le to recover. Its subject, however, seems to have been
the histories of famous seers like Mopsus, Calchas, and Teiresias, and
it probably took its name from Melampus, the most famous of them all.

Date of the Hesiodic Poems

There is no doubt that the "Works and Days" is the oldest, as it is the
most original, of the Hesiodic poems. It seems to be distinctly earlier
than the "Theogony", which refers to it, apparently, as a poem already
renowned. Two considerations help us to fix a relative date for the
"Works". 1) In diction, dialect and style it is obviously dependent
upon Homer, and is therefore considerably later than the "Iliad" and
"Odyssey": moreover, as we have seen, it is in revolt against the
romantic school, already grown decadent, and while the digamma is still
living, it is obviously growing weak, and is by no means uniformly
effective.

2) On the other hand while tradition steadily puts the Cyclic poets
at various dates from 776 B.C. downwards, it is equally consistent in
regarding Homer and Hesiod as 'prehistoric'. Herodotus indeed puts both
poets 400 years before his own time; that is, at about 830-820 B.C., and
the evidence stated above points to the middle of the ninth century
as the probable date for the "Works and Days". The "Theogony" might be
tentatively placed a century later; and the "Catalogues" and "Eoiae" are
again later, but not greatly later, than the "Theogony": the "Shield of
Heracles" may be ascribed to the later half of the seventh century, but
there is not evidence enough to show whether the other 'developed' poems
are to be regarded as of a date so low as this.

Literary Value of Homer

Quintillian's [1111] judgment on Hesiod that 'he rarely rises to great
heights... and to him is given the palm in the middle-class of speech'
is just, but is liable to give a wrong impression. Hesiod has nothing
that remotely approaches such scenes as that between Priam and Achilles,
or the pathos of Andromache's preparations for Hector's return, even as
he was falling before the walls of Troy; but in matters that come
within the range of ordinary experience, he rarely fails to rise to the
appropriate level. Take, for instance, the description of the Iron
Age ("Works and Days", 182 ff.) with its catalogue of wrongdoings and
violence ever increasing until Aidos and Nemesis are forced to leave
mankind who thenceforward shall have 'no remedy against evil'. Such
occasions, however, rarely o