The library of Hesiod
Across 2 of Hesiod’s 3 works in the library, the harvest finds 4 named sources — 4 citations in all. Not one of those sources stands in the library; every one of them is on the corpus’s wanted list. In the other direction, 19 works in the library quote Hesiod back — 47 citations.
arrangedthe librarycited by
named once
4 sources · 2 worksEach of these stands at a single passage, named once and not held by the library. The work that names it carries the anchor.
- Theogony
- the Muses' revelation of the origin and generations of the gods · the inspired song of the Muses of Olympus (invoked as the source for the catalogue of goddesses and mortal women)
- Works and Days
- The Days (the sacred calendar of days ordained by Zeus) · The law/dispensation (dikē) ordained by Zeus for mankind
cited by
47 citations · from 19 works19 works in the library quote Hesiod — 47 citations, each anchored to a verbatim passage in the work that does the quoting.
through Hesiod 30 citations · Works and Days 12 citations · Theogony 5 citations
by the citing author
The harvest records where a citation is made: the paragraph in the citing book, and the chapter that paragraph stands in. It does not record which page of Hesiod is meant. Where the citing text names a locus, you will find it in the quotation.
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Orations Dio Chrysostom 1 neutral 1 refuted 2 extended 1 endorsed 9 citations · 13 passages
oration 2 4 passages anchored here · oration 12 2 passages anchored here · oration 7 3 passages anchored here · oration 37 · oration 80 · oration 84 · oration 87The Catalogue of Women is named directly as a specific work of Hesiod's, contrasted with Homer's subject matter.
" "Because, when Homer had made poetry about the heroes, Hesiod made a Catalogue of Women, and in truth he sang the women's quarters, yielding to Homer the praise of the men.
oration 2 ¶ -
Stromata Clement of Alexandria 3 neutral 1 extended 7 citations · 12 passages
book 1 4 passages anchored here · book 5 4 passages anchored here · book 6 3 passages anchored here · book 7The sayings are explicitly attributed to Hesiod and quoted for illustrative purposes.
" Hesiod, calling the lyre-player Linus "skilled in every kind of wisdom," does not shrink from calling a sailor too "wise," writing of one "in no way made wise in seamanship.
book 1 ¶ -
Republic Plato 1 refuted 1 extended 5 citations
Hesiod is named explicitly and quoted as an authority for divine agricultural rewards to the just.
For, throwing in good standing with the gods, they have no lack of blessings to describe, which they affirm the gods give to pious men, even as the worthy Hesiod and Homer declare, the one that the gods make the oaks bear for the just:
book 2 ¶ -
The Freedom of the Seas (Mare Liberum) Hugo Grotius 4 citations
Named directly as the earliest poetic authority followed in the explanation.
It will be most convenient to explain the signification of these terms if we follow the practice of all the poets since Hesiod, of the philosophers and jurists of the past, and distinguish certain epochs, the divisions of which are marked off perhaps not so much by intervals of time as by obvious logic and essential character.
ch. 23 ¶ -
Protrepticus Clement of Alexandria 1 neutral 3 citations · 4 passages
Explicitly named as author of the theogony of the twelve gods.
There is a sixth, an introductory, manner of deception that produces gods, according to which they reckon the twelve gods — of whom Hesiod sings his own theogony, and all that Homer treats of as theology.
protrepticus ¶ -
Symposium Plato 1 refuted 3 citations
Agathon explicitly says he disagrees with the account making Love ancient, attributed to Hesiod and Parmenides.
And though in much else I agree with Phaedrus, in this I agree not, that Love by his account is more ancient than Cronos and Iapetus:
symposium ¶ -
On the Embassy Aeschines 2 citations · 3 passages
Hesiod is cited as a poetic authority for the status of Common Report.
For he says that when I was prosecuting Timarchus I said that his lewdness was a matter of common report, and that Hesiod, a good poet, says, But Common Report dies never, the voice that tongues of many men do utter.
on the embassy ¶ -
The Rights of War and Peace Hugo Grotius 2 citations · 3 passages
Named directly as originator of the cited proverb.
To which rule Plato, in his third book of Laws, adapts the proverbial expression of Hesiod, that half is better than the whole.
ch. 43 ¶ -
Memorabilia Xenophon 2 endorsed 2 citations · 4 passages
Hesiod's line is explicitly quoted and, once properly interpreted by Socrates, is said to contain 'nothing amiss,' indicating the passage ultimately endorses its meaning.
He was charged with explaining this line as an injunction to refrain from no work, dishonest or disgraceful, but to do anything for gain.
book 1 ¶ -
Against Ctesiphon Aeschines 1 citation · 3 passages
Hesiod is invoked as a recognized moral authority for judging politicians.
If you disregard the poet’s meter and examine only his thought, I think this will seem to you to be, not a poem of Hesiod, but an oracle directed against the politics of Demosthenes.
against ctesiphon ¶ -
Against Timarchus Aeschines 1 citation
Cited as poetic authority for the explicit divinity of Common Report, with Aeschines noting that decorous men praise these verses.
and Hesiod expressly represents her as a goddess, speaking in words that are very plain to those who are willing to understand, for he says, But Common Report dies never, the voice that tongues of many men do utter.
against timarchus ¶ -
Nicomachean Ethics Aristotle 1 citation
The passage explicitly reports Hesiod's words as an authority on wisdom and heeding advice.
As for the person who neither knows nor can learn, let him hear the words of Hesiod:
book 1 ¶ -
De legendis gentilium libris Basil of Caesarea 1 citation · 5 passages
Hesiod is named directly multiple times as author of quoted or paraphrased verses used as moral authority.
Or with what other intent are we to suppose that Hesiod composed those verses which all men sing, than to urge the young to virtue—how the road that leads to virtue is at first rough and hard to travel, full of much sweat and toil, and steep?
de legendis gentilium libris ¶ -
On the Nature of the Gods Cicero, Marcus Tullius 1 extended 1 citation
The Theogony is explicitly named as Hesiod's account of the gods' origin, which Zeno reinterprets.
And when he interprets Hesiod's Theogony — that is, the origin of the gods — he abolishes altogether the customary and received notions of the gods;
book 1 ¶ -
The Histories Herodotus 1 neutral 1 citation
Herodotus simply reports that Hesiod mentions the Hyperboreans, without endorsing or disputing the claim.
But Hesiod speaks of Hyperboreans, and Homer too in his poem The Heroes' Sons, if that is truly the work of Homer.
book 4 ¶ -
Panathenaicus Isocrates 1 neutral 1 citation · 2 passages
Hesiod's poetry is explicitly invoked as a recognized poetic source in the education dispute.
For some of my friends met me and related to me how, as they were sitting together in the Lyceum, three or four of the sophists of no repute— men who claim to know everything and are prompt to show their presence everywhere—were discussing the poets, especially the poetry of Hesiod and Homer, saying nothing original about them, but merely chanting their verses and repeating from memory the clevere …
panathenaicus ¶ -
To Nicocles Isocrates 1 citation
The passage names Hesiod and reports that his poetry is esteemed as counsel for human conduct.
As a case in point, one might cite the poetry of Hesiod and Theognis and Phocylides;
to nicocles ¶ -
On Benefits Seneca, Lucius Annaeus 1 neutral 1 citation
Hesiod's naming is directly cited and characterized, but treated as arbitrary rather than authoritative truth about the Graces
in Hesiod she is one of the Graces, in Homer one of the Muses.
book 1 ¶ -
De Corona Tertullian 1 refuted 1 citation
Tertullian explicitly names Hesiod's account and rejects it as a falsehood.
If there was any Pandora, whom Hesiod records as the first of women, her head first was crowned by the Graces, when she was endowed by all—whence "Pandora.
de corona ¶