Works and Days

		     Hesiod

          translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White
      http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/works.htm


  Following is segment in which Hesiod explains how to use the
  constellations to decide when to harvest or travel:

     ...

     (ll. 597-608) Set your slaves to winnow Demeter's holy
     grain, when strong Orion first appears, on a smooth
     threshing-floor in an airy place. Then measure it and
     store it in jars. And so soon as you have safely stored
     all your stuff indoors, I bid you put your bondman out
     of doors and look out for a servant-girl with no
     children; -- for a servant with a child to nurse is
     troublesome. And look after the dog with jagged teeth;
     do not grudge him his food, or some time the
     Day-sleeper may take your stuff. Bring in fodder and
     litter so as to have enough for your oxen and
     mules. After that, let your men rest their poor knees
     and unyoke your pair of oxen.

     (ll. 609-617) But when Orion and Sirius are come into
     mid-heaven, and rosy-fingered Dawn sees Arcturus (30),
     then cut off all the grape-clusters, Perses, and bring
     them home. Show them to the sun ten days and ten
     nights: then cover them over for five, and on the sixth
     day draw off into vessels the gifts of joyful
     Dionysus. But when the Pleiades and Hyades and strong
     Orion begin to set, then remember to plough in season:
     and so the completed year will fitly pass beneath the
     earth.

     (ll. 618-640) But if desire for uncomfortable
     sea-faring seize you; when the Pleiades plunge into the
     misty sea to escape Orion's rude strength, then truly
     gales of all kinds rage. Then keep ships no longer on
     the sparkling sea, but bethink you to till the land as
     I bid you. Haul up your ship upon the land and pack it
     closely with stones all round to keep off the power of
     the winds which blow damply, and draw out the
     bilge-plug so that the rain of heaven may not rot
     it. Put away all the tackle and fittings in your house,
     and stow the wings of the sea-going ship neatly, and
     hang up the well-shaped rudder over the smoke. You
     yourself wait until the season for sailing is come, and
     then haul your swift ship down to the sea and stow a
     convenient cargo in it, so that you may bring home
     profit, even as your father and mine, foolish Perses,
     used to sail on shipboard because he lacked sufficient
     livelihood. And one day he came to this very place
     crossing over a great stretch of sea; he left Aeolian
     Cyme and fled, not from riches and substance, but from
     wretched poverty which Zeus lays upon men, and he
     settled near Helicon in a miserable hamlet, Ascra,
     which is bad in winter, sultry in summer, and good at
     no time.

     ..