# Hesiod, and Theognis

Ancient Classics for English Readers
EDITED BY THE
REV. W. LUCAS COLLINS, M.A.
HESIOD, AND THEOGNIS
HESIOD, AND THEOGNIS
BY THE
REV. JAMES DAVIES, M.A.
LATE SCHOLAR OF LINCOLN COLLEGE, OXFORD TRANSLATOR OF 'BABRIUS'
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXXIII
PREFACE.
The life of Hesiod, remote from towns, and far away up the gulf of time, and his poetry devoid of sensation and excitement in its almost impersonal didacticism, place the writer who deals with them at a disadvantage, as compared with one whose theme is an ancient epic, or a Greek or Roman historian. He lacks, in a great measure, the choice of parallels by aid of which he may abridge the distance between the shadowy past and the living present. He cannot easily persuade himself or his readers to realise, in the inspired rustic of Ascra, "a heart once pregnant with celestial fire," when he reflects how foreign to the wildest dreams of an English ploughman would be the reduction to verse of his rural experiences, or, still more, of his notions about the divine governance of the universe. Yet this is scarcely an excuse for overlooking the possible contemporary of Homer, the poet ​nearest to him in claims of antiquity, even if we grant that his style is less interesting, and his matter not so attractive. Indeed one argument for including Hesiod in the series of 'Ancient Classics for English Headers' may be found in the fact that nine out of twelve students finish their classical course with but the vaguest acquaintance with his remains. Such, therefore, ought to be as thankful as the unlearned for an idea of what he actually or probably wrote. And it is this which the larger portion of this volume endeavours to supply. The poet's life has been compiled from ancient and modern biographies with a constant eye to the internal evidence of his extant poetry, for which the editions of Paley, Goettling, and Dubner, have been chiefly studied. For illustrative quotation, use has been chiefly made of the English versions of Elton, good for the most part, and, as regards the Theogony, almost Miltonic. For the 'Works and Days,' the little-known version of the Elizabethan George Chapman—a biographical rarity made accessible by Mr Hooper's edition in J. R. Smith's Library of Old Authors—has been here and there pressed into our service. A parallel or two to Hesiod's 'Shield of Hercules,' from Homer's Shield of Achilles, belong to an unpublished version by Mr Richard Garnett. But to no student of Hesiod are so many thanks due as to Mr F. A. Paley, whose notes have been of the utmost use, as the most successful attempt to unravel Hesiodic ​difficulties and incongruities. Whatever difference of opinion may exist upon his views as to the date and authorship of the Homeric epics, there can be none as to the high value of his edition of Hesiod, which may rank with his Æschylus, Euripides, and Propertius.
For the three chapters about Theognis, which complete this volume, the translation and arrangement of Mr John Hookham Frere have been used and followed. In some instances, where Gaisford's text seemed to discourage freedom of paraphrase, the editor has fallen back upon his own more literal versions. On the whole, however, the debt of Theognis to Mr Hookham Frere, for acting as his exponent to English readers, cannot be over-estimated; and we tender our thanks to his literary executors for permission to avail ourselves of his acute and lively versions. These are marked F. Those of Elton and Chapman in Hesiod are designated by the letters E and C respectively, and the editor's alternative versions by the letter D affixed to them.
CONTENTS.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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