Ἐργάζευ, νήπιε Πέρση, — Hesiod

"Χρύσεον μὲν πρώτιστα γένος μερόπων ἀνθρώπων ἀθάνατοι ποίησαν Ὀλύμπια δώματ᾽ ἔχοντες. οἱ μὲν ἐπὶ Κρόνου ἦσαν, ὅτ᾽ οὐρανῷ ἐμβασίλευεν· ὥστε θεοὶ δ᾽ ἔζωον ἀκηδέα θυμὸν ἔχοντες, νόσφιν ἄτερ τε πόνων καὶ ὀιζύος· οὐδέ τι δειλὸν γῆρας ἐπῆν."

"Nήπιοι, οὐδὲ ἴσασιν ὅσῳ πλέον ἥμισυ παντός."

"πλείη μὲν γὰρ γαῖα κακῶν, πλείη δὲ θάλασσα· νοῦσοι δ᾿ ἀνθρώποισιν ἐφ᾿ ἡμέρῃ, αἳ δ᾿ ἐπὶ νυκτὶ αὐτόματοι φοιτῶσι κακὰ θνητοῖσι φέρουσαι σιγῇ, ἐπεὶ φωνὴν ἐξείλετο μητίετα Ζεύς. οὕτως οὔ τί πη ἔστι Διὸς νόον ἐξαλέασθαι."

"What was at the beginning?" Gigon said of Hesiod, "is the question of history precisely at the point where it turns into philosophy... The question Hesiod poses is no longer about the historical past, but about the beginning of what exists, the question of philosophical origins..." But "history" is wholly out of place here. Hesiod is foreshadowing the step from mythos to logos, and that step was not mediated by history. It bypassed history altogether. It moved from the timelessness of myth to the timelessness of metaphysics."

"Ὣς οὐκ ἔστι Διὸς κλέψαι νόον οὐδὲ παρελθεῖν."

"ἴδμεν ψεύδεα πολλὰ λέγειν ἐτύμοισιν ὁμοῖα, ἴδμεν δ᾿, εὖτ᾿ ἐθέλωμεν, ἀληθέα γηρύσασθαι."