | be a genuine production of the poet. It presents,
other parts of this poem which seem to be later indeed, great differences from the preceding one:
interpolations ; but, on the whole, it bears the its very subject is apparently foreign to the homely
impress of a genuine production of very high an author of the Epya; but the Alexandrian gran-
tiquity, though in its present form it may consist marians, especially Zenodotus and Aristarchus,
only of disjointed portions of the original. It is appear to have had no doubt about its genuineness
written in the most homely and simple style, with (Schol. Venet. ad l. xviii. 39), though their
scarcely any poetical imagery or ornament, and opinion cannot be taken to mean anything else than
must be looked upon as the most ancient specimen that the poem contained nothing that was opposed
of didactic poetry. It contains' ethical, political, to the character of the Hesiodic school ; and thus
and economical precepts, the last of which constitute much we may therefore take for granted, that the
the greater part of the work, consisting of rules Theogony is not the production of the same poet as
about choosing a wife, the education of children, the "Epya, and that it probably belongs to a later
agriculture, commerce, and navigation. A poem date. In order to understand why the ancients,
on these subjects was not of course held in much nevertheless, regarded the Theogony as an Hesiodic
esteem by the powerful and ruling classes in Greece work, we must recollect the traditions of the poet's
at the time, and made the Spartan Cleomenes con- parentage, and the marvellous events of his life.
temptuously call Hesiod the poet of helots, in con- It was on mount Helicon, the ancient seat of the
trast with Homer, the delight of the warrior. (Plut. Thracian muses, that he was believed to have been
Apophth. Lac. Cleom. 1. ) The conclusion of the born and bred, and his descent was traced to
poem, from v. 750 to 828 is a sort of calendar, and Apollo ; the idea of his having composed a work
was probably appended to it in later tiines, and on the genealogies of the gods and heroes cannot
the addition kal niuepa in the title of the poem therefore bave appeared to the ancients as very
seems to have been added in consequence of this surprising. That the author of the Theogony was
appendage, for the poem is sometimes simply called a Boeotian is evident, from certain peculiarities of
'Epya. It would further seem that three distinct the language. The Theogony gives an account of
poems have been inserted in it; viz. 1. The fable the origin of the world and the birth
the gods,
of Prometheus and Pandora (47—105); 2. On explaining the whole order of nature in a series of
the ages of the world, which are designated by the genealogies, for every part of physical as well as
names of metals (109–201); and, 3. A descrip moral nature there appears personified in the cha-
## p. 442 (#458) ############################################
442
HESIODUS.
HESIODUS.
racter of a distinct being. The whole concludes ursprüngliche Beschaffenheit, Berlin, 1841, 8vo.
with an account of some of the most illustrious The last two works are useless and futile attempts;
heroes, whereby the poem enters into some kind of comp. Th. Kock, De pristina Theogoniae Hesiodeae
connection with the Homeric epics. The whole Forma, pars. i. Vratislav. 1842, 8vo. )
poem may be divided into three parts : 1. The cos- 3. 'Ηοίαι οι ήoίαι μεγάλαι, also called κατά-
mogony, which widely differs from the simple aoyou yuvalkwy. The name thoice was derived,
Homeric notion (N. xiv. 200), and afterwards according to the ancient grammarians, from the
served as the groundwork for the various physical fact that the heroines who, by their connection
speculations of the Greek philosophers, who looked with the immortal gods, had become the mothers
upon the Theogony of Hesiod as containing in an of the most illustrious heroes, were introduced in
allegorical forin all the physical wisdom that they the poem by the expression Hoin. The poem
were able to propound, though Hesiod himself was itself
, which is lost, is said to have consisted of
believed not to have been aware of the profound four books, the last of which was by far the longest,
philosophical and theological wisdom he was utter and was hence called hoial weyanas
, whereas the
ing. The cosmogony extends from v. 116 to 452. titles karádoyou or polar belonged to the whole
2. The theogony, in the strict sense of the word, body of poetry, containing accounts of the women
from 453 to 962; and 3. the last portion, which who had been beloved by the gods, and had thus
is in fact a heroogony, being an account of the become the mothers of the heroes in the various
heroes born by mortal mothers whose charms had parts of Greece, from whom the ruling families
drawn the immortals from Olympus. This part is derived their origin. The two last verses of the
very brief, extending only from v. 963 to 1021, Theogony formed the beginning of the stoian, which,
and forms the transition to the Eoene, of which we from its nature, might justly be regarded as a
shall speak presently. If we ask for the sources continuation of the Theogony, being as a heroogony
from which Hesiod drew his information respecting (ripworovla) the natural sequel to the Theogony.
the origin of the world and the gods, the answer The work, if we may regard it as one poem, thus
cannot be much more than a conjecture, for there contained the genealogies or pedigrees of the most
is no direct information on the point. Herodotus illustrious Greek families. Whether the Eoeae or
asserts that Homer and Hesiod made the theogony Catalogi was the work of one and the same poet
of the Greeks; and, in reference to Hesiod in par was a disputed point among the ancients them-
ticular, this probably means that Hesiod collected selves. From a statenient of the scholiast on
and combined into a system the various local le- A pollonius Rhodius (ii. 181), it appears that it
gends, especially of northern Greece, such as they consisted of several works, which were afterwards
had been handed down by priests and bards. The put together; and while A pollonius Rhodius and
assertion of Herodotus further obliges us to take Crates of Mallus attributed it to Hesiod (Schol.
into consideration the fact, that in the earliest ad Hes. Theog. 142), Aristophanes and Aristarchus
Greek theology the gods do not appear in any de- were doubtful.
(Anonym. Gram. in Göttling's
finite forms, whereas Hesiod strives to anthropo- | ed. of Hes. p. 92 ; Schol. ad Hom. Il. xxiv. 30 ;
morphise all of them, the ancient elementary gods Suid. and Apollon. s. v. waxlooúvn. ) The anony-
as well as the later dynasties of Cronus and Zeus. mous Greek grammarian just referred to states that
Now both the system of the gods and the forms the first fifty-six verses of the Hesiodic poem
under which he conceived them afterwards became 'Artis 'Hpakhéovs (Scutum Herculis) belonged to
firmly established in Greece, and, considered in this the fourth book of the Eoere, and it is generally
war, the assertion of Herodotus is perfectly correct. supposed that this poem, or perhaps fragment of a
Whether the form in which the Theogony has poem, originally belonged to the Eoeae. The 'Aomis
come down to us is the original and genuine one, 'Hpakaéows, which is still extant, consists of three
and whether it is complete or only a fragment, is a distinct parts ; that from v. 1 to 56 was taken
question which has been much discussed in modern from the Eoeae, and is probably the most ancient
times. There can be little doubt but that in the portion ; the second from 57 to 140, which must
course of time the poets of the Hesiodic school and be connected with the verses 317 to 480; and the
the rhapsodists introduced various interpolations, third-from 141 to 317 contains the real description
which produced many of the inequalities both in of the shield of Heracles, which is introduced in the
the substance and form of the poem which we now account of the fight between Heracles and Cycnus.
perceive ; many parts also may have been lost. When therefore Apollonius Rhodius and others
Hermann bas endeavoured to show that there ex- considered the 'Aonis to be a genuine Hesiodic
ist no less than seven different introductions to production, it still remains doubtful whether they
the Theogony, and that consequently there existed meant the whole poem as it now stands, or only
as many different recensions and editions of it. some particular portion of it. The description of
But as our present form itself belongs to a very the shield of Heracles is an imitation of the Ho-
early date, it would be useless to attempt to deter- meric description of the shield of Achilles, but is
mine what part of it formed the original kernel, done with less skill and ability. It should be
and what is to be considered as later addition or remarked, that some modern critics are inclined to
interpolation. (Comp. Creuzer and Hermann, look upon the 'Aonis as an independent poem, and
Briefe über Hoin, und Hes. , Heidelberg, 1817, wholly unconnected with the Evene, though they
8vo. ; F. K. L. Sickler, Cadmus 1. Erklärung der admit that it may contain various interpolations by
Theogonie des Hesiod, Hildburgbausen, 1818, 4to. ; later hands. The fragments of the Eoeae are
J. D. Guigniant, De la Théogonie d'Hesiod, Paris, collected in Lehmann, De Hesiodi Carminibus per-
1835, 8vo. ; J. C. Mützell, De Emendatione Theo- ditis, pars i. Berlin, 1828, in Gottling's edition of
goniae Hesiodi, Lips. 1833, 8vo. ; A. Soetbeer, Hesiod, p. 209, &c. , and in Hermann's Opuscula,
Versuch die Urform der Hesiod. Theogonie nach- vi. 1, p. 255, &c. We possess the titles of several
zuweisen, Berlin, 1837, 8vo. ; 0. F.
Gruppe, Veber Hesiodic poems, viz. Knjükos gápos, Ondéws eis
die Thcog. des Hcsiod, ihr Verderbniss und ihre l'Aidnu katábasis, and 'Embardmos Anaéws kad
P.
## p. 443 (#459) ############################################
HESIODUS.
443
HESPERIDES.
Odtidos, but all these poems seem to have been the works of the earlier grammarians. The scholia
only portions of the Eoeae. (Athen. ii. p. 49; of the Neo Platonist Proclus (though only in an
Plut. Sympos. viii. 8; Paus. ix. 31. & 5; Schol. abridged form), of Joannes Tzetzes, and Moscho-
ad Hes. Theog. 142; comp. C. Ch. Heyler, Veber pulus, on the "Epya, and introductions on the
Hesiods Schild des Hercules, Worms, 1787, 8vo. ; life of Hesiod, are still extant; the scholia on the
F. Schlichtegroll, Ueber den Schild des Heracles Theogony are a compilation from earlier and later
nach Hesiod, Gotha, 1788, 8vo. ; G. Hermann, commentators. The most complete edition of the
Opusc. vi. 2, p. 204, &c. ; Marckscheffel, De Cuta- scholia on Hesiod is that in the third volume of
logo et Eoeis Carminibus Hesiodeis, Vratislav. 1838, Gaisford's Poetae Graeci Minores.
8vo. , and the same author's Hesiodi, Eumeli, Ci- The Greek text of the Hesiodic poems was first
nacthonis, 8C. , Fragmenta colleg. emend. dispos. , printed at Milan in 1493, fol. , together with Iso-
Lips. 1840, 8vo. )
crates and some of the idyls of Theocritus. The
4. Aiylwios, an epic poem, consisting of several next edition is that in the collection of gnomic and
books or rhapsodies on the story of Aegimius, the bucolic poems published by Aldus Manutius, Ve-
famous ancestral hero of the Dorians, and the my. nice, 1495. The first separate edition is that of
thical history of the Dorians in general. Some of Junta, Florence, 1515, and again 1540, 8vo. Tho
the ancients attributed this poem to Cercops of first edition that contains the Greek scholia is that
Miletus. (Apollod. ii. 1, 8 3 ; Diog. Laërt. ii. 46. ) of Trincavellus, Venice, 1537, 4to. , and more com-
The fragments of the Aegimius are collected in plete at Cologne, 1542, 8vo. , and Frankfurt, 1591,
Göttling's edit. of Hesiod, p. 205, &c.
8vo. The most important among the subsequent
5. Memautodía, an epic poem, consisting of at editions are those of Dan. Heinsius (Amsterdam,
least three books. Some ancients denied | 1667, 870. , with lectiones Hesiodeae, and notes by
that this was an Hesiodic poem. (Paus. ix. 3). S Scaliger and Gujetus ; it was reprinted by Leclerc
4. ) It contained the stories about the seer Me in 1701, 8vo), of Th. Robinson (Oxford, 1737, 4to. ,
lampus, and was thus of a similar character to the reprinted at Leipzig 1746, 8vo. ), of Ch. F. Lnesner
poems which celebrated the glory of the heroic (Leipzig, 1778, 8vo. , contains all that his predeces-
families of the Greeks. Some writers consider the sors had accumulated, together with some new re-
Melampodia to have been only a portion of the marks), of Th. Gaisford (in vol. i. of his Poet. Gr.
Foeae, but there is no evidence for it, and others Min. , where some new MSS. are collated), and of
regard it as identical with the aim Martore, an C. Göttling (Gotha and Erfurt, 1831, 8vo. , 2d edit.
Hesiodic work mentioned by Pausanias. (l. c. ; 1843, with gooù critical and explanatory notes). The
comp. Athen. ii. p. 47, xi. p. 498, xiii. p. 609; 'Epya were edited also by Brunck in his Poetae
Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. p. 751. ) The fragments Gnomici and other collections ; the Theogony was
of the Melam podia are collected in Göttling's edit. edited separately by F. A. Wolf (Halle, 1783),
of Hesiod, p. 228, &c.
and by D. J. van Lennep (Amsterdam, 1843, 8vo. ,
6. Εξηγήσεις επί τερασιν 18 mentioned as an with a very useful commentary). There are also
Hesiodic work by Pausanias, and distinguished by two good editions of the 'Aomis, the one by C. Fr.
him from another entitled 7 Martina ; but it is Heinrich (Breslau, 1802, 8vo. , with introduction,
not improbable that both were identical with, or scholia, and commentary), and by C. F. Ranke
portions of, an astronomical work ascribed to (Quedlinburg, 1840, 8vo. ).
(L. S. ]
Hesiod, under the title of dotpiKTI Biblos or do- HE'SIONE ('Hosóvn), a daughter of Laomedon,
Tpooría. (Athen. xi. p. 491; Plut. de Pyth. Oruc. and consequently a sister of Priam. When Troy
18 ; Plin. H. N. xviii. 25. ) See the fragments in was visited by a plague and a monster on account
Göttling's edit. of Hesiod, p. 207.
of Laomedon's breach of promise, Laomedon, in
7. Xeipwvos Únooikas seems to have been an order to get rid of these calamities, chained He
imitation of the "Epya. The few fragments still sione to a rock, in accordance with the command of
extant are given by Göttling, l. c. p. 230, &c. an oracle, where she was to be devoured by wild
Strabo (vii p. 436) speaks of a vñs Neplodos as beasts. Heracles, on his return from the expe-
the work of Hesiod, but from another passage (vii. dition against the Amazons, promised to save her,
p. 434) we see that he means a compilation made if Laomedon would give him the horses which he
by Eratosthenes from the works of Hesiod. Re- had received from Zeus as a compensation for
specting a poem called liepł ldalwr Aaktúdwv, Ganymedes. Laomedon again promised, but did
which was likewise ascribed to Hesiod, see Lo not keep his word. (Hom. I. v. 649, &c. ; Diod.
beck, Aglaoph. p. 1156.
iv. 42; Apollod. iii. 12. $ 7. ) Hesione was after-
The poems of Hesiod, especially the Theogony, wards given as a slave to Telamon, by whom she
were looked up to by the Greeks from very early became the mother of Teucrus. Priam sent An-
times as a great authority in theological and phi- tenor to claim her back, and the refusal on the part
losophical matters, and philosophers of nearly every of the Greeks is mentioned as one of the causes
school attempted, by various modes of interpret- of the Trojan war. (Dares, Phryg. 4, &c. ) Accord-
'ation, to bring about a harmony between the state ing to Tzetzes (ad Lycoph. 467), Hesione, already
ments of Hesiod and their own theories. The in pregnancy by Telamon, fled from his ship to
scholars of Alexandria and other cities, such as Miletus, where king Arion found her and her
Zenodotus, Aristophanes, Aristarchus, Crates of newly-born son, Trambelus, whom he brought up
Mallus, Apollonius Rhodius, Seleucus of Alexan- as his own child.
dria, Plutarch, and others, devoted themselves There are two other mythical personages of this
with great zeal to the criticism and explanation of name, one a daughter of Danaus, and by Zeus the
the poems of Hesiod ; but all their works on this mother of Orchomenus (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i.
poet are lost, with the exception of some isolated 230), and the other the wife of Nauplius, and the
remarks contained in the scholia on Hesiod still mother of Palamedes, Oax, and Nausimedon.
extant. These scholia are the productions of a (Apollod. ii. 1. $ 5. )
(L. S. )
much later age, though their authors made use of | HESPE’RIDES ('Eonepiões), the famous guar.
1
## p. 444 (#460) ############################################
444
HESPERIUS.
HESTIA.
dians of the golden apples which Ge had given to accusations, had incurred discredit at court. Na
Hera at her marriage with Zeus. Their names are thing is known of him after this.
Aegle, Erytheia, Hestia, and Arethusa, but their Hesperius had at least three sons. One of them,
descent is not the same in the different traditions ; Paulinus, distinguished as "the Penitent," author
sometimes they are called the daughters of Night of a poem called Eucharisticon or Carmen Eucharis
or Erebus (Hes. Theog. 215 ; Hygin. Fub. init. ), ticum de l'ita sua (sometimes ascribed, but incor-
sometimes of Phorcys and Ceto (Schol. ad Apollon. rectly, to the better known Paulinus of Noln),
Rhod.
have emigrated to Orchomenos, where he spent the ix. 31. § 3. ) All that we can say, under these
remainder of his life. (Pind. ap. Proclum, yévos circumstances, is that a poet or hero of the name of
'Hosódov, p. xliv. in Göttling's edit. of Hesiod. ) | Hesiod was regarded by the ancients as the head
At Orchomenos he is also said to have been buried, and representative of that school of poetry which
and his tomb was shown there in later times. This was based on the Thracian or Pierian bards, and
is all that can be said, with any degree of certainty, was developed in Boeotia as distinct from the Ho-
about the life of Hesiod. Proclus, Tzetzes, and meric or Ionic school.
others relate a variety of anecdotes and marvellous The differences between the two schools of poetry
tales about his life and death, but very little value are plain and obvious, and were recognised in
can be attached to them, though they may have ancient times no less than at present, as may be
been derived from comparatively early sources. We seen from the 'Agwv 'Ouñípov kal 'Hoiódov (p. 248,
have to lament the loss of some ancient works on the ed. Göttling). In their mode of delivery the poets
## p. 441 (#457) ############################################
HESIODUS.
441
HESIODUS.
of the two schools likewise differed; for while the tion of winter (504–558). The first two of these
Homeric poems were recited under the accompani- poems are not so much out of keeping with the
ment of the cithara, those of Hesiod were recited whole as the third, which is manifestly the most
without any musical instrument, the reciter holding recent production of all, and most foreign to the
in his hand only a laurel branch or staff (pábbos, spirit of lesiod. That which remains, after the
ornat pov, Hesiod, Theog. 30 ; Paus. ix. 30, x. 7. deduction of these probable interpolations, consists
$2; Pind. Isthin. iii
. 55, with Dissen's note ; Cal. of a collection of maxime, proverbs, and wise say.
limach. Fragm. 138). As Boeotia, Phocis, and ings, containing a considerable amount of practicul
Euboea were the principal parts of Greece where wisdom ; and some of these guwuar or toonnau
the Hesiodic poetry flourished, we cannot be sur- may be as old as the Greek nation itself. (Isocrat.
prised at finding that the Delphic oracle is a great c. Nicod. p. 23, ed. Steph. ; Lucian, Dial. de Hos.
subject of veneration with this school, and that 1, 8. ) Now, admitting that the 'Epya originally
there exists a strong resemblance between the consisted only of such maxims and precepts, it is
hexameter oracles of the Pythia and the verses of difficult to understand how the author could de-
Hesiod ; nay, there is a verse in Hesiod (Op. et rive from his production & reputation like that
Dies, 283), which is also mentioned by Herodotus enjoyed by Hesiod, especially if we remembo that
(vi. 86) as a Pythian oracle, and Hesiod himself is at Thespiae, to which the village of Ascra was sub-
said to have possessed the gift of prophecy, and to ject, agriculture was held degrading to a freeman.
have acquired it in Acarnania. A great many alle (Heraclid. Pont. 42. ) In order to account for this
gorical expressions, such as we frequently find in phenomenon, it must be supposed that Ilesiod was
the oracular language, are common also in the a poet of the people and peasantry rather than
poems of Hesiod. This circumstance, as well as of the ruling nobles, but that afterwards, when the
certain grammatical forins in the language of Hesiod, warlike spirit of the heroic ages subsided, and
constitute another point of difference between the peaceful pursuits began to be held in higher esteein,
Homeric and Hesiodic poetry, although the dialect the poet of the plough also rose from his obscurity,
in which the poems of both schools are composed and was looked upon as a sage ; nay, the very con-
is, on the whole, the same,--that is, the Ionic-epic, trast with the Homeric poetry may have contributed
which had become established as the language of to raise his fame. At all events, the poem, not-
epic poetry through the influence of Homer.
withstanding its want of unity and the incoherence
The ancients attributed to the one poet Hesiod a of its parts, gives to us an attractive picture of the
great variety of works; that is, all those which in simplicity of the early Greek mode of life, of their
form and substance answered to the spirit of the manners and their domestic relations. " (Comp.
Hesiodic school, and thus seemed to be of a common Twesten, Commentat. Critica de Hesiodi Carmine,
origin. We shall subjoin a list of them, beginning | quod inscrib. Opera et Dies, Kiel, 1815, 8vo. ; F. L.
with those which are still extant,
Hug, Hesiodi "Epya méyala, Freiburg, 1835 ;
1. "Epya or "Epya kai nuépai, commonly called Ranke, De Hesiodi Op. et Diebus, 1838, 410;
Opera el Dies. In the time of Pausanias (ix. 31. Lehrs, Quaest. Epic. p. 180, &c. ; G. Hermann,
$ 3, &c. ), this was the only poem which the people in the Jahrbücher für Philol. vol. xxi. 2. p. 117,
about Mount Helicon considered to be a genuine &c. )
production of Hesiod, with the exception of the 2. Ocoyovia. This poem was, as we remarked
first ten lines, which certainly appear to have been above, not considered by Hesiod's countrymen to
prefixed by a later hand. There are also several | be a genuine production of the poet. It presents,
other parts of this poem which seem to be later indeed, great differences from the preceding one:
interpolations ; but, on the whole, it bears the its very subject is apparently foreign to the homely
impress of a genuine production of very high an author of the Epya; but the Alexandrian gran-
tiquity, though in its present form it may consist marians, especially Zenodotus and Aristarchus,
only of disjointed portions of the original. It is appear to have had no doubt about its genuineness
written in the most homely and simple style, with (Schol. Venet. ad l. xviii. 39), though their
scarcely any poetical imagery or ornament, and opinion cannot be taken to mean anything else than
must be looked upon as the most ancient specimen that the poem contained nothing that was opposed
of didactic poetry. It contains' ethical, political, to the character of the Hesiodic school ; and thus
and economical precepts, the last of which constitute much we may therefore take for granted, that the
the greater part of the work, consisting of rules Theogony is not the production of the same poet as
about choosing a wife, the education of children, the "Epya, and that it probably belongs to a later
agriculture, commerce, and navigation. A poem date. In order to understand why the ancients,
on these subjects was not of course held in much nevertheless, regarded the Theogony as an Hesiodic
esteem by the powerful and ruling classes in Greece work, we must recollect the traditions of the poet's
at the time, and made the Spartan Cleomenes con- parentage, and the marvellous events of his life.
temptuously call Hesiod the poet of helots, in con- It was on mount Helicon, the ancient seat of the
trast with Homer, the delight of the warrior. (Plut. Thracian muses, that he was believed to have been
Apophth. Lac. Cleom. 1. ) The conclusion of the born and bred, and his descent was traced to
poem, from v. 750 to 828 is a sort of calendar, and Apollo ; the idea of his having composed a work
was probably appended to it in later tiines, and on the genealogies of the gods and heroes cannot
the addition kal niuepa in the title of the poem therefore bave appeared to the ancients as very
seems to have been added in consequence of this surprising. That the author of the Theogony was
appendage, for the poem is sometimes simply called a Boeotian is evident, from certain peculiarities of
'Epya. It would further seem that three distinct the language. The Theogony gives an account of
poems have been inserted in it; viz. 1. The fable the origin of the world and the birth
the gods,
of Prometheus and Pandora (47—105); 2. On explaining the whole order of nature in a series of
the ages of the world, which are designated by the genealogies, for every part of physical as well as
names of metals (109–201); and, 3. A descrip moral nature there appears personified in the cha-
## p. 442 (#458) ############################################
442
HESIODUS.
HESIODUS.
racter of a distinct being. The whole concludes ursprüngliche Beschaffenheit, Berlin, 1841, 8vo.
with an account of some of the most illustrious The last two works are useless and futile attempts;
heroes, whereby the poem enters into some kind of comp. Th. Kock, De pristina Theogoniae Hesiodeae
connection with the Homeric epics. The whole Forma, pars. i. Vratislav. 1842, 8vo. )
poem may be divided into three parts : 1. The cos- 3. 'Ηοίαι οι ήoίαι μεγάλαι, also called κατά-
mogony, which widely differs from the simple aoyou yuvalkwy. The name thoice was derived,
Homeric notion (N. xiv. 200), and afterwards according to the ancient grammarians, from the
served as the groundwork for the various physical fact that the heroines who, by their connection
speculations of the Greek philosophers, who looked with the immortal gods, had become the mothers
upon the Theogony of Hesiod as containing in an of the most illustrious heroes, were introduced in
allegorical forin all the physical wisdom that they the poem by the expression Hoin. The poem
were able to propound, though Hesiod himself was itself
, which is lost, is said to have consisted of
believed not to have been aware of the profound four books, the last of which was by far the longest,
philosophical and theological wisdom he was utter and was hence called hoial weyanas
, whereas the
ing. The cosmogony extends from v. 116 to 452. titles karádoyou or polar belonged to the whole
2. The theogony, in the strict sense of the word, body of poetry, containing accounts of the women
from 453 to 962; and 3. the last portion, which who had been beloved by the gods, and had thus
is in fact a heroogony, being an account of the become the mothers of the heroes in the various
heroes born by mortal mothers whose charms had parts of Greece, from whom the ruling families
drawn the immortals from Olympus. This part is derived their origin. The two last verses of the
very brief, extending only from v. 963 to 1021, Theogony formed the beginning of the stoian, which,
and forms the transition to the Eoene, of which we from its nature, might justly be regarded as a
shall speak presently. If we ask for the sources continuation of the Theogony, being as a heroogony
from which Hesiod drew his information respecting (ripworovla) the natural sequel to the Theogony.
the origin of the world and the gods, the answer The work, if we may regard it as one poem, thus
cannot be much more than a conjecture, for there contained the genealogies or pedigrees of the most
is no direct information on the point. Herodotus illustrious Greek families. Whether the Eoeae or
asserts that Homer and Hesiod made the theogony Catalogi was the work of one and the same poet
of the Greeks; and, in reference to Hesiod in par was a disputed point among the ancients them-
ticular, this probably means that Hesiod collected selves. From a statenient of the scholiast on
and combined into a system the various local le- A pollonius Rhodius (ii. 181), it appears that it
gends, especially of northern Greece, such as they consisted of several works, which were afterwards
had been handed down by priests and bards. The put together; and while A pollonius Rhodius and
assertion of Herodotus further obliges us to take Crates of Mallus attributed it to Hesiod (Schol.
into consideration the fact, that in the earliest ad Hes. Theog. 142), Aristophanes and Aristarchus
Greek theology the gods do not appear in any de- were doubtful.
(Anonym. Gram. in Göttling's
finite forms, whereas Hesiod strives to anthropo- | ed. of Hes. p. 92 ; Schol. ad Hom. Il. xxiv. 30 ;
morphise all of them, the ancient elementary gods Suid. and Apollon. s. v. waxlooúvn. ) The anony-
as well as the later dynasties of Cronus and Zeus. mous Greek grammarian just referred to states that
Now both the system of the gods and the forms the first fifty-six verses of the Hesiodic poem
under which he conceived them afterwards became 'Artis 'Hpakhéovs (Scutum Herculis) belonged to
firmly established in Greece, and, considered in this the fourth book of the Eoere, and it is generally
war, the assertion of Herodotus is perfectly correct. supposed that this poem, or perhaps fragment of a
Whether the form in which the Theogony has poem, originally belonged to the Eoeae. The 'Aomis
come down to us is the original and genuine one, 'Hpakaéows, which is still extant, consists of three
and whether it is complete or only a fragment, is a distinct parts ; that from v. 1 to 56 was taken
question which has been much discussed in modern from the Eoeae, and is probably the most ancient
times. There can be little doubt but that in the portion ; the second from 57 to 140, which must
course of time the poets of the Hesiodic school and be connected with the verses 317 to 480; and the
the rhapsodists introduced various interpolations, third-from 141 to 317 contains the real description
which produced many of the inequalities both in of the shield of Heracles, which is introduced in the
the substance and form of the poem which we now account of the fight between Heracles and Cycnus.
perceive ; many parts also may have been lost. When therefore Apollonius Rhodius and others
Hermann bas endeavoured to show that there ex- considered the 'Aonis to be a genuine Hesiodic
ist no less than seven different introductions to production, it still remains doubtful whether they
the Theogony, and that consequently there existed meant the whole poem as it now stands, or only
as many different recensions and editions of it. some particular portion of it. The description of
But as our present form itself belongs to a very the shield of Heracles is an imitation of the Ho-
early date, it would be useless to attempt to deter- meric description of the shield of Achilles, but is
mine what part of it formed the original kernel, done with less skill and ability. It should be
and what is to be considered as later addition or remarked, that some modern critics are inclined to
interpolation. (Comp. Creuzer and Hermann, look upon the 'Aonis as an independent poem, and
Briefe über Hoin, und Hes. , Heidelberg, 1817, wholly unconnected with the Evene, though they
8vo. ; F. K. L. Sickler, Cadmus 1. Erklärung der admit that it may contain various interpolations by
Theogonie des Hesiod, Hildburgbausen, 1818, 4to. ; later hands. The fragments of the Eoeae are
J. D. Guigniant, De la Théogonie d'Hesiod, Paris, collected in Lehmann, De Hesiodi Carminibus per-
1835, 8vo. ; J. C. Mützell, De Emendatione Theo- ditis, pars i. Berlin, 1828, in Gottling's edition of
goniae Hesiodi, Lips. 1833, 8vo. ; A. Soetbeer, Hesiod, p. 209, &c. , and in Hermann's Opuscula,
Versuch die Urform der Hesiod. Theogonie nach- vi. 1, p. 255, &c. We possess the titles of several
zuweisen, Berlin, 1837, 8vo. ; 0. F.
Gruppe, Veber Hesiodic poems, viz. Knjükos gápos, Ondéws eis
die Thcog. des Hcsiod, ihr Verderbniss und ihre l'Aidnu katábasis, and 'Embardmos Anaéws kad
P.
## p. 443 (#459) ############################################
HESIODUS.
443
HESPERIDES.
Odtidos, but all these poems seem to have been the works of the earlier grammarians. The scholia
only portions of the Eoeae. (Athen. ii. p. 49; of the Neo Platonist Proclus (though only in an
Plut. Sympos. viii. 8; Paus. ix. 31. & 5; Schol. abridged form), of Joannes Tzetzes, and Moscho-
ad Hes. Theog. 142; comp. C. Ch. Heyler, Veber pulus, on the "Epya, and introductions on the
Hesiods Schild des Hercules, Worms, 1787, 8vo. ; life of Hesiod, are still extant; the scholia on the
F. Schlichtegroll, Ueber den Schild des Heracles Theogony are a compilation from earlier and later
nach Hesiod, Gotha, 1788, 8vo. ; G. Hermann, commentators. The most complete edition of the
Opusc. vi. 2, p. 204, &c. ; Marckscheffel, De Cuta- scholia on Hesiod is that in the third volume of
logo et Eoeis Carminibus Hesiodeis, Vratislav. 1838, Gaisford's Poetae Graeci Minores.
8vo. , and the same author's Hesiodi, Eumeli, Ci- The Greek text of the Hesiodic poems was first
nacthonis, 8C. , Fragmenta colleg. emend. dispos. , printed at Milan in 1493, fol. , together with Iso-
Lips. 1840, 8vo. )
crates and some of the idyls of Theocritus. The
4. Aiylwios, an epic poem, consisting of several next edition is that in the collection of gnomic and
books or rhapsodies on the story of Aegimius, the bucolic poems published by Aldus Manutius, Ve-
famous ancestral hero of the Dorians, and the my. nice, 1495. The first separate edition is that of
thical history of the Dorians in general. Some of Junta, Florence, 1515, and again 1540, 8vo. Tho
the ancients attributed this poem to Cercops of first edition that contains the Greek scholia is that
Miletus. (Apollod. ii. 1, 8 3 ; Diog. Laërt. ii. 46. ) of Trincavellus, Venice, 1537, 4to. , and more com-
The fragments of the Aegimius are collected in plete at Cologne, 1542, 8vo. , and Frankfurt, 1591,
Göttling's edit. of Hesiod, p. 205, &c.
8vo. The most important among the subsequent
5. Memautodía, an epic poem, consisting of at editions are those of Dan. Heinsius (Amsterdam,
least three books. Some ancients denied | 1667, 870. , with lectiones Hesiodeae, and notes by
that this was an Hesiodic poem. (Paus. ix. 3). S Scaliger and Gujetus ; it was reprinted by Leclerc
4. ) It contained the stories about the seer Me in 1701, 8vo), of Th. Robinson (Oxford, 1737, 4to. ,
lampus, and was thus of a similar character to the reprinted at Leipzig 1746, 8vo. ), of Ch. F. Lnesner
poems which celebrated the glory of the heroic (Leipzig, 1778, 8vo. , contains all that his predeces-
families of the Greeks. Some writers consider the sors had accumulated, together with some new re-
Melampodia to have been only a portion of the marks), of Th. Gaisford (in vol. i. of his Poet. Gr.
Foeae, but there is no evidence for it, and others Min. , where some new MSS. are collated), and of
regard it as identical with the aim Martore, an C. Göttling (Gotha and Erfurt, 1831, 8vo. , 2d edit.
Hesiodic work mentioned by Pausanias. (l. c. ; 1843, with gooù critical and explanatory notes). The
comp. Athen. ii. p. 47, xi. p. 498, xiii. p. 609; 'Epya were edited also by Brunck in his Poetae
Clem. Alex. Strom. vi. p. 751. ) The fragments Gnomici and other collections ; the Theogony was
of the Melam podia are collected in Göttling's edit. edited separately by F. A. Wolf (Halle, 1783),
of Hesiod, p. 228, &c.
and by D. J. van Lennep (Amsterdam, 1843, 8vo. ,
6. Εξηγήσεις επί τερασιν 18 mentioned as an with a very useful commentary). There are also
Hesiodic work by Pausanias, and distinguished by two good editions of the 'Aomis, the one by C. Fr.
him from another entitled 7 Martina ; but it is Heinrich (Breslau, 1802, 8vo. , with introduction,
not improbable that both were identical with, or scholia, and commentary), and by C. F. Ranke
portions of, an astronomical work ascribed to (Quedlinburg, 1840, 8vo. ).
(L. S. ]
Hesiod, under the title of dotpiKTI Biblos or do- HE'SIONE ('Hosóvn), a daughter of Laomedon,
Tpooría. (Athen. xi. p. 491; Plut. de Pyth. Oruc. and consequently a sister of Priam. When Troy
18 ; Plin. H. N. xviii. 25. ) See the fragments in was visited by a plague and a monster on account
Göttling's edit. of Hesiod, p. 207.
of Laomedon's breach of promise, Laomedon, in
7. Xeipwvos Únooikas seems to have been an order to get rid of these calamities, chained He
imitation of the "Epya. The few fragments still sione to a rock, in accordance with the command of
extant are given by Göttling, l. c. p. 230, &c. an oracle, where she was to be devoured by wild
Strabo (vii p. 436) speaks of a vñs Neplodos as beasts. Heracles, on his return from the expe-
the work of Hesiod, but from another passage (vii. dition against the Amazons, promised to save her,
p. 434) we see that he means a compilation made if Laomedon would give him the horses which he
by Eratosthenes from the works of Hesiod. Re- had received from Zeus as a compensation for
specting a poem called liepł ldalwr Aaktúdwv, Ganymedes. Laomedon again promised, but did
which was likewise ascribed to Hesiod, see Lo not keep his word. (Hom. I. v. 649, &c. ; Diod.
beck, Aglaoph. p. 1156.
iv. 42; Apollod. iii. 12. $ 7. ) Hesione was after-
The poems of Hesiod, especially the Theogony, wards given as a slave to Telamon, by whom she
were looked up to by the Greeks from very early became the mother of Teucrus. Priam sent An-
times as a great authority in theological and phi- tenor to claim her back, and the refusal on the part
losophical matters, and philosophers of nearly every of the Greeks is mentioned as one of the causes
school attempted, by various modes of interpret- of the Trojan war. (Dares, Phryg. 4, &c. ) Accord-
'ation, to bring about a harmony between the state ing to Tzetzes (ad Lycoph. 467), Hesione, already
ments of Hesiod and their own theories. The in pregnancy by Telamon, fled from his ship to
scholars of Alexandria and other cities, such as Miletus, where king Arion found her and her
Zenodotus, Aristophanes, Aristarchus, Crates of newly-born son, Trambelus, whom he brought up
Mallus, Apollonius Rhodius, Seleucus of Alexan- as his own child.
dria, Plutarch, and others, devoted themselves There are two other mythical personages of this
with great zeal to the criticism and explanation of name, one a daughter of Danaus, and by Zeus the
the poems of Hesiod ; but all their works on this mother of Orchomenus (Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. i.
poet are lost, with the exception of some isolated 230), and the other the wife of Nauplius, and the
remarks contained in the scholia on Hesiod still mother of Palamedes, Oax, and Nausimedon.
extant. These scholia are the productions of a (Apollod. ii. 1. $ 5. )
(L. S. )
much later age, though their authors made use of | HESPE’RIDES ('Eonepiões), the famous guar.
1
## p. 444 (#460) ############################################
444
HESPERIUS.
HESTIA.
dians of the golden apples which Ge had given to accusations, had incurred discredit at court. Na
Hera at her marriage with Zeus. Their names are thing is known of him after this.
Aegle, Erytheia, Hestia, and Arethusa, but their Hesperius had at least three sons. One of them,
descent is not the same in the different traditions ; Paulinus, distinguished as "the Penitent," author
sometimes they are called the daughters of Night of a poem called Eucharisticon or Carmen Eucharis
or Erebus (Hes. Theog. 215 ; Hygin. Fub. init. ), ticum de l'ita sua (sometimes ascribed, but incor-
sometimes of Phorcys and Ceto (Schol. ad Apollon. rectly, to the better known Paulinus of Noln),
Rhod.
