d Quarrelsomeness respectively. Then by means of the Myth of Pandora
the poet shows how evil and the need for work first arose, and goes on
to describe the Five Ages of the World, tracing the gradual increase in
evil, and emphasizing the present miserable condition of the world, a
condition in which struggle is inevitable. Next, after the Fable of the
Hawk and Nightingale, which serves as a condemnation of violence
and injustice, the poet passes on to contrast the blessing which
Righteousness brings to a nation, and the punishment which Heaven
sends down upon the violent, and the section concludes with a series
of precepts on industry and prudent conduct generally. b) The second
section shows how a man may escape want and misery by industry and care
both in agriculture and in trading by sea. Neither subject, it should
be carefully noted, is treated in any way comprehensively. c) The third
part is occupied with miscellaneous precepts relating mostly to actions
of domestic and everyday life and conduct which have little or no
connection with one another. d) The final section is taken up with
a series of notices on the days of the month which are favourable or
unfavourable for agricultural and other operations.

It is from the second and fourth sections that the poem takes its name.
At first sight such a work seems to be a miscellany of myths, technical
advice, moral precepts, and folklore maxims without any unifying
principle; and critics have readily taken the view that the whole is a
canto of fragments or short poems worked up by a redactor. Very probably
Hesiod used much material of a far older date, just as Shakespeare
used the "Gesta Romanorum", old chronicles, and old plays; but close
inspection will show that the "Works and Days" has a real unity and that
the picturesque title is somewhat misleading. The poem has properly no
technical object at all, but is moral: its real aim is to show men
how best to live in a difficult world. So viewed the four seemingly
independent sections will be found to be linked together in a real bond
of unity. Such a connection between the first and second sections is
easily seen, but the links between these and the third and fourth are no
less real: to make life go tolerably smoothly it is most important to
be just and to know how to win a livelihood; but happiness also largely
depends on prudence and care both in social and home life as well, and
not least on avoidance of actions which