Summary of works and days. Works and Days 2023-01-06

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Long life is often seen as a blessing, and it is not difficult to understand why. The opportunity to live a long and fulfilling life allows individuals to experience a wide range of pleasures and to contribute to the world in meaningful ways. However, some people argue that long life is not always a blessing, and that it can bring with it a number of challenges and difficulties. In this essay, I will argue that long life is, overall, a blessing, and that the challenges it brings can be overcome through resilience, adaptability, and a positive attitude.

One of the main arguments against long life is that it can bring with it a number of physical and mental challenges. As we age, our bodies and minds naturally decline, and we may experience a range of health issues, including chronic pain, declining cognitive function, and mobility issues. These challenges can make it difficult to enjoy life and to engage in activities that we once enjoyed.

However, it is important to recognize that these challenges are a natural part of the aging process, and that they can be managed and overcome with the right approach. With proper medical care, nutrition, and exercise, it is possible to maintain good health and vitality even as we age. Additionally, engaging in activities that promote mental and physical well-being, such as socializing, learning new things, and exercising the mind and body, can help to maintain cognitive function and physical health.

Another argument against long life is that it can be isolating, as we may outlive our loved ones and find ourselves without a strong support network. Losing loved ones is a difficult and painful experience, but it is a part of life that we all must face at some point. While it is natural to feel grief and loneliness after the loss of a loved one, it is important to remember that we are not alone, and that there are many resources available to help us cope with loss and find support.

One way to find support is to build and maintain relationships with other people, whether they are friends, family, or members of a community. Engaging with others can help us feel connected and supported, and it can also provide us with a sense of purpose and meaning. Additionally, there are many organizations and support groups that offer help and resources for people who are grieving or who are facing challenges related to aging.

In conclusion, long life is a blessing that brings with it a range of challenges and difficulties. However, these challenges can be overcome through resilience, adaptability, and a positive attitude. By taking care of ourselves, building and maintaining relationships, and seeking support when needed, we can live long and fulfilling lives, despite the challenges that may come our way. So, long life is a blessing.

Works and Days by Hesiod

summary of works and days

Conclusion Hesiod provides further advice on keeping a good reputation, such as by avoiding gossip. Theogony, and would have been familiar to Hesiod's audience. He authored Theogony and Works and Days. A man gives to the free-handed, but no one gives to the close-fisted. Hesiod Works and Days was a poem whose purpose was to describe peasant life in the context of Greek religion and myth.

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Works and Days

summary of works and days

It was like the golden race neither in body nor in spirit. Initial page of Works and Days, 1539. Might will be and one will destroy the city. It is humanity's inescapable fate to toil. The poem is also the first extant account of the successive ages of mankind, known as the Ages of In account, these are: the Golden Age in which men lived among and freely mingled with the gods, and peace, harmony and abundance the Silver Age in which men lived for one hundred years as infants, followed just a short time as grown adults, an impious race of men which Zeus destroyed because they refused to worship the the Bronze Age in which men were hard and violent and lived only for war, but were undone their own violent ways, relegated to the darkness of the the Heroic Age in which men lived as noble demigods and heroes, like those who fought at Thebes and Troy, and who went to Elysium on their and the Iron Age own time, in which the gods have foresaken humanity, and in which man lives an existence of toil, misery, shamelessness and dishonour. An image from a 1539 printing of Works and Days Original title Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι Country Language Subject s Story of Genre s Publication date 700 BC Lines 828 Full text Works and Days Ἔργα καὶ Ἡμέραι, Érga kaì Hēmérai Works and Days is a Scholars have seen this work against a background of agrarian crisis in mainland Greece, which inspired a wave of Works and Days is perhaps best known for its two mythological This section needs expansionwith: later sections of the text. Envy will be in attendance upon men, every miserable mortal, causing commotion, rejoicing in evil, with face full of hate.

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Works and Days by Hesiod: Summary & Analysis

summary of works and days

And then he ordered Athena to teach her the skill of intricate weaving. Zeus's punishment came in the form of the actions of a woman: Pandora. In the poem, Hesiod portrays himself as a wise, hardworking farmer with a wealth of wisdom to pass down to younger generations. And he called this woman Pandora 83—89 But when he had finished the sheer, hopeless snare, the Father sent glorious Argus-Slayer, the swift messenger of the gods, to take it to Epimetheus as a gift. And Aphrodite the Golden he ordered to shed on her charm and make her an object of painful love and exhausting desire.

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Works and Days Section 1 The Necessity Of Work Summary

summary of works and days

Includes extensive bibliography, notes on translations, and index. Section 2 Goodness and Justice in Work Having explained why work is an inescapable aspect of human existence, Hesiod next shows how justice—a gift from Zeus—is woven into work's fabric. He concludes with a fable of a hawk and a nightingale that illustrates the uselessness of lamenting the situation. However, they were destroyed by Zeus for not worshipping the gods. Even the prosperous cannot easily bear its burden, but is weighed down under it when he has fallen into delusion. Works and Days was therefore a response to his brother's unscrupulous actions.

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Works and Days Summary

summary of works and days

And she, wrapped in mist, follows to the city and haunts of the people, weeping, and bringing mischief to men, even to such as have driven her forth in that they did not deal straightly with her. The third part is a religious calendar of the months, with remarks on the days most lucky or the contrary for rural or nautical employments. From then on, mankind has been afflicted day and night with ills and the earth with blight, just as Zeus had willed. The terrible Iron Age will end soon, and then, perhaps, the gods will create a better mankind that will usher in a happier age. Zeus instructed the gods to build an "evil" for mankind: that is, Pandora, whom Prometheus's brother Epimetheus accepted from Hermes despite his brother's warnings never to accept gifts from the gods. Hesiod, nevertheless, maintained that all men can improve and attain virtue by themselves. Finish your work and return home ahead of him, and do not let the dark cloud from heaven wrap round you and make your body clammy and soak your clothes.

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works and days summary

summary of works and days

This is in part because his work was presented in a disagreement with his brother about their inheritance. He who swears truly creates for his family future prosperity. This Strife is wholesome for men. To recast his personal experiences in relation to ideas of broader significance, he then uses parables and myths to express morals and virtues rather than evoking these figures as characters in a narrative. The eighth and the ninth, two days at least of the waxing month 780—781 Avoid the thirteenth of the waxing month for beginning to sow: yet it is the best day for setting plants. In their age the fate of these humans is to suffer and toil, though the gods have blended in some good with the bad. It is a good day on which to beget or to be born both for a male and a female: it is never an wholly evil day.


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Works and Days (Full Text)

summary of works and days

Chicago Bibliography Course Hero. Forthwith the famous Lame God moulded clay in the likeness of a modest maid, as the son of Cronos purposed. For example, cut the wood in autumn, prune the vines in spring, etc. But the other is the elder daughter of dark Night, and the son of Cronos who sits above and dwells in the aether, set her in the roots of the earth: and she is far kinder to men. Sometimes a day is a stepmother, sometimes a mother. In disgust Zeus caused the race to die out. He presents a chronology of humankind's moral decline and descent into social disorder following its idyllic Golden Age.

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Works and days Summary

summary of works and days

But between us and Goodness the gods have placed the sweat of our brows: long and steep is the path that leads to her, and it is rough at the first; but when a man has reached the top, then is she easy to reach, though before that she was hard. And Pallas Athene bedecked her form with all manners of finery. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1978. Beware of these things, O Kings, and see that you straighten your verdicts, eaters of gifts, and no longer think of crooked decisions. However, the curious woman opened it, which released a great variety of evils that spread over the earth to torment humans. Some scholars argue that is really should be translated as "expectation" since the root word is from "suppose". But I think that all-wise Zeus will not yet bring that to pass.

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Works and Days Study Guide

summary of works and days

In this way Hesiod establishes a link between goodness and justice. Days The final section of Works and Days offers a day-by-day guide on how to be productive. Praises Father Deceives Creates Brothers Hesiod Wise, insightful narrator; faces the loss of his inheritance Zeus Powerful and just ruling Olympian; presides over ethics and morals Prometheus Cunning Titan; steals fire for humankind from Zeus Pandora First human woman; releases evil into the world Perses Lazy and dishonest representative of Iron Age man's fallen state Kronos Dethroned Titan king; presides over Gold Race of humankind. A typical worker on the site would be expected to work a normal amount of days in a month, and then start to collect their pay on day 1. Whatever the interpretation, the central message of Works and Days remains the same: life is difficult, and the only route to success is hard work. More specifically, it indicates that struggling against the divine order is a conflict that cannot be won.

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