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WORKS & DAYS
BOOK I.
[Lines 1-23]
Sing, Muses, sing, from the Pierian Grove;
Begin the Song, and let the Theme be Jove;
From him ye sprung, and him ye first should praise;
From your immortal Sire duduce your Lays;
To him alone, to this great Will, we owe,
That we exist, and what we are, below.
Whether we blaze among the Sons of Fame,
Or live obscurely, and without a name;
Or noble, or ignoble, still we prove
Our Lot determin'd by the Will of Jove.
With Ease he lifts the Peasant to a Crown,
With the same Ease he casts the Monarch down;
With Ease he clouds the brightest Name in Night,
And calls the meanest to the fairest Light;
At Will he varys Life thro ev'ry State;
Unnerves the strong, and makes the crooked strait.
Such Jove, who thunders terrible from high,
Who dwells in Mansions far above the Sky.
Look down, thou Pow'r Supreme, vouchsafe thine Aid,
And let my Judgement be by Justice sway'd;
Oh ! hear my Vows, and thine Assistance bring,
While Truths undoubted I to Perses sing.
[Lines 23-44]
As here on Earth we tread the Maze of Life,
The Mind's divided in a double Strife;
One, by the wife, is thought deserving Fame;
And this attended by the greatest Shame,
The dismal Source whence spring pernicious Jars,
The baneful Fountain of destructive Wars,
Which, by the Laws of arbitrary Fate,
We follow, tho by Nature taught to hate;
From Night's black Realms this took its odious Birth:
The one Jove planted in the Womb of Earth,
The better Strife; by this the Soul is fir'd
To arduous Toils, nor with those Toils is tir'd;
One sees his Neighbor with laborious Hand
Planting his Orchard, or manuring Land;
He sees another, with industrious Care,
Materials for the building Art prepare;
Idle himself he sees them haste to rise,
Observes their growing Wealth with envious Eyes,
With Emulation fir's beholds their Store,
And toils with Joy, who never toil'd before:
The Artist envys what the Artist gains,
The Bard the Rival Bard's Successful Strains.
[Lines 45-147]
Perses attend, my just Decrees observe,
Nor from thy honest Labour idly swerve;
The Love of Strife, that joys in Evils, shun,
Nor to the Forum, from thy Duty, run.
How vain the Wranglings of the Bar to min,
While Ceres, yellow Goddess, is unkind !
But when propitious whe has heap'd your Store,
For others you may plead, and not before;
But let with Justice your Conentions prove,
And be your Counsels such as come from Jove:
Not as of late, when we divided Lands,
Youn grasp'd at all with avaritious Hands;
When the corrupted Bench, for Bribes well know,
Unjustly granted more than was your own.
Fools blind to Truth ! nor knows their erring Soul
How much the Half is better than the Whole,
How great the Pleasure wholesome Herbs afford,
How bless'd the frugal, and an honest, Board !
Would the immortal Gods on Men bestow
A Mind, how few the Wants of Life to know,
They all the Year, from Labour free, might live
On what the Bounty of a Day would give;
They soon the Rudder o'er the Smoke would lay,
And let the Mule, and Ox, at Leisure stray:
This Sence to Man the King of Gods denys,
In Wrath to him who daring rob'd the Skys:
Dread Ills the God prepar'd unknown before,
And the stol'n Fire back to his Heav'n he bore;
But from Prometheus was conceal'd in vain,
Which for the Use of Man he stole again,
And, artful in his Fraud, brought from Above,
At which enrag'd spoke cloud-compelling Jove
Son of Japetus, o'er sublte, go,
And glory in they artful Theft below;
Boast the celestrial Fire by Stealth retrieve'd
And triumph in almighty Jove deceiv'd;
But thou too late shalt find the Triumph vain,
And read thy Folly in succeeding Pain;
Posterity the sad Effects shall know,
When, in Pursuit of Joy, they grasp their Woe.
He spoke, and told to Mulciber his Will,
And, smiling, bade him his Commands fulfil;
To use his greatest Art, his nicest Care,
To frame a Creature exquisitely fair;
To templer well the Clay with Water, then
To add the Vigour, and the Voice, of Men;
To let her first in Virgin Lustre shine,
In Form a Goddess, with Bloom divine.
And next the Sire demands Minerva's Aid,
In all her various Skill to train the Maid,
Bids her the Secrets of the Loom impart,
To cast a crurious Thread with happy Art.
And golden Venus was to teach the Fair,
The Wiles of Love, and to improve her Air;
And then, in awful Majesty, to shed
A thousand graceful Chams around her Head.
Next, Hermes artful God, must form her Mind,
One Day to torture, and the next to be kind,
With soothing Language, and the treach'rous Smile,
The Heart to purchase, and the Heart to beguile.
Jove gave the Mandate; and the Gods obey'd.
First Vulcan form'd of Earth the blushing Maid;
Minerva next perform'd the Task assign'd;
With ev'ry female Art adorn'd her Mind.
To dress her Suada, and the Graces, join;
Around her Person, lo ! the Diamonds shine.
To deck her Brows the fair-tress'd Seasons bring
A Garland breathing all the Sweets of Spring.
Each Presen Pallas gives it proper Place,
And adds to ev'ry Ornament a Grace.
Next Hermes taught the Fair the Heart to move,
With all the false alluring Arts of Love.
The finish'd Maid the Gods Pandora call,
Because a Tribute she received'd from all.
And thus, 'twas Jove's Command, the Sex began,
A lovely Mischief to the Soul of Man.
When the great Sire of Gods beheld the Fair;
The fatal Guile, th' inevitable Snare,
Hermes he bids Epimetheus bear.
Prometheus, mindful of his Theft Above,
Had warn'd his Brother to beware of Jove,
To take no Present that the God should send,
Lest the fair Bribe should Ill to Man protend;
But he, forgetful, takes his evil Fate,
Accepts the Mischief, and repents to late.
Mortals at first a blissfull Earth enjoy'd,
With Ills untainted, nor with Cares anoy'd,
To them the World was no laborious Stage,
Nor fear'd they then the Miserys of Age;
But soon the sad Reversion they behold,
Alas ! they grow in their Afflictions old;
For in her Hand the Nymph a Casket bears,
Full of diseases, and corroding Cares,
Which open'd , they to taint the World begin,
And Hope alone remains within.
Such was the fatal Present from Above,
And such the Will of cloud-compelling Jove.
And now unnumber'd Woes o'er Mortals reign,
Alike infected is the Land, and Main.
O'er human Race Distempers silent stray,
And multiply their Strength by Night and Day,
'Twas Jove's Decree they should in Silence rove ;
And who is able to contend with Jove !
[Lines 148-149]
And now attend, while I at large realate,
And trace, the various Turns of human State.
[Lines 150-163]
Soon as the deathless Gods were born, and Man,
A mortal Race, with Voice edu'd, began,
The heav'nly Pow'rs from High their work behold,
And the first Age they stile an Age of Gold.
Men spent a Life like Gods in Saturn's Reign,
Nor felt their Mind a Care, nor Body Pain;
The fields, as yet untill'd, their Fruits afford,
And fill a sumptuous, and enevy'd, Board.
From Labour free they all Delights enjoy,
Nor could the Ills of Time and Peace destroy;
They dy, or rather seem to dy, they seem
From hence transporting in a pleasing Dream.
Thus, crown'd with Happyness their ev'ry Day,
Serer, and joyful, pass'd their Lives away.
[Lines 164-173]
When in the Grave this Race of Men was lay'd,
Soon was the World of holy Dæmons made.
Aeiral Spirts, by great Jove design'd,
To be on Earth the Guardians of Mankind;
Insivivle to mortal Eyes they go,
And mark our Actions, good, or bad, below;
Th' immortal Spys with watchful Care preside,
And thrice then thousand round thier Charges glide.
They can reward with Glory, or with Gold;
A Pow'r they be divine Permission hold:
[Lines 174-193]
Worse than the first, a second Age appears,
Which the Celestials call the Silver Years.
The Golden Age's Virtues are no more;
Nature grows weaker than she was before;
In Strength of Body Mortals must decay,
And human Wisdom seems to fade away.
An Hundred Years the careful Dames employ,
Before they form'd Man th' unspolish'd Boy;
Who when he reach'd his Bloom, his Age's Prime,
Found, measure'd by his Joys, but short his Time.
Men, prone to Ill, deny'd the Gods their Due,
And, by their Follys, made their Days but few.
The Altars of the Bless'd neglected stand,
Without the Off'rings which the Laws demand;
But angy Jove in Dust this People lay'd
Because no Honours to the Gods they pay'd.
This second Race, when clos'd their Life's short Span,
Was happy deem'd beyond the State of Man;
Their Names were grateful to their Children made,
Each pay'd a Reverence to his Father's Shade.
[Lines 194-209]
And now a third, a Brasen, People rise,
Unlike the former, Men of monstrous Size.
Storng Arms extensive from their Shoulders grow;
Their Limbs of equal Magnitude below;
Potent in Arms, and dreadful at the Spear,
They live injurious, and devoid of Fear.
On the crude Flesh of Beasts, they feed, alone,
Savage their Nature, and their Hearts of Stone;
Their Houses Brass, of Brass the warlike Blade,
Iron was yet unknown, in Brass they trade.
Furious, robust, impatient for the Fight,
War is their only Care, and sole Delight.
To the dark Shades of Death this Race descend,
By civil Discords; and ignoble End !
Strong tho they were, Death quell'd their boasted Might,
And forc'd thier stubborn Souls to leave the Light
[Lines 210-225]
These for the Brothers fell, detested Strife !
For Beauty those, the lovely Greecian Wife.
To these does Jove a second Life, ordain,
Some happy Soil far in the distant Main,
Where live the Hero-shades in rich Repast,
Remote from Mortals of a vulgar Cast.
There in the Islands of the Bless'd they find,
Where Saturn reigns, an endless Calm of Mind;
And there the choicest Fruits adorn the Fields.
And thrice the fertile Year a Harvest yields.
[Lines 226-259]
Oh ! would I had my Hours of Life began
Before this fifth, this sinful, Race of Man;
Or had I not been call'd to breathe the Day,
Till the rough Iron Age had pafs'd away!
For now, the Times are such, the Gods ordain
That ev'ry Moment shall be wing'd with Pain;
Condemn'd to Sorrows, and to Toil, we live;
Rest to our Labour Death alone can give;
And yet amid the Cares our Lives anoy,
The Gods will grant some Intervals of Joy
But how degenerate is the human State!
Virtue no more distinguishes the Great;
No safe Reception shall the Stranger find;
Nor than the Tys of Blood, or Friendship, bind;
Nor shall the Parent, when his Sons are nigh,
Look with the Fondness of a Parent's Eye;
Nor to the Sire the Son Obedience pay;
Nor look with Rev'rence on the Locks of Grey,
But, oh! regardless of the Pow'rs divine,
With bitter Taunts shall load his Life's Decline.
Revenge and Rapine shall Respect command,
The pious, just, and good, neglected sland
The wicked shall the better Man distress,
The righteous suffer, and without Redress;
Strict Honesty, and naked Truth, shall fail,
The perjur'd Villain, in his Arts prevail.
Hoarse Envy shall, unseen, exert her Voice,
Attend the wretched, and in Ill rejoyce.
Justice and Modesty at length do fly,
Rob'd their fair Limbs in white, and gain the Sky;
From the wide Earth they reach the bless'd Abodes,
And join the grand Assembly of the Gods;
While wretched Men, abandon'd to thier Grief,
Sink in their Sorrows, hopeless of Relief
[Lines 260-272]
While now my Fable from the Birds I bring,
To the great Rulers of the Earth I sing.
High in the Clouds a mighty Bird of Prey
Bore a melodious Nightingale away;
And to the Captive, shiv'ring in Despair,
Thus, cruel, spoke the Tyrant of the Air.
Why mourns the Wretch in my superior Pow'r?
Thy Voice avails not in the ravish'd Hour;
Vain are thy Crys; at my despotic Will,
Or I can set thee free, or I can kill.
Unwisely who provokes his abler Foe,
Conquest still flys him, and he drives for Woe.
Thus spoke th' Enslaver with insulting Pride.
[Lines 273-317]
Oh! Perses, Justice ever be thy Guide;
May Malice never gain upon thy Will;
Malice that makes the Wretch more wretched still
The good Man, injur'd, to Revenge is slow,
To him the Vengeance is the greater Woe.
Ever will all injurious Courses fail,
And Justice ever over Wrongs prevail;
Right will take Place at Fall, by fit Degrees;
This Truth the Fool by sad Experience sees.
When Suits commence, dishonest Strife the Cause,
Faith violated, and the Breach of Laws,
Ensue; the Crys of Justice haunt the Judge,
Of Bribes the Glutton, and of Sin the Drudge.
Thro Citys then the holy Dæmon runs,
Unseen, and mourns the Manners of their Sons,
Dispersing Evils, to reward the Crimes
Of those who banish justice from the Times.
Is there a Man whom incorrupt we call,
Who fits alike unprejudic'd to all,
By him the City flourishes in Peace,
Her Borders lengthen, and her Sons increase;
From him far-seeing Jove will drive afar
All civil Discord, and the Rage of War.
No Days of Famine to the Righteous fall,
But all is Plenty, and delightful all;
Nature indulgent o'er their Land is seen,
With Oaks high tow'ring are their Mountains green,
With heavy Mast their Arms diffusive bow,
While from their Truncks rich Streams of Honey flow;
Of Flocks untainted are their Pastures full,
Which flowly strut beneath their Weight of Wool
And Sons are born the Likeness of their Sir;
The Fruits of Virtue, and a chast Desire
O'er the wide Seas for Wealth they need not roam,
Many, and Lasting, are their Joys at Home.
Not thus the wicked, who in Ill delight,
Whole dayly Acts pervert the Rules of Right;
To these the wise Disposer, Jove, ordains
Repeated Losses, and a World of Pains.
Famines, and Plagues, are, unexpected, nigh;
Their Wives are barren, and their Kindred dy;
Numbers of these at once are sweep'd away;
And Ships of Wealth become the Ocean's Prey,
One Sinner oft' provokes th' Avenger's Hand,
And often one Man's Crimes destroy a Land.
[Lines 318-345]
Exactly mark, ye Rulers of Mankind,
The Ways of Truth, nor be to Justice blind;
Consider, all ye do, and all ye say,
The holy Dæmons to their God convey,
Aerial Spirits, by great Jove design'd,
To be on Earth the Guardians of Mankind,
Invisible to mortal Eyes they go,
And mark our Actions, good, or bad, below,
Th' immortal Spys with watchful Care preside,
And thrice ten thousand round their Charges glide.
Justice unspoted Maid, deriv'd from Jove,
Renown'd, and reverenc'd, by the Gods above,
When Mortals violate her facred Laws,
When Judges hear the Bribe, and not the Cause
Close by her Parent God behold her stand,
And urge the Punishment their Crimes demand.
Look in your Breasts, and there survey your Crimes,
Think, oh ! ye Judges, and reform betimes,
Forget the pass'd, nor more false Judgements give,
Turn from your Ways betimes, oh ! turn and live.
Who, full of Wiles, his Neighbour's Harm contrives
False to himself, against himself he strives
For he that harbours Evil in his Mind,
Will from this evil Thoughts but Evil find;
And lo! the Eye of Jove, that all Things knows,
Can, when he will, the Heart of Man disclose;
Open the guilty Bosom all within,
And trace the infant Thoughts of future Sin.
[Lines 316-359]
Oh ! when I hear the upright Man complain,
And, by his Injurys, the Judge arraign;
If to be wicked is to find Success,
I cry, and to be just to meet Distress,
May I nor mine the righteous Path pursure,
But Int'reft only ever keep in View:
But by Reflection better taught, I find
We see the present, to the future blind.
Trust to the Will of Jove, and wait the End,
And Good shall always your good Acts attend.
These Doctrines, Perses, treafure in thy Heart,
And never from the Paths of Justice part,
Never by brutal Violence be sway'd;
But be the Will of Jove in these obey'd.
[Lines 360-372]
In these the brute Creation Men exceed,
They, void of Reason, by each other bleed
While Man by Justice should be kept in Awe,
Justice of Nature, well ordain'd, the Law.
Who Right espouses, thro a righteous Love,
Shall meet the Bounty of the Hands of Jove;
But he that will not be by Laws confin'd,
Whom not the Sacrament of Oaths can bind,
Who, with a willing Soul, can Justice leave,
A Wound immortal than that Man receive;
His House's Honour dayly shall decline:
Fair flourish shall the Just from Line to Line.
[Lines 373-388]
Oh! Perses, foolish Perses, bow thine Ear,
To the good Counsels of a Soul sincere.
To Wickedness the Road is quickly found.
Short is the Way, and on an easy Ground:
The Paths of Virtue mull be reach'd by Toil,
Arduous, and long, and on a rugged Soil,
Thorny the Gate, but when the Top you gain,
Fair is the future, and the Prospect plain.
Far does the Man all other Men excel,
Who, from his Wisdom, thinks in all Things well,
Wisely consid'ring, to himself a Friend,
All for the present best, and for the End;
Nor is the Man without his Share of Praise,
Who well the Dictates of the wife obeys;
But he that is not wife himself, nor can
Hearken to Wisdom, is a useless Man.
[Lines 388-407]
Ever observe, Perses, of Birth divine,
My Precepts, and the Profit shall be thine;
Then Famine always shall avoid thy Door,
And Ceres, fair wreath'd Gcddess, bless thy Store.
The slothful Wretch, who lives from Labour free,
Like Drones, the Robbers of the painful Bee,
Has always Men, and Gods, alike his Foes;
Him Famine follows with her Train of Woes.
With chearful Zeal your mod'rate Toils pursue,
That your full Barns you may in Season view.
The Man industious Stranger is to Need,
A thousand Flocks his fertile Pastures feed;
As with the Drone with him it will not prove,
Him Men and Gods behold with Eyes of Love.
To care and labour think it no Disgrace,
False Pride the Portion of the sluggard Race;
The slothful Man, who never work'd before,
Shall gaze with Envy on thy growing Store,
Like thee to flourish, he will spare no Pains;
For lo ! the rich Virtue and Glory gains.
[Lines 408-435]
Strictly observe the wholesome Rules I give,
And, bless'd in all, thou like a God shalt live.
Ne'er to thy Neighbour's Goods extend thy Cares,
Nor be neglecful of thy own Affairs.
Let no degenerate Shame debase thy Mind,
Shame that is never to the needy kind;
The Man that has it will continue poor;
He must be bold that would enlarge his Store:
But ravish not, depending on thy Might,
Injurious to thy self, another's Right.
Who, or by open Force, or secret Stealth,
Or perjur'd Wiles, amasses Heaps of Wealth,
Such many are, whom Thirst of Gain betrays,
The Gods, all seeing, shall o'ercloud his Days;
His Wife, his Children, and his Friends, shall dy,
And, like a Dream, his ill got Riches fly.
Nor less, or to insult the Supplyant's Crys,
The Guilt, or break thro hofspitable Tys.
Is there whom by incestuous Passion led,
Pollutes, with Joys unclean, his Brother's Bed,
Or who, regardless of his tender Trust,
To the poor helpless Orphan proves unjuft,
Or, when the Father's fatal Day appears,
His Body bending, thro the Weight of Years,
A Son who views him with unduteous Eyes,
And Words of Comfort to his Age denys,
Great Jove, vindictive, sees the impious Train,
And, equal to their Crimes, inflicts a Pain.
[Lines 436-447]
These Precepts be thy Guide thro Life to steer
Next learn the Gods immortal to revere;
With unpolluted Hands, and Heart sincere,
Let from your Herd, or Flock, an Off'ring rise;
Of the pure Victim burn the white fit Thighs;
And to your Wealth confine the Sacrifice.
Let the rich Fumes of od'rous Insense fly,
A grateful Savour, to the Pow'rs on high;
The due Libation nor negled to pay,
When Ev'ning closes, or when dawns the Day:
Then shall thy Work, the Gods thy Friends, succeed;
Then may you purchase Farms, nor sell thro Need.
[Lines 447-467]
Enjoy thy Riches with a lib'ral Soul,
Plenteous the Feast, and smiling be the Bowl;
No Friend Forget, nor entertain thy Foe,
Nor let thy Neighbor uninvited go
Happy the Man, with Peace his Days are crown'd,
Whose House an honest Neighbourhood surround;
Of foreign Harms he never sleeps afraid,
They, always ready, bring their willing Aid;
Chearful, should he some busy Pressure feel,
They lend an Aid beyond a Kindred's Zeal;
They never will conspire to blast his Fame,
Secure he walks, unsully'd his good Name:
Unhappy Man, whom Neighbours ill surround,
His Oxen dy oft' by a treach'rous Wound.
Whate'er you borrow of your Neighbour's Store,
Return the same in Weight, if able more;
So to your self will you secure a Friend;
He never after will refuse to lend.
Whatever by dishoneft Means you gain,
You purchase an Equivalent of Pain.
[Lines 468-495]
To all a Love for Love return: contend
In virtuous Acts to emulate your Friends
Be to the good thy Favours unconfin'd;
Neglect a fordid, and ingrateful, Mind.
From all the generous a Respect command,
While none regard the base ungiving Hand:
The Man who gives from an unbounded Breast,
Tho large the Bounty, in himself is bless'd:
Who ravishes another's Right shall find,
Tho small the Prey, a deadly Sting behind;
Content, and honestly, enjoy your Lot,
And often add to that already got;
From little oft' repeated much will rise,
And, of thy Toil the Fruits, salute thine Eyes.
How sweet at home to have what Life demands,
The just Reward of our industrious Hands,
To view our Neighbour's Bliss without Desire,
To dread not Famine, with her Aspect dire !
Be these thy Thoughts, to thefse thy Heart incline,
And lo! thefse Blessings shall be surely thine.
When at your Board your faithful Friend you greet,
Without Reserve, and lib'ral, be the Treat:
To stint the Wine, a frugal Husband shows,
When from the Middle of the Cask it flows.
Do not, by Mirth betray'd, your Brother trust,
Without a Witness, he may prove unjust:
Alike it is unsafe for Men to be,
With some too dissident, with some too free.
[Lines 496-509]
Let not a Woman steal your Heart away,
By tender Looks, and her Apparel gay;
When your Abode the languishing enquires,
Command your Heart, and quench the kindling Fires;
If Love she vows, 'tis Madness to believe,
Turn from the Thief, she charms but to deceive:
Who does too rashly in a Woman trust,
Too late will find the Wanton prove unjust.
Take a chast Matron, Partner of your Breast,
Contented live, of her alone possess'd;
Then shall you number many Days in Peace,
And, with your Children, fsee your Wealth encrease,
Then (shall a duteous careful Heir survive,
To keep the Honour of the House alive.
[Lines 510-511]
If large Possessions are, in Life, thy View,
Tilde Precepts, with assiduous Care, pursue.
The End of the first BOOK.
Line numbers proceed each paragraph to which they pertain.
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