Shield of Heracles

Hesiod

Hesiod, creator; Homer, creator; Evelyn-White, Hugh G. (Hugh Gerard), d. 1924, translator

  • in gold, the splendid work of cunning Hephaestus:
  • it had shivering leaves and stakes of silver
  • and was laden with grapes which turned black.[*](The existing text of the vineyard scene is a compound of two different versions, clumsily adapted, and eked out with some makeshift additions.)And there were men treading out the grapes and others drawing off the liquor. Also there were men boxing and wrestling, and huntsmen chasing swift hares with a leash of sharp-toothed dogs before them, they eager to catch the hares, and the hares eager to escape.
  • Next to them were horsemen hard set, and they contended and labored for a prize. The charioteers standing on their well-woven cars, urged on their swift horses with loose rein; the jointed cars flew along clattering and the naves of the wheels shrieked loudly.