HESIOD, one of the earliest Greek poets. Little is known of his life, and the few facts that have reached us have occasioned much controversy among the learned. It appears that his father Dius had originally resided at Cuma, a town of Lolia in Asia Minor, whence he afterwards re moved to Ascra, now Zagara, situated in a valley of Mount Helicon. (See Helicon and Clarke's Travels, part ii. sect. iii. p. 112.) It is uncertain whether Hesiod accompanied his father from Cuma, or was horn at Ascra. The latter is perhaps the more probable conclusion. In one of his poems he mentions a short voyage to the isle of Eubcea as the only occasion on which he had ever been on shipboard ; but if he had come from Cuma, he must have crossed by sea into Greece. It is true, in the passage alluded to, he speaks of his nautical experience, but the affirmation is un limited ; and it may be supposed, had there been any ex ception, that exception would either have been noticed, or the expression modified. There is another presumption in favour of Ascra, given by Plutarch on the authority of Ephorus, the historian of Cuma, who relates that Dius had been compelled to emigrate to Ascra, on account of debt, and there married Pycimede the mother of Hesiod. What was Hesiod's occupation is uncertain. La Harpe, in his Cours de Literature, supposes him to have been a priest of the Temple of the Muses. Others have maintained, that, according to the Proem to his Theogony, he tended sheep in the vallies of Helicon ; a mode of life, it has been thought, better stilted and more congenial to the bard of husbandry; though it is evident, as the writer of the Theogony, the same reason applies with equal force in favour of his sacer dotal profession. From the picture of the Muses present ing him with a laurel branch, Mr Elton infers, with Pausa nias, that he was not a minstrel or harper, but a rhapsodist, and sang or recited to the branch instead of the lyre." He is reported to have carried off the prize from Homer at a poetical contest. That he won a contested prize in Eubcea, as noticed in his poem of the Works and Days, cannot rea sonably be doubted ; but that he vanquished Homer has been justly regarded as a fiction of later times. Hesiod is noted for longevity, but it is uncertain whether he was per mitted to die a natural death. There is a tradition that he
was murdered at /E,noe, on a pilgrimage to the Delphic oracle, by the son of his host Ganyetor. Ganyetor having entertained Hesiod, and a Milesian, his fellow-traveller, and-his daughter having been violated in the night, suspi cion fell upon the aged bard, who, without further ceremo ny, was put to death by the brothers, and thrown into the sea. The body being cast on shorc, or, as fiction will have it, conveyed to land by a dolphin, was recognised by his dog, and the murderers, upon confession, were drowned in the waves.
The era of Hesiod is still more doubtful than his birth place. Some as Quintilian, Heinsius, and Justus Lipsius, give him a greater antiquity than Homer ; Cice ro, Pliny, and Paterculus, place him a century later ; while a third party, among whom are Plutarch and Varro, sup ported by the venerable authority of Herodotus, concur in making him a contemporary. The attempts to decide the question of priority, from philological criticism and astrono mical calculations, are equally vague and ineffectual. The inference in favour of Homer, which has been drawn from his use of the word OE pACTOg for law, when Hesiod employs poi.cov;, alleged to be of more recent origin, is of no force, as Mr Elton justly remarks, "unless we suppose that Ho mer's poems contained every word in the language." The ingenious argument of Dr Samuel Clarke, on the same side, with regard to the quantity of xocAoc, of which in Homer the first syllable is long, while Hesiod varies it at pleasure, and of ovredelvo5, the penult of which in Homer is long, and short in Hesiod, is scarcely more successful. The differ ence of locality, of dialect, and, more particularly, the very considerable alterations which the original poems have ma nifestly undergone since their collection and arrangement, do not admit of any conclusive argument being founded on such minute diversities. Paterculus places Hesiod 800 years before Christ, and Homer 920 ; and Herodotus, mak ing them contemporaries, fixes their common era at 884 years before Christ. According to the Parian marbles, Hesiod flourished before Christ 944 years, and Homer 907.