Lines 465–581

And pray thou unto Zeus the Lord of Earth and unto pure Demeter that the holy grain of Demeter may be full and heavy: thus pray thou when first thou dost begin thy plowing, when grasping in thy hand the end of the stilt-handle thou comest down on the backs of the oxen as they draw the pole by the yoke collar. And let a young slave follow behind with a mattock and cause trouble to the birds by covering up the seed. For good husbandry is best for mortal men and bad husbandry is worst. So will the grain ears nod with ripeness to the ground, if the Lord of Olympos himself vouchsafe a good issue. So shalt thou drive the spider’s webs from thy vessels and I have hope that thou wilt rejoice as thou takest of thy store of livelihood. And in good case thou shalt come to grey spring and shalt not look to others, but another shall have need of thee.

But if at the turning of the sun thou dost plow the goodly earth, sitting shalt thou reap, grasping a little in thy hand, binding it contrariwise, covered with dust, no way rejoicing. And in a basket shalt thou bring it home, and few there be that shall admire thee. Otherwise at other times is the will of Zeus the Lord of the Aegis and hard for mortal men to know. But if thou plowest late, this shall be a charm for thee. When first the cuckoo uttereth his note amid the leaves of the oak and rejoiceth men over the limitless earth, then may Zeus rain on the third day and cease not, neither overpassing the hoof of an ox nor falling short thereof: so shall the late plower vie with the early. Keep thou all things well in mind nor fail to mark either the coming of grey spring or seasonable rain.

But pass by the smith’s forge and sunny place of dalliance in the winter season when cold constraineth men from work, wherein a diligent man would greatly prosper his house, lest the helplessness of evil winter overtake thee with poverty and thou press a swollen foot with lean hand. But the idle man who waiteth on empty hope, for lack of livelihood garnereth many sorrows for his soul. Hope is a poor companion for a man in need, who sitteth in a place of dalliance, when he hath no livelihood secured. Nay, declare thou to thy thralls while it is still midsummer: It will not be summer always; build ye barns.

But the month Lenaion, evil days, cattle-flaying every one, do thou shun, and the frosts that appear for men’s sorrow over the earth at the breath of Boreas, which over Thrace the nurse of horses bloweth on the wide sea and stirreth it up: and earth and wood bellow aloud. Many an oak of lofty foliage and many a stout pine in the mountain glens doth his onset bring low to the bounteous earth, and all the unnumbered forest crieth aloud, and wild beasts shudder and set their tails between their legs, even they whose hide is covered with hair. Yea, even through these, shaggy-breasted though they be, he bloweth with chill breath. Through the hide of the ox he bloweth, and it stayeth him not, and through the thin-haired goat: but nowise through the sheep doth the might of the wind Boreas blow, because of their abundant wool. But it maketh the old man bent. Through the delicate maiden it bloweth not, who within the house abideth by her dear mother’s side, not yet knowing the works of golden Aphrodite: when she hath bathed her tender body and anointed her with olive oil and lieth down at night within the house, on a winter day, when the Boneless One gnaweth his own foot within his fireless house and cheerless home: for the sun showeth him no pasture whereto to go, but wheeleth over the land and city of swarthy men and shineth more slowly on the Panhellenes. Then, too, the horned and hornless creatures of the woods, with piteous chattering teeth, flee through the deep glades, and flight is the thought in the breasts of all who seeking shelter haunt close covert or rocky cave. Then like a three-footed man whose back is broken and his head looketh to the ground—even like such a one they go to and fro avoiding the white snow.

In that season do thou for the defence of thy body array thee as I bid thee in soft cloke and full-length tunic, and twine much woof in a scanty warp. Therewith array thee that thy hair may be at rest nor stand on end over all thy body. About thy feet also bind fitting sandals of the hide of an ox violently slain, covering them within with felt. And when the frost cometh in its season sew thou together with thread of oxgut the skins of firstling kids to put about thy back as a shield against the rain. And on thy head wear thou a cap of wrought felt, that thou mayst not have thine ears wetted. For chill is the dawn at the onset of Boreas. And in the dawn a fruitful mist is stretched over the earth from starry heaven above the fields of happy men: a mist which drawing from the everflowing rivers is lifted high above the earth by the blowing of the wind, and anon turneth to rain toward eventide, and otherwhiles to wind, when Thracian Boreas driveth the thronging clouds. Forestalling that wind, finish thy work and get thee home betimes, lest the darkening cloud in Heaven cover thee and make thy body dank and wet thy raiment. Rather avoid it. For this is the hardest of the months, wintry, hard on cattle and hard on men. In that season let the men get larger rations, let the oxen get but half: for long are the friendly nights. Take thou heed of these things till the year be ended, till thou hast gotten night and day equal, even to the time when once again earth the mother of all things bringeth forth her manifold fruits.

But when Zeus hath completed sixty days after the turning of the sun, then the star Arkturos, leaving the sacred stream of Ocean, first riseth in his radiance at eventide. After him the twittering swallow, daughter of Pandion, cometh into the sight of men when spring is just beginning. Ere her coming prune the vines: for it is better so.

But when the House Carrier crawls up the plants from the ground, fleeing from the Pleiades, then is it no longer seasonable to dig about the vines, but rather to sharpen sickles and arouse the thralls, and to fly shady seats and sleep toward the dawn, in the season of harvest when the sun parcheth the skin. In that season must thou busy thee to lead the harvest home, rising up in the morning that thy livelihood may be secure. For the morning taketh the third part of a man’s business. Morning advanceth a man upon his journey and advanceth him also in his work: morning whose appearing setteth many men upon the road and setteth the yoke on many oxen.