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This reading comes from the Cave’s

The Best of Hesiod’s Theogony & Works and Days

(where it appears as chapter seven).

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AND WITH PERSES, ASTERIA CONCEIVED Hekate and brought her into the world.

Zeus, the son of Kronos, honored Hekate among all the others. And he offered her splendid gifts—to have a share of the earth and the unharvested, barren sea. She also received an honor-portion of the starry sky, and she is highly esteemed by the immortal gods.

For even now, whenever some human being dwelling somewhere upon the earth offers beautiful, first-rate sacrifices and seeks to appease the gods according to custom, he calls upon Hekate. And when the goddess gladly receives that man’s prayers into her house, honor follows him quite easily, [420] and she gives him happiness as his companion—prosperity.

She does this because she has the power to do so. For among all the gods born to Earth and Sky, she holds her due allotment of honor. The son of Kronos neither imprisoned her, nor did he take away any of her allotted honor among the Titans, the earliest of the gods. But as it was at first, when the division of honor-portions came into being in the beginning, she still has her share of the goods. And the goddess has not received an inferior honor-prize and honor-portion of the earth and sky and sea just because she is an only child; rather, she has even more—much more—since Zeus honors her.

If Hekate wishes, she stands by a man and greatly benefits him. [430] He is preeminent among the people in the assembly—if she wills it. And when men arm themselves to go into man-destroying battle, the goddess stands there by them—if she wills it—and gladly reaches out to give victory and glory to them as their companions. And in judgment she takes her seat by the side of highly regarded kings. And again, she is good luck when men contend for prizes in an athletic competition. The goddess stands there beside competing men and benefits them. The one who wins by means of strength and courage, that man easily and joyfully hauls off a prize, and he gives glory to his parents as their companion. And she is good luck for horsemen or those who fight from a chariot—if she wills it. [440] And for those men who work the rough and stormy gray sea, the ones who pray to Hekate and the loud-sounding Earth-shaker, the glorious goddess easily gives a haul of many fish to be their companion. And she easily takes it away as soon as it appears—if her spirit is willing. And together with Hermes, she is good luck for increasing livestock wherever they stand: the droves of cattle, the large goat herds, and the flocks of wooly sheep—if her spirit is willing. She’s able to increase the few to many, and the many she’s able to reduce to a few.

And so, even though she is her mother’s only child, she is honored among the gods with her share of honor-prizes. [450] And the son of Kronos put her in charge of nourishing children, all those who saw the light of far-reaching Dawn after Hekate’s birth. This is how from the beginning she came to nourish children, and these are her honors.

So ends Reading 5, “Hymn to Hekate the Honored Goddess.” See you in Reading 6, “Kronos and Rhea’s Offspring Zeus the Conqueror.”