ἤσθιον, ἀλλ' ἀδάμαντος ἔχον κρατερόφρονα θυμὸν, ἄπλητοι· μεγάλη δὲ βίη καὶ χεῖρες ἄαπτοι 150 ἐξ ὤμων ἐπέφυκον ἐπὶ στιβαροῖσι μέλεσσιν. τοῖς δ ̓ ἦν χάλκεα μὲν τεύχεα, χάλκεοι δέ τε οἶκοι, χαλκῷ [δ'] εἰργάζοντο· μέλας δ ̓ οὐκ ἔσκε σίδηρος. (150) καὶ τοὶ μὲν χείρεσσιν υπο σφετέρῃσι δαμέντες βῆσαν ἐς εὐρώεντα δόμον κρυεροῦ ̓Αίδαο νώνυμνοι θάνατος δὲ καὶ ἐκπάγλους περ εόντας εἷλε μέλας, λαμπρὸν δ ̓ ἔλιπον φάος ήελίοιο. Αὐτὰρ ἐπεὶ καὶ τοῦτο γένος κατὰ γαῖα κάλυψεν, (155) 150. Γοΐκοι 151. χαλκῷ Γειργάζοντο 153. Αίδαο η 155 148. ἄπλατοι (γρ. ἄπλαστοι) Α. ἄπλαστοι GK, Ald. ἄπλατοι Β. ἄπλατοι CDHI. 149. στιβαροῖσι μέλεσσιν BCDEF. στιβαροῖς μελέεσσιν AGK, Ald. στιβαροῖσι μελέεσσιν Η. στιβαροῖσι μέλεσιν Ι. 150. τῶν δ' ΑΕF. χάλκεοι δέ τ' Α. χάλκεοι δὲ οἶκοι D. χάλκεοι οἶκοι (with a syllable erased between, and οὖν superscr. before τεύχεα Ε, and F has the same readings. 151. χαλκῷ δ' all the MSS. εἰργάζοντο ABCDHI, and G with the p superscr. ἐργάζοντο ΕΓΚ, Αld. 152. σφετέροισι G. 154. νώνυμνοι ΑBCG. νώνυμοι DEFHIK, Ald. 148. The MSS., as usual, vary between ἄπλητοι, ἄπλατοι, and ἄπλαστοι. Goettling prefers the first in the sense of • unapproachable (πελάω, πλάω). See Theog. 151. Tzetzes read ἄπλαστοι, but explains it by ἀπροσπέλαστοι, οἷς οὐδεὶς πλησιάζει.—ἄαπτοι, ἤγουν ἄψαυστοι Moschopulus. Not to be grappled with, from ἅπτεσθαι. In pronouncing it, some vowel-sound probably represented the aspirate. So &άατος in Homer was perhaps ἀFaFaros. 149. ἐπέφυκον. Some take this form for ἐπεφύκεσαν, (like ἔδον or ἔδων for ἔδοσαν, Theog. v. 30, but it appears to be the imperfect of a secondary present πεφύκω. See on Scut. Η. 228. στιβαροῖσι μέλεσσιν Goettl. with some MSS. Others στιβαροῖς μελέεσσιν. 150. τοῖς δ'. Cod. Gale τῶν δ'. 151. χαλκῷ δ ̓ εἰργάζοντο the best MSS. with Cod. Gale. ἐργάζοντο others. If this distich be genuine (and Bentley rejected 1501), the original reading must have been χαλκῷ Γειργάζοντο, 'they tilled the ground with copper' or bronze. Ovid, Fast. iv. 405, Aes erat in pretio, Chalybeïa massa latebat.' Lucret. v. 1286, Et prior aeris erat quam ferri cognitus usus. It is to be observed that the poet calls this age brazen not because inferior to the golden and the silvern, but literally, because they made use of bronze, or brass. 154. νώνυμνοι Cod. Gale and many others; vulg. νώνυμοι. Il. xii. 70, νωνύμνους ἀπολέσθαι. Od. i. 222, οὐ μέν τοι γενεήν γε θεοὶ νώνυμνον ὀπίσσω θῆκαν. The euphonic insertion of v may be compared with ἀπάλαμνος, for ἀπάλαμος and δίδυμνοs for δίδυμος. See sup. on v. 118.-This ignominious descent of the brazen race into Hades is contrasted with the honour which their predecessors of the silver age obtained as δαίμονες and μάκαρες θνητοί, ν. 142.— ἐκπάγλους, formidable, monstrous, δεινούς, for ἐκπλάγλους, the termination being as in σιγηλός, ῥιγηλός, &c. αὖθις ἔτ ̓ ἄλλο τέταρτον ἐπὶ χθονὶ πουλυβοτείρῃ Ζεὺς Κρονίδης ποίησε δικαιότερον καὶ ἄρειον, ἀνδρῶν ἡρώων θεῖον γένος, οἳ καλέονται αὖθις ΑΕF. αὖθις ἐπ ̓ Ald. At this verse 157. αὖτις BCDGH. another hand commences in A. 157. ἄλλο τέταρτον. We do not find that the iron age immediately succeeds to the brazen, nor that the degeneration of man is continuous. For here we have an interval between the brazen and the iron, which is occupied by a race who are an improvement on the last; and what appears at first still more singular, these are not named after any of the metals. This is rather difficult to explain. Goettling's theory is some what involved, that the poet describes three great cycles, each commencing better than it closes; and so cycle I comprehends the golden, the silver, and the brazen ; cycle 2 the heroic, ending with the poet's own age; cycle 3 commences with the better era which he hints at in ἔπειτα γενέσθαι, ν. 175. He says (on v. 109) that there were in the first cycle (1) 'aureum saeculum, innocentiae humanae tempus;' (2) 'argenteum, desidiae humanae tempus; (3) aeneum, quo impietati hominum accedebant facinora.' In the second cycle he' places (4) aetas heroica insignis justitia, sed bellicosa; (5) the age of Hesiod, 'quam ipsa Justitia et Pudor relicturae sunt.' The third cycle he supposes is yet to follow. All this how ever is too artificial, though to a certain extent plausible. A simpler explanation is this: Having mentioned the δαίμονες on earth and the Spirits in Hades, the poet was bound to find some place for the heroes, the cultus of whom formed so prominent a feature in the religion of Hellas. As these were made on earth as warriors, it was natural, and indeed necessary, to connect them with the warlike race (v. 145) of the brazen age, while it was not less necessary to speak of their virtues and justice as qualities far superior to the ὕβριες of their compeers. Το these accordingly he assigns a happy abode after death in the Isles of the Blest, as Homer does to Menelaus in the Odyssey, iv. 562, and Euripides in the Helena, v. 1677. 158. ἄρειον. Proclus;—ἢ βέλτιον, ἢ πολεμικόν. Tzetzes;—ἣ πολεμικὸν ἢ ἀντὶ υπερθετικοῦ, ἄριστον καὶ βέλτιστον. The word is here a synonym of ἄμεινον, and the comparative of an old word apeùs, of which ἄριστος is the superlative (as ἡδὺς, ἡδίων, ἥδιστος). We have χερεὺς (rather than χέρης) in Homer, from which the forms χέρη, χέρα, χέρης, χέρεια, are infected, after the analogy of ὀξύς. Hence χειρότερος (sup. v. 127), χείρων by hyperthesis for χερίων (ι), χερειότερος from a by-form of the positive, χέριος, and a later Attic superlative χείριστος. It appears to have been a mistake of the rhapsodists to use χρηα for χείρονα in Il. iv. 400, and Od. xiv. 176, οὔ τι χέρηα πατρὸς ἑοῖο φίλοιο, but apparently for κακά in Od. xv. 324. xviii. 229. With ἀρείων we may compare the Epic form χερείων. 159. καλέονται. Proclus;—oἳ καλέ ονται ἡμίθεοι κατὰ σύγκρισιν πρὸς ἡμᾶς, ὑστέρους ὄντας ἐκείνων.—προτέρῃ δὲ, ἤτοι προτέρων ἀνθρώπων. Hesiod, speaking with respect to his own time, the fifth age, (v. 174,) might have said καλέοντο, especially as προτέρῃ γενεῇ means in the generation preceding his own. It seems best however, with Aldus and Robinson, to put a comma after ἡμίθεοι, so that προτέρῃ γενεῇ refers to their existence in by-gone times, and is equivalent to πρότερον γενομένων. Schoemann prefers προτέρη γενεὴ, with two Paris MSS. Hermann compares the similar expression ἡμιθέων γένος ἀνδρῶν, in Il. xii. 23. Cf. Plat. Cratyl. p. 398, C, οὐκ οἶσθα ὅτι ἡμίθεοι οἱ ἥρωες ;—Τί οὖν ;—Πάντες δήπου γεγόνασιν ἐρασθέντος ἢ θεοῦ θνητῆς ἢ θνητοῦ θεᾶς. Gaisford cites Eustathius on Il. A. p. 17, τοὺς ἀνθρώπους (διαιρεῖ) εἴς τε ἥρωας καὶ εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦτο, ἀνθρώπους. Καὶ ὑποβεβηκέναι μέν φησι θεοῖς δαίμονας, ἀνθρώπους δὲ ἥρωσιν, οὓς καὶ ἐκ θείου καὶ ἀνθρωπίνου σώματος φύναι λέγουσι· διὸ καὶ Ησίοδος ἡμιθέους αὐτοὺς λέγει. Simonides (frag. 1) remarks that the μíleo did not attain old age ἄπονον οὐδὲ ἄφθιτον οὐδ ̓ ἀκίνδυνον βίον τελέσαντες. ἡμίθεοι, προτέρῃ γενεῇ κατ ̓ ἀπείρονα γαῖαν. 160 (160) 165 (165) 170 164. νά εσσιν 167. Γήθε ท D. 165. τροίαν πάσας Κ. 161. Omitted in E, but inserted by the first hand. 166. ἀμφεκάλυψεν ADI. 167. ὀπάσας ACG, Ald. This and the two next verses are wanting in H. 169. omitted in ABCEGI, and in F, but added in the last after 173, with βασίλευε. 162. This verse, not without good reason, was regarded by Heyne as spurious. It is not indeed improbable that the whole passage 161-9 was added by the rhapsodists in consequence of the celebrity of the Thebaid and the Iliad, which were alike attributed to Homer. Prof. Mahaffy remarks on this passage (Hist. Gr. Lit. i. p. 103), "So powerful was the effect of the Heroic [Homeric] epics, that the shrewd poet of the Works thought it necessary to find a niche for this race [the warriors at Troy] in his temple of fame; and so the legend was distorted to admit them as a fifth race, created out of due time by the Father of gods and of men." Similarly Sir G. W. Cox (Mythology and Folklore, p. 173); "The vast body of epical tradition related to men who could not be classed with those of either the gold, the silver, or the brazen ages, and who in bravery, power, and strength of will, immeasurably surpassed the degenerate creatures of the age of iron. It thus became necessary to find a place for them, and so the Heroic age was interposed immediately before that of iron." Schoemann observes (Com. Crit. p. 24) that the poet regards the fifth race as descended from the heroes, and not as a new creation, like the foregoing Compare inf. v. 653. 163. Οἰδιπόδαο. Cf. Il. xxiii. 679, δεδουπότος Οἰδιπόδαο ἐς τάφον, a passage doubtless interpolated, with many others in our present texts, from the Thebais. 165. ἀγαγών. War itself is said ἀγ αγεῖν ἥρωας ἐν νήεσσι, though more properly νῆες ἤγαγον ἥρωας ἐς πόλεμον. 166. ἤτοι. The meaning seems to be, ἡ ἀπώλοντο ἢ ἐσώθησαν ἐς μακάρων νήσους,—for οἱ μὲν—οἱ δέ. 167. τοῖς δέ. This alludes primarily to the legend about Menelaus. See on v. 156 ad fin. ἤθεα (Γήθεα), see v. 137. 168. Hesych. κατένασσε, κατῴκισε. See Theog. 329. 620. 169. ἐμβασιλεύει Buttmann for ἐμβασίλευε. Gaisford omits this verse, which appears to be wanting in nearly all the MSS., as well as the early editions. Compare Pind. Οl. ii. 70, where the abode of the beatified heroes is called Κρόνου τύρσις. ἐν μακάρων νήσοισι παρ' Ωκεανὸν βαθυδίνην, (170) Μηκέτ' ἔπειτ ̓ ὠφελλον ἐγὼ πέμπτοισι μετείναι ἀνδράσιν, ἀλλ ̓ ἢ πρόσθε θανεῖν ἢ ἔπειτα γενέσθαι. 175 νῦν γὰρ δὴ γένος ἐστι σιδήρεον· οὐδέ ποτ ̓ ἦμαρ παύσονται καμάτου καὶ ὀϊζύος, οὐδέ τι νύκτωρ 173. τρὶς Γέτεος 172. τοῖσι ADEFGH. τοῖσι δὲ Ι. ό (175) 173. τρὶς ἔτεος ΑΕΕ. τρὶς τοῦ ἔτους the rest. 174. ωφειλον Α. ὤφελον DK, Ald. ἐγὼ omitted in H by the first hand. 176. οὐδέτ ̓ ἦμαρ D by the first hand, corrected to οὐδέ τι. οὐδέποτ ̓ οἶμαι Ι. 177. added in the margin in A. καμάτοιο G. 171. παρ' Ωκεανόν. Near, or extending along, the outer ocean stream, which was supposed to environ the earth. Horace had this passage in view, Epod. 16, 63, Jupiter illa piae secrevit litora genti, Ut inquinavit aere tempus aureum; Aere, dehinc ferro duravit saecula.' 173. MS. Cant. and many others give τρὶς τοῦ ἔτους, which arose from ignorance of the digamma. 174. μηκέτι κ.τ.λ. Would that, after this, it had not been my lot to live among men of the fifth race.' The sense virtually is, ἔπειτα δὲ ἔτι πέμπτον γένος ἦν, ἐν οἷς εἴθε μὴ ἐγενόμην ἐγώ. The form ὤφειλον (so MSS. and edd.) seems doubtful. Rather perhaps, ὤφελλον, (an Homeric form, which is quoted by Goettling from Cramer's Anecdota, iii. p. 221. And Cod. Gale has ωφειλον, Corp. Christ. ὤφελον. In fragm. clxxii. ὤφειλες is found, but perhaps the same correction should be made, since ὤφειλα is the form of the first aorist. Probably peλov was only used in the debased period; thus the Byzantine Schol. on Aesch. Pers. 773 has ὤφειλον γὰρ τῷ Αρταφρένῃ, ὡς φίλοι, πρὸς πάνθ' ὑπηρετεῖν αὐτῷ. 175. ἔπειτα γενέσθαι. Either the poet foresaw a better age yet to come, as Goettling supposes, or he used a phrase which merely means 'it would have been better to be born in any age rather than in this. Hesiod however does not drop any further hint about this supposed amelioration; generally, his mind seems to have been impressed with the regular and progressive decadence towards evil. See on v. 156. It was this view of the sense which Juvenal must have taken, Sat. xiii. 28, 'Nona aetas agitur, pejoraque saecula ferri Temporibus; quorum sceleri non invenit ipsa Nomen, et a nullo posuit Natura metallo. Plaut. Trinum. 290, lacrumas haec mihi, quum video, eliciunt, quia ego ad hoc genus hominum perduravi. 177. παύσονται. As the poet uses the future uniformly in his account of the iron and post-iron age (down to v. 201), we must conclude that he regards his own lifetime as but the commencement of the former, and the transition period, as it were, between it and the preceding. Bad as matters are now, he says, they will be yet worse. Hence Goettling has little ground for making a difficulty about μεμίζεται in v. 179. He says, there is no meaning in the future tense if we interpret, with Proclus, 'Yet nevertheless even to these some good shall be mixed up with bad, badness has not entirely prevailed, for there shall still be some respect for virtue,-i. e. the fifth race shall not prove wholly evil. And he encloses 179-81 within brackets as spurious. The poet seems to have had in view a φθειρόμενοι χαλεπὰς δὲ θεοὶ δώσουσι μερίμνας ἀλλ' ἔμπης καὶ τοῖσι μεμίξεται ἐσθλὰ κακοῖσιν. Ζεὺς δ ̓ ὀλέσει καὶ τοῦτο γένος μερόπων ἀνθρώπων, 180 εὖτ ̓ ἂν γεινόμενοι πολιοκρόταφοι τελέθωσιν. οὐδὲ πατὴρ παίδεσσιν ὁμοίιος οὐδέ τι παῖδες, 181. γινόμενοι BCDEFH. (180) 185 184. ἔσσεται φίλος ὥστε πάρος περ Ι. doctrine of which frequent glimpses appear in later times, that there was a tolerably equal balance between good and evil in the world. Cf. Eur. Suppl. 195: ἄλλοισι δὴ 'πόνησ ̓ ἁμιλληθεὶς λόγῳ Those who explain the text as if it were κακὰ ἐσθλοῖς μεμίζεται, evil shall be mixed up with good,' fail to notice the qualifying ἀλλ ̓ ἔμπης, yet nevertheless.' The meaning is, that matters shall not as yet be wholly bad: but, when Zeus shall have destroyed this race also, another shall succeed which will be utterly depraved, v. 182-201. On the whole, there seem very sufficient grounds for Hermann's suspicion, that after v. 181 several lines have been lost. It is clear from v. 273, where the poet expresses a hope that not all justice has vanished in his time, compared with καὶ τότε δὴ κ.τ.λ. (v. 197), where he predicts that all respect for another's rights (αἰδὼς) will depart, that he is there speaking of a distinct and subsequent age, viz. the sixth, or that of the utmost depravity. enough, that they will be destroyed for their wickedness. But the use of the language and the order of the words are alike against this. Probably the phrase merely expresses premature old age, one of the certain signs of physical degeneration. So conversely the silver age had a childhood of a hundred years (ν. 130). By κρόταφοι the Greeks meant the part of the head in the region near the ear and eye (the temple). Old age first shows itself in the upper part of the whisker becoming grey, and then it descends to the beard, according to Theocritus, xiv. 68, ἀπὸ κροτάφων πελόμεσθα πάντες γηραλέοι, καὶ ἐπισχερὼ ἐς γένυν ἕρπει λευκαίνων ὁ χρόνος. Ibid. xv. 85, πρᾶτον ἴουλον ἀπὸ κροτάφων καταβάλλων. Moschopulus: ἀπὸ τῶν κροτάφων γὰρ ὡς ἐπὶ τὸ πλεῖστον ἄρχονται πολιοῦσθαι οἱ ἄνθρωποι. 182. Before this verse (as remarked above) something seems lost which introduced the depravity of the sixth and last age, yet to come.—παῖδες, scil. πατρὶ ὅμοιοι ἔσονται.—ὁμοίιος, here, as the context shows, for ὁμογνώμων, ὁμονοητικός, Neither will father be likeminded (in accord) with sons, nor sons at all with father.' 6 183. As éraîpos should take the digamma (Curtius, Gr. Et. 674), it is probable that this verse was interpolated. 185. αἶψα, as soon as they begin to grow old (i.e. no longer able to maintain their authority), parents will forthwith be slighted by their own children.' The Greeks regarded insult to aged parents as one of the most heinous of crimes. Thus γονεῖς τιμᾶν was one of |