e winner. But the king gave the crown to Hesiod, declaring
that it was right that he who called upon men to follow peace and
husbandry should have the prize rather than one who dwelt on war and
slaughter. In this way, then, we are told, Hesiod gained the victory
and received a brazen tripod which he dedicated to the Muses with this
inscription:

'Hesiod dedicated this tripod to the Muses of Helicon after he had
conquered divine Homer at Chalcis in a contest of song.'

After the gathering was dispersed, Hesiod crossed to the mainland and
went to Delphi to consult the oracle and to dedicate the first fruits of
his victory to the god. They say that as he was approaching the temple,
the prophetess became inspired and said:

'Blessed is this man who serves my house,--Hesiod, who is honoured by
the deathless Muses: surely his renown shall be as wide as the light
of dawn is spread. But beware of the pleasant grove of Nemean Zeus; for
there death's end is destined to befall you.'

When Hesiod heard this oracle, he kept away from the Peloponnesus,
supposing that the god meant the Nemea there; and coming to Oenoe in
Locris, he stayed with Amphiphanes and Ganyetor the sons of Phegeus,
thus unconsciously fulfilling the oracle; for all that region was called
the sacred place of Nemean Zeus. He continued to stay a somewhat long
time at Oenoe, until the young men, suspecting Hesiod of seducing their
sister, killed him and cast his body into the sea which separates Achaea
and Locris. On the third day, however, his body was brought to land by
dolphins while some local feast of Ariadne was being held. Thereupon,
all the people hurried to the shore, and recognized the body, lamented
over it and buried it, and then began to look for the assassins. But
these, fearing the anger of their countrymen, launched a fishing boat,
and put out to sea for Crete: they had finished half their voyage when
Zeus sank them with a thunderbolt, as Alcidamas states in his "Museum".
Eratosthenes, however, says in his "Hesiod" that Ctimenus and Antiphus,
sons of Ganyetor, killed him for the reason already stated, and were
sacrificed by Eurycles the seer to the gods of hospitality. He adds that
the girl, sister of the above-named, hanged herself after she had been
seduced, and that she was seduced by some stranger, Demodes by name, who
was travelling with Hesiod, and who was also killed by the brothers.
At a later time the men of Orchomenus removed his body as