before that she was hard.

(ll. 293-319) That man is altogether best who considers all
things himself and marks what will be better afterwards and at
the end; and he, again, is good who listens to a good adviser;
but whoever neither thinks for himself nor keeps in mind what
another tells him, he is an unprofitable man. But do you at any
rate, always remembering my charge, work, high-born Perses, that
Hunger may hate you, and venerable Demeter richly crowned may
love you and fill your barn with food; for Hunger is altogether a
meet comrade for the sluggard. Both gods and men are angry with
a man who lives idle, for in nature he is like the stingless
drones who waste the labour of the bees, eating without working;
but let it be your care to order your work properly, that in the
right season your barns may be full of victual. Through work men
grow rich in flocks and substance, and working they are much
better loved by the immortals (8). Work is no disgrace: it is
idleness which is a disgrace. But if you work, the idle will
soon envy you as you grow rich, for fame and renown attend on
wealth. And whatever be your lot, work is best for you, if you
turn your misguided mind away from other men's property to your
work and attend to your livelihood as I bid you. An evil shame
is the needy man's companion, shame which both greatly harms and
prospers men: shame is with poverty, but confidence with wealth.

(ll. 320-341) Wealth should not be seized: god-given wealth is
much better; for if a man take great wealth violently and
perforce, or if he steal it through his tongue, as often happens
when gain deceives men's sense and dishonour tramples down
honour, the gods soon blot him out and make that man's house low,