Works and Days

Works and Days, epic poem by the 8th-century-bce Greek writer Hesiod that is part almanac, part agricultural treatise, and part homily. It is addressed to his brother Perses, who by guile and bribery has already secured for himself an excessive share of their inheritance and is seeking to gain another advantage in a similar manner. Trying to dissuade him from such practices, Hesiod recounts in the first part of the poem two myths illustrating the...