feet. 'Keeper, do not take off from me the gold rings of my hands and feet.' 'Excuse it, lady, the Queen of the Land insists upon their removal.' The seventh gate let her in, but she stopped, and there the last garment was taken from her body. 'Keeper, do not take off, I pray, the last garment from my body.' 'Excuse it, lady, the Queen of the Land insists upon its removal.' "After that Mother Ishtar had descended into Hades, Nin-ki-gal saw and derided her to her face. Then Ishtar lost her reason, and heaped curses upon the other. Nin-ki-gal hereupon opened her mouth, and spake: 'Go, Namtar and bring her out for punishment, . afflict her with disease of the eye, the side, the feet, the heart, the head' (some lines effaced) .... .... "The Divine messenger of the gods lacerated his face before them. The assembly of the gods was full. The Sun came, along with the Moon, his father, and weeping he spake thus unto Hea, the king: 'Ishtar has descended into the earth, and has not risen again; and ever since the time that Mother Ishtar descended into hell, . . . . the master has ceased from commanding; the slave has ceased from obeying.' Then the god Hea modeled, for her escape, the figure of a man of clay. 'Go to save her, Phantom, present thyself at the portal of Hades; the seven gates of Hades will all open before thee; Nin-ki-gal will see thee, and take pleasure because of thee. When her mind has grown calm, and her anger has worn itself away, awe her with the names of the great gods! Then prepare thy frauds! Fix on deceitful tricks thy mind! Use the chiefest of thy tricks! Bring forth fish out of an empty vessel! That will astonish Nin-ki-gal, and to Ishtar she will restore her clothing. The reward—a great reward-for these things shall not fail. Go, Phantom, save her, and the great assembly of the people shall crown thee! Meats, the best in the city, shall be thy food! Wine, the most delicious in the city, shall be thy drink! A royal palace shall be thy dwelling, a throne of state shall be thy seat! Magician and conjuror shall kiss the hem of thy garment!' "Nin-ki-gal opened her mouth and spake; to her messenger, Namtar, commands she gave: 'Go, Namtar, the Temple of Justice adorn! Deck the images! Deck the altars! Bring out Anunak, and let him take his seat on a throne of gold! Pour out for Ishtar the water of life; from my realms let her depart.' Namtar obeyed; he adorned the Temple, decked the images, decked the altars; brought out Anunak, and let him take his seat on a throne of gold; poured out for Ishtar the water of life, and suffered her to depart. Then the first gate let her out, and gave her back the garment of her form. The next gate let her out, and gave her back the jewels for her hands and feet. The third gate let her out, and gave her back the girdle for her waist. The fourth gate let her out, and gave her back the small gems she had worn upon her brow. The fifth gate let her out, and gave her back the precious stones that had been upon her head. The sixth gate let her out, and gave her back the earrings that were taken from her ears. And the seventh gate let her out, and gave her back the crown she had carried on her head." Ishtar's return to earth symbolizes the reappearance of Spring. THE COMMON MAN IN GREECE CHAPTER X PERIOD OF HESIOD To show how little human nature has When we say that Hesiod (d. 850 B. C.) was labor's first friend, we do not mean that the quaint, old, rustic bard of Ascra at the foot of Mt. Helicon was read by the slaves of his time. Hesiod knew the labor problem of his age and therefore we regard his testimony as affording for us foundation concerning men's ways, when Greece emerges into history. The Greek slave, representative of the servile class in Antiquity, was a beast of burden, his life accursed, both legally and socially. Even Hesiod, sympathetic as he was, took it as a matter of course that a slave's business was to dig and delve and be whipped by the master. It never occurred to any leaders of that age, or for centuries later, that slaves are human beings. Greek life in common with all Antiquity has thus many phases repugnant to modern ways of thought, yet Hesiod's philosophy is still important, revealing to us how little after all the heart of man has been transformed, even by the flight of thirty centuries. Also, social problems we have been taught to hold as "simple," we now see are instead exceedingly complex, their roots extending far into the soils of the Past. We find, then, that Greeks of Hesiod's day, were already indulging hopes and fears and were practicing vices, moral or physical, that are as old as the dust beneath your feet. The world of Hesiod is the world of today for though 3,000 years roll between, human nature is as it always was. Innumerable turns in Hesiod, advise us, for example, Hesiod's ne'er-do-well brother, the dishonest judge, the law's delay, the squandering of the father's estate, are modern indeed; and the poet's verses on choosing a wife of the right sort, are as apropos today as they were thirty centuries ago, when the rustic philosopher of Ascra was making his didactic observations on life. In his verses we discern clearly the liar, the thief, the usurer, the hypocrite, the bad king, the runaway wife, the foolish woman, the hard-working slave, the squanderer of money, the miser, the adulterer, and the murderer. Hesiod's homespun philosophy teaches many conventional sides of life: The folly of putting all your goods in one frail boat; how to cut timber in the dry season, to keep the wood from rotting; and Hesiod sagely admonishes that he who would reap must sow in time, and that a man "must strip to plow, and strip to sow, and strip to reap"-all still true indeed. There were liars and perjurers even in those far-off times, else Hesiod would not have made these rhymes: Who fears his oath shall leave a name to shine Also, Juvenal paraphrased from Hesiod the related idea of the grand leveling up in all affairs of justice and honor: The time will come when e'en thy thoughts unjust Thy hesitation to restore the trust Thy purposed fraud shall make atonement true- Hesiod adds: List' to an old and truthful tale, He rebukes gossips in this wise: Lo! the best treasure is a frugal tongue The lips of moderate speech with grace are hung No rumor wholly dies once bruited wide But deathless like a goddess doth preside. The rustic poet knew slackers in his time, for he writes: The summer day Endures not ever-toil ye while ye may. Hesiod sums up man's life in these few words: Work for the young, counsels for middle age, The old may best in vows and prayers engage. The rustic of Ascra urges thrift, diligence, prudent ways, tells us that we should not seek the smooth paths, or we shall certainly find the rough ones, adding: Only the fool will fruits in hand forego That he the charm of doubtful chase may know. Hesiod has something to say on penny wise and pound foolish. It is no use to spare the liquor when the cask is empty; or When broached or at the lees, no care be thine To save the cask but spare the middle wine. Speaking of the cares of wealth, Hesiod avows that "the half is better than the whole"; he also knows that society is based on hypocrisy, and that "gifts can move gods, gifts godlike kings as well"; yet he is strong in the belief that dishonest gains are tantamount to loss. In many parts of this book on the rise and progress of the Common Man, we find it necessary to study old legal Codes, for these are landmarks covering the vagaries of human life; in this case, however, Hesiod fills the part of an unauthorized writer of law books, although his work is in the form of verses. Had Hesiod been a lawgiver instead of a rustic bard, he would unquestionably have made laws to restrain human follies, vices, vanities and weaknesses. In Hesiod is a blending of allegory, myth and common sense. Hesiod is one of those vast elemental figures that measure up with Homer and with Moses. There is a strong vein of democracy running through Hesiod, and he is indeed labor's first friend. Hesiod does not try to convey a false glamor by gilding his account of life on a rock-strewn, sterile Greek farmstead; on the contrary he tells all about the hard work, the sufferings, the miseries, dwelling likewise on occasional, simple joys. The poet pens a vivid description of winter and pictures how the cattle suffer exposed in the deep snow, when the hurricane sweeps down from the misty north. He does not forget to add that he himself wears a heavy fur cap with laps over the ears. |