PROLOGUE.
Old Hesiod lived, if there be no misnomer,
As some suppose, about the age of Homer,
And wrote some poems of deserved praise,[1]
The most esteemed of which, his "Works and Days,"
Is here translated into English verse:
So take it, ye, for better or for worse!
Some closely, some is freely done; and since
'Tis mostly free, I call the version "Hints,"
Yet in these hints I trust that you will find
Much to instruct and entertain the mind.
'Twas written for his brother's reformation,
To win him from the paths of litigation,
By showing how true happiness is joined
With rural labors and a virtuous mind.
In such esteem were held his moral rules,
That he was made a text-book in the schools
Of his own country, and was got by heart,
And ranked next Homer in poetic art.
Even the great shepherd of the Mantuan plains[2]
Caught inspiration from his Georgic strains,
And taught old Rome, now freed from civil rage,
Once more to speed the plow, as in her Golden Age.
As for his precepts in regard to farming,
Though rude to us, I always thought them charming;
As some suppose, about the age of Homer,
And wrote some poems of deserved praise,[1]
The most esteemed of which, his "Works and Days,"
Is here translated into English verse:
So take it, ye, for better or for worse!
Some closely, some is freely done; and since
'Tis mostly free, I call the version "Hints,"
Yet in these hints I trust that you will find
Much to instruct and entertain the mind.
'Twas written for his brother's reformation,
To win him from the paths of litigation,
By showing how true happiness is joined
With rural labors and a virtuous mind.
In such esteem were held his moral rules,
That he was made a text-book in the schools
Of his own country, and was got by heart,
And ranked next Homer in poetic art.
Even the great shepherd of the Mantuan plains[2]
Caught inspiration from his Georgic strains,
And taught old Rome, now freed from civil rage,
Once more to speed the plow, as in her Golden Age.
As for his precepts in regard to farming,
Though rude to us, I always thought them charming;
