πεφύλαξα δὲ θυμῷ (795)

serves,) probably means the twentieth of the month, when the day was longest; cf. v. 778. Goettling thinks it means also the month which occurred in the long year, i. e. when the intercalary month, μὴν ἐμβολιμαῖος, was added. The scholiasts were evidently at a loss for any reasonable explanation, and so referred Meydan to the day when the double decad, or two-thirds of the month, had passed.—ἴστορα φῶτα seems the subject to γείνασθαι, not the object; on the long twentieth a knowing man should beget a son; for he is (i. e. will prove) very subtle in mind.' Some take the sense to be, for a clever child to be born;' others, to beget a clever child.' And yeívaola is capable of either meaning. But the real meaning probably is, that the benefits attaching to procreation on this particular day are known only to the few and sagacious, οἱ ἴστορες, οἱ εἰδότες. Cf. inf. v. 818. 824.—ἐστὶν, sc. ὁ γεννηθείς. Cf. v. 788. But perhaps ἔσται.—Like ἴσασιν (v. 824), ίστωρ takes the digamma here and in Il. xviii. 501, ἄμφω δ ̓ ἱέσθην ἐπὶ Fίστορι πεῖραρ ἑλέσθαι.

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794. δεκάτη. This must mean the tenth of the first decad, i. e. the tenth of the month. For, if we take μέσση to belong to δεκάτη as well as to τετράς, then it becomes the same as the εἰκὰς just mentioned. If it means the tenth of the last decad, it becomes the rpinκάς. One peculiarity in Hesiod's calen dar is this ;—when he has named a day in the regular order, as adapted for some particular purpose, he sometimes goes back, and adds that the corresponding day of another decad is also a ft one for the same end. Compare v. 785 with v. 782, and v. 810—11. Thus

794. δεκάτῃ Ald.

here, having stated that the twentieth is a good day for procreating, he adds, that the tenth is also a good one for a man, and the fourteenth for a woman. He appears to have omitted the mention of the fourteenth at v. 781, because he was then speaking of plants (φυτά), and so passed from the thirteenth to the sixteenth.

795. εἱλίποδας ἕλικας βοῦς. Μoschop. ἑλικοειδῶς τοὺς πόδας κινοῦντας. Whatever be the exact meaning of this phrase, (which appears to refer to the swinging and slouching step of oxen under the yoke, caused by their peculiar manner of bending the instep), it is scarcely credible that both Homer and Hesiod should have used it, though ἕλικας βοῦς occurred sup. v. 452. It had occurred to the present editor, that from κούρῃ to τιθεὶς was probably an interpolation of the rhapsodists; and this without being aware that Proclus had inferred, from Plutarch having no word of comment on the four lines, that in his time they were not found in the copies. It may be remarked that κύνα καρχαρόδοντα seems borrowed from v. 604, and οὐρῆας ταλαεργοὺς from v. 791, compared with v. 46.

797. ἐπὶ χεῖρα τιθεὶς, ἐπιτιθεὶς αὐτοῖς τὴν χεῖρα, καταψῶν αὐτοὺς δηλονότι, Mosch.—πεφύλαξη, φυλάσσου, εὐλαβήθητι, cf. πεφυλαγμένος sup. v. 765. But be careful in your mind to avoid the fourth both of the ending and the beginning month (i. e. fourth and twentyfourth) to brood over cares' (or perhaps for cares to prey on your mind). Proclus, from Plutarch, has this comment, ἐν ἱεραῖς ταύταις μάλιστα τὰς λυπηρὰς ἀποσκευάζεσθαι (qu. ἀποσκευ δάζεσθαι ?) ἐνεργείας, ἃς εἰ καὶ ἄλλοτε

800

805

801. οἱ Κ. ἐπ'

δεῖ ὡς ἀναγκαίας αἱρεῖσθαι, ἐν ταύταις οὐ δέον. Goettling only confuses the sentence by telling us that the poet meant πεφύλαξε δὲ θυμῷ τὴν τετράδα φθίνοντος καὶ ἱσταμένου, καὶ ἀλεύασθαι, μὴ ἐν αὐτῇ ἄλγεά σε θυμοβορον. Schoemann rejects as spurious v. 798, and would read πεφύλαξε δὲ θυμῷ ἄλγεα θυμοβόρα. Photius, θυμοβόρος· ἡ τὴν γῆν (Ι. ἡ ψυχὴν) διαφθείρουσα. Aesch. Αg. 103, τὴν θυμοβόρον φρένα λύπην.

799. τετελεσμένον, τέλειον, ἱερὸν, 2 very perfect or lucky day.

800. ἄγεσθαι ἄκοιτιν. Joy, not grief, was suitable to the fourth day. Proclus gives as a reason for its being chosen as a wedding day, that it was sacred to Aphrodite and Hermes.—οἰωνοὺς κρίνας, having duly consulted the seers and chosen such birds as are best for that business; viz. having first ascertained that the omens are favourable. Probably the birds were chosen as being sacred to the gods who preside over marriage. Compare ὄρνιθας κρίνων, v. 828.The ἐπὶ is doubtless an interpolation, consequent on the loss of the digamma in Γέργματι.

802. πέμπτας, the fifth days of each decad.—ἐξαλέασθαι, viz. for contracting marriage, since they are both unlucky days and of dread import, because on the fifth of the first decad Horcus was taken care of by the Erinyes at his birth.—ἀμφιπολεύειν, attended upon.

The infinitive seems to represent the imperfect tense. The poet might indeed have written ἐν πέμπτῃ γάρ, φασιν, Ερινύες ἀμφιπόλευον κ.τ.λ. Others make the sense to be, ἀμφίπολοι ἔτι εἰσὶν *Ορκῳ, τότε γειναμένῳ (γενομένῳ); that the Furies attend Horeus on this day, which was ἡμέρα δικαστική, according to the fancy of Proclus. Cf. Soph. Οed. Col. 680, θείαις ἀμφιπολῶν τιθήναις. Ibid. ν. 1767, χώ πάντ' ἀΐων Διὸς ̔́Ορκος. This Horcus, the genius that punishes the perjured, (see Theog. 400), is obviously different (if not in etymology, since both may come from είργειν, at least in mythology) from the Roman Orcus ; and Virgil's mistake in rendering this passage is curious, Georg. i. 277, Quintam fuge; pallidus Orcus Eumenidesque satae; shows that he must have meant Hades. The Italian Orcus is thought to be Voragus, the devouring demon.—γεινόμενον, “ when born on that day. This reading seems doubtful; the great majority of MSS. (including all I have collated) give “Ορκον τιννυμένας, and so Moschopulus read ; τιννυμένας, ἤγουν ἀπαιτούσας, ζητούσας. On the other hand, Proclus seems to have found γεινόμενον, for he explains it by τὰς τιμωροὺς δαίμονας την γένεσιν αὐτοῦ πενταδικὴν οὖσαν περιέπειν. Virgil too seems to translate γεινόμενον in the above version. Buttmann, Lexil. p.

for pallidus

(805)

810

(810)

4356, prefers γεινόμενον to τιννυμένας. "The Furies' (he says) attended on the new-born child, and consequently protect and avenge injury offered to him. Gaisford reads "Ορκον τιννυμένας. Schoemann gives τινύμενον, exacting punishment,' viz. from the perjured, the Erinyes attending Horcus as his ministers of vengeance.

806. ἐπιπεύοντας. Vulgo ὀπιπτεύοντας. See on v. 29. The mention of the seventeenth day for threshing corn is explained by O. Müller (Gr. Lit. p. 85), as having reference to the same day of the month Boedromion, which was consecrated to the worship of Demeter and Cora at Athens.

807. θαλαμήτα δοῦρα, ἤγουν τὰ ξύλα τὰ τῶν οἰκιῶν, τουτέστι τὰ εἰς ὀροφὴν καὶ ἑτέραν χρείαν οἰκιῶν συντελέσοντα, Moschopulus. This may however mean (on account of the two following lines) 'timbers for a ship's hulk.' For the hold was technically called θάλαμος. See Dr. Donaldson's Essay on the Greek Trireme, p. 7. Hence a suspicion arises, that v. 808 is an interpolation, especially ας τάτ ̓ ἄρμενα νηυσὶ πέλονται is an Homeric phrase. Il. iii. 61, ὑπ' ἀνέρος, ὅς ῥά τε τέχνῃ νήϊον ἐκτάμνησιν. The meaning of θαλαμήϊα would then have been determined by the verse next following, νῆας πήγνυσθαι κ.τ.λ.—ξύλα πολλὰ, cf. v. 427, πόλλ ̓ ἔπι καμπύλα καλα, and v. 456, ἑκατὸν δέ τε δούραθ ἁμάξης.

809. apaiàs, pointed at the prow; narrow, taper, as opposed to the rounder build of the ὁλκάδες. Proclus, τὰς στενὰς

καὶ περιμήκεις. Compare the Homeric Ooal vñes, 'pointed ships,' and therefore, though in a secondary sense, 'swift.'πήγνυσθαι, like ποιεῖσθαι, ναυπηγήσασθαι, to have them built, viz. by the hands of the shipwright.

810. εἰνὰς ἡ μέσση, the nineteenth. This, he says, is a better day towards the afternoon, viz. better than in the morning; a sort of dies intercisus or nefastus parte. Proclus, on the authority of Philochorus, states that the 18th and 19th were days on which the Athenians performed expiatory rites; but his comment is corrupt, and Athenian practices did not much concern Hesiod. - The most probable explanation of δείλη and δείελος is, that they are forms of δῆλος (δέελος), “ visible, and meant that part of the day which just preceded the close of evening. To derive it from εἵλη, with Buttmann, (on the analogy of δαίμων, αἵμων, διώκω, ἰώκω,) seems very far-fetched. See Curtius, Gr. Et. 235-6.

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811. πρωτίστη είναs, as contrasted with μέσση εἶνὰς above, means εἰνὰς ἱσταμένου. —παναπήμων, viz. both in the morning and in the afternoon, unlike the other εἶνάς. If however (as suggested on 819) this verse was followed by 821, the sense will be, 'the ninth is wholly free from harm in the morning; it is not so good in the afternoon; but it is never altogether a bad day!φυτευέμεν κ.τ.λ., apparently for γεννᾶν, ' to beget. Compare v. 783. 788. But it may mean 'to plant;' cf. v. 781-2.

824. δὲ ίσασιν

824. δέ τ' ἴσασιν the MSS.

825

(825)

824. ἄλλος ἀλλοίην. 'Some praise a day of one kind, others a day of another kind,' viz. lucky or unlucky. For Orpheus, as Proclus tells us, had written certain injunctions about good and bad days; and the Athenians had their own peculiar rules on the subject. ἀλλοίην, ἀντὶ τοῦ ἄλλην, Proclus. But the word may well bear its usual sense of 'different in kind.'

825. ἡμέρη κ.τ.λ. 'At one time a day is a step-mother, at another time a mother. Proclus ; ἐπειδὴ ἡ μήτηρ ἤπιος, ἡ δὲ μητρυιὰ κακὴ, εἶπεν, Αἱ μὲν τῶν ἡμερῶν εἰσὶ μητέρες, ὡς ἂν ἀγαθαὶ, αἱ δὲ μητρυιαὶ, ὡς ἂν κακαί.

826. τάων κ.τ.λ. Moschopulus; τούτων τῶν ἡμερῶν ὃς ἂν τάδε πάντα εἰδὼς, ἤγουν ταύτας τὰς διαφορὰς καὶ τὰς δυνάμεις πάσας, ἐργάζηται, τὰ εἰρημένα δηλονότι ἔργα, αναίτιος τοῖς ἀθανάτοις— εὐδαίμων ἐστὶ καὶ ὄλβιος. Thus τάων is the genitive after τάδε πάντα.—ἐργάζηται, goes on farming, or performing the various duties of agriculture.

828. This verse may possibly have been added by those who (as Proclus tells us) appended in direct continuation of this poem another which some attributed to Hesiod, the ὀρνιθομαντεία. Plato possibly may allude to this, (and if so, he thought it genuine,) Ion, p. 531, Β, περὶ μαντικῆς λέγει τι Ομηρός τε καὶ Ἡσίοδος. On the other

hand, O. Müller (Hist. Gr. Lit. p. 86,) admits the genuineness of this final verse, and thinks that it even suggested the spurious addition of the ὀρνιθομανreía, just as the Cyclic Troica were arranged to form a sequel to the Iliad, and as the Κατάλογος γυναικῶν followed the Theogony of our author, according to the recension of some critics. Goettling says, " Mihi totus aliunde huc rejectus esse videtur; nam omni cum antecedentibus conjunctione caret." As a termination to the subject of the calendar, it is appropriate and significant enough. To ascertain the will of the gods in matters obscure to human knowledge, and to avoid offending the gods by unintentional transgressions of their festivals, were among the surest ways to realise the εὐδαιμονία of which the poet is speaking, viz. general prosperity in his farming operations. By ὄρνιθας κρίνων he means distinguishing bad from good omens,' so as to avoid doing any work under unfavourable auspices. Cf. v. 801, οἰωνοὺς κρίνας, οἳ ἐπ ̓ ἔργματι τούτῳ ἄριστοι. Αr. Αν. 719, ὄρνιν τε νομίζετε πάνθ ̓ ὅσαπερ περὶ μαντείας διακρίνει. Lucian, in the Dialogue (p. 240 seqq.) with Hesiod, asks the poet why he has nowhere made use of the gift of the Muses (Theog. 32), the faculty of prophecy ?