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(ProQuest: ... denotes Greek characters omitted (or Cyrillic characters omitted.))
Throughout the Greek tradition, poverty (... ) is treated as a universal ill, which unleashes devastating pains upon the human body and mind. Two early Greek poets, Hesiod and Theognis, reveal their acquaintance with the afflictions of poverty. Hesiod tells us that his father, a professional sailor, was compelled by poverty to leave his home in Aeolian Cyme and to settle at Ascra in Boeotia, where he devoted himself to the more reliable life of agriculture.1 The aristocratic Theognis discloses that during a popular revolution in the city-state of Megara, he lost his property and became burdened with poverty.2 His elegies contain repeated appeals to the gods to help him recover his wealth and to get revenge upon those who have seized it.3 Hesiod and Theognis describe ...) as "heart-wasting" (..., Works and Days 717; Theognis 155 and 1129) and "deadly" (..., Works and Days 717; Theogony 593; Theognis 1062), and both advise against criticizing a man for this debilitating condition, which is given to mortals by the deathless gods. Hesiod asserts that poverty is a gift either from Zeus alone or from all the gods (Works and Days 638 and 717-18), while Theognis elaborates this point with the Homeric image of the scales, with which Zeus determines whether men are rich or poor (Theognis 157-58 and 373-85). This paper explores the significant role of poverty (...) in the Works and Days of Hesiod and in the elegies of Theognis, showing how it is viewed differently by authors who speak from separate levels of society - Hesiod as "peasant-farmer" and Theognis as "aristocrat."
Debate continues about the identities of "Hesiod" and "Theognis," who may be historical individuals, poetic personae, or mixtures of both. Furthermore, "Hesiod" and "Theognis" may be the names of individual authors who composed poetry or they may be the names appropriately assigned to a collection of traditional poets. Studies of the Theogony, Works and Days, and Theognidea that presuppose the personae of the authors have indeed facilitated interpretation of the poems.4 Elements of each poet's biography have parallels in other poetic sources and may well be traditional. Still, certain details might be authentic, and I conclude that Hesiod and Theognis should be...