ed the unrighteous shall have the
greater right. But I think that all-wise Zeus will not yet bring that to
pass.

(ll. 274-285) But you, Perses, lay up these things within your heart and
listen now to right, ceasing altogether to think of violence. For the
son of Cronos has ordained this law for men, that fishes and beasts and
winged fowls should devour one another, for right is not in them; but to
mankind he gave right which proves far the best. For whoever knows the
right and is ready to speak it, far-seeing Zeus gives him prosperity;
but whoever deliberately lies in his witness and forswears himself, and
so hurts Justice and sins beyond repair, that man's generation is left
obscure thereafter. But the generation of the man who swears truly is
better thenceforward.

(ll. 286-292) To you, foolish Perses, I will speak good sense. Badness
can be got easily and in shoals: the road to her is smooth, and she
lives very near us. 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.

(ll. 293-319) That man is altogether best who considers all things
himself and marks what will be better afterwards and at the end; and he,
again, is good who listens to a good adviser; but whoever neither
thinks for himself nor keeps in mind what another tells him, he is an
unprofitable man. But do you at any rate, always remembering my charge,
work, high-born Perses, that Hunger may hate you, and venerable Demeter
richly crowned may love you and fill your barn with food; for Hunger is
altogether a meet comrade for the sluggard. Both gods and men are angry
with a man who lives idle, for in nature he is like the stingless drones
who waste the labour of the bees, eating without working; but let it
be your care to order your work properly, that in the right season your
barns may be full of victual. Through work men grow rich in flocks
and substance, and working they are much better loved by the immortals
[1308]. Work is no disgrace: it is idleness which is a disgrace. But
if you work, the idle will soon envy you as you grow rich, for fame and
renown attend on wealth. And whatever be your lot, work is best for you,
if you turn your misguided mind away from other men's property to your
work and attend to your livelihood as I bid you. An evil shame is the
needy