Mnemosyne — Classical Greek Myth Library

After farm counsel, Hesiod turns to seafaring. When the Pleiades, fleeing Orion, plunge into the misty sea, gales of every kind rage; then ships should not be on the wine-dark sea. Work the land as Hesiod bids; haul the ship onto land, pack stones about it, pull out the bilge-plug, stow tackle in the house, hang the well-wrought steering-oar over smoke, and wait. Sail when the season turns: fifty days after the solstice, in the midsummer window when heat is past and Sirius is still high, the sea is then fit for mortals—unless Poseidon or Zeus, the kings of heaven and sea, wills otherwise. Another sailing time is in spring when leaves show as a crow’s footprint high on the fig; that spring voyage is praised less. Hesiod frames the advice with his own brief sea-experience (from Aulis to Euboea for the games of Amphidamas) and warns Perses not to put all livelihood in hollow ships: the earth’s fruits are safer. Catalogue this as the Hesiodic seafaring digression—Pleiades, Orion, Sirius, and divine veto over mortal sailing—distinct from the days-calendar and from Homeric nostos storms.