STANDARD WORKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 s>e>\ 
 
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 C oOr2r~ 
 
 Hew Edition [1880], with a Supplement of upwards of 4600 New Words 
 and Meanings. 
 
 WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY 
 
 OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 
 
 Note. — The only authorized Editions of this Dictionary are 
 those here described : no others published in England 
 contain the Derivations and Etymological Notes of Dr. 
 Mahn, toho devoted several years to this portion of ike Work. 
 See page 4. 
 
 WEBSTER’S GUINEA DICTIONARY 
 
 OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Thoroughly revised and im- 
 proved by Chauncey A. Goodrich, D.D., LL.D., and Noah Porter, 
 B.D., of Yale College. 
 
 The peculiar features of this volume, which render it perhaps the most useful 
 Dictionary for general reference extant, as it is undoubtedly one of the cheapest 
 hooks ever published, are as follows ; — 
 
 1. $©mpleteness.— It contains 114,000 
 words— more by 10,000 than any other 
 Dictionary ; and these are, for the most 
 part, unusual or technical terms, for the 
 ©xpianation of which a Dictionary is most 
 wanted. 
 
 2. Accuracy of Definition. — -In this 
 department the labours of Dr. Webster 
 were most valuable, in correcting the faulty 
 md redundant definitions of Dr. Johnson, 
 which bad previously been almost univer- 
 sally adopted. In the present edition all 
 the definitions have been carefully and 
 methodically analysed by W. G. Webster, 
 £3sq., the Rev. Chauncey Goodrich, Prof. 
 Lyman, Prof. Whitney, and Prof. Gilman, 
 with the assistance and under the super- 
 intendence of Prof. Goodrich. 
 
 5. The Orthography is based as far as 
 * possible on Fixed Principles. In all ca,ses 
 
 of doubt an alternative spelling is given. 
 
 6. Pronunciation. — This has been en- 
 trusted to Mr. W. G. Webster and Mr. 
 Wheeler, assisted by other scholars. The 
 pronunciation of each word is indicated by 
 typographical signs, which are explained 
 by reference to a Key printed at the bottom 
 of each page. 
 
 7. The Illustrative Citations. — No 
 
 labour has been spared to embody such 
 quotations from standard authors as may 
 throw light on the definitions, or pos- 
 sess any special interest of thought or 
 language. 
 
 S. Scientific and Technical Terms. — 
 
 order to secure the utmost completeness 
 sod accuracy of definition, this department 
 &&s been subdivided among eminent 
 Scholars and Experts, including Prof. Dana, 
 Prof. Lyman, &c. 
 
 4. Etymology. — The eminent philo- 
 logist, Dr. C. F. Mahn, has devoted five 
 Ve&ra to perfecting this department. 
 
 8. The Synonyms. — These are sub- 
 joined to the words to which they belong, 
 and are very complete. 
 
 9. The Illustrations, which exceed 3000, 
 are inserted, not for the sake of ornament, 
 but to elucidate the meaning of words 
 which cannot be satisfactorily explained 
 without pictorial aid. 
 
 The Volume contains 1628 pages, more than 3000 Illustrations, and is sold 
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 Kew Edition [1880], with a Supplement of upwards of 1600 New Words 
 and Meanings. 
 
 WEBSTER’S DICTIONARY 
 
 OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. 
 
 Note * — The only authorized Editions of this Dictionary are 
 those here described : no others published in England 
 contain the Derivations and Etymological Notes of Dr. 
 Mdhn , who devoted several years to this portion of the Work . 
 Etae page 4. 
 
 WEBSTER’S GUINEA DICTIONARY 
 
 OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Thoroughly revised and im- 
 proved by Chattncey A. Goodrich, D.D., LL.D., and Noah Porter, 
 D.D., of Yale College. 
 
 The peculiar features of this volume, which render it perhaps the most useful 
 
 Dictionary for general reference extant, 
 
 hoots ever published, are as follows t — 
 
 1. Completeness.— It contains 114,000 
 words— more by 10,000 than any other 
 Dictionary ; and these are, for the most 
 past, unusual or technical terms, for the 
 emanation of which a Dictionary is most 
 wanted. 
 
 2. Accuracy of Definition.— In this 
 department the labours of Dr. Webster 
 were most valuable, in correcting the faulty 
 end redundant definitions of Dr. Johnson, 
 which bad previously been almost univer- 
 sally adopted. In the present edition all 
 tiie definitions have been carefully and 
 methodically analysed by W. G. Webster, 
 Hsq., the Rev. Chauncey Goodrich, Prof. 
 Lyman, Prof. Whitney, and Prof. Gilman, 
 with the assistance and under the super- 
 intendence of Prof. Goodrich. 
 
 $. Mentific and Technics 1 Terms. — 
 £a order to secure the utmost completeness 
 and accuracy of definition, this department 
 ms been subdivided among eminent 
 Scholars and Experts, including Prof. Dana, 
 Prof. Lyman, &c. 
 
 4. Etymology. — The eminent philo- 
 logist, Dr. C. F. Mahn, has devoted five 
 9 &ara to perfecting this department. 
 
 it is undoubtedly one of the cheapest 
 
 5. The Orthography is based as far as 
 
 * possible bn Fixed Principles. In all case* 
 
 of doubt an alternative spelling is given. 
 
 6. Pronunciation. — This has been en- 
 trusted to Mr. W. G. Webster and Mr. 
 Wheeler, assisted by other scholars. The 
 pronunciation of each word is indicated bj 
 typographical signs, which are explained 
 by reference to a Key printed at the bottom 
 of each page. 
 
 7. The Illustrative Citations.— No 
 
 labour has been spared to embody such 
 quotations from standard authors as may 
 throw light on the definitions, or pos- 
 sess any special interest of thought or 
 language. 
 
 8. The Synonyms. — These are sub- 
 joined to the words to which they belong, 
 and are very complete. 
 
 9. The Illustrations, which exceed 3000, 
 are inserted, not for the sake of ornament, 
 but to elucidate the meaning of words 
 which cannot be satisfactorily explained 
 without pictorial aid. 
 
 The Volume contains 1628 pages, more than 3000 Illustrations, and is sold 
 for One Guinea. It will be found, on comparison, to be one of the cheapest 
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 31& 6d . ; russia, £2. 
 
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New Edition, with a New Biographical Supplement of upwards 
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 Principles of Pronunciation* By 
 
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 WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY. 
 
 From the Quarterly Be view, Oct . 1873. 
 
 c< Seventy years passed before Johnson was followed by Webster, an 
 American writer, who faced the task of the English Dictionary with a 
 mil appreciation of its requirements, leading to better practical results.’ ’ 
 
 o • • •. 
 
 “ His laborious comparison of twenty languages, though never pub- 
 lished, bore fruit in his own mind, and his training placed him both in 
 knowledge and judgment far in advance of Johnson as a philologist. 
 Webster’s ‘ American Dictionary of the English Language ’ was pub- 
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 Professor Goodrich’s edition of 1847 is not much more than enlarged 
 and amended, but other revisions since have so much novelty of plan 
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ffmchlbff. 
 
 ffo-nJa/is 
 
THE 
 
 ODES OF PINDAR 
 
 « 
 
 LITERALLY TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH PROSE. 
 
 BY 
 
 DAWSON W. TURNER, M.A., 
 
 HEAD MASTER OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION SCHOOL, LIVERPOOL, LATE DEMJf 
 AND EXHIBITIONER OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADJOINED 
 
 A METRICAL VERSION, 
 
 BY 
 
 ABRAHAM MOORE. 
 
 LONDON : GEORGE BELL AND SONS, YORK STREET, 
 COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 1885. 
 
LONDON I 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES ANT) SONS, LIMITED, 
 STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
NOTICE. 
 
 S« 
 
 T4 
 
 E.+- 
 
 , Cs 
 
 3 In preparing the following prose translation, I have endea- 
 3 soured to exhibit such a rendering of the text as I should 
 g m jself have been glad to have, when preparing for a Uni- 
 versity Examination. 
 
 -Amy one who is at all acquainted with the difficulty of 
 the author, will readily pardon my having in no case ventured 
 to substitute any phraseology of my own for what I be- 
 lieved to be the literal meaning. 
 
 I have to express the greatest possible obligations to the 
 <1 commentaries of Boeckh and Dissen, but for the assistance 
 <sS of which I should hardly have ventured on my present task. 
 Many thanks are also due for the aid afforded by Mr. 
 Cookesley’s excellent notes, as well as those of Dr. Donald- 
 son. I have, I trust, in every instance, acknowledged my 
 obligations. J 
 
 If I have in any degree succeeded in presenting the 
 student with a not-unworthy representation of Pindar’s 
 meaning, the merit is mainly to be attributed to these 
 resources and to the great kindness of three excellent friends, 
 the Bev. J. Lonsdale, M.A., Fellow of Balliol College, 
 Oxford; the Bev. John G. Sheppard, M.A., 2nd Master of 
 Bepton School, and late Fellow of Wadham College ; and 
 Mr. J. LI. Davies, B.A., Fellow of Trinity College, Cam- 
 bridge ; who have given me the benefit of their revision 
 and correction throughout the whole work. 
 
 .u With the few exceptions pointed out as they occur I 
 J have followed the text of Bergk, from whom the Prefaces 
 a ^ so a f e ta ken. Dr. Donaldson had set me the example of 
 adopting the Introductions of the Odes from Dissen’s 
 Commentary. 
 
 D. W. T. 
 
 c/2 
 
 *5 
 
 |4J 
 
 ' <33023 
 
POSTSCRIPT 
 
 Since the prose portion of this volume was completed, the 
 publisher has obtained permission from the executors of the 
 late Mr. Abraham Moore to reprint his excellent metrical 
 version, and accordingly has the pleasure of adjoining it. As 
 this version is distinguished for poetry, scholarship, and taste, 
 and is besides among the rarest and most expensive volumes 
 of our modern literature, the literary public will have reason 
 to be satisfied with its reproduction on such advantageous 
 terms. 
 
 H. G. B. 
 
 York Street, 
 
 October 31 st, 185L 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Ode I. 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 To Hiero the Syracusian 
 
 Literal. 
 Pages 9 
 
 Metrics 
 
 167 
 
 II. 
 
 To Theron of Agrigentum 
 
 . , 
 
 12 
 
 176 
 
 III. 
 
 To THE SAME THERON 
 
 . , 
 
 15 
 
 184 
 
 IY. 
 
 To Psaumis OF Camarina 
 
 
 17 
 
 189 
 
 Y. 
 
 To THE SAME PSAUMIS OF CAMARINA 
 
 
 19 
 
 192 
 
 YI. 
 
 To Agesias the Syracusian 
 
 
 20 
 
 195 
 
 VII. 
 
 To Diagoras of Khodes 
 
 
 24 
 
 205 
 
 VIII. 
 
 To Alcimedon and Timosthenes his Brother 
 
 28 
 
 214 
 
 IX. 
 
 To Epharmostus the Opuntian .. 
 
 . . 
 
 31 
 
 220 
 
 X. 
 
 To Agesidamus of Locris Epizephyria 
 
 
 34 
 
 229 
 
 XI. 
 
 To THE SAME AGESIDAMUS 
 
 
 35 
 
 237 
 
 XII. 
 
 To Ergoteles of Himera 
 
 
 39 
 
 238 
 
 XIII. 
 
 To Xenophon the Corinthian .. 
 
 . . 
 
 40 
 
 240 
 
 XIY. 
 
 To Asopichus the Orchomenian . . 
 
 
 44 
 
 250 
 
 Ode I. 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 To Hiero the HStn^ean.. 
 
 
 53 
 
 253 
 
 II. 
 
 To THE SAME HlERO 
 
 
 57 
 
 264 
 
 III. 
 
 To THE SAME HlERO 
 
 
 61 
 
 272 
 
 IY. 
 
 To Arcesilaus the Cyren^an .. 
 
 
 65 
 
 281 
 
 Y. 
 
 To Arcesilaus the Cyren^ean .. 
 
 
 76 
 
 306 
 
 YI. 
 
 To Xenocrates of Agrigentum .. 
 
 
 80 
 
 313 
 
 VII. 
 
 To Megacles the Athenian 
 
 
 82 
 
 316 
 
 VIII. 
 
 To Aristomenes of ^Egina 
 
 
 83 
 
 317 
 
 IX. 
 
 To Telesicrates of Cyrene 
 
 
 86 
 
 323 
 
 X. 
 
 To Hippocleas the Thessalian .. 
 
 
 91 
 
 332 
 
 XI. 
 
 To THRASYD.EUS THE THEBAN 
 
 
 94 
 
 338 
 
 XII. 
 
 To Midas of Agrigentum 
 
 
 97 
 
 343 
 
 Ode I. 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 To Chromius the H£tn,ean 
 
 
 105 
 
 346 
 
 II. 
 
 To Timodemus of Athens 
 
 
 108 
 
 351 
 
 III. 
 
 To Aristoclides of HSgina 
 
 
 109 
 
 354 
 
 IV. 
 
 To Timasarchus of JEgina 
 
 . . 
 
 112 
 
 360 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Literal. Metrical 
 
 Ode V. 
 
 To Pytheas of iEGINA . . 
 
 Pages 
 
 115 
 
 366 
 
 VI. 
 
 To Alcimedes of .ZEgina 
 
 
 118 
 
 371 
 
 VII. 
 
 To SOGENES OF REGINA .. 
 
 . . . • 
 
 120 
 
 375 
 
 VIII. 
 
 To Deinis, the Son of Megas, 
 
 OF HSgina 
 
 125 
 
 382 
 
 IX. 
 
 To Chromius of HStna . . 
 
 
 128 
 
 386 
 
 X. 
 
 To Thei^us, the Son of Ulias 
 
 
 131 
 
 392 
 
 XI. 
 
 To Aristagoras, the Prytanis of Tenedos. 
 
 
 
 
 Son of Archesilaus . . 
 
 
 135 
 
 399 
 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 
 
 Ide I. 
 
 To Herodotus the Theban 
 
 
 145 
 
 403 
 
 II. 
 
 To Xenocrates of Agrigentum 
 
 . . . » 
 
 148 
 
 408 
 
 III. 
 
 To Melissus of Thebes . . 
 
 
 150 
 
 412 
 
 IV. 
 
 To THE SAME MELISSUS .. 
 
 
 
 413 
 
 V. 
 
 To Phylacides of ASgina 
 
 « . . . 
 
 154 
 
 418 
 
 VI. 
 
 To Phylacides 
 
 
 156 
 
 421 
 
 VII. 
 
 To Strepsiades of Thebes 
 
 • • . . 
 
 159 
 
 426 
 
 VIII. 
 
 To Oleander of HSgina. . 
 
 • • • • 
 
 161 
 
 429 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 (From the Fncyclopcedia Metropolitana.) 
 
 Pindar, the most celebrated of the lyric poets of Greece, 
 was a native of Thebes, the metropolis of Boeotia, which 
 country his name alone might redeem from the stigma of 
 dulness. His birth seems to have taken place about 
 b. c. 520. According to some writers, the name of his 
 father was Daiphantus ; according to others, Scopilenus ; 
 and that of his mother, Myrto, or Myrtis. It is related of 
 him, that when he was an infant a swarm of bees settled 
 on his lips, and left their honey there — an omen of his 
 future excellence in arts of poetry and music. The history 
 of Pindar’s early days seems to refute in some degree the 
 opinion of those who think education has a tendency to 
 repress originality of genius, and to tame it down into 
 dexterous imitation or humble correctness. No poet, per- 
 haps, ever dared so much as Pindar, and yet none was ever 
 instructed in the finest arts with greater care. It is sin- 
 gular, that for much of his instruction he was indebted to 
 the female sex, at a time when women were excluded from 
 the higher departments of knowledge, and regarded as 
 scarcely endowed with intellectual faculties. According to 
 Suidas, he was first taught to combine simplicity with 
 elegance in the composition of his verses by Myrtis, probably 
 his mother, who was herself the author of poems adapted to 
 
 b 
 
X 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the lyre. At a subsequent period, the beautiful Corinna 
 became his instructor. Some assert that he enjoyed also 
 the singular advantage of being the pupil of Simonides, 
 though no styles of poetry can be more dissimilar than that 
 instinct with the ardent, impetuous, and daring* spirit of 
 Pindar, and the soft, pensive, and mellow tenderness of his 
 reputed master. Not only poetry, but also the sister art of 
 music was carefully studied by the bard. Athenseus informs 
 us, that Lasus of Hermione, an excellent musician and 
 dithyrambic poet, imparted to him his skill in playing on 
 the lyre. Certain it is that he was prepared by no common 
 attention for that high and glorious career in which he left 
 every competitor behind him. 
 
 Pindar seems to have been early received with great 
 honour by Alexander, son of Amyntas, at the court of 
 Macedon. He overcame his teacher Myrtis in a contest of 
 musical skill ; but was no less than five times defeated by 
 Corinna in striving for the reward of poetry. It is in- 
 timated, indeed, by some, that the judges were inclined to 
 favour the female candidate rather by the admiration of her 
 personal charms than of her poetical genius. Our bard 
 must, however, have been very young at this time, as 
 Diodorus Siculus asserts that he had only attained the age 
 of forty at the time of the battle of Salamis. 
 
 In the public assemblies of Greece, Pindar no sooner 
 appeared than he attained a height of popular favour which 
 seems never to have left him ; nor was his fame confined to 
 the people. As he sung the praises of the conquerors in 
 those games at which kings and princes strove for the prize, 
 he naturally acquired the favour and patronage of the great. 
 He enjoyed the favour of Hiero, king of Syracuse, whose 
 munificence he delighted to repay by immortal praise. His 
 partiality to the Athenians, however, drew on him the 
 resentment of his countrymen. Because he had celebrated 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XI 
 
 Athens as the chief support of Greece* they laid on him a 
 heavy fine, on which the Athenians presented him with 
 a sum of double the amount. Authors are divided respecting 
 the time in which he died, some asserting that he only 
 reached the age of fifty-six, while others maintain that he 
 was eighty-six at the time of his decease. His departure 
 from life was gentle, for it took place while he was sitting 
 in a public assembly, and, till the spectators retired, he was 
 thought to be slumbering. As a prodigy is related of his 
 birth, so attempts were made by the Greeks to surround 
 his death by mystery. It is said, that having in one of his 
 poems represented Agamedes and Trophonius as rewarded 
 by sudden death for building the temple of Apollo, he was 
 referred by the priestess, on his inquiring what was best for 
 mankind, to his own verses. He understood this reply as 
 an intimation of approaching and sudden dissolution, which 
 soon after took place. 
 
 Extraordinary honours were paid to Pindar, both during 
 his life and after his decease. His odes and religious 
 hymns were chanted in the temples of Greece before the 
 most crowded assemblies, and on the most solemn occasions. 
 The priestess of Apollo, at Delphi, declared that it was the 
 will of that divinity that Pindar should receive half of the 
 first-fruits annually offered at his shrine. 
 
 The Athenians erected a statue of brass in honour of him, 
 representing him with a diadem and a lyre, and a book 
 folded on his knees, which was remaining at the time of 
 Pausanias ; and a portion of the sacrifices at the great 
 festivals of Greece was, for a long time, set apart for his 
 descendants. 
 
 When the Lacedaemonians took Thebes, they spared the 
 house and family of Pindar ; and when, afterwards, the city 
 was taken by Alexander, the same mark of veneration was 
 shown to his memory. His works have been extolled in terms 
 
 b 2 
 
XU 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 of the most a . dent admiration by some of the first ancient 
 writers. Quinctilian says of him, in his Institutes, “ Novem 
 Graecorum lyricorum Pindarus princeps, spiritu, magnifi- 
 centia, sententiis, figuris ; beatissimus rerum verborumque 
 copia et velut quodam eloquentiae flumine, propter quae 
 Horatius nemini credit eum imitabilem.” — Of the nine 
 Greek lyric poets, Pindar is the chief, in spirit, in magnifi- 
 cence, in moral sentiments, and in metaphor ; most happy 
 both in the abundance of his matter and of his diction; 
 and, as it were, with a certain torrent of eloquence, so that 
 Horace says no man can imitate him. 
 
 We cannot sufficiently regret the loss of the compositions 
 which called forth these eulogies, because though, compared 
 with the works of many other renowned authors, a consider- 
 able number of Pindar’s odes have reached us, those which 
 survive are not the most interesting in their subjects, nor 
 probably the most felicitous in their execution. The works 
 of Pindar consisted of hymns and pseans in honour of the 
 gods ; songs accompanied by dances, in honour of Apollo ; 
 dithyrambic verses to Bacchus, and some minor effusions, 
 with the odes on the Olympic, Nemean, Isthmian, and 
 Pythian games. Of these latter forty-five remain, which, 
 with a few fragments, form the only materials on which we 
 can now form any opinion of the extent or peculiar character 
 of Pindar’s genius. 
 
 No subjects, at first .sight, could seem more unfitted for 
 sublime poetry than those of the Pindaric remains ; but the 
 poet has, with characteristic impetuosity, overcome this 
 difficulty by the practice of abandoning the professed objects 
 of his panegyric, and bursting into celebrations of the heroes 
 of former days, the mighty exploits of demigods, and the 
 gorgeous fables of oldest time. In the transition he uses 
 little art, but seems to rely, as he safely might, on the change 
 being, in itself, most welcome. He is chiefly remarkable for 
 the gigantic boldness of his conceptions, and the daring 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Xlii 
 
 sublimity of bis metaphors, which stamp him the ^Eschylus 
 of lyric poetry. The flights of his imagination are not, 
 however, like those of the great tragedian, mingled with the 
 intensity of human passion, which, while they carry us 
 beyond ourselves, still come home to the heart. He has the 
 light without the heat ; his splendours dazzle, but do not 
 warm us. There is little of human feeling in his works ; 
 they are little more than exhibitions which excite our sur- 
 prise, but not our sympathy. His compositions have some- 
 thing hard and stony about them — the sublimity and 
 nakedness of the rock. The sunshine glitters on the top, 
 but no foliage adorns the declivity. All the interest, such 
 as it is, arises from the earnestness of the poet himself, and the 
 intense ardour with which he is impelled in his lofty career. 
 Hence we think more of him than of his work ; while in 
 Homer and the Greek tragedians the author is forgotten. 
 His conception is so ardent that he cannot wait to develop 
 his metaphors ; he often but half unfolds them, and suffers 
 them to blend with the literal descriptions, and form part of 
 the subject ; and hence, it appears to us, the obscurities . so 
 frequently complained of in Pindar have, in a great degree, 
 arisen. In the mechanical composition of his odes, however, 
 Pindar is by no means so irregular as some have been dis- 
 posed to imagine. He commonly preserves the arrangement 
 of strophe, antistrophe, and epode ; and though the con- 
 struction of these varies iu different odes, all the strophes and 
 antistrophes in the same ode are framed on the same 
 principles, and all the epodes are composed in similar 
 measures to each other. 
 
 The commencement of the first Pythian ode is imitated 
 in animated style by Gray, in his “ Progress of Poesy — 
 
 Oh ! sovereign of the willing soul, 
 
 Parent of sweet and solemn-breathing airs ! 
 
 Enchanting shell ! the sullen cares. 
 
 And frantic passions hear thy soft control. 
 
X1Y 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 On Thracia’s hills the lord of war 
 Has curbed the fury of his car, 
 
 And dropped his thirsty lance at thy command 
 Perching on the sceptred hand 
 Of Jove, thy magic lulls the feathered king 
 With ruffled plumes and flagging wing : 
 
 Quenched in dark clouds of slumber, lie 
 
 The terrors of his beak, and lightnings of his eye. 
 
 Akenside, in his Hymn to the Naiads, has also imitated 
 part of this extract : — 
 
 With slackened wings. 
 
 While now the solemn concert breathes around, 
 
 . Incumbent o’er the sceptre of his lord, 
 
 Sleeps the stern eagle ; by the numbered notes 
 Possessed ; and satiate with the melting tones, 
 
 Sovereign of birds. The furious god of war, 
 
 His darts forgetting, and the rapid wheels 
 That bear him vengeful o’er th’ embattled plains, 
 
 Relents. 
 
 In the second Olympic Ode, Pindar thus introduces us 
 into the Fortunate Islands, the Paradise of the ancients, and 
 paints with equal vividness and beauty the felicity of the 
 blessed. West, in his translation, seems to have caught 
 some portion of the spirit of the original : — 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 But in the happy fields of light. 
 
 When Phoebus with an equal ray. 
 
 Illuminates the balmy night. 
 
 And gilds the cloudless day, 
 
 In peaceful, unmolested joy. 
 
 The good their smiling hours employ. 
 
 Them no uneasy wants constrain 
 To vex th’ ungrateful soil, 
 
 To tempt the dangers of the billowy main, 
 
 And break their strength with unabated toil, 
 
 A frail disastrous being to maintain. 
 
 But in their joyous calm abodes. 
 
 The recompense of justice they receive ; 
 
 And in the fellowship of gods. 
 
 Without a tear eternal ages live. 
 
 While, banished by the fates from joy and rest. 
 Intolerable woes the impious soul infest. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XV 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 But they who, in true virtue strong, 
 
 The third purgation can endure ; 
 
 And keep their minds from fraudful wrong 
 And guilt’s contagion pure ; 
 
 They through the starry paths of Jove 
 To Saturn’s blissful seat remove ; 
 
 Where fragrant breezes, vernal airs, 
 
 Sweet children of the main, 
 
 Purge the blest island from corroding cares, 
 
 And fan the bosom of each verdant plain : 
 
 Whose fertile soil immortal fruitage bears ; 
 
 Trees,, from whose flowering branches flow. 
 
 Arrayed in golden bloom, refulgent beams ; 
 
 And flowers of golden hue, that blow 
 On the fresh borders of their parent streams. 
 
 These, by the blest, in solemn triumph worn, 
 
 Their unpolluted hands and clustering locks adorn. 
 
 How sublimely has the Grecian poet described an eruption 
 of Mount HDtna ! which. West has translated : — 
 
 By snowy .ZEtna, nurse of endless frosts, 
 
 The pillared prop of heaven, for ever pressed : 
 
 Forth from whose nitrous caverns issuing rise 
 Pure liquid fountains of tempestuous fire, 
 
 And veil in ruddy mists the noon-day skies, 
 
 While wrapt in smoke the eddying flames aspire, 
 
 Or gleaming through the night with hideous roar, 
 
 Far o’er the reddening main huge rocky fragments pour. 
 
 Pythian ode. 
 
 The imitators of Pindar, from Horace to Cowley, have 
 been numerous ; but the judgment of Horace, that he can 
 never, in his own peculiar excellences, be equalled, has not 
 been yet disproved. Gray, in his happiest passages, ha&> 
 perhaps, most nearly approached him. 
 
xvi 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 (Extract from Muller’s Literature of Ancient Gh'eece, Chapter xv.. 
 Section 3, pp. 220 — 228.) 
 
 The only class of poems which enables us to judge of 
 Pindar’s general style, are the epinikia or triumphal odes . 
 Pindar, indeed, excelled in all the known varieties of choral 
 poetry ; viz., hymns to the gods, pseans, and dithyrambs ap- 
 propriate to the worship of particular divinities, odes for 
 processions ( TrpcjfTodia ), songs of maidens (Trapdiveta), mimic 
 dancing songs (1/7 Topxnpo.ra), drinking songs (ovcoXia), dirges, 
 (Sprjvoi), and encomiastic odes to princes ( Eyicwfua ), which 
 last approached most nearly to the epinikia. The poems 
 of Pindar in these various styles were nearly as renowned 
 among the ancients as the triumphal odes ; which is proved 
 by the numerous quotations of them. Horace, too, in enume- 
 rating the different styles of Pindar’s poetry, puts the dithy- 
 rambs first, then the hymns, and afterwards the epinikia 
 and the threnes. Nevertheless there must have been some 
 decided superiority in the epinikia, which caused them to 
 be more frequently transcribed in the later period of anti- 
 quity, and thus rescued them from perishing with the rest of 
 the Greek lyric poetry. At any rate these odes, from the 
 vast variety of their subjects and style, and their refined and 
 elaborate structure, — some approaching to hymns and pseans, 
 others to scolia and hyporchemes, — serve to indemnify us for 
 the loss of the other sorts of lyric poetry. 
 
 We will now explain, as precisely as possible, the occasion 
 of an epinikian ode, and the mode of its execution. A vic- 
 tory has been gained in a contest at a festival, particularly 
 at one of the four great games most prized by the Greek 
 people, either by the speed of horses, the strength and dex- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XVU 
 
 terity of the human body, or by skill in music. Such a 
 victory as this, which shed a lustre not only on the victor 
 himself, but on his family, and even on his native city, de- 
 manded a solemn celebration. This celebration might be 
 performed by the victor’s friends on the spot where the vic- 
 tory was gained ; as for example, at Olympia, when in the 
 evening after the termination of the contests, by the light of 
 the moon, the whole sanctuary resounded with joyful songs 
 after the manner of the encomia. Or it might be deferred 
 until after the victor’s solemn return to his native city, 
 where it was sometimes repeated, in following years, in com- 
 memoration of his success. A celebration of this kind 
 always had a religious character, it often began with a pro- 
 cession to an altar or temple, in the place of the games or 
 in the native city ; a sacrifice, followed by a banquet, was 
 then offered at the temple, or in the house of the victor ; 
 and the whole solemnity concluded with the merry and 
 boisterous revel called by the Greeks klj/jioq. At this sacred, 
 and, at the same time, joyous solemnity (a mingled character 
 frequent among the Greeks), appeared the chorus, trained by 
 the poet, or some other skilled person, for the purpose of 
 reciting the triumphal hymn, which was considered the 
 fairest ornament of the festival. It was during either the 
 procession or the banquet that the hymn was recited ; as it 
 was not properly a religious hymn which could be combined 
 with the sacrifice. The form of the poem must, to a certain 
 extent, have been determined by the occasion on which it 
 was to be recited. From expressions which occur in several 
 epinikian odes, it is probable that all odes consisting of 
 strophes without epodes, were sung during a procession to a 
 temple or to the house of the victor ; although there are 
 others containing expressions denoting movement, and which 
 yet have epodes. It is possible that the epodes in the latter 
 odes may have been sung at certain intervals when the pro- 
 
/ 
 
 XVlii PREFACE. 
 
 cession was not advancing ; for an epode, according to the 
 statements of the ancients, always required that the chorus 
 should be at rest. But by far the greater number of the 
 odes of Pindar were sung at the Comus, at the jovial termi- 
 nation of the feast; and hence Pindar himself more fre- 
 quently names his odes from the Comus than from the victory. 
 
 § 4. The occasion of an epinikian ode, — a victory in the 
 sacred game — and its end — the ennobling of a solemnity 
 connected with the worship of the gods, — required that it 
 should be composed in a lofty and dignified style. But, on 
 the other hand, the boisterous mirth of the feast did not 
 admit the severity of the antique poetical style, like that of 
 the hymns and nomes ; it demanded a free and lively expres- 
 sion of feeling, in harmony with the occasion of the festival, 
 and suggesting the noblest ideas connected with the victor. 
 Pindar, however, gives no detailed description of the victory 
 as that would have been only a repetition of the spectacle 
 which had already been beheld with enthusiasm by the as- 
 sembled Greeks at Olympia or Pytho ; nay, he often bestows 
 only a few words on the victory, recording its place and the 
 sort of contest in which it was won. Nevertheless he does 
 not (as many writers have supposed) treat the victory as a 
 merely secondary object, which he despatches quickly, in 
 order to pass on to subjects of greater interest. The victory, 
 in truth, is always the point on which the whole of the ode 
 turns ; only he regards it not simply as an incident, but as 
 connected with the whole life of the victor. Pindar esta- 
 blishes this connection by forming a high conception of the 
 fortunes and character of the victor, and by representing the 
 victory as the result of them. And as the Greeks were less 
 accustomed to consider a man in his individual capacity, than 
 as a member of his state and his family, so Pindar considers 
 the renown of the victor in connection with the past and 
 present condition of the race and state to which he belongs. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 xix 
 
 Now there are two different points from which the poet 
 might view the life of the victor ; viz., destiny or merit ; in 
 other words, he might celebrate his good fortune or his skill. 
 In the victory with horses, external advantages were the 
 chief consideration, inasmuch as it required excellent horses 
 and an excellent driver, both of which were attainable only 
 by the rich. The skill of the victor was more conspicuous 
 in gymnastic feats, although even in these, good luck and the 
 favour of the gods might be considered as the main causes of 
 success ; especially as it was a favourite opinion of Pindar’s, 
 that all excellence is a gift of nature. The good fortune 
 or skill of the victor could not, however, be treated abstract- 
 edly ; but must be individualized by a description of his 
 peculiar lot. This individual colouring might be given by 
 representing the good fortune of the victor as a compensation 
 for past ill fortune ; or, generally, by describing the alterna- 
 tions of fortune in his lot and in that of his family. Another 
 theme for an ode might be, that success in gymnastic contests 
 was obtained by a family in alternate generations, that is, by 
 the grandfathers and grandsons, but not by the intermediate 
 generation. If, however, the good fortune of the victor had 
 been invariable, congratulation at such rare happiness was 
 accompanied with moral reflections, especially on the right 
 manner of estimating or enduring good fortune, or on the 
 best mode of turning it to account. According to the notions 
 of the Greeks, an extraordinary share of the gifts of fortune 
 suggested a dread of the Nemesis, which delighted in hum- 
 bling the pride of man ; and hence the warning to be prudent, 
 and not to strive after further victories. The admonitions 
 which Pindar addresses to Hiero are to cultivate a calm 
 serenity of mind after the cares and toils by which he had 
 founded and extended his empire, and to purify and ennoble 
 by poetry a spirit which had been ruffled by unworthy pas- 
 sions. Even when the skill of the victor is put in the fore- 
 
XX 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ground ; Pindar, in general, does not content himself with cele- 
 brating this bodily prowess alone, but he usually adds some 
 moral virtue which the victor has shown, or which he recom- 
 mends and extols. This virtue is sometimes moderation, 
 sometimes wisdom, sometimes filial love, sometimes piety to 
 the gods. The latter is frequently represented as the main 
 cause of the victory ; the victor having thereby obtained the 
 protection of the deities who preside over gymnastic con- 
 tests, — as Hermes or the Dioscuri. It is evident that, with 
 Pindar, this mode of accounting for success was not the mere 
 fiction of a poet ; he sincerely thought that he had traced 
 the victory to the favour of a god who took an especial in- 
 terest in the family of the victor, and at the same time 
 presided over the games. Generally, indeed, in extolling 
 both the skill and fortune of the victor, Pindar appears to 
 adhere to the truth as faithfully as he declares himself to do ; 
 nor is he ever betrayed into a high-flown style of panegyric. 
 A republican dread of incurring the censure of his fellow- 
 citizens, as well as an awe of the divine Nemesis, induced him 
 to moderate his praises, and to keep in view the instability 
 of human fortune, and the narrow limits of human strength. 
 
 Thus far the poet seems to wear the character of a sage 
 who expounds to the victor his destiny, by showing him the 
 dependence of his exploit upon a higher order of things. 
 Nevertheless, it is not to be supposed that the poet placed 
 himself on an eminence remote from ordinary life, and that 
 he spoke like a priest to the people unmoved by personal 
 feelings. The Epinikia of Pindar, although they were 
 delivered by a chorus, were, nevertheless, the expression of 
 his individual feelings and opinions, and are full of allusions 
 to his personal relations to the victor. Sometimes, indeed, 
 when his relations of this kind were ‘peculiarly interesting to 
 him, he made them the main subject of the ode ; several of 
 his odes, and some among the most difficult, are to be 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XXI 
 
 explained in this manner. In one of his odes Pindar justifies 
 the sincerity of his poetry against the charges which had 
 been brought against it; and represents his muse as a just 
 and impartial dispenser of fame, as well among the victors 
 at the games, as among the heroes of antiquity. In another 
 he reminds the victor that he had predicted the victory to 
 him at the public games, and had encouraged him to become 
 a competitor for it ; and he extols him for having employed 
 his wealth for so noble an object. In another he excuses 
 himself for having delayed the composition of an ode which 
 he had promised to a wrestler among the youths, until the 
 victor had attained his manhood ; and as if to incite himself 
 to the fulfilment of his promise, he points out the hallowed 
 antiquity of these triumphal hymns, connecting their origin 
 with the first establishment of the Olympic games. 
 
 § 5. Whatever might be the theme of one of Pindar’s 
 epinikian odes, it would naturally not be developed with 
 the systematic completeness of a philosophical treatise. Pin- 
 dar, however, has undoubtedly much of that sententious 
 wisdom which began to show itself among the Greeks, at the 
 time of the seven wise men, and which formed an important 
 element of elegiac and choral lyric poetry before the time of 
 Pindar. The apophthegms of Pindar sometimes assume the 
 form of general maxims, and sometimes of direct admonitions 
 to the victor. At other times, when he wishes to impress 
 some principle of morality or prudence upon the victor, he 
 gives it in the form of an opinion entertained by himself : 
 “ I like not to keep much riches hoarded in an inner room ; 
 but I like to live well by my possessions, and to procure 
 myself a good name by making large gifts to my friends.” 
 
 The other element of Pindar’s poetry, his mythical narra- 
 tives, occupies, however, far more space in most of his odes. 
 That these are not mere digressions, for the sake of ornament, 
 has been completely proved by modern commentators. At 
 
XXII 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the same time he would sometimes seem to wish it to be 
 believed, that he had been carried away by his poetical 
 fervour, when he returns to his theme from a long mythical 
 narration, or when he annexes a mythical story to a prover- 
 bial saying ; as, for example, when he subjoins to the figura- 
 tive expression, “ Neither by sea nor by land canst thou find 
 the way to the Hyperboreans,” the history of Perseus’ visit 
 to that fabulous people. But even in such cases as these, it 
 will be found, on close examination, that the fable belongs 
 to the subject. Indeed, it may be observed generally of 
 those Greek writers who aimed at the production of works 
 of art, whether in prose or in poetry, that they often conceal 
 their real purpose, and affect to leave in vague uncertainty 
 that which had been composed studiously and on a precon- 
 ceived plan. Thus Plato often seems to allow the dialogue to 
 deviate into a wrong course, when this very course was 
 required by the investigation. In other passages Pindar 
 himself remarks that intelligence and reflection are required 
 to discover the hidden meaning of his mythical episodes. 
 Thus, after a description of the Islands of the Blessed, and 
 the heroes who dwell there, he says, “ I have many swift 
 arrows in my quiver, which speak to the wise, but need an 
 interpreter for the multitude.” Again, after the story of 
 Ixion, which he relates in an ode to Hiero, he continues, — 
 “ I must, however, have a care lest I fall into the biting 
 violence of the evil speakers ; for, though distant in time, 
 I have seen that the slanderous Archilochus, who fed upon 
 loud-tongued wrath, passed the greater part of his life in 
 difficulties and distress.” It is not easy to understand in 
 this passage what moves the poet to express so much anxiety ; 
 until we advert to the lessons which the history of Ixion 
 contains for the rapacious Hiero. 
 
 The reference of these mythical narratives to the main 
 theme of the ode, may be either historical or ideal. In the 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XX111 
 
 first case the mythical personages alluded to are the heroes 
 at the head of the family or state to which the victor belongs, 
 or the founders of the games in which he has conquered. 
 Among the many odes of Pindar to victors from iEgina, 
 there is none in which he does not extol the heroic race of 
 the HCacids. “ It is,” he says, “ to me an invariable law, 
 when I turn towards this island, to scatter praise upon you, 
 O iEacids! masters of golden chariots !” In the second case 
 events of the heroic age are described, which resemble the 
 events of the victors life, or which contain lessons and 
 admonitions for him to reflect upon. Thus two mythical 
 personages may be introduced, of whom one may typify the 
 victor in his praiseworthy, the other in his blameable acts : 
 so that the one example may serve to deter, the other to 
 encourage. In general Pindar contrives to unite both these 
 modes of allusion, by representing the national or family 
 heroes as allied in character and spirit to the victor. Their 
 extraordinary strength and felicity are continued in their 
 descendants ; the same mixture of good and evil destiny, 
 and even the same faults recur in their posterity. It is to 
 be observed, that, in Pindar’s time, the faith of the Greeks 
 in the connection of the heroes of antiquity with passing 
 events was unshaken. The origin of historical events was 
 sought in a remote age ; conquests and settlements in bar- 
 barian countries were justified by corresponding enterprises 
 of heroes : the Persian war was looked upon as an act of the 
 same great drama of which the expedition of the Argonauts 
 and the Trojan war formed the earlier parts. At the same 
 time the mythical part was considered as invested with 
 a splendour and sublimity of which even a faint reflection 
 was sufficient to embellish the present. This is the cause of 
 the historical and political allusions of the Greek tragedy, 
 particularly in iEschylus. Even the history of Herodotus 
 rests on the same foundations ; but it is seen most distinctly 
 
/ 
 
 Xxiv PREFACE. 
 
 in the copious mythology which Pindar has pressed into the 
 service of his lyric poetry. The manner in which mythical 
 subjects were treated by the lyric poets was, of course, 
 different from that in which they had been treated by the epic 
 poets. In epic poetry the mythical narrative is interesting 
 in itself, and all parts of it are developed with equal fulness. 
 In lyric poetry it serves to exemplify some particular idea, 
 which is stated usually in the middle or at the end of the 
 ode ; and those points only of the story are brought into 
 relief, which serve to illustrate this idea. Accordingly, the 
 longest mythical narrative in Pindar (viz. the description of 
 the voyage of the Argonauts in the Pythian ode to Arcesi- 
 laus, king of Cyrene, which is continued through twenty-five 
 strophes) falls far short of the sustained diffuseness of the 
 epos. Consistently with the purpose of this ode, it is intended 
 to set forth the descent of the kings of Cyrene from the 
 Argonauts, and the poet only dwells on the relation of Jason 
 with Pelias — of the noble exile with the jealous tyrants — 
 because it contains a serious admonition to Arcesilaus in his 
 above-mentioned relation with Damophilus. 
 
 § 6. The mixture of apophthegmatic maxims and typical 
 narratives would alone render it difficult to follow the thread 
 of Pindar’s meaning ; but, in addition to this cause of ob- 
 scurity, the entire plan of his poetry is so intricate, that a 
 modern reader often fails to understand the connection of 
 the parts, even where he thinks he has found a clue. Pin- 
 dar begins an ode full of the lofty conception which he has 
 formed of the glorious destiny of the victor ; and he seems, 
 us it were, carried away by the flood of images which this 
 conception pours forth. He does not attempt to express 
 directly the general idea, but follows the train of thoughts 
 which it suggests into its details, though without losing 
 sight of their reference to the main object. Accordingly, 
 when hs has pursued a train of thought, either in an 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XXV 
 
 apophthegmatic or mythical form, up to a certain point, he 
 breaks off before he has gone far enough to make the 
 application to the victor sufficiently clear ; he then takes 
 up another thread, which, perhaps, is soon dropped for a 
 fresh one ; and at the end of the ode he gathers up all these 
 different threads, and weaves them together into one web, 
 in which the general idea predominates. By reserving the 
 explanation of his allusions until the end, Pindar contrives 
 that his odes should consist of parts which are not complete 
 or intelligible in themselves ; and thus the curiosity of the 
 reader is kept on the stretch throughout the entire ode. 
 Thus, for example, the ode upon the Pythian victory which 
 was gained by Hiero, as a citizen of HStna, a city founded 
 by himself, proceeds upon the general idea of the repose 
 and serenity of mind which Hiero at last enjoys, after a 
 laborious life, and to which Pindar strives to contribute by 
 the influence of music and poetry. Full of this idea, Pindar 
 begins by describing the effects of music upon the gods in 
 Olympus, how it delights, inspires, and soothes them, 
 although it increases the anguish of Typhos, the enemy of 
 the gods, who lies bound under HCtna. Thence, by a sudden 
 transition, he passes to the new town of HCtna, under the 
 mountain of the name ; extols the happy auspices under 
 which it was founded ; and lauds Hiero for his great deeds 
 in war, and for the wise constitution he has given to the 
 new state ; to which Pindar wishes exemption from foreign 
 enemies and internal discord. Thus far it does nob appear 
 how the praises of music are connected with the exploits of 
 Hiero as a warrior and a statesman. But the connection 
 becomes evident when Pindar addresses to Hiero a series of 
 moral sentences, the object of which is to advise him to 
 subdue all unworthy passions, to refresh his mind with the 
 contemplation of art, and thus to obtain from the poets a 
 good name which will descend to posterity. 
 
 c 
 
XXVI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 § 7. The characteristics of Pindar’s poetry, which have 
 been just explained, may be discerned in all his epinikian 
 odes. Their agreement, however, in this respect, is quite 
 consistent with the extraordinary variety of style and 
 expression which has been already stated to belong to this 
 class of poems. Every epinikian ode of Pindar has its 
 peculiar tone, depending upon the course of the ideas, and 
 the consequent choice of the expressions. The principal 
 differences are connected with the choice of the rhythms, 
 which again is regulated by the musical style. According 
 to the last distinction, the epinikia of Pindar are of three 
 sorts, Doric, ^Eolic, and Lydian ; which can be easily dis- 
 tinguished, although each admits of innumerable varieties. 
 In respect of metre, every ode of Pindar has an individual 
 character ; no two odes having the same metrical structure. 
 In the Doric ode the same metrical forms occur as those 
 which prevailed in the choral lyric poetry of Stesichorus, 
 viz., systems of dactyls and trochaic dipodies, which most 
 nearly approach the stateliness of the hexameter. Accord- 
 ingly, a serene dignity pervades these odes ; the mythical 
 narrations are developed with greater fulness, and the ideas 
 are limited to the subject, and are free from personal feeling ; 
 in short, their general character is that of calmness and 
 elevation. The language is epic, with a slight Doric tinge, 
 which adds to its brilliancy and dignity. The rhythms of the 
 ^Eolic odes resemble those of the Lesbian poetry, in which 
 light dactylic, trochaic, or logaoedic metres prevailed ; these 
 rhythms, however, when applied to choral lyric poetry, were 
 rendered far more various, and thus often acquired a charac- 
 ter of greater volubility and liveliness. The poet’s mind 
 also moves with greater rapidity; and sometimes he stops 
 himself in the midst of narrations which seem to him 
 impious or arrogant. A larger scope is likewise given to his 
 personal feelings ; and in the addresses to the victor there is 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 XXV11 
 
 a gayer tone, which at times even takes a jocular turn. 
 The poet introduces his relations to the victor, and to his 
 poetical rivals ; he extols his own style, and decries that of 
 others. The ^Eolic odes, from the rapidity and variety of 
 their movement, have a less uniform character than the 
 Doric odes ; for example, the first Olympic, with its joyous 
 and glowing images, is very different from the second, in 
 which a lofty melancholy is expressed ; and from the ninth, 
 which has a proud and complacent self-reliance. The lan- 
 guage of the ^Eolic epinikia is also bolder, more difficult in 
 its syntax, and marked by rarer dialectical forms. Lastly, 
 there are the Lydian odes, the number of which is incon- 
 siderable : their metre is m v stly trochaic, and of a particu- 
 larly soft character, agreeing with the tone of the poetry. 
 Pindar appears to have preferred the Lydian rhythms for 
 odes which were destined to be sung during a procession to 
 a temple, or at the altar, and in which the favour of the 
 deity was implored in an humble spirit. 
 

 
 
 
 # 
 
 
OLYMPIAN ODES* 
 
 / 
 
 4 1 
 
/ 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE OLYMPIAN ODES. 
 
 (Extracted from Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities . — Abridged Ed.) 
 
 The Olympic Festival was a Pentaeteris ( 7reyraETr]pig ), that 
 is, according to the ancient mode of reckoning, a space of 
 four years elapsed between each festival, in the same way as 
 there was oniy a space of two years between a Trieteris. It 
 was celebrated on the first full moon after the summer sol- 
 stice. It lasted, after all the contests had been introduced, 
 five days, from the 11th to the 15th days of the month 
 inclusive. The fourth day of the festival was the 14th of 
 the month, which was the day of the full moon, and which 
 divided the month into two equal parts. 
 
 The festival was under the immediate superintendence of 
 the Olympian Zeus, whose temple at Olympia, adorned with 
 the statue of the god made by Phidias, was one of the most 
 splendid works of art in Greece. There were also temples 
 and altars to other gods. The festival itself may be divided 
 into two parts — the games or contests (fiytov ’ OXvfjnriaKoe ), 
 and the festive rites (eoprij) ; connected with the sacrifices, 
 with the processions, and with the public banquets in honour 
 of the conquerors. 
 
 The contests consisted of various trials of strength and 
 skill, which were increased in number from time to time. 
 There were in all twenty-four contests, eighteen in which 
 men took part, and six in which boys engaged, though they 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE 
 
 were never all exhibited at one festival, since some were 
 abolished almost immediately after their institution, and 
 others after they had been in use only a short time. We 
 subjoin a list of these from Pausanias, with the date of 
 introduction of each, commencing from the Olympiad of 
 Corsebus : — 1st. The foot-race (^pojjLog), which was the only 
 contest during the first 13 Olympiads. 2nd. The SiavXog, 
 or foot-race, in which the stadium was traversed twice, first 
 introduced in Olympiad 14. 3rd. The doXiyoc, a still longer 
 foot-race than the diavXog, introduced, in Olympiad 15. 4th. 
 Wrestling ( 7raXrj ) ; and 5th. The Pentathlum (nevrctOXov), 
 which consisted of five exercises, viz. leaping, the foot-race, 
 the throwing the discus, the throwing the spear, and 
 wrestling ; both introduced in Olympiad 18. 6th. Boxing 
 ( 7rvy jd }] ), introduced in Olympiad 23. 7th. The chariot-race, 
 with four full-grown horses (i7nru)v teXelujv $ po/xog , apfia), 
 introduced in Olympiad 25. 8th. The Pancratium (7r ayKpa- 
 tiov ), consisting of boxing and wrestling ; and 9th. The 
 horse-race (/Woe ^Xrjg), both introduced in Olympiad 33. 
 10th and 11th. The foot-race and wrestling for boys, intro- 
 duced in Olympiad 37. 12th. The Pentathlum for boys, 
 
 introduced in Olympiad 38, but immediately afterwards 
 abolished. 13th. Boxing for boys, introduced in Olym- 
 piad 41. 14th. The foot-race, in which men ran with the 
 
 equipments of heavy-armed soldiers (tCjv ottXltu)v Spofxog), 
 introduced in Olympiad 65, on account of its training 
 men for actual service in war. 15th. The chariot-race 
 with mules (cnrrjvri), introduced in Olympiad 70; and 
 16th. The horse-race with mares (mX^), introduced in 
 Olympiad 71 ; both of which were abolished in Olympiad 84. 
 17th. The chariot-race with two full-grown horses (5Wwv 
 teXeluv (jwupig), introduced in Olympiad 93. 18th and 19th. 
 The contests of heralds ( tcrjpvKEg ) and trumpeters («TaX 7 rty/cra/), 
 introduced in Olympiad 96. 20th. The chariot-race with 
 
OLYMPIAN ODES. 
 
 5 
 
 four foals ( ttuXujv ap/iamv), introduced in Olympiad 99. 
 21st. The cliariot-race with two foals ( ttuXojv (rwioplg), intro- 
 duced in Olympiad 128. 22nd. The horse-race with foals 
 
 ( 7 r<l)\og keXtjq), introduced in Olympiad 131. 23rd. The 
 
 Pancratium for boys, introduced in Olympiad 145. 24th. 
 
 There was also a horse-race (iWoc ke\j]q), in which boys 
 rode, but we do not know the time of its introduction. 
 
 The judges in the Olympic Games, called Hellanodicse 
 (EXXai wSikcu), were appointed by the Eleans, who had the 
 regulation of the whole festival. It appears to have been 
 originally under the superintendence of Pisa, in the neigh- 
 bourhood of which Olympia was situated ; but after the 
 conquest of Peloponnesus by the Dorians, on the return of 
 the Heraclidse, the ^Etolians, who had been of great assist- 
 ance to the Heraclidse, settled in Elis, and from this time 
 the Hkolian Eleans obtained the regulation of the festival, 
 and appointed the presiding officers. 
 
 The Hellanodicse were chosen by lot from the whole body 
 of the Eleans. Their number varied at different periods, but 
 at a later time there were eight Hellanodicse. The office, 
 probably, lasted for only one festival. They had to see that 
 all the laws relating to the games were observed by the 
 competitors and others, to determine the prizes and to give 
 them to the conquerors. An appeal lay from their decision 
 to the Elean senate. Under the direction of the Hel- 
 lanodicse were a certain number of Alytse (aXvrai), with an 
 Alytarches ( aXvTapxnc ) at their head, who formed a kind 
 of police, and carried into execution the commands of the 
 Hellanodicse. There were also various other minor officers 
 under the control of the Hellanodicse. 
 
 All free Greeks were allowed to contend in the games, 
 who had complied with the rules prescribed to candidates. 
 The equestrian contests were necessarily confined to the 
 wealthy; but the poorest citizens could contend in the 
 
6 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE 
 
 athletic games. This, however, was far from degrading the 
 games in public opinion ; and some of the noblest as well 
 as meanest citizens of the state took part in these contests. 
 The owners of the chariots and horses were not obliged to 
 contend in person ; and the wealthy vied with one another 
 in the number and magnificence of the chariots and horses 
 which they sent to the games. 
 
 All persons who were about to contend, had to prove to 
 the Hellanodicse that they were freemen, and of pure Hel- 
 lenic blood ; that they had not been branded with atimia, 
 nor guilty of any sacrilegious act. They further had to 
 prove that they had undergone the preparatory training 
 (■ npoyvnvavfjLaTa ) for ten months previously. All competitors 
 were obliged, thirty days before the festival, to undergo 
 certain exercises in the Gymnasium, at Elis, under the super- 
 intendence of the Hellanodicse. The competitors took their 
 places by lot. The herald then proclaimed the name and 
 country of each competitor. When they were all ready to 
 begin the contest, the judges exhorted them to acquit them- 
 selves nobly, and then gave the signal to commence. The 
 only prize given to the conqueror was a garland of wild 
 olive (kotlvoq), cut from a sacred olive-tree, which grew in the 
 sacred grove of Altis, in Olympia. The victor was originally 
 crowned upon a tripod covered over with bronze, but after- 
 wards upon a table made of ivory and gold. Palm branches, 
 the common tokens of victory on other occasions, were placed 
 in his hands. The name of the victor, and that of his father 
 and of his country, were then proclaimed by a herald before 
 the representatives of assembled Greece. The festival ended 
 with processions and sacrifices, and with a public banquet 
 given by the Eleans to the conquerors in the Prytaneium. 
 
 The most powerful states considered an Olympic victory, 
 gained by one of their citizens, to confer honour upon the 
 state to which he belonged ; and a conqueror usually had 
 
OLYMPIAN ODES. 
 
 7 
 
 immunities and privileges conferred upon him by the grati- 
 tude of his fellow citizens. On his return home the victor 
 entered the city in a triumphal procession, in which his 
 praises were celebrated, frequently in the loftiest strains of 
 poetry. 
 
 (From Wordsworth's Greece.) 
 
 The Olympic games were celebrated once in four years. 
 They lasted for five days, and terminated on the full moon 
 which succeeded the summer solstice. Contrasted with the 
 particular eras which served for the chronological arrange- 
 ment of events in distinct provinces of Greece, the epoch 
 supplied by their celebration to all the inhabitants of the 
 Hellenic soil deserves peculiar attention. While the suc- 
 cession of Priestesses of Juno at Argos, while the Ephors at 
 Sparta, and the Archons at Athens, furnished to those states 
 respectively the basis of their chronological systems ; it was 
 not a personage invested with a civil or sacerdotal character, 
 who gave his name, not merely to the single years, but to 
 the quadrennial periods of the whole of Greece ; it was he 
 who was proclaimed victor, not in the chariot race of the 
 Hippodrome, but as having outrun his rivals in the stadium 
 at Olympia. A reflection on the rapid course of time 
 (the great racer in the stadium of the world) might well be 
 suggested by such a practice ; but it is more remarkable, as 
 illustrating the regard paid, by the unanimous consent of all 
 the states of Greece, to those exercises of physical force, 
 which preserved them so ]ong from the corruptions of luxury 
 and effeminacy, into which, through their growing opulence 
 and familiarity with oriental habits, they would very soon 
 otherwise have fallen. 
 
 Olympia was the Palaestra of all Greece. The simplicity 
 of the prizes, the antiquity of their institution, the sacred 
 
8 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE OLYMPIAN ODES. 
 
 ceremonies with which they were conducted ; the glory 
 which attached not merely to the victor, but to his parents, 
 his friends, and country ; his canonization in the Greek 
 calendar ; the concourse of rival tribes from every quarter of 
 the Greek continent and peninsula to behold the contests 
 and to applaud the conqueror ; the lyric songs of poets ; the 
 garlands showered upon his head by the hands of friends, of 
 strangers, and of Greece herself ; the statue erected to him 
 in the precincts of the consecrated grove, by the side of 
 princes, of heroes, and of gods ; the very rareness of the 
 celebration, and the glories of the season of the year at which 
 it took place, when all the charms of summer were poured 
 upon the earth by day, and the full orb of the moon streamed 
 upon the olive groves, and the broad flood of the Alpheius 
 by night ; these were influences which, while they seemed to 
 raise the individual to an elevation more than human, pro- 
 duced a far more noble and useful result than this, — that of 
 maintaining in the nation a general respect for a manly and 
 intrepid character, and of supporting that moral dignity and 
 independence, which so long resisted the aggressions of force 
 from without, and were proof against the contagion of weak 
 and licentious principles within. 
 
OLYMPIAN I. 
 
 Inscribed to Hiero of Syracuse, victorious in the single horse-race : 
 written 01. 77, 1. B.C. 472 : and sung at Syracuse, at a banquet in 
 the palace. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 1 7 : Proemium. The poet prepares a hymn in honour of king Hiero, 
 for his victory in the Olympic games. 17 — 100 : Digression from the 
 mention of Olympia to the fable of Pelops, and the tale of Tantalus’s 
 crime and its punishment. 100 — end : Eeturn to the praise of Hiero ; 
 prayer for his prosperity. 
 
 Best of all things is water, and gold shines far above all 
 haughty wealth as blazing fire shines in the night ; but if thou 
 wishest to tell of victories, my heart, seek no bright star 
 during the day, in the desert air, more genial than the sun ; 
 nor can we sing of a contest higher in rank than Olympia’s, 
 whence the renowned hymn has power over the minds of the 
 wise, so that they sing the Son of Cronos, coming to the 
 blest wealthy dwelling of Hiero — who wields the righteous 
 sceptre in Sicily rich in sheep, plucking the highest of all 
 virtues ; a and he is adorned also with the flower of music, 
 in such strains as we poets round the hospitable table often 
 sing. 
 
 But from the peg take down the Dorian lyre, if at all the 
 glory of Pisa and Pherenicus hath subjected thy mind to the 
 influence of sweetest thoughts, when by the Alpheus he 
 rushed, displaying in the course a body ungoaded, and 
 blended with victory his lord, the Syracusian monarch re- 
 joicing in the steed. And for him ( the monarch) glory 
 shines in Lydian Pelops’ colony abounding in brave men 
 \i. e. in Pisa], — Pelops, whom earth-surrounding Poseidon of 
 mighty strength loved from the time when Clotho raised him 
 from the unsullied urn, b well furnished as to his resplendent 
 shoulder with ivory. Surely many things are wonderful, and 
 in these sometimes fables, adorned beyond the truth with 
 
 & v. 13 : the chief of all glories (the heights of all excellencies). 
 b v. 26 : or, from the purifying vessel. 
 
10 
 
 OLYMPIAN I. 
 
 varied falsehoods, deceive the report of mortals. 0 And the 
 Grace, that procure th all the sweets for mortals, bestowing 
 authority hath brought about that the incredible should 
 often come to be believed ; but after- days are the best con- 
 vincers. 
 
 Now it is becoming to a man to speak what is good con- 
 cerning the deities, for so is blame the less. O son of Tan- 
 talus, I will record thy story, not as men of yore have done, 
 how when thy sire invited the gods to that most holy ban- 
 quet, and to friendly Sipylus, offering a return of feasts to 
 the gods, then that he of the bright trident seized thee, and, 
 tamed in his soul by love, bore thee away on his gold-decked 
 steeds to the palace of Zeus the far-honoured, where in after- 
 time came Ganymede to the same office. 
 
 But when thou hadst vanished, nor did the men, after 
 much search, bring thee to thy mother, forthwith did some 
 one of the envious neighbours say that the gods had cut thee 
 limb by limb into 11 the strength of water boiling with fire, 
 and on the tables around they distributed among themselves 
 the sodden morsels of thy flesh, and ate. But to me it is 
 impossible to call any of the blessed ones a glutton ; I stand 
 aloof from such a thought. Loss 0 often befalls the slander- 
 ous. But, yet, if the guardians of Olympus honoured any 
 mortal man, it was this Tantalus ; but he could not bear 
 meekly great prosperity ; but through pride and surfeit 
 drew upon himself immense calamity, which the Father hung 
 over him, a mighty stone for him, which ever eagerly desiring 
 to remove from his head, he is a stranger to happiness. This 
 helpless constantly-wretched life he has, a fourth affliction 
 with three others, because that having stolen the nectar and 
 ambrosia of the immortals with which they had made him 
 imperishable, he gave it to his comrade boon companions ; 
 but if any one expects to escape the notice of the Deity in 
 doing aught, he errs. Therefore the immortals sent back his 
 son again to the short-lived race of men. But when, about 
 the time of blooming youth, down began to shade his chin so 
 as to make it dark, he meditated to obtain in contest the 
 proffered marriage, the renowned Hippodameia, from her 
 
 c v. 28 : i. e. deceive mortals so that reports are falsified. 
 d v. 48 : or, over. e v. 53 : or, small gain. 
 
OLYMPIAN I. 
 
 11 
 
 Pisan sire. And having approached near the hoary sea alone 
 in the night, he called upon the deep-sounding lord of the 
 goodly trident, and he straightway appeared to him close at 
 hand. 
 
 To whom, then, he spake, “ If, O Poseidon, the pleasing 
 gifts of Cypria at all contribute to thy pleasure, impede the 
 brazen spear of (Enomaus, and me in swiftest chariot speed 
 on to Elis, and bring me near to victory. Since having 
 destroyed thirteen hero-suitors he defers the marriage of his 
 daughter ; but great danger admits not a cowardly man. 
 But one of those who needs must die, why should he sitting 
 at his ease in obscurity in vain cherish without a name his 
 old age, deprived of all praise ? But to me this combat shall 
 be submitted, and do thou grant a favourable issue.” Thus 
 he spoke, nor did he apply himself to fruitless prayers ; and 
 him the god honoured, and gave him a golden car, and steeds 
 unwearied with their wings. f And he conquered the might 
 of (Enomaus, and won the maiden consort, and begat six 
 lordly sons dear to the virtues. But now he is mingled 
 withs splendid offerings of blood, lying by the stream of 
 the Alpheus, holding a much-frequented tomb near the altar 
 thronged by strangers. 
 
 But the glory shines afar of the Olympic games in the 
 race-courses of Pelops, where swiftness of feet contends, and 
 the height of strength stout at work ; and he who wins hath 
 for the remainder of his life delightful calm, as far as his 
 contests for the prize can give it. h 
 
 But the good that ever cometh day by day cometh best to 
 every mortal. But it is my duty to crown him with an 
 equestrian lay in the AEolian measure ; for I feel assured that 
 I shall adorn with my illustrious turns of hymns 1 no host of 
 all men of the present day more skilled both in the elegancies 
 of life, or more powerful in might.-) 
 
 The Deity thy guardian, Hiero, provides for thy pur- 
 suits, having this care ; and if he fail not soon, I hope to 
 
 f v. 87 : i.e. winged unwearied steeds. 
 
 e v. 91 : he has obtained splendid obsequies. 
 
 h v. 99 : or, “on account of this victory;” the ye merely giving 
 force to the expression. 
 
 1 v. 104 : or, with inmost folds, i. e. highest flights, of poetry. 
 
 \ v. 105 : i. e. either in the lovely lore of music, or in the noble pur- 
 suits of horsemanship. 
 
12 
 
 OLYMPIAN II. 
 
 celebrate a still sweeter theme k with the swift car ? and 
 to come to the sunny Cronius, having found a fitting mode 
 of praise. Now, for me the muse doth keep a shaft most 
 mighty in strength : one man is greater than another , 1 but in 
 kings the summit rises to the highest point : m stretch thy 
 views no further. May it be thy lot for tliis time 11 to walk 
 on high, and mine for as long a time to live with conquerors, 
 conspicuous for poetic skill throughout the Greeks in every 
 quarter . 0 
 
 OLYMPIAN II. 
 
 Inscribed to Theron of Agrigentum, conqueror in the chariot-race : 
 01. 76, 1. B.C. 476 : sung probably at a banquet at Agrigentum. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 11 : Proemium. Praise of Theron and his family. 12 — 46 : The 
 changes and vicissitudes of fortune that befel the race of Cadmus, 
 under which those of Theron’s family are tacitly alluded to. 46 — 83 : 
 Theron’s present and future happiness ; the happiness of the good in 
 a future state. 83 — end : Conclusion. Envy is deprecated and the 
 glories of Theron recounted. 
 
 Ye hymns that rule the lyre, what god, what hero, what man 
 shall we celebrate ? Truly Pisa belongs to Jove, and the 
 Olympic games Heracles founded, from the spoils won in war, 
 and Theron we must celebrate for his victorious four-horse car, 
 just in his reverence towards strangers, a stay of Agragas, 
 flower of noble forefathers, upholding the state. Forefathers , 
 who, after having suffered many afflictions in their spirit, 
 obtained a sacred home by the river, a and were the eye of 
 Sicily : a fortunate life, too, attended them, bringing both 
 wealth and grace to crown their inborn virtues. 
 
 But O Cronian child of Bhea, that presidest over the seat 
 of Olympus and the highest of contests, and the stream of 
 
 k Understand fiEpi/ivav. 
 
 1 v. 113 : lit. some are great over some. Or, but different men are 
 great in different ways. 
 
 m v. 114 : i.e. kings are on the highest pinnacle. 
 n v. 115 : i. e. during this period of thy life to be thus ennobled by 
 further victories. ° v. 117 : i- e. wherever Greece extends. 
 
 a v. 9 : or, a habitation sanctified by the river close at hand. 
 
OLYMPIAN II. 
 
 13 
 
 Alpheus, soothed by my strains, propitious, preserve for their # 
 sake their paternal soil for the future race. Of actions once 
 accomplished, whether in justice or against justice, not even, 
 Time, father of all things, can render one issue undone ; but 
 with prosperous fortune oblivion may result. For, conquered 
 by goodly pleasure, inveterate woe expires, when divine Fate 
 sends upwards lofty bliss. 
 
 And what I have said agrees with 10 the divine daughters of 
 Cadmus, who suffered great sorrows ; but grievous woe fell 
 before superior good. There lives among the Olympian gods 
 Semele, the long-haired, who died in the thunder’s roar ; but 
 Pallas loves her ever, and Father Zeus much ; and her ivy- 
 wreathed son loves her. They tell, too, that in the sea, 
 amongst the marine daughters of Nereus, imperishable life is 
 appointed to Ino for all time. Of a surety, to mortals no term 
 of death is clearly fixed, nor when we shall close with enduring 
 good c a tranquil day, child of the Sun ; but varying at dif- 
 ferent times do the streams of good fortune and of troubles 
 come about to men. 
 
 So Destiny, which sways the ancestral joyous lot of these, d 
 with the heaven-sent bliss brings too some recurring woe at 
 another time ; from the time when the fated son fell in with 
 Laius, and slew him, and fulfilled the response uttered long 
 ago in Pytho. And keen -eyed Erinnys, having beheld the 
 crime , destroyed his warlike race with mutual slaughter ; but 
 Thersander was left to Polynices at his fall, honoured in 
 youthful contests and in battles of war, a scion to support 
 the house of the Adrastidse, whence they e derive the origin 
 of their race. 
 
 It is befitting that the son of .ZEnesidamus should obtain 
 the praises of song and of lyre. For at Olympia he himself 
 received the gift of honour/ and in Pytho and the Isthmus 
 impartial bestowers of victory s conferred on his co-heir 
 brother wreaths won by the four-horse cars, twelve times 
 ' unning the course. But success frees from cares him that 
 strives in the contest. 
 
 b v. 22 : suits. 
 
 c v. 33 : i. e. with good troubled by no evil. 
 
 d v. 35 : i. e. of the Emmenidse, the ancestors of Theron. 
 
 e i. e. the Emmenidse. f v. 49 : i. e. the crown. 
 
 e v. 50 : or, the kindred bestowers of victory, &c. 
 
OLYMPIAN II. 
 
 14 
 
 , Wealth, when adorned with virtues, conferreth apt occa- 
 sion of various honours , 11 suggesting deep and vehement 
 desire for what is praiseworthy, as a bright star, the true 
 light to man : but if any one be so happy as to possess it , 1 
 he knows what will hereafter befall ; that the lawless souls 
 of those who die here J forthwith suffer punishment, and some 
 one beneath the earth pronouncing sentence by dire compul- 
 sion, k judges the sinful deeds done in this realm of Zeus ; yet 
 the good, enjoying the light of the sun equally by night and 
 by day, behold 1 a life less woe-worn , 111 not vexing the earth 
 with strength of hands, nor the waters of ocean, by reason of 
 scanty sustenance ; but with the honoured of the gods, with 
 those, viz ., 11 who ever rejoiced in observance of their oaths , 0 the 
 good pass a life without a tear ; but theyP endure woe loath- 
 some to sight. 
 
 But as many as have had the steadfastness, tarrying thrice 
 on either side,*! to keep their soul altogether from unjust 
 actions, accomplish their way on the path of Zeus to 
 the tower r of Cronus ; where ocean breezes blow round the 
 island of the blessed, and flowers of gold blaze, some on the 
 ground and some on resplendent trees, and the water feeds 
 others ; with necklaces of which they intertwine their hands 
 and their heads, according to the just decrees of Bhadaman- 
 thus. Rhadamanthus, I say , whom Father Cronus hath as 
 his ready assessor, Cronus , the spouse of Bhea who holds of 
 all the highest throne. 
 
 And Peleus, too, and Cadmus, are numbered amongst 
 these ; and there did his mother bring Achilles, after that she 
 had persuaded the heart of Zeus with prayers : Achilles , who 
 overthrew Hector, the unconquerable immovable pillar of 
 Troy, and gave to death Cycnus and the .Ethiopian son of 
 Eos. 
 
 h v. 54 : i.e. gives means of acquiring various advantages. 
 
 1 v. 56 : i. e. wealth adorned with virtue. 
 
 j i. e. who depart hence. 
 
 k v. 60 : i.e. being bound by stern necessity so to do. 
 
 1 i. e. live. 
 
 m v. 62 : viz. than the bad, i. e. enjoy a life far sweeter. 
 
 n v. 66 : i. e. among those who ever rejoiced. 
 
 ° v. 66 : or, in uprightness, piety. 
 
 p The others, i. e. the wicked. 
 
 q v. 69 : or, having endured thrice in this world and thrice in the 
 other. r v. 70 : or, palace. 
 
OLYMPIAN III. 
 
 15 
 
 There are many swift darts under my elbow, within my 
 quiver, s which have a voice for those with understanding, 
 but to the crowd they need interpreters. He is gifted with 
 genius who knoweth much by natural talent, but those who 
 have learnt^ boisterous in gabbling, like daws, clamour in 
 fruitless fashion against the divine bird of Zeus. 
 
 Keep now the bow on the mark ; u come, my spirit, whom 
 do we strike at, sending again v shafts of good report from a 
 benevolent spirit ? At Agragas verily stretching my bow, I 
 will utter an oath-bound w word from a sincere soul, viz., that 
 even for a hundred years that city has brought forth no 
 other hero more beneficent in heart to his friends, or more 
 ungrudging in hand, than Theron. 
 
 But envy loves to attack praise, not encountering it fairly, x 
 but from senseless men, which loves to babble and to obscure 
 the noble deeds of the goodJ Since the sand escapes num- 
 bering, as to our hero, what pleasures he has given to others, 
 'who can tell h z 
 
 OLYMPIAN III. 
 
 Inscribed to the same Theron as the foregoing ode, on account of the 
 same victory : sung probably at Agrigentum, at the festival of the 
 Theoxenia of the Dioscuri. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 6 : Proemium. The poet prays that his song may be pleasing to the 
 Tyndaridse. 6 — 34 : The olive-wreath won by Theron leads to a di- 
 gression on the introduction of the olive into the Peloponnesus, brought 
 by Heracles from the Hyperboreans. 34 — end : The poet returns to 
 the Tyndaridse, who have granted the victory of Theron to the piety 
 of his family, the Emmenidae. 
 
 I declare that I shall please a the hospitable Tyndaridse and 
 Helen with beautiful locks, by honouring famed Agragas in 
 
 s v. 83 : i. e. as yet not drawn forth. 4 i. e. the taught. 
 
 u v. 89 : or, keep the bow now pointed to the mark. 
 v v. 90 : or, however. w v. 92 : i. e. solemn. 
 
 x v. 96 : or, satiety that never combines with justice loves to attack, &c. 
 y v. 97 : or, delighting to excite censure, and to throw a cloud over 
 the glorious deeds of the good. 
 
 z v. 100 : or, since the sand mocks at numbering, who can tell how 
 many pleasures he (i. e. Theron) has brought to others ? 
 
 tt v. 1 : or, according to Diss, I pray that I may please, &c. 
 
16 
 
 OLYMPIAN III. 
 
 having raised aloft the hymn of Olympic victory in honour 
 of Theron ; the song in honour of unwearied steeds : so did 
 the muse stand by me propitious, when I had invented a new 
 and sparkling mode, to adapt to the Dorian rhythm, the voice 
 of glorious revelry. b 
 
 Since the wreaths placed on his (Theron’s) flowing hair, 
 exact of me this divinely-imposed debt, that I should with 
 fitting skill blend for the son of AEnesidamus the lyre with 
 varied tones, and the loud sound of flutes and well-arranged 
 words; 0 and Pisa exacts a debt of me to sing, d Pisa , I say , 
 from which celestial strains flow to men, for whomsoever the 
 unerring ^Eolian judge, the national umpire of Greece, doth 
 cast above his eyelids around his locks the grey-coloured 
 ornament of olive ; the olive which formerly the son of Am- 
 phitryon brought from the shady fountains of Ister, fairest 
 memorial of the contests in Olympia ; having persuaded by 
 words the Hyperborean race, the worshippers of Apollo, he 
 with kindly feelings asked for the thronged e and sacred lawn 
 of Zeus a shady plant, common gift to men and the crown 
 of valour. For already to him, the altars having been con- 
 secrated to his sire, the full moon f in her golden car had 
 lighted up opposite to him at evening her full eye ; and he 
 ( Heracles ) had instituted the upright decision of mighty 
 games, and the fifth-yearly festival as well, on the hallowed 
 craggy banks of Alpheus. 
 
 But the district of Cronian Pelops did not yet grow fair 
 trees in its glens : bare of these, the sweet spot seemed to 
 him to be subject to£ the sharp rays of the sun. So then his 
 mind was set, so as to make him go to the Istrian land: 
 there Latona’s daughter, that driveth the steed, received him 
 • as he came from the ridges and winding dells of Arcadia, at 
 the time when, at the bidding of Eurystheus, necessity im- 
 posed by Zeus his sire, urged him h to go to bring the hind 
 with horns of gold, which formerly Taygeta, having given in 
 
 b v. 6 : or, the voice that gives splendour to the revel. 
 c v. 8 : i. e. poetry, or poetic diction. 
 d v. 9 : or, demands that I should praise her. 
 e v. 17 : or, all-receiving. 
 
 f v. 19 : or, the moon which divides the month, 
 s v. 24 : i. e. to be exposed to. 
 h v, 28 : or, made him ready to go. 
 
OLYMPIAN IY. 
 
 17 
 
 recompense to Orthosian Diana, inscribed as sacred to her. 1 
 In pursuit of which, he beheld even that land behind the 
 breath of cold Boreas. There fixed, he stood in wonder at 
 the trees. Of these sweet desire possessed him to plant some 
 around the twelve-times-encircled boundary of the goal. 
 
 And now to this festival^ he cometh propitious, with the 
 godlike twin sons of deep-girded Leda ; for to them he, when 
 going to Olympus, gave charge to preside over the wondrous 
 strife, both as regards the valour of men, and chariot-driving, 
 that whirls the car along. k Me then my soul urges on to say, 
 that to the Emmenidse and to Theron glory has come, the 
 well-horsed sons of Tyndarus granting it, 1 because of all 
 mortals they honour them 111 with most numerous hospitable 
 boards ; with pious disposition observing the solemn rites 
 of the blessed ones. 
 
 If water excels among the elements , and gold be the most 
 honoured 11 prize of wealth, then does Theron, arriving at the 
 utmost bound by his virtues, reach by his inborn excellence 0 
 the pillars of Heracles :P what is beyond is inaccessible both 
 to wise and foolish : I will not pursue it ; I should surely be 
 vain to try.Q 
 
 OLYMPIAN IY. 
 
 Inscribed to Psaumis of Camarina, conqueror in the mule-chariot race : 
 01. 82, 1. B.C. 452 : sung at Olympia, during the procession to the 
 altar of Zeus in the Altis. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 1 2 : Proemium. Invocation of Zeus iEtneus, who had granted the 
 victory. 12 — 18 : Prayers for the future success and prosperity of 
 Psaumis. 19 — end : Defence of Psaumis, who, it appears, had 
 
 been made the subject of ridicule on account of his grey hairs. 
 
 O thou mightiest hurler of the thunder unwearied of foot, 
 0 Zeus, on thee I call; for the season of thy festival re- 
 
 1 v. 30 : or, having dedicated. •> v. 34 : i. e. the Theoxenia. 
 
 k v. 37 : or, rapid chariot-guiding. 
 
 1 v. 39 : i. e. through their gift. m v. 40 : or, draw near them. 
 n v. 42 : cherished or revered. 
 
 ° v. 44 : or, by his own resources. p v. 44 : i. e. the furthest point 
 
 q v. 45 : or, I were vain else, I should lose my labour. 
 
 e 
 
18 
 
 OLYMPIAN IV. 
 
 turning again has brought me, to the sound of' a song 
 accompanied with the varied tones of the lyre, to testify of a 
 the loftiest games. 
 
 When their hosts are successful, true friends straightway 
 rejoice b at the sweet tidings. 
 
 But, O son of Cronus, who holdest ^Etna, wind-swept 
 burden of hundred-headed mighty Typhon, receive for the 
 sake of the Charites this festal pomp c in honour of the vic- 
 tory at Olympia, as a most lasting lustre of mighty worth. 
 For it is Psaumis 5 chariot procession that comes along, d who 
 crowned with Pisan olive, seeks to raise renown to Camarina. 
 May the Deity be propitious to his e future prayers ! since I 
 praise him as very zealous in the rearing of horses, and re- 
 joicing in hospitality that receives all, and turned with sin- 
 cere purpose to quiet which fosters the state. 
 
 I will not tinge f my theme with falsehood : experience 
 verily s is the test of mortals ; experience which freed the son 
 of Clymenus (i. e. Erginus) from the contempt of the Lemnian 
 women : but winning the race in brazen arms, he said to 
 Hypsipyle, when going to receive 11 the crown, “ Such a one 
 am I for swiftness ! my hands and my heart are alike. And 
 there grow, even on youthful men, hoary locks often out of 
 the proper time of life .” 1 
 
 a v. 3 : i.e. to praise. 
 
 b v. 4 : or, the aor. may signify, not “the quickness of their joy,” as I 
 have taken it in the text, but its being usual ; “ true friends are wont to 
 rejoice,” &c. c v. 9 : or, choral hymn. 
 
 d v. 10 : or more literally, “For the triumphal procession [ku)/xoq] 
 advances, being of the cars of Psaumis : i. e. for this is the triumphal 
 procession of the victorious car of Psaumis. 
 e v. 13 : ? to my future prayers. 
 f v. 17 : or stain. 
 
 £ v. 18 : perhaps rot here means, “ as the proverb says.” 
 h or, going in quest of. 
 
 1 v. 28 : or, among the youthful often do hoary locks appear, even 
 beyond (contrary to, i. e. before) the fitting (reasonable) time of life. 
 
OLYMPIAN Y. 
 
 19 
 
 OLYMPIAN V. 
 
 Inscribed to the same Psaumis, for the same victory : sung at Camarina 
 in the procession at the return of Psaumis. 
 
 AKGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 8 : Invocation of Camarina on the return of Psaumis to his native 
 town. 9 — 16 : Address to Pallas, protectress of cities. 17 — end : 
 Prayer to Zeus, that he would protect the youth of the city Camarina 
 and grant a happy close of life to Psaumis. 
 
 Receive, O daughter of Ocean, a with gracious heart this 
 hymn , the honour b of lofty achievements and of the crowns 
 won at Olympia, and the gift of the victorious car of 
 Psaumis ; who, ennobling thy city the nurse of people, hath 
 honoured the six double altars at the great festivals of the 
 gods with the sacrifice of oxen, and at the five-day contests of 
 games, with chariots of horses and mules and with the steed 
 that runs single : and on thee has laid a fair glory by his 
 victory, and proclaimed by the herald’s voice his father 
 Acron and thy newly-established seat. 
 
 And coming from the much-loved dwellings of (Enomaus 
 and Pelops, c O Pallas, protectress of cities, he sings in praise 
 of thy holy grove d and the river Oanis, and the lake hard 
 by, and the sacred channels of the stream, with which Hip- 
 paris waters the people, e and unites f quickly a high-grown 
 forest of solid buildings, raising from poverty s this town of 
 citizens to power. Ever for the sake of the praise of noble 
 deeds do toil and expense contend against a deed enveloped 
 in danger ; but those who are successful are thought even to 
 be wise by their citizens. 
 
 O Saviour Zeus, that dwellest high in the clouds, and 
 inhabitest the Cronian hill, and honourest the wide-flowing 
 Alpheus, and the holy Idsean cave ! I come, thy suppliant, 
 calling upon thee with 11 pipes that utter a Lydian strain, to 
 entreat of thee to embellish this city with a noble race of 
 
 a v. 2 : i.e.O Camarina. b v. 1 : i. e. in honour of, &c. 
 
 c i. e. from Olympia. 
 
 d v. 10 : i.e. brings a hymn to be sung in thy honour. 
 e v. 12 : i.e. their fields. f v. 13 : i.e. builds. 
 
 s v. 14 ; or want. h v. 19 : i.e. with the sound ofi 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 OLYMPIAN YI. 
 
 men, 1 and that a tranquil old age may bring thee, 0 Olympian 
 victor, delighting in the horses of Poseidon, to thy end, with 
 thy sons, O Psaumis, standing near theeJ But if any one 
 cherishes k honest wealth, having enough of possessions, 1 and 
 add thereto fair fame, let him not covet to become a god. 
 
 OLYMPIAN YI. 
 
 Inscribed to Agesias of Syracuse, of the clan of the Iamidae, victorious 
 with the mule-chariot : perhaps 01. 78, 1. B.C. 468 : sung at Stym- 
 phalus in Arcadia, probably at a banquet of the Iamidae. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 7 : Proemium. This the poet says must be splendid. 8 — 21 : 
 Praises of Agesias. 22 — 70 : Digression on the mythical origin of the 
 Iamidae (the ancestors of Agesias), and their prophetic art. 71 — end : 
 Peturns to Agesias and his victories. Exhortation to iEneas, the 
 leader of the chorus, to show that the ancient reproach against the 
 Boeotians is misapplied, and to sing the praises of Syracuse and 
 Ortygia. 
 
 As when we build a a magnificent palace, placing gilded 
 columns under the close vestibule of the mansion, so will we 
 construct the 'portal b of this ode : when we commence a work 
 we should make the facing 0 splendid. If there be one who 
 has won at Olympia, and minister too at the oracular altar 
 of Zeus in Pisa, and enrolled among the founders of re- 
 nowned Syracuse, what praise can that man avoid, if he 
 meet with the sweet songs d of unenvying citizens h Let the 
 son of Sostratus know that he has his lucky foot in this 
 sandal. 
 
 1 v. 20 : or, with manly virtues. 
 
 v. 23 : i. e. with thy sons around thee. Or, taking the <rs before 
 ( peps iv instead of after it, render “ and that thou, a conqueror at Olympia, 
 delighting in the horses of Poseidon, mayst lead a tranquil old age to 
 dry end, with thy sons, 0 Psaumis, around thee.” 
 k v. 23 : i. e. has. 
 
 1 v. 24 : or, being sufficiently supplied with possessions. ? Beinp 
 content with his possessions. 
 a v. 2 j sub. 7rr)Yvvfitv. 
 
 b v. 3 : sub. TrpoQvpov, the portal or commencement of thiz ode . 
 c v. 3 : or, entablature. 
 
 d v. 7 : i-c. if he be celebrated in the sweet songs. 
 
OLYMPIAN VI. 
 
 21 
 
 Achievements unaccompanied with, danger are honoured, 
 neither when performed among men nor in the hollow 
 ships ; e but if aught noble be done with toil, many mention 
 it. O Agesias, for thee tbe same praise is ready at hand/ 
 which, in former time, Adrastus in justice openly pronounced 
 upon the seer Amphiaraus, the son of Oecleus, when earth 
 had seized upon& both him and his white steeds. Then after 
 the dead bodies of seven funeral pyres had been consumed, 
 the son of Talaus spoke, near Thebes, some such speech as 
 this : “ I lament the eye of my army, both a good seer, and 
 good too to fight with the lance.” This too belongs to the 
 Syracusian hero, the lord of the revel. Though neither con- 
 tentious nor fond of strife, and having sworn a mighty oath, 
 I will yet clearly testify to this for his sake ; and the muses 
 with dulcet strain will permit me to do so. 
 
 Come, O Phintis, yoke for me now the strength of mules, 
 with all speed, that in the illustrious 11 path of poetry we may 
 make the car to go, and I may arrive even at the origin 1 of 
 these heroes : for they,j beyond all others, know to lead this 
 road, since they won the wreaths in Olympia : therefore to 
 them we should throw open the gates of song. To Pitana by 
 the ford of the Eurotas must we come to-day betimes — 
 Pitana , k who verily, after intercourse with Poseidon, son of 
 Cronus, is said to have borne a dark-haired child, Evadne. 
 But she concealed the unborn child, conceived not in wed- 
 lock, by the folds of her garment j 1 and on the appointed 
 month, sending her attendants, she bade them give the child 
 to take care of to the hero the son of Elatus, who ruled the 
 Arcadians in Phcesana, and had his lot to dwell on the 
 Alpheus : there reared, she first tasted the sweets of love in 
 Apollo’s arms. 
 
 But she did not for her full time escape the eye of 
 -ZEpytus, trying to conceal the seed of the god ; but he 
 departed on his road to Pytho, m repressing in his mind with 
 acute earnestness wrath unutterable ; departed , I say , to 
 
 e v. 10 : i.e. neither by land or sea. 
 
 f v. 12 : i.e. ready to be paid. * v. 14 : i.e. had swallowed up* 
 h v. 23 : KaOapq,. Perhaps better, clear, open, without obstruction. 
 
 1 v. 25 : ancestral stock. i i. e. those mules. 
 
 k y. 29 : i. e. the nymph Pitana. 1 v. 31 : or, in her womb. 
 
 m v. 37 : i.e. Delphi. 
 
22 
 
 OLYMPIAN VI. 
 
 inquire of tlie oracle concerning this intolerable calamity. 
 Meantime she (Evadne), laying aside her girdle woven with 
 purple woof, and silver ewer, under dark bushes brought 
 forth a boy instinct with divinity. To her the deity of the 
 golden locks 11 sent to assist her gentle Ilithyia and the Fates ; 
 and from her womb, and from the yearning pang of child- 
 birth, came forth lamus to light at once :° him, distracted 
 with grief, she left upon the ground ; and by the decrees of 
 the deities, two bright-eyed serpents caring for him,P nourished 
 him with the harmless poison of bees. 
 
 But the king, when he arrived, driving his car from stony 
 Pytho, inquired of all in his house who might be the child 
 that Evadne had borne ; for he asserted that he was born 
 with Phoebus for his sire, and that he would be to the 
 dwellers upon earth a seer superior above all mortals, nor 
 that ever would his race fail. Thus, indeed, did he declare ; 
 but they then avouched not to have seen or heard him, now 
 five days born. But he lay hid among the rushes and in 
 impervious brakes, covered thickly, as to his delicate body, 
 with the yellow and empurpled rays of the wall-flower ; 
 wherefore she uttered the propitious word <1 that he should be 
 for ever called by this undying name. 
 
 He, when he had received the fruit of golden- crowned 
 youth, descending by night into the midst of the Alpheus, 
 under the open sky, called upon Poseidon the widely- 
 mighty, his ancestor, and the bow-bearing guardian of 
 heaven-founded Delos, asking for himself some office 1 useful, 
 to the people. 53 And the sure paternal voice answered him, 
 and addressed him “ Arise, my child, come hither, to go 11 
 
 to the land common to all, following my voice.” 
 
 Then they came to the steep rock of lofty Cronus : there 
 the god granted him a double treasure of divination ; 
 first to hear the voice that knows not falsehood, and 
 next when daring Heracles, noble offspring of the HCacidse, 
 should found for his father the thronged festival and the 
 
 n i. e. Apollo. 
 
 ° v. 44 : i, e. by easy birth. p v. 47 : or, concerned for. 
 
 q v. 56 : or, wherefore she announced the ominous words. 
 
 r v. 60 : or, dignity. 
 
 0 v. 60 : i.e. begged the god to grant him some kingly gift. 
 
 6 v. 62 : or, came to him. u v. 63 : that thou mayst go. 
 
OLYMPIAN YI. 
 
 23 
 
 mightiest law of games, then he (Apollo) commanded him 
 (Iamns) to establish an oracle v on the upper part of the 
 altar of Zeus. From which time, much renowned through- 
 out the Greeks is the race of the Iamidse. Wealth too 
 followed ; and honouring worth w they come into a glorious 
 path. x The deed proves each man what he is : censure from 
 others who are envious overhangs them, on whom, first 
 driving round the twelfth course, the honoured goddess of 
 victory sheds a goodly shape . J 
 
 But if, of a truth, O Agesias, thy maternal grandsires, 2 
 dwelling beneath the mountains of Cyllene, have, with 
 supplicatory sacrifices, many a time, and with many of them, 
 piously gifted Hermes the herald of the gods ; Hermes , who 
 rules the games and the lot of the prizes, a and favours 
 Arcadia, nurse of heroes, then it is he, O son of Sostratus, 
 who, with his heavily-thundering father, ordains success to 
 thee. 
 
 I fancy I have upon my tongue a sharp-sounding whet- 
 stone^ which fancy creeps over me willing amongst sweet- 
 flowing songs. c 
 
 My grandam was the Stymphalian Metopa with its flowery 
 banks, d who bore equestrian Theba, whose pleasant water e I 
 drink/ when I weave a varied hymn for warrior heroes : 
 urge on now thy choir, O Hmeas, first to sing aloud of 
 Parthenian Here, and then to knows whether in truth we 
 escape the ancient reproach, “ Boeotian swine !” h For thou 
 
 v v. 70 : perhaps, to sacrifice an offering. 
 w v. 72 : “ ? setting a high value on glory.” 
 
 x v. 73 : i.e. they have been successful in the public games ; or, they 
 became famous. 
 
 on my tongue of a sharn- 
 
 y v. 76 : i. e. whose form the goddess of victory makes more goodly. 
 z i. e. the Arcadians. a v. 79 : or, the fortune of the contests. 
 
 b v. 82 : lit. I have the fancy, or feeling 
 sounding whetstone. 
 
 c v. 83 : or, reading 7r poaeXtcEi, which fancy draws me on, 
 loth, to the sweetly-flowing breath of songs. 
 
 d v. 84 : i. e. the Stymphalian lake with its flowery banks ; 
 
 “the blooming Stymphalian Metopa,” viz. the nymph, 
 poet meant both the nymph and the lake at once, not 
 th 0111 * e v. 85 : i.e. the fountar 
 
 f v. 86 : ? I will drink. 
 
 g v. 89 : or, and next to try, or, and to make kno 
 h v. 90: i.e. let them try whether it be true 
 ancient reproach is no longer applicable to us. 
 
24 
 
 OLYMPIAN VIL 
 
 dost cany my message well/ thou art the interpreter of the 
 fair-haired Muses/ the sweet mixing-cup of loudly-sounding 
 songs. k 
 
 Bid them too make mention of Syracuse and Ortygia, 
 ruling which with upright sceptre, and with his soul intent 
 on just deeds, Hiero waits on ruddy-footed Demeter and the 
 feast of her daughter borne by snowy steeds and the might of 
 HCtnsean Zeus. Him do the sweet-speaking lyres and songs 
 acknowledge : may time as it comes on never overthrow his 
 bliss ! But, with pleasant welcome, 1 may he receive the 
 festal procession of Agesias, that cometh from the walls of 
 Stymphalus, from home to home, 111 leaving the mother of 
 fleecy Arcadia. 11 Two anchors are useful to have fastened 
 from the swift ship in a stormy night. May the Deity 
 propitious grant glorious the lot of these, 0 and of those. P 
 
 Sovereign Lord of the Ocean, grant a direct course free 
 from peril to Agesias on his return , 0 thou that art the spouse 
 of Amphitrite with the golden distaff, and glorify Q the sweet 
 bloom of my hymns. 
 
 OLYMPIAN VIL 
 
 Inscribed to Diagoras the Rhodian, victorious in boxing: 01. 79, 1. 
 B.C. 464 : sung at Ialysus, at a public banquet of the Eratidse. 
 
 AKGrUMENT. 
 
 1 — 12 : Proemium. The excellence of poetic praise. 13 — 19 : The 
 praises of the victor and his father. 20 — 76 : The ancient legends 
 concerning the ancient mythical history of Rhodes ; 1. About Tlepo- 
 lemus ; 2. Concerning the Heliadse ; 3. How the island was set apart 
 as the portion of Helios. 77 — end : Return to the victories of 
 Diagoras, and prayers for his prosperity. 
 
 s when a man, taking from his rich hand a chalice, bub- 
 within with the juice of the vine, presents it to his 
 
 : i. e. thou teachest the chorus as I desire. 
 
 ’. e. thou art the herald of their words to others. 
 e. thou hast to teach the performers to combine their vocal 
 ial powers. 1 v. 98 : or, goodwill, 
 
 leaving one home, Stymphalus, for another, Syracuse, 
 Stymphalus, the metropolis of the country, 
 alians. p i. e. the Syracusans, 
 
 ^e. exalt. 
 
OLYMPIAN VII. 
 
 25 
 
 youthful son-in-law, drinking to his health, passing from one 
 house to another the golden chalice which is the costliest of 
 his possessions, and he honours the glory of the feast and his 
 own relation, and in the midst of his friends he makes him an 
 object of admiration for his happy marriage, a so I too sending 
 to victorious heroes the nectar poured forth, the Muses’ gift, 
 sweet fruit of talent, I cheer them, b sending it, I say, to the 
 conquerors at Olympia and at Pytho. 
 
 Happy is he whom good report befalls : one man at one 
 time and one at another does life-infusing grace 0 kindly 
 regard, along with the lyre and the voiceful instruments 
 of the pipes. And now, to the sound of both, I have 
 gone to d Rhodes, hymning with Diagoras the ocean Phodos, 
 daughter of Aphrodite and bride of the Sun, that I may 
 praise, in recompense for his boxing, both the resolute huge 
 hero, who won for himself a crown on Alpheus and Castalia, 
 and his father Demagetus, dear to justice ; who inhabit, with 
 Argive warriors, the three-citied isle, near the promontory of 
 spacious Asia. I shall willingly endeavour for them, from 
 their origin even from Tlepolemus, publicly proclaiming it, 
 to raise a common panegyric, viz., for the powerful race of 
 Heracles ; e for on the father’s side they boast to be descended 
 from Zeus, and partly they are Amyntor’s offspring on the 
 mother’s side, from Astydameia. But round the minds of 
 men hang errors numberless, and this is impossible to dis- 
 cover, what now and at the end too is best for a man to gain. 
 For the settler of this land f in past time, moved with passion, 
 
 a v. 1 : or, more literally, “ as when one (viz. a father ) with wealthy 
 (? munificent) hand having taken a chalice of solid gold, bubbling within 
 with the dew of the vine, then drinking to (pledging) his youthful future 
 son-in-law, and honouring his relative, gives it him to bear from home to 
 home — the chalice, the costliest of his possessions and the glory of the 
 banquet, and so too (so at the same time) amidst attending friends makes 
 him envied for his united marriage (union in wedlock), so I too, &c. 
 
 b v. 9 : or, propitiate them. c i. e. poetry. 
 
 d v. 13 : or, landed at Rhodes. Perhaps it may mean, “I have come 
 down to Olympia.” 
 
 e v. 23.: i. e. I shall endeavour for them, the powerful race of 
 Heracles, commencing from their very origin, even from Tlepolemus, to 
 raise a tale of praise common to the whole nation ; or, “ I will gladly 
 for them, beginning at Tlepolemus, raise in my proclamation a tale of 
 praise, common for all the mighty race of Heracles.” 
 
 f v. 30 : . e. Tlepolemus. 
 
26 
 
 OLYMPIAN VII. 
 
 slew in Tiryns, smiting him with the staff of hard olive, 
 Licymnius, the base-born brother of Alcmena, who had come 
 from the palace of Midea. But the passions of the soul f lead 
 astray even the wise. Having come then to the deity, he 
 consulted the oracle : and on him the golden-haired god, from 
 his incense-breathing shrine enjoined a straights voyage from 
 the shore of Lerna to the sea-girt district , 11 where formerly 
 the mighty monarch of the gods bathed the dwellings of men 1 
 with snow-flakes of gold, at the time when, by the art of 
 Hephaestus and his brazen-forged axe, at j the summit of her 
 father’s head, Athene, springing upwards, shouted with an 
 exceeding great cry : and Heaven and mother Earth shud- 
 dered at her. 
 
 Then, too, the son of Hyperion, the deity that giveth 
 light to mortal's, enjoined on his children dear to observe 
 the soon -approaching duty, that for this goddess they 
 might be the first to establish a splendid altar, and by 
 instituting holy sacrifice, might gladden the mind of the 
 father, and of the maid that thunders with the spear. Heed 
 to the prudent one, k hath spread amongst men 1 courage and 
 joy ; m and yet does the cloud of oblivion advance bafflingly, 
 and wrests from the mind the straight path of action. For 
 these went up, and the seed of blazing flame they bore not 
 with them ; but they founded in the citadel of Lindus a 
 sacred lawn, with rites in which no fire was used. On them 
 Zeus, bringing a yellow cloud, rained much gold, and the 
 goddess of the gleaming eyes herself granted them by their 
 excellently-working hands to surpass those who dwell upon 
 the earth in every art. Then did the paths bear works re- 
 sembling what was alive and moving , 11 and their glory was 
 high ; and, to one who knows, skill in art without the aid of 
 false tricks is preferable . 0 
 
 f v. 30 : i.e. fits of passion. s v. 33 : or, direct. h i. e. the island. 
 
 1 v. 34 : or, the land, the country. * i. e. from. 
 
 k v. 44 : attention to the dictates of Prometheus, i. e. the prudent one, 
 prudence personified. 
 
 1 v. 44 : i. e. amongst those who heed them. 
 
 m v. 44 : or, i( the sense of honour, daughter of prudent foresight, 
 produces among men bravery and usefulness in battle.” 
 
 n v. 52 : i.e. works which imitated creatures alive and moving were 
 to be seen in the streets. 
 
 ° v. 53 : i. e. by those who have had experience, or who have learnt, 
 skill in art when devoid of false tricks is preferred, viz. to magic W'ts. 
 
OLYMPIAN VII. 
 
 27 
 
 The ancient legends also of men say, that when Zens and 
 the immortals were portioning out the earth, not as yet was 
 Rhodos to be seen in the ocean flood, but that the island lay 
 hid in the briny depths : nor of Helios, who was absent, did 
 any one point out the share ; P and so they left him without a 
 portion of land, him , the pure god. And for him, when he 
 (Helios) had reminded him, Zeus was again about to cast the 
 lot ; but heQ allowed him not ; since he said he saw within 
 the hoary sea a land rising from the bottom, full of nourish- 
 ment for men and kindly for flocks. And forthwith he bade 
 golden-tired Lachesis uprear her hands to heaven, r and not to 
 utter insincerely the mighty oath of the gods, but with the 
 son of Cronus to grant that it, s when raised to the bright air, 
 should hereafter be a possession to himself ; and the sum of 
 his words found their accomplishment, turning out true. 
 From the watery sea sprang forth the island, and the genial 
 father of the sharp rays of light is lord thereof, he, the com- 
 mander of the fire-breathing steeds. 
 
 There with Rhodos having intercourse of yore, he begot 
 seven sons, who, in the time of the former race of men, were 
 endowed with subtlest skill ; of these one begot Cameirus 
 and Ialysus, the eldest of his children , and Lindus ; and they 
 ruled separately each his portion of the cities , 13 having divided 
 into three parts the land of their sire ; and their seats were 
 called by their names. There (in Rhodes ) a sweet atonement 11 
 of bitter calamity is appointed unto Tlepolemus, the princ e of 
 the Tirynthians, v as unto a god ; both the steaming sacrifice of 
 sheep led in procession and the decision of the contests ; with 
 the wreaths of which Diagoras has twice crowned himself, 
 and in the renowned Isthmus four times conquering, and in 
 Nemea he won w one victory after another, x and in rugged 
 Athens he won the samel And the brazen shield 2 in Argos 
 acknowledged him, and the works of art a of brass in Arcadia 
 
 p v. 58 : i. e. no one pointed out his lot, or share, to be put into the urn. 
 q i • e. Helios. r v. 65 : i.e. in swearing. 
 
 s v. 67 : the island. • v. 76 : viz. those which he had himself built. 
 u v. 77 : or, recompense. 
 
 v v. 78 : i. eJ is instituted in his honour. w v. 82: sub. l(jTe<pavo)caTO, 
 x v. 82 : i. e. the victory in two consecutive years. 
 y v. 82 : sub. aXXav Itt aXXoi. 
 
 * v. 84 : i.e. the prize of victory, 
 v. 84 : i. e. vessels wrought of brass. 
 
28 
 
 OLYMPIAN VIII. 
 
 and in Thebes, and the regular Boeotian lists and Pellene. 
 And in iEgina the lists acknowledged him six times pre- 
 vailing : in Megara, too, the pillared record b tells no other 
 tale. 
 
 But, O Father Zeus, guardian of the ridges of Atabyrius, 
 honour the law of song c in honour of the victory at Olympia, 
 and the hero that hath obtained the glory of valour with the 
 fist, and grant him reverential esteem both from citizens and 
 from strangers ; since he pursues unswervingly a path opposed 
 to arrogance, well-instructed in what an upright mind, inhe- 
 rited from virtuous forefathers, has given to him. Throw 
 not into the shade the common offspring d of Callianax. 
 Conjoined with the joyous festivals of the Eratidse the city 
 too hath festal banquets ; e but in one and the same brief space 
 of time the shifting breezes change rapidly. 
 
 OLYMPIAN VIII. 
 
 Inscribed to Alcimedon of ZEgina, conqueror in the wrestling-match of 
 boys : 01. 80, 1. B.C. 460 : sung at Olympia in the procession, after 
 the victory, to the altar of Zeus in the Altis. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 14 : Proemium. Dedication of the ode to Olympia. 15 — 20 : The 
 po it commences the praises of the victor and his brother Timosthenes. 
 21 — 52 : The praise of ^Egina for the justice and valour of its inhabi- 
 tants. 53 — end : The poet returns to the praises of the victor and his 
 trainer, Milesias, and ends with prayers for his prosperity. 
 
 O Olympia, mother of the golden-crowned games, queen of 
 truth ! where prophetic men, divining by sacrifices, explore 
 the will of Zeus of the bright lightning, if he hath aught to 
 tell concerning men who desire in their soul to obtain the 
 mighty praise of victory and repose from their toils ; and 
 there is an accomplishment granted to prayers in return for 
 the piety of men. But, O Grove of# Pisa, abounding with 
 fair t rees, on the Alpheus, receive this festal procession and 
 
 j 
 
 b v. 87 : the decree of the stone pillar. 
 
 j 5 v. 88 : i. e. the wonted song. 
 
 j* 1 v. 92 : i. e. the offspring connected by one common origin. 
 
 c v. 94 : i. e. the city holds festival when they do so. 
 
OLYMPIAN VIII. 
 
 29 
 
 wearing of tlie wreath : great truly is his renown whom thy 
 glorious meed befalls ; but of blessings different happen to 
 different pien, and there are many ways of success, with the 
 favour of the gods. But thee, O Timosthenes, and thy 
 brother, destiny assigned to Zeus the tutelary god of thy 
 birth, who made thee indeed renowned in Nemea, and hath 
 now made Alcimedon, thy brother , victorious at Olympia 
 near the hill of Cronus. And he was fair to behold, and, in 
 deeds not disgracing his form, winning in the wrestling- 
 match, he proclaimed .ZEgina that plyeth the long oar to be 
 his country. JEgina , where Themis, guardian deity, assessor 
 of Zeus the god of strangers, is honoured in a manner be- 
 yond what is done by other men. For in that which is 
 diversified and which inclines in various ways, to judge 
 with upright mind and fairly is a hard task ; a but some law 
 of the immortals has placed this sea-girt country too b as a 
 divinely-appointed protection to stranger-guests of every 
 clime (and may future time ne’er be weary of so doing !), this 
 country , I say , governed by Dorian race since Abacus. 
 
 JEacus, whom the son of Latona and wide -ruling Poseidon, 
 when about to construct a circling bulwark for Ilium, called 
 in as their fellow-workman at the wall, because it was fated 
 that it c should outbreathe smoke, in the city- wasting battles, 
 when wars arose. And silvery snakes, d leaping, three in 
 number, to the wall, as soon as it had just been built, two of 
 them fell down, and there on the spot bewildered resigned 
 their breath ; but one, with a cry of triumph, sprang in ; and 
 Apollo, pondering in his mind the prodigy, spake at once 
 before them. 
 
 “ Pergamus, where thy hands, O hero, have wrought, is to 
 be taken ; thus does the omen of the son of Cronus, deeply- 
 thundering Zeus, sent by him , , speak to me : not without thy 
 descendants ; but it shall be conquered in the first and fourth 
 generations of thy posterity.” Thus, then, the deity, the 
 noble child of Latona, having clearly spoken, hastened in his 
 
 a v. 25 : i.e, it is a difficult matter to decide with upright mind (or, 
 to balance exactly), and “ to give to each party the proper proportion of 
 that which is of several kinds, and which inclines the scale in different 
 ways.” b v. 26 : /cat, i. e. this country as well as Olympia. 
 
 c v. 33 : viv, i. e. Grkcpavov. 
 
 d v. 37 : ? snakes with blue or gleaming eyes. 
 
30 
 
 OLYMPIAN VIII. 
 
 car to the Xanthus and the Amazons that love the steed, 
 and to the Ister. And the trident-wielder directed his swift 
 car to the ocean Isthmus, transporting back fEacys hither, e 
 on his steeds decked with gold, and to the ridge of Corinth 
 he drove , to view there the famous festival. 
 
 And there is nothing pleasant among mortals which will 
 be equally so to all ; f but if I have retraced in my song the 
 glory of Milesias won among the beardless youths, s let not 
 envy aim at me with a rough stone ; for I will alike tell this 
 victory 11 at Nemea, and his after-contest gained in the pan- 
 cratium of men ; but to instruct is, in truth, easier to him 
 that knoweth ; 1 and it is senseless not to have learned 
 before for the minds of the unskilled are frivolous. But 
 that man k can further 1 than others declare those means, viz. 
 what method 111 shall most advance a hero who is about to 
 bear off the much-desired glory from the sacred games. 
 Now is Alcimedon, whom he trained , a glory to him, having 
 won the thirtieth victory ; 11 Alcimedon , who, favoured by 
 the deity, and not wanting courage, has on the limbs of four 
 youths , 0 removed from himself p a most hateful return to his 
 home, and speech dishonoured and the unnoticed road,^ 
 and in his father’s father he inspired a vigour able to 
 struggle with old age : truly, he who hath been successful r 
 forgets the grave. But I must, awakening the memory of 
 the past, tell of the victorious glory of the hands of the 
 
 e v. 51 : i. e. to iEgina. 
 
 f v. 53 : i. e. when some are pleased, others will be vexed and envious. 
 
 £ v. 54 : i. e. his youthful victory, avsdpa/iov, Qu. “ made his glory 
 to spring on high.” 
 
 h v. 57 : of his , i.e. of Melesias ; that is, tell of his having gained in 
 former times the same prize himself which his pupil Alcimedon has just 
 now won. 
 
 I v. 59 : i. e. Milesias can train his pupils well, having in former times 
 carried off the prize himself. 
 
 j v. 60 : i. e. before undertaking to teach others. 
 
 k v. 62 : i. e. Milesias. 1 v. 63 : i. e. better. 
 
 m v. 63 : course of discipline, or training. 
 
 II v. 66 : i. e. of his pupils. 
 
 0 v. 68 : i. e. by conquering four youths in wrestling. 
 
 p v. 68 : ind7r£0?7K:arothe notion is also conveyed of “laid on them, 
 as well as of “removed from himself.” — Cook. 
 
 v. 69 : or, the path of life that shuns observation. 
 
 r v. 73 : i. e. the man who hears tidings that rejoice him, the grand* 
 father who hears of his grandson’s success. 
 
OLYMPIAN IX. 
 
 31 
 
 Blepsiadse, by whom now the sixth wreath from the leaf- 
 bearing contests is worn. The dead, too, have their share in 
 the praise paid with customary honours, s and the dust does 
 not hide the illustrious glory of their kindred. * And Iphion, 
 having heard the joyous news from Proclamation , 8 * * 11 daughter 
 of Hermes, can perchance tell to Callimachus the bright 
 honour at Olympia, which Zeus has granted to their race. 
 But may he be willing to grant them blessings upon bless- 
 ings, and avert bitter diseases ! I pray that he may not, on 
 account of their glorious lot, make Nemesis adverse, but, 
 bestowing on them a life free from woe, exalt both them and 
 their city to honour. ♦ 
 
 OLYMPIAN IX. 
 
 Inscribed to Epharmostus of Opus, conqueror in the wrestling-match 
 probably in 01. 81, 1. B.C. 456 : sung by torchlight, in some public 
 part of the city, as the victor was returning from crowning the altar 
 of Ajax. * 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 20 : Proemium. Praises of Epharmostus and his native city, Opus. 
 21 — 11 : Celebration of the gymnastic excellence of Epharmostus, 
 which he possesses by the gift of heaven, as did Heracles his mighty 
 strength. 41 — 79 : Locrian legends. 80 — end : The poet returns to 
 Epharmostus, and celebrates at great length his victories and his 
 athletic might. 
 
 The strain of Archilochus sounding forth at Olympia, the 
 thrice-repeated cry of victory with loud tones, might have 
 sufficed to precede in the triumph Epharmostus and his loved 
 compeers, leading the festal procession near the Cronian hill : 
 but now, my spirit, with such shafts as these, a from the far- 
 darting bows of the Muses, aim at b Zeus, lord of the crimson 
 levin, and the holy promontory of Elis, which once the 
 Lydian hero Pelops won, the fairest dower of Hippodameia : 
 and send a sweet winged shaft to Delphi : thou wilt not 
 
 8 v. 78 : Kyvvojiov spdo/jisvov, lit. paid according to rite. 
 
 1 v. 80 : i. e. though dead they can feel and know the glory of their 
 li ving posterity. 
 
 * v. 82 : ’AyyeX'ictg, or, “from Humour, ” “Fame.” 
 
 a v. 8 : i. e. greater and stronger ones. b v. 6 : or, approach. 
 
32 
 
 OLYMPIAN IX. 
 
 apply thyself to a fruitless theme, c in making the lyre to 
 vibrate for the deeds of wrestling of a hero from far-famed 
 Opus ; praising her and her son. 
 
 Opus, which Themis and her daughter, all-glorious Eu- 
 nomia, preserver of states, possess, and she d blooms in the 
 honours of victory, both in Castalia and near the stream of 
 the Alpheus, whence the best of garlands magnify the far- 
 famed mother of the Locrians with beauteous trees. But I, 
 illumining the beloved city with bright songs, swifter than the 
 noble steed and winged bark, will send forth this announce- 
 ment in every quarter, if with any skill given me by heaven, e I 
 tend the choice garden of the Graces ; f for they grant all that 
 is delightful. Men become brave and skilful by the gift of 
 the gods ; for how else could Heracles have brandished in his 
 hands his club against the trident, when, standing in defence 
 of Pylos, Poseidon pressed him hard, and there pressed him 
 hard Phoebus also warring with a silver bow ; nor did Hades 
 hold unmoved the staff, with which he leads the mortal 
 corpses of those that die to their subterranean path. Cast 
 this theme, my tongue, far from me ; since to blaspheme the 
 gods is a hateful science, and to be loud-tongued out of 
 proper season s sounds in harmony with h madness. Babble 
 not such things : shun to tell of war and strife among the 
 immortals, 1 and direct the tongue to Protogeneia’s city (Opus), 
 where, by the decree of Zeus, who wields the quivering light- 
 ning, Pyrrha and Deucalion coming down together from Par- 
 nassus, founded their mansion first, and without marriage- 
 union produced the stony race of the same stock, and hence 
 they were called LaoiJ Bouse for them k the tuneful breath 1 
 of poetry, and praise wine for being old, but the flower of song 
 for being new. m They tell that the might of waters had 
 
 c v. 12 : or, strains that come to nought. d i. e. Opus. 
 
 e v. 26 : or, if with at all divinely-implanted art ; or, art naturally en- 
 gendered in me. f v. 27 : i. e. poetry, 
 
 s v. 38 : or, “ to indulge in intemperate boasting.” — Coolcesley. 
 h v. 39 : accords with, is like, smacks of. 
 
 1 v. 40 : or, perhaps, shun to tell of war or any contest without the 
 sanction of the gods. j v. 46 : people, fr. \ag, a stone. 
 
 k v. 47 : i . e. for the Opuntians. 
 
 1 v. 47 : olfjiov, career, strain. 
 
 m v. 49 : i.e. in other things we praise what is ancient, but in poetry 
 what is new and unheard of. 
 
OLYMPIAN IX. 
 
 33 
 
 overwhelmed the dark earth, but that the sea-water at 
 Zeus’ behest suddenly received an ebb. From them were 
 your ancestors, bearers of the brazen shield ; being in origin 
 sons of women of the race of Iapetus, and, on the father's side , 
 sons of the powerful Cronidse, native kings ever. 
 
 In time past, the Lord of Olympus having carried off the 
 daughter of Opus from the land of the Epeans, in quiet had 
 intercourse with her on the Msenalian hills, and brought her 
 to Locrus, lest the course of time, bringing upon him B a death 
 reft of offspring, should carry him off. But his spouse bore 
 the mighty seed, and the hero was gladdened on seeing his 
 adopted son, and called him so that he should bear the same 
 name as his maternal grandsire, him I say , a hero beyond de- 
 scription great, both in beauty of form and in valiant deeds. 
 And he gave him a city and a people to govern : and 
 strangers flocked to him both from Argos and from Thebes, 
 the Arcadians too, and the men of Pisa. 
 
 But the son of Actor and iEgina, Menoetius, of the new- 
 comers did he especially honour. Menoetius , whose son, along 
 with the Atreidse, having come to the plain of Teuthras, 
 stood with Achilles alone, at that time when, having turned 
 the warlike Greeks to flight, Telephus attacked their sea- 
 beaten stems, so as to show to those 0 of understanding the 
 fierce spirit of Patroclus, so that they should know it. 
 Wherefore P the offspring of Thetis exhorted him never to be 
 ranged in deadly battle apart from his man-slaying spear. 
 
 Would that I were inventive in poetry, and worthy to 
 advance in the Muses’ car, and might boldness and great 
 power attend me ! But through his friendship and virtue I 
 have come to aid the cause of<i the Isthmian chaplets of Lam- 
 promachus, when both upon one day won a contest. Two 
 other successes happened to Epharmostus afterwards at the 
 gates of Corinth, and others too to him in the vale of Nemea. 
 At Argos, also, he won the prize of men, and when a youth 
 he won at Athens. And in Marathon, when taken out from 
 the boys, r what a contest with the elder men did he endure for 
 
 “ i. e. Locrus. 
 
 ° v. 74 : lit. to him, or, to the man of understanding. 
 
 p v. 76 : or perhaps rather, “from which time.” 
 v. 84 : i. e. to honour or praise. 
 
 T v. 89 ; i. e. when grown up to man’s estate. 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 OLYMPIAN JL 
 
 the sib er vessels ! And having subdued heroes with quick- 
 turning art which never fell, he passed through the ring of 
 spectators, with what applause ! in the prime of life, and 
 fair, and having done the fairest deeds. On another occasion 
 was he seen, an object of marvel to the Parrhasian crowd, at 
 the time of the solemn assembly of Lycaean Zeus ; and again , 
 when he bore off, at Pellene, the warm cure of wintry 
 breezes : s the tomb, likewise, of Iolaus, is a supporter of his 
 glories, and the sea-washed Eleusis. 1 
 
 Whatever comes by nature is best : yet many among men 
 have sought to gain glory by virtues acquired through in- 
 struction. But when performed without the deity, each deed 
 becomes none the worse when passed over in silence. For 
 there are some paths that lead further than others, nor will 
 one single pursuit lead us all to honour. Excellences of 
 every kind are difficult of attainment ; but bringing forward u 
 this prize of valour, with confidence sound aloud with clear 
 voice that this hero marvellously is gifted with strength of 
 hand, skilful in limb, with looks that breathe valour, who, 
 victorious, has crowned in the feast the altar of Ajax, son of 
 Oileus. 
 
 OLYMPIAN X. 
 
 Inscribed to Agesidamus, an Epizephyrian Locrian, conqueror in the 
 boxing-match among the boys : probably 01. 74, 1. B.C. 484 : sung 
 at Olympia. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 6 : Poetry is needed for the praise of noble deeds. 7 — end : After 
 having spoken generally of the utility of songs of triumph, which 
 give lasting existence to fame, the poet gradually returns to Agesi- 
 damus, to whom he promises an Epinician hymn. 
 
 At one time is there to men the greatest benefit in a winds : 
 and at another time is there the greatest benefit from the waters 
 of heaven, daughters of the cloud. But if with toil one be 
 successful in. the contest, sweet-toned hymns arise as the 
 
 v- 96 : i. e. the woollen cloak given as the prize. 
 
 * v. 98 : i. e. they, too, witnessed Ids victories. 
 
 * y. 108 : i. e , quoting. a v. 1 : or, the greatest use made of 
 
OLYMPIAN XI. 
 
 35 
 
 foundation of future renown, and are the faithful pledge for 
 deeds of valour. 
 
 And this praise, which none can envy, b is stored up for 
 the victors at Olympia ; which 0 our tongue desires to foster ; 
 but from the Deity alone does a man d flourish ever with 
 poetic genius. 
 
 Know then, O son of Archestratus, Agesidamus, that for 
 thy boxing I will sound loudly forth the ornament of a 
 sweet strain over thy crown of most precious olive, e showing 
 my respect to f the race of Epizephyrian Locrians. Thither 
 march on in the revel ; I will vouch, O Muses, that when 
 you come to them" you will not come to a race that shunneth 
 strangers, nor destitute in the arts of civilized life, but at the 
 summit of wisdom, and warlike. For their innate disposition, 
 neither can the tawny fox nor the loudly-roaring lions 
 change . 11 
 
 OLYMPIAN XL 
 
 Inscribed to the same person as the preceding ode, and to commemorate 
 the same victory, but not till many years afterwards ; it appears to 
 be a tardy fulfilment of the promise made in that ode, and was sung 
 in the native country of the victor, probably at a banquet given, on 
 the return of the Olympiad, to commemorate his victory. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 9 : The poet now sends the long-promised ode — a debt that he had 
 never forgotten, but which he will now repay with usury. 10 — 24 : 
 The subject of the ode itself ; the praises of the Locrians and of 
 Agesidamus. 24 — 75 : Mythical tale of the foundation of the 
 
 Olympic games by Heracles. 78 — end : The poet returns to the 
 
 praises of the victor. 
 
 Head to me the name of the son of Arcbestratus who won at 
 Olympia, that I may know where in my heart he has been 
 
 b v. 7 : or , which none can say is undeserved. 
 c v. 8 : i. e. which praises or songs. d v. 10 : i.e. a poet. 
 
 e v. 13 : i.e. will add the honour of a sweet hymn to the crown of 
 olive already won. f v. 15 : i. e. not passing over unpraised. 
 
 s i. e. the Epizephyrian Locrians. 
 
 h v. 21 : i. e. the Epizephyrian Locrians, though dwelling in a distant 
 country, have not degenerated from the character of their ancestors, the 
 Ozolian and Opuntian Locrians, for shrewdness or for courage. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 OLYMPIAN XI. 
 
 written. For being in his debt a sweet strain, I have for- 
 gotten it. 0 Muse, and thou too, Truth, child of Zeus, with 
 uplifted a hand repel from me the reproach of lying that sins 
 against my friend. b For the future 0 time of payment having 
 approached from afar, d hath made appear shameful my deep 
 debt. But, nevertheless, beneficial interest 0 is able to do 
 away with sharp complaint. Now let us see f where the 
 flowing wave washes downs the rolling pebble, h and where, 
 so as to do a pleasing favour, we shall pay a common praise. 
 
 For strict justice presides in the city of the Zephyrian 
 Locrians, and to them Calliope is dear, and brazen Ares. 
 
 And the Cycnean fight also 1 routed even the mighty 
 Heracles, and let Agesidamus, the pugilist, victorious in 
 Olympia, pay gratitude to Has, his trainer , as did Patroclus 
 to Achilles. And a man having whetted the spirit of one 
 born to deeds of virtue, may, with the aid of the Deity, set 
 him on his way to extraordinary glory. But without labour 
 very few have gained this joy, before all exploits a bright 
 happiness to life. 
 
 And this prince of all contests the statutes of Zeus have 
 roused me to sing, this contest , I say , which the might of 
 Heracles founded near the ancient tomb of Pelops, when he 
 slew the noble Cteatus, the son of Poseidon, and he slew 
 Eurytus, that of design he might exact of the unwilling 
 mighty Augeas the hire due for his service ; for them did 
 Heracles, lying in wait under the glades of Cleonse, overcome 
 upon the road, because before the haughty sons of Molion, 
 sitting in ambush in the defiles of Elis, had destroyed his 
 Tiiynthian force. And of a truth the monarch of the 
 Epeans, the deceiver of his guest, not long after saw his 
 wealthy state sinking into the deep gulf of destruction, 
 amidst cruel fire and strokes of the sword. But a contest 
 
 a v. 4 : i.e. threatening ; ? just or upright. 
 
 b v. 6 : or, the reproach of lying that says I have sinned against my 
 friend. c v. 7 : or, promised. 
 
 d v. 7 : Qu. i. e. having long ago past. 
 
 e v. 9 : or, interest with large increase. 
 
 f v. 9 : subaudi <7/ca//a>jue0a. 
 
 s v. 10 : i. e. will bear away. 
 
 k v. 10 : i.e. where the tide of our praise will tend, 
 v. 15: i.e . and Cycnus in battle. 
 
OLYMPIAN XI. 
 
 37 
 
 with your betters it is impossible to get rid of ;j wherefore 
 he too did not avoid sudden death, having at the last through 
 his folly run in the way of capture. 
 
 The valiant son of Zeus, then, having gathered in Pisa his 
 whole army and all his spoil, measured out the hallowed 
 lawn for his mightiest sire ; and, when he had made a fence 
 all around, he marked out in an open space the Altis, and he 
 appointed the plain round about as a place for banqueting, 
 and honoured the stream of the Alpheus in conjunction with 
 the twelve kinglygods ; k and he called the hill Cronus ; for 
 in former times, untitled, whilst (Enomaus reigned, it was 
 covered with much snow.b And in this initial festival , 111 
 the Fates then stood by near at hand, and Time that 
 alone declareth genuine truth. And he, n , advancing on- 
 wards, has demonstrated the plain truth, how that, when 
 he had divided them to the twelve gods , he sacrificed 
 the gifts of war, the first-fruits ; and how that next 0 he 
 established the quinquennial festival simultaneously with 
 the first Olympian sacrifice, and the games in honour of his 
 victory. 
 
 Who then hath obtained the recent P crown, by hands, 
 by feet too, and by the car, with glory having acquired 
 for hi m self victory in the games, having won it in 
 the contest h Punning the race on foot, QEonus, 
 Licymnius’ son, was best in the straight course of the 
 stadium: he came from Midea, leading an army; viz., for 
 Heracles : and Echemus was exalting Tegea in the wrest- 
 ling ; and Doryclus carried off the prize of boxing, a dweller 
 in the city Tiryns : with the four steeds, Semus, son of 
 Halirrhothius, from Mantinea, bore off the prize ; and with 
 the javelin, Phrastor hit the mark. And in distance with 
 the stone, Eniceus cast beyond all, whirling his hand round, 
 and his military companions raised a mighty uproar. Mean- 
 
 j v. 39 : or, it is impossible to escape the attack of the mighty ones, 
 i. e. the deities. 
 
 k v. 49 : i. e. receiving him as one of the twelve gods there worshipped. 
 
 I v. 51 : i.e. the snow-capped hill in former times bore no title or 
 
 name. m v. 52 : or, original celebration. 
 
 II i. e. Time. 0 v. 57 : or, accordingly. 
 
 p v. 60 : or, newly-instituted. 
 
 q v. 64 : or, having proposed to himself in expectation the attainment 
 of glory in the games, and having actually obtained it by his exertions. 
 
38 
 
 OLYMPIAN XI. 
 
 white the lovely light of the bright-visaged moon lighted up 
 the evening ; and the whole sacred precinct echoed with 
 jocund songs after the fashion in which a conqueror is 
 praised. Following therefore former usage, now too, as an 
 honour named after the ennobling victory, we will sing of 
 the thunder-clap, and of the fiery dart hurled from the hand 
 of Zeus who rouseth the thunder, the gleaming lightning 
 joined to every victory. 1 * 
 
 The full-sounding melody of our strains shall respond to 
 the reed, — our strains wliich have appeared at last by the 
 glorious fount of Dirce. 
 
 But as a child, born from a wife, is dear to the father that 
 hath arrived at the age which is the opposite of youth, and 
 greatly warms his soul with love (since wealth that falls to 
 a foreign master, alien to his blood, is most hateful to one 
 that dieth), so too, O Agesidamus, when a man, after per- 
 forming noble deeds without a song, 1 shall arrive at the 
 mansion of Hades, he, I say, having breathed a useless breathy 
 has gained but a brief delight as a reward for all his toil. 
 But over thee the sweet-sounding lyre and dulcet flute shed 
 grace ; and the Pierides, the daughters of Zeus, foster the 
 glory of great deeds, so as to spread it wide. 
 
 But I, zealously tending my aid to the work, have em- 
 braced v the far-famed land of the Locrians, bedewing the 
 heroic city with honied praise ; and I have lauded the lovely 
 son of Archestratus, whom I saw winning by the might of 
 his hand near the Olympian altar, at that time both fair in 
 form and blended with the prime of life ; w — the prime of life, 
 I say, which, with the aid of the Cyprus-born, x once averted 
 remorseless death from Ganymede. 
 
 r i. e. without which no victory can take place ; inseparable from victory. 
 s v. 84 : or, and the full-sounding melody will answer to the str ains 
 of the reed. 
 
 1 v. 91 : or, without the honour of a song in return. 
 u i. e. having lived uselessly, or, having laboured in vain. 
 v v. 98 : i. e. devoted myself to the praise of. 
 w v. 104 : i. e. in the midst of his prime. 
 
 * v. 105 : i. e. the Cyprus-born goddess. 
 
OLYMPIAN XII, 
 
 ss 
 
 OLYMPIAN XII. 
 
 Inscribed to Ergoteles of Himera, victorious in the long race-course : 
 01. 77, 1. B.C. 472 : sung at Himera, apparently in the temple of 
 Fortune. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 12 : The poet invokes Fortune for the preservation of the city of 
 Himera. 13 — end : He addresses Ergoteles himself, who hap ex- 
 perienced both good and evil at the hands of the goddess. 
 
 O Saviour Fortune, child of Eleutherian Zeus, a guard, I 
 beseech thee, potent Himera. For by thee, in the ocean are 
 guided swift ships, and on the land rapid wars and assemblies 
 fruitful in counsel ; but the hopes of men are tossed about, 
 often aloft and then again down, as they cut the vain sea of 
 error, and no one yet of mortal men hath found a sure mark b 
 from the Deity concerning a future event ; but of what is 
 about to happen the knowledge is blind. And many a thing 
 has fallen out to men contrary to their judgment, the reverse 
 of delight ; and others, who have met with hostile surges, 
 have in a short space exchanged vast good for evil. c 
 
 Surely, too, 0 son of Philanor, thy mighty strength of foot, 
 like that of a dunghill cock, d would, by thy paternal hearth, 
 have withered without renown, had not faction, in which 
 man is set against man, deprived thee of thy Cnossian native 
 land. But now, 0 Ergoteles, having won the wreath in 
 Olympia, and twice having carried it off from Pytho, and 
 twice on the Isthmus, thou dost exalt the nymphs’ warm 
 baths, e dwelling as thou dost on a soil now thine own. 
 
 a v. 1 : or, ? of Zeus that ^ave liberty to Himera. 
 b v. 7 : or, method of conjecture. 
 c v. 12 : i. e. haw* gained good instead of evil fortune. 
 d v. 14 . lit. a cock that fights at home. 
 
 ® v. 19 : »*. e. Himera. 
 
 
40 
 
 OLYMPIAN XIII. 
 
 OLYMPIAN XIII. 
 
 Inscribed to Xenophon of Corinth, victorious in the stadium and the 
 quinquertium : 01. 79, 1. B.C. 464 : sung at Corinth, probably when 
 the victor entered the city in solemn procession. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 10 : Proemium. The poet will sing the glories both of the victor’s 
 family and of his native city. 11 — 46 : The glories of Corinth during 
 the historical period. 47 — 92 : The mythical glories of Corinth. 
 93 — end : The poet sums up the many victories of the family of th.e 
 Oligsethidag, and prays for their future success. 
 
 Praising the house that has thrice won at Olympia, the house 
 kind to fellow-citizens and attentive to stranger guests, 
 I will make known a the wealthy Corinth, the vestibule 
 of Isthmian Poseidon, rich in fair youths. For in her 
 Eunomia (Good order) dwells, and her sisters, the firm 
 pedestal b of cities, Justice and concordant Peace, dispensers of 
 wealth to men, golden daughters of Themis, good at counsel ; 
 but they are eager to drive away Insolence, the bold-mouthed 
 mother of Surfeit. 
 
 Fair things have I to say, and straightforward confidence 
 prompts my tongue to speak : and it is impossible to hide 
 our native genius. 
 
 And on you, sons of Aletes, have the Hours, rich in 
 flowers, oft shed the triumphal glory of those who surpassed 
 in the sacred games by their supreme excellence, and often 
 in the hearts of men have they implanted quaint inventions ; 
 but the glory of everything 0 belongs to the inventor. 
 Whence first appeared the festivities of Bacchus with the 
 dithyramb that gains the bull as prize h Who added to the 
 bridles of the steeds the means of guiding them, or who 
 placed the twofold king of the birds d on the temples of the 
 gods ? And therein, e too, the sweetly- breathing Muse 
 blooms, and there Ares flourishes with the deadly spears of 
 youthful heroes. 
 
 O sovereign, wide-ruling Lord of Olympus, Father Zeus, 
 R v. 3 : i.e. celebrate. 
 
 b v. 6 : i.e. support. c v. 17 : or, the credit of the whole work. 
 d v. 21 : i. e. the douWe tympanum of the temple ; calleuthe uitTwfAa, 
 
 9 i. e. in Corinth. 
 
OLYMPIAN XIII. 
 
 41 
 
 mayst tbou bear no grudge to what I sing, f and, guiding this 
 people unharmed, speed right on the genial gale of the 
 fortune of Xenophon, and receive at his hand the law of 
 praise 11 for wreaths won , 1 which he brings from the plains of 
 Pisa, conqueror in the course of the stadium and in the Pen- 
 tathlum ; honours which no mortal man before has yet met 
 with ; and two wreaths of parsley have crowned him conspi- 
 cuous in the Isthmian games ; nor does Xemea set itself 
 against him. 
 
 Of his father Thessalus, too, the glory of victory in swift- 
 ness remains for ever by the streams of the Alpheus, and at 
 Pytho he hath the honour of the stadium and the diaulum 
 won in a single day, and for him during the same month one 
 day of swiftness^ in rugged Athens placed around his locks 
 three most fair crowns of- noble deeds, and the Heliotian 
 crowns seven times he placed around his locks. And in the 
 sea-girt customs of Poseidon k longer hymns 1 befel him with 
 his father Ptoidorus and Terpsias, and Eritimus. And as to 
 how many victories ye won in Delphi and in the lion’s 
 feeding-place, m I contend with many 11 concerning the mul- 
 titude of their achievements ;° since I could not learn to 
 tell for certain the number of the ocean pebbles. 
 
 In everything there is a measure, and to understand this 
 fitting measure is most opportune. And I, in my private 
 capacity, having emjbarked in a common cause, and cele- 
 brating the prudence of those of old and their warlike 
 exploits, waged in heroic valour, will not speak falsely about P 
 Corinth ; praising both Sisyphus, as a god, most wise in 
 device, and Medea contracting to herself a marriage in oppo- 
 sition to her father, saviour to the ship Argo and its rowers. 
 And again too of yore, clothed with might before the walls of 
 
 f v. 25 : i. e. mayst thou grant my vows. 
 
 £ v. 28 : or, guardian genius. h v. 29 : i. e. the due praise. 
 
 1 v. 29 : or, receive from him the established choral procession which 
 he owes thee for the wreaths. 
 
 j v. 38 : or, one day on which the racers run. 
 k v. 40 : or, in the games of Poseidon at the Isthmus. 
 
 1 v. 42 : i. e. hymns which tell of more numerous victories. 
 m i. e. Nemea. n i. e. challenge many. 
 
 ° v. 45 : i. e. their achievements exceed in number those of many 
 others put together. 
 
 f v. 52 : or, stint the praise of. 
 
42 
 
 OLYMPIAN XIII. 
 
 # 
 
 Dardanus, they were thoughts on either side to bring to a 
 decision the issue of battle ; these on the one side endeavour- 
 ing with the loved race of Atreus to recover Helen ; those on 
 the other side with all their might endeavouring to hinder it ; 
 and the Danai dreaded Glaucus who had come from Lycia. To 
 them he boasted, that in the city of Pirene was his father’s 
 empire and rich inheritance and palace ; his father , who en- 
 dured very many woes while endeavouring near the springs 1 
 to harness Pegasus, son of the snaky Gorgon, before that the 
 maiden Pallas brought him the bridle with frontlet of gold — 
 from the dream forthwith followed reality — and she cried, 
 “ Dost thou sleep, royal son of .ZEolus h Come, take this 
 steed-taming spell, and sacrificing a white 3 bull, lay it 
 before t thy Damsean sire.” The maiden of the dark 
 shield seemed to say thus much to him as he slept in the 
 night ; and he leapt upright on his feet, and, seizing the 
 wonder that lay near him, 11 he gladly sought the prophet of 
 the land, and showed to the son of Coeranus the accomplish- 
 ment of the whole matter ; how that he, at his bidding/ at 
 the altar of the goddess, reposed during the night, and how 
 that the daughter of Zeus, whose lance is the thunderbolt, 
 herself gave him the gold that subdues the steed’s heart. w 
 
 The prophet bade him forthwith obey the bidding of the 
 dream, and when he should sacrifice a bull* a strong-footed 
 one, to the mighty encircler of the earth, straightway to raise 
 an altar to Hippian Athene. The power of the gods accom- 
 plishes the act that is beyond an oath to vouch for, and 
 beyond expectation, as an easy matter J 
 
 In truth the mighty Bellerophon quickly subdued the 
 winged steed, applying to his cheek the calming charm, and 
 having mounted him, he sportively went through the military 
 exercise in full armour. With his aid too of yore, levelling 
 his darts at the female archer host of the Amazons, from the 
 cavernous depths of the cold 2 empty air, he slew them; and 
 
 q v. 56 : or, they seemed. 
 
 r i. e. at the fountain of Pirene. s v. 69 : ? sleek or shining. 
 
 * v. 68 : or, offer it to. u v. 73 : i. e. the bridle. 
 
 v v. 76 : or, after having consulted him. w i. e. the golden bridle. 
 
 1 v. 81 : lit. draw back the head of, i. e. cut the throat of a bull, 
 y v. 84 : i. e. the power of the gods can lightly do what you would 
 swear to be impossible and what you could never expect would come to 
 pass. 2 v. 88 : i. e upper. 
 
OLYMPIAN XIII. 
 
 43 
 
 the Chims^ra breatliiiig fire, and the Solymi he slew. His 
 own fate I will conceal in silence ; but him a in Olympus the 
 ancient stalls of Zeus receive. 
 
 But it is right that I, sending straight the whirling flight 
 of my darts of poetry, should not hurl most of my javelins 
 with my two hands beyond the mark. For, obedient to the 
 gloriously-enthroned Muses, I have willingly come to uphold 
 the glory of the Oligsethidse for their victories at the Isthmus 
 and those in Nemea. And in a brief song will I make innu- 
 merable victories to shine conspicuous, and there shall accom- 
 pany me b the true, sweet-tongued voice, bound by oath, 
 heard sixty times from both spots, of the fortunate herald. 0 
 
 Their exploits in Olympia seem already to have been 
 fittingly sung ere now, d but their future deeds then e will I 
 openly declare : but now indeed I hope for more , yet the issue 
 rests with the Deity ; but if the tutelar deity of their race 
 will continue/ we will give this over to Zeus and Enyalius s 
 to accomplish ; as they are the patrons of the Olympian and 
 Isthmian games . And what on the Parnassian crag, and how 
 many in Argos and in Thebes, and how many those which the 
 altar that rises in Arcadia, lord of Lycseus, shall bear witness 
 to, and Pellene too, and Sicyon, and Megara, and the well- 
 fenced grove of the H^acidse, and Eleusis, and brilliant Mara- 
 thon, and the wealthy cities under the lofty crest of Etna, 
 and Euboea, all these shall bear witness to their victories. And 
 throughout all Greece thou wilt find by inquiring, more h 
 than thou canst see at first sight. 
 
 O sovereign Zeus, that granteth success in victories, grant 
 them to swim forth from the troubles of life with light feet : 
 grant them modesty, 1 and the sweet good-fortune of honours. 
 
 a i. e. the steed. b v. 99 : or, there shall be added. 
 
 c v. 100 : or, better, and in a few words I will make glorious many 
 victories together, and the pleasant voice of the good-sworn herald shall 
 be present to me as a true witness sixty times from either place. 
 d v. 102 : i. e. above, in the former part of my song. 
 e v. 103 : tot, then, i. e. when they shall have been done. 
 f or, prosper. s {. e. Ares. 
 
 h v. 113 : i.e. that their victories are more numerous. 
 
 * v. 115 : or, “ respect from the common people.” — Don. 
 
44 
 
 OLYMPIAN XIY. 
 
 OLYMPIAN XIY. 
 
 Inscribed to Asopichus of Orchomenus, conqueror in the foot-race of 
 boys: 01. 76, 1. B.C. 476: sung in the temple of the Graces at 
 Orchomenus. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 12 : Invocation and praise of the Charites (the Graces). 13 — end : 
 The invocation is repeated ; the same goddesses addressed separately 
 by name, and entreated to look favourably on the triumphal pro- 
 cession. Echo is besought to bear the tidings of the conqueror’s 
 victory to his deceased father Cleodamus. 
 
 Ye who dwell in the seat renowned for noble steeds, situated 
 by the waters of the Cephisus, O Charites, queens famous in 
 song of brilliant Orchomenus, guardians of the Minyse of 
 ancient descent, listen, since to you I pray. For with 
 your favour a does all that is delightful, all that is sweet, 
 befall mortals ; whether one be wise, b or whether fair, or 
 renowned for victory in the games. For neither do the 
 gods, without the honoured Charites, lead the dances or 
 arrange the banquet ; but, arbitresses of all that is wrought 
 in heaven, having placed their thrones by the Pythian Apollo 
 of the golden bow, they venerate the everlasting honour of 
 the Olympian Father. 
 
 O stately Aglaia, and Euphrosyne that lovest the song, 
 daughters of the mightiest of the gods, listen to my prayer, 
 and thou Thalia, that delightest in melody, beholding this 
 rout tripping joyously along, by reason of prosperous fortune ; 
 for I have come chanting Asopichus in Lydian harmony c 
 and Lydian songs, since owing to thee Minya is victorious at 
 Olympia. 
 
 Speed now to the black-walled abode of Persephone, 
 O Echo, bearing to his father the glorious tidings ; that, 
 beholding there Cleodamus, thou mayst tell him of his son, 
 how that for him his son , in the vales of renowned Pisa, hath 
 crowned his youthful hair with the plumes d of famous 
 contests. 
 
 v. 5 : at your hands, 
 v. 17 : i.e. rhythm. 
 
 b v. 7 : skilled in musical art. 
 d v. 25 : or, pinions, i. e. wreaths. 
 
PYTHIAN ODES 
 

 
INTRODUCTION TO THE PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 (Extracted from Smith's Dictionary of Antiquities.) 
 
 Pythian games (UvOlci), one of the four great national 
 festivals of the Greeks. It was celebrated in the neighbour- 
 hood of Delphi, anciently called Pytho, in honour of Apollo, 
 Artemis, and Leto. The place of this solemnity was the 
 Crissoean plain, which for this purpose contained a hippo- 
 dromus, or race-course, a stadium of 1,000 feet in length, 
 and a theatre in which the musical contests took place. A 
 gymnasium, prytaneum, and other buildings of this kind, 
 probably existed here, as at Olympia, although they are not 
 mentioned. Once the Pythian games were held at Athens 
 on the advice of Demetrius Poliorcetes, because iEtolians were 
 in possession of the passes around Delphi. 
 
 The Pythian games were, according to most legends, insti- 
 tuted by Apollo himself ; other traditions referred them to 
 the ancient heroes, such as Amphictyon, Adrastus, Diomedes, 
 and others. They were originally, perhaps, nothing more 
 than a religious panegyris, occasioned by the oracle of 
 Delphi ; and the sacred games are said to have been at first 
 only a musical contest, which consisted in singing a hymn in 
 honour of the Pythian god, with the accompaniment of the 
 cithara. Some of the poets, however, and mythographers 
 represent even the gods and the early heroes as engaged in 
 gymnastic and equestrian contests at the Pythian games. 
 But such statements, numerous as they are, can prove no- 
 thing : they are anachronisms, in which late writers were 
 fond of indulging. The description of the Pythian games in 
 
48 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE 
 
 which Sophocles, in the Electra, makes Orestes take part* 
 belongs to this class. The Pythian games must, on account 
 of the celebrity of the Delphic oracle, have become a national 
 festival for all the Greeks at a very early period ; and when 
 Solon fixed pecuniary rewards for those Athenians who were 
 victims in the great national festivals, the Pythian agon 
 was undoubtedly included in the number, though it is not 
 expressly mentioned. 
 
 Whether gymnastic contests had been performed at the 
 Pythian games previous to 01. 47, is uncertain. 
 
 Bockh supposes that these two kinds of games had been 
 connected at the Pythia from early times, but that after- 
 wards the gymnastic games were neglected : but, however 
 this may be, it is certain that about Olympiad 47 they did 
 not exist at Delphi. Down to Olympiad 48 the Delphians 
 themselves had been the agonothetse at the Pythian games ; 
 but in the third year of this Olympiad, when, after the 
 Crissoean war, the Amphictyons took the management under 
 their care, they naturally became the agonothetse. Some of the 
 ancients date the institution of the Pythian games from this 
 time, and others say that henceforth they were called Pythian 
 games. Owing to their being under the management of 
 Amphictyons, they are sometimes called ’Afityucrvovuca adXa. 
 Prom Olympiad 48, 3, the Pythiads were occasionally used 
 as an era, and the first celebration under the Amphictyons 
 was the first Pythiad. Pausanias expressly states that in 
 this year the original musical contest in Kidapw^la was ex- 
 tended by the addition of avXwctia ; i. e. singing with the 
 accompaniment of the flute, and by that of flute-playing 
 alone. Strabo, in speaking of these innovations, does not 
 mention the avXwlLa, but states that the contest of cithara- 
 players (/ adapurrai ) was added ; while Pausanias assigns the 
 introduction of this contest to the eighth Pythiad. 
 
 One of the musical contests at the Pythian games in which 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 49 
 
 only flute and cithara-players took part, was the so-called 
 vofioq 7 tvQucoq ; which, at least in subsequent times, con- 
 sisted of five parts ; viz., araKpovvig , a/jureipa , KaTaKeXevff/jLog, 
 tafiljOL Kcii SclktvXoi, and (ruptyyeg . The whole of this vojiog 
 was a musical description of the fight of Apollo with the 
 dragon, and of his victory over the monster. A somewhat 
 different account of the parts of this vojiog is given by the 
 scholiast on Pindar, and by Pollux. 
 
 Besides these innovations in the musical contests which 
 were made in the first Pythiad, such gymnastic and eques- 
 trian games as were then customary at Olympia, were either 
 revived at Delphi, or introduced for the first time. The 
 chariot-race with four horses was not introduced till the 
 second Pythiad. Some games on the other hand were 
 adopted, which had not yet been practised at Olympia ; 
 viz., the SoXlxoq, and the StavXog, for boys. In the first 
 Pythiad the victors received \PW ara as th e i r prize, but in 
 the second a chaplet was established as the reward for 
 the victors. The scholiasts on Pindar reckon the first 
 Pythiad from this introduction of the chaplet, and their 
 system has been followed by most modern chronologers, 
 though Pausanias expressly assigns this institution to the 
 second Pythiad. The avXMdta, which was introduced in the 
 first Pythiad, was omitted at the second, and ever after, as 
 only elegies and OprjvoL had been sung to the flute, which 
 were thought too melancholy for this solemnity. The 
 Tedpimrog, or chariot-race with four horses, however, was 
 added in the same Pythiad. In the eighth Pythiad (Olym- 
 piad 55, 3) the contest in playing the cithara without singing 
 was introduced ; in Pythiad 23, the foot-race in arms was 
 added ; in Pythiad 48, the chariot-race with two full-grown 
 horses (avvutpilog Ipo/iog) was performed for the first time ; 
 x in Pythiad 53, the chariot-race with four foals was intro- 
 1 duced ; in Pythiad 61, the pancratium for boys : in Pythiad 
 
 F 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE 
 
 50 
 
 53 ; the horse-race with foals ; and in Pythiad 69, the chariot- 
 race with two foals was introduced. Yarious musical con 
 tests were also added in the course of time ; and contests in 
 tragedy, as well as in other kinds of poetry, and in recitations 
 of historical compositions, are expressly mentioned. Works 
 of art, as paintings and sculptures, were exhibited to the 
 assembled Greeks, and prizes were awarded to those who 
 had produced the finest works. The musical and artistic 
 contests were at all times the most prominent feature of the 
 Pythian games, and in this respect they even excelled the 
 Olympic games. 
 
 Previous to Olympiad 48, the Pythian games had been an 
 hpaerrjptg ; that is, they had been celebrated at the end 
 of every eighth year ; but in Olympiad 48, 3, they became, 
 like the Olympia, a 7rerTa£rr]pic ; i. e ., they were held at the 
 end of every fourth year ; and a Pythiad, therefore, ever 
 since the time that it was used as an era, comprehended a 
 space of four years, commencing with the third year of every 
 Olympiad. Others have, in opposition to direct statements, 
 inferred from Thucydides that the Pythian games were held 
 towards the end of the second year of every Olympiad. 
 
 As for the season of the Pythian games, they were in all 
 probability held in the spring, and most writers believe that 
 it was held in the month of Bysius, which is supposed to be 
 the same as the Attic Munychion. Bockh, however, has 
 shown that the games took place in the month of Bucatius, 
 which followed after the month of Bysius, and that this 
 month must be considered the same as the Attic Muny- 
 chion. The games lasted for several days, as is expressly 
 mentioned by Sophocles, but we do not know how many. 
 When ancient writers speak of the day of the Pythian 
 agon, they are probably thinking of the musical agon alone, 
 which was the most important part of the games, and pro- 
 bably took place on the 7 th of Bucatius. It is quite impos- 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 51 
 
 sible to conceive that all the numerous games should have 
 taken place on one day. 
 
 The concourse of strangers at the season of this panegyris 
 must have been very great, as undoubtedly all the Greeks 
 were allowed to attend. The states belonging to the Am- 
 phictyony of Delphi had to send their theori in the month 
 of Bysius, some time before the commencement of the 
 festival itself. All theori sent by the Greeks to Delphi, on 
 this occasion, were called IlvOdicrral, and the theories sent 
 by the Athenians were all particularly brilliant. As regards 
 sacrifices, processions, and other solemnities, it may be pre- 
 sumed that they resembled, in a great measure, those of 
 Olympia. A splendid, though probably in some degree 
 fictitious, description of a theoria of Thessalians may be read 
 in Heliodorus. 
 
 As to the order in which the various games were per- 
 formed, scarcely anything is known, with the exception of 
 some allusions in Pindar, and a few remarks in Plutarch. 
 The latter says, that the musical contests preceded the 
 gymnastic contests ; and from Sophocles, it is clear that 
 gymnastic contests preceded the horse and chariot-races. 
 Every game, moreover, which was performed by men and 
 boys, was always first performed by the latter. 
 
 We have stated above, that down to Olympiad 48, the 
 Delphians had the management of the Pythian games ; 
 but of the manner in which they were conducted previous 
 to that time nothing is known. When they came under the 
 care of the Amphictyons, especial persons were appointed 
 for the purpose of conducting the games, and of acting as 
 judges. They were called ’ E7rijde\rjTai , and answered to the 
 Olympian Hellanodicse. Their number is unknown. In 
 later times it was decreed by the Amphictyons, that king 
 Philip, with the Thessalians and Boeotians, should undertake 
 the management of the games ; but afterwards, and even 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 under tLe Roman emperors, the Amphictyons again appeared 
 in the possession of this privilege. The kTn/itXriTaL had to 
 maintain peace and order, and were assisted by fiacTiyotyopoi, 
 who executed any punishment at their command, and thus 
 answered to the Olympian aXvrai The prize given to the 
 victors in the Pythian games was, from the time of the 
 second Pythiad, a laurel chaplet ; so that they then became 
 an a ycjv (rretyavlrriQ, while before they had been aykbr XP 7 !" 
 fxarirriQ. In addition to this chaplet, the victor here, as at 
 Olympia, received the symbolic palm-branch, and was allowed 
 to have his own statue erected in the Crisssean plain. The 
 time when the Pythian games ceased to be solemnized is not 
 certain ; but they probably lasted as long as the Olympic 
 games, i. e. down to the year a.d. 394. In a.d. 191, a 
 celebration of the Pythia is mentioned by Philostratus ; and 
 in the time of the emperor J ulian, they still continued to be 
 held, as is manifest from his own words. Pythian games 
 of less importance were celebrated in a great many other 
 places, where the worship of Apollo was introduced ; and 
 the games of Delphi are sometimes distinguished from 
 these lesser Pythia by the addition of the words kv Ae\0o7c- 
 But, as by far the greater number of the lesser Pythia are 
 not mentioned in the extant ancient writers, and are only 
 known from coins or inscriptions, we shall only give a list 
 of the places where they were held : — Ancyra in Galatia, 
 Aphrodisias in Caria, Antiochia, Carthse in the island of 
 Ceos, Carthage, Cibyra in Phrygia, Delos, Emisa in Syria, 
 Hierapolis in Phrygia, Magnesia, Megara, Miletus, Neapolis 
 in Italy, ISTicai in Bithynia, Nicomedia, Pergamus in Mysia, 
 Perge in Pamphylia, Perinthus on the Propontis, Philippo- 
 lis in Thrace, Side in Pamphylia, Sicyon, Taba in Caria, 
 Thessalonice in Macedonia, in Thrace, Thyatira, and Tralles 
 in Lydia, Tripolis on the Meander in Caria. 
 
53 
 
 PYTHIAN I. 
 
 Inscribed to Hiero of iEtna (King Hiero, foundeT of the town of iEtna), 
 victorious in the chariot-race : 01. 76, 3. B.C, 474 : sung probably at 
 Syracuse, at a banquet in the palace. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 12 : Proemium on the lyre of Apollo and the Muses, which soothes 
 the regal majesty of Zeus and the warlike fury of Ares. 12 — 28 : 
 But its sound is hated by the wicked, and by Typho, who lies buried 
 under HStna. 29 — 80 : The praises of Hiero. 81 — end : Admoni- 
 tions to Hiero. 
 
 O golden lyre, possession by a common right of Apollo and 
 the violet-locked a Muses, which the dancer’s step obeys, the 
 beginning of the festive triumph, and whose signals the 
 singers attend to, when, being made to thrill, thou givest 
 forth the preludes of songs that lead the chorus. Thou 
 quenchest even the pointed thunderbolt of ever-flowing fire : 
 and on the sceptre of Zeus sleeps the eagle, having on either 
 side dropped his swift wing, the king of birds ; and a black 
 cloud over his beaked head, a cloud the sweet bar of his 
 eyelids, thou hast shed ; and he, slumbering, heaves his un- 
 dulating back, overpowered by thy vibrations.^ For even 
 violent Ares, having left behind the hard point of spears, 
 soothes his heart with a trance, and thy weapons wound the 
 minds even of the gods by c the art of Apollo and the deep- 
 zoned Muses. But as many as Zeus does not love, hearing 
 the sound of the Pierides, are bewildered, d throughout the 
 earth, and the indomitable sea ; and he who lieth in dread 
 Tartarus, the foe of the gods, Typho the hundred-headed, 
 whom formerly the far-famed Cilician cave reared; now, 
 however, the sea-girt steeps above Cyme and Sicily press 
 upon his shaggy breast, and the pillar e of heaven confines 
 him, snowy MCtna, nurse of sharp snow through all the year : 
 JZtna, from whose recesses purest fountains of unapproachable 
 fire belch forth, and her rivers during the daytime, indeed, 
 pour forth a lurid stream of smoke, but in the gloom of night 
 
 a or, dark-haired. b v. 10 : or, spell-bound by thy shafts. 
 
 e v. 12 : or, through, by reason of. 
 
 d v. 13 : or, are tterly confounded. e v. 19 : or, prop. 
 
54 
 
 PYTHIAN I. 
 
 a ruddy flame, rolling forth rocks, bears them to the deep 
 plain of the ocean, with a crash. But that monster sends 
 forth most dread torrents of fire ; a prodigy wonderful to 
 gaze at, and a marvel to hear from those who pass by, in 
 what way f he is bound by the dark-leaved heights of ZEtna 
 and by its base,£ and the bed , 11 cutting furrows in it, grides 
 his whole back, as it lies on the ground. 
 
 May it be mine, O Zeus, may it be mine to please thee, who 
 rulest this mountain, forehead of a fruitful land, whose neigh- 
 bouring city, named after it , 1 its illustrious founder has ren- 
 dered glorious, and in the race-course of the Pythian festival 
 the herald announcing it, proclaimed it in behalf of j Hiero, 
 victorious in the chariot-race. 
 
 To seafaring men the first and chief blessing is, when they 
 begin their voyage , that a favourable breeze should come to 
 them for their voyage ; for it is likely k that even a more 
 favourable end of return may befall them ; and what I have 
 just said 1 induces a belief, that after these so fortunate 
 events it m will hereafter be renowned for crowns and horses, 
 and of great name amidst sweet-sounding n banquets. 
 
 0 Lycian Phoebus, king of Delos too, who lovest the Cas- 
 talian fountain of Parnassus, mayst thou be pleased to lay up 
 these prayers of mine in thy mind, and to love the land that 
 abounds with heroes . 0 Por from the gods all means of 
 accomplishing their attempts are given to human virtues, and 
 from them alone and by their favour men are born wise and 
 puissant in hand and eloquent. 
 
 And I, bent on praising that hero, trust not to cast the 
 brazen-pointed javelin beyond the mark as it were, bran- 
 dishing it in my hand, but having hurled it far,P to surpass 
 my rivals. Por may all future time thus direct to him bliss, 
 
 f v. 27 : or, what a monster. 
 
 s v. 27 : or, is confined midway between the dark-shaded tops of 
 .ZEtna and the plain. 
 
 h v. 28 : i. e. the rough plain of Sicily. 
 
 1 v. 31 : i. e. ^Etna, from the mountain. 
 
 j v. 32 : i. e. in the name of. k v. 34 : or, ’tis as it were an earnest. 
 
 1 v. 35 : or, the truth of the adage. m v. 37 : i. e. iEtna. 
 
 n v. 38 : or, musical. 
 
 0 v. 40 : or, would that thou wouldst lay up this omen in thy mind 
 and render the land one that abounds with heroes. 
 
 p v. 45 : or, but by a long cast. 
 
PYTHIAN T. 
 
 55 
 
 and the gift of riches, and afford him forgetfulness of his 
 woes. Of a truth it will remind him of what battles he has 
 in war sustained with enduring soul, when they found empire 
 and honour at the hands of the gods, such as none of the 
 Greeks culls, the lordly crown of wealth. Now in truth fol- 
 lowing the example of Phil octet es, he has gone to the war ; 
 and through necessity a certain one, though haughty-spirited, 
 has fawned upon him that he might be his friend ; and in like 
 manner they say, that godlike heroes came to bear away from 
 Lemnos the archer son of Poeas, afflicted with the ulcer ; him 
 who destroyed the city of Priam, and put an end to the toils 
 of the Lanai, treading with enfeebled frame, but so it was 
 willed by the fates. Just so may the God prosper Hiero for 
 the coming time, granting him success in the attainment of 
 his wishes ! 
 
 O Muse, obey me, that thou mayst sing near Linomenes 
 the reward 1 * of the four-horsed car ; for the victory of his 
 father is no alien joy to him : come, since these things are so, 
 let us invent a strain pleasing to the king of Hkna, 3 for 
 whom Hiero founded that city with heaven-built freedom, 
 according to the laws of the Idyllic rule. And surely the 
 descendants of Pamphylus, and of the Heracleidse also, who 
 dwell beneath the ridges of Taygetus, desire ever to remain 
 in the Dorian institutions of HCgimius : and, blessed with 
 prosperity, they possessed Amyclse, issuing forth from Pindus, 
 illustrious neighbours of the white-steeded Tyndaridse, the 
 glory of whose spear flourished. 
 
 O Zeus, that accomplisheth our prayers, I pray that the 
 true report of men t may always award such a lot as this to 
 citizens and kings by the waters of the Amenas. u With thy 
 aid, indeed, a ruling hero, by himself and by issuing instruc- 
 tions to v his son, may respect the people, and so turn 
 them to concordant peace. Grant, I beseech thee, Son 
 of Cronus, that the Phoenician w and the army x of the 
 Tyrsenians, since they have seen the lamentable disgrace of 
 
 * v. 58 : ? in the palace of Dinomenes. r v. 59 : i. e . the praise. 
 s v. 60 : i.e. to Dinomenes. * v. 68 : i.e. that the truth. 
 
 u v. 69 : or, that such a lot as this to citizens and kings by the watera 
 of the Amenas may prove the words of men true. 
 
 T v. 70 : or, by committing the care of the state to his son. 
 w v. 72 : i.e. the Carthaginian. x lit. the war-cry, 
 
56 
 
 PYTHIAN I. 
 
 their ships that befell them before Syme, may remain in a 
 peaceful home : such sufferings they endured, overpowered by 
 the leader of the Syracusans, who, from their swift-sailing 
 galleys cast their youth into the sea, freeing Greece from 
 bitter slavery. 
 
 I will raise from Sal amis the glory of the Athenians, which 
 is their due/ and in Sparta I shall celebrate the fight at 
 Cithseron, in which the Medes armed with the crooked bow, 
 were worsted ; and by the well-watered shore of Himera, 
 paying a hymn to the sons of Deinomenes, which they have 
 received on account of their valour, 2 where the hostile heroes 
 were defeated. 
 
 If thou shalt have spoken a seasonably, bringing the issues 
 of many events together/ less blame from men follows ; for 
 weary loathing blunts the eager zeal of the hearers , and fame 
 spoken amongst tip citizens most of all secretly afflicts the 
 minds of the envious at the good that is seen in others. But 
 nevertheless, since envy is better than pity, omit not noble 
 deeds. 0 Govern thy people with just helm and forge d thy 
 tongue on an anvil, free from falsehood ; for if even anything 
 trivial falls by chance from thee, it is esteemed as weighty, 
 since it proceeds from thee. Thou art the dispenser of many 
 things : there are many witnesses to both truth and false- 
 hood. 6 
 
 But, abiding in thy goodly temper, if at all thou lovest 
 always to hear sweet report/ grow not over-tired in expense ; 
 but, like a helmsman, let out the wind-filled sail of liberality : 
 be not beguiled, O my friend, by versatile avarice ;£ the 
 glory of virtue that lives after men alone shows both to his- 
 torians and to bards the life of departed heroes. The affable 
 
 y v. 76 : or, with B., I shall receive a reward (l.psiov) for singing of 
 the glory of the Athenians at Salamis, and in Sparta, &c. ; otherwise, 
 w T ith Dr. D., “I will take upon myself a reward from Salamis for the 
 sake of the Athenians, and at Sparta I will tell,” &c. 
 
 z v. 80 : or, paying a hymn to the sons of Deinomenes which they have 
 deserved for their valour on the well- watered banks of Himera. 
 a v. 81 : i.e. praised. 
 
 b v. 82 : or, contracting into brief space the chief of many deeds. 
 
 0 v. 86 : or, relax not thy noble aims. d v. 87 : i . e. form. 
 
 e v. 88 : i.e. to observe and note either truth or falsehood in thee. 
 f v. 90 : or, fame. 
 
 g v. 92 : or, be not deceived by time-serving art*. 
 
PYTHIAN II. 
 
 57 
 
 and hospitable worth of Croesus fades not away, but hostile 
 fame everywhere covers Phalaris, the burner in the brazen 
 bull, him of pitiless heart ; nor do the domestic lyres admit 
 him as a pleasant companion at the convivial songs of young 
 men. 
 
 To be successful is the first of rewards, and to be cele- 
 brated by poets is the second lot ; but the man who shall have 
 lighted upon and gained both, has received the highest crown 
 of felicity. 
 
 PYTHIAN II. 
 
 Inscribed to the same King Hiero, victorious in the chariot-race at 
 Thebes : probably in 01. 75, 4. B.C. 477 : sung in Syracuse. 
 
 AKGUMENT. 
 
 1—24 : Address to Syracuse ; the glories of Hiero in war and in the 
 public games, and the praise that is his due. 25 — 52 : The tale of the 
 crime and punishment of Ixion, illustrating the duty of gratitude and 
 the punishment of ingratitude. 52 — 71 : The poet professes his aver- 
 sion to slander, and returns to the praise of Hiero for bis wealth, 
 power, and courage in war. 72 — end : Hiero is admonished to follow 
 the bent of his own upright disposition, and to despise and turn away 
 from the slanderous tales of whisperers, flatterers, and backbiters. 
 
 0 mighty city of Syracuse, sacred field of Ares deeply 
 plunged in war, divine nurse of heroes and mail-clad steeds, a 
 
 1 am come bringing to you from splendid Thebes this strain, 
 the tidings of the earth-shaking four-horse car, in which 
 Hiero victorious-in-the-chariot-race being successful, has 
 encircled Ortygia with crowns that shine afar, seat of fluvial 
 Artemis, not without whose aid he subdued under his gentle 
 hands those colts with broidered reins. For the maiden de- 
 lighting in arrows, with both hands, b and Hermes who pre- 
 sideth over contests, place on them the brilliant adornment, 0 
 when he d yokes to the polished seat, and to the other parts 
 of the car obedient to the reins, the strength of horses, 
 invoking the wielder of the trident, the widely mighty god. 
 
 To other monarchs have other men e paid the tuneful 
 
 a v. 2 : or, horses delighting in war. b v. 9 : i. e. with all zeal. 
 
 c i. e. their reins and trappings. d v. 1 1 : i. e. Hiero. 
 
 e v. 12 : i.e. other bards. 
 
68 
 
 PYTHIAN II. 
 
 hymn, the recompense of their worth. Often, indeed, in 
 mention of Cinyras, the praises of the Cyprians resound, 
 Cinyras , whom Apollo of the golden hair kindly loved, the 
 cherished priest of Aphrodite ; for kindly-revering gratitude, 
 with intention to requite good deeds, leads them on ; and 
 thee, O son of Deinomenes, the Zephyrian Locrian maiden 
 sings before her door, by means of thy power looking around 
 with security, safe from the remediless woes of war. 
 
 And they say that Ixion, by the commands of the gods 
 ever whirled round on the winged wheel, thus speaks f to 
 mortals, “ that they should requite their benefactor, ap- 
 proaching himg with benevolent returns 3” and he 11 has 
 clearly learnt this lesson ; for with the friendly sons of 
 Cronus having obtained a sweet life, he was not able to bear 
 the huge bliss, when with maddened heart he was enamoured 
 of Here, whom the delightful couch of Zeus has obtained ; 
 but insolence impelled him to the overweening crime, and 
 soon did the man in suffering the just deserts of his crime , 
 receive especial woe. Now, too, these two offences are the 
 cause of toil to him in the realms below : in the first place, 
 because he, the first demigod, brought upon mortals, and that 
 not without cunning, kindred blood, and next, too, because 
 that once in the spacious chambers of heaven , he attempted 
 the spouse of Zeus. It is right that, according to his own 
 condition, a man should always keep in view the bounds of 
 everything. 1 But a lawless union in time past hurled him to 
 great misery, and not unwilling too ; since he lay with a 
 cloud, pursuing as he did a sweet fraud, he , unknowing man ! 
 for in form it resembled the most eminent of the goddesses 
 of heaven, the daughter of Cronus, which the arts of Zeus 
 placed as a snare for him, a beauteous ruin. And he wrought j 
 for himself the four-spoked bond, his own destruction ; and 
 having been thrown into inevitable fetters, he took upon 
 himself the message destined for all. k For without the 
 Charites, 1 she, the phantom, bore to him a monstrous offspring, 
 
 f v. 21 : i. e. gives this lesson. 
 
 s v. 24 : i. e. repaying him. h i. e. Ixion. 
 
 1 v. 24 : that he should ever keep in view the mean that is suited to 
 his own condition. j v. 40 : or, gained. 
 
 k v. 41 : i.e. in his own person he proclaimed the universal warning. 
 
 1 v. 42 : i. e. without their sanction. 
 
PYJHIAN II. 
 
 59 
 
 she alone, it also alone, neither amongst men honoured nor 
 where the laws of the gods prevail ; m which she, rearing, 
 named Centaur, who with Magnesian mares had intercourse 
 on the ankles 11 of Pelion ; and from them sprung a wondrous 
 brood, like to both their parents, from their dam inheriting 
 the parts below, and the parts above from their sire 
 
 The deity accomplishes every end according to his wisn — 
 the deity, that overtakes even the winged eagle and outstrips 
 the ocean dolphin, and overthrows one 0 amongst haughty 
 mortals, and to others grants unfading glory. 
 
 But me it behoves to avoid p the violent sting of calumnies ; 
 for I have seen, though far removed, Q the railer Archilochus 
 for the most part in great penury, from battening on slan- 
 derous enmities ; but to grow rich, by the aid of a happy 
 fortune, is the best wisdom/ But thou manifestly possessed 
 it, s so as to display it with liberal mind, thou prince, lord of 
 many fair-crowned streets , 11 and of a numerous host. But if 
 any one now says that any other throughout Hellas of the 
 men of former time was superior to thee in wealth and in 
 honour, with silly mind he struggles to no purpose. 
 
 But singing loudly of thy valour, I will embark on board 
 the fleet crowned with flowers : u to youth valour in dreadful 
 wars is an allyp whence I affirm that thou also hast found 
 that boundless glory of thine, at one time contending 
 amongst the men that urge on the steed, and at another in 
 battles of the infantry ; and thy wisdom in counsel in more 
 advanced years affords me safe ground to praise thee with 
 regard to every matter. All hail ! w this hymn, after the 
 fashion of Phoenician merchandise, is sent across the hoary 
 sea; x and the Castorean strain tuned to Hklian chords, do 
 
 m v. 43 : i. e. honoured neither in earth nor in heaven. 
 n v. 46 : i.e. at the foot. ° v. 51 : i.e. many. 
 
 p v. 52 : i. e. abstain from. 
 q v. 54 : i.e. though living long after him. 
 
 r v. 56 : or, to be rich conjoined with the lot of wisdom is the best of 
 blessings. s v. 57 : i. e. wealth. 
 
 1 v. 58 : i. e. streets or cities well fortified with walls. 
 u v. 62 : or, “ I will ascend the prow crowned with flowers.” 
 v v. 64 : i.e. youth is praised for its courage in dreadful war. 
 w v. 67 : or, Farewell. 
 
 x v. 68 : i. e. let it be as precious to thee as sea-borne Phoenician 
 merchandise. 
 
60 
 
 PYTHIAN II. 
 
 thou willingly look upon on account of the seven-toned lyre,y 
 kindly receiving 2 it. a 
 
 Show thyself to be such as thou naturally art, since thou 
 hast learnt what thou art : b the ape is admired among 
 boys, ever admired; 0 but Bhadamanthus has prospered, d 
 because he has obtained the fruit of the mind, which 
 none can blame ; e nor with guiles of flattery does he 
 delight his soul within, such as always attend upon mortals 
 by the arts of whisperers. An insuperable evil to both f are 
 the secret tales of slander, altogether like the crafty disposi- 
 tions of foxes ; but what so great gain arises in this to the 
 wily one'?? For, as while the rest of the net is plying the 
 marine toil deep in the sea, I remain unwetted by the brine, 
 like the cork above the net. h And among the upright it is 
 impossible that the crafty citizen should utter an influential 
 word : nevertheless, fawning upon all, he in every manner 
 tries every twist. 1 I partake not of his impudence. May it 
 be mine to love my friend ! but against an enemy I will, as 
 an enemy, make a secret attack like a wolf, going now this 
 way and now that, in crooked course. 
 
 For j every form of government the straightforward-speak- 
 ing man excels, both in a monarchy, and when the turbulent 
 people, and when the intelligent 1 " guard the state. But one 
 ought not to contend against the deity, who at one time 
 exalts the fortune of these, at another time again gives great 
 
 y v. 70 : or, the Castorean, &c. &c., that graces the seven-toned lyre. 
 1 v. 71 : lit. meeting it. 
 
 a v. 71 : or, hut regard with favourable eye the Castoreum set to 
 .ZEolian harmony, and be present at the recitation of it in honour of the 
 seven-stringed lyre. 
 
 b v. 72 : or, as thou hast learnt what kind of man thou art, ever con- 
 tinue to be such ; i. e. retain thy upright nature, suffer thyself not to 
 be led astray. Qu. show thyself such as them art by learning, i. e. show 
 thyself such as thou hast learnt to be. 
 
 c v. 73 : i. e. flatterers please the young and inexperienced. 
 d v. 73 : or, is in Elysium. 
 e v. 74 : i. e. perfect wisdom. 
 
 £ v. 76 : i. e. to both the hearer and the teller of the calumny. 
 s v. 78 : or, to the gainful one, the fox, i. e. the calumniator. 
 h v. 80 : i.e. like the cork above the net, while the rest of the tackle 
 ia sunk deep below the surface, I still remain unwetted by the waves. 
 
 * v. 82 : i. e. ever employs every cunning art. 
 
 J v. 86 : i. e. under. k v. 88 : Qu. the optima tes, or nobles. 
 
PYTHIAN III. 
 
 61 
 
 glory to others ; but not even does this 1 soothe the mind oi 
 the envious ; but, dragging at too great a line, m they inflict a 
 great wound on their own heart before they obtain all that 
 they devise in their thought . 11 To bear lightly the yoke 
 1 placed upon the neck profits much ; but to kick against the 
 pricks is surely a slippery course. But may it be mine, pleas- 
 ing the good , 0 to associate with them. 
 
 PYTHIAN III 
 
 Inscribed to the same King Hiero as the two preceding, twice victorious 
 in the single-horse race : in 01. 73, 3 — B.C. 486, and in 01. 74, 3 — 
 B.C. 482. The ode was, however, not sent to Syracuse till the anni- 
 versary of the victory in 01. 76, 3 — B.C. 474. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 7 : The poet commences with a wish that Chiron, the instructor of 
 iEsculapius and the great master of the art of healing, were yet alive. 
 8 — 62 : Digression on the tale of Coronis and JEsculapius. 62 — 79 : 
 He returns to, and carries out, the notion of his first wish. 79 — end : 
 Advice and moral reflections addressed to Hiero. 
 
 I could wish that Chiron the son of Phillyra, if it were 
 permitted for me too as well as others openly a to utter this 
 common vow, were alive, Chiron I say the deceased, the 
 widely-ruling offspring of Cronus, son of Uranus, and that the 
 wild centaur ruled in the glens of Pelion, having a mind 
 friendly to mortals ; being such still, as he was when formerly 
 he bred Asclepius, the gentle artificer of freedom-from-pain 
 that strengthens the limbs, b the demigod that wards off all 
 kinds of diseases. 
 
 Now, before that the daughter of the equestrian Phlegyas 
 had given birth to him, with the aid of Eleithya, the mother- 
 tending, she, 0 after having been vanquished by the golden 
 
 1 v. 90 : the inconstancy and uncertainty of human fortune. 
 m v. 91 : i. e. trying to get more than their due share, or, expecting 
 too great a reward for their endeavours. 
 
 n v. 92 : i.e. they bring much mortification on themselves before they 
 gain the object of their desire. 
 
 ° v. 96 : Qu. men of rank, the nobles. 
 
 a v. 2 : lit. from my tongue. b v. 6 : i.e. of health, 
 
 c v. 9 : i.e. Coronis, the daughter of Phlegyas. 
 
62 
 
 PYTHIAN III. 
 
 J 
 
 arrows of Artemis in her chamber, descended to the dwelling 
 of Hades by the arts of Apollo. For the wrath of the sons 
 of Zeus never turns out to be in vain. For she making no 
 account of it, in the error of her mind accepted other nup- 
 tials, without the knowledge of her father, having before had 
 intercourse with Phcebus of the unshorn hair, and bearing 
 the divine seed of the god. Nor was she wont to endure the 
 coming of the nuptial board, nor the joyful shout of the 
 loud-sounding wedding songs, d in such manner as her com- 
 panion maidens equals-in-years are wont to e soothe the bride 
 with evening serenades ; but of a truth she was enamoured 
 of the absent, as many have ere now been affected. For 
 there is among men a most foolish race, who disdaining 
 things of their own land/ look round for what is remote, 
 pursuing idle visions with fruitless hopes. 
 
 The bold fair-robed CoronisS incurred such mighty ruin : 
 for she slept in the couch of a stranger who came from 
 Arcadia ; nor did she escape the notice of the ever-watching 
 one ; for happening to be at the victim-receiving Pytho, 
 Loxias, lord of the temple, perceived the matter in his most 
 direct informant, his mind that knoweth all things ; he, I say , 
 having persuaded his understanding ; 11 for he lays not hold 
 of 1 falsehoods, and either god nor mortal deceives him by 
 deeds or thoughts.* 
 
 And then Phoebus , having perceived the foreign embrace 
 and the lawless fraud of Ischys son of Elat us, sent his sister, 
 storming with irresistible rage, to Laceria ; since the maiden 
 dwelt at the precipices of the Boebian lake : and a hostile 
 daemon k having allured her to evil, subdued her ; and many 
 of the neighbours hence received destruction , 1 and perished 
 along with her ; and the fire which leapt from one spark 
 
 d v. 17 : i.e. she did not endure to be present on such occasions. 
 
 e v. 18 : or, love to soothe, &c. 
 
 f v. 22 : i.e. what is just before their eyes. 
 
 * v. 25 : lit. the high spirit, or mind, of the fair-robed Coronis, i. e. Co- 
 ronis herself. 
 
 h v. 28 : i.e. having brought himself, though unwilling, to believe it; 
 or, yvwfiq, ttiQmv, trusting to, following the dictates of his judgment. 
 
 1 v. 29 : has nought to do with. 
 
 J v. 30 : i. e. he neither deceives others, nor is deceived himself. 
 
 k v. 34 : i. e. her adverse destiny. 
 
 1 v. 35 : or, many have suffered loss from neighbours. 
 
PYTHIAN III 
 
 63 
 
 consumed much wood on the mountain . 111 But when her 
 relatives placed the maiden on the mound of wood, and the 
 furious blaze of Hephaestus surrounded her, then Apollo 
 spoke : “ I will endure no further in my soul to destroy n my 
 offspring in a most piteous death, involved in the grievous 
 calamity of his mother.” Thus he spoke, and at the first 
 step having reached the boy, he snatched him from the 
 corpse, and the blazing pyre clave asunder 0 for him ; and 
 then he bore and gave him to the Magnesian Centaur, to 
 teach him how to cure manifold diseases for mortals. Those, 
 therefore, as many as came afflicted with self-caused ulcers, or 
 wounded as to their limbs, either with gleaming brass or by 
 the far-hurled stone, or wasted as to their frame by the sum- 
 mer’s fire or winter’s cold, freeing different persons from 
 different pains, he rescued them ; tending some with gentle 
 charms, and others by drinking soothing potions, or binding 
 on all sides round their limbs plasters made from herbs, and 
 others by amputation he raised erect from sickness ; but 
 even wisdom has been bound by desire of gain, and gold 
 shining in the hand, by a magnificent reward induced even 
 him to restore from death a man already seized by it : and 
 then Zeus, hurling with his hands a bolt through both, 
 speedily took away the breath of their breasts, and the flash- 
 ing bolt inflicted death. We ought to implore with human 
 thoughts P what is suitable from the deities, having come to 
 know what is near at hand, 1 ! of what a destiny 1 we are. 
 Strive not, O my soul, at immortal life, but use to the 
 utmost the means within thy power. 
 
 But if the discreet Chiron still inhabited his cave, and if in 
 any respect my melodious hymns could have put a spell upon 
 his mind, I would in truth have persuaded him even now to 
 furnish to good men a healer of feverish diseases, either some 
 son of Apollo or of his sire ; and I would have gone in ships 
 cleaving the Ionian Sea to the fountain Arethusa, to my 
 -ZEtnean host, who bears sway at Syracuse, gentle to his 
 subjects, entertaining no insidious feeling towards good 
 
 m v. 37 : i. e. from one woman’s fault many met with destruction. 
 
 n v. 31 : i.e. I will proceed no further in the destruction of. 
 
 0 \ 44 : or, parted its flames. 
 
 p v. 59 : or, with a mind that befits what is mortal. 
 
 q v. 60 : i.e. our present condition. or, state. 
 
64 
 
 PYTHIAN III. 
 
 citizens, and a marvellous father s to strangers. For whom* 
 if I had reached the land, bringing two delights, golden 
 health and festal procession, bright glory to the wreaths of 
 the Pythian victories, which Pherenicus, best in the race, 
 formerly won in Cirrha, I assert that, as a light more far- 
 shining than a star of heaven, I should have come to him, 
 after that I had crossed the deep sea. But I am desirous to 
 address my prater to the mother of the gods, the revered 
 goddess, whom, along with Pan, the maidens by my porch 
 often celebrate in song by night. 
 
 But if, O Hiero, thou understands how to read aright 
 the recondite sense of legendary tales, thou knowest, being 
 instructed by those of old/ that, for one blessing, the immor- 
 tals distribute two evils together for mortals. These more 
 numerous evils, however, the foolish are not able to endure 
 becomingly, but the good do so endmre them , having turned 
 their bright side out to view. But the lot of happiness 
 accompanies thee. For mighty Fate regards with favour a 
 sovereign leader of the people, if it does any man. But a life 
 without trip or stumble happened neither to Peleus, son of 
 .ZEacus, nor to the godlike Cadmus, who verily are said to 
 have possessed the highest bliss of mortals, seeing that they 
 heard the Muses with the golden frontlet carolling, on the 
 mountain and in seven-gated Thebes, when the one wedded 
 full-eyed Harmonia, and the other Thetis, the far-famed 
 daughter of wise ISTereus. And the gods feasted with both, 
 and they beheld the kingly sons of Cronus on thrones of 
 gold, and received nuptial gifts ; and through the favour of 
 Zeus having escaped from former evils, they raised their 
 heart erect. But afterwards, however, the one, u did his three 
 daughters, by their sharp afflictions, deprive of a portion of 
 his happiness ; but father Zeus came to the coveted couch of 
 the white-armed Thyone. But the son of the other/ whom 
 being an only child the immortal Thetis brought forth in 
 Pthia, he , I say having lost his life in war by the bow, called 
 forth, when burnt with the funereal fire, wailing from the 
 Greeks. But if any one of mortals holdeth in his mind the 
 way of truth, w he ought, for that he has obtained them from 
 
 9 v. 72 : i.e. patron. * v. 81 : i.e. by former poets. 
 
 u v. 97 : i e. Cadmus. v v. 100 : Achilles, son of Peleus. 
 
 w v. 103 : i . e. the true and right course of action. 
 
PYTHIAN IV. 
 
 65 
 
 the gods, to enjoy the blessings he has ; but at various times 
 various blasts of the soaring winds prevail ; for the bliss of man 
 goes not far, x when being of exceeding greatness it descends 
 with all its weight. Moderate shall I be in moderate for- 
 tune, great in great : I will always honour in my heart 
 the fortune that attends me, suiting my temper to its 
 according to my utmost ability. 
 
 But if the deity should extend to me sumptuous 2 wealth, 
 I have hope that I may find lofty glory in future. Nestor 
 and Lycian Sarpedon, the common theme of men, a from 
 high-sounding verses, such as skilful artificers have framed, 
 we know. b Worth by famous strains becometh enduring ; 
 but to few is it easy to bring about this for themselves. 0 
 
 PYTHIAN IY. 
 
 Inscribed to Arcesilaus, king of Cyrene, conqueror in the chariot-race ; 
 01. 78, 3. B.C. 466 : sung at a banquet in Cyrene. 
 
 AKGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 5 : Invocation of the Muse to praise Arcesilaus, king of Cyrene. 
 5 — 69 : Discussion on the origin of the conqueror’s native city ; the 
 prophecy of Medea to one of the Argonauts, and the oracle given at 
 Delphi to Battus. 69 — 262 : Tale of the expedition of the Argonauts, 
 and J ason’s agreement with Pelias, the slaying the dragon and carry- 
 ing off the fleece. 263 — 299 : Good advice to Arcesilaus, and entreaty 
 that Demophilus may be recalled by him' from banishment. 
 
 To-day, O Muse, thou must take thy station near a hero 
 who is my friend, the king of Cyrene nurse of steeds, that 
 with Arcesilaus, as he advances in triumph, thou mayest 
 swell a the prosperous gale of hymns due to the children 
 of Latona and to Pytho, — 
 
 Where of yore the priestess, who sits near the golden 
 
 x v. 105 : i. e. lasts not long. y v. 109 : or y paying respect to it. 
 
 2 v. 110 : or, luxurious. 
 a v. 112 : i.e. celebrated in song and story. 
 
 b v. 112 : i.e. we know Nestor and Sarpedon from the praises that 
 poets have bestowed upon them. 
 
 c v. 115 : i.e. few are able to gain for themselves the honour of the 
 poet’s praise and enduring fame thereby. 
 a or, excite. 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 PYTHIAN IV. 
 
 eagles of Zeus, Apollo not being absent from His sbrine, 
 oracularly pronounced Battus the founder of fruitful Libya ; 
 how that forthwith having left the holy island (Thera), he 
 should found a city famed for cars on a chalky hill, and that 
 with the seventeenth generation he should bring to pass 
 again the prophetic word of Medea, addressed to Theras, 
 which formerly ^he fiery b child of HCetes breathed forth 
 from her immortal mouth, queen as she was of the Colchians. 
 And thus she spoke to the demi-god sailors of Jason the 
 warrior : 
 
 “ Hear, O children of daring heroes and of gods ! for I 
 declare, that from this sea-beaten earth the daughter of 
 Epaphus c shall some day plant a root of cities, d object of 
 love to men, in the place where Zeus Ammon e stands. 
 And taking in exchange swift steeds for short-finned 
 dolphins and reins for oars/ they shall ply the storm-footed 
 steeds. For that augury s shall at last bring about that 
 Thera be the mother-city of mighty cities ; that augury , I 
 say , which late at the mouth of the Tritonian lake, at the 
 hands of a god in the form of a man giving earth in token 
 of hospitality, Euphemus, having descended from the prow, 
 received : and, auspicious for him, Father Zeus son of 
 Cronus made the thunder roar ; as upon the ship they were 
 hanging the anchor with tooth of brass, the curb of the 
 swift Argo. For twelve days before, out of Ocean, we bore 
 over the desert ridges of earth the bark, having drawn it up 
 on shore by my advice. Then the deity, lone-roving, came 
 upon us, having assumed the bright appearance of an august 
 man ; and he commenceth friendly words, as the hospitable 
 first offer refreshment to guests on their arrival ; but we 
 would not avail ourselves of his hospitality, for the cause 
 of a sweet return hindered us from remaining : and 
 he said that he was Eurypylus, son of the immortal Earth- 
 shaker , 11 and he knew that we were hastening ; therefore, 
 immediately snatching the sod of earth which was nearest 
 
 b v. 10 : Qu. inspired. c v. 14 : i. e. Libya. 
 
 d v. 15 : i.e. Cyrene, mother of the Pentapolis. 
 e v. 16 : i.e. where the temple of Zeus Ammon stands. 
 
 # v. 17 : i. e. exchanging fishing and naval pursuits for equestrian, 
 f? v. 19 : i.e. the clod of earth, or the augury derived from it. 
 h V. 33: i. e. Poseidon that encircleth the world. 
 
PYTHIAN IV. 
 
 67 
 
 him, he strove to offer it as a gift of hospitality. Nor did 
 he h refuse compliance to him, but the hero having leaped 
 upon the shore and having stretched his hand to the hand 
 of the god, received the heaven-sent clod. But I hear that 
 it fell overboard 1 from the sea-washed ship, and was carried 
 away by the brine at evening, driven onward by the moist 
 ocean. Of a surety often did I urge the labour-lightening 
 attendants to guard it ; but their minds forgot. And now 
 in this island is shed the imperishable seed of spacious 
 Libya before the appointed timed For if Euphemus had, at 
 his home, cast it near the mouth of subterranean Hades, 
 Euphemus , I say , having arrived at sacred Tsenarus, he, the 
 royal son of Poseidon ruler of the steed, whom formerly 
 Europa, daughter of Tityus, bore by the banks of Cephisus, 
 had he done so, I say, then his blood in the fourth offspring 
 would, along with the Danai, have taken that wide continent. 
 For then they shall set out from mighty Lacedaemon, and 
 from the Argive gulf, and from Mycenae. But now, indeed, k 
 he shall find in the bed of foreign women a chosen seed, 
 which with the favour of the gods having come to this 
 island, shall be parents to a hero, lord of the black-soiled 
 plains ; whom, at some future time, in his gold-adorned 
 temple, Phoebus shall warn with oracles when he has entered 
 the Pythian shrine, that in after time he is to conduct in 
 ships many men to the rich precinct of Zeus Nilus.” 1 
 
 Of a surety such was the order of Medea’s words. m And 
 motionless, in dumb amazement, did the godlike heroes 
 cower down, hearing the sage counsel. 
 
 0 blest son of Polymnestus, thee, agreeably to this pre- 
 diction, the oracle hath ennobled by the spontaneous voice of 
 the Delphic bee ; 11 which having three times bid thee hail, 
 proclaimed thee destined king of Cyrene, when thou wast 
 inquiring what help for impeded speech there shall be from 
 the gods. But now many years after, 0 Arcesilaus, the eighth 
 
 h v. 36 : i. e. Euphemus. 1 v. 38 : lit. having been submerged. 
 
 j v. 43 : subaudi, whereas it ought to have been otherwise. 
 
 k v. 50 : i.e. in the present state of things. 
 
 1 v. 56 : or, according to H. and Don., “ to the temple of the son of 
 Cronus, i. e. Jupiter Ammon, near the Nile.” 
 
 m v. 57 : or, of a surety such were the lays ef Medea. 
 
 B v. 60 : i. e. priestess. 
 
 • v. 64 : i. e. after the oracle was delivered. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 PYTHIAN IV. 
 
 port bn P to this progeny, flourishes as in the bloom ot roseate 
 spring; Arcesilaus, I say, to whom Apollo and Pytho have 
 granted glory from the race-course of the neighbouring 
 states. Him and the all-golden fleece of the ram will I give 
 to the Muses to celebrate ; for the Minyse having sailed after 
 that fleece, divine honours were won by them. 
 
 What commencement of the voyage awaited them'H 
 What peril held them bound with strong rivets of adamant ? 
 It was fated that Pelias should die by the hands, or by the 
 unflinching 1 * plots of the high-born sons of ^Eolus. And the 
 prediction fell chill upon his wise soul, uttered near the 
 mid-navel of mother earth, clothed with fair woods ; “ to 
 stand by all means greatly on his guard against the one- 
 sandalled man, when, from a lofty abode, he should come to 
 the sunny land of the far-famed Iolcos, a stranger, or being 
 a citizen.” And he, as you might expect, in time came with 
 two javelins, a wondrous hero ; and a garment of both kinds 
 clothed him ; both the garment, that is to say, used in the 
 country of the Magnesians, fitting closely to his wondrous 
 limbs, and, on the other hand, he kept off, with a panther’s 
 skin thrown round him, shivering rains ; nor were the shining 
 tresses of his locks shorn and gone, but they floated down 
 his whole back. Then, forthwith, advancing straight on- 
 ward, he stood, putting to the proof his undaunted soul, in the 
 market-place, where the multitude thronged. But him they 
 knew not : yet, some one from among the reverently-gazing 
 crowd said this amongst other things : “ Surely, niethinks, this 
 is not Apollo, nor, moreover, is it Aphrodite’s paramour with 
 his brazen car, and they say that in bright Naxos the chil- 
 dren of Iphimedia died, Otus and thou, O daring monarch 
 Ephialtes. And, moreover, the swift-winged dart of Artemis 
 caught Tityus, the dart, I say, rushing forth from her un- 
 conquered quiver, that one might learn to seek for lawful 
 loves.” 
 
 They, indeed, in answer t© each other, spoke in such 
 fashion : and borne by mules and a polished car, with head- 
 long haste Pelias came hurrying ; and forthwith he was 
 amazed, beholding the readily-recognized sandal solitary 
 
 p v. 65 : or, number. 
 
 * v. 70 : i. e. what origin of the voyage had they ? 
 
 r v. 72 : Qu. not to be repelled. 
 
PYTHIAN IT. 
 
 69 
 
 around liis right fool.. But disguising his fear in his mind, 
 he addressed him : “ What land, O stranger, dost thou boast 
 to be thy country? And who of earth-born women sent 
 thee forth from her aged womb ? Declare thy race, polluting 
 it not with most odious falsehoods.” And him boldly with 
 gentle words thus he answered : “ I say that I bear with 
 me s the instruction of Chiron ; for I come from his cave 
 from Chariclo and Philyra, where the pure daughters of the 
 centaur reared me. And having accomplished twenty years, 
 and having done neither any dishonest action, nor spoken 
 any deceitful word to them, I have come to my home, 
 endeavouring to recover the ancient kingdom of my father, 
 which is now unjustly swayed by another , the kingdom which 
 Zeus formerly granted to the chieftain ^Eolus and to his 
 children. For I hear that Pelias unjustly, having obeyed 
 his envious 8 * * 11 soul, violently seized it from my parents, its 
 lawful owners ; who, as soon as ever I saw the light, fearing 
 the violence of the overbearing ruler, having instituted 
 mournful wailing in the palace for me, as having died, 
 amidst the wailings of women, sent me secretly in purple 
 swaddling-clothes intrusting their journey to the secrecy ot 
 night, u and gave me to Chiron, son of Cronus, to rear. But 
 of these matters know this to be the sum. How the dwellings 
 of my noble v sires, O discreet citizens, declare to me clearly ; 
 for being the son of HCson and a native, I should not I fancy 
 come to a foreign land of aliens. How the divine centaur 
 addressed me by the name of Jason.” Thus he spoke ; him, 
 indeed, as he entered, the eyes of his father recognized, and 
 from his aged eyelids gushed forth tears, since he rejoiced 
 in his soul, beholding his distinguished offspring fairesb of 
 men. 
 
 And to greet them, both the brothers of JE son came at 
 the report of his arrival ; first at hand, Pheres, having left 
 the fountain Hypersea, and from Messene came Amythaon : 
 and quickly came Admetus and Melampus, saluting in 
 friendly fashion their cousin. And in the fellowship of the 
 feast, Jason, receiving them with mild words, preparing 
 
 8 v. 102 : i. e. that I have received. * v. 109 : or, covetous. 
 
 u v. 115: i.e. travelling by night without imparting the matter to 
 
 any one. 
 
 v v. 117 : lit. that ride on white steeds. 
 
70 
 
 PYTHIAN IV. 
 
 a suitable banquet, prolonged all festivity culling for five 
 continuous days and nights the sacred flower w of enjoy- 
 ment. But on the sixth laying before them the whole grave 
 matter, the hero recounted it from the very beginning to 
 his relatives ; and they approved ; and forthwith from the 
 banquet he sprung with them. And then they came to 
 the palace of Pelias ; and rushing on they took their stand 
 within. And hearing them, he himself, the offspring of 
 Tyro decked with love-locks, met them ; but J ason, with 
 mild voice, distilling x gentle discourse, laid the foundation 
 of wise words : — “ Son of Petrsean Poseidon, y the minds of 
 mortals are too swift to approve of crafty gain before justice, 
 though they come nevertheless to a hard reckoning : but 
 thee and me it behoveth, ruling our tempers, to weave 
 happiness for the future. I speak in truth to one who 
 knows : one and the same dam was mother to Cretheus and 
 Salmoneus bold in council ; and in the third generation we, 
 in turn, begotten from them, behold the golden light of the 
 sun. But the Fates turn away in displeasure, if any enmity 
 arises among relations, so as to cast into the shade their 
 reverence for each other. It becometh not us two with 
 swords formed of brass, nor with javelins, to make partition 
 of the mighty dominion of our forefathers ; for I give up to 
 thee both flocks of sheep and tawny herds of cattle, and all 
 the fields which, after taking them from my parents, thou 
 grazest, increasing thy wealth ; nor does it grieve me that 
 these greatly furnish thy house with store of riches. But the 
 sovereign sceptre and the throne, on which of yore the son 
 of Cretheus sitting, administered justice aright to his eques- 
 trian subjects, these, without causing trouble to us both, do 
 thou release to us, lest some more grievous evil arise from 
 them.” 
 
 Thus, then, he spoke : and gently too did Pelias answer 
 in return : 
 
 “ Such as thou suggestest will I be ; but already the aged 
 part of life encompasses me ; but thy flower of youth is just 
 swelling up ; and thou hast ability to set aside the wrath of 
 the gods of the nether world. For Phrixus bids some , having 
 
 w v. 130 : or, prime. x or, letting fall. 
 
 t v. 138 : or, Poseidon cleaver of the rocks. 
 
PYTHIAN IV. 
 
 71 
 
 gone 1 o the d wet ling-place of HCetes, to rescue 2 his soul and to 
 coring the thick-fleeced hide of the ram, by which formerly he 
 was saved from the ocean and from the ungodly darts of his 
 stepmother. These things doth a wondrous dream that 
 came to me declare. And I inquired of the oracle at Castalia, 
 if aught was to be further searched after : and the deity 
 enjoins upon me to prepare the convoy home for Phrixus by 
 a ship. a This toil do thou, nothing loth, accomplish : and on 
 such conditions, I swear that I will give up to thee the mo- 
 narchy and the kingly power : may Zeus, the tutelar deity of 
 the race of both of us, be the mighty witness of the oath !” 
 
 Having agreed to this compact, they indeed parted ; but 
 Jason himself now sent forth heralds to make known in every 
 quarter the intended voyage. 
 
 And quickly came three sons unwearied in fight, of Zeus 
 son of Cronus, and of Alcmena with rapid-glancing eyes, and 
 of Leda ; and two heroes with hair that waved high in air, b 
 the race of the Earth-shaker, showing a sense of shame in 
 their strength, 0 came from Pylos and from the headland of 
 Tsenarus : whose high fame, and that of Euphemus was con- 
 summated in this expedition , and thine too, O widely-potent 
 Periclymenus. And, sent from Apollo, a harper, father of 
 songs, came, renowned Orpheus. And Hermes with wand 
 of gold, sent his two sons to unabating toil, the one Echion, 
 exulting ivere they in youthful strength, d and Eurytus, the 
 other. And quickly came on those who dwelt about the 
 roots of Pangseus ; for not unwilling, with cheerful spirit, 
 Boreas, king of winds, more quickly made ready e Zetes and 
 Calais, heroes both, with backs that bristled with purple 
 feathers. f And Here kindled the all-persuading, sweet desire 
 for the ship Argo in the heroes, that no one, being left 
 behind, should remain with his mother, leading a sodden life 
 of ease ; s but that, even on condition of death, he should seek 
 
 z or, bring back from a foreign land. 
 
 a i. e. to prepare to bring back the soul of Phrixus by a ship. 
 
 b v. 172 : Qu. tall, or, long-haired. 
 
 c v. 173 : i. e. checking their strength. Qu. fearing to disgrace their 
 valour by :emaining at home. 
 
 d v. 17£ : or, Qu. shouting aloud in youthful strength. 
 
 e v. 181 : or, urged on. 
 
 f v. 18S : lit. bristling, either of them, as to their backs, with purple 
 feathers. s v. 186 : Qu. ripening an un perilled existence. 
 
72 
 
 PYTHIAN IY. 
 
 to find the fairest remedy for his valour, with the rest of his 
 peers. h 
 
 But when the flower of sailors was gone down to Iolcos, 
 Jason, having praised all, numbered them. And then the 
 soothsayer Mopsus, divining with auguries from birds and 
 sacred lots, with forward soul made the crew embark. 
 
 And when above the prow they hung the anchors, the 
 leader having taken in his hands a golden drinking-bowl, 
 standing on the stern, called upon 1 Zeus who hurls the 
 thunderbolt as a lance, father of the sons of Uranus, and the 
 swift-rushing blasts of the winds and the waves, and nights 
 and ocean paths, j and auspicious days and wished-for destiny 
 of return : k from the clouds a favourable voice of thunder 
 sounded in answer, and there came brilliant rays of 
 lightning, shooting apart . 1 The heroes took breath again, 
 relying on the omens of the Deity, and the seer Mopsus, 
 interpreting the augury, commanded them to ply the oars, m 
 announcing sweet hopes ; and rowing succeeded 11 from their 
 swift hands, unwearied. 
 
 And, conducted on by the breezes of the south wind, they 
 came to the mouth of the Axine sea : there they founded a 
 holy, sacred-precinct of Poseidon of the Ocean, and a tawny 
 herd of Thracian bulls was there at hand , 0 and newly built of 
 stones the hollow of an altar’s plane. And, being thrown 
 into deep danger, they prayed the lord of ships that they 
 might escape the irresistible movement of clashing rocks. 
 For there were twain endowed with life, and they whirled 
 more rapidly than the array of bellowing winds ; but now to 
 them that voyage of the demigods brought the close of life.P 
 And thereafter they came to the Phasis ; there they fought 
 with the swarthy Colchians, close by ZEetes himself, i And 
 the Cyprus-born goddess , mistress of keenest weapons, then 
 
 h v. 187 : or, that with the rest of his peers he should seek to find the 
 sweetest zest which virtue gives to death. 
 
 1 or, invoked. J v. 195 : i.e. paths through the ocean by night. 
 k v. 196 : i. e. desired return. 
 
 1 v. 198 : or, scattered. 
 
 m v. 201 : eixtaXelv sc. avrovg, to lean upon, or lay themselves to, 
 their oars. n v. 202 : or, went on stroke upon stroke. 
 
 ° v. 205 : i. e. they found a herd of red Thracian bulls there. 
 p v. 211 : i.e. brought death to the Symplegades. 
 
 * v. 213 : i. e. having advanced close up to his city itself. 
 
PYTHIAN IY. 
 
 73 
 
 first brought to men the mottled wryneck, tied on the four- 
 spoked wheel, having brought it from Olympus, having bound 
 on the indissoluble round the bird that inspires frantic 
 passion ; and she taught the wise son of ^Eson words of incan- 
 tation and charms, in order that he might disarm Medea of 
 compunction towards her parents, and that the longing for 
 Greece might agitate her, while her heart was inflamed with 
 love, with the scourge of desire. And quickly she showed 
 him the ways of bringing to a close the toils imposed by her 
 sire : and, mingling them with oil, she compounded antidotes 
 against stubborn pains, and gave them to him, wherewith 
 to anoint himself. And they plighted their troth to join 
 sweet mutual marriage with each other. But when ASetes 
 fixed down the adamantine plough in the midst of them, and 
 •placed the oxen, which breathed from their yellow jaws flame 
 of blazing fire, and with their brazen hoofs, as they moved 
 their feet alternately, broke the ground — these he alone, 
 having brought up, fixed securely to the yoke. And, draw- 
 ing out straight furrows, he drove the oxen , and he furrowed 
 up r the back of the loamy soil a fathom’s depth, s and thus he 
 spoke : — 
 
 “ This work having accomplished for me, let the king, who- 
 ever he be that commandeth the vessel, bear off the imperish- 
 able coverlid of the couch, the fleece resplendent with golden 
 wool.” When then he had thus spoken, Jason having cast 
 off his saffron mantle, relying on the god, applied himself to 
 the task ; and the fire makes him not to waver, thanks to 1 
 the injunctions of his hostess skilled in every drug. Drag- 
 ging forth the plough, and having bound the necks of the 
 oxen with compulsory bonds , 11 and smiting their strong-ribbed 
 body with the terrible goad, the forceful hero accomplished 
 the appointed measure of his task : and iEetes, though in 
 speechless grief, groaned, marvelling at his might ; and to the 
 strong hero his companions stretched forth loving hands, and 
 covered him with garlands of herblets, and greeted him with 
 kind words. 
 
 ** v. 227 : i . e. ^Eetes unassisted. 
 
 - v. 228 : ava joined with — Digs. 
 
 8 v. 229 : or, he scored the back of the loamy soil {dva referred ta 
 opoyviav) up to a fathom’s depth. 
 
 1 or, by reason of, through. * or, with the gear of compulsion. 
 
74 
 
 PYTHIAN IY. 
 
 And forthwith the wondrous son of Helios pointed out 7 
 the brilliant hide, where the knives of Phrixus stretched it 
 out ; but he hoped that he w would not accomplish for him 
 that further toil, at any rate ; for it lay in a thicket, and it 
 was held by the most furious jaws of a dragon, which in 
 thickness and in length exceeds a ship with fifty oars, which 
 blows of the hammer have perfected. 
 
 It is long for me to return on the beaten track ; for time 
 is x closing in ; and I know a certain short path, and am to 
 many others a guide of artJ 
 
 He slew indeed by his arts the azure-eyed serpent with 
 back of varied hues, O Arcesilaus, and stole away, with her 
 own assistance, Medea, her that caused the death of Pelias. 
 And they approached 2 to the open floods of Ocean, and to the 
 Red Sea, and to the nation of Lemnian women that slew 
 their husbands ; where too in combats they displayed proof 
 of their limbs for the prize of a robe, a and lay with them. 
 And then in foreign lands the hours of day or night received 
 the destined seed of the beam of thy happiness ; b for then the 
 race of Euphemus being planted, arose, always to remain ; 
 and reaching the dwellings of Lacedaemonian men, in course 
 of time they colonized the island once called Callista. And 
 thence did the son of Latona bring to pass for you to exalt, 
 by the favour of the gods, the plain of Libya ; to you , I say , 
 having discovered right-counselling wisdom for governing the 
 divine city of golden-throned Gyrene. 
 
 Study to gain the wisdom of CEdipus. 0 For if one should, d 
 with keen axe, hew off the branches of a mighty oak, and 
 mar its wondrous form, still, though withered, it gives the 
 means of judging of itself, e if haply at last it comes to the 
 winter fire ; or if acting as a support in conjunction with other 
 straight pillars of the master’s house/ it undertakes a mean 
 toil in alien walls, leaving its own place desolate. 
 
 v v. 241 : or, told him of. w i. e. Jason. 
 
 x v. 247 : or, runs short. ? i. e. of poetical skill. 
 
 1 v. 251 : or, came to. a v. 253 : or, without garments. 
 
 b v. 255 : i.e. of thy illustrious fortune. 
 
 c v. 263 : or, learn now the wisdom of CEdipus ; i. e. mayst thou have 
 the skill of CEdipus in understanding an enigma. 
 
 d v. 264 : or, though one should. 
 
 e v. 265 : i. e. gives proof of its strength. 
 
 f v. 267 : the meaning is, that it forms one pillar among many ; that 
 it unites with others in supporting the house. 
 
PYTHIAN IV. 
 
 7 5 
 
 Th >u art tlie most opportune healer of the state , and Poean 
 favours thy good fortune. Thou oughtest, therefore, applying 
 a gentle hand, to dress the wound of the ulcer ; for to shake 
 a city is easy even for the viler sort, hut to put it back in its 
 placed is difficult indeed, unless the deity on a sudden direct 
 the leaders in their course. For thee a happy destiny in 
 these respects is woven by the Fates; wherefore boldly under- 
 take in behalf of favoured Cyrene to lay out all thy zeal. 
 
 Amongst other sayings of Homer, this saying too do thou 
 hear and diligently observe : “ a well-advised messenger,” he 
 said, “ brings most honour to every deed.” And the Muse is 
 promoted to honour by a message rightly spoken . 11 Cyrene 
 and the most renowned hall of Battus hath by experience 
 learnt the justice that dwells in the heart of Demophilus. 
 For he, young among youths, but in counsels old, as if he 
 had experienced a life of a hundred years, deprives calumny 
 of its far-sounding tongue, and has learnt to hate the insolent, 
 not striving against the good, nor delaying the accomplish- 
 ment of any duty. For opportunity hath but a brief limit 
 among men. He hath well understood it ; 1 and he attends on 
 it as a faithful follower, not as a hireling.! 
 
 They say that this is most grievous, when acquainted with 
 what is best, to be compelled to be without it. And yet he, k 
 an Atlas, now at any rate struggles with Olympus , 1 far from 
 his native land and from his possessions. Yet immortal Zeus 
 released the Titans ; and in time changes 111 of sails take place 
 after the wind has ceased . 11 But he prays, that having seen 
 to its end his deadly disease , 0 he may some day see his home ; 
 and near Apollo’s fountain, P attending at the banquet, often 
 
 b i. e. to restore tranquillity. 
 
 h v. 279 : i. e. when she advises a just and moderate course. 
 
 1 v. 287 : scil. tov icaipov, the favourable occasion. 
 
 j v. 287 : i' e. he consults the popular will, but with a liberal mind.— 
 Dias. Or, in the despatch of business, he does not labour like a slave 
 occupied with some low employment. 
 
 k i. e. Demophilus. 
 
 1 v. 289 : i. e. with the grievous burden of his destiny in being in exile. 
 
 m v. 292 : or, shiftings. 
 
 n v. 293 : i. e. as sailors, when the wind goes down, alter their sails, 
 to do thou now, as the dcmger of sedition has passed away, recall Demo- 
 philus to Cyrene. 
 
 ° v. 294 : i. e. that having endured exile and all *ts miseries. 
 
 p v. 294 : i. e. near Cyrene. 
 
76 
 
 PYTHIAN V. 
 
 give himself up to youthful cheer, and amongst the music- 
 loving citizens bearing his cunningly wrought lyre, that he 
 may enjoys repose ; and so neither do wrong to any, and him- 
 self suffer none from the citizens. And in sooth he may tell 
 what a fountain of ambrosial strains he found for Arcesilaus, r 
 when lately entertained by me as a guest at Thebes. 
 
 PYTHIAN Y. 
 
 Inscribed to the same Arcesilaus as the preceding ode, and on account of 
 the same victory : 01. 78, 3. B.C. 466 : sung at Cyrene, in the 
 triumphal procession to the temple of Apollo. The chariot in which 
 the victory was won had been consecrated by the charioteer, Carrhotus, 
 brother-in-law of Arcesilaus, at Delphi. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 10 : The power of wealth combined with virtue. 11 — 53 : The 
 good fortune of Arcesilaus due to the gods and the skill of Carrhotus 
 his charioteer. 53 — 97 : Apollo prospers the family of Battus. 
 
 97 — 116 : Conclusion with the praises of Arcesilaus, for whom the 
 poet offers his prayers. 
 
 Wealth is widely potent, when any mortal man obtains it a 
 at the gift of fortune ; a greatly-prized companion, when 
 conjoined with distinguished virtue. 
 
 O Arcesilaus, blessed by the gods, thou, from the first 
 steps of an illustrious life, with glory pursuest after these b 
 by the favour of Castor of the golden car, who, after a wintry 
 storm, sheds a calm over thy happy house. 
 
 Of a truth the wise bear better even the power that the 
 gods bestow ; 0 but thee, as thou walkest in justice, abun- 
 dant prosperity enccmpasseth : partly because thou art the 
 monarch of mighty cities, the native light of thy genius hath 
 this most majestic honour given in combination with thy 
 wisdom ; and partly thou art blessed in the present, too, 
 because having already gained glory by thy steeds from the 
 far-famed Pythian games, thou hast received this triumphal 
 ^ v. 296 : lit. touch. 
 
 r v. 299 : i.e. what a promise of future praise for Arcesilaus he hai 
 found in me. a v. 3 : lit. leads it home. 
 
 b v. 8 : i.e. wealth conjoined with virtue. 
 c v. 12 : i.e. even very great good fortune. 
 
PYTHIAN V. 
 
 77 
 
 procession of heroes, the delight of Apollo. Wherefore, 
 forget not, when celebrated at Cyrene, round 0 the sweet 
 garden of Aphrodite, to set the Deity indeed over aught 
 else, but love Carrhotus most of thy companions ; d who, 
 not bringing excuse, daughter of after-thought, late in 
 learning wisdom, has come to the mansions of the justly- 
 ruling sons of Battus ; but received as a guest at the water 
 of Castalia, he, with undamaged reins, has placed around thy 
 locks the prize for being first in the chariot-race in the sacred 
 spot e of twelve swift courses. For he broke in no way the 
 strength of the harness : but there is suspended as a votive 
 offering, all the workmanship of skilful artificers, which he 
 brought with him to the hollow plain of the god, after he 
 had passed the Crisssean hill ; wherefore the cypress chapel 
 holds it close by the statue which the bow-bearing Cretans 
 placed in the Parnassian hall ; f the statue consisting of the 
 trunk of one tree, formed by natural growth. It behoveth 
 thee, therefore, with willing spirit, to go to meet thy bene- 
 factor. And thee, O Carrhotus, son of Alexibius, the fair- 
 haired Charites render famous : and blest art thou, who hast, 
 although after great toil, a memorial of highest praise. For 
 amongst forty fallen charioteers, having with fearless mind 
 brought off thy chariot whole and entire, thou hast now come 
 from the famous contests to the plain of Libya, and to thy 
 native city. 
 
 But no one is, or ever will be, without share of toils ; and 
 yet the ancient good fortune of Battus attends Arcesilaus, 
 assigning a variety of blessings, being the city’s tower, and 
 most brilliant light of protection to strangers. From him 
 too did the loud-roaring lions fly through fear ; since he 
 brought to them a voice unheard by them before, that came 
 across the sea, and Apollo, leader of the colony, gave the 
 beasts up to dread fear, in order that he might not fail to 
 make his oracles good to the ruler of Cyrene : Apollo who, 
 too, of grievous diseases bestoweth on men and women reme- 
 dies, and hath granted also the harp, and imparts the muse 
 unto whomsoever he may please, implanting into the heart 
 
 c v. 23 : or in. 
 
 d v. 24 : i. e. next after the Deity, who is the author of all good fortune, 
 be sure that thou acknowledge the merit of Carrhotus, thy charioteer. 
 
 e v. 31 : or, hippodrome. 1 v. 39 : i. e. in the temple at Delphi. 
 
78 
 
 PYTHIAN V. 
 
 love of order averse to war, and who guards the prophetic 
 cave : wherefore^ he made the valiant sons of Hercules and 
 of Higimius to inhabit in Lacedaemon and in Argos, and in 
 divine Pylos. How they say that my glorious origin is from 
 Sparta, sprung from which source there came to Thera the 
 race of the H^gidae, my ancestors, not without the interven- 
 tion of the gods ; but some fate brought the festival of many 
 victims ; h whence , 1 O Apollo, weJ having received the Carnea, 
 celebrate in thy banquet the well-built city of Cyrene. k 
 Gyrene , which the Trojan strangers, sons of Antenor, re- 
 joicing in brazen arms, possess. For they came with Helen, 
 after that they had seen their country burnt to ashes by war : 
 and the men whom Aristoteles brought, heartily receive with 
 sacrifices and approach with gifts that knightly race j 1 Aris- 
 toteles™ I say , opening out a deep path over the sea with 
 swift ships . 11 And he planted groves of the gods larger than 
 he found there , and he laid down the straight-cut, level 
 road, paved with stones, so that it could be trodden by the 
 horses in the processions in honour of Apollo, that wards off 
 diseases from mortals , the road , I say , from the place where 
 he lies buried apart from other sepulchres, at the far end of 
 the forum. Blest indeed did he dwell among men, but after- 
 wards he has become a hero honoured by the people. But 
 apart, before the palaces, the other sacred 0 kings have 
 obtained their sepulchre, and they have been besprinkled 
 with the refreshing dew of mighty glories, P and with the 
 streams of the revel-songs ; Q and they hear beneath the 
 
 ^ v. 65 : or, whereby, i. e. by which oracular power. 
 h y. 71 : i. e. the Carnea. 1 v. 73 : i. e. from Thera. 
 
 - v. 74 : i . e. the iEgidae of Thebes. 
 
 k v. 76 : or, but some fate brought the festival abounding in victims 
 to the well-built city of Cyrene, whence we, O Apollo, having received 
 the Carnea, celebrate it, i. e. Gyrene, at thy festival ; or, whence, i. e. 
 from which festival, we have derived the Carnea, and celebrate them at 
 our banquets. 
 
 1 v. 79 : “that knightly race,” i. e. the Antenoridse. 
 m v. 81 : also called Battus. 
 
 n v. 83 : i.e. the colonists whom Battus brought to Cyrene kindly 
 received and worshipped the Antenoridae. 
 
 ° v. 91 : or, canonized. p v. 92 : or, of their mighty worth. 
 
 * v. 94 : fieya\av 8* dperctp 8po<rip jua\$aicg, pavQkv Kiopwv 3’ vi ro 
 ucHJiv. — BergJc. Or, reading with Biss, pty a\a 8’ dperd 8p6<j(p pa\* 
 Qatcq, bav9u<ra kw/xujv vi to %evpa<nv , And their great worth is 
 
PYTHIAN Y. 
 
 79 
 
 earth their own bliss, and the glory of victory common to 
 them with their descendant Arcesilaus, to whom it justly 
 belongs : Arcesilaus , I say, whom in this song of the youths r 
 it becomes to celebrate Phoebus of the golden lyre, s since ne 
 has gained from Pytho the sweet hymn which commemorates 
 the victory he has won, and is a recompense of the expenses 
 he has incurred in the contest : the prudent praise that hero. 
 
 1 say what is said by others A he cherishes 11 an under- 
 standing beyond his years, and in speaking and in boldness 
 he is as the long- winged eagle among birds ; v and his might 
 of contest w is a bulwark to his subjects ; and he soars aloft in 
 the studies of the Muses, x even from his mother ;y and he 
 hath shown himself to be a skilful charioteer : and all the 
 avenues that there are to honour in his native land, these he 
 has assayed. And the Deity even now willingly bestows 2 
 on him power; and for the future henceforth, O blessed sons 
 of Cronus, grant that he may have it a in deeds and in coun- 
 sels, lest the stormy autumnal blast of winds destroy the 
 fruits of time . 11 Assuredly the mighty hand of Zeus steers 
 aright the fortune of those whom he loves. I pray that lie 
 may add this honour c in Olympia besides to the race of 
 Battus. 
 
 besprinkled with the refreshing dew of comus-songs amidst the streams 
 of poetry ; or, with refreshing dew, amidst the streams of the comus- 
 songs. r v. 97 : i.e. in this chorus song. 
 
 s v. 97 : Qu. of the golden sword. 
 
 * v. 101 : i. e. I say but what all the world knows. 
 u v. 103 : i. e. has. 
 
 v v. 105 : i. e. in the courage that public speaking requires, he is 
 much excels other men as the eagle excels in flight all other birds. 
 w v. 106 : i.e. his might in battle. 
 
 x v. 105 : or, in the arts of the Muses he is borne on pinions. 
 y v. 107 : i. e. from his very infancy. 
 
 2 v. 109 : or, assures to him. a v. Ill : i.e. powor. 
 b v. 113 : or, mar your life. 
 
 c v. 116 : i.e. grant a victory hereafter. 
 
80 
 
 PYTHIAN VL 
 
 Inscribed to Xenocrates of Agrigentum, victorious in the chariot-race : 
 01. 71, 3. B.C. 494 : the ode is addressed to Thrasybulus, the son of 
 Xenocrates, who acted as charioteer for his father on the occasion. 
 
 AKGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 18 : Address. A store of praise is laid up in the vale of Pytho for 
 the conqueror and his family. 19 — 54 : Thrasybulus, the son of 
 Xenocrates, is praised for his filial affection, and is compared to 
 Antilochus, son of Nestor : he resembles his father and his uncle in 
 wisdom, moderation of spirit, love of the Muses, &c. 
 
 Listen ! for we turn up the glebe either of quick-glancing 
 Aphrodite or of the Charites, a proceeding in 'poetic flight to the 
 eternal centre of the loud-echoing earth, b where, celebrating 
 Pythian victory for the blest Emmenidse, and for Agragas 
 on the river, and especially for Xenocrates, a treasury of 
 song, ready prepared, lies encircled by walls, in the golden 
 glen of Apollo ; which treasury of song , neither shall the 
 fiercely-driving wintry tempest, 0 that is , the relentless host 
 of the loud-roaring cloud, nor shall the winds hurl to the 
 recesses of the sea, violently up-dashing it with rubbish of 
 every kind : d but, with countenance in clear light of heaven, e 
 this treasury of song shall announce in reports of men, the 
 glorious victory with the car won in the Crisssean winding 
 vales, the glory of which is common to thy sire, O Thrasybu- 
 lus, and to thy race. Thou, in truth, having obtained the 
 victory by setting thy father in the place of honour/ rightly 
 observest the precepts as to those points which s they say 
 that formerly the son of Philyra on the mountains enjoined 
 on the mighty son of Peleus, when parted from his parents ; 
 namely , most especially among the gods, to hold in reverence 
 
 a v. 3 : i.e. Listen ! for it is either an amatory or a triumphal ode 
 that I am singing. 
 
 b v. 4 : i.e. to Delphi. 
 
 c v. 1 0 : or, the tempest coming from afar assailing. 
 d v. 14 : or, Tymofievov, i. e. it beaten against, destroyed. 
 e v. 15 : or, splendid in appearance. 
 
 * v. 19 : on thy right hand. Qu. by dexterity of hand. 
 
 * v. 21 : or, by which. 
 
PYTHIAN YI. 
 
 81 
 
 the son of Cronus, the loud-sounding lord of lightnings and 
 of thunder; and of this honour 11 never to deprive the life of 
 thy parents as long as the Fates may destine it to last. 
 
 And even formerly the mighty Antilochus bore within 1 
 this mind, Antilochus , who perished for his father, enduring 
 the attack of the man-slaying captain of the Ethiopian 
 host, Memnon ; for a steed impeded the chariot of Nestor, 
 wounded by the arrows of Paris ; and heJ was hurling his 
 strong spear ; and the agitated soul of the Messenian old 
 man called loudly on his son, nor in truth did he send forth 
 a cry that came to nought, but the godlike man, withstanding 
 the attack of Memnon, , purchased by his own death the 
 rescue of his father, and having performed a mighty deed, 
 he was esteemed among the younger men of those of ancient 
 days as first in affection towards parents. k 
 
 These things indeed are gone by ; but of men of the 
 present day Thrasybulus has walked most according to the 
 rule of his father, and following his uncle’s steps has shown 
 forth the splendour of victory. 
 
 And wisely does he administer wealth, culling youth’s 
 flower without injustice and without pride, and cultivating 
 wisdom in the secret haunts of the Pierides ; and to thee, 
 O Earth-shaker, he devotes himself with very willing 
 spirit, from natural disposition for entering into the lists of 
 equestrian contests ; 111 and the sweetness of his disposition in 
 associating with his guests, surpasses the perforated toil of 
 bees. n 
 
 h v. 26 : i.e. the assistance and support of thy hand ; or, the placing 
 thy father on thy right hand. 
 
 1 v. 28 : i. e. was possessed of, endowed with, j v. 38 : i. e. Memnon. 
 
 k v. 42 : or, he was esteemed by the young men as first, of all who 
 lived in olden times, in filial affection. 
 
 1 v. 46 : i.e. of men of later days, Thrasybulus has in especial shown 
 himself pious by his imitation of his father and uncle in their pursuit of 
 glory and honour, and by the splendour he has reflected upon them in 
 obtaining the victory. 
 
 m v. 50 : i. e. from his inclination to equestrian contests. 
 
 a v. 54 : i. e. is sweeter than honey. 
 
 G 
 
82 
 
 PYTHIAN VII. 
 
 Inscribed to Megacles of Athens (one of the family of the Alcmaeonidse), 
 victor in the chariot-race : 01. 72, 3. B.C. 490. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 Praise of Athens, the Athenians, and the Alcmseonidae, the family of 
 the conqueror. Envy is deprecated. 
 
 The miglity city of Athens is the fairest prelude upon which 
 to lay a basement of song in honour of the widely-powerful 
 race of the Alcmseonidse for their steeds. a 
 
 Since what country, what inhabited home can I name in 
 Greece more renowned in men’s hearing For to all cities 
 does the praise of the citizens of Erechtheus 0 come, who, O 
 Apollo, built in divine Pytho thy wondrous temple. 
 
 And five victories at the Isthmus, and one distinguished 
 victory sacred to Jove in Olympia, and two from Cirrha, 
 impel me to sing , O Megacles ; victories , I say , gained by thee 
 and thy ancestors. At thy recent victory I rejoice not 
 a little, but at that I am grieved, that envy repays d illus- 
 trious actions. Yet they say that even thus, e lasting and 
 prosperous good fortune brings various events to men. f 
 
 v. 4 : i. e. to celebrate their victory with the chariot. 
 b v. 8 : or, for what country or what house can I name that lives 
 ( vaiovra ) more renowned in the knowledge of Hellas ? lit. for Hellas to 
 know. 
 
 c v. 10 : i.e. of the Alcmseonidae. d v. 19 : or, outdoes. 
 
 e v. 20 : or, that still. 
 
 f v. 22 : i.e. brings both envy and respect, good as well as evil things ; 
 or, according to Boeckh, brings abundance of benefits though even thus, 
 i.e. though with envy for its condition. 
 
83 
 
 PYTHIAN YIII. 
 
 Inscribed to Aristomenes of iEgina, victor in the wrestling-match of 
 boys : the date of the ode is uncertain, according to Dissen and 
 Boeckh, 01. 80, 3. B.C. 458 ; according to Hermann and Donaldson, 
 01. 75, 3. B.C. 478, two years after the battle of Salamis, to which, 
 and not to the battle of Cecryphalea, they consider the allusions in the 
 beginning of the ode to refer : sung probably in iEgina, during the 
 procession to the temple of Hesychia. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 20 : Invocation of Hesychia (Peace or Tranquility). 21 — 60 : Praise 
 of Aristomenes, to whom the poet applies the saying of Amphiaraus 
 concerning his son Alcmseon, one of the Epigoni, and interweaves the 
 prophecy of Amphiaraus concerning the taking of Thebes. 61 — 100 : 
 The various victories of Aristomenes are alluded to : reflections on the 
 uncertainty of human prosperity, and the shortness of life. 
 
 O kindly Hesychia, a daughter of Justice, thou that makest 
 cities greatest, and hast of wars and of councils the 
 supreme keys, receive from Aristomenes honour for the 
 Pythian victory. b For thou knowest both how to give and 
 receive pleasing gifts at the proper season ; c but thou, when 
 any one shall have driven into his heart d relentless wrath, 
 roughly opposing the might of foes, castest their insolence 
 into the sea. Whom e Porphyrion did not reflect that he 
 was unduly provoking. But that gain is the most agreeable, 
 which one bears off f from the dwelling of a willing giver ; 
 but violence is wont at last to overthrow even the very 
 boastful. 
 
 The Cilician hundred-headed Typho did not escape it,s nor 
 even the king of the giants ; but they were subdued by the 
 thunderbolt and the arrows of Apollo, who, in propitious 
 mood has received Aristomenes, the son of Xenarces, arriving 
 from Cirrha, crowned with the Parnassian leaf, h and the 
 Dorian festal song. 
 a v. 1 : Tranquillity, or , Peace. 
 
 b v. 5 : or, “ this hymn in honour of a Pythian victory. ” 
 c v. 7 : i. e. how both to grant crowns of victory and to rejoice in 
 them when offered thee. d v. 9 : or, conceived. 
 
 e v. 1 2 : i.e. Hesychia. 
 f v. 14 : lit. if one bears it off. 
 
 8 v. 16 : i.e. the penalty of violence. h v. 20 : i. e. the bay leaf 
 G 2 
 
84 
 
 PYTHIAN VIII. 
 
 And the island of jEgina, strict in public justice, is not 
 estranged from the Graces, touching 1 the renowned virtues of 
 the -ZEacidse, but possesses perfect glory from the beginning. 
 For she is celebrated in song, in that she hath reared heroes 
 highest in many victorious contests and nimble fights, and 
 partly tool she is distinguished for population. 
 
 But I lack leisure to consecrate to the lyre, and to the 
 sweet voice, the whole of the long discourse, lest satiety 
 supervening should offend ; but let that which is now present 
 before us, thy affair k O youth, the most lately gained of the 
 honours of JEgina , be accomplished 1 speedily, furnished with 
 wings by means of my art. For in the wrestling-matches 
 going after 111 thy maternal uncles, thou dost not disgrace 
 either Theognetus, at Olympia, nor in the victory of Cleito- 
 machus gained-by-stoutness-of-limb at the Isthmus ; but, 
 exalting the race of the Midylidse, thou earnest off that 
 praise which formerly Amphiaraus, the son of Oileus, myste- 
 riously uttered, when he saw 11 the sons of the heroes at seven- 
 gated Thebes, bravely standing out the battle, what time 
 from Argos came on the second expedition, the Epigoni. 
 Thus he spoke, while they were fighting : — “ By nature, the 
 high-born courage descended from their sires is conspicuous 
 in sons. Clearly do I behold Alcmseon, wielding foremost at 
 the gates of Cadmus a many-coloured dragon on a fiery 0 
 shield. But he that suffered in the former disaster, he, the 
 hero Adrastus, is now held by the announcement? of a more 
 favourable omen ; but as to domestic matters, he shall fare the 
 reverse of this ; for he alone of the host of the Danai, having 
 gathered together the bones of his deceased son, shall by the 
 favour of the gods arrive with his army uninjured to the 
 spacious streets of Abas. ,,f i Such words did Amphiaraus 
 utter ; and with joy will I myself too deck Alcmseon with 
 garlands/ and sprinkle him with melody, because he, my 
 
 * v. 24 : i. e. seeing in itself, sharing in. J y. 28 : i. e. and also. 
 
 k v. 33 : i. e. thy achievement, or, thy due ; i. e. the song due to thee, 
 O youth. 1 v. 34 : or, published. 
 
 m v. 35 : or, lxvsiov, following on the traces of. 
 n v. 39 : Qu. preternaturally saw, or, prophetically foresaw. 
 
 ° v. 46 : or, gleaming. 
 
 p v. 49 : or, has met with the tidings of, &c. 
 
 9 v. 55 : i.e. of Argos, where Abas had reigned 
 r v. 57 : e. I, too, will praise him as Amphiaraus did. 
 
PYTHIAN VIII. 
 
 8 
 
 neighbour, and the guardian of my wealth, met me, proceed- 
 ing to the navel of the earth, famed in story, and applied 
 himself to his family arts of prophecy. 
 
 And thou, 0 Far-darter, ruling the glorious all-receiving 
 temple in the dales of Pytho, there didst give the greatest of 
 delights : and formerly at home s thou didst bring to him the 
 most pleasant gift of victory in the quinquertium, at the fes- 
 tival of you two, 0 Apollo and Artemis , and, O king, with 
 willing mind I pray thee to look down upon the song, 1 such 
 as I sing u concerning each several conqueror. Near our 
 harmonious revelJ justice indeed takes her stand ; but still I 
 entreat the increasing care of the gods, O Xenarces, for the 
 fortunes of thy house. 
 
 For if any man obtain praises x with but slight toil, to 
 many he seems wise among fools/ and to maintain 2 his life 
 by prudent devices ; a but these things lie not in the power of 
 men, but Providence grants them ; b which at one time exalts 
 one man on high, and then again brings down another, so 
 that he is beneath the level of his c hands. 
 
 And at Megara thou hast the prize of victory, and in 
 the recess of Marathon; and the games in honour of Juno 
 peculiar to the country d by three victories thou didst win by 
 valiant foil, O Aristomenes. And on four bodies e thou didst 
 rush from above, with hostile intent/ to whom neither was a 
 gladsome return alike as it was to thee decreed at the Pythian 
 games, nor when they had come back to their mother, did 
 the sweet laugh of those around excite their joy ; but in the 
 by-lanes, in fearful suspense about their foes/ they cower, 
 
 8 v. 65 : i. e. in .ZEgina. 
 
 1 v. 67 : or, to look propitiously upon the song dedicated to thee. 
 u v. 69 : or, follow up, go through. 
 
 v v. 70 : or, triumphal hymn. x v. 70 : or, prosperity. 
 
 y v. 74 : i. e. to be wise in comparison with the unwiser crowd. 
 z v. 74 : i.e. he seems to be one who can furnish, or, maintain. 
 a v. 75 : or, it may be rendered, and more neatly, he seems to many, 
 like a wise man among fools, to arm his life with devices of right 
 counsel. b v. 76 : i. e. they are the gift of fortune. 
 
 c v. 78 : i.e. Frovidence’s or Fortune’s hands ; i. e. which then again 
 depresses another to the ground. 
 d v. 79 : i. e. the Heraea at Argos. 
 
 • v. 81 : or, persons, i. e. adversaries. 
 
 f v. 82 : or, “ thou didst fall over four antagonists, as their adver* 
 eary.” — Cook. & v. 86 : i. e. avoiding their foes with fearful mind. 
 
6 
 
 PYTHIAN IX. 
 
 pierced through, or tortured by their calamity. But he who 
 has obtained some lately-won glory during his tender years, 
 excited by the great hope now before him , is borne aloft by the 
 soaring spirit of his courage, having a care 11 superior to 
 riches . 1 
 
 In brief period does the happiness of mortals increase ; and 
 so too does it fall to the ground, shaken by the sternJ decree 
 of the deity. Creatures of a day ! What are we % What are 
 we not ? k Man is but the dream of a shadow. But yet 
 when heaven-sent glory comes, brilliant light is present to 
 mortals, and gentle life. 
 
 O ^Egina, mother dear of thy race , for a free people do 
 thou preserve 1 this city with Zeus, and with king JEacus, 
 and Peleus, and valiant Telamon, and with Achilles. 
 
 PYTHIAN IX. 
 
 Inscribed to Telesicrates (son of Carneades), victorious in the armed foot- 
 race : 01. 75, 3. B.C. 478 : the ode was written and sung before the 
 victor’s return to Cyrene, probably at Thebes. ^ 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 — 5 : Proclamation of the praise of Telesicrates. 5 — 70 : Prom the 
 subject of Cyrene, the native place of the conqueror, the poet digresses 
 to the tale of the marriage of Apollo and the nymph that gave her 
 name to the colony, and the birth of Aristseus. 71 — 103 : Praise of 
 the conqueror, and short digression about Iolaus, who is brought 
 forward as an instance of prudent observation of proper opportunity. 
 103 — 125 : Tale of Alexidamus, an ancient Cyrenian, and ancestor of 
 Telesicrates, who won a Libyan maiden of Irasa as wife, by swiftness 
 of foot. 
 
 Pain would I, proclaiming a him , sing with the aid of the 
 deep-waisted Charites Telesicrates, the conqueror at Pytho, 
 bearer of the brazen shield, wealthy hero, glory of Cyrene that 
 drives the steed ; Gyrene , b whom formerly the son of Latona 
 
 h v. 91 : i. e. a desire to excel in the games. 
 
 1 v. 92 : i.e. despising them and not sparing them in his desire to 
 obtain the prize. 1 v. 94 : or, hostile. 
 
 k v. 95 : or, what is the great man ? what is the poor man ? 
 
 1 v. 99 : or, save. a v. 2 : or, commemorating. 
 
 b i. e. the nymph Cyrene. 
 
PYTHIAN IX. 
 
 87 
 
 with long-flowing hair bore away from the wind-echoing 
 glens of Peiion, and he brought in his golden chariot the 
 huntress maiden to that place where he appointed her mistress 
 of the land abounding in flocks and rich in fruits, so as to 
 inhabit the third much-loved and blooming root of the con- 
 tinent . 0 And silver-footed Aphrodite received the Delian 
 stranger from his heaven-built chariot, laying hold of it with 
 her aiding hand, d and upon their sweet nuptial couch she 
 shed lovely reserve, uniting the bond of mutual wedlock 
 entered into by the God and the daughter of powerful 
 Hypseus. Hypseus, who at that time was king of the mighty 
 Lapithse, by descent the second hero from Oceanus ; whom 
 formerly, in the renowned dales of Pindus, the Naid Creusa 
 daughter of Gaia, rejoicing in the bed of Peneus, brought 
 forth. Kow he e reared his fair-armed daughter Cyrene : she 
 indeed loved neither the to-and-fro-walking paths of the 
 loom/ nor the pleasures of festivities with her companions 
 that remained at home, but with brazen darts and with the 
 sword fighting she slaughtered wild beasts ; giving, of a 
 truth, much and tranquil security to her father’s herds, and 
 spendings sleep, the partner of the couch, sweet, though but 
 short, falling upon her eyelids towards morning . 11 
 
 Her formerly did the far-shooting Apollo, with beautiful 
 quiver, find alone struggling without weapons against a 
 mighty lion, and immediately he addressed Chiron with his 
 voice, calling him from his dwelling : “ Son of Phillyra, 
 having left thy hallowed cave, wonder at the courage and 
 mighty strength of a woman, what a contest she is waging 
 with undaunted head, she a maiden having a heart superior 
 to toil, and her spirit is not agitated with fear. Who of men 
 begat her, and dragged away from what stock , 1 doth she 
 
 c v. 8 : i.e. the third division of the continent, viz. Africa. 
 
 d v. 10 : or, touching him with gentle hand. 
 
 e i. e. Hypseus. 
 
 f v. 18 : i.e. the loom along which she who works has to walk back- 
 wards and forwards. 
 
 £ v. 24 : i. e. bestowing, or, enjoying. 
 
 h v. 2 5 : indulging in sleep, the bed-fellow, for short though sweet 
 space, only when the morning broke ; being engaged in hunting during 
 the greater portion of the night. 
 
 v. 33 : i.e. sprung from win t race, or, of what race being thus far 
 removed from her friends. 
 
88 
 
 PYTHIAN IX. 
 
 inhabit the hollows of the shady mountains h She enjoys k 
 unbounded might. Is it lawful to lay my divine hand 1 upon 
 her, or must I truly in marriage 111 pluck the honey-sweet 
 flower of virginity ? 
 
 And to him the mighty Centaur, gently smiling with 
 placid brow, forthwith gave in answer his counsel : “ Secret 
 are keys by which wise Persuasion opens the way to sacred 
 loves , 11 O Phoebus, and among both gods and men alike all 
 feel shame at this, viz. openly to obtain sweet wedlock 
 at first. And thee too, who canst not lie, soft passion has 
 induced to put this covert question . 0 And dost thou 
 inquire the race of the maiden, O King, whence she is ? 
 Thou who knowest the fore-appointed issue of all tilings, and 
 all their paths : and how many leaves in spring-time the 
 earth sends forth, and how many sands in the sea and in the 
 rivers are tumbled by the waves and by the gusts of the 
 winds, and what is to befall, and whence it will be, all this 
 thou well perceivest : but if it needs be that I match myself 
 even with the wise,P I will speak. A spouse to this maiden 
 hast thou come to this wooded glen, and thou art about 
 across the sea to bear her to the distinguished garden of 
 Zeus,<i where thou shalt make her ruler of a state, having 
 collected -an island population to the hill surrounded by a 
 plain. But now r the queenly Libya, with broad meadows, 
 shall for thy sake receive the glorious nymph in her golden 
 mansions, where she shall immediately give to her a portion 
 of her land, so that it shall jointly belong to her by lawful 
 right ; a 'portion neither without share of plants rich in 
 fruits, nor unacquainted with wild beasts. There shall she 
 bring forth a son, whom renowned Hermes, having taken up 
 from his dear mother, shall bear to the fair-throned Hours 
 and to Mother Earth. And they having placed the babe upon 
 their knees, shall infuse nectar and ambrosia on his lips, and 
 
 k v. 35 : i. e. she has. 
 
 1 v. 36 : Qu. “a violent hand.” ^ m v. 37 : lit. from her couch. 
 
 n v. 39 : lit. the secret keys of sacred loves are of, or, belong to wise 
 persuasion. 
 
 ° v. 43 : or, thy jocose disposition induced thee deceitfully to speak 
 this word, i. e. thou jestest (for thou canst not really speak what is false), 
 in thus pretending to ask advice, which thou dost not really need. 
 
 p v. 50 : or, measure myself in wisdom even with thee the wise god. 
 
 * v. 52 : i. e. to Cyrene. r v. 55 : i. e. for the present. 
 
PYTHIAN IX. 
 
 89 
 
 shall make him an immortal Zeus and holy Apollo ; 3 so that 
 since he will be the most present 1 source oi delight to men 
 dear to him, and the tender of sheep, by some he may be 
 called Agreus and ISTomius, and by others Aristseus.” 
 
 Thus, then, having spoken, he urged Apollo to perfect the 
 sweet accomplishment of marriage. And swift, when they are 
 in earnest, is the operation of the deities, and short the paths 
 that they take to gain their ends. That day accomplished that 
 matter, and they were united in the gold-adorned chamber 
 of Libya, where she u sways a city most fair and renowned in 
 contests. And now in divine Pytho the son of Carneades 
 has introduced her v to prosperous fortune, where w having 
 conquered he has proclaimed Cyrene as victor, which gra- 
 ciously shall receive him, bringing coveted glory from Delphi 
 to his country abounding in fair women. 
 
 Mighty acts of prowess are ever famous in story ; x but in 
 abundant matter to speak a little with elegance is a thing for 
 the wise to listen to, and the right proportion y is the greatest 
 merit in everything alike. Seven-gated Thebes in former 
 times acknowledged that Iolaus too did not despise it ; z 
 lolaus , whom after that he had destroyed Eurystheus with 
 the edge of the sword, they buried beneath under the earth, 
 in the tomb of his grandsire , the charioteer Amphitryon, 
 where his paternal grandsire lay, guest of the Sown Race, a 
 having settled in the streets thronged with white steeds of 
 the Cadmeans. The sage Alcmena having had intercourse 
 with him and with Zeus, brought forth at one birth the 
 victorious strength of twain sons. Dull must the man be 
 who lends not his mouth to b Heracles, and does not ever 
 make mention of the waters of Dirce, which nurtured him 
 and Iphicles ; in their honour will I sing a triumphal hymn, 
 when I shall have obtained some good perfected according to 
 my prayer. May the pure light of the loud-voiced Graces 0 
 
 s v. 64 : L e. sh&lf. regard him as a de& ryas great and as good as Zeua 
 and Apollo. 4 v. 65 : or, propitious. 
 
 u v. 70 : i.e. the goddess Libya. v v. 72 : or, brought her. 
 
 w v. 73 : i.e. in Pytho. x v. 76: or, afford much master for praise. 
 y v. 79 : or, occasion holds the head of everything. 
 
 2 v. 80 : i. e. opportunity. 
 
 8 v. 82 : or, of those sprung from the seed of the dragon’s teeth. 
 b v. 87 : i. e. who does not apply himself to praise Heracles. 
 c v. 90 : i. e. poetic power. 
 
90 
 
 PYTHIAN IX. 
 
 not fail me ! For at .iEgina, I assert, and at the hill of 
 Nisus, d that he has glorified this city thrice, having escaped 
 by his deeds silent embarrassment . 6 Wherefore, if any of 
 the citizens is a friend, if any an enemy/ let him not conceal? 
 that which hath been nobly achieved in the public cause, 
 disregarding the precept of the old man of the sea, Nereus ; 
 for he bade men to praise, with all their soul, even an enemy 
 when with justice performing noble exploits. 
 
 Yery often victorious have the maidens beheld thee also in 
 the solemnities recurring-at-fixed-seasons of Pallas, and in 
 silence 11 each for herself desired that thou, O Telesicrates, 
 were her beloved husband or her son ; and in the Olympic 
 games at Cyrene , and in those in honour of The Earth with 
 deep valleys, and in all the games peculiar to the country 
 have they also seen thee victorious. But from me, whilst I 
 desire to quench very poetic thirst, some one 1 exacts a debt, 
 again to awake the song and the ancient glory of his 
 ancestors ‘J how for a Libyan woman they went to the city 
 Irasa, as suitors to win the fair-haired renowned daughter of 
 Antaeus, whom very many princes of men her relatives sought 
 in marriage, and many also of strangers ; since her form was 
 admirable ; and of her golden-crowned youth they each 
 desired to pluck the blooming fruit. 
 
 But her father endeavouring to procure a more illustrious 
 marriage for his daughter, had heard of Danaus, what swiftest 
 nuptials he formerly in Argos found for his forty-and-eight 
 virgin daughters, before midday overtook them. For imme- 
 diately he placed the whole band at once at the boundary k 
 of the arena, and he bade all, as many as had come as their 
 wooers, to decide by contests of feet which maiden each one 
 of the heroes should possess. 
 d v. 91 : i. e. at Megara. 
 
 e v. 92 : or, distress, i. e. having by his victories escaped the igno- 
 minious silence to which the name of the defeated is consigned. 
 f v. 93 : i. e. let every citizen, whether friend or enemy, not, &c. 
 
 £ v. 94 : or, disparage. 
 
 h v. 98 : secretly, or breathing a silent prayer. 
 
 1 v. 103 : i. e. Telesicrates. 
 
 j v. 105 : or, according to Dissen’s reading, aoidav — TroXaia Sota, 
 but from me, desirous as I am to quench my thirst of songs, a certain 
 ancient fame, i. e. an ancient famous legend, of thy ancestors demands of 
 me the debt, that I should again awaken it. 
 k v. 114 : or goal. 
 
PYTHIAN X. 
 
 91 
 
 And thus did the Libyan Antceus , joining her in marriage, 
 give a bridegroom to his daughter : at the line 1 of the arena 
 he placed her, having decked her in fair attire, to be the 
 highest prize : and before them all he said, that he, vho first 
 bounding forward should touch her garments with either 
 hand around m should lead her away as his bride. Then 
 Alexidamus, when he had swiftly run the rapid course, 
 taking the much-prized maiden by the hand with his hand, 
 led through the crowd of the equestrian Nomades. Many a 
 leaf indeed and crown did they throw upon him ; and many 
 wings of victory 11 had he previously obtained. 
 
 PYTHIAN X. 
 
 Inscribed to Hippocleas (son of Phricias ?) of Pelinnaeum in Thessaly, 
 victor in the race of the diavXog of boys : 01. 69, 3 — B.C. 502, when 
 Pindar was onlv twenty years old : sung probably, according to Bergk, 
 by a chorus of the inhabitants of Cranon, on the entry of the triumphal 
 procession into Larissa ; according to Dissen, at Pelinnaeum. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 30 : The praise and illustrious descent of the conqueror and his 
 family, the Aleuadae. Yet complete happiness cannot befall men : 
 no one can climb heaven, nor reach the Hyperboreans. 31 — 50 : 
 Yet Perseus feasted with them, through the favour and guidance of 
 Athene. 51 : Praises of the conqueror and his friend Thorax (one of 
 the Aleuadae), at whose request Pindar composed this ode. 
 
 Happy is Lacedaemon, blessed is Thessaly ; for the race of 
 Heracles best-in-the-hght, descended from one father, reigns 
 over both. Ho I boastfully utter aught out of due season 1 
 No, but Pytho a and Pelinnaeum call aloud upon me, and the 
 sons of Aleuas call aloud upon me, willing me to draw down 
 on Hippocles the renowned voice belonging to the festal 
 procession of men. 
 
 For he tries the contests ; and to the assembly of the 
 neighbouring states the Parnasian vale has proclaimed him 
 
 1 v. 118 : or, limit. 
 
 m v. 120 : i. e. casting both his hands around them. 
 n 125 : i.e. many crowns, on which he would soar, as on wings, to 
 immortality. a v. 5 : i.e. a Pythian victory. 
 
92 
 
 PYTHIAN X. 
 
 tlie first of the youthful racers in the double course. O 
 Apollo, sweet is both the end and the commencement of 
 human affairs made, when a deity gives the impulse : he 
 doubtless by thy counsels has accomplished this ; and in re- 
 gard of family excellence, he has trod in the footsteps of his 
 sire, twice Olympian victor in the war-sustaining arms of 
 Ares ; b and the contest held beneath the rock at Cirrha sur- 
 rounded by wide meadows, made Phricias victorious in the 
 foot-race. May fortune attend them, so that even in after 
 days splendid wealth may bloom to them, and having ob- 
 tained of the things that are held delightful in Greece 0 no 
 small share, may they not meet with envious reverses from 
 the gods : may the deity be propitious to them in heart ! d 
 But blessed and to be sung by poets is that man, who by 
 hands or by excellence of feet having gained the victory, has 
 carried off the greatest of prizes by boldness and strength, 
 and while still living shall have seen his youthful son duly 
 obtaining the Pythian crowns. The brazen floor of heaven 
 indeed is never to be mounted by him, but as many glories 
 as we of mortal race attain to, in these he reaches to the 
 farthest voyage. e 
 
 But neither by sea, nor travelling by land canst thou 
 discover the wondrous path to the assembly of the Hyper- 
 boreans ; with whom Perseus, the leader of the people, once 
 feasted, having entered their mansions, when he came upon 
 them sacrificing famous hecatombs of asses to the deity ; 
 with whose festal banquets and songs of praise Apollo ever is 
 especially delighted, and he laughs beholding the rampant 
 wantonness of the beasts. f And in their habits" the muse 
 is not an alien from this nation ; but everywhere choral bands 
 of maidens, and the tones of lyres, and the sounds of flutes 
 are agitated , 11 and with the golden laurel having wreathed 
 their locks they feast joyously. And neither disease nor de- 
 
 b v. 12 : or, but his inborn valour makes him tread in the steps of his 
 sire, &c. c v. 19 : or, of the honours in Greece. 
 
 d v. 22 : or, “ the deity alone may have his heart free from sor- 
 row.” — H. 
 
 e v. 29 : or, he measures out these to the extreme bound of sailing, 
 t. e. these he carries out, or goes through, to the furthest point of perfection. 
 f v. 36 : i.e. the wanton play of the rearing and braying brutes. 
 s v. 37 : or, in agreement with their manners. 
 
 * v. 39 : or, are roused ; or, are awakened into life. 
 
PYTHIAS' X. 
 
 93 
 
 structive old age approaches 1 the sacred race; but apart from 
 toils and battles they dwell, incurring not the penalty of 
 rigorous Nemesis. But breathing forth valour, the son of 
 Danae in times past came, and Athene led him, to the throng 
 of blessed men ; and before that he visited the Hyperboreans 
 he slew the Grorgon, and came bringing to the islanders i the 
 head variegated with hair of snakes, k a stony death. But, if 
 the gods perform it, nought ever appears to be incredible for 
 me to wonder at. 
 
 Best thy oar, 0 Muse , and speedily fasten firm in the earth 
 the anchor dropped from the prow, so as to be a bulwark against 
 the sunken rock. For the flower of hymns of praise, like a 
 bee hovering here and there , directs my song at one time to 
 one, and at another time to another. 1 
 
 But I trust, while the Ephyrseans pour forth around the 
 Peneus my sweet strain, to render with these my songs Hip- 
 pocleas even still more conspicuous among his equals in age 
 and his elders on account of the crowns he has won, and to 
 make him the object of care to youthful maidens. For the 
 love of different objects inwardly excites the minds of differ- 
 ent men ; but what each eagerly desires to gain, let each if 
 he shall have obtained it, hold fast m his heart’s desire, sur- 
 passing words, which he now possesses ; for what will happen 
 in a year’s time is without mark whereby to foreknow it. 
 
 I confide in the gentle friendship of Thorax, 11 who eagerly 
 desires my services 0 and has yoked the four-horsed car of the 
 Pierides, loving me who love him in return, leading me who 
 again lead him kindly.P 
 
 To him that maketh proof, both gold and the upright 
 mind shine when tested. Q 
 
 We shall praise indeed the noble brothers of Thorax , r be- 
 
 5 v. 41 : lit. is mingled with, 
 j v. 47 : i. e. to the Seriphians. 
 k v. 48 : i. e. with snaky locks. 
 
 1 v. 54 : or, like a bee, rushes first to one and then to another subject, 
 m v. 62 : or, enjoy. 
 
 n v. 64 : one of the Aieuadse, at whose request Pindar composed 
 this ode. ° v. 65 : or, labours for my sake. 
 
 p v. 66 : i. e. who both of us do each other mutual good offices in turn. 
 q v. 67 : i. e. true friendship is known by the proof of adversity, as 
 gold is known by the touchstone. 
 
 r v. 69 : i. e. Eurypylus and Thrasydseus. 
 
94 
 
 PYTHIAN XI. 
 
 cause they raise aloft the republic of the Thessalians, and 
 promote its advancement ; for the hereditary-cherished 
 guidance of states is in the hands of the good. 
 
 PYTHIAN XI. 
 
 Inscribed to Thrasydaeus, a boy of Thebes, victorious in the stadium of 
 boys : 01. 75, 3. B.C. 478 : sung at Thebes, in the triumphal proces- 
 sion to the temple of Apollo Ismenus. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 16 : Invocation of the conqueror’s native deities, Semele, Ino, and 
 Alcmena. 17 — 37 : Digression on the story of Orestes and the crime 
 of Clytemnestra. 38 — 64 : Praise of the conqueror’s and his father’s 
 victories ; their fortune above that of tyrants. 
 
 Daughters of Cadmus, Semele dwelling in the same city as a 
 the Olympian goddesses, and Ino Lencothea, partner of the 
 same chamber with b the Ocean Nereids, come with the 
 mother of Heracles, parent of the best of children, to Melia, c 
 to the sanctuary where golden tripods are treasured ; the 
 treasury which Loxias has especially honoured and named 
 Ismenium, d veracious seat of prophets. 
 
 O daughters of Harmonia, whither even now he calls the 
 assembled troop of heroines that dwell in the country e to 
 come together ; that, at the commencement of evening, you 
 may loudly celebrate hallowed Themis and Pytho and the 
 navel of the earth that judgeth righteously, a song of praise 
 for seven-gated Thebes and the games of Cirrha ; in which 
 Thrasydseus has rendered famous f his paternal hearth, by 
 casting upon it the third crow n*of victory ,s conquering in the 
 rich fields of Pylades, h the friend of Laconian Orestes. 
 
 Whom in truth, when his father was murdered, Arsinoe, 
 his nurse, rescued from the cruel hands of Clytemnestra, out 
 
 a or, neighbour of. b i. e. companion of. 
 
 c v. 4 : a deified heroine, mother of Ismenius and Tenerus. 
 d or, seat of knowledge. Qu. / e or, of local heroines. 
 
 f v. 13 : or, has caused to be remembered. 
 
 « v. 14 : or, “in which Thrasydsous reminded his family of former 
 victories by adding a third,” or, tfivac i fi, has put a subject in my mind. 
 h v. 15 : i. e. in Crissa, near Delphi. 
 
 / 
 
PYTHIAN XI. 
 
 >D 
 
 of the woeful stratagem, when the pitiless woman, with the 
 bright brass sent, along with the spirit of Agamemnon to the 
 shady bank of the Acheron, Dardanian Cassandra, daughter 
 of Priam . 1 * * * * Whether was it so, that Iphigenia slaughtered at 
 the Euripus, far from her native country, provoked her to 
 arouse her wrath fierce of device '? j Or was it that nocturnal 
 embraces led her astray, seduced by a stranger’s bed ? But 
 this is the most hateful sin for youthful wives to commit, 
 and one which it is impossible to conceal, because of the 
 tongues of others ; for townsfolk are given to evil speaking. 
 For prosperity has envy to accompany it not less than 
 itself ; k but one who lives in a low station , 1 murmurs 111 un- 
 heeded. 
 
 So the hero son of Atreus, having returned at length to 
 far-famed Amy else, himself died, and brought to destruction 
 the prophetic maiden, after that he had destroyed the luxu- 
 rious houses 11 of the Trojans, burnt along with their city on 
 account of Helen . 0 
 
 So it was that he, the infant child, P came to Strophius, his 
 aged friend, dwelling at the foot of Parnassus ; but by the 
 help of tarrying Ares*! he killed his mother, and laid 
 .ZEgisthus low with murderous destruction. 1 * 
 
 Either, in truth, O my friend, I have strayed from my 
 path at the meeting of the roads where the paths inter- 
 change, having previously advanced by a straight track, or 
 some wind has cast me out of my course, as it does a skiff on 
 the sea. 
 
 But it is thy part, O Muse, since for my pay thou hast 
 agreed to lend thy voice hired for silver, to apply thy voice s 
 to various themes, either now at all events for his father the 
 Pythian victor, or for Thrasydseus, whose gladness and glory 
 blazps bright. 
 
 1 vl 19 : or, daughter of Priam offspring of Dardanus. 
 
 j oT, which raged with a heavy hand. 
 
 k vl 29 : i. e. entails a proportionate amount of envy. 
 
 1 v.; 30 : or, of a low spirit. m v. 30 : Qu. utters his calumnies. 
 
 n vl 34 : lit. houses of luxury. 
 
 ° vl 34 : or, when he had deprived of their luxury the houses of the 
 
 Trojans, burnt, or, worn out, on account of Helen. 
 
 p vl 35 : or, head. v. 36 : or, with late slaughter. 
 
 r vj 37 : or, laid JEgisthus low on the very place of Agamemnon! a 
 
 murder. 8 * * v. 42 : or, wag thy tongue on, &c. 
 
PYTHIAN XI. 
 
 In the first place victorious in the chariots, they in times 
 past obtained the swift Olympic glory of renowned contests t 
 with their steeds ; and at Pytho too, having descended as 
 competitors to the naked stadium, they put to shame the 
 Grecian host by their speed. May I love the honours that 
 the gods bestow, seeking only what is attainable , I 11 while my 
 strength lasts. v For as, of all conditions of life in the state, 
 I find the middle blessed with the longest prosperity, w I 
 despise x the lot of royalty; and I strive after distinctions 
 which are open to all;? but jealous punishments are averted , 2 
 if anyone having gained the highest success in these , a and 
 living in quiet, has avoided offensive insolence: and dark 
 death will be to him more glorious, b bequeathing to his be- 
 loved race the honour of a good name, the best of posses- 
 sions . 0 
 
 Which praise spreads abroad the fame of Iolaus son of 
 Xphicles, praised in song, and the might of Castor and thee, 
 O King Polydeuces, sons of gods ; at one time, every other 
 day, d dwelling in the seat of Therapnse, and at another time 
 in Olympus. 
 
 I v. 47 : i- e. the glory of swiftness at Olympia. 
 
 II v. 50 : or, what is moderate. 
 
 v v. 51 : or, in the vigour of my age. 
 w v. 42 : or, flourishing with more lasting happiness. 
 x v. 54 : or, blame. 
 
 y v. 55 : or, for the sake of, i. e. to praise, those noble qualities in 
 which all take interest. 
 
 z v. 56 : i. e. Nemesis is averted ; or, reading (pOovepol 8’ dfivvovrcu 
 dr ci. ei tlq k.t.X., for the envious are repelled to their own hurt, i.e. 
 they injure only themselves. If any one having gained the highest point 
 of happiness, &c. &c. or, reading tyQovepoi 8’ dpvvovrai, rav 8’ e i Tig k.r.X. 
 even the envious are repelled, if of these victories, &c. 
 a v. 57 : i.e. in victories in the public games. 
 b v. 58: lit. he will at the last obtain a fairer gloomy destiny. 
 c v. 58 : or bequeathing to his beloved family the most excellent pre- 
 sent of possessions, Kparicrrav x^9 lv kteclvojv, viz. a gift that well 
 sspoken of, tvoivvpov x^P LV t i- e - an honourable name. — Cook. 
 d v. 63 : i. e. on alternate days. 
 
97 
 
 PYTHIAN XII. 
 
 Inscribed to Midas of Agrigentum, who twice won the prize for flute* 
 playing in the Pythian games, and once in the Panathensea : 01. 71, 3. 
 B.C. 494, or 01. 72, 3. B.C. 490 : sung at Agrigentum, when the 
 victor entered the city in triumphal procession. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 12 : Invocation of Acragas (Agrigentum) both as a city and a heroine. 
 13 — 27 : Digression on the invention of the flute by Athene. 27 — 32 : 
 Moral reflections on the uncertainty of human happiness. 
 
 I beg of thee, O lover of splendour, fairest of mortal cities, 
 seat of Persephone, thou , who at the banks of Acragas grazed 
 by sheep, inhabitest the hill covered by fair buildings, O Queen, 
 propitiously to receive, with the good-will both of immortals 
 and of men, this crown from glorious Midas, borne off from 
 Pytho; and to receive the man himself that conquered Greece a 
 in the art which, in times past, Pallas Athene discovered, 
 weaving into measure 13 the deadly wail of the bold Gorgons; 
 which, from the maidens’ heads , and from the unapproach- 
 able heads of the serpents, she heard poured forth in their 
 direful distress, when Perseus slew the third portion of the 
 sisters , 0 bringing destined ill both to the sea-girt Seriphus and 
 to its inhabitants. Truly he blinded the wondrous d race of 
 Phorcus, and deadly did he render his marriage gift to Poly- 
 dectes, and deadly , too, his mother’s long slavery, and her 
 compulsory union; after that he had violently taken off the 
 head of the fair-cheeked Medusa, he, the son of Danae, who, 
 we say, was sprung from self-flowing gold. 
 
 But when from these toils she had rescued the beloved 
 hero, the maiden e fashioned the many-toned melody of pipes, 
 that, by means of instruments f she might imitate the loud- 
 sounding wail which forced its ways from the rapid 11 jaws of 
 
 a v. 6 : i. e. the assemblage of Grecian competitors. 
 b v. 8 : i. e. imitating in wondrous connection. 
 c v. 11 : i.e. Medusa, one of the three sisters. 
 d v. 13 : or, divine. e v. 19 : i.e. Pallas. 
 
 f v’. 21 : i.e. by the tone of the modulated instrument. 
 
 £ v. 21 : or, which struck her. — Coolc. 
 h v. 20 : i . e. ceaselessly wailing, Qu. clenched. 
 
 H 
 
98 
 
 PYTHIAN XII. 
 
 Euryale. The goddess invented it, but, having invented it 
 for mortal men to possess, she named it the strain of many 
 heads p glorious remembrancer of games to which the people 
 flock, when it passes through the slender brass, j and through 
 the reeds which grow near the city of the Charites, the city 
 with beautiful places for the dance ; in the sacred lot of the 
 nymph Cephisis, k faithful witnesses of the skill of the choral 
 dancers. 
 
 But if there be any happiness among men, it appears not 1 
 without toil ; but the Deity will surely, should he so please , 
 accomplish it m even to-day. n But destiny cannot be avoided ; 
 but that time will come, which, throwing a man into unex- 
 pected events , 0 will, contrary to his notions, give a part of 
 what he looks for , and a part will not give. 
 
 1 v. 23 : or, the many-headed tune. 
 
 J v. 25 : i. e. through the brass mouth-piece. 
 
 k v. 27 : i.e. near the lake Copais. 
 
 1 v. 28 : i. e. it cannot be gained. 
 
 m v. 29 : i. e. man’s happiness. 
 
 n v. 30 : or, and Providence verily may end it, bring it to an end, 
 this day. 
 
 ° v. 31 : or, bringing a man into unexpected circumstances ; Qu. casting 
 him into despair. 
 
NEMEAN ODES. 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 (Extracted from Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.) 
 
 ISTemeAN Games (ve/ie a, vejiela, or ve/iala), one of the four 
 great national festivals of the Greeks. It was held at 
 Nemea, a place near Cleonoe in Argolis. The various legends 
 respecting its origin are related in the arguments of the 
 Scholiasts to the He mea of Pindar, with which may be 
 compared Pausanias and Apollodorus. All these legends, 
 however, agree in stating, that the ISTemea were originally 
 instituted by tbe Seven against Thebes, in commemoration 
 of the death of Opheltes, afterwards called Archemorus, 
 When tbe Seven arrived at Hemea, and were very thirst}', 
 they met Hypsipyle, who was carrying Opheltes, the child 
 of the priest of Zeus and of Eurydice. While she showed 
 to tbe heroes the way to the nearest well, she left the child 
 behind, lying in a meadow, which during her absence was 
 killed by a dragon. When the Seven on their return saw 
 the accident, they slew the dragon, and instituted funeral 
 games (a yibr €7r trafpLoo), to be held every third year 
 ( rpierripiKog ). Other legends attribute the institution of 
 the Henman Games to Heracles, after he had slain the 
 Hemean lion ; but the more genuine tradition was, that he 
 had either revived the ancient games, or at least introduced 
 the alteration by which they were from this time celebrated 
 in honour of Zeus. That Zeus was the god in honour of 
 whom the games were afterwards celebrated, is stated by 
 Pindar. The games were at first of a warlike character, 
 
102 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE 
 
 and only warriors and their sons were allowed to take part 
 in them ; subsequently, however, they were thrown open to 
 all the Greeks. The games took place in a grove between 
 Cleonse and Phlius. The various games, according to the 
 enumeration of Apollodorus, were horse-racing, running in 
 armour in the stadium, wrestling, chariot-racing, and discus, 
 boxing, throwing the spear, and shooting with the bow, 
 to which we may add musical contests. The Scholiasts on 
 Pindar describe the agon very imperfectly as 'anriicot; and 
 yv/jLviKOQ. The prize given to the victors was at first a 
 chaplet of olive branches, but afterwards a chaplet of green 
 parsley. When this alteration was introduced, is not certain, 
 though it may be inferred from an expression of Pindar, who 
 calls the parsley ( geXlvov ) the /lord va \eovtoq , that the new 
 prize was believed to have been introduced by Heracles. 
 The presidency at these games, and the management of 
 them, belonged at different times to Cleonse, Corinth, and 
 Argos, and from the first of these places they are sometimes 
 called ayiov K XeuvaioQ. The judges who awarded the prizes 
 were dressed in black robes, and an instance of their justice, 
 when the Argives presided, is recorded by Pausanias. 
 Respecting the time at which the Nemean Games were 
 held, the Scholiast on Pindar merely states that they were 
 held on the 12 th of the month of Panemus, though in another 
 passage he makes a statement which upsets this assertion. 
 Pausanias speaks of Winter Nemea, and manifestly distin- 
 guishes them from others which were held in summer. It 
 seems that for a time the celebration of the Nemea was 
 neglected, and that they were revived in Olympiad 53, 2, 
 from which time Eusebius dates the first Hemead. Hence- 
 forth it is certain they were for a long time celebrated 
 regularly twice in every Olympiad, viz. at the commence- 
 ment of every second Olympic year in the winter, and soon 
 alter the commencement of every fourth Olympic year in 
 
NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 103 
 
 the summer. About the time of the battle of Marathon it 
 became customary in Argolis to reckon according to 
 Nemeads. 
 
 In 208 B.C. Philip of Macedonia was honoured by the 
 Argives with the presidency of the Nemean Games, and 
 Quinctius Flaminius proclaimed at the ISTemea the freedom 
 of the Argives. The Emperor Hadrian restored the horse- 
 racing of boys at the Nemea, which had fallen into disuse ; 
 but after his time they do not seem to have been much 
 longer celebrated, as they are no longer mentioned by any 
 of the writers of the subsequent period. 
 
105 
 
 NEMEAN I. 
 
 Inscribed to Chromius (son of Agesidamus and brother-in-law to Hiero), 
 victorious in the chariot-race at Nemea: 01. 76, 4. B.C. 473, shortly 
 after the founding of the city iEtna : sung in the island of Ortygia, in 
 the vestibule of the victor’s house, probably in the presence of Pindar. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 33 : Invocation of Ortygia, praise of Sicily, and of Chromius, for 
 his hospitality, &c. 33 — 72 : Digression on the prowess shown by 
 
 Heracles whilst yet in the cradle, and the prophecy of Tiresias of his 
 future exploits. (Cf. Muller, Hist, of Greek Lit. p. 224.) 
 
 Hallowed resting-place of the Alpheus, Ortygia, scion a of 
 renowned Syracuse, couch b of Artemis, sister of Delos, c from 
 thee the sweet-sounding hymn proceeds to set forth the 
 mighty praise of the storm-footed steeds, for the sake of d 
 HCtnsean Zeu 0 ; and the car of Chromius and Nemea bid me 
 yoke a melody of praise to their victorious deeds. 
 
 And foundations from the gods were laid together with 
 the marvellous worth of that man. e And in success is the 
 highest summit of absolute glory ; and the Muse loves to 
 remember f mighty contests. 
 
 Scatter now some bright praise for the island which Zeus, 
 the lord of Olympus, gave to Persephone, and confirmed to 
 her by shaking his locks, s that he would support 11 prosperous 
 Sicily, fairest spot of the fruitful earth, by the wealthy ex- 
 cellence of cities . 1 And the son of Cronus granted to her a 
 people fighting on horseback, mindful of brazen-armed war, 
 and often too brought close toi the golden k leaves of the 
 Olympian olives. 
 
 I have touched upon the seasonably-offered abundance of 
 
 a i. e. one of the divisions. b i. e. tranquil resting-place. 
 
 c i. e. loved by the goddess equally with Delos. 
 d or, to please. 
 
 e i.e. a divine foundation was laid for Chromius’s success. 
 f or, record. s i. e . by his nod. 
 
 h or, render illustrious. 
 i. e. by the noblest and wealthiest cities. 
 i. e. winning 
 
 k i. e. glorious. 
 
106 
 
 NEMEAN I. 
 
 many subjects, 1 burling no falsehood. 111 And I have taken 
 my stand at the doors of the court of an hospitable man, 
 singing his fair praises, where a meet banquet has been 
 adorned for me, and the palace, too, is not without experience 
 of strangers from a foreign soil ; and he has obtained by his 
 kindness good men as friends against those who slander, so as 
 to oppose water against smoke. n 
 
 But various are the arts 0 of different men, and it behoves 
 every man walking in the straight path to contend by P his 
 natural abilities. For strength works with action, <1 but mind 
 in counsel, so that they to whom it belongs by nature 1 can 
 foresee the future. 
 
 0 son of Agesidamus, in thy way of life 3 are to be seen the 
 uses 1 both of these excellences and of those. u I love not to keep 
 great wealth concealed in my house, but to have the enjoy- 
 ment of my possessions, and to be well spoken of as thence 
 assisting my friends ; and a man is wise who does so ; for the 
 fears v of much-suffering men come im partial. w 
 
 But I zealously cleave to Heracles, x arousing the ancient 
 tale concerning his mightiest deeds of valour ;y how that, as 
 soon as from the womb of his mother, escaping the pang of 
 her who bore him , the son of Zeus came forth with his twin 
 brother into wondrous light, 2 how that, I say , he went down 
 into a the saffron-dyed swaddling-band, not having escaped 
 the notice of Here of the golden throne ; but the Queen of 
 the gods, incensed in her spirit, forthwith sent serpents. 
 They indeed, the gates having been opened, b went to the 
 
 1 i. e. upon the abundant and opportune praises of Sicily ; or, I have 
 gained an approach to a subject offering many opportunities. 
 
 ra i. e. speaking nought beyond the truth. 
 
 n i. e. against envy ; or, so as to throw water on the smoking 
 embers. ° or, excellences. p or, according to. 
 
 * i. e. shows itself in action. 
 
 r i. e. so that they who have the natural faculty of doing so. 
 s or, character. 1 or, advantages. 
 
 u i. e. thou employest both excellences, both courage and prudence. 
 v or, boding expectations. 
 
 w i. e. for the inconstancy of human fortune, and the fear of a change 
 from prosperity to adversity, reach all alike. 
 x i. e. I readily call to mind his valiant deeds. 
 
 y or, wakening the ancient tale of his valour on occasion of mightiest 
 deeds of valour such as Chromius has now performed. 
 
 z i. e. into the light of day. * i. e. was wrapped in. 
 
 b i. e. through tl.3 open gates. 
 
NEMEAN I. 
 
 107 
 
 wide recess of the inmost chamber, eagerly desiring to 
 entwine aronnd the children their swiftly-moving jaws ; but 
 # he raised against them erect his head, and first essayed the 
 battle, having seized by the throats the two serpents with 
 the hands from which none could escape, and from them 
 thus strangled, lapse of time extinguished the lives from their 
 enormous limbs. 0 But straightway an intolerable shaft of 
 fear struck the female attendants, as many as happened to 
 be giving succour at the couch of Alcmena ; for she herself, 
 inasmuch as they fled in fear , having leaped from her couch 
 upon her feet undressed, yet d endeavoured to repel the fury 
 of the monsters. And quickly the leaders of the Cadmeans, 
 clad in brazen arms, thronging ran in, and Amphitryon came 
 brandishing a sword naked of its scabbard, Amphitryon, smitten 
 by sharp grief. For a woe of his own presses every one alike, 
 but the heart is soon untroubled concerning another’s grief. 
 
 And he stood affected with grievous and sweet amazement. 
 For he beheld the uncommon courage and might of his son ; 
 and the immortals had made the tidings of the messengers 
 to be contradictory. And he summoned the distinguished 
 prophet of highest Zeus, who dwelt near at hand, the true 
 seer Tiresias ; and he explained to him and to all his host 
 what fortunes he, Heracles , should meet with, how many 
 lawless monsters he should slay on the land, and how many 
 in the ocean ; and many a most hateful man walking in 
 crooked insolence did the prophet assert that he, Heracles , 
 should give to death. For when, too, the gods in the plain 
 of Phlegra should advance in battle against the giants, by 
 the blows of his shafts, he said, that their splendid hair 
 should be defiled with dust ; but that he verily in peace for 
 all time should obtain for aye e rest, having received the 
 excellent reward of his mighty toils/ in blissful mansions 
 having received blooming Hebe as his bride, and celebrating 
 his marriage feast, dwelling near Zeus the son of Cronus, 
 should be content withs his august home. 
 
 c i. e . the length of time during which their necks were squeezed 
 caused life to leave their enormous limbs. 
 
 d i. e. though only half-clad. e cryav da. — B. 
 
 f or, reading iv (*x e P ( l>> k.t.A. with Dissen, &c., but that he verily in 
 peace having obtained for all eternity uninterrupted rest from his mighty 
 toils, the excellent reward of his labours. $ or, rejoice in. 
 
108 
 
 NEMEAN IT. 
 
 Inscribed to Timodemus, an Athenian, victorious in the Pancratium : 
 date unknown : sung at Athens. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 5 : As the Homeridse begin from Zeus, so Timodemus has won his 
 first victory in the grove of Nemean Zeus. 6 — 25 : He will win also 
 in the Isthmian and Pythian games ; a prediction supported by the 
 numerous triumphs of the natives of Salamis and the Acharnians, 
 with whom the family of Timodemus was connected. 
 
 Whence the Homeridse, bards of continuous strains, generally 
 commence the opening of their song from Zeus, so also a has 
 this man received b the first commencement of victory in the 
 sacred games, in the grove famed in song of Hemean Zeus. 
 
 It is still due, if destiny , 0 guiding him straight in the path 
 that his father trod, d hath given him an ornament to mighty 
 Athens, that the son of Timonous should also cull the fairest 
 prime of the Isthmian games, and should conquer in the 
 Pythian contests. And it is reasonable that Orion should 
 advance not far from the mountain Pleiads. e 
 
 But Salamis, in sooth, has power to rear a warrior hero. 
 In Troy, indeed, Hector heard of f the force of Ajax ; and 
 thee, O Timodemus, the sturdy- souled might of the pancra- 
 tium will promote to honour. And Acharnse, famed of 
 ancient days, abounds in heroes ; and as concerns all things 
 in the games , s the Timodemidse are named before all others 
 as far superior. 
 
 Hear lofty Parnassus first, they bore off six victories from 
 the contests ; but , 11 at the hands of Corinthian men as judges 
 of the games , in the winding vales of valiant Pelops, they, 
 before this time, were brought near to 1 eight crowns ; and 
 seven they won in Hemea; and at home in Athens, more 
 
 a i. e. as the Homeridse commence their song from Zeus, so too. 
 b or, gained. c or, his time of life. 
 
 d i. e. in the path of victory. 
 
 ® i. e. that Orion should follow close behind them ; q. d. it is probable 
 that he who has won in one contest, will also win in others to come. 
 f i. e. felt. s i. e. in the games as far as concerns them . 
 
 h i.e and next. . 1 i. e. they won. 
 
NEMEAN III. 
 
 109 
 
 than can be counted in the contest of Zeus. k Whom, 1 O 
 citizens, celebrate in your songs for Timodemus’ sake at his 
 glorious return, and begin the song with sweet-strained voice. 
 
 NEMEAN III. 
 
 Inscribed to Aristocleides (son of Aristophanes) of iEgina, victorious in . 
 the Pancratium. The ode was composed long after the victory which 
 it celebrates, and was sent to ^Egina and sung at the commemoration of 
 the victory on the return of the Nemean festival, before the conquest 
 of HCgina by the Athenians : 01. 80, 3 or 4. B.C. 458 or 457. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 12 : Proemium. Invocation of the Muse. 12 — 26 : The praise of 
 Aristocleides, whom the poet declares to have performed deeds worthy 
 of the ancient Myrmidons, and to have reached the pillars of Hercules. 
 26 — 64 : Eulogy of the valiant acts of the iEacidae, through all the 
 three stages of human life. 65 — end : The poet returns to Aristo- 
 cleides, and completes the catalogue of his achievements. 
 
 0 honoured Muse, our mother, I entreat thee, come on the 
 high festival of the Nemean games to the Doric isle AEgina, 
 frequented by many a stranger. Since by the water of the 
 Asopus, youths who build honied songs of triumph await, 
 eagerly expecting thy voice. 
 
 One deed thirsts for one reward, and another for another, 
 and victory in the games most loves the song, the meetest 
 attendant of crowns of victory and deeds of excellence. Of 
 which melody a bounteous supply afford from my skill. But 
 commence, O Muse , daughter of Zeus , the excellent hymn to 
 the Lord of the cloudy heaven, and I will join it to their 
 lays and to the lyre. And Zeus will hold this thy labour 
 pleasing, the ornament as it were of the land, a where dwelt 
 of old the Myrmidons, whose anciently-famed assembly oj 
 the games Aristocleides, by thy ordinance, 13 did not disgrace 
 with the reproach of cowardice, by yielding, in the very 
 mighty host of the Pancratium ; but of wearisome blows 
 
 k i. e. in the Olympeia at Athens. 1 i. e. Zeus. 
 
 a v. 12 : or, and the grace of this land, i. e. the chorus, shall have 
 a pleasing toil — B. ; or, and the ode will have a pleasing labour, viz. the 
 honouring of a land. — Cook. 
 b v. i.5 - i. e thanks to thee. 
 
110 
 
 NEMEAN TIT, 
 
 a wholesome remedy, viz. the praise of victory in Nemea 
 certainly wit h-the- deep-plain, doth he bear off. c 
 
 But since, fair of person and achieving deeds worthy of 
 his form, the son of Aristophanes has reached the highest 
 praises of manhood, yet no further onwards it is easy for 
 him to traverse the impassable sea beyond the pillars of 
 Heracles, which the hero-god placed as illustrious witnesses 
 of his farthest voyaging ; and he subdued enormous monsters 
 in the deep, and he thoroughly searched out the streams of 
 the swamps until he reached the home-conducting goal of his 
 return, d and he defined the earth. e 
 
 My spirit, to what foreign promontory f dost thou turn 
 aside my course h To HSacus and to his race I bid thee bring 
 thy Muse. 
 
 And the bloom of justice, which is to praise the brave, 
 attends this my word ; nor are desires for what is alien 
 preferable for a man to have.s Seek for subject matter at 
 home ; and thou hast already a fitting theme for praise, so 
 as to sing something sweet. 
 
 In ancient excellence 11 Peleus rejoiced , 1 when he had cut 
 his exceeding great spear ; Peleus , who too alone without an 
 army took lolcos, and won maritime Thetis not without 
 toil. And widely-potent Telamon, the comrade of Iolaus, 
 overcame Laomedon; and of yore he followed him k against 
 the might of the Amazons armed with the brazen bow, nor 
 did fear that tameth men quell the vigour of his soul. 
 
 But, by innate excellence one mightily prevails ; but he 
 who hath only what he has learnt, he , I say , a man destitute of 
 real worth, being of one spirit at one time and of another at 
 another time, never descends 1 with a sure foot, but tries at 
 numberless excellences with a mind that completes nothing. 
 
 c v. 18 : or, he bears off in low-lying Nemea certainly, the praise of 
 victory, a healthful remedy of painful blows. 
 
 d v. 25 : i. e. the goal or limit that sent him back on his return home- 
 wards. 
 
 e v. 26 : i. e. made it known to extend thus far, and no further. 
 f v. 27 : aicpav, Qu. coast. 
 
 « v. 30 : i. e. celebrate not foreign glory before native worth. 
 h v. 32 : i.e. though advanced in years. 
 
 1 v. 33 : or, Peleus still rejoices in his ancient fame for noble deeds, 
 t. e. is still praised in ancient tales of valiant deeds, or, among ancient 
 worthies. k v. 39 : i.e. Iolaus. 
 
 1 v. 42 : or, comes not to the mark. 
 
NEMEAN III. 
 
 HI 
 
 The yellow-haired Achilles dwelling at first m in the home 
 of Philyra, being a child used to play at mighty deeds, often 
 brandishing with his hands his javelin with short head, and 
 like the winds in swiftness used in combat to work slaughter 
 on the fierce lions, and used to slay wild boars, and bore 
 their breathless bodies 11 to the Centaur the son of Cronus ; as 
 soon as he was six years old, and so he did through all the 
 after time : him would Artemis and the bold Athena look 
 with marvel on, as he slew the stags without the aid of dogs 
 and ensnaring nets ; for he prevailed by swiftness of foot. 
 
 But I have to tell this tale told by those of former days ; 
 hoiv that sage Chiron reared J ason within his strong roof, and 
 next Asclepius, whom he taught the soft-handed adminis- 
 tering of remedies ; and how that at another time he gave in 
 marriage to Peleus Nereus’ daughter with her fair fruits, 0 
 and reared for her her mightiest offspring, nourishing his 
 whole soul with all that was befitting ; in order that, wafted 
 by the sea-blasts of the winds beneath Troy, he might 
 withstand the spear-clashing war-cry of the Lycians and 
 Phrygians and Dardanians, and engaging his hands in battle 
 with the spear-bearing Ethiopians, that he might fix it in 
 his mind,P that their master Memnon, the bold cousin of 
 Helenus, might no more return back home. 
 
 The far-shining glory of the ^Eacidse is attached to this 
 quarter ; <1 O Zeus, thee I address , for they (the jEacidce ) are 
 thy blood, and to thee belongs the Nemecm contest, which 
 my hymn has aimed at, r chanting with the voices of youths 
 sweet praises in honour of the land. 
 
 And a loud acclaim well befits victorious Aristocleides, 
 who has wedded to glorious report this island and the holy 
 Theorion by his glorious endeavours to obtain victory in the 
 games. 
 
 In trial the perfection of those things is clearly seen, in 
 which a man is superior to others; and thus is the superiority 
 of Aristocleides seen, as a child among young children, and as 
 
 m v. 43 : or, abiding one portion of his life, i.e. during his youthful years. 
 
 n v. 48 : or, with breathless, i. e. panting frame, bore them. 
 
 ° v. 56 : or, the parent of fair fruits ; Qu. “ blessing the fruits of 
 woman’s womb.” — Wordsworth. Athens and Attica. 
 
 p v. 62 : i. e. might especially provide. 
 
 q v. 64 : or, is connected with, hangs from, this quarter, i. e. from 
 the deeds of Achilles. 
 
 r v. 65 : i.e. has endeavoured to set forth. 
 
112 
 
 NEMEAN IV. 
 
 a man among men, and a third time s among the elders ; 
 according to the portion of life which we severally hold, we 
 the race of mortals. And length of life brings also four 
 excellences, * and bids us think wisely of the presents From 
 which he is not distant/ 
 
 Farewell, my friend ! I send in truth to thee this honey 
 mingled with white milk, w and the mingled foam x hangs 
 round the brim , a draught to be sung with the /Eolian 
 breath of flutes, late though it be. But amongst the winged 
 ones the eagle is swift ; the eagle that suddenly seizes, though 
 ’chasing after it from afar, his blood-stained prey with his 
 talons ; but croaking daws haunt the lowly regions. On 
 thee, fair-enthroned Clio favouring, on account of thy vic- 
 torious courage, from Nemea and from Epidaurus, and from 
 Megara too hath the light of glory shone. 
 
 NEMEAN IY. 
 
 Inscribed to Timasarchus (son of Timocritus) of iEgina, victorious in the 
 wrestling-match of boys ; probably shortly before 01. 80. B.C. 456; 
 sung in /Egina while the procession was moving through the streets 
 of the city. 
 
 AKGUMENT. 
 
 Proemium. 1 — 8 : The power of song to refresh and solace after the 
 toils of the contest. 9 — 32 : Praise of the victories of Timasarchus. 
 32 — 69 : The poet recalls himself from this theme, and after con- 
 descending to notice and castigate those who maligned him and his 
 poetic powers, passes on to the praise of the race of the ZEacidse and 
 their worship in many lands. 69 — end : Praise of the race of the 
 Theandridse (the conqueror’s family) ; of Callicles the uncle ; and 
 Euphanes a poet, the grandfather of the conqueror ; and Melesias, his 
 train ing-master. 
 
 The mirth of the banquet is the best physician for toils that 
 are decided ; but sage lays, daughters of the Muses, soothe 
 
 s v. 73 : or, reading rpirov jxkpog, his third portion of superiority. 
 
 * v. 74 : i.e. gives us a fourth wisdom too. 
 u v. 75 : i. e. bids us enjoy the present moment. 
 y v. 76 : i.e. all which excellences are possessed by Aristocleidea. 
 w v. 77 : i.e. this sweet Boeotian draught to thy banquet. 
 x v. 78 : or, froth, of the liquor. 
 
NEMEAN IV. 
 
 13 
 
 him a when they reach him. Nor doth warm water so much 
 refresh-by-moistening the limbs, as praise linked with the 
 lyre. And words outlive the deeds they celebrate , whatever 
 words , with the aid of the Charites, the tongue may draw 
 out from the deep heart. 
 
 May it be allowed me to dedicate this strain b to Zeus son 
 of Cronus, and to Nemea and to the wrestling of Timesar- 
 chus, as a prelude to my hymn ; and may the fair- towered 
 seat of the ^Eacidse c receive it, JEgina which is, by its justice 
 that aideth the stranger, a common light d to all. 
 
 But if thy father Timocritus were still warmed by the 
 enlivening sun, oft harping the changeful strain, he would, 
 inclining his mind to this song, have swelled the hymn of 
 victory which sends thee the wreath of garlands both from 
 the Cleonsean contest, e and from brilliant honoured Athens, 
 and won in seven-gated Thebes ; since near the stately tomb 
 of Amphitryon the Cadmseans not unwilling covered him 
 with flowers for HCgjna’s sake. For coming as a friend to 
 friends, he passed down the hospitable city to the blissful hall 
 of Heracles/ with whom of yore the mighty Telamon over- 
 threw Troy and the Meropes and the huge warrior terrific 
 Alcyoneus, yet not before he had destroyed twelve four- 
 yoked cars with a mass of rock, and twice as many heroes, 
 tamers of the steed, that rode therein. That man would 
 appear unskilled in the fortune of war,s who does not under- 
 stand the old proverb ; for it is likely that “ he who does 
 must also suffer. ” h 
 
 But to make a long digression, the law of my song and 
 the hastening hours forbid me ; and by a charm am I drawn 
 away to touch upon the day of the new-moon. 1 Nevertheless, 
 0 my heawt, although the deep ocean brine holds thee up to 
 the waist, resist the treachery / and then we shall seem, far 
 
 a v. 3 : i. e. the victorious athlete, or them, i. e. the toils. 
 
 b v. 9 : or, to /iol u r\, k.t.\. wherefore may it be allowed me, &c. 
 
 c v. 12 : i. e. HSgina. d v. 13 : or, safety. e v. 17 : i.e. from Nemea. 
 
 f v. 24 : or, he entered as a resting-place the hospitable city to 
 approach, Qu. to offer his vows at, the blissful hall of Heracles, i. e. the 
 Heracleum or gymnasium of Heracles. 
 
 £ v. 30 : or, unread in battles. 
 
 h v. 32 : or, since it is right that a doer should also be a sufferer. 
 
 1 v. 35 : i.e. to celebrate the victory now before me. 
 v. 37 : or, plot, i. e. the calumnies of envious detractors. 
 
114 
 
 NEMEAN IV. 
 
 superior to our adversaries, to depart k in glory ; but some 
 other man with envious look revolves a vain thought in 
 secret, coming to nought. But to me whatever excellence 
 ruling destiny has assigned, well I know that coming time 
 shall accomplish it, predestined . 1 
 
 Weave, my sweet lyre, this strain also forthwith, conjoined 
 with Lydian harmony, beloved by CEnone m and by Cyprus too, # 
 where Teucer the son of Telamon rules far from his native 
 soil ; but Ajax sways as a tutelary god his paternal native 
 Salamis ; and in the Euxine Sea Achilles rules a bright island ; 
 and Thetis rules in Pthia, and Neoptolemus in far-stretching 
 Epirus, where the projecting promontories that give pasture 
 to the cattle gradually slope, beginning from Dodona, to the 
 Ionian Sea. But Iolcos at the foot of Pelion, did Peleus, 
 having approached it with hostile hand, give reduced to 
 slavery, to the Haemonians , 11 having experienced the crafty 
 arts of Hippolyta the spouse of Acastus. And by means of 
 the cunningly-wrought sword, Acastus the son of Pelias by 
 ambuscade was preparing death for him ; 0 but Chiron warded 
 off the danger and brought what was destined by Zeus to its 
 accomplishment ; and having quelled all-mighty fire and 
 sharpest claws of daring lions, and the edge of direst teeth, 
 he wedded one of the high-throned Nereids, and beheld the 
 orbed throne, seated on which the kings of heaven and of 
 ocean showed forth to himP the gifts and the power that 
 would endure to his posterity. 
 
 Beyond the westward of Gadeira^ we cannot pass : turn 
 back again to the land of Europa the tackling of the ship ; 
 for it would be impossible to me to go through the whole 
 tale of the sons of ^Eacus. 
 
 And for the Theandridse have I come a ready herald of 
 the games that-strengthen-the-limbs at Olympia, and at the 
 Isthmus, and at Nemea too, by agreement. Where as often 
 as they contend, they return not home without crowns glori- 
 ous with fruit ; where we hear that thy clan, O Timasarchus, 
 
 k v. 38 : or, come to land. 
 
 1 v. 44 : i.e. well I know that the future will declare my merit in 
 poetry, of what sort it is. 
 
 n v. 46 : i. e. by iEgina. “ v. 56 : i. e. the Thessalians. 
 
 ° v. 59 : i. e. Peleus. p v. 68 : i. e. let him see. 
 
 v. 68 : Gades. 
 
NEMEAN V. 
 
 115 
 
 ministers to r the lays of victory. But if in truth thou 
 biddest me also raise for Callicles thy mother’s brother a pil- 
 lar whiter than Parian stone, gold when refined throws out 
 full lustre, and a hymn that tells of valiant deeds makes a 
 man equal in fortune to kings ; therefore let him though 
 dwelling near Acheron, obtain my loud-sounding tongue s at 
 the Isthmian games , where, in the contest of the deep-roaring 
 Wielder of the trident, he flourished with Corinthian pars- 
 ley^ whom Euphanes, thy aged grandsire, O boy, in timse 
 past sang. 
 
 But to different persons there are different contemporaries ; 11 
 but what each has seen, these deeds each one thinks he him- 
 self can best tell. 
 
 In what manner would one that should praise Melesias 
 twist back the strife/ interweaving his words, w unconquer- 
 able in his song x for his antagonist to overthrow, gentle- 
 minded towards the good, but a fierce opponent to his 
 adversaries. 
 
 NEMEAN Y. 
 
 Inscribed to Pytheas (son of Lampo) of iEgina, victorious in the 
 Pancratium of the boys, at a date previous to the battle of Salamis, 
 B.C. 480 : sung at a banquet in JEgina. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 9 : Proemium. The poet announces the victory of Pytheas. 9— -18 : 
 The prayers of the iEacidse at the altar of Zeus ; their flight from 
 ^Egina. 19 — 37 : The chastity of Peleus and his glorious nuptials. 
 37 — end : The poet returns to the matter in hand, and praises the 
 victor’s family, and his training-master Menander. 
 
 No sculptor am I so as to carve statues that will stand 
 stationary and rest firm upon their base/ but upon every 
 
 r v. 79 : or, is pre-eminent in, is foremost in. 
 
 6 v. 86 : i.e. my tongue loud in his praise. 
 
 4 v. 88 : i.e. won the parsley crown. 
 
 u v. 91 : i.e. each different conqueror has a different poet con« 
 temporary with him to sing his exploits. 
 
 v v. 93 : i.e. struggle in the contest of panegyric. 
 w v. 96 : i.e. coining new phrases in his praise. 
 x v. 94 : or, in his discourse. 
 
 8 v. 1 : or, according to Dissen, “ resting upon the same base.” 
 
 i 2 
 
116 
 
 NEMEAN V. 
 
 vessel of burthen and light bark, b sweet song, proceed forth 
 from .iEgina, and announce abroad that Pytheas, the mighty 
 son of Lampo, has borne off the wreath of the Pancratium at 
 Nemea> though not showing on his chin the bloom of 
 summer-hue, tender mother of the vine-down, and has 
 honoured the warrior heroes the iEacidse, sprung up from 
 Cronus and Zeus and from the golden Nereids, and his 
 mother-country, a land friendly to strangers. 
 
 Which, formerly standing by the altar of the Hellenian 
 father, the renowned sons of Endais and the might of 
 kingly Phocus prayed might be blessed with brave men and 
 renowned for ships, and stretched forth together their hands 
 to heaven — Phocus , I say , the son of the goddess, whom 
 Psamathea bore on the shore of the ocean. 
 
 I fear to tell of a monstrous deed ventured upon not with 
 justice, how in truth they came to leave the glorious island 
 and what fortune 0 drove the valiant heroes from (Enone. 
 I will pause : not every truth, though strictly true, is better 
 for showing its face ; d and silence is often the wisest thing 
 for a man to understand. But if it be resolved by me to 
 praise their wealth, or their might of hands, or steel-clad war, 
 let some one mark me out long leaps from this point : e I have 
 a light spring of the knees, and so do the eagles fly beyond 
 the ocean. 
 
 And graciously to them too did the most lovely band of the 
 Muses sing on Pelion, and in the midst of them did Apollo, 
 running over the seven-tongued lyre with the golden quill, 
 lead through all the various moods. f And they in the first 
 place, commencing the song from Zeus, hymned the revered 
 Thetis and Peleus, and how delicate Hippolyta, daughter of 
 Cretheus, sought to destroy him by craft, having persuaded 
 his friend the king of the Magnesians her consort by cunning 
 plots, and she concocted a false fabricated tale, namely, how 
 that he attempted nuptial intercourse with h&r in the mar- 
 riage couch of Acastus : but the contrary was the truth ; for 
 often and with all her might guilefully-speaking did she 
 
 b v. 2 : i. e. on every vessel whether great or small. 
 c v. 16 : Qu. or, what angry deity. 
 
 A v. 17 : i- e. not every truth is profitably disclosed. 
 e v. 20 : i. e. mark out the subject ; Qu. starting from the exploits of 
 the ./Eacidae, or from the death of Phocus. f v. 25 : or, strains. 
 
NEMEAN V. 
 
 117 
 
 entreat him. His soul the bolds words stung; and forth- 
 with he refused the embrace of the bride, fearing the wrath 
 of the host-protecting Sire. But Zeus, the monarch of the 
 immortals, that raiseth the clouds, perceived the deed from 
 heaven, and promised that soon he would obtain one of the 
 Nereids with spindles of gold as an ocean bride for him , 
 having persuaded Poseidon their kinsman, who from iEgse 
 oft resorts to the famed Dorian Isthmus, where joyous bands 
 with the noise of the pipe receive him their god, and contend 
 with the hardy strength of limbs. 
 
 But the innate gift that each man has, gives decision about 
 all achievements . 11 And thou in HCgina, O Euthymenes, 
 having fallen into the arms of the goddess Victory, hast 
 obtained hymns of varied strain. Surely even now too thy 
 uncle praises his kindred sprung from the same ancestors^ 
 O Pytheas, who has followed closely in his steps. Nemea 
 favours him and the month of his country, k which Apollo 
 loved ; and those of his own age who came to contest against 
 him did he conquer, both at home 1 and at the hill of Nisus 
 with sweet glades. And I rejoice, because the whole city 
 contends for distinctions . 111 
 
 Know that thou hast obtained, with the aid 11 of Menander, 
 a sweet return of thy toils : and it is right that from Athens 
 should come the master of athletes . 0 
 
 But if thou hast come to sing Themistius, slack no more 
 in zeal : utter thy voice, and stretch forth the sails to the 
 yard-arm of the mast-head, and proclaim him as a boxer, 
 and that he has carried off a double prize in the Pancratium 
 at Epidaurus,P and to the vestibule of iEacus brought 
 grassly chaplets of flowers, by the favour of the yellow-haired 
 Charites. 
 
 * v. 32 : Qu. wicked words. 
 
 h v. 40 : i. e. the inborn strength or skill that each has decides his 
 success in the games. Perhaps it should rather be rendered, “ But the 
 future that is born with each decides on all his actions.” 
 
 1 v. 43 : i.e. Euthymenes. 
 j v. 45 : i. e. thee, his blood relative. 
 
 k v. 44 : i. e. the month Delphinius, in which the Delphinian games 
 were held. 1 v. 45 : i. e. at iEgina. 
 
 m v. 47 : or , for the praise of victory in the games. 
 
 n v. 48 : or, good fortune. ° v. 49 : or, trainer of athletes. 
 
 p v. 53 : or, “that he as a boxer, won at Epidaurus a twofold 
 
 victory. ” — Cook. 
 
118 
 
 NEMEAN VI. 
 
 Inscribed to Alcimidas, the son of Theon, of ^Egina, victorious in 
 wrestling among the boys, under the training of Melesias, about 01. 
 80. B.C. 460 : sung in ^Egina, probably at a banquet of the family 
 of the Bassidae. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 7 : Proemium. The likeness and the dissimilarity between the race 
 of gods and men. 8 — 25 : It has been the destiny of the Bassidae to 
 see gymnastic excellence and success in the games flourish and fall in 
 alternate generations of their race. 25 — end : Second part of the ode. 
 The poet sets forth the praises of the Bassidae and of ^Egina, making 
 a passing mention also of the iEacidae. 
 
 One is the race of men, another is the race of gods, hut from 
 one mother we both draw our breath ; a but a capacity b alto- 
 gether different separates the races of men and gods ; since the 
 one is nought, whilst the brazen heaven remaineth ever a 
 firm seat for the other. But still in some respect do we re- 
 semble the immortals, either in mighty mind or in bodily 
 frame, though we know not to what goal of life either by day 
 or night fate has written for us to run. 
 
 And now Alcimidas proves the innate talent of his race, c 
 so that we can see it like as in fruitful fields ; which alter- 
 nately at one time give to men the plenteous sustenance of 
 the plains, and then at another time resting, collect their 
 strength. 
 
 From the fair contests of Nemea came the youth that 
 contended in the games, who desiring to obtain this fortune 
 granted him by Zeus, hath now appeared no luckless hunter 
 in the wrestling, moving his foot in the footsteps of Praxi- 
 damas, his kindred grandsire. For he being a conqueror at 
 Olympia, was the first to crown himself with wreaths of olive 
 from the Alpheus in honour of the ^Eacidse, and by winning 
 the crown five times at the Isthmus and thrice at Nemea, 
 took away the obscurity of Socleides, who was the eldest of 
 
 a v. 1 : Perhaps it would be better to render this, one is the race of 
 men, and one is the race of the gods, and from one mother we both draw 
 our breath. b v. 3 : or, nature. 
 
 e v. 9 : or, his kindred with the gods. 
 
NEMEAN VI. 
 
 119 
 
 the sons of Agesimachus. d Since the three winners of the 
 prizes, who tried the toil, have reached the summit of glory. 
 
 But no other family has the boxing-match displayed, 
 under divine favour, as the steward e of more crowns, in any 
 corner of all Hellas. I trust, though speaking a bold word, to hit 
 the mark before me, sending forth my shaft as from a bow : 
 come, O muse, direct straight to this family a fair gale of 
 poetry of good report. For of their heroes that have passed 
 away bards and stories have preserved for them the glorious 
 deeds, and these are not lacking among the Bassidse : a race 
 famed in ancient story, freighted with their own praises, are 
 able to afford, through their lordly deeds, matter for much 
 song to those that till the field of the Pierides. f 
 
 For thus too in divine Pytho, having his hands bound with 
 the thong, s did Callias, a descendant of this family, of yore 
 prevail, pleasing the scions h of Latona who wields the golden 
 spindle, and near Castalia too at evening tide he shone 1 in 
 the loud chant of the Charites : the unwearied bridge too of 
 ocean, k in the third-yearly festival of the surrounding states 
 when the bull is slain, onoured Creontidas in the sacred 
 pine grove of Poseid^v , and the lion’s fodder 1 has often of 
 old decked him victorious beneath the shady primeval moun- 
 tains of Phlius. 
 
 Wide from all sides are the approaches for those skilled 
 in ancient story to adorn with praise this famous isle ; 
 since to them m the H^acidse gave surpassing fortune by 
 displaying mighty deeds of valour. Over both land and 
 across the sea afar does their name spread ; even to the 
 Ethiopians, for that Memnon returned not home, did it fly, 
 and a grievous contest Achilles showed them, when having 
 descended from his car he slew the bright son of Eos with 
 the point of his wrathful spear. 
 
 And this highway of praise the bards of ancient days dis- 
 covered, and I too myself follow with all eager zeal : n but 
 
 d v. 23 : i. e. lie won at the games, which his father Socleides had 
 failed to do. 
 
 e v. 27 : or, as having a store of. f v. 33 : i. e. to poets. 
 
 s v. 36 : i. e. wearing the cestus. h v. 38 : i. e. children. 
 
 * v. 39 : i. e. he was celebrated. k v. 40 : i. e. the Isthmus. 
 
 1 v. 44 : i. e. the Nemean parsley crown. m v. 48 : i. e. the islanders. 
 
 n v. 56 : i. e. a3 they praised the iEacidae, so too do I desire to 
 follow their example. 
 
120 
 
 NEMEAN VII. 
 
 that one of the waves which in succession rolls before the 
 keel of the ship is said most to disturb each sailor’s mind . 0 
 
 But on willing back carrying a double burden P have 
 I come as a herald of Alcimidas fame , singing this vic- 
 tory the fifth in addition to twenty won from the games 
 which men call sacred, which too the renowned race 
 of Alcimidas has furnished to be celebrated in song. Two 
 Olympic crowns indeed by the precinct of Cronium did the 
 random lot deprive thee, O youth, of, thee and Poly timi das. 
 Equal to the dolphin through the brine in swiftness could I 
 tell of Melesias, Milesias the trainer of hands and of strength. 
 
 NEMEAN YII. 
 
 Inscribed to Sogenes, son of Thearion, of iEgina, victorious in the 
 Pentathlon of the boys ; Nem. 54. Olymp. 79, 4. B.C. 461 : sung 
 in -ZEgina. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 20 : Proemium. Sogenes’ victory in the Quinquertium, due to the 
 mighty strength inplanted in him by Ilithyia : poetry is the mirror of 
 mighty actions, without which they must remain in obscurity. 
 20 — 49 : The mythical portion of the ode. Ulysses has been honoured 
 even more than he deserved by the poetry of Homer : Ajax and 
 Neoptolemus, though they both met with a grievous death, are now 
 held in everlasting honour and renown. 50 — end : The poet returns 
 to the subject before him ; praises Thearion, the father of Sogenes, 
 speaks in his own defence and his friends, against the censures of the 
 HSginetans, praises Sogenes, and ends by invoking Heracles to 
 protect the family. 
 
 Ilithyia, assessor of the deep-counselling Fates, child of 
 Here of mighty strength, hear, O thou that bringest children 
 to the light : without thee we reach not to thy sister Hebe a 
 with fair limbs, neither beholding the light nor the dark 
 night. b But we have not breath all alike for similar achieve- 
 
 ° v. 58 : i. e. I must attend to the task immediately before me, as 
 the mariner has to attend to, and guard against the wave directly before 
 his vessel. 
 
 p v. 59 : i. e. the twofold praise of the iEacidse and of the present 
 victory of the Bassidae. a or Youth. 
 
 b v. 3 : i. e. not during the whole course of our life. 
 
NEMEAN VII. 
 
 121 
 
 menfcs, and various destinies restrain each man differently, as 
 he is severally bound by fate. 
 
 By thy aid too Sogenes the son of Thearion, distinguished 
 for his prowess, is sung glorious in the contests of the five 
 exercises. For he dwells in the city of the spear-clashing 
 HCacidse, the city that loves to hear the song of victory ; and 
 greatly do they desire to cherish a spirit skilled in contests. 
 But if any one succeed in the contest, he affords delicious 
 subject of song to the streams of the Muses ; for mighty 
 feats of strength are clouded by great obscurity, if they lack 
 the aid of hymns : but for noble deeds we know a mirror in 
 this way only, 0 if, through Mnemosyne with the bright 
 tiara, a man wins the recompense of his toils by the far- 
 famed songs of poetry. 
 
 And the wise have learnt when the wind will blow on 
 the third day, and lose not all through desire of gain. d The 
 wealthy and the poor alike come to death. 
 
 But I believe that the fame of Odysseus is become greater 
 than in 'proportion to what he suffered, through the sweet poet 
 Homer : since in his fictions and his winged art a something 
 majestic dwells and his skill deceives us, leading the mind 
 astray by fabled lore ; but the. more numerous crowd of men 
 have a blind spirit. For if it were possible that it could see 
 the truth, e never would the mighty Ajax enraged about the 
 arms have driven the polished sword through his breast — 
 Ajax whom most mighty in battle except Achilles, the 
 guidance of the straight-blowing Zephyrus conveyed in swift 
 ships to the city of Ilus, that he might bring back his spouse 
 for the yellow-haired Menelaus. But the wave of death comes 
 alike on all, and it falls on the inglorious and on the 
 glorious. f But there ariseth honour for those heroes whose 
 beauteous fame the Deity increases in aid of the memory of 
 the deceased, » who have come to the great navel of wide- 
 
 c v. 14 : i.-e. we know but one sole mirror for noble deeds. 
 d v. 17 : or, The prudent sailors provide against, or keep a look-out 
 for, the coming wind that will blow on the third day, nor do they, 
 through desire of gain, suffer loss by putting out to sea imprudently. 
 e v. 2 5 : or, For if it were possible to see the truth itself. 
 f v. 31 : or, Qu. on the unexpecting, and on the expectant. 
 
 ? v. 32 : TsQvaKorojv ftoaOoov. If (3oa96iov is read, it must be joined 
 with reOvaicoTuv, in the sense of, “valiant men or heroes that have 
 
122 
 
 NEMEAN VII. 
 
 bosomed earth. But in Pythian plains, after that he had 
 sacked the city of Priam, Neoptolemus lies buried ; the city 
 of Priam where the Danai toiled. Sailing thence away he 
 missed the isle of Scyros, and wandering from their course 
 he and his companions arrived at Ephyra. Then in Molossia 
 he reigned a brief while, but his family after him ever bore 
 this regal honour ; and he departed to the god h and bore 
 with him rich gifts of the first-fruits of the spoils brought 
 from Troy ; and there 1 a man smote him with a knife, as he 
 fell into a quarrel with him about the carcase of the victims , 
 and exceeding grieved were the hospitable Delphians ; but 
 he only paid the debt of fate ; for it was decreed by destiny, 
 that some one of the kingly .ZEacidse entombed in that most 
 ancient hallowed lawn, should for all time to come abide 
 near the fair-built shrine of the god, and that he should 
 there dwell, keeping order over the festal processions in 
 honour of the heroes attended with many a sacrifice, so that 
 honoured justice may preside there. Three words will 
 suffice ; no false witness presides over the contests. J 
 
 I have courage to sing this a proper course of song derived 
 from their own family in honour of the brilliant virtues, 
 O ZEgina, of thine and Zeus’ children ; k but I will not 
 prolong my praises , for in every work repose from toil is 
 sweet, and even honey and the pleasant flowers of Aphrodite 
 can pall. 
 
 In natural powers we all differ according to the manner 
 of life that is allotted to each, one having for his share one 
 species of talent and others another ; but it is impossible 
 that one individual should be so fortunate as to bear off 
 every kind of happiness : I can mention none to whom Fate 
 has given this height of happiness to last. 
 
 departed from life but Hermann doubts the possibility of such an 
 expression. h v. 40 : i. e. Apollo. 1 v. 42 : i. e. at Delphi. 
 
 j v. 49 : i. e. he maintains his charge strictly and infallibly. 
 
 k v. 52 : or, there is boldness to me, i. e. I am bold, to sing this (viz. the 
 praises of the JEaeidce), a chief path, or an illustrious species of panegyric 
 derived from their own family through or for the brilliant virtues, 
 O ZEgina, of thine and Zeus’ descendants. Dissen on the contrary 
 joins rofo with Spaav, and renders “This is my boldness, O ZEgina, in 
 honour of the brilliant virtues of thine and Zeus’ children, to sing the 
 illustrious praise belonging to the family.” I have followed in the text 
 the order suggested by Boeckh. 
 
NEMEAN VII. 
 
 123 
 
 But O Thearion, to thee she gives a befitting measure of 
 wealth, and takes not away thy intellect of soul after thou 
 hadst had the courage to undertake noble deeds . 1 I am thy 
 guest-friend : removing far dark slander, I will praise thee 
 with a truly glorious praise, bringing as it were streams of 
 water to a man I love : and this reward is suitable to the 
 good. An Achaean man who dwells above 111 the sea of 
 Ionia, were he near at hand, would not blame me ; n I rely 
 on my tie of friendship with them; and amongst my own 
 compatriots I look round with serene eye, never having 
 overstepped moderation, and having removed far apart from 
 me all that is violent : and may all future time come joyous 
 to me ! And he that shall have clearly learnt, shall declare 
 whether I go beyond the harmony of my strain, pouring 
 forth a slanderous song. 
 
 0 thou by race a Euxenid, Sogenes, I swear that I have 
 not, going beyond the boundary, flung forth my swift tongue 
 as it were a brass-barbed javelin, which sometimes lets go 
 free 0 from the wrestling-match the neck and strength of the 
 athlete unmoistened by sweat, before that his body is exposed 
 to the scorching sun.P If toil it were, yet the joy succeeds 
 more abundant. Permit me, in having thus digressed from 
 my subject : even though somewhat borne beyond my subject 
 I have lifted up my voice, yet I am not niggardly in paying 
 to a conqueror his due praise. To weave chaplets is easy : 
 
 1 v. 60 : or, and from thee who didst obtain daring to perform noble 
 
 exploits she takes not utterly away, or, she deprives thee not of, vigour 
 of intellect. m v. 65 : on or by, Qu. beyond. 
 
 n v. 64 : i. e. not even would the remote Achaean, with whom I am 
 connected in hospitality, blame me, were he near. By “ the Achaean ” is 
 meant, according to Diss. and B., the Dymaeans in Achaia proper, and 
 they consider the meaning to be, “ from Dyme in the west to Thebes in 
 the east, that is, throughout all Greece, in which I enjoy a general 
 right of proxeny, none will blame me or accuse me of calumny. Mr. 
 Cookesley thinks the Molossians, the descendants of the Phthiot Achaeans, 
 are meant, and Mr. Donaldson the people of Cichyrus. 
 
 ° v. 72 : or, exempts. 
 
 p v. 73 : or, I swear that I have not, missing the mark, flung forth 
 my swift tongue as it were a brass-barbed javelin, which sometimes, as 
 failing of its aim, dismisses from the games, and from all chance of com- 
 petition in the last exercise of the Pentathlon, viz. in the wrestling, the neck 
 and strength of the candidate unmoistened by sweat, before that his 
 body is exposed to the burning sun. 
 
 ** v. 76 : or, I am not backward to pay a conqueror the praise that is 
 
124 
 
 NEMEA> VII. 
 
 begin the song : r the Muse in truth joins together gold and 
 white ivory too and the lily flower s from the ocean dew, 
 taking it therefrom. 1 
 
 But remembering 11 Zeu3 for Nemea’s sake/ softly rouse, 
 0 my soul , the noble strain of song. It behoveth on this 
 soil w to celebrate the king of the gods with gentle voice ; 
 for they say that he begot H5acus by seed received by his 
 mother the nymph JZgina, jEacus, I say , the monarch of his 
 own renowned country and thy kindly-disposed guest-friend, 
 O Heracles, and brother. 
 
 But if one man in any way receives benefit from another 
 man, we should assert that a neighbour that loveth with 
 faithful mind, is to a neighbour a blessing worth every other ; 
 and if this too x the Deity would sanction by thy favour, 
 thine, who didst subdue the giants, Sogenes may be able, 
 cherishing a mind obedient to his sire, happily to inhabit 
 the wealthy hallowed street of his ancestors : since like as in 
 the car yokes in which four steeds are driven, he has his 
 house, on either hand that he goeth, between thy shrinesJ 
 
 O blessed one, 2 thee it becometh to persuade both the spouse 
 of Here and the maid with gleaming eyes to give their aid ; 
 and thou hast power to give aid to mortals oft against insur- 
 mountable difficulties. Would that, for them, having joined 
 a life unruffled in youth to a brilliant old age, a thou mayest 
 
 his due, even if soaring somewhat beyond measure I have raised my 
 voice in his praise. Qu. though I have raised my voice in my own 
 praise, or , defence. 
 
 r v. 77 : or, wait a while; i. e. with a brief delay thou shalt receive a 
 worthier chaplet of song. s v. 78 : i. e. coral. 
 
 * v. 79 : i. e. an immortal and precious chaplet, like a crown composed 
 of the costliest materials, gold, ivory, and coral. 
 
 u v. 80 : or, making mention of. 
 
 v v. 80 : or, perhaps simply “at Nemea,” or “around Nemea.” 
 
 w v. 84 : i. e. on iEgina. 
 
 x v. 89 : viz. the law of good neighbourhood. So Donaldson, N, Crat. 
 p. 247, renders dve%oi k.t.X. “ if a god would condescend to, would put 
 up with, the law of good neighbours.” Or, if the Deity should possess it 
 (av ex 0L ), i* e - should possess such a disposition as what I have described 
 to exist between good neighbours. 
 
 y v. 94 : i. e. he inhabiteth a house that stands between two temples 
 of thine, O Heracles, one on either hand, like a four-horse car that hath 
 on either side a pole between its two pair of horses. 
 
 * v. 95 : viz. Heracles. 
 
 a v. 99 : or, perhaps better, “For would that thou, having joined to 
 them a vigorous life both in its youth and in brilliant old age, 
 mayest,” &c. &c. 
 
NEMEAN VIII. 
 
 bring it to a close in happiness, and may their children’s 
 children ever hold the honour that they now hold and here- 
 after even more. But my heart shall never allow that it 
 has carped at Neoptolemus with unseemly words. To repeat 
 the same thing three or four times over, like one who 
 foolishly repeateth to children “ Corinth belongs to Zeus, 
 is but poverty of intellect. 
 
 ISTEMEAlSr YIII. 
 
 Inscribed to Deinis, son of Megas, of ^Egina, twice victorious in the 
 Stadium, sung at iEgina in the .ZEaceum, Olymp. 80, 3, 4. B.C. 458, 
 457. When the victories that it commemorates were obtained, is 
 uncertain. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 5 : Proemium. Youth the herald of love. 6 — 16 : The loves of 
 Zeus and .ZEgina, and the birth of Abacus. 17 — 39 : Envy, the force 
 of which Ajax suffered, is deprecated. 40 — end : The victories and 
 praises of Deinis, his father Megas, and the family of Chariadse. 
 
 O honoured beauty of Youth, herald of the ambrosial loves 
 of Aphrodite, who, sitting on the eyelids of maidens and 
 youths, dost raise aloft one with the mild hands of compul- 
 sion and another with different ! a But delightful it is, when, 
 not missing good fortune in every other matter b one is able 
 to obtain successful love. 
 
 And in such way the loves the dispensers of the gifts of 
 the Cyprian goddess attended round the couch of Zeus and 
 HEgina ; and a son was born, king of CEnone, surpassing in 
 might and wisdom. Him oft did many pray to see ; for 
 uncalled the flower of heroes that dwelt around were willing 
 of their own accord to obey his behests ; both those who in 
 rugged Athens ruled their people, and the Pelopidse in Sparta. 
 
 A suppliant of JEacus both for the loved city and for the 
 citizens, I touch his holy knees ; bearing a Lydian fillet, 0 em- 
 bellished with, loud sounds of the flute , Nemean ornament of 
 the two victories in the stadium of Deinis and of his father 
 Megas. 
 
 * v. 3 : i. e. handiest with rough treatment. 
 b v. 4 : i. e. when being successful in every other point. 
 c v. 14 : i. e. an ode in Lydian measure. 
 
126 
 
 NEMEAN yin. 
 
 Bliss, surely, that hath been planted for mankind by the 
 favour of Providence, will abide most lastingly : —Providence 
 that loaded Cinyras too with wealth of yore in sea-girt 
 Cyprus. I stand on light feet, d and drawing in my breath 
 before I say aught. For much and in many ways has been 
 told of Cinyras; but to devise novel inventions 6 and to sub- 
 ject them to the test of mens judgment for examination is 
 very perilous; for the praises you may bestow on others are a 
 treat for the envious to feed on , and envy ever attacks the 
 good, but does not molest the mean. 
 
 Even the son of Telamon did it f torture and make to fall 
 upon his sword. For of a truth one, who though brave of 
 heart is not eloquent, oblivion often falls on in an evil 
 contest but the greatest reward is held out as a premium 
 to wily falsehood. For thus with fraudulent suffrages the 
 Greeks unjustly took the side of Odysseus, and Ajax deprived 
 of the golden arms wrestled with death . 11 Yet indeed very 
 different were the wounds that they , 1 when warring, j inflicted 
 with the ppear that-defendeth-heroes on the living k persons 
 of their foes, as well when fighting round the freshly-slain 
 Achilles, as on the deathful days of other toils. 
 
 Hateful then we may conclude in former times also was 
 deceitful speech , 1 the companion of wily words, meditating 
 guile, ill-report that maketh mischief, which attacks what is 
 illustrious, but upholds the false glory of the obscure men. 
 May I never have this character , 131 father Zeus, but may I 
 hold to the guileless paths of life, that after my death I may 
 attach no shameful reputation to my children. Some men 
 there are who pray for gold, others for land without limit ; 
 but may I, after having so lived , also lay my limbs in the con- 
 cealment of the earth beloved 11 by my fellow-citizens, praising 
 
 d v. 19 : or, with feet not firmly planted, i. e. I stop a while. 
 e v. 20 : or, matters of narration. f v. 23 : i. e. envy. 
 
 g v. 25 : or, of a surety in a dismal contention, oblivion, i. e. disregard 
 of his merits, overwhelms many a man ungifted with the powers of 
 eloquence though brave of heart. 
 
 h v. 27 : i. e. slew himself. 1 v. 28 : i. e. Odysseus and Ajax, 
 
 j v. 29 : Bergk’s reading is 7re\efjitZ,6fievoL “being driven back,” which 
 certainly does not seem to make nearly so good a sense as the common 
 one followed in the text. k v. 28 : lit. warm, 
 
 v. 32 : or, beguiling persuasion. m v. 35 : or, temper. 
 
 n v. 38 : i. e. die too as beloved in death as I have been in life. 
 
NEMEAN VM. 
 
 127 
 
 what is praiseworthy, and scattering censure on the sinful. 
 The glory of mighty deeds increases, as when a tree shoots 
 up fostered by the fresh dews, raised by the wise and just of 
 men 0 to the liquid sky. Manifold are the uses of friends : 
 the aid they give in difficulties ranks the highest : yet even 
 joy desires to have assurance put before its eyes.P 
 
 0 Megas, to bring back thy spirit from the dead is not 
 possible for me : futile is the end of my empty hopes ; but 
 for thy house and the Chariadse it is within my power to 
 erect a great column of the Muses in honour of the twice 
 two glorious feet. r 
 
 1 rejoice in pouring forth a fitting praise upon an exploit 
 performed ; and by the magic charm of song one hath often 
 caused toil to be free from pain. Of a truth the laudatory 
 hymn existed long ago, even before the strife arose between 
 Adrastus and the Cadmeans. 
 
 0 v. 41 : i.e. by upright and impartial poets. 
 
 t v. 43 : i.e. the joyous conqueror desires to see before his eyes some 
 solid proof of his success, such as may, like a laudatory ode, convince 
 others. 
 
 v. 46 : Qu. but for thy house, that of the Chariadae, &c. 
 
 r v. 48 : i.e. the two feet of Megas and the two of Deinis, alike* 
 victorious in the foot-race. 
 
NEMEAN IX. 
 
 Inscribed to Chromius, son of Agesidamus of HCtna ; victorious in the 
 chariot-race at the Pythian games in Sicyon ; to whom also the first 
 Nemean Ode is inscribed. The ode was composed some years after 
 the victory which it celebrates, probably in 01. 77, 1. B.C. 472. It 
 is to be observed that the last three so-called Nemean Odes do 
 not celebrate Nemean victories. “ Some of the epinikia,” says Muller 
 (Hist, of the Lit. of Ancient Greece, p. 221), “ belong to other games. 
 For example, the second Pythian is not a Pythian Ode, but probably 
 belongs to games of Iolaus at Thebes. The ninth Nemean celebrates 
 a victory in the Pythia at Sicyon, not at Delphi. The tenth Nemean 
 celebrates a victory in the Hecatombaea at Argos. The eleventh 
 Nemean is not an epinikion, but was sung at the installation of a 
 prytanis at Tenedos. Probably the Nemean Odes were placed at the 
 end of the collection, after the Isthmian; so that a miscellaneous 
 supplement could be appended to them.” 
 
 AKGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 7 : Proemium. The poet exhorts the Muses to leave Sicyon for 
 HStna, and to come to the house of Chromius, who is celebrating his 
 victory won in the Sicyonian Pythia ; 8 — 27 : which were founded by 
 Adrastus. The greatness and might of Adrastus, and the luckless 
 expedition against Thebes undertaken by that hero. 28 — 47 : The 
 poet returns to the subject before him, offers his prayers for the city 
 of HCtna, praises the glory of Chromius in war, his wealth and great- 
 ness. 48 — end : The ode concludes in a joyous and festive strain, 
 with a promise of some future encomiastic songs that may be sung at 
 the banquet, after the procession of the victor. 
 
 Let us go in joyous procession from Apollo, a O ye Muses, 
 from Sicyon, to tlie newly-founded ^Etna, to the joyous 
 house of Chromius, where the wide-opened doors give way 
 to the guests. 
 
 Come then, achieve the sweet poetic hymn. For mounting 
 his car victorious in the race he announces a song in honour 
 of the mother b and her twin children, 0 the joint watchers 
 over lofty Pytho. 
 
 There is a certain saying among men that one should not 
 conceal in the ground in silence a brave deed well accom- 
 plished ; for a divine strain of poetry is fitting to mighty 
 
 • v. 1 : i.e. from the Pythian games in his honour. 
 b v. 3 : i. e. Latona. • v. 3 : i.e. Apollo and Artemis, 
 
NEMEAN IX. 
 
 129 
 
 praises. d But come, let us arouse the sounding lyre and 
 the pipe to tell of the very prime of equestrian contests, 
 which Adrastus ordained for Phoebus on the streams of the 
 Asopus ; which I calling to mind, will adorn with renowned 
 honours the hero, who then reigning there, with new fes- 
 tivals and with contests of the strength of men, and with 
 # cars adorned-with-carving, did proclaim and ennoble the { 
 state. e For he fled from Amphiaraus the-bold-in-thought * 
 and from dread sedition, far away from the home of his 
 fathers and from Argos; and the sons of Talaus f were no 
 longer rulers, having been prevailed over by faction. 
 
 But a superior man ends a former quarrel, s And they 11 
 by giving Eriphyle who slew her lord as a wife to the son 
 of Oicleus, like as one gives a faithful pledge of alliance, 
 became the greatest of the yellow-haired Danai. Thereupon 
 indeed did they of yore lead to the seven-gated Thebes a 
 host of men in the path of unpropitious omens ; nor did the 
 son of Cronus by whirling round his lightning incite them, 
 maddened as they were, to march from their homes, but lie 
 bade them abstain from their journey. So then the crowd 
 pressed on to arrive at manifest destruction, with their 
 brazen coats of armour and with the trappings of their steeds : 
 and upon the banks of the Ismenus having averted from 
 themselves sweet return , 1 they fed the pale smoke with their 
 corpses. j For seven pyres consumed the seven heroes with 
 youthful limbs : but for Amphiaraus Zeus with his all- 
 powerful bolt clove the deep-bosomed earth, and hid him 
 with his horses, before that smitten on his back by the spear 
 of Periclymenus he had disgraced his warlike soul ; k for in 
 heaven-sent panics there flee even the children of the gods. 
 
 If it were possible, O son of Cronus, I would fain put off 
 by my prayers, as long as possible, the manly 1 contest for 
 
 d v. 7 : i.e. befits deeds that merit great praise. 
 
 e v. 12 : i.e. did the city honour by having its name proclaimed as 
 the victor’s native place. f v. 14 : i. e. Adrastus and his brothers. 
 
 8 v. 15 : The man that is gifted with ability, or, with prudence, 
 knows how to end a pre-existing quarrel. 
 
 h v. 17 : i.e. Adrastus and his brothers. 
 
 1 v. 23 : i.e. having fallen there. 
 
 1 v. 23 : or, reading aw/iara, they, pale corpses, fed the smoke. 
 
 k v. 27 : or, before that he was disgraced in his warlike - soul. 
 
 1 v. 28 : Qu. fierce. 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 NEMEAN IX. 
 
 life and death, with the spears of the Carthaginian host, m 
 and I entreat thee, O Father Zeus, long to grant to the 
 children of the ^Etneans the fortune of an orderly state, and 
 to raise 11 the city to public festivities. There are in that 
 land, indeed, heroes that love the steed and who have souls 
 superior to wealth . 0 
 
 I have spoken a praise incredible to the low crowd ; for the 
 sense of honour that brings glory is secretly corrupted by 
 gain. Hadst thou served as shield-bearer to Chromius 
 amongst the foot-soldiers and the cavalry, and in the con- 
 tests of ships, thou couldst have judged of his courage amidst 
 the danger of the sharp fight ; since in war that goddess p 
 urged his warlike spirit to drive back the pest of Eny alius. ^ 
 But few are able to counsel how with hands and soul to 
 turn the cloud of war that is upon them upon the ranks of 
 the enemies. Yerily for Hector it is said that glory bloomed 
 near the streams of the Scamander ; and upon the steep- 
 cliffed banks of the Helorus, where men call the place the 
 ford of the fountain of Ares, r this light of victory looked on 
 the son of Agesidamus in the first years of manhood. And 
 other deeds will I assert to have been achieved by him, 
 on other days, many a one on the dusty land, and others on 
 the neighbouring sea. 
 
 For from toils that are performed in youth and justly 
 done, there ariseth to old age a life of calmness. s Let 
 Chromius know that he has obtained from the deities mar- 
 vellous bliss. For if he should bear off honourable fame 
 combined with many possessions, it is not possible for mortal 
 man to attain still further with his feet to a higher eminence. 
 
 The feast for its part loves quiet ; and victory is nurtured 
 with fostering song, ever fresh sprouting ; and near the bowl 
 the voice of the poet is bold. 
 
 Let one mingle it* then for me , the howl the sweet an- 
 nouncer of the revel, and distribute in silver goblets the 
 
 m v. 29 : or, with the spears sent by the Phoenicians (or, Cartha- 
 ginians). n v. 31 : lit. join. 
 
 ° v. 33 : i. e. who spare no expense in the games. 
 
 p v. 36 : i. e. Honour. <i i. e. Ares, or, War. 
 
 r v. 41 : or, where men call the pass that of Area, or, the pass of the 
 ft untain of Ares. s v. 44 : i. e. life is tranquil at its close. 
 
 1 v. 60 : i. e. the bowl. 
 
NEMEAN X. 
 
 131 
 
 mighty son of the vine, the goblets which in times past his 
 mares having won for Chromius, brought, with the justly- 
 plaited 11 crowns of the son of Latona, from the holy Sicyon. 
 O Father Zeus, I pray that with the aid of the Charites I 
 may celebrate this deed of renown of his , and that I may 
 beyond many v honour the victory with my praises, hurling 
 as I do my javelin nearest to the Muses’ mark. 
 
 HEMEAN X. 
 
 Inscribed to Theseus, son of Ulias, of Argos, twice victorious in the 
 wrestling-match in the Hecatombsea in Argos, where this ode was 
 sung on the anniversary of the festival, some time after the victory. 
 The dates are uncertain, but the composition of the ode has been 
 ingeniously fixed by Dissen as falling between the periods of B.C. 
 468 and B.C. 458. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 18 : Proemium. The mythical glories of Argos. 19 — 48 : The 
 victories of Theseus at the Argive Hecatombsea, and at the Pythian, 
 Isthmian, and Nemean games : the victories of his ancestors. 49 — end: 
 Pamphaes, a forefather of Theseus, was onoe host of the Dioscuri : 
 they are the tutelar gods of the family : tale of the death of Castor : 
 made sharer in his brother’s immortality. 
 
 Ye Charites, hymn the praises of the city of Danaus and his 
 fifty bright-throned daughters, Argos, Here’s dwelling-place, 
 meet for a divinity ! With numberless praises is it enkin- 
 dled a by reason of its valiant deeds. 
 
 Long to tell are the deeds of Perseus concerning Medusa 
 the Gorgon, and many are the towns which Argos founded 
 in Egypt by the hands of Epaphus : nor did Hypermnestra 
 wander from the path of duty, restraining her sword solitary 
 of purpose in its sheath. Diomed too did the Bright-eyed 
 Maid of the golden hair render in olden times an immortal 
 deity, and near Thebes the earth, cleft asunder by the bolts 
 of Zeus, received the son of Oicleus, b a stormy cloud of war. 
 In lovely-haired women too does Argos excel : long ago did 
 Zeus approaching to Alcmena and to Danae prove the truth 
 
 u v. 52 : i. e. well-earned. v v. 54 : i. e. surpassing all others. 
 
 a v. 2 ; or, made illustrious. b i. e. Amphiaraus. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 NEMEAN X. 
 
 of this assertion, and for Adrastus T sire° and for Lynceus he 
 united the fruit of the mind with upright justice . 4 And 
 Argos nursed the spear of Amphitryon. e He surpassing in 
 bliss came into the kindred f of Zeus, sifter that clad in 
 brazen armour he had slain the Telebose, and, likened to 
 Amphitryon in form, the king of the immortals entered his 
 hall bearing the dauntless seed of Heracles ; whose spouse in 
 Olympus is Hebe, that walketh with her mother the presiding 
 deity of marriage, fairest of goddesses. 
 
 My mouth is too small to tell the whole tale ; to wit, how 
 many are the blessings of which the precinct of Argos has 
 the portion, s and the satiety 11 of mortals is grievous to incur; 
 but yet hold not thy hand, but awake the well-strung lyre 
 and take thought of the games. For the brazen- clad contest 
 summons the people to behold the sacrifice of the oxen in 
 Here’s honour and the decision of the games, where Theseus, 
 son of Ulias, conquering, twice won oblivion of the toils 
 which he patiently endured. He conquered too the Grecian 
 host of yore in Pytho, and at the Isthmus and Nemea, after 
 he had gone thither with good luck, he won the crown; and 
 to the Muses he gave somewhat to till , 1 thrice at the gates of 
 Ocean! having obtained the prize, and thrice on the sacred 
 plains according to the law of Adrastus. k O Father Zeus, 
 what he desires in his soul, his mouth is silent on ; but in 
 thee is the accomplishment and sum of all our doings ; nor, 
 bringing as he does a bold spirit to the strife does he deprecate 1 
 the glory of victory by reason of a heart that shuns toil. 
 Known is this m to Theseus and to all who contend for the 
 prime of the highest prizes : 11 and that highest institution of 
 
 c v. 12 : i.e. for Talaus. 
 
 d v. 12 : i. e. united prudence and justice in their persons. 
 
 e v. 13 : or, Qu. he, i. e. Zeus, fostered the courage of Amphitryon. 
 
 f v. 14 : i.e . was admitted into the family of. 
 
 s v. 19 : i.e. how many glories the sacred soil of Argos claims as its 
 share. h v. 20 : i.e. the sated ear. 
 
 1 v. 26 : i. e. he gave them somewhat to do, matter for a song. 
 
 1 v. 27 : i. e. at the Isthmus. k i . e. at Nemea. 
 
 1 v. 30 : i. e. he does not deprecate. 
 
 m v. 30 : i. e. the glory, or, the sweetness of victory. 
 
 n v. 31 : or, perhaps, known to Theseus and to every one who contends 
 for the highest prizes is this, viz. that one needs courage to obtain the prize: 
 or, again taking yvwra as a neut. plur., it may he rendered, A thing 
 known to Theseus and to him whosoever enters into a contest for the 
 
NEMEAN X. 
 
 133 
 
 Heracles Pisa lias received ; yet twice have the tuneful voices 
 of the Athenians, by way of prelude as it were to f uture vie* 
 tories , celebrated him in revel at the holy festival ; 0 and in 
 earth burnt in fire the fruit of the olive came to the valiant 
 people of Here in the all-variegated enclosures of jars.P 
 There comes next, O Theseus, to the wide-known race of 
 thy mother’s ancestors the honour of success in the games ^ 
 by aid of the Charites and the Tyndaridse conjoined . 1 I 
 should claim, were I akin to Thrasyclus and Antias, not to 
 veil the light of my eyes at Argos . 8 
 
 For with how many victories has this city of Prsetus, 
 nurse of the steed, bloomed, both in the recesses where 
 Corinth stands , 11 and four times at the hands of men of 
 Cleone! u And from Sicyon they returned home to Argos re- 
 warded with silver wine-cups, and from Pellene having clad 
 their backs with the soft woofs. v But the countless brass w 
 it is impossible to compute ; for to count them would be a 
 task of longer leisure than I have; and what Cleitor, and 
 Tegea, and the cities of the Achseans placed on high, and the 
 Lycseum near the sacred precinct of Zeus set forth for men to 
 win, both in the foot-race and with might of hands. 
 
 Since Castor and his brother Polydeuces came as guests to 
 Pamphaes, no marvel that it should be innate in them x to be 
 mighty athletes ; inasmuch as they, guardian-deities of spa- 
 cious Sparta, preside, in conjunction with Hermes and with 
 
 highest honours in the public games : now ’tis Pisa that hath the supreme 
 ordinance of Heracles, i. e. Theseus knows that the Olympic contests 
 are above all others, and therefore has not as yet ventured to engage in 
 them. ° v. 34 : i. e. at the Panathensea. 
 
 p v. 35 : i. e. oil in quaintly-coloured vases was brought by him as a 
 prize from the Panathenaic games to Argos. 
 
 q v. 37 : or, the honour or glory of successful contests. 
 r v. 38 : or, the glory of victory in the games waits on the wide- 
 known race of thy ancestors, by the favour at once of the Charites and of 
 the children of Tyndarus. The only difficulty is 87r erai cum accusativo ; 
 but it surely may stand, meaning something less than the construction 
 with the dative, which is, to follow, in the sense of “ subservience” or 
 “ obedience” - 
 
 s v. 40 : i.e. I should not, were I a relative of Thrasyclus and Antias, 
 cast down my eyes for shame at Argos. 
 
 4 i. e. in the Isthmian games. u i. e. at Nemea. 
 
 v i. e. and from Pellene they returned with their backs clad with 
 the cloaks of soft wool, which they had won as prizes. 
 
 w v. 45 : i.e. the brazen arms and tripods that they had won. 
 x v. 50 : i.e. in his descendants, the family of Theaeus. 
 
134 
 
 NEMEAN X. 
 
 Heracles, oyer the blooming lot of the contests, making men 
 of upright life their special care ; for faithful of a surety is 
 the race of the gods. With interchange, in turn one day do 
 they enjoy with their Father Zeus, and one do they spend 
 beneath the depths of the earth in the dells of Therapne, 
 filling up an equal doom : since, when Castor perished in 
 war, Polydeuces preferred this mode of existence rather than 
 to be himself altogether a god and dwell in heaven. For himy 
 did Idas, incensed somehow concerning his herd, wound 
 with the point of his brazen spear. Gazing keenly after 
 them from Taygetus, Lynceus beheld them sitting in ambush 
 in the trunk of an oak. For his, of all earthly men, was the 
 most piercing eye. With nimble feet forthwith they 2 arrived 
 and quickly wrought a bold deed ; viz., the death of Castor. 
 And grievous retribution the sons of Aphareus suffered at 
 the hands of Zeus ; for immediately the son of Leda came 
 in hot pursuit, and they over against him took their post 
 hard by their fathers’ tomb : thence snatching a decoration 
 of Death, a polished stone, a they hurled it at the breast of 
 Polydeuces ; but they crushed him not, nor dro^v 3 him back ; 
 but rushing on straightway with spear swift in motion, he 
 drove the brass into the sides of Lynceus. And Zeus hurled 
 upon Idas his smouldering thunderbolt, and they both were 
 burnt together reft of mourners ; for a contest with the 
 powerful ones b is hard for men to deal with. 
 
 Speedily to his mighty brother the Son of Tyndareus 
 returned back, and him he found not as yet dead, but with 
 short-drawn gasp ruckling forth his breath. 0 Then shedding 
 warm tears with groans he cried loud and clear : — 
 
 “ 0 Father, son of Cronus, what end then shall there be of 
 my sorrows ! For me also together with him ordain death, 
 O monarch. Honour is departed from the man that is de- 
 prived of his friends ; and in distress few are there of 
 mortals faithful enough to go shares in toil.” Thus he spoke, 
 and Zeus before him came and uttered this reply : — 
 
 “ Thou art my son ; but him engendered after thee of mor- 
 
 y i . e. Castor. 2 i. e. Idas and Lynceus. 
 
 a v. 67 : i. e. the head-stone of the grave. 
 b v. 72 : i. e. with the gods. 
 
 c v. 74 : or, with short-drawn gasp trembling in his breath, t. e. 
 “ gasping with the death-ruckle in his throat.” — Cook . 
 
NEMEAN XI. 
 
 135 
 
 tal seed did her hero husband in approach to thy mother 
 beget. But come ; of these things in sooth I yet give thee 
 choice : if on the one hand thou art willing to escape death 
 and hateful old age, and to inhabit Olympus in company 
 with Athene and with Ares of the spear black with blood, 
 there is to thee indeed a rightful share of this ; d but if in 
 thy brother’s behalf thou contendest, and art minded to 
 share out to him an equal lot of all thou hast, then half thy 
 life thou must breathe beneath the earth, and half in the 
 golden abodes of heaven.” 
 
 Thus then when he (Zeus) spoke, no wavering resolution 
 did Polydeuces adopt in his mind. And Zeus unclosed the 
 eye and then let loose the voice of the brazen-belted Castor. e 
 
 NEMEAN XL 
 
 Inscribed to Aristagoras, son of Arcesilaus, of Tenedos : sung at the 
 Prytaneum in Tenedos, in commemoration of the inaugural sacrifice 
 upon his entrance into the office of Pryt&nis 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 10 : Proemium. Invocation of Vesta, the tutelar goddess of the 
 Prytaneum, in behalf of Aristagoras, now entering upon his office. 
 11 — 37 : Praise of the success of Aristagoras in the public games of 
 the surrounding states. The renown of his ancestors. 37 — end : 
 The victor is warned against excessiye pride and ambitious hopes, that 
 might set him on aspiring to grasp at what is too high for him. 
 
 O Hestia, child of Bhea, who art the tutelary deity of the 
 city-halls, sister of highest Zeus and of Here who shares the 
 same throne, benignly receive Aristagoras into thy dwelling- 
 place, and benignly too his companions, near thy brilliant 
 sceptre ; who, honouring thee, preserve Tenedos in safety, 
 often with libations paying reverence to thee before all 
 goddesses, and often with the steam of sacrifice. And their 
 lyre sounds loudly and their song, and Themis daughter of 
 Zeus a that presides over hospitality is honoured with ever- 
 flowing banquets. Grant that with glory he may go through 
 
 d v. 8 5 : i.e. this is thy inheritance by right, but not thy brother's. 
 e v. 94 : i. e. restored his sight and speech once more. 
 
 • y. d : ifr or, the justice of Zeus, &c. 
 
136 
 
 NEMEAN XI. 
 
 his magisterial office of twelve months’ length with un- 
 wounded heart. b And for a man I pronounce his father 
 Arcesilaus happy, 0 and praise his marvellous stature and his 
 innate constancy of mind. But if any one, possessing wealth, 
 in beauty of form shall surpass others, and prevailing in the 
 games hath displayed his might, let him remember that he 
 dresses limbs that are mortal, d and that last of all he will 
 clothe himself with earth. Yet by the laudatory voices of 
 his fellow-citizens is it due that he be praised, and that I 
 should celebrate him embellished with sweet-sounding songs. 
 
 And sixteen splendid victories gained from the neigh- 
 bouring states crowned Aristagoras and the fortunate clan 
 of the Peisandridce in the wrestling-match and in the glorious 
 pancratium. 
 
 But the too timid e hopes of his parents restrained the 
 might of their son from attempting the contests in Pytho 
 and in Olympia. For verily by my oath, in my opinion, at 
 Castalia and at the hill of Cronus abounding with fair trees, 
 had he gone thither, he would have returned more honour- 
 ably than his adversaries that contested the prize against 
 him; having celebrated with festal pomp the solemnity of 
 Heracles that cometh every fifth year and having bound his 
 locks with bright wreaths. But of mortals one has empty- 
 minded pride cast out from expected blessings, while another, 
 distrusting over much his own strength, his spirit wanting 
 boldness, dragging him back by the hand, has made him 
 miss blessings that would have been his own. 
 
 It were easy, however, to conjecture the ancient Spartan 
 blood of Peisander/ (for he Peisander came hither s from 
 Amy else with Orestes, leading with him over the sea a host 
 of the iEolians armed in brass), and to conjecture the blood 
 descended from his maternal ancestor Melanippus mingled 
 with the blood of Peisander at the stream of the Ismenus. 
 
 The virtues that our forefathers have bequeathed to us 
 bring back in alternation their strength to the generations 
 
 b v. 10 : i.e. without vexation and trouble. 
 c v. 11 : or, and happy I pronounce his hero father Arcesilaus. 
 d v. 15 : Qu. that he is robed in mortal limbs. 
 e v. 22 : i.e. sluggish, or, too hesitating. 
 
 f v. 33 : i. e. it is easy to recognize in Aristagoras the blood of the 
 Spartan Peisander. « v. 34 : i. e. to Tenedos. 
 
NEMEAN XL 
 
 137 
 
 of men ; h and in continuous routine neither do the black 
 corn lands give forth their harvest, nor are the trees wont 
 at every revolution of the year to bear the scented flower 
 equal in richness; 1 but in alternation are they wont to bear. 
 And in this wise does destiny guide the mortal race. 
 
 As to what shall befall us from Zeus, no sure presage 
 attends men, whereby they may foreknow the decrees of Pro- 
 vidence ; but still we indulge bold designs, and are eagerly 
 bent on many schemes ; for the limbs of man are bound by 
 insatiate hope,j but the courses of human actions a/nd of 
 future events lie far remote from our forethought. 
 
 It behoves us to hunt after the due proportion of gain ; k 
 but the madness for objects of desire, not to be obtained, is 
 very keen. 
 
 h v. 38 : i. e. they show themselves in their descendants, in alternate 
 generations. 
 
 1 v. 41 : i.e. in equal abundance. 
 
 j v. 45 : i. e. hope binds the frame of men with a strong enchantment. 
 
 k v. 47 : i.e. to urge the pursuit of gain in moderation. 
 
ISTHMIAN ODES, 
 
/ 
 
INTRODUCTION TO THE ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 + 
 
 'From Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities.) 
 
 Isthmian Games ( v lo-Ofua ), one of the four great national 
 festivals of the Greeks. This festival derived its name from 
 the Corinthian isthmus, where it was held. Where the 
 isthmus is narrowest, between the coast of the Saronic gulf 
 and the western foot of the (Enean hills, was the temple of 
 Poseidon, and near it was a theatre and a stadium, of white 
 marble. The entrance to the temple was adorned with an 
 avenue of statues of the victors in the Isthmian games, and 
 with groves of pine-trees. These games were said originally 
 to have been instituted by Sisyphus in honour of Melicertes, 
 who was also called Palaemon. 
 
 Their original mode of celebration partook, as Plutarch 
 remarks, more of the character of mysteries, than of a great 
 and national assembly, with its various amusements, and 
 was performed at night. Subsequent to the age of Theseus, 
 the Isthmia were celebrated in honour of Poseidon; and 
 this innovation is ascribed to Theseus himself, who, accord- 
 ing to some legends, was a son of Poseidon, and who, in the 
 institution of the new Isthmian solemnities, is said to have 
 imitated Heracles, the founder of the Olympian games. 
 
 The celebration of the Isthmia was henceforth con- 
 ducted by the Corinthians, but Theseus had reserved 
 for his Athenians some honourable distinctions ; those 
 
142 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE 
 
 Athenians who attended the Isthmia sailed across the 
 Saronic gulf in a sacred vessel ( Qecopig ), and an honorary 
 place (Trpoedpia) as large as the sail of their vessel was 
 assigned to them during the celebration of the games. In 
 times of war between the two states, a sacred truce was 
 concluded, and the Athenians were invited to attend at the 
 solemnities. The Eleans did not take part in the games, 
 and various stories were related to account for this singular 
 circumstance. It is a very probable conj ecture of W achsmuth, 
 that the Isthmia, after the changes ascribed to Theseus, 
 were merely a panegyris of the Ionians of Peloponnesus 
 and those of Attica ; for it should be observed, that Posei- 
 don was an Ionian deity, whose worship appears originally 
 to have been unknown to the Dorians. During the reign of 
 the Cypselids at Corinth, the celebration of the Isthmian games 
 was suspended for seventy years : but after this time they 
 gradually rose to the rank of a national festival of all the 
 Greeks. In Olympiad 49 they became periodical, and were 
 henceforth celebrated regularly every third year, twice in 
 every Olympiad, that is, in the first and third year of 
 every Olympiad. The Isthmia held in the first year of an 
 Olympiad fell in the Corinthian month Panemus (the Attic 
 Hecatombseon) ; and those which were held in the third 
 year of an Olympiad, fell either in the month of Munychion 
 or Thargelion. Pliny and Solinus erroneously state that 
 the Isthmia were celebrated every fifth year. With this 
 regularity the solemnities continued to be held by the 
 Greeks down to a very late period. In 228 B.c. the Pomans 
 were allowed the privilege of taking part in the Isthmia ; 
 and it was in this solemnity, that, in 196 B. c., Flaminius 
 proclaimed before an innumerable assembly the inde- 
 pendence of Greece. After the fall of Corinth in 146 b.c., 
 the Sicyonians were honoured with the privilege of con- 
 ducting Ihe Isthmian games; but when the town of Corinth 
 
ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 143 
 
 was rebuilt by Julius Csesar, the right of conducting the 
 solemnities was restored to the Corinthians, and it seems that 
 they henceforth continued to be celebrated, till Christianity 
 became the state religion of the Roman empire. The season 
 of the Isthmian solemnities was like that of all the great 
 national festivals, distinguished by general rejoicings and 
 feasting. 
 
 The contests and games of the Isthmia were the same as 
 those at Olympia, and embraced all the varieties of athletic 
 performances, such as wrestling, the pancratium, together 
 with horse and chariot-racing. Musical and poetical per- 
 formances were likewise carried on, and in the latter women 
 were also allowed to take part, as we must infer from 
 Plutarch ; who, on the authority of Polemo, states, that in 
 the treasury in Sicyon there was a golden book which had 
 been presented to it by Aristomache, the poetess, after she 
 had gained the victory at the Isthmia. At a late period of 
 the Roman empire, the character of the games at the Isthmia 
 appears greatly altered ; for, in the letter of the Emperor 
 Julian, it is stated that the Corinthians purchased bears and 
 panthers for the purpose of exhibiting their fights at the 
 Isthmia ; and it is not improbable that the custom of intro- 
 ducing fights of animals on this occasion commenced soon after 
 the time of Csesar. The prize of a victor in the Isthmian 
 games consisted at first of a garland of pine-leaves, and after- 
 wards of a wreath of ivy ; but in the end the ivy was again 
 superseded by a pine-garland. Simple as such a reward was, 
 a victor in the games gained the greatest distinction and 
 honour among his countrymen ; and a victory not only 
 rendered the individual who obtained it a subject of admira- 
 tion, but shed lustre over his family, and the whole town or 
 community to which he belonged. Hence, Solon established 
 by a law, that every Athenian who gained the victory at 
 the Isthmian games, should receive from the public treasury 
 
144 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 a reward of one hundred drachmae. His victory was gene- 
 rally celebrated in lofty odes, called Epinikia, or triumphal 
 odes, of which we still possess some beautiful specimens 
 among the poems of Pindar, 
 
145 
 
 ISTHMIAN I. 
 
 Inscribed to Herodotus, son of Asopodorus, of Thebes, victorious in the 
 chariot-race at the Isthmian games, perhaps in 01. 80, 3. B.C. 454. 
 Written and sung at Thebes, probably some short time, according to 
 Dissen’s conjecture, before the battles of Tanagra and CEnophyta, 
 B.C. 457 and 456. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 13 : Proemium. The poet affirms that he has laid aside a Paean 
 which he was about to compose for the people of Ceos, that he might 
 first finish this hymn in honour of the renown won by his native 
 country. 14 — 32 : The Castoreum, or Equestrian strain, in honour 
 of Herodotus’ victory in the four -horse car. 32 — 40 : The vicissitudes 
 of fortune, exile and subsequent restoration to his country, experienced 
 by Asopodorus, the father of the conqueror. 41 — end : The praises 
 and victories of Herodotus. 
 
 Thebe, with shield of gold, my mother, I will hold thy con- 
 cern superior even to want of leisures Let not rocky Delos, 
 in which I am absorbed, be angry with me ! What is dearer 
 to the virtuous than cherished parents ? Yield, O isle of 
 Apollo ; of both hymns b will I, with the favour of the gods, 
 combine the completion, celebrating in chorus both Phoebus 
 with unshorn hair, in wave-washed Ceos along with the men of 
 the ocean, and the sea-fenced ridge of the Isthmus : since it 
 has granted to the host of Cadmus six crowns from the games, 
 the glory of noble victory to my native country. That 
 country in which too Alcmena brought forth her dauntless 
 son, before whom of yore the bold hounds of Geryon shook 
 with dread. 
 
 But I composing for Herodotus a reward partly for his 
 four-horse car, and as guiding too the reins with no other 
 hands than his own, am desirous to enrol him either in a 
 Castoreum, or in a hymn such as is sung in honour of Iolaus. 
 For of all the heroic race they were born the best to guide 
 the car at Lacedsemon and at Thebes, and in the games they 
 
 a v. 2 : i. e. occupied as I am, that which concerns thee shall take pre- 
 cedence ; or, I will esteem thy work as more important than my present 
 occupation, i. e. I will prefer the composition of this ode in thy honour, 
 to my present employment of preparing a Paean for the inhabitants of 
 Ceos. b v. 6 : lit. of both honours. 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 ISTHMIAN I. 
 
 tried numerous contests, and with tripods did they adorn 
 their home, and with caldrons and with bowls of gold, enjoy- 
 ing crowns of victory : and brilliantly does their excellence 
 shine forth both in the unarmed stadia, and in the armed 
 race-course clattering with the shield ; and in what fashion, 
 hurling them with their hands, did they throw with their 
 spears, and how did they throw whenever they hurled with the 
 stony quoits ! For the five-fold contest was not yet; but for 
 each game a separate prize was appointed, with the numerous 
 wreaths of which having ofttimes bound their locks, they 
 were seen near the streams of Dirce and the Eurotas ; they, 
 the son of Iphicles being of the same people with the race 
 of the Sown-men, and the son of Tyndarus dwelling amongst 
 the Achseans in the lofty-placed seat of Therapne. 
 
 Farewell 1 and I, for Poseidon, and for the divine Isthmus, 
 and for the shores of Onchestus cherishing a song, will 
 amidst the honours of this man sing of the renowned fortune 
 of his father Asopodorus and the paternal soil of Orchome- 
 nus, which in chill mishap received him from the immeasur- 
 able sea, hard pressed with shipwreck ; but now again the 
 good fortune of his race has brought him into his former 
 honour and glory. But he that has endured adversity, gains 
 in his mind discretion too. But if virtue is applied with all 
 its zeal, to those who have attained to its honour both by 
 liberality and industry, it is right to bring a noble praise 
 with no envious mind. 0 
 
 Since light is the gift for the poet, in return for manifold 
 toils, by singing a strain of praise, to rear a trophy of glory 
 common to all. 
 
 For various rewards proposed for their works are pleasing 
 to various men, both to the shepherd, and to the ploughman, 
 and to the fowler, and to him to whom the sea gives 
 support ; and each one exerts himself to ward off direful 
 hunger from his stomach. But he who in games, or in 
 
 c v. 41 : or, But if the prize of virtue or glory lies before one with all 
 one’s might, i. e. if it is proposed by any man to be pursued with all his 
 might, both with expense and with toil, it is right to bestow on those 
 who have obtained it (viz. aperdv, the reputation for noble deeds), 
 magnificent praise with no grudging spirit. This is Hermann’s reading, 
 which Bergk adopts. Dissen, Boeckh, and Donaldson, read ei d’ a per a 
 KaraKsirai, k. r. X. But if any one (rig) applies himself to tile pursuit 
 of honour with all his might, &c. 
 
ISTHMIAN I. 
 
 147 
 
 battle bears off beauteous glory, receives by being praised the 
 highest gain, the choice speech of citizens and of strangers. 
 
 But us it behoves, gratefully requiting him ivith a song, 
 loudly to celebrate the earth-shaking son of Cronus, dwelling 
 near at hand, him that prospers the chariots in the 
 horse-race, d and to invoke thy sons, O Amphitryon, and the 
 recess of Minyas, e and Eleusis the far-famed grove of 
 Demeter, and Euboea in the crooked courses ; f and thy sacred 
 precinct in Phylace amongst the Achseans, O Protesilaus, do 
 I add. But to enumerate at length all the honours that 
 Hermes, president of the games, has given to the horses of 
 Herodotus, my song having brief measure denies to me. 
 Often too, of a surety, does that which is passed over in si- 
 lence bring greater pleasure. 
 
 Would that he, borne aloft on the splendid pinions of 
 the sweet-voiced Pierides, may yet fill his hand full with 
 branches s from Pytho, and with chosen leaves of the 
 Olympic games from the banks of the Alpheus, getting 
 honour for seven-gated Thebes ! 
 
 But if any one storeth up within secret wealth, and 
 laughs with insulting taunt at others who act differently , he 
 does not consider that he will yield his soul to Hades devoid 
 of glory. 
 
 d v. 54 : lit. the benefactor of the chariots, that presideth in, or 
 belongeth to, the horse-race. 
 
 e v .56: i. e. Orchomenus. f v. 57 : i. e. where the races are held, 
 
 * v. 66 : i. e. wrc&ths. 
 
148 
 
 ISTHMIAN II. 
 
 Written to celebrate the Isthmian victory in the chariot-race, and 
 other victories gained by Xenocrates, son of .ZEnesidanms, and brother 
 to Thero of Agrigentum ; sent to Thrasybulus, son of Xenocrates, 
 after his father’s death, by Nicasippus. The victory was gained 
 01. 76, 1. B.C. 476 ; but the ode composed not before 01. 77, 1. B.C. 
 474. 
 
 AKGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 2 :* Proemium. The Muse has now to work for hire : the poet 
 therefore begs that Thrasybulus, the son of the now deceased con- 
 queror, will excuse the delay that had occurred in fulfilling his 
 promise to send this ode. 12 — 34 : The victories in the chariot-race 
 at the Isthmian, Pythian, and Athenian games won by Xenocrates, 
 and the victory of Thero (the brother of Xenocrates), at the Olympian 
 games. 35 — end : The virtues of Xenocrates : the poet ends by 
 begging Thrasybulus not to fail, through fear of envy, to have this 
 ode recited. 
 
 The men of ancient time, 0 Thrasybulus, who ascended into 
 the car of the Muses with-frontlet-of-gold, falling into the 
 company of a the famous lyre, lightly uttered melodious 
 hymns in praise of youths, namely for him whoever being 
 gifted with beauty possessed the summer-bloom of puberty, 
 the sweetest reminder of fair-enthroned Aphrodite. For the 
 Muse was not at that time as yet a lover of gain nor a hire- 
 ling, nor were sweet, soft-voiced songs, with silver in their 
 faces, b sold by honey-toned Terpsichore. 
 
 But now she (the Muse) bids us observe or attend to the 
 saying of the Argive (Aristodemus) that approacheth very 
 near the paths of truth ; “ Money, money is c the man,” and 
 this he said when deserted both of wealth and of friends. 
 
 Since now thou art wise I need add no more , and therefore 
 I pass on and sing the Isthmian victory not unknown to 
 fame, won by the chariot steeds ; the victory which Poseidon 
 having granted to Xenocrates, sent him by the hands of his 
 charioteer a wreath of Dorian parsley to bind around his 
 hair ; Poseidon , I say , honouring the hero victorious in the 
 chariot-race, the light of the Agrigentines. And at Crisa 
 
 a v. 2 : or, approaching. b v. 8 : or, with mercenary 1-ooks, 
 
 c v. 11 : i. e. makes. 
 
ISTHMIAN II. 
 
 149 
 
 widely- potent Apollo beheld him with favour and granted 
 him glory there also ; and being furnished with d the illus- 
 trious honours of the Erechtheidse in brilliant Athens, he 
 blamed not the chariot-preserving hand of the hero that 
 drove the steeds, which hand Nicomachus applied at the 
 right moment to all the reins. Nicomachus whom too the 
 heralds of the seasons, e the Elean announcers of the truce of 
 Zeus the son of Cronus, recognized ; having experienced 
 from him , I ween, some hospitable office, and they saluted 
 him with sweetly-breathing voice as he fell into the lap of 
 golden victory in their own land, which in truth they call 
 the sacred precinct of Olympian Zeus ; where the sons of 
 ^Enesidamus were united to immortal honours. For your 
 house, O Thrasybulus, is not unacquainted with charming 
 triumphal revels, nor with songs of honied praise. 
 
 For it is no hill, nor is the path steep, f if any one should 
 bring the honours of the Dwellers on Helicon to the abodes of 
 honoured men. 
 
 Hurling the quoit afar, may I fling it as great a length, 
 as Xenocrates has possessed a disposition sweet beyond other 
 men ! s Dignified indeed he was in his intercourse with his 
 fellow-citizens, and one that cultivated the rearing of the 
 steed according to the rule of universal Greece ; and he wel- 
 comed 11 all the feasts of the gods ; nor did the fair- wind of 
 bounty , breathing around his hospitable table, ever make him 
 lower his sail , 1 but he passed in his course to the Phasis in 
 the summer season, and in the winter to the banks of Nile, i 
 Let not Thrasybulus therefore, because envious feelings k 
 hang round the minds of mortals, let him not, I say , conceal 1 
 the worth of his father, nor these my hymns : since I have 
 not wrought them to stand idle. 
 
 d v. 19 : i. e. having won. 
 
 e v. 23 : i. e. of the seasons of the occurrence of the Olympian garnet. 
 
 f v. 33 : i. e. the path of song is neither steep nor rough. 
 
 s v. 36 : i. e. may I cast the discus of praise and eulogy as far beyond 
 every other competitor, as the temper of Xenocrates exceeds every other 
 man’s in sweetness. 
 
 h v. 38 : i e. freely honoured, or , duly celebrated. 
 
 1 v. 40 : i.e. his hospitable spirit never diminished ; or, never failed him. 
 
 j v. 42 : i. e. his liberality knew no bounds. 
 
 k v. 43 : or, the hopes of the envious, 
 v. 44 : or, pass over unhonoured. 
 
loO 
 
 isthmian rrr. 
 
 This message, Nicasippus, report, when thou shalt have 
 come to my trusty friend. 
 
 ISTHMIAN III. 
 
 Inscribed to Melissus, son of Telesias, of Thebes, victorious in the 
 chariot-race at Nemea, and afterwards in the pancratium at the 
 Isthmian games ; the latter of which victories is the one here 
 celebrated : sung at Thebes, at an evening revel, Dissen thinks, of 
 the family of the Cleonymidse (Cf. v. 61), probably some years after 
 the battle of Platsea (Cf. v. 34, 35), which was fought in B.C. 479. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 6 : Proemium. Wealth and success is lasting when conjoined with 
 a modest and temperate spirit. 7 — 18 : Melissus has won two 
 victories, one in the pancratium, one in the chariot-race. The poet 
 commemorates the latter, and the relationship of the conqueror to 
 the wealthy house of the Labdacidse. 19 — 60 : The praises of the 
 Cleonymidse, the family of the conqueror ; their vicissitudes of 
 fortune ; the death of four of their house in the recent battle (probably 
 of Plataea), and their subsequent successes in the public games. 
 61 — end : The Isthmian victory of Melissus ; his former victories in 
 the games celebrated at the funeral rites of the sons of Heracles. 
 
 If any man being successful either in glorious games or in 
 abundance of wealth, sets bounds in his soul to wearisome 
 insolence, he is worthy to be mingled with a the praises of the 
 citizens. 
 
 O Zeus, from thee mighty excellences attend mortals, and 
 the bliss of the religious flourishes longer, but with froward 
 minds it dwells not equally, blooming throughout all time. 
 But as a requital for glorious deeds we ought to sing the 
 good, and we ought to exalt him with kindly praises, b as he 
 celebrates the festal meeting. Melissus also has the fortune 
 of two prizes so as to turn his heart to sweet gladness, as he 
 has obtained the crowns in the dells of the Isthmus; and also 
 in the hollow vale of the deep-chested lion he proclaimed 
 Theba, c conquering, as he did , in the horse-race. And he 
 disgraces not the innate prowess of his lineage. 
 
 Ye know, surely, the ancient glory of Cleonymun gained by 
 
 a v. 3 : i. e. to obtain. 
 
 b v. 8 : or, offerings, i. e. with pleasing hymns. 
 
 * v. 12 : i. e. as the deity of his native place. 
 
ISTHMIAN III. . 
 
 151 
 
 the car ; and since by the Mother’s side they were kindred to 
 the Labdacidse, they abounded with wealth for the toils of 
 the fonr-horsed chariots. But time, as the days go round, 
 produces at one time one change, and at one time another, 
 yet the sons of the gods assuredly alone are invulnerable. 
 
 I have, by the grace of the gods, an endless path open to 
 me in every direction, O Melissus : for, at the Isthmia, thou 
 hast furnished me with facilities to follow up your virtues 
 with a hymn: d those virtues with which the Cleonymidse 
 ever bloom abundantly, as they pass, with the aid of heaven, 
 through the whole period of man’s life. But variously at 
 various times does the gale of human fortune burst upon and 
 urge on in their career all men. Tliey e assuredly are said to 
 have been honoured of yore at Thebes, and to have been the 
 public hosts of the neighbouring states, and free from noisy 
 insolence ; and whatever poetic testimonies of exceeding 
 glory related concerning deceased or living heroes fly to and 
 fro amongst men, these they have gained in ail perfection ; 
 and in the highest acts of manhood displayed by their family 
 they have reached the pillars of Heracles. Desire not to 
 attain to a further glory ! For they were both trainers of 
 the steed, and they pleased brazen Ares. But, alas ! in one 
 day a fierce snow-storm of war bereaved the happy household 
 hearth of four heroes; but now again, after the wintry 
 darkness of the changing months, like the earth it has 
 blossomed with purple roses, by the counsels of the gods. f 
 Since the Shaker of the earth, who inhabits Onchestus and 
 the ocean bridge before the walls of Corinth, by granting to 
 the family of Melissus this wondrous hymn, raises from its 
 couch the ancient fame of their noble deeds ; for she® had 
 fallen asleep ; but wakened up again she is resplendent in her 
 whole frame, like Lucifer conspicuous amongst the other 
 
 d v. 21 : or, I have, by the grace of the gods, an endless journey, 
 i. e. a boundless subject of praise on all sides, 0 Melissus; for at the 
 Isthmian games thou didst show great skill, [Qu. great opportunity, or, 
 abundant matter for praise,] so that we should commemorate thy virtues 
 by song. e v. 25 : they, i. e. the Cleonymidse. 
 
 f v. 36 : or, but now again by the decree of the gods this household 
 has blossomed again, like the earth, after the wintry darkness, as the 
 changing months return : — or, it may be rendered, during the flower); 
 months, — when the months adorned with flowers (i. e. the spring time) 
 blossom with purple flowers. s v. 40 : i. e. Fame. 
 
.52 
 
 ISTHMIAN III. 
 
 stars. Which fame in the fields of Athens too, having pro- 
 claimed that their chariot won, and in the Adrastean con- 
 tests of Sicyon, gave them wreaths of triumphal song similar 
 to these from the po^ts of that time. Yor from the common 
 assemblies did they withhold their curved chariot, and they 
 rejoiced to contend with all the assembled Greeks in the 
 expense for the equipment of their steeds. For to those 
 who make no venture belongs inglorious obscurity. But ob- 
 scurity of lot belongs even to those who contend, before that 
 they have arrived at the highest boundary ; h for fortune 
 gives us both of this and of that p and the artifice of inferior 
 men has caught and supplanted the better manJ Ye know 
 no doubt the murderous strength of Ajax, which in the late 
 night having maimed with his own sword, he causes disgrace 
 to the children of the Greeks, as many as went to Troy. k 
 But Homer has honoured him among all men, Homer who, 
 by extolling all his merit and greatness, has pointed it out 
 for bards of after times to sing according to the canon 1 of 
 divine epic verse. For this m travels on, endowed with speech 
 to all eternity. But if a poet shall have celebrated aught well, 
 then both over the all-fruitful earth and across the ocean 
 doth there proceed the splendour of the noble actions that he 
 sings of ever inextinguishable. 
 
 May we find the Muses propitious so as to light up that 
 torch of hymns for Melissus too, a scion of the stock of 
 Telesias — a wreath deserved of the Pancratium ! For re- 
 sembling them in courage, he attains in the contest to the 
 spirit of loudly-roaring lions ; but in craft he is a fox, which 
 lying upon its back withstands the swoop of the eagle. 
 And it is befitting, by trying every stratagem, to render 
 powerless one’s foe. For he has not obtained a stature like 
 
 h v. 49 : i. e. even those who contend at the games remain unknown 
 to fame before they obtain a victory. 
 
 ' l v. 51 : i. e. gives us a portion both of success and of defeat, i. e. a 
 chequered lot of prosperity and adversity. 
 
 j v. 53 : i. e. oftentimes overthrows the better man. 
 k v. 54 : i. e. ye have heard surely of the warlike Ajax, who, by 
 falling on his own sword at the dead of night, reflects censure and 
 shame on all the Greeks who went to Troy. 
 
 1 v. 56 : or, the mode, measure. Qu. the authority. Sen. h r. ren- 
 dered by some, “ of his own divine strains but I think what I have 
 given in the text to be perhaps nearer the sense of the passage. 
 in v. 58 : i. e. poetical distinction, or praise. 
 
ISTHMIAN III. 
 
 153 
 
 Orion’s, but is contemptible to view, though mighty in 
 strength for one to contend with. 
 
 But yet in like fashion there came of yore from Cadmean 
 Thebes to the dwelling of Antaeus, a hero short in stature, 
 but in soul unconquerable ; he came, I say, to wheat-bearing 
 Libya to wrestle with a foe, in order that he might restrain 
 the man that roofed the temple of Poseidon with the sculls 
 of strangers ; — he came, I say, the son of Alcmena ; 
 
 Who ascended to Olympus, after that he had explored 
 both every land and the surface of the hoary sea with-lofty- 
 cliffs, and had rendered the sea safe to navigation. And 
 now by the ^Egis-bearer doth he dwell, enjoying the fairest 
 bliss, and is honoured by the immortals as a friend, and has 
 Hebe in marriage, being lord of a golden mansion, and 
 son-in-law of Here. 
 
 In whose honour, above the Electran gates, we citizens, 
 making ready the banquet and the fresh garlands of the 
 altars, sacrifice victims in honour of the eight deceased brass- 
 clad warriors, whom Megara, the daughter of Creon, bore to 
 him as sons ; to whom, at the setting of the sun, the flame 
 ascending on high lasts blazing all night long, lashing heaven 
 with the steaming vapour ; and on the second day succeeds 
 the prize 11 of the annual games, the work of strength. 
 Where, with his head crowned with the pale myrtle , 0 this 
 man has displayed a double victory, and a third before 
 amongst the youths, having obeyed the exceedingly wise 
 advice of his pilot that directed the helm.P And along with 
 Orseas will I celebrate him in the revel, dropping upon him 
 sweet praise. 
 
 n v. 85 : or, the winning. 
 
 ° v. 88 : Qu. with pale myrtle berries. 
 p v. 89 : i.e. of his trainer Orseas, that instructed him. 
 
154 
 
 ISTHMIAN IY. 
 
 Inscribed to Phylacidas, son of Lampo, of iEgina, victorious in the 
 pancratium at the Isthmian games : probably in 01. 75, 3. B.C. 478, 
 two years after the battle of Salamis (Cf. v. 49) : sung at ^Egina. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 11 : Proemium. Invocation and power of Theia (also called Chryse), 
 the goddess of wealth. 12 — 19 : Praise of the three victories won by 
 Phylacidas, and of the one won by his brother Pytheas. 19 — 53 : The 
 praises of the achievements in war of .ZEgina, the mythical deeds of the 
 iEacidse at Troy, and the lately-won glory of the -ZEginetan fleet at 
 Salamis. 54 — end : The poet returns to the praises of the victories in 
 the games wo l by the conqueror’s family, and especially by Pytheas. 
 
 O Theia, mother of the sun, worshipped imder many titles, 
 through thee it is that men esteem potent gold far beyond 
 all other things ; for ships contending in the ocean and 
 horses in the chariots are through thy favour, O queen, 
 admired in the quick-whirling encounters. And in the 
 contests of the games he too hath gained much-desired 
 glory, whose locks numerous crowns have wreathed, vic- 
 torious either by might of hands or by swiftness of feet. 
 For the strength of man is proved distinguished through 
 the favour of Providence. 
 
 But two things in truth alone cherish the most lovely 
 flower of life conjoined with fair-blooming wealth, to wit , if 
 any one, being blessed with success, hear himself well spoken 
 of. a Seek not to become Zeus : thou hast everything, if the 
 inheritance of these blessings come to thee : a mortal lot 
 befitteth mortals. Now for thee at the Isthmus, a double 
 victory in all its splendour, O Phylacidas^ is laid up in store ; 
 and at Nemea a victory in the pancratium is laid up as a 
 treasure for you both, for thee , I say , and for Pytheas thy 
 brother . 
 
 But without the -ZEacidse my heart tastes not the 
 sweets of hymns, but with the Charites I have come, in this 
 my ode , to the sons of Lampon, to this well-ordered state : 
 and since it b has turned itself to the illustrious path of 
 heaven-prompted deeds, grudge her not, 0 my soul , the 
 befitting praise to mingle with this song, in return for the 
 
 a v. 1 3 : %. r. if any one gains victory in the games and poetical eulog} 
 besides. b v. 22 : i. e. ZEgina. 
 
ISTHMIAN IV. 
 
 155 
 
 toils she has undergone. For the valiant warriors among her 
 heroes are wont to gain praise, and they are celebrated to 
 endless time both on the lyres and with the many-toned 
 harmonies of the pipe. 
 
 The mighty CEneidse too, held in revered honour through 
 the grace of Zeus in the brilliant sacrifices ©f the HCtolians, 
 have given a theme to wise men, c and in Thebes the steed- 
 driving Iolaus hath honour, and Perseus in Argos, and the 
 warlike might of Castor and of Polydeuces at the streams of 
 the Eurotas. But in CEnone d are honoured the stout-hearted 
 tempers of ^Eacus and his sons ; who too in battle twice 
 sacked the city of the Trojans, following in the train of 
 Heracles, the first time, and afterwards with the Atreidse. 
 
 Proceed, now, I pray thee, from the beginning. Say, who 
 slew Cycnus, who Hector, and who the fearless captain of the 
 host of the Ethiopians, Memnon, clad in brass ? Who, pray, 
 smote with his spear the valiant Telephus beside the banks 
 of the Caicus ? It was they whose mouth proclaims the 
 glorious isle of Hlgina as their country. e And of old has 
 JIgina been built on high, as a tower for lofty virtues to 
 climb : f full many shafts of praise does my eloquent tongue 
 possess to utter loudly concerning them. And so now in 
 time of war can Salamis, city of Ajax, testify that she hath 
 been preserved by her sailors in the deathful shower of Zeus 
 during the hail-storm slaughter of countless heroes. But for 
 all that, steeps boasting in sile*Lce: h Zeus dispenses various 
 fortune, Zeus, who is lord of all. But even such glories as 
 these 1 love the joyful hymn of victory, bedewed with charm- 
 ing honey. 
 
 c v. 28 : Qu. to poets. d v. 34 : i. e. iEgina. 
 
 e v. 43 : or, it was they whose native land my mouth declares to be 
 ^Egina’s glorious island. 
 
 f v. 45 : Three interpretations have been given of this passage : 1st, 
 by Thiersch, “ iEgina has long been a tower for lofty virtues to climb,” 
 which is followed by Mr. Cookesley. 2nd, by Boeckh, “ The .ZEginetans 
 have long had a tower — a great monument — erected by their ancient 
 heroes for their* descendants to climb by means of their own virtues.” 
 3rd, by Dissen, “ For this long time there has stood here a tower built 
 up of virtues difficult to climb.” One of the first two of these interpre- 
 tations is preferred by Mr. Donaldson, whose note I have ventured to 
 borrow. % v. 51 : or, drown. 
 
 h v. 51 : Qu. i. e. provoke not hostility or envy by too lengthy an enu- 
 meration of iEgina’s glories. v. 54 * i.e. victories in the games. 
 
156 
 
 ISTHMIAN V. 
 
 Let any one contend with all his toil for prizes in the 
 games, after that he has heard of the race of Cleonicus 'j 
 the long toil of these heroes has not been obscured, nor, 
 as many as have been their expenses, has that either im- 
 paired k the zeal of their expectations . 1 
 
 I praise Pytheas too, for that with limb-conquering m arms, 
 he went a straight course for 11 Phylacidas in the course of 
 blows , 0 an adversary, in skill expert. Receive for him a 
 crown, and for him bear the woolly fillet, and send therewith 
 the new winged hymn. 
 
 ISTHMIAN V. 
 
 Inscribed to the same person ( Phylacidas of iEgina) as the last ode, in 
 honour of a victory in the pancratium at the Isthmian games. This 
 ode is prior in time to the foregoing one (but later than Nemea V.), 
 and was composed undoubtedly before the battle of Salamis, and sung 
 at vEgina at a banquet in the house of Lampo, the victor’s father. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 16 : Proemium. The poet expresses his hope that he may hereafter 
 be able to compose a third ode, this being the second (and Nemean V. 
 the first), in honour of the sons of Lampo, for a future Olympian 
 victory ; and Lampo’s prayers for the attainment of this wish, he 
 begs the Fates to hear and grant. 19 — 56 : Mythical portion of the 
 ode. The glory of the ^Eacidge, Peleus, Telamon, and Ajax : the 
 tale of Heracles’ prayer to Zeus, that Telamon might have a valiant 
 and invulnerable son. 57 — end : The poet returns to the subject of 
 the ode, the praises of the victor, of Pytheas his brother, of Euthy- 
 menes his uncle, and of Lampo his father, who had so successfully 
 trained his two sons for their contests in the games. 
 
 As when at the rich banquet a the second cup is mixed , so we 
 mingle the second cup of the strains of poesy for the race of 
 
 j v. 56 : i. e, let him contend, but it will be in vain, to surpass that 
 family in the number of victories that it has obtained. 
 k v. 58 : or, disappointed. 
 
 1 v. 57 : Dissen andBoeckh read ovd’ bitovai dairavai iXTTidiov, ekvlg 
 07nv, putting the comma after £\7rick>i/ instead of after dcnravcu. Dissen 
 translates, “Nec quotquot fuerunt sumptus votorum, hoc attrivit eorum 
 studium ; s. eo studium eorum imminutum est.” 
 
 m v. 59 : i. e. powerful. n v. 60 : i. e. that he preceded. 
 
 ° v. 61 : i. e. that he taught his brother Phylacidas how to conquer by 
 himself preceding him in the contest and setting him the example. 
 a v. 1 : Qu. as when at a bi nquet, when the revelry is at its height. 
 
ISTHMIAN V. 
 
 157 
 
 Lampon that hath been successful in the contest, having first 
 received from thee, O Zeus, in Nemea, the prime of crowns; 
 now again from the Lord of the Isthmus and from the fifty 
 Nereids, Phylacidas the youngest of his sons being victori- 
 ous. And may it be allowed us, offering a third cup to the 
 Olympian Saviour, to honour TEgina with honied songs as 
 with a drink-offering. 
 
 For if any one rejoicing in expense and in labour per- 
 forms noble deeds that the gods build up, b and at tlie same 
 time Providence brings about for him lovely glory, that man , 
 7 say , already casts anchor at the extremest bounds of hap- 
 piness, honoured as he is of the gods. 
 
 The son of Cleonicus prays, that having obtained 0 such 
 desires, he may receive death and hoary old age ; and I 
 invoke the lofty-throned Clotho and her sister Fates to follow 
 the noble demands d of a man that is my friend. 
 
 And you, O TEacidse of the golden cars, you I say it is my 
 clearest law to besprinkle with praises, as often as I approach 
 this island. e But innumerable paths, a hundred feet in width, 
 of noble deeds, have been cut uninterruptedly even beyond the 
 fountains of the Nile, and through the Hyperboreans ; f nor 
 is there any state so barbarous or so strange in tongue, that 
 hears not of the glory of the hero Peleus, the blessed son- 
 in-law of the gods ; nor is there one which hears not of the 
 glory of Ajax, the son of Telamon, and of his father ; whom, 
 along with the Tirynthians, as a zealous ally, the son of 
 Alcmena led on board his ships to war that-delighteth-in- 
 the-brazen-arms against Troy, the heroes’ toil, on account of 
 the offences of Laomedon. And hes took Pergamia, h and 
 along with him he slew the nation of the Meropes, and the 
 herdsman Alcyoneus, huge as a mountain, after that he had 
 found him at Phlegrse, nor did Heracles spare with his hands 
 his own deep-twanging bowstring. 
 
 But ere all this befel as he summoned the son of TEacus to 
 
 b v. 11 : i. e. actions that are divine. c v. 15 : or, accomplished. 
 
 d v. 17 : i.*. to obey, or, grant the noble prayers. 
 e v. 21 : i.e. you it is my bounden duty to bedew with praise, as 
 often as I touch upon the subject of this island. 
 
 f v. 23 : i.e. the glories of the .ZEacidse stretch far and wide, and are 
 known to the ends of the earth. s v. 31 : i. e. Heracles 
 
 h v. 31 : i.e. Pergamus or Ilion. 
 
158 
 
 ISTHMIAN V 
 
 the expedition, he chanced to find them all feasting. The 
 warlike son, then, of Amphitryon as he stood there in lion’s 
 skin, did noblest Telamon call upon by name to make com- 
 mencement with nectarean libations, 1 and he held up and 
 gave to him the goblet that held the wine, rough with gold. 
 He then having stretched up to heaven his unconquered 
 hands, uttered such words as these : — 
 
 “ If ever, O Father Zeus, thou hast heard my prayer wit! 
 propitious mind, now, I pray thee , now, with most earnest 
 prayers do I implore of thee a bold son by Eribcea for this 
 hero, so as to perfect the happiness of my friend watched 
 over by the Fates ; and him (the son ) strong in body, even 
 as this hide now envelopes me about, belonging to the beast 
 which first of all my toils I slew of yore in ISTemea. And 
 let courage correspond with his stout frame” 
 
 Immediately as he said these words, the deity sent forth 
 to him the sovereign of birds, the mighty eagle ; and sweet 
 delight thrilled him within. And he said, speaking like a 
 prophet : “ There shall be to thee the son that thou askest, 
 O Telamon.” And him, named after the bird that had 
 appeared, he called the very mighty Ajax, marvellous in after 
 times in the warlike toils of men. Thus then having spoken 
 he forthwith sat down. But for me it were tedious to re- 
 count all his valiant deeds. 
 
 For I have come, O Muse, the dispenser of triumphal 
 hymns for Phylacidas, and for Pytheas, and for Euthymenes. 
 After the Argive fashion shall it be said somehow in briefest 
 terms. For three victories in the Pancratium from the Isth- 
 mus, and others from leafy Hemea, did the illustrious sons 
 and uncle bear off : and what a copious measure of hymns 
 have they brought to light ; and the tribe of Psalychidse do 
 they besprinkle with the fairest dew of the Charites, and 
 having exalted the house of Themistius they inhabit this 
 highly-favoured city.j And Lampo giving zealous heed to 
 the labours of training for the games greatly approves this 
 saying of Hesiod, and pointing it out to his sons, exhorts 
 them to observe it, bringing as he does a common glory to 
 
 1 v. 37 : i.e. to begin the nectarean libations, or to begin the matter, 
 i. e. to invoke a favourable commencement to the expedition, with a 
 libation. 
 
 j v. 66 : i. e. they reflect glory alike on their tribe and their family. 
 
ISTHMIAN VI. 
 
 159 
 
 his city ; and he is loved for his kindness towards his quests, 
 endeavouring to pursue k moderation in thought, and at.ainmg 
 to 1 moderation in deed also. And his tongue is not at vari- 
 ance with his thoughts : thou wouldest say that he is to 
 Athletes what the Naxian brass-sharpening whetstone is 
 amongst other stones. I will give them the pure water of 
 Dirce to drink , 111 which the deep-girded daughters of Mne- 
 mosyne with robe of gold have caused to gush forth near the 
 well-walled gates of Cadmus. 
 
 ISTHMIAN YI. 
 
 Inscribed to Strepsiades, a Theban, victor in the pancratium, perhaps 
 in 01. 81, 1. B.C. 456, six months after the battle of (Enophyta, when 
 the Thebans were defeated, and lost their supremacy over Bceotia : 
 sung at Thebes. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 19 : Proemium. The ancient and mythical glories of Thebes. 
 20 — 39 : Praise of the recent victory of Strepsiades, and of the 
 glorious death of his uncle of the same name. 39 — end : The poet 
 exhorts his fellow-citizens to moderation in time of prosperity, and 
 warns them against striving after what is beyond their reach, and out 
 of their power to effect. 
 
 With wbicb of thy former native glories, O blessed Theba, 
 hast thou most specially delighted thy soul'? Was it when 
 thou broughtest to light the assessor of timbrilled Demeter, 
 Dionysus of the floating locks'? or was it when, receiving at 
 the mid hour of night the mightiest of the gods snowing 
 with gold, what time, standing within the doors of Amphi- 
 tryon, he approached his wife with Heraclean seed h or was 
 it when thou didst rejoice at the sage counsels of Tiresias ? 
 or when in Iolaus skilled in the steed *? or in the seed of the 
 dragon’s teeth who are unwearied at the spear ? or was it 
 when, from the fierce battle, thou didst send back Adrastus 
 bereffc of innumerable companions to equestrian Argos “? or 
 
 k v. 70 : or, studying to acquire. 1 v. 71 : or, observing. 
 
 m v. 74 : or, I will refresh them with a draught of pure water of 
 Dirce. 
 
 I 
 
160 
 
 ISTHMIAN VI. 
 
 when thou placedst on firm base a the Dorian colony of the 
 Lacedaemonians, and the ^Egidae thy descendants took 
 Amyclse, through the Pythian oracles h 
 
 But yet the remembrance of ancient glory is wont to sleep 
 in oblivion, and mortals are forgetful of that which does not 
 reach to the highest prime of poetry, yoked to the far-famed 
 streams of verse. 
 
 Sing then in honour of Strepsiades too with a sweet- 
 sounding hymn. For he bears away at the Isthmus the 
 victory of the pancratium; and in strength he is wondrous, 
 and goodly in shape to behold, and he displays a valour that 
 does not shame his stature . 13 And he has a blaze of glory 
 from the violet-tressed Muses, and to his maternal uncle of 
 the same name he has given a wreath to share — his unde 
 to whom Ares of the brazen shield brought death, but 
 honour is laid up as a reward for the valiant. For let him 
 surely know, whoever in this cloud of war repels in behalf 
 of his beloved country the hailstorm of blood, turning the 
 plague against the host of his foes, let him know, I say, that 
 for the race of his citizens he increases their glory to the 
 greatest height, both while he lives, and when he is dead. 
 
 And thou, son of Diodotus, emulating the warlike 
 Meleager, and emulating Hector too, and Amphiaraus, hast 
 breathed forth thy blooming age in the crowd of the foremost 
 combatants, where the bravest sustained the strife of war in 
 the extremity of hope. And I endured an inexpressible 
 grief ; but now the Earth-encompasser has granted me calm 
 after a storm. 
 
 I will sing, having bound my locks with wreaths. And 
 let not the envy of the immortals disquiet the daily pleasure, 
 in pursuit of which I tranquilly approach old age, and the 
 destined period of life. 
 
 For we die alike all of us ; but our fortune is unequal. 
 But if a man gazes around after what is distant, he is too 
 weak to attain to the seat of the gods with floor of brass ; 
 since the winged Pegasus threw his master Bellerophon, who 
 desired to go to the mansions of heaven to the assembly of 
 Zeus ; for the bitterest end awaits the pleasure that is 
 contrary to right. 
 
 a v. 13 : lit. on an upright ancle. 
 b v. 23 : or, not inferior to his form. 
 
ISTHMIAN VIT. 
 
 16) 
 
 But to us, 0 thou that bloomest with the golden hair, 
 0 Loxias, grant at Pytho too a blooming crown at thy 
 contests. 
 
 ISTHMIAN VII. 
 
 Inscribed to Oleander of .^Egina, son of Telesarchus, victorious in the 
 pancratium at the Isthmian and Nemean games : written a few months 
 after the battle of Platsea, 01. 75, 2, — B.C. 479 : sung at iEgina. 
 Boeckh thinks that the ode must have been written shortly after the 
 taking of Thebes by the allied Greeks, and therefore that it comme- 
 morates a Nemean, and not an Isthmian victory. 
 
 ARGUMENT. 
 
 1 — 15 : Proemium. The poet, though anxious and fearful of some new 
 disaster after the close, it would seem, of the Persian war, when the 
 Thebans feared the vengeance of the allied Greeks for their late 
 Medizing, yet rouses himself to sing the victories of Oleander. 1 5 — 60 : 
 The mythical portion of the ode, commencing with the mythical con- 
 nection of Thebes and -ZEgina. Pindar passes on to the fame of iEacus 
 as an arbitrator in disputes and quarrels ; to the ^Eacidae, distin- 
 guished for valour and for justice ; to the tale of the wedding of Peleus 
 and Thetis, whose hand was sought by Zeus and Poseidon ; and to 
 the valiant deeds of Achilles at Troy. 61 — end : The poet returns to 
 the immediate subject of his ode, the victories in the games of Nicocles, 
 the late uncle of the conqueror, and the present victory of Oleander. 
 
 For Oleander and bis youthful prime let some one, O ye 
 youths, going to the splendid vestibule of his father Te- 
 lesarchus, raise the festal song, 'the glorious recompense of 
 his toils, the reward both of his Isthmian victory, and 
 because that, in Nemea, he gained the victory in the contest. 
 
 For whom I too, though grieved in soul, am bidden to 
 invoke the golden Muse. 
 
 But since we have been freed from mighty woes, let us 
 neither fall into a lack of crowns, nor do thou, my spirit , 
 cherish thy woes ; but having ceased from unprofitable 
 griefs, let us sportively utter abroad some sweet strain even 
 after our calamity : since some deity hath turned aside from 
 us the stone of Tantalus that was hung over our head, 
 insufferable toil to Greece. But the passing away of my 
 fear has put an end to my grievous anxiety, and it is better 
 always to look to what is present. For deceitful time hangs 
 
 M 
 
162 
 
 ISTHMIAN VII. 
 
 over men, rolling life’s stream along ; but even these evils 3 
 are capable of a remedy to mortals, if only they have liberty; 
 and a man should cherish good hope. 
 
 ‘And it is the duty of one that hath been reared in seven- 
 gated Thebes to allot to ^Egina before all else the choicest 
 gift of the Charites, because that from their sire were born 
 twin daughters, the youngest of the daughters of Asopus, 
 and they pleased Zeus lord of all. Who near Dirce of the fair 
 stream gave one to dwell as mistress of the city that loves 
 the car; b and having brought thee, 0 JEginci, to the island 
 (Enopia, he lay with thee; where to his loud-thundering 
 sire thou didst bring forth divine iEaeus the most wise of 
 all the dwellers upon earth, who used to bring to an end the 
 strifes even of the gods : his godlike sons and his warlike 
 sons’ sons excelled by their courage in conducting the din of 
 brazen mournful war, and they were temperate-minded and 
 sage of soul. This did the assemblies of the blessed ones 
 remember, when Zeus and bright Poseidon strove for the 
 nuptial tie of Thetis, either of them desiring that she should 
 be his fair bride ; for love possessed them. 
 
 But the immortal understandings of the other gods accom- 
 plished not for them that wedlock, when they heard the 
 voice of the oracles. For Themis, author of wise counsel, 
 said amongst them all, that it was fated that the ocean 
 goddess should bring forth for him c a lordly son more mighty 
 than his sire, who should wield in his hand another weapon 
 more powerful than the thunderbolt and the irresistible trident, 
 if she were united to Zeus or to the brothers of Zeus. — “ But 
 do you then cease this strife , and let her, having obtained 
 a mortal spouse, behold her son slain in war, like to Ares in 
 might, and in strength of feet like lightning. It is my 
 advice to give her as the honour of wedlock granted-by-the- 
 gods to Peleus, son of ^Eacus, who is by report the most 
 pious of men that the plain of Iolcos contains. And let the 
 tidings go straightway to the immortal cave of Chiron, nor 
 let the daughter of Nereus twice put into our hands the 
 leaves of contention ; d but in the evening hours when the 
 
 a v. 16 : i. e. the evils that arise from the changes and chances of 
 fortune are capable of being remedied, at least by the free. 
 
 b v.* 20 : i. e. Thebes. c v. 33 : i. e . for Zeus, or Poseidon 
 
 * 43 : or, contentious votes. 
 
ISTHMIAN VII. 
 
 163 
 
 moon is at the fall let her loosen the lovely zone of her 
 virginity to the hero.” 
 
 Thus spoke the goddess addressing the sons of Cronus, 
 and they with their immortal eyebrows nodded assent, and 
 the fruit of her words did not fall away and perish. For 
 they say that along with them king Peleus had regard for 
 the espousal of Thetis. And soon did the mouths of the 
 wise point out to the ignorant the youthful valour of 
 Achilles ; who both stained with blood the vine-clad Mysian 
 plain, sprinkling it with the black blood of Telephus, and 
 bridged a return home for the Atridse, and redeemed Helen, 
 having cut with his spear the nerves of Troy (which in times 
 past checked him as he marshalled on the plain the work of 
 homicidal battle), both the haughty might of Memnon and 
 Hector and other princes, to whom Achilles, warder of the 
 Hkcidse, disclosing the dwelling of Persephone, e showed 
 forth Angina and his own descent. To him, not even when 
 dead, have songs been lacking, but near his funeral pyre and 
 tomb did the Heliconian maidens stand, and over him pour 
 forth the dirge with many a strain. This then was thought 
 befitting by the immortals, to consign a valiant hero, eve* 
 when passed away, to the hymns of the goddesses. 
 
 And this course now too is proper ; f and the car of the 
 Muses hastens on loudly to sing the memorial of the boxer 
 Nicocles. Honour him, therefore, who in the Isthmian game 
 has won the Doric parsley, since surely in times past he too 
 overcame the heroes who dwelt around him, driving them 
 before him with a hand that none could escape. Him the 
 offspring of his renowned uncles does not disgrace : let one 
 of his compeers weave a beauteous crown of myrtle for 
 Oleander in honour of his victory in the pancratium ; since 
 him did the lists of Alcathous, and the youth assembled in 
 Epidaurus, formerly receive when he came in success and 
 triumph. Him to praise is easy for the good ; for he did 
 not in concealment waste h a youth unacquainted with noble 
 deeds. 
 
 e v. 56 : i. e. slaying them in battle. 
 
 f v. 61 : or, is agreeable to reason. 
 
 g v. 67 : i.e. Oleander, the son of the uncle of Nicocles. 
 
 “ v. 70 : lit. “for he buried not his youth in a hole.” — S. & L. Diet 
 
164 
 
 ERRATA. 
 
 Preface, page ix., for “This is imitated,” read “ Th» beginning of 
 Pyth. I. is imitated,” &c. 
 
 Page 19 (Olympian V.), line 6, for “ with the sacrifice of oxen,” I 
 would rather now render, after Jelf, “ on occasion of the sacrifices of 
 oxen.” See Appendix A., where see reference. 
 
 Page 53 (Pythian I.), line 13, for “ thy weapons wound,” read ''thy 
 weapons enchant,” or “ charm,” &c. 
 
 Page 54, line 17, for “formidable,” read “favourable.” 
 
 Page 66, line 17 (Pythian IV.), for “storm-footed steeds,” read 
 “storm-footed chariots.” 
 
 Page 66, line 23, for “made the thunder roar, as upon,” &c., read 
 “made the thunder roar, when he met with them, as upon,” &c. 
 
 Page 66, last line in the page, for “snatching the sod,” &c., read 
 “ snatching with his right hand the sod,” &c. 
 
 Page 84 (Pythian VIII.), line 14, for “ either Theognetus at Olympia, 
 nor in the victory,” &c., read “either Theognetus at Olympia, nor the 
 victory,” 
 
165 
 
 POSTSCRIPT. 
 
 The Index which I have compiled to the passages of 
 Pindar referred to in Jelf’s Greek Grammar will prove of 
 great use to the reader. It is a matter to me of much 
 regret that the whole of the foregoing translation had, already, 
 not only been written, but also printed, before the second 
 edition of J elf appeared. Other errata, besides those noticed, 
 have no doubt escaped my eye, for which I beg the reader 
 to accept the excuse of my having had to work in the midst 
 of many other occupations and numerous interruptions. A 
 reference is earnestly recommended on every occasion to the 
 above invaluable work. 
 
 APPENDIX A. 
 
 Passages in Pindar referred to, and explained in, Jelf’s Greek 
 Grammar (2nd edition). 
 
 Pindar. Jelf> Vol. II. 
 
 Olymp. I. princ § 781, d. 
 
 33 
 
 I. 64 
 
 583, 114. 
 
 33 
 
 I. 88 
 
 895, 5. 
 
 33 
 
 II. 53 
 
 444, b. 
 
 33 
 
 II. 70 
 
 637, HI. A. 
 
 33 
 
 II. 87 
 
 388, 1. 
 
 33 
 
 III. 3 
 
 
 33 
 
 III. 40 
 
 418, d. 
 
 33 
 
 V. 5 
 
 639, II. 2. 
 
 
 VII. 15 
 
 365, b. 
 
 33 
 
 VII. 50 
 
 570. 
 
 33 
 
 VIII. 15 
 
 390, 3. 
 
 33 
 
 VIII. 42 
 
 440. 
 
 33 
 
 VIII. 45 
 
 364, a. 
 
 33 
 
 VIII. 64 
 
 363, 3. 
 
 33 
 
 X. 19 
 
 
 33 
 
 XI. princ 
 
 386, 1. 
 
 33 
 
 XI. 5 
 
 440. 
 
 33 
 
 XIII. 37 
 
 631, II. 1. 
 
 Pyth. 
 
 I. 8 
 
 624. 
 
 33 
 
 I. 10 
 
 365, 2. 
 
 93 
 
 I. 12 
 
 631, II. 2. 
 
 • > 
 
 II. 49 
 
 792, b. 
 
 M 3 
 
166 
 
 Pindar. Jelf, Vol. IL 
 
 Pyth. 
 
 III. IB . . 
 
 .... § 35 5, 13. 
 
 >> 
 
 III. 97 
 
 .... 583, 161. 
 
 i) 
 
 III. 107 
 
 . . . 792, d. 
 
 
 IV. 40 
 
 .... 589, obs. 1. 
 
 
 IY. 225 
 
 .... 555. 
 
 
 IY. 243 
 
 .... 365, b. 
 
 }) 
 
 IY. 255 
 
 .... 440. 
 
 
 IY. 296, &c 
 
 
 >> 
 
 YI. 48 
 
 ... 775, obs. 3. 
 
 )} 
 
 VIII. 91 
 
 .... 355, /3. 
 
 i ) 
 
 X. 45 
 
 752, 4. 
 
 >> 
 
 X. 62 
 
 637, 1, A. 
 
 >> 
 
 X. 71 
 
 .... 386, 1. 
 
 Nem. 
 
 I. 92 
 
 435, b. 
 
 >) 
 
 III. 39 
 
 583, 144. 
 
 y} 
 
 HI. 46 
 
 563, 1. 
 
 
 IY. 26 
 
 566, 3. 
 
 >} 
 
 YI. 5 
 
 777, 5. 
 
 )> 
 
 YI. 106 
 
 583, 132. 
 
 t> 
 
 VII. 68 
 
 424, 8. 
 
 a 
 
 IX. 34 
 
 566, 1. 
 
 jt 
 
 X. 25 
 
 895, 5. 
 
 }) 
 
 XI. 17 • 
 
 
 Pind. 
 
 passim 
 
 569, 1. 
 
 The force of ovv . , 
 
 737, 1. 
 
 APPENDIX a 
 
 Passages in Pindar, quoted and explained in Donaldson’s New 
 Cratylus (1st edition). 
 
 Pindar. New Cratylus. 
 
 Olymp. II. 23 
 
 
 
 VII. 44 
 
 406. 
 
 Pyth. 
 
 VIII. 20 
 
 373. 
 
 I. 50 
 
 370. 
 
 
 IV. 187 
 
 226. 
 
 >> 
 
 IV. 263 
 
 247. 
 
 
 YI. 13 
 
 363. 
 
 
 VIII. 21 foil. . . . 
 
 373. 
 
 » 
 
 X. 81 . . 
 
 362. 
 
 
 XI. 32 
 
 390. 
 
 Nem. 
 
 IY. 35 
 
 564. 
 
 99 
 
 VII. 89 
 
 247. 
 
THE 
 
 ODES OF PINDAR, 
 
 TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH VERSE, 
 
 WITH 
 
 NOTES CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY, 
 
 By ABRAHAM MOORE, Esq. 
 

 ♦ 
 
 i 
 
OLYMPIC ODES 
 
 ODE I. 
 
 \ 
 
 ro HIERO THE SYRACUSIAN, 
 
 Victor in the Horse-race. 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 Water* the first of elements we hold ; 
 
 And, as the flaming fire at night 
 Glows with its own conspicuous light, 
 
 Above proud treasure shines transcendant gold : 
 
 But if, my soul, ’tis thy desire 
 
 For the Great Games to strike thy lyre, 
 
 Look not within the range of day 
 A start more genial to descry 
 Than yon warm sun, whose glittering ray 
 Dims all the spheres that gild the sky , 
 
 * It was held by Thales the Milesian, one of the seven wise men of 
 Greece, that water was the parent of the other elements ; and it is sin- 
 gular that Pindar should have opened his first Olympic ode with the 
 tenet of a sage, who is said to have died at the age of ninety, while 
 sitting as a spectator of the Olympic games. The same doctrine is sup- 
 posed by some to have been intimated by Homer in the 14th Iliad, 1. 246. 
 
 Ocean, the first progenitor of all. 
 
 The vivifying powers of the overflowing Nile, which both the philosopher 
 and the poet are said to have visited, may possibly have given birth to this 
 notion ; and Ovid, who ascribes the generation of all things to the union 
 of heat and moisture, has illustrated the process of creation by the phe- 
 nomena of the retiring inundations of that river. 
 
 + Ovid has imitated this expression in his account of the reproduction 
 of the world after Deucalion’s flood, where he says of the sun, 
 
 iEthereoque ardens exarsit sidere limus. — Met. lib. i. 424. 
 and Milton m the following passages, viz. 
 
 ere this diurnal star 
 
 Leaves cold the night. — Par. Lost, b. x. 1070. 
 
 So sinks the day-star in his ocean bed.— Lycidas , 168. 
 
166 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ode L 
 
 Nor loftier theme to raise thy s jrain 
 Than famed Olympia’s crowded plain : 
 
 From whence, by gifted minstrels richly wove, 
 
 Th’ illustrious hymn, at glory’s call, 
 
 Goes forth to Hiero’s affluent hall, 
 
 To hail his prosperous throne and sing Saturnian Jove.* 
 
 antistrophe i. 
 
 Hiero the just, that rules the fertile field, 
 
 Where fair Sicilia’s pastures feed 
 Unnumber’d flocks, and for his meed 
 Culls the sweet flowers that all the virtues yield. 
 
 Nor less renown’d his hand essays 
 To wake the Muse’s choicest lays, 
 
 Such as the social feast t around 
 Full oft our tuneful band inspire — 
 
 But wherefore sleeps the thrilling sound ? 
 
 Pluck from the peg J thy Dorian § lyre, 
 
 * The Olympic Games were sacred to Jupiter, to whom a temple and 
 many altars and statues were erected at Olympia. — Pausanias, lib. v. s. 6. 
 
 f It seems from the old Scholiast, that it was a custom with the 
 Greeks at their entertainments to carry a harp round the table and pre- 
 sent it to the guests ; and West tells us, that any one who refused to 
 play upon it was considered as illiterate or ill-bred. 
 
 X Pindar figuratively takes his lyre from the peg ; on which, as Homer 
 tells us, the real lyre was formerly suspended. 
 
 Down from the peg he hung the tuneful lyre. — Odyss. lib. viii. 67. 
 
 § There were three sorts of musical strains among the Greeks, viz., 
 the Dorian, the Lydian, and the Phrygian ; of which the first was 
 animating and grand, the second soft and melting, and the third melan- 
 choly dr terrific. Milton has described the first as the martial music of 
 the Satanic army, viz. 
 
 Anon they move 
 
 In perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood 
 Of flutes and soft recorders ; such as raised 
 To heighth of noblest temper heroes old 
 Arming to battle. — Par. L. b. i. 533. 
 
 Pindar professes to use the Lydian in his 14th Olympic ode on the victory 
 of the youth Asopichus, addressed to the Graces ; and Dryden’s “softly 
 sweet in Lydian measures” will not be forgotten. The Phrygian strain 
 was employed, as Lucretius informs us, in the horrific solemnities of the 
 Mother of the Gods ; and Statius introduces it at the funeral of Arche- 
 morus. — Lucr. lib. ii. ; St. Theb. vi. 122. These three kinds of music 
 were formerly performed on different pipes ; but Pausanias tells us, that 
 
ODE I.J 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 If Pisa’s* palms have charms for the 
 If Pherenicus’t victory 
 Hath roused thee to the rapturous cares 
 Tell us how swift the ungoaded steed 
 By Alpheus J urged his furious speed, 
 
 And bore the distant prize from all the panting throng. 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 Proud of his stud, the Syracusian king 
 
 Partook the courser’s triumph. Through the plain 
 By Lydian Pelops § won his praises ring — 
 
 Pelops of Neptune loved (whose watery reign 
 Bounds the wide earth, that trembles at his might), 
 Pelops, whose form the plastic Fate|| replaced, 
 
 And from the caldron bright 
 
 Drew forth with ivory shoulder graced. 
 
 Life teems with wonders : yet, in Beason’s spite, 
 
 O’er the fond fascinating fiction, warm 
 From Fancy’s pencil, hangs a charm 
 That more than Nature’s self her painted dreams delight. 
 
 there was, in his time, at Thebes, the statue of one Pronomus, who had 
 contrived a method of performing them all upon the same instrument. — 
 Paus. ix. c. 12. 
 
 * Pisa, the same, at least in the language of this poet, with Olympia, 
 a city of Elis, where the Olympic Games were celebrated. — See Dodw. 
 Trav. vol. ii. p. 326-7. 
 
 f Pherenicus, the name of Hiero’s horse, signifying in Greek the 
 bearer of the victory, and therefore probably given to him on the 
 occasion. 
 
 X Alpheus or A Ipheius, a river which rises in Arcadia, and flows by 
 Pisa through the Elean territory into the Ionian Sea. — See Dodw. Trav. 
 vol. ii. 324. 
 
 § Lydian Pelops. It is said that Pelops, with his father Tantalus, 
 king of Sipylus in Lydia, being worsted in battle by Ilus, king of Troy, 
 planted a colony in Greece ; as proofs of which, Pausanias mentions a 
 harbour there, in his time, named after Tantalus, and a distinguishable 
 tomb. (Paus. lib. v. c. 13.) He mentions, also, a brazen chest in the 
 temple of Diana Cordace at Olympia, in which the bones of Pelops were 
 preserved. The “ plain by Pelops won” is the Elean territory, of whicn, 
 as appears by this ode, he became king, after the death of CEnomaiis. 
 
 || This alludes to the well-known fable of Tantalus, who, at an enter- 
 tainment which he gave the gods, served up his son Pelops, whose 
 shoulder Ceres, coming in late from the pursuit of Proserpine, inadver- 
 tently devoured, and for which Clotho, one of the Fates, by whom the 
 vouth w&s reconstructed, supplied a substitute of ivory, — Ovid . Met. 
 !ib. vi. 404. 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ode l 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 whose softening hand hath power to give 
 and grace to rudest things, 
 nd trifles to distinction brings, 
 i us full oft the enchanting tale receive 
 In Truth’s disguise as Truth. The day 
 Yet conies, Time’s test, that tears away 
 The veil each flattering falsehood wears. 
 
 Beseems us then (for less the blame) 
 
 Of those that heed us from the spheres 
 Becoming marvels to proclaim. 
 
 Great son of Tantalus, thy fate 
 Not as the fablers I relate. 
 
 Thee with the Gods thy Sire’s Sipylianf guest, 
 
 When they in turn beneath his bower 
 Purest repast partook, the Power 
 That wields the Trident seized, and ravish’d from the feast. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Desire his breast had conquer’d. Up he drove • 
 
 His trembling prize of mortal mould 
 In radiant car with steeds of gold 
 
 To th’ highest mansion of. all-honour’d J ove ; 
 
 With whom the Boy,J from wondering Ide 
 Bapt long before, like place supplied. 
 
 Her Pelops lost, her vanish’d son 
 
 Soon roused the frantic mother’s care ; 
 
 No tidings came ; the search begun 
 In mystery ended in despair. 
 
 * Taste . I have thus translated Xdpig, for which, as it is here used, 
 there is no corresponding word in English. It imports the gracefulness 
 and good taste with which a poet manages his fiction. 
 
 f Sipylian. Whether there was a city called Sipylus in Lydia, where 
 Tantalus resided, does not seem settled. The mountain of that name is 
 well known, celebrated for the sufferings and metamorphosis of Niobe. 
 Pausanias saw a rock there resembl'ng, at a distance, the figure of a 
 weeping woman, and a seat called the throne of Tantalus. — Pans, lib. i. 
 49 ; lib. v. 408. 
 
 t The boy , Ganymede, who was taken up into heaven by the 
 
 eagle, and made cup-bearer to Jupiter before the time of Pelops, though, 
 by the phrase Sevrspip XP° V V> Pindar seems to give it a later date 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 171 
 
 ODE J.] 
 
 Forthwith some envious foe was found 
 Whispering th’ unseemly slander round, 
 
 “ How all into the bubbling caldron cast 
 
 “ Thy mangled limbs were seethed, and shred 
 “ In fragments on the table spread, 
 
 “ While circling Gods looked on and shared th’ abhorr’d 
 repast.” 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Far be from me and mine the thought profane, 
 
 That in foul feast coelestials could delight ! 
 
 Blasphemous tale ! Detraction finds its bane 
 E’en in the wrong it works — If mortal wight 
 Heaven e’er hath honour’d, ’twas this Tantalus ; 
 
 But soon from ill-digested greatness sprung 
 Presumption and abuse : 
 
 Thence from his towering fortunes flung 
 (Frightful reverse !) he fell. A ponderous rock 
 High o’er his bead hung threatening (angry Jove 
 So judged him for his crimes above) : 
 
 Where day and night he waits, dreading th’ expected shock. # 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Thus doom’d is he life’s hopeless load to bear, 
 
 Torment unceasing ! Three t beside, 
 
 Delinquents there, like pains abide. 
 
 He from th’ Immortals their ambrosial fare, 
 
 The nectarous flood that crown’d their bowl, 
 
 To feast his earth-born comrades, stole ; 
 
 * According to Homer ( Odyss . lib. xi. 581), Ovid ( Ars Amand. lib. ii. 
 604), Horace, and other writers, Tantalus was punished with eternal 
 thirst and hunger, standing in a lake, whose water, as he stooped to 
 drink, fled from, his lips, and under branches hung with fruit that retired 
 from his grasp. Lucretius, however (lib. iii.), agrees with Pindar : 
 
 There wretched Tantalus, in fruitless dread. 
 
 Eyes the huge rock that hangs above his head ; 
 as does Euripides in his Orestes, 1. 6, quoted by Heyne. 
 
 f The original is p,erd rpitiv rkraprov tcovov, which is conceived by 
 the old Scholiast to mean, that, in addition to the dread of an over- 
 hanging rock, Tantalus also suffered the pains of thirsting, fasting, and 
 standing (as represented in Polygnotus’s picture). 
 
172 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 I ODE i» 
 
 Food, that, by their ccelestial grace, 
 
 Eternal youth to him had given. 
 
 Vain hope, that guilt by time or place 
 
 Can ’scape the searching glance of heaven ! 
 
 For this the blameless Son once more 
 Back to man’s short-lived race they bore ; 
 
 There, when fresh youth its blooming flower had blown, 
 
 And round his chin th’ umbrageous beard 
 Mature its manlier growth had rear’d, 
 
 From Pisa’s Prince he sought, his nuptial couch to crown. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 The famed Hippodame ; * whose charms to gain, 
 
 The fond and furious father’s pride, 
 
 At night’s dark hour alone he hied 
 To the rough shore of the loud-bellowing main, 
 
 And call’d the Trident-sceptred God, 
 
 Whose form forthwith beside him stood : 
 
 “ Oh ! if th’ endearing gifts,” said he, 
 
 “ The Cyprian sea-born Queen bestows, 
 
 “ Have still, great Neptune, grace with thee, 
 
 “ Propitiate now thy suppliant’s vows. 
 
 “ Arrest CEnomaiis’ brazen spear, 
 
 “ To Elist guide my prompt career, 
 u And bear me on thy swiftest chariot’s wheel 
 “ Victorious to the goal ; for he, 
 
 “ Slayer of suitors ten and three, 
 
 “ Still from his daughter’s hope withholds the bridal seal. 
 
 * H ippodcimd or Uippodamia was the daughter of CEnomaiis, king of 
 Pisatis, the territory in which Pisa lay. He is said to have offered his 
 daughter, of whom he was extremely fond, in marriage to any one who 
 should beat him in the chariot-race ; and to have slain with his own 
 spear thirteen suitors, who had accepted the challenge, and whose names 
 the Scholiast has preserved. 
 
 f Elis. This was the capital of the territory of the same name, in 
 which Pisa or Olympia lay. It had been demolished before the time of 
 Strabo. The site of it is now called Palseopolis, which Mr. DodweL 1 
 visited, but found nothing but a few blocks of marble and the frustum of 
 a Doric column. 
 
ODE I.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 EPODE TIL 
 
 “ Majestic Dagger calls but for the brave, 
 
 “ Trusts not the dastard’s arm : then why i 
 “ By life’s hard lot predestined to the grave, 
 
 “ Waste in the dark th’ unprofitable span, 
 
 “ And crouch in Age’s corner unrenown’d, 
 
 “ Heav’n’s noblest gifts untasted h Power divine ! 
 
 “ Grant thou th’ event be crown’d, 
 
 “ This peril shall at least be mine.” 
 
 Thus he, with zeal not unregarded, speeds 
 
 His ardent prayer. The God his prayer embraced, 
 
 Gave him his car with gold enchaced, 
 
 And roused th’ unwearied plumes that wing’d* the immortal 
 steeds. 
 
 STKOPHE IV. 
 
 GEnomaiis’ power th’ exulting youth o’erthrows : 
 The virgin spouse his arms entwine ; 
 
 From whose soft intercourse, a line 
 By all the virtues nursed, six warriors t rose. 
 How in rich pomp and solemn state 
 His dust heroic $ honours wait. 
 
 Where Alpheus laves the hallow’d glade, 
 
 His tomb its ample range displays, 
 
 And gifts by many a stranger laid 
 High on his crowded altar blaze ; 
 
 * There was a sacred chest in the Temple of Juno,, at Olympia, in 
 which Cypselus, king of Corinth, had, when an infant, been concealed 
 by his mother, to protect him from the Bacchidse, who sought his death, 
 on the front of which were sculptured in ivory and gold, Pelops flying 
 with Hippodame and (Enomaiis pressing after him, each in a chariot 
 with two horses, but those of Pelops represented with wings. — Pausan. 
 lib. v. c. 17 . 
 
 f Two of these six warriors were Atreus, father of Agamemnon, and 
 Thyestes. The learned are not agreed on the names of the remaining 
 four. 
 
 f An area, called the Pelopion, within the Altis, or sacred inclosure, 
 at Olympia, was set apart and dedicated by Hercules to Pelops, who 
 was honoured there as much before all the heroes as Jupiter above all 
 gods. It was near the temple of Jupiter Olympius, surrounded with a 
 pile of stones, and the space within occupied by trees and statues, and 
 other offerings. — Pausan. lib. v. c. 13 . 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE I. 
 
 proud Olympia’s drome,* 
 alms, on times to come, 
 ame. There Speed demands his crown, 
 ering Strength the muscle strains, 
 conquerors pass life’s proud remains 
 irtue’s tranquil couch, the slumber of renown. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 Such is the Champion’s meed : the constant good, 
 That lives beyond the transient hour, 
 
 Of all that Heaven on man can shower, 
 
 Most fires his hope, most wakes his gratitude : 
 
 But now ’tis mine, the strain to raise, 
 
 And swell th’ Equestrian Hero’s praise, 
 
 To crown with loud HColian songt 
 
 A Prince, whose peer the spacious earth 
 Holds not its noblest chiefs among, 
 
 Boasts not in wisdom, power and worth, 
 
 A host more gifted, to display, 
 
 Through all the mazes of the lay. 
 
 Hiero, some guardian god thy fame sustains, 
 
 And makes thee his peculiar care ; 
 
 If long thy deeds his smiles shall share, 
 
 A loftier flight I’ll soar, and warble sweeter strains. 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 Then high on Cronium’sJ peak my post shall be ; 
 
 There, as a poet’s glance informs my soul, 
 
 First in the burning race thy steeds to see, 
 
 Thy bounding chariot whirl thee to the goal. 
 
 * Drome, the stadium or place where the foot-race and other games 
 were exhibited. It is but the Greek word anglicised, like hippodrome, 
 the horse-course. 
 
 + JEolian song. Our author has before spoken of his Dorian lyre ; 
 and Strabo (lib. viii. p. 513) tells us that the Doric and ^olian were 
 originally the same dialect, as Milton, in allusion to these odes, has 
 coupled them together in Satan’s magnificent survey of ancient Greece. 
 There shalt thou hear and learn the secret power 
 Of harmony, in tones and numbers hit 
 By voice or hand, and various-measured verse, 
 
 -^Eolian charms and Dorian lyric odes. — Par. Reg. b. iv. 257. 
 t Cronium , a hill near Olympia, so named from Cronos, the Greek 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 175 V 
 
 ODE I.J 
 
 Then shall the Muse her strongest javelin fling ; 
 
 ’Bove all the ranks of greatness at the top 
 Shines the consummate king — 
 
 Beyond that height lift not thy hope. 
 
 Be thine in that bright station long to bear 
 
 Thy upright course ; mine, with the conquering band, 
 To take my honourable stand, 
 
 And ’mong the bards of Greece the palm of genius weai.* 
 
 name for Saturn, to whom certain priests or persons called Basil se sacri- 
 ficed on its summit at the vernal equinox. Mr. Dodwell, who visited 
 the remains of Olympia, observed a pointed hill near it, which he su A 
 poses to have been Cronium, much higher, but not more extensiv 
 at the base, than the Roman Capitol ; and Pindar’s v-iprjXoio tt srp 
 aXitarov Kp oviov (Olympic Ode vi. 109), after a fair allowance f 
 poetical exaggeration, is not at variance with that supposition, 
 unintelligible masses of ruined wall, which Mi . Dodwell noticed nea 
 base, might have been, if not the ruins, yet on the site of the treasu 
 or of the Temple of Lucina, mentioned by Pausanias, lib. vi. s. 20. 
 
 * Genius. The word in the original is (roQia, which, as well as a o 
 Pindar generally uses to denote natural ability as contrasted with ac 
 ment, and particularly so with reference to poetry. Anacreon 
 Socpirjg in the same manner in the following pleasing passage : — 
 
 Again the trembling lyre I’ll wake : 
 
 And, though no crown before me lies, 
 
 Genius may toil, I ween, and take 
 
 His own sweet flowrets for his prize.— -Ode Ixi 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE XL 
 
 ODE II. 
 
 TO THERON OF AGRIGENTUM, 
 
 Victor in the Cha/riot-race. 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 Hymns, that rule the living lyre, 
 
 What god,* what hero shall we sing ? 
 
 What mortal’s praise the strain inspire 1 — 
 
 Jove is Pisa’s guardian king : 
 
 Hercules t th’ Olympiad plann’d, 
 
 Trophy of his conquering hand : 
 
 But Theron,J whose bright axle won, 
 
 With four swift steeds, the chariot crown, 
 
 Noblest of hosts, our song shall grace, 
 
 The prop of Agrigentum’s fame, 
 
 Flower of an old illustrious race,§ 
 
 Whose upright rule his prospering states proclaim. 
 
 has imitated the beginning of this ode (lib. i. ode 12), 
 climax by putting the god last ; Pindar, however, necessarily 
 • the god, and ends with the mortal, to whose history he pro- 
 
 s. Hercules, being defrauded by Augeas, king of Elis, of 
 3r clearing the Augean stables, made war upon him, took 
 his kingdom, and established the Olympic Games in honour 
 y. See the 10th Olympic Ode. 
 a was king of Acragas or Agrigentum, now called Girgenti, 
 l city of Sicily both for population and magnificence : of the 
 .e interesting records still remain in the celebrated ruins of the 
 " Jupiter Olympius, Juno Lucina, and others, which have sur- 
 ; ravages of time and war. See Bry done's Tom, and Wilkins's 
 Grcecia. Virgil has commemorated in two lofty lines its situation, 
 eur, and celebrity. 
 
 Thence Acragas, for steeds renown’d of yore, 
 
 Rears her vast walls upon the distant shore. — JEn. lib. iii. 704. 
 Illustrious race. The ancestors of Theron were part of a colony of 
 ves, who had settled in Rhodes (a well-known island on the coast of 
 - Minor) ; from thence they had been driven by some political dis- 
 sensions into Sicily, where they took and occupied the city of Agrigentum, 
 built on the banks of a river of the same name. 
 
ODE JL] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 J 77 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Press’d witli ills, yon sacred pile, 
 
 Yon stream his fathers held, and shone 
 The eyes* * * § of all Sicilia’s isle. 
 
 Inborn virtue was their own : 
 
 Public favour, wealth and power 
 Peach’d them in their destin’d hour. 
 
 But thou, that rulest th’ Olympian dome, 
 
 Saturnian + son of Phea’s womb, 
 
 God of the noblest games divine, 
 
 And Alpheus’ stream that wanders near, 
 
 Sooth’d with our song, to all his line 
 Vouchsafe their Sire’s dominion long to bear. 
 
 EPODE L 
 
 Virtue’s J achievement, Folly’s crime, 
 
 Whate’er of guilt or good the past has known, 
 
 Not e’en the Sire § A all things, mighty Time, 
 
 Hath power to change, or make the deed undone. 
 
 But, when the prosperous hour returns, 
 
 O’er woes long wept Oblivion softly lays 
 
 Her shadowy veil ; and from the heart that mourns. 
 By goodlier joys subdued, th’ inveterate bane decays. 
 
 * The eyes , &c. So Melton: “Athens, the eye of Greece.” — Par. 
 Reg. b. iv. 240. 
 
 f Saturnian son , &c. Pausanias says (hh v. c. 7) that the first 
 temple .dedicated to Saturn was erected at Olympia ; a circumstance 
 which may account for our author’s frequent mention of Saturn in his 
 Olympic Odes, and for the name of K poviov, Cronion, being given to the 
 adjoining mount. 
 
 X Virtue's achievement, &c. Whether this passage allude to the feuds 
 which drove the ancestors of Theron from Rhodes, or to a war or con- 
 troversy which had before subsisted between Theron and Hiero, King 
 of Syracuse, the patron and friend of Pindar, is not settled by the 
 Scholiasts. The reserve with which he alludes to the subject seems to 
 favour the latter supposition. 
 
 § Not e’en the Sure, &c. Horace has imitated, not excelled this noble 
 passage. 
 
 Not Jove himself upon the past has power, 
 
 For what has been, has been, and I have had my hour. 
 
 Dryden, b. iii. ode 29, 
 But who can past recal, or done undo ? 
 
 Not God omnipotent. Milt. Par. L. b. ix. 926. 
 
 M 
 
17S 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE II. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Thus rewarding Heaven and Fate 
 Exalted bliss at length bestow ; 
 
 As Cadmus’ daughters,* throned in state. 
 
 Teach the moral strain to show. 
 
 Great their ills ; but heaviest woe 
 Mightier good can soon o’erthrow : 
 
 For Semele,+ once to vengeance given, 
 
 Now waves her flowing locks in Heaven : 
 
 She, by the rattling thunder slain, 
 
 To Fallas dear, caress’d by Jove, 
 
 Among the Olympians lives again, 
 
 And meets her Ivied J Boy’s requited love. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Bosom’d in the briny deep, 
 
 ’Mong Nereids green, as story tells, 
 
 While Time his circling course shall keep, 
 
 Aye immortal Ino§ dwells. 
 
 5 Tis not given for man to know 
 When pale Death shall strike the blow, 
 
 Nor e’en if one serener Day, 
 
 The Sun’s brief child, shall pass away 
 
 * Cadmus' daughters, &c. Ino and Semele were the daughters of 
 Cadmus and Harmonia, as Hesiod (whom Pindar, his countryman, 
 generally follows) informs us. — Theog. 775. 
 
 i* Semelb was, according to the Greeks, the mother of Bacchus by 
 Jupiter, who, in return for her favours, bound himself by an oath 
 to grant her any request which she should make to him ; upon which 
 she unfortunately prevailed on him to come to her in all his power as 
 when he visited Juno, and was killed by the thunder that accompanied 
 his caresses. 
 
 X Her Ivied Boy's, &c. This apotheosis of Semelb, as the mother of 
 Bacchus by Jupiter, is from Hesiod. See also Milton {Par. L. b. iv. 
 I 79 ). 
 
 § Ino was the wife of Athamas, King of Thebes, who is said to have 
 been driven to madness by Juno, and to have dashed out the brains of 
 his elder son Learchus : Ino, whom he had pursued, mistaking her for a 
 lioness, threw herself, with her younger son Melicertes, to avoid his fury, 
 from a rock near the isthmus of Corinth, into the Seronian gulph ; 
 where they were both turned into marine deities, taking the names of 
 Leucothea and Palaemon. See Ov. Met. lib. iv. 1. 527. Odyss. lib. v. 
 533. 
 
ODE 11.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 179 
 
 Unclouded as it rose. The waves 
 Of life with ceaseless changes flow, 
 
 And, as the tempest sleeps or raves, 
 
 Bring triumph or disaster, weal or woe. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 The Genius, thus, whose power upholds 
 The prosperous destiny of Theron’s race, 
 
 And sends them wealth from heaven, a scene unfolds. 
 In times long past, of vengeance and disgrace — 
 Vengeance from that ill-omen’d hour 
 When son and sire in foul encounter met ; 
 
 And all, that Pythian threat denounced of yore, 
 
 In Lams * murder mix’d, consistent and complete. 
 
 strophe hi. 
 
 Quick the sharp-eyed Fury flew, 
 
 And, as the strife she stirr’d, apace 
 Kindred their warlike kindred slew ; 
 
 Social bloodshed thinn’d the race. 
 
 Polynicest bit the ground ; 
 
 Sole Thersander lived, renowned 
 
 * Laius, King of Thebes, and father of (Edipus, being informed by 
 the Delphic Oracle that he should die by the hands of his own son, 
 delivered the infant (Edipus to a servant to be put to death. He was 
 saved, however, by the humanity of the latter, who only exposed him 
 upon Mount Cithseron, where he was found and educated by a shepherd. 
 He afterwards accidentally met his father, whom he did not know, at 
 a place where three roads met, and on a sudden quarrel ignorantly slew 
 him. The tombs of Laius and his domestic existed there in the days of 
 Pausanias. — lib. x. c. 5. 
 
 f Polynices and Eteocles, the son3 of (Edipus, each claiming to 
 succeed their father on the throne of Thebes, agreed at last to fill it for 
 a year alternately. Eteocles having reigned the first year, and refusing 
 at the end of it to resign his crown, Polynices fled to Argos, and pre- 
 vailed upon Adrastus, whose daughter, Argeia, he married, to assist him, 
 with five other chiefs, in the recovery of his kingdom. The Theban 
 territory was invaded by a large army under the command of these 
 seven captains ; Eteocles and Polynices met on the field of battle, 
 and perished .by each other’s hands. Thersander, the son of Polynices 
 and Argeia, one of the leaders in the second Theban war conducted by 
 the sons of the seven above-mentioned, survived his father, and continued 
 the Adrastian race, from whence our poet says that Theron was de- 
 scended. Pausanias saw at Delphi a statue Thersander. — lib. x. 
 
 c. 10. 
 
 v 2 
 
18C 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE IL 
 
 lr\ youthful game or martial fray, 
 
 Of brave Adrastus’ house the stay. 
 
 Sprung from that old heroic sire, 
 
 (Enesidamus bids us raise 
 
 Th’ applauding lay, and sweep the lyre 
 Through all its thrilling chords in Theron’s praise., 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 ’Midst Olympia’s shouting bands 
 
 With the proud prize himself was crown’d ; 
 
 While rival wreaths from Isthmian hands 
 Waved his brother’s* temples round ; 
 
 Fortune’s favourite ! o’er his brow 
 Blended hung the Pythian bough. 
 
 With fourfold team in rapid race 
 Twelve times he scour’d the circling space : 
 
 Before Success the Sorrows fly. 
 
 And Wealth more bright with Virtue join’d, 
 
 Brings golden Opportunity, 
 
 The sparkling star, the sun-beam of mankind ; 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Brings to the rich man’s restless heart 
 
 Ambition’s splendid cares, t No less he knows 
 The day fast comes when all men must depart* 
 
 And pay for present pride in future woes. 
 
 The deeds that frantic mortals do 
 In this disorder’d nook of Jove’s domain, 
 
 All meet their meed ; and there’s a Judge below 
 Whose hateful doom inflicts th’ inevitable pain. 
 
 * Xenocrates was the brother of Theron, and obtained the prize in the 
 chariot-race both in the Pythian and Isthmian Games, as Pindar’s sixth 
 Pythian and second Isthmian odes, to which the reader is referred, will 
 testify. 
 
 + It is not easy to say precisely, what Pindar meant by the w T ords 
 “ BaOslav vttsx(ov pspipvav ayporepav,” which have puzzled the com- 
 mentators, and which the translators have differently interpreted ; I have 
 therefore endeavoured to give them what appears to me to be his mean- 
 ; ug, consistently with the previous and succeeding passages. 
 
ODE II.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 181 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 O’er the Good* * * § soft suns the while 
 
 Through the mild day, the night serene, 
 
 Alike with cloudless lustre smile, 
 
 Tempering all the tranquil scene. 
 
 Theirs is leisure ; vex not they 
 Stubborn soil or watery way, 
 
 To wring from toil want’s worthless bread : 
 
 No ills they know, no tears they shed, 
 
 But with the glorious Godst below 
 Ages of peace contented share. 
 
 Meanwhile the Bad with bitterest woe 
 Eye-startling tasks, and endless tortures wear. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IY. 
 
 All, whose stedfast virtue thrice 
 
 Each side the grave J unchanged hath stood 
 Still unseduced, un stain’d with vice, 
 
 They by J ove’s mysterious road 
 Pass to Saturn’s realm of rest,§ 
 
 Happy isle that holds the blest ; 
 
 Where sea-born breezes gently blow 
 O’er blooms of gold that round them glow, 
 
 Which Nature boon from stream or strand 
 Or goodly tree profusely pours ; 
 
 Whence pluck they many a fragrant band, 
 
 And braid their locks with never-fading flowers. 
 
 * I cannot refrain from recalling to the classical reader’s recollection 
 the well-known descriptions in Virgil {/En. vi. 638), and Homer ( Odyss . 
 yi. 43). 
 
 + Homer mentions the infernal gods, as associated with Saturn in the 
 shades below. — II. xv. 225. 
 
 X The learned reader is acquainted with the use which Virgil, in his 
 sixth iEneid, has made of this interesting theory ; by which the souls of 
 the dead are supposed after certain periods to animate new bodies and 
 return again into the world. 
 
 § This passage resembles Homer’s account of the Elysian plain, to 
 which Menelaiis was destined by the prcuhecy of Nereus. — Odyss. iv. 
 568. 
 
182 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ode il 
 
 EPODE IY. 
 
 Such Rhadamanthus’ # mandate wise : 
 
 He on the judgment-bench, associate meet, 
 
 By ancient Saturn t sits, prompt to advise, 
 
 The spouse of Rhea, whose high throne is set 
 
 Above all powers in Earth or Heaven. 
 
 FeleusJ and Cadmus there high honours crown ; 
 
 The like to great Achilles § largely given 
 ’With prayers from yielding Jove persuasive Thetis || won. 
 
 strophe v. 
 
 Hector he, the pillar of Troy 
 
 By mightiest arms unmov’d, o’erthrew, 
 
 And bright Aurora’s AECthiop IT boy : 
 
 He the godlike Cycnus slew — 
 
 * Virgil places Rhadamanthus in the shades below, not however in 
 ids Elysium, but, as a judge and monarch, in the kingdom of the 
 damned. — JEn. lib. vi. 566. 
 
 + So Statius employs Minos and Rhadamanthus in mitigating the 
 sentences of the bloody Saturn. — Theb. lib. viii. 1. 27. Hesiod, how- 
 ever, has placed the latter with the Titans under Tartarus, I presume, as 
 the place of punishment, to which, according to dEschylus, Jupiter had 
 consigned him and his fellow combatants by the advice of Prometheus. 
 --Prom. 1. 226. 
 
 X Peleus married Thetis, and was, by her, the father of Achilles. 
 The gods were said to haye been present at their marriage on Mount 
 Pelion, when Apollo struck the lyre and the Muses sung. See Pyth. 
 ode iii. ep. 4 ; Nem. ode v. strophe 2, &c. and Catullus’s beautiful poem 
 on this subject. 
 
 § Achilles. In the beautiful hymn to Harmodius and Aristogiton, 
 Achilles is placed in the islands of the blest, but by Homer, in the shades 
 below, where Ulysses addresses him as one having great authority 
 among the spirits of the dead. 
 
 ~Nvv aura fikya Kparseig vekvegglv. — Odyss. xi. 484. 
 
 || Homer has recorded the influence of Thetis over Jupiter, when she 
 prevailed on him to pronounce the memorable oath in favour of Achilles. 
 — II. lib. i. 528. It is fabled that he was violently enamoured of her, and 
 was only prevented from marrying her by the prophecy of Themis, who 
 informed him that the result of that union would be the birth of a son 
 more potent than himself, whereupon he bestowed her upon Peleus.-— 
 See Isthm. ode viii. d. 4. 
 
 AEthiop boy. Memnon, an .Ethiopian king, said to have been the 
 Kon of Aurora, who came to the assistance of Priam, and was killed by 
 
ODE II.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 183 
 
 On my quiver’d arm I bear 
 Many an arrow swift and rare ; 
 
 Dealt to the wise delight they bring, 
 
 To vulgar ears unmeaning ring. 
 
 Genius his stores from nature draws ; 
 
 In words not wit the learned shine ; 
 
 Clamorous in vain, like croaking* daws, 
 
 They rail against the bird of Jove divine. < 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V. 
 
 Heed not thou their envious tongue, 
 
 Straight to the mark advance thy bow ;f 
 Whither, brave spirit, shall thy song 
 Throw the shaft of glory now h 
 Lo it flies, by Justice sent, 
 
 Full at famous Agrigent ; 
 
 While truth inspires me thus to swear, 
 
 That Time shall waste his hundredth year 
 Ere race or realm a King shall raise, 
 
 V/hose liberal heart, whose loaded hand 
 Shall paragon with Theron’s praise, 
 
 Or strew, like his, its blessings through the land. 
 
 Achilles, as was also Cycnus, at the Trojan war. The latter was the 
 son of Neptune, and being invulnerable, Achilles pressed him to the 
 ground, whereupon he was turned into a swan. — See Ov. Met. lib. xii. 
 14 5, and lib. xiii. 580. There was another Cycnus, the son of Mars, 
 mentioned by Hesiod to have been slain by Hercules (Scut. Here. 1. 420). 
 Pausanias (lib. i. c. 27) saw a representation of the combat in statuary 
 at Athens, in or near the temple of Minerva Polias. 
 
 * This passage is supposed to have been levelled at Bacchylides and 
 other contemporary poets, envious of the celebrity of Pindar. Theocritus 
 has a similar passage regarding Homer, 
 
 The Muses’ birds, that chirp their envious strain 
 Against the Chian bard, and toil in vain. — Idyl, vii ). 47. 
 
 See, also, Tryphiodorus, 246. 
 f So Anacreon, Od. 64. 
 
 Bring the dart and bend thy bow. 
 
 Strike, my soul, the mark and go. 
 
184 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE IIL 
 
 EPODE V. 
 
 Yet e’en his virtues to assail 
 
 Hath headstrong Envy spurr’d Injustice* forth, 
 Plotting with hostile arm, and slanderous tale, 
 
 To hide in mischief’s shade the lamp of worth. 
 
 But, if the numberer toils in vain 
 To count the sands t that heap the wave-worn beach ; 
 
 The joys, the graces of his bounteous reign 
 What memory can record ? What soaring song can reach ? 
 
 ODE III. 
 
 TO THE SAME THERON. 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 To please the bright-hair’d Helen, ^ and the Twins 
 Of Tyndarus, gods of hospitable love, 
 
 With Agrigent’s renown my boast begins ; 
 
 While wreaths for Theron from th’ Olympian grove, 
 Borne by th’ unwearied steeds away, 
 
 I twine. For this beside me stood 
 Th’ inspiring Muse, and to the Dorian mood 
 Tuned for her glorious choir my new-embellished lay. 
 
 * Our poet here alludes to Capys and Hippocrates, both relatives ol 
 Theron, who, forgetting all his kindnesses in their envy of his fame and 
 power, made war against him, and were deservedly defeated in the 
 neighbourhood of Himera in Sicily, 
 f See Olymp. ode xiii. ep. 2*. 
 
 So Homer makes Achilles say in answer to the offers of Agamemnon, 
 Not, were his gifts as countless as the sand. — II. ix. 385. 
 
 The same image occurs, also, in the Sacred Writings, and in Virgil, 
 who has, in his animated manner, enriched it with a local picture. 
 
 To tell them, were to count the whirling sand 
 
 Housed by the tempest on the Libyan strand. — Geor. ii. 105. 
 
 X This ode is evidently written in honour of a victory won by Theron 
 in a chan ot-vace at Olympia, but whether in the same to which the 
 former ode relates has not been ascertained. Helen and her brothers 
 Castor and Pollux (the daughter and twin sons of Leda and Tyndarus) 
 were highly honoured at Agrigentum and at Argos, from whence, as 
 appears by the third strophe in the preceding ode, the ancestors oi 
 Theron were derived. The poet distinguishes them by the epithet 
 
ODE III.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 185 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Those high-toss’d heads, with glittering* * * § chaplets bonnd > 
 Challenge my spirit to this task divine, 
 
 The shrill-toned pipe, the varying lyre to sound 
 In full concordance to the swelling line, 
 
 Which thus, ^Enesidamus, t throws 
 On thy brave son its mingled praise — 
 
 Applauding Pisa too demands my lays, 
 
 Whence many a heav’n-t aught hymn for conquering cham- 
 pions flows : 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 Champions, whose brows th’ HCtolianij; seer, 
 
 That gives th’ Herculean mandates old, 
 
 The Game’s unerring arbiter, 
 
 Bids Victory’s graceful prize enfold : 
 
 He round their locks the silvery olive § flings ; 
 
 Whose leaves of yore Amphitryon’s || son, 
 
 To frame Olympia’s matchless crown, 
 
 From freezing regions brought, and Ister’sIT shadowy springs. 
 
 *fjn\o%eivoig, i. e. friendly to strangers, hospitable : as Theocritus (Idyl. 
 xxii. 1. 6, 7 — 17 — 19) describes them as the saviours of mortals, and 
 (probably with reference to the constellation named after them) as having 
 power to allay the fury of the winds a^d waves ; in which he is imitated 
 by Horace. 
 
 * We learn, also, from Theocritus, that the winning horses were 
 always crowned with chaplets. 
 
 There e’en the rapid steeds their honours claim, 
 
 And leave with chaplets crown’d the sacred game. — Idyl. xvi. 1. 46. 
 
 *f* The father of Theron. 
 
 . X Italian seer. The judges of the games, called the Hellanodics, 
 were all Eleans. Our author, in calling the judge an ^Etolian, alludes 
 to Oxylus the HCtolian, who led the Heraclidse into Peloponnesus, and 
 was made king of Elis, and the first arbiter of the Olympic games, for 
 which reason the judge is called by Pindar an iEtolian, appointed to 
 execute the ordinances of Hercules their founder. 
 
 § The tree from which the Olympic crowns were taken grew within 
 the Altis, near the Temple of the Nymphs, and was called tcnWiGrtyavoQ, 
 expressing at once its beauty (or perhaps its glory) and its use. — Pam. 
 lib. v. c. 15. 
 
 || Hercules, though sometimes said to be the son of Jupiter, is here, 
 as by many other authors, called the son of Amphitryon, his mother’s 
 husband. 
 
 ^ Ister, the Greek and Latin name for the Danube. 
 
186 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ode IIL 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 He tli’ Hyperborean tribes # and chieftains wild, 
 
 That bend the knee before Apollo’s shrine, 
 
 Peaceful besought ; and with persuasion mild, 
 
 To form his Sire’s capacious grove divine, 
 
 The conqueror’s wreath, the stranger’s shade, t 
 Won the fair plant : for on the plain 
 Jove’s altar smoked, and from her golden wain 
 The Moon J with rounded orb, Eve’s radiant eye displayed. 
 
 * The Hyberboreans, whoever they were, are here considered as in- 
 habiting near the fountains of the Danube, and worshippers of Apollo ; 
 who was supposed (as Chandler tells us, vol. ii. p. 294) to visit them late 
 in the spring after the season for consulting him at Delphi ended, and, 
 according to Claudian, to have retired thither after the final cessation of 
 that oracle. 
 
 driven from Delphi’s silent cells 
 
 ’Mongst Hyperborean hearths Apollo dwells. — Claudian. 
 
 We learn from Pausanias (lib. i. c. 31) that the Hyperboreans sent 
 annually their first-fruits to Apollo’s temple, in the Prasian Borough in 
 Attica, by delivering them to the Arimaspians, by whom they were 
 handed to the Issedonians, by them to the Scythians, by them to thi 
 Sinopeans, and from thence through Greece to the Athenians, who had 
 the honour of sending them to Delos. How the neighbours of the 
 Arimaspians could have been supposed to dwell near the fountains of the 
 Danube, and at the same time ndHh of Boreas, those only can conceive 
 who have noticed our author’s extraordinary ignorance of geography. ^ 
 This annual visit of Apollo, so often identified with the sun, to this 
 northern nation, had possibly its origin in the periodical movement 
 of that luminary to the northern tropic. In the same manner Ilithyia 
 or Lucina, as frequently confounded with Diana and the Moon, is said 
 to have come from the Hyperboreans to assist the labour of Latona. — 
 Pans. lib. i. c. 18. Apollo is described in the 8th Olympic Ode, stro. iii. 
 as driving his chariot to the Danube, and in the 10th Pythian Ode, 
 ep. iii. as being delighted with the barbarous -solemnities of the Hyper- 
 boreans. After all it will appear doubtful, when we come to the exploit 
 of Perseus related in the latter ode, whether Africa was not the resi- 
 dence of this problematical generation 4 . 
 
 f The conqueror's wreath, the stranger's shade ; — so Virgil, 
 
 Th’ umbrageous tree, that bore th’ Herculean crown. — Georg, ii. 66. 
 
 X The Olympic Games were celebrated every fifth year, and always 
 began on the day after the full of the first new moon that happened 
 after the summer solstice. The learned reader will remember a descrip- 
 tion of this luminary, as represented on the shield of Tydeus at the 
 siege of Thebes. 
 
ODE III.] 
 
 OLYMPIC! ODEJ* 
 
 187 
 
 ANTISTROFHE II. 
 
 Then too, the pure Tribunal to preside 
 
 At his Grea,t Games, the proud Quinquennial* Feast 
 ’Stablisb’d had he by Alpheus’ sacred tide : 
 
 Yet not, as now, then waved the Cronian waste 
 Witl#woods umbrageous ; but on high, 
 
 When Pelops held his ruder reign, 
 
 The dazzling sun-beam smote th’ unsheltered plain ; 
 
 ’Twas then the tracts he sought, that skirt th’ Arctoic sky. 
 
 EPODfe II. 
 
 Him there Latona’s huntress-child 
 From fair Arcadia’s vales received, 
 
 Deep winding vales and mountains wild ; t 
 What time by stern EurystheusJ grieved 
 Necessity, that bound his Sire in heaven, 
 
 Task’d him in that bleak waste to find 
 The golden-horn’d and sacred hind,§ 
 
 To chaste Orthosia’s shrine by fair Atlantis given. 
 
 # Pull on the shield emblazed the Queen of Stars, 
 
 Night’s radiant eye, the dazzling Moon appears. — 
 
 jflschyl. 'E7rr. 1. 386. 
 
 It is observable that the moon is here classed among the stars, as the 
 sun is in the first Olympic Ode, stro. i. Tryphiodorus represents the 
 moon as gilding the heavens with her countenance, as Pindar has 
 here mounted her in a golden chariot. — Tryph. 1. 513. 
 
 * We learn from Pausanias that those who attribute the establish- 
 ment of the Olympic Games to another Hercules, the youngest of 
 the Idsei Dactyli, who were five brothers, suppose that the period of 
 five years for each Olympiad was fixed upon for that reason. — Pans. 
 lib. v. c. 7. 
 
 f The reader will find a print and an interesting description of this 
 scenery in Dodwell’s Travels, v. ii. p. 338. 
 
 X We learn from Homer (II. lib. xix. 1. 103, et seq.) that, when the 
 birth of Hercules was hourly expected, Juno prevailed on Jupiter to 
 swear that one of his progeny, to be bom on that day, should have 
 dominion over all his neighbours ; that, having obtained this promise, 
 she accelerated the birth of Eurystheus, who was descended from Jupiter 
 through Perseus, and postponed that of Hercules till the day after ; 
 tvhereby the former became irrevocably the master of the latter, and 
 employed him upon all his celebrated labours. 
 
 § Diana seems to have been called Orthosia from Orthion or Orthosion, 
 an Arcadian mountain, on which probably she was worshipped. Taygeta, 
 one of the daughters of Atlas (whom I have therefore called Atlantis), 
 
188 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE IXL 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Bent on the search, beyond where Boreas brew’d 
 His wintry blast, the wondrous realm he found, 
 
 Their groves with fond desire admiring view’d, 
 
 And thence, his Hippodrome’s twelve-circled roqjid 
 To shade, th’ adopted plant removed. 
 
 Still with the godlike Twins,* of yore 
 Whom Leda’s ample zone prolific bore, 
 
 Oft to that feast he comes, and cheers the toils he loved. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Them, when the Hero mounted to the spheres, 
 
 To guard his Games, where might for mastery strives 
 With might, and skill the raging chariot steers, 
 
 He charged : to them my soul for Theron gives 
 The glory of the dazzling prize : 
 
 Them, lords and lovers of the race, 
 
 Th’ Emmeniant Tribe salutes, their favouring grace 
 With costliest banquets won, and frequent sacrifice. 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Such their rewards, whose customs most, 
 
 Whose hearts the Gods in reverence hold. 
 
 As water still is Nature’s boast, 
 
 And all Earth’s treasures yield to gold, X 
 
 was turned by Diana into a hind to avoid the amorous pursuit of Jupiter, 
 and on recovering her shape dedicated to her benefactress the hind with 
 golden horns ; which being afterwards lost, Hercules was sent by 
 Eurystheus to the Hyperboreans in pursuit of it. Mr. Dodwell has 
 given us an interesting description, accompanied with excellent plates, 
 of some figures sculptured in the Archaic style, which he saw on the 
 outside of a well at Corinth ; among which are those of Hercules, and 
 of Diana leading the golden-horned hind, and in return for its recovery 
 reconciling the hero to Apollo, from whom he had forcibly carried away 
 the Delphic tripod. — Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. p. 201 . 
 
 * Castor and Pollux. 
 
 t TIi' Emmenian Tribe. This was the tribe to which Theron belonged 
 at Agrigentum. It took its name from Emmenides, his grandfather ; 
 whose father, Telemachus, had, according to the Scholiast, overturned 
 the tyranny of Phalaris. 
 
 Z See first Olympic Od*v 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 189 
 
 ODE IV.] 
 
 Theron hath reached the limitary main, 
 
 And touch’d with virtues all his own, 
 
 Tli’ Herculean pillars* of renown, 
 
 Wit’s, Folly’s farthest bound, where song pursues in vain. 
 
 ODE IY. 
 
 TO PSAUMIst OF CAMARINA, 
 
 Victor in the Chariot-race. 
 
 STROPHE. 
 
 O Thou, that drive’st J in clouds above 
 Th’ impetuous thunder, mighty Jove ! 
 
 Me with my lyre and varying strain 
 Thy circling Hours § have sent again 
 
 * ThJ Herculean pillars, 8fc. What the pillars of Hercules were, or 
 where they were situated, is not known, except that it was at, or near, 
 Gibraltar. Some place them within, some without, the Straits ; some 
 have given the name to two islands, others to Calpe, now called the rock 
 of Gibraltar, and to a mountain called Abila, on the coast of Africa. — 
 Strabo, lib. iii. p. 258. However this may be, they were considered as 
 the extreme western bounds, not only of navigation, but of the habitable 
 globe, beyond which even Hercules, after the conquest of Geryon in 
 Spain, did not venture to advance, but either erected or gave name to 
 them as the future limits of all human enterprise. Our poet will be 
 found to allude to them again in the same figurative manner in the third 
 and fourth Nemean, and in the fourth Isthmian odes. 
 
 + Psaumis, to whom this ode is addressed, was the son of Acron of 
 Camarina (a city in Sicily, situated on the coast between Agrigentum 
 and the promontory of Pachynum), and obtained this victory in the 
 83d Olympiad. 
 
 J I agree with Mr. Pye and the old Scholiast, that, by the words 
 i\arrjp (3povrag cucafiavroTrodog, the poet intended to represent Jupiter 
 in the act of driving the thunder as a chariot. So Diespiter, as Horace 
 tells us, 
 
 Urged his swift car and thundering steeds. — b. i. ode 34. 
 
 So, according to Virgil, Salmoneus realized the metaphor in his imita- 
 tion of the thundering God. 
 
 Fool, that with brazen wheel and trampling steed 
 
 The matchless thunder mock’d and tempest’s speed. — jEn. vi. 591. 
 
 § Thy circling Hours. The Hours, three in number, were considered 
 
190 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ode IY 
 
 Their tuneful witness, to proclaim 
 The glories of thy matchless Game. 
 
 At Virtue’s weal the just rejoice, and bless 
 The tidings of a friend’s success. 
 
 But thou, Saturnian King, that dost display 
 Through ^Etna’s range thy partial sway ; 
 
 Beneath whose huge* tempestuous cone 
 The hundred heads of Typhon groan, 
 
 O hear th’ advancing choir + prolong, 
 
 Moved by the Graces, their triumphal song : 
 
 ANTISTROPHE. 
 
 ’Tis Virtue’s lamp, whose living rays, 
 
 Wide as her rule, for ever blaze ; 
 
 Lo where it beams in Psaumis’ car J 
 That bears th’ Olympian braid from far, 
 
 In haste the blooming glory now 
 To bind on Camarina’s brow. 
 
 Heaven speed his future vows, as now my lays 
 With note sincere his virtues praise. 
 
 His boast to rear, to rule the panting steed : 
 
 All guests his plenteous banquets feed ; 
 
 by the ancient poets, &e. as the daughters of Jupiter, and were accord- 
 ingly sculptured by Phidias over his throne in the celebrated temple at 
 Olympia. — Pans. lib. v. c. 11. 
 
 * Beneath whose huge, (&c. Ittov rjv egos ocav in the original. iEschylus 
 has a similar expression on the same subject, 
 
 L7rovfXEvog piZaiaiv Airvaiaig vi to. — Prom. 373. 
 
 Where Mr. Blomfield, in his Glossary, quotes this passage. — Typhon 
 was one of the fabulous giants, or monsters, that made war on Jupiter, 
 who subdued and confined him under Mount .ZEtna, of which the reader 
 will find a noble description in the first Pythian ode. It is easy to 
 trace the origin of a fiction which refers the agitations of a burning 
 mountain to the heaving of an imprisoned dragon, and the eruptions to 
 the flames that issued from his hundred mouths. 
 
 f Tti advancing choir. The chorus, who, accompanied with instruments 
 of music, sung the song or ode in honour of the victor, are supposed to 
 have moved on in the procession, using some step or time adapted to the 
 nature of the harmony. 
 
 X It should seem from this passage, that this ode, like the fifth, as 
 West has observed, was intended to be sung and performed on the 
 return of Psaumis to his native place. 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 191 
 
 ODE IV'.] 
 
 While with pure heart he wooes the hand 
 Of genial Peace to bless the land. 
 
 Ne’er shall untruth these lips profane ; 
 
 Trial’s the only test, that proves the man. 
 
 EPODE. 
 
 This from the Lemnian* dames’ abuse 
 Redeem’d the son of Clymenus : 
 
 At his grey locks their taunts they played ; 
 
 But when in brazen armsf array’d 
 Th’ incumber’d race with ease he won, 
 
 And calmly claimed th’ unquestioned crown, 
 
 To much abashed Hypsipyle, “ Ev’n me 
 “ First of the swift, behold,” said he, 
 
 “ Nor less in strength and prowess : age’s snow 
 “ On youth’s fair front will sometimes grow ; 
 
 “ But he, that does the deeds of manhood’s prime, 
 “ May without blame look old before his time.” 
 
 * Jason, when engaged in the Argonautic expedition, landed, either 
 outwards or homewards, at the island of Lemnos, in the Aegean Sea, 
 where Hypsipyle, gthe queen, was celebrating funeral games to the 
 memory of her father Thoas. On this occasion, the grey hairs of 
 Erginus (son of Clymenus, the king of Orchomenus, in Boeotia, and 
 brother of Eurydice, Nestor’s wife, Pans. lib. ix. c. 37, and Odyss. 1. iii. 
 451, 2), on his offering himself as a candidate in the armed foot-race, 
 had excited the ridicule of the Lemnian ladies. He is said, however, to 
 have succeeded, though Calais and Zethus (the winged sons of Boreas, 
 see Pyth. ode iv. ep. 8) were his competitors. The Scholiast has assumed, 
 without authority, that Psaumis had grey hairs, and that therefore 
 Pindar introduced this story. As, however, the premature appearance 
 of old age could not be a disqualification for a chariot-race, as it might 
 seem to be for the foot-race, it is sufficient, if not more reasonable, 
 merely to suppose that Psaumis had not been previously distinguished 
 for his breed of horses, or at most that his success was unexpected. 
 
 + The armed race was practised at the Nemean games (which appear 
 from Pausanias, lib. ii. c. 15, to have been celebrated in the winter;, and 
 was introduced, as the same author tells us, at the Olympic games in the 
 65th Olympiad. The competitors wore helmets and boots, and bore a 
 shield before them, as appears from a statue of Demaratus, the first 
 victor in this exercise, seen by Pausanias at Olympia. — Pans. lib. vi. 
 c. 10. Mr. Dodwell informs us, that the helmets now usually found at 
 that place, are so extremely thin as to be unfit for the purposes of war, 
 and are, as he supposes, of the sort worn in the armed foot-race ; that 
 
192 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE V 
 
 ODE Y. 
 
 TO THE SAME PSAUMIS OP CAM ARINA, 
 iictor in the Race of Chariots dra/wn by Mules* 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 The flower of all the Olympian boughs, 
 
 That bind exalted Virtue’s brows, 
 
 Take, Camarina,* with delight ; 
 
 Take, shining Daughter of the Sea, 
 
 What the swift mules, t the chariot bright, 
 
 The conquering Psaumis brings to thee. 
 
 Destin’d thy peopled state to raise 
 He, at the Gods’ high Festival, 
 
 On J six joint hearths his offering lays, 
 
 While incense fumes and victims fall. 
 
 There five bright days, renown to gain, 
 
 Skill, Bravery, Strength, the strife maintain 
 
 they resembled rather the light armour used by the ancients in proces- 
 sions, called the 07r\a 7roinrevrripLa , than the 07r\a 7ro\efU(TTripia, or 
 warlike accoutrements, which Dionysius has contrasted with each other. 
 — Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 331. 
 
 * The lake Camarina, which adjoins the city of the same name, had a 
 subterraneous communication with the Ocean, whose daughter she is 
 from thence elegantly called. 
 
 ■f* This was a race between chariots, each drawn by two mules, called 
 the Apenk (curr]vri), in which Psaumis was victorious. As, however, 
 the mule was considered by the Eleans as a monster, this species of race, 
 which was first introduced in the 70th Olympiad, was finally abolished 
 in the 84th. — Pans. lib. v. c. 9. 
 
 X It was usual for a victor at the Olympic Games to sacrifice to the 
 gods, to whom six great altars were there erected. The first of these, 
 as Herodotus says, was dedicated to Jupiter and Neptune, the second 
 to Juno and Minerva, the third to Mercury and Apollo, the fourth to 
 Bacchus and the Graces, the fifth to Diana and the river Alpheus, and 
 the sixth to Saturn and Khea. Mars and Venus, we see, are not 
 noticed, war being suspended, and the presence of women not allowed 
 at the Olympic Games. 
 
ODE V.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES, 
 
 193 
 
 There yokad or mounted, * mule and steed 
 Through all the swift career 
 Contest the panting prize of speed. 
 
 Thee Acron’s sonf proclaiming there, 
 
 Hath proudly given to everlasting fame 
 
 His country’s rising towers, his Sire’s ennobled name. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Returned from that delightful plain 
 GEnomaus’ once and Pelops’ reign, J 
 
 Minerva’s § shrine, whose fostering power 
 Guards his young state, he hallows now, 
 
 Oanus’ || stream and many a bower 
 
 That shades the glittering lake below ; 
 
 Hallows the banks and solemn clifts, 
 
 Where Hipparis’ || wholesome waters rove, 
 
 Laving his peopled realm. He lifts 
 The pillar’d pile, the marble grove, 
 
 Whereon his princely chambers rise 
 In swelling domes, that crown the skies. 
 
 Thus his rude tribes, untrain’d, unform’d 
 He rears to life and light : 
 
 For Toil and Wealth by Virtue warm’d 
 Ever with Difficulty fight ; 
 
 * Mr. West has conceived, that Pindar meant by this passage to 
 represent Psaumis as having conquered at these Games in the single 
 horse-race, as well as in the chariot-races of mules and horses. But I 
 see no reason for this interpretation, which is neither supported by the 
 Scholiasts, the Paraphrase, nor any of the Latin translations, nor, 
 as it appears to me, justified by the text, in which these are only 
 enumerated as splendid examples of the sports used at the Olympic 
 festival. If that construction were the true one, it would follow, 
 that Psaumis was engaged in every one of the other games during the 
 five days. 
 
 + Psaumis was the son of Acron, and had bestowed great care 
 and expense upon the restoration and improvement of his native 
 place, which had been destroyed by the Syracusians in the 70th 
 Olympiad. 
 
 X This is only a pompous periphrasis for the Elean territory. 
 
 § Minerva, whom our poet here calls 7 roAido%oc, was the Guardian 
 Goddess of all Cities, and particularly of Camarina, where a temple was 
 dedicated to her. 
 
 jj Oanus and Hipparis were rivers that flowed through Camarina. 
 
 O 
 
194 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE 7. 
 
 While Enterprise no threatening danger scares, 
 
 And all-adored Success the palm of Wisdom wears. 
 
 strophe hi. 
 
 O Thou, that dwell’st in clouds above 
 The Cronian Mount, Preserver* Jove, 
 
 Whose favour still pursues the wave 
 That wandering Alpheus pours along, 
 
 Still beams on Ida’s t awful cave, 
 
 To thee thy suppliant rears his song ; 
 
 In Lydian strain implores thy grace 
 Long on this rising realm to wait, 
 
 And send a sound adventurous race 
 To guard and signalize their state. 
 
 Thee, too, by victory taught to breed 
 And cherish the Neptunian steed, 
 
 Thee, Psaumis, grant the indulgent Power 
 A calm old age to bear, 
 
 And meet unmoved the parting hour, 
 
 With all thy children standing near. 
 
 If Wealth and Worth and Happiness and Fame. 
 
 Be thine, among the Gods seek not t’ inscribe thy name. 
 
 * Preserver, 'Siorrip. There were many temples dedicated A u 'Swrrjpi, 
 to Jupiter the Preserver ; among others there was one at Athens, con- 
 taining statues and pictures by celebrated artists.— Strab. lib. ix. p. 606. 
 The propriety of addressing the God of Olympia by this title in an ode 
 addressed to an Olympic victor, the restorer of his native city, so lately 
 conquered and destroyed, will not escape the reader. 
 
 f Ida’s cave was a cave in Mount Ida in Crete, whither Rhea sent 
 Jupiter, to conceal him from his father Saturn, who, according to the 
 ancient fables, would otherwise have devoured him, knowing that he was 
 destined to deprive him of his kingdom. 
 
ODE VI. j 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 1 95 
 
 ODE VI. 
 
 W AGESIAS THE SYRACUSIAN, 
 
 Victor 1% the Race of Chariots drawn by Mules. 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 Pillars of gold our portal to sustain, 
 
 As for some proud and princely Place, 
 
 We’ll rear : tlie founder of the strain 
 With far-refulgent front his opening work should grace. 
 
 And if there be, who boasts th’ Olympian braid. 
 
 Whose priestly* lips prophetic truths diffuse 
 At Jove’s Pissean altar ; one, whose aid 
 Hath help’d to t raise illustrious Syracuse ; 
 
 Where are the high-wrought hymns, the glowing lays 
 His country’s lavish love shall swell not with his praise 1 
 
 ANTISTROPKE I. 
 
 Know, son of Sostratus, that Heaven hath made 
 This sandal for thy foot divine. J 
 Virtue, by peril unassay’d, 
 
 On land or tranquil wave in honour ne’er can shine. 
 
 * Agesias, the son of Sostratus of Syr^use, was the high priest, 
 who officiated at the great altar of Jupiter, at Pisa, or Olympia, and 
 declared, from inspecting the burnt offerings, the disposition of the 
 god towards the adventurers in the games. — See Olymp. ode viii. 
 stro. 1. 
 
 f The word used in thf ,*iginal is avvoiKiGrrip , which, according to 
 Heyne’s Translation and Damm’s Lexicon, signifies one who assists in 
 building or founding a city or state (as ohcuTTr/p is a founder. — Pyth. 
 ode iv. stro. 1. Callim. Hym. Apol. 1. 67), — not as some have translated 
 it, an inhabitant. I do not, however, suppose that the poet meant to 
 describe gesias himself as one of the builders or founders of Syracuse, 
 but r descended from an ancestor who was ; and who, as we learn in 
 the jquel of this ode, had come to that city (probably with the Dorians) 
 £r ,i Stymphalus in Arcadia. 
 
 This only means, according to our homely phrase, “ This shoe fits 
 3 son of Sostratus that is, he is the person to whom the foregoing 
 scription applies. In the Greek, however (so different is the genius 
 
 o 2 
 
196 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ode VI. 
 
 Th’ adventurous deed a thousand hearts record. 
 
 To thee the praise, Agesias, all shall yield, 
 
 On OEcleus’ son Ampliiaraiis * pour’d 
 By just Adrastus in the fatal field, 
 
 When in Earth’s yawning gulph th’ astounded seer 
 Sunk with his snorting steeds, chariot and charioteer. 
 
 of the two languages), the expression is neither inelegant nor un- 
 
 poetical. 
 
 * Amphiaraiis was a prophet and a warrior, one of the seven chiefs 
 who led the Argives against Thebes, to place Polynices on the throne. 
 He was the son of GCcleus, who is said by some to have been killed 
 before Troy in Hercules’s war against Laomedon, but whose tomfc 
 Pausanias saw near Megalopolis in Arcadia. Amphiaraiis predicted 
 future events by the art of interpreting dreams, of which Pausanias says 
 that he was the inventor, though Pliny ascribes that honour to Amphic- 
 tyon. His acquisition of this faculty appears to have been supernatural ; 
 for there was a house at Phliuns near Nemea, which the Phliasians 
 called the house of divination ; because Amphiaraiis, who was before un- 
 gifted, obtained the power of prophecy by sleeping there a single night. 
 — Pans. lib. ii. c. 13. It seems clear that he was a proficient in this art 
 of oneirocrisy ; it being the practice after his apotheosis (for he 
 became a god) for his worshippers to sleep beside his altar in the pious 
 hope of a prophetic dream. There was, in the time of Pausanias, a 
 fountain and a temple named after him near Oropus, from whence he 
 was supposed to have ascended. — Pans. lib. i. c. 34. But both the one 
 and the other have entirely disappeared. — Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 156. The 
 story of his being swallowed up with his chariot and horses was, 
 perhaps, not very ancient, as Homer only says of him that he did not 
 attain old age ( Odyss . xv. 247), but perished at Thebes ; an expression 
 which seems to indicate a more ordinary death ; and AEschylus has made 
 him prophesy of himself, that he should be slain and buried in the 
 Theban territory, — 
 
 But I this land shall fatten when I die, 
 
 This hostile land, a prophet’s sepulchre. 
 
 The place, where the earth is said to have opened and swallowed 
 Amphiaraiis, was a small area surrounded with pillars, between Potnise 
 and Thebes ; on which they say no bird would perch, and on the 
 herbage of which no tame or even wild animal would feed. — Pans. 
 lib. ix. c. 8. Strabo mentions a village called Harma (the Greek for a 
 chariot) near Tanagra, where the chariot of Amphiaraiis was said to 
 have stopped after he had been thrown out of it in the battle ; but he 
 takes no notice jf the account given by our poet, who was, perhaps, the 
 inventor of if 
 
ODE VI.’] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 197 
 
 EPODE I. 
 
 ’Twas there, when round th’ heroic dead 
 Sev’n Theban pyres were seen to burn, 
 Sorrowing the son of Talaiis* said, 
 
 “ The eye of all my host J mourn : 
 
 “ His searching soul the futuie imew ; 
 
 “ His spear controul’d the raging fray” — 
 
 Such is the Syracusian too, 
 
 The master of my lay. 
 
 Nor brawl, nor paradox I love ; 
 
 I hate with cavillers to contend ; 
 
 But this my surest oath I’ve pledged to prove 
 And the mellifluous Muse her lasting aid shall lend. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Bring forth thy mules, O Phintis,t and behind 
 In haste the glittering harness join, 
 
 With me thy chariot mount and find 
 Along yon spacious road the cradle of his line. 
 
 Full well, I ween, th’ illustrious track they know, 
 Learnt from the plaudits of th’ Olympian throng 
 That crown’d their necks with glory. Open throw 
 To their careering speed the gates of song. 
 
 * Adrastus was the son of Talaiis, and father of Thersander, and the 
 only one of the seven leaders who survived the Theban war. Pausanias 
 saw a statue of Adrastus at Delphi, and also of Amphiaraiis with his 
 chariot and charioteer standing by his side. — lib. x. c. 10. After the 
 battle, before Thebes seven funeral piles for the bodies of the slain were 
 erected near the seven gates, before each of which a division of the 
 Argive army had been defeated. 
 
 *f* This address to Phintis, Agesias’s charioteer, requiring him to 
 drive to Pitana, the birth-place of the founder of his race, is in the 
 boldest strain of poetical apostrophe, which no one but Pindar or 
 Shakspeare- would have attempted. It appears, indeed, from the old 
 Scholiast, and Heyne’s various readings, that (pivriQ might be a Doric 
 word for signifying “my soul in which case the remainder of 
 
 the strophe must be considered as a mere metaphor, descriptive of the 
 process of the poet’s mind ; whereas the words cr Ttfpavovq kv ’OXvfnriy 
 S7rei d&Zavro , plainly show that he was speaking of the real mules, 
 and requesting the real charioteer to drive him to Pitana ; the whole 
 being a figurative intimation of his purpose to illustrate his hero’s 
 genealogy. 
 
198 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE VI. 
 
 To-day we press for Pitana, # and lave 
 
 Ere night our burning team in cool Eurotas’ wave. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Fair Pitana, + by Neptune’s amorous prayer 
 Press’d, as they tell, her charms to yield, 
 
 The violet-tress’d Evadne X bare. 
 
 She in her anxious breast the virgin pang concealed * * * § 
 Till, past the painful hour, a trusty train 
 
 Charged with the pledge of her cselestial love 
 To HCpytus§ she sent, who ruled the plain, 
 
 Where Alpheus’ waves by famed Phgesana|| rove. 
 There nurtured, with Apollo tasted she 
 The tempting fruit that grows on Love’s forbidden tree. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Escaped not long the guardian King 
 Her altering form, the stolen embrace : 
 
 Page and regret his bosom wring ; 
 
 Where, burying still th’ unknown disgrace, 
 Forthwith the Delphian Fane he sought. 
 
 Meanwhile to shadiest covert lone 
 Her silver urn the damsel brought ; 
 
 There loosed her purple zone, 
 
 * Pitana was a town on the banks of the Laconian Eurotas, which 
 flows through a fertile plain, flanked on the west by Mount Taygetus, 
 and displaying an assemblage of picturesque objects, which Mr. Dodwell, 
 who saw them with a painter’s eye, prefers to every other specimen of 
 Grecian scenery. — Dodw . vol. ii. 409. 
 
 + Fair Pitana. Our poet in this, as in many other instances, iden- 
 tifies the town with the heroine, whose name it bears, and relates the 
 story of the latter. 
 
 £ Evadnd, the mother of Iamus, from whom Agesias was descended. 
 There was another Evadnb, who married Capaneus, one of the seven 
 Argive leaders in the Theban war. 
 
 § jFpytus, the son of Eilatus, king of Arcadia ; whose tomb beneath 
 Mount Cyllene existed in the days of Homer. 
 
 They who beneath Cyllene’s lofty crest. 
 
 Beside the tomb of JEpytus possess’d 
 Arcadia’s plain. — II. ii. 605. 
 
 j| Phcesana, a city some say of Elis, others of Arcadia ; probably the 
 latter, as it was the residence of iEpytus, who, as we have seen, was 
 buried there. 
 
ODE VI.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 199 
 
 And bore the godlike babe unseen 
 Fill’d with the spirit of his Sire ; 
 
 Who with his golden locks and graceful mien 
 Tli assistant Fates* had won, and soothed Eleutho’st ire. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Forth from her arms with short and grateful throe 
 Came lamus to light : her child 
 
 On th’ Earth she left o’erwhelmed with woe : 
 
 Him there two Serpent forms with eyes of azure mild, 
 
 Mysterious ministers of love divine, 
 
 Fed with the baneless beverage of the bee : J 
 
 When now from rocky Pytho’s§ warning shrine 
 In haste the King return’d, and earnestly 
 From all his question’d household ’gan require 
 Evadne’s new-born son, — “ For Phoebus is his sire, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 “ Destin’d before all mortals to prevail 
 “ The peerless prophet of mankind ; 
 
 “ Whose race, whose name shall never fail.” 
 
 Thus represented he : they with one voice combined 
 
 All vow’d their ignorance : nor sight had seen, 
 
 Nor infant sound had heard : for he five days 
 
 ’Mong shrubs and pathless briars and rushes green 
 Had lain, the dewy violet’s mingled rays|| 
 
 * Fates. The three Fates, well known by the names of Clotho, 
 Lachesis, and Atropos, were said to be the daughters of Jupiter and 
 Themis, that is, of Power and Justice. — Hesiod , Theog. 904. 
 
 *j* Eleutho , or Ilithyia, the same with Lucina, the daughter of Juno, 
 and the Goddess of Parturition. — See Nemean ode vii. 1. 1, and notes. 
 
 J The bee. The bees were said by the Greeks to have settled upon 
 Plato’s lips, and to have nourished Pindar, in their infancies ; denoting 
 thereby the eloquence of the former and the poetry of the latter ; who 
 may himself have a.luded in this passage by the same fiction to the 
 prophetic effusions of lamus and his race. 
 
 § Rocky Pytho, TrtTgakaaaQ : the same characteristic epithet is given 
 by Homer {II. ii. 519) to this place, afterwards more commonly called 
 Delphi, the seat of the celebrated oracle of Apollo, situated near the 
 fountain of Castalia, among the rocks and cliffs that projected and 
 rise almost around it at the foot of Mount Parnassus. — Strab. lib. ix. 
 640. 
 
 j] Rays sprinkling, &c. The words, in the beautiful original of this 
 passage, are, &ktI(t l J3t€geyuL£VGQ ; so Lucretius, 
 
200 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE VI 
 
 Sprinkling with purple and gold his tender frame • 
 
 Whence fond Evadne’s joy proclaimed his deathless name.* 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 .Now when fresh youth its golden flower 
 Full o’er his blooming cheeks had strew’d, 
 
 Alone at night’s tempestuous hour! 
 
 In Alpheus’ midmost stream he stood. 
 
 He call’d his grandsire Neptune’s name, 
 
 Wide Ruler of the boisterous deep ; 
 
 Call’d on that Archer J God whose flame 
 Beams on the Delian steep ; 
 
 For patriot fame he pour’d his prayer 
 Beneath the vault of heav’n : “ My son,” 
 
 Replied his Sire’s unerring speech, 4 ‘ repair 
 To yon frequented tract, my Word shall lead thee on.” 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 Forthwith they stood on Cronium’s topmost stone, 
 
 High as the sun’s meridian road : § 
 
 There paused the God, and on his son 
 The rich and twofold boon of prophecy || bestow’d : 
 
 Mark how th’ sethereal sun incessantly 
 
 With fresh refulgence sprinkles all the sky. — b. v. 
 
 * His deathless name. The Greek word for violet is iov, ion ; from 
 whence our author (not very obviously) supposes that the name of 
 litmus was derived. 
 
 f See Olympic ode i. antistrophe iii. Wliere Pelops invokes Neptune 
 by night in the same manner. 
 
 X Archer God. Apollo, whom Homer calls apyvpoToZog, and Virgil 
 Arcitenens ; as Lucretius, imitated by Grey, calls the rays of light, 
 lucida tela diei, the glittering shafts of day. 
 
 § Hamm, in his Lexicon, derives the word aXitarov from aXirsio, 
 titubo, to totter, and fiaaig , gressus, a step, and explains it to mean 
 invia et prserupta, i. e. an inaccessible rock, or a rock on which there is 
 no sure footing : 1 have, however, adopted, what he calls, the exploded 
 etymology of tfXiog and f3aivto, denoting a place as high as the sun’s 
 path, which appears to me to be at least a more poetical expression of 
 altitude than the other. 
 
 || The commentators are not agreed as to what our author meant by 
 this twofold boon of prophecy : — Heyne thinks that he meant augury 
 and pyromancy ; Benedict suggests that it is pyromancy and enthusiasm ; 
 and the Scholiast, that it was the privilege, first, of hearing Apollo’s 
 own voice on that occasion, and, secondly, of officiating as priest, when 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 201 
 
 ODE VI.] 
 
 Gave him to hear the voice that cannot lie ; 
 
 Bade him, when Hercules # in after-days, 
 
 Flower of the great Alcsean progeny, 
 
 His Sire’s frequented Festival should raise 
 And proud Olympian Game, by gift divine 
 On Jove’s high altar plant his oracle and shrine. 
 
 &NTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 Thence through all Greece the seed of Iamus 
 Bright Honour followed ; in its train 
 Came potent Wealth ; the virtuous thus 
 To Fame’s conspicuous path by action proved attain. 
 Yet envious hearts there are no worth can warm ; 
 
 Which e’en the chariot-crown with rancour fills 
 ’Gainst modest Merit ; o’er whose brightening form 
 Victory her own ingenuous grace distils. 
 
 If yet, Agesias, thy maternal race, 
 
 Whose affluent dwellings rose by old Cy llene’s f base, 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 ' Have knelt at Mercury’s]: sacred shrine 
 The swift-wing’d herald of the skies, 
 
 With soothing prayers and gifts divine ; 
 
 (He guards the games, allots the prize, 
 
 the games should thereafter be established, at Jove’s high altar at 
 Olympia. I have preferred the latter as more obvious and more con- 
 sistent with the structure of the passage. 
 
 * Hercules. See Olympic ode iii. antistrophe ii., and Olympic ode x. 
 strophe iii. et seqq. 
 
 f Cyllend is the highest mountain in Arcadia, near which is the lake 
 and the ruins (formerly the town) of Stymphalus, where the maternal 
 ancestors of Agesias had their origin. ' 
 
 X Mercury is said to have been bora on this mountain, 
 
 Mercury, whom lovely Maia long before 
 
 On cold Cyllene’s top impregnate bore. — Virg. JEn. viii. 139. 
 
 The ruins of the temple of this god were visible on its summit in the 
 days of Pausanias, and a colossal statue of him made of citron wood. — 
 Pans. lib. viii. c. 17. And Mr. Dodwell tells us that there are to this 
 day coins at Pheneas, a town built on one of the branches of Cyllenfe, 
 bearing some the figure, some the head, of Mercury. That Pindar was 
 partial to this deity may, perhaps, be in some degree supposed from his 
 
202 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE VL 
 
 And loves Arcadia’s youth) ; ’twas he, 
 
 Aided by thundering Jove’s regard, 
 
 Gave, son of Sostratus, to thee 
 Thy conquest and reward — 
 
 A prompting power, methinks, I feel 
 A sharpening whetstone on my tongue ;* 
 
 That stirs my flowing numbers to reveal 
 Our old Arcadian root, and leads the willing song. 
 
 strophe v. 
 
 ’Twas fair Metope’s t love, Stymphalian spouse,. 
 
 To Thebes equestrian Thebb gave ; 
 
 In whose sweet fount, for warriors’ brows 
 Weaving the various hymn, my tuneful lips I lave. 
 
 tracing the genbalogy of Thebb, the tutelary genius of Thebes, to 
 Metope, the Stymphalian : we learn also from Pausanias, that there was 
 a statue of him, the poet’s own offering, in the Temple of Diana, in that 
 city. — Pans. lib. ix. c. 17. The interest which Mercury is here re- 
 presented to have taken in the Games is repeated in the first antistrophe 
 of the second Pythian. We learn also from Chandler (vol. ii. p. 323), 
 that the roads near Olympia abounded with his statues ; and his altar 
 was at the entrance of the Stadium. — See Pans. lib. v. c. 14, where, as 
 in the second Pythian, he is called Enagonius, that is, the patron of the 
 Games. Being also the inventor of the lyre, and the god of agility, he 
 could not fail to be an object of regard to the lyric panegyrist of the 
 Olympic exercises. 
 
 * Tongue. In this strange passage, where in the original all sorts of 
 metaphors are mixed together, the tongue is likened to a sharp instru- 
 ment ; as it is again in the first Pythian ode, stro. v., and as in Holy 
 Writ, “and their tongue a sharp sword.” 
 
 Metope. Metope (as we learn from Callimachus, Hymn. Jwp. 1. 26), 
 was an ancient river of Arcadia, said to be the daughter of Ladon, 
 another river of the same country celebrated for the excellence of its 
 water. — Pans. lib. viii. c. 20. She is said to have been wedded to 
 Asopus, a river of Boeotia, and that Thebe was the issue of the ; carriage. 
 In this allegorical genealogy is probably recorded the arrival of a colony 
 of Arcadians from the banks of the Metopb to the banks of the Asopus 
 in Boeotia, and fhe foundation or enlargement of the Theban city, thus 
 substantially, as she is colourably represented in this pleasing fiction, 
 the offspring of the two rivers. The poet gives the epithet TzXa^nnroQ, 
 chastiser of horses, which I have rendered by equestrian, to Thebb the 
 genius of Thebes, signifying that the Thebans were skilled in the 
 management of horses either for battle or the race. Hesiod, his coun try- 
 man, gives the sam ? epithet to the Boeotians. — Scut. Here. 1. 24. 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 203 
 
 ODE VI. | 
 
 Rise, iEneas,* and enjoin thy swelling choirs 
 To sing Partheniant Jnno, then declare, 
 
 If the stale stigma that belied onr Sires, 
 
 (Boeotian boars, J forsooth) ! we still shall bear. 
 
 Thou art Truth’s harbinger, the Muse’s tongue, 
 
 Her mystic § staff, the cup that pours her potent song. 
 
 * iEneas (whose name Mr. Pye pronounces like that of the founder 
 of the Romans), was the leader of the band or chorus, by whom this ode 
 was to be sung. 
 
 f Parthenian Juno. The Scholiasts, Damm, Heyne, and others, con- 
 sider this epithet to have been given to Juno from her being, as they say, 
 worshipped on Mount Parthenius in Arcadia. The reader will judge 
 whether it is not probable that Pindar, by the epithet 7r apQeviav, meant 
 the virgin Juno, in a passage which ascribes to his nation a Stymphalian 
 origin of remote antiquity ; rather than that he was referring to Mount 
 Parthenius, situated, according to D’Anville, at a considerable distance 
 from Stymphalus, between Tegea and the Argolic gulph. 
 
 t Boeotian boars. This name was given to the Boeotians to denote 
 their proverbial stupidity, which Horace, as we know, ascribes to the 
 thickness of the atmosphere. It is suggested that the name vg (hus, a 
 boar) was given to them in consequence of their country being anciently 
 inhabited by a race called the vavrtg, Huantes ; but that word might 
 have had the same origin. 
 
 § Mystic staff. The word cncvraXr /, scutalb, which I have thus trans- 
 lated, signifies a military staff in use among the Spartans for the purpose 
 of conveying secret orders to their general. It was a smooth cylinder 
 or truncheon, which was delivered to him at his departure from the city; 
 where another of the same size and shape was kept by the chief magis- 
 trate. When the orders were required to be sent, a narrow band was 
 wound spirally round the latter from one end to the other, so that the sides 
 or edges of the band exactly coincided without any interval between 
 them, the whole surface of the staff being thus completely covered. 
 The orders were then written in straight lines longitudinally from end 
 to end across the spiral windings of the band, which was then taken off 
 and transmitted to the general ; the staff round which it had been wound 
 remaining with the magistrate. The general who received the band had 
 only to wind it in the same manner round the corresponding staff in his 
 possession, by means of which the words and letters were again reunited 
 and arranged, and. the orders, which the messenger could not decypher, 
 became immediately intelligible. — Thucyd. lib. i. The reader will per- 
 ceive how accurately HSneas, who was to bear the ode to Syracuse, to be 
 there opened and poured forth, is represented by the scutalb and the cup, 
 to which the poet has compared him. 
 
204 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE XL 
 
 ANTISTROPH-E Y. 
 
 Bid them remember Syracuse, and sing 
 
 Of proud Ortygia’s throne, secure 
 In Hiero’s rule, her upright king. 
 
 With frequent prayer he serves and worship pure 
 The rosy-sandal'd Ceres/'" and her fair 
 
 Daughter, whose car the milk-white + steeds impel, 
 And Jove, whose might th’ .ZEtnsean J fires declare. 
 
 The lay, the sweet-toned lyre his praises tell ; 
 
 Time, mar not his success ! with welcome sweet 
 Agesias’ choral pomp his liberal smile shall greet. 
 
 EPODE Y. 
 
 Lo from Arcadia’s parent seat, 
 
 Her old Stymphalian walls, they come, 
 
 From fields with flocks o’erspread, to meet 
 Sicilia’s swains, from home to home. 
 
 O’er the swift prow, when night-storms lour, 
 
 Two anchors oft ’tis well to cast — 
 
 Heav’n on them both its blessings pour, 
 
 And bid their glories last. 
 
 Lord of the main ! direct aright, 
 
 With toils unvex’d their prosperous way ; 
 
 Spouse of the golden- wanded Amphitrite,§ 
 
 With lovelier hues enrich the flowers that crown my lay. 
 
 * Ceres and her daughter Proserpine were worshipped in Sicily, from 
 whence the latter, while gathering flowers in the field of Enna, is said 
 to have been ravished by Pluto, and carried to the shades below ; and 
 Hiero is said to have been their high priest. Ceres was also highly 
 honoured at Olympia, where her priestess, exclusively of all other females, 
 was permitted to sit on an altar of white marble, opposite the Hellanodics, 
 at the celebration of the games. 
 
 f Milk-white steeds. The Scholiast informs us, that when Ceres reco- 
 vered Proserpine from her Stygian ravisher, she took her to Olympus in 
 a chariot drawn by white horses ; but whether in token of her innocence 
 or dignity, or both, is not explained. 
 
 X JEtneean, dec. Jupiter was the tutelary deity of Mount iEtna as 
 well as of Olympia. — Olympic ode iv. stro. i. and Pythian ode i. 
 antistro. ii. 
 
 § Amphitrite (the daughter of Nereus and of Doris, the daughter of 
 Oceanus) was the wife of Neptune. — Hes. Theog. 1. 240. There was a 
 statue of them both mounted in a chariot, which Pausanias saw in the 
 temple of the Isthmian Neptune. — Pans. lib. v. c. 1. 
 
ODE VII. j 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 20 5 
 
 ODE VII.* 
 
 TO DIAGORAS OF RHODES, 
 
 Victor in the Game of Boxing . 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 As one, whose wealthy hands enfold 
 The sparkling cupt of massy gold 
 Froth’d i with the vineyard’s purple tide, 
 
 His Banquet’s grace, his Treasure’s pride, 
 
 Presents it to the youthful spouse 
 Pledged in full draught from house to house ; 
 
 And thus affection’s honours fondly paid, 
 
 "While on the soft connubial hour 
 Encircling friends their blessings pour, 
 
 Gives to his envied arms the coy consenting maid. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. V \ 
 
 Thus to the Youth, whose conquering brow 
 Th’ Olympian wears or Pythian bough, 
 
 Lord of his hope, inspired I pay 
 The tribute of my liquid lay, 
 
 The nectar|| of the Muse’s bowl, 
 
 Press’d from the clusters of the soul. 
 
 * This ode is said to have been so pleasing to the Rhodians, that they 
 had it written in letters of gold, and consecrated in the temple of the 
 Lindian Minerva, in honour not only of their island and its boasted 
 champion, but of our immortal poet. 
 
 f I have not been able to find any other mention of this interesting 
 ingredient in the nuptial ceremony, which, from the manner in which it 
 is introduced on this occasion, was no doubt familiar to the Greeks. A 
 recent account of the rites of modern marriages in that country tells us, 
 that the solemnity concludes with the bride and bridegroom drinking 
 wine out of the same cup. See Quarterly Review, vol. xxiii. p. 348. 
 
 X Froth'd, &c. I am not aware of any English word equivalent to 
 the original Kqy\dZ,oi(jav, which is meant to express the rustling sound 
 of brisk wine poured into a goblet, occasioned by the bursting of its 
 minute and innumerable bubbles. ^Eschylus applies it in the same 
 manner to the frothings of the sea. K v/jca Kaxha^ei. — 'E 7 rr. HO* 
 
 || The nectar, &c. This comparison of poetry and r ectar, in terms 
 resembling this passage, had occurred also to Anacreon. 
 
 Pledge to the youths thy goblet gay, 
 
 The goblet of thy winning lay, 
 
206 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE VII. 
 
 Blest they, whose deeds applauding worlds admire ! 
 
 For them, as each her glance partakes, 
 
 The life-enlightening Grace* awakes 
 The various vocal flute, the sweet melodious lyre. 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 To-day the lyre and flute and song, 
 
 Boused by Diagoras, + I move, 
 
 Hymning fair BhodeJ from Yenus sprung, 
 
 The Sun’s own Nymph § and watery love : 
 
 Till every thirsty soul has quaff’d 
 
 The solace of the nectar’d draught, &c . — Ode lxiv. 
 
 To which we may add a beautiful though well-known line from 
 Theocritus, 
 
 The Muse had pour’d sweet nectar on his 3ips. — Idyl. vii. 1. 82. 
 
 * It is difficult to distinguish the Graces from the Muses by the 
 functions ascribed to them by Pindar. Whatever difference, however, 
 there is between them, appears to be in favour of the Graces, whom he 
 makes the givers of every noble accomplishment. — See Olymp. ode ix. 
 ep. i. and Olymp. ode xiv. stro. i. 
 
 f Diagoras. This celebrated champion was six feet five inches high, 
 and was victorious in the boxing-match, not only at the Olympic, but at 
 the Pythian and Isthmian Games. He was the son of Damagetus the 
 Rhodian, and had three sons, named Acusilaiis, Damagetus, and Dorieus, 
 and two grandsons, Eucles and Pisidorus, the sons of his two daughters, 
 who were all victorious at Olympia, as boxers or pancratiasts. It is 
 said of Pisidorus, that his mother, habited as a gymnastic master, exer- 
 cised him for, or led him to, the contest ; and of Diagoras, that having 
 gone with his two sons, Acusilaiis and Damagetus, to Olympia, the 
 youths, on being declared victorious, bore him in their arms through the 
 midst of the spectators, who showered garlands on his head, and felici- 
 tated him on the virtues of his children. A group of statues repre- 
 senting this athletic family as large as life was erected near that of 
 Lysander in the Altis at Olympia. — See the old and younger Scholiast, 
 and Pausanias, lib. vi. c. 7- 
 
 X Rhode. The Genius of Rhodes is here poetically represented as the 
 daughter of Yenus, and as the bride or paramour of the Sun. Yenus, or 
 Aphrodite, as we know, is said by Hesiod to have risen from the sea ; 
 and therefore Pindar, as Mr. Girdlestone well observes, agrees with 
 others, who refer the parentage of Rhode more directly to the deities of 
 that element, and with his own account in this ode of the origin of the 
 Isle itself. The proverbial sunnyness of its climate, where they say the 
 sun shines every day in the year, will explain her allegorical dalliance 
 with that luminary ; and its descent from the beautiful daughter of the 
 sea probably refers to the loveliness of its scenery and to its commercial 
 and maritime pre-eminence. 
 
 § Nymph . This word, vvpcpav in the original, signifies the bride or 
 paramo jit. 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 2J7 
 
 ODE VII.] 
 
 With her the giant boxer’s praise to sound, 
 
 The champion’s noblest hire, 
 
 By Alpheus’ stream,* Castalia’s fountain crown’d; 
 And Damagete his old and upright Sire, 
 
 Pride of the beauteous Isle, whose Argivef host 
 
 By Asia’s beaked J shore three § Sovereign Cities boast. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Fain would my lay their legends trace, 
 
 Divine Alcides’ powerful race 
 From old Tlepolemus,|| and prove 
 Their boasted Sire’s descent from Jove, 
 
 Amyntor’s fair Astydame 
 The root of their maternal tree. 
 
 * A Ipheus ’ stream , dec. The river Alpheus flowing by Olympia, and 
 the fountain of Castalia issuing from Parnassus but just above the Sta- 
 dium at Pytho, the poet means that Diagoras was victorious both at 
 the Pythian and Olympic Games. 
 
 + Argive host. The island of Rhodes was partly peopled by a colony 
 of Argives, led thither by Tlepolemus, the son of Hercules. 
 
 X Asia's beaked shore. The northern end of this island lies opposite 
 to the promontory of Persea in Caria, not far from, if not a part of, the 
 south-western extremity of Mount Taurus ( Stra . lib. xiv. p. 962), and 
 projecting probably like the beak of a ship into the sea. So Milton 
 speaks of the gust 
 
 That blows from off each beaked promontory. — Lycid. 94. 
 
 I conclude, therefore, with Heyne, that this was what the poet meant 
 by ’A(t Lag evpvxbpov i rsXag kp&oXp, “near the beak of the spacious 
 Asia.” The Scholiast mentions a sacred spot called tptoXoq on a rock 
 running into the sea, near the town of Arycanda in Lycia, to which 
 he supposes the poet may refer. Those who have failed with me in 
 discovering its situation (there being no such town in D’Anville), will 
 perhaps agree with Heyne, that his is the safer and more simple ex- 
 position. 
 
 § Three Sovereign Cities. These three cities, as appears in the latter 
 part of this ode, were called Ialysus, Lindus, and Cameirus, founded by 
 three persons bearing those names, but, according to others, by Tle- 
 polemus. 
 
 || Tlepolemus was the son of Hercules, by Astydameia or Astydamb, 
 the daughter of Amyntor, the same probably whom Homer calls Astyo- 
 cheia (II. ii. 658), but whom he does not describe in v. 513 to be the 
 daughter of Actor, as one of the Scholiasts erroneously supposes. If 
 Amyntor was, as the other Scholiast suggests, descended from Tlepole- 
 mus, it would have been idle in the poet to have named Astydameia as 
 the root of the maternal pedigree. 
 
208 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 fODE VIL 
 
 But o’er men’s hearts unnumber’d errors hang ; 
 
 Nor can dim Reason’s glimmering show 
 The flowery path untrod by woe, 
 
 Or find the day’s delight, that brings no morrow’s pang.* 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 For ey’n the founder chief, t that plann’d 
 The fortunes of this prosperous land, 
 
 With olive club by rage impell’d, 
 
 Alcmena’s spurious brother fell’d : 
 
 Midst Tiryns’ walls by Midea’s side 
 In her own porch Licymnius died. 
 
 Alas ! not Wisdom’s self has power to quell 
 The furious passions, when they meet 
 To tear her from her judgment-seat ! 
 
 Distracted at the deed he sought the Delphian cell. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Apollo waved his golden locks, 
 
 And warn’d him from his fragrant fane, 
 Forthwith to steer from Lerna’sJ rocks 
 For the rich realm amidst the main, 
 
 * Hesiod has a similar sentiment, viz. — 
 
 Wisest is he who, all things understood, 
 
 Prescribes the future in the present good. 
 
 f The fowider chief. Tlepolemus, who (by accident, as others say) 
 slew Lycimnius, the natural son of Midea by Alectryon, Alcmena’s 
 father. Tiryns was an Argive city, celebrated for its massive walls, 
 consisting of huge blocks of stone without cement, and said to have 
 been erected by the Cyclops. Their remains are to this day the wonder 
 of *the traveller. — JDodw. Trav. vol. ii. p. 248. Clarice's Trav. vol. iii. 
 p. 650. From this Licymnius, the Tirynthian acropolis, probably took 
 the name of Licymnia, ascribed to it by Strabo (lib. viii. p. 572), as the 
 neighbouring town of Midea, now utterly destroyed, was named from 
 Midea, his mother, being, as Pausanias tells us (lib. ii. c. 25), the king- 
 dom of Alectryon. 
 
 X Lerna y a country bordering on the Argolic gulph, better known for 
 its morass or lake, where Hercules destroyed the Hydra. 
 
ODE VII. | 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 209 
 
 Where erst with golden shower imperial Jove 
 Bedew’d the wondering town ; 
 
 What time his brazen axe* stout Yulcan drove, 
 
 And Pallas from the Thunderer’s rifted crown 
 With outcry loud and long impetuous broke ; 
 
 Heaven shudder’d, and old Earth + with dread maternal 
 shook. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 ’Twas then Hyperion’s sonj divine, 
 
 Lamp of the world, his Phodian line 
 In haste enjoin’d with duteous eye 
 To watch th’ expected prodigy ; 
 
 That first of mortal votaries they 
 Their shining altar might display, 
 
 Jove and the Virgin $ of the Thundering Spear 
 The first with solemn rites to soothe. 
 
 Precaution thus the paths of Truth 
 To Virtue’s footstep shows, and cheers her rough career. 
 
 * With brazen axe. The ancients fabled that Minerva issued from 
 the head of Jupiter, opened at his request by the axe of Yulcan ; from 
 whence Milton has allegorized the birth of Sin. — Par. L. ii. 7 55. Pau- 
 sanias, however, tells us that, according to a Libyan story which had 
 reached him, Minerva was the daughter of Neptune and the lake Tri- 
 ^tonis, from whence she derived the title of Tritonia, and her azure eyes. 
 — Pans. lib. i. c. 14. Hesiod, however ( Theog . 923), and Anacreon (ode 
 53) agree with Pindar in affiliating this goddess on the head of Jupiter. 
 
 f Earth. Ovpavog icai Tala fiarrip in the original. The Earth (the 
 Deftm Mater of Lucretius) was, according to Hesiod, Theog. 126-32, 
 the mother of Uranus, Heaven, without a father ; there is great force, 
 therefore, in the poet’s saying that even that son, and the matron 
 Earth, who had so singularly produced him, shuddered at the portent ot 
 Minerva’s birth. This passage will remind the reader of Catullus’s 
 spirited description of the effect of Jupiter’s nod (imitated from Homer), 
 in his beautiful poem on the marriage of Peleus and Thetis. 
 
 His nod divine th’ Eternal Ruler gave : 
 
 Earth and the shuddering deep one tremor shares, 
 
 And Heaven, astounded, shook the twinkling spheres. 
 
 ■£ Hyperion is a name for the Sun in Homer and other ancient 
 writers : but Hesiod, followed by Pindar, his countryman, in so many 
 instances, describes the Sun as the offspring of Hyperion and Theia, and 
 Theia as the daughter of Tala, the Earth, by her son Ovpavog, the 
 Heaven. — Theog. 374. It is remarkable that the Sun, Apollo, and Hy - 
 perion, so frequently identified, are treated as three distinct persons 
 throughout this ode. 
 
 § Jupiter appears, from the fifth antistrophe of this ode, to have been 
 
 P 
 
210 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE VII. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Yet oft before tbe wariest eyes 
 Mists of forgetfulness arise, 
 
 And unexpectedly betray 
 
 Tbe wandering purpose from its way. 
 
 5 Twas thus, the seeds* of fire forgot, + 
 
 Their high-built shrine the Rhodians sought, 
 With unburnt offerings heap’d ; yet showers of gold 
 J ove pour’d J upon them from the cloud ; 
 
 And Pallas’ self their hands endow’d 
 With more than mortal skill her rarest works to mould. 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Spread far and wide their various praise : 
 
 In all mysterious crafts they shone, 
 
 Strew’d o’er their walls, their public ways, 
 
 The sculptured life, the breathing stone. § 
 
 worshipped at Rhodes, on the 'mountain Atabyrium ; and Minerva’s 
 temple at Lindus, said to have been built by Danaiis or his daughters 
 ( Diod . lib. v. Stra. lib. xiv.), has been already noticed above. 
 
 * Seeds of fire. Thus “ignis semina” and “semina flammae” in Lu- 
 cretius and Virgil, and <nrkpfia 7r vpog, Horn. Od. v. 490. 
 
 f This omission in Pagan estimation was of no little moment, fire 
 being generally used in all their sacrifices, even on the altars of the 
 Furies, as Mr. Blomfield has shown. — Gloss, on JEsch. Agam. 1. 69. 
 Our author is supposed by West to have mentioned this circumstance 
 to account for a peculiarity in the ceremonies of the Rhodians, who laid 
 the victims on their altars first and the fire afterwards. 
 
 X Jove pour’d. Heyne observes, that - Pindar had probably before his 
 eyes Homer’s 7r \ovtov icarkx^ve (11. ii. 677), where the same story of 
 Tlepolemus is related. 
 
 § The breathing stone. The original, tpya ZwoZaiv tfyrrovrtGGi 9* 
 ofjLola, works that resemble living and moving beings, will remind the 
 classical reader of Praxinoe's admiration of the tapestries and pictures 
 in Ptolemy’s palace at Alexandria. 
 
 What hands, 0 Pallas, work’d the woofs I view ! 
 
 What painter’s art such perfect pictures drew ? 
 
 How true they stand, and move, and quite appear 
 
 Alive, not wrought ! — what clever things men are ! 
 
 Theocr. Idyl. xv. 1. 83. 
 
 The poet alludes in this passage to the numerous works of art for 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 211 
 
 ODE VII- ] 
 
 ’Twas Genius strengthen’d by the toils of Art. 
 
 Yet once, as stories say, 
 
 When Jove Earth’s ample field to part 
 
 ’Mongst all the gods decreed, the Lord of Day 
 Above the waves saw not the Rhodian steep, 
 
 By fate still bound within the dungeon of the deep. 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 Absent on function high the lot 
 Of the bright Sun his peers forgot ; 
 
 And he the purest of the skies 
 Shared not the rich terrestrial prize. 
 
 Warn’d of the wrong, high Jove again 
 The partial lots proposed, in vain; 
 
 “ For that mine eye discerns,” the Sun replied, 
 
 “ A region gathering from the ground, 
 
 “ For man’s delight all planted round 
 “ With fruits and pastures fair beneath the foaming tide.” 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 Forthwith commanded he to rise 
 The golden-vested Lachesis,* 
 
 With lifted handf and fatal nod 
 To give the sanction of a god, 
 
 Join’d with Saturnian Jove, and swear, 
 
 When time that shoal to heav’n should rear. 
 
 Its realm his boon should be. The pledge divine 
 On Truth’s unfailing pinion flew ; 
 
 Promise to Consummation grew ; 
 
 Up sprung the beauteous isle and budded from the brine. 
 
 which Rhodes was so distinguished, particularly its enormous statues, 
 of which the well-known Colossus, dedicated to the Sun, was the largest, 
 being the brazen figure of a man a hundred and five feet high. It was 
 the work of Chares the Lindian, which word Voltaire, mistaking (I pre- 
 sume) for L’Indien, has gaily observed, that the Colossus was cast by 
 an Indian. — Clarke's Travels , vol. ii. p. 225. 
 
 * Lachesis, one of the three Fates, the daughters of Jupiter an3 
 Themis. — lies. Theog. &04. 
 
 f The lifted hand was among the Greeks the accompaniment of S 
 solemn oath (Pott. Antiq. vol. i. p. 251), as the nod was the vehicle 
 of divine assent. 
 
 y 2 
 
212 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 ] ODE vn. 
 
 EPODE IY. 
 
 His blooming lot the genial Sire, 
 
 That frames the pointed beams of day, 
 
 That rules the steeds whose breath is fire, 
 
 Received. There oft with Rhode he lay ; 
 
 Till seven brave sons with matchless wisdom fraught, 
 
 Their fruitful raptures crown’d. 
 
 The first Ialysus begot,* 
 
 And Lindus, and Cameirus : they, their bound 
 Paternal into three partitions thrown, 
 
 Each chose his several realm, and named it for his own. 
 
 strophe v. 
 
 TlepolemuSjt whose high command 
 Once led the brave Tirynthian band, 
 
 There, as a god, due honours knows, 
 
 The rich rewards of all his woes, 
 
 Victims on fuming altars slain, 
 
 Umpires and Games to grace the plain. 
 
 There twice the stout Diagoras was crown’d ; 
 
 Four times from Isthmian J lists he bore 
 The mantling wreath, and many more 
 From Nemea’s crowded grove and rough Athense’s mound. 
 
 * Ialysus, Lindus, and Cameirus were the three ancient cities of this 
 island, of which Lindus, built on the southern coast, opposite Alexandria 
 (Stra. lib. xiv. p. 655), long continued, the remains, as Savary says 
 (p. 96), being still visible on an eminence near the sea. The inhabitants 
 of the other two were transferred to the new city of Rhodes, built on 
 the eastern coast of the island, and which became, according to the 
 testimony of all writers, the noblest and most magnificent of all the 
 cities of the ancient world, celebrated for the beauty of its climate, for 
 painting, statuary (which was called the Rhodian art), learning, eloquence, 
 commerce, politeness, liberty, and legislation. 
 
 f Tlepolemus, as we learn from the fifth Iliad, 1. 628, was killed by 
 Sarpedon at the Trojan war ; his bones, however, were brought back 
 to Rhodes, and sacred rites and games instituted in honour of his 
 memory. 
 
 X The Isthmian Games were celebrated in the Isthmus of Corinth, 
 near the Temple of Neptune, to the north-east of that city, not far from 
 the Saronian gulf, as were the Nemean Games at the town of Nemea, 
 aituated between Rhliuns and Cleonae in the way from Argos to Corinth. 
 — Stra. lib. viii. p. 579, 80. 
 
ODE VII.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES; 
 
 213 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V. 
 
 Him Argos with her brazen shield* 
 
 Endow’d ; him fair Arcadia’s field ;+ 
 
 Him Thebes, and all the heroic games 
 Which old Bceotia’s custom claims ; 
 
 HCgina him her champion shows ; 
 
 Him six times crown’d Pellene knows, 
 
 And Megara’s stone, o’erblazon’d with his praise. 
 
 O thou, that rear’st thy temple bleak 
 On Atabyrium’s J topmost peak, 
 
 Great Jove, with favour hear our loud triumphal lays. 
 
 epode v. 
 
 Raise thou the man, whose arm hath found 
 Renown in famed Olympia’s vale ; 
 
 Bid citizens his deeds resound, 
 
 Strangers his name with reverence hail. 
 
 Just, like his upright sires, unblamed he walks 
 His unpresumptuous way. 
 
 Hide not his race from good Callianax,§ 
 
 His tribe Eratian tell : for him to-day 
 The whole state feasts — but in a moment’s change 
 To every point the gusts of public favour range. 
 
 * Brazen shield. Mr. Dodwell tells us, on the authority of Plutarch 
 (Life of Pyrrhus), that the principal of the two citadels at Argos was 
 called acnrig, Aspis, a shield, being the place where the 'Hpata, Hersea, 
 or Games in honour of Juno, were celebrated, and in which the prize 
 was a brazen shield. The Argives were famous for their shields, for 
 which reason Virgil compares the eye of Polypheme to an Argolic shield, 
 and HSschylus calls them cKJ7ndrj<})6pog (or a(J7rida(JTp6(pog) Xeojg . — 
 Blomf. Agam. 788 . 
 
 + Arcadia's field , ‘&c. There were games celebrated in Arcadia 
 sacred to the Lycaean Jupiter ; in Thebes, to Iolas and Hercules ; in 
 Boeotia, at Oropus, to Amphiaraus, and at Lebadaea to Trophonius ; in 
 the island of iEgina to iEacus ; and the Theoxenia, at Pellene in 
 Achaia, in which the prize was a woollen garment. — See Olymp. ode ix. 
 antistro. iv. In all these Diagoras had been victorious, and so fre- 
 quently so at Megara, that the pillar of stone, on which the names and 
 exploits of the victors were inscribed, was filled with the accounts of his 
 successes. 
 
 £ Atabyrium, the highest mountain in Rhodes, situated towards its 
 southern extremity, on the top of which stood Jupiter’s temple ; not 
 far, therefore, from the Lindian temple of Minerva. 
 
 § Callianax. The Scholiast tells us, that Callianax was the grand- 
 
214 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ode m 
 
 ODE VTII. 
 
 TO ALCIMEDON AND TIMOSTHENES HIS BROTHER, 
 
 Victors among the Youths in Wrestling , the former at the 
 Olympic, the latter at the Nemean Games . 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 Olympia, mother of the Games, 
 
 Where Worth his golden chaplet claims ; 
 
 Mistress of Truth whose fate-exploring Priest 
 Prom the slain victim t learns, if highest Jove, 
 
 Whose hand the dazzling thunder throws, 
 
 Views with regard the dauntless breast, 
 
 That, fired with Virtue’s noblest love, 
 
 Pants but for Fame and Victory’s sweet repose. 
 
 antistrophe i. 
 
 Such blazon gracious Heaven allows 
 To prophets’ pure and pious vows. 
 
 But thou, Pissean Grove, whose branches wave 
 O’er Alpheus’ stream, accept the wreaths I bear, 
 Triumphal strains. A deathless name 
 
 Thy glorious guerdon gives the brave. 
 
 Hot all the same distinctions share : 
 
 Various the paths divine, that lead to fame. 
 
 father of Diagoras, whose earlier ancestor Eratides gave its name to the 
 tribe mentioned by the poet. 
 
 * Mistress of Truth. This alludes to the Prophecies of the Priest, 
 descended from lamus, who presided at the great altar of Jupiter. — See 
 Olymp. ode vi. stro. 1. 
 
 + The slain victim. The heart, liver, and other intestines of the 
 victim, according to their soundness or unsoundness, supplied the priest 
 or augur with the means of divination. — Pott. Antiq. vol. i. p. 315. It 
 should seem from this passage that they were consulted by the Athletes 
 prior to the contest as to their prospects of success. 
 
ODE VIII.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 215 
 
 EPOBE I. 
 
 You, valiant youths, kind Destiny consign’d 
 To Jove your natal genius : he thy name, 
 Timosthenes,^ proclaim’d in Nemea’s Game, 
 
 While Pisa’s wreaths Alcimedon entwined : 
 
 Of beauty’s manliest mould was he ; 
 
 Nor fail’d his act the warrant of his face ; 
 
 Crown’d with the Wrestler’s victory 
 ^Egina’s isle t he named his native place : 
 
 Where all to Themis J bow, that sits above, 
 
 Saviour at once and judge, by Hospitable J ove, 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 No where so reverenced. Hard it is 
 Where interests clash and contests rise 
 To meet th’ occasion, yet wdth judgment pure 
 
 The scales of right sustain. By Heav’n’s decree 
 That sea-girt isle thus proudly stands 
 
 (Still strengthening Time its weal secure), 
 
 Like some blest column in the sea, 
 
 T’ invite and guide all strangers from all lands ; § 
 
 * Timosthenes. There was another champion of this name, an Elean, 
 who was victor among the youths at Olympia, where his statue re- 
 mained in the days of Pausanias, lib. vi. c. 2. The poet represents 
 Jupiter to be their tutelary genius, being the god to whom the Nemean 
 as well as the Olympic Games were dedicated. — See Nemean , ode ii. 
 stro. 1. 
 
 + jEginots isle. HSgina is a well-known island in the Saronian gulf 
 between Argolis and Attica, formerly called HCnonb, and said to have 
 been the birth-place and kingdom of iEacus, the grandfather of Achilles, 
 distinguished for its naval power at the time of the Persian war, and 
 being from its great commercial prosperity a place of general resort.— 
 See Mr. Dodwell’s account of it, Trav. vol. i. p. 558, et seq. 
 
 J Themis, the mother of Justice according to Hesiod ( Thtog . 135', 
 was the daughter of the Earth and Heaven. cEschylus, however, tells 
 us that Themis and the Earth were but two names for the same deity. — 
 Prom. 218. There was a temple dedicated to her at Thebes (Paus. 
 lib. ix. c. 15), which may be the reason why she is so often mentioned 
 by Pindar. 
 
 § The English reader will feel how aptly this passage may be applied 
 to his own country, particularly during the French revolution. 
 
216 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE VIIL 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Still ruling with her Dorian line 
 The realm of .ZEacus # divine : 
 
 Whom fair Latona’s son with Neptune pair’d, 
 
 Toiling round Troy to rear the towering wall, 
 
 Leagued in hee work : her fatal hour 
 By that portentous choice declared, 
 
 That her proud domes in fight should fall, 
 
 And hostile fires her smouldering fanes devour. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Scarce perfect was the pile, when up the tower 
 Three azure serpents leapt ; and from the side 
 Two, as with horror thrill’d, recoil’d and died ; 
 Yelling the third rush’d on with gather’d power — 
 
 The portent strange Apollo views, 
 
 And pondering briefly thus : “ Devoted Troy, 
 
 “ Thy help, ill-omen’d Hero, rues ; 
 
 “ Thy mortal work her empire shall destroy : 
 
 “ Yet not without thy sons ;+ for ’tis decreed 
 “ The first and fourth of thine must mingle in that deed : 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 “ Thus Saturn’s seed, the thundering Jove 
 “ In vision shows me from above.” 
 
 * Homer in the 21st Iliad (1. 442, et seq.) tells us, that Neptune and 
 Apollo (not naming Abacus) built the walls of Troy for a reward to be 
 paid to them by its king Laomedon at the expiration of the year : that 
 the service was performed ; but that, on the gods applying for their 
 wages, the perjured monarch threatened Apollo with chains and trans- 
 portation, and both of them with the loss of ears, if they repeated the 
 demand. From hence we have “ Laomedon tese peijuria Trojse ” (Georg. 
 lib. i. 502), and for the walls of Troy, “moenia Phoebi ” (Ovid. Penel. 
 Ulyss. 67), and “ Neptunia Troja ” (jEn. lib. iii. 1. 3). 
 
 f Yet not without thy sons. In the original it is ovk arsp t vaidujv 
 oeOev' aW* dfia tv pwroig ap^erai icai rerparoig, i. e. “but it shall begin 
 (and be completed) by the first and fourth.” This, as the commentators 
 say, means that Peleus and Telamon, being the sons of H5acus, who 
 fought with Hercules against Laomedon, should begin the destruction oi 
 Troy, and that Pyrrhus, the son of Achilles the son of Peleus, should 
 complete it ; the word first being used exclusively, and the word fourth 
 inclusively of ZEacus ; for if ZEacus were excluded, Pyrrhus would not 
 be the fourth , but the third. 
 
ODE VII1.J 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES, 
 
 217 
 
 That warning given, Xanthus* in haste he reach’d, 
 
 The mounted Amazons + and Ister’s stream + 
 
 Survey’d. Tow’rds Isthmus by the main 
 As swift the Trident-bearer stretch’d ; 
 
 But first he stay’d his golden team, 
 
 While iEacus regain’d .ZEgina’s plain. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Thence o’er proud Corinth, to inspect 
 Her glorious Feast, § his chariot check’d. 
 
 Hot all with equal favour all things see : 
 
 His beardless rivals conquer’d should my string 
 Sound for Meilesias,|| Envy’s hand 
 
 Fling not the pointed stone IT at me ; 
 
 For I his Hemean Feats will sing, 
 
 And rough Pancratian fray with men maintain’d. 
 
 • 
 
 * Xanthus, a river called, as Homer says, by men Scamander, and 
 flowing near Troy into the Hellespont. 
 
 f Amazons. The Amazons were a real or imaginary nation of martial 
 women, who lived near the river Thermodon, in Cappadocia. Why 
 Apollo visited them, is not explained (possibly he was worshipped 
 there ) ; still less how he came to take them in his way from Xanthus 
 to the Danube. 
 
 J Ister’s stream. Apollo’s visit to the Tster (Danube) was no doubt to 
 see the Hyperboreans. What connection there was in Pindar’s mind 
 between these descendants of HCacus, Apollo, and the Hyperboreans, 
 does not appear. They are, however, singularly combined in a story in 
 Pausanias (lib. i. c. 4) ; who informs us, that, when the Gauls attacked 
 the Phocians, meditating the plunder of the Delphic Temple of Apollo, 
 the figures of Pyrrhus the son of Achilles and of two Hyperboreans, 
 called Hyperochus and Amadocus, appeared in full armour in the battle 
 for the Phocians, and struck the greatest terror into the invading army : 
 after which the tomb of Pyrrhus, before held in dishonour, was hallowed 
 by the Delphians. 
 
 § Her glorious feast. What particular festival is here alluded to, I do 
 not find. We know that the Isthmian Games were sacred to Neptune, 
 who had a temple near the Stadium in the Isthmus, which Pausanias 
 (lib. ii. cc. 1, 2) describes ; and the site of which was discovered by 
 Dr. Clarke. — Cl. Trav. vol. iii. p. 752. 
 
 || Meilesias, a celebrated trainer and teacher of the Athletes, by 
 whom Alcimedon and Timosthenes were prepared and disciplined, 
 and who appears by this passage to have been himself a victor in the 
 Games. 
 
 U Her pointed stone. This expression may possibly allude to a practice 
 among the Greeks, of throwing a stone at anything which they deemed 
 ill-ominous, and thereby defeating its effect. — Pott. Antiq. vol. i. p. 346. 
 
2!9 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ode VIIL 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 With ease from Wisdom’s lips instruction flows ; 
 
 Which unprepared fools only will dispense ; 
 
 For weak ’s the wit of Inexperience. 
 
 Perfect beyond his peers Meilesias knows 
 Th’ Athletic discipline and plan, 
 
 That, when the Game shall rouse him to the fray, 
 
 Harden and frame the practised man, 
 
 To bear th’ adored and dangerous prize away. 
 
 To-day his boast Alcimedon must be, 
 
 The thirtieth youth his art hath train’d for victory. 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 He with the smiles of Fortune bright, 
 
 Nor wanting valour’s manliest might, 
 
 Hath to four hapless youths* victorious doom’d 
 Th’ hateful return, the path obscure, the tale 
 Of shame ; and in his grand sire’s heart 
 
 Youth’s long-extinguish’d lamp relumed : 
 
 When Glory’s cheering beams prevail, 
 
 Old age revives, and death forgets his dart. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 Now let the loud-recording lay 
 Awaken Memory to display 
 What feats, what triumphs in the manual war 
 The Blepsiant tribe achieved — Gain’d from the Games 
 On their proud busts six chaplets bloom. 
 
 Their kindred’s rite the dead shall share ; 
 
 Its praise departed Yirtue claims : 
 
 The trump of Glory echoes in the tomb.J 
 
 So here, as I conceive, the poet means, “ may not Envy defeat the effect 
 of my commendation.” The blasting properties of Envy are perpetually 
 noticed by the Latin poets. 
 
 * Neither the names of Alcimedon’s four unsuccessful rivals nor, of 
 his grandfather, are preserved. A similar account of the infamy of 
 defeat occurs in the Pyth. ode viii. stro. v. 
 
 + The Blepsian tribe , a tribe in -dEgina, to which Alcimedon 
 belonged. 
 
 X The reader will not doubt that Gray, so well acquainted with 
 Pindar, had this passage on his mind when he wrote the following : — 
 
ode yin.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES, 
 
 219 
 
 EPODE IY. 
 
 From Fame, the child of Hermes,* Iphion 
 Heard ere he died, and shall delighted tell 
 Callimachus th’ Olympian Crown that fell 
 By Jove’s good gift to his distinguish’d son. 
 
 Still may the god his blessings shower 
 On their fair deeds, and chase disease away ; 
 
 Nor Nemesis t send with vengeful power 
 To thwart the promise of their prosperous day. 
 
 Grant them long life, to Fortune’s ills unknown, 
 
 Their country's weal enhance, and crown it with their own. 
 
 On some kind breast the parting soul relies ; 
 
 Some pious drops the closing eye requires ; 
 
 E’en from the tomb the voice of Nature cries ; 
 
 E’en in our ashes live their wonted fires. 
 
 * Mercury being the ayyzXng or Messenger of the Gods, according 
 to the mythology of the ancients, our poet here personifies ayytXia 
 (which signifies a message, tiding, or report), and calls her the daughter 
 of Mercury. Heyne supposes that Iphion died after he had received 
 from Olympia the message or tidings of Alcimedon’s victory, and that 
 Pindar therefore suggested that he would tell it to Callimachus. Who 
 these two persons were, or how related to Alcimedon, we are not 
 informed ; some suppose that Iphion was his father, and Callimachus his 
 uncle ; the reverse of which appears to me to be the more likely. That 
 Alcimedon’s father was not alive, we may collect from the fourth strophe, 
 where the grandfather’s (not the father’s) joy at the victory is described. 
 I conceive, therefore, that Callimachus was the father, and Iphion the 
 uncle ; that the former died before the victory, and the latter between 
 the dates of the victory and the ode ; which being so, I see much beauty 
 and spirit in supposing, that the uncle, having heard the tidings, woulo. 
 communicate them in the shades below to the father of the victor. 
 When it is recollected, that it was Mercury’s office, not only to conduct 
 the souls of mortals to the shades, but also to superintend and influence 
 the Games (see Olymp. ode vi. ep. v. and Pyth. ode ii. antistro. i.) and 
 therefore to be the author of the tidings or reports of victory, circum- 
 stances familiar to the Greek reader, we can judge of the effect and 
 beauty of this little allegory. Fame is not quite the word, but I cannot 
 find a better for ayyeXia ; a difficulty which the other translators have 
 experienced. 
 
 f Nemesis. The commentators do not tell us, why Jupiter is here 
 requested not to send Nemesis to annoy them. Nemesis was the Goddess 
 of Revenge, and of all the gods the most inexorable towards the in- 
 solent, r) Osujv fiaXiara av9pd)7roig v€pL<rra7g eariv cnrapa'iTrjrog (Pans. 
 lib. i. c. 33) ; and therefore Phidias, after the battle of Marathon, 
 converted into a statue of this goddess a block of Parian marble, which 
 
220 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE XX. 
 
 ODE IX. 
 
 TO EPHARMOSTUS, THE OPUNTIAN, 
 
 Victor in the Game of Wrestling . 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 Archilochus’* resounding strain 
 The victor’s ancient lay,+ thrice chanted loud, 
 
 Sufficed along th’ Olympian plain 
 By Cronium’s mount J to lead th’ exulting crowd, 
 
 The friends by Epharmostus’ side 
 That swell’d the full triumphal tide.§ 
 
 the Persians, despising the Athenians, had presumptuously brought into 
 the field, to be the monument of their anticipated victory. It seems 
 probable, therefore, that Pindar meant to caution the two youthful 
 conquerors against the insolence of success. 
 
 * Archilochus was a Greek poet of the island of Paros, in the ^Egean 
 sea, particularly celebrated for his verses in the Iambic measure (which 
 he is said by some to have invented), and for the acrimony of his muse. 
 — See Pyth. ode ii. stro. iv. He is said to have satirized Lycambes, 
 who had refused to give him his daughter in marriage, with such 
 severity, that he hanged himself. He flourished about three hundred 
 years before Pindar, and was skilled in the art of singing to the lyre, as 
 Theocritus informs us : — 
 
 Such melody was his and ready skill 
 
 To frame sweet verse, and chant it to his lyre. — Epig . f9. 
 
 + The victor's ancient lay. This old lay was written by Archilochus in 
 praise of Hercules, and afterwards used as a sort of stock song in 
 honour of the Olympic victors. It was called the Callinicus, that 
 being the first word of it, signifying “the illustrious conqueror,” and 
 consisted, as the old Scholiast tells us, of three strophes or stanzas ; for 
 which reason Pindar is supposed, by some, to have called it rp'nrXoog, 
 triple ; but as it is said also to have been three times sung for each 
 victor, once immediately after the victory, again in the Gymnasium, 
 and a third time on his return to his own country, I have translated it 
 accordingly. 
 
 X Cronium’s mownt, a hill by Olympia. — See Olymp. ode i. ep. iv. 
 
 § Triumphal tide. The phrase in the original, which I have para- 
 phrased in these lines (for we have no corresponding word), is Kiopd^ovn, 
 which signifies “advancing triumphantly in choral procession.” On 
 these occasions the chorus sung the ode, accompanied with a band using 
 some step, probably measuring the time and suited to the nature of the 
 melody. For in the 14th Olympic Ode, stro. ii., tuned, as the p(et tells 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 221 
 
 ODE IX.] 
 
 But from tlie distant-dealing bow 
 To-day ’tis tbine the shaft to throw,* 
 
 The Muse’s shaft, that mounts above 
 E’en to the purple-bolted Jove 
 
 And Elis’ sacred Promontory; 
 
 Whose realm, CEnomaiis’ power o’erthrown, 
 
 Pelops f the Lydian hero won, 
 
 Hippodamia’s fairest dowry. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Send now thy sweet, thy winged reed, 
 
 At Pytho’s field : J the bard, whose thrilling string 
 Besounds the manly wrestler’s deed 
 
 From glorious Opus,§ stoops not on the wing,|| 
 
 No vulgar flight pursues, the praise 
 Of Opus and her son to raise : 
 
 Where Themis and her child sedate, 
 
 Eunomia,1T famed, preserve the state. 
 
 us, to the Lydian mood, the festive step is given to the K&fiog, or chorus, 
 in procession. Tryphiodorus uses this word with great beauty and 
 effect in his description of the Trojans ignorantly leading the Trojan 
 Horse into the town in triumph. 
 
 Through Trojan choirs the mortal mischief won 
 
 Her easy way in triumph to the town. — Tryph. 312. 
 
 * The shaft to throw. Here, as in the Olympic ode ii. strophe v. 
 and other passages, the song issuing from the poet is likened to the 
 arrow from the bow. 
 
 + Pelops. For the story of Pelops and Hippodamia, see Olymp. 
 ode i. 
 
 + Pytho’s field. Epharmostus had also conquered at the Pythian 
 Games. 
 
 § Opus was the capital of the Opuntian Locrians, who were con- 
 terminous to Bceotia and Phocis. — Str. lib. ix. p. 638. 
 
 || Stoops not on the wing. The original %a/>tai7r67-£wv is generally used 
 by Pindar to signify anything done in vain, or falling to the ground, 
 and so Heyne interprets it in this instance ; I have, however, preferred 
 the sense of -“humble,” following Benedict and Mr. Blomfield. — See 
 his jEsch. Agam. 1. 893, Gloss. 
 
 H Ewiovnia. Themis and Jupiter were the parents of the Hours 
 f'Q pai) Eunomia, Dikb, and Eirene, i. e. Law, Justice, and Peace. — See 
 Olymp. ode xiii. stro i. ep. i. Hesiod has shown us why they were 
 called oat. 
 
 At t’ tpy’ wpaiovai KaraQvrjrolai fiporo'iai. — Theog. 902. 
 
 That perfect all the works of mortal men. 
 
 It is in this sense, that they represent the seasons and the hours. 
 
222 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 | ODE IX. 
 
 On Alpheus’ banks ber glories gleam 
 And bloom by pure Castalia’s stream ; 
 
 From whence by minstrels pluck’d the flower? 
 
 Of all their blended chaplets grace 
 The mother of the Locrian race,* 
 
 Midst her deep woods and waving bowers. 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 Thus while her favour’d City glows 
 With the full radiance of my lay, 
 
 Swifter than generous steed, or bark that throws 
 Her swelling wings along the watery way, 
 
 I’ll spread the tale through every land, 
 
 If bless’d by Heav’n this tuneful hand 
 Cultures the Graces’ choicest field ; 
 
 For they all mortal transports yield, 
 
 And wit and valour wait on their divine command. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 By them inspired Alcidesf dared 
 With club terrestrial brave the Trident’s might ; 
 
 What time the Pylian towers to guard 
 Neptune his rage withstood. The Lord of Light 
 Advanced his silver-sounding bow, 
 
 And warr’d against th’ heroic foe. 
 
 Nor e’en in Hades’ rueful hand 
 Unbrandish’d hung th’ infernal wand, 
 
 Wherewith men’s mortal forms are led 
 To th’ hollow city of the dead — £ 
 
 * The mother of the Locrian race , meaning the city of Opus. 
 
 + Alcides, a well-known name of Hercules ; of whom there was a 
 brazen statue at Olympia, ten cubits high, with a club in his right 
 hand, and a bow in his left (Pans. lib. v. c. 25), both of which he 
 appears to have used in his attack on Pylus, a city of Elis, when Neptune 
 and Pluto (Hades) came to its assistance ; and where the latter, accord- 
 ing to Homer (II. v. 395), as quoted and interpreted by Pausanias, was 
 wounded by the arrows of that hero : for which service a temple was 
 erected to Pluto by the Eleans. — Paus. lib. vi. c. 25. The Scholiast, 
 however, Benedict, and Heyne think, that the battle between Hercules 
 and Pluto, here alluded to by Pindar, and by Homer, was not iv II vA <p, 
 at Pylus , but kv 7ru\<y kv veicvecrai, at the gates of Hell , when Hercules 
 was dragging off Cerberus. 
 
 £ The office of conveying with a rod (pctGdty) the souls of men to the 
 
ODE IX.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 223 
 
 Renounce, my lips, the verse profane ! 
 
 ’Tis hateful wit at gods to rail : 
 
 Vain-glory’s impious ill-timed tale 
 
 Sounds but of Phrenzy’s thoughtless strain. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Babble no more of themes like these, 
 
 Nor mix with fabled war th’ immortal Powers : 
 
 Sing rather thou with blameless lays 
 Protogeneia’s # ancient towers ; 
 
 Where by Jove’s hest in thunder heard 
 Man’s first abode Deucalion rear’d, 
 
 When from Parnassus’ glittering crown t 
 With PyrrhaJ pair’d the Seer came down. 
 
 Behind them rose their unborn sons, 
 
 The new-named laity of stones, 
 
 shades below is usually assigned to Mercury. — Horn. II. xxiv. 1. 343. 
 I am not aware of any other author, who has given it to Pluto ; or who 
 has supposed that men’s bodies are transmitted thither : Lucretius, 
 indeed, tells us, on the authority of Ennius, that it is neither the souls 
 nor bodies, but certain shadows and similitudes of mortals. 
 
 Yet Ennius tells us in eternal strains 
 Of temples dark and Acherusian plains ; 
 
 Where neither souls nor mortal forms are seen, 
 
 But pallid shades and semblances of men. — Lucr. lib. i. 
 
 * Protogeneia, according to Pausanias, was the daughter of Deucalion 
 and th^ mother of Opus, whose name was given to the Locrian metro- 
 polis : but Pindar considers Opus as her father. 
 
 *t* Parnassus , the poetical haunt of Apollo and the Muses, is a 
 mountainous ridge, which anciently separated the Opuntian from the 
 Western Locrians, as it now does the districts of Livadia and Salona. 
 It is covered with snow, at least for the greatest part of the year. 
 Dr. Clarke, who gives us a drawing of it, and other modem travellers, 
 assert that it is not bicipitous ; but that the poets, who beheld it from 
 Castalia, have probably mistaken two lofty crags, separated by the 
 chasm from which that spring issues, for the summits of the mountain. — 
 Clarice's Trav. vol. iv. p. 172. Hob. Alb. vol. i. p. 251. 
 
 X Deucalion and Pyrrha, as Ovid tells us (Metam. lib. i. 1. 400), being 
 saved on Parnassus, from the flood, consulted the Oracle of Themis upon 
 the regeneration of mankind ; and by her advice threw stones behind 
 them, which were immediately animated into men and women. Hence 
 our author derives \aoq, the Greek word for people, from \aag, a stone ; 
 an etymological paronomasia, which Ovid, and even Virgil, calling men 
 a hardened race, durum genus, have not disdained to imitate. — Metam. 
 lib. i. i 414. Georg, lib. i. v. 65. 
 
224 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE IX 
 
 A homogeneous mortal throng : 
 
 For them thy sounding numbers raise, 
 
 Nor, when old wine # inflames thy praise, 
 
 Forget the flowers of modern song. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Then, as they tell, a deluge raged 
 O’er the sunk Earth’s opacous plain : 
 
 Till Jove’s rebuke the wasteful waves assuaged, 
 
 And pent them in their oozy gulf again. 
 
 Sprung from that aged ancestor 
 Your brazen-buckler’d sires of yore, 
 
 (Blood, that from old Iapetus runs 
 
 And dames t that mix’d with Saturn’s sons) 
 
 A line of genuine kings their native sceptre bore ; 
 
 * Old wme. This seems to be an allusion to the praise bestowed upon 
 old wine by the father of the poets, who is thought to have written 
 zealously upon this subject. 
 
 There stood the casks of old delicious wine, 
 
 That held within the unmingled draught divine. — Odyss. ii. 1. 341. 
 And, therefore, our author puts in his claim of praise for modem 
 (i. e. his own) poetry, while he joins the ancient Bard in the commenda- 
 tion of old wine. The union of wine and flowers in this passage 
 (though perhaps an involuntary association) was probably suggested to 
 the poet by the practice which the ancients had, of crowning their 
 wine-vessels and themselves with garlands at the convivial table. See 
 Whiter' s Specimen of a Commentary on Shakspeare ; where this principle 
 of association is skilfully illustrated. • 
 
 + Dames that mixed, <$cc. Heyne endeavours to explain this difficult 
 passage by supposing that Pindar had some legend of a line of Locrian 
 kings before Deucalion, who were sprung from Jupiter and a female 
 descendant of Iapetus. But if this were so, then Deucalion would have 
 been a Locrian king ; whereas it is clear from the conclusion of the 
 following strophe, that Pindar considers Opus as the founder or first 
 king of the Locrian city and state. The difficulty, however, will be 
 removed by following the old Scholiast (not always the safest guide), 
 who interprets Kopav not filiarum, daughters, but amasiarum, mistresses 
 (see Pyth. ode iii. ep. ii.), and supposes the plural to have been used for 
 the singular, so that the mistresses of Saturn’s most potent sons means 
 the mistress of Saturn’s most potent son, i. e. Protogeneia and Jupiter, 
 whose story is related in the next strophe. In this way it will appear 
 that the Locrian kings were descended from Iapetus through. Pro- 
 togeneia (the daughter of Deucalion, the grandson of Iapetus), and of 
 course from the mistress of Jupiter, which Protogeneia was. The word 
 7 Tplv, which begins the strophe, must of course be construed not ante* 
 qu&m, but an tea, or, as we say, “ once upon a time,” heretofore. 
 
ODE IX. | 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 22H 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 E’er since tli’ Olympian # Leader’s love 
 Snatcb’d Opus’ daughter from th’ Epeian plain 
 To dark Msenalia’st conscious grove, 
 
 And gave her back to Locrus’ arms again ; 
 Lest age, that hastes our mortal doom, 
 Should bear him childless to the tomb. 
 
 By that celestial Power compress’d 
 A nobler birth the matron bless’d. 
 
 The good old Hero hails beguiled 
 And doats upon th’ imputed child ; 
 
 And gives him, as his years display 
 Youth’s comeliest form and manhood’s fire, 
 The name, that graced his mother’s sire, 
 
 To boast, a peopled realm to sway. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Strangers unnumber’d round his throne, 
 Argives, and Thebans, and Arcadians press’d, 
 Pisatians too ; but Actor’s son 
 Mensetius most his high regard caress’d, 
 Patroclus’ sire : on Mysia’s plain 
 He with th’ Atridse leagued in vain, 
 
 When TelephusJ the Grecian throng 
 Back on their barks disorder’d flung, 
 
 Benedict’s paraphrase, and the translations both of Schmidius and 
 Sudorius agree in this interpretation. 
 
 * The Olympian Leader. I have thus literally translated '0\vfn nog 
 aytyojv; the pious JEneas, we remember, is called Dux Trojanus on a 
 similar occasion. 
 
 t MeenaUa’s, due., the region of Mount Msenalus, in Arcadia, not far 
 from the Epeian, an old name for the Eleian territory. 
 
 $ Telephus, an Arcadian by birth, was the spurious son of Hercules 
 and Augfe, the daughter of Aleus. Being afterwards adopted by Teu- 
 thras, king of Mysia, he succeeded to his throne, and married one of 
 Priam’s daughters. The Grecians, on their expedition against Troy, 
 having landed by mistake upon the Mysian coast, the battle happened 
 on the banks of the Caicus, to which the poet here alludes, and which 
 was represented in sculpture on the back tympanum of the splendid 
 
 Q, 
 
226 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE IX. 
 
 Alone with great Achilles stay’d : 
 
 Heroes his act with shouts survey’d : 
 
 And Thetis’ son, his brave compeer 
 Implored him from that glorious day 
 No more to meet the martial fray 
 
 Apart from his all -conquering spear. 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 O ! for a spirit* that could bid 
 New words and quickening thoughts to rise, 
 
 Of skill the Muse’s daring car to guide 
 In all the might of genius through the skies ! 
 Then would I come with glory’s bay, 
 
 While Fame and Friendship fired my lay, 
 
 To grace the brothers’ Isthmian crown, 
 
 The prize Lampromachus t had won, 
 
 The twin achievement proud of one victorious day. 
 
 Temple of Minerva Alea, at Tegea in Arcadia, built by Scopas, the 
 celebrated Parian statuary, on the site of a former one, which Aleus had 
 erected to that goddess. It surpassed all the temples in the Pelopon- 
 nese, both in magnitude and decoration, having the Doric order of 
 columns (within, as it should seem), surmounted by the Corinthian, and 
 without a row of the Ionic. — Pans. lib. viii. c. 45. Large masses of the 
 Doric still remain, according to the testimony of Mr. Dodwell. 
 
 * Spenser appears to have had this passage in his mind when he 
 wrote the following lines, which the reader will forgive me for insert- 
 ing : — 
 
 Who now shall give unto me words and sound 
 Equal unto this haughty enterprise ? 
 
 Or who shall lend me wings, with which from ground 
 My lowly verse may loftily arise, 
 
 And lift itself unto the highest skies ? 
 
 Fa. Qu. b. ii. c. 10, sta. 1. 
 
 f The Scholiast says, that Epharmostus and Lampromachus were kins- 
 men, (jvyyeveTg ; Heyne says, “or brothers,” which is rather more con- 
 sistent with the manner in which the poet introduces Lampromachus. 
 It seems probable that the two victories were obtained at the Isthmian 
 Games, it being very unlikely that the Isthmian and Olympic Games, as 
 Mr. Pye justly observes, should have been held on the sarae day. 
 
DDE IX.1 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 227 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 Where Corinth’s portal* parts the main 
 Two triumphs more brave Epharmostus gain’d ; 
 
 Others on Nemea’s shelter’d plain :f 
 He from th’ Athenian youths J the prize obtain’d ; 
 From men th’ Argolic shield § he won : 
 
 Oh ! what a strife at Marathon, || 
 
 With beardless foes no longer pair’d, 
 
 ’Gainst sturdier age the stripling dared ! 
 Himself unfoil’d with dexterous bound 
 He writhed and whirl’d them to the ground. 
 
 Graced with the goblet’s silver meed 
 What shouts, what plaudits from the throng 
 Cheer’d, as the champion stalk’d along, 
 
 His manly port, his manlier deed. 
 
 * Corinth's jportal. This expression is particularly applicable to 
 Corinth, being the entrance or gate of the Peloponnese ; it is also in the 
 isthmus between the Corinthian and Saronian gulfs, for which reason 
 it is called, in the Olymp. ode xiii. stro. i., ’laOpiov 7 rpoQvpov UoatLCa- 
 voq, the portal of Isthmian Neptune. It is here mentioned figuratively 
 for the Isthmian Games. 
 
 f Nemea’s sheltered plain. At the Nemean Games, celebrated at 
 Nemea, between Argos and Corinth. 
 
 X Athenian youths. This victory was gained over the youths under 
 age at the Panathenaic Feast at Athens, of which more will be said on 
 Pyth. ode ix. ep. iv. 
 
 § Th' Argolic shield. There was a game at the celebration of the 
 'Hpator, or Feast of Juno at Argos, which consisted in pulling down a 
 shield strongly fixed to the theatre, for which the prize was a brazen 
 shield. — Pott. Antiq. vol. i. p. 397. 
 
 |l At Marathon. The Scholiast tells us, that this victory in the 
 wrestling game was gained at the 'Hpa/cXaa, or Feast of Hercules, 
 celebrated at Marathon by the Athenians, the prize being a silver 
 goblet. This amusement still continues in Greece, as the reader will 
 find by referring to Dr. Clarke’s description of a wrestling-match which 
 he saw at Nauplia, and where the competitors were oiled and dusted 
 ifter the ancient manner. — Cl. Trav. vol. iii. p. 341. 
 
 € 
 
22$ 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 ! ODE IX. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IY. 
 
 At J ove’s Lycsean Feast * the whole 
 
 Parrhasian host marv’lling his might survey’d ; 
 
 Marvell’d Pellene, + when the Stole, 
 
 Winter’s warm antidote, his bulk display’d. 
 
 Witness the tomb, where Thebans grace 
 The Games of godlike Iolas ; $ 
 
 Witness Eleusis’§ wave-born strand 
 The toils and triumphs of his hand. 
 
 * Jove's Ly ocean Feast. These games, at which the conqueror was 
 rewarded with a suit of brazen armour, were celebrated at Parrhasia, a 
 city of Arcadia, near Mount Lycseum, on the top of which there was an 
 altar, with golden eagles, and two columns facing the east, sacred to 
 Lycaean J upiter, and a commanding view of the whole Peloponnesus. — 
 Sfra. lib. v. p. 595 ; Pans. lib. viii. c. 28. A mound of earth, probably 
 that mentioned by Pausanias as the site of the Lycaean altar, as well as 
 some ancient blocks of hewn stone, were observed by Mr. Dodwell on 
 one of the highest summits of this mountain. — Dbdw. Trav. vol. ii. 
 
 р. 893. 
 
 + Pellene. The games celebrated at Pellene were the "Hpaia, in 
 honour of Juno, at which a rich stole or garment was the prize, ac- 
 cording to the Scholiast on Aristophanes, ’Opv. pp. 6 and 7, and Pott. 
 Antiq. vol. i. p. 398. Although Benedict, in his Paraphrase, says, that 
 it was at the Theoxenia, the feast of Apollo. 
 
 X Iolas or Iolaus was the son of Iphicles the brother of Hercules, 
 whom he is said to have assisted in most of his labours. — Pans. lib. viii. 
 
 с. 45. He was in high estimation among the Greeks, and of course 
 with Pindar, who never fails to exalt his country. An altar was 
 dedicated to him jointly with Alcmena in the temple of Hercules 
 called Cynosarges at Athens. Near the Prsetian Gate at Thebes a 
 stadium and gymnasium were named after him ; and an heroic monu- 
 ment, of which no remains are left, was shown to Pausanias as his, 
 although the Thebans admitted that he died in Sardinia. To this 
 monument (probably a cenotaph), Pindar here alludes and to the games, 
 which were the horse-race, wrestling, and the Pentathlon, celebrated 
 there in his time in honour of this hero. — Pans. lib. i. c. 19 ; lib. viii. 
 c. 14 ; lib. ix. c. 23. 
 
 § Eleusis, a city of Attica, between Athens and Corinth, where the 
 rites of Ceres, called the Eleusinian Mysteries, were celebrated. The 
 goddess had a temple there and a mystic cell, dg, built after Pindar’s 
 time by Ictinus, the architect of the Parthenon, equal in capacity to a 
 large theatre. — Strab. lib. ix. p. 605. The mysteries were solemnized by 
 the Athenians every fifth year, and lasted nine days, the games being 
 held on the seventh, and the victor rewarded with a measure of barley, 
 that grain having been first sown at Eleusis.— Pott. Antiq. vol. i, 
 p. StfS. 
 
ODE X.J OLYMPIC ODES. 229 
 
 From Nature * all perfections flow : 
 
 And though from task’d attention slow 
 Taught excellence will sometimes strain 
 And struggle to renown; if Heav’n 
 Has not th’ inspiring impulse given, 
 
 ’Tis silence best rewards the pain. 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 life’s walks are various : one concern 
 The crowded world can ne’er sustain : 
 
 To Fame’s high path the steps of Genius turn. 
 
 • Thy gift aloud proclaim ; in daring strain 
 Tell, how of birth propitious sprung 
 Th’ Oilean Gamest robust and young 
 
 With dexterous arm and dauntless eye 
 Thy champion braved, and Victory 
 With all his glorious wreaths the shrine of Ajax hung. 
 
 ODE X. 
 
 TO AGESIDAMUS, OF LOCRIS EPIZEPHYMA, 
 
 Victorious in the Game of Boxing. 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 Where stands Archestratus’ triumphant son’, 
 
 Th’ Olympic victor, J written on my mind ? 
 
 My promise of sweet song for him design’d 
 Had from my faithless memory flown. 
 
 * From Nature, &c. This is a favourite sentiment with our poet. 
 See Olymp. ode ii. stro. v.) Horace, as we know, thought that poetical 
 excellence depended as much on study as on talent. It is probable that 
 each of these distinguished writers took his model from himself. 
 
 + Th * Oilean Games. These were celebrated at Opus in honour of 
 Ajax the son of Oileus, who led the Locrians with forty vessels to the 
 Trojan war. — 11. ii. 1. 527. The games in honour of Ajax, the sor of 
 Telamon, were at Salamis. — Hescyh. on the word A iavrtTov. 
 
 X Th’ Olympic victor. This victory was gained in the 84th Olymj ad; 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE X 
 
 230 
 
 But thou, O Muse, from whom no treachery springs. 
 And Truth, fair daughter of high Jove, 
 
 Lend me your upright efforts to remove . 
 
 The slur that Slander on mine honour flings. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 ’Tis true the distant dilatory day 
 Hath brought to shame the debtor and the debt : 
 With amplest usury he’ll discharge it yet, 
 
 And melt the keen reproach away. 
 
 Mark how the strong wave, as it sweeps along, 
 
 Bolls the wash’d pebble from the shore ; 
 
 Mark how th’ arrear shall vanish as we pour 
 Friendship’s full tribute, our historic song. 
 
 EPODE I. 
 
 For Truth with the Zephyrian Locrians * dwells : 
 They love th’ heroic Muse and martial field. 
 Cycnus + with onset fierce, as story tells, 
 
 Th’ o’erpowering might of Hercules repell’d. 
 
 As by Achilles roused Patroclus j stood ; 
 
 So to stout Has on th’ Olympian sand 
 The boxer’s palm Agesidamus owed. 
 
 Oft hath the cheering friend, when Nature’s hand 
 Has touch’d the warrior’s heart with Virtue’s flame, 
 Gigantic deeds inspired, and Heav’n confirm’d his fame. 
 
 it appears, however, that this ode was not written till long after, a 
 delay which had been imputed to Pindar as an intentional breach of 
 promise. 
 
 * The Zephyrian Locrians. The Zephyrian or Epizepbyrian Locrians 
 inhabited the country to the westward of Parnassus, as the Epicnemidian 
 and Opuntian did that on the eastern side of the same range, and bore 
 engraved upon their public seal the figure of Hesperus or the evening 
 star (Stra. lib. ix. p. 638), which Mr. Bodwell also noticed on many of 
 their coins. — Dodw. Trav. vol. i. p. 154. 
 
 f Cycnus. This was the son of Mars ; the Cycnus conquered by 
 Achilles was the son of Neptune. Hercules at the beginning of the 
 contest with Cycnus, who was assisted by Mars, fled from him, but after- 
 wards engaged and slew him. 
 
 X Patroclus. This is said to have happened at the time when Tele* 
 phus repulsed the Greeks on their landing in Mysia. — Olymp. ode ix. 
 antistro. iii. 
 
ODE X. 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 231 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Conquests by toil unearn’d to few belong : 
 
 Action’s tbe sovereign good, the light of life. 
 
 But me Jove’s Hallow’d Bites the athletic strife 
 And matchless Games in solemn song 
 Bid blazon ; which the potent Hercules 
 Stablish’d by Pelops’ ancient tomb ; 
 
 What time the godlike Cteatus* * * § to his doom 
 He sent, though sprung from him that rules the seas, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Him with bold Eurytus, the largess due 
 
 Thus from reluctant Augeas to compel. 
 
 Them on their journey in Cleonse’sf dell 
 Th’ avenging chief from ambush slew. 
 
 Just retribution ! his Tirynthian host, J 
 Surprised in Elis’ close defiles, 
 
 Molione’s o’erweening sons by wiles 
 
 Had crush’d ; and all his choicest chiefs § were lost. 
 
 * Cteatus and Eurytus were the sons of Molionb and Neptune, and 
 are accordingly introduced by Spenser as marine guests at the marriage 
 of the Thames and Medway. — Fa. Qu. b. iv. c. 11, st. 14. The story 
 of their death is this : — Augeas, king of the Ep^ans or Elmans, who was 
 immensely rich in flocks and herds, had engaged Hercules to cleanse his 
 stalls ; which service he performed by turning a river through them, and 
 on Augeas refusing to pay him the stipulated reward, which was every 
 tenth cow, he made war against him. Cteatus and Eurytus assisted 
 Augeas, and destroyed Hercules’ army, as stated in the text ; in return 
 for which he laid in wait for them, and slew them as they were coming 
 from the Isthmian Games, in the neighbourhood of Cleonse ; where 
 Pausanias saw their monuments near the Temple of Minerva. — Fa us. 
 lib. ii. c. 15 ; lib. v. cc. 1, 2. 
 
 f Cleoncds dell. Cleonae was a town situated on a round hill near the 
 road from Argos to Corinth, distant about ten miles from the latter, 
 whose lofty citadel (the Acrocorinthos) is visible from its summit. It is 
 belted with six terraces rising above each other. Homer describes it as 
 a well-built town in the time of the Trojan war ; and part of its massive 
 walls continue to this day. — 11. ii. 1. 570 ; Stra. lib. viii. p. 579 ; Dodw. 
 Trav. vol. ii. p. 206. 
 
 X Tirynthian host. Hercules, at the time of this affair with Augeas, 
 lived at Tiryns near Argos ; from whence he is often called Tirynthius 
 heros by the Latin poets. For Tiryns, see Olymp. ode vii. antis, ii. and note. 
 
 § Choicest chiefs. Among these were Iphicles the brother of Hercules, 
 and Telamon, the father of Ajax. 
 
232 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE X 
 
 • EPODE II. 
 
 That guest-beguiling king the wrath of Heaven 
 Soon reach’d. He saw the sceptre of his sway, 
 
 To sword and flame his wealth and country given, 
 
 Saw his Epeian* kingdom pass away, 
 
 Sunk in Destruction’s gulf ! ’Tis hard indeed 
 The conflict with a mightier foe to close ; 
 
 And wit forsakes whom Fate hath doom’d to bleed. 
 Himself a captive thus, the last of those 
 Whose loyalty his fault and fortune shared, 
 
 ’Scaped not the dire revenge Herculean rage prepared. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 That justice satisfied, the son of J ove 
 Muster’d his conquering bands and massy spoils 
 On Pisa’s plain, the fruits of all their toils. 
 
 To his great Sire the sacred Grove 
 He compass’d out ; and in clear space within 
 Paled all the sever’d Altist round ; 
 
 Eor the free banquet smooth’d the circled ground ; 
 And crown’d Alpheius’ banks with many a shrine 
 
 * Epeian. The Eleians were called the Epeians, as in Homer (II. ii. 
 1. 619), till after the time of Augeas a the son of Eleus, or (as some say) 
 HXioc, the sun. Eor a pleasing account of the flocks and herds of 
 Augeas, see Tkeoc. Idyl. xxv. 1. 24, et seq. 
 
 + A Itis. It is not very clear from this passage, compared with the 2nd 
 and 3rd strophes of the 3rd Olympic Ode, whether the Altis occupied the 
 whole clear space within the circuit of the grove, or only a severed 
 part of it, or whether the grove was within, and a part only of 
 the Altis, or only a plantation round the Hippodrome. Pausanias un- 
 fortunately has not given us a topographical description of the place : he 
 says nothing of any grove, or tree except the Callistephanus (the wild 
 olive, which supplied the chaplets for the victors), nor has even informed 
 us in direct terms whether the Stadium and Hippodrome were within the 
 Altis or without ; although it seems from one passage at least that the 
 Hippodrome was without ( Paus . lib. v. c. 15). If the Altis had any 
 visible boundary, it is to be collected froig. this writer, that it was not a 
 belt of trees, but a wall (lib. v. cc. 24, 25) : neither does he allude to any 
 plantation round the Hippodrome. We are, however, told by Pindar in 
 the Olymp. ode iii. stro. ii. iii., that, there being no trees at Olympia, 
 Hercules obtained the wild olive from the Hyperboreans, to, form the 
 Grove of Jupiter, and to plant it round the Hippodrome. Now if the 
 plantation round the Hippodrome and the Grove of Jupiter were the 
 same thing, and if the Hippodrome was not within the Altis, the lattei 
 
ODE X.| 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 233 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 To the twelve Sovereign Gods.* Yon bordering peak 
 The Cronian Mount he call’d, a nameless waste 
 When old ^Enomaiis reign’d, by song ungraced, 
 
 And drench’d with snows its turrets bleak. 
 
 To that prime consecration and high rite 
 The Fates t in stern attendance came ; 
 
 And Time, whose sole probation can proclaim 
 Truth to be true, that season stay’d his flight. 
 
 could not have been the grove, or aXaog ; and if the grove were not the 
 plantation round the *Hippodrome, it could not have been the Altis, 
 which, as far as we can gather from Pausanias, was surrounded by a wall. 
 It is more probable that this sacred grove surrounded the old temple of 
 Olympian Jupiter before the erection of the new one in the time of 
 Phidias, than that it occupied or surrounded the whole Altis ; which 
 contained within it, in addition to that temple, the temples of Juno 
 and of Cybele, the Pelopion, the Prytanseum, the Proedria, the Leoni- 
 dseum, the Paecilfe or Painted Cloister, seven Treasuries, the Hippodamion 
 occupying an acre of ground, and was in short so large, that the battle 
 between the Spartans and Eleians was fought within it. — Pans. lib. v. 
 and vi. c. 2. In the passage, on which this note is written, Pindar uses 
 both the words dXaog and akrig, apparently to denote two different 
 things, the former not signifying merely a sacred inclosure, but a grove 
 of trees. Yet Pausanias tells us, that having perverted the name, they 
 had called the sacred aXvog of Jupiter dXrig, from antiquity : he adds, 
 however, that by Pindar the whole place (to is named "AXrig 
 
 (lib. v. c. 10) ; which Damm says, not stating his authority, was in the 
 Eleian language the same as aXaog. The word is not in Hesychius, or 
 in the old edition of H. Stephens’s Thesaurus, though in Yalpy’s new 
 edition, it is said to be the same as aXaog. Robert Stephens renders it 
 a grove ; Benedict, a temple ; Damm, contrary to all authority, the name 
 of the Temple of Jupiter ; and Schmidius and Heyne, simply Altis, i. e. 
 they do not translate it but treat it as the proper name of an inclosed 
 spot at Olympia. 
 
 * To the twelve Sovereign Gods. We have before observed that the six 
 double altars there mentioned, were dedicated to fourteen deities, in- 
 cluding the three Graces. I suppose, however, that the twelve gods 
 here alluded to were the Dii nobiles of Ovid, or Dii majorum gentium, 
 whose pictures were in a cloister in the Ceramicus, at Athens (Pans. 
 lib. i. c. 3) ; and which, if they were the same, which Spence has placed 
 in the Roman Pantheon, were Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Neptune, Vesta, 
 Apollo, Diana, Ceres, Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Yulcan. 
 
 f The Fates. There was an oblong altar at Olympia dedicated to the 
 Fates. — Pans. lib. v. c. 15. The poet means by this figurative expres* 
 sion, that the Olympic games were originally destined for duration. 
 
234 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 ^ODE X. 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 He in his course advancing to this hour 
 Bears record where the Hero’s altars rose ; 
 
 The gifts of war how portion’d he, the flower 
 Of all the spoils he gain’d from all his foes ; 
 
 How solemnized his great Quinquennial Beast. 
 
 Say now, what envied youth the new-wrought crown 
 Earn’d in that first Olympiad, from the crest 
 Of his foil’d foe plucking his fresh renown ? 
 
 Who quell’d his rival in the manual war. 
 
 Flew on the bounding foot, or whirl’d the madding car. 
 
 STROPHE IV. * 
 
 HSonus first, Licymnius’* youthful son, 
 
 Who ruled in Midea’s t walls his native force, 
 
 With speed unmatch’d along the Stadian course 
 The light pedestrian chaplet won. 
 
 First in the wrestler’s ring from Tegea’s J plain 
 Shone Echemus. To Tiryns shore 
 The Boxer’s manly prize Doryclus bore ; 
 
 While four fleet coursers with his mastering rein 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 To the bright goal Mantinean§ Semus took. 
 
 Home to the mark the lance of Phrastor flew : 
 
 Farthest with circling hand and impulse true 
 Enikeus hurl’d the whirling rock ; || 
 
 * Licymnius’. This was the son of Alectryon and Midea, the spurious 
 brother of Alemena, killed by Hercules. 
 
 f Midea , a town in Argolis, not far from Nauplia, probably so named 
 after the mother of Licymnius, being under the government of Alectryon. 
 Mr. Dodwell describes some ruins, which he conjectures to have been 
 those of Midea. — Yol. ii. p. 249. 
 
 + Tegea, a city of Arcadia, of which Echemus was king, lying between 
 Mantinea and Lacedaemon. — See Olymp. ode ix. antistro. iii. note on 
 Telepkus. 
 
 § Mantinea. Mantinea, a town famous for the victory and death of 
 Epaminondas, the celebrated Theban general, was situated immediately 
 north of Tegea, in Arcadia. It is singular that the first chariot-race at 
 Olympia should have been won by the native of a town, of which Nep- 
 tune, tLs god of horses, was the tutelary deity. — Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 
 p. 423. 
 
 || Whirling rock. This was the discus or quoit, which was made oi 
 
ODE X.J 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 235 
 
 That all his peers the triumph of his might 
 With shouts applauded. Rising now 
 The soft-eyed Moon on Evening’s tranquil brow 
 Hung the full circle* of her lovely light. 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 There in full choir the genial Feast t around 
 Encomiastic songs and joyful strains 
 Rung through the sacred Grove : such cheering sound 
 Swells for the crown our Locrian hero gains. 
 
 True to the custom’d and constituent rite, 
 
 Sing we the thunder and the dazzling bolt 
 That arms J ove’s fiery grasp, when in his might 
 He hurls the bellowing vengeance thro’ the vault. 
 
 To the loud pipe respond the melting lays 
 Which late from Dirce’s fount J her lingering minstrel 
 pays; 
 
 STROPHE V. 
 
 Dear, as the smiling infant, which the wife 
 Almost past hope to its fond father bears 
 How far declined into the vale of years, 
 
 And warms with love his waning life. 
 
 For who, that with long thrift and honest toil 
 His patrimonial store hath swell’ d, 
 
 Loathes not in childless age his gains to yield, 
 
 And leave strange heirs to riot on the spoil ? 
 
 either stone, as appears from this passage and Odyss. viii. 1. 190 ; or of 
 brass, as in Statins, Theb. lib. vi. 1. 648, or of iron. It was flat and 
 square, or like a lentil. 
 
 * The Olympic games were solemnized at the fall of the moon. 
 
 + The genial Feast. We learn from Pansanias, that in the Pryta- 
 nseum in the Altis, at Olympia, opposite the cell where the earia, or 
 Ever-burning Hearth, was placed, there was a banqueting- room, in which 
 the victors were entertained ; and the songs that were sung there, were 
 in' the Doric dialect (lib. v. c. 15), an additional reason why Pindar 
 should characterize his Olympic odes by the title of the Dorian Lyre. 
 
 X Dived s fount. This was a fountain at Thebes often mentioned by 
 our poet, whom Horace has therefore called the Dircasan Swan. If 
 appears from the sixth Isthmian ode, 1. 108, et seq. to have been near 
 the gates of Thebes, one of which was called Kprjvaiai irv\ai, the Foun- 
 tain Gate, called by Statius the Dir csean Gate. — Pans. lib. ix. c. 8; 
 Stat. Theb. lib. viii. 1. 357. 
 
236 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE X. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V. 
 
 So who with name unsung* from G1 cry’s fray, 
 Agesidamus, sinks to Death’s domain, 
 
 The slave of thankless care hath breathed in vain. 
 
 And flung life’s rapturous hour away. 
 
 For thee the sweet voice of the warbling lyre, 
 
 The soft mellifluous flutes diffuse 
 Their mixt harmonious graces. Fame pursues 
 Where Jove’s Pierian Maids the strain inspire. 
 
 epode v. 
 
 By them inflamed have I with earnest praise 
 
 Th’ illustrious Locrians crown’d ; pour’d on their 
 town, 
 
 Home of the brave, the honey of my lays, t 
 And swell’d, Archestratus, thy son’s renown 
 Him by th’ Olympic altar I beheld 
 
 Quelling the mightiest with his vigorous arm : 
 
 In beauty’s flower his manly form excell’d, 
 
 Where Youth o’er Strength diffused her early charm ; 
 Such Youth as erst by winning CypriaJ led 
 Belentless death repell’d from blooming Ganymede. 
 
 * With name unsung . Theocritus in the same spirit says : 
 
 But chief the Muses’ sacred priests revere, 
 
 That, when the grave shall hide thee, thou mayst hear 
 
 Thy virtues blazon’d, nor to fame unknown 
 
 Wail on the banks of cheerless Acheron. — Idyl. xvi. 1. 31. 
 
 + The honey of my lays. Lucretius illustrates poetry by the same 
 metaphor. 
 
 To win thy ear, I’ve chosen to rehearse 
 In the sweet accents of Pierian verse 
 My reason’d theme, and touch it for thy use 
 As with the dulcet honey of the Muse. — Bk. i. 
 
 X Cypria, Yenus ; in the original KVTcpoytvrjQ. Hesiod (not to detail 
 all the stories of her genealogy) tells us, that Yenus was called 
 KV7Tpoyevr)g, because she was born in Cyprus. — Theog. 199. The fact, 
 however, is, that the celestial Yenus was first worshipped by the 
 Assyrians, and then by the Paphians, in that island (from whence she 
 derived the names of Kvrrpig and KV7rpoyev^Q\ and by the Phoenicians 
 at Ascalon ; who by means of their commercial intercourse, introduced 
 her rites into the island of Cythera, from whence she acquired the name 
 of Cythema, and was figuratively said to have risen from the foaming 
 
ODE XI.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 237 
 
 ODE XI. 
 
 TO THE SAME AGESIDAMUS, 
 
 For his Victory in the Game of Boxing .* 
 
 STROPHE. 
 
 Sometimes we need the breathing gale, 
 
 Sometimes the soft celestial rain, 
 
 Child of the cloud, t to bless the vale ; 
 
 But when Success Adventure crowns, the lyre’s mellifluous 
 strain 
 
 To spread th’ eternal blazon, and assever 
 
 On Fame’s unfailing oath, that Virtue lives for ever. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE. 
 
 To those, that win th’ Olympian prize 
 Such lavish eulogies belong ; 
 
 And such my willing tongue supplies : 
 
 For aye the flowers of genius bloom, when Heav’n inspires 
 the song. 
 
 Son of Archestratus, thy proud renown, 
 
 (Agesidamus hear !) thy olive’s golden crown, 
 
 sea, a fiction recorded by the poets in her title Aphrodite. Pansanias 
 tells us, that from an inscription on a statue, or square stone at Athens, 
 representing the celestial Yenus, it appears that she was deemed the 
 eldest of the Fates ; a character in which, in addition to her more com- 
 mon one, she may with much elegance have been supposed by the poet 
 to have assisted Youth in conferring immortality on Ganymede. — Pans. 
 lib. i. cc. 14, 19. 
 
 * Whether this ode was written to commemorate a second victory 
 obtained by Agesidamus, or only as the usury which he engages in the 
 second antistrophe of the preceding ode, to pay for his delay in writing 
 it, has not been ascertained. The latter seems the more probable 
 supposition. 
 
 f Child of the cloud. Statius applies the same image to the rivers, 
 Nubigenas e montibus amnes. — Theb. lib. 1. 365. 
 
 The cloud-descended mountain-streams. 
 
238 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE XII, 
 
 EPODE. 
 
 Won by thy matchless hand shall share 
 The sweet melodious lay, 
 
 The Western Locrians* all my care : 
 
 There, Muses, join the festal choir, for they 
 Chase not, I ween, the stranger from their shore, 
 Nor live unlearn’d in dory’s lore. 
 
 Science and warlike enterprise are theirs : 
 
 The Fox, the raging Lion, every creature 
 Unchanged its inborn instinct bears, 
 
 Leaves not the cast of Nature. 
 
 ODE XII. 
 
 TO ERGOTELES OF HIMERA, 
 
 Victor in the Long Foot-Race .+ 
 
 STROPHE. 
 
 Daughter of Eleutherian Jove,:j: 
 
 Protecting Fortune, to thy power I pray 
 To guard imperial Himera : § 
 
 Guided by thee | j the winged gallies move 
 
 * The Western Locrians. We learn from the preceding ode, that 
 Agesidamus was a Zephyrian, or Western Locrian. 
 
 + The Long Foot-race, or doXixodpo/jiog, was a race six times, or ac- 
 cording to Suidas, twelve times, round the foot-course, as Bentley tells us. 
 
 + Eleutherian Jove. The titles of Fortune and Eleutherian J upiter 
 were familiar to the mind of Pindar : for, after the defeat of Xerxes’ 
 army near Platsea, a city of Boeotia, the Greeks erected a temple to 
 Jupiter Eleutherius, that is, the guardian of liberty (Stra. lib. ix. p. 632) ; 
 and at Thebes there was a temple dedicated to Fortune. — Pans. lib. ix. 
 c. 16. The reader will no doubt observe the propriety of opening with 
 an address to this goddess, thus descended, an ode written in honour of 
 Ergoteles ; who had fled from a sedition in which he had been engaged 
 in Crete, to the city of Himera, in Sicily, where he is said to have taken 
 a successful part in the contest between Hiero and Gelon, as the Scho- 
 liast says, though I rather think that it was between Hiero and Theron. 
 — Diod. Sic. lib. ii. c. 48. 
 
 § Ilimera, a city situated on the northern coast of Sicily, celebrated 
 for its warm baths, and for being the birthplace of the poet Stesichorus. 
 
 [j Guided by thee, <tc. So Horace in the first book of his odes, ode 
 
OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 239 
 
 ODE XII.] 
 
 Through the wide sea : thine are th’ impetuous wars, 
 
 The pondering councils : by thy changeful sway 
 
 Now sunk below, now lifted to the stars 
 Thro’ life’s illusions vain Hope steers her wandering way. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE. 
 
 But by sure presage to descry 
 
 Th’ approaching day’s event, mysterious Heaven 
 Hath not to helpless mortals given ; 
 
 And all is blind tow’rds dim futurity.* 
 
 Oft on the best in fond Opinion’s spite 
 J oy’s sad reverse has fall’n ; others no less 
 
 With Woe’s distressful storms long doom’d to fight. 
 Have changed in one short hour disaster to success. 
 
 EPODE. 
 
 Son of Philenor,t thy renown 
 Had shed its faded flower, 
 
 Thy speed beyond thy native bower, 
 
 Like the brave cock’s J domestic wars, unknown : 
 
 Had not, Ergoteles, the civil fray, 
 
 That friend with friend embroils, 
 
 Forced thee from Cnossian fields § away ; 
 
 Now in th’ Olympic grove for nobler toils, 
 
 35, in imitation of this ode of Pindar, calls Fortune the mistress of the 
 sea, dominam aequoris. 
 
 * And all is blind , <kc. Juvenal has given us this sentiment in its 
 most forcible and appalling form. 
 
 Since Delphi’s shrine is mute, and darkness blind 
 
 With nescience of the future damns mankind. — Sat. vi. 554. 
 
 + Son of Philenor. Philenor was the father of Ergoteles, to whom 
 this ode is addressed. 
 
 J Like the brave cock's, &c. Heyne observes, that the figure of a cock 
 was impressed upon the coins of Himera, a circumstance which might 
 have suggested this comparison to the poet : to which we may add that 
 this bird was probably a favourite symbol also among the Cretans ; for 
 among the statues in the Altis, at Olympia, of the nine chiefs who (as 
 Homer tells us) drew lots for the privilege of combating with Hector, 
 that of Idomeneus, the king of Crete, bore a shield, with a cock 
 emblazoned on it, being the emblem of the Sun, the father of Pasiphah. 
 from whom that warrior was descended. — Pans. lib. v. c. 25. 
 
 § Cnossian fields . Cnossus was a city of Crete, celebrated for the 
 Labyrinth, in which the Minotaur was confined. It was the birthplace 
 of Ergoteles, from which he had been driven in consequence of his sha re 
 i the sedition mentioned in the text. 
 
240 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ode xm fc 
 
 By Isthmians once, and twice in Pytho crown’d, 
 A worthier hearth thy Fame has found 
 By the warm waves of Him era, 
 
 Whose Nymphs by thee ennobled hail thy stay. 
 
 ODE XIII. 
 
 TO XENOPHON THE CORINTHIAN, 
 
 Victor in the Single Foot-Race and in the Pentathlcm. 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 While to the House thrice in Olympia* crown’d, 
 
 The citizen’s indulgent friend, 
 
 The stranger’s host, my praise I send ; 
 
 Thee, prosperous Corinth, t for thy race renown’d, 
 
 Portal of Isthmian Neptune, J shall my strain 
 Forget not. There the Golden Sisters reign 
 
 * Thrice in Olympia. Thessalus, the father of Xenophon, had also 
 won the single foot-race at Olympia (as will appear in the second anti- 
 strophe), making with those of his son three Olympic victories in that 
 family. * 
 
 f Prosperous Corinth. So Homer calls this city acpveiov re KopivOov, 
 the wealthy Corinth ; although, as Pausanias observes, she seems not to 
 have been a sovereign state at the time of the Trojan war, but with 
 Pellenb, Sicyon, and others, to have only furnished her contingent to the 
 hundred ships under the command of Agamemnon. — II. ii. 570. Her 
 prosperity no doubt arose from the advantages of her situation between 
 two gulfs communicating with the ,/Egean and Ionian seas, that is, 
 with Italy, Sicily, Asia, and Africa ; and affording the only land-pas- 
 sage to the Peloponnese and the northern states of Greece. Many 
 stories are told of the wealth of the Corinthians-: among others that 
 of Cypselus, who destroyed and succeeded to the tyranny of the Bac- 
 chiadse, and who sent as an offering to Olympia the full-sized statue of a 
 man made entirely of beaten gold. — Stra. lib. viii. p. 580. For a 
 descripton of Corinth as it was and now is, the reader is referred to the 
 last-cited author, to Pausanias, lib. ii. ; Claa'ke’s Trav. vol. iii. p. 730 $ 
 and Dodwell’s Trav. vol. ii. p. 187. 
 
 + Isthmian Neptune. That Neptune should have been worshipped at 
 a place so indebted to the sea for its prosperity, might be of course ex- 
 pected. We Rre told, however, that, in a contest for Corinth between 
 
ODE XHI.] 
 
 OLYMPIC UDE». 
 
 tin 
 
 From Themis sprung,* Eunomia pure 
 Safe Justice and congenial Peace, 
 
 Basis of states ; whose counsels sure 
 With wealth and wisdom bless the world’s increase, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 And Insolence the child of bold-tongued Pride 
 Far from the social haunt repel. 
 
 Many a fair tale have I to tell, 
 
 Which fearless Truth forbids my song to hide, 
 
 If aught could hide what Nature’s grace bestows. 
 
 Sons of the famed Aletes,t round your brows 
 
 that god and Apollo, the Acropolis was adjudged by Briareus, their 
 umpire, to the latter, and the Isthmus to the former, to whom it ever 
 afterwards belonged. The Temple of Neptune, in which there were 
 statues of himself and Amphitrite, standing in their chariot, is described 
 by Pausanias, lib. ii. c. 1. Its present remains, as well as those of the 
 adjacent theatre and stadium, where the Isthmian Games were solem- 
 nized, were discovered by Dr. Clarke, a little to the south of Mount 
 Oneius, near the Saronian gulf. — Clarke’s Trav. vol. iii. p. 751, et seq. 
 
 * From Themis sprung. These three daughters of Themis, called "ilpai, 
 Hours, of whom (see Pans. lib. v. c. 17) there were three statues seated 
 on thrones in the Temple of Juno in the Altis, at Olympia, are not to 
 be confounded with the Hours who, according to Ovid, harnessed the 
 horses of the Sun, and who are so beautifully portrayed in Guido’s cele- 
 brated picture of Aurora ; from whom they differ both in function, 
 character, and number, as the passage in Hesiod, from whence Pindar, 
 as usual, takes their genealogy, will show. 
 
 Bright Themis next received th’ embrace of Jove, 
 
 And bore the Hours, the pledges of his love, 
 
 Justice and Eunomy, and Peace serene, 
 
 That perfect all the works of mortal men. 
 
 Spenser has also introduced them as attendants on Mercilla. 
 
 “ Just Dicb, wise Eunomia, mild Eirene.” 
 
 Fa. Qu. b. v. c. 9, stro. 32. 
 
 We have no English word for Eunomia, which signifies the genius of 
 good laws. 
 
 + Aletes. This was the great-great grandson of Hercules, who led 
 the Dorians against Corinth, which was delivered up to him by the 
 descendants of Sisyphus, theretofore the ruler or Archon of that city. 
 • Aletes and his posterity were succeeded by the Bacchiadae, who were 
 expelled by Cypselus, the founder of the monarchy. — Pans. lib. ii. c. 4. 
 The classical reader will perceive why Theocritus has made Gorgo boast 
 at the same time of her Corinthian origin and Doric dialect. 
 
 And to be plain, our sires from Corinth sprung ; 
 
 And Dorians sure may use the Doric tongue. — Icyl. 15, 93 
 R 
 
242 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE XIII. 
 
 Oft have the blooming Hours* display’d 
 At sacred game in Glory’s field 
 
 Triumphant Virtue’s noblest braid ; 
 
 Oft to your throbbing hearts by hints reveal’d 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 "Discoveries old of Wisdom’s ways, 
 
 And works still pregnant with th’ inventor’s praise. t 
 Whence sprung the Dithyrambie choir h J 
 The bull by dancing Bacchants led h 
 
 Who taught to curb the courser s fire ? § 
 
 Who on the solemn Temples first outspread 
 
 The Sovereign Eagle’s || sculptured wings ? 
 
 Yours is the Muse’s warbled lay, IF 
 And Mars,** to panting youth that brings 
 The wreath that crowns the fatal fray. 
 
 * The blooming Hours, the daughters of Themis above mentioned. 
 
 f Yirgil has placed the discoverers of useful arts in his Elysium. 
 
 Who by invented arts improved mankind. — jEn. vi. 663. 
 
 X The Dithyrambie choir. This was a circular dance, invented at 
 Corinth, and performed at the Feasts of Bacchus, where a bull was the 
 prize and sacrifice, as the Scholiast informs us. 
 
 § The courser’ s fire. The sequel of this ode will show, that the curb 
 or bit, and probably the art of managing horses, was first discovered (at 
 least in Greece) by Bellerophon, the descendant of the Corinthian 
 Sisyphus. 
 
 || The Sovereign Eagle’s, &c. The triangular space, or Tympanum, over 
 the porticos, at each end of the Grecian temples, was called the asrol or 
 Eagles, each being perhaps originally ornamented with an eagle stand- 
 ing with expanded wings, so as to correspond with the figure of the 
 Tympanum. The invention of this ornament, or, perhaps, of the 
 Tympanum itself, the poet here ascribes to the Corinthians. It should 
 seem also, that the whole space within the temple, next the roof, 
 between the tympanums, was called the asroi or asrioya. — See Pans. 
 lib. i. c. 24 ; lib. x. c. 19. Dr. Clarke tells us, that the souls of kings, 
 over whose sepulchres temples were first erected, were formerly sup- 
 posed to be carried to heaven on the wings of eagles ; that at their 
 funerals an eagle was made to fly over the grave, and that from thence 
 this ornament was placed upon the tympanums of their temples. — Trav. 
 vol. iii. p. 721, note 2. But he cites no authority for this hypothesis ; 
 and ir. Pausanias, lib. ii. c. 7 (which he quotes), the coverings of the 
 Sicyonian tombs are likened to the cisrol of temples, as if the shape of 
 the fofmer had been borrowed from the latter. 
 
 If Warbled lay. This is supposed to allude to Eumolpus and JEson, 
 two Corinthian poets, whose works have not reached us ; but the latter, 
 as the Scholiast says, is mentioned by Simonides. 
 
 ** Mars , <kc., alluding probably to the share which the Corinthians 
 
ODE XIII. 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 243 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Thou, whose wide rule protects the Olympian land, 
 
 Grudge not my song, Paternal J ove, 
 
 Thy boundless favour from above ! 
 
 Still o’er this people stretch thy sheltering hand : 
 
 Swell the fresh gale of Xenophon’s renown, 
 
 And for his powers in Pisa shown 
 Accept the ritual praise we pour. 
 
 Pedestrian speed, Pentathlian might,* 
 
 Alike he conquer’d : man before 
 Ne’er join’d th’ unequal palms of strength and flight. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 His trophied brows the parsley’s t crisp’d tiar 
 Twice at the Feasts of Isthmus bound : 
 
 His deeds the Nemean rocks resound : 
 
 The dazzling speed of Thessalus his sire 
 
 Still famed on Alpheus’ banks obtain’d the crown : 
 
 He, ere one sun on Pytho’s peaks went down, 
 
 The single gain’d and double race : 
 
 Three wreaths on Athens’ J rugged strand 
 In one short month’s triumphant space 
 Twined round his radiant locks their blended band : 
 
 • 
 
 had in the celebrated battles of Thermopylae, Salamis, and* Platsea, 
 against the Persians. 
 
 * Pentathlicm might. The Pentathlon, which signifies the Five- 
 Games, consisted of throwing the javelin and the discus (something like 
 a quoit), of leaping, running, and wrestling, as the ancient well-known 
 epigram attests. 
 
 The Leap, the Pace, the Wrestle, Disc, and Lance. 
 
 West has justly observed, that the victor in the Pentathlon required 
 such an union of strength and agility, that it was scarcely possible for 
 him to possess enough of either, to excel a competitor in any of these 
 five exercises exclusively. 
 
 + The parsley's, Ac. The Isthmian, as well as the Nemean crown, 
 was a wreath of parsley ; both these games, as the Scholiast observes, 
 having been instituted to commemorate the dead, the former Melicertes, 
 and the latter Archemorus, and this plant being sacred to the subter- 
 ranean deities. It appears that Xenophon was victorious twice in the 
 Isthmian, and once in the Nemean Games. 
 
 t Three wreaths on Athens ' , Ac. The three games at Athens., in 
 which Thessalus, the father of Xenophon, was victorious, were the 
 R 2 
 
244 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE XIli. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Sev’n times the Hellotian prize* he bore, 
 
 And with his sire, th’ illustrious Ptseodore, 
 
 ’Twixt the two gulfs in Neptune’s Garnet 
 Earn’d for his meed the minstrel’s chant, 
 
 The rapturous gift of deathless Fame. 
 
 How graced your matchless deeds the Lion’s haunt ? J 
 How shone the Delphian steeps § below? — 
 
 Th’ excess confounds me, while I teach 
 Your multiplied exploits ; for who 
 
 Shall count the sands that heap the beach ? 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 But all things have their bounds, by wisdom’s sight. 
 When just Occasion warns, descried : 
 
 And I thus launch’d on Praise’s tide 
 To hymn departed glory, and the fight 
 Where Yirtue wins th’ heroic victory, 
 
 Disdain to frame the laudatory lie 
 
 Stadion, or single foot-race ; the Diaulos, or double foot-race ; and the 
 Hoplitodromus, or foot-race by men in armour. « 
 
 * The Hellotian prize. The Hellotian Games were solemnized at 
 Corinth, at the Feast of Minerva Hellotis, in which young men ran 
 with lighted torches. This name, according to the Scholiast, followed 
 by Potter, was given to the goddess (among other reasons), because, 
 when the Dorians took Corinth, and had set fire to her temple, for the 
 purpose of destroying a young woman, called Hellotis, who had taken 
 refuge there, Minerva visited their city with a pestilence ; to avert 
 which and appease her anger, the feast and games, thence called 
 Hellotian, were instituted. 
 
 t Neptune's Game, viz. the Isthmian Games, celebrated in the 
 Isthmus between the Corinthian and Saronian gulfs. 
 
 + The Lion's haunt. On the mountains between Nemea and Cleonce, 
 distant from each other about two miles, the den of the Nemean lion, 
 killed by Hercules, was shown to Pausanias ; the poet, therefore, with 
 some little latitude of expression, calls the place of the games the Lion’s 
 haunt. — Paus. lib. ii. c. 15 ; Chandl. vol. ii. p. 261. 
 
 § The Delphian steeps below , i. e. the place where the Pythian Games 
 were held. For a description of its ancient state, see Paus. lib. 10, and 
 of its present state including the Stadium and the fountain of Castalia, 
 see Clarice's Trav. vol. ?v. pp. 177, 190. 
 
ODE XIII.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 245 
 
 E’en for proud Corinth ; though she boast 
 The gifted god-lie Sisyphus,* 
 
 And her that rescued Argo’s hostt 
 Spite of her sire to gain her Minyan spouse. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Add what her sons before the Dardan wall J 
 
 Of warlike hardiment display’d ? 
 
 Each side the combat ;§ these array’d 
 With Atreus’ race fair Helen to recall, 
 
 Those to retain conflicting. Glaucus there 
 Lycia’s bold captain taught e’en Greeks to fear. 
 
 His boast was, that his sire of yore 
 By pure Pirene’s fount || his reign 
 
 O’er all her towering city bore 
 And call’d her walls his palace and domain ; 
 
 * Sisyphus, an ancient king, or rather ruler of Corinth, father of 
 Glaucus, the father of Bellerophon, celebrated for his wisdom and 
 sagacity, and called therefore by Homer, KspSiarog avSpajv. — II. vi. 
 1. 154. This is the person doomed in the shades below, according to the 
 poets, to the perpetual labour of pushing up a hill a huge stone, which 
 rolled back again the moment it had reached the summit. — Horn. Odyss. 
 xi. 1. 592. He was, however, in great esteem at Corinth, where the 
 ruins of a large edifice, called the Sisypheion, remained in Strabo’s time, 
 supposed to have been either the temple or the palace, or perhaps the 
 tomb of Sisyphus. — Clarice's Trav. vol. iii. 735. 
 
 f Argo's host, the heroes who embarked on board the ship Argo, on 
 the celebrated expedition to Colchis, to bring away the golden fleece ; 
 and who would all have been destroyed by the king HSetes, if his 
 daughter Medea, being enamoured with their leader, Jason, had not 
 assisted them with her drugs and incantations, to resist the flames that 
 issued from the nostrils of the brazen-footed bulls, and to destroy the 
 sleepless dragon that watched the object of their enterprise. See Pyth. 
 ode iv., where the story is told with great beauty, brevity, and spirit. 
 The noble and interesting poem of Apollonius Rhodius (of which Virgil 
 has so frequently availed himself), as also that of Valerius Flaccus on the 
 same subject, are familiar to the Greek and Latin scholar. Medea fled 
 from Colchis with J ason, into Greece, and afterwards lived with him at 
 Corinth. 
 
 $ T1<a Dardan wall, the walls of Troy, of which Dardanus was the 
 founder and king. 
 
 § Each side the combat. The Corinthians fought against Troy, under 
 the immediate command of Agamemnon (II. ii. 1. 570) ; while Glaucus, 
 the king of Lycia, grandson oi Bellerophon the Corinthian, was engaged 
 on the side of Priam. 
 
 II PircvA's fount. This fountain was at the foot of the Acropolis, at 
 
246 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ode XIIL 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 That sire,* who toil’d so long to lead 
 The grisly Gorgon’s refractory seed 
 
 Wild Pegasus ; + ere Pallas made 
 For his rude hand the golden rein 
 
 In dazzling dream before him laid — 
 
 “ Sleep’st thou, AEolian king?” with wakening strain 
 She cried, “ Yon fiery steed to rule 
 
 “ Take this bright spell, and bid thy sire 
 “ Th’ Equestrian God, j with pastured bull 
 “ Heaping his shrine, thy gift admire.” 
 
 Corinth, celebrated for its purity. — Clarke's Trav. vol. iii. pp. 731, 732. 
 Hence Ovid calls Corinth, of which the ancient name was Ephyre, 
 Ephyren Pirenida. — Metamorph. lib. vii. 391. 
 
 * That sire, 6cc. This was Bellerophon, the son of Glaucus, who is 
 said to have tamed Pegasus ; and afterwards to have fled from Corinth 
 to Argos, from whence he was banished to Lycia by Prsetus, the Argive 
 king, under a false charge made against him by the queen Sthenobsea 
 (whose amorous overtures he had, in fact, rejected), that he had made 
 an attempt upon her chastity. He became at last king of Lycia, which 
 was afterwards governed by his grandson Glaucus, as above stated. It 
 should seem from this ode that he was the inventor of the bit or curb. 
 His memory was revered at Corinth, near which a temple was dedicated 
 to him in a grove of cypress ; and in Neptune’s Isthmian temple there 
 was a statue of him and Pegasus. — Paus. lib. ii. cc. 1, 2. 
 
 f Pegasus. When Perseus cut off the Gorgon Medusa’s head, Pegasus, 
 the winged horse of the Muses, sprang, as Hesiod imports, from the 
 blood that issued from the wouud. — Theog. 280. His connection with 
 Corinth is recognized in some ancient Corinthian coins, seen by Hr. 
 Clarke, having the head of Minerva on one side, and Pegasus on the 
 other. — Cl. Trav. vol. iii. p. 758. 
 
 X Th ’ Equestrian God, Neptune ; who was said to have been the real 
 father of Bellerophon, probably from his skill in horsmanship, Neptune 
 being worshipped by the Greeks, as the god of horses. Accordingly 
 we find, that at Athens and in the Hippodrome at Olympia there were 
 altars, and on the mountain Halesium, near Tegea, a temple, to the 
 Hippian (or equestrian) Neptune. — Paus. lib. i. c. 30 ; lib. v. c. 15 ; lib. 
 viii. c. 10. How it happened that the ruler of the sea was worshipped 
 as the god of horses, we are not informed ; it is said, indeed, that it 
 arose from his assuming a horse’s shape, to accomplish his amorous 
 design on Ceres, who, in order to escape from his caresses, had previously 
 undergone a similar transformation. — Paus. lib. viii. c. 25. Pausanias 
 himself supposes that Neptune invented horsemanship (lib. vii. c. 21) ; 
 for which he assigns as an authority (which proves no such thing), that 
 Homer makes Menelaiis require Antilochus to put his hand upon hia 
 
ODE XIII.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 247 
 
 STROPHE IY. 
 
 Thus in mid night with gleaming JEgis graced, 
 
 The Virgin hail’d him as he slept : 
 
 Roused on his feet at once he leapt 
 To clutch the glittering wonder, which in haste 
 
 To Polyide* the neighbouring Seer he brought, 
 
 And told th’ event his foresight sage had taught ; 
 
 “ How while he dreamt the wondrous dream 
 “ Couch’d on her shrine, the daughter chaste 
 
 “ Of Jove, whose spear’s the lightning’s beam, 
 
 “ Herself the potent gold beside him laid.” 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 Paused not the Prophet, but with press’d advice 
 Urged him the vision to obey ; 
 
 “ First offering him, whose watery sway 
 “ Bounds the vast Earth, his sturdy sacrifice, 
 
 “ To Hippian Pallas + next a shrine to build : 
 
 “ For gods ’gainst oaths and hopes with ease can 
 yield 
 
 “ To trembling mortals good or harm.” 
 
 Forth sprung the stout Bellerophon, 
 
 Stretch’d on his mouth the thrilling charm, 
 
 And made the winged fugitive his own, 
 
 horses, and to swear by Neptune that he had not wronged him in the 
 chariot-race (II. xxiii. 1. 584) : but he adds that Pamphus, an old 
 Athenian hymnist, had said that Neptune was the giver of horses and 
 of ships, 
 
 'itithov re dorrjpa vsojv r’ iOvicprjdspvoJv. 
 
 This, I make no doubt, conceals the whole secret, viz. that the original 
 or improved breed of horses was imported into Greece by sea (that is, by 
 Neptune), from Asia or Africa ; and thus the horse issued from the 
 ship that struck upon the land, or as Virgil poetically puts it, 
 
 Fudit equum magno tellus percussa tridenti. — Geo. i. 13. 
 
 * Polyide. Polyidus, the son of Casranus, was a Corinthian sooth- 
 sayer, whose son Euchenor was killed by Paris at the Trojan war. — II. 
 xiii. 663 ; Pans. lib. i. c. 43. 
 
 f Hippian Pallas. This is not the only instance in which Neptune 
 and Minerva are brought together in their equestrian character ; for on 
 the Hippian Hill, near Athens, there was an altar to the Hippian 
 Minerva, and another to the Hippian Neptune. — Pans. lib. i. c. 30. 
 
248 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE XIIL 
 
 EPODE IY. 
 
 And leapt in brazen arms array’d 
 
 On bis proud back and v/itb bis fury play’d. 
 
 With bim tbe Amazons* from the cold 
 And desert bosom of tbe sky, 
 
 A female bost of arcbers bold, 
 
 He smote ; witb bim tbe warlike Solymi,+ 
 
 And fierce Cbimsera breathing fire — 
 
 Pass we bis downfall from above, 
 
 But mark tbe ascending steed retire 
 Witbin tbe Olympian stalls of Jove. 
 
 STROPHE Y. 
 
 But while direct tbe lance of song we send, 
 
 What boots it from tbe tuneful string 
 Far from tbe mark our shafts to fling h 
 For to tbe tribe of Oligsetbe X a friend 
 
 Witb all tbe brigbt-tbroned Muses, Nemean plain 
 And Isthmian shore I’ll visit with my strain. 
 
 * Amazons. See a curious account of the African Amazons on the 
 Lake Tritonis. — Diod. Sic. lib. iii. c. 52. 
 
 f SolymL Chimcera. Homer informs us, that when Bellerophon was 
 sent by Prsetus to Lycia, the king of that country employed him against 
 the Amazons, the Solymi (who inhabited the country between Lycia 
 and Pamphylia) and the Chimsera, all of whom he subdued. The Chi- 
 msera was a monster having the forepart of a lion, the hindpart of a 
 dragon, and in the middle a chimsera, though what a chimaera was, the 
 father of the poets has omitted to define ; he says, however, that it 
 was bred by one Amysadorus, whose sons accompanied Sarpedon to the 
 Trojan war. — II. vi. p. 150, and II. xvi. 1. 328. There was a mountain 
 of this name in Lycia, which cast forth flames during the night (Plin. 
 lib. v. c. 27) ; and Dr. Clarke gives us an interesting account of the 
 meteoric coruscations which he witnessed, and which are often known 
 to play upon the mountains on that coast. — Trav. vol. iii. p. 316. With 
 regard to Bellerophon, it is said, that he, having afterwards attempted 
 to mount to heaven upon Pegasus, the latter was stung by an oestrum 
 sent from Jupiter, threw his rider, but was himself admitted into the 
 celestial mews, and became a constellation. 
 
 X Oligcetke. The descendants of Oligaethus formed a tribe at Corinth, 
 to which the hero of this ode belonged. 
 
ODE XIII.] 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 249 
 
 A word the copious tale shall tell 
 Pledged on mine oath : the Herald’s tongue 
 
 Hath at those games with cheering swell 
 Full sixty glorious times their triumph rung. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE Y. 
 
 Their past Olympic feats have graced my song ; 
 
 The future in their joyous day, 
 
 Hope’s promise, shall the Muse display : 
 
 But fortunes and events to heaven belong. 
 
 Smile but their natal genius from above, 
 
 The rest to Mars we’ll trust, and ruling Jove. 
 
 Yet must I name their Pythian boughs, 
 
 Their wreaths from Thebes,* from Argos brought : 
 
 And Jove’s Lycsean altar knows 
 Their countless wonders in Arcadia wrought : 
 
 epode v. 
 
 Pellene too, and Sicyon, 
 
 And Megara, and illustrious Marathon, 
 
 Eleusis, and the fenced Grove 
 Of HCacus, and Euboea’s Isle, 
 
 And all the prosperous states, above 
 Whose walls huge H£tna lifts her towering pile, 
 
 All Greece their boundless praise proclaim. 
 
 Teach them, Great Jove, with meekness graced 
 To tread the dazzling paths of Fame, 
 
 And Fortune’s choicest gifts to taste. 
 
 * For the games at Thebes, Argos, in Arcadia, at Pellene, Megara, 
 Eleusis, and Marathon, see Olymp. ode vii. antistro. v., and Olymp. ode 
 ix. stro. and antistro. iv. At Sicyon there were games in honour of the 
 Pythian Apollo, at iEgina of iEacus, at Gersestum in Euboea of Neptune, 
 and at Syracuse in imitation of the Isthmian and Nemean. 
 
250 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ode XIY. 
 
 ODE XIY. 
 
 TO ASOPICHUS THE ORCHOMENIAN, 
 
 Victor in the Single Footpace run by Bays. 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 O ye, that by Cephisis’ waves* profuse 
 
 Dwell on the banks with steeds and pastures fair ; 
 Illustrious queens of proud Orchomenus, 
 
 Listen, ye Graces, to my prayer — 
 
 Ye, whose protecting eyes 
 
 The Minyans’ t ancient tribes defend ; 
 
 • From you life’s sweets J and purest ecstasies 
 On man’s delighted race descend. 
 
 * Cephisis ' waves. Orchomenus was situated, not only near the river 
 Cephisus, but hear the lake Cephisis, called afterwards Copais. See 
 Pyth. ode xii. antistro. ii., where Pindar calls the sacred ground of the 
 Graces the rsyevog of Cephisis. The temple at Orchomenus dedicated 
 to these goddesses was built by Eteocles, an ancient king of that city, 
 where (as Dr. Clarke shows from the inscriptions, which he had the 
 good fortune to discover in a monastery there, Trav. vol. iv. p. 156) 
 public games in honour of them, called Charitesia, were celebrated, of 
 which neither Potter nor any other writer has made mention. There 
 was a temple of the Graces also at Olympia, containing their three 
 statues made of gilded wood, with the faces and the feet of marble, one 
 of them holding a rose, and another a myrtle (plants sacred to Venus), 
 with a Cupid on the same base. — Pans. lib. vi. c. 24. 
 
 f The Minyans. The Orchomenians were called the Minyans, from 
 Minyas, their ancient king, from whose daughters the principal heroes 
 engaged in the Argonautic expedition, and thence also called Minyans, 
 were descended. — Pyth. ode iv. ep. iii., and Apoll. Rhod. lib. i. 229. 
 Minyas was famous for his wealth, and for a treasury which he erected, 
 called by Pausanias one of the wonders of Greece, and compared by him 
 as such to the Pyramids of Egypt. It was a circular building of stone, 
 ending in a top not very pointed, with a keystone that held the mass 
 together. — Pans. lib. ix. cc. 36, 38. It existed in the second century, 
 and there are some remains of it at this day. — Dodw. Trav. vol. i. 
 p. 230 ; Clarice's Trav. vol. iv. p. 168 ; with which latter learned obser- 
 ver I cannot agree, that the words Kopvcpr} dk ovk kg ayav 6% v avrjypkvi] 
 (i. e. the top not brought up to a very sharp point), used by Pausanias, 
 import that the covering of this ancient edifice was a dome. The wealth 
 of Orchomenus, to which Thebes was once tributary, is alluded to by 
 Homer as proverbial in the days of Achilles. — II. ix. 1. 381. He also 
 calls it the Minyeian Orchomenus. — II. ii. 1. 511. 
 
 $ From you life's sweets, &c. See a similar sentiment Olymp. ode ix. 
 ep. i. Spenser also has introduced them in his Fairy Queen : 
 
ODE XIV.J 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 251 
 
 Genius, and Beauty, and Immortal Fame, 
 
 Are yours : without the soft majestic Graces 
 Hot e'en the gods in their celestial places 
 Or feast or dance proclaim. 
 
 Raised are their thrones on high 
 Beside the Pythian lord # of day, 
 
 That bends the golden bow ; where they 
 All pastimes and solemnities above 
 Blissful dispense, and sanctify 
 Tli eternal honours of Olympian Jove. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 August Aglaia, blithe Euphrosyne, 
 Daughters of Heaven’s resistless king, 
 And thou, that lovest the liquid lay, 
 Thalia, hear my call, and see 
 
 The choiring minstrels on their way, 
 By favouring fortune wooed, 
 
 With festive steps advancing : I to sing 
 Asopichus in Lydian moodt 
 
 The first of them, hight mild Euphrosyud, 
 
 Next fair Aglaia, last Thalia merry, &c. 
 
 Sweet goddesses all three, &c. 
 
 These three on men all gracious gifts bestow 
 Which deck the body or adorn the mind. 
 
 To make them lovely or well-favour’ d show, &c. 
 
 Book x. cantos 22, 23. 
 
 * Beside the Pythian lord, &c. The station and functions assigned by 
 this passage to the Graces leave scarcely a shade of difference between 
 them and the Muses ; and it is not impossible that they were once con- 
 founded, the latter being originally no more in number than the former, 
 when Otus and Ephialtes sacrificed on Mount Helicon, and consecrated 
 that mountain to the three Muses. — Pans. lib. ix. c. 29. 
 
 f LydAan mood. Pindar selects the Lydian melody, accompanied 
 with a lighter movement, as more suited to the triumph of a youth. ^ 
 See note on Olymp. ode i. antistro. i. 
 
 So also Spenser — 
 
 And all the while sweet music did divide 
 Her looser notes with Lydian harmony. 
 
 Fa. Qu. b. iii. c. i. v 40. 
 
252 
 
 OLYMPIC ODES. 
 
 [ODE XIV. 
 
 And laboured measures come ; 
 
 For Minya* * * § from th’ Olympian sbrine 
 Bright victory bears thy gift divine — 
 
 Go now, sweet Echo t of my lyre, 
 
 To pale Proserpine’s melancholy dome 
 With thy proud tidings to the Sire ; 
 
 Tell Cleodamus,^ that his youthful son 
 In Pisa’s glorious vale the braid 
 
 From Jove’s illustrious games hath won 
 And twined the plumes of conquest § round his head. 
 
 * Minya , or Minyeia, an ancient name for Orchomenus, of which 
 Minyas was king. 
 
 + Sweet Echo. This sudden apostrophe to Echo, so much admired by 
 the readers of the original, was perhaps obtruded on the poet’s mind by 
 an unperceived association ; for the fable was, that Echo, the daughter 
 of the Air and Earth, was enamoured of Narcissus, the son of the river 
 Cephisus, near whose waters she resided ; so that the idea of her might 
 easily mix itself with the praises of the youthful victor of Orchomenus. 
 
 X Cleodamus, the father of Asopichus, who being dead is thus made 
 to derive a sort of posthumous glory from the merits of his son. 
 
 § The plumes of conquest. A similar expression occurs in the last 
 line of the ninth Pythian ode. Perhaps the poet meant by this expres- 
 sion to denote the leaves of the wreath with which the victor was 
 crowned ; or perhaps he might have alluded to the wings which adorn 
 the statue of Victory in the Temple of Juno, jp the Altis at Olympia. 
 — Pans. lib. v. c. 17 » 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 ODE I. 
 
 TO HIERO THE .ETN^EAN,* 
 
 Victor in the Chariot-race. 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 Golden Lyre,+ Apollo’s care, 
 
 Thy aid with violet tresses J crown’d, 
 
 Their emblem thee, the Muses share : 
 
 The bounding dance obeys, and joy pursues the sound. 
 
 * This ode is inscribed to the same Hiero, on whom the first Olympic 
 ode was written. In this, however, he is styled the ^Etnsean, as he was 
 in that the Syracusian, having expelled the ancient inhabitants of 
 Catana, and peopled it with a numerous colony from the Peloponnese 
 and elsewhere ; at the same time giving it the name of ^Etna, from the 
 adjacent mountain, for which act, unjust as it appears to us, he expected 
 heroic honours at his death. — Diod. Sic. lib. xi. c. 49. With this clue 
 the reader will perceive with how much skill the poet has selected the 
 various flattering topics which compose this magnificent ode. This vic- 
 tory was obtained in the 29th Pythiad, corresponding with the third 
 year of the 77th Olympiad. 
 
 f Golden Lyre. That Pindar should begin with an address to the 
 golden lyre an ode written in honour of a king, who was a proficient on 
 that instrument (see Olymp. ode i. antistro. i.), on his victory at the 
 Pythian Games, of which its inventor was the patron deity, is a choice 
 worthy of his taste and genius. 
 
 X Violet tresses. The word in the original, ioTcXoKapog, as loGovrpvxog 
 in the sixth Olympic ode, antistro. ii., signifies hair of a violet, or dark 
 colour, that flower being very dark like the hyacinth, as we collect from 
 Theocritus. 
 
 The violet, too, is dark, and the letter’d hyacinth. 
 
 The yellow and purple violet, so beautifully described in the third anti* 
 strophe of the same ode. wa* probably what we call the heartsease. 
 
254 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode I. 
 
 Thy signal wakes the vocal choir, 
 
 When with the sweet preamble’s * lingering lay 
 Thy frame resumes its thrilling sway. 
 
 The lanced lightning’s everlasting fire 
 
 Thou hast extinguish’d, t while by thee 
 On Jove’s own sceptre J lull’d the Feather’d King 
 Forgets his awful ministry, 
 
 And hangs from either flank the drooping wing : 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Thou his beaked crest around 
 Hast pour’d the cloud of darkness soft, 
 
 And o’er his beaming eyeballs bound 
 The lock of thy sweet spell : slumbering he sits aloft 
 
 * Preamble sweet. The word aptoXag in the original, denotes the 
 symphony or introductory music, alluded to by a similar expression in 
 Homer, Odyss. i. 1. 155, noticed by the commentators, and in Theocritus , 
 Idyl. vi. 1. 20, and Idyl. viii. 1. 71. Milton also has expressed it with 
 seeming allusion to this passage in his most classical and beautiful 
 manner, 
 
 Then crown’d again their golden harps they took, 
 
 Harps ever tuned, that glittering by their side 
 Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet 
 Of charming symphony, they introduce 
 Their sacred song, and waken raptures high. 
 
 Par. L. b. iii. 1. 369. 
 
 The shafts (icrjXa) of music mentioned just afterwards by Pindar, might 
 possibly have presented imperceptibly to the mind of our divine poet 
 the first hint that led to this exquisite comparison between the harp 
 and quiver. 
 
 + Thou hast extinguished. The power of music is here represented 
 as capable of extinguishing the lightning ; this, however, is effected, as 
 it should seem, by its lulling the eagle, the bearer of the thunder of 
 Jupiter. 
 
 X On Jove's own sceptre, due. Pausanias mentions a statue of J upiter 
 at Olympia, seven cubits high, dedicated to him by the people of Leon- 
 tium ; in its hands an eagle and the bolt of Jove, according to the de- 
 scription of it by the poets, lib. v. c. 23. Whether this statue was there 
 before Pindar’s time does not appear ; Phidias, however, who was pos- 
 terior to him, has placed an eagle on the sceptre of his Jupiter in the 
 Olympian temple, probably following the master of lyric poetry in this 
 respect, as he did Homer in the majesty of this celebrated figure. — 
 Pans. ib. v. c. 11. 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 255 
 
 ODE I.] 
 
 With, ruffling plumes and heaving spine 
 
 Quell’d by thy potent strain.* The furious Mars 
 Aloof hath left the bristling spears, 
 
 And with thy soft mellifluous anodyne 
 
 Soothed his relentless heart ; for even 
 The gods themselves thy searching shaft subdues 
 By skill’d Latoidesf aim’d in heaven, 
 
 Framed in the bosom of the swelling Muse. 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 But those, whom all-discerning Jove 
 Abides not, shudder at the sound 
 The chaste Pierian Damsels move, 
 
 On earth or in the restless wave, 
 
 Or where in durance underground 
 The god’s presumptuous foe 
 
 Lies, hundred-headed Typhon ; j whom the cave 
 
 Far-famed by Tarsus bred,§ now stretch’d below 
 
 * Strain. The word in the original is pnralai, impetu, the stroke of 
 the shafts of harmony, as some interpret it : may it not rather mean 
 impetu awrarum tuarum ? and serve to explain what Yirgil meant by 
 * ( vento ” in the line — 
 
 Atque Ixionii vento rota constitit orbis. — Geo. iv. 1. 484. 
 
 + Latoides. The son of Latona, the Greek patronymic for Apollo. 
 The reader will observe how large a portion of this passage Gray has 
 translated and adopted into his ode on the Progress of Poesy. 
 
 X Typhon , said by Hesiod to have been the youngest son of Tartarus 
 and the Earth. — See Theogon. 820, et seg. where a description is given 
 of this monster, which seems to belong to the personification of a 
 burning mountain. Homer has placed the bed or den of Typhon 
 in Arimi : — 
 
 Earth groan’d beneath them, as when thundering Jove 
 On Typhon wrecks his vengeance from above 
 Deep-couched in Arimi, and all around 
 Smites with his lightning’s lash the quaking ground. 
 
 II ii. 783. 
 
 Yirgil, Ovid, and other Latin poets (adopting, as Clarke supposes, 
 some popular misjunction of the words etv 'A pi/ioic), have placed the bed 
 of Typhon in an island off the coast of Campania called Inarime (now 
 Ischia), in the midst of which there is said to have been formerly a vol- 
 cano. Pindar, as we see, followed and imitated by HSschylus (Prom. 
 359 — 373) and Ovid (Met. v. 346), has chosen Mount HStna for this 
 demon’s bed and prison. 
 
 § By Tarsus. Thus also Milton, after Pindar and JEschylus (Prom. 
 
 359) 
 
256 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 LODE L 
 
 Where Cuma’s beetling sea-cliffs * frown ; 
 
 While on his broad and shaggy breast 
 Sicilia’s regions rest, 
 
 And hoary HCtna, pillar of the sphere, 
 
 With her bleak snows through all the year 
 Nursed in her angry arms, presses the monster down : 
 
 STROPHE ir. 
 
 Bursting from whose cavern’d side 
 The living fountains waste their way 
 
 Of unapproachable fire ; whose tide 
 With clouds of smouldering fume bedims the sultry day ; 
 Reddening at night th’ inflamed flood 
 
 Rolls ofl‘ the lifted rocks, and down the steep 
 Plunges beneath the bellowing deep. 
 
 Meanwhile that Serpent t from his dungeon rude 
 Sends his dread fire-spouts to the air, 
 
 Vulcanian streams portentous to behold ! 
 
 Strange e’en the traveller’s tongue to hear 
 Of sights and sounds so dire the tale unfold ; 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 How on ^Etna’s burning base 
 Beneath her dark umbrageous head 
 
 Chain’d and immured the rugged place 
 Gores all his writhing bulk, that rues that restless bed.J 
 
 or Typhon, whom the den 
 
 By ancient Tarsus held. — Par. Lost, b. i. 200. 
 
 * Cuma’s beetling sea-cliffs. These cliffs hanging over Cuma, near the 
 promontory of Misenum, are also similarly described by Juvenal : — 
 
 The cliff with upturn’d eyes from Cuma view’d.— Sat. ix. 57. 
 
 Cuma is not far from Inarime ; Pindar, therefore, by placing Typhon 
 under Cuma and Mount .ZEtna also, has embodied Homer’s story with 
 his own. Virgil, giving Typhon to Inarime, as before observed, has 
 committed Enceladus to Mount ZEtna. — JEn. iii. 578. 
 
 + That serpent. So also, on the authority of Hesiod, Milton has 
 described this strange monster : — 
 
 Not Typhon huge, ending in snaky twine. — Hymn Nativ. 226. 
 
 X That restless bed. Virgil gives him the same accommodation at 
 Inarime : — 
 
 Inarime’s uneasy couch of stone 
 
 By Jove’s command on huge Typhoeus thrown. — JEn. ix. 716. 
 Those who wish to compare this noble description of Mount HCtn* with 
 
ODE I.J 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 25 7 
 
 Grant me, Great Jove, tby smiles to know, 
 
 Lord of this mountain, whose high front commands 
 In circuit wide th’ abundant lands ; 
 
 Graced with whose name* the bordering state below 
 Shares its great founder’s large renown, 
 
 By herald’s voice at Pytho’s listening games 
 Declared ; while Hiero’s chariot-crown, 
 
 A monarch’s meed, th’ inspiring note proclaims. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 From heaven a fresh propitious gale 
 With ardent prayer the seaman craves, 
 
 To wing with speed his parting sail ; 
 
 While Hope a prosperous course foretells 
 
 From' that good presage o’er the waves : 
 
 Thus blest with omen fair 
 Of earliest fame, while ^Etna’s realm excels, 
 
 The Muse her future glories shall declare ; 
 
 Her gorgeous feasts,, her coursers proud, 
 
 Her choirs to chant the victor’s lay — 
 
 O thou, whose radiant sway 
 Delos and Lycia rules ; t whose haunt is still 
 The mount that pours Castalia’s rill ; 
 
 Accept thy suppliant’s prayer ; her streets with heroes crowd. 
 
 those of other poets, none of whom have equalled it, are referred to 
 Georg, i. 473; An. iii. 577; Lucr. lib. vi. 683 ; Ovid. Met. lib. v. 346; 
 and Gray’s Latin Fragment on Mount Gaurus, a mountain produced by 
 volcanic means in a single night. 
 
 * Graced with whose name ; alluding to the circumstance of Hiero’s 
 having given the name of HStna to Catana. It appears by this passage 
 that he caused himself to be proclaimed on his victory at the Pythian 
 Games as an iEtnasan. This vanity, however, was of short duration, 
 the original Catanians having returned after his death, demolished his 
 sepulchre, and expelled the inhabitants who had supplanted them. — 
 Stra. lib. vi. 411, 412. 
 
 + Delos and I/yda rules. Apollo’s supposed birth in the island of 
 Delos, and his temple and worship there, are well known. How he 
 acquired the name of Lycian is not settled, whether horn his being 
 worshipped in Lycia, a nation of celebrated archers in Asia Minor, so 
 called from Lycius, the son of Pandion, who settled there (Pans. lib. i. 
 c. 19) ; or from his being worshipped as the destroyer, Xvkwv, of wolves, 
 
 8 
 
258 
 
 PYTHIAN O T>m. 
 
 (ODE L 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Good the gods alone dispense , 
 
 All arts, all worth from them we trace ; 
 
 And Wit, and Might, and Eloquence 
 Are hut the gifts divine of bounteous Nature’s grace. 
 But thou this prince’s praise to sing 
 
 Intent, as some the brazen javelin wield,* 
 Urge not thy song beside the field, 
 
 But forward far, where rivals ne’er can fling. 
 
 Unchanging Fortune’s golden shower, 
 
 With Virtue’s goodlier boon, the cloudless mind, 
 Time on his state benignant pour, 
 
 And calm Oblivion shade the toils behind. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Still shall Memory’s rolls attest 
 The wars he waged, the fields he won, 
 
 While patient bravery nerved his breast ; 
 
 What honours sent from heaven around their temples shone, 
 
 or from the magnificent temple dedicated to him under that title by 
 Danaiis at Argos {Pans. lib. ii. c. 19) ; or from his being considered as 
 the god of light (\vicri, lux, diluculum), as Mr. Blomfield thinks, AUsch. 
 E7rra. gloss. 136. I have thought it best to adopt the first of these 
 suggestions, following Horace, the safest expositor of Pindar, who seems 
 to have had this passage in his mind when he wrote the following stanza, 
 where all the titles here given to this deity are introduced : 
 
 He in Castalia’s fountain fair, 
 
 Apollo, laves his flowing hair, 
 
 His Patara’s Lycian forest loves. 
 
 His natal isle and Delian groves. 
 
 Hot. b. iii. ode 4. 
 
 * The brazen javelin wield. This is an allusion to the exercise of 
 throwing the javelin at the games, where he who threw the farthest 
 was the winner, provided that it did not pass the lateral lines on the 
 right hand or the left, to which the field of contest was confined. This 
 was practised at least as early as the time of Homer, and, according to 
 his testimony, at the funeral of Patroclus. — II. xvi. 589 ; xxiii. 886. 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 259 
 
 ODE I.] 
 
 By Grecian hand ne’er pluck’ (J. before, 
 
 To crown their wealth a glorious diadem.* 
 His dauntless mind with pangs extreme, 
 Though rack’d, war’s toil, like Philoctetes,+ bore : 
 
 * A glorious diadem. The Syracusians, as West informs us, conferred 
 by one decree the throne of Syracuse on Gelon, and his brothers Hiero 
 and Thrasybulus. Diodorus, however, says, that after Gelon’s celebrated 
 victory over the Carthaginians at Himera, he prepared to assist the 
 Greeks against the Persians ; but being informed of the battle of Sala- 
 mi s, and the consequent retreat of the invaders, he summoned his men 
 in arms to an assembly, at which he himself appeared unarmed, and 
 gave them an account of his past conduct, with which they were so gra- 
 tified that they unanimously proclaimed him their benefactor, their 
 saviour, and their king. — Diod. Sic. lib. xi. c. 26. 
 
 + Pliiloctetes. He was the son of Paean, a native of Melibcea, and the 
 friend of Hercules, who gave him his arrows at his death, without which 
 the Delphic Oracle pronounced that Troy could not be taken. He 
 commanded seven ships in the Trojan war, but receiving from one of 
 the arrows a wound in his foot, which was thought incurable, remained 
 at Lemnos till the last year of the war ; when the Grecian chiefs, having 
 been instructed by the oracle, brought him from Lemnos to the Trojan 
 plain, where he was cured by Machaon, and contributed to the capture 
 of that city. — II. ii. 718 ; Soph. Philoct. ; Ov. Met. xiii. 401. Our poet 
 has likened Hiero to Philoctetes, whom he resembled not in the nature 
 of his malady, which was the stone, but in the circumstance of his 
 having, when afflicted with it, gone into the field of battle, and over- 
 come the enemy. The allusion to Philoctetes still appears remote ; it 
 seems to me, however, that it may be thus accounted for. A naxilaiis, 
 king of the Phegians, situated at the foot of Italy, having (as the Scho- 
 liast tells us) threatened to attack the Locrians, the latter applied to 
 Hiero, by whose interference (as we learn from the Pythian ode ii. 
 p. i.), the project was abandoned. To this circumstance Pindar alludes 
 in the next two lines, and was thereby reminded of Philoctetes ; fol 
 these Locrians, according to Yirgil, had settled in Calabria ; where 
 Philoctetes landed after the fall of Troy, and built the little city of 
 Petilia. We shall remember that the prophet Helenus, being consulted 
 by ^Eneas as to his future course, enjoins him to avoid the coast of Italy 
 opposite Epirus, and gives the following reasons : — 
 
 Shun the dread walls with Greeks malignant fill’d ; 
 
 Narycia’s ramparts there the Locrians build ; 
 
 There stem Idomeneus with Lyctian lines 
 Holds in close siege the rustic Salen tines ; 
 
 There humbly rear’d by Melibcean bands 
 On Philoctetes ’ wall Petilia stands. — AEn. iii. 402, 
 s 2 
 
260 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE l 
 
 Princes his aid with flattery sought, 
 
 And wooed, by Fortune press’d, his saving power. 
 
 ’Twas thus th’ Hellenian heroes brought 
 From Lemnian rocks, in Troy’s disastrous hour, 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Psean’s brave son, with wasting wound, 
 
 Though weak and worn, whose fatal how 
 Razed Priam’s Ilion to the ground. 
 
 He closed the lingering toils of Greece, 
 
 With powerless frame advancing slow ; 
 
 For such was Fate’s decree. 
 
 Thus may some healing god henceforth increase 
 Great Hiero’s weal, and Opportunity # 
 
 Wait on his wish ! — For young Dinomenest 
 
 Wake now, my Muse, thy cheering lyre, 
 
 And sing the conquering sire ; 
 
 By sire like him quadrigal chaplets won 
 Grieve not, I ween, th’ aspiring son ; 
 
 Wake, then, for Etna’s king thy grateful minstrelsies. 
 
 STROPHE iv. 
 
 Blest with freedom, heav’n bestow’d, 
 
 For him sage Hiero plann’d the place, 
 
 And building on th’ Hyllsean code J 
 Founded their polity. The free Pamphylian race, 
 
 * Opportunity. Pindar often dwells on the importance of opportuni oy, 
 called K aipbg by the Greeks, Qlymp. ode ii. antistr. iii. There was an 
 altar to this deity at the entrance of the Olympic stadium, which he no 
 doubt had often seen ; and it is called by Ion, a Chian poet, the 
 youngest of the sons of Jupiter. — Paws. lib. v. c. 14 ; Pyth. ode iv. 
 antistr. xiii. ; Pyth. ode ix. str. iv. To which let me add the imputation, 
 which Shakspeare has so justly cast upon this divinity. 
 
 0 Opportunity, thy guilt is great ! 
 
 ’Tis thou, that executest the traitor’s treason : 
 
 Thou sett’st the wolf, where he the lamb may get : 
 
 Whoever plots the sin, thou point’st the season ; 
 
 ’Tis thou that spurn’st at right, at law, at reason ; 
 
 And in thy shadowy cell, where none may spy her, 
 
 Sits Sin, to seize the souls, that wander by her. — Tarqui. and Lucr. 
 
 t Young Dinomenes. The son of Hiero, named after his grandfather, 
 and, as it appears from the Scholiast, appointed as prefect, or viceroy ol 
 ^Etna. 
 
 X Th ’ Hyllcean code. Hyllus was the son of Hercules, by Melit'e, who. 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 2BI 
 
 ODE 1.] 
 
 From great Alcides sprung, that dwell 
 
 On the green skirts of high Taygetus, 
 
 Still hold th’ ^Egimian law, the Dorian use. 
 
 They from the cliffs of Pindus issuing fell 
 On sack’d Amyclse’s prosperous plain, 
 
 By whose famed border the Tyndarean host 
 Their milk-white steeds illustrious train ; 
 
 Such martial sires the tribes of iEtna boast. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 Mighty Jove, to those, that live 
 By fruitful Amena’s* murmuring tide, 
 
 Subjects and prince, like freedom give, 
 
 By Truth’s unerring rule their faultless course to guide. 
 
 Inspired by thee, by practice sage, 
 
 His son’s, his people’s steps the sire shall lead 
 The tranquil paths of Peace to tread. 
 
 Bid, son of Saturn, the Phoenicians’ t rage 
 
 after the death of Hercules, being driven by Eurytheus from the Pelo- 
 ponnese with the other descendants of his father, retiled to Attica ; 
 from whence having afterwards made an incursion into the Peloponnese, 
 he was killed by Echemus of Tegea (probably the same who conquered 
 in the game of wrestling at the first Olympiad (Olymp. ode x. stro. iv.), 
 in single combat and buried at Athens. — Apoll. Rhod. lib. iv. 539 ; 
 Pans. lib. i. c. 41. On that event the remainder of the Heraclidse 
 again left the Peloponnese, and settled among the Dorians, under 
 ^Egimius, and his son Pamphylus, near Pindus and Mount iEta. From 
 thence they made a second incursion into the Peloponnese, seized Amyclae 
 near Sparta, and finally settled themselves under the directions of the 
 Delphic Oracle, in Laconia and Messenia at the base of Mount Taygetus 
 ( Pyth . ode v. stro. iii.) ; from whence the town of HCtna was colonized. 
 Taygetus is a very lofty mountain, and almost perpendicular on the 
 eastern side, stretching northward from the Gulf of Tsenarus, to the 
 Arcadian mountains, and forming with the rocks and glens about it, the 
 most picturesque and beautiful scenery in Greece. — Stra. lib. viii. p. 
 557 ; I)odw. Trav . vol. ii. 409, 410. The descendants of Castor and Pol- 
 lux, who were born at Amy else, settled in the Argive territory, and 
 consequently had the Dorians and Heraclidse for their neighbours. 
 
 * Amena was a river of Sicily, on the banks of which the town of 
 HCtna stood. 
 
 The Phoenicians', the Carthaginians, defeated by Gelon, at Himera, 
 m a great battle ; as the Tuscans were afterwards near Cuma by Hiero, 
 who took the part of the Cumasans. This is another instance in which ( 
 Hiero is made a partaker in the fame of Gelon. 
 
262 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE 1i 
 
 In calm domestic arts subside, 
 
 Yon Tuscan rout remember in retreat 
 
 Their comrade’s groans on Cumae’s tide, 
 
 With tarnish’d ensigns strew’d and foundering fleet. 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 Such was the wild promiscuous wreck 
 Wrought by the Syracusian stroke, 
 
 Whose captain from the towering deck 
 
 Dash’d to the deep their vanquish’d throng, 
 
 And knapp’d in twain the barbarous yoke. 
 
 When Athens asks my praise, 
 
 From Salamis # I’ll date the swelling song ; 
 
 Cithseron’s # field the Spartan’s fame shall raise, 
 
 Where Persia’s boasted archery t fell : 
 
 But when, Dinomenes, the lyre 
 Thy conquering sonsj inspire, 
 
 Oh, then, from Himera’s banks the glittering bough 
 I’ll pluck to plant on Virtue’s brow, 
 
 And bid those echoing shores their foes’ disasters tell. 
 
 * Salamis. Cithcerons field. The battles of Salamis, in which the 
 A thenians, and of Plataea, near Mount Cithseron, in which the Spaitana 
 were so much distinguished. 
 
 f Persia's boasted archery. So ^Eschylus calls this victory ro^odafivov 
 * Aprjv . — Persce, 88. 
 
 X Thy conquering sons ; Gelon and Hiero, the sons of Dinomenes. It 
 seems from this passage as if Hiero had served under Gelon, in the 
 battle of Himera against the Carthaginians. Diodorus tells us that 
 Hamilcar, having lost in a storm (not in a sea-fight), his horse and 
 chariots, landed at Panormus, refreshed his men, repaired his fleet, and 
 proceeded, the latter accompanying him, to the siege of Himera. He 
 there encamped his land-forces, drew his long ships on shore, and forti- 
 fied them with a deep ditch and a wooden rampart, and commenced 
 hostilities against the town. Upon this, Theron, the governor of 
 Himera, sent in his alarm to Gelon, who marched immediately by land 
 to his assistance with five thousand horse and fifty thousand foot ; and by 
 an admirable stratagem, of which the historian gives a most interesting 
 account, contrived to send a division of his horse, pretending to be Seli- 
 nuntian allies, within the wooden rampart of the enemy, surprised and 
 killed Hamilcar, set fire to the fleet, and slew or took prisoners all the 
 Carthaginians, except some who, crowding into twenty of the long 
 ships, that could not be drawn on shore, made their escape and foun- 
 dered in a storm. It is the battle of Himera, and that only, which 
 Pindar has compared to those of Salamis and Plataea ; conformably 
 with which Diodorus himself tells us, that “ many historians paragon 
 
ODE I.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 263 
 
 STROPHE Y 
 
 Wouldst thou foil the censurer’s sneer, 
 
 Thy copious theme in narrowest pale 
 
 Confine ; nor pall th’ impatient ear 
 That throbs for fresh delights, and loathes the lengthening 
 tale. 
 
 With forced applause, with grief profound, 
 
 The vulgar audience listens to the lays 
 That swell the prosperous stranger’s praise : 
 
 Yet since the flatterer Envy’s deadliest wound 
 Pains not the brave like Pity’s tear, 
 
 Cling thou to Good ; thy vessel’s martial throng 
 With the sure helm of Justice steer 
 And on Truth’s anvil steel thy guarded tongue ; 
 
 ANTISTROPHE Y. 
 
 Sparks of mischief struck from thee 
 Spread far and wide th’ authentic flame : 
 
 Thousands observe thy sovereignty ; 
 
 A thousand listening ears bear witness to thy shame. 
 
 If yet Fame’s dulcet voice to hear 
 
 Thou long’st, still crown’d to stand at Virtue’s post 
 Oh ! shrink not from the worthless cost ; 
 
 But, like a brave and liberal captain, spare 
 Thy spreading canvass to the wind. 
 
 Trust not, my friend, to Flattery’s ill-bought breath : * 
 Glory, whose living lamp behind 
 Departed mortals gilds the shrine of death, 
 
 the battle of Himera to that of the Grecians at Platsea, and the strata, 
 gem of Gelon to the counsels of Themistocles,” who planned, as we all 
 know, and gained the victory at Salamis. — See Diod. Sic. lib. xi. cc. 20, 
 21, 22, 23. We are told that Gelon, after this battle, sent to the Del- 
 phic Temple of Apollo a golden tripod, worth sixteen talents (Diod. Sic. 
 lib. xi. c. 33) ; is it unreasonable to suppose, that the offering mentioned 
 by Pausanias was transmitted on the same great occasion to the treasury 
 at Olympia ? 
 
 * To Flattery's ill-bought breath. I have followed Heyne and Damm 
 in this translation of Kepdeaiv tvTpa7re\oLQ ; but I am by no means clear 
 that the poet did mean to say, “ Don’t be deluded by the fascinations o! 
 gain,” as Benedict interprets it. 
 
264 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode IL 
 
 EPODE Y. 
 
 Bids History’s pomp on Goodness wait ; 
 
 And rouses the rewarding strain 
 To sound the triumphs of the great. 
 
 Still Croesus* lives for kindness blest : 
 
 On Phalaris,t whose remorseless reign 
 The bull and torturing fire 
 Upheld, the curses of all ages rest : 
 
 Him nor the festive band, nor cheering lyre, 
 
 Nor youths in sweet communion joined 
 
 With fond remembrance hail ! — Above 
 The goodliest gifts of Jove 
 Fortune the first, Fame claims the second, place ; 
 
 The man whose grasp, whose filled embrace 
 Both Fame and Fortune holds, life’s noblest crown has 
 twined. 
 
 ODE II. 
 
 TO THE SAME HIERO, 
 
 Victor in the Chariot-race. J 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 Great Syracuse, the splendid shrine 
 Of battle-breathing Mars, 
 
 Nurse of illustrious chiefs divine, 
 
 And steeds that pant for iron wars ! 
 
 * Croesus, the celebrated king of Lydia, the patron and friend of Solon, 
 distinguished not more for his immense wealth than for his kindness and 
 liberality. 
 
 + Phalaris, a tyrant of Agrigentum, who tortured his victims by in- 
 closing them in a brazen bull heated for the purpose ; and in which he 
 was himself destroyed by his indignant people. 
 
 X The commentators are not agreed as to the games at which this 
 victory was won, except /that it was not at the Pythian ; it being referred 
 by different persons to the Olympic, the Nemean, and the Panathena'ic ; 
 to which Heyne doubtingly adds the Isthmian, the statues of Diana, 
 Mercury, and Neptune, who are all mentioned in the first antistrophe, 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 265 
 
 ODE II.] 
 
 To thee, from glorious Thebes, my strain I bear, 
 
 The conquering chariot’s harbinger ; 
 
 Wherein with fourfold team, that shook the thundering 
 plain, 
 
 Thy Hiero won the dazzling braid, 
 
 And crown’d Ortygia in her humid fane, 
 
 Seat of the watery Dian ; * by whose aid 
 With glittering rein and lenient hand he broke 
 His youthful coursers to the yoke. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 For oft the virgin Queen, that aims 
 The silver shafts of light}, 
 
 Oft Mercury guardian of the games t 
 
 Plies with prompt hands the trappings bright ; 
 
 being in the Isthmian temple (Pans. lib. ii. c. 2) ; but be answers this 
 supposition by remarking, as another reason why the poet might have 
 introduced them, that Neptune was the god of horses, Mercury of games, 
 and Diana worshipped at Ortygia. Of course no reason can be given 
 why this is classed among the Pythian Odes. 
 
 * Ortygia, seat of the watery Dian. There were three places called 
 Ortygia, each connected with Diana ; in one of which she is stated by 
 different authors to have been born. The first of these was the Isle of 
 Delos, called anciently Ortygia, as in Yirgil : Linquimus Ortygiae portus 
 (JEn. iii. 124) ; the second was a beautiful grove, near the Temple of 
 Ephesus, where the goddess was said to have been born of Latona, and 
 to have been nursed by Ortygia, from whom the grove was named. — 
 Stra. lib. xiv. 947, 948. Callimachus refers Apollo’s nativity to Delos, 
 but says nothing of Diana’s. Homer describes Latona as having pro- 
 duced Diana and Apollo, 
 
 Her in Ortygia, him in rocky Delos. — Hymn. Ajpol. 14. 
 
 From which passage it is plain that Homer did not consider Delos as the 
 birthplace of Diana ; but whether he meant the Ephesian or Syracusian 
 Ortygia, does not appear. The goddess had certainly a temple in the 
 latter place, which being called in the first Nemean Ode difiviov 
 ’Aprifudog and AaAov Kaaiyvrjra > the bed of Diana, and the sister of 
 Delos (anciently Ortygia), was, as the Scholiast on that passage says, re- 
 garded by some as the birthplace of that goddess, and might have been 
 by Pindar annexing in his manner the fable to the name. 
 
 f At the entrance to the Olympic Stadium there was an altar to 
 Mercury by this title, 'E pfiov ivaywviov, whose statues were nume- 
 rous by the sides of the roads in that district : and at the mouth of the 
 river Alpheius, there was a grove and temple of Diana (Chandler, vol. ii. 
 323), which will account for the union of these two deities in this ode 
 
266 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE II. 
 
 When to the burnish’d car he joins the speed, 
 The vigour of the rein -led steed, 
 
 And calls the wide-domain’d and trident- sceptred god. 
 
 The tuneful strain, fair Virtue’s meed 
 Others on other monarchs have bestow’d ; 
 
 As offc the Cyprian minstrels wake the reed 
 For Cinyras * (whom Phoebus golden-tress’d 
 With pure celestial love caress’d, 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 And Venus made her priest and paramour) ; 
 Such strain to thee for favour found 
 Each grateful heart shall pour, 
 
 Son of Dinomenes ! mark how, thy praise to sound, 
 Seated before her peaceful cot, 
 
 The Locriau damsel t trolls her lay, 
 
 With looks secure, her fears forgot, 
 
 And foes, thy power hath frown’d away. 
 That moral to mankind, 
 
 , As story tells, by heaven enjoin’d, 
 
 Pound on his restless wheel for ever roll’d 
 With warning voice Ixion J told, 
 
 “ With warm returns of gratitude 
 “ Pequite the bounties of the good.” 
 
 * Cinyras. He was a king of the island of Cyprus, the son (accord* 
 ing to the Scholiast) of Paphos and Apollo, and the high priest in the 
 Temple of Y enus, which he is said to have erected. To account for this 
 abrupt introduction of the name of Cinyras, the Scholiast says, that 
 Dinomenes, the father of Hiero, derived his origin from Cyprus, and 
 had introduced from thence the worship of that goddess into Sicily. 
 
 f The Locricm damsel. This alludes to the security which Hiero had 
 conferred upon the Locrian inhabitants of Calabria, by deterring Anaxi- 
 laiis, king of Phegium, from hostilities, which he had threatened to 
 commence against them. 
 
 X This account of the punishment of Ixion is familiar to the reader. 
 His history, according to the Scholiast, is, that having married Dia, the 
 daughter of Deioneus, king of Phocis, and being compelled by his father- 
 in-law, who ought to have given a dowry with her, to pay him one 
 instead, invited him as to a banquet, and threw him into a pit, which he 
 had filled with fire for the purpose. The rest of the gods having turned 
 against him for this murder, Jupiter, in pity for him (as the Scholiast 
 says, but enamoured of his wife Dia, on whom he begot Pirithoiis, as 
 Homer tells us, II. xiv. 317), absolved him from the crime, and took 
 
ODE II.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 267 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Fatally learnt ! A life of bliss 
 With Saturn’s sons be led ; 
 
 Whose heavenly friendship used amiss * 
 
 To madness fired his impious head : 
 
 What time the matchless consort of high Jove 
 He tried, by blind presumptuous love 
 To that wild outrage moved. Full soon the just return 
 A strange unpractised pain he bore, 
 
 Two bold misdeeds condemn’d at once to mourn : 
 
 For he, a hero deem’d, with kindred gore 
 His hands had stain’d, and first by fraud design’d 
 The foulest murder of his kind ; 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 He to the secret bower unseen, 
 
 J ove’s genial chamber, stole, 
 
 And tempted there the eternal Queen — 
 
 0, could man’s wit his wish control, 
 
 His true dimensions learn ! t A host of woes 
 Unlicensed Lust’s indulgence knows ! 
 
 him up to heaven, where Ixion in return, attempted the chastity of 
 Juno, and was punished for his alleged ingratitude in the manner men- 
 tioned in the text. Homer (probably for the reason above mentioned) 
 makes no mention of Ixion in his account of the great delinquents in the 
 shades below. Virgil confirms Pindar’s story in the fourth Georgic, 
 where he describes the music of Orpheus, 
 
 And at his strain Ixion’s wheel stood still. — 1. 484. 
 
 It is, however, observable, that in the sixth .ZEneid, 1. 601, &c., the 
 same poet has assigned to Ixion all the different punishments by others 
 accumulated upon Tantalus. 
 
 * A similar .sentiment with regard to Tantalus will be found in 
 Olymp. ode i. ep. ii. 
 
 4* His true dimensions learn : imitated by Horace — 
 
 Wouldst thou live well ? thy true dimensions find, 
 
 The gauge and measure of thy means and mind. — Ep. 1. i. 7. 
 
 And Juvenal — 
 
 In all thou dost, thy first thy least concern, 
 
 The measure of thyself, thy limits learn. — Sat. xi. 36. 
 
268 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE II. 
 
 Witness this thoughtless dupe, that wooed a shadowy cloud* 
 And made th’ enchanting cheat his bride : 
 
 Fair, heavenly fair, like Saturn’s daughter proud, 
 
 Look’d the bright form his baseness to deride ; 
 
 So well J ove’s art had wrought the flattering bane.— 
 Now in his quadri-radiate chain, 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 (Rack self- devised) * inextricably bound 
 He with stretch’d ]imbs and doleful cry, 
 
 Deals his sad precept round. 
 
 Meanwhile with love unblest that air-drawn effigy 
 In solitude her single birth 
 
 Monstrous produced : the graceless child 
 No reverence found in heaven or earth. 
 
 Now “ Centaur ”t named, with passion wild 
 The mateless male assails 
 Magnesian mares in Pelion’s vales : 
 
 Whence sprung th’ unnatural breed, whose wondrous kin. 
 Their parents’ twofold form combined ; 
 
 The dam their baser parts confess’d, 
 
 The statelier father crown’d the crest. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Thus to perfection $ God could bring 
 Whate’er his will design’d — 
 
 God, that o’ertakes the eagle’s wing 
 And leaves the dolphin’s haste behind 
 In the mid sea ; whose chastening hand hath bow’d 
 The lofty spirit of the proud, 
 
 * Rack self-devised. It was part of Ixion’s punishment to make the 
 engine of his own torture, a wheel with four spokes, on which his limbs 
 were stretched. 
 
 f Centaur. It is evident that Pindar did not regard this issue of 
 Ixion and the cloud as that biform animal, which we call a Centaur, but 
 the mixed species which he produced. 
 
 X Thus to perfection , <kc. The sentiments contained in this and the 
 six following lines, are so much in the spirit and manner of the sacred 
 writers, and so little to be expected in this place, that it is difficult to 
 conceive from whence this poet borrowed them, or how he could have 
 fallen accidentally on so close an imitation. See also the fourth epode 
 of this ode. 
 
ODE II. J PYTHIAN ODES. 269 
 
 And given to modest worth th’ imperishable crown — 
 
 But here th’ unseemly tale * we close, 
 
 Warn’d by th’ example past and ill renown 
 
 Of starved Archilochus, whose verse morose, 
 Whose malice was his feast. The stores be mine 
 Of wealth and genius to combine. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 The first land Fortune’s gifts afford 
 Thy liberal hand around 
 Largely to lavish, sovereign Lord 
 
 Of states and hosts with glory crown’d 
 He that from ages past asssumes to name, 
 
 From all the flower of Greece, in fame, 
 
 Honours, possessions, power, a prince surpassing thee, 
 Vaunts with false heart and idle tongue. — 
 
 O ! for a bark t upon the boundless sea 
 
 To range at large, when Virtue swells my song, 
 And spread, if bravery be the boast of youth, 
 
 Thy glory from the strain of Truth : 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 She sawj the band to thee, the squadron yield, 
 
 And thy green arm from manhood tear 
 The trophies of the field. 
 
 Unrisk’d, unbounded praise thy sager counsels share : 
 
 All forms of fame thy deeds attend ; 
 
 Hail to thy greatness ! o’er the sea 
 Like rich Phoenician stores § I send 
 My freight of eulogies for thee. 
 
 Accept with favouring eye 
 Our rich Castorean minstrelsy : || 
 
 * Th' wiseemly tale. See Olymp. ode i. ep. ii., where KaicayopcjQ ia 
 used in the same sense as Kaicayopiav is here. 
 
 f 0! for a baric, &c. See Olymp. odexiii. stro. iii. 1. 3. 
 
 X She saw, &c. This is probably an allusion to the exploits performed 
 by Hiero when under the command of Gelon. 
 
 § Phoenician stores. The Scholiast supposes that Pindar meant to 
 hint that he expected, like a Phoenician merchant, to make a profit by 
 his poetical consignment. 
 
 || Castorean minstrelsy. Why Pindar calls this Castorean, or what he 
 means by the expression, the commentators do not inform us. Some 
 suppose it to mean a war-song, or measure invented by, or for Castor ; 
 others a song accompanying the dance in armour : I rather think, on 
 
270 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE II. 
 
 Touch’d on th’ ^IColian chord its notes will fire 
 With raptures high the sev’n-toned lyre. 
 
 But praise on Apes * let hoys bestow, 
 
 Keep thou the course thy virtues know : 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 Thus wisest Bhadamanthus'f won 
 The reverence of mankind ; 
 
 The fruits of conscience all his own ; 
 
 No flattering falsehood lured his mind ; 
 Wherewith, the sufferer’s and the listener’s bane, 
 Weak ears intriguing whisperers gain, 
 
 Detraction’s pilfering priests, that live on calumnies, 
 Filching like foxes in the dark — 
 
 Yet what the gain their treacherous trade supplies ? 
 
 Like the dull net J flung from the seaman’s bark, 
 They drudge beneath the deep, while o’er the tide 
 My buoyant corks untarnish’d ride. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 No hold the slanderer’s word can take 
 On Yirtue’s generous heart : 
 
 Yet fawning, flattering all, they make 
 The mischief, that sustains their art. 
 
 Boldness like theirs I boast not, to my friend 
 Most friendly ; to my foes constrain’d 
 
 comparing this passage with the first epode of the first Isthmian, that it 
 means only a song in honour of the victor in the chariot-race, such as 
 was sung for Castor. 
 
 * The remainder of this ode is supposed to refer to Bacchylides, a 
 contemporary poet, who envied Pindar, and who had calumniated him 
 to Hiero, who was at war with Theron, the father of Thrasydseus, Pin- 
 dar’s friend. What reliance, however, we can place on the Scholiast, 
 whose account this is, and who in hi? note on 1. 97, describes Bacchylides 
 as a person who always traduced Hiero, and in his note on 1. 131, as a 
 person who was in great esteem with Hiero, the reader will determine. 
 
 t Rhadamanthus, a Cretan, said to have been the son of Jupiter, and 
 for his justice on earth, to have been made one of the judges in the 
 shades below. See Olymp. ode i. ep. iv. 
 
 t The dull net, &c. Ovid has almost translated this passage. 
 
 While to the deep the loaded nets subside, 
 
 Mark how yon cork swims lightly on the tide. — h. iii. El. iv. 1. 12. 
 
ODE Il."[ PYTHIAN ODES. 271 
 
 I am a foe, a wolf, that hunt them everywhere, 
 
 And by blind paths my prey surprise. 
 
 Truth in all states her fearless front may rear ; 
 
 Whether proud kings, or fierce democracies, 
 
 Or sapient peers the public weal maintain. 
 
 Strive not with God ; thy rage is vain ; 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 He for wise ends the virtuous magnifies, 
 
 Or deigns the worthless head to raise 
 With glory to the skies. 
 
 Still Envy rests not here : in faithless scale she weighs 
 Her weak pretence ’gainst Merit’s claim, 
 
 And in the struggle to be blest 
 Oft guides the wandering poniard’s aim, 
 
 E’en to her own unguarded breast. 
 
 ’Tis temperate Wisdom’s care 
 With light contented heart to beai 
 Life’s galling yoke. # To kick the pointed goad, t 
 And wound the heel, yet keep the load, 
 
 Is the fool’s cure. Be mine to use 
 Virtue’s sweet converse and the Muse. 
 
 * Life's galling yoke. J uvenal (Sat. xiii. 22) has also copied this. 
 
 Nor those unblest, who, tutor’d in life’s school, 
 
 Have learnt of old experience to submit 
 And lightly bear the yoke they cannot quit. — Gifford, 
 lo kick the pointed goad. See Acts Apost. c. ix, v. 5 ; AEsch. Ag. 
 1614 ; Ewrip. Bacch. 794, where the same proverb is expressed in the 
 words used by Pindar, t rpoq Kevrpa XaicriCuv. 
 
272 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode in 
 
 ODE III. 
 
 TO THE SAME HIERO, 
 
 Victor in the Horse-race .* 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 O ! that good Phillyra’s benignant son, 
 
 Old Chiron, t from Uranian Saturn sprung 
 (If without blame a minstrel’s tongue 
 With the world’s prayer may blend his own), 
 Could from the dead return, to reign 
 O’er Pelion’s peaceful vales again, 
 
 And bear once more the generous mind, 
 
 Brute though in form, to bless mankind ! 
 
 Such, as when erst his fostering care 
 The hero ^Esculapius J bred ; 
 
 Who first taught pain the writhing wretch to spare, 
 Touch’d by whose healing hand the pale diseases fled. 
 
 * The Scholiast tells us, that Hiero gained two victories at the 
 Pythian Games in the horse-race, one in the twenty-sixth, the other in 
 the twenty-seventh Pythiad ; and adds that he was not king of Syracuse 
 till the twenty- eighth Pythiad, corresponding with the seventy-sixth 
 Olympiad, for the purpose of fixing the date of this ode, in the fourth 
 strophe of which he is so described. I see no allusion, however, in this 
 ode to two victories, as the Scholiast supposes. 
 
 f Chiron, called by Homer the most just of the centaurs, is here 
 described to be the son of Phillyra and Saturn. He was said to have 
 lived in a cave upon Mount Pelion, to have been eminently skilled in the 
 art of healing, and to have educated iEsculapius, Jason, and Achilles. 
 That wild abode is now, as Mr. Dodwell tells us, “beautifully varie- 
 gated with groves and gardens, and glittering with towns and villages.” 
 See his interesting description of the adjacent scenery, Trav. vol. ii. 87, 
 as also of the Centaurs sculptured on the Theseion and Parthenon, 
 ib. 366. 
 
 X ^Esculapius, whose birth is here described, as in Hesiod’s Frag 
 ments, 204, is said to have resided at Epidaurus, in the Peloponnese, 
 near which he had a temple always filled with invalids, and dedicatory 
 tablets or pillars, on which the diseases and cures of the convalescent 
 were recorded. This temple, in which there was a statue of JEscula- 
 tius of gold and ivory, the celebrated theatre and tholus built by Poly- 
 
ODE III.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES, 
 
 273 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Him Phlegyas’ daughter* bore ; who midst the throe* 
 While Illthyia t watch’d her matron cries, 
 
 Pierced with the thrilling dart that flies 
 From stern Lucina’s golden bow, 
 
 Changed by Apollo’s power o’ercome 
 Her painful chamber for the tomb. 
 
 So fearful ’tis for man to move 
 The vengeance of the sons of Jove 
 She in her frailty’s wanton mood 
 The bright-haird God’s approach repell’d 
 
 (Whose love so late her wavering heart subdued) 
 
 E’en while his heavenly seed her genial bosom swell’d : 
 
 EPODE I. 
 
 She to her sire unknown a prince J adored. 
 
 No more the bridal feast § or damsel train 
 She reck’d ; she stay’d not till they pour’d 
 In melting choir their hymeneal strain, 
 
 cleitus, the stadium, &c., stood in a sacred grove or consecrated circuit, 
 surrounded by a belt of hills ; of which Pausanias gives an interesting 
 account too long to be extracted (lib. ii. c. 27) ; but which the reader 
 will find much pleasure in comparing with the accurate descriptions and 
 plates of their remains, with which our industrious and learned country- 
 men have obliged us. — Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 257 ; Clarice's Trav. vol. iii. 
 620 ; Cell's Itm. 104. 
 
 * Phlegyas' daughter, Coronis, the mother of iEsculapius, whom she 
 brought forth at Epidaurus. 
 
 + Ilithyia, the goddess of parturition, expressed by Homer in the 
 plural number, and called by him, as well as Pindar (Nem. ode vii. stro. 
 i.), the daughter of Juno. She is the same with Eleutho, and not easily 
 distinguishable from Lucina or Diana. — Pans. lib. vii. c. 23. 
 
 t A prince adored, i. e. Ischys, the son of Eilatus, and consequently 
 the brother of that iEpytus, king of the Arcadians at Phaesana, to 
 whom Pitana intrusted the education of Evadne. — Olymp. ode vi. 
 antistr. ii. 
 
 § The bridal feast. This feast was given at the bridegroom’s house, 
 partly for convivial purposes, but chiefly in honour of the Gods of Mar- 
 riage, who were invoked on the occasion, and as a means of announcing 
 the nuptial union to the friends and relations, who were numerously Ln- 
 
 T 
 
274 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IIL 
 
 Or to soft airs for maiden meet 
 Warbled their wonted vesper sweet. 
 
 Her thoughts on 'absent raptures rove, 
 
 The torturing dream of all that love. 
 
 Fond mortals thus the gifts refuse 
 
 Of tendering Fortune with disdain ; 
 
 While Hope some distant trifle views 
 And hunts the flying prize* in vain. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 That fatal fault within her alter’d breast 
 
 The fair Coronis nursed : away she threw 
 Her virgin robes, and madly flew 
 To clasp her loved Arcadian guest : 
 
 Unmark’d not of the Seer divine, t 
 Whose victims heap the Pythian shrine ; 
 
 There throned within his temple pale 
 Sage Loxias knew th’ unseemly tale, 
 
 By sure direct communion taught 
 The glance of his omniscient mind : 
 
 Falsehood beguiles not him ; nor act, nor thought, 
 
 Nor man, nor potent God his searching sight can blind. 
 
 vited (Athence. lib. v. c. 1, and Find. Olymp. ode vii. stro. i.) ; during 
 which the marriage-songs, or hymengei, were sung. For a full account 
 of the ancient Greek marriages, see Pott. Antiq. b. iv. c. 11 ; with 
 which it may amuse the reader to compare the account of an Albanian 
 marriage given by Mr. Dodwell, where the feast and hymeneal song still 
 formed a part of the solemnity. — Trav. vol. ii. p. 24. 
 
 * The flying prize. This passage will remind us of Polypheme’s self- 
 admonition, and Horace’s much closer parallel. 
 
 O milk the present ewe ; 
 
 Why one, that flies thee, wilt thou still pursue ? — Id. xi. 75. 
 
 His game through wintry snows the sportsman chased ; 
 
 Yet scorns to touch it on the table placed ; 
 
 Such is my love ; the maid with asking eyes 
 
 It passes by, and follows her that flies. — B. i. sat. 2. 
 
 f The Seer divine, Apollo ; whose means of intelligence as her 9 
 described are worthy of a god. 
 
ODE III.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 27b 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Thus, while on love Eilatian Ischys bent 
 
 He view’d, his feign’d pretence and deed unchaste, 
 
 To Lacereia’s towers* in haste 
 The god his vengeful sister t sent, 
 
 Where rose by Bcebias’ distant flood 
 Th’ afflicted maid’s forlorn abode, 
 
 Now by the Power, whose baleful sway 
 Lured her from Virtue’s paths to stray, 
 
 Shamed and destroy’d. The demon’s ire 
 E’en ’mongst her friends th’ o’erwhelming ill 
 
 Diffused ; as. from one spark J the gathering fire 
 Spreads through the distant woods, and strips th’ umbrageous 
 hill. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Now when by kindred hands the damsel lay 
 
 Stretch’d on the pile sepulchral, and the flames 
 Ran round ; “ Mine offspring thus to slay 
 
 “ My soul shall ne’er endure,” the god exclaims, 
 
 “ Nor leave its parent’s pangs to share.” 
 
 Thus briefly, from the lifeless fair, 
 
 Whom with one pace he reach’d (the pyre 
 Self-opening to the saving sire), 
 
 * Lacereia’s towers. This was a town in Thessaly, lying on the lake 
 Boebeis, which lies near Pherae (as Homer also tells us, II. ii. 711), and 
 the confines of Mount Pelion. It is mentioned by Apollonius Khodius, 
 lib. iv. 616, but not by Strabo, in whose time it had probably acquired 
 the name of Larissa, lib. ix. p. 666, note. For a description of this 
 region, see Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 93, etseq. 
 
 + His vengeful sister, Diana, who would not only feel for Apollo, but 
 for the wrongs of injured chastity, of which she was the goddess. 
 
 X As from one spark, &c. Thus expanded by Virgil : — 
 
 Oft from the heedless herdsmen drops a spark ; 
 
 That harbour’d first beneath the unctuous bark 
 Seizes the wood, and to the foliage flies 
 Aloft, and roars and crackles to the skies ; 
 
 High o’er the branching tops victorious reigns, 
 
 And all in flame involves the sylvan plains. 
 
 Georg, book ii. 308. 
 
276 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE III. 
 
 Away the struggling child he bare, 
 
 And bade the Pelian Centaur sage * 
 
 Store its young mind with precepts rare 
 Disease and mortal pain to ’suage. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 All those, whose sickly temperaments betray’d 
 The natural sore ; all whom the griding sword, 
 
 The whirling rock, had crush’d or gored ; 
 
 All whom the blistering flames had flay’d ; 
 
 All through whose limbs keen winter’s breath 
 Had blown the drowsy chill of death ; 
 
 (Whate’er the pang their frames endured) 
 
 Each of his several bane he cured. 
 
 This felt the charm’s enchanting sound ; t 
 That drank th’ elixir’s soothing cup ; 
 
 Some with soft hand in sheltering bands he bound, 
 
 Or plied the searching steel and bade the lame leap up. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Yet Wisdom’s self the lust of gain betrays : 
 
 Him too Corruption with her rich reward, 
 
 Her glittering gilded hand, ensnared 
 
 With impious art the dead to raise. J 
 
 * The Pelian Centaur sage , Chiron, who lived on Mount Pelion : in 
 the original he is called the Magnesian Centaur ; but Pelion was in 
 Magnesia, as Homer tells us. — II. lib. ii. 756. 
 
 + The charm’s enchanting sound, incantations, mentioned also by 
 Homer : — 
 
 With incantations stopp’d the sable blood. — Odyss. book xix. 457. 
 
 $ The dead to raise. Hippolytus, having resisted the addresses of his 
 stepmother Phsedra, was falsely accused by her to his father Theseus, of 
 having made an attack upon her chastity (a story much resembling those 
 of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife, and of Bellerophon and Sthenoboea) : for 
 this he received the curses of Theseus, who believed the story, and was 
 soon after dashed from his chariot and killed, his horses being frightened 
 at a sea-monster sent by Neptune for the purpose. iEsculapius, how- 
 ever, for some great reward (as Pindar here informs us, and which 
 appears, from Pausanias, to have been an offering of twenty horses), 
 restored him to life ; for which presumptuous act J upiter struck him 
 with the lightning, and sent him to the shades below. The recover}' of 
 Hippolytus, as above stated, was attested by an inscription upon an 
 ancient pillar, near the temple of the latter at Epidaurus. — Pans. lib. ii. 
 
ODE III.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 277 
 
 Roused at the deed indignant Jove 
 Through both at once his lightning drove ; 
 
 At whose dread shock and instant blast 
 From both their breasts the spirit pass’d ; 
 
 So quick the flaming courier speeds. 
 
 Pour we to Heaven our humble pray’r, 
 
 And beg the boon our mortal misery needs, 
 
 By sad experience taught of what frail race we are. 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Dare not, my soul, immortal life to crave ; 
 
 The practicable good strive thou to gain — 
 
 But O ! that still yon mountain cave 
 
 Sage Chiron held, where this mellifluous strain 
 With tuneful charm his heart might move 
 Some healing power to send, from Jove 
 Or Phoebus sprung, with spells endued, 
 
 To still the pangs that rack the good.* 
 
 With him the bounding bark I’d mount, 
 
 And ride the rough Ionian wave,! 
 
 By Arethusa’s bubbling fount J 
 
 My kind HCtnsean host to save : 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 Him Syracuse reveres, § her lenient king, 
 
 Whose pride ne’er pined at Virtue’s just success ; 
 Whose love th’ unfriended strangers bless — - — 
 
 O ! could I reach thy realm, and bring 
 
 c. 27. The same account is given by Virgil (HZn. lib. vii. 769), Ovid, 
 and others ; to which Spenser has added a dismal picture of the future 
 state of iEsculapius, who (he tells us) was chained and imprisoned in a 
 dismal cave for this specimen of his medical pre-eminence. — Fa. Qu. b. i. 
 c. v. st. 36. With regard to Hippolytus, Virgil tells us, in the passage 
 above referred to, that Diana secreted him, and conveyed him to the 
 grove of the -nymph Egeria in Italy, where, under the name of Virbius, 
 he passed the remainder of his days in undisturbed obscurity. 
 
 * That rack the good, alluding to his patron Hiero, to whom this ode 
 is written, and who was then afflicted with an excruciating complaint, 
 f Ioniam wave. The Ionian sea divides Sicily from Greece. 
 
 X Fount. The fountain Arethusa, at Syracuse, of which Hiero was 
 king. The poet’s reason for calling him his JEtncean host will be found 
 in the notes on the first Pythian ode. 
 
 § Him Syracuse reveres. Hiero’s obligations to our poet will be ap* 
 
278 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IIL 
 
 Health, golden Health,* with Song to grace 
 The wreath that crown’d thy Pythian race, 
 
 (Which late from Cirrhat to thy shore 
 The matchless Pherenicus J bore), 
 
 Then should thy glorious minstrel shine 
 From far with beams of goodlier light, 
 
 With two such gifts advancing o’er the brine, 
 
 Than yon celestial star to thy rejoicing sight. 
 
 predated by those who refer to the account given of him by Diodorus. 
 Contrasting him with his brother Gelon, the historian says, He governed 
 his subjects in a very different mammer; for he was violent and avaricious , 
 and directly the reverse of his brother in that fairness and honourable in- 
 tegrity of character for which the latter was so much distinguished. — B. ii. 
 c. 67. 
 
 * Golden Health, dec. Health and Song, Hygeia and Comos in the 
 original, that is, the Goddess of Health (by some called the daughter of 
 JEsculapius), and the Genius of the triumphal Choir. Pausanias tells 
 us, that on each side of the statue of Minerva at Tegea there were sta- 
 tues by Scopas, in Pentelic marble of HSsculapius and Hygeia. — Lib. viii. 
 c. 47. 
 
 t Cirrha, the ancient seaport of Delphi, from which it was distant 
 about eight or ten miles, situated on the Crissaean gulf. Strabo de- 
 scribes Crissa as a town on the coast between Cirrha and Anticyra, but 
 says that the two former (Cirrha first, as I understand him, and Crissa 
 afterwards) were destroyed before his time. — Lib. ix. 640. Yet Pausa- 
 nias, who wrote long after Strabo, tells us that Cirrha was still, when 
 he wrote, the seaport of Delphi, and supposes it to have been the same 
 with Crissa mentioned by Homer {II. ii. 520), in whose works the name 
 of Cirrha never occurs. Mr. Dodwell complains that Pindar uses 
 Cirrha here synonymously with Delphi, and adds, that “ in this manner 
 poets but too often throw history and geography into confusion.” There 
 is, however, no such confusion as Mr. Dodwell has supposed ; the Del- 
 phic Hippodrome being (as Pausanias, who visited the spot while it 
 existed, tells us, lib. x. c. 37) in the plain between Delphi and Cirrha : 
 and as the latter was the seaport of the former, it is the very place from 
 which the victor Horse must have been embarked with his crown for 
 Syracuse, on a voyage, which the words flaOvv ttovtov TrepaavaiQ, 
 that close the sentence, show to have been at that moment on the poet’s 
 mind. 
 
 + Pherenicus. This is the same name which is given by Pindar to the 
 horse which won for Hiero at Olympia, in the first antistrophe of his 
 first Olympic ode ; and it is therefore probable that it was the same 
 horse, although no doubt a name which signifies “the winner” might 
 possibly have been given to two different horses. 
 
ODE III.J 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 279 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IY. 
 
 But to the Matron Goddess, # in whose praise 
 Oft near my portal at the midnight hour 
 With Pan their hymns the damsels pour, 
 
 For thee my distant voice I’ll raise. 
 
 If, Hiero, thy discernment knows 
 
 The flower on wisdom’s word that grows ; 
 
 Oft hast thou learnt from sapient age, 
 
 Guide of thy youth, this precept sage, 
 
 That “ with each boon kind Fate bestows 
 “ Two banes the chastening gods combine,” 
 
 Banes to the fool, but blessings to the wise, 
 
 Who clear th’ incrusting coil, and bid the diamond shine t 
 
 EPODE IY. 
 
 Thee Heaven hath prosper’d ; for if Fortune’s eye 
 E’er beams on mortal, ’tis the conqueror King : 
 
 Yet with unchanged, uncloudy sky 
 
 Hot e’en for Peleust shone th’ eternal spring, 
 
 Nor godlike Cadmus ; t though they heard, 
 
 To that surpassing bliss preferr’d, 
 
 The golden- vested Muses fill 
 With songs of joy their echoing hill, 
 Sev’n-portall’d Thebes repeat the strain ; 
 
 When this Harmonia’s hand endow’d, 
 
 On that sage Nereus from the main 
 
 Thetis, his glorious child, bestow’d. 
 
 * The Matron Goddess. The Scholiast tells us that there was a small 
 temple to the Mother of the Gods near the front of Pindar’s house, 
 which Aristodemus and Pausanias suppose him to have erected, and in 
 which there was a statue to the god Pan. Pausanias calls it the Temple 
 of Dindym&ib, and says that it was near the ruins of Pindar’s house, 
 and only opened one day in every year, on one of which he happened to 
 be present, and saw the statue and throne of the goddess both made of 
 Pentelic marble. — Pans. lib. ix. c. 35. 
 
 f Peleus, Cadmus. These names are well known. At the marriages 
 of the former with Thetis on Mount Parnassus (again mentioned by 
 Pindar in the fifth IN enioa~ odel, and of the latter with Harmonia at 
 Thebes, the gods are said to nave been present, and Apollo and the 
 Muses to have charmed them with their celestial harmony. 
 
2S0 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode IIL 
 
 STROPHE Y. 
 
 Gods from the spheres came down their feast to grace, 
 Where they their nuptial gifts from Saturn’s sons, 
 Ethereal kings on golden thrones, 
 
 Took, and beheld them face to face. 
 
 Thus, for past cares and toils forgot, 
 
 Their hearts corrected with their lot,* 
 
 The smiles of favouring Heaven they found ; 
 Sorrow unseen yet hover’d round : 
 
 Cadmus, at life’s distressful close, 
 
 His phrensied children’s f furies press’d ; 
 
 Though genial Jove one for his consort chose, 
 
 And soothed his power divine on fair Thyone’s breast. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V. 
 
 Peleus, to whom immortal Thetis gave 
 
 One matchless son,J on Phrygia’s fatal plain 
 By shaft obscure untimely slain, 
 
 Mourn’d with all Greece his early grave. 
 
 If there be one, whose wisdom crown’d 
 Th’ unerring paths of Truth has found, 
 
 ’Tis his with heart uplift to Heaven 
 T’ improve the gift its grace has given. 
 
 The winds that sweep the vaulted sky 
 Shift every hour their changeful way ; 
 
 And when on man swelling Prosperity 
 In all its fulness comes, it will not, must not stay. 
 
 EPODE V. 
 
 Humble in want, in greatness I’ll be great, 
 
 Still to my fortune’s form I’ll shape my will, 
 
 My wit the follower of my fate. 
 
 Should some kind god my lap with affluence fill, 
 
 * Their hearts corrected with their lot. This may allude to some defect 
 in the early part of Cadmus’ history, who came (perhaps a fugitive) from 
 Phoenicia to Thebes, and to Peleus’s banishment from iEgina, for the 
 murder of his brother Phocus. 
 
 f Phrermed children, viz. Ino, Agave, Thyone, or Semele ; of whom 
 the two former became insane, and the latter was killed by the lightning 
 in the embrace of Jupiter. 
 
 £ One matchless son. Achilles, slain before the walls of Troy. 
 
ODE IV.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 281 
 
 To Fame’s liigh peak my hopes aspire : 
 Sarpedon and the Pylian sire 
 All ages know, to all proclaim’d 
 In sounding song by Genius framed.* * * § 
 Her title to the breathing lyre 
 
 Virtue in charge securely gives ; 
 
 But rare the hand, whose touch can fire 
 
 Th’ immortal strain, by which she lives. 
 
 ODE IV. 
 
 TO ARCESILAUS THE CYRENJ2AN, 
 
 Victor in the Chariob-Race.\ 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 To-day beside thy friend Arcesilas, 
 
 The steed-renown’d Cyrene’sJ bounteous king, 
 
 Stand, heavenly Muse, his minstrel choir to grace ; 
 
 And swell the gale of triumph, as they sing 
 Latona’s twins and Pytho’s plain ; 
 
 Where, while Apollo fill’d the fane,§ 
 
 His priestess, from her shrine above 
 Between the golden || birds of Jove, 
 
 * By genius framed, alluding to Homer’s Iliad, in which the names 
 of Sarpedon and Nestor, the Pylian sage, are so memorably recorded. 
 
 f This victory was obtained in the thirty-first Pythiad, that is, in the 
 third year of the seventy-ninth Olympiad. 
 
 X Steed-renown' d Gyrene's, Ac. Strabo tells us that Cyrene was 
 built by Battus, and a colony from Thera, a Laconian isle, formerly 
 called Callista ; and that it was celebrated for its fertility and breed of 
 horses, just as Pindar has described it (lib. xvii. p. 1194). 
 
 § While Ajpollo fill’d the fane. 0 vk aTrodapov ’Ai toWojvoq tv\ovtoq, 
 i. e. Apollo not being absent ; so we have 3>o i&ov s7ndriyri<javTog, Callim. 
 Apol. 13, and f 'H0ai(rro£ ptradgyiog, Odyss. lib. viii. 293, — Apollo, Vul- 
 can, being present, or at home. We have observed in a former note, 
 that at the latter end of the spring Apollo was said to visit the Hyper- 
 boreans, during which excursion the oracle gave no answers, and was 
 said at that time a.7rod ripely. 
 
 Jj Between the golden birds , Ac. The Scholiast informs ns, that in 
 
282 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IT, 
 
 Decreed, that on yon fruitful coast 
 Battus* should plant his alien host 
 Embarking from the sacred Isle,+ and found 
 The town for chariots famed on Libya’s glittering mound ; 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Battus the tenth and seventh J of his line 
 Thus destined to fulfil th’ eventful word, 
 
 Which erst at Thera from her lips divine 
 The raging daughter of ^Eetes pour’d. 
 
 ’Twas thus to J ason’s godlike train § 
 
 The Colchian queen || address’d her strain : 
 
 order to ascertain where was the umbilicus, or middle of the world, 
 Jupiter despatched two eagles of equal wing at the same time, from the 
 east and west, and that they met at Delphi ; to commemorate which, 
 two golden eagles were consecrated to Apollo in the temple, between 
 which the priestess sat. The reader will, therefore, not confound this 
 with the aeroi/ia, or upper part of the temple, which lay between the 
 aeroi, or tympana, called by Pindar, in the Olympic ode xiii. ep. i., 
 olcjviov ficKJLXrja didiopov . — See Schol. Soph. (Ed. Tyr. 489. 
 
 * Battus. The colonization of Cyrene by Battus, is related also by 
 Callimachus, Hymn. Apol. 65. Cyrene was built upon a white round 
 hill. 
 
 f The sacred Isle, Thera, called sacred, as the Scholiast says, because, 
 according to the authority of Theophrastus, Cadmus landed there in his 
 search after his sister Europa, and erected a temple, or two altars, to 
 Neptune and Minerva ; and because, according to Hierocles, the Laco- 
 nian colony, that settled there, erected a temple, or sacrificed to Apollo. 
 — See Pyth. ode v. antistr. iii. 
 
 X The tenth and seventh, Ac. The Argonautic expedition on its return 
 from Colchis, touched at Thera, where Medea delivered this famous pro- 
 phecy in favour of the seventeenth descendant of Euphemus, who she 
 said should go with a colony from Thera to Cyrene. This prediction was 
 fulfilled in the person of Battus, who answered that description, and who, 
 on consulting the Delphic oracle to know how to cure himself of an im- 
 pediment which he had in his speech, was directed in return to go with 
 a colony and settle in Libya. Pindar, it will be seen, begins with the 
 latter of these prophecies, stating it to be the fulfilment of the former by 
 Medea, which he then gives us. 
 
 § Jason’s godlike train, the heroes who accompanied him on the Argo- 
 nautic expedition ; among whom were Castor and Pollux, Hercules, 
 Orpheus, Peleus, and others of the most distinguished persons of that 
 heroic age. 
 
 ii The Colchian queen, Medea, whom the poet just before calls the 
 raging daughter of JEetes, king of Colchis, from whom Jason, by her 
 assistance, had borne away the golden fleece. 
 
ODE IV.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 283 
 
 “ Hear, what my labouring soul forebodes, 
 
 “ Ye sons of heroes and of gods ; 
 
 “ How Epaphus’ child * in after-days 
 “ From this wave-wander’ d isle + shall raise 
 “ Within the precincts X of the Ammonian king 
 “A root, whence cities proud, and peopled realms shall 
 spring. 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 “ They from the Dolphin’s puny chase 
 
 “ Shall turn, the generous steed to train, 
 
 “ And urge for oars the chariot’s race 
 
 “ With tempest speed and flowing rein. 
 
 “ Great parent thus shall Thera § shine 
 “ Of mighty states ; so doom’d by pledge divine, 
 
 * Epaphus ’ child. This means Libya, who was said to be the daugh- 
 ter of Epaphus, the Argive (son of Jupiter and Io — Ov. Met. lib. i. 748), 
 he having, as we learn from the tenth Nemean ode, stro. i., founded 
 many of the ^Egyptian cities, over which country he reigned according 
 to the prediction of Prometheus. — TEsch. Prom. 874. 
 
 f This wave-wander' d isle, aknvXdyKTov ydg, in the original, which 
 words some interpret “ this wave-wandering clod." 
 
 + Within the precincts, &c. This means not within the limits of the 
 temple, or sacred inclosure of the Temple of Jupiter Ammon, in Libya, 
 but within the Libyan region, the whole of which was sacred to that 
 god,— 
 
 Between Jove’s burning oracle 
 
 And ancient Battus’ sacred cell. — Catull. 7. 
 
 This may be collected from the account which Yirgil gives us of the 
 worship of Iarbas. 
 
 Through all his boundless realms to Jove revered 
 A hundred temples huge Iarbas rear’d, 
 
 Himself from Ammon sprung ; to many a god 
 A hundred hearths with fires eternal glow’d. — jEn. b. iv. 201. 
 
 There was at Delphi a statue of Ammon in a chariot, dedicated to 
 Apollo by the Cyrensean Greeks. — Pans. lib. x. c. 13. Pindar seems 
 also to have been partial to this deity, whose temple at Thebes con- 
 tained a statue dedicated by the pious poet. He also wrote a hymn to 
 Ammon, inscribed on a triangular pillar, erected there by Ptolemy, the 
 son of Lagus, which remained to the time of Pausanias. — Paus. lib. ix. 
 c. 1G. 
 
 § Thera was one of the islands called the Sporades in the HSgean 
 sea, a little to the north of Crete (see Stra. lib. i. 99, note 4) ; from 
 whence the colony with Battus embarked for Africa, and founded the 
 city of Cyrenfe ; wherefore she is here called the metropolis, or great 
 parent of states. 
 
284 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode I ▼, 
 
 “ When in man’s form the social god, 
 iL Where cool Tritonis pours her issuing lake,* 
 
 “ His country’s symboll’d soil bestow’d ; 
 
 “ From the high prow, that sacred gift to take, 
 
 “ Down stepp’d Euphemus ; and consenting J ove 
 “ Clang’d t the loud thunder from above. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 “ ’Twas when the parting crew on Argo’s side 
 
 “ Their anchor brazen-fang’d, her steady rein, 
 
 « Were fastening — (we through deserts waste and wide 
 “ Twelve tedious days preceding from the main 
 “ Our lifted bark laborious bore, 
 
 “ Haul’d by my counsels % to the shore — ) 
 
 “ At that portentous hour alone 
 “ The God came forth : his aspect shone 
 “ Gracious, as of a reverend man ; 
 
 “ And frank and kind his accents ran ; 
 
 “ As when some generous lord his entering guest 
 “ With cheerful welcome greets, and bids him to the feast : 
 
 * Tritonis poms Tier issuing lake. This lake, the goddess of which is 
 said by Herodotus and Pausanias to have been the mother of Minerva 
 by Neptune (see Stat. Theb. lib. ii. 722, note), is situated in Africa, some- 
 where near the Mediterranean sea, into which it appears to have an 
 outlet, the sea and outlet being both pointed out by Eurypylus to the 
 Argonauts at the same time. — Apoll. Rhod. lib. iv. 1572. This story 
 of Minerva’s genealogy is probably nothing more than this : near the 
 lake Tritonis there was a temple to this goddess, from whence her wor- 
 ship being imported into Greece, of course by sea, she would be called 
 the daughter of Neptune and Tritonis, in the creed of their figurative 
 mythology. 
 
 t Clang'd, Ac. So Theocritus, imitating Pindar : — 
 
 Thrice the bird of Jove 
 
 Clang’d in the clouds pzop'tious from above. — Id. xvii. 72. 
 
 X Haul'd by my counsels, Ac. This extraordinary project, executed by 
 the Argonauts, of bearing their vessel along the sandy deserts of Libya 
 on their backs for twelve days, is referred by Apollonius to the advice oi 
 Peleus, who directed them to pursue the track of a horse that had risen 
 miraculously out of the sea. — Apoll. Rhod. lib. iv. 1380, &c. 
 
ODE IV. j 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 285 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 44 Yet briefly (for th’ excuse of sweet return 
 44 Press’d us), 4 his name Eurypylus] * he said,* 
 
 44 4 Sprung from ill immortal Sire whose billowy bourne 
 44 4 Shakes the loud shore f nor more our haste delay’d, 
 44 But without parley from the ground 
 44 Snatch’d the first pledge his friendship found : 
 
 44 Forth leapt our hero to the strand, 
 
 “ With hand extended grasp’d his hand, 
 
 44 And gladly from the tendering god 
 “ Accepted the propitious clod ; 
 
 “ Which late at eve wash’d from the vessel’s side 
 44 Sunk in the brine, they say, beneath the weltering tide. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 44 Full oft I charged th’ attendant band, 
 
 44 Now freed from heavier toil or thought, 
 
 44 To guard it well ; my vain command 
 44 Full soon their heedless hearts forgot. 
 
 44 Thus on this isle th’ immortal seed 
 44 Of Libya’s fortune ere its hour is shed ; 
 
 44 For if to Tsenarus’t sacred shade 
 44 Euphemus hence return’d, that mystic boon 
 44 By Hell’s terrestrial gates had laid 
 ( 44 Yon godlike prince, steed-mastering Neptune’s son, 
 
 * Eurypylus. Eurypylus and Euphemus being both, as appears by 
 the second epode, sons of Neptune, the latter was naturally selected to 
 accept the symbol of hospitality from the former. On account of their 
 descent from the watery deity, Spenser has introduced them at the 
 marriage of the Medway and the Thames. 
 
 Eurypylus, that calms the water’s wroth, 
 
 And fair Euphemus, that upon them go’th 
 As on the ground without dismay or dread. 
 
 Fa. Qu. b. iv. c. 11, s. 14. 
 
 Euphemus is one of the distinguished persons portrayed on the 
 ancient chest of Cypselus, the Corinthian king, at Olympia, so minutely 
 described by Pausanias, lib. v. c. 17. 
 
 f Tcenarus was a promontory, on the coast of Laconia, in the Pelo- 
 ponnese, where there was a chasm in the rocks, which the ancients both 
 Greek and Roman, considered to be one of the gates of Tartarus, near 
 which there was a temple dedicated to Neptune (Stra. lib. viii. 558 ) ; 
 
286 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IV, 
 
 “ Whom Tityus’ # daughter by Cephisus’ f shore 
 44 Erewhile the famed Europa bore), 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 44 Then, when the Greeks went forth, as go they shall, 
 
 44 From Lacedaemon, J in the fourth descent, 
 
 44 And Argos and Mycenae’s swarming wall, 
 
 44 His blood had ruled that boundless continent. 
 
 44 Now must he raise in strange embrace 
 44 With barbarous dames § his chosen race ; 
 
 which is no doubt the place by the gate of hell, where the poet meant 
 that Euphemus should have deposited Eurypylus’s gift, both the giver 
 and receiver being the sons ©f that deity. The existence of the temple 
 there was a fact notorious to the Grecian reader, and sufficiently pointed 
 at by the epithet of sacred, Upav, annexed to Tsenarus. 
 
 This rifted rock, whose entrance leads to hell ( Comus ), 
 is strikingly portrayed by Statius, who thus describes the extraordinary 
 altitude of the peak that terminates the cliff : — 
 
 No waving wings ascend 
 
 That towering peak, no murmuring thunders rend ; 
 
 But oft, as day declines, the long-drawn steep 
 
 Floats its vast shade upon the distant deep. — Theb. b. ii. 42. 
 
 * Tityus. This was the person, who, for his attempt on the chastity 
 of Latona (see epode v.), was doomed to lie in the shades below, where 
 nine acres were covered by his gigantic form, exposed to an enormous 
 vulture, that dwelt and preyed upon his entrails m a state of perpetual 
 renovation. — Virg. 2En. vi. 595. Europa, the mother of Euphemus, 
 was his daughter. The more celebrated heroine of that name, known 
 for her amour with Jupiter, was the daughter of Agenor. Pausanias 
 tells us that he saw the tumulus of Tityus, near Panopius, in Phocis, the 
 circumference of which did not exceed the third of a stadium. — Pans. 
 lib. x. c. 4. 
 
 + Cephisus. This was the Cephisus that rose near Lilsea, in Phocis, 
 and flowed by Orchomenus into the lake Copa'is. There were others of 
 the same name, near Athens, Argos, Sicyon, Apollonia, and in Salamis. 
 — See Dodw. Trav. vol. i. 476. 
 
 X From Lacedcemon, &c. From Lacedaemon, Mycenae, &c., the fourth 
 generation from Euphemus went forth with a colony to Thera. 
 
 § Barbarous dames : these were the Lemnian women, who received 
 the Argonauts on their return, according to Pindar (below, stro. xii.) ; 
 but on their voyage out to Colchis, according to Apollonius Bhodius, 
 and having previously destroyed all the men in their island who had 
 neglected them, cohabited with the Argonauts, and produced a race who 
 afterwards emigrated into Greece in search of their fathers, and laid a 
 plan to surprise the city of Sparta. In this attempt, however, they 
 were detected, and afterwards sent under the command of Therus, the 
 
ODE IV.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 287 
 
 “ That led by Heaven with fortune’s smile 
 “ Shall reach this rude sequester’d isle, 
 
 “ And rear a mortal doom’d to reign * 
 
 “ The lord of Libya’s cloud-black plain. 
 
 “ Him with abstruse response and hint divine 
 “ Heard from the Pythian domes and gold-encumber’d sh line, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 “ Phoebus with fleets and hosts in happier days 
 
 “ Shall warn the clime to seek, where o’er the land 
 “ Saturnian ISTilet his fattening moisture lays.” 
 
 Such was Medea’s lore : th’ heroic band 
 Speechless in fix’d amazement stood 
 Thrill’d at the marv’llous truths she show’d. 
 
 Blest son of Polymnestus,J thee 
 Portray’d in that proud prophecy, 
 
 Thee with her sweet spontaneous strain 
 The Pelphian maid proclaim’d again : 
 
 Three times thy state she hail’d, and gave the word 
 That sent thee crown’d away, Cyrene’s destined lord, 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Thee to that shrine a suppliant sent 
 
 With prayers thy faltering speech to cure — 
 
 Now prospering in the eighth descent 
 
 Still on the throne thy sons endure ; 
 
 Where in youth’s prime Arcesilas 
 
 Fresh as the spring his purple flower displays. 
 
 son of Autesion, to the island of Callista, which from thence took the 
 name of Thera, and afterwards sent out a colony under Battus, who 
 founded the city of Cyrenk. 
 
 * A mortal doom'd to reign, Ac. Battus, so called from his having an 
 impediment in his speech, his real name being Aristoteles ; to cure 
 which he consulted the Pythian oracle, which directed him to go to 
 Africa, and promised him a kingdom. He followed the divine injunc- 
 tion, and meeting with a lion in the desert, made in his alarm an effort 
 to call out for assistance, and broke the ligament that had occasioned the 
 impediment in his speech, of which he afterwards enjoyed the use. 
 
 + Saturnian Nile. By some little geographical confusion, so dis- 
 tinguishable in this ode, the poet describes the Nile as a river of the 
 Cyrenaic region, where Battus landed. 
 
 % Son of Polymnestus. Battus was the son of Polymnestus. 
 
288 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode IT. 
 
 On him with crowns th’ Amphictyons # wait 
 Giv’n by Apollo for his Pythian race : 
 
 Him to the Muse I’ll consecrate ; 
 
 Him and th’ all-golden fleece, whose distant place 
 When erst through many a wave the Minyans t found 
 Glories from heaven their temples crown’d. 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 But whence that voyage h what necessity 
 
 Bound on their hearts its adamantine chain ? 
 
 ’Twas Pelias’J doom by fraud or force to die 
 By HColus’ ren own’d descendants slain. 
 
 For e’en his soul with wisdom fill’d 
 The threatening Oracle had chill’d ; 
 
 That, breathed from Delphi’s central cave, 
 
 The wood-crown’d Earth’s mysterious nave,§ 
 
 * Tti Amphictyons. These were deputies varying in number, in the 
 time of Pausanias, amounting to thirty, from the Athenians, Boeotians, 
 Locrians, Phocians, and many other states of Greece. 1 They are said by 
 some to have been originally a political council, instituted by Amphic- 
 tyon, the son of Deucalion, who assembled twice in the year at Delphi 
 and Thermopylae. They presided at and regulated the Pythian Games, 
 as the Hellanodics did the Olympic, and disposed of the prizes, as the 
 text imports. — Pans. x. c. 8 ; Chandl. vol. ii. c. 66. 
 
 f The Minyans, the name by which the Argonauts were known, 
 either because many of them were descended from the daughters of 
 Minyas, or because many of the Minyans of Orchomenus settled at 
 Iolcus, from whence the Argonauts embarked. — Stra. lib. ix. 635. 
 
 X Pelias was the son of Tyro, the daughter of Salmoneus, by Nep- 
 tune ; Tyro afterwards married Cretheus, the son of .ZEolus, by whom 
 she had ^Eson, the father of Jason, who was therefore a descendant of 
 .ZEolus. On the death of Cretheus, Pelias usurped the throne, which he 
 occupied at the time when Pindar’s account begins. 
 
 § Mysterious nave. Delphi was said to be the middle of Greece and 
 of the world, and therefore called opcpaXog, the navel, which is the 
 middle of the human frame. There was an opcpaXog in the Delphic 
 Temple of white marble, upon which were placed the golden figures of 
 the two eagles, that met at that spot as before observed. — Stra. lib. ix. 
 642, 643, and Pans. lib. x. c. 16. Lactantius and Varro however say 
 that ofityaXog was derived from op(pai signifying the answers of the 
 gods (Pott. Ant. vol. i. 273), showing therefore that this was the place 
 of the oracle. Milton, perhaps impressed with the same notion, says 
 of Comus (a name, by the way, borrowed from the Comus, K vpog, of 
 the Games), 
 
 Within the navel of this hideous wood, 
 
 Immured in cypress shades, a sorcerer dwells, 
 
 Of Bacchus and of Circk born, jrreat Comus. — Line 522. 
 
ODE IV.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 289 
 
 Bade him with all his kingly care 
 The single-sandaird wight beware, 
 
 Come when he should, stranger or citizen, 
 
 Down from his mountain hold to famed Iolcus’ glen.* * * § 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IY. 
 
 All at th’ appointed time, with ported spears 
 In either hand appear’d the dreadful man : 
 
 Shaped in Magnesian guise a garb he wears, 
 
 That round his glorious limbs compacted ran ; 
 
 O’er which a pard-skin from the storm 
 Shelter’d his stout unshuddering form. 
 
 His mantling locks! unshorn, unbound, 
 
 In nature’s wildness waving round, 
 
 Down his broad back illustrious shook : 
 
 Forward all bent on speed he broke, 
 
 Till in the forum halting, calm unmoved 
 
 Amidst th’ inquiring crowd his dauntless heart he proved 
 
 EPODE IY. 
 
 Unknown he stood — “ Apollo’s mien 
 
 “ Is this 1 ?” some gazing wonderer cried, 
 
 “ Or his, that wooed J the Cyprian queen, 
 
 “ Whose reins the brazen chariot guide ? 
 
 ‘ In flowery Naxos ages since 
 ‘ Otus and Ephialtes,§ daring prince, 
 
 * Iolcus ’ glen. Iolcus, a town or city of Magnesia in Thessaly, 
 where Pelias reigned, was situated near the sea in a vale not far from 
 Mount Pelion, where Jason had been clandestinely educated by Chiron 
 the centaur. 
 
 f His ma/ntlmg locks, &c. The practice of wearing long hair among 
 the Greeks, KaprjtcofjLowvraQ ’A%a iovq, Homer has recorded ; and the 
 custom of doing so, particularly behind, prevails especially in the 
 maritime countries to this day, as Pindar represents it to have done in 
 the days of Jason. — JDodw. Trav. vol. i. 134. Milton seems to have 
 had this passage on his mind when he described the angel of the sun : — 
 Nor less his locks behind 
 Illustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings 
 Lay waving round. — Par. L. b. iii. 628. 
 
 X Or his that wooed, &c., meaning Mars, who, according to Hesiod, 
 had two sons by Venus, Fear and Terror. — Theog. 933. 
 
 § Otus and Ephialtes. These were the sons of Aloeus by Iphimedia, 
 who at the age of nine vearswere nine cubits broad and nine ells high 
 
 U 
 
290 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode IV. 
 
 “ Iphimedia’s offspring died : 
 
 " Tityus,* gigantic form, Diana slew, 
 
 “ When from her chaste and quiver’d side 
 “ Her huntress-holt th’ unconquer’d virgin drew ; 
 
 “ That warn’d from joys forbidden t men might haste 
 “ The practicable bliss to taste.” 
 
 strophe v. 
 
 Thus they with vague surmise in crowds discoursed 
 Listening and whispering ; when in burnish’d car 
 Pelias with mules all panting thither forced 
 His urgent speed. Astounded from afar 
 The stripling’s dexter ancle round 
 He spied a single sandal $ bound ; 
 
 Yet with disguised alarm, “ Proclaim, 
 
 “ Stranger,” said he, “ thy country’s name ; 
 
 “ Tell me what matron born on earth 
 “ From her fair bosom gave thee birth 
 “ Let not the loathed lie fchy lips disgrace, 
 
 “ But meet my just demand, and frankly tell thy race.” 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V. 
 
 Him with undaunted Virtue’s accents mild 
 
 Answer’d the youth, “ From Chiron’s school I come ; 
 
 “ The Centaur’s daughters nursed me from a child, 
 
 “ And good Chariclo § made her cave my home. 
 
 “ Now, when by their kind care sustain’d 
 “ My strength its twentieth year has gain’d, 
 
 They manacled Mars, and imprisoned him in a brazen dungeon for 
 thirteen months ; and, in order to attack the gods, they piled Mount 
 Ossa upon Olympus, and Pelion upon Ossa (an enterprise ascribed by 
 Virgil to the sons of the Earth — Oeo. i. 280), but were killed in their 
 youth by Apollo (11. v. 385 ; Odyss. xi. 307), or, according to the 
 Scholiast, through the contrivance of Diana in the island of Naxo3, 
 one of the Cyclades in the HLgean sea. 
 
 * Tityus. He was destroyed by Diana for attempting the chastity 
 of Latona. 
 
 + Joys forbidden. See Nem. ode xi. ep. iii., where a similar senti* 
 ment is forcibly expressed. 
 
 X Jason is said to have lost the other slipper in crossing the river 
 Anaurus, near Iolcus. — Apoll. Rhod. lib. i. 1. 9. 
 
 § Chariclo , the wife of Chiron. 
 
ODE IV.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 291 
 
 44 For no foul deed, no phrase unchaste 
 44 From that sage intercourse displaced, 
 
 44 My home I visit, to require 
 “ The ancient honours of my sire ; 
 
 !i Which erst to ruling HColus* and his heirs 
 “ Jove in his bounty gave, and now th’ Usurper wears. 
 
 epode v. 
 
 44 He by perverse ambition stung 
 44 The traitor Pelias, as ’tis said, 
 
 44 Their sceptre from my parents wrung, 
 
 “ Which they by right with justice sway’d, 
 
 44 They on my birth’s eventful day 
 44 Dreading that lawless ruler, in dismay 
 44 My death pretended, and prepared 
 44 Domestic semblance of sepulchral rite ; 
 
 44 And female moans and sighs were heard : 
 
 “ Me swathed in purple, to the secret night 
 44 Trusting their silent path, in Chiron’s care 
 44 They placed, the nurturer of their heir. 
 
 strophe vi. 
 
 44 Such is my tale — Good people, tell me true — 
 
 44 My fathers rode the milk-white steed t — where stand 
 44 Their stately towers ? — ’tis Hyson’s son ye view ; 
 
 44 I come no alien to a stranger’s land : 
 
 44 My godlike host, the centaur Seer, 
 
 44 The name of Jason bade me bear.” 
 
 Thus spake the youth : his father’s glance 
 Discern’d far off the son’s advance, 
 
 And the big tears of ecstasy 
 Came bubbling from his aged eye, 
 
 So s well’d his bursting heart with joy to find 
 His lost illustrious boy the comeliest of mankind. 
 
 * JZolus, the father of Cretheus, who was the father of iEson, the 
 father of J ason, who therefore was heir to ^olus after ASson’s death, 
 and of course entitled to the throne, which Pelias had usurped. 
 
 f The milk-white steed. White horses were the accompaniments of 
 pre-eminence, and were therefore used on triumphal occasions by the 
 Romans ; as white asses belonged to persons in great authority among 
 the Jews; e. g. “ Speak ye that ride on white asses; ye that sit id 
 J udgment .”— Judges v. 10. 
 
 u 2 
 
292 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode IV. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VI. 
 
 Thither in haste, allured by J ason’s fame, 
 
 His reverend uncles, from the neighbouring bowers 
 By Hypereia’s fountain, Pheres * came, 
 
 Came Amythaon from Messene s towers. 
 
 Admetus and Melampus too 
 To greet their glorious kinsman flew. 
 
 With welcome warm and sumptuous feasts 
 Jason regaled his honour’d guests, 
 
 And freely without change or check 
 Threw loose the reins on Pleasure’s neck : 
 
 Five days and nights in sympathy of soul 
 
 Pluck’d they the laughiug flowers, that crown the social bowl. 
 
 EPODE VI. 
 
 On the sixth morn his plan proposed, 
 
 Its cause, importance, means, and bent 
 To all his kin the youth disclosed. 
 
 Forthwith they sallied from their tent, 
 
 In haste for Pelias’ mansion bore, 
 
 And now already stood within the door. 
 
 The soft-hair’d Tyro’s t artful son 
 Spontaneous rose to meet the martial throng ; 
 
 When with mild air and soothing tone, 
 
 Dropping sweet words that* melted from his tongue, 
 
 Jason the conference raised on Wisdom’s base : 
 
 “ Hear thou, Petrsean Neptune’s race, J 
 
 * Pheres and Amython, or Amythaon, were sons of Cretheus and 
 younger brothers of .ZEson, Jason’s father, by Tyro the daughter of 
 Saimoneus, who, before her marriage with Cretheus, had by Neptune 
 Pelias and Neleus. Admetus was the son of Pheres and Melampus of 
 Amython, both consequently Jason’s cousins. Pheres is supposed by 
 Apollodorus, lib. i. c. 14, as quoted by Mr. Dodwell, vol. ii. 95, to 
 have been the founder of the town of Pherae, now called Belestina, in 
 the middle of which (as Mr. Dodwell says) rose the pellucid fountain 
 of Hypereia. 
 
 f The soft-hair’d Tyro’s , &c. She was the daughter of Saimoneus, 
 and lingering near the banks of the river Enipeus, of whom she was 
 enamoured, fell in with Neptune, who, assuming the form of the 
 River God, allured her to his aims, and made her the mother of Pelias 
 *nd Neleus. — See Odyss. xi. 234, et seq. 
 
 + Petrcean Neptune , so called from Petra, an Haemonian town in 
 Thessaly, where games were celebrated in honour of the god. 
 
ODE IV.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 29$ 
 
 STROPHE VII. 
 
 “ Prone is man’s mind from Honour’s arduous way 
 “ To verge into the tempting paths of gain, 
 
 “ Hough in th’ advance and leading far astray : 
 
 “ But thine and mine it must be to restrain 
 “ Our wrath, and weave our future weal. 
 
 “ I speak to ears, that heed and feel. 
 
 “ One parent’s womb, thou knowest, of yore 
 “ Cretheus and bold Salmoneus bore ; 
 
 “ And we their grandsons thus look on 
 “ The glory of the golden Sun. 
 
 “ But when affection cools, and hateful ire 
 “ Hankies in kinsmen’s hearts, the decent Fates retire. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VII. 
 
 “ Oh ! ’tis not seemly thus with lance and shield 
 “ That thou and I for honours ancestral 
 “ Base war should wage. Take all my spacious field, 
 
 “ My flocks and brindled herds, I cede them all, 
 
 “ Which from my sire thy daring stealth 
 “ Forced and yet feeds, thy pamper’d wealth. 
 
 “ I grudge thee not, and view with ease 
 “ Thy house enhanced with spoils like these. 
 
 “ But what I challenge for my own, 
 
 “ My sovereign sceptre, # and the throne 
 u Whereon sat .ZEson, when the law divine 
 “ His horsemen hosts received, these, Pelias, must be mine : 
 
 EPODE VII. 
 
 “ These without conflict from thy hand, 
 
 “ Lest ill betide thee, yield us back.” 
 
 Thus urged the prince his just demand ; 
 
 And thus e’en Pelias calmly spake : 
 
 “ Thy will be mine : but me the late 
 “ Bemains of life’s declining hour await ; 
 
 * My sovereign sceptre. ^Bschylus has a similar expression: — 
 
 Ilpof tov rvpavva (TKrjTrrpa (jvXrjOrjaETcu ; — Prom. 786 . 
 
 But who shall rob him of his sovereign sceptre ? 
 
294 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IV 
 
 " Thy youth now wantons in the bloom : 
 
 <£ Thou canst appease the subterranean powers ; 
 
 “ The soul of Phrixus* from the tomb 
 “ Calls me, to bear him from Petes’ towers 
 “ And seize the ponderous ram’s refulgent hide, 
 
 “ That saved him from the raging tide, 
 
 STKOPHE VIII. 
 
 £ * Saved from th’ incestuous stepdame’s angrier dart. 
 
 “ This to mine ear a dream miraculous 
 “ Hath told : for this have I with anxious heart 
 “ Castalia’s counsels ask’d, that urge me thus 
 “ Thither with bark and band to speed — 
 
 “ Dare thou for me th’ adventurous deed, 
 
 “ And I will leave thee lord and king : 
 
 “ Jove, from whom all our races spring, 
 
 “ Be Jove himself + our binding oath, 
 
 “ Witness, and warrant of our troth.” 
 
 This compact to the chiefs propounded they 
 
 With full consent approved, and parting went their way. 
 
 * The soul of Phrixus. Phrixus, the son of Athamas, being with his 
 sister Hellh, persecuted by his step-mother Ino, and being about to be 
 sacrificed by his father, fled with his sister on a ram with a golden 
 fleece, sent to them by Jupiter, to HCetes, the king of Colchis. Helle, 
 however, fell into the sea, and was drowned, from whence it took the 
 name of Hellespont. Phrixus reached Colchis, and married Chalcioph, 
 the daughter of JEetes, but was afterwards murdered by the latter, 
 who envied him the possession of the golden fleece. To appease the 
 soul of Phrixus, Pelias now pretended to Jason, that he was directed 
 by the Oracle to make a voyage to Colchis and bring away the soul of 
 Phrixus and the golden fleece. The ancients seem to have had some 
 notion that the soul was buried with the body. Thus Virgil represents 
 H3neas to have deposited in a sepulchre the soul of Polydorus, who 
 like Phrixus had been murdered by his host. 
 
 We laid his spirit in the grave. — JEn. iii. 68. 
 
 + Be Jove himself, &c. Jupiter was the god of oaths. In the 
 council-room at Olympia there was a statue of him in that character 
 called Z evg optciog, Jupiter Horcius, having the thunder in each hand, 
 to denote the vengeance of Heaven against perjury. The competitors 
 at the games were all previously sworn before this awful statue to 
 do nothing contrary to the laws of the Olympic contests. — Pans. 
 lib, v. c. 24. 
 
ODE IV,] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 295 
 
 ANTISTROPHE VIII. 
 
 His heralds loud now Jason bade proclaim 
 The perilous enterprise. Three sons of Jove 
 IJnmatch’d in combat at that bidding came, 
 
 The fruits of Leda’s, and Alcmena’s, love.* 
 With these two lofty-crested chiefs 
 From Pylus’ towers and Tsenarus’ cliffs, 
 Enthusiasts of renown, and held 
 Men of tried heart in valour’s field ; 
 Euphemus this,+ from Neptune sprung, 
 That Periclymenus the strong. 
 
 Illustrious Orpheus $ too, the minstrel’s sire, 
 
 Apollo’s offspring, came, and smote th’ inflaming lyre. 
 
 * Leda's and Alcmena's, meaning Castor and Pollux, the sons of 
 Leda, and Hercules the son of Alcmena, by Jupiter. 
 
 + Euphemus, the son of Neptune. Periclymenus was the son ol 
 Chloris and Neleus, who was the son of Neptune by Tyro. There 
 were three cities called Pylus, of one only of which the site is now 
 known, viz., of that in Messenia, now called Labarino, opposite the 
 islands of Sphacteria. — Dodw. Trav. vol. ii. 346. 
 
 X Illustrious Orpheus. The Scholiast cites authorities to show that 
 Orpheus was the son of Apollo and the muse Calliope, and therefore, 
 as this may be the meaning of the text, and it is a more poetical 
 genealogy than a descent from HCagrus, king of Thrace, more usually 
 given to him, I have translated it accordingly. Apollonius Phodius 
 also includes Orpheus in the Argonautic expedition (lib. i. 25), and 
 appeases a quarrel among the chiefs by the intervention of his melo- 
 dious strain ; at the close of which the poet thus beautifully describes 
 its effect upon the audience : — 
 
 This said, the minstrel sire 
 Stay’d his ambrosial voice and soothing lyre : 
 
 They all with heads outstretch’d, as while he sung, 
 
 Still on the tuneful charm unsated hung 
 
 In silent ecstasy ; still listening round 
 
 Felt the soft rapture, that survived the sound. — B. i. 515. 
 
 This passage has been exquisitely imitated by Milton in the begin- 
 ning of the eighth book of Paradise Lost : — 
 
 The Angel ended, and in Adam’s ear 
 So charming left his voice, that he awhile 
 Thought him still speaking, still stood fix’d to him. 
 
2 96 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 fODE IV. 
 
 EPODE VIII. 
 
 Hermes, that waves the golden wand, # 
 
 His youthful sons, Echion fair 
 And Erytus, with the vent’rous band 
 
 Despatch’d, the rough exploit to share. 
 Down came the youths, that dwelt below 
 Pangseum’s wintry base : t for Boreas now 
 
 Pleased with such service, king of storms, 
 Sent forth in haste his wondrous progeny 
 Zetas and Calais, mortal forms, 
 
 With plume-rough backs and purple wings to fly. 
 J uno J their hearts with sweet persuasive zeal 
 Inspired to bound on Argo’s keel, 
 
 STROPHE IX. 
 
 To court the tempting toil : that none might long 
 To waste undanger’d§ on his mother’s arm 
 Youth without glory ; but his peers among 
 Find e’en in death th’ inestimable charm 
 
 That cheers the close of Yalour. How 
 Iolcus reach’d in godlike row 
 Stood the choice crew : Jason their look 
 Heroic praised, their numbers took. || 
 
 * That waves the golden wand . — See Odyss. lib. v. 87, where also 
 XpvaoppaTuq, the epithet, thus translated, is applied to Mercury. 
 With this rod, as Virgil tells us (JSn. lib. iv. 242), he conducted the 
 souls of men to and sometimes from the shades below. Erytus and 
 Echion were the sons of Hermes or Mercury by Antianira. 
 
 + Pangceum's wintry base. Pangseum was a mountain in Thrace, 
 which the Greeks, it being to the north of them, supposed to be the 
 abode of Boreas. 
 
 X Juno. Bentley supposes that Juno patronised this expedition, 
 because the ship was called Argos from the name of the city, where 
 she was so particularly worshipped. Homer says, that she was a 
 friend to Jason. — Od. lib. xii. 72. 
 
 § To waste undamgered, <$cc . — See a similar sentiment, Olymp. ode i. 
 ep. iii. 
 
 || Their numbers toolc. This passage seems to have been on Milton a 
 mind, when Satan reviewed the evil spirits : — 
 
ODE IV.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 297 
 
 By auguries* watch’d, by chances cast 
 Mopsusf assured of heaven, in haste 
 The panting band embark’d, and from below 
 The lifted anchor hung upon the dancing prow. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IX. 
 
 High on the stern a golden goblet rear’d 
 The chief, and to the sire of all the gods, 
 
 The lightning-lanced Jove, his prayer preferr’d ; 
 
 Invoked the powers, that sway the winds and floods, 
 The sea’s wild ways, the nights forlorn, 
 
 And smiling days, and sweet return. 
 
 Heav’n’s prompt assent in accents loud 
 Spake the big thunder from the cloud, 
 
 And playful pour’d in volleys bright 
 Its fractured beams J of harmless light. 
 
 Paused those rude heroes, by that gleam divine 
 
 And sound ambiguous awed — Mopsus, that hail’d the sign, 
 
 • EPODE IX. 
 
 Cheer’d to their oars the rallied crew, 
 
 And with sweet hopes their hearts inspired : 
 
 At their stout stroke the galley flew ; 
 
 Toss’d from their blades the surge retired. 
 
 He through the armed files 
 Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse 
 The whole battalion views, their order due, 
 
 Their visages and statures as of gods, 
 
 Their number last he sums. And now his heart 
 Distends with pride, &c. — Par. L. b. i. 572. 
 
 * Auguries — chances, &c. Auguries were hints taken from the flight 
 of birds, by which the ancient divines conceived that the character of 
 a future event might be predicted. The divination by the casting 
 of chances was called KXrjpogavTe'ia, where the chances of a given 
 event or undertaking being prosperous or not were collected by the 
 divines throwing dice, pebbles, small bits of earth having certain 
 characters upon them, &c., into a box, then supplicating the gods to 
 direct them, and deciding by their appearance or order as they drew or 
 threw theni out. — Pott. Ant. vol. i. 333. 
 
 t Mojpsus was not only a prophet, but a hero, and is named by Ovid 
 among those who were present at the destruction of the Calydonian 
 Boar.- -Met. lib. viii. 350. 
 
 £ Fractwred beams , in the original aKTivtQ <Trepo7rdg aTropriyvvpievait 
 as in Lucretius, lib. ii., Abrupti nubibus ignes. 
 
298 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IV. 
 
 Soon, by the breathing South impell’d 
 
 To Axine’s stormy mouth * their course they held ; 
 
 There to the billowy Neptune rear’d 
 A sacred shrine t and altar marbled o’er, 
 
 And made their offering from the herd 
 Of Thracian bulls, that pastured on the shore ; 
 
 Then, as the danger deepen’d, all adored 
 Of ships and seas the mighty lord ; 
 
 STKOPHE X. 
 
 So their frail bark the justling rocks J might shun, 
 
 Frightful collision ! — Twain, self-moved, they were, 
 
 Alive, with wild rotation whirling on 
 
 Swift as the roaring winds — In mid career 
 
 * Axine's stormy mouth. This was the ancient name of the Euxine 
 (the former signifying the inhospitable, the latter the hospitable sea), . 
 as Ovid tells us : — 
 
 Here on the freezing Euxine’s shore I stay ; 
 
 Axine his name, the wiser ancients say. 
 
 Trist* b. iv. El. iv. 56. 
 
 + A sacred shrine. Among the numerous conjectural accounts quoted 
 by Dr. Clarke of the origin of the iepov in the Thracian Bosporus 
 (which some consider to have been the site of the Temple of J upiter 
 Urius, and which Dionysius of Byzantium alleges to have been a fane 
 built fey Phrixus in his voyage to Colchis), may it not as well be 
 supposed to have been the shrine or temple erected to Neptune by the 
 Argonauts, preparatory to their entrance into the inhospitable sea ? — 
 See Cl. Trav. vol. i. p. 680, n. 4, 683, n. 5. 
 
 X The justling rocks. These were two rocks called the Cyanese or 
 Symplegades, at the entrance from the Bosporus into the Black Sea, 
 which were said by the poets to whirl round upon their bases, and to 
 crush the vessels that attempted to pass between them. After the 
 passage of the Argonauts, however, they are said above by Pindar to 
 have been fixed for ever ; in which he is confirmed by Theocritus 
 (Id. lib. xiii. 24), Apoll. Bhod. (lib. ii. 606), and by Ovid (Met. lib. xv. 
 339). There were erratic rocks called nAayjcrai 7rkrpai, through which 
 also, according to Homer (Odyss. lib. xii. 61, 70), and Apollonius 
 Bhodius (lib. iv. 924), Jason passed; but these appear to have been 
 situated in the Mediterranean, which the hero is stated by the latter 
 poet to have reached by achieving the geographical paradox of sailing 
 thither from the Black Sea through the Danube and the Po, the 
 streams of which he gravely supposes to have been united. The 
 interesting and beautiful account given by him (lib. ii. 551, et seq.) of 
 the passage of the Argonauts through the Symplegades is not excelled 
 in the whole range of descriptive poetry. 
 
 Milton has fully availed himself of this fearful scene to image the 
 perils of Satan’s passage from the nether world. — See Par. L . 
 b. ii. 1018. 
 
ODE IV. J 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 299 
 
 Tlie passing demigods before 
 
 Awe-struck they stopp’d and raged no more. 
 
 ~Now, Phasis reach’d, in converse sweet 
 The Greeks and dusky Colchians meet : 
 
 ^Eetes^ ruled the barbarous land. 
 
 Then first the Cyprian queen, whose hand 
 Points the resistless arrow, from above 
 Her mystic Iynxf brought, the maddening Bird of Love, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE X. 
 
 Fast in his quadri-radiate circlet bound, 
 
 Charm of mankind : and incantations strange 
 Hyson’s sage son she taught, and spells profound ; 
 
 Spells, that Medea’s filial faith might change, 
 
 And for fair Greece her feverish heart 
 Seduce from that wild beach to part. 
 
 Touch’d by Persuasion’s gentle goad, J 
 All her sire’s arts and toils she show’d : 
 
 Soft oils and antidotes § she gave 
 Her Jason’s beauteous form to save ; 
 
 * ABetes, the father of Medea, the brother of Circd and the son of 
 "HXioc, the Sun, and Perseis the daughter of Oceanus. — Odyss. x. 136 ; 
 lies. Theog. 9 55. 
 
 + lynx. It is not easy to conceive whether this is a bird by some 
 means fixed in a small hoop or ring, or merely a toy of that form and 
 description. It is used here to denote some implement of allurement, 
 by which the enchantress was enabled, with the assistance of prayers 
 and incantations, to inflame and pervert the affections of the devoted 
 object, The Scholiast on this passage describes the lynx as a hairy 
 bird with a long neck and tongue, and possessing the faculty of 
 rotating its head and neck, and adds that the female professors of 
 amatory witchcraft tie it to a wheel like Ixion, and whirl it round as an 
 accompaniment to their incantations ; and that Y enus brought it down 
 from heaven, as Pindar tells us. The Scholiast on the Nemean 
 ode iv. 1. 56, where this word again occurs, tell us that lynx was held 
 by some to have been the daughter of Echo, by others of Peitho (Persua- 
 sion), and that Juno turned her into a bird for having drugged Jupiter 
 to the love of Io. The mention of Peitho a few lines below might lead 
 us to suppose that this latter story was familiar to our poet. 
 
 + Persuasion's gentle goad, fido riyi II slQovq. UeiOuj, Persuasion, 
 Suadela, was a goddess in the Greek Pantheon. We find her grouped 
 sometimes w ith the Graces, but more usually with Y enus, who is often 
 attended by the Graces ; Hesiod makes her assist the latter in decorating 
 the person of Pandora. — *Epya icaV Hg. 73. 
 
 § Antidotes, avrirofia in the original, from rsfivu), to cut ; cut herbs 
 being the early medicines. Hence the phrase &vrifivujv dfcoc, prepay- 
 ring a remedy. — ABsch. Ag. 10, and Blornf. Gloss . 
 
300 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IY. 
 
 Till all prepared to Hymen’s sweet control 
 Their mutual loves they pledged and mingled soul with 
 soul. 
 
 EPODE X. 
 
 But when -ZEetes full in sight 
 
 His adamantine plough produced 
 His furious bulls, whose nostrils bright 
 Flames of consuming fire diffused, 
 
 Battering the ground with brazen tread ; 
 
 These single-handed to their yokes he led ; 
 
 And steadfast drove his furrow’d line 
 Straight through the smoking glebe, severing in twain 
 An acre’s breadth* Earth’s sturdy spine. 
 
 “ Let him that ruled your vessel o’er the main 
 “ Do me this deed,” the vaunting chieftain cries, 
 
 “ And be th’ immortal Felt his prize, 
 
 STROPHE XI. 
 
 “ His the rich fleece, that glows with flakes of gold.” 
 
 Off, at that challenge roused, his saffron vest 
 Flung Jason, and in Love’s assurance bold 
 
 Closed on the task : charmed by his bride’s behest 
 Singed not his frame the raging fire, 
 
 Forward he drags the team and tire ; 
 
 Their necks in close constraint he joins, + 
 
 Stirs with sharp goad their struggling loins, 
 
 And with stout arm and manly grace 
 Works out with ease th’ appointed space. 
 
 In speechless pang, yet muttering at the sight, 
 
 Aghast .ZEetes stood and mar veil’d at his might. $ 
 
 * An acre's breadth, — opyviav in the original, which some translate a 
 fathom’s depth ; but the depth to which he ploughed, though it might 
 show the strength of the bulls, was no proof of the power of ZEetes, 
 which was effectually tried by his ruling those animals and enduring the 
 fire, which they breathed, while he was ploughing an acre of ground. 
 
 f In close constraint he joins , in the original fiokoig avayicag tvTsai, 
 not easy to be literally translated ; but imitated by ZEschylus, h rei 
 S 1 ’Avayicrig tdv \e7t advov (Ag. 211), — “ But when he had put on the 
 harness of Necessity." 
 
 + Marvell' d at his might . So Apollonius Rhodius : — 
 
 Bau/xacrf A irfrrjg aOtvog ’Avspog. — Lib. iii. 1313. 
 
ODE IV.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 301 
 
 ANTISTROPHE XI. 
 
 Forth to their gallant chief th’ heroic throng 
 
 Stretch’d their glad hands, crown’d him with chaplets 
 green, 
 
 And gratulations pour’d from every tongue. — 
 
 Now to the secret haunt, where hung unseen 
 The glittering skin by Phrixus spread, 
 
 Sol’s wondrous son the strangers led ; 
 
 Nor ween’d that mortal enterprise 
 Could from that toil triumphant rise. 
 
 Deep in a dark defile it lay : 
 
 A ravening dragon* watch’d the way, 
 
 In bulk like some huge galley, thick and long, 
 
 With ir’n compact, and work’d by fifty rowmen strong. 
 
 EPODE XI. 
 
 But the time urges, and ’twere long 
 The vulgar tedious path to tread ; 
 
 I know the readier route of song ; 
 
 And Wisdom follows where I lead. 
 
 Arcesilas, by art beguiled 
 
 The blue-eyed motley serpent Jason foil’d ; 
 
 With stol’n Medea, Pelias’ bane, 
 
 The boisterous Ocean cross’d, and Red-sea flood 
 To shores, where now th’ heroic train 
 ’Mong Lemnian wives, t stain’d with their husbands’ blood, 
 Yied for the mantle prize in naked grace, 
 
 And clasp’d them in their warm embrace. 
 
 * A ravening dragon , thus alluded to by Juvenal : — 
 
 Hesperidum serpens, aut Ponticus. — Sat. xiv. 114. 
 
 See also Ovid’s narrative of this adventure, Met. lib. vii. 100, et seq. 
 
 + Lemnian wives. These ladies are said to have murdered all the men 
 in their island, except Thoas, the father of their queen Hypsipylk, in 
 revenge for their infidelity. The Argonauts, according to Pindar, touch- 
 ing there on their return from Colchis, at the time when she was 
 solemnising, with games, at which a mantle was the prize, the funeral 
 of Thoas, the widows availed themselves of this occasion to continue the 
 population of their island. Homer mentions a son of Jason, by Hyp- 
 sipyk, called Euneiis, who sent a large supply of wine to Agamemnon 
 during the Trojan war. — II. vii. 467. The landing of the Argonauts at 
 Lemnos is also described by Statius, Theb. lib. v. 335, et seq. 
 
302 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode IY. 
 
 STROPHE XII. 
 
 On that famed day or night, by Fate’s decree 
 ’Mong tribes barbarian on a distant strand 
 Dawn’d the first beam of thy great destiny. 
 
 There first the race that shall for ages stand, 
 
 Of proud Euphemus^ hail’d the day. 
 
 With Spartan dames and customs they 
 Mingling and swarming forth erewhile 
 Peopled Callista’s beauteous isle : + 
 
 From whence thy sires o’er Libya’s waste 
 Honour’d as gods Apollo placed, 
 
 And gave with counsels just and laws unknown 
 Cyrene’s realms to rule, and grace her golden throne. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE XII. 
 
 Use now the wit of (Edipus profound — J 
 
 If one with sharpen’d axe and reckless stroke 
 Lops as he lists the sightly branches round 
 
 And shames the honours of the spreading oak : 
 
 Though fruit thereon no longer glows, 
 
 Still her proud bulk and strength she shows, 
 
 What time in winter’s hour of need 
 The crackling hearth her fragments feed ; 
 
 Or stretch’d along § the lengthening row 
 Of stateliest columns rear’d below 
 
 * Euphemus. See above, strophe iii. and notes. 
 
 t Callista’s beauteous isle. This was the ancient name of Thera before 
 the Spartan colony settled there under the command of Therus (the 
 uncle of the two first Spartan kings, Eurysthenes and Procles), from 
 whom the island took the latter appellation. Eor the founding of Cy- 
 rene by Battus, the ancestor of Arcesilaus, see above, strophe i. and 
 notes. 
 
 $ Of (Edipus profound. (Edipus, as is well known, was said to have 
 solved the celebrated riddle of the Sphinx. The poet, therefore, being 
 about |p address Arcesilaus figuratively in favour of one Damophilus 
 (who had been banished from Cyrene for his share in a sedition against 
 the government, and during his residence at Thebes had obtained the 
 friendship of Pindar), says to the monarch, “Now use the wit of (Edi- 
 pus,” i. e. now solve me this riddle. He then, bv a sort of parable, 
 compares Damophilus to an oak, of which the reader will of course see 
 the application. 
 
 § Or stretch'd along, &c., i. e. the oak becomes the architrave of some 
 distant palace ; as Damophilus, forced from Cyrene, becomes at Thebes 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 303 
 
 ODE IV.] 
 
 Some stranger’s pressing palace she sustains 
 
 With firm unfailing trunk, forced from th’ unshelter’d plains. 
 
 EPODE XII. 
 
 Thou art the leech, the times require, 
 
 And Paean # speeds thy skill profound ; 
 
 With lenient hand, relenting sire, 
 
 Soften and heal thy subjects’ wound. 
 
 The worst, the weakest t from its base 
 A state with ease may shake ; but to replace 
 Th’ accomplish’d pile is power indeed, 
 
 Unless some guardian spirit in his love 
 Seize the loose helm, the leaders lead. 
 
 For thee that grace the favouring Fates have wove. 
 
 Oh ! dare then for thy loved Cyrene’s weal 
 Strain all thy strength, use all thy zeal. 
 
 STROPHE XIII. 
 
 A goodly messenger, J as Homer sings 
 
 (Heed thou the tuneful sage), acceptance gives 
 And estimation to the charge he brings. 
 
 So from her virtuous theme the Muse derives 
 
 a person of consideration, and proves his importance prior to his 
 banishment. 
 
 * And Pcean, Apollo, the god of medicine, the patron of Cyrenb (see 
 Pythia/n Odes, v. ix.) and of the games, at which Arcesilaus had won 
 the prize for which this ode was written ; he, therefore, says the poet, 
 seconds thy skill, that is, has supplied me with the opportunity of soli- 
 citing thee to heal the wounds of Damophilus, by recalling him, and 
 honour thee in doing it. 
 
 f The worst, the weakest, &c. Mr. Burke has adopted this admirable 
 remark, perhaps unconsciously, and amplified it in his way. “But is it 
 in destroying and pulling down that skill is displayed ? your mob can do 
 this as well, at least, as your assemblies. The shallowest understanding, 
 the rudest hand is more than equal to that task. Bage and phrenzy will 
 pull down more in half an hour than prudence, deliberation, and fore- 
 sight can build in an hundred years.” — Reflections on the Revolution in 
 France, Burke's Works, vol. v. p. 303. 
 
 X A goodly, messenger, &c. The Scholiast quotes the following line, as 
 that to which Pindar alludes ; it does not appear to me quite to corre- 
 spond with the description of it in the text, but I have searched in vain 
 for one more apposite. 
 
 ’ E <tQ\ov Kai to T&rvKTai , or dyyeXog aiaifia sidy. — II. xv. 207. 
 
 "Tis well when messengers wise counsels hold. 
 
/ 
 
 304 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE IV. 
 
 Honour and grace. Th’ illustrious house* 
 
 Of Battus, all thy realm allows 
 Damophilus unmatch’d in truth, 
 
 Generous and just ; ’mong boys a youth, 
 
 In counsel provident and sage 
 As one that boasts a century’s age. 
 
 He of its sparkling jest the slanderous tongue 
 
 Bereaves : with honest hate he meets th’ oppressor’s wrong. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE XIII. 
 
 Thus with the wise and good no strife hath he, 
 
 Ardent and urgent of his upright plan ; 
 
 For well he knows, that Opportunity 
 
 (Which he observes, not serves) rests not with man 
 A moment’s pause. ’Tis bitterest pain 
 To know, yet need, and crave in vain 
 The sweets that friends and freedom give : 
 
 Thus doth this suffering Atlas + strive, 
 
 * House of Battus, the royal family of Arcesilaus, descended from 
 Battus. — See above, epode iii. 
 
 f Atlas, said to have been a king of Mauritania, the son of Iapetus 
 and one of the Titans, who made war against Jupiter, by whom they 
 were confined in Tartarus, but afterwards, as some say, released. He 
 was skilful in astronomy, and therefore fabulously said to have sustained 
 the heavens. In this passage Pindar compares Damophilus, standing up 
 under the pressure of his sovereign’s resentment, to Atlas supporting the 
 heavens : and the critical reader will observe with how much brevity 
 and effect he has contrived to weave the sentiment and the simile toge- 
 ther, so that by uniting them in one sentence and making them par- 
 takers in the meaning of the same verb, the resemblance is both 
 strengthened and demonstrated. A similar instance of this mode of 
 illustration occurs in the beginning of the sixth Olympic ode : — 
 
 Pillars of gold our portal to sustain, 
 
 As for some proud and princely place, 
 
 We’ll rear : the founder of the strain 
 With far-refulgent front his opening work should grace. 
 
 Horace has followed him in many instances, particularly in his Satires 
 and Epistles, lib. i. sat. 2 ; Ars Poet. Shakspeare has discovered oj 
 improved upon the same poetical beauty in innumerable instances ; foi 
 example : — 
 
 Sweet are the uses of Adversity, 
 
 Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 
 
 Wears yet a precious jewel in its head. — As You Like 1L 
 
ODE IV.l 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 305 
 
 From wealth and kin and country driven, 
 
 Against thy weight, his pressing heaven. 
 
 Yet Jove the Titans loosed, and when the gale 
 Yexes the deep no more, we furl the useless sail. 
 
 EPODE XIII. 
 
 Worn out with lingering ills, his prayer 
 Is still to greet his native plain, 
 
 By Cyres fount # the feast to share 
 And yield to youth his soul again. 
 
 There rank’d among the minstrel choir 
 To touch with gifted hand the burnish’d lyre, 
 
 Warbling in peace his harmless lay, 
 
 Nor offering to his foes nor suffering wrong. 
 
 Oh ! that his lips had power to say 
 What recent fountains of ambrosial song 
 Flowing for great Arcesilas he found, 
 
 Illustrious guest on Theban ground. 
 
 That strain again ; it had a dying fall, 
 
 O it came o’er my ear, like the sweet South, 
 
 That breathes upon a bank of violets, 
 
 Stealing and giving odours . — Twelfth Night. 
 
 She never told her love. 
 
 But let concealment, like a worm i’ th’ bud, 
 
 Feed on her damask cheek. — Idem. 
 
 She pined in thought. 
 
 And with a green and yellow melancholy » 
 
 She sat, like Patience on a monument, 
 
 Smiling at Grief. — Idem. 
 
 This figure is used also by Milton, but not so often in the Paradise Lost 
 as in Comus, where he follows more the manner of Shakspeare ; for 
 example — 
 
 The sea-girt isles 
 
 That, like to rich and various gems, inlay 
 The unadorned bosom of the deep. — Comus. 
 
 * Cyre’s fount. The fountain of Cyrb at Cyrene was sacred to Apollo, 
 whose Cameian ceremonies were celebrated there. 
 
 X 
 
S06 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 | ODE V. 
 
 ODE V. 
 
 TO ARCESILAUS THE CYRENJ2AN, 
 
 Victor in the Chariot-Race* 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 Wealth is wide-extended power, 
 
 Whene’er with genuine worth combined 
 Man leads it forth in Fortune’s favouring hour 
 And friendships throng behind. 
 
 Thee, heav’n-enhanced Arcesilas, 
 
 These gifts through all thy glorious days 
 From life’s first step, by Castor’s t grace, 
 
 Have bless’d ; who now with Pythian bays 
 Given from his golden car thy brows hath crown’d : 
 
 ’Twas he the threatening storm allay’d 
 That shook thy prosperous house and spread 
 The cheering calm, that brightens round. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Wisdom still with temperate hand 
 
 Improves the boon by Heaven bestow’d ; 
 
 And thee, that walk’st with Justice through the land, 
 A thousand blessings crowd. 
 
 * This ode is written to the same Arcesilaus, king of Gyrene, with 
 the preceding ode, in honour of his victory in the chariot-race, won in 
 the thirty-first Pythiad ; but whether it was the same victory, or another, 
 is not known • 
 
 + Castor ; he is here mentioned on account of his delight in the 
 management of horses, as we learn from Horace, and in the Games, as 
 the third Olympic ode (antistro. iii.) informs us ; to which may be 
 added his influence in allaying the tempests (Hor. lib. i. ode xii.), here 
 figuratively applied to the civil commotions at Cyrenfc, which Arcesi- 
 laus had suppressed, and to his succeeding triumphs in the Pythian 
 Games, recorded in these odes. 
 
ODE V.J 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 307 
 
 First as thou art the sceptred lord 
 
 Of mighty realms, and bear’st combined 
 By Nature for that proud reward, 
 
 The ruler’s eye, the sage’s mind : 
 
 Next as thy coursers from the Pythian plain 
 Have born the glorious prize away, 
 
 While Phoebus gives thee to display 
 Th’ exulting pomp and choral strain. 
 
 EPODE l. 
 
 O cease not, while the song, that swells thy fame, 
 
 Sounds through Cyrene’s echoing towers, 
 
 Where Venus spreads* her sweetest bowers, 
 
 God the great cause of all things to proclaim. 
 
 First of thy peers be great Carrhotust styled ; 
 
 He brought not to th’ applauding plain, 
 
 Where Battus’ J just descendants reign, 
 
 Excuse, repentant Epimethes’ child ; § 
 
 But foremost in the chariot-course 
 By pleased Castalia’s sacred source 
 Th’ accepted stranger pass’d, and round 
 Thy kingly locks his wreath of glory bound. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Twelve times round the measured bourn 
 With heel unmatch’d, uninjured rein, 
 
 Flew the swift steeds, nor tire nor trapping torn — 
 
 Lo ! where by Delphi’s fane 
 
 * Where Venus spreads. Cyrene is called in the original yXvicvv kclttov 
 AtypoGirag, the sweet garden of Venus, as in the ninth Pythian ode 
 Aibg e^o%ov kclttov, the pre-eminent garden of Jupiter, a term in both 
 instances intended to denote its beauty and fertility, and in the latter its 
 dependence on Jupiter, the god of Libya. 
 
 f Carrhotus, the charioteer, who won the race for Arcesilaus, was 
 also his wife’s brother, and according to Theotimus quoted by the 
 Scholiast, the leader of his armies. 
 
 X Where Battus, &c. ; that is, to Cyrenb. — See Pythian ode iv. stro. i. 
 
 § Epimethes ’ child. Epimethes was the person who accepted Pam 
 dora from Jupiter, contrary to the counsel of his brother Prometheus, 
 who advised him to reject a present, which brought evil into the world. 
 Our poet has in this little allegory represented 7 rpo^aaiQ, i. e. the excuse 
 made by a defeated competitor, as the daughter of this repentant 
 Epimethes. — See Hes. "Epy. KaV'Hp. 85. 
 
 x 2 
 
308 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE V. 
 
 Hangs the fair chariot # (sound and bright 
 As from the sculptor’s hand it wheel’d 
 Beneath the steep Crissean height t 
 To th’ hollow plain and sacred field), 
 Slung from the cypress beam, the God beside ; 
 Where by the Cretan archers’ hands 
 Hewn from one trunk his statue stands, 
 
 The rich Parnassian temple’s pride. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Him with grateful heart we praise, 
 
 Whose deeds exalt his country’s king : 
 
 On thee, Alexibiades,J their rays 
 The bright-hair’d Graces fling ; 
 
 Blest in the minstrel’s mindful strain, 
 
 Thy rare exploit’s reward, to live : 
 
 Twice twenty chariots strew’d the plain, 
 Thy wheels ungrazed, thy steeds survive : 
 Skill hath no place but in the brave man’s breast ; 
 Now from the glorious games once more 
 His Libyan plains, his native shore, 
 
 The youth’s triumphant steps have press’d. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Thus labour still, man’s painful part, remains. 
 
 Yet mark ! the same propitious Power 
 (The stranger’s light, the nation’s tower) 
 
 That beam’d on ancient Battus, still sustains 
 
 * Hangs the fair chariot , &c. Heyne says, that it was usual to 
 dedicate the victorious chariot in the Delphic temple ; probably, how- 
 ever, not in the great temple itself, but in some adjoining consecrated 
 place, containing a cypress beam for the purpose, and the wooden statue 
 of Apollo given by the Cretans. 
 
 f Criscean height. Crissa, as connected with Pytho or Delphi, is 
 mentioned by Homer : — KpLaaav re ^aOsrjv. — Tl. ii. 520. There is now 
 a village called Crissa, or Crisso, about three miles from Delphi, towards 
 the sea, surrounded with lofty eminences, and abounding with fragments 
 of marble, and other remains of antiquity, which Dr. Clarke (with much 
 probability, as it seems to me) supposes to be the site of Crissa (vol. iv. 
 176), between which and the sea, that is, in the vale or hollow plain, 
 KoiXo-Ktdov va.7rog, was the Hippodrome. 
 t Alexibiades } Carrhotus, the son of Alexibius. 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 309 
 
 ODE V.] 
 
 The throne he stablish’d, and with gifts profuse 
 Blesses his people. Him, ’tis said, 
 
 The stately lions* roaring fled : 
 
 His alien speech their awe-struck ire subdues. 
 Phoebus himself, that led the way, 
 
 Gave their fierce natures to dismay ; 
 
 That no rude chance might stay Cyrene’s lord 
 In his great course, or thwart th’ unerring word.t 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Phoebus dire disease’s cure 
 
 To seers and sapient matrons shows : 
 
 He gave the lyre, and on his favourites pure 
 Th’ inspiring Muse bestows 
 (The Muse, that wins from ruthless war 
 The soften’d soul to love and peace) : 
 
 He rules the shrine oracular ; 
 
 Where warn’d by him th’ Herculean race J 
 Sought with th’ HCgimians on Laconian ground, 
 
 In Pyle and Argos their abode. 
 
 The praise, from Sparta’s deeds that flow’d, 
 
 Be mine in partial strain to sound. 
 
 * The stately lions. Pausanisa inverts this anecdote ; for he tells us 
 in veracious prose, that Battus was so alarmed at the sight of a lion in 
 the deserts of Cyrenb, that the impediment in his speech was instantly 
 succeeded by a distinct and loud articulation. — Lib. x. c. 15. 
 
 + Th ’ wierring word, the answer of the Delphic Oracle, which had 
 destined Battus to the kingdom of Cyrene. — See Pyth. ode iv. 
 antistr. iii. 
 
 X Th! Herculecm race. The Heraclidae, or descendants of Hercules, 
 who having been driven out of the Peloponnese, and settled near Mount 
 Pindus with the Dorians, under .ZEgimius, afterwards by the direction 
 of the Delphic Oracle, and assisted by the iEge'idae, a tribe of Thebans, 
 returned and settled in Pylus, Argus, and Lacedaemon ; from whence 
 they colonised Thera ; from whence Battus colonised Cyrene. Pindar 
 being probably of that tribe calls the JEge'idae, his fathers, and considers 
 himself connected with the glory of the Spartans. — See Isthm. ode vii, 
 epode i. 
 
310 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE V. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Spartans bom my favour’d sires 
 
 From HSgeus sprung to Thera came : 
 
 Fate led them to the land,* whose sacred fires 
 With many a victim flame. 
 
 Thence, Phoebus, thy Carneian rites t 
 To proud Cyrene’s mount we bore, 
 
 Still hallowing as the feast invites, 
 
 Her fair-built fanes and echoing shore. 
 
 Thither Antenor’s sons, $ Troy’s brave remains, 
 
 By hostile flames in ruin laid, 
 
 With Helen’s Grecian wanderers fled, 
 
 And left their sons th’ adopted plains. 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 There dwelt that race of warlike charioteers, 
 
 To whose heroic shades the band, 
 
 That lead by Battus rules the land, 
 
 Still slays the sacrifice, the altar rears ; 
 
 * Fate led them to the land, Ac. This is supposed to be a corrupt pas- 
 sage, Damm substituting kg spar, ad terrain, for epavov, epulum, a feast ; 
 the Jatter word does not so well suit the remainder of the sentence, yet 
 joined with the epithet ttoXvQvtov, signifying at which there were many 
 sacrifices , it is in some degree supported by Callimachus, who calls it 
 An annual festival 
 
 At which unnumber’d bulls, thy victims, fall. — Hymn. Apoll. 79. 
 
 I have translated the words, however, as given by Damm, supposing 
 the land where there were many sacrifices to have been Thera, from 
 whence they carried the same ceremonies to Cyrenfe. 
 
 + Thy Carneian rites. It is said among other accounts, which will be 
 found in the Scholiast on Theocritus, Idyl. v. 1. 83, that the Carneian 
 rites sacred to Apollo, take their name from one Carno, a prophet or 
 priest, who accompanied the Heraclidee to Sparta, &c., and was slain by 
 one of them ; in consequence whereof they were visited with a pestilence, 
 to remove which the Delphic Oracle directed them to institute the Car- 
 neian rites in honour of Apollo. These rites appear from Callimachus 
 to have been observed with great solemnity (the fire on the altar being 
 kept perpetually burning), and lasted nine days ; during which the per- 
 sons concerned in them lived in a state of military discipline, under the 
 rule of a rigorous commander. — See Pans. lib. iii. c. 13, and Pott. Antiq. 
 vol. i. 408. 
 
 X Antenor's sons. Antenorwas a Trojan, whose sons, after the taking 
 of Troy, mingled with the Greeks, who accompanied Helen, and settled 
 at Cyrene. 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 311 
 
 ODE V.J 
 
 Battus, whose winged galleys through the brine 
 Oped their deep passage. For the gods 
 High groves* * * § he raised, their dark abodes : 
 
 He the Scyrotant to Apollo’s shrine, 
 
 Where the full pomp with prancing steed 
 Imploring blessings might proceed, 
 
 His spacious causeway plann’d. The Forum nigh 
 Aloof the vulgar tombs his reliques lie. 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 Blest his mortal part he bore ; 
 
 In death a hero’s rites he knows : 
 
 Their sacred kings far off, the walls before, 
 
 In humbler rest repose. 
 
 Still in the shades beyond the grave 
 Our liquid lays their spirits hear, 
 Shedding soft dews and streams that lave 
 The living flower their virtues bear ; 
 Lays, that with them Arcesilas record 
 
 Their glorious son ; whose choral train J 
 How sing for him in sounding strain 
 Phoebus who waves the flaming sword, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 Him, who sends from Pytho’s hills 
 The graceful song, that far o’erbuys 
 The cost of conquest, to the prince § that fills 
 The praises of the wise. 
 
 * High groves, Ac., aXaea gsi^ova ; an expression which perhaps may 
 mean temples, particularly with the verb kt'kjev. — Pott. Antiq. vol. i. 197. 
 So Callimachus seems to have construed the word, where he says of 
 Sattus (called also Aristoteles), AeTgs de tol gaXa kclXov clvclktoqov , he 
 built thee a beautiful temple. — Hymn. Apoll. 77. 
 
 f The Scyrotan. The Scholiast states this to be the name of the great 
 causeway, that led to the temple of Apollo, at Cyrenb, and seems to 
 think that the term signified a pavement in the dialect of the Cyrenseans. 
 There was a sacred way from Olympia to Elis, probably of the same 
 description, Pausanias calling it i rediada, the word used here by Pindar, 
 signifying a plain and levelled road. — Lib. v. c. 16. 
 
 t Whose choral train, meaning the choir by whom this ode was to be 
 performed. 
 
 § To the prince, Ac., meaning Arcesilas, with whose panegyric he 
 proceeds. 
 
312 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE V. 
 
 ’Tis but the general tale : in wit, 
 
 In words, with age his youth may vie ; 
 Bold as the Sovereign bird, whose might 
 With wings expanded awes the sky. 
 
 His strength in contest, like the tower in war : 
 
 A child the Muses’ haunts he knew, 
 
 Still on their pinion soars : and who 
 Shall guide with him the glowing car ? 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 All the domestic paths that lead to fame, 
 
 His enterprising steps have tried ; 
 
 And well th’ approving gods supplied 
 His purposes with power. Through life the same 
 Grant him, in act resolved, in counsel sage, 
 
 Blest sons of Saturn, long to know ; 
 
 Nor let th’ autumnal tempest blow 
 To blast the ripe abundance of his age : 
 
 Jove, whose high will exalts and moves 
 The destiny of those he loves, 
 
 Vouchsafe the sons of Battus to obtain 
 Like wreaths of glory from th’ Olympian plain. 
 
ODE VI,] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 313 
 
 ODE YI. 
 
 TO XENOCRATES* * * § OF AGRIGENTUM, 
 
 Victor in the Chariot-race. 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 O listen, while we till the flowery field, 
 
 Where soft-eyed Yenus and the Graces t reign, 
 Hastening with duteous step our vows to yield 
 
 Within Earth’s murmuring nave J and central fane : 
 Where for th’ Emmenian tribe § renown’d, 
 
 And watery Agrigent, and great 
 Xenocrates with Pythian conquest crown’d, 
 
 Apollo’s proud retreat 
 Enshrines, its golden stores among, 
 
 The treasured of our rich triumphal song. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Song, that nor wintry shower IF nor driving hail, 
 
 Keen squadrons of the pitiless thunder-cloud, 
 
 Nor weltering sands shall beat, nor sleeping gale 
 Sink in the caverns of th’ all-whelming flood : 
 
 * Xenocrates, the brother of Theron, to whom the second Olympic 
 ode is addressed, and the father of Thrasybulus, an accomplished youth, 
 to whom Pindar appears to have been particularly attached. — See Isthm. 
 ode ii. This victory, as the Scholiast tells us, was obtained in the 24th 
 Pythiad. 
 
 f Venus and the Graces. In the same manner he speaks of lyric 
 poetry as being Xapiriov Kdirov, the garden of the Graces (Olymp. ode 
 ix. ep. i.), and of Cyrenb, as being kclttov ’A^podLrag, the garden of 
 Yenus ( Pyth . ode v. ep. i.). 
 
 X Murmuring nave, &c. Meaning Delphi and its temple. — See Pyth. 
 ode iv. stro. iv. and note. 
 
 § Emmenian tribe. The tribe of the Emmenidse, at Agrigentum, to 
 which Theron’s family belonged. — See Olymjp. ode iii. antist. iii. and 
 note. 
 
 || The treasure. There were treasures at Delphi, as well as at Olym- 
 pia, in which the offerings to Apollo were deposited {Pans. lib. vi. c. 19) : 
 to these our poet likens his poetical encomium. 
 
 U Song, that nor wintry shower, &c. The classical reader will here see 
 
314 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE VI 
 
 But with fair front, that courts the day, 
 
 Thinfe and thy sire’s # commingled praise, 
 Wherewith the world rings loudly, shall display, 
 And tell in glory’s lays 
 How bravely, Thrasybule, ye won 
 In Crisa’s echoing valef the chariot-crown. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 There, while thine hand thy father’s fame sustain’d, 
 
 Well didst thou keep the precept, which of old 
 Far from paternal care PelidesJ gain’d 
 
 From Wisdom’s lips in Chiron’s mountain-hold ; 
 
 “ Before all powers to fear and love 
 
 “ The god that wields the lightning’s fire, 
 
 “ The deep-mouth’d thunder’s lord, Saturnian Jove ; 
 “ Next, to thy reverend sire, 
 
 “ Through all his life’s appointed day, 
 
 “ With her that gave thee thine, like honours pay.” 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Warm’d with such thoughts Antilochus the brave 
 Single withstood the furious Memnon’s force 
 Back’d by his H£thiop*host, and nobly gave 
 
 Himself to save his sire ; whose fainting horse 
 
 the spirited original, from which Ovid borrowed the conclusion of his 
 Metamorphosis, and Horace the thirtieth ode of the third book, at the 
 end of which he glances at our poet. 
 
 Et mihi Delphica 
 Lauro cinge volens, Melpomenb, comam. 
 
 * Thine and thy sire's, dec. It seems from hence that Thrasybulus 
 either superintended the preparations for the race, or acted as the 
 charioteer. The Scholiast says that JSTicomachus was the charioteer, and 
 refers to the second Isthmian ode, where that name appears. But that 
 arduous office might have been performed by the latter, at the Isthmian, 
 and the former at the Pythian Games. 
 
 + Crisa’s echoing vale, Kpiffaiaiaiv sv 7 rrvxcug. This is an additional 
 proof to those given in the note on Pythian ode v. stro. ii., that the 
 Hippodrome was situated in the hollow plain to the south of Crisa. — 
 See also Homer’s Hymn to Apoll. 
 
 £ Pelides, Achilles, the son of Peleus, who was educated by Chiron. 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 ODE VI.] 
 
 31 £ 
 
 Paris # with many a shaft had maim’d, 
 
 And check’d his chariot’s fierce career : 
 Whereat his ponderous lance the chieftain aim d 
 Full at the Pylian seer : 
 
 Moved at the danger, not appall’d, 
 
 “ Help, help, my son,” the weak old warrior call’d. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 That voice unheeded fell not to the ground ; 
 
 Firm stood the godlike youth, and with his own 
 Ransom’d his father’s life. Thenceforth renown’d 
 ’Mong youths of earlier times he shines alone. 
 All hearts his generous virtues move ; 
 
 All tongues th’ egregious deed extoll’d, 
 
 And crown’d it with the palm of filial love. 
 Such things were fame of old : 
 
 Of all the living, Thrasybule 
 
 Most shapes his progress by his father’s rule, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Nor shines not by his glorious uncle’s t side. 
 
 Wisely his wealth he uses ; nurses well 
 Youth’s flower, nor shrunk with vice nor flush’d with pride, 
 Gathering fresh wisdom in the Muses’ dell. 
 
 Thee, founder of the equestrian race, 
 
 Neptune, that shakest the billowy strand, 
 
 Thee and thy toils his fond pursuits embrace : 
 
 Yet with the social band 
 In converse mingling, sweet is he 
 As the stored cell-work of the mountain bee. 
 
 * Paris, &c. This story of Anfcilochus is not related in Homer. He 
 mentions (II. viii. 80) the circumstance of Nestor’s horse being wounded 
 by the darts of Paris, when Diomede gallantly interfered, and took the 
 old warrior into his chariot. But Homer does not mention the attack 
 of Memnon upon Nestor, nor the generous sacrifice of Antilochus : 
 although he tells us that the latter was slain by Memnon. — Odys. iv. 188. 
 
 + His glorious uncle's, Theron, the brother of Xenocrates, father to 
 Thrasybulus. The glories of Theron will appear in the second and third 
 Olympic odes. 
 
316 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE YII. 
 
 ODE YII. 
 
 TO MEGACLES THE ATHENIAN, 
 
 Victor in the Race of Chariots draivn by Four horses* * * § 
 
 STROPHE. 
 
 Take, Minstrel, when thy glowing lyre displays 
 Th’ equestrian triumphs of Alcmseon’sf race, 
 
 Great Athens J for thy theme, the proudest base 
 Whereon the structure of thy strain to raise. 
 
 What country’s native can we name 
 
 Sprung from what nobler house, th’ applause of Greece to 
 claim t 
 
 ANTISTROPHE. 
 
 Through all our streets the talk, the general tale 
 Dwells on Erechtheus’ people ;§ by whose hands || 
 Rear’d on thy Pythian rocks, Apollo, stands 
 Yon gorgeous temple. Thither borne I hail 
 From Isthmus five, from Cirrha twain, 
 
 And one distinguish’d wreath from Jove’s Olympian plain, 
 
 * This victory was obtained in the twenty-eighth Pythiad, or third 
 year of the seventy- sixth Olympiad. 
 
 + Alcmceon’s race. Alcmaeon was an Athenian citizen, who was en- 
 riched by Croesus for his kind reception of that monarch’s legates to the 
 Delphic oracle. He was in great esteem at Athens, where his descend- 
 ants had the principal hand in the expulsion of the Pisistratidae. 
 
 X Athens. The Athenians erected a statue to Pindar for this pane- 
 gyric on their city. The Thebans fined him for bestowing his praises 
 upon any country but his own ; upon which the Athenians sent him a 
 present of double the fine. 
 
 § Erechtheus ’ people. Erechtheus was the sixth king of Athens, begin- 
 ning with Cecrops ; and after him the Athenians were called the Erech- 
 theidae, or people of Erechtheus, He was a just and valiant monarch, to 
 whom the Athenians offered an annual sacrifice. — Horn. II. ii. 550 ; Ov . 
 Met. vi. 678. 
 
 || By whose hands. Pausanias mentions five temples erected to the 
 Delphic Apollo, the first of laurel ; the second of wax and bees’ wings, 
 which Apollo sent to the Hyperboreans ; the third of brass • the fourth of 
 
ODE VIII.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 317 
 
 EPODE. 
 
 Won by thy matchless ancestry, 
 Illustrious Megacles, and thee. 
 
 Thy fresh success with joy we greet ; 
 Yet sorrowing mark, how Envy’s pace 
 Still runs by Virtue in the race, 
 Ill-paid Desert disasters meet, 
 
 And Fortune’s wintry gales destroy 
 The fairest blossoms of our joy. 
 
 ODE VIII. 
 
 TO ARISTOMENES OF jEGINA, 
 
 Victor in the Game of Wrestling . 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 O Peace, # by whom all hearts one friendship share, 
 
 And mightiest empires stand ; 
 
 Daughter of Justice, in whose hand 
 Hang the great keys of council and of war : — 
 
 stone, built by Trophonius and Agamedes, which was burnt in the fifty- 
 eighth Olympiad ; and the fifth of stone, the expense of which was paid 
 by the Amphictyons, out of the sacred treasures, and designed by Spin- 
 tharus, a Corinthian architect. — Pays. lib. x. c. 5. It is said, however, 
 that this was done by the family of Alcmseon, under a contract with the 
 Amphictyons, and that they exceeded their engagement. — Chandl. 
 vol. ii. 295. 
 
 * 0 Peace , &c. The date of this victory is not known. The ode, 
 however, seems to have been written soon after the defeat of the Persian 
 expedition, to which the ^Eginetans so much contributed : and, there- 
 fore, the poet, in celebrating Aristomenes, of iEgina, introduces that 
 topic of encomium, by addressing the spirit of tranquillity which pre- 
 viously prevailed in Greece ; and which, when assailed by insolence and 
 aggression, like Jupiter by the giants, is capable of executing such 
 vengeance on its enemies. With this clue, the beginning of this ode is 
 intelligible and interesting. The first antistrophe, and half of the first 
 epode, appear to be intended as allusions to the Persian invasion, the 
 defeat at Salamis, &c. 
 
318 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 
 [ode VIIL 
 
 For conquering Aristomenes 
 
 Accept tlie Pythian crown we weave : 
 
 Thou know’st the season of soft courtesies, 
 
 The grace to take or give. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 But when th’ aggressor’s wrong thy friends sustain, 
 
 And foes thy power engage, 
 
 Then dost thou roughen into rage, 
 
 And plunge presumptuous insult in the main. 
 
 Too late the rash Porphyrion* taught 
 Thy sharp rebuke, thy vengeance tries ; 
 
 Taught, how secure the gain by Justice bought, 
 
 How dear the plunderer’s prize. 
 
 epode i. 
 
 Thou in his hour each vaunter hast subdued : 
 
 Hot Typhon’s hundred heads thy watchful power 
 Eluded or repell’d, 
 
 Nor he that led the giant brood : 
 
 Their feud the volleying thunder quell’d, 
 
 With fierce Apollo’s arrowy shower ; 
 
 Who now with favouring look receives 
 Xenarces’ son from Cirrha’s plain, 
 
 Crown’d with his own Parnassian leaves, 
 
 The shouting choir and Dorian strain. 
 
 strophe ii. 
 
 Nor lies that beauteous isle,+ where Justice sways, 
 
 Where Virtue’s touch divine 
 Still warms the great iEacean line, 
 
 Far from the Graces thrown. From earliest days 
 
 * Porphyrion. He was one, and Typhon another, of the giants, who 
 “ warred on Jove.” 
 
 f That beauteous isle. ^Egina, which Pindar always praises with 
 enthusiasm. — (See Olymp. ode viii. ep. i. ; Nem. ode viii. antistr. 
 ii., &c., and other places.) In the eighth Isthmian ode, he describes 
 Thebb and iEgina to be sisters, the daughters of Asopus, and to have 
 been beloved by Jupiter. It is difficult to account for this partiality in 
 the poet ; unless it arose from a desire to gratify the jealousy with which 
 his countrymen regarded Athens, by swelling the praises of her maritime 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 319 
 
 ODE VIII.] 
 
 A proud illustrious name she boasts : 
 
 The chiefs her teeming cities yield 
 First in the games, among conflicting hosts 
 The heroes of the field. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Such are her glories — but the time would fail, 
 
 Th’ exhausted ear would tire, 
 
 From voice and soft enchanting lyre 
 Of all her deeds to hear the lengthen’d tale. 
 
 But to my task — aloft the song, 
 
 Due to thy young exploit, shall spring, 
 Plumed by mine heart to bear thy fame along 
 High on her soundiiqg wing. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Thou in the wrestler’s field the steps hast traced 
 
 Of thy stout uncles : thou nor Theognete,* 
 With braid Olympian crown’d, 
 
 Hast with thy Pythian proof disgraced ; 
 
 Nor stanch Cleitomachus, renown’d 
 For his huge frame and Isthmian feat. 
 
 Thus thy Midylian tribe enhanced, 
 
 Thy praise CEclidesh well display’d, 
 When to sev’n-portall’d Thebes advanced 
 The warlike sons his strain portray’d : 
 
 rival. The form of expression here used by Pindar, viz., ”Ri race d’ cv 
 Xapirujv eicdg vaucg, will remind the classical reader of Virgil’s 
 Nee tarn aversus equosTyri& Sol jungit ab urbe. — JEn. i. 568. 
 
 * Theognete, &c. Of Theognetus and Cleitomachus we know nothing, 
 but that they were the uncles of Aristomenes, the former having con- 
 quered in the Olympic, the latter in the Isthmian Games. The poet in 
 this, as in most of his odes, contrives to name not only the father but 
 the tribe to which the athletic conqueror belongs ; as here he names 
 Xenarces, the father, and the Midylidse, the tribe, of Aristomenes. 
 
 f (E elides, Amphiaraiis, the son of (Ecleus ; of whom and the first 
 expedition against Thebes, see Olymp. ode vi. ep. i. and note. The second 
 expeditioh against Thebes, under the command of the Epigoni, or 
 descendants of the chiefs who commanded at the first, is here alluded 
 to. Alcmseon, the son of Amphiaraiis, was of the number, and had the 
 command. 
 
320 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE VIII, 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 ’Twas when from Argos’ walls their second traija 
 The Seven Descendants led : ' 
 
 “ The soul by nature bold,” he said, 
 
 “ That warms the generous father, glows again 
 “ In the brave son. Behold, behold, 
 
 “ At Cadmus’ gates Alcmseon wield, 
 
 “ First in the fight, the dragon’s motley mould 
 “ That fires his blazon’d shield. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 “ Adrastus too, by past disasters press’d, 
 
 “ Now, with fresh heart upheld 
 “ By happier omen, fronts the field, 
 
 “ For future woes yet mark’d, at home unblest. 
 
 “ He of the Danaan chiefs alone 
 
 “ Shall come with whole unvanquish’d powers* 
 
 “ Yet gathering sad the relics of his son,* 
 
 “ To Abas’ massy towers.” t 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Thus sage Amphiaraiis taught the throng : 
 
 Nor with less rapture round Alcmseon’s brows 
 Will I the wreath entwine, 
 
 Less bathe him with the dews of song : 
 
 For he my neighbour is his shrine 
 Guards with its shade my hallow’d house : 
 
 * Of his son ; ^Egialeus, who was killed before Thebes in this second 
 war, and whose statue, with that of Alcmseon, Pausanias saw at Delphi. 
 — Lib. x. c. 10. 
 
 + To Abas' massy towers ; Argos, which was called the city of Abas, 
 the son of Lynceus, who was king of that city. Statius calls him “ the 
 warrior ,” — bellator Abas. — Theb. ii. 220. 
 
 X For he my neighbour is. The Scholiast supposes that the poet in 
 this passage speaks of Alcmseon as the neighbour of Aristomenes : but 
 it is very clear that he is speaking in his own person, and means that the 
 fane, or shrine, or heroic tomb of Alcmseon adjoins his (Pindar’s) house. 
 The story of his having met Alcmseon’s spirit on his way to Delphi, is 
 nothing more than a poetical figure, with a tint of superstition (Amphia- 
 raiis, the father of Alcmseon, having been a prophet), to express his 
 anticipation of the victor’s triumph. 
 
ODE VIII. J 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 321 
 
 As to Earth’s central dome I came, 
 
 His spirit cross’d my startled way, 
 
 Touch’d with his sire’s prophetic flame, 
 
 And told the triumphs of the day. 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 God of the radiant bow, by Pytho’s clifts, 
 
 Where thy proud rites sustain 
 The glorious all-frequented fane, 
 
 Thou on this youth the noblest of thy gifts* 
 
 Hast lavish’d : at thy feast before 
 The prompt Pentathlet’s hasty prize 
 He snatch’d, thy bounty, on his native shore, t 
 Once more with favouring eyes 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 Beam, I beseech thee, on th’ harmonious lyre, 
 
 Which for the brave this hand 
 Awakens : Justice takes her stand 
 Beside, and guides the sweet triumphal choir. 
 
 May Heaven’s regard thy prosperous lot, 
 
 Son of Xenarces, long sustain ! 
 
 Though wise the weak account him that hath got 
 Great fame with little pain,J 
 
 * The noblest of thy gifts , i. e. the prize at the Pythian Games. 
 
 *f* On his native shore ; in Hilgina, where Apollo was much worshipped, 
 and where a festival and certain games, at which Aristomenes had won 
 the Pentathlian prize, were solemnized in honour of that deity. These 
 games were called AtXtyLvia, as the Scholiast tells us ; probably as 
 being sacred to the Delphian god, to whom there was a temple called 
 Atktyiviov, Delphinium, at Athens. — Pans. lib. i. c. 19. 
 
 £ With little pain. It should seem from this passage, that Aristo- 
 menes had easily obtained his Pythian victory, which the poet ascribes 
 not to his merit, but, with his usual piety, to the gods. How it hap- 
 pened to be so easy an achievement, the fifth strophe will explain, where 
 it appears, that on this occasion he encountered four antagonists in suc- 
 cession. Each of these, as Heyne well observed, had already thrown his 
 man, Aristomenes being the f<pedpog, that is, the odd man, who had no 
 match, but waited only to take up the conquerors, exhausted by their 
 former struggle. His victory, therefore, was comparatively easy, and, 
 his station being assigned to him by lot, was owing rather to his good 
 fortune than his merit, as the fourth antistrophe appears to import. It 
 
 Y 
 
322 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 ODE VIII# 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 His life with wisdom arm’d, his counsels just ; 
 
 ’Tis not for man the blessing to command ; 
 
 From God all bounties flow : 
 
 This man he raises from the dust 
 
 Aloft ; he lays another low, 
 
 And metes him with his chastening hand. 
 
 Three times thy brow the crown has won : 
 
 At home in Juno’s Games decreed, 
 
 At Megara, and in Marathon, 
 
 Where might, not chance, achieved the deed. 
 
 strophe v. 
 
 Hurl’d by thy fierce encounter from above, 
 
 Four champions press’d the ground — 
 
 To them the Pythian judge profound 
 Doom’d not the sweet return, nor smile of love 
 From fond jnaternal grace to meet ; 
 
 Pierced with their sad mischance, alone, 
 
 By path forlorn they slink and secret street, 
 
 The taunting foe to shun. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V. 
 
 But he, that hath some recent glory gain’d, 
 
 On Exultation’s wings, 
 
 Lord of his hope, triumphant springs 
 To heights which Wealth’s low cares can ne’er ascend. 
 
 Yet ah ! how short the vernal hour 
 Allow’d for mortal bliss to blow ! 
 
 Fate from the stem soon shakes the fluttering flower, 
 That droops and dies below. 
 
 is for this reason that in the fourth epode he is described as having 
 gained his victories at Juno’s .ZEginetan Games, at Megara, and Mara- 
 thon, by great exertion, dagaacag tpyy, to show, that he was not merely 
 the champion of fortune. 
 
ODE IX.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 323 
 
 EPODE Y. 
 
 Child of a day, what’s man h what is he not ? 
 
 His life a shadow’s dream ! yet wiien from Jove 
 The gladdening gleam appears, 
 
 Then bright and brilliant is his lot, 
 
 And calms unclouded gild his years — 
 
 Still, great HCgina,* join thy love 
 
 With Jove’s ; thy realm in freedom hold ; 
 
 And H£acus with sceptred hand, 
 
 Peleus and Telamon the bold, 
 
 And great Achilles guard the land ! 
 
 ODE IX. 
 
 TO TELESICRATES OF CYRENE, 
 
 Victor in the Race with Heavy Armour. 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 I pant the Pythian triumph to resound 
 Of brazen-buckler’d t Telesicrates, 
 
 Whom all the deep-zoned]: Graces throng to please, 
 The flower of proud Cyrene, steed -renown’d. 
 
 * JEgina. The poet addresses not the island, but the nymph H£gina, 
 genius of the island of that name, said to have been the mother of 
 ^Eacus by Jupiter. HSacus was the father of Telamon and of Peleus, 
 the father of Achilles. 
 
 t Brazen-buckler'd. Some of the races were run in heavy armour. 
 All those exercises that conduced to fit men for war, were especially 
 valued by the ancient Greeks. Swiftness, therefore, was looked upon as 
 an eminent qualification, because it fits the warrior both for a sudden 
 assault, and for a nimble retreat. Combined with the strength sufficient 
 to carry the heavy armour used by the infantry, it was a still more ex- 
 cellent endowment. It is, therefore, not to be wondered at that the con- 
 stant character which Homer gives of Achilles is, that he was 7 toSuq 
 ljkvq, or swift of foot. Homer tells us in another place, that swiftness is 
 one of the most excellent endowments a man can be blessed with. 
 
 For what more fame can yield 
 Than the swift race, or conflict of the field. 
 
 Odyss. S'. 147, Pope's Tr 
 
 X Deep-zoned. BaOv'Cwvuun. Dodwell, in his Travels in Greece, vol i. 
 Y 2 
 
324 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES, 
 
 LODE IX 
 
 Her,* once a huntress mountain maid, 
 
 From Pelion’s tempest-bellowing shade, 
 
 Tress’d with the .radiant locks of light 
 Thy son, Latona, lured away, 
 
 "Rapt in his golden chariot bright, 
 
 To realms where flocks unnumber’d stray. 
 
 Where trees with fruits perennial stand : 
 
 He made her mistress of the land, 
 
 And gave the world’s third continent to bloom 
 With nature’s loveliest works for fair Cyrene’s home. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Forth from his heavenly car her Delian guest t 
 
 Love’s silver-sandall’d Queen, with courteous touch 
 And soft reception, handed : she their couch 
 In modesty’s becoming drapery dress’d ; 
 
 She bade the nuptial rite prepare, 
 
 Such as became a god to share 
 With powerful Hypseus’ matchless maid — 
 
 Hypseus, whose throne the Lapithge, 
 
 Haughty and brave in arms, obey’d : 
 
 His race from Ocean boasted he, 
 
 A hero’s offspring, whom of yore 
 The nymph divine Creiisa bore, 
 
 p. 140, has the following passage, illustrative of this expression. 
 Describing the costume of the Arnaut women, he says : “ The outer 
 garment is loose, but the under one is girt round the middle by a broad 
 zone, ornamented with brass, and sometimes with silver, having two 
 large circular clasps uniting in front. This forms a conspicuous part of 
 the female Arnaut attire, as the knemides (boots) do of that of the men ; 
 and the women are not less vain of a broad and massive girdle than their 
 husbands are of the brightness and richness of their boots. 
 
 * The poet suddenly passes from the mention of Cyrene, the town 
 situated on the north-western coast of Africa, exactly opposite to the 
 Peloponnesus, with poetic freedom of transition, to a description of the 
 Nymph, the allegorically fabled foundress and guardian of that city and 
 nation. 
 
 + Delian guest. A pollo was peculiarly worshipped in the island of 
 Delos, which was fabled to have been raised by Neptune out of the sea, 
 for the express purpose of becoming his birthplace, when his mother, 
 Latona, was driven from all the parts of the earth by the serpent 
 Python. 
 
ODE IX .*] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 325 
 
 Earth’s glittering daughter, when to Peneus’ love 
 Her watery charms she gave in Pindus’ warbled grove.* 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 Rear’d by her father’s hand, a damsel fair 
 Of comeliest form Cyrene grew ; 
 
 She loved not the dull loom, nor e’er 
 The task-retracting shuttle threw ; 
 
 Join’d not the soft domestic train 
 
 In tame delights of feast or dance, 
 
 But with keen sword and brazen lance 
 Bush’d on the ruthless savage of the plain. 
 
 So watch’d, her father’s flocks securely fed ; 
 
 When the first streaks of morning broke, 
 
 The slumbers from her lids she shook, 
 
 Nor lost the precious prime on sloth’s bewitching bed. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Her once the quiver’d distant-darting God 
 
 With a fierce lion’s rage — unarm’d, alone — 
 
 Struggling descried ; whereat with cheering tone 
 He roused old Chiron t from his rude abode : 
 
 “ Haste from thy sombrous cave,” he said, 
 
 “ And marvel at this martial maid : 
 
 “ Mark with what strength her spirit strains, 
 
 “ With what fell foe the unequal fight 
 “ Her fair unpractised arm sustains ; 
 
 “ Tires not the toil her virgin might, 
 
 “ Nor freezing fear with danger press’d 
 “ Ruffles her bold unshrinking breast. 
 
 “ Tell me what sire begot the generous child — 
 
 “ Sprung from what wondrous womb, among the mountains 
 wild, 
 
 * The genealogy here described is simply this : Oceanus was father of 
 the river Peneus, who became father of Hypseus, by Creiisa, a Naiad or 
 nymph of the fountain ; and Hypseus was the father of Cyrenb, the sub- 
 ject of the poet’s description. 
 
 f Chiron was the most celebrated of the Centaurs ; and particularly 
 famous for his skill in music, medicine, and the use of the bow. He 
 instructed in the polite arts all the heroes of his age, as Hercules, 
 Achilles, -Esculapius, &c. 
 
326 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 I ODE IX. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 “ Holds she her shadowy haunt, tasting of power 
 
 “ E’en beyond manhood’s licence ? Tell me, Sire, 
 
 “ Doth aught forbid the hand of chaste desire 
 “ From that sweet plant to pluck the tempting flower V 
 Moved at the warm request, with mild 
 Relaxing brow and glistening eyes, 
 
 The greatly-gifted Centaur smiled, 
 
 Then thus with counsel pure replies : 
 
 “ ’Tis soft persuasion’s secret key 
 “ Unlocks the gates of ecstasy. 
 
 “ Phoebus, with men, with gods above, 
 
 “ Prevails the same reserve of love, 
 
 “ That with conceal’d approach in virtue’s guise 
 “ Ascends without repulse the bed where beauty lies. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 “ But since with thee no falsehood can remain, 
 
 “ Some playful freak thy tongue divine 
 “ Impels this nescient mood to feign : 
 
 “ Thou learn from me a mortal’s line ! 
 
 “ Thou, who the ends of nature know’st, 
 
 “ Know’st all her means ; the leaves that swell 
 “ Earth’s vernal bloom with ease canst tell ; 
 
 “ dumber the boundless sands that on the coast 
 “ Of stream or sea the winds or waters beat ; 
 
 “ That with distinct regard canst see 
 “ All things that are, have been, shall be ; 
 
 “ If yet the weak must teach, thy wisdom’s want I meet. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 “ Thou ’mongst these glades hast sought this maid’s 
 embrace ; 
 
 “ Hence shalt thou bear her o’er the swelling brine 
 “ To Jove’s delightful garden,* there to shine 
 “ A kingdom’s mistress, while the Island racet 
 
 * Jove’s deligJdful garden . The beautiful and fertile plain in which 
 Cyrene was situated, is probably here called Jove’s garden, on account 
 of its proximity to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, whose worship ex- 
 
ODE IX.] PYTHIAN ODES. 327 
 
 “ Her state by thee collected round 
 “ People the plain-encompass’d mound. 
 
 “ Meanwhile to greet th’ illustrious maid 
 “ For thee the reverend Libya comes, 
 
 A Her fields with spacious pastures spread ; 
 
 “ Thrones her within her golden domes, 
 
 “ And portions from her vast domain 
 “ An empire for Gyrene s reign, 
 
 “ Wanting nor fruit nor flower, the beauteous place 
 “ Profuse, nor beast to rouse the raptures of the chase. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 “ There shall she bear a son, thence far away 
 
 “ On Hermes pinions wafted from the birth, 
 
 “ To where the bright-throned Hours and teeming 
 Earth 
 
 “ On their soft laps the illustrious babe shall lay. 
 
 (C Blest ^ristseus ; * they his lip 
 “ Shall teach th’ ambrosial food to sip, 
 
 tended over all that part of Africa. The whole province was called 
 Libya Pentapolis, from its having five towns of note in it : Cyrene, 
 Barce, Ptolemais, Berenice, and Tauchira ; all of which not onlv now 
 exist under the form either of towns or villages, but it is remarkable 
 (says Rennel), that their names are scarcely changed from what we may 
 suppose the pronunciation to have been among the Greeks. They are 
 now called Kurin, Barca, Tollemata, Bemic, Tauker. 
 
 + The island race. Cyrenb was peopled by a colony from Thera, one 
 of the Sporades, now Santrim, the southernmost island of the Archipe- 
 lago. This colony was at first led reluctantly from thence by Battus, 
 after repeated injunctions from the Oracle of Delphi to that effect ; but 
 
 it was afterwards much resorted to by the rest of the Greeks. Herod- 
 
 Melpomene. 
 
 * The interpretation of the allegory is this : — That Aristseus should 
 be instructed by his teachers in the art of agriculture ; and from the 
 observation of 'the seasons, and his skill and experience in the nature 
 of soils, should become so skilful a husbandman, and leave &o much 
 improvement behind him, that men in after-ages should pay him divine 
 honours, as they did to J upiter and Apollo for their respective benefits 
 to mankind ; and for his skill : n field sports, should call him Agreus 
 (or the huntsman), as well a* Nomius (or the herdsman), for his 
 attention to cattle. 
 
328 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE 31. 
 
 “ And crown with immortality, 
 
 “ In nectar quaff’d, the gifted boy : 
 u Guardian of flocks and folds is he, 
 
 “ Thence Nomius named, the herdsman’s joy ; 
 
 “ Agreus by swains the chase that love, 
 u And Phoebus and eternal Jove.” 
 
 Thus Chiron spoke. The God his words inspire 
 The nuptial rite to speed, and crown his great desire. 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Swift are the movements of celestial minds, 
 
 And short the path their wills descry ; 
 
 That hour the bond of rapture binds ; 
 
 In Libya’s golden bower they lie. 
 
 There the bright walls for games # renown’d 
 Still prospering boast her guardian love : 
 
 Conquering the while in Pytho’s grove 
 
 The son of proud Carneades hath bound 
 Her brows with glory’s wreath, aloud her name 
 Proclaim’d him then in all her streets 
 With all her beauteous dames she greets, 
 
 Bearing from Delphi’s peak the rapturous prize of fame.f 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 Boundless is virtue’s praise : yet he that wooes 
 The wise, with sparing blazon will supply 
 The abundant theme, while opportunity, 
 
 That perfects all things, curbs the excursive Muse. 
 
 * The panegyrist, with inimitable art, weaves the digression into his 
 principal subject, by introducing the mention of the games for which 
 Cyrenb was celebrated, and from this topic passes directly to the 
 commemoration of his hero’s victories. 
 
 f The compliments paid to those who obtained victories in the 
 games, were of the most extravagant kind. They were universally 
 honoured, and almost adored. At their return home, they rode in a 
 triumphal chariot into the city, the walls being broken down to give 
 them entrance ; which was done (as Plutarch is of opinion), to signify 
 that walls are of small use to a city that is inhabited by men of 
 courage and ability to defend it. At Sparta they had an honourable 
 post in the army, being placed near the king’s person. At some places 
 they had presents made to them by their native city, were honoured 
 with the first places at all shows and games, and ever after maintained 
 at the public charge. — Potter's Antiq. book ii. cap. 21. 
 
ODE IX.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 329 
 
 This Iolans practised well, 
 
 As oft seven-portall’d Thebes shall tell : 
 
 He for one day from death return’d, 
 
 With his choice blade’s dispatchful thrust 
 Eurystheus pierced ; again inurn’d, 
 
 Slept with his godlike grandsire’s dust, 
 
 The charioteer Amphitryon ; 
 
 Who, on Oadmean friendships thrown, 
 
 Within the adopted walls where Thebans ride 
 
 The milk-white warrior horse, illustrious stranger, died.* 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 Mingling in dalliance high with him and J ove, 
 
 At one great birth two mighty sonst of yore, 
 
 Matchless in fight, the sage Alcmena bore. 
 
 Cold is the tardy tongue that will not move — 
 
 Not burn for Hercules to sing, 
 
 Nor that beloved Dircean spring 
 Remember, from whose bubbling stream, 
 
 With Iphicles, he drank. For vows, 
 
 With many a trophy crown’d, to them 
 The loud triumphal choir I’ll rouse. 
 
 Ye warbling Graces, on this head — 
 
 Cease not your beams of song to shed, 
 
 That tells what chaplets from HEgina’s shore, 
 
 And thrice from Nisus’ mount Cyrene’s champion bore. 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 Thus, to renown, from mute obscurity, 
 
 Struggling he rose. Let friends proclaim, 
 
 And rivals too, if such there be, 
 
 His labours for his country’s fame ! 
 
 * The Heraclidae, after the death of Hercules, being driven from 
 Peloponnesus by Eurystheus, took refuge with the Athenians, whom 
 Eurystheus threatened with war, unless they delivered them up. 
 lolaus, the friend of Hercules, obtained from Jupiter the boon of being 
 restored to youth and vigour again for a single day, in which he killed 
 the tyrant Eurystheus, and immediately after expired. He was 
 buried, as heie described, near the tomb of his grandfather, Amphi- 
 tryon, at Thebes. 
 
 f These two sons, which Alcmena bore at the same birth to J upiter 
 and Amphitryon, were Hercules and Iphicles, whom the poet celebrates 
 in the lines immediately folic wing. 
 
330 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IX 
 
 Still keep the watery seer’s* behest, 
 
 That bids our veriest praises flow 
 E’en for the virtues of a foe. 
 
 Oft at the great Pentathlianf feast 
 The fair beheld thee crown’d with victory ; 
 
 And each her wish in silence gave 
 That Telesicrates the brave 
 Were but her darling son, or noble spouse might be ; 
 
 strophe v. 
 
 Crown’d in the Olympic sports, the heroic shows 
 Of ample-bosom’d earth, and every game 
 Known in Cyrene, — thy forefather’s name 
 Yet claims some brief memorial ere we close 
 
 (Though almost quench’d our thirst of song), 
 
 To tell how erst the suitor throng, 
 
 Lured by the Libyan damsel’s fame, 
 
 Antaeus’ daughter, beaut eous-hair’d, 
 
 With brave pretence and various claim, 
 
 To fair Irasa’s J towers repair’d. 
 
 Her with vain vows her courteous kin 
 Chiefs of high note had woo’d to win ; 
 
 Her many a fond aspiring stranger sought, 
 
 For nature in her form its loveliest work had wrought. 
 
 * Watery seer's. Nereus, the father of the Nereides. 
 
 + This is the great Panathenaic festival, celebrated at Athens every 
 five years. There were also the lesser Panathensea, which were cele- 
 brated triennially ; or annually, according to some. The prizes in the 
 games were for a race with torches, both on foot and on horseback ; for 
 gymnastic exercises ; and for music. The poets also contended in 
 plays. In the greater festivals the same games and ceremonies were 
 performed, but with increased splendour, and with great additions, 
 more particularly the procession, in which Minerva’s sacred garment, 
 the Il£7r\oc, embroidered with the achievements of the goddess, was 
 carried to the temple of Ceres Eleusinia, and thence to the citadel, and 
 placed upon the goddess’s statue. Whoever obtained a victory at 
 these games, received a crown of the olives which grew in the groves 
 of Academus, and were sacred to Minerva. 
 
 X Where the giant Antseus, her father, who was slain by Hercules, 
 resided. It was not far from Cyrenb. Milton calls it Irassa : — 
 
 As when Earth’s son Antseus (to compare 
 Small things with greatest), in Irassa strove 
 With Jove’s Alcides. — Par. Reg. b. iv. p. 563. 
 
ODE IX.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 331 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V. 
 
 Fain would they pluck the blooming fruit that crown’d 
 Her golden youth’s sweet blossom : but her sire 
 Ties more august, and loftier hopes inspire. 
 
 He from sage lips and time-vouch’d tales had found 
 How erst in Argos, ere the sun 
 Half his diurnal race had run, 
 
 For eight and forty virgins* each 
 
 Danaus a youthful spouse embraced ; 
 
 Within the Stadium’s listed reach 
 
 How all the blushing train he placed, 
 
 While heralds loud to all proclaim 
 The plan and prizes of the game, 
 
 Wherein each panting hero might decide, 
 
 As each in speed excell’d, the fortune of his bride. 
 
 epode v. 
 
 Thus for his daughter fair the Libyan sire 
 Fit spousal found. Her envied place 
 Fast by the goal, in rich attire, 
 
 He fix’d, to close and crown the race. 
 
 “ To him whose passing speed,” he said, 
 
 “ Her veil first gains, the prize be due.” 
 
 Foremost Alexidamus flew, 
 
 And by her yielded hand in triumph led 
 Through troops of Nomads t his accomplish’d spouse : 
 
 They from their steeds with transport new 
 Fresh leaves and flowers upon him threw, 
 
 While plumes of conquest past hung graceful round his 
 brows. 
 
 * Danaus and iEgyptus, the sons of Belus, reigned conjointly on the 
 throne of Egypt. A difference arising between them, Danaus set sail 
 with his fifty daughters, and landed at length at Argos, where, after 
 Gelanor’s abdication, he ascended the throne. The success of Danaus 
 led the fifty sons of iEgyptus to embark for Greece, where they 
 married the daughters of Danaus, and were all put to death by their 
 brides on the nuptial night, except Lynceus, the husband of Hyper- 
 mnestra, at the instigation of their father. It was after this event that 
 Danaus provided his daughters with new husbands in the manner 
 here related. Hypermnestra is omitted from the number, having 
 spared her husband ; and Amymone, who was previously betrothed to 
 Neptune. 
 
 + Nomads, or herdsmen, a name given to the inhabitants of Libya, 
 
332 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE JL 
 
 ODE X. 
 
 TO HIPPOCLEAS, THE THESSALIAN, 
 
 Victor in the Double Foot-race. * 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 Blest are Sparta’s warlike sons ! 
 
 Blest, Thessaly, art thou ! Their race 
 The lords of both your thrones 
 
 From one great sire, the brave Alcides, trace. 
 Ill-season’d sounds the boastful tale : 
 
 But, hark ! the shouts from Pytho’s vale, 
 From Pelinn9eum,t and the plain 
 
 Throng’d with Aleuas’ sons, aloud require 
 In great Hippocleas’ praise th’ applauding lyre 
 To strike the eternal strain. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 He with rapture tastes the games ; 
 
 Him, at Parnassus’ shady base, 
 
 Th’ Amphictyon host J proclaims 
 
 First of the youths that ran the double race. 
 Men, great Apollo, ne’er employ 
 The plans or means that end in joy 
 
 as being famous for cattle. They afterwards obtained the name of 
 Numidians, by a small change of the letters which composed their 
 name. 
 
 * The double foot-race, was not that in which the runners ran twice 
 round the course, but in which they ran a double stadium, once to the 
 goal and back again. This course was called SLavXog, and the runners 
 diavXodpofioi : avXog being the old name for Stadium.— Potter’s Gr . 
 Antiq. vol. i. p. 498. 
 
 f The poet excuses the apparent boast from being out of place, by 
 the circumstance of the victor Hippocleas being a Thessalian, of Pelin- 
 naeum, a town on the river Peneus. Aleuas was king of Thessaly, and 
 his descendants went by the name of the Aleuadae. They betrayed 
 their country to Xerxes when he invaded Greece. 
 
 + Th * Amphictyon host. The judges who awarded the victory. 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 333 
 
 ODE X.] 
 
 Un quicken’d by tlie inspiring god 
 
 Aided by thee this glorious deed was done ; 
 And one in spirit as in blood the son 
 His father’s steps has trod. 
 
 EPODE I. 
 
 For twice the Olympian wreath, 
 
 Loaded with ponderous arms, the warrior’s guise, 
 Pliricias entwined ; again beneath w 
 Where Cirrha’st ramparts rise 
 High o’er the turf the crown of speed he gains. 
 
 Long may kind Fortune with un alter’d power 
 On son and sire, while life remains, 
 
 Her amplest bounties shower. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Sharing thus no scant supply 
 
 Of the best gifts that Greece bestows, 
 
 May no sad destiny, 
 
 No god with envious change their transport close !' 
 Heaven’s love still guard them ! Blest is he, 
 
 Worthiest to wake the minstrelsy, 
 
 That warms the record of the wise, 
 
 Who with stout arm and persevering speed 
 In fight or race transcends, and for his meed 
 Takes virtue’s noblest prize ; 
 
 * It seems that Pindar supposes every victorious candidate at the 
 Pythian games to partake in some measure of the inspiration which 
 dictated the neighbouring oracle. 
 
 f Cirrha was on the sea-coast, about thirty furlongs from Delphi, by 
 the shortest road, at the mouth of the river Pleistos, or Plistus, which 
 runs from Delphi into the Crissaean gulf. Pausanias calls it the port 
 of Delphi. It was at the foot of Mount Kirphis, according to Strabo : 
 and Pindar, in calling Parnassus K ippag irETpci, and again, KpicraXog 
 X ocpog (. Pyth . ode v.), uses only a poetical latitude, of which he 'fre- 
 quently avails himself to a very great extent, as in Pyth. ode xi. 
 epode ii., where h'e puts the town of Amy else for Argos, or for the 
 whole of Peloponnesus ; and as on many occasions where he confounds 
 Pisa and Olympia. The walls and some of the towers of Cirrha are 
 said to be still remaining, as well as a large mole built into the sea. 
 — Dodw. Trav. vol. i. pp. 159, 160. The poet means to express in this 
 passage that Phricias, Hippocleas’ father, was victorious in the Pythian 
 as well as in the Olympic games 
 
 # 
 
334 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE X. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Lives to see for conflict won 
 
 The Pythian braid by Justice given 
 Wave on his youthful son. 
 
 ’Tis not for man to climb the brazen heaven ;* 
 They on the farthest fairest beach 
 The bark of mortal life can reach 
 
 Through dangers braved their sails display. 
 
 But who with venturous course through wave or waste 
 To Hyperborean + haunts and wilds un traced 
 E’er found his wondrous way ? 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 There Perseus press’d amain, 
 
 And niidst the feast enter’d their strange abode ; 
 Where hecatombs of asses slain 
 To soothe the radiant god 
 Astounded he beheld. Their rude solemnities, 
 
 Their barbarous shouts Apollo’s heart delight : 
 Laughing the rampant brutes he sees „ 
 
 Insult the solemn rite. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Still their sights, their customs strange 
 
 Scare not the Muse ; while all around 
 The dancing virgins range, 
 
 And melting lyres and piercing pipes resound. 
 With braids of golden bays entwined 
 Their soft resplendent locks they bind, 
 
 * Plutarch, in his Life of Pelopidas, has a story very illustrative of 
 this passage. He there relates that a Spartan meeting Diagoras, who 
 had himself been crowned in the Olympic games, and seen his sons and 
 grandchildren victors, embraced him, and said, — “Die, Diagoras, for 
 thou canst not be a god.” — Pott. Gr. Antiq. i. 496. 
 
 + To go to the Hyperboreans, was probably a common phrase for a 
 thing generally deemed impossible ; as much as saying, to the undis- 
 covered islands. See Olmyp. ode iii. strophe ii., where Hercules is 
 said to have brought from the Hyperboreans the wild olive which 
 formed the crown at the Olympic games, after having pursued and 
 taken the brazen-footed stag. 
 
ODE X.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 33 5 
 
 And feast in bliss the genial hour : 
 
 Nor foul disease, nor wasting age, 
 
 Visit the sacred race ; nor wars they wage. 
 
 Nor toil for wealth or power. # 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Thus revenge and force they shun 
 
 That push by Justice. Such the spot 
 Which Danae’s daring son, 
 
 Led by Minerva’s hand, unrivall’d, sought. 
 To the blest realm in haste he flew, 
 
 His arm the monstrous Gorgon slew, 
 
 Whose hideous head with tresses dire 
 Of grisly serpents to Seriphos’ shore, 
 
 Petrific death, his punctual vengeance bore.t 
 When gods the deed inspire, 
 
 * It was a current opinion that the Hyperboreans lived to an 
 incredible age, even a thousand years. Justin (b. ii. c. iii.) gives a 
 similar account of the virtues of the Scythians, from whom the Hyper- 
 boreans cannot be distinguished by any certain boundary, and they 
 were probably of the same race. 
 
 f The occasion of Perseus slaying the Gorgon Medusa was this : — 
 When Jupiter had obtained admittance in a golden shower to Danae, 
 whom Acrisius, her father, had confined in a tower, fearing an oracle 
 which predicted his death by his grandson’s hand, Acrisius exposed her 
 and her son Perseus in a frail bark, in which they were carried to the 
 island of Seriphos, one of the Cyclades. Polydectes, the king of that 
 island, brought him up ; but becoming afraid of him, and determining to 
 disgrace him, he invited all his friends to a sumptuous feast, at which 
 it was requisite that each of the guests should present the monarch 
 with a beautiful horse. Perseus, who was of the number invited, and 
 unable to make the expected present, not willing to be outdone, told 
 the king that he would bring him the head of Medusa, the Gorgon. 
 The offer was accepted, in the hopes that it would end in his death. 
 But Perseus, having been successful, returned with the head at the 
 moment when Polydectes was threatening violence to his mother. He 
 presented the head, which had the power of turning every one that 
 looked on it into stone, to Polydectes and his associates, who became 
 petrified upon the spot, which is the event here alluded to. — See 
 Pythian ode xii., where these events are more minutely detailed. 
 
336 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 / 
 
 [ode X, 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Though hard and strange it sound, 
 
 I listen and believe the amazing tale. 
 
 Now stay thine oar ; and to the ground 
 Safe from the threatening gale, 
 
 And rock that lurks beneath, thy trusty anchor lower. 
 
 5 Tis thus the choice encomiastic lay, 
 
 Like the wild bee from flower to flower, 
 
 Preserves its wandering way. 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 When by Peneus’ echoing shore 
 
 The tribe of Ephyre * shall throng 
 These dulcet notes to pour ; 
 
 Hippocleas’ self shall brighten from the song, 
 Take, while fresh crowns his temples grace, 
 
 Amongst his peers the worthiest place, 
 
 Win e’en the slow respect of age, 
 
 And warm the virgin breast with soft desire : 
 
 For various ties, as love or fame inspire, 
 
 Our mortal hearts engage. 
 
 * Ephyra was the ancient name for Corinth, derived to it from 
 Ephyra, a nymph, the daughter of Oceanus. Pausanias calls the 
 Corinthians the Ephyreei, the expression here used. — Pausanias, Corin - 
 thiaca, sub init. And the Corinthians were well known in poetry 
 under that name. — Horn. 11., bk. vi. 1. 152 ; Ovid, Epis. Medea Jasoni, 
 27. There were other cities of the name of Ephyra ; one of them 
 a city of Thesprotia, in Epirus, another in Elis, another in iEtolia. 
 The Benedictine paraphrase, however, interprets the word ’EQvpa'nov, 
 as meaning the Thessalians, to whose country Hippocleas, the subject 
 of this ode, belonged. The Scholiast says that the Ephyrseans were a 
 tribe among the Thessalians : that Cranon, a city of Thessaly, was 
 anciently called Ephyr6, and that its name was changed to Cranon 
 from its king of that name, who was one of the suitors of Hippo- 
 damia, killed by (Enomaus, her father. It is very probable that 
 Hippocleas, who was a Thessalian, belonged to the Ephyrasan tribe, as 
 it is a common practice with Pindaj to introduce the name of the 
 victor’s tribe. 
 
ODE X.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 337 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 • 
 
 He that holds his hope’s reward, 
 
 The present bliss by heaven supplied 
 'With. liveliest care will guard ; 
 
 For hours to come no wisdom can provide. 
 
 Thorax, mine host, my cordial friend, 
 
 Has lured my lyre its chords to lend 
 
 And wake for him this gracious measure. 
 
 Fwas he my four Pierian coursers join’d 
 To their bright car, and woo’d my willing mind 
 To make his wish its pleasure. 
 
 EPODE iv. 
 
 By trial hearts sincere are touch’d, 
 
 And proved like gold upon the Lydian stone ;* 
 
 Then let my praise his brothers share, 
 
 For virtues all their own. 
 
 They the Thessalian law with upright hand sustain : 
 
 Thus by paternal rule great cities rise ; 
 
 ’Tis from the good their wealth they gain, 
 
 Their vigour from the wise. 
 
 * The Lydian stone. The touchstone, used to assay the purity of 
 metals, is a black, smooth, and glossy stone, brought originally from 
 Lydia, and thence called by the ancients the Lydian stone ; but it is 
 not uncommon in many parts of the world. Any piece of black pebble, 
 or flint, will answer the purpose of the Lapis Lydius ; but the black 
 rough marble and basaltes are the best. The method of using the 
 stone is this : on a number of little bars of gold, silver, and copper, 
 combined together in all manner of different proportions, the propor- 
 tions of each are marked. The piece of metal to be assayed is rubbed 
 on the stone, and then the needle or bar which is supposed to be 
 the nearest to it in composition : that bar which produces the colour 
 exactly corresponding with that of the metal to be assayed, indicates its 
 composition, and the quantity of alloy which it contains. 
 
338 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode JL 
 
 ODE XI. 
 
 TO THRASYD^EUS, THE THEBAN, 
 
 Victor in the Single Foot-race of Boys. 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 Daughter of Cadmus,* Semele, 
 
 That dwell’st in heaven the Olympian queens among, 
 And thou that in the chambers of the sea 
 
 Sleep’st, Ino, with the Nereids haste along, 
 
 Join’d with the hero-teeming dame that bare 
 Great Hercules, to Melia’st golden shrine, 
 
 Glittering with tripods rare, 
 
 By Loxias J honour’d most, his treasury divine : 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 That seat of truth oracular 
 
 He gave his loved Ismenian name to grace; 
 
 Thither, ye children of Harmonia fair,§ 
 
 He calls your native choir and heroine race 
 Of ancient Themis, || in becoming strain, 
 
 To sing, when Eve hath her dun sail unfurl’d, 
 
 And Pytho’s sacred plain, 
 
 And Delphi’s warning cell, the centre of the world. 
 
 * Semele, Ino, and Alcmena, were tutelary deities of Thebes ; and 
 the victor Thrasydseus being a Theban, the poet invokes them to come 
 and join in the celebration of his victory in the Pythian Games. 
 
 + Melia was one of the Nereides, and the mother of Ismenus by 
 Apodo. Ismenus gave his name to the river on which Thebes is 
 situated : and on the banks of the same river there was a temple dedi- 
 cated to Apollo, containing an oracle ; where he was worshipped under 
 the title of the Ismenian Apollo. It is to this temple that the poet 
 invites the presence of the above tutelary deities ; and he calls it the 
 Melian shrine from the circumstance above mentioned. 
 
 X There are two reasons commonly given for Apollo being called 
 Loxias, both founded upon the word A o%6q, which signifies both oblique 
 and ambiguous : the one is, that it denotes the ambiguity of his oracles ; 
 the other, which is supposed to be the preferable one, that it alludes to 
 the obliquity of the sun’s course through the signs of the Zodiac. 
 
 § Semele and Ino were both the daughters of Cadmus and Harmonia, 
 
 || Themis, the daughter of Heaven and Earth, according to Hesiod, 
 
ODE XI.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 339 
 
 EPODE I. 
 
 So shall your grateful transports hail 
 Seven-portall’d Thebes, and Cirrha’s vale, 
 
 Where Thrasydseus his proud country named, # 
 
 Tliird of his line that won the golden braid 
 In the rich field of Pylades f proclaim’d, 
 
 Whose friend Orestes Lacedaemon $ sway’d 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Him from the slaughter of his sire 
 
 By stealth his nurse Arsinoe snatch’d away, 
 
 Th’ unnatural search to shun and baleful ire 
 Of Clytemnestra, on that fatal day 
 When old Dardanian Priam’s captive maid, 
 
 Beauteous Cassandra, her relentless hand, 
 
 With Agamemnon’s shade, 
 
 By one fell stroke despatch’d to Acheron’s dismal strand. 
 
 was the first to whom the inhabitants of the earth raised temples ; and 
 the first also who uttered oracles. Her oracle was famous in Attica in 
 the age of Deucalion, who was instructed by it how to repair the loss of 
 mankind. She reigned and uttered oracles at Delphi prior to Apollo : 
 and hence she is here coupled by the poet with Pytho and Delphi in his 
 celebration of the Pythian Games. 
 
 * "Ef.iva<rev eartav, that is, gave a name and renown to his home and 
 family, by refreshing and regilding the memorial of his ancestor’s 
 victories, and adding additional trophies of his own. 
 
 f Pylades was a king of Phocis : the Pythian Games therefore were 
 celebrated within what had formerly been his dominions. Pylades was 
 the son of Strophius, to whose court Orestes retired after the murder of 
 bis father Agamemnon by Clytemnestra and iEgistheus, as here related ; 
 and he assisted Orestes in revenging himself on them, and in recovering 
 the throne of Argos. The friendship of Orestes and Pylades became 
 proverbial, so that the name of one was always joined with that of the 
 other, and Pindar has ingeniously taken advantage of this colloquial 
 bond as a link to connect the following episode with his original 
 subject. 
 
 + Lacedaemon. Heyne asks, “ Why is Orestes spoken of as a Lace- 
 daemonian? — I think,” he answers, “because he became king o: 
 Sparta and he refers to Pausan. bk. ii. c. xviii. p. 150 ; bk iii. c. i 
 p. 205. 
 
340 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE XI. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Merciless dame ! what pang so keen 
 
 Stung thy revenge to dare so dread a deed ? 
 
 Was ’t to requite thy injured Iphigene 
 
 On black Euripus’ * shore condemn’d to bleed ? 
 
 Or was ’t the midnight couch fchy soul betray’d, 
 
 E’en while thou wantonedst in the stranger’s arms, 
 With deadlier guilt to shade 
 
 The ne’er-forgotten crime that stain’d thy faithles 
 charms ? 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Alas ! it dwells on every tongue ; 
 
 For ill report delights the throng, 
 
 And envy on distinction ever waits ; 
 
 While he that breathes life’s humblest destiny 
 Slanders unheeded. Thus Amyclse’s gates, t 
 At length return’d, beheld Atrides die : — 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Die with him the prophetic maid 
 
 Saved from the flames and wreck of plunder’d Troy, 
 Which he for Helen’s guilt in ashes laid. 
 
 Meanwhile to Strophius the sequester’d boy. 
 
 * Euripus, the very narrow strait between Beotia and Euboea, neai 
 to which was Aulis, where Iphigenia was sacrificed, is subject to a 
 remarkable flux and reflux of the tide, caused by the narrowness of the 
 channel ; in the same way as in many rivers of England, particularly 
 the Avon, where the tide rises and falls sometimes as much as forty 
 feet. The ordinary tide in the Mediterranean being nearly impercep- 
 tible, this phenomenon of the Euripus became a matter of deep inquiry 
 among the ancients ; and it is said that Aristotle threw himself into the 
 strait, because he was unable to find out the cause of it. 
 
 + Amyclce's gates. Aeschylus lays the scene of Agamemnon’s death at 
 Argos ; and it is commonly supposed to have happened either there or 
 at Mycenae. Amyclae was situated a few miles to the south of Sparta, 
 and the Scholiast supposes that the poet here uses it figuratively for the 
 whole of Peloponnesus. Heyne thinks it possible that Pindar may 
 have followed some tradition respecting the place of Agamemnon’s 
 death, different from that generally received. It may be observed that 
 he speaks of Orestes in this ode as a Lacedaemonian (epode i. last line). 
 
PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 34 ! 
 
 ODE XI.J 
 
 His ancient host that by the sacred base 
 
 Of old Parnassus dwelt, unknown withdrew ; 
 
 Thence grown to manhood’s grace, 
 
 Arm’d on his mother rose, and foul HCgistheus slew. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Mark how my truant song hath stray’d 
 
 From the straight path its outset had design’d, 
 
 Like traveller vague by crossing track betray’d 
 Or some sea-labouring vessel, which the wind 
 Has drifted from its course. Resume thy way, 
 
 If thou in truth, my Muse, hast pledged for hire 
 Thy mercenary lay : 
 
 For other strains, I trow, must tremble on thy lyre : — * 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Strains that for feats in Pytho’s Games 
 Phricias * or Thrasydseus claims, 
 
 Where glory spreads the beams of gladness round ; 
 
 They on the chariot swift, and pressing steed 
 Far-famed of yore, with radiant conquest crown’d, 
 
 Bore from th’ Olympian cirque the palms of speed. 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 Stripp’d of their arms in Pytho’s field, 
 
 They on the Stadium enter’d ; far behind 
 Hosts of Hellenians to their swiftness yield. 
 
 Be mine on heaven’s great gifts to fix my mind, 
 Restraining still youth’s wishes to its power : 
 
 For marking that with men in lowly state 
 Enjoyment’s happier hour 
 
 Largest remains, I spurn the pleasures of the great. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 My praise the humbler virtues claim ;f 
 
 The rich still rue the envy they excite : 
 
 Yet he that by desert advanced to fame 
 
 Meekly his greatness wears, nor from that height 
 
 * Phricias was the father of Thrasydseus, and he introduces, as usual, 
 the trophies both of father and son into his present panegyric. 
 
 + Not being able to eulogise the victors for their magnificence and 
 
4 
 
 342 PYTHIAN ODES. [ODE XI. 
 
 With insolence looks down, at last shall find 
 
 E’en in death’s gates the beams of comfort shine, 
 
 A nd leave a name behind, 
 
 Life’s richest, best bequest to grace an honour’d line. 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 Thus Iolaus,* noble son 
 Of Iphicles, distinguish’d shone ; 
 
 And Castor and great Pollux jointly swell, 
 
 Offspring of gods, the Muse’s minstrelsy : 
 
 To-day by turns Therapne’st dismal cell 
 
 They share ; to-morrow lifts them to the sky. 
 
 liberality, and other such ostentatious virtues, on account of their 
 humble circumstances, the poet dexterously turns their poverty to 
 their praise ; and extols mediocrity of condition, and moderation in 
 ambition, as if they were the objects of his highest admiration. 
 
 * Iolaus. See Pyth. ode ix. stroph. iv. n. 
 
 + The fable related of Castor and Pollux is interpreted, by the 
 Scholiast, of Lucifer and Hesperus, which are the names given to the 
 planet Venus, assuming as it does alternately the office of the morning 
 and the evening star, according as it follows or precedes the sun : and 
 this is more agreeable to the account of those who say that the term of 
 their alternate abode in heaven was a period of six months. The poet 
 here uses Therapne, the place where the monument of the Dioscuri was 
 erected, for the grave, or infernal regions, to which they were supposed 
 alternately to descend. 
 
ODE XII.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES, 
 
 343 
 
 ODE XII. 
 
 TO MIDAS OF AGRIGENTUM, 
 
 Victor on the Pipe . 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 Lover of glory, fairest queen 
 
 Of cities raised by human skill, 
 
 That dwell’st beside the margent green 
 Of flock-frequented Agragas,* 
 
 High on the temple-crested hill 
 
 The fair Proserpine’s t chosen place ; 
 
 Accept with favouring look, the while * 
 
 Mortals and gods propitious smile, 
 
 The wreath I bring from Pytho’s shrine 
 Pound Midas’ glorious locks to twine : 
 
 Midas, in sage Minerva’s art 
 Above all Greeks his matchless part 
 
 Conquering perform’d, with instrumental tone * 
 
 The Gorgons’ cries to mock and loud lamenting moan.J 
 
 * This apostrophe is addressed to the city of Agragas, or Agrigentum, 
 which was situated on a hill, near the banks of a river, both of the same 
 name, as alluded to below. Agrigentum was founded by the people of 
 Gela, a Ehodian colony. The town in its most flourishing state con- 
 tained 200,000 inhabitants. It now boasts more venerable remains of 
 antiquity than any other town in Sicily. 
 
 + Proserpine was peculiarly worshipped throughout Sicily, which she 
 is said to have made the place of her residence before she was carried off 
 by Pluto, delighting herself with the beautiful views, the flowery mea- 
 dows, and the limpid streams, which surrounded the plains of Enna. 
 The Sicilians believed that the fountain Cyane had risen from the earth 
 at the very place where Pluto had opened himself a passage to carry her 
 down with him into hell. Here they annually sacrificed a bull, whose 
 blood they allowed to run into the waters of the fountain. 
 
 + It is not here intended that the shrieks and moans of the Gorgons 
 were the subject of Midas’s strains, by which he obtained the victory ; 
 but that the music of the pipe is best suited to the expression of such 
 subjects ; and that Minerva in fact invented this instrument for the 
 very purpose of representing the cries which were uttered by Stheno 
 and Euryale upon the death of the third sister Medusa : as" is more 
 clearly expressed below in strophe ii. 
 
341 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE XIL 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Such their wild woes and melting whine, 
 
 When Perseus with his radiant sword 
 ’Heft of the third the sisters trine ; 
 
 Such, mingling with the deafening sound, 
 
 Pour’d from the twisting snakes abhorr’d 
 That yell’d their virgin brows around. 
 
 Dooming old Phorcus’ # race divine 
 In darkness and dismay to pine, 
 
 He to Seriphos’ sea-girt shore 
 Her people’s death triumphant bore : 
 
 Erst an unwelcome empty guest 
 At Polydectes’ fatal feast, 
 
 He now avenged with fair Medusa’s head 
 
 His mother’s charifts enslaved and compulsory boil 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 For he was Danae’s progeny, 
 
 Sprung, as they tell, from golden shower 
 Spontaneous dropping from the sky. 
 
 Him thus from peril snatch’d, the loud 
 Melodious pipes with various power 
 
 The virgin’s heavenly hand endow’d ; 
 
 That so the mimic instrument, 
 
 With warbled screams and feign’d lament, 
 
 Might yield, Euryale, the note 
 Wrung from thy shrill-bewailing throat. 
 
 The rare discovery thus by Heaven 
 For mortal recreation given, 
 
 Her “ many-headed mood ”f th’ inventress names, 
 
 The people’s signal sweet that warns them to the games. 
 
 * Phorcus, or Phorcys, was the father of the G-orgons. 
 
 + Her many-headed mood. This was probably a poetical paraphrase 
 for the pipe in common use. It is here imagined that the instrument 
 by its great compass and versatility represents the multitude of serpents 
 hissing from the heads of the Gorgons. The Scholiast makes an inge- 
 nious conjecture, which is, that it may have allusion to the chorus, 
 which being to the number of fifty, had a corresponding number of 
 instruments. Gamm supposes that the holes in the pipe to which the 
 fingers are applied, were considerably raised, and were therefore like 
 so ms\ry vocal heads rising out of the body of the instrument. 
 
ODE XII.] 
 
 PYTHIAN ODES. 
 
 345 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Through vocal vent its music flows 
 
 Of brass with slender reed combined 
 That near the festive city* grows, 
 
 Where with light step the Graces move, 
 
 Marking the measured dance they wind 
 In cool Cephisus’ flowery grove. 
 
 Whate’er success mankind achieves, 
 
 ’Tis toil alone the blessing gives ; 
 
 And fortune’s breath the self-same day 
 Oft blows the short-lived flower away. 
 
 ’Tis not for man th’ appointed doom 
 To shun. The hour to all shall come 
 That brings what hope foretastes not, and bestows 
 Boons of unpromised bliss or unsuspected woes. 
 
 * Orchomenus , a city of Bceotia, was situated at the entrance of the 
 river Cephisus into the lake Gopkis. 
 
NBMBAN ODES. 
 
 ODE L 
 
 TO CHROMIUS THE iEZTNiEAN,* * * § 
 
 Victor in the Chariot-race. 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 Hallow’d goalt of Alpheus’ race, 
 
 Ortygia, flower of noble Syracuse, 
 
 Diana’s natal place. 
 
 Sister of Delos, J from thy fount the Muse 
 Her sweetly-warbled numbers speeds, 
 
 With praise to deck the tempest-paced steeds, 
 
 And please ^Etnsean Jote.§ 
 
 Chromius’ car and Nemea’s plain 
 
 To crown his conquest bid us move 
 The loud encomiastic strain. 
 
 * Chromius, the hero of this ode, was the son of Agesidamus, and 
 the husband of Gelon’s sister: he was also (as the Scholiast tells us) the 
 charioteer of Hiero, king of Syracuse, to whom the first Olympic and 
 the first three Pythian odes are addressed. At what period this victory 
 was gained, does not appear. 
 
 f Hallow'd goal, &c. The river Alpheius, which flows by Olympia, 
 is said to have run under the Ionian sea after the nymph Arethusa, of 
 whom he was enamoured, and to have appeared again at Syracuse, in 
 the island of Ortygia, which the poet for this reason calls the breathing- 
 place or goal where the impassioned river ended his pursuit. — Virg. 
 JEn. iii. 696. This address to Ortygia is not inelegantly prefixed to 
 the praises of Chromius, who was originally a Syracusian. 
 
 t Sister of Delos. Apollo, the brother of Diana, having been born 
 at Delos, and the goddess, according to Pindar, in Ortygia, the latter 
 island is poetically called the sister of the former. 
 
 § JEtncean Jove . There was a temple in the city of -dEtna dedicated 
 to Jupiter. 
 
NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 347 
 
 ODE I.] 
 
 Lo ! the victor’s virtues rise 
 And strike the mansions of the go:.s above. 
 
 In Fortune’s region lies 
 Glory’s bright summit, where the Muses love 
 Proud games and champions to record. 
 
 Now for that isle* which erst th’ Olympian lord 
 On Proserpine bestow’d, 
 
 Strike the lyre : his azure locks f 
 
 He shook, and gave th’ assuring nod 
 That, crown’d with fruitful fields $ and flocks, 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 And gorgeous cities, to the skies 
 Sicilia’s fattening hills should rise. 
 
 The son of Saturn gave beside 
 A race that burns in brazen arms to guide 
 The war-horse to the field \ that round its brow 
 Th’ Olympian chaplet’s golden gleam 
 Hath oft display’d. The shaft of truth I throw, 
 
 And boundless is my theme. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 In the porch of Chromius’ hall 
 Honour’d I stand, warbling th’ applausive lay, 
 
 And at his bounteous call 
 Share the rich banquet. Many a festive day 
 That board the welcome stranger knows : 
 
 His virtues mar the slanders of his foes, 
 
 * That isle. The gift of Sicily by Jupiter to Proserpine, the daughter 
 of Ceres, the goddess of the harvest, is probably nothing moie than an 
 allegorical record of its fertility. 
 
 f For a magnificent description of Jupiter’s nod and its effects, see 
 Horn. II lib. i. 1. 528, and Catullus, lib. ii. 1. 2C4, et seqq. 
 
 x Fruitful fields. The fertility of Sicily was proverbial ; and we 
 Know that the Eomans called it the granary of Italy. The Sicilian 
 cities were equally celebrated. Syracuse is well known ; and the clas- 
 sical reader who refers to Mr. Wilkins’s Magna Gracia, will form 
 some notion of its ancient grandeur. 
 
348 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 And quench like flood the flame. 
 Various arts mankind delight ; 
 
 But he that tempts the field of Fame 
 Must march with Nature to the fight. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Strength its might by action shows ; 
 The mind by thought and sure sagacity ; 
 
 As heaven each gift bestows. 
 
 Son of Agesidamus, both in thee 
 Their blended energies unfold. 
 
 Cursed be the useless heap of hoarded gold ! 
 My stores my friend must share : 
 Bounteous affluence buys renown, 
 
 When her full hands with general care 
 The hopes of labouring virtue crown. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 ’Tis thus with Chromius, from whose praise 
 I pass to tales of ancient days 
 For like examples bright, and seize 
 The youthful feats of matchless Hercules. 
 
 How, from his parent’s womb the pangs of birth 
 Escaped, Jove’s infant offspring lay, 
 
 And with his twin-born brother struggling forth, 
 
 Gazed on the dazzling day : 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 How by Juno not unseen 
 The saffron swathe his infant members pent ; 
 
 Whereat th’ indignant queen 
 Of the high gods two furious serpents sent.* 
 
 * Theocritus, who relates this fable {Idyll, xxiv.), following exactly 
 the account here given by Pindar, only with some amplification and 
 additional comment, says that Hercules was ten months old when he 
 received this abrupt visit from the two serpents. The indignation of 
 Juno had been roused against him by Jupiter’s amour with Alcmena, 
 of which he was the produce. She had previously subjected him to 
 the tyranny of Eurystheus, by the following stratagem. On the day 
 on which Hercules would, by the usual course of nature, have been 
 born, Jupiter declared that a child should come into the world to whom 
 
NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 349 
 
 ODE I.] 
 
 Through the wide gates with many a fold 
 They to the dark and spacious chamber roll’d, 
 
 Their jaws with slaver smear’d, 
 
 Ravening for their infant prey : 
 
 Stirr’d at the sound, his front he rear’d, 
 
 And roused him for the maiden fray. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Round their necks in durance sure 
 With gripe inevitable his hands he clasp’d ; 
 
 Till time their sprites impure 
 Press’d from the strangled monsters as he grasp’d : 
 Meanwhile with terror petrified 
 Stood the fair train that by Alcmena’s side 
 Their soft attendance gave ; 
 
 Frantic from her painful bed, 
 
 She all unshod, her babes to save 
 From those foul foes, unclothed had fled. 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 'Forthwith the Theban chiefs alarm’d, 
 
 In brazen arms around them swarm’d ; 
 
 And first the brave Amphitryon, 
 
 With brandish’d faulchion from the scabbard drawn, 
 Rush’d breathless in, with pang parental stung : 
 
 Thus each his own afflictions tear, 
 
 While all, with cheek soon cheer’d, and heart unwrung, 
 Their neighbour’s sufferings bear. 
 
 he would give absolute power over the children of his own blood. 
 J uno, having made him confirm his decree by swearing by the Styx 
 (the usual oath of the gods, according to the Grecian mythology), im- 
 mediately used her privilege of presiding over child-birth, and pro- 
 tracted the birth of Hercules. She at the same time hastened that of 
 his cousin Eurystheus, by which he obtained the title of superiority 
 intended to be confirmed to Hercules. Alcmena was delivered at 
 the same time of another son, by her husband, whose name was Iphicles, 
 which is the twin-brother here mentioned ; and Amphitryon was con- 
 sidered as the father of them both, whence the paternal anxiety which 
 he displays, as presently mentioned. 
 
350 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE l. 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 Fix’d in wonder’s stiffening trance, 
 
 Jov-struck lie stood, tlie dauntless infant’s might 
 First bursting on his glance, 
 
 And all the tale forged by his menials’ fright 
 Thus cancell’d by the powers above. 
 
 Forthwith the peerless priest of highest Jove 
 Tiresias’ * tents he sought, 
 
 Truth’s unerring prophet, sage : 
 
 He to th’ assembled warriors taught 
 The fortunes of that infant’s age ; 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 Told, what monsters of the waste, 
 
 What foes to justice on the infested tide 
 His mortal stroke should taste ; 
 
 What wrong, when hard oppression leagued with pride 
 His deadliest vengeance should sustain ; 
 
 How, when the immortal powers on Phlegra’s plain 
 With earth’s gigantic crewt 
 War should wage, as wage they must, 
 
 His sharp impetuous darts should strew 
 Their locks illustrious in the dust. 
 
 * Tiresias was a celebrated prophet of Thebes, who was said to have 
 outlived six generations of men, during the time that Polydorus, Lab- 
 dacus, Laius, (Edipus, and his sons, sat on the throne. During his 
 lifetime Tiresias was an infallible oracle to all Greece. The generals in 
 the Theban war consulted him. After his death he was honoured as a 
 god, and his oracle at Orchomenus was held in universal esteem. 
 Homer represents Ulysses as going to the infernal regions to consult 
 Tiresias concerning his return to Ithaca. — Odyss. xi. 1. 90, et seqq. 
 
 + The giants of the Grecian mythology were said to have sprung 
 from Ccelus and Terra, the Heaven and the Earth, and were usually 
 styled the Sons of the Earth, or the Earth-born race, which is what 
 their Greek name T lyaQ imports. They are supposed to have lived in 
 the peninsula of Pallene, formerly called Phlegra, in Macedonia. En- 
 raged at the defeat of their relations, the Titans, they made war against 
 Jupiter ; and having heaped Mount Ossa upon Pelion, assaulted heaven 
 with rocks, oaks, and flaming forests. The gods fled into Egypt, where 
 they are said to have screened themselves from punishment by assuming 
 the shapes of different animals. Jupiter, however, remembered that 
 the giant,* vere not invincible, provided he summoned a mortal to hi 
 
ODE II.] 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 351 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 He told, how thus for pains below 
 His soul eternal peace should know, 
 Celestial bliss ; his toils receive 
 The richest prize rewarding gods can give, 
 To dwell within the mansions of the blest, 
 Seated with Jove in beauty’s bloom, 
 While yielding Hebe crown’d his nuptial feast 
 In heaven’s empyreal dome. 
 
 ODE II. 
 
 TO TIMODEMUS OF ATHENS, 
 
 Victor in the Pancratium.* 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 As bards, that soar on Homer’s wing, 
 
 With prologue of Jove’s sounding praise 
 Begin their rhapsodies to sing ; 
 
 So he that swells my lays 
 
 assistance, and by the advice of Pallas he armed his son Hercules 
 in his cause, who soon subdued them by means of his deadly arrows, 
 which he had dipped in the poisonous gall of the hydra. Some contend 
 that the conquest of the giants by Hercules took place in the plains at 
 the foot of Vesuvius, which was also called the Phlegrsean, or the 
 burning plain. — Diod. Sic. lib. iv. c. i. Diodorus also mentions a third 
 war between Jupiter and the giants (lib. v. c. iv.), in Crete, which was 
 probably the original and the only one. 
 
 * The Pancratium consisted of the two exercises of wrestling and 
 boxing ; from the former of which it borrowed the custom of throwing 
 down ; from the latter that of striking the adversary. Wrestlers never 
 struck, nor did boxers ever attempt to throw one another down ; but 
 the Pancratiasts were permitted to do both ; and it was customary for 
 the weaker party, when he found himself sore pressed, to fall down, and 
 fight rolling on the ground, by pinching, biting, scratching, and annoy- 
 ing his adversary in all manner of ways ; whereby it often came to pass 
 that the weaker combatant, who would never have been able to throw 
 his antagonist, obtained the victory, and forced him to yield; for in 
 
352 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 T ODE IL 
 
 f 
 
 The base and prelude of his fame, 
 
 And prowess in the sacred game, 
 
 Hath laid within the grove 
 
 And far-famed cirque of Nemean Jove.* 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Yet oft, if right- directing time 
 
 Dooms him th’ Athenian name to grace, 
 
 And gives him, like his sire, to climb 
 The steeps of glory’s race, 
 
 With conquering hand Timonous’ son 
 Shall pluck, from Isthmian contests won, 
 
 The fairest wreaths they yield, — 
 
 Oft rise victorious from the Pythian field. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 For when the mountain Pleiads f glow, 
 
 Soon shall Orion’s baldrick J blaze, 
 
 And Salamis§ hath power, I trow, 
 
 A champion chief to raise : 
 
 this exercise, as in boxing also, the victory was never adjudged till one 
 party had fairly yielded, which was sometimes done by holding up the 
 finger. This exercise is also called Ha/Jifjidxtov , and the combatants 
 Hafi/iaxoi. — Pott. Gr. Ant. vol. i. pp. 500, 501. 
 
 * This victory in the Nemean Games, which were celebrated in 
 honour of the Nemean Jupiter, was the first victory that Timodemus 
 had ever gained, which circumstance the poet immediately turns into a 
 compliment, and into an omen of future success. 
 
 f The Pleiades are seven stars near the back of the sign of the Bull 
 in the zodiac. Their name is derived from the Greek word TvXkeiv, to 
 sail, because that constellation shows the time of the year most favour- 
 able to navigation, which is the spring. They are for this reason also 
 sometimes called Vergilise, from ver, the spring. They are probably 
 here called the mountain Pleiads, because they were said to be the 
 daughters of Mount Atlas, previously to their being made to form this 
 constellation. Yirgil calls them the Atlantides (Geor. i. 221) ; and 
 Milton (Par. L. book x. 1. 674) gives them the name of the seven At- 
 lantic sisters. * 
 
 t Orion is a constellation, near the feet the Bull, composed of 
 seventeen stars, in the form of a man holding a sword, which has given 
 occasion to the poets often to speak of Orion’s sword. It begins to rise 
 in the commencement of March, shortly after the Pleiades have ap- 
 peared. The poet, therefore, augurs that a second victory will succeed 
 the first, as nearly as Orion’s appearance succeeds that of the Pleiades. 
 
 § Timodemus, though an Athenian by birth, was educated at Salamis, 
 
ODE II. | 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 353 
 
 Let Hector tell, how many a tongue 
 In Troy the name of Ajax run^ 
 
 And, Timodeme, thy might 
 
 Shines courage-proof in the Pancratian fight. 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 From earliest age Ach anise’s * dames 
 
 Have rear’d a race for valour famed : 
 
 How oft hath conquest at the games 
 A Timodeme proclaim’d ! 
 
 They from the crowded plain below 
 Parnassus’ towering throne of snow 
 Four splendid victories bore ; 
 
 They from Corinthian rivals, on the shore 
 
 STROPHE V. 
 
 Where virtuous Pelopsf ruled of yore, 
 
 Eight chaplets wrung ; their temples crown'd 
 From Nemea seven, from Athens more 
 Than number’s reach can bound, 
 
 Gain’d in J ove’s games ; whose praise supreme, 
 
 Join’d with triumphant Timodeme, 
 
 Ye native choirs display — 
 
 Begin, begin the sweet melodious lay. 
 
 the native place of Ajax, whose battle with Hector is described in the 
 7th book of the Iliad. 
 
 * Acharnse was one of the 174 crjfjioi, or boroughs, into which the 
 Athenian tribes were divided. Each of them was in the habit of using 
 peculiar rites and ceremonies, and of worshipping peculiar tutelary 
 deities — all agreeing, however, in the supreme worship of Minerva. — 
 Pott. Gr. Ant. vol. i. p. 61. 
 
 f In the Isthmian Games. When Pelops had established himself 
 upon the throne of Pisa, which was the inheritance of Hippodamia, the 
 daughter of QEnomaus, whose hand he had obtained by conquering her 
 father in the chariot-race, as described in the first Olympic Ode, anti- 
 strophe iii. and epode iii., he extended his conquests over the neighbour- 
 ing countries, and thus gave his name to the whole of the peninsula. 
 
354 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ode III. 
 
 ODE III. 
 
 TO ARISTOCLIDES OF iEGINA, 
 
 Victor in the Pancratium . 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 Come, heavenly muse, the mother of my song, 
 
 To fair ^Egina’s Dorian sile,* 
 
 With many a stranger throng’d, the while 
 Nemea’s high games the sacred moon prolong ; — 
 
 Come, for behold from far the youthful band, 
 
 Framing their sweet triumphal air, 
 
 By old Asopus’ banks t to hear 
 Thy dulcet voice impatient stand. 
 
 To various meeds man’s various toils aspire ; 
 
 But most the conquering Athlete burns 
 For the rich lay, that wakes the lyre, 
 
 And waits on Virtue’s steps, weaving the wreath she earns : 
 
 * jEginas Doria/n isle. iEgina, formerly (Enopia, received its name 
 from JEgina, the daughter of Asopus. She married Actor, the son of 
 Myrmidon ; but of her son, ^Eacus, the king of CEnopia, Jupiter is said 
 to have been the father. A]acus was the father of Telamon and Peleus, 
 and Peleus was the father of Achilles : hence the poet takes occasion to 
 commemorate the exploits of all three in the course of this ode. 
 
 Pausanias (book ii.) says that the original inhabitants of the island 
 were produced by Jupiter from the earth ; that afterwards some Argives 
 having settled there, and mixed themselves with the natives, taught 
 them the Dorian language and customs, which became prevalent 
 throughout the island. Strabo (book viii.) says that it was colonized by 
 Argives, Cretans, Epidaurians, and Dorians. 
 
 f Old Asopus ’ banks. There were several rivers of this name, in Thes- 
 saly, in Boeotia, in Macedonia, in Asia Minor. The one here alluded to 
 is a river of Peloponnesus, passing by Sicyon, and therefore not far from 
 the seat of the Nemean Games. There is probably also an allusion to 
 Asopus, the father of the nymph HSgina, who gave his name to this 
 river, and is supposed to be listening, therefore, to his own daughter’s 
 praises. 
 
ODE in.] 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 3 55 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Whereof no scant supply, no lingering stream, 
 
 Daughter of Jove, that rules on high 
 The cloudy muster of the sky, 
 
 Pour from these lips to match my pregnant theme. 
 
 Thus to their tuneful throats and quivering strings 
 Th’ effectual hymn my soul shall give, 
 
 And bid their nation’s glory live : 
 
 Whose ancient tribes and godlike kings, 
 
 Whose Myrmidonian sires* with dastard’s part 
 Aristoclides ne’er hath shamed ; 
 
 With no faint arm, no recreant heart, 
 
 The rough Pancratium faced, the sturdiest champion tamed 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 But Victory’s soothing hand can heal 
 The blows conflicting heroes feel, 
 
 And bring from Nemea’s blooming plain 
 The joyful balm of every pain. 
 
 If then with manliest beauty graced, 
 
 And rich in deeds that form to suit, 
 
 The son of Aristophanes hath placed 
 On glory’s loftiest peak his daring foot, 
 
 There must he pause : ’tis no mean task to brave 
 Beyond th’ Herculean rocks f th’ unnavigable wave : 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Bocks, which the hero-god stupendous piled, 
 
 His proud memorial, to display 
 The limit of his wondrous way. 
 
 He the huge monsters of the billowy wild 
 
 Subdued ; the lakes, the tides that flood the sound, 
 
 His keen spontaneous search explored — 
 
 Proved every pass, and fount, and ford, 
 
 Adventure’s goal and Nature’s bound : — 
 
 * Whose Myrmidonian sires. The iEginetans were called Myrmidons 
 from their ancestor Myrmidon, the father of Actor, and grandfather of 
 ^Eacus. 
 
 f Th ’ Herculean rocks. These are the two lofty rocks, the one on the 
 south-western extremity of Spain, the other on the north-western extre- 
 mity of Africa, called also by the ancients Abyla and Calpe. 
 
 2 a 2 
 
3 56 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ode III 
 
 Whither, my spirit, to what alien strand 
 Veer’st thou my course % thy wandering lays 
 The sons of HCacus* demand : 
 
 ’Tis justice crowns the muse that glows in virtue’s praise 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Not from the stranger’s store, the distant spring, 
 
 Her amplest cup Encomium fills : 
 
 Draw thou from rich HUgina’s rills 
 The sweet, the glorious theme she bids thee sing. 
 
 There Peleus old in feats of bravery shone ; 
 
 With ponderous lance himself had fell’d, 
 
 By no compeer, no host upheld > 
 
 Alone Iolcus’ walls f he won — 
 
 Won to his arms the mistress of the wave. J 
 Hence too the mighty Telamon, 
 
 Comrade of Iolas the brave, 
 
 Troy’s perjured king§ subdued, and broke his barbarous 
 throne. 
 
 * JEacus was the supposed son of Jupiter and HCgina, and he gave 
 his mother’s name to the island which he governed. He obtained during 
 his life such a character for integrity, that the ancients have made him 
 one of the judges of hell, with Minos and Rhadamanthus. 
 
 f Iolcus was a town of Magnesia, on the sea-coast, at the foot of 
 Mount Pelion. It was the birth-place and patrimony of Jason, the son 
 of HSson. The occasion of the taking Iolcus by Peleus was as follows : 
 — Astydamia, or Hippolyte, the wife of Acastus, the son of Pelias, who 
 usurped the throne of JEson, fell in love with Peleus while in banish- 
 ment at the court of her husband. Peleus, however, rejecting her ad- 
 dresses, she accused him to Acastus of attempts upon her virtue. The 
 monarch, listening to the accusation of his wife, ordered his officers to 
 conduct him to Mount Pelion, under pretence of a hunting-party, and 
 there to tie him to a tree, that he might become the prey of wild beasts. 
 Having escaped from thence by the assistance of Chiron, Peleus assem- 
 bled his friends, forcibly took Iolcus, deposed Acastus, and put Astyda- 
 mia to death. Among the friends who assisted him, however, were 
 Jason, and the Tyndaridae, according to the relation of Pherecydes, as 
 found in Apollodorus, lib. iii. 13, 7. See Nem. ode iv. stro. vii. viii. 
 
 + Mistress of the wave. Peleus was said to be the only mortal that 
 ever married a goddess. To avoid his addresses, Thetis is related to 
 have changed herself into all manner of forms, till, by the advice of 
 Proteus, he surprised her asleep, in her grotto near the shores of Thes- 
 saly. She then consented to marry him, and the nuptials were cele- 
 brated with the greatest solemnity, all the gods attending, and each of 
 them making the most valuable presents to the newly-married pair. — 
 Ovid, Met. ii. 221 — 265. See Nem. ode iv. stro. viii. ix. 
 
 § Troy's perjured king . Laomedon was assisted in building the wall* 
 
ODE III.] 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 357 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 With him the realms, where ’gainst the foe 
 Th’ Amazons bend the brazen bow, 
 
 He vanquish’d. Fear, that quells mankind, 
 
 Stay’d not his ardent constant mind. 
 
 Such power hath he, whose bosom burns, 
 
 By Nature touch’d, with glory’s fire ; 
 
 While Art’s weak child still shifts, as frailty .urns 
 His obscure path ; by no sublime desire, 
 
 No steadfast step sustain’d, his wavering soul 
 
 Tries every virtue’s taste, yet dares not drain the bowl. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Mark now the part divine Achilles play’d ! 
 
 While Philyra* yet with watchful eye 
 O’erlook’d his home-kept infancy, 
 
 E’en then men’s feats his childish sports he made. 
 
 Poising with infant hand the barbed lance, 
 
 Full oft the lion’s wrathful might, 
 
 Swift as the wind, he match’d in fight ; 
 
 Oft faced the bristling boar’s advance, 
 
 And at old Chiron’s feet exulting laid, 
 
 Scarce six years born, his panting prey. 
 
 Thence on his youth the Delian maid, 
 
 The stem Minerva, smded, and cheer’d his wondrous way. 
 
 of Troy by Apollo and Neptune, but, refusing to reward the gods for 
 their labour, his territories were laid waste by the god of the sea, and 
 by a pestilence from Apollo. The wrath of the gods could not be ap- 
 peased but by the annual exposure of a Trojan virgin to a sea-monster 
 which appeared on the coast. The lot at length fell upon Hesione, the 
 king’s own daughter ; and, in the midst of his despair, Hercules under- 
 took to deliver him from the calamity for the reward of a number of 
 fine horses. Laomedon, however, was again faithless to his engage- 
 ments, and Hercules laid siege to Troy, and took it by force of arms, in 
 which he was attended by Telamon as his armour-bearer, who after- 
 wards received Hesione in marriage. Iolas was another attendant of 
 Hercules in -this exploit, and his nephew. 
 
 * Philyra gave birth to the Centaur Chiron, to whom the education 
 of Achilles, in the arts of war and music, wai intrusted by his mother 
 Thetis. — See antist. iii. 
 
3 58 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE III, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 He with, no treacherous toils the doe beguiled, 
 
 With no dull brach her track pursued ; 
 
 His dazzling pace, as legends rude 
 Y ouch the free tale, her bounding footstep foil’d. 
 
 Within that rock-roof’d mansion long before 
 J ason the sapient Centaur rear’d, 
 
 And gentler H^sculapius heard 
 Soft-handed Medicine’s healing lore. 
 
 He bade bright Thetis in her fruitful arms 
 A hero’s mortal form enfold ; 
 
 The unrivall’d son that crown’d her charms 
 With wisdom’s wealth he stored, and shaped in virtue’s 
 mould ; 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 That, when to Troy’s beleaguer’d plain 
 His bending sail should thwart the main 
 Th’ accomplish’d youth might bravely stand 
 War’s onset wild, the gleaming brand, 
 
 The clashing spear (though Lycian shout, 
 
 Dardans and Phrygians, swell’d the alarm), 
 
 And, rushing on the javelin’d HSthiop’s rout, 
 
 Pour all his heart into his vigorous arm — 
 
 That Memnon, their fierce prince, might sail no more, 
 
 With Helenus* though leagued, to Nile’s lamenting shore. 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 From him th’ H^acean race, with brightest ray, 
 
 To distant climes and ages shine : — 
 
 J ove, are they not thy seed divine h 
 Thine the great games, which now, with rapt’rous lay 
 
 * Helenus. Priam, the father of Helenus, and Tithonus, the father of 
 Memnon, were both sons of Laomedon : Helenus and Memnon, there- 
 fore, were cousins-german. Memnon came to the Trojan war with 
 10,000 men, and killed Antiochus, the son of Nestor. He afterwards 
 refused the challenge of the aged father, and accepted that of Achilles, 
 by whom he was slain. The remnant of his colossal statue in Egypt 
 still astonishes travellers by its grandeur and beauty. — See Nem. ode vi, 
 stro. iii. 1. 10. 
 
ODE III.] NEMEAN ODES. 359 
 
 By youthful warblers breath’d, their country’s fame 
 Blazoning, I sing * — with victory crown’d 
 Aristoclides swells the sound, 
 
 And gives their isle’s illustrious name, 
 
 Her Pythian Pontiff proud, and awful shrine, 
 
 On Memory’s pictured roll to live. 
 
 Thus high deserts by trial shine ; 
 
 Thus men by deeds compared their true distinctions give. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 Boys among boys by various feats surpass ; 
 
 Youth copes with youth ; maturer age 
 Its own appropriate arts engage. 
 
 Such are the stages of our mortal race ; 
 
 A fourth yet follows — life’s declining day ; 
 
 This too its powers, its blessings yields, 
 
 Whereof no stint hath he, and gilds 
 Calm virtue’s close with wisdom’s ray. 
 
 Farewell, farewell ! — to thee, my valiant friend, 
 
 These milk-drops, mix’d with honey dews, 
 
 My soft mellifluous lays, I send, 
 
 Pour’d from the H5olian pipe — the nectar of the Muse : 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 Too long delay’d — but through the skies 
 Swiftest of fowl the eagle flies ; 
 
 Lured from afar he sails away, 
 
 And pounces on his mangled prey ; 
 
 While with hoarse croak and timorous flight 
 The inglorious jackdaw* courts the ground. 
 Meanwhile, on thee, as, from her throne of light, 
 
 Clio thy prowess hails with victory crown’d, 
 
 From Epidaurian groves, + and Megara’s shore, 
 
 And Nemea’s shouting field, the beams of glory pour. 
 
 * Inglorious jackdaw. The daws here mentioned seem to represent 
 the rest of the rhymers and poetasters who had eulogized Aristoclides, 
 and whom the poet professes to outstrip with the same facility as the 
 eagle all such birds of a meaner flight. 
 
 + Epidaurian groves. Epidaurus was situated on the north-eastern 
 coast of Argolis, nearly opposite the island of iEgina. It chiefly de- 
 voted itself to the worship of ^Esculapius, from whom the games here 
 
360 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IV. 
 
 ODE IV. 
 
 TO TIMASARCHUS OF REGINA, 
 
 Victor in the Game of Wrestling . 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 Toil that conquering virtue bears 
 Joy’s sweet balsam’s best allay 
 And song, the Muses’ daughter, cheers 
 
 With her soft touch and soothing lay. 
 
 The bath’s warm waves not so reclaim, 
 
 So rouse the champion’s fainting frame, 
 
 As praises bland his soul inspire, 
 
 Warbled on truth’s delightful lyre : 
 
 Her everlasting word survives 
 The doer and the deed, 
 
 When graceful genius largely gives 
 From wisdom’s deepest fount the living meed. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Now to Saturn’s son divine, 
 
 Timasarch, and Nemea’s field, 
 
 Field of the wrestler’s fame, be mine 
 The encomiastic song to yield ; 
 
 Worthy the tower-crown’d citadels 
 Where HCacus’ high lineage dwells ;* 
 
 Where, friend with stranger mix’d, on all 
 The beams of equal justice fall. 
 
 Oh ! if Timocritus thy sire 
 Still view’d th’ all-cheering day, 
 
 How would he strike the various lyre, 
 
 And wake the string to our triumphal lay l 
 
 alluded to received the name of the ^Esculapian. It was particularly 
 celebrated, as well as the whole of Argolis, for its horses. Hence Virgil. 
 Domitrix Epidaurus equorum. — Georg, iii. 44. 
 
 * For explanation of the allusion to H?gina in this ode, see the note? 
 to the last ode. 
 
ODE IV.] 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 361 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 How tlie golden wreaths resound, 
 
 Won from famed Cleonse’s fray;* 
 
 From glorious Athens, and the ground 
 
 Where sev’n bright portals front the day 
 For, where Amphitryon’s proud remains 
 Inurn’d th’ illustrious tomb contains,, 
 
 Cadmsean chiefs, with willing hand, 
 
 Twined round his brows the glittering band : 
 
 Fondly they swell’d AEgina’s fame ; 
 
 For, welcome to that wall, 
 
 By friends received a friend he came,J 
 And sat in great Alcides’ gorgeous hall. 
 
 * Famed Cleonce’s fray. By the games of Cleon se, at which Timasar- 
 chus was victor, the Nemean games are probably intended ; for Cleonse 
 was but a short distance from Nemea, and it was at this place that 
 Hercules killed the Nemean lion, hence also called the Cleonsean lion : 
 and it was in commemoration of the success of Hercules in this labour, 
 according to some authorities, that the Nemean games were instituted. 
 — Nem. ode x. stroph. iii. 
 
 f The games celebrated at Thebes were called indifferently the 
 Heraclean and the Iolsean, having been instituted in honour of Hercules 
 and of his companion Iolaus, who assisted him in subduing the hydra. 
 The place of their exercises was called, from Iolaus, ’loXaeiov. In the 
 same place stood the sepulchre of Amphitryon, and the cenotaph of 
 Iolaus, who was buried in Sardinia. Both these were, at this solemnity, 
 strewed with garlands and flowers. — Pott. Gr. Ant. v. i. pp. 463, 464. 
 At this festival the peculiar custom was observed of offering apples to 
 Hercules, the origin of which, according to Pollux (lib. i. c. i.), was the 
 misfortune upon one occasion of not being able to bring a sheep, on 
 account of the overflowing of the Asopus. They in consequence sub- 
 stituted apples (which happened to have the same name in Greek, fiifka, 
 as sheep), sticking four sticks into them for legs, and two more for 
 horns. This substitution was ever after continued. — Pott . Gr. Ant. 
 v. i. p. 456. 
 
 + By friends received a friend he came. The bond of mutual hospi- 
 tality — TrpoZevia — formed between the inhabitants of separate states, 
 was one of the most admirable of the customs and institutions of 
 Greece, and the obligation arising out of it was held more sacred than 
 even the tie of blood. In the earlier ages, when strangers were really 
 unsafe in foreign countries, it was one of the most useful, in periods of 
 greater civilization, it was one of the most amiable and ornamental 
 features of society. Glaucus and Diomed laid down their arms in the 
 heat of battle, and afterwards exchanged armour, out of a pious regard 
 to the hospitable alliance which had been entered into by their pro- 
 
362 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IV, 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 Telamon* with him repell’d 
 
 Merop routt and Phrygian band ; 
 
 With him the warrior-giant quell’d, 
 
 Alcyoneus, J whose wasteful hand 
 Twelve chariots, that with coursers four 
 Each to the field two heroes bore, 
 
 With a rock’s fragment whirl’d around 
 Had dash’d promiscuous to the ground. 
 
 Ill hath he read war’s woeful page, 
 
 Ne’er tried ambition’s race, 
 
 Who learns not from this lesson sage 
 How vauntful victory speeds but to disgrace. 
 
 strophe v. 
 
 All their glorious deeds to tell 
 
 Lyric law forbids the string : — 
 
 Time urges, and some potent spell 
 
 Lures me the new-moon sports to sing. 
 
 Quit, roving muse, the tempting tale, 
 
 And in mid sea reverse thy sail ; 
 
 Transcendant thus o’er all thy foes, 
 
 Its day thy glorious orb shall close ; 
 
 While he, that plots thy spotless fame 
 With envious glance to wound, 
 
 Rolls in the dark the glimmering flame 
 Of his weak rage, that sinks into the ground. 
 
 genitors, (Eneus and Bellerophon. — Iliad, vi. 1. 215. See Pott. Or. Ant . 
 vol. ii. pp. 410 — 418. 
 
 * Telamon with him, dec. It has been observed in a note to the last 
 ode, antist. ii., that Telamon accompanied Hercules in his expedition 
 against Troy. Pindar here supposes Telamon . to have also been his 
 companion in some of his other exploits, probably for the sake of com- 
 pliment to -ZEacus, his father, and through him to iEgina, of which he 
 was king. 
 
 f Merop rout. The inhabitants of Cos, one of the Sporades isles of 
 the iEgean, are here called the Merop rout, from Merops, one of their 
 early kings. 
 
 £ Alcyoneus was one of the giants whom Hercules assisted Jupiter 
 in subduing. 
 
ODE IV. J 
 
 NEMEA.N ODES. 
 
 363 
 
 STROPHE VI. 
 
 Me whate’er the part, the powers, 
 
 Sovereign Fate hath doom’d to hold, 
 
 Full well I know the circling hours 
 
 Shall prove and perfect and unfold. 
 Weave then with speed, my dulcet lyre, 
 
 Thy richest woof, my soul’s desire, 
 
 Th’ harmonious mood of Lydian measure, 
 CEnone’s # pride and Cyprus’ pleasure ; — 
 There Teucer rears his distant throne ; 
 Here, midst his father’s fields, 
 
 The mightier son of Telamon 
 His Salaminian sceptre Ajax wields. 
 
 STROPHE VII. 
 
 Glittering in the Euxine main, 
 
 Leuce’s isle Achilles sways ; 
 
 To Thetis bows the Phthian swain ; 
 
 Pyrrhus th’ Epirote tract obeys, 
 
 Whose rock-strew’d range and cultured bead, 
 With herds and fattening pastures spread, 
 From dark Dodona’s waving steep 
 Breaks westward on the Ionian deep. 
 
 Iolcus old, whose walls embower’d 
 By shady Pelion rose, 
 
 Peleus with hostile hand o’erpower’d, 
 And gave enthrall’d to her Hsemonian foes : 
 
 * ( Enone was an ancient name of Egina. 
 
 The Doet here introduces a sketch of the fortunes of the whole family 
 of Eacus : of Ajax, his grandson, and the son of Telamon, whom he 
 has already mentioned ; of Teucer, another son of Telamon, who, being 
 expelled by his father from Salamis because he had left the death of his 
 brother Ajax unrevenged, retired to Cyprus : of Peleus, the son of Eacus, 
 who having subdued Iolcus {2 mentioned Nem. ode iii. antist. ii.), added 
 it to Thessaly, called also Haem nia ; of Achilles, the son of Peleus, who 
 was transported after death with Iphigenia, whom he married, to Leuce, 
 in tne Euxine sea ; of Thetis, the wife of Peleus, who was principally 
 worshipped at Phthia in Thessaly ; and lastly of Neoptolemus, the son 
 of Achilles, and great grandson of Eacus, who was also called Pyrrhus, 
 from the redness of his air. 
 
364 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IV. 
 
 STROPHE VIII. 
 
 Weak Acastus’ wily spouse* 
 
 On their realm that vengeance brought — 
 Such rage a wanton’s wrongs could rouse : 
 
 Him Pelias’ son, with treachery fraught 
 And axe Daedalian, by the way 
 In ambush dark had lurk’d to slay ; 
 
 By Chiron saved, eftsoon to prove 
 The splendid destiny of J ove. 
 
 Unscared, the fierce all-conquering fire, 
 
 The lion’s strength he braves, 
 
 His armed paws, his fangs and ire — 
 
 Forms that disguised the mistress of the waves, t 
 
 STROPHE IX. 
 
 Love at length the Nereid bound ; 
 
 Peleus shares her golden throne : 
 
 From seas and skies their banquet round 
 The gods in glittering circle shone, 
 
 And gave them of their grace divine 
 Treasure and power to bless their line. 
 
 ’Tis not for man the deeps to sound 
 That rage beyond the Gadian bound : J 
 
 Turn thou tow’rds Europe’s dreadless coast 
 Thy helm and venturous sail ; 
 
 The sons of ^Eacus can boast 
 Deeds which no strain can reach, no time detail. 
 
 * Acastus, the son of Pelias, at the instigation of his wife A stydamia, 
 attempted to take the life of Peleus by treachery. 
 
 f The allusion is to the various forms which Thetis assumed to avoid 
 the addresses of Peleus. 
 
 X Gadian bound. The ancient Gades was no doubt* the same as the 
 modern Cadiz. But the accounts of the early geographers are very 
 inaccurate respecting it. Strabo (book iii.) says that it was a small 
 island, 100 furlongs long and one broad ; that the inhabitants, though 
 dwelling in so small an island, were the most maritime nation in the 
 world. Their city was more populous than any except Rome, and they 
 could bring into the field 500 cavalry, which no other city but Padua 
 could do. The island (or probably the peninsula upon which Cadiz 
 now situated) was colonized from Tyre. 
 
ODE IV.] 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 3 65 
 
 STROPHE X. 
 
 Herald of th’ athletic fray 
 
 Fought in famed Olympia’s vale, 
 
 In demean grove and Isthmian bay, 
 
 The brave Theandrian tribe I hail. 
 
 There the nerve-strengthening toil they plied, 
 
 ’Gainst rivals brave their prowess tried, 
 
 Nor bore not to their native bowers 
 
 The wreath that blooms with glory’s flowers. 
 
 There, foremost of the tuneful choir, 
 
 To chant the victor’s praise 
 
 The tribe of Timasarch* aspire. 
 
 If yet for Calliclest thou bidd’st me raise 
 
 STROPHE XI. 
 
 Pillars of eternal mould, 
 
 Brighter than the Parian mine, 
 
 Know that great deeds, like glittering gold 
 Purged in the fire, more brightly shine 
 In the warm song when genius sings, 
 
 And makes inferior mortals kings. 
 
 Oh ! could his shade, that dwells below 
 Where Acheron’s wailing waters flow, 
 
 These cheering strains delighted hear 
 Sounding the boastful day 
 
 When at loud Neptune’s games he bare 
 From Corinth’s choicest chiefs her crown away ! 
 
 * Tribe of Timasarch. It seems that the tribe of Timasarchus the 
 Theandrian, on account of the greater number of victories, and odes in 
 celebration of them, which it could boast, had some peculiar privilege, 
 either of being the depositories of all such records, or else of leading 
 the chorusses which chanted them on public occasions. The wrnrd 
 TrpoTroXog, however, which means one who leads the way, may be here 
 only a poetical expression for the pre-eminence and priority of this 
 tribe in respect of the number of triumphal odes which it could boast. 
 
 + Callicles was maternal uncle of Timasarchus, and he was probably 
 also in his time a victor in the games. 
 
366 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE V. 
 
 STROPHE XII. 
 
 Him long since with willing lay 
 Euphanes, thy father’s sire, 
 
 Sung, as the heroes of his day 
 
 Each minstrel’s glowing lips inspire : 
 For well the gifted hand can write 
 The vivid records of the sight : 
 
 Like his that hinds unrivall’d now 
 With wreaths of skill Melesias’ brow.* 
 TJnmaster’d in the lists of song 
 His might each champion throws ; 
 
 Mild to the good, but, roused by wrong, 
 Rough and revengeful on his recreant foes. 
 
 ODE Y. 
 
 TO PYTHIAS OF jEGINA, 
 
 Victor in the Pancratium for boys. 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 I am no sculptor to display 
 Statues of silent stone, that in one place 
 Stand motionless upon their idle base, 
 
 Unknown. Speed thou, my dulcet lay, 
 
 In every bark and pinnace o’er the deep 
 From loud HCgina’s echoing steep 
 
 * Melesias ’ brow. The commentators seem to agree in considering 
 Melesias to have been the anointer, or esquire of Timasarchus — answer- 
 ing perhaps to what is now called a trainer, being one who prepared 
 him for and attended him in the fight. It was not uncommon to give 
 such an one his share of the praise, and perhaps the victory was not 
 unfrequently attributed to his advice and skilful assistance, as is the 
 case with those who fulfil the corresponding offices in the modem ring. 
 
ODE V.] 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 367 
 
 Spreading this tale the world around — 
 
 How Lampon’s valiant son, 
 
 Pythias* with wreath Pancratian crown’d, 
 
 In Nemea’s grove the palm of strength has won. 
 
 Youth on his lip hath not yet blown 
 Her earliest bloom of mantling down ; 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Yet hath this stripling glorified 
 Warriors and heroes from the golden love 
 Of Nereids sprung, and HSacus, and Jove, 
 
 And Saturn ; # blazon’d far and wide 
 His capital, the stranger’s throng’d resort ; 
 
 Whose populous walls and masted port 
 Endais’ glorious sons of yore, 
 
 With kingly Phocus (born 
 
 Beside th’ abrupt resounding shore 
 Of Psamathe divine, in cave forlorn), 
 
 Founded and bless’ d, and gave to ride, 
 
 With many a prow, the wondering tide.t 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 Suppliant for this, at Jove’s Hellenian shrine J 
 
 They stood, and raised their hands to heaven : — 
 
 I tremble to disclose what wrath divine 
 Th’ illustrious pair, to exile driven, 
 
 * Of Nereids sprung, and jEacus, &c. The heroes here alluded to, are 
 Peleus, Telamon, and Phocus ; the same which are mentioned in the 
 seventh and eighth lines of this stanza as the founders of the capital city 
 of ^Egina. Saturn was the father of Chiron, whose daughter, the nymph 
 Endais, became the mother of Peleus and Telamon by -Eacus, the son 
 of Jupiter. The Nereid Psamathb was the mother of Phocus by the 
 same ^Eacus. 
 
 f -Egina was at one time the principal naval power in Greece ; to 
 which the poet has already alluded in the fifth and sixth lines of the 
 first strophe of this ode. Its naval power and pre-eminence were at 
 length entirely destroyed by the Athenians under Pericles, who took 
 seventy ships, and expelled the natives from the island. 
 
 £ The occasion here alluded to is, according to the Scholiast, that of 
 a dreadful drought which afflicted the whole of Greece ; when ^Eacus 
 and his sons obtained the blessing of rain, not only for his own island, 
 but for Greece in general, by offering up their joint prayers at the altar 
 of Jupiter. Pausanias (b. li.) relates that at the entrance of a temple, 
 
368 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE V. 
 
 Forced from the favour’d isle ! # A deed, 
 
 By no just ire, no mastering need, 
 
 Provoked — hold, hold, my lips, th’ unwelcome tale : 
 
 Sage truth, that yields not to dismay, 
 
 Oft shades her blushing cheek in caution’s veil : 
 
 Oft silence best secures discretion’s blameless way. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 But when brave wealth, or manly might, 
 
 Or praise of iron war demands my song, 
 
 Dig me the venturous chasm, profound and long, 
 
 And my light limbs with easy flight 
 Shall leap the tempting peril. Eagles fling 
 O’er the broad sea the daring wing. 
 
 Yet e’en for these, in happier day,t 
 The muses’ beauteous choir 
 
 Spontaneous moved, their heavenly lay 
 On Pelion’s mountain sung : the sev’n-tongued lyre 
 With golden wand Apollo strook, 
 
 And all th’ eternal numbers woke. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 First above all, in loftiest strain, 
 
 Th’ immortal name of Sovereign Jove they sung ; 
 Majestic Thetis next, of Nereus sprung, 
 
 And Peleus chaste, whose virtue’s stain 
 The false Hippolyta plann’d — adulterous queen ! J 
 She, with feign’d fears and plaints obscene, 
 
 dedicated to .ZEacus, were sculptured the figures of the chiefs who 
 came from the several parts of Greece to join with ZEacus in this 
 general supplication. 
 
 * Forced from the favour’d isle. Telamon killed his brother Phocus 
 with a quoit, accidentally, as it was said, and fled to Salamis, an island 
 of Attica, of which he became the king. Peleus, who was accessory 
 to the probably intended murder, also retired from his native country 
 to Phthia, a town of Thessaly, of which he in like manner became at 
 length the king. 
 
 fl On occasion of the marriage of Peleus and Thetis, at which all the 
 gods and goddesses were present, except the goddess of Discord, who, 
 to punish this seeming neglect, threw an apple into the midst of the 
 assembly with the inscription upon it, Detur pulchriom — For the most 
 beautiful. This was the occasion of the celebrated Judgment of Paris, 
 and eventually of the ruin of Troy. 
 
 £ The false Hippolyta — adulter oui queen! This story has already 
 
ODE V.] 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 36 £ 
 
 Her duped uxorious spouse, that fill’d 
 Magnesia’s potent throne, 
 
 T’ adopt her treacherous tale beguiled — 
 
 Her base invented charge — “ how all alone, 
 
 “ On his own couch, his helpless bride 
 “ By force the ruffian prince had tried.” 
 
 EPODE IL 
 
 ’Twas all the truth reversed — the fraud of lust. 
 
 With fervent prayers, avow’d desires, 
 
 Oft had she press’d him ; but his stern disgust, 
 
 His rage the bold proposal fires. 
 
 The wrath of hospitable Jove * 
 
 He fear’d, and spurn’d th’ unholy love. 
 
 Jove from his cloudy throne, heaven’s ruling lord, 
 Mark’d the just youth, and for his bride 
 Gave him the Nereid queen, his truth’s reward, 
 
 That deep in crystal cave the golden distaff plied. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Neptune with smiles the nuptial meets, 
 Though mortal : he from H^gse’s thundering bayf 
 Oft to the Dorian Isthmus speeds away, 
 
 Where many a band his coming greets 
 With hymns and clarions loud, and cheering cries, 
 While strength contests th’ heroic prize, 
 
 been alluded to in Nem. ode iii. antistroph. ii. and Nem. ode iv. 
 8troph. viii. 
 
 * Hospitable Jove. The institutions relating to hospitality have 
 already been alluded to. The mutual obligation arising from this bond 
 was always held to be of the most sacred character, and several of the 
 gods were supposed particularly to watch over and to enforce its obser- 
 vance ; but particularly Jupiter, who was thence called Z evg Eiviog, 
 the hospitable. 
 
 f jEgaz’s thwndering bay. iEgae was a town of Euboea, opposite 
 Boeotia and Phoois, at which place was a celebrated temple dedicated to 
 Neptune. Neptune was also, as here alluded to, the tutelary deity 
 of Corinth. His peculiar worship at JEg& is mentioned by Homer in 
 his hymn to Neptune : 
 
 Who Helicon and spacious iEgse holds. 
 
 And hence he was often called JEgsean Neptune. 
 
 2 B 
 
NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 • l ODE V« 
 
 :m 
 
 Won as the natal guardian power* * * § 
 
 Each champion’s lot decrees ; 
 
 That erst in proud CEnone s bower 
 Gave to thy might, renown’d Euthymenes, 
 
 In victory’s heavenly arms embraced, 
 
 The high-wrought hymns of praise to taste. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Sprung from the same maternal seed, 
 
 See thy bold steps the youthful Pythias trace, 
 
 Beaming his glory’s rays on all his race : 
 
 Nemea beheld his daring deed, 
 
 And the fair month Delphinian t Phoebus loves. 
 
 Him, midst AEgina’s echoing groves, 
 
 ByNisus’J vale-cleft mountain dark 
 His ill-starr’d rivals fly : — 
 
 Oh ! how it joys my soul to mark 
 Each generous state in feats of bravery vie ! 
 
 Know, ’twas Menander’s § art prepared 
 Thy fortune’s way, thy toil’s reward : 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Athens alone the master hands can bring 
 Th’ aspiring Athlete’s skill to frame : — 
 
 Wouldst thou with these the brave Themistius sing ? || 
 
 Speak boldly : shrink not from his name ; 
 
 * As the natal guardian power decrees. The ancients placed an 
 implicit faith in the notion that the fortune of particular men was bom 
 with them. This more especially prevailed among the Romans, who 
 always preferred a fortunate fco a seemingly skilful general. The poet 
 in this place seems to have a still further idea that fortune is not only 
 born with her favourites, but runs partly in families, by which he 
 ingeniously paves for himself a way for the mention of Euthymenes. 
 
 f A festival and games were celebrated at iEgina in honour of Apollo, 
 in the month called by them Delphinius. This festival was the Hydro- 
 phoria, in which, as at Athena, water was carried in the procession, in 
 commemoration of the deluge of Ogyges. 
 
 X Nisus was king of Megara, at which place games, called the Alca- 
 thoia, were celebrated. The poet means to relate that Pythias was 
 victor both in iEgina and at Megara. 
 
 § Menander was the trainer or second of Pythias, 
 il Themistius was the maternal grandfather of Pythias. 
 
ODE VI.] 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 371 
 
 E’en to tlie topmast hoist away 
 The swelling canvass of thy lay : 
 
 Him pugilist — Pancratiast him proclaim ; 
 
 In Epidaurus twice renown’d 
 He bears the blended chaplets of his fame 
 
 Back to th’ iEacean shrine, by all the Graces crown’d. 
 
 ODE VI. 
 
 TO ALCIMEDES OF iEGINA, 
 
 Victor in the Game of Wrestling for Boys. 
 
 ' STROPHE I. 
 
 Men and the Gods above one race compose : 
 
 Both from the general parent Earth 
 Derive their old mysterious birth : 
 
 But powers unlike their differing nature shows ; — 
 Man breathes his moment, and is nought ; 
 While, like their brazen heaven’s eternal base, 
 
 Gods live for ever : yet th’ illumined face, 
 
 Th’ illustrious form, th’ aspiring thought, 
 Proclaim him kindred of the skies, 
 
 Though fate conceals from reason’s eyes, 
 Whether night frowns, or noontide glows, 
 
 What course we run ; what goal the race shall close. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 E’en now the brave Alcimedes displays 
 A cognate port, a soul like theirs. 
 
 He, like the field, that sometimes bears 
 From the quick seed, which genial culture lays, 
 Life-fostering fruits, and crops of gold, 
 
 But when th’ alternate season bids abstain, 
 
 The fallow sleeps refresh’d, and teems again ; 
 
 Thus he, ’mong Nemea’s chiefs enroll’d, 
 
 2 b2 
 
372 HEME AN ODES. [ODE VI« 
 
 Of 3iis proud race relumes the fire 
 That slumber’d in his nameless sire : 
 
 While Jove his destined progress leads, 
 
 With fearless foot his grandsire’s steps he treads, 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 Finding, like hul.ter true, the place 
 
 Where worth might win the wrestler’s crown, 
 
 By the sure track of old Praxidamas. 
 
 The verdant plant, by Alpheus grown, 
 
 First from the Olympian cirque he bore 
 To bloom on fair .ZEgina’s shore : 
 
 Three Neuman braids his locks imbow’d ; 
 
 Five Isthmian choirs his triumphs sung ; 
 
 Till Agesimachus beheld the cloud 
 
 Disperse, that round his son, the tame Socleides, hung. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Thus these three champions # of one generous line 
 Mounted by virtue’s toilsome ways, 
 
 And reach’d the topmost peaks of praise. 
 
 Fortune, by man’s best help, Jove’s will divine, 
 
 Prosper’d their house : to none beside, 
 
 From all the games which spacious Greece supplies, 
 
 E’er fell so largely given the boxer’s prize. 
 
 Great though the task — this hand shall guide 
 Bight home, I trow, with archer’s art, 
 
 To the bright scope its sounding dart. 
 
 Breathe thou, my Muse, thy glorious breeze 
 Full on the sails of brave Alcimedes. 
 
 * Thus these three champions. The genealogy above referred to, of 
 which each alternate generation addicted itself to the games, is thus 
 clearly set forth in the paraphrase of Benedict : — Alcimedes, the 
 present victor, contended in the games ; Theo, his father, abstained 
 from them ; Praxidamas, his grandfather, was also a candidate and 
 victor ; his great-grandfather, Socleides, did not follow that line ; but 
 his great-great-grandfather, Agesimachus, pursued it. Thus making 
 three alternate chanpions. 
 
ODE VI.] 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 372 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Praised are the deeds of those that are no more : 
 
 The minstrel’s lyre, the rhetor s tongue, 
 
 Hath told their tale, their chant hath sung 
 Whereof the Bassian tribe no scanty store 
 
 Hath bless’d : full freights # in happier days 
 Of rich renown they bought with noble deeds, 
 
 Harvests of hymns, which from celestial seeds 
 Pierian swains profusely raise. 
 
 Thence Callias sprung, a champion proves 
 By both Latona’s twins beloved ; 
 
 Bound his stout wrist the cestt he wove, 
 
 And pluck’d the crown from Pytho’s sacred grove. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Thence by Castalia’s murmuring spring, 
 
 When eve had closed the martial game, 
 
 Like her bright star, he burnt amidst the ring 
 Of Graces choir’d to sound his fame. 
 
 Him next at Neptune’s Isthmian shrine, 
 
 The bridge that parts his restless brine, J 
 
 * Full freights. The felicity of the metaphor consists in the allusion 
 to the celebrity of .ZEgina as a naval and mercantile power ; so that the 
 Bassian tribe, the tribe of Alcimedes, are supposed to freight their 
 ships with their own praises. A similar allusion is contained in Nem. 
 ode i. strophe i., where the poet bids his dulcet lay speed 
 In every bark and pinnace o’er the deep, 
 
 From loud iEgina’s echoing steep. 
 
 f The thongs of leather, called by the Homans the cestus, with 
 which the ancient pugilists surrounded their wrists, were, as Potter 
 informs us, first invented by Amycus, king of the Bebrycians, who was 
 contemporary with the Argonauts. — Clemens Alexand. Strom, i. p. 307. 
 These cestus were at first short, reaching no higher than the wrists ; 
 but they were afterwards enlarged, and carried up to the elbow, and 
 sometimes even as high as the shoulder ; and in time they came to be 
 used not only as defensive arms, but to annoy the adversary, being 
 filled with plummets of lead and iron. — Pott. Gr. Antiq. vol. i. p. 
 499. The formidable pair of weapons of this kind exhibited by 
 Entellus {AEneid, lib. v. 1. 401), are well recollected ; and also the 
 use to which he put one of them, by striking an ox dead with one 
 blow of it. 
 
 t The bridge that parts his restless brine . Pliny calls the Isthmus oi 
 
374 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ode VI. 
 
 Where slaughter’d bulls triennial fall, 
 
 Th’ Amphictyons honour’d : round nis head, 
 
 Where Phlius rears # his dark primeval wall, 
 
 The rough-maned lion’s plant its crisped foliage spread, t 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Wide is the gate, and various are the ways 
 Through which, this glorious isle to grace, 
 
 The pomp of poesy may pass : 
 
 For there unfailing founts of purest praise 
 The race of ^Eacus supplies — 
 
 (Praise, the reward — the heroic virtue’s gain) : 
 
 Through all the peopled earth, the trackless main, 
 
 Spread far and wide their glory flies ; 
 
 It leapt beyond the Libyan shore, 
 
 When Memnon’s might return’d no more ; 
 
 For no tame sport, no mimic war 
 Was his, when swift Achilles from his car 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Came threatening down, and with his angry spear, 
 
 Though sprung from bright Aurora’s womb, 
 
 Despatch’d him to the dusky tomb. 
 
 Such are the tales old times were proud to hear : 
 
 These are the public paths of song, 
 
 Through which my course with ardent steps I keep, 
 
 And though, when dangers crowd the stormy deep, 
 
 The wave that bursts the shrouds among 
 Most moves the labouring seaman’s fear, 
 
 My back the twofold load shall bear, 
 
 Corinth the neck of the Peloponnesus. Pindar, in another place, calls 
 it the gates of the ocean. — Nem. ode x. antistrophe ii. It is about five 
 or six miles across, and has been frequently fortified so as to become a 
 complete gate and defence to the Peloponnesus. Mr. Dodwell (vol. ii. 
 pp. 186, 187) gives an account of all the numerous fortifications which 
 have been erected upon it pp to the present time. 
 
 * Phlius was a town in the territory of Sicyon, and not far from 
 Nemea. 
 
 f The lion's plant its crisped foliage spread. This is the parsley, with 
 which Hercules, after having conquered the lion, and instituted there- 
 upon the Nemean games, ordered the victors to be crowned. 
 
NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 375 
 
 ODE VII.] 
 
 While thus with willing steps I trace 
 The past and present triumphs of the race : 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 For from the sacred games, that gave 
 His godlike sires their just renown, 
 
 Alcimedes, fit offspring of the brave, 
 
 Hath earn’d the five-and-twentieth crown. 
 
 Two more to Timidas^ and thee 
 The lots’ precarious destiny 
 In Jove’s Olympian grove denied. 
 
 Yet let my song Melesiasf name ; 
 
 Prompt, as the dolphin on the billowy tide, 
 
 Your boisterous strength he trains, and guides you to the 
 game. 
 
 ODE VII. 
 
 TO SOGENES OF ^EGINA, 
 
 Boy * Victor in the Pentathlon . 
 
 STEOPHE I. 
 
 Daughtee of powerful Juno that dost cheer, 
 
 Throned by the deep-foreboding destinies, 
 
 The labouring birth, chaste Ilithyia, j hear : 
 
 Without thy aid nor day, nor midnight skies, . 
 
 * Benedict supposes that Alcimedes, and Timidas, another pugilist 
 of the same tribe, were excluded, for being too young, from contending 
 in the Olympian games, to which beardless youths were not admitted. 
 Heyne, with more probability, conjectures that Pindar here adopts a 
 delicate mode of expressing that they were beaten ; for, since the 
 different pairs of combatants were appointed by lot, fortune might 
 easily be charged with the ill success, for having matched a strong and 
 a weak one together. 
 
 f The poet again, as in the two last odes, introduces the mention of 
 the victor’s trainer or second, on whose skill he seems to have con- 
 sidered that the success in the combat much depended. This was 
 probably more especially the case in the combats of youths. 
 
 X The fiithyia of the Greeks was the same as the Lucina of thd 
 
376 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE VIL 
 
 We view — nor youth in strength’s proportions fair 
 Thy sister Hebe’s # season reach. 
 
 Yet all not one pursuit, one passion share ; 
 
 Life hath its several yoke for each : 
 
 Mark how Thearion’s late-born son, 
 
 Stout Sogenes, through thee begun 
 Virtue’s distinguish’d race ; and loud renown 
 In circling songs proclaims his fresh Pentathlian crown. 
 
 • ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 For ’mongst the sons of Hlacus he dwells : 
 
 They love the clanging spear, the warlike lay ; 
 
 They hail the aspiring heart, that pants and swells 
 For the rough game, that courts the trying fray ; 
 
 For whom the willing Muse mellifluous winds 
 Her warbling stream. — ’Tis darkness all 
 When bravery no recording minstrel finds, f 
 Then valorous deeds reflected fall 
 
 On the bright mirror’s burnish’d plane, 
 
 When inspiration’s mindful strain 
 Toil’s everlasting recompense bestows, 
 
 And round the embellish’d gift her rich embroidery throws. 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 The wise, content not with life’s present store, 
 
 To the fair breeze that shall hereafter blow, 
 
 Like prudent seamen, look. The rich, the poor, 
 
 Alike to death’s dark tomb must go : 
 
 Then how in song their names shall shine 
 Enhanced, let famed Ulysses show ; 
 
 His woes, I ween, more brightly glow 
 In sweetest Homer’s words and rhapsody divine : 
 
 Romans, and presided over child-birth. She was first worshipped at 
 Delos, where she assisted at the birth of Apollo and Diana, having 
 come there from the Hyperboreans. The Cretans, however, maintained 
 that she came from Crete. Pausanias mentions that her statues were 
 kept concealed from all but the priests, in Attica, Achaia, and at Corinth. 
 — Pans. bk. i. ii. and vii. Lucius, the Delian, considered her the most 
 ancient of the goddesses, and the same as Fate. 
 
 * Hebe, as well as Ilithyia, was the daughter of Jupiter and Juno,, 
 according to Hesiod. 
 
 t Horace introduces nearly the same thought, lib. iv. 9. 
 
ODE VII.] 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 377 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Hound whose enchanting tale a sacred charm 
 
 His winged art hath wound ; while genius deigns 
 Beguile us with bewitching fictions warm, 
 
 For vulgar eyes truth’s radiant image strains : 
 
 Could they her beams behold without disguise, 
 
 He’er had the senseless sentence press’d 
 Proud Ajax, for the lost celestial prize, • 
 
 To pierce his own indignant breast 
 Ajax, the fierce Achilles slain, 
 
 Mightiest of all the boastful train 
 Whose barks the west wind wafted o’er the tide 
 From Phrygian force to wrest the frail all-beauteous bride. 
 
 AJSTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Still, though death’s wave without distinction roll 
 O’er all alike, the nameless and the great, 
 
 For warriors yet, that reach tli’ eternal goal, 
 
 Approved of heaven, conspicuous honours wait. 
 
 Thus, when the towers of Troy, so long by Greeks 
 Assail’d, brave Pyrrhus to the skies 
 In smouldering flames had whirl’d, the grove he seeks, 
 
 In whose dark shades sequester’d lies 
 
 The spacious earth’s mysterious nave, 
 
 And shrines him in a Pythian grave. 
 
 Wandering from Ilion’s shore his bark had cross’d, 
 
 Far off his native Seyre,+ to Ephyra’s distant coast.]: 
 
 * After the death of Achilles, Ajax and Ulysses preferred theil 
 respective claims to the arnjs of this hero on the score of merit. The 
 judges awarded them to Ulysses ; Ajax, driven to madness by the 
 disappointment, first slaughtered a whole flock of sheep, supposing 
 them to be the sons of Atreus, who had given the preference to 
 Ulysses, and afterwards stabbed himself with his own sword, thus 
 adding one to the innumerable calamities that attended the Grecian 
 chiefs who were leagued in the Trojan war. — Sophocles, Ajax 
 Mastigoph. 
 
 f Scyros was a rocky island in the ^Egean sea, opposite to Euboea. 
 Achilles retired there to avoid going to the Trojan war, and became 
 father of Neoptolemus (who was called Pyrrhus from the redness of his 
 hair), by Deidamia, the daughter of Lycomedes, king of the island. 
 
 X Ephyra's distant coast. The Ephyra here mentioned was on the sea« 
 coast of Epirus — not Corinxh, which anciently we T t by the same name. 
 
378 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE VII. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 There the Molossian realm awhile he sway’d, 
 
 And many an age his sons the diadem wore : 
 
 Thence to the Delphian god not long delay’d 
 The first-fruits of his wars he bore — 
 
 The wealth of Ilion’s wasted pride. 
 
 There for the plunder’d sacrifice, 
 
 While his bold arm the priest defies, 
 
 Fell’d by a stranger’s axe, great Priam’s conqueror # diec*. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Sore grieved the Delphian hosts that foul disgrace ; 
 
 Yet thus the debt of destiny he paid. 
 
 Fate had required that of the ^Facian race, 
 
 Within that ancient grove for ever laid, 
 
 Fast by the gorgeous fane, a king should rest ; 
 
 Whose hallow’d shade with vigil pure, 
 
 When fuming offerings heap’d th’ heroic feast, 
 
 The pompous ritual might secure. 
 
 A word his rare desert rewards ; 
 
 True to his trust the rites he guards, 
 
 And fearless thus shall vouch — with virtue’s ray 
 J ove’s and ^Egina’s sons still light their glorious way. 
 
 * Pindar here intends to represent that Neoptolemus came to his 
 death by the hands of the priests of Delphi, whom he opposed in their 
 indecent attempt to plunder and appropriate the sacrifices, according to 
 a practice which had grown up among them. He was, however, 
 aware, as is evident from his partial defence of himself in the 4th 
 strophe, and in the 5th epode, that the death of Neoptolemus was 
 related in different ways. One of these accounts was, that he was 
 murdered at the instigation of Orestes, or by Orestes himself according 
 to Virgil, Paterculus, and Hyginus, for* having married Hermione, 
 whom her father Menelaus had promised to Orestes. Another account 
 is, that the object of his visit to Delphi was the plunder of the 
 temple ; and that being slain in the attempt, he suffered the same 
 death and indignities which he had inflicted in the temple of Minerva 
 on the aged Priam and his family. Hence the ancients used the 
 proverb Neoptolemic revenge , when a person suffered the same treatment 
 he had inflicted upon others. 
 
ODE VII.] 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 379 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Here let our praises pause — rest pleases all ; 
 
 Suspensions due the choicest sweets improve ; 
 
 Sweet honey’s self the satiate taste will pall ; 
 
 Pall e’en the flowers of sweet luxurious love. 
 
 Nature, that gives us life, and fire, and frame, 
 
 With different wills inspires the breast ; 
 
 Each feels his several impulse, none the same ; 
 
 None e’er with every bliss was blest ; 
 
 • Perfection’s lot — that ne’er shall gleam 
 In history’s roll, or fancy’s dream. 
 
 Yet what kind fate to thee, Thearion, sends, 
 
 Comes with a gilded grace the wish’d occasion lends.* 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Thine is the daring heart that throbs for fame, 
 
 The mind where wisdom’s beams unclouded play. 
 
 Doubt not the Muse ; a stranger’s faith I claim ; 
 
 No slander lurks in honour’s lay : 
 
 But, pure and plenteous as the flood 
 
 That warbles from the limpid spring, 
 
 My friend’s unquestion’d praise I sing ; 
 
 ’Tis virtue’s earn’d return, the wages of the good. 
 
 STROPHE iv. 
 
 Not e’en the Achsean chief,f whose mansion wild 
 
 O’erhangs the Ionian wave, my strain shall blame : 
 
 Our states in friendship mix ; with aspect mild 
 And clear I greet my countrymen ; my aim 
 
 * The good fortune of Thearion was particularly well timed in this 
 respect, that Sogenes having, according to the Scholiast, been bom to 
 him in his old age, the son nevertheless by his very early prowess en- 
 abled the father in his lifetime to witness his successful career. 
 
 + The Achaean chief here intended is supposed by the Scholiast to be 
 Neoptolemus, to whom he apologizes for attributing his death to so 
 trifling an occasion as a quarrel about the sacrifices and offerings. The 
 Myrmidons, whose throne Neoptolemus inherited, and of whom he car- 
 ried some with him to Ephyre on the Ionian sea, were also called 
 Achaeans according to Homer : — 
 
 Full fifty ships beneath Achilles’ care 
 Th’ Achaeans, Myrmidons, Hellenians bear. 
 
 Iliad , ii. 684. — Pope, 1. 834. 
 
380 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ode vil 
 
 No forced extreme, no violent end pursues 
 (So pass in peace my closing day) : 
 
 Challenge my dearest inmates, if my Muse 
 To slander’s lust e’er lent her lay. 
 
 O Sogenes, whose generous race 
 Th’ Euxenian tribe shall ne’er disgrace, 
 
 Beyond truth’s mark, I swear, my glowing tongue 
 Flings not thy random praise, the javelin of her song. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 Thou with unswelter’d neck, with limbs untired, • 
 
 Didst in thy gripe the wrestler’s rage repress, 
 
 Ere day’s meridian flame thy limbs had fired ; — 
 
 Toil, that but raised the raptures of success, 
 
 Bear with my frenzy, if I rage and rave 
 When victory bids my pinion soar ; 
 
 ’Tis the heart’s grace ; I grudge not for the brave 
 To stake my spirit’s wealthiest store. 
 
 No skill the vulgar chaplets ask ; 
 
 Beck not, my Muse, the unworthy task : 
 
 Thou, with rich ivory chased, thy golden crown 
 Dost weave with choral flowers from fostering sea-dews 
 blown. 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 But when thy Nemean hymn the praise of Jove 
 Bemembers, with soft hand thy glorious lyre 
 And touch chastised in modest numbers move. 
 
 On that famed isle the sceptred sire 
 Of all the gods with reverend voice 
 
 Besound : for there in happiest hour 
 ^Egina’s womb the genial power 
 With ^Eacus impregn’d, and bade her rocks rejoice. 
 
 strophe v. 
 
 He thy paternal brother, and thine host, 
 
 Great Hercules, first raised our country’s fame * — 
 
 Her prince and patron. Oh ! if man may boast + 
 
 Man’s friendship ; if, with hearts and hopes the same, 
 
 * Our country’s fame. As Pindar was of Thebes, and ^Eacus was 
 king of AEgina, this passage is not to be explained, exce ;pt by attribut- 
 
ODE VII.1 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 381 
 
 Associates dear in sweet fraternity 
 
 Life’s purest joys delighted share, 
 
 And gods such bliss may taste ; oh, then, with thee, 
 
 Whose mastery quell’d the Titans’ war, 
 
 Brave Sogenes by fortune blest, 
 
 While filial reverence warms his breast, 
 
 Within these sacred walls, th’ august retreat 
 Of all his affluent sires, will fix his favourite seat : 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V. 
 
 For as the parting pole on either hand 
 
 Flanks the quadrigal chariot’s gilded yoke, 
 
 Between thy stately fanes his turrets stand. 
 
 Blest youth ! him sooth’d by thee with prospering look 
 Jove and great Juno and the blue-eyed Maid 
 Shall guard : for, when disasters press, 
 
 Oft helpless man thy prompt exertions aid. 
 
 Vouchsafe, benignant sire, to bless 
 
 His youth with power, his age with length 
 Of years, contentment, health, and strength ; 
 Vouchsafe the late descendants of his sons 
 Their father’s fame shall share, augmenting as it runs. 
 
 ing to it a considerable poetic license. Either the allusion must be to the 
 sisterhood of the two kingdoms, deriving their names respectively from 
 HSgina and Thebe, two of the daughters of Asopus ; or else 7 rarpa, 
 country, is to be taken in an extended sense for Greece in general. In 
 corroboration of the former explanation is the account of Herodotus 
 (Terpsic. c. 79, 80), that the Thebans, having been directed by the 
 Delphic oracle to claim assistance from those who were nearest to them — 
 tojv dyx i(TTa — interpreted this expression as relating to nearness of 
 blood, and accordingly applied to the -ZEginetans. If the latter inter- 
 pretation is to be preferred, the allusion is probably to the occasion upon 
 which HSacus rendered service to the whole of Greece when oppressed by 
 a famine. 
 
 + Ok / *if man may boast, &c. The subject and allusion of the fol- 
 lowing apostrophe is the situation of the house of Sogenes, which hap- 
 pened to be placed between two temples dedicated to Hercules, according 
 to the Scholiast. 
 
/ 
 
 382 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE VIIL 
 
 EPODE Y. 
 
 But for myself ne’er sliall my conscience say, 
 
 What e’er unheeded calumny may feign, 
 
 That Neoptolemus my slanderous lay 
 
 Deign’d with unjust reproach to stain; — 
 
 But ’twere wit’s weakness to disprove 
 
 The three-times-thrice refuted lie, 
 
 To waste on wayward infancy 
 
 The grandam’s endless tale of “ Corinth sprung from Jove.”* 
 
 ODE VIII. 
 
 TO DEINIS, THE SON OF MEGAS, OF iEGINA, 
 
 Victor in the Single Foot-race. 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 Herald of love’s ambrosial joys, 
 
 That on the lids of laughing boys 
 And bright-eyed maids dost sib, enchanting Youth ! 
 Whose heedless guidance, as the soul 
 Unpractised feels thy wild control, 
 
 Leads this to rapture, that to ruth : — 
 
 Yet oh ! when opportunity, 
 
 That warns all fortune’s works to move, 
 Gives the kind hour, how sweet to be 
 The lord of every virtuous love. 
 
 * “ Corinth sprung from, Jove ” seems to have been an expression pro- 
 verbially denoting anything often and tediously repeated, in allusion 
 probably to some story in which it frequently recurred. Two such 
 stories are suggested by the Scholiast ; both of them, however, equally 
 unsatisfactory and insufficient to explain the expression. 
 
ODE VIII.] 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 383 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. • 
 
 Such love, as round the genial bed 
 For Jove and blest iEgina spread, 
 
 Served the rich gifts voluptuous Yenus brought : 
 
 Thence sprung the wise, the warlike son, 
 
 Whose greatness graced (Enone’s throne : 
 
 Thousands with prayers his presence sought ; 
 
 Unforced, uncall’d, the pride and flower 
 Of all the states that groan’d around,* 
 
 Spontaneous to his hallow’d power 
 
 Trusted their griefs, their welfare bound : — 
 
 EPODE I. 
 
 Heroes and sapient seers, that sway’d 
 The sage Athenians’ rocky strand, 
 
 And Pelops’ sons by Spartan chiefs obey’d. 
 
 Thus for that favourite isle’s heroic band 
 The reverend knees, t in suppliant guise, 
 
 Of Hilacus I clasp, and with me bring 
 My Lydian wreath, of various minstrelsies, 
 
 Round Deinis’ brows and Megas’ bust to fling — 
 
 Each for his Nemean race, the son’s and father’s prize : 
 Unfading joys to him are given 
 Whose fortune’s seed is sown in heaven. 
 
 * All the states that groan'd arownd. The occasion here alluded to 
 was that of a dreadful drought and famine which afflicted the whole of 
 Greece, when it was declared by the oracle that the prayers of -ZEacus 
 alone would be capable of diverting the wrath of Heaven. Accordingly 
 rain was granted to his own country, and to the whole of Greece, at the 
 supplication of himself and his sons. — See Nem. ode v. ep. i. -ZEacus 
 obtained during his life such a reputation for integrity, that the ancient 
 fables of the Greeks made him one of the judges of hell, with Minos and 
 Ehadamanthus. 
 
 f The reverend Jcnees of jEacus I clasp. Taking his idea from the 
 supplication of the Grecian chiefs to iEacus during his lifetime in 
 behalf of Greece in general, the poet supplicates him now as the tute- 
 lary hero of iEgina in favour of that island, and of Deinis and his father 
 Megas. 
 
384 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE VIII. 
 
 * STROPHE II. 
 
 With hoards of wealth heaven’s bounteous grace 
 Loaded the Cyprian Cinyras : # 
 
 Breathe here, my Muse, and rest thy nimble feet — 
 
 Oft hath that various tale been told : 
 
 And perilous ’tis with fictions bold 
 The test of censure’s glance to meet. 
 
 The adventurous bard is envy’s prey — 
 
 Envy, that braveU mounts the skies, 
 
 Stoops not the pinion mols to slay, 
 
 But makes her quarry of the wise. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 ’Twas envy’s hand with frenzy’s sword 
 Th’ indignant heart of Ajax gored. 
 
 Ungrac’d with eloquence, by weaker foes 
 Defeated, valour sometimes flies 
 The wordy warfare, while the prize 
 To varnish’d falsehood folly throws. 
 
 Thus duped the Greeks vdth lots conceal’d 
 The false Ulysses glorified ; 
 
 Robb’d of his casque and golden shield 
 Ajax himself assail’d and died. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Ah ! how unlike in war’s rough hour 
 
 The blows they dealt, the blood they drew ! 
 
 From their strain’d arms with what unequal pow’r 
 Against the conscious foe their javelins flew ! 
 
 Strove they for great Achilles slain, 
 
 Or join’d the slaughters of the general fray. 
 
 Thus used of old was flattery’s hateful bane, 
 
 Winning with wheedling words her treacherous way — 
 Artificer of fraud, man’s mischief and his stain : 
 
 The great she levels, but to raise 
 The mouldering glory of the base. 
 
 * Cinyras, king of Cyprus, and priest of Venus, was the father of 
 Adonis by his own daughter Myrrha. His opulence, like that of 
 Croesus, was proverbial. 
 
ODE VIIC.J 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 %85 
 
 O grant me of thy grace divine, 
 
 Great J ove, such meanness ne’er be mine ; 
 
 Teach me through life truth’s simple path to find, 
 
 That my sons blush not for their sire. 
 
 Some showers of gold from heaven require, 
 
 Others for boundless plains have pined ; 
 
 Grant me my country’s smiles to meet, 
 
 And let these limbs the grave devour ; 
 
 Still probity with praise I’ll greet, 
 
 Still on the knave my vengeance pour. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Virtue exalted by the Muse, 
 
 As the tall pine refresh’d with dews • 
 
 Lifts to the fostering heaven its branching head, 
 
 Among the just in glory thrives. 
 
 A thousand helps kind friendship gives, 
 
 Most when the conqueror’s fame they spread. 
 
 Exulting victory still requires 
 
 The gazer’s eye, the blazon’d name — 
 
 Oh ! Megas, that thy minstrel’s fires 
 
 Could from the shades thy soul reclaim ! 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Presumptuous wish, whose transient blaze 
 
 Gleams on the scene but traced and gone ! 
 
 Yet for thy Chariad tribe his skill can raise 
 Th’ eternal pillar of Pierian stone, 
 
 Where all thy graved exploits may read — 
 
 The twofold triumph. ’Tis my boast to build 
 The proud memorial equal to the deed. 
 
 Oft hath sweet bard the champion’s toil beguiled ; 
 Long since the encomiast hymn was might’s heroic meed ; 
 Before Adrastus’ Theban fray* 
 
 Our grandsires kindled at the lay. 
 
 * Adrastus, king of Argos, led the seven chiefs in their war against 
 Thebes, on the side of Polynices, who, having been banished by his 
 brother Eteocles, and fled to Adrastus, married his daughter Argia. 
 
 Eespecting Adrastus, and the fatal termination of the war of the 
 Seven against Thebes, more will be found in the next ode. 
 
 2 C 
 
386 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 JODE H 
 
 ODE IX.* 
 
 TO CHROMIUS OF .ETNA, 
 
 fictor in the Chariot-race. 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 From Sicyon’s field, ye powers of song, 
 
 We’ll lead the choiring pomp along 
 
 To new-built HCtna’sf echoing wall ; 
 
 Where Chromius’ gates unfolded wide 
 Scarce take the stranger’s pressing tide 
 That crowds his hospitable hall. 
 
 Strike ye the chords, your sweetest hymn prepare ; 
 
 On this triumphal day, 
 
 Mounting his bright victorious car, 
 
 To the great Mother and her offspring twain, 
 
 Guardians of Pytho’s towering fane, 
 
 He consecrates the swelling lay. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 ? Twas held of old, and many a tongue 
 In every age the truth has sung, 
 
 That virtuous action to the ground 
 Sinks not in silence long to pine ; 
 
 But ’tis the living song divine 
 
 That spreads th’ unboasted glory round. 
 
 * The subjects of this and the two following odes are not victories at 
 the Nemean games, though placed among the Neuman odes. This vic- 
 tory of Chromius was obtained in the Pythian games at Sicyon. 
 
 *f New-built jEtna. Hiero, king of Syracuse, had lately refounded 
 and restored Catana, and perhaps given it at the same time the name of 
 .Etna ; or, as is more probable, it had before obtained both these names 
 Indifferently. Hence it is called the new-built Etna. He had also 
 appointed Chromius to be governor of it, who is thence called in this 
 place the Etnaean. Catana is remarkable for the dreadful overthrows 
 to which it has been subjected from its proximity to Mount Etna. 
 
387 
 
 ODE IX.] NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 Twang now the trembling lyre, the clarion fill, 
 
 Sound we the chariot’s game. 
 
 Which erst by old Asopus’ rill 
 
 Adrastus hallow’d* to the God of day, 
 
 And, as we sing, the grateful lay 
 
 Shall crown th’ heroic founder’s name. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 A stranger on that throne he sat, 
 
 And dignified the adopted state 
 
 With new-form’d feasts and solemn shows, 
 
 Where strength with strength adventuring strove, 
 
 And still the circling chariot drove ; 
 
 He by faint friends and daring foes, 
 
 Amphiareus’ train, encompass’d round, 
 
 His Argive realms had fled ; 
 
 Where now, by plots and plans unsound 
 
 Expell’d, no more the sons of Talaus reign’d, t 
 Let fools the vain dispute maintain ; 
 
 Peace only springs from wisdom’s head. 
 
 t Adrastus hallow'd. Pindar perhaps uses a poetical license in 
 making Adrastus the first founder of the games at Sicyon, for the sake 
 of dignifying his subject. 
 
 t No more the sons of Talaus reign'd. The kingdom of Sicyon was 
 the most ancient in Greece, and in the earliest times was of so great 
 importance, as to give its name to the whole of Peloponnesus. It 
 ceased, however, so early as B. C. 1088, and of its history little is known 
 except the names of its kings. The story here alluded to is somewhat 
 variously told — Herodotus, and Mensechmus according to the Scholiast, 
 making Adrastus to be the grandson, and others calling him the son-in- 
 law of Polybus, whose throne he inherited in Sicyon. Dieutychidas 
 gives the most detailed account, as found in the Scholiast. He relates 
 that the daughters of Praetus, king of Argos, being insane, Melanippus 
 the soothsayer undertook to cure them on receiving two-thirds of the 
 kingdom. This he performed, and the half of his share he gave to his 
 brother Bias, so that the whole kingdom was divided into three parts, 
 between the descendants of Melanippus, Bias, and Praetus. Amphia- 
 raus was the descendant of Melanippus, who, quarrelling with Talaus, 
 the son of Bias, and father of Adrastus, put him to death. Adrastus 
 fled to Sicyon, where he married the daughter of Polybus. So that 
 Adrastus and bis brothers, the sons of Talaus, ceased to reign in Argos. 
 Adrastus having succeeded to the throne of Polybus, who died without 
 an heir, instead of harbouring his resentment, entered into terms with 
 Amphiaraus, and cemented their friendship by giving him his sister 
 Eriphyle in marriage, as the poet proceeds to relate. 
 
 2 c 2 
 
388 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IX, 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 ’Twas thus, his sapient rival’s rage 
 By love’s all-softening pow’r to ’suage, 
 
 Fair Eriphyle’s virgin charms, 
 
 Faith’s surest pledge, Adrastus gave ; 
 
 Thus leagued, the first of Danaans brave, # 
 
 Again they join’d their threatening arms ; * 
 Forth to sev’n-portall’d Thebes their bands they drew, 
 Their-long combined array ; 
 
 Though birds ill-omen’d round them flew ; 
 
 Though hostile Jove disheartening thunders peal’d, 
 Thwarting the desperate march they held, 
 
 And warn’d them from the fatal way. 
 
 strophe v. 
 
 Still pressing on with furious haste 
 Madly the advancing doom they faced ; 
 
 The field with brazen helmets burns ; 
 
 With brass the snorting war-steeds gleam ; 
 
 From choked Ismenus’ t crimson stream 
 None of that countless host returns. 
 
 Sev’n brightening flames each on his several pyre 
 Sev’n youthful champions feed ; 
 
 Jove, with his bolt’s all-conquering fire, 
 
 Cleft for Amphiareus earth’s yawning womb, 
 
 And closed in one portentous tomb 
 
 Champion and chariot, arms and steed — 
 
 * First of Danaans. The royal family of Argos was derived from 
 Danaus. Prsetus was the son of Abas, and Abas was the son of 
 Lynceus by Hypermnestra, the daughter of Danaus . — ApollocL 
 lib. ii. c. ii. 
 
 f Mr. Dodwell (vol. i. p. 266) informs us that the Ismenus is at pre- 
 sent but an insignificant stream, having less pretensions to the title of 
 a river than even the Athenian Ilissus, for it has no water except after 
 heavy rains. It then becomes a torrent, and rushes into the lake of 
 Nytica, about four miles west of Thebes. 
 
ODE IX.j 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 389 
 
 STROPHE VI. 
 
 Ere Periclymenus’ javelin came 
 
 With dastard’s wound his back to shame, 
 
 As from that fire, with quivering eye, 
 
 The prophet warrior turn’d away ; * 
 
 For when heaven sends the strange dismay 
 o E’en sons of gods will quail and fly. 
 
 O ward, Saturnian Jove, if fate permit, 
 
 From ^Etna’s rising towers 
 The invader’s rage, the desperate fight, 
 
 The chains ev’n now Phoenician threats prepare : 
 
 Grant her the blessings long to share 
 
 That law from concord’s fountain pours : 
 
 STROPHE VII. 
 
 Give her, great J ove, the nobler shade, 
 
 Where glory twines her civic braid ; 
 
 For she hath sons that love the race, 
 
 Pule the swift steed ; whose bosoms hold 
 Souls that disdain the lust of gold : 
 
 Doubt not such hearts are virtue’s place. 
 
 Honour, the fount of glory, steals away, 
 
 By gain’s mean arts beguiled — 
 
 Squire thou young Chromius to the fray ; 
 
 Mark how in bark or band he braves the fight, 
 
 The perilous spear, the horseman’s might ; 
 
 On rock or rampart, flood or field : 
 
 * Amphiaraus, being skilled in the knowledge of futurity, well knew 
 that he was to perish in the war of the Argives against Thebes, and 
 concealed himself to avoid accompanying it. His wife, Eriphyle, 
 suffered herself to be bribed to discover his retreat by a famous necklace 
 wrought by Vulcan, and formerly given by Venus to Harmonia, the 
 wife of Cadmus. To this Homer alludes — 
 
 There Eriphyle weeps, who loosely sold 
 Her lord, her honour, for the lust of gold. — Pope's Homer . 
 Amphiaraus accordingly accompanied the expedition and perished in 
 the manner here related, having left a command with his son Alcmaeon 
 to kill Eriphyle as soon as he heard of his own death, which was 
 executed. 
 
 Pausanias (bk. viii.) relates that Alcmseon, after punishing his 
 mother’s treachery, fled from Argos to Phegia, and married Alphesibcea, 
 
390 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE 13- 
 
 STROPHE VIII. 
 
 For honour, like a god, hath dress’d 
 In adamant his warlike breast, 
 
 And taught him, when his country calls, 
 
 To meet unmoved the deadliest foe. 
 
 Few are the fiery souls that know, 
 
 When war’s fierce tempest heaviest falls, 
 Back on th’ assailant’s arms and wavering ranks 
 With hand and heart to turn 
 The wasteful wreck. Scamander’s banks 
 
 For Hector’s brow thick wreaths of glory bore ; 
 On deep Helorus’ dangerous shore 
 
 The rival crowns of Chromius burn : — 
 
 STROPHE IX. 
 
 There at th’ Areian pass,* its mortal name, 
 
 His country’s boast, Agesidame, 
 
 Thy son the Punic spear defied, 
 
 Yet but a youth, and round his head 
 The radiant beams of conquest spread. 
 
 Fain would I tell what deeds beside 
 
 the daughter of Phegeus, to whom he gave the fatal necklace. 
 Calliroe, the daughter of Achelous, whom he afterwards married, 
 having conceived a violent longing for the necklace, Alcmseon lost 
 his life in attempting to recover it from the sons of Phegeus. The sons 
 of Phegeus consecrated it in the temple of Delphi. In his ninth book 
 he states that this famous necklace was said in his time to be in an 
 ancient temple of Venus and Adonis in Cyprus, having been stolen from 
 Delphi by the tyrants of Phocis. Pausanias, however, expresses a 
 doubt of its identity. 
 
 * At th' Areian pass. The Areian pass was all the part about Rhe- 
 gium and the straits of Messina, according to the Scholiast. The river 
 Helorus was situated a little above Pachynum, the south-eastern pro- 
 montory of Sicily. It is called by Virgil (JEn. iii. 698) the stagnant 
 Helorus, from the slow course of its waters, and its habit of overflowing 
 its banks periodically. The fertility produced by these inundations, and 
 the beauty of its banks, occasioned Ovid to call the valleys through 
 which it flows Heloria Tempe. — Fast. iv. 475. 
 
 The present allusion may be to some battle which took place in the 
 wars with the Carthaginians, already mentioned in the sixth strophe. 
 
NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 ODE IX.] 
 
 391 
 
 On land he dared and on the neighbouring bnaie ! 
 
 Bright are the champion’s days, 
 
 And calm and prosperous his decline, 
 
 Whose strenuous youth for just renown has fought. 
 Know, Chromius, know ’tis heaven that wrought 
 The rare success thy lot displays. 
 
 strophe x. 
 
 For when brave wealth and hard-earn’d praise 
 One gifted head conspire to raise, 
 
 ’Tis not for mortal step to gain 
 A loftier stand on fortune’s hill, 
 
 A nobler destiny to fill. 
 
 Sweet concord suits the social train, 
 
 And the green bough which brave desert receives 
 The lay’s soft flowers enhance : 
 
 But ’tis the generous bowl that gives 
 
 Clearness and courage to the minstrel’s throat — 
 The prompting prophet of his note. 
 
 Bid the mingling beverage dance, 
 
 STROPHE XI. 
 
 The silver circling goblets shine 
 With the stout offspring of the vine ; — 
 
 Goblets, which erst in Chromius’ car,* 
 
 Crown’d with Apollo’s glittering bough, 
 
 Which justice weaves for glory’s brow, 
 
 The conquering coursers whirl’d from far — 
 From Sicyon’s sacred field. Celestial sire, 
 
 Grant to thy suppliant’s hope 
 Thy graces to assist his lyre, 
 
 Chromius above all youths in fame to raise, 
 
 And fling the javelin of my praise 
 Full at the skilful muse’s scope. 
 
 * In the Pythian games at Sicyon, the prizes, says the Scholiast, were 
 not only crowns, but silver cups. He also supposes the victor not to 
 have returned home after his victory, but to have sent his chariot to 
 attend the triumphal procession. 
 
392 
 
 NEMEAN ODES 
 
 [ODE X, 
 
 ODE X. 
 
 TO THEIiEUS, SON OF ULIAS, 
 
 • Victor in the Game of Wrestling. 
 
 STROPHE T. 
 
 Argos, the kingly seat 
 Of Danaus and his fifty daughters fair, 
 
 Juno’s august abode, for godhead meet, 
 
 Sing, heavenly Graces : Virtue there 
 Glows in a thousand glorious deeds. 
 
 Of regions vast and winged steeds, 
 
 And how the beauteous Gorgon fell, 
 
 By Perseus foil’d, ’twere long to tell :* 
 
 Shine not on Egypt’s shore with gorgeous hand 
 By Epaphus unnumber’d cities rear’d ? + 
 
 And who admires not, when the guiltless brand 
 By Hypermnestra sheath’d her slumbering bridegroom 
 spared 1 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 A bright immortal god 
 
 Diomede J the beauteous blue-eyed Virgin made. 
 
 Touch’d by the Thunderer’s arm and radiant rod 
 Earth in her Theban bosom laid 
 
 * See Pytli. ode x. ep. ii. stro. iii. antist. iii. 
 
 f Epaphus was the founder of Memphis, which he named after his 
 wife. His daughter Libya gave her name to a part of Africa. From 
 her sprung, according to Apollodorus, in the second generation, accord- 
 ing to others, immediately, HSgyptus and Danaus ; from the latter of 
 whom descended the royal family of Argos. 
 
 X Diomede was the son of Deiphyle, the daughter of Adrastus, whom 
 Tydeus married when he had taken refuge at her father’s court. Hence 
 he is here ranked among the heroes of Argos. — Apollod. i. 8. Strabo 
 mentions an altar which was raised to him as a god on the Timavus, a 
 river running into the most northern part of the Adriatic gulf, close to 
 the modern Trieste. 
 
NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 393 
 
 ODE X.| 
 
 The prophet-son of CEcleus proud, ^ 
 
 In war the battle’s threatening cloud. 
 
 Before all cities Argos claims 
 
 The palm for beauty’s bright-hair’d dames ; 
 
 Jove bear me witness : — from th’ ethereal throne 
 Alcmena’s domes he sought and Danae’s tower : 
 
 He, in Adrastus’ sire and Lynceust shown, 
 
 Bade upright justice bloom with wisdom’s fruitful dower. 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 He bless’d Amphitryon’s conquering sword, 
 
 His prosperous house with treasures stored ; 
 
 And while the distant warrior, brazen-mail’d, 
 
 The fierce TeleboanJ hosts assail’d, 
 
 Couch’d in his form and mortal guise 
 Th’ eternal sovereign of the skies 
 Within his courts the genial presence show’d, 
 
 Mix’d his celestial race with his, 
 
 And rear’d the undaunted Hercules : — 
 
 Spouse of the rosy blooming bride 
 That walks by Juno’s matron side, 
 
 Hebe, the fairest form in all the blest abode. § 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Words have no warmth to paint 
 The glorious stores of endless excellence 
 
 That gild the shrine of Argos : praise grows faint, 
 
 And palls the admirer’s satiate sense. 
 
 * See Nem. ode ix. stro. v. vi. 
 
 + Lynceus, the only one of the fifty sons of iEgyptus, who escaped 
 being slain upon the wedding night, having been spared by his wife 
 Hypermnestra, when all the others were killed by the daughters of 
 Danaus. Abas, according to Apollodorus, was the son of Lynceus, by 
 Hypermnestra ; Abas had a son, Acrisius, who was the father of Danae ; 
 and Perseus, the son of Danae, was the father of Electryon, who was 
 the father of Alcmena. Talaus, Adrastus’ sire, has been already men- 
 tioned in the last ode, stro. iii. 
 
 t The Teleboam were a people addicted to piracy, who inhabited 
 some small islands lying between Leucadia and Acamania. Mr. Dod- 
 well describes the former condition and the present state of these islands, 
 and collects together the authorities which identify them with tha 
 Taphians. — Dod. Tr. vol. i. p. 60 . 
 
 § See Nem . ode i. ep. iv. 
 
394 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ode X. 
 
 Yet shall the wrestler’s deeds inspire 
 The raptures of the well-strung lyre, 
 
 To sound through all th’ Argolic field 
 The conflict of the brazen shield 
 By Juno’s fuming altar, where the throng 
 Hails young Theiaeus, as the dazzling spoil 
 The twice-crown’d son of Ulias bears along, 
 
 And quaffs from glory’s cup th’ oblivion of his toil. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 First of the first he shone 
 ’Mongst all the Hellenian host in Pytho’s groves ; 
 
 Isthmian and Kemean crowns his prowess won ; 
 Fortune still follows as he moves. 
 
 Thrice at the gates that flank the main,* 
 
 Thrice on the consecrated plain 
 Whose weal th’ Adrastian laws diffuse, 
 
 He sow’d the harvest of the Muse. 
 
 Paternal Jove ! the wish that fires his breast 
 His lip reveals not : but all things in thee 
 End and begin : by dangers none repress’d, 
 
 His toil-train’d heart but asks what all the brave would be. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 What the Muse hopes thy godhead knows ; 
 
 Knows he whose soul for glory glows, 
 
 Who pants to bind him with th’ Heraclian wreaths, 
 Which Pisa’s noblest rite bequeaths. 
 
 Him twice the sweet triumphal song, 
 
 Breathed from the moving choir, among 
 Panathenaic pomps and festal cries, 
 
 Proclaim’d. In clay-burnt shrine inurn’d 
 Th’ anointed victor’s oil return’d 
 To Juno’s towers, whose gathering crowd, 
 
 With marv’lling looks, and cheerings loud, 
 
 Gazed on the pictured wall that fenced the liquid prize, t 
 
 * Oates that flank the main. The isthmus of Corinth is not unfre- 
 quently called the gate of the ocean. In the following lines, the Pythian 
 games at Sicyon are probably not intended, but the Nemean, which were 
 within the territory of Sicyon, over which Adrastus reigned, as related 
 in the last ode. 
 
 t Tfie pictured wall that fenced the liquid prize. The allusion is to the 
 
ODE X.] 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 395 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Nor less the rich renown 
 Gain’d in the games thy famed maternal race 
 
 Pursues ; them Leda’s * twins with many a crown, 
 
 With many a song the Muses grace. 
 
 Oh ! were I sprung from Antias’ line, 
 
 Were Thrasyclus my noble kin, 
 
 With no sunk port, no drooping face, 
 
 Would I ’mong proudest Argives pace 
 Prsetus’ wide city — whose conquests who shall count ? 
 Mistress of steeds ! from Corinth’s winding shore, 
 
 From Nemea’s grove, by fair Cleonse’s mount, 
 
 Four times her envied sons the verdant victory bore. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 In Sicyon’s conflicts won 
 With sparkling wine their silver goblets glow’d : 
 
 The wool-wove stole Pellene’s dames had spun, 
 
 Soft from their trophied shoulders flow’d. 
 
 But to review the brazen spoils, 
 
 The ponderous arms that paid their toils, 
 
 ’Twere vain ; nor shall the attempt abuse 
 The leisure of the pressing Muse : 
 
 Arms that from Tegea, from Clitorium came, 
 
 From towns that glitter’d on th’ Achaean steep, 
 
 From J ove’s Lycaean mount, t and many a game 
 That proved the vigorous arm, the foot-race, and the leap. 
 
 vessel of oil which was given as a prize to every victor at the Panathe- 
 naic festival at Athens, it being unlawful for any other person to export 
 this commodity. 
 
 * Leda’s twins. Pollux was generally esteemed the god and patron 
 of boxing and wrestling, and Castor of horsemanship and the chariot- 
 race. — Apollod. iii. 11. 
 
 f From Jove’s Ly ocean mount. Lycaon, the son of Pelasgus (Ajpollod. 
 iii. 8), was the first king of Arcadia, 1,820 years B. C. He built the 
 town here alluded to, called Lycosura, upon the top of Mount Lycaeus, 
 in honour of Jupiter. Two of his sons, Tegeates and Clitor, built Tegea 
 and Clitorium, just before mentioned, in the same county. Mr. Dodwell 
 (vol. ii. pp. 418-420) describes the present remains of Tegea, which 
 are extensive and interacting. 
 
396 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE X. 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 What wonder yet that nature’s flame 
 Warm’d them to win the champion’s fame ! 
 
 When Pollux erst with godlike Castor pair’d 
 The social roof of Pamphaes shared 
 (Whose blood thy sires, Theiseus, boast), 
 
 And sojourn’d with th’ heroic host. 
 
 For they, wide regents of the Spartan land, 
 
 With Hercules and Hermes join’d, 
 
 The wreaths of conquest blast or bind, 
 
 And guard with more than mortal trust 
 The cares and honours of the just. 
 
 Our faith, our reverend love, the sons of heaven command. 
 
 STROPHE iv. 
 
 They, with alternate change, 
 
 To-day in Jove’s celestial mansion dwell — 
 
 To-morrow through Therapnse’s vales they range, 
 
 And shroud them in their earthly cell. 
 
 Thus, join’d in glory as in woe, 
 
 The same coeval doom they know ; 
 
 Strange doom ! which rather than receive 
 Godhead unqualified, and live 
 Imperishable in heaven’s eternal sphere, 
 
 Great Pollux chose, since Castor breathed no more — 
 
 Whom haply Idas with his brazen spear 
 Wrangling for worthless herds, stretch’d lifeless on the 
 shore. # # 
 
 * Pindar, in the account which he here gives of the death of Castor, 
 seems to follow most nearly the story adopted by Apollodorus. The 
 most current account was, that being invited to a feast where Idas and 
 Lynceus were about to celebrate their marriage with Phoebe and Talaira, 
 the daughters of Leucippus, who was brother to Tyndarus, they 
 attempted to carry off the brides, which occasioned the encounter in 
 which Castor was killed. Apollodorus says, that the Dioscuri had before 
 married Phoebe and Talaira, and that having joined Idas and Lynceus 
 in stealing and carrying off some cattle out of Arcadia, Idas was 
 intrusted to divide the spoil, and took the whole to his own and his 
 brother’s share. The Dioscuri following them, hid themselves under an 
 oak, where Lynceus, espying them, killed Castor. Pollux in return 
 killed Lynceus ; but being wounded by Idas, with a stone, Jupiter 
 
OPE X.j 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 397 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 Him ’gainst an oak reclined 
 Lynceus from far Taygetus descried — # 
 
 Lynceus, whose searching ken ’bove all mankind 
 The clearest, keenest glance supplied. 
 
 Bent on surprise, with vengeance bold, 
 
 They sallied from their mountain hold, 
 
 (Weak sons of Aphareus !) and with speed 
 Plann’d and despatch’d the deadly deed. 
 
 Ill-counsell’d deed — too soon the wrath of Jove 
 To rue — for now behind them close at hand 
 
 Came Leda’s threatening son, whose power to prove 
 Fast by their father’s tomb they fix’d their desperate stand, 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 Thence in their haste a ponderous rock, 
 
 The sculptured bust of death, they broke, 
 
 And with dire impulse and direction true 
 Full at the breast of Pollux threw. 
 
 He sunk not, but right onward sprung, 
 
 By foul assault more fierce, and Hung, 
 
 Through Lynceus’ heart transfix’d, his brazen lance. 
 
 J ove at that instant in his ire 
 Smote Idas with his bolted fire, 
 
 And squander’d in the desert air 
 The corses of the smouldering pair. 
 
 Hard is the strife when men ’gainst heavenly foes advance. 
 
 strophe v. 
 
 Quick from that blasted ground 
 To Castor’s aid th’ afflicted brother flies ; 
 
 Him not yet dead, but shuddering damp he found, 
 With breath scarce heaved and half-closed eyes. 
 
 despatched Idas 'with a thunder-bolt. — Apollod. lib. iii. c. viii. See 
 Theocritus, Idyll, xxiii. and Ovid, Fast. v. 
 
 * Taygetus is a mountain of Laconia. It hung over the city of 
 Lacedaemon, and a part of it is said to have once fallen and destroyed a 
 part of the suburbs. Mr. Dodwell describes it as a mountain of singu- 
 larly beautiful and varied outline (vol. ii. p. 392). 
 
398 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE X. 
 
 Pierced at the sight, with heart- warm tears, 
 
 Groaning to heaven his voice he rears : — 
 
 “ Saturnian sire, what blest release, 
 
 “ What pause remains for grief like this ? 
 
 “ Grant me with him to die, merciful king ! 
 
 “ Honour of friends bereft hath lost his stay, 
 
 “ Droops and is gone ; and few be they that bring 
 “ The heart life’s toils to share, and cheer us through the 
 “ day.” 
 
 ANTISTROPHE V. 
 
 Such was his noble prayer ; 
 
 When face to face before him standing shone 
 
 Yisible Jove, and spake : — “ Hear, warrior, hear, 
 
 “ Thou art mine own authentic son ; 
 
 “ Him, with thy beauteous mother pair’d, 
 
 “ Of mortal seed a hero rear’d. 
 
 “ Mark now the large alternative, 
 
 “ To thy free wish the choice I give : 
 
 “ If ’tis thy will from death’s cold grasp to fly, 
 
 “ From weak detested age and nature’s waste, 
 
 “ With warlike Pallas in the sun-bright sky, 
 
 M And sable-lanced Mars, eternal youth to taste — 
 
 epode v. 
 
 “ Such lot supreme ’tis thine to prove : — 
 
 “ But if thy zeal, thy godlike love, 
 
 “ Prompts and impels thee for thy brother’s sake 
 “ Dividual doom with him to take, 
 
 “ Half thy divine eternity 
 “ In earth’s dark womb with him must lie, 
 
 “ Half in the golden domes of heaven’s domain.” 
 
 The father paused — the brother’s breast 
 Ho doubt perplex’d, no dread repress’d : 
 
 His touch the death-chain’d lids unbound, 
 
 Loosed from his lips the thrilling sound, 
 
 His brazen helm unclasp’d, and Castor lived again. 
 
ODE XI.J 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 399 
 
 ODE XI. 
 
 TO ARISTAGORAS, THE PRYTANIS OF TENEDOS,, SON OF 
 ARCHESILAUS. 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 Vesta, that kold’st the Prytansean hall,^ 
 
 From Rhea sprung, sister of highest Jove 
 And Juno that partakes his throne above — 
 
 Into thy stately chamber deign to call 
 Sage Aristagoras, thy sceptred hand 
 Beside install’d with all his band. 
 
 They to thy glory in thy sight 
 
 Through Tenedos dispense wisdom and power and right. 
 antistrophe i. 
 
 Eldest of gods, they, with libations pour’d, 
 
 With fragrant offerings oft thy rites prolong, 
 
 And trembling lyres resound and sacred song, 
 
 While genial Themis her perpetual board 
 
 Heaps with the feasts of hospitable Jove. 
 
 Grant him with heart un wrung to move 
 IJnblamed through all the important year, 
 
 And straight by virtue’s star his glorious course to steer. 
 
 epode i. 
 
 Let not the cheering numbers pass 
 His sire, the blest Arcesilas, 
 
 Th’ accomplish’d form and cognate fortitude : 
 
 Yet let fond man, with wealth endued, 
 
 * Prytcmcean hall. The Prytanes at Athens, and they were probably 
 nearly the same at Tenedos, were certain magistrates who presided over 
 the senate, and had the privilege of convoking it. They assembled in a 
 large hall, called the Prytanasum, where they offered sacrifices, gave 
 audience, and deliberated. The Prytanes, at Athens, were ten in num- 
 ber, chosen annually from each of the ten tribes, each presiding in his 
 turn thirty-five days, so as to divide the year among them. — Pott. Gr. 
 Ant. vol. i. pp. 107, 108, 117. Pausanias (bk. i.) says that the laws of 
 Solon were written up in the Prytanaeum, in which were also kept ths 
 statues of Peace and Vesta. 
 
400 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE XI. 
 
 With, charms of shape transcendant graced, 
 
 Midst the proud games ’mongst all the bold 
 
 For bra^e achievement foremost placed, 
 
 Forget not that his limbs are mortal mould, 
 
 That earth, man’s, latest garb, that boasted frame must hold. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 With patriot speech, with civic eulogy, 
 
 Still Aristagoras ’tis meet to praise, 
 
 And round his brow, with loud mellifluous lays 
 Warbling his deeds, th’ embellish’d crown to tie. 
 
 His and his country’s name by him renown’d, 
 
 Won from the bordering states around, 
 
 Sixteen great conquests signalize, 
 
 The dexterous wrestler’s wreath, the tough Pentathlian 
 prize. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Him sickly hope and pale parental fear 
 
 Held from the perils of the Pythian field, 
 
 From the rich risks Olympian chaplets yield : 
 
 Else (by my judgment’s pledge, my oath, I swear) 
 
 From those stern pastimes his superb return 
 Had left his vanquish’d foes to mourn 
 By lone Castalia’s murmuring rill, 
 
 And seek the sheltering oaks that shade the Cronian hill ; # 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Else, through the loud quinquennial throng 
 His pomp triumphal moved along, 
 
 With purple branches wreathed, the Heraclian feast 
 Had crown’d. But man’s inconstant breast 
 Oft, by presumptuous hope betray’d, 
 
 Quits for wild dreams the bliss long known ; 
 
 Oft manliest might, with youth display’d, 
 
 Cold cowardice with heartless tongue talks down, 
 
 Plucks back th’ adventurer’s arm, and scares him from the 
 crown. 
 
 * Castalia, near Delphi, is here used for the Pythian, and the hill 
 near OljTnpia, consecrated to Cronus , for the Olympian games. 
 
ODE XI. J 
 
 NEMF.AN ODES. 
 
 401 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Who would not vouch for one, whose sire can boast 
 The Spartan blood that fired Pisander’s vein, 
 
 What time, with brave Orestes, o’er the main 
 
 From throng’d Amy else to this sea-girt coast 
 In brazen arms th’ .ZEolian bands he led 
 For one, whose line’s maternal head, 
 
 By famed Ismenus’ flowery vale, 
 
 From Melanippus f springs — so born, what chief could fail % 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Virtues, like circling spheres, by periods move — 
 
 Pass from the sire away, then blaze again 
 In the son’s son. The sable-cultured plain 
 
 Yields not each year the fruits of nature’s love : 
 
 From the green tree not every season pours 
 Her gem-like buds, her fragrant flowers : t 
 All things by sweet suspension thrive, 
 
 And mortal races bloom and wither and revive. 
 
 * JEolian bands he led. Hellenicus, an early historian whose works 
 are lost, but quoted by the Scholiast, makes mention of this emigration, 
 by which the Greeks colonized HColis in Asia Minor, Lesbos, and Tene- 
 dos. This was eighty years before the migration of the Ionian tribes. 
 
 f Melanippus was one of the Theban chiefs who defended the gates of 
 Thebes against the army of Adrastus and the Argives. He killed 
 Tydeus, one of the seven chiefs. The dead body of Melanippus, who 
 was killed by Amphiaraus, having been brought to him while yet alive, 
 Tydeus ordered his head to be cut off, and tore out the brains with his 
 teeth. For which act Minerva deprived him of immortality. — Apollod. 
 lib. i. c. 8 ; JEsch. Sep. con. Th. 565 ; Pans. ix. c. 18. 
 
 X Pindar uses nearly the same metaphor, in the sixth Nemean ode, 
 antist. i. with a variety, however, which makes each more beautiful. 
 
 He, like the field that sometimes bears 
 From the quick seed, which culture lays, 
 
 Life-fostering fruits and crops of gold ; 
 
 But, when th’ alternate season bids abstain, 
 
 Her fallow sleeps refresh’d, and teems again : 
 
 . Thus he — 
 
402 
 
 NEMEAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE XL 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 ’Tis not for man’s weak wit to find 
 Th intent that moves the omniscient mind : 
 Yet blindly thus the bark of pride we steer ; 
 
 The schemes of greatness rashly rear ; 
 
 Link’d with audacious hope we mount, 
 
 To fortune’s dizziest peak aspire, 
 
 Where springs no stream from wisdom’s fount. 
 Seek thou the virtuous mean : the fierce desire 
 That lusts for loves forbid, is frenzy’s wildest fire. 
 
ISTHMIAN ODES 
 
 ODE I. 
 
 TO HERODOTUS THE THEBAN, 
 
 Victor in the Chariot-race . 
 
 STROPHE i. 
 
 Thebe,* fair heroine of the golden shield, 
 
 Thy dear maternal call before all tasks 
 
 Anxious I meet, — Delos, whose rocky field 
 Claims all my song, grudge not the boon she asks. 
 
 A parent’s will is duty’s choice : 
 
 Isle of Apollo, to that call give way : 
 
 Soon shall my lyre and willing voice 
 Your joint requests fulfil, if heaven inspires the lay, — 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Hymning on Ceos’s cliffs and billowy shore, 
 
 Her seamen choirs among, the God of day 
 
 With unshorn locks refulgent, and the roar 
 Of Isthmian waves that wash the twofold bay ; 
 
 X Thebl was a daughter of the Asopus. She married Zethus, who, 
 together with his brother Amphion, built the walls of Thebes, and 
 called the city by her name. — Ajpollod. iii. 5. By calling her the “ heroine 
 of the golden shield,” the Scholiast observes, is only meant that she 
 and her posterity were renowned in arms. Pindar never neglects the 
 opportunity of an allusion or compliment to his own country, and he 
 now postpones an ode to Delos, already begun, for the immediate 
 celebration of the victory of his own countryman. It seems that he 
 was resident at the time in the island of Ceos, one of the Sporades, 
 situate near the coast of Asia Minor. 
 
 A succinct history of Thebes, and an account of its present state, will 
 be found in Mr. Dodwell’s Travels in Greece, vol. i. ch. ix. p. 262. 
 
 2 d 2 
 
404 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode L 
 
 From whose loud cirque and labour’d game 
 Six glittering wreaths the sons of Cadmus won, 
 
 Crowning their glorious country’s name 
 Where great Alcmena rear’d her brave all-conquering son ; 
 
 EPODE I. 
 
 From whose stern port and brandish’d trunk 
 The dogs of Geryon* cower’d and shrunk. 
 
 But hear Herodotus demand 
 For his tried speed the chariot-victor’s dole, 
 
 Guiding with no auxiliar hand 
 His four fleet coursers to the goal. 
 
 Sing him the song of godlike Iolas,t 
 Or Castor’s hymn his skill to grace : 
 
 Foremost of charioteers were they 
 To win the wreath that wakes the lay 
 Of Thebes or Sparta’s hero race. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 They at the games in fierce athletic fight 
 Adventured, and, with many a chaplet crown’d, 
 
 Tasted sweet victory. With tripods bright 
 Goblets and cups of gold emblazon’d round 
 
 Their mansions flamed, worth’s gorgeous meed ; 
 
 Unriv ail’d worth — along the sounding field 
 Urged they unarm’d their winged speed, 
 
 Or clad them for the race and shook the clanging shield.^ 
 
 * The monster Geryon lived in the island of Erythia, which Apollo- 
 dorus says is the same as Gades, the modern Cadiz, in Spain. His 
 oxen were guarded by his herdsman, Eurytion, and by a two-headed 
 dog, called Orthus, both of which Hercules despatched with his club. 
 The use of the plural number is a mere poetical expression for the 
 plurality of heads. — Apollod. ii. 5 ; Hesiod, Theog. 
 
 Iolas is said by the Scholiast to have been Hercules’s charioteer ; 
 for which reason the mention of him is here applicable. His other 
 feats and qualifications have been before frequently alluded to, as well 
 as Castor’s celebrity for horsemanship. 
 
 f The two different kinds of foot-race are here intended ; in the one 
 of which they wore as little clothing as possible, in the other they 
 were clad in the heavy armour used by the choicest infantry, which 
 was so heavy as to be borne only by men of great strength, and gave them 
 a dignity and rank, as well as security, similar to that of the knights, 
 when clad in complete steel, in the days of chivalry. 
 
ODE I.] 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 406 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 How hurl’d they not the disk’s far-bounding stone ? 
 From their strain’d arms the whizzing javelin flew ; 
 
 (The tough Pentathlian contests then unknown, 
 
 Each perfect toil its several guerdon drew) : 
 
 Thus oft by famed Eurotas’ wave, 
 
 By Dirce’s sparkling fount their glories shone ; 
 
 * And proudly danced their temples brave 
 With bowers of countless wreaths their strenuous aims had 
 won. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Such Iphicles’ illustrious seed, 
 
 Compatriot with earth’s dragon breed 
 
 Such Tyndarus’ godlike son from high 
 Therapne’s hold o’er-peer’d th’ Achaean plain : t 
 Farewell, proud heroes ! and while I 
 To the loud master of the main, 
 
 To sacred Isthmus and th’ Onchestian shore X 
 The melting strain promiscuous pour, 
 
 With the son’s praise the beauteous lyre 
 Shall chant th’ adventures of the sire, 
 
 The toils of brave Asopodore. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Him, on his fortune’s fragments ill sustain’d, 
 
 Toss’d on the rough surge of a boundless sea, 
 
 Orchomenus, through direst dangers gain’d, 
 
 Fostering received. His boisterous destiny, 
 
 * Iphicles, the father of Iolaus, and son of Amphitryon, being a 
 Theban, was therefore the fellow-countryman of the race which Cadmus 
 had produced from the dragon’s teeth ; but he was descended neither 
 from Cadmus nor from these. 
 
 f The inhabitants of the Peloponnesus wert formerly, and before the 
 Heraclidae returned with the Dorians, called Achseans, from Achseus, 
 son of Xuthus, who reigned there for a time. Castor, the son of 
 Tyndarus, was born and had his tomb at Therapnb, a city of Laconia, 
 whence he and his brother Pollux were often called Therajmcei fratres. 
 
 J Th’ Onchestian shore. Neptune was supposed to preside over the 
 games of the Isthmus, where he was particularly honoured, and the 
 poet couples with it the mention of another place in which he was 
 especially worshipped. 
 
406 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode L 
 
 Now smoothed again to loveliest calm, 
 
 Gleams with the radiance of his earlier day ; 
 
 Experience with reflection’s balm 
 Misfortune’s wounds hath heal’d and shown him wisdom's 
 way.* 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 But if success man’s noblest powers demand, 
 
 And cost and labour wait upon renown, 
 
 Well may the minstrel with no sparing hand, 
 
 No vulgar praise, the liberal athlete crown. 
 
 ’Tis but the pastime, not the pain 
 Of Genius his unfailing word to give, 
 
 That bravery shall not strive in vain, 
 
 That virtue raised by him in Fame’s bright heaven shall live. 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 All have their tasks, and each by turns 
 His favourite compensation earns : 
 
 The ploughman rude, the shepherd, all 
 That strike the wild-bird’s wing, or fish the deep, 
 
 Stir but at hunger’s craving call, 
 
 And struggle but to feast and sleep ; 
 
 But he that in rough game or mortal fight 
 Bids the foil’d foe record his might, 
 
 Wins for his work the brave man’s crown, 
 
 The lofty lucre of renown, 
 
 His nation’s pride, the world’s delight. 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 Change we the strain, in loftier mood to sing 
 The neighbouring temple’s god,+ whose angry mace 
 Bocks the firm continent, Saturnian hing, 
 
 Lord of the steed, the chariot, and the race ; 
 
 * No certain or satisfactory explanation of what is here alluded to is 
 given by the Scholiast. It seems that Asopodorus, by his fault or mis- 
 fortune, was expelled from Thebes in some revolution or sedition, and 
 became a citizen of Orchomenus ; and that he afterwards returned, and 
 led a peaceable and private life in his native city. 
 
 t The neighbouring temple's god. This is the temple of Neptune at 
 Onchestus, above mentioned. 
 
ISTHMIAN 0D»& 
 
 407 
 
 ODE I.] 
 
 To sing Amphitryon’s sons divine/* * * § 
 
 Euboea’s isle,t and Minyas’ stately towers, J 
 And famed Eleusis, § by whose shrine 
 Ceres her c\*que displays and mute mysterious bowers. 
 
 ANTISTEOPHE IV. 
 
 Yet must I name thy tomb, Protesilas,|| 
 
 In Phylace by chiefs Achaean plann’d, 
 
 Thy field and sacred stadium : but to trace 
 Th’ equestrian trophies all, by Hermes’ hand 
 Heap’d on Herodotus, the sum 
 Would pass the bounds of my contracted song. 
 
 Best eloquence is sometimes dumb, 
 
 And silence teems with praise, when flattery hath no tongua 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 liaised on th’ illustrious Muse’s wing, 
 
 That soars to heaven his deeds to sing, 
 
 O may he yet from Pytho’s hill, 
 
 From where rich Alpheus laves the Olympian shrine, 
 
 His hand with noblest chaplets fill. 
 
 And for sev’n-portall’d Thebes new honours twine. 
 
 But he that with full hand and spirit poor 
 In secret hoards his ill-got store, 
 
 And sneers at prostrate virtue’s need, 
 
 Forgets that glory’s deathless meed 
 Blooms not for him on Pluto’s shore. 
 
 * Amphitryon’s sons divine. These are Hercules and Iolaus, men- 
 tioned above. Both had games celebrated to their honour at Thebes, 
 called Herculea and Iolaia. — Schol. 
 
 f Euboea’s isle. There were games celebrated in the island of Euboea, 
 called the Basilea. — Benedict. 
 
 / Minyas ’ stately towers. Minyas was a king of Boeotia. There was 
 a festival to his honour held at Orchomenus, called the Minyia. The 
 inhabitants of Orchomenus were themselves sometimes called Mynice. 
 
 § Eleusis. The festival at Eleusis was called Demetria, or feast of 
 Ceres. At all these games it is probable that Herodotus had gained 
 some distinctions. 
 
 || Protesilaus was king of Phylacb, in Thessaly, and went with the 
 rest of the Greeks to the Trojan war. He first set foot upon the Trojan 
 shore, and was immediately killed, according to the prediction of an 
 oracle which denounced this fate against the first who should dis- 
 embark. The Greeks, after their return, to commemorate this act# 
 
408 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE II. 
 
 ODE II. 
 
 TO XENOCRATES OF AGRIGENTUM, 
 
 Victor in the Chariot-race. 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 5 Twas long, good Tbrasybule,* the minstrel’s use, 
 
 When in old times our tuneful sires 
 Mounted the chariot of the muse, 
 
 And struck with ardent hand their glorious lyres, 
 
 At some brave youth to send amain 
 The shafts of their melodious strain — 
 
 Some youth that just had reach’d the vigorous hour 
 When love first learns to long for beauty’s blushing flower. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Then was the Muse no drudge ; her artless measures 
 No hireling lust of gain inspired : 
 
 The dance, the feast, the frolic pleasures 
 
 Terpsichore’s mellifluous numbers fired ; 
 
 With Mr, untinsell’d front, unsold, 
 
 Her soft persuasive tale she told. 
 
 In these ill days th’ Argaean sage’s word 
 
 (Alas, how true !) she gives her votaries to record : 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 Stripp’d of possessions, friends, and all, 
 
 “ Wealth makes the man,” wealth only, was his call, t 
 
 instituted games to his honour at Phylacb. It seems that Herodotus 
 had been victor also in these games. 
 
 * Tlirasybule. Xenocrates was the brother of Theron, and is the sub- 
 ject of the sixth Pythian ode. The present ode, however, is addressed, 
 not to himself, but to his son Thrasybulus : either because Xenocrates 
 was dead when it was written, or, as Callistrates, according to the 
 Scholiast, suggests, because Pindar was affronted at the smallness of the 
 sum given him. 
 
 f The sage here mentioned, the author of this aphorism, is Aristode- 
 mus, the Lacedaemonian, whom Pindar calls an Argive, by the same 
 license with which Homer calls Helen the Argive Helen. — II. ii. 161. 
 
!*jiiiallA.w ODES. 
 
 409 
 
 ODE II.] 
 
 Thou art not dull of spirit ; to the unwise 
 I sing not of the equestrian crown 
 From Isthmian rivals nobly won, 
 
 Which to Xenocrates great Neptune gave, 
 And sent his Dorian parsley’s* prize 
 
 Around those crisped brows to wave. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Raised by the god, the chariot-victor shone 
 The lamp of Agrigent ; nor less 
 His power in Crisa’s contest t known, 
 
 Where Phoebus saw and clothed him with success. 
 
 Him foremost in th’ Athenian race 
 Erechtheus’ sons with plaudits grace ; 
 
 There with no erring hand, the charioteer 
 
 His bounding steeds rebuked, and wound their fleet career ; 
 
 The story related of Aristodemus is, that having been once rich, and 
 losing all his riches, he was deserted by his friends, when he made 
 use of this expression, which became a proverb. Diogenes Laertius, 
 in his life of Thales, relates that the tripod destined for the wisest of # 
 the Greeks, and which was passed by one sag® to another, being dis- 
 claimed by each, was adjudged to Aristodemus in his turn, and he quotes 
 the above proverb from Alcaeus. 
 
 * The Corinthians, who superintended the Isthmian games, were of 
 Dorian origin. The prize allotted to the victors was, at first, a crown 
 made of the pines which grew round the temple of Neptune. It was 
 afterwards changed to dry parsley, which continued, it appears, up to 
 this time. But Plutarch relates, that the pine at length came again 
 into use. — Benedict. 
 
 t Crisa’s contest. Crisa, or Crissa, was a town of Phocis, on the sea- 
 coast, and near Delphi, which gave its name to the Crissaean gulf. It 
 is here, as in Pythian ode vi. antis, i., put for the Pythian games, on 
 account of its proximity. Dr. Clarke describes it as a situation of the 
 most romantic beauty. Strabo, from thi3 circumstance, calls the dis- 
 trict round it Evdaifiov, or the Happy. The riches and luxury of 
 the people inflaming their arrogance, the town was razed by a 
 decree of the oracle, which had been consulted by the Amphictyons, 
 and it has long been a doubt what was its exact situation. The latest 
 and best opinion seems to be, that Cirrha was the port, and Crissa the 
 town adjoining it, which reconciles those who nave confounded them 
 together, and these who have made them distinct. — See Clarice’s Travels t 
 vol. iv. pp. 175 — 177. 
 
410 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE II, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 For ’twas Nicomachus, whose well-timed skill, 
 
 With reins all loose, their fury drove. 
 
 Him, once their host,* the seers that fill 
 The pure libations to Saturnian Jove, 
 
 Th’ Eleian seers, whose voice proclaims 
 The season of the sacred games, 
 
 On the soft lap of golden conquest placed, 
 
 With soothing accents sweet on Pisa’s plains embraced j — 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Pisa, their native land, the grove 
 
 And spacious temple of Olympian Jove — 
 
 With whose brave sports, pride of their princely sire, 
 
 The sons of great CEnesidamet 
 Mingled the glories of their name : 
 
 For not unsounded in the song divine, 
 
 Unknown to the triumphal choir, 
 
 Shines Thrasybule’s illustrious line. 
 
 * STROPHE III. 
 
 No wild impervious course hath he to run, 
 
 Mounts no acclivity of praise, 
 
 With whom the maids of Helicon J 
 
 To Virtue’s mansion bear their lasting lays. 
 
 * Him, once their host. It is Xenocrates, not Nicomachus, who is 
 here intended as having been declared victor at the Olympian games, by 
 the Eleian presidents, who had once shared his hospitality. The Eleian s 
 were not invariably the presidents of the games, but on some occasions 
 the inhabitants of Pisa, till these were utterly destroyed by the Eleian s, 
 who refused to record the Olympiads in which they had presided. On 
 one occasion the Arcadians superintended. These officers, called Hella- 
 nodics, varied in number at different times, from one to twelve. — Pott. 
 Gr. Ant. vol. i. pp. 504, 505. 
 
 f The sons of great (Enesidame alluded to, are Theron, the subject of 
 the second and third Olympian odes, and Xenocrates, the subject of the 
 present ode, and the sixth Pythian, and the father of Thrasybulus. The 
 Scholiast, however, names them Theron and Dinomenes, which is 
 difficult to reconcile with the lines immediately succeeding. 
 
 X Helicon was a mountain, sacred to the Muses, who had there a 
 temple. It is situated in Bceotia, on the borders of Phocis, near the 
 sea-coast, and from it flowed the fountain of Hippocrene (also sacred to 
 
ODE II.] 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 411 
 
 O ! could I hurl as far, as long, 
 
 The disk, the javelin of my song, 
 
 As thy sweet sire in goodness all outshone ! — 
 
 All hearts his modest worth, his gracious converse won. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 The Panhellenian rule * his sports obey’d , 
 
 His stall with generous steeds he stored ; 
 
 Low to each listening god he pray’d, 
 
 At feast, or shrine, or altar : at his board 
 Ceased not the fresh convivial gale 
 To fill the banquet’s swelling sail ; 
 
 His bounty’s voyage, as the summer’s smile 
 Or wintry gloom prevail’d, was Phasis or the Nile.t 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Ne’er may the sonj (for envy’s cloud 
 Oft with base hopes the purest heart will shroud) 
 Attempt his sire’s great virtues to conceal, 
 
 Nor bid these lays in silence sleep ; 
 
 They are not sculptured blocks that keep 
 The same dull base — through all the world they flee : 
 To my kind host, with all thy zeal, 
 
 This, Nicasippus, bear for me. 
 
 these goddesses), so called because it sprung from the ground when 
 struck by the feet of Pegasus. — Ovid , Met. lib. v. 256, et seqq. ; Strabo, 
 lib. ix. pp. 409, 410. Par'sanias (Boeotica) says, that Mount Helicon 
 was particularly famous for the fruitfulness of its soil, and the abundance 
 of trees growing upon it. He also adds that poisonous reptiles became 
 less noxious by living and feeding there. For a description of the view 
 from the summit of the mountain, see Clarice's Tr. vol. iii. p. 115. 
 
 * Tlte Panhellenian rule. It was held imperative upon all the rich in 
 every Grecian commonwealth to breed and keep horses for the service of 
 the state. — Benedict. 
 
 f Phasis or the Nile. The river Phasis, flowing into the Black Soa, 
 at its eastern extremity, was nearly the most northern point of naviga- 
 tion to the Grecian mariners, and to be ventured upon only in summer. 
 The Nile, on the contrary, was the most agreeable of any for a winter 
 voyage. 
 
 X Ne’er may the son. The poet here charges Thrasybulus, either not to 
 suffer any of his father’s greatness to induce him to conceal his virtues, 
 or rather not to be deterred from publishing them by a fear of the envy 
 and jealousy of the world. The passage will bear either construction. 
 
4i 2 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode iil 
 
 ODE III. 
 
 TO MELISSUS OF THEBES, 
 
 Victor in the Horse-race . 
 
 STROPHE. 
 
 The man, by fortune raised, tbat bolds 
 
 Unflush’d with pride his blameless course, 
 
 Though glory’s wreath his front enfolds, 
 
 Or wealth with power hath bless’d his stores, 
 
 His country’s praise to deathless fame shall give. 
 
 Yet but from thee th’ exalted virtues flow, 
 All-bounteous J ove ! and they that know, 
 
 And fear thy laws, rejoice and live ; 
 
 While he that walks sin’s wandering way, 
 
 Ends not in bliss the changeful day. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE. 
 
 Keward awaits the virtuous deed; 
 
 The brave command the grateful lyre ; 
 
 For them th’ applauding Graces lead, 
 
 And swell the loud triumphal choir. 
 
 Fortune on proud Melissus hath bestow’d 
 
 The twofold boon, that glads his manly breast ; — 
 
 First in the cirque his waving crest 
 With Isthmian wreaths exulting glow’d ; 
 
 Now through the Lion’s vale* the name 
 Of Thebes his herald’s shouts proclaim — 
 
 * The Lion's vale. The Nemean games were originally instituted by 
 Adrastus and his followers, to commemorate the death of Archemorus, 
 who was killed by a serpent while his nurse was gone to show them a 
 spring of water, having left him lying on a bed of parsley ; from 
 which circumstance the parsley became the crown at these games. — 
 Apollod. iii. 4. They were afterwards revived by Hercules upon 
 occasion of his killing the Nemean lion, to which more celebrated 
 person and more remarkable event their foundation was generally 
 referred. 
 
ODE IV.] 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 413 
 
 EPODE. 
 
 Him master of the equestrian race 
 
 Proclaim ; his deeds no kindred name disgrace : 
 
 His grandsire’s fame, ’mong charioteers of old, 
 Cleonymus, all tongues have told ; 
 
 Told how from Labdaeus, with affluence crown’d,* 
 
 His mother s sires in happier days 
 
 The car quadrigal proudly drove. 
 
 But Time, as rolling seasons onward move, 
 
 His altering hand on all things lays : 
 
 The sons of gods alone nor chance nor change can wound. 
 
 ODE IV. 
 
 TO THE SAME MELISSUS. 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 Thanks to the gracious gods, around 
 Behold the spacious paths display’d 
 Which thou, with Isthmian chaplets crown’d, 
 
 Melissus, by thy deeds hast made ; 
 
 Where now thy virtues rare the song shall trace — 
 
 Virtues by heaven bestow’d, which nobly thus 
 Have steer’d the brave Cleonymus t 
 Through life’s rough tide with all his race : 
 
 But fortune’s gale with changeful force 
 Drives every mortal, every course. 
 
 * From Labdaeus, with affluence crown’d. Benedict renders the passage 
 thus : — The maternal ancestors of Melissus, who were sprung from Lab- 
 dacus, became rich .by the number of their victories in the games. The 
 rendering of Heyne seems better : — that, inheriting wealth from the 
 rich Labdacidse, they were enabled to meet the expense of such con- 
 tests. But from this affluence it appears by the following lines they 
 had lately fallen. 
 
 + Cleonymus, it appears from the last stanza of the preceding ode, 
 was the ancestor of Melissus on the father’s side. 
 
414 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IV, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 They, ’mong the Theban chiefs adored, 
 
 In honour’s seat unenvied sat : 
 
 Contiguous worthies throng’d their board ; 
 
 No babbling pride debased their state. 
 
 Whate’er the flattering annal of the past 
 
 Breathes for the dead, whate’er the voice of praise 
 To living worth profusely pays, 
 
 ’Twas theirs in copious draughts to taste, 
 
 And touch with virtues all their own 
 Th’ Herculean columns of renown ; — 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 Bounds which no mortal powers can pass. 
 
 They train’d the raging courser to the race ; 
 
 On them the brazen Mars propitious smiled ; 
 
 Fatal regard ! the tempest wild 
 Of roughest war, in one disastrous hour, 
 
 From their loved hearth and prosperou shome 
 Four kindred warriors swept away. 
 
 Now, when the wintry month and darken’d day 
 No longer lowers, again they bloom, 
 
 Like the fresh vernal vale, with nature’s rosiest flower. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Such is heav’n’s will ; and he that shakes 
 
 Earth’s bellowing shore, th’ Onchestian god, * 
 
 What time by Corinth’s walls he makes 
 Her sea-bridge loud his wild abode, 
 
 Hath given Melissus’ race this blazoning strain : 
 
 He from the couch of ages, where she lay 
 In dark oblivion hush’d away, 
 
 Hath roused their ancient fame again, 
 
 That now, like Lucifer, displays, 
 
 Brightest of stars, her rising rays : 
 
 * Th' Onchestian god. Respecting Oncliestus in Boeotia, from whence 
 Neptune derived this title, which was supposed to be a favourite 
 with him, see Isth. ode i. ep. ii. note. 
 
ODE IV.] 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 415 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 She on the throng’d Athenian strand — 
 
 She where for Sicyon’s glittering games 
 His chariot-cirque Adrastus plann’d, 
 
 First at the goal proclaim’d their names, 
 
 Bidding rude bards their wreaths of song prepare. 
 
 Nor at the grand Assemblage,* where the pride 
 Of all th’ Hellenian champions vied, 
 
 Fear’d they to whirl the circling car : 
 
 Their boast the sumptuous steed to try ; 
 
 The brave unproved in silence die. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Warriors themselves, till fortune’s hand 
 
 Th’ ennobling victory gives, no fame command ; 
 
 For e’en the conqueror’s wreath is fortune’s gift. 
 
 Oft hath the feebler rival’s shift 
 Filch’d from the best his undisputed crown. 
 
 Who knows not Ajax’ injured name ? f 
 How in his wrath, at wane of night, 
 
 With his own trusty sword and slander’d might, 
 
 That frantic breast he pierced : oh ! shame 
 To all the sons of Greece that sack’d the Phrygian town ! 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Him yet with noblest eulogy 
 
 ’Mongst all mankind hath Homer sung, 
 
 Lifting his virtues to the sky — 
 
 Him to remotest ages rung 
 In loud enduring rhapsodies of praise. 
 
 ’Tis inspiration’s word, the gifted strain 
 That lasts for ever : o’er the main, 
 
 Through earth’s rich realms and wildest ways, 
 
 The star of brave achievement gleams 
 His unextinguishable beams. 
 
 * At the grand Assemblage. Melissus and his ancestors had been used 
 to frequent the solemn games of Greece, the Olympian and Pythian, 
 though they had not succeeded in gaining any prizes in these. — Heyne. 
 This ill success seems to afford the ground for the well-turned expres- 
 sions in the next stanza. 
 
 f Who Tcnows not Ajax ’ injured name ? See Nem. ode vii. stro. ii. 
 
416 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE IV, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 Oh ! for a willing Muse, to light 
 
 Like him the living lamp of song, 
 
 And blazon the Pancratian fight 
 
 Won by Melissus from the strong ! 
 
 Branch of Telesias, like the roaring king 
 
 Of the rough woods in heart and strength is he, 
 
 Yet guileful as the fox might be 
 That stays the impetuous eagle’s wing, 
 
 Couch’d on the ground supine below 
 All sleights are just that foil the foe. 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 For he no vast Oarion port 
 
 Displays, of outward stature mean and short ; — 
 
 In the fierce conflict stanch and terrible. 
 
 Such once Alcmena’s son, they tell, 
 
 Of moderate mould though form’d, but prowess-proof, 
 Sallying from Thebes to Libya’s shore, 
 
 Where in huge hold Antaeus t lay, 
 
 Provoked the giant-wrestler to the fray ; 
 
 That so that ruffian host no more 
 With skulls of murder’d guests pale Neptune’s fane might 
 roof. 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 To heaven’s eternal realms he pass’d ; 
 
 His search explored earth’s spacious plain, 
 
 The strands and promontories vast 
 
 That bound the basin of the main : 
 
 * Guileful as the fox, couched on the ground supine. This passage is 
 thus explained by Heyne : — The fox, for the purpose of entrapping the 
 eagle, frequently lays itself upon its back, pretending to be dead, and 
 when the eagle stoops to seize it as her prey, catches her with its claws. 
 This, therefore, is a good emblem of the mode in which the weaker 
 might by skill and cunning obtain a victory in the Pancratian fight, the 
 greater part of the struggle in which was carried on upon the ground. 
 
 t Anta?us the giant, son of Neptune and Terra, a monster of inhu- 
 manity, had boasted that he would erect a temple to his father Nepiun« 
 with the skulls of his conquered antagonists. 
 
ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 417 
 
 ODE IV.] 
 
 For the safe bark he clear’d th’ infested floods ; 
 
 Now in his golden dome with highest Jove 
 He quaffs unmingled joys above, 
 
 Beloved and honour’d by the gods, 
 
 And wins, to Juno’s self-allied, 
 
 The beauteous Hebe for his bride. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE IV. 
 
 For him, o’er famed Electra’s gate,'* 
 
 We Thebans still the feast prepare, 
 
 And with fresh flow’rets consecrate 
 
 The new-built altars blazing there ; — 
 
 Blazing with offerings to the spirits brave 
 
 Of his eight sons from blooming Megara bom s 
 To them, from eve to radiant morn, 
 
 Through the long night continuous wave 
 The reddening flames, and toss on high 
 Their fuming fragrance to the sky. 
 
 EPODE IV. 
 
 The morrow’s cheering dawn proclaims 
 
 The feats of manly strength and annual games : 
 
 Melissus foremost there fresh myrtles bound 
 In glittering braids his temples round, 
 
 And gain’d victorious twice the fearful fray : 
 
 A third his youthful arm had won, 
 
 What time the skilful charioteer 
 School’d his rude hand the wavering team to steer — 
 Share, Orseus, then thy lord’s renown, 
 
 While thus on both we pour the graces of the lay. 
 
 * Electra’s gate. The names of six out of the seven gates of Thebe* 
 may be seen in iEschylus. — Sept. con. Theb. See also E odw. Tr. vol. L 
 p. 264. The gate here mentioned was so named from Electra, the 
 sister of Cadmus. Near it once dwelt Amphitryon, and afterwards 
 Hercules; and there was the tomb of his eight sons by Megara, the 
 daughter of Creon. Different accounts are given of the manner of 
 their death, which are collected by the Scholiast. But the story most 
 received was, that they died by their father’s hand in a fit of madness. 
 The funeral ceremonies, it appears, were performed during the mght s 
 and the games were celebrated on the following day. 
 
418 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE V. 
 
 ODE V. 
 
 TO PHYLACIDES OF .EG1NA, 
 
 Victor in the Pancratium. 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 O mother of the sun that gilds the day, 
 
 Bright Theia,* for thy sake fond mortals hold 
 Before all names of wealth the potent gold. 
 
 For lo, when in the swift and circling fray 
 
 The chariot-harness’d steeds, the galleys brave, 
 
 Moved by thy quickening power, engage, 
 
 What wonder waits on land and wave 
 The proud achievements of their rage. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 Touch’d by thy spirit, in the athletic war 
 
 Glory the champion earns, whose manual force, 
 
 Or footstep foremost in the panting course, 
 
 Have won thick chaplets for his flowing hair. 
 
 But ’tis heaven’s doom that gives success below. 
 
 Two things alone, with wealth combined, 
 
 Feed life’s sweet flower, and thus bestow 
 Joy’s purest blessings on mankind ; — 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 These are fair fortune and recording fame. 
 
 Aspire not to be Jove ; all things are thine, 
 
 If these great gifts thy destiny may claim : 
 
 To mortal hopes thy mortal means confine. 
 
 * Bright Tlieia, for thy sake. He attributes to the goddess Theia 
 (which signifies splendour) the cause of the general devotion of all men 
 to gold. She was the mother of the sun (according to Hesiod), whose 
 peculiar emblem was gold. To each of the heavenly bodies, as the 
 Scholiast observes, was attributed some particular metal : — to the sun, 
 gold ; to the moon, silver ; to Mars, iron, &c. 
 
ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 419 
 
 ODE V.] 
 
 For thee, Phylacides, in Neptune’s field 
 
 Two chaplets bloom : the proud Pancratian dole 
 For thee, with Pytheas* join’d, the Nemeans yield. 
 
 Apart th’ ^Eacean race, my thirsty soul 
 Tastes not the lay : but Tampon’s sons to sing, 
 
 To just HCgina’s wails my willing lyre I bring. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Oh ! while her chiefs still trace the blameless ways 
 To where achievement does the eternal will, 
 
 Grudge not, my Muse, with flowing song to fill 
 The beverage of the brave, her cup of praise. 
 
 For when by virtuous deeds warriors became 
 Heroes of old, the sounding lyre 
 Told to all times their envied name, 
 
 And glory’s clarion swell’d the choir : 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Thus by J ove’s bounteous grace they shone the theme 
 Of eloquence and song, and worship found 
 And sacrifice : thus yet with victims crown’d 
 To (Eneus’t sons the JEtolian altars gleam ; — 
 
 Thebes to the brave equestrian Iolas, J 
 Argos the vow to Perseus § pours ; 
 
 Sparta fair Leda’s warlike race 
 By pure Eurotas’ stream adores, 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 But famed (Enone|| the stout-hearted powers 
 
 Of HCacus and his seed : with flame and sword 
 They to their base twice razed the Trojan towers, 
 
 With Hercules, and Helen’s injured lord. 
 
 * For thee with Pytheas. This victory of Pytheas, who is here 
 introduced as the brother of Phylacides, is celebrated in the fifth 
 Nemean ode. 
 
 f CEneus was king of Calydon in iEtolia. The most famous of his 
 sons were Meleager, one of the heroes of the Argonautic expedition, 
 who killed the Calydonian boar ; and Tydeus, the father of Diomed, 
 who was one of the seven chiefs against Thebes. He was also the 
 father of Dejaneira. 
 
 J Iolas. See Pyth. ode ix. stro. iv. 
 
 § Perseus. See Pyth. ode x. ep. ii. &c. 
 
 ]| CEnond. Respecting H£gina and the iEacidse, see the eight first 
 
 2 s 
 
420 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE V. 
 
 Bear now, my Muse, thy chariot from the ground 
 Aloft, and tell me what unrivall’d hand 
 Cycnus and Hector slew, and Memnon, crown’d 
 With brazen arms, before his HCthiop band : 
 Say who the valiant Telephus defied,* 
 
 With his own spear transfix’d t by red Caicus’ tide. 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 Who but HCgina’s sons, their country’s boast ? 
 Transcendant isle ! Long since the song divine 
 The tower whereon thy lofty virtues shine 
 Ascended : much of thy illustrious host 
 
 My tongue’s unerring shaft hath still to sound — 
 Witness triumphal Salamis 
 By Ajax’ towers encompass’d round ; 
 
 Midst war’s mad waves and angry skies, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 By naval strength sustain’d, by myriads press’d, 
 
 She braved the deathful hailstorm of the fray : 
 But steep’d in silence be the vaunting lay — 
 
 J ove, lord of all things, as it seems him best, 
 Dispenses good and ill : yet in sweet song 
 Honours like these delight to live, 
 
 And conquest’s ecstasies prolong 
 In strains the wise alone can give. 
 
 Nemean odes, all of which are addressed to ^Eginetans. Telamon, the 
 son of Abacus, accompanied Hercules as his armour-bearer, when he 
 took and destroyed Troy. — Nerm. ode iii. antis, ii. ; Nem. ode iv. stro. iv. 
 And Ajax and Teucer, the sons of Telamon — Achilles and Neoptolemus, 
 the grandson and great-grandson of iEacus, accompanied Menelaus in 
 the expedition which revenged the rape of Helen. 
 
 * Cycnus , Hector , and Memnon , were all slain, and Telephus was 
 wounded, by Achilles. The battle of Telephus and Achilles was repre- 
 sented on the posticum of the famous temple of Minerva Alea, at 
 Tegea, which Pausanias says w r as one of the largest and most orna- 
 mented temples in Greece. — Dodw. vol. ii. p. 419. 
 
 + With his own spear transfix'd. Other accounts respecting Telephus 
 vary from the one here given, and say that he was cured by the rust 
 scraped from the point of the spear of Achilles. Pindar, however, has 
 perhaps chosen the view of the story better suited to his purpose, 
 and requiring less periphrasis of expression. 
 
ODE VI.] 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 421 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Henceforth let youths from Cleonicus’ race 
 
 Their labour’s lesson learn ; for not in night 
 Slumber their proud achievements, nor with base 
 Regret grudged they the cost of glory’s fight. 
 
 Now shall not Pytheas, whose experienced hand 
 First taught the rude Phylacides to know 
 The champion’s art and onset, stroke and stand, 
 
 Share our free praise ? Twine round his manly brow 
 The wool-wrought band and chaplet : * speed away 
 To crown the matchless pair thy new, thy winged lay ! 
 
 ODE VI. 
 
 TO PHYLACIDES, 
 
 Victor amongst Boys . 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 As with replenish’d bowl the banquet glows, 
 
 Again for Tampon’s brave athletic lined 
 We mix the Muses’ cup divine : 
 
 The first to Jove was pour’d, J when round their brows 
 
 * Twine round his manly brow the wool-wrought band and chaplet. The 
 Scholiast speaks of the fillet as worn on the breast. If it was so worn, 
 it bore a remarkable resemblance to the modern badges of distinction. 
 
 f Again for Lamport s brave athletic lime. The Scholiast appears to be 
 right in supposing that this ode was written before the preceding one, 
 and that the expression “ again we mix,” refers not to the last ode, but 
 to the fifth Nemean, inscribed to Pytheas, another son of Lampon. For 
 he expressly says, w. 3 and 4, &c., that the first crown was obtained at 
 Nemea, and that this is the second. He also says in this ode, stro. iii. 
 w. 10, 11 ; antis, iii. vv. 1, 2, 3, that Phylacides, Pytheas, and Euthy- 
 menes, had each obtained one crown only in the Isthmian games. And 
 in the last ode, ep. i. w. 5, 6, he says that Phylacides had gained two. 
 
 X The first to Jove was pour'd Pursuing the same metaphor of com- 
 
4 22 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode VL 
 
 His Nemean braid illustrious bung ; 
 
 This to tlie despot of the seas, 
 
 And fifty damsels fair from Nereus sprung, 
 For wreaths by youngest born Phylacides 
 From Isthmian rivals torn : on Pisa’s plain 
 Oh ! that ’twere theirs a third to gain, 
 
 Mine in the Olympian Saviour’s name to shed 
 The full mellifluous hymn on blest -ZEgina’s head. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 For he that with bold heart and bounteous hand 
 Makes virtue’s heavenly work his life’s pursuit, 
 Whose genius bids the golden fruit 
 Of loveliest glory bloom at his command — 
 
 His anchor he, by heav’n advanced, 
 
 On fortune’s farthest shore hath cast. 
 
 With such great gifts, such energies enhanced, 
 For reverend age and death’s repose at last 
 The sapient son of Cleonicus # prays : 
 
 With him my fervent vows I raise 
 To the high throne, where with her sisters twain 
 Eventful Clothot sits, my friend’s wise wish to gain. 
 
 EPODE I. 
 
 For you, ye sons of godlike HCacus, 
 
 Lords of the golden chariot, my fond Muse 
 To yon loved isle returning, thus 
 
 Your names with wonted eulogy bedews. 
 
 paring his odes to cups of wine, he dedicates them accordingly. Por the 
 first cup, says the Scholiast, was drunk to Jupiter Olympus ; the second 
 to the heroes (or demigods) ; the third to Jupiter Soter, or the Saviour 
 — because, says the Scholiast, beyond the third cup they could not go 
 
 safely. 
 
 * Lampon, the son of Cleon icus, was the father of the present victor. 
 + Of the three sister Fates each had her separate office. Clotho, the 
 youngest, fixed the moment of every man’s birth ; Lachesis, the events 
 and actions of his life ; and Atropos, the eldest, cut the thread, and 
 determined the period of his existence. 
 
ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 423 
 
 ODE VI.] 
 
 Your proud achievements, blazed around 
 From land to land, a thousand tracks have trod — 
 
 Through Hyperborean wilds, beyond 
 The farthest fount of Nil us’ flood. 
 
 Is there a barbarous realm so rude of tongue 
 Where Peleus’ fame and fortunes none hath sung, 
 
 Th’ heroic spouse that won the daughter of a god 1 # 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Is there where Ajax’ deeds are yet unknown, 
 
 Or Telamon’s ? whom erst his prompt ally, 
 
 War’s brazen-beaming field to try, 
 
 Roused at the fraud of false Laomedon, 
 
 Against Troy’s wall Alcides led,+ 
 
 A hero’s toil, and o’er the main 
 
 On the wind’s wing his hosts Tirynthian J sped. 
 
 With him combined Pergamia’s fruitful plain, 
 
 With him that herdsman dire of mountain mould, 
 Alcyoneus, in Phlegrse’s hold 
 He spoil’d ; he vanquish’d the Meropian foe ;§ 
 
 Nor twang’d his hand in vain the deadly-bounding bow. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 ’Twas at the crowded feast Alcmena’s seed, 
 
 To join the embarking host by herald named, 
 
 The son of HCacus proclaim’d. 
 
 Him, fierce and frowning in his warrior’s weed 
 Of lion’s pelt, sage Telamon 
 Bade pour the sparkling nectarous wine, 
 
 Libation pure to bless th’ exploit begun, 
 
 And to his grasp the cup, with golden shine 
 
 And rough embossment rich, auspicious press’d : 
 Forthwith, with hands to heaven address’d, 
 
 Aloud the hero pray’d : “ Paternal Jove, 
 
 “ If e’er these lips had power thy sovereign will to move, 
 
 * See Nem. ode iii. antis, ii. 
 
 f See Nem, ode iii. antist. ii. and Nem. ode iv. stro. iv. 
 
 X Tiryns, in Argolis, was the usual residence of Hercules. Hence he 
 was called the Tirynthian hero. — Virg. Jfin. vii. v. 662. Alcmena is 
 for the same reason called Tirynthia. — Ov. Met. lib. vi. 112. 
 
 § The Meropian foe . See Nem. ode iv. stro. iv. 
 
424 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE VI. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 “ Grant to my holiest wish, my warmest prayer, 
 u My friend’s fond hope, from Eribcea’s womb 
 “ In time’s due course a valiant heir 
 
 “ To spring, and perfect his appointed doom ! 
 
 “ Stubborn and sturdy be his frame, 
 
 “ Like this tough hide that round my shoulder trails, 
 
 “ Stripp’d from the monster’s trunk, the gsmie 
 “ This hand first foil’d in Nemea’s vales : 
 
 “ Brave be his heart.” — This said, propitious Jove 
 Despatch’d his own great eagle from above : 
 
 With joy the plumed king surprised Alcides hails. 
 
 STKOPHE III. 
 
 Then loud again, as with a prophet’s tongue, 
 
 “ O Telamon, the child thou ask’st is thine, 5> 
 
 He cried ; “ behold yon bird divine — 
 
 “ Authentic signal ! fierce and strong 
 “ Like him thy warlike son shall be, 
 
 And Ajax his emphatic name.”* 
 
 Thus spake and sat Alcides. But for me 
 ’Twere long their countless virtues to proclaim — 
 
 For I, loved Muse, but came my choral lay 
 To crown’d Phylacides to pay, 
 
 And Pytheas and Euthymene&+ that so 
 
 In Argive mood concise J my bounded praise might fiow. 
 
 * And Ajax his emphatic name. From Aietos, an Eagle. It appears 
 that Telamon, being childless, and desirous of children by his wife 
 Eriboea, took advantage of Hercules being his guest on this occasion, 
 and seizing the moment when he was dressed in his lion’s skin, desired 
 him to offer up to his father the above prayer. 
 
 t Euthymenes , who is also mentioned with praise in Nem. ode v. stro. 
 iii., was the maternal uncle of Phylacides and Pytheas. 
 
 X In Argive mood concise. The Argives were not less pithy and con- 
 cise in their expressions than the Spartans, according to the Scholiast, 
 who quotes a lost play of Sophocles, Ulysses fwibundus, to that effect, — 
 
 Mv0o£ yap ApyoXiari avvTsjjtvuv /3pa%v£. 
 
ODE VI.] 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 425 
 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 For three Pancratian chaplets, each his prize, 
 
 From Isthmian sands the kindred champions bore ; 
 
 No less from Nemea’s grove they tore. 
 
 Then what loud hymns and copious minstrelsies 
 Burst from the lyre ! whose beauteous dews 
 On all their tribe Psalychian fell, 
 
 Gemm’d with the brightest sprinklings of the Muse. 
 They ’mongst ^Egina’s heav’n-loved mansions dwell ; 
 Where raised by them thy house, Themistius, # shines ; 
 Where Lampon to his sons enjoins 
 Hesiod’s sage rule, in his own practice told, 
 
 “ Still to the task in hand with earnest heart to hold.” 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 There round his country’s brows his crown he flings ; 
 
 His bounteous hand the stranger’s blessing shares ; 
 Still to the golden mean he clings ; 
 
 The palm of modest worth contented bears. 
 
 His tongue still keeps his bosom’s pledge ; 
 
 And as the Naxian honet subdues and moulds 
 Hardest of rocks, the falchion’s edge, 
 
 Such place ’mongst athlete chiefs he holds. 
 
 For them from Dirce’s fount, J the living spring 
 Which golden-vested Memory’s daughters bring, 
 
 I’ll pour, where Cadmus’ wall its towering port unfolds. 
 
 * Themistius, the maternal grandfather of Phylacides. 
 f The Naxian hone. This, according to Pliny, was a species of whet- 
 stone found in Cyprus, and used for polishing marble ornaments, and 
 cutting precious stones. 
 
 X Dircd’s fount Pindar being a Theban, and the fountain of Dircb 
 being near one of the gates of the city, he allegorically represents its 
 waters as the stream of his song, which the Muses, the daughters of 
 Jupiter and Mnemosyne, make to flow perennially. 
 
m 
 
 ISTHMIAN OkEtf, 
 
 [ODE VII, 
 
 ODE VIL 
 
 TO STREPSIADES OF THEBES, 
 
 Victor in the Pancratium . 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 For which of all thy sons renown’d of yore, 
 
 Fortunate Thebes, most swell’d thy patriot pride ? 
 
 Was it when full-hair’d Bacchus graced thy shore, 
 
 That sits enthroned by cymball’d Ceres’ side h * * * § 
 
 Or when the lord of heaven’s domain 
 Deign’d from his genial cloud to rain 
 Within thy wondering walls below 
 The midnight shower of golden snow, 
 
 ANTISTROPHE I. 
 
 What time in proud Amphitryon’s porch he stood. 
 
 And bade the teeming dame Alcides bear ? 
 
 Was’t when the future fate Tiresias show’d ? 
 
 Or Iolasf taught the furious steed to fear? 
 
 Or when earth’s brood J in arms sprung out ? 
 
 Or when Adrastus from the shout 
 Of thy loud host recoil’d amain, 
 
 His friends all fled, his myriads slain, 
 
 EPODE i. 
 
 Back to his Argive steeds and sheltering towers ? § 
 
 Or when thy colonies, with Dorian shoot 
 Ingrafted, raised on Spartan root 
 Their vigorous branches ; and the Pythian powers 
 
 * That sits enthroned by cymbalVd Ceres' side. On the sixth day of 
 the Eleusinian Mysteries, Bacchus was always joined in the procession 
 with Ceres, on which occasion nothing was heard but singing, and the 
 noise of cymbals aud brazen kettles. This Bacchus, whose proper name 
 is Iacchus, is said by some to have been the son of Ceres, for which 
 reason he may be supposed to have been joined with her in the mysteries, 
 
 t Iolas was Hercules’s charioteer. 
 
 $ Earth's brood. See Pyth. ode ix. stro. iv. 
 
 § See Nem. ode ix. stro. iv. v. 
 
ISTHMIAIN ODEb. 
 
 427 
 
 ODE VII.] 
 
 Sent HSgeus’ sons, thy warlike race, 
 
 AmycWs plunder’d walls to sway ] * 
 
 But, since departed glory’s grace 
 Full fast from mortal memory fades away, 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Save when kind genius rears the blooming flower, 
 
 And bathes it with the glistening dews of song — 
 
 Haste thou thy sweet triumphal hymn to pour 
 For brave Strepsiades, whose brows along 
 Pancratian wreaths from Isthmus bear ; 
 
 Fierce his stout port, yet shapely fair, — 
 
 Fair, yet enhanced with virtue’s charms, 
 
 More lovely than the frame it warms. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE II. 
 
 Lo while his name and fame his uncle shares, 
 
 Their violet locks th’ applauding Muses wave — 
 
 Fall’n in the field of brazen-shielded Mars,+ 
 
 For honour is the guerdon of the brave. 
 
 Assured be he, whose generous pow’r, 
 
 In the fierce fight’s tempestuous hour, 
 
 Wards from his country’s front away 
 The furious hailstorm of the fray, 
 
 * It is difficult to determine whether this refers to the assistance given 
 by the Thebans to the Heraclidse in their return to the Peloponnesus, or 
 to the Spartans in their war with Amyclae. The reasons in support of 
 either opinion will be found in the Scholiast, who inclines to the latter. 
 The iEgidae seem to have been one of the tribes at Thebes. 
 
 f Heyne justly rejects the opinion of the Scholiast, that Strepsiades 
 here mentioned, the son of Diodotus, and uncle of the victor who bore 
 the same name, was killed in the Peloponnesian war, which began four 
 years after the death of Pindar. The same with respect to the battle of 
 Marathon, at which the Thebans were not present, being on that and 
 other occasions favourable to the Persians. He ascribes his death, 
 therefore, rather to the wars between the Boeotians and Athenians, 
 mentioned by Herodotus, bk. v. c. 75, et seqq » 
 
428 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 [ODE VII. 
 
 EPODE II. 
 
 Hurling retorted vengeance on tlie foe, 
 
 That fame his life shall crown, and largely grace 
 Beyond the grave his honour’d race. 
 
 Son of Diodotus, now liest thou low, 
 
 Bival in war’s destructive game 
 Of Meleager, and the dread 
 
 Amphiareus, and Hector’s fame ! 
 
 In youth’s fair prime thy lofty spirit fled 
 
 STROPHE III. 
 
 ’Twas in the fight’s first rank, where round thee cast 
 Their desperate stand thy bravest comrades made : 
 
 Much hath thy fate perplex’d me ! — but ’tis past — 
 
 Neptune with gracious hand the storm hath laid,* 
 
 And all is calm again. I’ll fling 
 Braids round the victor’s brows and sing. 
 
 Quench not, kind heav’n, the minstrel’s fire ; 
 
 Grudge not the raptures of the lyre ! 
 
 ANTISTROPHE III. 
 
 ’Tis but the moment’s ecstasy, which I, 
 
 Well pleased, in peace indulge, till age and death 
 Shall come, as come they must — for all shall die, 
 
 Though fates unequal close our days beneath. 
 
 Man is too brief long aims to reach : 
 
 Presumptuous hope, that fain would stretch 
 To heaven’s high throne her daring view, 
 
 Is but the winged steed that threw 
 
 * Neptune with gracious hand the storm hath laid. As Neptune stills 
 the raging of the sea after a storm, so he had calmed the affliction of the 
 victor’s family at the death of their relation, by granting a victory in the 
 Isthmian games over which he presided. — Benedict . 
 
ODE VIII.] 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 I i lit/; 
 
 Tv nr 
 
 429 
 
 EPODE III. 
 
 Bellerophon, what time his frenzied pride 
 
 Aspired to tread th’ eternal domes above, 54 
 And sit amongst the peers of Jove. 
 
 Such baneful fruits forbidden joys betide. 
 
 0 Loxias, whose unclouded brow 
 Beams with the golden locks of day, 
 
 Grant us thine own great games to know, 
 And bind our temples with thy Pythian bay. 
 
 ODE VIII. 
 
 TO OLEANDER OF JEGINA, 
 
 Victor in the Pancmtiwm. 
 
 STROPHE I. 
 
 Lead forth the tuneful pomp, the moving choir, 
 
 Bid them their rich reward prepare 
 To crown Oleander’s youthful war, 
 
 At the proud porch of Telesarch, his sire, 
 
 * This passage of Pindar is imitated by Milton {Par. L. bk. vii, 
 1. 16), where he addresses Urania : — 
 
 Return me to my native element : 
 
 Lest from this flying steed unrein’d (as once 
 Bellerophon, though from a lower clime), 
 
 Dismounted, on th’ Aleian field I fall. 
 
 Pegasus, sprung from the blood of Medusa, was, according to the account 
 here alluded to, given to Bellerophon to conquer the Chimgera. After 
 his victory, he aspired to fly to heaven, when Jupiter, sending an insect 
 to torment him, occasioned Pegasus to throw his rider. Pegasus pursued 
 his own flight to heaven, and became a constellation. 
 
ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 [ode vm. 
 
 I! II I .J 
 
 430 
 
 Sounding the loud triumphal strain : 
 
 Such meed his Isthmian conquest claims, 
 
 Such his tried strength in Nemea’s games. 
 
 For him, though pierced with pain, 
 
 With public grief though wrung, will I 
 Yet woo the golden Muse to wake 
 Her cheering minstrelsy.* 
 
 From huge disasters free, no more 
 Its wreath the champion’s front shall lack : 
 
 Past ill ’tis folly to deplore ; 
 
 O grieve not at the abortive wrong ; 
 
 The toil hath ceased, the fight is won. 
 
 Spread far and wide the joyful strain — 
 
 For lo ! the ponderous stone 
 Of Tantalus, that o’er us threatening hung, 
 
 Some god hath heaved aside, and Greece revives again. 
 
 STROPHE II. 
 
 Intolerable weight ! till dread dismay 
 Thus by celestial aid dispell’d, 
 
 My soul’s o’erwhelming care had quell’d : 
 
 But to the business of the present day, 
 
 Man’s best employ —-for time unseen 
 Hangs o’er us with his shadowy thong, 
 
 Urging life’s stealthy steeds along. 
 
 Yet well brave hearts, I ween, 
 
 Wounds deep as ours, with freedom blest, 
 
 May bear, and for success to come 
 On hope’s assurance rest. 
 
 Born in sev’n-portall’d Thebes, + ’tis mine 
 Song’s sweetest flowers and freshest bloom 
 For famed HDgina’s brows to twine. 
 
 She with her heroine sister brave, 
 
 Fairest and youngest of their line, 
 
 * It is the opinion of the Scholiast that some relations of Oleander had 
 fallen at the battle of Salamis, shortly after which this ode appears to 
 have been composed. 
 
 f Pindar elsewhere acknowledges the relationship subsisting between 
 Thebes and iEgina, upon the ground of the nymphs, Thebe and iEgina, 
 being both sprung from the river Asopus. 
 
) 
 
 ODE VIII.] ISTHMIAN ODES. 431 
 
 From old Asopus sprung, and won 
 
 Jove’s amorous grace divine ; 
 
 He gave, where Dirce pours her limpid wave, 
 
 The chariot-echoing walls for beauteous Thebe’s throne : 
 
 STBOPHE III. 
 
 Thee, to th’ (Enopian isle* imbower’d he led ; 
 
 Whence HCacus his heavenly birth 
 Derived, of kings revered on earth 
 The most that issued from the Thunderer’s bed. 
 
 The powers that hell’s tribunal fill, 
 
 Defined by him, their dooms profound : f 
 His godlike sons, in fight renown’d, 
 
 Their sons, more godlike still, 
 
 Surpass’d : they knew the spear to wield ; 
 
 The gathering groan, the rout to spread, 
 
 And sway the troubled field. 
 
 To them was keen discernment given, 
 
 And temperance chaste by wisdom bred ; 
 
 Not unpreferr’d, unmark’d by heaven, 
 
 What time for Thetis Neptune strove, 
 
 In the full hall of state divine, 
 
 ’Gainst Jove, inflamed with rival fire, 
 
 The beauteous nymph to win. 
 
 Yet not, by love though touch’d, all conquering love, 
 Though gods immortal born, urged they that rash desire, 
 
 STROPHE IV. 
 
 Awed by the dread response which Themis $ gave, 
 
 Sage warner to the assembled sky, 
 
 The thrilling threat of destiny : 
 
 “ Gods, should the mistress of the raging wave 
 
 * Thee, to th’ (Enopian isle. “ Thee ” refers to iEgina, of which 
 (Enopia was one of the ancient names. — Ov. Met. 1. vii. vv. 472, 473. 
 
 + The power that hell’s tribunal, dec. iEacus was reckoned the most 
 religious and upright man of his generation, and during his lifetime 
 he obtained by his prayers the cessation of a famine which afflicted 
 the whole of Gieece. After his death, he was made one of the judges 
 of hell. Apollodorus says, Pluto gave him the keys of the gates of hell. 
 
 + The Pates were generally considered to be superior even to Jupiter, 
 who was obedient to their decrees. But Themis was even prior to 
 these, being, according to one of Hesiod’s poems, the mother of ike 
 
432 
 
 ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 Tode VIU> 
 
 “ To Jove’s all-procreant arms aspire, 
 
 “ Or brother’s of high Jove, a king 
 “ From that portentous love shall spring 
 t( More potent than his sire ; — # 
 
 “ One, whose stout hand a bolt shall throw 
 “ More fearful than the trident’s might, 
 
 “ Or thunder’s instant blow. 
 
 “ Cease then the fatal suit, while she 
 “ Some mortal love shall best requite ; 
 
 “ And slain her son in battle see, 
 
 “ Though strong as war’s impetuous god, 
 
 “ Swift as the lightning’s radiant wing : — 
 
 “ To Peleus, son of H5acus, be ours 
 “ The bridal prize to bring, 
 
 “ Destined by heaven, to where his calm abode 
 “ The pious conqueror holds in rich Iolcus’ bowers. 
 
 STROPHE V. 
 
 “ To Chiron’s cave,* within th’ eternal hill, 
 
 “ Swift be the blissful tidings borne ; 
 
 “ No more this Nereid nymph forlorn 
 “ Our hands with plaints of clamorous love shall fill. 
 
 “ Bid her, when now full-orb’d on high 
 
 “ Dim evening’s front the moon shall grace, 
 
 “ Clasp’d in the hero’s fond embrace 
 “ Her virgin bond untie.” 
 
 Thus to the gods of Saturn’s line 
 Heaven’s arbitress their sentence sung : 
 
 Waved they their brows divine, 
 
 Th’ assenting nod in silence made, 
 
 Nor left th’ eternal fruit that hung 
 
 On her wise words unpluck’d to fade. 
 
 Parcce, or Fates themselves. She was the prime fountain of all oracle 
 and prophecy, and the oracle of Delphi belonged to her before it came 
 under the superintendence of Apollo. This decree of Fate, whereby 
 the son of Thetis was to become greater than his father, which occa- 
 sioned Jupiter and Neptune to give up their suit, and to marry her to 
 Peleus, is elsewhere alluded to by Pindar. — Nem. ode iii. antis, ii. 
 Nem. ode iv. stro. viii. ix. 
 
 * See Nem. ode iii. antis, iii. 
 
ISTHMIAN ODES. 
 
 433 
 
 ODE VIII.] 
 
 J ove now the sea-maid’s nuptial plann’d : 
 
 And song in thrilling numbers taught 
 To youth’s unpractised ear the deeds 
 Divine Achilles wrought. 
 
 See Telephus beneath his conquering hand 
 On Mysia’s vine-clad plain, her gasping monarch, bleeds. 
 
 STROPHE VI. 
 
 His arm fair Helen for Atrides’ sake 
 
 Released, and o’er the billowy bourn 
 Bridged for the Greeks their wish’d return. 
 
 The sinews of Troy’s war his javelin brake, 
 
 Memnon and manliest Hector’s might, 
 
 And many a famous chief beside, 
 
 Whose rage oft stay’d the slaughter’s tide, 
 
 Oft turn’d the doubtful fight. 
 
 To these pale Proserpine’s abode, 
 
 Tower of the sons of JEacus, 
 
 The great Achilles show’d, 
 
 Gave to all times iEgina’s name, 
 
 And crown’d his grandsire’s glorious house. 
 
 Him ev’n in death the chant of fame 
 Forgot not ; o’er his sacred pyre 
 
 Th’ Aonian maids enraptured hung, 
 
 And in full choir around his grave 
 The strain of glory sung. 
 
 Thus to the powers that sway the living lyre 
 Rewarding heav’n commits the memory of the brave. 
 
 STROPHE VII. 
 
 Fired by that spirit, to Nicocles’ * tomb, 
 
 Brave champion, her careering song 
 The Muses’ chariot bears along, 
 
 Sounding his Isthmian conquest, and the bloom 
 Of Dorian parsley round his brows. 
 
 Full many a tough ill-omen’d foe 
 His hand’s inevitable blow, 
 
 At games and bordering shows, 
 
 * Nicocles, it appears, was Oleander’s uncle. 
 2 F 
 

 434 ISTHMIAN ODES. [ODE VIII. 
 
 Stunn’d and subdued. The stripling’s fam i, 
 
 That calls his glorious uncle sire, 
 
 Dishonours not his name. 
 
 Let rival youths with myrtle weed 
 Oleander’s glittering locks attire, 
 
 The stout Pancratian victor’s meed. 
 
 His might in Epidaurus* shown, 
 
 Him in th’ Alcathoan contest crown’d, 
 
 Fortune with all her smiles embraced. 
 
 The brave his praise shall sound : 
 
 For no sequester’d course, no path unknown, 
 
 Unstrew’d with glory’s flowers, his virtuous steps have traced. 
 
 * The games celebrated at Epidaurus were in honour of iEsculapius. 
 — - Nem. ode iii. ep. iv. The Alcathoan games were held at Megara, 
 which was itself sometimes called Alcathoe, from Alcathous, a son of 
 Pelops, who became king of that country. He there destroyed a great 
 lion, in commemoration of which the festival was instituted. 
 
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