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APPENDIX.


APPENDIX A.

A free prose translation of the Days of Hesiod.

Mind well, too, and teach thy servants fittingly the days appointed by Jove, to wit:

The Thirtieth day of each month is the best both for inspecting work done, and distributing allotted sustenance, when the peoples observe it in deciding the right. (That is, for distributing the month's rations to the hired laborers; it also being a holiday in the courts of law.)

And these following days are from counselling Jove: The First, the Fourth, and the Seventh are holy days; for on this last day Latona gave birth to Apollo of the golden sword.

The Eighth and Ninth, these are two days of the month for getting ready the work of mortals.

The Eleventh and Twelfth, both in truth are good, the one for shearing sheep, the other for reaping corn; but the twelfth is far better than the eleventh, for on it the high-hovering Spider spins his threads in the long summer day, when also the wise Ant harvests her heap. On this day, too, a woman should set up her loom, and put forth her work.

On the Thirteenth avoid commencing your sowing, though to set plants it is the best.

The Sixteenth is very unprofitable to plants, but auspicious for the birth of men; though for a girl it is not propitious, either to be born or to be joined in wedlock. Nor, in truth, is the Sixth