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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PRECEPTS OF CHIRON: LENGTH OF LIFE by HESIOD

First Line: NINE TIMES THE SPAN OF AN OLD OLD MAN
Last Line: THE NYMPHS OF THE SHINING HAIR.
Subject(s): LIFE; TIME;
NINE times the span of an old old man
Is the life of the cawing crow;
But four crows' days a stag outstays,
And the stag's life thrice will go
While a raven thrives, and a phoenix lives
Nine times the raven's share;
Yet the phoenix' hours are a tenth of ours;
For Zeus in his might brought us to light,
The Nymphs of the shining hair.



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