Well, if I have to come to grips with the charge, and make a clear-cut defence, read my Works and Days , my man. You will see how much, like a real seer and prophet, I foretold in that poem, predicting the outcome of right and timely action and the penalties of neglect. Remember my “you will carry it in a basket, and few there’ll be to admire”
 Works and Days , 482; i.e., “your harvest will be poor.” 
 and again the blessings that follow right farming—this should be thought a prophecy most useful for living.