This page has been validated.
HESIOD'S PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY.
61
And in a third, that
"Far best
Is heaven-sent wealth without reproach possest."
Is heaven-sent wealth without reproach possest."
The second of these sentences recalls the story of the "Bull of Phalaris;" whilst another, not yet noticed, according to Elton's version, runs on this wise:—
"Who fears his oath shall leave a name to shine
With brightening lustre through his latest line."
—E. 383, 384.
With brightening lustre through his latest line."
—E. 383, 384.
More literally rendered, the sentence might read, "Of a man that regardeth his oath the seed is more blessed in the aftertime" and so rendered, it curiously recalls the answer of the oracle to Glaucus in Herodotus (vi. 86), where the Greek words are identical with Hesiod's, and either denote an acquaintance, in the Pythoness, with the 'Works and Days,' or a common source whence both she and Hesiod drew. We give Juvenal's account of the story of Glaucus, from Hodgson's version:—
"The Pythian priestess to a Spartan sung,
While indignation raised her awful tongue:
'The time will come when e'en thy thoughts unjust,
Thy hesitation to restore the trust,
Thy purposed fraud shall make atonement due—
Apollo speaks it, and his voice is true.'
Scared at this warning, he who sought to try
If haply Heaven might wink at perjury,
Alive to fear, though still to virtue dead,
Gave back the treasure to preserve his head.
Vain hope, by reparation now too late,
To loose the bands of adamantine fate!
While indignation raised her awful tongue:
'The time will come when e'en thy thoughts unjust,
Thy hesitation to restore the trust,
Thy purposed fraud shall make atonement due—
Apollo speaks it, and his voice is true.'
Scared at this warning, he who sought to try
If haply Heaven might wink at perjury,
Alive to fear, though still to virtue dead,
Gave back the treasure to preserve his head.
Vain hope, by reparation now too late,
To loose the bands of adamantine fate!
