Works and Days

The poem begins with an invocation to the Muses, a standard trope of epic poetry. Hesiod deviates from epic tradition by revealing information about himself and his family; epic poets did not typically identify themselves. Hesiod relays that he and Perses divided their family estate, but Perses absconded with more than his fair share by bribing judges to rule in his favor. In this scenario, both Perses and the judges attempt to subvert the will of Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, by enabling Perses to achieve wealth through, essentially, theft rather than work. Such an impious act could invite Zeus’s destructive wrath, which may be enacted not only against Perses and the judge but also their communities. In this sense, Hesiod’s advice can be understood as an appeal to justice and an attempt to stave off larger-scale disaster by championing the value(s) of work.

To further support his view of human labor as just, Hesiod explains why Zeus decreed men must work through the myths of Prometheus and Pandora. His spare retelling seems to assume that his audience had prior knowledge of the myths. This is evident when Hesiod refers to Prometheus having tricked Zeus, which caused him to hide fire from men, without explaining how Prometheus tricked him. The trick Hesiod refers to, which he narrates in his poem “Theogony,” involved the distribution of ox meat. Prometheus schemed against Zeus to ensure men received the better portion. Delivering fire to men against Zeus’s will was Prometheus’s second action against Zeus, resulting in “a great calamity” (Line 38) for both Prometheus and men.

Zeus had Prometheus chained to a rock and set an eagle to eat his liver each day. Zeus’s punishment for men was the creation of a woman, Pandora. The distinguishing feature between the two punishments is that man’s involves pleasure as well as pain. Zeus revels in this duality, saying: “I shall give them an affliction in which they will all delight as they embrace their own misfortune” (Line 38) then laughing out loud. Woman as pleasure and punishment is expressed in the qualities Zeus instructs his fellow Olympian gods to bestow on her. Here again Hesiod assumes his audience has prior knowledge of the gods and their specific powers. Hephaestus, god of smithing, creates the woman. Goddess of wisdom, strategic warfare, and crafts, Athena teaches her the art of weaving, standard women’s work in Hesiod’s time. Aphrodite, goddess of beauty and sex, makes her attractive and charming in order to incite “painful yearning and consuming obsession” (Line 39). Messenger god Hermes, also the god of thieves and tricks (among others), instills her with “wily pretenses” (Line 39) and cunning. Her name, Pandora, translates to “all gifts” in ancient Greek, invoking both that she has been given gifts from many gods and that Pandora is symbolic, woman as a gift to man. Through the Pandora myth, Hesiod demonstrates that “there is no way to evade the purpose of Zeus” (Line 40).

Hesiod may seem to be digressing when he offers to “summarize another tale for you, well and skillfully” (Line 40), but the five tribes myth is essential to his argument. It demonstrates the interconnection between gods and humans, specifically how Zeus rewards the honorable and punishes the dishonorable. The gold tribe, which lived “remote from toil and misery” (Line 40), received honors when their age ended. The silver tribe, being inferior, received fewer honors, while the warlike men of the bronze tribe “were laid low by their own hands” and “went to chill Hades’s house of decay leaving no names” (Line 41). The fourth tribe is comprised of demigods, children born of one mortal and one immortal parent who are the subjects of myth (the Theban and Trojan myths Hesiod references). Hesiod refers in passing to the Theban and Trojan wars, using these to note the primary of Zeus’ will. He consigns some heroes to the “consummation of death” (Line 41) but grants others a “carefree heart in the Isles of the Blessed Ones” (Line 42), in myth a paradise reserved for the most honored heroes.

Following the succession of tribes, Hesiod again shifts focus, this time to narrate the fable of the hawk and the nightingale. His purpose here is to contrast relations among animals in the natural world, which are determined by strength and weakness, with the relations that should ideally be established among men, namely according to the rules of justice laid out by Zeus. While resorting to violence may be quicker and easier, only justice can overcome violence and lead to righteousness, which is “much the best practice” (Line 45) and reserved for men. Hesiod is warning Perses not to be like the hawk, using any means necessary to achieve a desired end but trampling on Right and Oath in the process.

Hesiod’s highly-specific advice—directed to Perses but useful to a larger audience—covers farming and seafaring, what and when to sacrifice to the gods, how to read omens, and which days are lucky and unlucky. The advice is intricately detailed, indicative of didactic poetry. By providing such specific tools for achieving success at one’s work, Hesiod ties Zeus’s punishment to living purposefully and meaningfully. In other words, what is meant to be a punishment can also bestow a sense of purpose and meaning to human life, further illustrating Zeus’s wisdom.