diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 10717-0.txt | 6334 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/10717-8.txt | 6752 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/10717-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 126415 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/10717.txt | 6752 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/10717.zip | bin | 0 -> 126340 bytes |
8 files changed, 19854 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10717-0.txt b/10717-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6d9c85 --- /dev/null +++ b/10717-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6334 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10717 *** + +THE EXTANT + +ODES OF PINDAR + +TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH + +with + +INTRODUCTION AND SHORT NOTES + +BY + +ERNEST MYERS, M.A. + +_Sometime Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford_ + + +1904 + +_First edition printed 1874._ + +_Reprinted (with corrections) 1884, 1888, 1892, 1895, 1899, 1904_ + + SON OF THE LIGHTNING, FAIR AND FIERY STAR, + STRONG-WINGED IMPERIAL PINDAR, VOICE DIVINE, + LET THESE DEEP DRAUGHTS OF THY ENCHANTED WINE + LIFT ME WITH THEE IN SOARINGS HIGH AND FAR + PROUDER THAN PEGASEAN, OR THE CAR + WHEREIN APOLLO RAPT THE HUNTRESS MAID. + SO LET ME RANGE MINE HOUR, TOO SOON TO FADE + INTO STRANGE PRESENCE OF THE THINGS THAT ARE. + YET KNOW THAT EVEN AMID THIS JARRING NOISE + OF HATES, LOVES, CREEDS, TOGETHER HEAPED AND HURLED, + SOME ECHO FAINT OF GRACE AND GRANDEUR STIRS + FROM THY SWEET HELLAS, HOME OF NOBLE JOYS. + FIRST FRUIT AND BEST OF ALL OUR WESTERN WORLD; + WHATE'ER WE HOLD OF BEAUTY, HALF IS HERS. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Probably no poet of importance equal or approaching to that of Pindar +finds so few and so infrequent readers. The causes are not far to +seek: in the first and most obvious place comes the great difficulty +of his language, in the second the frequent obscurity of his thought, +resulting mainly from his exceeding allusiveness and his abrupt +transitions, and in the third place that amount of monotony which must +of necessity attach to a series of poems provided for a succession of +similar occasions. + +It is as an attempt towards obviating the first of these hindrances +to the study of Pindar, the difficulty of his language, that this +translation is of course especially intended. To whom and in what +cases are translations of poets useful? To a perfect scholar in the +original tongue they are superfluous, to one wholly ignorant of it +they are apt to be (unless here and there to a Keats) meaningless, +flat, and puzzling. There remains the third class of those who have a +certain amount of knowledge of a language, but not enough to +enable them to read unassisted its more difficult books without an +expenditure of time and trouble which is virtually prohibitive. It +is to this class that a translation ought, it would seem, chiefly to +address itself. An intelligent person of cultivated literary taste, +and able to read the easier books in an acquired language, will feel +himself indebted to a hand which unlocks for him the inner chambers +of a temple in whose outer courts he had already delighted to wander. +Without therefore saying that the merely 'English reader' may never +derive pleasure and instruction from a translation of a foreign poet, +for to this rule our current version of the Hebrew psalmists and +prophets furnish one marked exception at least--still, it is probably +to what may be called the half-learned class that the translator must +preeminently look to find an audience. + +The other causes of Pindar's unpopularity to which reference was made +above, the obscurity of his thought and the monotony of his subjects, +will in great measure disappear by means of attentive study of the +poems themselves, and of other sources from which may be gathered an +understanding of the region of thought and feeling in which they move. +In proportion to our familiarity not only with Hellenic mythology and +history, but with Hellenic life and habits of thought generally, will +be our readiness and facility in seizing the drift and import of what +Pindar says, in divining what has passed through his mind: and in his +case perhaps even more than in the case of other poets, this facility +will increase indefinitely with our increasing acquaintance with his +works and with the light thrown on each part of them by the rest[1]. + +The monotony of the odes, though to some extent unquestionably and +unavoidably real, is to some extent also superficial and in appearance +only. The family of the victor, or his country, some incident of his +past, some possibility of his future life, suggest in each case some +different legendary matter, some different way of treating it, some +different application of it, general or particular, or both. Out +of such resources Pindar is inexhaustible in building up in subtly +varying forms the splendid structure of his song. + +Yet doubtless the drawbacks in reading Pindar, though they may be +largely reduced, will always in some degree exist: we shall always +wish that he was easier to construe, that his allusions to things +unfamiliar and sometimes undiscoverable to us were less frequent, that +family pride had not made it customary for him to spend so many lines +on an enumeration of prizes won elsewhere and at other times by the +victor of the occasion or by his kin. Such drawbacks can only fall +into insignificance when eclipsed by consideration of the far more +than counterbalancing attractions of the poems, of their unique and +surpassing interest, poetical, historical, and moral. + + +Of Pindar as a poet it is hard indeed to speak adequately, and +almost as hard to speak briefly, for a discussion of his poetical +characteristics once begun may wander far before even a small part +has been said of what might be. To say that to his poetry in supreme +degree belong the qualities of force, of vividness, often of +impressive weight, of a lofty style, seeming to be the expression of +a like personality, of a mastery of rhythm and metre and imaginative +diction, of a profoundly Hellenic spirit modified by an unmistakable +individuality, above all of a certain sweep and swiftness as of the +flight of an eagle's wing--to say all this would be to suggest some of +the most obvious features of these triumphal odes; and each of these +qualities, and many more requiring exacter delineation, might be +illustrated with numberless instances which even in the faint image +of a translation would furnish ample testimony[2]. But as this +introduction is intended for those who purpose reading Pindar's +poetry, or at any rate the present translation of it, for themselves, +I will leave it to them to discover for themselves the qualities which +have given Pindar his high place among poets, and will pass on to +suggest briefly his claims to interest us by reason of his place in +the history of human action and human thought. + +We know very little of Pindar's life. He was born in or about the year +B.C. 522, at the village of Kynoskephalai near Thebes. He was thus a +citizen of Thebes and seems to have always had his home there. But he +travelled among other states, many of which have been glorified by his +art. For his praise of Athens, 'bulwark of Hellas,' the city which at +Artemision 'laid the foundation of freedom,' the Thebans are said to +have fined him; but the generous Athenians paid the fine, made him +their Proxenos, and erected his statue at the public cost. For the +magnificent Sicilian princes, Hieron of Syracuse and Theron of +Akragas, not unlike the Medici in the position they held, Pindar wrote +five of the longest of his extant odes, and probably visited them in +Sicily. But he would not quit his home to be an ornament of their +courts. When asked why he did not, like Simonides, accept the +invitations of these potentates to make his home with them, he +answered that he had chosen to live his own life, and not to be the +property of another. He died at the age of 79, that is, probably, in +the year 443, twelve years before the Peloponnesian war began. Legend +said that he died in the theatre of Argos, in the arms of Theoxenos, +the boy in whose honour he wrote a Skolion of which an immortal +fragment remains to us. Other myths gathered round his name. It was +said that once when in childhood he had fallen asleep by the way 'a +bee had settled on his lips and gathered honey,' and again that +'he saw in a dream that his mouth was filled with honey and the +honeycomb;' that Pan himself learnt a poem of his and rejoiced to sing +it on the mountains; that finally, while he awaited an answer from +the oracle of Ammon, whence he had enquired what was best for man, +Persephone appeared to him in his sleep and said that she only of the +gods had had no hymn from him, but that he should make her one shortly +when he had come to her; and that he died within ten days of the +vision. + +Two several conquerors of Thebes, Pausanias of Sparta and Alexander of +Macedon, + + 'bade spare + The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower + Went to the ground.' + +At Delphi they kept with reverence his iron chair, and the priest of +Apollo cried nightly as he closed the temple, 'Let Pindar the poet go +in unto the supper of the god.' + +Thus Pindar was contemporary with an age of Greek history which +justifies the assertion of his consummate interest for the student of +Hellenic life in its prime. It was impossible that a man of his +genius and temperament should have lived through these times without +representing to us with breadth and intensity the spirit that was in +them, and there are several points in Pindar's circumstances which +make his relation to his age peculiarly interesting. We may look on +him as in some points supplementary to the great Athenian dramatists, +whose works are doubtless far the most valuable literary legacy of the +time. Perhaps however the surpassing brilliance of Athenian literature +and history has made us somewhat prone to forget the importance of +non-Athenian elements in the complex whole of Hellenic life and +thought. Athens was the eye of Hellas, nay, she had at Marathon and +Salamis made good her claim to be called the saving arm, but there +were other members not to be forgotten if we would picture to +ourselves the national body in its completeness. + +Pindar was a Boeotian, of a country not rich in literary or indeed any +kind of intellectual eminence, yet by no means to be ignored in an +estimate of the Hellenic race. Politically indeed it only rises into +pre-eminence under Epameinondas; before and afterwards Boeotian +policy under the domination of Thebes is seldom either beneficent or +glorious: it must be remembered, however, that the gallant Plataeans +also were Boeotians. The people of Boeotia seem to have had generally +an easy, rather sensually inclined nature, which accorded with their +rich country and absence of nautical and commercial enterprise and +excitement, but in their best men this disposition remains only in the +form of a genial simplicity. Pelopidas in political, and Plutarch and +Pausanias in literary history, will be allowed to be instances of +this. That the poetry which penetrated Hellenic life was not wanting +in Boeotia we have proof enough in the existence of the Sacred Band, +that goodly fellowship of friends which seems to have united what +Hallam has called the three strongest motives to enthusiastic action +that have appeared in history, patriotism, chivalric honour, and +religion. Nor is there any nobler figure in history than that of +Epameinondas. + +One fact indeed there is which must always make the thought of +Pindar's Theban citizenship painful to us, and that is the shameful +part taken by Thebes in the Persian war, when compulsion of her +exposed situation, and oligarchical cabal within her walls, drew her +into unholy alliance with the barbarian invader. Had it been otherwise +how passionately pure would Pindar's joy have uttered itself when the +'stone of Tantalos' that hung over the head of Hellas was smitten into +dust in that greatest crisis of the fortunes of humanity. He exults +nobly as it is, he does all honour to Athens, 'bulwark of Hellas,' but +the shame of his own city, his 'mother' Thebes, must have caused him a +pang as bitter as a great soul has ever borne. + +For his very calling of song-writer to all Hellenic states without +discrimination, especially when the songs he had to write were of the +class which we still possess, triumphal odes for victories in those +great games which drew to them all men of Hellenic blood at the feet +of common deities, and which with each recurring festival could even +hush the clamour of war in an imperious Truce of God--such a calling +and such associations must have cherished in him the passion for +Panhellenic brotherhood and unanimity, even had there not been much +else both within and without him to join to the same generous end. It +was the time when Panhellenic feeling was probably stronger than ever +before or after. Before, the states had been occupied in building +up their own polities independently; the Hellenic activity had been +dispersing itself centrifugally among the trans-marine colonies, +and those of Italy and Sicily seemed at one time to make it doubtful +whether the nucleus of civilization were to be there or in the +mother-country. But by the time of the Persian war the best energies +of the race had concentrated themselves between the Aegean and Ionian +seas; and the supreme danger of the war had bound the states together +against the common enemy and taught them to forget smaller differences +in the great strife between Hellene and barbarian. Yet again when that +supreme danger was past the old quarrels arose anew more deadly and +more complicated: instead of a Persian there was a Peloponnesian war, +and the Peloponnesian war in its latter stages came, by virtue of the +political principles involved, to partake much of the character of +a civil war. But the time of Pindar, of Aeschylus, of Sophocles, of +Pheidias, of Polygnotos, was that happy interval when Hellas had +beaten off the barbarian from her throat and had not yet murdered +herself. And Pindar's imagination and generosity were both kindled by +the moment; there was no room in his mind for border squabbles, for +commercial jealousies, for oligarchic or democratic envy: these things +were overridden by a sentiment of nationality wanting indeed in +many circumstances which modern nationalities deem essential to the +existence of such sentiment, and many of which are really essential to +its permanence--yet a sentiment which no other nation ever before or +since can have possessed in the peculiar lustre which it then wore in +Hellas; for no other nation has ever before or since known what it was +to stand alone immeasurably advanced at the head of the civilization +of the world. + +Pindar was of a noble family, of the house of the Aigeidai, and it is +probable that his kinsmen, or some of them, may have taken the side of +oligarchy in the often recurring dissensions at Thebes, but of this +we know nothing certain. He himself seems to have taken no part in +politics. When he speaks on the subject in his odes it is not with the +voice of a partisan. An ochlocracy is hateful to him, but if he shows +himself an 'aristocrat' it is in the literal and etymological meaning +of the word. Doubtless if Pindar had been asked where the best +servants of the state in public life were most likely to be found he +would have answered that it would be among those ancient families in +whose veins ran the blood of gods and demigods, who had spent blood +and money for the city's honour, championing her in war or in the +mimic strife of the games, who had honourable traditions to be guided +by and an honourable name to lose or save. These things were seldom +undervalued by Hellenic feeling: even in Athens, after it was already +the headquarters of the democratic principle, the noble and wealthy +families obtained, not probably without wisdom of their own in loyally +accepting a democratic position, as fair a place and prospects as +anywhere in Hellas. But that, when the noble nature, the [Greek: +aretae], which traditions of nobility ought to have secured, was +lacking, then wealth and birth were still entitled to power, this +was a doctrine repugnant utterly to Pindar's mind: nor would his +indignation slumber when he saw the rich and highborn, however gifted, +forgetting at any time that their power was a trust for the community +and using it for their own selfish profit. An 'aristocrat' after +Pindar's mind would assuredly have a far keener eye to his duties +than to his rights, would consider indeed that in his larger share of +duties lay his infinitely most precious right. + +But he 'loved that beauty should go beautifully;' personal excellence +of some kind was in his eyes essential; but on this he would fain +shed outward radiance and majesty. His imagination rejoiced in +splendour--splendour of stately palace--halls where the columns were +of marble and the entablature of wrought gold, splendour of temples of +gods where the sculptor's waxing art had brought the very deities to +dwell with man, splendour of the white-pillared cities that glittered +across the Aegean and Sicilian seas, splendour of the holy Panhellenic +games, of whirlwind chariots and the fiery grace of thoroughbreds, +of the naked shapely limbs of the athlete man and boy. On this +characteristic of Pindar it is needless to dwell, for there are not +many odes of those remaining which do not impress it on our minds. + +And it is more with him than a mere manner in poetical style. The +same defect which we feel more or less present in all poets of +antiquity--least of all perhaps in Virgil and Sophokles, but even in +them somewhat--a certain want of widely sympathetic tenderness, this +is unquestionably present in Pindar. What of this quality may have +found expression in his lost poems, especially the Dirges, we can +scarcely guess, but in his triumphal odes it hardly appears at all, +unless in the touches of tender gracefulness into which he softens +when speaking of the young. And we find this want in him mainly +because objects of pity, such as especially elicit that quality of +tenderness, are never or seldom present to Pindar's mind. He sees evil +only in the shape of some moral baseness, falsehood, envy, arrogance, +and the like, to be scathed in passing by the good man's scorn, or +else in the shape of a dark mystery of pain, to be endured by those on +whom it causelessly falls in a proud though undefiant silence. It was +not for him, as for the great tragedians, to 'purge the mind by pity +and fear,' for those passions had scarcely a place in his own mind or +in the minds of those of whom he in his high phantasy would fain have +had the world consist. And as in this point somewhat, so still more in +others, does Pindar remind us, even more than might have been expected +in a contemporary, of Aeschylus. The latter by virtue of his Athenian +nurture as well as of his own greater natural gifts reveals to us +a greater number of thoughts, and those more advanced and more +interesting than we find in Pindar, but the similarity in moral temper +and tone is very striking, as also is the way in which we see this +temper acting on their beliefs. Both hold strongly, as is the wont +of powerful minds in an age of stability as opposed to an age of +transition, to the traditions and beliefs on which the society around +them rests, but both modify these traditions and beliefs according +to the light which arises in them, and which is as much moral as +intellectual light. In so doing they are indeed in harmony with the +best instincts of the society around them, but they lead and guide +such instincts and give them shape and definiteness. In the Oresteän +trilogy of Aeschylus we have an ever-memorable assertion of the +supreme claims of human morality to human allegiance, of the eternal +truth that humanity can know no object of reverence and worship except +itself idealised, its own virtues victorious over its own vices, and +existing in the greatest perfection which it can at any given time +conceive. Somewhat the same lesson as that of the Oresteia is taught +later, with more of sweetness and harmony, but not with more force, +in the Oedipus Coloneus of Sophokles. And in Pindar we see the same +tendencies inchoate. Like Aeschylus he does by implication subordinate +to morality both politics and religion. He ignores or flatly denies +tales that bring discredit on the gods; he will only bow down to them +when they have the virtues he respects in man. Yet he, like Aeschylus +and Sophokles, does so bow down, sincerely and without hesitation, and +that poets of their temper could do so was well indeed for poetry. +By rare and happy fortune they were inspired at once by the rich and +varied presences of mythology, 'the fair humanities of old religion,' +and also by the highest aspirations of an age of moral and +intellectual advance. We do not of course always, or even often, find +the moral principles clearly and consciously expressed or consistently +supported, but we cannot but feel that they are present in the shape +of instincts, and those instincts pervading and architectonic. + +And if we allow so much of ethical enlightenment to these great +spokesmen of the Hellenic people, we cannot deny something of like +honour to the race among whom they were reared. Let us apportion our +debt of gratitude to our forerunners as it is justly due. There would +seem to be much of fallacy and of the injustice of a shallow judgment +in the contrast as popularly drawn between 'Hellenism' and 'Hebraism,' +according to which the former is spoken of as exclusively proclaiming +to the world the value of Beauty, the latter the value of +Righteousness. In this there is surely much injustice done to Hellas. +Because she taught the one, she did not therefore leave the other +untaught. It may have been for a short time, as her other greatness +was for a short time, though its effects are eternal, but for that +short time the national life, of Athens at any rate, is at least as +full of high moral feeling as that of any other people in the world. +Will not the names of Solon, of Aristeides, of Kallikratidas, of +Epameinondas, of Timoleon and many more, remind us that life could be +to the Hellene something of deeper moral import than a brilliant game, +or a garden of vivid and sweet sights and sounds where Beauty and +Knowledge entered, but Goodness was forgotten and shut out? For it +is not merely that these men, and very many more endowed with ample +portion of their spirit, were produced and reared among the race; they +were honoured and valued in a way that surely postulated the existence +of high ethical feeling in their countrymen. And even when the days +of unselfish statesmen and magnanimous cities were over, there were +philosophers whose schools were not the less filled because they +claimed a high place for righteousness in human life. To Solon and +Aristeides succeeded Socrates and Plato, to Epameinondas and Timoleon +succeeded Zeno and Epictetus. That the morality of the Hellenes was +complete on all sides, it would of course be irrational to maintain. +They had not, for instance, any more than the Hebrews, or any other +nation of antiquity, learnt to abhor slavery, though probably it +existed in a milder form at Athens than anywhere else in the old or +new world: they were more implacable in revenge and laxer in sexual +indulgence than the Christian ethics would allow in theory, though not +perhaps much more so than Christendom has shown itself in practice. +And though undoubtedly the greatest single impulse ever given to +morality came from Palestine, yet the ground which nurtured the seeds +of Christianity was as much Hellenic as Hebrew. It would be impossible +here to enter on an exhaustive comparison of the ethical capacities of +the two races, but before we pronounce hastily for the superiority of +the Hebrew there are surely some difficulties to surmount. We may +well ask, for example, Would Hellas ever have accepted as her chief +national hero such a man as David a man who in his life is conspicuous +by his crimes not less than by his brilliant gifts, and who dies with +the words of blood and perfidy on his lips, charging his son with the +last slaughterous satisfaction of his hate which he had sworn before +his God to forego? And though the great Hebrew prophets teach often +a far loftier morality than this, they cannot have been nearly so +representative of the feeling of this nation as were Aeschylus and +Sophocles and Pindar of the feeling of theirs. The Hebrews of the +prophets' age 'slew the prophets,' and left it to the slayers' +descendants to 'build their sepulchres,' and at the same time to +show their inherited character still more unmistakeably by once more +slaying the last prophet and the greatest.[3] + +In truth in the literature, the art, the life generally of Hellas in +her prime, the moral interest whenever it appears, and that is not +seldom, claims for itself the grave and preponderant attention which +it must claim if it is to appear with fit dignity. But it is not +thrust forward unseasonably or in exaggeration, nor is it placed in a +false opposition to the interests of the aesthetic instincts, which +after all shade into the moral more imperceptibly than might be +generally allowed. There must be a moral side to all societies, and +the Hellenic society, the choicest that the world has seen, the +completest, that is, at once in sensibilities and in energies, could +not but show the excellence of its sensibilities in receiving moral +impressions, the excellence of its energies in achieving moral +conduct. + +This, however, is no place to discuss at length questions in the +history of ethics. Yet it must be remembered that in the ancient world +departments of thought, and the affairs of men generally, were far +less specialized than in modern times. If the philosophy of Hellas be +the most explicit witness to her ethical development, her poetry +is the most eloquent. And scarcely at any time, scarcely even in +Aristotle, did Hellenic philosophy in any department lose most +significant traces of its poetical ancestry. But enough here if I have +succeeded in pointing out that in the great poet with whom we are +concerned there is an ethical as well as a poetical and historical +interest, supplying one more reason against neglect of his legacy of +song. + +Yet indeed even now there remains a further question which to the +mind of any one who at present labours in this field of classical +scholarship must recur persistently if not depressingly, and on which +it is natural if not necessary to say a few words. If the selection +of Pindar in particular as a Greek poet with claims to be further +popularized among Englishmen may be defended, there is still a more +general count to which all who make endeavours to attract or retain +attention to Greek literature will in these times be called upon to +plead by voices which command respect. To such pleas this is not the +place to give large room, or to discriminate in detail between the +reasonable and unreasonable elements in the attacks on a system of +education in which a preeminent position is allotted to the literature +of antiquity. While fully admitting that much time and labour are +still wasted in efforts to plant the study of ancient and especially +of Greek literature in uncongenial soil, while admitting also most +fully the claims, and the still imperfect recognition of the claims, +of physical science to a rank among the foremost in modern education, +I should yet be abundantly willing that this attempt to help in +facilitating the study of a Greek author should be looked on as +implying adhesion to the protest still sometimes raised, that in +the higher parts of a liberal education no study can claim a more +important place than the study of the history and the literature of +Hellas. The interest which belongs to these is far wider and +deeper than any mere literary interest. To the human mind the most +interesting of phenomena are and ought to be the phenomena of the +human mind, and this granted, can there be any knowledge more +desirable than the knowledge of the most vigorous and sensitive and in +some ways also the most fruitful action of human minds that the world +has known hitherto? + +But again, we are told that the age we seek thus toilsomely to +illustrate and realize is too remote to justify the attempt, that our +civilisation is of too different a type from the Hellenic, and that a +gulf of three-and-twenty centuries is too much for our sight to strain +across. But is not the Hellenic life at least less remote now to +Western Europe than it has ever been since the Northern invasions? +Though the separation in time widens does not the separation in +thought decrease? Is not one civilisation more like another than it +can be to any barbarism? And shall not this same Physical Science +herself by accustoming us to look on men in large masses at once, and +on the development of humanity as a process of infinite duration, as +a sectional growth included in universal evolution--Science, in whose +eyes a thousand years are as a watch in the night--shall she not +thereby quicken our sympathies with the most gifted race that has +appeared in our short human history, and arouse the same feeling +toward it as a family may cherish toward the memory of their best and +choicest, who has died young? + +Only let us take heed that such regret shall make us not more but +less unworthy of those noble forerunners. One symptom of the renewed +influence of antiquity on the modern world is doubtless and has been +from time to time since the Revival of Letters a tendency to selfish +and somewhat sickly theories so-called of life, where sensibility +degenerates through self-consciousness into affectation, and +efforts to appreciate fully the delightfulness of life and art are +overstrained into a wearisome literary voluptuousness, where duty has +already disappeared and the human sympathies on which duty is based +scarcely linger in a faint aesthetic form, soon to leave the would-be +exquisiteness to putrefy into the vulgarity of egoism. Such tendencies +have less in common with the Hellenic prime than with the court of +Leo the Tenth, though even that had perhaps an advantage over them as +being in some ways a more real thing. But that the Hellenic prime with +all its exquisite sensibility was deficient in recognition of a high +ideal of duty can never be believed among those who have studied it +candidly and attentively; I have endeavoured above to suggest that in +this point, take it all in all, it yields to no age or race. It would +indeed be a mistaken following of those noble servants of humanity +to draw from their memories an argument for selfish isolation or for +despair of the commonwealth of man. He who has drunk deeply of that +divine well and gazed long at the fair vision of what then was, will, +if his nature be capable of true sympathy with the various elements +of that wonderful age, turn again without bitterness to the confused +modern world, saddened but not paralysed by the comparison, grieving, +but with no querulous grief, for the certainty that those days are +done. + +1874. + + + +PREFATORY NOTE. + +The few notes appended to this translation are not intended to supply +the place of such reference to Dictionaries of Mythology, Antiquities +and Geography, as is needful to the student of Pindar who is not +already somewhat accomplished in knowledge of the customs, history +and legendary traditions of Hellas. And although it may reasonably be +supposed that the chief of these will be already known to most readers +of Pindar, yet so profusely allusive is this poet that to understand +his allusions will very often require knowledge which would not have +been derived from a study of the more commonly read Hellenic writers. + +Nor have I attempted to trace in detail the connection of the parts +in each ode which binds them into one harmonious whole with many +meanings--a connection so consummately contrived where we can trace it +that we may suppose it no less exquisite where we cannot. Study +and thought will generally suggest explanations, though these will +sometimes approve themselves differently to different minds. Too often +we must acknowledge, as elsewhere in ancient literature, that the key +is lost beyond all certain hope of recovery. + +Still less have I attempted to discuss questions of critical +scholarship. Sometimes where there are more than one plausible reading +I have signified which I adopt; once only (Ol. 2. 56.) I have ventured +on an emendation of my own. For the most part I have, as was natural, +followed the text of Böckh and Dissen. + +In the spelling of names I remain in that inconsistency which at +present attaches to most modern writers who deal with them. Olympus, +Athens, Corinth, Syracuse, and the like are naturalized among us by +long familiarity; it seems at present at least pedantic to change +them. In the case of other less familiar names I have concurred with +the desire, which seems in the main a reasonable one, that the names +of Hellenic persons and places should be reproduced, as far as +possible, without Latin mediation. + +Of the Fragments I have translated six of the longest and most +interesting. They are 289 in all, but the greater part are not longer +than a line or two, and very many even shorter. + +The odes are unequal in poetical merit, and many readers may not +unreasonably wish to have those pointed out which, in the judgement of +one acquainted with all, are among the best worth reading; though of +course the choice of individual readers will not always be the same. +To those therefore who would wish to begin with a selection, the +following may be recommended as at any rate among those of preeminent +merit: Pyth. 4, 9, 1, 10, 3; Ol. 7, 6, 2, 3, 13, 8, 1; Nem. 5, 10; +Isthm. 2, 7; all the Fragments translated. + +In the arrangement of the odes I have adhered to the traditional +order. I should much have liked to place them in what must always be +the most interesting and rational arrangement of a poet's works, +that is, in chronological order. This would have been approximately +possible, as we know the dates of the greater part of them. But +convenience of reference and of comparison with the Greek text seems +to supply a balance of reasons on the other side. Subjoined however is +a list of the odes in their probable chronological order so far as it +can be obtained. + + Pythian 10-------------B.C. 502. + " 6------------- " 494. + " 12------------- " 494 or 490. + " 7------------- " 490. + " 3------------- " 486 or 482. + Olympian 10 } ---------- " 484. + " 11 } ---------- " 484. + Isthmian 5 + Nemean 5 + Isthmian 7 ------------ " 480. + Isthmian 3 + Pythian 8-------------- " 478. + " 9-------------- " 478. + " 11-------------- " 478. + " 2-------------- " 477. + Olympian 14-------------- " 476. + " }----------------- " 476. + " }----------------- " 476. + Pythian 1 + Nemean 1--------------- " 473. + Olympian 1--------------- " 472. + " 12-------------- " 472. + Nemean 9 + Isthmian 2 + Olympian 6-------------- " 468. + Pythian 4 }------------- " 466. + " 5 } + Olympian 7-------------- " 464. + " 13-------------- " 464. + Nemean 7 + " 3 + " 4 + " 6 + " 8 + Olympian 9-------------- " 456. + Isthmian 6 + Olympian 4 }------------ " 452. + " 5 } + +The Olympic games were held once in four years, in honour of Zeus. The +prize was a wreath of wild olive. + +The Pythian games were held once in four years, in honour of Apollo. +The prize was a wreath of bay. + +The Nemean games were held once in two years, in honour of Zeus. The +prize was a wreath of wild parsley. + +The Isthmian games were held once in two years, in honour of Poseidon. +The prize was a wreath of wild parsley or of pine. + + +[Footnote 1: The importance and interest to a student in Hellenic +literature of a collateral study of whatever remains to us of Hellenic +plastic art--statues, vases, gems, and coins--can hardly be too +strongly insisted on.] + +[Footnote 2: In Mr. J.A. Symonds' 'Studies of the Greek Poets' there +is an essay on Pindar which dwells with much appreciative eloquence +upon the poets literary characteristics.] + +[Footnote 3: In thus touching on the obligations of our morality to +the Hebrew and to the Hellene respectively, I have insisted more +exclusively on the weak points of the former than I should have done +in a fuller discussion of the subject: here I am merely concerned to +question in passing what seems to be a popular one-sided estimate.] + + * * * * * + + + +OLYMPIAN ODES. + + +I. + +FOR HIERON OF SYRACUSE, + +WINNER IN THE HORSE-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode seems to owe its position at the head of Pindar's extant +works to Aristophanes the grammarian, who placed it there on account +of its being specially occupied with the glorification of the Olympic +games in comparison with others, and with the story of Pelops, who was +their founder. + +Hieron won this race B.C. 472, while at the height of his power at +Syracuse. Probably the ode was sung at Syracuse, perhaps, as has been +suggested, at a banquet. + + * * * * * + +Best is Water of all, and Gold as a flaming fire in the night shineth +eminent amid lordly wealth; but if of prizes in the games thou art +fain, O my soul, to tell, then, as for no bright star more quickening +than the sun must thou search in the void firmament by day, so neither +shall we find any games greater than the Olympic whereof to utter our +voice: for hence cometh the glorious hymn and entereth into the minds +of the skilled in song, so that they celebrate the son[1] of Kronos, +when to the rich and happy hearth of Hieron they are come; for he +wieldeth the sceptre of justice in Sicily of many flocks, culling the +choice fruits of all kinds of excellence: and with the flower of music +is he made splendid, even such strains as we sing blithely at the +table of a friend. + +Take from the peg the Dorian lute, if in any wise the glory of +Pherenikos[2] at Pisa hath swayed thy soul unto glad thoughts, when by +the banks of Alpheos he ran, and gave his body ungoaded in the +course, and brought victory to his master, the Syracusans' king, who +delighteth in horses. + +Bright is his fame in Lydian Pelops' colony[3], inhabited of a goodly +race, whose founder mighty earth-enfolding Poseidon loved, what time +from the vessel of purifying[4] Klotho took him with the bright ivory +furnishment of his shoulder. + +Verily many things are wondrous, and haply tales decked out with +cunning fables beyond the truth make false men's speech concerning +them. For Charis[5], who maketh all sweet things for mortal men, by +lending honour unto such maketh oft the unbelievable thing to be +believed; but the days that follow after are the wisest witnesses. + +Meet is it for a man that concerning gods he speak honourably; for the +reproach is less. Of thee, son of Tantalos, I will speak contrariwise +to them who have gone before me, and I will tell how when thy father +had bidden thee to that most seemly feast at his beloved Sipylos, +repaying to the gods their banquet, then did he of the Bright +Trident[6], his heart vanquished by love, snatch thee and bear thee +behind his golden steeds to the house of august Zeus in the highest, +whither again on a like errand came Ganymede in the after time. + +But when thou hadst vanished, and the men who sought thee long brought +thee not to thy mother, some one of the envious neighbours said +secretly that over water heated to boiling they had hewn asunder with +a knife thy limbs, and at the tables had shared among them and eaten +sodden fragments of thy flesh. But to me it is impossible to call one +of the blessed gods cannibal; I keep aloof; in telling ill tales is +often little gain. + +Now if any man ever had honour of the guardians of Olympus, Tantalos +was that man; but his high fortune he could not digest, and by excess +thereof won him an overwhelming woe, in that the Father hath hung +above him a mighty stone that he would fain ward from his head, and +therewithal he is fallen from joy. + +This hopeless life of endless misery he endureth with other three[7], +for that he stole from the immortals and gave to his fellows at +a feast the nectar and ambrosia, whereby the gods had made him +incorruptible. But if a man thinketh that in doing aught he shall be +hidden from God, he erreth. + +Therefore also the immortals sent back again his son to be once more +counted with the short-lived race of men. And he when toward the bloom +of his sweet youth the down began to shade his darkening cheek, took +counsel with himself speedily to take to him for his wife the noble +Hippodameia from her Pisan father's hand. + +And he came and stood upon the margin of the hoary sea, alone in the +darkness of the night, and called aloud on the deep-voiced Wielder of +the Trident; and he appeared unto him nigh at his foot. + +Then he said unto him: 'Lo now, O Poseidon, if the kind gifts of the +Cyprian goddess are anywise pleasant in thine eyes, restrain Oinomaos' +bronze spear, and send me unto Elis upon a chariot exceeding swift, +and give the victory to my hands. Thirteen lovers already hath +Oinomaos slain, and still delayeth to give his daughter in marriage. +Now a great peril alloweth not of a coward: and forasmuch as men must +die, wherefore should one sit vainly in the dark through a dull and +nameless age, and without lot in noble deeds? Not so, but I will dare +this strife: do thou give the issue I desire.' + +Thus spake he, nor were his words in vain: for the god made him a +glorious gift of a golden car and winged untiring steeds: so he +overcame Oinomaos and won the maiden for his bride. + +And he begat six sons, chieftains, whose thoughts were ever of brave +deeds: and now hath he part in honour of blood-offerings in his grave +beside Alpheos' stream, and hath a frequented tomb, whereto many +strangers resort: and from afar off he beholdeth the glory of the +Olympian games in the courses called of Pelops, where is striving +of swift feet and of strong bodies brave to labour; but he that +overcometh hath for the sake of those games a sweet tranquillity +throughout his life for evermore. + +Now the good that cometh of to-day is ever sovereign unto every man. +My part it is to crown Hieron with an equestrian strain in Aeolian +mood: and sure am I that no host among men that now are shall I ever +glorify in sounding labyrinths of song more learned in the learning of +honour and withal with more might to work thereto. A god hath guard +over thy hopes, O Hieron, and taketh care for them with a peculiar +care: and if he fail thee not, I trust that I shall again proclaim in +song a sweeter glory yet, and find thereto in words a ready way, when +to the fair-shining hill of Kronos I am come. Her strongest-wingëd +dart my Muse hath yet in store. + +Of many kinds is the greatness of men; but the highest is to be +achieved by kings. Look not thou for more than this. May it be thine +to walk loftily all thy life, and mine to be the friend of winners in +the games, winning honour for my art among Hellenes everywhere. + + +[Footnote 1: The Olympic games were sacred to Zeus.] + +[Footnote 2: The horse that won this race for Hieron.] + +[Footnote 3: Peloponnesos.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. immediately on his birth, for among the Fates +Klotho was peculiarly concerned with the beginning of man's life. +Pindar refuses to accept the legend which made Pelops' ivory shoulder +a substitute for his fleshly one eaten at Tantalos' table by the gods; +for thus the gods would have been guilty of an infamous act.] + +[Footnote 5: Goddess of Grace or Beauty. Often there are three +Charites or Graces. Pindar means here that men are prone to believe +an untrue tale for the sake of the beauty of the form in which it is +presented, but that such tales will not stand the test of time.] + +[Footnote 6: Poseidon.] + +[Footnote 7: Sisyphos, Ixion, and Tityos.] + + + +II. + +FOR THERON OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + + Theron's ancestors the Emmenidai migrated from Rhodes to Sicily and + first colonized Gela and then Akragas (the Latin Agrigentum and + Italian Girgenti). His chariot won this victory B.C. 476. + + * * * * * + +Lords of the lute[1], my songs, what god, what hero, or what man, are +we to celebrate?[2] Verily of Zeus is Pisa the abode, of Herakles the +Olympian feast was founded from the chief spoils of war, and Theron's +name must we proclaim for his victory with the four-horse-car, a +righteous and god-fearing host, the stay of Akragas, of famous sires +the flower, a saviour of the state. + +They after long toils bravely borne took by a river's side a sacred +dwelling place, and became the eye of Sicily, and a life of good luck +clave to them, bringing them wealth and honour to crown their inborn +worth. + +O son of Kronos and of Rhea, lord of Olympus' seat, and of the chief +of games and of Alpheos' ford, for joy in these my songs guard ever +graciously their native fields for their sons that shall come after +them. + +Now of deeds done whether they be right or wrong not even Time the +father of all can make undone the accomplishment, yet with happy +fortune forgetfulness may come. For by high delights an alien pain is +quelled and dieth, when the decree of God sendeth happiness to grow +aloft and widely. + +And this word is true concerning Kadmos' fair-throned daughters, whose +calamities were great, yet their sore grief fell before greater +good. Amid the Olympians long-haired Semele still liveth, albeit she +perished in the thunder's roar, and Pallas cherisheth her ever, and +Father Zeus exceedingly, and her son, the ivy-bearing god. And in the +sea too they say that to Ino, among the sea-maids of Nereus, life +incorruptible hath been ordained for evermore. + +Ay but to mortals the day of death is certain never, neither at what +time we shall see in calm the end of one of the Sun's children, the +Days, with good thitherto unfailing; now this way and now that run +currents bringing joys or toils to men. + +Thus destiny which from their fathers holdeth the happy fortune of +this race[3], together with prosperity heaven-sent bringeth ever at +some other time better reverse: from the day when Laïos was slain by +his destined son[4] who met him on the road and made fulfilment of the +oracle spoken of old at Pytho. Then swift Erinys when she saw it slew +by each other's hand his war-like sons: yet after that Polyneikes fell +Thersander[5] lived after him and won honour in the Second Strife[6] +and in the fights of war, a saviour scion to the Adrastid house. + +From him they have beginning of their race: meet is it that +Ainesidamos receive our hymn of triumph, on the lyre. For at Olympia +he himself received a prize and at Pytho, and at the Isthmus to his +brother of no less a lot did kindred Graces bring crowns for the +twelve rounds of the four-horse chariot-race. + +Victory setteth free the essayer from the struggle's griefs, yea and +the wealth that a noble nature hath made glorious bringeth power for +this and that, putting into the heart of man a deep and eager mood, a +star far seen, a light wherein a man shall trust if but[7] the holder +thereof knoweth the things that shall be, how that of all who die the +guilty souls pay penalty, for all the sins sinned in this realm +of Zeus One judgeth under earth, pronouncing sentence by unloved +constraint. + +But evenly ever in sunlight night and day an unlaborious life the good +receive, neither with violent hand vex they the earth nor the waters +of the sea, in that new world; but with the honoured of the gods, +whosoever had pleasure in keeping of oaths, they possess a tearless +life: but the other part suffer pain too dire to look upon. + +Then whosoever have been of good courage to the abiding steadfast +thrice on either side of death and have refrained their souls from +all iniquity, travel the road of Zeus unto the tower of Kronos: there +round the islands of the blest the Ocean-breezes blow, and golden +flowers are glowing, some from the land on trees of splendour, and +some the water feedeth, with wreaths whereof they entwine their hands: +so ordereth Rhadamanthos' just decree, whom at his own right hand hath +ever the father Kronos, husband of Rhea, throned above all worlds[8]. + +Peleus and Kadmos are counted of that company; and the mother of +Achilles, when her prayer had moved the heart of Zeus, bare thither +her son, even him who overthrew Hector, Troy's unbending invincible +pillar, even him who gave Kyknos to death and the Ethiop son[9] of the +Morning. + +Many swift arrows have I beneath my bended arm within my quiver, +arrows that have a voice for the wise, but for the multitude they need +interpreters. His art is true who of his nature hath knowledge; they +who have but learnt, strong in the multitude of words, are but as +crows that chatter vain things in strife against the divine bird of +Zeus. + +Come bend thy bow on the mark, O my soul--at whom again are we to +launch our shafts of honour from a friendly mind? At Akragas will I +take aim, and will proclaim and swear it with a mind of truth, that +for a hundred years no city hath brought forth a man of mind more +prone to well-doing towards friends or of more liberal mood than +Theron. + +Yet praise is overtaken of distaste, wherewith is no justice, but from +covetous men it cometh, and is fain to babble against and darken the +good man's noble deeds. + +The sea-sand none hath numbered; and the joys that Theron hath given +to others--who shall declare the tale thereof? + + +[Footnote 1: In Hellenic music the accompaniment was deemed +subordinate to the words.] + +[Footnote 2: Here are three questions and three answers.] + +[Footnote 3: The Emmenidai.] + +[Footnote 4: Oedipus.] + +[Footnote 5: Son of Polyneikes. Theron traced his descent from him.] + +[Footnote 6: The War of the Epigonoi against Thebes.] + +[Footnote 7: Reading [Greek: ei ge min echon]. The old readings were +[Greek: ei de min echon] and [Greek: ei de min echei; eu de min echon] +has also been suggested; but of these three none seems to me to be at +all satisfactory. In the reading I suggest the change is very slight, +and it makes good sense.] + +[Footnote 8: For Pindar's ideas as to a future life see especially +the fragments of his Dirges which remain to us. He seems to have been +influenced by Pythagoreanism.] + +[Footnote 9: Memnon.] + + + +III. + +FOR THERON OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode celebrates the same victory as the preceeding one. It was +sung at the feast of the Theoxenia, given by Theron in the name of +the Dioskouroi (Kastor and Polydeukes) to the other gods. Hence the +epithet _hospitable_ ([Greek: philoxeinois]) applied to the Dioskouroi +in the first line. The clan of the Emmenidai to which Theron belonged +was especially devoted to the worship of the Twins. + + * * * * * + +Tyndareus' hospitable sons and lovely-haired Helen shall I please +assuredly in doing honour to renownëd Akragas by a hymn upraised for +Theron's Olympian crown; for hereunto hath the Muse been present with +me that I should find out a fair new[1] device, fitting to feet that +move in Dorian time the Komos-voices' splendid strain. + +For crowns entwined about his hair demand from me this god-appointed +debt, that for Ainesidamos' son I join in seemly sort the lyre of +various tones with the flute's cry and ordering of words. + +And Pisa bids me speak aloud, for from her come to men songs of +divine assignment, when the just judge of games the Aitolian[2] man, +fulfilling Herakles' behests of old, hath laid upon one's hair above +his brows pale-gleaming glory of olive. + +That tree from Ister's shadowy springs did the son of Amphitryon bear +to be a memorial most glorious of Olympian triumphs, when that by his +words he had won the Hyperborean folk, who serve Apollo. In loyal +temper he besought for the precinct of Zeus, whereto all men go up, +a plant that should be a shadow of all folk in common, and withal a +crown for valorous deeds. + +For already, when the altars had been sanctified to his sire, the +midmonth Moon riding her golden car lit full the counter-flame of the +eye of Even, and just judgment of great games did he ordain, and the +fifth year's feast beside the holy steeps of Alpheos[3]. + +But no fair trees were nursed upon that place in Kronian Pelops' +glens; whereof being naked his garden seemed to him to be given over +to the keen rays of the sun. + +Then was it that his soul stirred to urge him into the land of Ister; +where Leto's horse-loving daughter[4] received him erst when he was +come from the ridged hills and winding dells of Arcady, what time his +father laid constraint upon him to go at Eurystheus' bidding to fetch +the golden-hornëd hind, which once Taÿgete vowed to her[5] of Orthion +and made a sign thereon of consecration. For in that chase he saw also +the land that lieth behind the blast of the cold North-wind: there he +halted and marvelled at the trees: and sweet desire thereof possessed +him that he might plant them at the end of the course which the +race-horses should run twelve times round. + +So now to this feast cometh he in good-will in company with the Twins +Divine, deep-girdled Leto's children. For to them he gave charge when +he ascended into Olympus to order the spectacle of the games, both the +struggle of man with man, and the driving of the nimble car. + +Me anywise my soul stirreth to declare that to the Emmenidai and to +Theron hath glory come by gift of the Tyndaridai of goodly steeds, +for that beyond all mortals they do honour to them with tables of +hospitality, keeping with pious spirit the rite of blessed gods. + +Now if Water be the Best[6], and of possessions Gold be the most +precious, so now to the furthest bound doth Theron by his fair deeds +attain, and from his own home touch the pillars of Herakles. Pathless +the things beyond, pathless alike to the unwise and the wise. Here I +will search no more; the quest were vain. + + +[Footnote 1: i. e. probably a new combination of lyre and flute to +accompany the singing.] + +[Footnote 2: When the Dorians invaded Peloponnesos one of their +leaders is said to have been Oxylos, a man of Elean descent but living +in Aitolia. As a result of the invasion he became king of Elis; +and the judge at the Olympic games seems to have been considered a +descendant of him or of some Aitolian who came with him.] + +[Footnote 3: The Olympic games were held in the middle of the month +Hekatombaion, when the moon was full. It is here implied that Herakles +wished to institute them when the moon was full, as that was a season +of good luck.] + +[Footnote 4: Artemis.] + +[Footnote 5: Artemis.] + +[Footnote 6: See Ol. i. 1.] + + + +IV. + +FOR PSAUMIS OF KAMARINA, + +WINNER IN THE MULE-CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +Psaumis won this race in the year 452; therefore this ode and its +companion, the next following, are the latest work of Pindar possessed +by us to which we can assign a date. + +The mule-chariot-race was introduced at Olympia B.C. 500 and abolished +B.C. 444, according to Pausanias. + +This ode seems to have been written immediately on Psaumis' victory, +to be sung the same night beneath the moon by the company of friends +who escorted the winner to return thanks at the altar of Zeus. + + * * * * * + +Hurler of thunderbolts unfaltering, the most high Zeus, for that thy +chosen hour recurrent hath sent me with a song set to the music of +the subtle lute for a witness to the greatest of all games--and +when friends have good hap the good are glad forthwith at the sweet +tidings--now therefore, O son of Kronos, unto whom Ætna belongeth, +the wind-beaten burden that crusheth fierce Typhon's hundred heads, +receive thou this band of triumph for an Olympian victory won by the +Graces' aid, a most enduring light of far-prevailing valorous deeds. + +For the sake of Psaumis' mule-chariot it draweth nigh to +thee--Psaumis, who, crowned with Pisan olive, hasteth to raise up +glory for Kamarina. May God be gracious to our prayers for what shall +be! For I praise him as a man most zealous in the rearing of horses, +and delighting in ever-open hospitality, and bent on peace and on the +welfare of his city, with guileless soul. + +With no lie will I tinge my tale: trial is the test of men; this +it was that delivered the son of Klymenos from the Lemnian women's +slight. He, when he had won the foot-race in bronze armour[1], spake +thus to Hypsipyle as he went to receive his crown: 'For fleetness such +am I: hands have I and a heart to match. So also on young men grow +oftentimes grey hairs even before the natural season of man's +life[2].' + + +[Footnote 1: See introduction to Pythian ix.] + +[Footnote 2: We may suppose that Psaumis probably had grey hair.] + + + +V. + +FOR PSAUMIS OF KAMARINA, + +WINNER IN THE MULE-CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + + This ode is for the same victory as the foregoing one, but was to be + sung after Psaumis' return home, at Kamarina, and probably at, or in + procession to, a temple of either Pallas, Zeus, or the tutelary nymph + Kamarina, all of whom are invoked. The city is called 'new-peopled' + ([Greek: neoikos]) because it had been destroyed by Gelo, and was only + restored B.C. 461, nine years before this victory, the first which had + been won by any citizen since its restoration. + + * * * * * + +Of lofty deeds and crowns Olympian this sweet delight, O daughter[1] +of Ocean, with glad heart receive, the gift of Psaumis and his +untiring car. He to make great thy city, Kamarina, with its fostered +folk, hath honoured six twin altars in great feasts of the gods with +sacrifices of oxen and five-day contests of games, with chariots of +horses and of mules and with the steed of single frontlet[2]. + +To thee hath the victor consecrated the proud token[3] of his fame, +and hath glorified by the herald's voice his father Akron and this +new-peopled town. + +Also, returning from the gracious dwelling place of Oinomaos and +Pelops, thy sacred grove, O city-guarding Pallas, doth he sing, and +the river Oanis, and the lake of his native land, and the sacred +channels wherethrough doth Hipparis give water to the people, and +build[4] with speed a lofty forest of stedfast dwellings, bringing +from perplexity to the light this commonwealth of citizens. + +Now ever in fair deeds must toil and cost contend toward an +accomplishment hidden in perilous chance: yet if men have good hap +therein, even to their own townsfolk is their wisdom approved. + +O guardian Zeus that sittest above the clouds, that inhabitest the +Kronian hill and honourest the broad river of Alpheos and Ida's holy +cave, suppliant to thee I come, making my cry on Lydian flutes, to +pray thee that thou wilt glorify this city with brave men's renown. + +For thee also, Olympian victor, I pray that, joying in the steeds +Poseidon[5] gave, thou mayest bear with thee to the end a serene old +age, and may thy sons, O Psaumis, be at thy side. If a man cherish his +wealth to sound ends, having a sufficiency of goods and adding thereto +fair repute, let him not seek to become a god. + + +[Footnote 1: Kamarina.] + +[Footnote 2: I. e. probably with horses ridden, not driven.] + +[Footnote 3: His Olympian crown of wild olive.] + +[Footnote 4: This seems to mean that the new city was built with wood +brought down the stream of the river Hipparis.] + +[Footnote 5: When Poseidon and Athene were contending for the +protectorate of Athens, Poseidon brought the first horse up out of the +earth, Athene the first olive-tree.] + + + +VI. + +FOR AGESIAS OF SYRACUSE, + +WINNER IN THE MULE-CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + One of the Iamid clan, to which belonged hereditary priestly functions + in Arcadia and at Olympia, had come with the first colonists to Syracuse, + and from him the present victor Agesias was descended. Thus + the ode is chiefly concerned with the story of his ancestor Iamos. + Agesias was a citizen of Stymphalos in Arcadia, as well as of Syracuse, + where he lived, and the ode was sung by a chorus in Stymphalos, + B.C. 468. + + * * * * * + +Golden pillars will we set up in the porch of the house of our song, +as in a stately palace-hall; for it beseemeth that in the fore-front +of the work the entablature shoot far its splendour. + +Now if one be an Olympian conqueror and treasurer to the prophetic +altar of Zeus at Pisa, and joint founder[1] of glorious Syracuse, +shall such an one hide him from hymns of praise, if his lot be among +citizens who hear without envy the desired sounds of song? For in a +sandal of such sort let the son of Sostratos know that his fortunate +foot is set. Deeds of no risk are honourless whether done among men or +among hollow ships; but if a noble deed be wrought with labour, many +make mention thereof. + +For thee, Agesias, is that praise prepared which justly and openly +Adrastos spake of old concerning the seer Amphiaraos the son of +Oikleus, when the earth had swallowed him and his shining steeds. For +afterward, when on seven pyres dead men were burnt, the son[2] of +Talaos spake on this wise: 'I seek the eye of my host, him who was +alike a good seer and a good fighter with the spear.' + +This praise also belongeth to the Syracusan who is lord of this +triumphal song. I who am no friend of strife or wrongful quarrel will +bear him this witness even with a solemn oath, and the sweet voice of +the Muses shall not say me nay. + +O Phintis[3] yoke me now with all speed the strength of thy mules that +on the clear highway we may set our car, that I may go up to the far +beginning of this race. For those mules know well to lead the way in +this course as in others, who at Olympia have won crowns: it behoveth +them that we throw open to them the gates of song, for to Pitane by +Eurotas' stream must I begone betimes to-day. + +Now Pitane[4], they say, lay with Poseidon the son of Kronos and +bare the child Euadne with tresses iris-dark. The fruit of her body +unwedded she hid by her robe's folds, and in the month of her delivery +she sent her handmaids and bade them give the child to the hero son[5] +of Elatos to rear, who was lord of the men of Arcady who dwelt at +Phaisane, and had for his lot Alpheos to dwell beside. + +There was the child Euadne nurtured, and by Apollo's side she first +knew the joys of Aphrodite. + +But she might not always hide from Aipytos the seed of the god within +her; and he in his heart struggling with bitter strain against a grief +too great for speech betook him to Pytho that he might ask of the +oracle concerning the intolerable woe. + +But she beneath a thicket's shade put from her silver pitcher and her +girdle of scarlet web, and she brought forth a boy in whom was the +spirit of God. By her side the gold-haired god set kindly Eleutho and +the Fates, and from her womb in easy travail came forth Iamos to the +light. Him in her anguish she left upon the ground, but by the counsel +of gods two bright-eyed serpents nursed and fed him with the harmless +venom[6] of the bee. + +But when the king came back from rocky Delphi in his chariot he asked +all who were in the house concerning the child whom Euadne had born; +for he said that the sire whereof he was begotten was Phoibos, and +that he should be a prophet unto the people of the land excelling all +mortal men, and that his seed should be for ever. + +Such was his tale, but they answered that they had neither seen nor +heard of him, though he was now born five days. For he was hidden +among rushes in an impenetrable brake, his tender body all suffused +with golden and deep purple gleams of iris flowers; wherefore his +mother prophesied saying that by this holy name[7] of immortality he +should be called throughout all time. + +But when he had come to the ripeness of golden-crowned sweet youth, +he went down into the middle of Alpheos and called on wide-ruling +Poseidon his grandsire, and on the guardian of god-built Delos, the +bearer of the bow[8], praying that honour might be upon his head for +the rearing of a people; and he stood beneath the heavens, and it was +night. + +Then the infallible Voice of his father answered and said unto him: +Arise, my son, and come hither, following my voice, into a place where +all men shall meet together. + +So they came to the steep rock of lofty Kronion; there the god gave +him a twofold treasure of prophecy, that for the time then being he +should hearken to his voice that cannot lie; but when Herakles of +valorous counsels, the sacred scion of the Alkeidai, should have come, +and should have founded a multitudinous feast and the chief ordinance +of games[9], then again on the summit of the altar of Zeus he bade him +establish yet another oracle, that thenceforth the race of Iamidai +should be glorious among Hellenes. + +Good luck abode with them; for that they know the worth of valour they +are entered on a glorious road. + +The matter proveth the man, but from the envious calumny ever +threateneth them on whom, as they drive foremost in the twelfth[10] +round of the course, Charis sheddeth blushing beauty to win them fame +more fair. + +Now if in very truth, Agesias, thy mother's ancestors dwelling by the +borders of Kyllene did piously and oft offer up prayer and sacrifice +to Hermes, herald of the gods, who hath to his keeping the strife and +appointment of games, and doeth honour to Arcadia the nurse of goodly +men,--then surely he, O son of Sostratos, with his loud-thundering +sire, is the accomplisher of this thy bliss. + +Methinks I have upon my tongue a whetstone of loud sounding speech, +which to harmonious breath constraineth me nothing loth. Mother of my +mother was Stymphalian Metope[11] of fair flowers, for she bare Thebe +the charioteer, whose pleasant fountain I will drink, while I weave +for warriors the changes of my song. + +Now rouse thy fellows, Ainëas, first to proclaim the name of +maiden[12] Hera, and next to know for sure whether we are escaped from +the ancient reproach that spake truly of Boeotian swine. For thou art +a true messenger, a writing-tally[13] of the Muses goodly-haired, a +bowl wherein to mix high-sounding songs. + +And bid them make mention of Syracuse and of Ortygia, which Hieron +ruleth with righteous sceptre devising true counsels, and doth honour +to Demeter whose footsteps make red the corn, and to the feast of her +daughter with white steeds, and to the might of Aetnaean Zeus. Also he +is well known of the sweet voices of the song and lute. Let not the +on-coming time break his good fortune. And with joyful welcome may +he receive this triumphal song, which travelleth from home to home, +leaving Stymphalos' walls, the mother-city of Arcadia, rich in flocks. + +Good in a stormy night are two anchors let fall from a swift ship. May +friendly gods grant to both peoples[14] an illustrious lot: and thou +O lord and ruler of the sea, husband of Amphitrite of the golden +distaff, grant this my friend straight voyage and unharmed, and bless +the joyous flower of my song. + + +[Footnote 1: Agesias is so called because an Iamid ancestor of his had +gone with Archias when he planted the Corinthian colony of Syracuse.] + +[Footnote 2: Adrastos.] + +[Footnote 3: Phintis was Agesias' charioteer.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. the nymph who gave her name to the place.] + +[Footnote 5: Aipytos.] + +[Footnote 6: Honey.] + +[Footnote 7: Iamos, from [Greek: ion]: the iris was considered a +symbol of immortality.] + +[Footnote 8: His father, Apollo.] + +[Footnote 9: At Olympia.] + +[Footnote 10: The course in the chariot-race was twelve times round +the Hippodrome.] + +[Footnote 11: The nymph of the lake Metopë near Stymphalos.] + +[Footnote 12: Hera was worshipped in her prenuptial as well as her +postnuptial state.] + +[Footnote 13: It was a custom between correspondents who wished for +secrecy to have duplicate [Greek: skutalai], or letter-sticks. The +writer wrote on a roll wrapt round his stick, and the receiver of the +letter read it wrapt similarly on his. And thus Aineas the bearer of +this ode would teach the chorus of Stymphalians how rightly to sing +and understand it. See [Greek: skutalae] in Dict. Ant.] + +[Footnote 14: I. e. of Stymphalos and Syracuse. Agesias was a citizen +of both, and thus his two homes are compared to two anchors.] + + + +VII. + +FOR DIAGORAS OF RHODES, + +WINNER IN THE BOXING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + + Rhodes is said to have been colonised at the time of the Dorian + migrations by Argive Dorians from Epidauros, who were Herakleidai of + of the family of Tlepolemos. They founded a confederacy of three + cities, Kameiros, Lindos, and Ialysos. Ialysos was then ruled by + the dynasty of the Eratidai. Their kingly power had now been extinct + two hundred years, but the family was still pre-eminent in the state. + Of this family was Diagoras, and probably the ode was sung at a + family festival; but it commemorates the glories of the island generally. + The Rhodians caused it to be engraved in letters of gold in the + temple of Athene at Lindos. + + There is a noteworthy incident of the Peloponnesian war which should + be remembered in connection with this ode. In the year 406, fifty-eight + years after this victory of Diagoras, during the final and most + embittering agony of Athens, one Dorieus, a son of Diagoras, and himself + a famous athlete, was captured by the Athenians in a sea-fight. + It was then the custom either to release prisoners of war for a ransom + or else to put them to death. The Athenians asked no ransom of + Dorieus, but set him free on the spot. + + * * * * * + +As when from a wealthy hand one lifting a cup, made glad within with +the dew of the vine, maketh gift thereof to a youth his daughter's +spouse, a largess of the feast from home to home, an all-golden +choicest treasure, that the banquet may have grace, and that he may +glorify his kin; and therewith he maketh him envied in the eyes of the +friends around him for a wedlock wherein hearts are wedded-- + +So also I, my liquid nectar sending, the Muses' gift, the sweet fruit +of my soul, to men that are winners in the games at Pytho or Olympia +make holy offering. Happy is he whom good report encompasseth; now +on one man, now on another doth the Grace that quickeneth look +favourably, and tune for him the lyre and the pipe's stops of music +manifold. + +Thus to the sound of the twain am I come with Diagoras sailing home, +to sing the sea-girt Rhodes, child of Aphrodite and bride of Helios, +that to a mighty and fair-fighting man, who by Alpheos' stream and by +Kastalia's hath won him crowns, I may for his boxing make award of +glory, and to his father Demegetos in whom Justice hath her delight, +dwellers in the isle of three cities with an Argive host, nigh to a +promontory of spacious Asia. + +Fain would I truly tell from the beginning from Tlepolemos the message +of my word, the common right of this puissant seed of Herakles. For +on the father's side they claim from Zeus, and on the mother's from +Astydameia, sons of Amyntor. + +Now round the minds of men hang follies unnumbered--this is the +unachievable thing, to find what shall be best hap for a man both +presently and also at the last. Yea for the very founder[1] of this +country once on a time struck with his staff of tough wild-olive-wood +Alkmene's bastard brother Likymnios in Tiryns as he came forth from +Midea's chamber, and slew him in the kindling of his wrath. So even +the wise man's feet are turned astray by tumult of the soul. + +Then he came to enquire of the oracle of God. And he of the golden +hair from his sweet-incensed shrine spake unto him of a sailing of +ships that should be from the shore of Lerna unto a pasture ringed +with sea, where sometime the great king of gods rained on the +city golden snow, what time by Hephaistos' handicraft beneath the +bronze-wrought axe from the crown of her father's head Athene leapt to +light and cried aloud with an exceeding cry; and Heaven trembled at +her coming, and Earth, the Mother. + +Then also the god who giveth light to men, Hyperion, bade his beloved +sons see that they guard the payment of the debt, that they should +build first for the goddess an altar in the sight of all men, and +laying thereon a holy offering they should make glad the hearts of +the father and of his daughter of the sounding spear. Now Reverence, +Forethought's child, putteth valour and the joy of battle into the +hearts of men; yet withal there cometh upon them bafflingly the cloud +of forgetfulness and maketh the mind to swerve from the straight path +of action. For they though they had brands burning yet kindled not the +seed of flame, but with fireless rites they made a grove on the hill +of the citadel. For them Zeus brought a yellow cloud into the sky and +rained much gold upon the land; and Glaukopis herself gave them to +excel the dwellers upon earth in every art of handicraft. For on their +roads ran the semblances of beasts and creeping things: whereof they +have great glory, for to him that hath knowledge the subtlety that is +without deceit[2] is the greater altogether. + +Now the ancient story of men saith that when Zeus and the other gods +made division of the earth among them, not yet was island Rhodes +apparent in the open sea, but in the briny depths lay hid. And for +that Helios was otherwhere, none drew a lot for him; so they left him +portionless of land, that holy god. And when he spake thereof Zeus +would cast lots afresh; but he suffered him not, for that he said that +beneath the hoary sea he saw a certain land waxing from its root in +earth, that should bring forth food for many men, and rejoice in +flocks. And straightway he bade her of the golden fillet, Lachesis, to +stretch her hands on high, nor violate the gods' great oath, but with +the son of Kronos promise him that the isle sent up to the light of +heaven should be thenceforth a title of himself alone. + +And in the end of the matter his speech had fulfilment; there sprang +up from the watery main an island, and the father who begetteth +the keen rays of day hath the dominion thereof, even the lord of +fire-breathing steeds. There sometime having lain with Rhodos he begat +seven sons, who had of him minds wiser than any among the men of old; +and one begat Kameiros, and Ialysos his eldest, and Lindos: and they +held each apart their shares of cities, making threefold division of +their father's land, and these men call their dwelling-places. There +is a sweet amends for his piteous ill-hap ordained for Tlepolemos +leader of the Tirynthians at the beginning, as for a god, even the +leading thither of sheep for a savoury burnt-offering, and the award +of honour in games[3]. + +Of garlands from these games hath Diagoras twice won him crowns, and +four times he had good luck at famous Isthmos and twice following +at Nemea, and twice at rocky Athens. And at Argos the bronze shield +knoweth him, and the deeds of Arcadia and of Thebes and the yearly +games Boeotian, and Pellene and Aigina where six times he won; and the +pillar of stone at Megara hath the same tale to tell. + +But do thou, O Father Zeus, who holdest sway on the mountain-ridges of +Atabyrios glorify the accustomed Olympian winner's hymn, and the man +who hath done valiantly with his fists: give him honour at the hands +of citizens and of strangers; for he walketh in the straight way that +abhorreth insolence, having learnt well the lessons his true soul hath +taught him, which hath come to him from his noble sires. Darken not +thou the light of one who springeth from the same stock of Kallianax. +Surely with the joys of Eratidai the whole city maketh mirth. But the +varying breezes even at the same point of time speed each upon their +various ways. + + +[Footnote 1: Tlepolemos.] + +[Footnote 2: That is, probably, without magic, or the pretence of +being anything but machines. This is considered an allusion to the +Telchines who lived before the Heliadai in Rhodes, and were magicians +as well as craftsmen. For illustrations of Rhodian art at various +times the British Museum may be consulted, which is particularly rich +in vases from Kameiros and Ialysos.] + +[Footnote 3: That is, he presides over the celebration of games, as +tutelar hero of the island.] + + + +VIII. + +FOR ALKIMEDON OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE WRESTLING-MATCH OF BOYS. + + * * * * * + +The date of this victory is B.C. 460. Long as the ode is, it would +seem however to have been written, like the fourth Olympian, to be +sung in the procession to the altar of Zeus on the night of the +victory. + +Of the forty-four odes remaining to us no less than eleven are in +honour of winners from Aigina. + + * * * * * + +O mother of gold-crowned contests, Olympia, queen of truth; where men +that are diviners observing burnt-offerings make trial of Zeus the +wielder of white lightnings, whether he hath any word concerning +men who seek in their hearts to attain unto great prowess and a +breathing-space from toil; for it is given in answer to the reverent +prayers of men--do thou, O tree-clad precinct of Pisa by Alpheos, +receive this triumph and the carrying of the crown. + +Great is his glory ever on whom the splendour of thy honour waiteth. +Yet this good cometh to one, that to another, and many are the roads +to happy life by the grace of gods. + +Thee, O Timosthenes[1], and thy brother hath Destiny assigned to Zeus +the guardian of your house, even to him who hath made thee glorious at +Nemea, and Alkimedon by the hill of Kronos a winner in Olympic games. + +Now the boy was fair to look upon, neither shamed he by his deeds his +beauty, but in the wrestling match victorious made proclamation that +his country was Aigina of long oars, where saviour Themis who sitteth +in judgment by Zeus the stranger's succour is honoured more than any +elsewhere among men[2]. + +For in a matter mighty and bearing many ways to judge with unswayed +mind and suitably, this is a hard essay, yet hath some ordinance of +immortals given this sea-defended land to be to strangers out of every +clime a pillar built of God. May coming time not weary of this work. + +To a Dorian folk was the land given in trust from Aiakos, even the man +whom Leto's son and far-ruling Poseidon, when they would make a crown +for Ilion, called to work with them at the wall, for that it was +destined that at the uprising of wars in city-wasting fights it should +breathe forth fierce smoke. + +Now when it was new-built three dragons fiery-eyed leapt at the +rampart: two fell and perished in despair; but the third sprang in +with a war-cry[3]. + +Then Apollo pondering, the sign spake straightway unto Aiakos by his +side: 'Hero, where thy hands have wrought is Pergamos taken: thus +saith this sign, sent of the son of Kronos, loud-thundering Zeus. And +that not without thy seed; but with the first and fourth it shall be +subdued'[4]. + +Thus plainly spoke the god, and away to Xanthos and the Amazons of +goodly steeds and to Ister urged his car. + +And the Trident-wielder for Isthmos over seas harnessed his swift +chariot, and hither[5] first he bare with him Aiakos behind the golden +mares, and so on unto the mount of Corinth, to behold his feast of +fame. + +Now shall there never among men be aught that pleaseth all alike. If +I for Melesias[6] raise up glory in my song of his boys, let not envy +cast at me her cruel stone. Nay but at Nemea too will I tell of honour +of like kind with this, and of another ensuing thereon, won in the +pankration of men. + +Verily to teach is easier to him that knoweth: it is folly if one hath +not first learnt, for without trial the mind wavereth. And beyond all +others can Melesias declare all works on that wise, what method shall +advance a man who from the sacred games may win the longed-for glory. + +Now for the thirtieth time is honour gained for him by the victory of +Alkimedon, who by God's grace, nor failing himself in prowess, hath +put off from him upon the bodies of four striplings the loathed return +ungreeted of fair speech, and the path obscure[7]; and in his father's +father he hath breathed new vigour to wrestle with old age. A man that +hath done honourable deeds taketh no thought of death. + +But I must needs arouse memory, and tell of the glory of their hands +that gave victory to the Blepsiad clan, to whom this is now the sixth +crown that hath come from the wreathed games to bind their brows. + +Even the dead have their share when paid them with due rites, and +the grace of kinsmen's honour the dust concealeth not. From Hermes' +daughter Fame shall Iphion[8] hear and tell to Kallimachos this lustre +of Olympic glory, which Zeus hath granted to this house. Honour upon +honour may he vouchsafe unto it, and shield it from sore disease[9]. I +pray that for the share of glory fallen to them he raise against them +no contrary discontent, but granting them a life unharmed may glorify +them and their commonwealth. + + +[Footnote 1: Alkimedon's brother. He had won a victory at the Nemean +games.] + +[Footnote 2: Aigina had a high commercial reputation, and strangers +were equitably dealt with in her courts.] + +[Footnote 3: The two first dragons typify the Aiakids, Aias and +Achilles, who failed to enter Troy, the third typifies Achilles' son, +Neoptolemos, who succeeded.] + +[Footnote 4: Aiakos' son, Telamon, was with Herakles when he took +Troy: his great-grandson Neoptolemos was in the Wooden Horse.] + +[Footnote 5: To Aigina.] + +[Footnote 6: Alkimedon's trainer.] + +[Footnote 7: I. e. Alkimedon has escaped the disagreeable +circumstances of defeat and transferred them to the four opponents +against whom he was matched in four successive ties.] + +[Footnote 8: Iphion seems to have been the father and Kallimachos the +uncle of Alkimedon.] + +[Footnote 9: Perhaps Iphion and Kallimachos died of some severe +illness.] + + + +IX. + +FOR EPHARMOSTOS OF OPOUS, + +WINNER IN THE WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is uncertain. Its last line seems to imply that +it was sung at a banquet at Opous, after crowning the altar of Aias +Oileus, tutelar hero of the Lokrians. From the beginning we gather +that on the night of the victory at Olympia Epharmostos' friends had +sung in his honour the conventional triple strain of Archilochos-- + + [Greek: (o kallinike chair' anax Herakleaes + autos te k' Iolaos, aichmaeta duo. + taenella kallinike)] + +to which perhaps some slight additions had been made, but not by +Pindar. + + * * * * * + +The strain of Archilochos sung without music at Olympia, the triple +resonant psalm of victory, sufficed to lead to the hill of Kronos +Epharmostos triumphing with his comrade friends: but now with darts of +other sort, shot from the Muses' far-delivering bow, praise Zeus of +the red lightning, and Elis' holy headland, which on a time Pelops the +Lydian hero chose to be Hippodameia's goodly dower. + +And shoot a feathered arrow of sweet song Pythoward, for thy words +shall not fall to the ground when thou tunest the throbbing lyre +to the praise of the wrestlings of a man from famous Opous, and +celebratest her and her son. For Themis and her noble daughter +Eunomia the Preserver have made her their own, and she flourisheth in +excellent deeds both at Kastalia and beside Alpheos' stream: whence +come the choicest of all crowns to glorify the mother city of +Lokrians, the city of beautiful trees. + +I, to illuminate the city of my friends with eager blaze of song, +swifter than high-bred steed or winged ship will send everywhere these +tidings, so be it that my hand is blessed at all in labouring in the +choice garden of the Graces; for they give all pleasant things to men. + +By fate divine receive men also valour and wisdom: how else[1] might +the hands of Herakles have wielded his club against the trident, when +at Pylos Poseidon took his stand and prest hard on him, ay, and there +prest him hard embattled Phoibos with his silver bow, neither would +Hades keep his staff unraised, wherewith he leadeth down to ways +beneath the hollow earth the bodies of men that die? + +O my mouth, fling this tale from thee, for to speak evil of gods is +a hateful wisdom, and loud and unmeasured words strike a note that +trembleth upon madness. Of such things talk thou not; leave war of +immortals and all strife aside; and bring thy words to the city of +Protogeneia, where by decree of Zeus of the bickering lightning-flash +Pyrrha and Deukalion coming down from Parnassos first fixed their +home, and without bed of marriage made out of stones a race to be one +folk: and hence cometh the name of peoples[2]. Awake for them the +clear-toned gale of song, and if old wine be best, yet among songs +prefer the newer flowers. + +Truly men say that once a mighty water swept over the dark earth, but +by the craft of Zeus an ebb suddenly drew off the flood. From these +first men came anciently your ancestors of the brazen shields, sons of +the women of the stock of Iapetos and of the mighty Kronidai, Kings +that dwelt in the land continually; until the Olympian Lord caught up +the daughter[3] of Opöeis from the land of the Epeians, and lay with +her in a silent place among the ridges of Mainalos; and afterward +brought her unto Lokros, that age might not bring him[4] low beneath +the burden of childlessness. But the wife bare within her the seed of +the Mightiest, and the hero saw the bastard born and rejoiced, and +called him by the name of his mother's father, and he became a man +preeminent in beauty and great deeds: and his father gave unto him a +city and a people to rule over. + +Then there came unto him strangers, from Argos and from Thebes, and +from Arcadia others, and from Pisa. But the son of Aktor and Aigina, +Menoitios, he honoured above all settlers, him whose son[5] went with +the Atreidai to the plain of Teuthras and stood alone beside Achilles, +when Telephos had turned the valiant Danaoi to flight, and drove them +into the sterns of their sea-ships; so proved he to them that had +understanding that Patroklos' soul was strong. And thenceforward the +son of Thetis persuaded him that he should never in murderous battle +take his post far from his friend's conquering spear. + +Fit speech may I find for my journey in the Muses' car; and let me +therewith have daring and powers of ample scope. To back the prowess +of a friend I came, when Lampromachos won his Isthmian crown, when on +the same day both he and his brother overcame. And afterward at the +gates[6] of Corinth two triumphs again befell Epharmostos, and more in +the valleys of Nemea. At Argos he triumphed over men, as over boys +at Athens. And I might tell how at Marathon he stole from among the +beardless and confronted the full-grown for the prize of silver +vessels, how without a fall he threw his men with swift and cunning +shock, and how loud the shouting pealed when round the ring he ran, +in the beauty of his youth and his fair form and fresh from fairest +deeds. + +Also before the Parrhasian host was he glorified, at the assembly of +Lykaian Zeus, and again when at Pellene he bare away a warm antidote +of cold winds[7]. And the tomb of Iolaos, and Eleusis by the sea, are +just witnesses to his honours. + +The natural is ever best: yet many men by learning of prowess essay to +achieve fame. The thing done without God is better kept in silence. +For some ways lead further than do others, but one practice will not +train us all alike. Skill of all kinds is hard to attain unto: but +when thou bringest forth this prize, proclaim aloud with a good +courage that by fate divine this man at least was born deft-handed, +nimble-limbed, with the light of valour in his eyes, and that now +being victorious he hath crowned at the feast Oilean Alas' altar. + + +[Footnote 1: This is the common interpretation, implying that Herakles +in contending with the gods here mentioned must have been helped by +other gods. But perhaps it might also be translated 'therefore how +could the hands, &c.,' meaning that since valour, as has just been +said, comes from a divine source, it could not be used against gods, +and that thus the story ought to be rejected.] + +[Footnote 2: Perhaps the story of the stones arose from the like sound +of [Greek: Laos] and [Greek: Laas], words here regarded in the inverse +relation to each other.] + +[Footnote 3: Protogeneia.] + +[Footnote 4: Lokros.] + +[Footnote 5: Patroklos.] + +[Footnote 6: The Isthmus, the gate between the two seas.] + +[Footnote 7: A cloak, the prize.] + + + +X. + +FOR AGESIDAMOS OF EPIZEPHYRIAN LOKRIS, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' BOXING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + + This ode bears somewhat the same relation to the next that the fourth + does to the fifth. It was to be sung at Olympia on the night after + the victory, and Pindar promises the boy to write a longer one for + the celebration of his victory in his Italian home. The date is + B.C. 484. + + * * * * * + +Sometimes have men most need of winds, sometimes of showered waters of +the firmament, the children of the cloud. + +But when through his labour one fareth well, then are due honey-voiced +songs, be they even a prelude to words that shall come after, a pledge +confirmed by oath in honour of high excellence. + +Ample is the glory stored for Olympian winners: thereof my shepherd +tongue is fain to keep some part in fold. But only by the help of God +is wisdom[1] kept ever blooming in the soul. + +Son of Archestratos, Agesidamos, know certainly that for thy boxing I +will lay a glory of sweet strains upon thy crown of golden[2] olive, +and will have in remembrance the race of the Lokrians' colony in the West. + +There do ye, O Muses, join in the song of triumph: I pledge my word +that to no stranger-banishing folk shall ye come, nor unacquainted +with things noble, but of the highest in arts and valiant with the +spear. For neither tawny fox nor roaring lion may change his native +temper. + +[Footnote 1: Perhaps [Greek: sophos] (which means often rather clever +or skilful than wise) has here the special reference to poetic skill, +which it often has in Pindar.] + +[Footnote 2: Golden here means supremely excellent, as in the first +line of the eighth Olympian.] + + + +XI. + +FOR AGESIDAMOS OF EPIZEPHYRIAN LOKRIS, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' BOXING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + + It would seem by his own confession that Pindar did not remember till + long afterwards the promise he made to Agesidamos in the last ode. + We do not know how long afterwards this was written, but it must + have been too late to greet the winner on his arrival in Italy; probably + it was to be sung at the anniversary or some memorial celebration + of his victory. + + * * * * * + +Read me the name of the Olympic winner Archestratos' son that I may +know where it is written upon my heart: for I had forgotten that I +owed him a sweet strain. + +But do thou, O Muse, and thou Truth, daughter of Zeus, put forth your +hands and keep from me the reproach of having wronged a friend by +breaking my pledged word. For from afar hath overtaken me the time +that was then yet to come, and hath shamed my deep debt. + +Nevertheless from that sore reproach I may be delivered by payment +with usury: behold how[1] the rushing wave sweepeth down the rolling +shingle, and how we also will render for our friend's honour a tribute +to him and to his people. + +Truth inhabiteth the city of the Lokrians of the West, and Kalliope +they hold in honour and mailëd Ares; yea even conquering Herakles was +foiled by that Kykneän combat[2]. + +Now let Agesidamos, winner in the boxing at Olympia, so render thanks +to Ilas[3] as Patroklos of old to Achilles. If one be born with +excellent gifts, then may another who sharpeneth his natural edge +speed him, God helping, to an exceeding weight of glory. Without toil +there have triumphed a very few. + +Of that light in the life of a man before all other deeds, that first +of contests, the ordinances of Zeus[4] have stirred me to sing, even +the games which by the ancient tomb of Pelops the mighty Herakles +founded, after that he slew Kleatos, Poseidon's goodly son, and slew +also Eurytos, that he might wrest from tyrannous Augeas against his +will reward for service done[5]. + +Lying in ambush beneath Kleonai did Herakles overcome them on the +road, for that formerly these same violent sons of Molos made havoc of +his own Tirynthian folk by hiding in the valleys of Elis. And not long +after the guest-betraying king of the Epeans saw his rich native land, +his own city, beneath fierce fire and iron blows sink down into the +deep moat of calamity. Of strife against stronger powers it is hard +to be rid. Likewise Augeas last of all in his perplexity fell into +captivity and escaped not precipitate death. + +Then the mighty son of Zeus having gathered together all his host at +Pisa, and all the booty, measured a sacred grove for his sovereign +Father; and having fenced round the Altis he marked the bounds thereof +in a clear space, and the plain encompassing it he ordained for rest +and feasting, and paid honour to the river Alpheos together with the +twelve greatest gods. And he named it by the name of the Hill of +Kronos; for theretofore it was without name, when Oinomaos was king, +and it was sprinkled with much snow[6]. + +And at this first-born rite the Fates stood hard at hand, and he who +alone proveth sure truth, even Time. He travelling onward hath told us +the clear tale of how the founder set apart the choicest of the spoil +for an offering from the war, and sacrificed, and how he ordained the +fifth-year feast with the victories of that first Olympiad. + +Who then won to their lot the new-appointed crown by hands or feet +or chariot, setting before them the prize of glory in the games, and +winning it by their act? In the foot-race down the straight course of +the stadion was Likymnios' son Oionos first, from Nidea had he led his +host: in the wrestling was Tegea glorified by Echemos: Doryklos won +the prize of boxing, a dweller in the city of Tiryns, and with the +four-horse chariot, Samos of Mantinea, Halirrhothios' son: with the +javelin Phrastor hit the mark: in distance Enikeus beyond all others +hurled the stone with a circling sweep, and all the warrior company +thundered a great applause. + +Then on the evening the lovely shining of the fair-faced moon beamed +forth, and all the precinct sounded with songs of festal glee, after +the manner which is to this day for triumph. + +So following the first beginning of old time, we likewise in a song +named of proud victory will celebrate the thunder and the flaming +bolt of loud-pealing Zeus, the fiery lightning that goeth with all +victory[7]. + +And soft tones to the music of the flute shall meet and mingle with my +verse, which beside famous Dirke hath come to light after long time. + +But even as a son by his lawful wife is welcome to a father who hath +now travelled to the other side of youth, and maketh his soul warm +with love--for wealth that must fall to a strange owner from without +is most hateful to a dying man--so also, Agesidamos, when a man who +hath done honourable deeds goeth unsung to the house of Hades, this +man hath spent vain breath, and won but brief gladness for his toil. + +On thee the pleasant lyre and the sweet pipe shed their grace, and the +Pierian daughters of Zeus foster thy wide-spread fame. + +I with them, setting myself thereunto fervently, have embraced the +Lokrians' famous race, and have sprinkled my honey upon a city of +goodly men: and I have told the praises of Archestratos' comely son, +whom I beheld victorious by the might of his hand beside the altar at +Olympia, and saw on that day how fair he was of form, how gifted with +that spring-tide bloom, which erst with favour of the Cyprian queen +warded from Ganymede unrelenting death. + + +[Footnote 1: Reading [Greek: horat on hopa].] + +[Footnote 2: This Kyknos seems to have been a Lokrian freebooter, said +to have fought with success against Herakles.] + +[Footnote 3: His trainer.] + +[Footnote 4: Probably because Zeus was especially concerned, both with +the fulfilment of promises and with the Olympic games.] + +[Footnote 5: For the story of these Moliones see Nestor's speech, Hom. +Il. xi. 670-761.] + +[Footnote 6: Perhaps this implies a tradition of a colder climate +anciently prevailing in Peloponnesos: perhaps the mention of snow is +merely picturesque, referring to the habitual appearance of the hill +in winter, and the passage should then rather be rendered 'when +Oinomaos was king its snow-sprinkled top was without name.'] + +[Footnote 7: The Lokrians worshipped Zeus especially as the Thunderer, +as certain coins of theirs, stamped with a thunderbolt, still +testify.] + + + +XII. + +FOR ERGOTELES OF HIMERA, + +WINNER IN THE LONG FOOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + + Ergoteles was a native of Knosos in Crete, but civil dissension had + compelled him to leave his country. He came to Sicily and was + naturalized as a citizen of Himera. Had he stayed in Crete he + would not have won this victory; nor the Pythian and Isthmian + victories, referred to at the end of the ode, for the Cretans seem to + have kept aloof, in an insular spirit, from the Panhellenic games. + + The date of the ode is B.C. 472, the year after the Himeraeans had + expelled the tyrant Thrasydaios of Akragas. The prayer to Fortune + would seem to have reference specially to this event. The ode was + probably sung in a temple either of Zeus or of Fortune. + + * * * * * + +I pray thee, daughter of Zeus the Deliverer, keep watch over +wide-ruling Himera, O saviour Fortune. + +By thee upon the sea swift ships are piloted, and on dry land fierce +wars and meetings of councils. + +Up and down the hopes of men are tossed as they cleave the waves of +baffling falsity: and a sure token of what shall come to pass hath +never any man on the earth received from God: the divinations of +things to come are blind. + +Many the chances that fall to men when they look not for them, +sometimes to thwart delight, yet others after battling with the surge +of sorrowful pain have suddenly received for their affliction some +happiness profound. + +Son of Philanor, verily even the glory of thy fleet feet would have +fallen into the sere leaf unrenowned, abiding by the hearth of thy +kin, as a cock that fighteth but at home, had not the strife of +citizen against citizen driven thee from Knosos thy native land. + +But now at Olympia hast thou won a crown, O Ergoteles, and at Pytho +twice, and at Isthmos, whereby thou glorifiest the hot springs where +the nymphs Sicilian bathe, dwelling in a land that is become to thee +as thine own. + + + +XIII. + +FOR XENOPHON OF CORINTH, + +WINNER IN THE STADION RACE AND IN THE PENTATHLON. + + * * * * * + +The date of this victory is B.C. 464, when Xenophon won both the +Stadion, or short foot-race of about a furlong or 220 yards, and also +the Pentathlon, that is, probably, he won at least three out of the +five contests which composed the Pentathlon--the Jump, Throwing the +Disk, Throwing the Javelin, the Foot-race, and Wrestling, ([Greek: +alma podokeian diskon akonta palaen]). For details, see Dict. Antiq. +and Note on Nem. vii 71-73. + +This ode and the speech of Glaukos in the sixth Book of the Iliad +are the most conspicuous passages in poetry which refer to the great +Corinthian hero Bellerophon. + +It is thought that this ode was sung on the winner's public entrance +into Corinth. + + * * * * * + +Thrice winner in Olympic games, of citizens beloved, to strangers +hospitable, the house in whose praise will I now celebrate happy +Corinth, portal of Isthmian Poseidon and nursery of splendid youth. +For therein dwell Order, and her sisters, sure foundation of states, +Justice and likeminded Peace, dispensers of wealth to men, wise +Themis' golden daughters. And they are minded to keep far from them +Insolence the braggart mother of Loathing. + +I have fair witness to bear of them, and a just boldness stirreth my +tongue to speak. Nature inborn none shall prevail to hide. Unto you, +sons[1] of Aletes, ofttimes have the flowery Hours given splendour +of victory, as to men excelling in valour, pre-eminent at the sacred +games, and ofttimes of old have they put subtleties into your men's +hearts to devise; and of an inventor cometh every work. + +Whence were revealed the new graces of Dionysos with the dithyramb +that winneth the ox[2]? Who made new means of guidance to the harness +of horses, or on the shrines of gods set the twin images of the king +of birds [3]? Among them thriveth the Muse of dulcet breath, and Ares +in the young men's terrible spears. Sovran lord of Olympia, be not +thou jealous of my words henceforth for ever, O father Zeus; rule +thou this folk unharmed, and keep unchanged the favourable gale of +Xenophon's good hap. Welcome from him this customary escort of his +crown, which from the plains of Pisa he is bringing, having won with +the five contests the stadion-race beside; the like whereof never yet +did mortal man. + +Also two parsley-wreaths shadowed his head before the people at the +games of Isthmos, nor doth Nemea tell a different tale. And of his +father Thessalos' lightning feet is record by the streams of Alpheos, +and at Pytho he hath renown for the single and for the double stadion +gained both in a single day, and in the same month at rocky Athens a +day of swiftness crowned his hair for three illustrious deeds, and the +Hellotia[4] seven times, and at the games of Poseidon between seas +longer hymns followed his father Ptoiodoros with Terpsias and +Eritimos. And how often ye were first at Delphi or in the Pastures of +the Lion[5], though with full many do I match your crowd of honours, +yet can I no more surely tell than the tale of pebbles on the +sea-shore. But in everything is there due measure, and most excellent +is it to have respect unto fitness of times. + +I with your fleet sailing a privateer will speak no lie concerning the +valour of Corinth's heroes, whether I proclaim the craft of her men +of old or their might in war, whether of Sisyphos of subtlest cunning +even as a god, and Medea who made for herself a marriage in her sire's +despite, saviour of the ship Argo and her crew: or whether how of old +in the struggle before the walls of Dardanos the sons of Corinth were +deemed to turn the issue of battle either way, these with Atreus' son +striving to win Helen back, those to thrust them utterly away[6]. + +Now when Glaukos was come thither out of Lydia the Danaoi feared him. +To them he proclaimed that in the city of Peirene his sire bare rule +and had rich heritage of land and palace, even he who once, when he +longed to bridle the snaky Gorgon's son, Pegasos, at Peirene's spring, +suffered many things, until the time when maiden Pallas brought to +him a bit with head-band of gold, and from a dream behold it was very +deed. + +For she said unto him 'Sleepest thou O Aiolid king? Come, take this +charmer of steeds, and show it to thy father[7] the tamer of horses, +with the sacrifice of a white bull.' + +Thus in the darkness as he slumbered spake the maiden wielder of +the shadowy aegis--so it seemed unto him--and he leapt up and stood +upright upon his feet. And he seized the wondrous bit that lay by his +side, and found with joy the prophet of the land, and showed to him, +the son of Koiranos, the whole issue of the matter, how on the altar +of the goddess he lay all night according to the word of his prophecy, +and how with her own hands the child of Zeus whose spear is the +lightning brought unto him the soul-subduing gold. + +Then the seer bade him with all speed obey the vision, and that when +he should have sacrificed to the wide-ruling Earth-enfolder the +strong-foot beast[8], he should build an altar straightway to Athene, +queen of steeds. + +Now the power of Gods bringeth easily to pass such things as make +forecast forsworn. Surely with zealous haste did bold Bellerophon bind +round the winged steed's jaw the softening charm, and make him his: +then straightway he flew up and disported him in his brazen arms. + +In company with that horse also on a time, from out of the bosom of +the chill and desert air, he smote the archer host of Amazons, and +slew the Solymoi, and Chimaira breathing fire. I will keep silence +touching the fate of him: howbeit Pegasos hath in Olympus found a home +in the ancient stalls of Zeus. + +But for me who am to hurl straight the whirling javelin it is not meet +to spend beside the mark my store of darts with utmost force of hand: +for to the Muses throned in splendour and to the Oligaithidai a +willing ally came I, at the Isthmos and again at Nemea. In a brief +word will I proclaim the host of them, and a witness sworn and true +shall be to me in the sweet-tongued voice of the good herald[9], heard +at both places sixty times. + +Now have their acts at Olympia, methinks, been told already: of those +that shall be hereafter I will hereafter clearly speak. Now I live in +hope, but the end is in the hands of gods. But if the fortune of the +house fail not, we will commit to Zeus and Enyalios the accomplishment +thereof. + +Yet other glories won they, by Parnassos' brow, and at Argos how many +and at Thebes, and such as nigh the Arcadians[10] the lordly altar of +Zeus Lykaios shall attest, and Pallene, and Sikyon, and Megara, +and the well-fenced grove of the Aiakidai, and Eleusis, and lusty +Marathon, and the fair rich cities beneath Aetna's towering crest, and +Euboea. Nay over all Hellas if thou searchest, thou shalt find more +than one sight can view. + +O king Zeus the Accomplisher, grant them with so light feet[11] to +move through life, give them all honour, and sweet hap of their goodly +things. + + +[Footnote 1: The clan of the Oligaithidai, to which Xenophon +belonged.] + +[Footnote 2: I. e. as a prize. But the passage may be taken +differently as referring to the symbolical identification of Dionysos +with the bull. Dithyrambic poetry was said to have been invented or +improved by Arion of Corinth.] + +[Footnote 3: This refers to the introduction into architecture by the +Corinthians of the pediment, within or above which were at that time +constantly placed images of eagles.] + +[Footnote 4: The feast of Athene Hellotis.] + +[Footnote 5: Nemea.] + +[Footnote 6: The Lykians who fought under Glaukos on the Trojan side +were of Corinthian descent.] + +[Footnote 7: Poseidon.] + +[Footnote 8: A bull.] + +[Footnote 9: Proclaiming the name and city of the winner in the +games.] + +[Footnote 10: Reading [Greek: Arkasin asson].] + +[Footnote 11: As in their foot-races.] + + + +XIV. + +FOR ASOPICHOS OF ORCHOMENOS, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' SHORT FOOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode was to be sung, probably by a chorus of boys, at the winner's +city Orchomenos, and most likely in the temple of the three or Graces, +Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia. + +The date of the victory is B.C. 476. + + * * * * * + +O ye who haunt the land of goodly steeds that drinketh of Kephisos' +waters, lusty Orchomenos' queens renowned in song, O Graces, guardians +of the Minyai's ancient race, hearken, for unto you I pray. For by +your gift come unto men all pleasant things and sweet, and the wisdom +of a man and his beauty, and the splendour of his fame. Yea even gods +without the Graces' aid rule never at feast or dance; but these have +charge of all things done in heaven, and beside Pythian Apollo of +the golden bow they have set their thrones, and worship the eternal +majesty of the Olympian Father. + +O lady Aglaia, and thou Euphrosyne, lover of song, children of the +mightiest of the gods, listen and hear, and thou Thalia delighting in +sweet sounds, and look down upon this triumphal company, moving with +light step under happy fate. In Lydian mood of melody concerning +Asopichos am I come hither to sing, for that through thee, Aglaia, +in the Olympic games the Minyai's home is winner. Fly, Echo, to +Persephone's dark-walled home, and to his father bear the noble +tidings, that seeing him thou mayest speak to him of his son, saying +that for his father's honour in Pisa's famous valley he hath crowned +his boyish hair with garlands from the glorious games. + + + +THE PYTHIAN ODES. + +I. + +FOR HIERON OF AITNA, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * +The date of this victory is B.C. 474 + +In the year 480, the year of Salamis, the Syracusans under Hieron had +defeated the Carthaginians in the great battle of Himera. + +In 479 a great eruption of Etna (Aitna) began. In 476 Hieron founded, +near the mountain but we may suppose at a safe distance, the new city +of Aitna, in honour of which he had himself proclaimed as an Aitnaian +after this and other victories in the games. + +And in this same year, 474, he had defeated the Etruscans, or Tuscans, +or Tyrrhenians in a great sea-fight before Cumae. + +Pindar might well delight to honour those who had been waging so well +against the barbarians of the South and West the same war which the +Hellenes of the mother-country waged against the barbarians of the +East. + + * * * * * + +O golden Lyre, thou common treasure of Apollo and the Muses +violet-tressed, thou whom the dancer's step, prelude of festal mirth, +obeyeth, and the singers heed thy bidding, what time with quivering +strings thou utterest preamble of choir-leading overture--lo even the +sworded lightning of immortal fire thou quenched, and on the sceptre +of Zeus his eagle sleepeth, slackening his swift wings either side, +the king of birds, for a dark mist thou hast distilled on his arched +head, a gentle seal upon his eyes, and he in slumber heaveth his +supple back, spell-bound beneath thy throbs. + +Yea also violent Ares, leaving far off the fierce point of his spears, +letteth his heart have joy in rest, for thy shafts soothe hearts +divine by the cunning of Leto's son and the deep-bosomed Muses. + +But whatsoever things Zeus loveth not fly frighted from the voice of +the Pierides, whether on earth or on the raging sea; whereof is he who +lieth in dreadful Tartaros, the foe of the gods, Typhon of the hundred +heads, whom erst the den Kilikian of many names did breed, but now +verily the sea-constraining cliffs beyond Cumae, and Sicily, lie heavy +on his shaggy breast: and he is fast bound by a pillar of the sky, +even by snowy Etna, nursing the whole year's length her frozen snow. + +Whereout pure springs of unapproachable fire are vomited from the +inmost depths: in the daytime the lava-streams pour forth a lurid rush +of smoke: but in the darkness a red rolling flame sweepeth rocks with +uproar to the wide deep sea. + +That dragon-thing[1] it is that maketh issue from beneath the terrible +fiery flood, a monster marvellous to look upon, yea a marvel to hear +of from such as go thereby and tell what thing is prisoned between +the dark-wooded tops of Etna and the plain, where the back of him is +galled and furrowed by the bed whereon he lieth. + +O Zeus, be it ours to find favour in thy sight, who art defender +of this mountain, the forehead of a fruitful land, whose namesake +neighbour city hath been ennobled by her glorious founder, for that on +the race-course at the Pythian games the herald made proclamation of +her name aloud, telling of Hieron's fair victory in the chariot-race. + +Now the first boon to men in ships is that a favourable breeze come to +them as they set forth upon the sea; for this is promise that in +the end also they shall come with good hap home. So after this good +fortune doth reason show us hope of crowns to come for Aitna's horses, +and honour in the banquet-songs. + +O Phoibos, lord of Lykia and of Delos, who lovest the spring of +Castaly on thy Parnassos, be this the purpose of thy will, and grant +the land fair issue of her men. + +For from gods come all means of mortal valour, hereby come bards and +men of mighty hand and eloquent speech. + +This is the man I am fain to praise, and trust that not outside the +ring shall I hurl the bronze-tipped javelin I brandish in my hand, but +with far throw outdo my rivals in the match. + +Would that his whole life may give him, even as now, good luck and +wealth right onward, and of his pains forgetfulness. + +Verily it shall remind him in what fightings of wars he stood up with +steadfast soul, when the people found grace of glory at the hands +of gods, such as none of the Hellenes hath reaped, a proud crown of +wealth. + +For after the ensample of Philoktetes he went but now to war: and when +necessity was upon them even they of proud spirit sought of him a +boon. + +To Lemnos once they say came godlike heroes to fetch thence the archer +son of Paian, vexed of an ulcerous wound; and he sacked the city of +Priam and made an end of the Danaoi's labours, for the body wherewith +he went was sick, but this was destined from the beginning. + +Even thus to Hieron may God be a guide for the time approaching, and +give him to lay hold upon the things of his desire. + +Also in the house of Deinomenes do me grace, O Muse, to sing, for sake +of our four-horsed car: no alien joy to him is his sire's victory. + +Come then and next for Etna's king let us devise a friendly song, for +whom with god-built freedom after the laws of Hyllic pattern hath that +city been founded of Hieron's hand: for the desire of the sons of +Pamphylos and of the Herakleidai dwelling beneath the heights of +Taÿgetos is to abide continually in the Dorian laws of Aigimios. At +Amyklai they dwelt prosperously, when they were come down out of +Pindos and drew near in honour to the Tyndaridai who ride on white +horses, and the glory of their spears waxed great. + +Thou Zeus, with whom are the issues of things, grant that the true +speech of men ever bear no worse report of citizens and kings beside +the water of Amënas. By thine aid shall a man that is chief and +that instructeth his son after him give due honour unto his people and +move them to be of one voice peacefully. + +I pray thee, son of Kronos, grant that the Phenician and the Tuscan +war-cry be hushed at home, since they have beheld the calamity of +their ships that befell them before Cumae, even how they were smitten +by the captain of the Syracusans, who from their swift ships hurled +their youth into the sea, to deliver Hellas from the bondage of the +oppressor. + +From Salamis shall I of Athenians take reward of thanks, at Sparta +when I shall tell[2] in a song to come of the battle[3] before +Kithairon, wherein the Medes that bear crooked bows were overthrown, +but by the fair-watered banks of Himëras it shall be for the song +I have rendered to the sons of Deinomenes, which by their valour they +have earned, since the men that warred against them are overthrown. + +If thou shalt speak in season, and comprehend in brief the ends of +many matters, less impeachment followeth of men; for surfeit blunteth +the eagerness of expectancy; and city-talk of others' praise grieveth +hearts secretly. + +Nevertheless, for that envy is preferred before pity[4], let slip not +fair occasion: guide with just helm thy people and forge the sword +of thy speech on an anvil whereof cometh no lie. Even a word falling +lightly is of import in that it proceedeth from thee. Of many things +art thou steward: many witnesses are there to thy deeds of either +kind. + +But abiding in the fair flower of this spirit, if thou art fain to be +continually of good report, be not too careful for the cost: loose +free like a mariner thy sail unto the wind. + +Friend, be not deceived by time-serving words of guile. The voice of +the report that liveth after a man, this alone revealeth the lives of +dead men to the singers and to the chroniclers: the loving-kindness +of Craesus fadeth not away; but him who burned men with fire within a +brazen bull, Phalaris that had no pity, men tell of everywhere +with hate, neither will any lute in hall suffer him in the gentle +fellowship of young boys' themes of songs. + +To be happy is the chiefest prize; to be glorious the next lot: if a +man have lighted on both and taken them to be his, he hath attained +unto the supreme crown. + + +[Footnote 1: Typhon.] + +[Footnote 2: Reading [Greek: erion].] + +[Footnote 3: Plataea.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. it is better to be envied than to be pitied.] + + + +II. + +FOR HIERON OF SYRACUSE, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The classification of this ode as Pythian is probably a mistake: +perhaps the victory was won at the Theban festival in honour of +Herakles, or of Iolaos. + +Anaxilaos, tyrant of Rhegium and Messana, had been deterred by +Hieron's threats from attacking the Epizephyrian Lokrians, and the ode +is partly occupied with congratulations of Hieron on this protective +act. As Anaxilaos died B.C. 476, and Hieron was only placed at the +head of the Syracusan state two years before, this seems to fix the +date somewhere in these two years. As Pindar talks of sending his song +across the sea, we may suppose that it was sung at Syracuse. + +There is much obscurity about the significances of this ode. The +poet's motive in telling the story of Ixion's sins has been variously +guessed at. Some think it was meant to deter Hieron from contriving +the death of his brother Polyzelos in battle in order to get +possession of Polyzelos' wife (and if Hieron was to be suspected of +such a thought it would be quite in Pindar's manner to mingle warning +and reproof with praise): some think that it refers to the ingratitude +of Anaxilaos toward Hieron. And most probably the latter part of the +ode, in which sincerity is approved, and flattery and calumny are +condemned, had some special and personal reference, though we need not +suppose, as the commentators are fond of doing here and elsewhere, +that it was aimed at Bacchylides or other rival poets. + + * * * * * + +Great city of Syracuse, precinct of warrior Ares, of iron-armed men +and steeds the nursing-place divine, to thee I come[1], bearing from +my bright Thebes this song, the tidings of earth-shaking racing of the +four-horse car, wherein hath Hieron with his goodly chariot +overcome, and decked with far-seen splendour of crowns Ortygia the +dwelling-place of Artemis of the river, her by whose help he tamed +with soothing hand his colts of spangled rein. + +For the archer maiden with both hands fitteth the glittering +trappings, and Hermes, god of games, whensoever Hieron to the polished +car and bridle-guided wheels[2] yoketh the strength of his steeds, +calling on the wide-ruling god, the trident-wielder. + +Now unto various kings pay various men sweet song, their valour's +meed. So the fair speech of Cyprus echoeth around the name of Kinyras, +him whom Apollo of the golden hair loved fervently, and who dwelt a +priest in the house of Aphrodite: for to such praise are men moved by +the thankfulness that followeth the recompense of friendly acts. But +of thee, O thou son of Deinomenes, the maiden daughter of the Lokrian +in the west before the house-door telleth in her song, being out of +bewildering woes of war by thy might delivered, so that her eyes are +not afraid for anything. + +Ixion, they say, by order of the gods, writhing on his winged wheel, +proclaimeth this message unto men: _To him who doeth thee service make +recompense of fair reward_. + +This lesson learned he plainly; for when that among the friendly +Kronidai he had gotten a life of pleasantness, his bliss became +greater than he could bear, and with mad heart he lusted after Hera, +whose place was in the happy marriage-bed of Zeus: yet insolence drove +him to the exceeding folly; but quickly suffering his deserts the man +gained to himself a misery most rare. + +Two sins are the causes of his pain; one that he first among the +heroes shed blood of kindred[3] craftily, the other that in the +chambers of the ample heavens he attempted the wife of Zeus--for in +all things it behoveth to take measure by oneself[4]. + +Yet a mocking love-bed hurried him as he approached the couch[5] into +a sea of trouble; for he lay with a cloud, pursuing the sweet lie, +fond man: for its form was as the form of the most highest among the +daughters of heaven, even the child of Kronos; and the hands of Zeus +had made it that it might be a snare unto him, a fair mischief. Thus +came he unto the four-spoked wheel, his own destruction; and having +fallen into chains without escape he became proclaimer of that +message[6] unto many. + +His mate[7], without favour of the Graces, bare unto him a monstrous +son, and like no other thing anywhere, even as its mother was, a thing +with no place or honour, neither among men, neither in the society of +gods. Him she reared and called by the name Kentauros, and he in the +valleys of Pelion lay with Magnesian mares, and there were born thence +a wondrous tribe, like unto both parents, their nether parts like unto +the dams, and their upper parts like unto the sire. + +God achieveth all ends whereon he thinketh--God who overtaketh even +the winged eagle, and outstrippeth the dolphin of the sea, and +bringeth low many a man in his pride, while to others he giveth glory +incorruptible. + +For me it is meet to eschew the sharp tooth of bitter words; for, +though afar off, I have seen the fierce Archilochos lacking most +things and fattening but on cruel words of hate. Of most worth are +riches when joined to the happy gift of wisdom. And this lot hast +thou, and mayest illustrate it with liberal soul, thou sovereign chief +over many streets filled with goodly garlands, and much people. If any +saith that ever yet was any man of old time throughout Hellas who +excelled thee in honour or in the multitude of possessions, such an one +with vain purpose essayeth a fruitless task. + +Upon the flower-crowned prow[8] will I go up to sing of brave deeds +done. Youth is approved by valour in dread wars; and hence say I that +thou hast won boundless renown in thy battles, now with horsemen, now +on foot: also the counsels of thine elder years give me sure ground of +praising thee every way. + +All hail! This song like to Phenician merchandize is sent across the +hoary sea: do thou look favourably on the strain of Kaster in Aeolian +mood[9], and greet it in honour of the seven-stringed lute. + +Be what thou art, now I have told thee what that is: in the eyes of +children the fawning ape is ever comely: but the good fortune of +Rhadamanthos hath come to him because the fruit that his soul bare was +true, neither delighteth he in deceits within his heart, such as by +whisperer's arts ever wait upon mortal man. + +An overpowering evil are the secret speakings of slander, to the +slandered and to the listener thereto alike, and are as foxes in +relentless temper. Yet for the beast whose name is of gain[10] what +great thing is gained thereby? For like the cork above the net, while +the rest of the tackle laboureth deep in the sea, I am unmerged in the +brine. + +Impossible is it that a guileful citizen utter potent words among the +good, nevertheless he fawneth on all and useth every subtlety. No part +have I in that bold boast of his, 'Let me be a friend to my friend, +but toward an enemy I will be an enemy and as a wolf will cross his +path, treading now here now there in crooked ways[11].' For every form +of polity is a man of direct speech best, whether under a despotism, +or whether the wild multitude, or the wisest, have the state in their +keeping. + +Against God it is not meet to strive, who now upholdeth these, and +now again to those giveth great glory. But not even this cheereth the +heart of the envious; for they measure by an unjust balance, and their +own hearts they afflict with bitter pain, till such time as they +attain to that which their hearts devise. + +To take the car's yoke on one's neck and run on lightly, this helpeth; +but to kick against the goad is to make the course perilous. Be it +mine to dwell among the good, and to win their love. + + +[Footnote 1: Pindar here identifies himself with his ode, which he +sent, not took, to Syracuse. Compare Ol. vii. 13, &c.] + +[Footnote 2: Properly [Greek: harmata] would seem to include all +except the body of the chariot ([Greek: diphros]) in which the +charioteer stood.] + +[Footnote 3: His father-in-law Deioneus.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. to estimate rightly one's capacities, +circumstances, rights, duties.] + +[Footnote 5: Reading [Greek: poti koiton ikont'].] + +[Footnote 6: The message spoken of above, v. 24.] + +[Footnote 7: The cloud, the phantom-Hera.] + +[Footnote 8: The prow of the ship carrying this ode, with which +Pindar, as has been said, identifies himself.] + +[Footnote 9: It is supposed that another ode, more especially in +honour of the chariot-victory, is here meant, which was to be sent +later. + +From this point to the end the ode reads like a postscript of private +import and reference.] + +[Footnote 10: It is at least doubtful whether [Greek: kerdo] a fox is +really connected with [Greek: kerdos] gain.] + +[Footnote 11: It appears to me to be an absurdity to suppose that +Pindar means to express in this sentence his own rule of conduct, +as the commentators have fancied. He is all through this passage +condemning 'crooked ways.'] + + + +III. + +FOR HIERON OF SYRACUSE, + +WINNER IN THE HORSE-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The dates both of the victory and of the ode are uncertain. But as +Pherenikos, the horse that won this race at Pytho, is the same that +won at Olympia B.C. 472, in honour of which event the First Olympian +was written, the victory cannot have been very long before that date, +though the language of the ode implies that it was written a good deal +later, probably for an anniversary of the victory. It must at least +have been written before Hieron's death in 467. It is much occupied +with his illness. + + * * * * * + +Fain were I (if meet it be to utter from my mouth the prayer conceived +of all) that Cheiron the son of Philyra were alive and had not +perished among men, even the wide-ruling seed of Kronos the son of +Ouranos; and that there still lorded it in Pelion's glens that Beast +untamed, whose soul was loving unto men, even such as when of old he +trained the gentle deviser of limb-saving anodynes, Asklepios, the +hero that was a defence against all kind of bodily plague. + +Of him was the daughter[1] of Phlegyas of goodly steeds not yet +delivered by Eileithuia aid of mothers, ere by the golden bow she was +slain at the hands of Artemis, and from her child-bed chamber went +down into the house of Hades, by contriving of Apollo. Not idle is the +wrath of sons of Zeus. + +She in the folly of her heart had set Apollo at nought, and taken +another spouse without knowledge of her sire, albeit ere then she had +lain with Phoibos of the unshorn hair, and bare within her the seed of +a very god. + +Neither awaited she the marriage-tables nor the sound of many voices +in hymeneal song, such as the bride's girl-mates are wont to sing at +eventide with merry minstrelsy: but lo, she had longing for things +otherwhere, even as many before and after. For a tribe there is most +foolish among men, of such as scorn the things of home, and gaze on +things that are afar off, and chase a cheating prey with hopes that +shall never be fulfilled. + +Of such sort was the frenzied strong desire fair-robed Koronis +harboured in her heart, for she lay in the couch of a stranger that +was come from Arcady. + +But one that watched beheld her: for albeit he was at sheep-gathering +Pytho, yet was the temple's king Loxias aware thereof, beside his +unerring partner[2], for he gave heed to his own wisdom, his mind that +knoweth all things; in lies it hath no part, neither in act or thought +may god or man deceive him. + +Therefore when he was aware of how she lay with the stranger Ischys +son of Elatos, and of her guile unrighteous, he sent his sister fierce +with terrible wrath to go to Lakereia--for by the steep shores of the +Boibian lake was the home of her virginity--and thus a doom adverse +blasted her life and smote her down: and of her neighbours many fared +ill therefore and perished with her: so doth a fire that from one +spark has leapt upon a mountain lay waste wide space of wood. + +But when her kinsfolk had laid the damsel upon the pile of wood, and +fierce brightness of Hephaistos ran around it, then said Apollo: 'Not +any longer may I endure in my soul to slay mine own seed by a most +cruel death in company with its mother's grievous fate.' + +He said, and at the first stride he was there, and from the corpse +caught up the child, and the blaze of the burning fiery pile was +cloven before him asunder in the midst. + +Then to the Kentaur of Magnes he bare the child, that he should teach +him to be a healer of the many-plaguing maladies of men. And thus all +that came unto him whether plagued with self-grown sores or with limbs +wounded by the lustrous bronze or stone far-hurled, or marred by +summer heat or winter cold--these he delivered, loosing each from +his several infirmity, some with emollient spells and some by kindly +potions, or else he hung their limbs with charms, or by surgery he +raised them up to health. + +Yet hath even wisdom been led captive of desire of gain. Even him did +gold in his hands glittering beguile for a great reward to bring back +from death a man already prisoner thereto: wherefore the hands of the +son of Kronos smote the twain of them through the midst, and bereft +their breasts of breath, and the bright lightning dealt them doom. + +It behoveth to seek from gods things meet for mortal souls, knowing +the things that are in our path and to what portion we are born. +Desire not thou, dear my soul, a life immortal, but use the tools that +are to thine hand. + +Now were wise Cheiron in his cavern dwelling yet, and had our +sweet-voiced songs laid haply some fair magic on his soul, then had +I won him to grant to worthy men some healer of hot plagues, some +offspring of Leto's son, or of her son's sire[3]. + +And then in a ship would I have sailed, cleaving the Ionian sea, to +the fountain of Arethusa, to the home of my Aitnaian friend, who +ruleth at Syracuse, a king of good will to the citizens, not envious +of the good, to strangers wondrous fatherly. Had I but landed there +and brought unto him a twofold joy, first golden health and next this +my song of triumph to be a splendour in his Pythian crown, which of +late Pherenikos[4] won by his victory at Kirrha--I say that then +should I have come unto him, after that I had passed over the deep +sea, a farther-shining light than any heavenly star. + +But I am minded to pray to the Mother[5] for him, to the awful goddess +unto whom, and unto Pan, before my door nightly the maidens move in +dance and song. + +Yet, O Hieron, if thou art skilled to apprehend the true meaning of +sayings, thou hast learnt to know this from the men of old; _The +immortals deal to men two ill things for one good._ The foolish cannot +bear these with steadfastness but the good only, putting the fair side +forward. + +But thee a lot of happiness attendeth, for if on any man hath mighty +Destiny looked favourably, surely it is on a chief and leader of a +people. + +A life untroubled abode not either with Peleus, son of Aiakos, or with +godlike Kadmos: yet of all mortals these, they say, had highest +bliss, who both erewhile listened to the singing of the Muses +golden-filleted, the one in seven-gated Thebes, when he wedded +large-eyed Harmonia, the other on the mountainside, when he took to +him Thetis to be his wife, wise Nereus' glorious daughter. And with +both of them gods sate at meat, and they beheld the sons of Kronos +sitting as kings on thrones of gold, and they received from them gifts +for their espousals; and by grace of Zeus they escaped out of their +former toils and raised up their hearts to gladness. + +Yet again in the after time the bitter anguish of those daughters[6] +robbed Kadmos of a part of bliss: howbeit the Father Zeus came to +white-armed Thyone's[7] longed-for couch. + +And so did the son of Peleus whom Thetis bare at Phthia, her only son, +die by an arrow in war, and moved the Danaoi to lament aloud, when his +body was burning in fire. + +Now if any by wisdom hath the way of truth he may yet lack good +fortune, which cometh of the happy gods. + +The blasts of soaring winds blow various ways at various times. +Not for long cometh happiness to men, when it accompanieth them in +exceeding weight. + +Small will I be among the small, and great among the great. Whatever +fortune follow me, I will work therewith, and wield it as my power +shall suffice. If God should offer me wealth and ease, I have hope +that I should first have won high honour to be in the times afar off. + +Nestor and Lykian Sarpedon, who live in the speech of men, we know +from tales of sounding song, built up by cunning builders. + +By songs of glory hath virtue lasting life, but to achieve them is +easy to but few. + + +[Footnote 1: Koronis.] + +[Footnote 2: His father, Zeus.] + +[Footnote 3: Some Asklepios or Apollo.] + +[Footnote 4: Hieron's horse.] + +[Footnote 5: Rhea or Kybele, the mother of the gods. 'Next door to +Pindar's house was a temple of the mother of the gods and of Pan, +which he had built himself.' Scholiast.] + +[Footnote 6: Ino, Agaue, and Autonoe.] + +[Footnote 7: Semele.] + + + +IV. + +FOR ARKESILAS OF KYRENE, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +Pindar has made this victory of Arkesilas, King of the Hellenic colony +of Kyrene in Africa, an occasion for telling the story of Jason's +expedition with the Argonauts. The ostensible reason for introducing +the story is that Kyrene had been colonised from the island of Thera +by the descendants of the Argonaut Euphemos, according to the prophecy +of Medea related at the beginning of the ode. But Pindar had another +reason. He wished to suggest an analogy between the relation of the +Iolkian king Pelias to Jason and the relation of Arkesilas to his +exiled kinsman Demophilos. Demophilos had been staying at Thebes, +where Pindar wrote this ode, to be afterwards recited at Kyrene. It +was written B.C. 466, when Pindar was fifty-six years of age, and is +unsurpassed in his extant works, or indeed by anything of this kind in +all poetry. + + * * * * * + +This day O Muse must thou tarry in a friend's house, the house of the +king of Kyrene of goodly horses, that with Arkesilas at his triumph +thou mayst swell the favourable gale of song, the due of Leto's +children, and of Pytho. For at Pytho of old she who sitteth beside the +eagles of Zeus--nor was Apollo absent then--the priestess, spake this +oracle, that Battos should found a power in fruitful Libya, that +straightway departing from the holy isle he might lay the foundations +of a city of goodly chariots upon a white breast of the swelling +earth, and might fulfil in the seventeenth generation the word of +Medea spoken at Thera, which of old the passionate child of Aietes, +queen of Colchians, breathed from immortal lips. For on this wise +spake she to the warrior Jason's god-begotten crew: 'Hearken O sons +of high-hearted mortals and of gods. Lo I say unto you that from this +sea-lashed land the daughter[1] of Epaphos shall sometime be planted +with a root to bring forth cities that shall possess the minds of men, +where Zeus Ammon's shrine is builded. + +And instead of short-finned dolphins they shall take to them fleet +mares, and reins instead of oars shall they ply, and speed the +whirlwind-footed car. + +By that augury shall it come to pass that Thera shall be mother-city +of mighty commonwealths, even the augury that once at the outpourings +of the Tritonian lake Euphemos leaping from the prow took at the hands +of a god who in the likeness of man tendered this present to the +stranger of a clod of earth; and the Father Kronian Zeus confirmed it +with a peal of thunder. + +[2]What time he came suddenly upon them as they were hanging against +the ship the bronze-fluked anchor, fleet Argo's bridle; for now for +twelve days had we borne from Ocean over long backs of desert-land our +sea-ship, after that by my counsel we drew it up upon the shore. + +Then came to us the solitary god, having put on the splendid semblance +of a noble man; and he began friendly speech, such as well-doers use +when they bid new-comers to the feast. + +But the plea of the sweet hope of home suffered us not to stay. Then +he said that he was Eurypylos son of the earth-embracer, immortal +Ennosides; and for that he was aware that we hasted to be gone, he +straightway caught up of the chance earth at his feet a gift that he +would fain bestow. Nor was the hero unheeding, but leaping on the +shore and striking hand in hand he took to him the fateful clod. + +But now I hear that it was washed down from the ship and departed into +the sea with the salt spray of evening, following the watery deep. Yet +verily often did I charge the labour-lightening servants that they +should keep it safe, but they forgat: and now upon this island[3] +is the imperishable seed of spacious Libya strown before the time +appointed; for if the royal son[4] of Poseidon, lord of horses, whom +Europa Tityos' child bare him on Kephisos' banks, had in his own home +thrown it down beside the mouth of Hades'[5] gulf, then in the fourth +generation of his sons his seed would have taken that wide continent +of Libya, for then they would have gone forth from mighty Lakedaimon, +and from the Argive gulf, and from Mykenai. + +But now he shall in wedlock with a stranger-wife raise up a chosen +seed, who coming to this island with worship of their gods shall beget +one to be lord of the misty plains[6]. Him sometime shall Phoibos in +his golden house admonish by oracles, when in the latter days he shall +go down into the inner shrine at Pytho, to bring a host in ships to +the rich Nile-garden of the son of Kronos[7].' + +So ran Medea's rhythmic utterance, and motionless in silence the +godlike heroes bowed their heads as they hearkened to the counsels of +wisdom. + +Thee, happy son[8] of Polymnestos, did the oracle of the Delphian +bee[9] approve with call unasked to be the man whereof the word was +spoken, for thrice she bid thee hail and declared thee by decree of +fate Kyrene's king, what time thou enquiredst what help should be from +heaven for thy labouring speech. And verily even now long afterward, +as in the bloom of rosy-blossomed spring, in the eighth descent from +Battos the leaf of Arkesilas is green. To him Apollo and Pytho have +given glory in the chariot-race at the hands of the Amphiktyons: him +will I commend to the Muses, and withal the tale of the all-golden +fleece; for this it was the Minyai sailed to seek when the god-given +glories of their race began. + +What power first drave them in the beginning to the quest? What +perilous enterprise clenched them with strong nails of adamant? + +There was an oracle of God which said that Pelias should die by force +or by stern counsels of the proud sons of Aiolos, and there had come +to him a prophecy that froze his cunning heart, spoken at the central +stone of tree-clad mother Earth, that by every means he should keep +safe guard against the man of one sandal, whensoever from a homestead +on the hills he shall have come to the sunny land of glorious Iolkos, +whether a stranger or a citizen he be. + +So in the fulness of time he came, wielding two spears, a wondrous +man; and the vesture that was upon him was twofold, the garb of the +Magnetes' country close fitting to his splendid limbs, but above he +wore a leopard-skin to turn the hissing showers; nor were the bright +locks of his hair shorn from him but over all his back ran rippling +down. Swiftly he went straight on, and took his stand, making trial of +his dauntless soul, in the marketplace when the multitude was full. + +Him they knew not; howbeit some one looking reverently on him would +speak on this wise: 'Not Apollo surely is this, nor yet Aphrodite's +lord of the brazen car; yea and in glistening Naxos died ere now, they +say, the children of Iphimedeia, Otos and thou, bold king Ephialtes: +moreover Tityos was the quarry of Artemis' swift arrow sped from her +invincible quiver, warning men to touch only the loves within their +power.' + +They answering each to each thus talked; but thereon with headlong +haste of mules and polished car came Pelias; and he was astonied when +he gazed on the plain sign of the single sandal on the right foot. But +he dissembled his fear within his heart and said unto him, 'What land, +O stranger, dost thou claim to be thy country, and who of earth-born +mortals bare thee of her womb out of due time[10]? Tell me thy race +and shame it not by hateful lies.' + +And him with gentle words the other answered undismayed, 'I say to +thee that I bear with me the wisdom of Cheiron, for from Chariklo +and Philyra I come, from the cave where the Centaur's pure daughters +reared me up, and now have I fulfilled twenty years among them without +deceitful word or deed, and I am come home to seek the ancient honour +of my father, held now in rule unlawful, which of old Zeus gave to +the chief Aiolos and his children. For I hear that Pelias yielding +lawlessly to evil thoughts hath robbed it from my fathers whose right +it was from the beginning; for they, when first I looked upon the +light, fearing the violence of an injurious lord, made counterfeit +of a dark funeral in the house as though I were dead, and amid the +wailing of women sent me forth secretly in purple swathing-bands, when +none but Night might know the way we went, and gave me to Cheiron the +son of Kronos to be reared. + +But of these things the chief ye know. Now therefore kind citizens +show me plainly the house of my fathers who drave white horses; for it +shall hardly be said that a son of Aison, born in the land, is come +hither to a strange and alien soil. And Jason was the name whereby the +divine Beast[11] spake to me.' + +Thus he said, and when he had entered in, the eyes of his father knew +him; and from his aged eyelids gushed forth tears, for his soul was +glad within him when he beheld his son, fairest of men and goodliest +altogether. + +Then came to him both brothers, when they heard that Jason was come +home, Pheres from hard by, leaving the fountain Hypereis, and out of +Messena Amythaon, and quickly came Admetos and Melampos to welcome +home their cousin. And at a common feast with gracious words Jason +received them and made them friendly cheer, culling for five long +nights and days the sacred flower of joyous life. + +But on the sixth day he began grave speech, and set the whole matter +before his kinsmen from the beginning, and they were of one mind with +him. + +Then quickly he rose up with them from their couches, and they came to +Pelias' hall, and they made haste and entered and stood within. + +And when he heard them the king himself came forth to them, even the +son of Tyro of the lovely hair. Then Jason with gentle voice opened on +him the stream of his soft speech, and laid foundation of wise words: +'Son of Poseidon of the Rock, too ready are the minds of mortal men to +choose a guileful gain rather than righteousness, howbeit they travel +ever to a stern reckoning. But thee and me it behoveth to give law +to our desires, and to devise weal for the time to come. Though +thou knowest it yet will I tell thee, how that the same mother bare +Kretheus and rash Salmoneus, and in the third generation we again were +begotten and look upon the strength of the golden sun. Now if there +be enmity between kin, the Fates stand aloof and would fain hide the +shame. Not with bronze-edged swords nor with javelins doth it beseem +us twain to divide our forefathers' great honour, nor needeth it, +for lo! all sheep and tawny herds of kine I yield, and all the lands +whereon thou feedest them, the spoil of my sires wherewith thou makest +fat thy wealth. That these things furnish forth thy house moveth me +not greatly; but for the kingly sceptre and throne whereon the son of +Kretheus sate of old and dealt justice to his chivalry, these without +wrath between us yield to me, lest some new evil arise up therefrom.' + +Thus he spake, and mildly also did Pelias make reply: 'I will be even +as thou wilt, but now the sere of life alone remaineth to me, whereas +the flower of thy youth is but just burgeoning; thou art able to take +away the sin that maketh the powers beneath the earth wroth with us: +for Phrixos biddeth us lay his ghost, and that we go to the house of +Aietes, and bring thence the thick-fleeced hide of the ram, whereby of +old he was delivered from the deep and from the impious weapons of his +stepmother. This message cometh to me in the voice of a strange dream: +also I have sent to ask of the oracle at Kastalia whether it be worth +the quest, and the oracle chargeth me straightway to send a ship on +the sacred mission. This deed do thou offer me to do, and I swear to +give thee up the sway and kingly rule. Let Zeus the ancestral god of +thee and me be witness of my oath and stablish it surely in thine +eyes.' + +So they made this covenant and parted; but Jason straightway bade +heralds to make known everywhere that a sailing was toward. And +quickly came three sons of Zeus, men unwearied in battle, whose +mothers were Alkmene and Leto of the glancing eyes[12], and two +tall-crested men of valour, children of the Earth-shaker, whose honour +was perfect as their might, from Pylos and from farthest Tainaros: +hereby was the excellence of their fame established--even Euphemos' +fame, and thine, wide-ruling Periklymenos. And at Apollo's bidding +came the minstrel father of song, Orpheus of fair renown. + +And Hermes of the golden staff sent two sons to the toilsome task, +Echion and Eurytos in the joy of their youth; swiftly they came, even +from their dwelling at the foot of Pangaios: and willingly and with +glad heart their father Boreas, king of winds, harnessed Zetes and +Kalaïs, men both with bright wings shooting from their backs. For Hera +kindled within those sons of gods the all-persuading sweet desire +for the ship Argo, that none should be left behind and stay by his +mother's side in savourless and riskless life, but each, even were +death the price, achieve in company with his peers a magic potency of +his valour. + +Now when that goodly crew were come to Iolkos, Jason mustered them +with thanks to each, and the seer Mopsos prophesied by omens and by +sacred lots, and with good will sped the host on board. + +And when they had hung the anchors over the prow, then their chief +taking in his hands a golden goblet stood up upon the stern and called +on Zeus whose spear is the lightning, and on the rush of waves and +winds and the nights and paths of the deep, to speed them quickly +over, and for days of cheer and friendly fortune of return. And from +the clouds a favourable voice of thunder pealed in answer; and there +came bright lightning flashes bursting through. + +Then the heroes took heart in obedience to the heavenly signs; and the +seer bade them strike into the water with their oars, while he spake +to them of happy hopes; and in their rapid hands the rowing sped +untiringly. + +And with breezes of the South they came wafted to the mouth of the +Axine sea; there they founded a shrine and sacred close of Poseidon, +god of seas, where was a red herd of Thracian bulls, and a new-built +altar of stone with hollow top[13]. + +Then as they set forth toward an exceeding peril they prayed the lord +of ships that they might shun the terrible shock of the clashing +rocks: for they were twain that had life, and plunged along more +swiftly than the legions of the bellowing winds; but that travel of +the seed of gods made end of them at last[14]. + +After that they came to the Phasis; there they fought with dark-faced +Kolchians even in the presence of Aietes. And there the queen of +keenest darts, the Cyprus-born, first brought to men from Olympus the +frenzied bird, the speckled wry-neck[15], binding it to a four-spoked +wheel without deliverance, and taught the son of Aison to be wise in +prayers and charms, that he might make Medea take no thought to honour +her parents, and longing for Hellas might drive her by persuasion's +lash, her heart afire with love. + +Then speedily she showed him the accomplishment of the tasks her +father set, and mixing drugs with oil gave him for his anointment +antidotes of cruel pain, and they vowed to be joined together in sweet +wedlock. + +But when Aietes had set in the midst a plough of adamant, and oxen +that from tawny jaws breathed flame of blazing fire, and with bronze +hoofs smote the earth in alternate steps, and had led them and yoked +them single-handed, he marked out in a line straight furrows, and for +a fathom's length clave the back of the loamy earth; then he spake +thus: 'This work let your king, whosoever he be that hath command +of the ship, accomplish me, and then let him bear away with him the +imperishable coverlet, the fleece glittering with tufts of gold.' + +He said, and Jason flung off from him his saffron mantle, and putting +his trust in God betook himself to the work; and the fire made him not +to shrink, for that he had had heed to the bidding of the stranger +maiden skilled in all pharmacy. So he drew to him the plough and +made fast by force the bulls' necks in the harness, and plunged the +wounding goad into the bulk of their huge sides, and with manful +strain fulfilled the measure of his work. And a cry without speech +came from Aietes in his agony, at the marvel of the power he beheld. + +Then to the strong man his comrades stretched forth their hands, and +crowned him with green wreaths, and greeted him with gracious words. +And thereupon the wondrous son[16] of Helios told him in what place +the knife of Phrixos had stretched the shining fell; yet he trusted +that this labour at least should never be accomplished by him. For it +lay in a thick wood and grasped by a terrible dragon's jaws, and he in +length and thickness was larger than their ship of fifty oars, which +the iron's blows had welded. + +Long were it for me to go by the beaten track, for the time is nigh +out, and I know a certain short path, and many others look to me for +skill. The glaring speckled dragon, O Arkesilas, he slew by subtlety, +and by her own aid he stole away Medea, the murderess of Pelias. And +they went down into the deep of Ocean and into the Red Sea, and to the +Lemnian race of husbandslaying wives; there also they had games and +wrestled for a prize of vesture, and lay with the women of the land. + +And then it was that in a stranger womb, by night or day, the fateful +seed was sown of the bright fortune of thy race. For there began the +generations of Euphemos, which should be thenceforth without end. And +in time mingling among the homes of Lakedaimonian men they made their +dwelling in the isle that once was Kalliste[17]: and thence the son +of Leto gave thy race the Libyan plain to till it and to do honour +therein to your gods, and to rule the divine city of golden-throned +Kyrene with devising of the counsels of truth. + +Now hearken to a wise saying even as the wisdom of Oedipus. If one +with sharp axe lop the boughs of a great oak and mar the glorious +form, even in the perishing of the fruit thereof it yet giveth token +of that it was; whether at the last it come even to the winter fire, +or whether with upright pillars in a master's house it stand, to serve +drear service within alien walls, and the place thereof knoweth it no +more[18]. + +But thou art a physician most timely, and the god of healing maketh +thy light burn brightly. A gentle hand must thou set to a festering +wound. It is a small thing even for a slight man to shake a city, but +to set it firm again in its place this is hard struggle indeed, unless +with sudden aid God guide the ruler's hand. For thee are prepared the +thanks which these deeds win. Be strong to serve with all thy might +Kyrene's goodly destiny. + +And of Homer's words take this to ponder in thy heart: _Of a good +messenger_, he saith, _cometh great honour to every deed._ Even to the +Muse is right messengership a gain. Now good cause have Kyrene and the +glorious house of Battos to know the righteous mind of Demophilos. For +he was a boy with boys, yet in counsels an old man of a hundred years: +and the evil tongue he robbeth of its loud voice, and hath learnt to +abhor the insolent, neither will he make strife against the good, nor +tarry when he hath a deed in hand. For a brief span hath opportunity +for men, but of him it is known surely when it cometh, and he waiteth +thereon a servant but no slave. + +Now this they say is of all griefs the sorest, that one knowing good +should of necessity abide without lot therein. Yea thus doth Atlas +struggle now against the burden of the firmament, far from his native +land and his possessions. Yet the Titans were set free by immortal +Zeus. As time runneth on the breeze abateth and there are shiftings of +the sails. And he hath hope that when he shall have endured to the end +his grievous plague he shall see once more his home, and at Apollo's +fountain[19] joining in the feast give his soul to rejoice in her +youth, and amid citizens who love his art, playing on his carven lute, +shall enter upon peace, hurting and hurt of none. Then shall he tell +how fair a fountain of immortal verse he made to flow for Arkesilas, +when of late he was the guest of Thebes. + + +[Footnote 1: Libya. Epaphos was son of Zeus by Io.] + +[Footnote 2: This incident happened during the wanderings of the +Argonauts on their return with the Golden Fleece from Kolchis to +Iolkos.] + +[Footnote 3: Thera.] + +[Footnote 4: Euphemos.] + +[Footnote 5: At Tainaros there was a cave supposed to be a mouth of +Hades.] + +[Footnote 6: Of Libya.] + +[Footnote 7: The purport of this is: If Euphemos had taken the clod +safely home to Tainaros in Lakonia, then his great-grandsons with +emigrants from other Peloponnesian powers would have planted a colony +in Libya. But since the clod had fallen into the sea and would be +washed up on the shore of the island of Thera, it was necessary that +Euphemos' descendants should first colonize Thera, and then, but not +till the seventeenth generation, proceed, under Battos, to found the +colony of Kyrene in Libya.] + +[Footnote 8: Battos.] + +[Footnote 9: The priestess.] + +[Footnote 10: The epithet [Greek: polias] is impossible to explain +satisfactorily. It has been suggested to me by Professor S.H. Butcher, +that [Greek: chamaigenaes] may have been equivalent to [Greek: +gaegenaes] and that Pelias may thus mean, half ironically, to imply +that Jason's stature, garb and mien, as well as his mysteriously +sudden appearance, argue him a son of one of the ancient giants who +had been seen of old among men.] + +[Footnote 11: The Kentaur Cheiron.] + +[Footnote 12: I. e. one son of Zeus and Alkmene, Herakles, and two +sons of Zeus and Leto, Kastor and Polydeukes.] + +[Footnote 13: For the blood of the victims.] + +[Footnote 14: The Symplegades having failed to crush the ship Argo +between them were themselves destroyed by the shock of their encounter +with each other. Probably a tradition of icebergs survived in this +story.] + +[Footnote 15: Used as a love-charm.] + +[Footnote 16: Aietes.] + +[Footnote 17: Thera.] + +[Footnote 18: In this parable the oak is the state, the boughs its +best men, the fire and the alien house destruction and servitude.] + +[Footnote 19: The fountain Kyra in the heart of the city Kyrene.] + + + +V. + +FOR ARKESILAS OF KYRENE, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode celebrates the same victory as the foregoing. It would seem +that the chariot had been consecrated to Apollo and left in the temple +at Delphi, but the horses were brought home to Kyrene and led in +procession through the sacred street of Apollo, with their charioteer +Karrhotos, brother of Arkesilas' wife. + + * * * * * + +Wide-reaching is the power of wealth, whensoever a mortal man hath +received it at the hands of Fate with pure virtue mingled, and +bringeth it to his home, a follower that winneth him many friends. +Arkesilas, thou favourite of the gods, thou verily seekest after it +with good report from the first steps of thy glorious life, with aid +of Kastor of the golden car, who after the wintry storm hath shed +bright calm about thy happy hearth[1]. + +Now the wise bear better the power that is given of God. And thou +walkest in righteousness amid thy prosperity which is now great; +first, for that thou art king of mighty cities, thy inborn virtue +hath brought this majestic honour to thy soul, and again thou art now +blessed in that from the famous Pythian games thou hast won glory by +thy steeds, and hast received this triumphal song of men, Apollo's +joy. + +Therefore forget not, while at Kyrene round Aphrodite's pleasant +garden thy praise is sung, to set God above every other as the cause +thereof: also love thou Karrhotos[2] chiefest of thy friends; who +hath not brought with him Excuse the daughter of late-considering +Afterthought back to the house of the just-ruling sons of Battos; but +beside the waters of Kastalia a welcomed guest he crowned thy hair +with the crown of the conquering car, for the reins were safe[3] in +his hands throughout the twelve swift turns along the sacred course. + +Of the strong harness brake he no whit: but there is hung up[4] all +that cunning work of the artificers that he brought with him when he +passed over the Krisaian hill to the plain within the valley of the +god: therefore now the chamber of cypress-wood possesseth it, hard by +the statue which the bow-bearing Kretans dedicated in the Parnassian +shrine, the natural image in one block[5]. Therefore with eager heart +it behoveth thee to go forth to meet him who hath done thee this good +service. + +Thee also, son[6] of Alexibios, the Charites of lovely hair make +glorious. Blessed art thou for that after much toil thou hast a +monument of noble words. Among forty charioteers who fell[7] thou +didst with soul undaunted bring thy car unhurt, and hast now come back +from the glorious games unto the plain of Libya and the city of thy +sires. + +Without lot in trouble hath there been never any yet, neither shall +be: yet still the ancient bliss of Battos followeth the race, albeit +with various fortune; a bulwark is it to the city, and to strangers a +most welcome light. + +From Battos even deep-voiced lions[8] fled in fear when he uttered +before them a voice from overseas: for the captain and founder Apollo +gave the beasts over to dire terror, that he might not be false to his +oracles which he had delivered to the ruler of Kyrene. + +Apollo it is who imparteth unto men and women cures for sore maladies, +and hath bestowed on them the lute, and giveth the Muse to whomsoever +he will, bringing into their hearts fair order of peace; and +inhabiteth the secret place of his oracles; whereby at Lakedaimon and +at Argos and at sacred Pylos he made to dwell the valiant sons of +Herakles and Aigimios[9]. + +From Sparta they say came my own dear famous race[10]: thence sprang +the sons of Aigeus who came to Thera, my ancestors, not without +help of God; but a certain destiny brought thither a feast of much +sacrifice[11], and thence receiving, O Apollo, thy Karneia we honour +at the banquet the fair-built city of Kyrene, which the spear-loving +strangers haunt[12], the Trojan seed of Antenor. For with Helen they +came thither after they had seen their native city smoking in the +fires of war. + +And now to that chivalrous race do the men whom Aristoteles[13] +brought, opening with swift ships a track through the deep sea, give +greeting piously, and draw nigh to them with sacrifice and gifts. + +He also planted greater groves of gods, and made a paved road[14] cut +straight over the plain, to be smitten with horsehoofs in processions +that beseech Apollo's guardianship for men; and there at the end of +the market-place he lieth apart in death. Blessed was he while he +dwelt among men, and since his death the people worship him as their +hero. + +And apart from him before their palace lie other sacred kings that +have their lot with Hades; and even now perchance they hear, with +such heed as remaineth to the dead, of this great deed sprinkled with +kindly dew of outpoured song triumphal, whence have they bliss in +common with their son Arkesilas unto whom it falleth due. + +Him it behoveth by the song of the young men to celebrate Phoibos of +the golden sword, seeing that from Pytho he hath won a recompense of +his cost in this glad strain of glorious victory. + +Of him the wise speak well: I but repeat their words saying that he +cherisheth understanding above his years, that in eloquent speech and +boldness he is as the wide-winged eagle among birds, and his strength +in combat like a tower. And he hath wings to soar with the Muses, +as his mother before him, and now hath he proved him a cunning +charioteer: and by all ways that lead to honour at home hath he +adventured. + +As now the favour of God perfecteth his might, so for the time to +come, blest children of Kronos, grant him to keep it in counsel and +in deed, that never at any time the wintry blast of the late autumn +winds[15] sweep him away. Surely the mighty mind of Zeus guideth the +destiny of the men he loveth. I pray that to the seed of Battos he may +at Olympia grant a like renown. + + +[Footnote 1: Kastor was not only a patron of charioteers, but also, +with his twin-brother Polydeukes, a protector of mariners and giver of +fair weather.] + +[Footnote 2: The charioteer.] + +[Footnote 3: I. e. well-handled and un-broken in the sharp turns round +the goal.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. in Apollo's temple at Delphi.] + +[Footnote 5: This would seem to have been a piece of wood growing +naturally in the form of a man.] + +[Footnote 6: Karrhotos.] + +[Footnote 7: This seems great havoc among the starters. Probably +besides the forty who fell there were others who were not actually +upset but yet did not win. No doubt the race must have been run in +heats, but these must still have been crowded enough to make the crush +at the turns exceedingly dangerous.] + +[Footnote 8: Pausanias says that Battos, the founder of Kyrene, was +dumb when he went to Africa, but that on suddenly meeting a lion the +fright gave him utterance. According to Pindar the lions seem to have +been still more alarmed, being startled by Battos' foreign accent.] + +[Footnote 9: The Dorians.] + +[Footnote 10: There were Aigidai at Sparta and Spartan colonies, of +which Kyrene was one, and also at Thebes: to the latter branch of the +family Pindar belonged.] + +[Footnote 11: The Karneia, a Dorian feast of which we hear often in +history.] + +[Footnote 12: These Trojan refugees were supposed to have anciently +settled on the site where Kyrene was afterwards built. Battos (or +Aristoteles) and his new settlers honoured the dead Trojans as tutelar +heroes of the spot.] + +[Footnote 13: Battos.] + +[Footnote 14: The sacred street of Apollo, along which the procession +moved which sang this ode. The pavement, and the tombs cut in the rock +on each side are still to be seen, or at least were in 1817, when the +Italian traveller Della Cella visited the place. Böckh quotes from +his Viaggio da Tripoli di Barberia alle frontiere occedentali dell' +Egitto, p. 139: 'Oggi ho passeggiato in una delle strade (di Cirene) +che serba ancora Papparenza di essere stata fra le più cospicue. Non +solo è tutta intagliata nel vivo sasso, ma a due lati è fiancheggiata +da lunga fila di tombe quadrate di dieci circa piedi di altezza, anch' +esse tutte d'un pezzo scavate nella roccia.'] + +[Footnote 15: I. e., probably, calamity in old age.] + + + +VI. + +FOR XENOKRATES OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This victory was won B.C. 494, when Pindar was twenty-eight years old, +and the ode was probably written to be sung at Delphi immediately +on the event. Thus, next to the tenth Pythian, written eight years +before, this is the earliest of Pindar's poems that remains to us. + +Xenokrates was a son of Ainesidamos and brother of Theron. The second +Isthmian is also in his honour. + + * * * * * + +Hearken! for once more we plough the field[1] of Aphrodite of the +glancing eyes, or of the Graces call it if you will, in this our +pilgrimage to the everlasting centre-stone of deep-murmuring[2] earth. + +For there for the blissful Emmenidai, and for Akragas by the +riverside, and chiefliest for Xenokrates, is builded a ready treasure +of song within the valley of Apollo rich in golden gifts. + +That treasure of his shall neither wind nor wintry rain-storm coming +from strange lands, as a fierce host born of the thunderous cloud, +carry into the hiding places of the sea, to be beaten by the +all-sweeping drift: + +But in clear light its front shall give tidings of a victory won +in Krisa's dells, glorious in the speech of men to thy father +Thrasyboulos, and to all his kin with him. + +Thou verily in that thou settest him ever at thy right hand cherishest +the charge which once upon the mountains they say the son[3] of +Philyra gave to him of exceeding might, even to the son of Peleas, +when he had lost his sire: first that of all gods he most reverence +Kronos' son, the deep-voiced lord of lightnings and of thunders, and +then that he never rob of like honour a parent's spell of life. + +Also of old time had mighty Antilochos this mind within him, who died +for his father's sake, when he abode the murderous onset of Memnon, +the leader of the Ethiop hosts. + +For Nestor's chariot was stayed by a horse that was stricken of the +arrows of Paris, and Memnon made at him with his mighty spear. Then +the heart of the old man of Messene was troubled, and he cried unto +his son; nor wasted he his words in vain; in his place stood up the +godlike man and bought his father's flight by his own death. So by the +young men of that ancient time he was deemed to have wrought a mighty +deed, and in succouring of parents to be supreme. + +These things are of the past; but of men that now are Thrasyboulos +hath come nearest to our fathers' gauge. And following his uncle also +he hath made glory to appear for him; and with wisdom doth he handle +wealth, neither gathereth the fruit of an unrighteous or overweening +youth, but rather of knowledge amid the secret places of the Pierides. +And to thee, Earthshaker, who didst devise ventures of steeds, with +right glad heart he draweth nigh. Sweet is his spirit toward the +company of his guests, yea sweeter than the honeycomb, the toil of +bees. + + +[Footnote 1: The field of poesy.] + +[Footnote 2: An epithet appropriate to volcanic soils.] + +[Footnote 3: Cheiron.] + + + +VII. + +FOR MEGAKLES OF ATHENS, + +WINNER IN THE FOUR-HORSE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +Megakles won this victory B.C. 490, the year of the battle of +Marathon. He was a member of the great house of the Alkmaionidai, to +which Kleisthenes and Perikles belonged. Megakles was a frequent name +in the family: this Megakles was probably the nephew, possibly the +son, of Kleisthenes. + + * * * * * + +Fairest of preludes is the great name of Athens to whosoever will lay +foundation of songs for the mighty race of Alkmaionidai and for their +steeds. What country, what house among all lands shall I name more +glorious throughout Hellas? + +For unto all cities is the fame familiar of the citizens of +Erechtheus, who at divine Pytho have wrought thee, O Apollo, a +glorious house[1]. + +And I hereto am led by victories, at Isthmos five, and one +pre-eminent, won at Olympia at the feast of Zeus, and two at Kirrha, +which thou, O Megakles, and thy sire have won. + +Now at this new good fortune I rejoice; yet somewhat also I grieve, +even to behold how envy requiteth noble deeds[2]. Yet thus ever, they +say, must fair hap abiding with a man engender bad with good. + + +[Footnote 1: The Alkmainodai had lately been spending large sums on +the rebuilding of Apollo's temple at Delphi.] + +[Footnote 2: Megakles was twice ostracized.] + + + +VIII. + +FOR ARISTOMENES OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +The precise date of this ode is uncertain, but there is strong +internal evidence of its having been written soon after the battle of +Salamis, after which, as is well known, the [Greek: aristeia] or first +honours for valour, were awarded to Aigina. The insolence of the +barbarian despot seems to be symbolized by that of the giants Typhon +and Porphyrion. + +The ode was apparently to be sung on the winner's return to Aigina. No +less than eleven of the extant odes were written for winners from that +island. + + * * * * * + +O kindly Peace, daughter of Righteousness, thou that makest cities +great, and boldest the supreme keys of counsels and of wars, welcome +thou this honour to Aristomenes, won in the Pythian games. + +Thou knowest how alike to give and take gentleness in due season: thou +also, if any have moved thy heart unto relentless wrath, dost terribly +confront the enemy's might, and sinkest Insolence in the sea. + +Thus did Porphyrion provoke thee unaware. Now precious is the gain +that one beareth away from the house of a willing giver. But violence +shall ruin a man at the last, boast he never so loudly. He of Kilikia, +Typhon of the hundred heads, escaped not this, neither yet the king of +giants[1]: but by the thunderbolt they fell and by the bow of Apollo, +who with kind intent hath welcomed Xenarches home from Kirrha, crowned +with Parnassian wreaths and Dorian song. + +Not far from the Graces' ken falleth the lot of this righteous +island-commonwealth, that hath attained unto the glorious deeds of the +sons of Aiakos[2]: from the beginning is her fame perfect, for she is +sung of as the nurse of heroes foremost in many games and in violent +fights: and in her mortal men also is she pre-eminent. + +But my time faileth me to offer her all I might tell at length by lute +and softer voice of man, so that satiety vex not. + +So let that which lieth in my path, my debt to thee, O boy, the +youngest of thy country's glories, run on apace, winged by my art. + +For in wrestlings thou art following the footsteps of thy uncles, and +shamest neither Theognetos at Olympia, nor the victory that at Isthmos +was won by Kleitomachos' stalwart limbs. + +And in that thou makest great the clan of the Midylidai thou attainest +unto the very praise which on a time the son of Oikleus spake in +a riddle, when he saw at seven-gated Thebes the sons of the Seven +standing to their spears, what time from Argos came the second race on +their new enterprise[3]. Thus spake he while they fought: 'By nature, +son, the noble temper of thy sires shineth forth in thee. I see +clearly the speckled dragon that Alkmaion weareth on his bright +shield, foremost at the Kadmean gates. + +And he who in the former fight fared ill, hero Adrastos, is now +endowed with tidings of a better omen. Yet in his own house his +fortune shall be contrariwise: for he alone of all the Danaan host, +after that he shall have gathered up the bones of his dead son, shall +by favour of the gods come back with unharmed folk to the wide streets +of Abas[4].' + +On this wise spake Amphiaraos. Yea and with joy I too myself throw +garlands on Alkmaion's grave, and shower it withal with songs, for +that being my neighbour and guardian of my possessions[5] he met me as +I went up to the earth's centre-stone, renowned in song, and showed +forth the gift of prophecy which belongeth unto his house[6]. + +But thou, far-darter, ruler of the glorious temple whereto all men go +up, amid the glens of Pytho didst there grant this the greatest of +joys: and at home before didst thou bring to him at the season of thy +feast the keen-sought prize of the pentathlon. My king, with willing +heart I make avowal that through thee is harmony before mine eyes in +all that I sing of every conqueror. + +By the side of our sweet-voiced song of triumph hath Righteousness +taken her stand, and I pray, O Xenarches[7], that the favour of God be +unfailing toward the fortune of thee and thine. For if one hath good +things to his lot without long toil, to many he seemeth therefore to +be wise among fools and to be crowning his life by right devising of +the means. But these things lie not with men: it is God that ordereth +them, who setteth up one and putteth down another, so that he is bound +beneath the hands of the adversary. + +Now at Megara also hast thou won a prize, and in secluded Marathon, +and in the games of Hera in thine own land, three times, Aristomenes, +hast thou overcome. + +And now on the bodies of four others[8] hast thou hurled thyself with +fierce intent, to whom the Pythian feast might not award, as unto +thee, the glad return, nor the sweet smile that welcometh thee to thy +mother's side; nay but by secret ways they shrink from meeting their +enemies, stricken down by their evil hap. + +Now he that hath lately won glory in the time of his sweet youth is +lifted on the wings of his strong hope and soaring valour, for his +thoughts are above riches. + +In a little moment groweth up the delight of men; yea and in like sort +falleth it to the ground, when a doom adverse hath shaken it. + +Things of a day--what are we, and what not? Man is a dream of shadows. + +Nevertheless when a glory from God hath shined on them, a clear light +abideth upon men, and serene life. + +Aigina[9], mother dear, this city in her march among the free, with +Zeus and lordly Aiakos, with Peleus and valiant Telamon and with +Achilles, guard thou well. + + + +[Footnote 1: Porphyrion.] + +[Footnote 2: Aiakos and his descendants, especially Aias, were the +chief national heroes of Aigina.] + +[Footnote 3: It seems doubtful what this legend exactly was. Either +Amphiaraos, during the attack of the first Seven against Thebes, +saw by prophetic vision the future battle of the second Seven, the +Epigonoi, among whom were his own son Alkmaion, and Adrastos, the sole +survivor of the first Seven; or else these are the words of his oracle +after his death, spoken when the battle of the Epigonoi had begun but +was not yet ended.] + +[Footnote 4: Abas was an ancient king of Argos.] + +[Footnote 5: Probably there was a shrine of Alkmaion near Pindar's +house at Thebes, so that he considered his household to be under the +hero's protection: perhaps he had deposited money in the shrine, for +temples were often used as treasuries.] + +[Footnote 6: Probably in some vision seen by Pindar on his journey to +Delphi.] + +[Footnote 7: Father of Aristomenes.] + +[Footnote 8: His competitors in four ties of the wrestling-match.] + +[Footnote 9: The nymph, protectress of the island.] + + + +IX. + +FOR TELESIKRATES OF KYRENE, + +WINNER OF THE FOOT-RACE IN FULL ARMOUR. + + * * * * * + +The Hellenic heavy-armed soldier was often called upon to advance at a +run, as for instance in the charge at Marathon. With a view no doubt +to such occasions this race in full armour had been instituted at +Pytho in 498, and in 478 it was won by Telesikrates. The ode was +probably sung in a procession at Thebes, before Telesikrates had gone +back to Kyrene, but the legends related are mainly connected with +Kyrene. Probably the commentators are right in supposing +that Telesikrates was to take home with him a bride from the +mother-country, a fact which makes the legends told specially +appropriate. + + * * * * * + +I have desire to proclaim with aid of the deep-vested Graces a victory +at Pytho of Telesikrates bearing the shield of bronze, and to speak +aloud his name, for his fair fortune and the glory wherewith he hath +crowned Kyrene, city of charioteers. + +Kyrene[1] once from Pelion's wind-echoing dells Leto's son, the +flowing-haired, caught up and in a golden car bore away the +huntress-maiden to the place where he made her queen of a land rich in +flocks, yea richest of all lands in the fruits of the field, that her +home might be the third part[2] of the mainland of earth, a stock that +should bear lovely bloom. And silver-foot Aphrodite awaited the Delian +stranger issuing from his car divine, and lightly laid on him her +hand: then over their sweet bridal-bed she cast the loveliness of +maiden shame, and in a common wedlock joined the god and the daughter +of wide-ruling Hypseus, who then was king of the haughty Lapithai, +a hero whose father's father was the Ocean-god--for amid the famous +mountain-dells of Pindos the Naiad Kreüsa bare him after she had +delight in the bed of Peneus, Kreüsa, daughter of Earth. + +Now the child he reared was Kyrene of the lovely arms: She was not one +who loved the pacings to and fro before the loom, neither the delights +of feastings with her fellows within the house, but with bronze +javelins and a sword she fought against and slew wild beasts of prey; +yea and much peace and sure she gave thereby to her father's herds, +but for sleep, the sharer of her bed, short spent she it and sweet, +descending on her eyelids as the dawn drew near. + +Once as she struggled alone, without spear, with a terrible lion, he +of the wide quiver, far-darting Apollo, found her: and straightway he +called Cheiron from his hall and spake to him aloud: 'Son of Philyra, +come forth from thy holy cave, and behold and wonder at the spirit of +this woman, and her great might, what strife she wageth here with soul +undaunted, a girl with heart too high for toil to quell; for her mind +shaketh not in the storm of fear. What man begat her? From what tribe +was she torn to dwell in the secret places of the shadowing hills? She +hath assayed a struggle unachievable. Is it lawful openly to put forth +my hand to her, or rather on a bridal-bed pluck the sweet flower?' + +To him the Centaur bold with a frank smile on his mild brow made +answer straightway of his wisdom: 'Secret are wise Lovecraft's keys +unto love's sanctities, O Phoibos, and among gods and men alike all +deem this shame, to have pleasure of marriage at the first openly. Now +even thee, who mayest have no part in lies, thy soft desire hath led +to dissemble in this thy speech. + +The maiden's lineage dost thou, O king, enquire of me--thou who +knowest the certain end of all things, and all ways? How many leaves +the earth sendeth forth in spring, how many grains of sand in sea and +river are rolled by waves and the winds' stress, what shall come to +pass, and whence it shall be, thou discernest perfectly. But if even +against wisdom I must match myself, I will speak on. To wed this +damsel camest thou unto this glen, and thou art destined to bear her +beyond the sea to a chosen garden of Zeus, where thou shalt make her a +city's queen, when thou hast gathered together an island-people to +a hill in the plain's midst. And now shall queenly Libya of broad +meadow-lands well-pleased receive for thee within a golden house thy +glorious bride, and there make gift to her of a portion in the land, +to be an inhabiter thereof with herself, neither shall it be lacking +in tribute of plants bearing fruit after all kinds, neither a stranger +to the beasts of chase. There shall she bring forth a son, whom +glorious Hermes taking up from his mother's arms shall bear to the +fair-throned Hours and to Earth: and they shall set the babe upon +their knees, and nectar and ambrosia they shall distil upon his lips, +and shall make him as an immortal, a Zeus or a holy Apollo, to men +beloved of him a very present help, a tutelar of flocks, and to some +Agreus and Nomios; but to others Aristaios shall be his name.' + +By these words he made him ready for the bridal's sweet fulfilment. +And swift the act and short the ways of gods who are eager to an end. +That same day made accomplishment of the matter, and in a golden +chamber of Libya they lay together; where now she haunteth a city +excellent in beauty and glorious in the games. + +And now at sacred Pytho hath the son of Karneadas wedded that city +to the fair flower of good luck: for by his victory there he hath +proclaimed Kyrene's name, even her's who shall receive him with glad +welcome home, to the country of fair women bringing precious honour +out of Delphi. + +Great merits stir to many words: yet to be brief and skilful on +long themes is a good hearing for bards: for fitness of times is in +everything alike of chief import. + +That Iolaos had respect thereto[3] seven-gated Thebes knoweth well, +for when he had stricken down the head of Eurystheus beneath the edge +of the sword, she buried the slayer beneath the earth in the tomb of +Amphitryon the charioteer, where his father's father was laid, a guest +of the Spartoi, who had left his home to dwell among the streets of +the sons of Kadmos who drave white horses. To him and to Zeus at once +did wise Alkmene bear the strength of twin sons prevailing in battle. + +Dull is that man who lendeth not his voice to Herakles, nor hath in +remembrance continually the waters of Dirke that nurtured him and +Iphikles. To them will I raise a song of triumph for that I have +received good at their hands, after that I had prayed to them that the +pure light of the voiceful Graces might not forsake me. For at Aigma +and on the hill of Nisos twice ere now I say that I have sung Kyrene's +praise, and by my act have shunned the reproach of helpless dumbness. + +Wherefore if any of the citizens be our friend, yea even if he be +against us, let him not seek to hide the thing that hath been well +done in the common cause, and so despise the word of the old god of +the sea[4]. He biddeth one give praise with the whole heart to noble +deeds, yea even to an enemy, so be it that justice be on his side. + +Full many times at the yearly feast of Pallas have the maidens seen +thee winner, and silently they prayed each for herself that such an +one as thou, O Telesikrates, might be her beloved husband or her son; +and thus also was it at the games of Olympia and of ample-bosomed +Earth[5], and at all in thine own land. + +Me anywise to slake my thirst for song the ancient glory of thy +forefathers summoneth to pay its due and rouse it yet again--to tell +how that for love of a Libyan woman there went up suitors to the city +of Irasa to woo Antaios' lovely-haired daughter of great renown; whom +many chiefs of men, her kinsmen, sought to wed, and many strangers +also; for the beauty of her was marvellous, and they were fain to cull +the fruit whereto her gold-crowned youth had bloomed. + +But her father gained for his daughter a marriage more glorious still. +Now he had heard how sometime Danaos at Argos devised for his forty +and eight maiden daughters, ere mid-day was upon them, a wedding +of utmost speed--for he straightway set the whole company at the +race-course end, and bade determine by a foot-race which maiden each +hero should have, of all the suitors that had come. + +Even on this wise gave the Libyan a bridegroom to his daughter, and +joined the twain. At the line he set the damsel, having arrayed her +splendidly, to be the goal and prize, and proclaimed in the midst that +he should lead her thence to be his bride who, dashing to the front, +should first touch the robes she wore. + +Thereon Alexidamos, when that he had sped through the swift course, +took by her hand the noble maiden, and led her through the troops of +Nomad horsemen. Many the leaves and wreaths they showered on him; yea +and of former days many plumes of victories had he won. + + + +[Footnote 1: A Thessalian maiden, from whom, according to this legend, +the colony of Kyrene in Africa took its name.] + +[Footnote 2: I. e. Libya, the continent which we now call Africa.] + +[Footnote 3: I. e. by seizing the moment left to him before it should +be too late to act. Thebes and Kyrene were connected by the fact that +members of the Aigid family lived at both places.] + +[Footnote 4: Nereus. Powers of divination and wisdom generally are +often attributed to sea-deities.] + +[Footnote 5: I. e. at Delphi or Pytho. As being the supposed centre of +the Earth it was the place of the worship of the Earth-goddess.] + + + +X. + +FOR HIPPOKLEAS OF THESSALY, + +WINNER IN THE TWO-STADION FOOT-RACE OF BOYS. + + * * * * * + +The only reason we know for the digression about Perseus which +occupies great part of this ode seems to be that Thorax, who engaged +Pindar to write it for Hippokleas, and perhaps Hippokleas himself, +belonged to the family of the Aleuadai, who were descended through +Herakles from Perseus. + +This ode is the earliest entire poem of Pindar's which survives. He +wrote it when he was twenty years old. The simplicity of the style and +manner of composition are significant of this. But there can scarcely +be said to be traces here of Pindar's early tendency in dealing with +mythological allusions to 'sow not with the hand but with the whole +sack,' which Korinna advised him to correct, and which is conspicuous +in a fragment remaining to us of one of his Hymns. + + * * * * * + +Happy is Lakedaimon, blessed is Thessaly: in both there reigneth a +race sprung from one sire, from Herakles bravest in the fight. What +vaunt is this unseasonable? Nay, now, but Pytho calleth me, and +Pelinnaion[1], and the sons of Aleuas who would fain lead forth the +loud voices of a choir of men in honour of Hippokleas. + +For now hath he tasted the joy of games, and to the host of the +dwellers round about hath the valley beneath Parnassos proclaimed him +best among the boys who ran the double race[2]. + +O Apollo, sweet is the end when men attain thereto, and the beginning +availed more when it is speeded of a god. Surely of thy devising were +his deeds: and this his inborn valour hath trodden in the footsteps +of his father twice victor at Olympia in panoply of war-affronting +arms[3]: moreover the games in the deep meadow beneath Kirrha's cliff +gave victory to the fleet feet of Phrikias[4]. + +May good luck follow them, so that even in after days the splendour of +their wealth shall bloom. Of the pleasant things of Hellas they +have no scanty portion to their lot; may they happen on no envious +repentings of the gods. A god's heart, it may be, is painless ever; +but happy and a theme of poet's song is that man who for his valiance +of hands or feet the chiefest prizes hath by strength and courage won, +and in his life-time seen his young son by good hap attaining to the +Pythian crown. Never indeed shall he climb the brazen heaven, but +whatsoever splendours we of mortal race may reach, through such he +hath free course even to the utmost harbourage. But neither by taking +ship, neither by any travel on foot, to the Hyperborean folk shalt +thou find the wondrous way. + +Yet of old the chieftain Perseus entered into their houses and feasted +among them, when that he had lighted on them as they were sacrificing +ample hecatombs of asses to their god. For ever in their feasts and +hymns hath Apollo especial joy, and laugheth to see the braying ramp +of the strange beasts. Nor is the Muse a stranger to their lives, but +everywhere are stirring to and fro dances of maidens and shrill noise +of pipes: and binding golden bay-leaves in their hair they make them +merry cheer. Nor pestilence nor wasting eld approach that hallowed +race: they toil not neither do they fight, and dwell unharmed of cruel +Nemesis. + +In the eagerness of his valiant heart went of old the son of Danaë, +for that Athene led him on his way, unto the company of that blessed +folk. Also he slew the Gorgon and bare home her head with serpent +tresses decked, to the island folk a stony death. I ween there is no +marvel impossible if gods have wrought thereto. + +Let go the oar, and quickly drive into the earth an anchor from the +prow, to save us from the rocky reef, for the glory of my song of +praise flitteth like a honey-bee from tale to tale. + +I have hope that when the folk of Ephyra pour forth my sweet strains +by Peneus' side, yet more glorious shall I make their Hippokleas for +his crowns and by my songs among his fellows and his elders, and I +will make him possess the minds of the young maidens. + +For various longings stir secretly the minds of various men; yet each +if he attain to the thing he striveth for will hold his eager desire +for the time present to him, but what a year shall bring forth, none +shall foreknow by any sign. + +My trust is in the kindly courtesy of my host Thorax, of him who to +speed my fortune hath yoked this four-horse car of the Pierides, as +friend for friend, and willing guide for guide. + +As gold to him that trieth it by a touch-stone, so is a true soul +known. + +His noble brethren also will we praise, for that they exalt and make +great the Thessalians' commonwealth. For in the hands of good men +lieth the good piloting of the cities wherein their fathers ruled. + + +[Footnote 1: Hippokleas' birth-place.] + +[Footnote 2: Down the stadion (220 yards) and back.] + +[Footnote 3: I. e. in the race run in full armour, like that at Pytho +which Telesikrates, of Kyrene won, celebrated in the fore-going ode.] + +[Footnote 4: Probably a horse with which Hippokleas' father won a race +at Pytho.] + + + +XI. + +FOR THRASYDAIOS OF THEBES, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' SHORT FOOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The date of this victory was B.C. 478, nearly two years after the +battle of Plataea, and the deliverance of Thebes from Persian +influence and the sway of a tyrannous oligarchy. But beyond this we +have nothing certain to which we can refer the allusions to Theban +affairs, public and private, which we have reason to think present in +the ode. + + * * * * * + +Daughters of Kadmos, thou Semele whose goings are with the queens of +Olympus, and thou Ino Leukothea who housest with the Nereids of the +sea, come ye up with the mother[1] of a mighty son, even of Herakles, +unto the temple of M[)e]lia[2] and into the holy place of the golden +tripods, which beyond all others Loxias hath honoured, and named it +the shrine Ismenian, a truthful seat of seers; where now, O children +of Harmonia, he calleth the whole heroic sisterhood of the soil to +assemble themselves together, that of holy Themis and of Pytho and +the Earth-navel of just judgments ye may sing at early evening, doing +honour to seven-gated Thebes, and to the games at Kirrha, wherein +Thrasydaios hath made his father's house glorious by casting thereon a +third wreath for his victory in the rich cornlands[3] of Pylades, who +was the host of Lakonian Orestes. + +Orestes, on the murder of his father, Arsinoë his nurse saved from the +violent hands of Klytaimnestra and out of the ruinous treason, what +time the daughter of Dardanid Priam, Kassandra, was by the glittering +bronze in company with Agamemnon's soul sped to the shadowy shore of +Acheron by the woman who had no pity. + +Did then the slaughter of Iphigenia far from her own land on Euripos' +shore so sting her mother to the arousal of a wrath of grievous act? +Or had nocturnal loves misguided her, in thraldom to a paramour's +embrace? a sin in new-wed brides most hateful, and that cannot be +hidden for the talk of stranger tongues: for the citizens repeat the +shame. For prosperity must sustain an envy equalling itself: but +concerning the man of low place the rumour is obscure. + +Thus died the hero himself[4], the son of Atreus, when after long +time he came unto famous Amyklai, and drew down with him to death the +maiden prophetess[5], after that he consumed with fire the Trojans' +habitations of softness. + +And thus Orestes, in the tenderness of his youth, came and was the +guest of the old man Strophios, who dwelt at the foot of Parnassos: +but with long-tarrying sword he slew his mother, and left Aigisthos' +body in its blood. + +Verily, my friends, by triple roads of interchanging ways I have wound +about, though heretofore I had kept on a straight track. Or hath some +wind blown me out of my course, as when it bloweth a boat upon the +sea? But thine it is, my Muse, since thou for reward didst promise the +loan thereof, to raise thy voice for silver now on this tale, now +on that, so that for this time at least it is on behalf either of +Thrasydaios or of his sire who conquered at Pytho: for of both are the +joy and glory burning lights. + +Of old for victories in the chariot-race they had bright glory at +Olympia in the famous games for the swiftness of their steeds: and now +have they gone down among the naked runners in the stadion, and have +put to rebuke the host of the Hellenes by their speed. + +God grant me to desire things honourable, seeking things possible in +my life's prime. + +The middle course I find to prosper most enduringly in the +commonwealth, and a state of tyranny I condemn. On well-doing for the +common good[6] I bestow my pains: so are the envious baffled, if one +hath excelled in such acts to the uttermost, and bearing it modestly +hath shunned the perilous reproach of insolence: so also at the end +shall he find black death more gracious unto him, to his dear children +leaving the best of possessions, even the glory of an honourable name. + +This it is that beareth abroad the name of Iolaos in song, and the +names of the mighty Kastor and of thee, king Polydeukes, ye sons of +gods, who one day in Therapnai and the next in Olympus have your +dwelling-place. + + +[Footnote 1: Alkmene.] + +[Footnote 2: Mother of Ismenios and Teucros, by Apollo.] + +[Footnote 3: In Phokis.] + +[Footnote 4: Agamemnon. It is a strange variety of the tale that he +is spoken of as having been murdered at Amyklai and not at Argos or +Mykenai. So above Orestes is called Lakonian.] + +[Footnote 5: Kassandra.] + +[Footnote 6: (Not for a party.)] + + + +XII. + +FOR MIDAS OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE FLUTE-PLAYING MATCH. + + * * * * * + +This is an early ode: the victory was won either in 494 or 450. It +was to be sung, it would seem, at Akragas, and very probably in a +procession to the shrine of the tutelar divinity of the city, with an +address to whom it seemingly begins, though it is difficult to say +what degree of personification is intended. + + * * * * * + +I pray thee, lover of splendour, most beautiful among the cities of +men, haunt of Persephone, thou who by the banks of Akragas' stream +that nourisheth thy flocks, inhabitest a citadel builded pleasantly--O +queen, graciously and with goodwill of gods and men welcome this crown +that is come forth from Pytho for Midas' fair renown; and him too +welcome therewithal who hath overcome all Hellas in the art which once +on a time Pallas Athene devised, when she made music of the fierce +Gorgon's death-lament. + +That heard she pouring from the maiden heads and heads of serpents +unapproachable amidst the anguish of their pains, when Perseus had +stricken the third sister, and to the isle Seriphos and its folk bare +thence their doom. + +Yea also he struck with blindness the wondrous brood of Phorkos[1], +and to Polydektes' bridal brought a grievous gift, and grievous +eternally he made for that man his mother's slavery and ravished bed: +for this he won the fair-faced Medusa's head, he who was the son of +Danaë, and sprung, they say, from a living stream of gold. + +But the Maiden[2], when that she had delivered her well-beloved from +these toils, contrived the manifold music of the flute, that with such +instrument she might repeat the shrill lament that reached her from +Euryale's[3] ravening jaws. + +A goddess was the deviser thereof, but having created it for +a possession of mortal men, she named that air she played the +many-headed[4] air, that speaketh gloriously of folk-stirring games, +as it issueth through the thin-beat bronze and the reeds which grow by +the Graces' city of goodly dancing-ground in the precinct of Kephisos' +nymph, the dancers' faithful witnesses. + +But if there be any bliss among mortal men, without labour it is not +made manifest: it may be that God will accomplish it even to-day, yet +the thing ordained is not avoidable: yea, there shall be a time that +shall lay hold on a man unaware, and shall give him one thing beyond +his hope, but another it shall bestow not yet. + + +[Footnote 1: The three Grey Sisters, whose one common eye Perseus +stole, + + [Greek: daenaiai korai + treis kyknomorphoi koinon omm' ektaemenai + monodontes, has outh' haelios prosderketai + aktisin, outh' hae nukteros maenae pote.] + +Aesch. Prom. 813. + +This must mean some kind of twilight, not total darkness, or they +could hardly have missed their eye.] + +[Footnote 2: Athene.] + +[Footnote 3: One of the Gorgons.] + +[Footnote 4: A certain [Greek: nomos aulaetikos] was known by this +name.] + + + +THE NEMEAN ODES. + +I. + +FOR CHROMIOS OF AITNA, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This Chromios was a son of Agesidamos and brother-in-law of Hieron, +and the same man for whom the ninth Nemean was written. He had become +a citizen of Hieron's new city of Aitna, and won this victory B.C. +473. + +This ode seems to have been sung before his house in Ortygia, a +peninsula on which part of Syracuse was built, and in which was the +fountain Arethusa. The legend of Arethusa and Alpheos explains the +epithets of Ortygia with which the ode opens. The greater part of the +ode is occupied with the story of Herakles, perhaps because Chromios +was of the Hyllean tribe and thus traced his descent to Herakles. + + * * * * * + +O resting-place august of Alpheos, Ortygia, scion of famous Syracuse, +thou that art a couch of Artemis and a sister of Delos[1], from thee +goeth forth a song of sweet words, to set forth the great glory of +whirlwind-footed steeds in honour of Aitnaian Zeus. + +For now the car of Chromios, and Nemea, stir me to yoke to his +victorious deeds the melody of a triumphal song. And thus by that +man's heaven-sped might I lay my foundations in the praise of gods. In +good fortune men speak well of one altogether: and of great games the +Muse is fain to tell. + +Sow then some seed of splendid words in honour of this isle, which +Zeus, the lord of Olympus, gave unto Persephone, and bowed his hair +toward her in sign that this teeming Sicily he would exalt to be the +best land in the fruitful earth, with gorgeous crown of citadels. And +the son of Kronos gave unto her a people that wooeth mailed war, a +people of the horse and of the spear, and knowing well the touch of +Olympia's golden olive-leaves. Thus shoot I arrows many, and without +falsehood I have hit the mark. + +And now at the doors of the hall of a hospitable man I stand to sing +a goodly song, where is prepared for me a friendly feast, and not +unwonted in that house are frequent stranger-guests: thus hath he +found good friends to pour a quenching flood on the mouldering fire of +reproach. + +Each hath his several art: but in straight paths it behoveth him to +walk, and to strive hard wherein his nature setteth him. Thus worketh +strength in act, and mind in counsels, when one is born to foresee +what shall come after. In thy nature, son of Agesidamos, are uses both +for this and that. + +I love not to keep hidden in my house great wealth, but to have joy of +that I have, and to have repute of liberality to my friends: for the +hopes of much-labouring men seem to me even as mine. + +Now I to Herakles cleave right willingly, among high deeds of valour +rousing an ancient tale; how that when from his mother's womb the son +of Zeus escaping the birth-pang came quickly into the glorious light +with his twin-brother, not unobserved of Hera did he put on the +saffron swaddling bands; but the queen of gods in the kindling of her +anger sent presently the two snakes, and they when the doors were +opened went right on into the wide bedchamber, hasting to entwine the +children, that they should be a prey to their fierce teeth. + +But the boy lifted up his head upright and was first to essay the +fight, seizing with inevitable grasp of both his hands the two +serpents by the necks, and time, as he strangled them, forced the +breath out of their monstrous forms. + +But a shock unendurable startled the women about Alkmene's bed, yea +and herself too started to her feet from the couch half-robed, and +would fain have beaten back the fierce beasts' violence. + +And quickly ran thronging thither with bronze arms the captains of +the sons of Kadmos; and brandishing in his hand his sword bare of its +sheath came Amphitryon smitten with sharp pain; for everyone alike is +grieved by the ills of his own house, but the heart is soon quit of +sorrow that careth but for another's care. + +And he stood in amazement, and gladness mingled with his fear; for he +saw the marvellous courage and might of his son, since the immortals +had turned to the contrary the saying of the messengers unto him. + +Then he called a man that lived nigh to him, a chosen prophet of the +most high Zeus, Teiresias the true seer: and he set forth to him and +to all his company with what manner of fortune should the child have +his lot cast, how many lawless monsters on the dry land, how many on +the sea he should destroy. + +Others moreover, of men the hatefullest, who walked in guile and +insolence, he prophesied that he should deliver over unto death: +saying that when on Phlegra's plain the gods should meet the giants +in battle, beneath the rush of his arrows their bright hair should be +soiled with earth; but he in peace himself should obtain a reward of +rest from his great toils throughout all time continually within the +house of bliss, and after that he had received fair Hebe to be his +bride, and made his marriage-feast, should remain beside Zeus, the son +of Kronos, well-pleased with his dwelling-place divine. + + +[Footnote 1: I. e. so honoured by Artemis as to rank with her native +Delos.] + + + +II. + +FOR TIMODEMOS OF ATHENS, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + +* * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown. It would seem to have been sung at +Athens on the winner's return home. He belonged to the clan of the +Timodemidai of Salamis, but to the deme of Acharnai. + +As to the nature of the Pankration see Dict. Ant. It was a combination +of wrestling and boxing, probably with wide license of rules. The best +extant illustration of it in sculpture is the famous group of the +Pankratiasts (commonly called the Luttatori) in the Tribune of the +Uffizi at Florence. + + * * * * * + +From the self-same beginning whence the Homerid bards draw out the +linkèd story of their song, even a prelude calling upon Zeus--so also +Nemeaian Zeus it is in whose far-famous grove this man hath attained +unto laying his first foundation of victory in the sacred games. + +And yet again must the son of Timonoös, if in the way of his fathers' +guiding him straight this age hath given him to be a glory of great +Athens--yet again and often must he pluck the noble flower of Isthmian +games, and in the Pythian conquer. Like is it that not far from the +mountain-brood of Pleiads[1] shall be the rising of Orion. + +Well able verily is Salamis to rear a man of battles: so at Troy was +Hektor aware of Aias; and so now, O Timodemos, art thou glorified by +thy stubborn prowess in the pankration. + +Acharnai of old was famous for its men, and as touching games the +Timodemidai rank there pre-eminent. Beneath Parnassos' lordly height +they won four victories in the games; moreover in the valleys of noble +Pelops they have obtained eight crowns at the hands of the men of +Corinth, and seven at Nemea; and at home more than may be numbered, at +the games of Zeus: + +To whose glory, O citizens, sing for Timodemos a song of triumph, and +bring him in honour home, and chant our prelude tunefully. + + +[Footnote 1: The Pleiads were daughters of Atlas. One victory betokens +another to come, as the rising of a constellation betokens the rising +of its neighbour.] + + + +III. + +FOR ARISTOKLEIDES OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +The date of the victory is unknown: the ode seems to have been written +long afterwards, probably for some anniversary celebration of the +event. + + * * * * * + +O divine Muse, our mother, I pray thee come unto this Dorian isle +Aigina stranger-thronged, for the sacred festival of the Nemean +games[1]: for by the waters of Asopos[2] young men await thee, skilled +to sing sweet songs of triumph, and desiring to hear thy call. + +For various recompense are various acts athirst; but victory in the +games above all loveth song, of crowns and valiant deeds the fittest +follower. Thereof grant us large store for our skill, and to the king +of heaven with its thronging clouds do thou who art his daughter begin +a noble lay; and I will marry the same to the voices of singers and to +the lyre. + +A pleasant labour shall be mine in glorifying this land where of old +the Myrmidons dwelt, whose ancient meeting-place Aristokleides through +thy favour hath not sullied with reproach by any softness in the +forceful strife of the pankration; but a healing remedy of wearying +blows he hath won at least in this fair victory in the deep-lying +plain of Nemea. + +Now if this son of Aristophanes, being fair of form and achieving +deeds as fair, hath thus attained unto the height of manly excellence, +no further is it possible for him to sail untraversed sea beyond the +pillars of Herakles, which the hero-god set to be wide-famed witnesses +of the end of voyaging: for he had overcome enormous wild-beasts on +the seas, and tracked the streams through marshes to where he came to +the goal that turned him to go back homeward, and there did he mark +out the ends of the earth. + +But to what headland of a strange shore, O my soul, art thou carrying +aside the course of my ship? To Aiakos and to his race I charge thee +bring the Muse. Herein is perfect justice, to speak the praise of good +men: neither are desires for things alien the best for men to cherish: +search first at home: a fitting glory for thy sweet song hast thou +gotten there in deeds of ancient valour. + +Glad was King Peleus when he cut him his gigantic spear, he who took +Iolkos by his single arm without help of any host, he who held firm in +the struggle Thetis the daughter of the sea. + +Also the city of Laomedon did mighty Telamon sack, when he fought with +Iolaos by his side, and again to the war of the Amazons with brazen +bows he followed him; neither at any time did man-subduing terror +abate the vigour of his soul. + +By inborn worth doth one prevail mightily; but whoso hath but precepts +is a vain man and is fain now for this thing and now again for that, +but a sure step planteth he not at any time, but handleth countless +enterprises with a purpose that achieveth naught. + +Now Achilles of the yellow hair, while he dwelt in the house of +Philyra[3], being yet a child made mighty deeds his play; and +brandishing many a time his little javelin in his hands, swift as the +wind he dealt death to wild lions in the fight, and boars he slew also +and dragged their heaving bodies to the Centaur, son of Kronos, a six +years' child when he began, and thenceforward continually. And Artemis +marvelled at him, and brave Athene, when he slew deer without dogs or +device of nets; for by fleetness of foot he overcame them. + +This story also of the men of old have I heard: how within his cavern +of stone did deep-counselled Cheiron rear Jason, and next Asklepios, +whom he taught to apportion healing drugs with gentle hand: after this +it was that he saw the espousals of Nereus' daughter of the shining +wrists, and fondling nursed her son, strongest of men, rearing his +soul in a life of harmony; until by blowing of sea winds wafted to +Troy he should await the war-cry of the Lykians and of the Phrygians +and of the Dardanians, cried to the clashing of spears; and joining in +battle with the lancer Ethiops hand to hand should fix this purpose in +his soul, that their chieftain Memnon, Helenos' fiery cousin, should +go back again to his home no more. + +Thenceforward burneth ever a far-shining light for the house of +Aiakos; for thine O Zeus is their blood, even as thine also are the +games whereat my song is aimed, by the voice of the young men of the +land proclaiming aloud her joy. For victorious Aristokleides hath well +earned a cheer, in that he hath brought new renown to this island, and +to the Theoroi[4] of the Pythian god, by striving for glory in the +games. + +By trial is the issue manifest, wherein may one be more excellent than +his fellows, whether among boys a boy, or among men a man, or in the +third age among elders, according to the nature of our mortal race. +Four virtues doth a long life bring, and biddeth one fit his thought +to the things about him[5]. From such virtues this man is not far. + +Friend, fare thee well: I send to thee this honey mingled with white +milk, and the dew of the mixing hangeth round about it, to be a drink +of minstrelsy distilled in breathings of Aiolian flutes; albeit it +come full late. + +Swift is the eagle among the birds of the air, who seizeth presently +with his feet his speckled prey[6], seeking it from afar off; but in +low places dwell[7] the chattering daws. To thee at least, by the will +of throned Kleio, for sake of thy zeal in the games, from Nemea and +from Epidauros and from Megara hath a great light shined. + + +[Footnote 1: I. e. commemorating the Nemean games and the victories +obtained by citizens of Aigina there.] + +[Footnote 2: There seems to have been a stream of this name in Aigina, +as well as in Boeotia.] + +[Footnote 3: Cheiron's mother.] + +[Footnote 4: Sent from Aigina to Apollo's temple at Delphi.] + +[Footnote 5: This is very obscure: Böckh said that the longer he +considered it the more obscure it became to him. Donaldson 'is +inclined to think that Pindar is speaking with reference to the +Pythagorean division of virtue into four species, and that he assigns +one virtue to each of the four ages of human life (on the same +principle as that which Shakespeare has followed in his description of +the seven ages) namely temperance as the virtue of youth, courage of +early manhood, justice of mature age, and prudence of old age.'] + +[Footnote 6: Snakes.] + +[Footnote 7: Or 'on vile things feed.'] + + + +IV. + +FOR TIMASARCHOS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown: we can only infer, from the way in +which Athens is spoken of, that it was written before the war between +that state and Aigina. It seems to have been sung on the winner's +return home, very likely in a procession through the streets. + + * * * * * + +Best of physicians for a man's accomplished toil is festive joy: +and the touch of songs, wise daughters of the Muses, hath power of +comforting. Less doth warm water avail to bathe limbs for soothing +than words of praise married to the music of the lyre. For speech is +longer-lived than act, whensoever by favour of the Graces the tongue +hath drawn it forth out of the depth of the heart. + +Be it the prelude of my hymn to dedicate it to Zeus the son of Kronos, +and to Nemea, and to the wrestling of Timasarchos; and may it have +welcome in the Aiakids' stronghold of goodly towers, the common light +of all, which aideth the stranger with justice[1]. + +Now if thy sire Timokritos were still cheered by the quickening sun, +full oft with music manifold of the lute would he have bent him unto +this my theme, and sounded a hymn for the fair triumphs that +have brought thee a chain of wreaths, even from the games of the +Kleonaians[2] now, and erewhile from the bright and famous Athens, and +at seven-gated Thebes: for beside Amphitryon's splendid sepulchre the +sons of Kadmos nothing loth sprinkled the winner with flowers for +Aigina's sake. For thither as a friend to friends he came, though to a +city not his own, and abode in the fortunate hall of Herakles. + +With Herakles on a time did mighty Telamon destroy the city of Troy, +and the Meropes, and the man of war, the great and terrible Alkyoneus, +yet not until by hurling of stones he had subdued twelve four-horse +chariots, and horse-taming heroes twice so many thereupon. Unversed in +battles must he be who understandeth not this tale, for whoso will do +aught is like to suffer also. + +But to tell the tale at length custom forbiddeth me, and the +constraining hours: and a love-spell draweth me to put forth my hand +to the feast of the new moon. + +Albeit the deep brine of the sea hold thee even to thy waist, +nevertheless bear bravely up against conspirings; assuredly shall +we shine forth above our enemies as we sail home in open day; while +another man of envious eye turneth about in darkness an empty purpose +that falleth to the ground. For me I know certainly that whatsoever +excellence Fate that is our lord hath given me, time creeping onward +will bring to its ordained fulfilment. + +Weave then this woof too presently, sweet my lute, a strain with +Lydian harmony that shall be dear to Oinone[3], and to Cyprus, where +Teukros, son of Telamon, holdeth rule in a new land. + +But Aias hath the Salamis of his father: and in the Euxine Sea +Achilles hath a shining isle, and at Phthia hath Thetis power, and +Neoptolemos in wide Epeiros, where cattle-pasturing headlands, from +Dodona onwards, slope forward to the Ionian Sea. And beside the foot +of Pelion did Peleus set his face against Iolkos, and deliver it over +to be a servant to the Haimones, after that he had proved the guileful +counsels of Hippolyte, Akastos' wife. + +For by (stealing) his sword of cunning workmanship the son[4] of +Pelias prepared death for him in an ambush; but Cheiron delivered him +out of his hand; and thus he fulfilled the destiny ordained him of +Zeus, and having escaped the violence of the fire and the dauntless +lion's claws exceeding keen, and the bitings of teeth most +terrible[5], he espoused one of the Nereids high-enthroned, and beheld +the circle of fair seats whereon were sitting the kings of heaven and +of the sea, as they revealed unto him their gifts, and the kingdom +that should be unto him and unto his seed. + +Nightward[6] beyond Gadeira none may pass. Turn back again to the +mainland of Europe the tackle of our ship; for it were impossible for +me to go through unto the end all the tale of the sons of Aiakos. + +For the Theandrid clan came I a ready herald of games that make men's +limbs wax strong, to Olympia and to Isthmos, and to Nemea according +to my promise, where having put themselves to the proof they are +returning homeward, not without wreaths whose fruitage is renown; and +there report hath told us, O Timasarchos, that thy clan's name is +preeminent in songs of victory. + +Or if further for thy mother's brother Kallikles thou biddest me set +up a pillar whiter than Parian stone, lo as the refining of gold +showeth forth all his splendours, so doth a song that singeth a +man's rare deeds make him as the peer of kings. Let Kallikles in his +dwelling beside Acheron find in my tongue a minstrel of his praise, +for that at the games[7] of the deep-voiced wielder of the trident +his brows were green with parsley of Corinth; of him, boy, did +Euphänes, thy aged grandsire, rejoice erewhile to sing. + +Each hath his own age-fellow; and what each hath seen for himself that +may he hope to set forth best of all. How for Melesias'[8] praise +must such an one grapple in the strife, bending the words beneath his +grasp, yielding not his ground as he wrestleth in speech, of gentle +temper toward the good, but to the froward a stern adversary. + + +[Footnote 1: Aigina. See Ol viii. 21; Pyth. viii. 22.] + +[Footnote 2: Kleonai was very near Nemea, and the Kleonaians were for +a long time managers of the Nemean games.] + +[Footnote 3: Seemingly the same personage as Aigina.] + +[Footnote 4: Akastos.] + +[Footnote 5: Thetis, resisting her wooer Peleus, changed herself into +fire and wild beasts. See Dict. Myth.] + +[Footnote 6: Westward.] + +[Footnote 7: The Isthmian games.] + +[Footnote 8: Timasarchos' trainer in wrestling. He is here praised in +terms borrowed from the wrestling-school.] + + + +V. + +FOR PYTHEAS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is uncertain. The winner's brother Phylakidas, +gained the two victories, also in the pankration, which are celebrated +in the fourth and fifth Isthmians. + + * * * * * + +No statuary I, that I should fashion images to rest idly on their +pedestals, nay but by every trading-ship and plying boat forth from +Aigina fare, sweet song of mine, and bear abroad the news, how that +Lampon's son, the strong-limbed Pytheas, hath won at Nemea the +pankratiast's crown, while on his cheeks he showeth not as yet the +vine-bloom's mother, mellowing midsummer. + +So to the warrior heroes sprung from Kronos and Zeus and from the +golden nymphs, even to the Aiakidai, hath he done honour, and to the +mother-city, a friendly field to strangers. That she should have issue +of goodly men and should be famous in her ships, this prayed they of +old, standing beside the altar of their grandsire, Zeus Hellenios, and +together stretched forth their hands toward heaven, even the glorious +sons of Endais[1] and the royal strength of Phokos, the goddess-born, +whom on the sea-beach Psamatheia[2] bare. Of their deed portentous and +unjustly dared I am loth to tell, and how they left that famous isle, +and of the fate that drove the valiant heroes from Oinone. I will make +pause: not for every perfect truth is it best that it discover its +face: silence is oft man's wisest thought. + +But if the praise of good hap or of strength of hand or of steel-clad +war be my resolve, let one mark me a line for a long leap hence: in +my knees I have a nimble spring: even beyond the sea the eagles wing +their way. + +With goodwill too for the Aiakidai in Pelion sang the Muses' choir +most fair, and in the midst Apollo playing with golden quill upon his +seven-toned lyre led them in ever-changing strains. They first of all +from Zeus beginning sang of holy Thetis and of Peleus, and how that +Kretheus' dainty daughter Hippolyte would fain have caught him by her +wile, and persuaded his friend the king of the Magnetes her husband by +counsels of deceit, for she forged a lying tale thereto devised, how +that he essayed to go in unto her in Akastos' bridal bed. But the +truth was wholly contrary thereto, for often and with all her soul she +had besought him with beguiling speech; but her bold words vexed his +spirit; and forthwith he refused the bride, fearing the wrath of the +Father who guardeth host and guest. And he, the cloud-compelling Zeus +in heaven, the immortal's king, was aware thereof, and he promised +him that with all speed he would find him a sea-bride from among the +Nereids of golden distaffs, having persuaded thereto Poseidon, their +kinsman by his marriage, who from Aigai to the famous Dorian Isthmus +cometh oftentimes, where happy troops with the reed-flute's noise +welcome the god, and in bold strength of limb men strive. + +The fate that is born with a man is arbiter of all his acts. Thou, +Euthymenes[3], at Aigina falling into the goddess victory's arms didst +win thee hymns of subtle strain: yea and now too to thee, O Pytheas, +who art his kinsman of the same stock and followest in his footsteps, +doth thy mother's brother honour. Nemea is favourable unto him, and +the month[4] of his country that Apollo loveth: the youth that came +to strive with him he overcame, both at home and by Nisos' hill of +pleasant glades[5]. I have joy that the whole state striveth for +glory. Know that through Menander's[6] aid thou hast attained unto +sweet recompense of toils. And meet it is that from Athens a fashioner +of athletes come. + +But if thou comest to Themistios[7], to sing of him, away with chill +reserve, shout aloud, hoist to the top-yard of the mast the sail, and +tell how in the boxing and the pankration at Epidauros he won a double +prize of valour, and to the portals of Aiakos bare fresh wreaths of +flowers, led by the Graces of the yellow hair. + + +[Footnote 1: Wife of Aiakos and mother of Peleus and Telamon. They +killed Phokos.] + +[Footnote 2: A sea-nymph, mother of Phokos by Aiakos.] + +[Footnote 3: Maternal uncle of Pytheas.] + +[Footnote 4: The month called in Aigina Delphinios (April-May) when +the Nemean games took place.] + +[Footnote 5: At Megara] + +[Footnote 6: Pytheas' trainer, an Athenian.] + +[Footnote 7: Maternal grandfather of Pytheas.] + + + +VI. + +FOR ALKIMIDAS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown, but from the mention of the trainer +Melesias it has been inferred that it was among Pindar's later works. +It would seem to have been sung at Aigina, perhaps at some feast of +the Bassid clan given in honour of the victory. + + * * * * * + +One race there is of men and one of gods, but from one mother[1] draw +we both our breath, yet is the strength of us diverse altogether, +for the race of man is as nought, but the brazen heaven abideth, a +habitation steadfast unto everlasting. + +Yet withal have we somewhat in us like unto the immortals' bodily +shape or mighty mind, albeit we know not what course hath Destiny +marked out for us to run, neither in the daytime, neither in the +night. + +And now doth Alkimidas give proof that it is with his kindred as with +fruitful fields: for they in turn now yield to man his yearly bread +upon the plains, and now again they pause, and gather back their +strength[2]. + +From the pleasant meeting-places of Nemea hath the athlete boy come +back, who following the ordinance[3] of Zeus hath now approved him no +baffled hunter in his wrestling-quest, and hath guided his feet by +the foot-prints of Praxidamas, his father father, of whose blood he +sprang. + +For Praxidamas also by his Olympian victory first won olive-wreath +from Alpheos for the Aiakidai, and five times been crowned at Isthmos, +and at Nemea thrice, he took away thereby the obscurity of Sokleides, +who was the eldest of the sons of Agesimachos[4]. + +For these three-warriors attained unto the topmost height of prowess, +of all who essayed the games, and by grace of God to no other house +hath the boxing-match given keeping of so many crowns in this inmost +place of all Hellas. I deem that though my speech be of high sound I +yet shall hit the mark, as it were an archer shooting from a bow. + +Come, Muse, direct thou upon this house a gale of glorious song: for +after that men are vanished away, the minstrel's story taketh up their +noble acts, whereof is no lack to the Bassid clan; old in story is the +race and they carry cargo of home-made renown, able to deliver into +the Muses' husbandmen rich matter of song in honour of their lofty +deeds. + +For at sacred Pytho in like wise did a scion of the same stock +overcome, with the thong of the boxer bound about his hand, even +Kallias in whom were well-pleased the children of Leto of the golden +distaff, and beside Kastaly in the evening his name burnt bright, when +the glad sounds of the Graces rose. + +Also the Bridge[5] of the untiring sea did honour unto Kreontidas at +the triennial sacrifice of bulls by the neighbour states in the holy +place of Poseidon; and once did the herb[6] of the lion shadow his +brows for a victory won beneath the shadeless primal hills of Phlious. + +Wide avenues of glory are there on every side for chroniclers to +draw nigh to do honour unto this isle: for supreme occasion have the +children of Aiakos given them by the showing forth of mighty feats. + +Over land and beyond the sea is their name flown forth from afar: even +unto the Ethiopians it sprang forth, for that Memnon came not home: +for bitter was the battle that Achilles made against him, having +descended from his chariot upon the earth, what time by his fierce +spear's point he slew the son of the bright Morn. + +And herein found they of old time a way wherein to drive their car: +and I too follow with my burden of song: and all men's minds, they +say, are stirred the most by whatsoever wave at the instant rolleth +nearest to the mainsheet of the ship. + +On willing shoulders bear I this double load, and am come a messenger +to proclaim this honour won in the games that men call holy to be the +five-and-twentieth that the noble house of Alkimidas hath shown forth: +yet were two wreaths in the Olympian games beside the precinct of +Kronion denied to thee, boy, and to Polytimidas, by the fall of the +lot[7]. + +Peer of the dolphin hurrying through the brine--such would I call +Melesias[8] by whom thy hands and strength were guided, as a chariot +by the charioteer. + + +[Footnote 1: Earth.] + +[Footnote 2: The ancients understood little of the rotation of crops, +and often let their fields lie fallow alternate years.] + +[Footnote 3: Of the celebrity of alternate generations.] + +[Footnote 4: The order of descent was: Agesimachos, Sokleides, +Praxidamas, Theon, Alkimidas. Of these the first, third, and fifth, +were distinguished athletes, the others not.] + +[Footnote 5: The Isthmos.] + +[Footnote 6: The parsley which grew near the lair of the Nemean lion.] + +[Footnote 7: This can hardly mean, as some commentators take it, +the drawing of any particular tie; for if better men than any given +competitor were entered for the match, his defeat would be inevitable +whether they were encountered sooner or later.] + +[Footnote 8: Alkimidas' trainer.] + + + +VII. + +FOR SOGENES OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' PENTATHLON. + + * * * * * + +This victory was probably won B.C. 462. The ode would seem to be full +of allusions, which however we cannot with any certainty explain. It +is partly occupied with the celebration of Achilles' son Neoptolemos, +and Pindar seems anxious to repel the charge of having on some +occasion depreciated that hero. + + * * * * * + +O Eileithuia that sittest beside the deep-counselling Moirai, child of +the mighty Hera, thou who bringest babes to the birth, hearken unto +us! Without thee looked we never on the light or on the darkness of +the night, nor came ever unto her who is thy sister, even Hebe of the +comely limbs. + +But we receive our breath not all for a like life; each to his several +lot is kept apart by the yoke of fate. + +Now by thy grace hath Sogenes the son of Thearion been foremost +in prowess, and his glory is sung aloud among the winners of the +five-game prize. + +For he is a dweller in a city that loveth song, even this city of the +spear-clashing sons of Aiakos, and exceeding fain are they to cherish +a spirit apt for the strife of the games. + +If a man have good hap in his attempt, he throweth into the Muses' +stream sweet cause of song: for even deeds of might for lack of song +fall into deep darkness, and in but one way have we knowledge of a +mirror for fair deeds, if by the grace of Mnemosyne of the shining +fillet they attain unto a recompense of toils by the sound of voice +and verse. + +Wise shipmates know that the wind which tarrieth shall come on the +third day, nor throw away their goods through greed of more[1]: the +rich and the poor alike fare on their way to death. + +Now I have suspicion that the fame of Odysseus is become greater +than his toils, through the sweet lays that Homer sang; for over the +feigning of his winged craft something of majesty abideth, and the +excellence of his skill persuadeth us to his fables unaware. + +Blind hearts have the general folk of men; for could they have +discovered the truth, never would stalwart Aias in anger for the arms +have struck through his midriff the sharp sword--even he who after +Achilles was best in battle of all men whom, to win back his bride for +fair-haired Menelaos, the fair breeze of straight-blowing Zephyros +wafted in swift ships toward Ilos' town. + +But to all men equally cometh the wave of death, and falleth on the +fameless and the famed: howbeit honour ariseth for them whose fair +story God increaseth to befriend them even when dead, whoso have +journeyed to the mighty centre-stone of wide-bosomed earth. + +There now beneath the floor of Pytho lieth Neoptolemos, dying there +when he had sacked the city of Priam where the Danaoi toiled with him. +He sailing thence missed Skyros, and they wandered till they came to +Ephyra, and in Molossia he was king for a little while: howbeit his +race held this state[2] continually. Then was he gone to the god's +home[3], carrying an offering of the chief spoils from Troy: and there +in quarrel concerning meats a man smote him with a knife. + +Thereat were the Delphian entertainers of strangers grieved +exceedingly: nevertheless he but paid a debt to destiny: for it was +needful that in that most ancient grove someone of the lords the sons +of Aiakos should abide within thenceforward, beside the goodly walls +of the god's house, and that when with plenteous sacrifice the +processions do honour to the heroes, he should keep watch that fair +right be done. Three words shall be enough: when he presideth over the +games there is no lie found in his testimony thereof. + +O thou Aigina, of thy children that are of Zeus I have good courage to +proclaim that as of inheritance they claim the path to glory, through +splendour of their valorous deeds: howbeit in every work a rest is +sweet, yea even of honey cometh surfeit and of the lovely flowers of +Love. + +Now each of us is in his nature diverse, and several are the lots +of life we draw, one this and one another: but that one man receive +perfect bliss, this is impossible to men. I cannot find to tell of any +to whom Fate hath given this award abidingly. + +To thee, Thearion[4], she giveth fair measure of bliss, first daring +in goodly deeds, and then understanding and sound mind. Thy friend am +I, and I will keep far from the man I love the secret slander, and +bring nigh unto him praise and true glory, as it were streams of +water: for meet is such recompense for the good. + +If there be near me now a man of the Achaians who dwelleth far up the +Ionian sea, he shall not upbraid me: I have faith in my proxeny[5]: +and among the folk of my own land I look forth with clear gaze, having +done naught immoderate, and having put away all violence from before +my feet. So let the life that remaineth unto me run cheerly on. + +He who knoweth shall say if indeed I come with slanderous speech upon +my lips to strike a jarring note. To thee, Sogenes of the house of the +sons of Euxenos, I swear that without overstepping the bound I have +sent forth the swift speech of my tongue as it were a bronze-headed +javelin, such as saveth from the wrestling the strong neck sweatless +yet, or ever the limbs be plunged in the sun's fire[6]. + +If toil there were, delight more abundant followeth after. Let be; if +somewhat over far I soared when I cried aloud, yet am I not froward, +that I should deny his glory unto one that conquereth. + +The weaving of wreaths is an easy thing: tarry a little: behold the +Muse fasteneth together gold and white ivory, and a lily flower +withal, that she hath plucked from beneath the deep sea's dew[7]. + +Of Zeus be mindful when thou tellest of Nemea, and guide the +multitudinous voices of our song with a quiet mind: meet is it that +with gentle voice we celebrate in this land the king of gods: for +they tell how he begat Aiakos of a mortal mother, to be for his own +fortunate land a ruler of cities, and for thee, Herakles, a loving +friend and brother. + +And if man receiveth aught from man, then may we say that neighbour +is to neighbour a joy worth all else, if he loveth him with steadfast +soul: now if even a god will consent hereto, then in such bond with +thee, O conqueror of the giants[8], is Sogenes fain to dwell happily +in the well-built sacred street of his ancestors, cherishing a mind of +tenderness toward his sire: for as when four horses are yoked together +in a car, so hath he his house in the midst of thy holy places, and +goeth in unto them both on the right hand and on the left[9]. + +O blessed spirit, thine is it to win hereto the husband of Hera, and +the grey-eyed maid[10]; and thou art able to give to mortals strength +ever and again against baffling perplexities. Make thou to cleave to +them[11] a life of steadfast strength, and wind the bliss thereof amid +both youth and a serene old age, and may their children's children +possess continually the honours that they now have, and greater in the +time to come. + +Never shall my heart confess that I have outraged Neoptolemos with +irreclaimable words. But thrice and four times to tell over the same +tale is emptiness in the end thereof, even as he of the proverb that +babbleth among children how that Korinthos was the son of Zeus[12]. + + +[Footnote 1: Retaining the reading [Greek: hupo kerdei balon]. I +conjecture it to mean, 'do not in their eagerness for trade choose an +unfavourable and dangerous time for their voyage, but wait for the +[Greek: kairos], the right opportunity.'] + +[Footnote 2: The kingdom of Epeiros. Pyrrhos, the invader of Italy, +called himself a descendant of Neoptolemos (who was also called +Pyrrhos).] + +[Footnote 3: Delphi.] + +[Footnote 4: Father of Sogenes.] + +[Footnote 5: Pindar would seem to have been [Greek: proxenos] at +Thebes for some state of Epeiros, to which fact he appeals as a proof +that he stood well with the Epirot descendants of Neoptolemos.] + +[Footnote 6: The Pentathlon was composed of five contests, namely, +the jump, throwing the disk, throwing the javelin, the foot-race, and +wrestling. The prize was for the best man in three contests out of the +five. These came in the order in which they are enumerated above; thus +if the best javelin-thrower had already won two of the other matches +he would not be challenged to wrestle, as the prize of the Pentathlon +would be already his. Very probably this had been the case with +Sogenes, so that it would naturally occur to Pindar thus allusively to +expand his not unfrequent comparison of his own art of poetry to that +of a javelin-thrower or archer. On the Pentathlon may be consulted +an article by Professor Percy Gardner in the _Journal of Hellenic +Studies_ for October, 1880; and also Smith's _Dictionary of +Antiquities_ (revised edition).] + +[Footnote 7: Coral.] + +[Footnote 8: Herakles.] + +[Footnote 9: Thearion's house seems to have had a shrine, or at least +some sacred ground, of Herakles at each side of it, so that he might +regard that hero as his neighbour.] + +[Footnote 10: Athene.] + +[Footnote 11: Thearion and Sogenes.] + +[Footnote 12: A proverbial equivalent for vain and wearisome +repetition.] + + + +VIII. + +FOR DEINIS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE SHORT FOOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown. It was probably sung before the +shrine of Aiakos at Aigina. + + * * * * * + +Spirit of beautiful youth, thou herald of Aphrodite's loves ambrosial, +who on the eyes of girl or boy alighting, with tenderly constraining +hands dost handle one, but other otherwise--it is enough if one not +swerving from the true aim, in his every act prevail to attain to the +fulfilment of his worthier loves. + +Such loves were they that waited on the bridal-bed of Zeus and Aigina, +and were dispensers unto them of the Cyprian's[1] gifts: and thence +sprang there a son[2] to be king of Oinone[3], in might of hand and in +counsel excellent, and many a time did many pray that they might look +on him: for the chosen among the heroes that dwelt around him were +fain of their own will to submit them unto his sovereignty, both whoso +in rocky Athens were leaders of the host, and at Sparta the children +of Pelops. + +So Aiakos' holy knees clasp I a suppliant for a city well-beloved and +for these citizens, and I bear a Lydian crown wrought cunningly with +the sound of song, a glory out of Nemea for two races run, of Deinis +and of his father Meges. + +Behold, the happiness that is planted with the favour of God is most +abiding among men; even such as once in the isle of Cyprus loaded +Kinyras with riches. + +With poised feet I stand, and take breath for a little ere I speak. +For much and in many ways hath been said ere now; and the contriving +of new things and putting them to the touchstone to be tried is +perilous altogether. + +In words find the envious their dainties: envy fasteneth ever on the +good, and careth not to strive against the base. + +Yea thus did envy slay the son of Telamon, thrusting him through with +his own sword. Verily if one be of stout heart but without gift of +speech, such an one is a prey unto forgetfulness in a bitter strife, +and to the shiftiness of lies is proffered the prize of the greatest. +For in the secret giving of their votes the Danaoi courted Odysseus, +and thus did Aias, robbed of the golden arms, wrestle in the grip of a +bloody death. + +Yet diverse verily were the strokes wherewith those twain had cloven +the warm flesh of the foe, what time they bare up the war against the +hedge of spears, whether about Achilles newly slain, or in whatsoever +labours else of those wide-ruining days. + +Thus was there even of old the treacherous speech of hate, that +walketh with the subtleties of tales, intent on guile, slander that +breedeth ill: so doth it violence on the thing that shineth, and +uplifteth the rottenness of dim men's fame. + +Never in me be this mind, O our father Zeus, but to the paths of +simplicity let me cleave throughout my life, that being dead I may set +upon my children a name that shall be of no ill report. + +For gold some pray, and some for limitless lands: mine be it amid my +townsfolk's love to shroud my limbs in earth, still honouring where +honour is due, and sowing rebuke on the evildoers. + +Thus groweth virtue greater, uplifted of the wise and just, as when a +tree watered by fresh dew shooteth toward the moist air on high. + +Manifold are the uses of friends, chiefest truly amid the press of +toil, yet doth joy also desire to behold his own assurance.[4] + +Ah Meges, to bring back thy spirit to earth is to me impossible, and +of empty hopes the end is naught. Yet for thy house and the clan of +Chariadai I can upraise a lofty column of song in honour of these two +pairs of fortunate feet[5]. + +I have joy to utter praise meet for the act, for by such charms of +song doth a man make even labour a painless thing. Yet surely was +there a Komos-song even of old time, yea before strife began between +Adrastos and the sons of Kadmos[6]. + + +[Footnote 1: Aphrodite.] + +[Footnote 2: Aiakos.] + +[Footnote 3: Aigina.] + +[Footnote 4: Through celebration in song, which a friendly poet can +give.] + +[Footnote 5: Of Meges and Deinis.] + +[Footnote 6: The invention of encomiastic hymns was attributed by +legend to the time of the expedition of Adrastos and the other six +against Thebes.] + + + +IX. + +FOR CHROMIOS OF AITNA, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode is placed by usage among the Nemeans, but the victory was not +won at Nemea, but at Sikyon, in the local games called Pythian. Its +date is unknown: it must have been after the founding of Aitna, B.C. +476. Probably the ode was sung in a procession at Aitna, some length +of time after the victory. The Chromios is the Chromios of the first +Nemean, Hieron's brother-in-law. + + * * * * * + +From Apollo at Sikyon will we lead our triumph forth, ye Muses, unto +the new-made city of Aitna, where doors are opened wide to greet the +invading guests, even to the fortunate house of Chromios. Come claim +for him a song of sweetness: for he goeth up into the chariot of his +victory, and biddeth us sing aloud to the mother[1] and her twin +children who keep watch over high Pytho in fellowship. + +Now there is a saying among men, that one hide not in silence on the +ground a good deed done: and meet for such brave tales is divine song. + +Therefore will we arouse the pealing lyre and rouse the flute, in +honour of the very crown of all contests of steeds, which Adrastos in +honour of Phoibos ordained beside Asopos' stream. + +Whereof when I make mention with voiceful honour I will celebrate +withal the Hero[2], who then being king in that place did by the +founding of a new feast and struggles of the strength of men and of +carven cars make his city known abroad and glorious. + +For he was flying before Amphiaraos of bold counsels, and before a +dangerous civil strife, from Argos and his father's house: for no +longer were the sons of Talaos lords therein, for a sedition had +thrust them forth. The stronger man endeth the contention that hath +been before. + +But when they had given to the son of Oikleus for his wife, as one +should give surety of an oath, Eriphyle, the slayer of her husband, +they became the greatest of the fair-haired Danaoi. So thereafter led +they on a time against seven-gated Thebes a host of men, but not by a +road of signs propitious: nor would the son of Kronos speed them on +their mad journey from their homes, but by the quivering lightnings he +darted forth he bade them hold from their road[3]. + +But unto a revealed calamity hasted that company to go forth with +bronze shields and the gear of steeds; and on the banks of Ismenos, +stayed from their sweet return, they fed the white smoke with their +bodies. + +For seven pyres devoured the young men's limbs, but for Amphiaraos +Zeus by almighty thunderbolt clave the deep-breasted earth, and buried +him with his steeds, or ever the warrior's soul should be shamed by +the smiting of him in the back by Periklymenos' spear. For when the +terror cometh of heaven, then flee even the sons of gods. + +If it be possible, O son of Kronos, this trial of valour against +Phenician spears[4] for life or death I would fain defer unto the +utmost: and I beg of thee to grant unto the sons of the men of Aitna +for long time a portion in good laws, and to make their people to +dwell among glories that the citizens have won. Men are there here +that love steeds and that have souls above desire of wealth. Hard of +credence is the word I have spoken; for the spirit of honour which +bringeth glory is stolen secretly by lust of gain. + +Hadst thou been shield-bearer to Chromios among foot and horse and in +fightings of ships, thou hadst judged concerning his jeopardy in the +fierce fray, for in war did that divine honour stir his warrior-soul +to ward off havoc of Enyalios. Few are there who may prevail by +strength or valour to contrive a turning of the cloud of imminent +death against the ranks of the enemy. Howbeit they tell how Hektor's +glory flowered beside Skamander's streams, and thus on the steep +cliffs of Heloros' banks[5], where men call the ford the Fountain of +Ares, hath this light shined for Agesidamos' son in the beginning of +his praise. + +And other deeds on other days will I declare, many done amid the dust +on the dry land, and yet others on the neighbouring sea. Now out of +toils which in youth have been done with righteousness there ripeneth +toward old age a day of calm. + +Let Chromios know that he hath from the gods a lot of wondrous bliss. +For if one together with much wealth have won him glorious renown, it +is impossible that a mortal's feet touch any further mountain-top. + +The banquet loveth peace, and by a gentle song a victory flourisheth +afresh, and beside the bowl the singer's voice waxeth brave. Let one +mix it now, that sweet proclaimer of the triumphal song, and in silver +goblets hand the grapes' potent child, even the goblets which for +Chromios his mares erst won, and sent to him from sacred Sikyon, +entwined with well-earned crowns of Leto's son. + +Now claim I, father Zeus, to have well sung this excellent deed by aid +of the Charites, and beyond many to do honour to this victory by my +words, for the javelin that I throw falleth nearest to the Muses' +mark. + + +[Footnote 1: Leto.] + +[Footnote 2: Adrastos.] + +[Footnote 3: Lightning and thunder were often an encouraging sign +(there is an instance in the fourth Pythian), but this would depend on +the manner of them.] + +[Footnote 4: War with the Carthaginians, who were still threatening +the Hellenic colonists in Sicily, in spite of their recent defeat.] + +[Footnote 5: About B.C. 492 a battle was fought on the Heloros between +the Syracusans and the army of Hippokrates, tyrant of Gela.] + + + +X. + +FOR THEAIOS OF ARGOS, + +WINNER IN THE WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +This ode, like the last, is improperly called Nemean. It commemorates +a victory won at the feast of the Hekatombaia at Argos. The date is +unknown. + + * * * * * + +The city of Danaos and of his fifty bright-throned daughters, Argos +the home of Hera, meet abode of gods, sing Graces! for by excellencies +innumerable it is made glorious in the deeds of valiant men. + +Long is the tale of Perseus[1], that telleth of the Gorgon Medusa: +many are the cities in Egypt founded by the hands of Epaphos[2]: +neither went Hypermnestra's choice astray when she kept sheathed her +solitary sword[3]. + +Also their Diomedes did the grey-eyed goddess make incorruptible and +a god: and at Thebes, the earth blasted by the bolts of Zeus received +within her the prophet[4], the son of Oikleus, the storm-cloud of war. + +Moreover in women of beautiful hair doth the land excel. Thereto in +days of old Zeus testified, when he followed after Alkmene and after +Danaë. + +And in the father of Adrastos and in Lynkeus did Argos mingle ripe +wisdom with upright justice: and she reared the warrior Amphitryon. +Now he came to the height of honour in his descendants, for in bronze +armour he slew the Teleboai, and in his likeness the king of the +immortals entered his hall, bearing the seed of fearless Herakles, +whose bride in Olympos is Hebe, who by the side of her mother, the +queen of marriage, walketh of all divinities most fair. + +My tongue would fail to tell in full the honours wherein the sacred +Argive land hath part: also the distaste[5] of men is ill to meet. Yet +wake the well-strung lyre, and take thought of wrestlings; a strife +for the bronze shield stirreth the folk to sacrifice of oxen unto Hera +and to the issue of games, wherein the son of Oulias, Theaios, having +overcome twice, hath obtained forgetfulness of the toils he lightly +bore. + +Also on a time at Pytho he was first of the Hellenic host, and won +crowns at Isthmos and at Nemea, led thither by fair hap, and gave work +for the Muses' plough by thrice winning at the Gates[6] of the Sea and +thrice on the famous plains in the pastures of Adrastos' home[7]. Of +that he longeth for, O Father Zeus, his mouth is silent, with thee are +the issues of deeds: but with a spirit strong to labour and of a good +courage he prayeth thy grace. Both Theaios, and whosoever struggleth +in the perfect consummation of all games, know this, even the +supremacy of the ordinance of Herakles that is holden at Pisa[8]: yet +sweet preluding strains are those that twice have welcomed his triumph +at the festival of the Athenians: and in earthenware baked in the +fire, within the closure of figured urns, there came among the goodly +folk of Hera[9] the prize of the olive fruit[10]. + +On the renowned race of thy mother's sires there waiteth glory of +games by favour of the Graces and the sons of Tyndareus together. Were +I kinsman of Thrasyklos and Antias I would claim at Argos not to hide +mine eyes. For with how many victories hath this horse-breeding city +of Proitos flourished! even in the Corinthian corner and from the +men of Kleonai[11] four times, and from Sikyon they came laden with +silver, even goblets for wine, and out of Pellene clad in soft woof of +wool[12]. But to tell over the multitude of their prizes of bronze is +a thing impossible--to count them longer leisure were needed--which +Kleitor and Tegea and the Achaians' high-set cities and the Lykaion +set for a prize by the race-course of Zeus for the conquerors by +strength of hands or feet. + +And since Kastor and his brother Polydeukes came to be the guests +of Pamphaes[13], no marvel is it that to be good athletes should be +inborn in the race. For they[14] it is who being guardians of the wide +plains of Sparta with Hermes and Herakles mete out fair hap in games, +and to righteous men they have great regard. Faithful is the race of +gods. + +Now, changing climes alternately, they dwell one day with their dear +father Zeus, and the next in the secret places under the earth, within +the valleys of Therapnai, fulfilling equal fate: because on this wise +chose Polydeukes to live his life rather than to be altogether god and +abide continually in heaven, when that Kastor had fallen in the fight. + +Him did Idas, wroth for his oxen, smite with a bronze spearhead, when +from his watch upon Taÿgetos Lynkeus had seen them sitting within a +hollow oak; for he of all men walking the earth had keenest eyes. So +with swift feet they were straightway come to the place, and compassed +speedily a dreadful deed[15]. + +But terrible also was the vengeance which by the devising of Zeus +those sons[16] of Aphareus suffered: for on the instant came Leto's +son[17] in chase of them: and they stood up against him hard by the +sepulchre of their father. Thence wrenched they a carved headstone +that was set to glorify the dead, and they hurled it at the breast of +Polydeukes. But they crushed him not, neither made him give back, +but rushing onward with fierce spear he drave the bronze head into +Lynkeus' side. And against Idas Zeus hurled a thunderbolt of consuming +fire. + +So were those brothers in one flame[18] burnt unbefriended: for a +strife with the stronger is grievous for men to mix in. + +Then quickly came back the son of Tyndareus[19] to his great brother, +and found him not quite dead, but the death-gasp rattled in his +throat. Then Polydeukes wept hot tears, and groaned, and lifted up his +voice, and cried: 'Father Kronion--ah! what shall make an end of woes? +Bid me, me also, O king, to die with him. The glory is departed from +a man bereaved of friends. Few are they who in a time of trouble are +faithful in companionship of toil.' + +Thus said he, and Zeus came, and stood before his face, and spake +these words: 'Thou art my son: but thy brother afterward was by mortal +seed begotten in thy mother of the hero that was her husband. But +nevertheless, behold I give thee choice of these two lots: if, +shunning death and hateful old age, thou desirest for thyself to dwell +in Olympus with Athene and with Ares of the shadowing spear, this lot +is thine to take: but if in thy brother's cause thou art so hot, and +art resolved in all to have equal share with him, then half thy time +thou shalt be alive beneath the earth, and half in the golden house of +heaven.' + +Thus spake his father, and Polydeukes doubted not which counsel he +should choose. So Zeus unsealed the eye, and presently the tongue +also, of Kastor of the brazen mail. + + +[Footnote 1: Son of the Argive Danaë.] + +[Footnote 2: Son of the Argive Io.] + +[Footnote 3: Or perhaps: 'Neither were Hypermnestra's story misplaced +here, how she, &c.'] + +[Footnote 4: Amphiaraos.] + +[Footnote 5: Disgust at hearing anything profusely praised.] + +[Footnote 6: At Corinth, in the Isthmian games.] + +[Footnote 7: Nemea.] + +[Footnote 8: The Olympic games.] + +[Footnote 9: The Argives.] + +[Footnote 10: The Athenian prize seems to have been an olive-bough in +a vase of burnt clay.] + +[Footnote 11: Near Nemea.] + +[Footnote 12: I. e. with prizes of cloaks.] + +[Footnote 13: An ancestor of Theaios. Probably he had given Theoxenia. +See Ol. III.] + +[Footnote 14: Kastor and Polydeukes.] + +[Footnote 15: They slew Kastor.] + +[Footnote 16: Idas and Lynkeus.] + +[Footnote 17: Polydeukes.] + +[Footnote 18: Either of the thunderbolt, or of a funeral-pile.] + +[Footnote 19: Both brothers were nominally sons of Tyndareus, but +really only Kastor was: Polydeukes was a son of Zeus.] + + + +XI. + +FOR ARISTAGORAS OF TENEDOS, + +ON HIS ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY OF THE SENATE. + + * * * * * + +This ode again was written neither for a Nemean nor for any other +athletic victory, but for the [Greek: eisitaeria] or initiatory +ceremonies at the election of a new [Greek: prytanis] of Tenedos. The +Prytanis would seem to have been a kind of President of the Senate. +The date is unknown. + + * * * * * + +Daughter of Rhea, who hast in thy keeping the city halls[1], O +Hestia! sister of highest Zeus and of Hera sharer of his throne, with +good-will welcome Aristagoras to thy sanctuary, with good-will also +his fellows[2] who draw nigh to thy glorious sceptre, for they +in paying honour unto thee keep Tenedos in her place erect, by +drink-offerings glorifying thee many times before the other gods, and +many times by the savour of burnt sacrifice; and the sound of their +lutes is loud, and of their songs: and at their tables never-failing +are celebrated the rites of Zeus, the stranger's friend. + +So with fair fame and unvexed heart may Aristagoras fulfil his +twelve-month term. + +Blessed among men I count his father Arkesilas, and himself for his +splendid body and his heritage of a dauntless heart. + +But if any man shall possess wealth, and withal surpass his fellows in +comely form, and in games have shown his strength to be the best, let +such an one remember that his raiment is upon mortal limbs, and that +the earth shall be his vesture at the end. + +Yet in good words of his fellow-citizens is it meet that his praise be +told, and that we make his name comely with notes of honey-sounding +song. + +Now among the neighbouring peoples sixteen illustrious victories have +crowned Aristagoras and his famous clan in the wrestling-match and +in the pankration of weighty honour. But hopes too diffident of his +parents kept back the might of their son from essaying the Pythian or +Olympian strife: yet verily by the God of Truth I am persuaded that +both at Castaly and at the tree-clad hill of Kronos, had he gone +thither, he should have turned back home with more honour than any of +his rivals who had striven with him, when that he had kept the fifth +year's feast[3] ordained of Herakles with dance and song, and with the +shining shoots had bound his hair. + +But thus among mortals is one cast down from weal by empty boasts, +while another through overmuch mistrusting of his strength is robbed +of his due honours, for that a spirit of little daring draggeth him +backward by the hand. + +This were an easy thing to divine, that Peisander's[4] stock was from +Sparta in the time of old (for from Amyklai he came[5] with Orestes, +bringing hither an army of Aiolians in bronze mail): and also that the +blood of his mother's brother Melanippos was blended with Ismenos' +stream[6]. + +The virtues of an old descent repeat their vigour uncertainly in the +generations of men. Neither doth the black-soiled tilth bring forth +fruit continually, neither will the trees be persuaded to bear with +every year's return a fragrant flower of equal wealth, but in their +turns only. Thus also doth destiny lead on the race of mortals. From +Zeus there cometh no clear sign to men: yet nevertheless we enter on +high counsels, and meditate many acts: for by untameable hope our +bodies are enthralled: but the tides of our affairs are hidden from +our fore-knowledge. Meet is it to pursue advantage moderately: +fiercest is the madness that springeth from unappeasable desires. + + +[Footnote 1: The sacred fire of the state, over which Hestia watched, +was kept in the Prytaneion.] + +[Footnote 2: The other Senators.] + +[Footnote 3: The Olympic.] + +[Footnote 4: Ancestor of Aristagoras and head of his clan.] + +[Footnote 5: 'In the loins of his father.'] + +[Footnote 6: I. e. a Theban alliance.] + + + +THE ISTHMIAN ODES. + + +I. + +FOR HERODOTOS OF THEBES. + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown. We gather from the first strophe that +Pindar was engaged at the time to write an ode in honour of the Delian +Apollo to be sung at Keos, but that he put this off in order first to +write the present ode in honour of a victory won for his own native +state of Thebes. + + * * * * * + +O mother, Thebe of the golden shield, thy service will I set even +above the matter that was in my hand. May rocky Delos, whereto I am +vowed, be not therefore wroth with me. Is there aught dearer to the +good than noble parents? + +Give place O Apollonian isle: these twain fair offices, by the grace +of God, will I join together in their end, and to Phoibos of the +unshorn hair in island Keos with men of her sea-race will I make my +choral song, and therewithal this other for the sea-prisoning cliffs +of Isthmos. + +For six crowns hath Isthmos given from her games to the people of +Kadmos, a fair glory of triumph for my country, for the land wherein +Alkmene bare her dauntless son, before whom trembled aforetime the +fierce hounds of Geryon. + +But I for Herodotos' praise am fain to do honour unto his four-horsed +car, and to marry to the strain of Kastoreian or Iolaic song the fame +that he hath earned, handling his reins in his own and no helping +hand. + +For these Kastor and Iolaos were of all heroes the mightiest +charioteers, the one to Lakedaimon, the other born to Thebes. And at +the games they entered oftenest for the strife, and with tripods and +caldrons and cups of gold they made fair their houses, attaining unto +victorious crowns: clear shineth their prowess in the foot-race, run +naked or with the heavy clattering shield; and when they hurled the +javelin and the quoit: for then was there no five-fold game[1], but +for each several feat there was a prize. Oft did they bind about their +hair a crowd of crowns, and showed themselves unto the waters of Dirke +or on Eurotas' banks[2], the son of Iphikles a fellow-townsman of +the Spartoi's race, the son of Tyndareus inhabiting the upland +dwelling-place of Therapna[3] among the Achaians. + +So hail ye and farewell: I on Poseidon and holy Isthmos, and on the +lake-shores of Onchestos will throw the mantle of my song, and will +among the glories of this man make glorious also the story of his +father Asopodoros' fate, and his new country Orchomenos, which, when +he drave ashore on a wrecked ship, harboured him amid his dismal +hap[4]. But now once more hath the fortune of his house raised him up +to see the fair days of the old time: and he who hath suffered pain +beareth forethought within his soul. + +If a man's desire be wholly after valour, and he give thereto both +wealth and toil, meet is it that to such as attain unto it we offer +with ungrudging heart high meed of praise. For an easy gift it is for +a son of wisdom[5], by a good word spoken in recompense for labour +manifold to set on high the public fame. For diverse meeds for diverse +works are sweet to men, to the shepherd and to the ploughman, to the +fowler and to him whom the sea feedeth--howbeit all those strive but +to keep fierce famine from their bellies; but whoso in the games or in +war hath won delightful fame, receiveth the highest of rewards in fair +words of citizens and of strangers. + +Us it beseemeth to requite the earth-shaking son of Kronos, who is +also neighbour unto us, and to sound his praise as our well-doer, +who hath given speed to the horses of our car, and to call upon thy +sons[6], Amphitryon, and the inland dwelling[7] of Minyas, and the +famous grove of Demeter, even Eleusis, and Euboia with her curving +race-course. And thy holy place, Protesilas, add I unto these, built +thee at Phylake by Achaian men. + +But to tell over all that Hermes lord of games hath given to Herodotos +by his horses, the short space of my hymn alloweth not. Yea and full +oft doth the keeping of silence bring forth a larger joy. + +Now may Herodotos, up-borne upon the sweet-voiced Muse's shining +wings, yet again with wreaths from Pytho and choice wreaths from +Alpheos from the Olympian games entwine his hand, and bring honour +unto seven-gated Thebes. + +Now if one at home store hidden wealth, and fall upon other men to +mock them, this man considereth not that he shall give up his soul to +death having known no good report. + + +[Footnote 1: The Pentathlon. See Introduction to Ol. xiii, and note on +Nem. vii, p. 129.] + +[Footnote 2: Rivers were [Greek: kourotrophoi] (nurturers of youth), +and thus young men who had achieved bodily feats were especially bound +to return thanks to the streams of their native places.] + +[Footnote 3: In Lakonia.] + +[Footnote 4: Asopodoros seems to have been banished from Thebes and +kindly received in his banishment by Orchomenos.] + +[Footnote 5: Here, as elsewhere probably in the special sense of a +poet.] + +[Footnote 6: Herakles and Iolaos.] + +[Footnote 7: Orchomenos.] + + + +II. + +FOR XENOKRATES OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This is the same winner for whom the sixth Pythian ode was written. +Its date would seem to be 476, while that of the sixth Pythian +was 494. Yet the opening passage of this ode seems to imply that +Xenokiates' son Thrasyboulos was still little more than a boy, whereas +in 494 he had been old enough to be his father's charioteer, and this +would be eighteen years later. But perhaps the passage is only an +allusion to Thrasyboulos' boyhood as a time past. And certainly both +Xenokrates and his brother Theron seem to be spoken of in this ode as +already dead, and we know that Theron did not die till 473. Perhaps +therefore Thrasyboulos was celebrating in 472 the anniversary of his +deceased father's victory, four years after the victory itself. + + * * * * * + +The men of old, Thrasyboulos, who went up into the Muse's car to give +welcome with the loud-voiced lyre, lightly for honour of boys shot +forth their honey-sounding songs, whensoever in one fair of form was +found that sweetest summer-bloom that turneth hearts to think on +fair-throned Aphrodite. + +For then the Muse was not yet covetous nor a hireling, neither were +sweet lays tender-voiced sold with silvered faces by Terpsichore of +honeyed speech. But now doth she bid heed the word of the Argive +man[1] which keepeth nigh to the paths of truth: + +'Money, money maketh man,' he said, when robbed of goods at once and +friends. + +Forasmuch as thou art wise it is nothing hidden to thee that I sing, +while I do honour to the Isthmian victory won by speed of horses, +which to Xenokrates did Poseidon give, and sent to him a wreath of +Dorian parsley to bind about his hair, a man of goodly chariot, a +light of the people of Akragas. + +Also at Krisa did far-prevailing Apollo look upon him, and gave him +there too glory: and again when he attained unto the crowns of the +Erectheidai in shining Athens he found no fault in the chariot-saving +hand of the man Nikomachos who drave his horses, the hand wherewith in +the instant of need he bare on all the reins[2]. + +Moreover the heralds of the seasons[3], the Elean truce-bringers +of Zeus the son of Kronos, recognized him, having met belike with +hospitality from him, and in a voice of dulcet breath they gave him +greeting for that he had fallen at the knees of golden Victory in +their land which men call the holy place of Olympic Zeus, where the +sons[4] of Ainesidamos attained unto honour everlasting. + +For no stranger is your house, O Thrasyboulos, to pleasant shouts +of triumph, neither to sweet-voiced songs. For not uphill neither +steep-sloped is the path whereby one bringeth the glories of the +Helikonian maidens to dwell with famous men. + +By a far throw of the quoit may I hurl even so far as did Xenokrates +surpass all men in the sweetness of his spirit. In converse with +citizens was he august, and upheld horse-racing after the Hellenes' +wont: also worshipped he at all festivals of the gods, nor ever did +the breeze that breathed around his hospitable board give him cause to +draw in his sail, but with the summer-gales he would fare unto Phasis, +and in his winter voyage unto the shores of Nile[5]. + +Let not Thrasyboulos now, because that jealous hopes beset the mind +of mortals, be silent concerning his father's prowess, nor from these +hymns: for not to lie idle have I devised them. That message give him, +Nikesippos, when thou comest unto my honoured friend. + + +[Footnote 1: Aristodemos.] + +[Footnote 2: I. e. either tightened the near or slackened the off +reins to the utmost in turning the goal, or perhaps, gave full rein to +his horses between each turn or after the final one.] + +[Footnote 3: The heralds who proclaimed throughout Hellas the approach +of the Olympic games, and an universal solemn truce during their +celebration.] + +[Footnote 4: Theron, the tyrant of Akragas, and Xenokrates.] + +[Footnote 5: Metaphorically, in the extent of his hospitality.] + + + +III. + +FOR MELISSOS OF THEBES, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is uncertain, though some on the hypothesis that +the battle alluded to is the battle of Plataiai, have dated it 478 +or 474. In this battle, whatever it was, the Kleonymid clan to which +Melissos belonged had lost four men. The celebrity of the clan in the +games seems to have been eclipsed for some time, but Melissos revived +it by a chariot-victory at Nemea and this pankration-victory at the +Isthmus, won in spite of his small stature which might have seemed to +place him at a disadvantage. The ode compares his match against his +antagonists with that of Herakles against the African giant Antaios. + +Very probably this ode was sung at a night meeting of the clan, while +the altars of Herakles were blazing. + + * * * * * + +If any among men having good fortune and dwelling amid prizes of +renown or the power of wealth restraineth in his heart besetting +insolence, this man is worthy to have part in his citizens' good +words. + +But from thee, O Zeus, cometh all high excellence to mortals; and +longer liveth their bliss who have thee in honour, but with minds +perverse it consorteth never steadfastly, flourishing throughout all +time. + +In recompense for glorious deeds it behoveth that we sing the valiant, +and amid his triumphal company exalt him with fair honours. Of two +prizes is the lot fallen to Melissos, to turn his heart unto sweet +mirth, for in the glens of Isthmos hath he won crowns, and again +in the hollow vale of the deep-chested lion being winner in the +chariot-race he made proclamation that his home was Thebes. + +Thus shameth he not the prowess of his kinsmen. Ye know the ancient +fame of Kleonymos with the chariot: also on the mother's side being +akin to the Labdakidai his race hath been conversant with riches, and +bestowed them on the labours of the four-horse car. + +But time with rolling days bringeth changes manifold: only the +children of gods are free of wounds. + +By grace of God I have ways countless everywhere open unto me[1]: for +thou hast shown forth to me, O Melissos, in the Isthmian games an +ample means to follow in song the excellence of thy race: wherein the +Kleonymidai flourish continually, and in favour with God pass onward +through the term of mortal life: howbeit changing gales drive all men +with ever-changing drift. + +These men verily are spoken of as having honour at Thebes from the +beginning, for that they cherished the inhabitants round about, and +had no part in loud insolence; if there be borne about by the winds +among men aught of witness to the great honour of quick or dead, unto +such have they attained altogether. By the brave deeds of their house +they have touched the pillars of Herakles, that are at the end of +things. Beyond that follow thou no excellence. + +Horse-breeders moreover have they been, and found favour with mailed +Ares; but in one day the fierce snow-storm of war hath made a happy +hearth to be desolate of four men. + +But now once more after that wintry gloom hath it blossomed, even as +in the flowery months the earth blossometh with red roses, according +to the counsels of gods. + +For the Shaker of Earth who inhabiteth Onchestos and the Bridge[2] +between seas that lieth before the valley of Corinth, now giveth to +the house this hymn of wonder, and leadeth up out of her bed the +ancient glory of the famous deeds thereof: for she was fallen on +sleep; but she awaketh and her body shineth preeminent, as among stars +the Morning-star. + +For in the land of Athens proclaiming a victory of the car, and at +Sikyon at the games of Adrastos did she give like wreaths of song for +the sons of Kleonymos that then were. For neither did they refrain to +contend with the curved chariot in the great meetings of the people, +but they had delight to strive with the whole folk of Hellas in +spending their wealth on steeds. + +Touching the unproven there is silence, and none knoweth them: yea and +even from them that strive Fortune hideth herself until they come unto +the perfect end; for she giveth of this and of that. + +The better man hath been ere now overtaken and overthrown by the craft +of worse. Verily ye know the bloody deed of Aias, that he wrought +beneath the far-spent night, when he smote himself through with his +own sword, whereby he upbraideth yet the children of the Hellenes, as +many as went forth to Troy. + +But lo! Homer hath done him honour among men, and by raising up his +excellence in the fulness thereof hath through the rod[3] of his +divine lays delivered it to bards after him to sing. + +For the thing that one hath well said goeth forth with a voice unto +everlasting: over fruitful earth and beyond the sea hath the light of +fair deeds shined, unquenchable for ever. + +May we find favour with the Muses, that for Melissos too we kindle +such beacon-blaze of song, a worthy prize of the pankration for this +scion of Telesias' son. + +He being like unto the roaring lions in courage taketh unto him their +spirit to be his own in the struggle: but in sleight he is as the fox +that spreadeth out her feet[4] and preventeth the swoop of the eagle: +for all means must be essayed by him that would prevail over his foe. +For not of the stature of Orion was this man, but his presence is +contemptible, yet terrible is he to grapple with in his strength. + +And verily once to the house of Antaios came a man to wrestle against +him, of short stature but of unbending soul, from Kadmean Thebes even +unto corn-bearing Libya, that he might cause him to cease from roofing +Poseidon's temple with the skulls of strangers--even the son of +Alkmene, he who ascended up to Olympus, after that he had searched out +the surface of the whole earth and of the crag-walled hoary sea, +and had made safe way for the sailing of ships. And now beside the +aegis-bearer he dwelleth, possessing happiness most fair, and hath +honour from the immortals as their friend, and hath Hebe to wife, and +is lord of a golden house, and husband of Hera's child. + +Unto his honour upon the heights Elektrai we of this city prepare a +feast and new-built altar-ring, where we offer burnt sacrifice in +honour of the eight mail-clad men that are dead, whom Megara, Kreon's +daughter, bore to be sons of Herakles. + +To them at the going down of the day there ariseth a flame of fire and +burneth all night continually, amid a savoury smoke hurling itself +against the upper air: and on the second day is the award of the +yearly games, a trial of strength. + +Therein did this our man, his head with myrtle-wreaths made white, +show forth a double victory, after another won already among the boys, +for that he had regard unto the many counsels of him who was the pilot +of his helm[5]. And with Orseas' name I join him in my triumphal song, +and shed over them a glory of delight. + + +[Footnote 1: 'Many themes on which I can justly praise the clan.'] + +[Footnote 2: The Isthmus.] + +[Footnote 3: The rod or staff carried anciently by poets and reciters +of poems.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. throwing herself on her back with feet upward. If +it is meant that she counterfeits death, then of course the parallel +with the pankratiast will only hold good to the extent of the supine +posture.] + +[Footnote 5: His trainer, Orseas.] + + + +IV. + +FOR PHYLAKIDAS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +This Phylakidas was a son of Lampon, and a brother of the Pytheas for +whom the fifth Nemean was written. This ode must have been written +shortly after the battle of Salamis, probably B.C. 478, and was to +be sung at Aigina, perhaps at a festival of the goddess Theia who is +invoked at the beginning. She, according to Hesiod, was the mother +of the Sun, the Moon, and the Morning, and was also called [Greek: +Euruphaessa] and [Greek: chruse], from which latter name perhaps came +her association with gold and wealth. + + * * * * * + +Mother of the Sun, Theia of many names, through thee it is that men +prize gold as mighty above all things else: for ships that strive upon +the sea and horses that run in chariots, for the honour that is of +thee, O queen, are glorified in swiftly circling struggle. + +And that man also hath won longed-for glory in the strife of games, +for whose strong hand or fleet foot abundant wreaths have bound his +hair. Through God is the might of men approved. + +Two things alone there are that cherish life's bloom to its utmost +sweetness amidst the fair flowers of wealth--to have good success and +to win therefore fair fame. Seek not to be as Zeus; if the portion +of these honours fall to thee, thou hast already all. The things of +mortals best befit mortality. + +For thee, Phylakidas, a double glory of valour is at Isthmos stored, +and at Nemea both for thee and for Pytheas a pankratiast's crown. + +Not without the sons of Aiakos will my heart indite of song: and in +company of the Graces am I come for sake of Lampon's sons to this +commonwealth of equal laws[1]. If then on the clear high road of +god-given deeds she hath set her feet, grudge not to mingle in song a +seemly draught of glory for her toil. + +For even the great men of old that were good warriors have profited of +the telling of their tale, and are glorified on the lute and in the +pipe's strains manifold, through immeasurable time: and to the cunning +in words[2] they give matter by the grace of Zeus. + +Thus by their worship with the blaze of burnt-offerings among +Aitolians have the mighty sons[3] of Oineus honour, and at Thebes +Iolaos the charioteer, and at Argos Perseus, and by the streams of +Eurotas Polydeukes and Kastor's spear: + +But in Oinone the great souls of Aiakos and his sons, who after much +fighting twice sacked the Trojans' town, first when they went with +Herakles, and again with the sons of Atreus. + +Now drive me upward still; say who slew Kyknos, and who Hektor, and +the dauntless chief of Ethiop hosts, bronze-mailed Memnon. What man +was he who with his spear smote noble Telephos by Kaïkos' banks? Even +they whose home my mouth proclaimeth to be Aigina's glorious isle: +a tower is she, builded from long ago, to tempt the climb of +high-adventuring valour. + +Many arrows hath my truthful tongue in store wherewith to sound +the praises of her sons: and even but now in war might Aias' city, +Salamis, bear witness thereto in her deliverance by Aigina's seamen +amid the destroying tempest of Zeus, when death came thick as hail on +the unnumbered hosts. Yet let no boast be heard. Zeus ordereth this or +that, Zeus, lord of all. + +Now in pleasant song even these honours also of the games welcome the +joy for a fair victory. Let any strive his best in such, who hath +learnt what Kleonikos' house can do. Undulled is the fame of their +long toil, nor ever was their zeal abated by any counting of the cost. + +Also have I praise for Pytheas, for that he guided aright[4] the +course of Phylakidas' blows in the struggle of hands that bring limbs +low, an adversary he of cunning soul. + +Take for him a crown, and bring the fleecy fillet, and speed him on +his way with this new winged hymn. + + +[Footnote 1: Aigina.] + +[Footnote 2: Poets.] + +[Footnote 3: Meleager and his brothers.] + +[Footnote 4: Pytheas had given his brother example, and very probably +precept also, in the pankration.] + + + +V. + +FOR PHYLAKIDAS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +This ode seems to be of earlier date than the last, though placed +after it in our order. The occasion is similar. Probably it was sung +at a banquet at Lampon's house. + + * * * * * + +As one may do amid merry revel of men, so mingle we a second time the +bowls of Muses' melody in honour of Lampon's athlete progeny. + +Our first, O Zeus, was unto thee, when at Nemea we[1] won thy +excellent crown, and now is this second unto the lord[2] of Isthmos +and unto the fifty daughters of Nereus, for that Phylakidas the +youngest son is winner in the games. And be it ours to make ready yet +a third for the Saviour[3], the Olympian one, and in honour of Aigina +make libation of our honey-speaking song. + +For if a man rejoice to suffer cost and toil, and achieve god-builded +excellence, and therewithal fate plant for him fair renown, already +at the farthest bounds of bliss hath such an one cast anchor, for the +glory that he hath thereby from God. With such desires prayeth the +son[4] of Kleonikos that he may fulfil them ere he meet death or hoary +eld. + +Now I call on high-throned Klotho and her sister Fates to draw nigh +unto the praying of the man I love. + +And upon you also, golden-charioted seed of Aiakos, I say it is clear +law to me to shed the dew of my good words, what time I set my foot[5] +upon this isle. + +For innumerable hundred-foot[6] straight roads are cleft for your +fair deeds to go forth, beyond the springs of Nile, and through the +Hyperboreans' midst: neither is any town so barbarous and strange +of speech that it knoweth not the fame of Peleus, that blissful +son-in-law of gods, or of Aias son of Telamon, and of Aias' sire; whom +unto brazen war an eager ally with Tirynthian men Alkmene's son took +with him in his ships to Troy, to the place of heroes' toil, to take +vengeance for Laomedon's untruth. + +There did Herakles take the city of Pergamos, and with help of Telamon +slew the nations of the Meropes, and the herdsman whose stature was as +a mountain, Alkyoneus whom he found at Phlegrai, and spared not of his +hands the terrible twanging bowstring. + +But when he went to call the son of Aiakos to the voyage he found the +whole company at the feast. And as he stood there in his lion's skin, +then did Telamon their chief challenge Amphitryon's son of the mighty +spear to make initiative libation of nectar, and handed on unto him +the wine-cup rough with gold. + +And Herakles stretched forth to heaven his invincible hands and spake +on this wise: 'If ever, O father Zeus, thou hast heard my prayer with +willing heart, now, even now, with strong entreaty I pray thee that +thou give this man a brave child of Eriboia's womb, that by award of +fate my friend may gain a son of body as staunch[7] as this hide that +hangeth about me, which was of the beast that I slew at Nemea, first +of all my labours; and let his soul be of like sort.' + +And when he had thus spoken, the god sent forth the king of birds, +a mighty eagle, and sweet delight thrilled him within, and he spake +aloud as a seer speaketh: 'Behold, the son whom thou askest shall +be born unto thee, O Telamon:' also after the bird's name that had +appeared unto them he said that the child's name should be the mighty +Aias[8], terrible in the strife of warring hosts: so he spake, and +sate him down straightway. + +But for me it were long to tell all those valiant deeds. For for +Phylakidas am I come, O Muse, a dispenser of thy triumphal songs, and +for Pytheas, and for Euthymenes[9]; therefore in Argive fashion my +tale shall be of fewest words. + +Three victories have they won in the pankration of Isthmos, and others +at leafy Nemea, even these noble sons and their mother's brother: how +fair a portion of song have they brought to light! yea and they water +with the Charites' delicious dew their clan of the Psalychidai, and +have raised up the house of Themistios, and dwell here in a city which +the gods love well. + +And Lampon, in that he bestoweth practice on all he doth, holdeth +in high honour the word of Hesiod which speaketh thereof[10], and +exhorteth thereunto his sons, whereby he bringeth unto his city a +general fame: and for his kind entreating of strangers is he loved, to +the just mean aspiring, to the just mean holding fast; and his tongue +departeth not from his thoughts: and among athlete men he is as the +bronze-grinding Naxian whetstone amid stones[11]. + +Now will I give him to drink of the holy water of Dirke, which +golden-robed Mnemosyne's deep-girdled daughters made once to spring +out of the earth, beside the well-walled gates of Kadmos. + + +[Footnote 1: I. e. Pytheas. See Nem. v.] + +[Footnote 2: Poseidon.] + +[Footnote 3: [Greek: Zeus Sotaer], to whom the third cup at a feast +was drunk. He is here invoked also to give a third victory to the +family at the Olympic games.] + +[Footnote 4: Lampon.] + +[Footnote 5: Figuratively said, as elsewhere.] + +[Footnote 6: A hundred feet wide, seemingly.] + +[Footnote 7: Not 'invulnerable.' A magic invulnerability was only +attributed to heroes by later legend.] + +[Footnote 8: From [Greek: aietos] an eagle.] + +[Footnote 9: Maternal uncle of Pytheas and Phylakidas.] + +[Footnote 10: [Greek: melete de ergon ophellei]. Opp. 411.] + +[Footnote 11: I. e. he stimulates their zeal and skill. The Naxian +whetstone seems to be emery.] + + + +VI. + +FOR STREPSIADES OF THEBES, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is not fixed, but it has been supposed that the +battle referred to--apparently a defeat--in which the winner's uncle +was killed was the battle of Oinophyta, fought B.C. 457. But this, and +the notion that the democratic revolution at Thebes is referred to, +are only conjectures. + + * * * * * + +Wherewithal of the fair deeds done in thy land, O divine Thebe, hath +thy soul had most delight? Whether when thou broughtest forth to the +light Dionysos of the flowing hair, who sitteth beside Demeter to whom +the cymbals clang? or when at midnight in a snow of gold thou didst +receive the mightiest of the gods, what time he stood at Amphitryon's +doors and beguiled his wife, to the begetting of Herakles? Or when +thou hadst honour in the wise counsels of Teiresias, or in Iolaos the +cunning charioteer, or the unwearied spears of the Spartoi? or when +out of the noise of the strong battle-cry thou sentest Adrastos home +to horse-breeding Argos, of his countless company forlorn? or when +thou madest the Dorian colony of the men of Lakedaimon stand upright +upon its feet[1], and the sons of Aigeus thy progeny took Amyklai, +according to the oracles of Pytho? + +Nay, but the glory of the old time sleepeth, and mortals are unmindful +thereof, save such as married to the sounding stream of song attaineth +unto the perfect meed that wisdom[2] giveth. New triumph now lead for +Strepsiades with melodious hymn: for at Isthmos hath he borne away the +pankratiast's prize. Wondrous in strength is he, and to look upon of +goodly shape, and his valour is such as shameth not his stature. + +So shineth he forth by grace of the Muses iris-haired, and to his +uncle of like name hath he given to share his crown, for albeit +bronze-shielded Ares gave him over unto death, yet remaineth there for +the valiant a recompense of renown. For let whoso amid the cloud of +war from his beloved country wardeth the bloody shower, and maketh +havoc in the enemy's host, know assuredly that for the race of his +fellow-citizens he maketh their renown wax mightily, yea when he is +dead even as while he was yet alive. + +So didst thou, son[3] of Diodotos, following the praise of the warrior +Meleagros, and of Hektor, and of Amphiaraos, breathe forth the spirit +of thy fair-flowering youth amid the company of fighters in the front, +where the bravest on slenderest hopes bare up the struggle of war. + +Then suffered I a pang unspeakable, but now hath the earth-grasper[4] +granted unto me a calm after the storm: I will set chaplets on my hair +and sing. Now let no jealousy of immortals mar whatever sweet thing +through a day's pursuit I follow, as it leadeth on up to old age, and +unto the term of life appointed. + +For all we in like manner die, albeit our lots be diverse. If any lift +up his eye to look upon things afar off, yet is he too weak to attain +unto the bronze-paved dwelling of the gods. Thus did winged Pegasos +throw his lord Bellerophon, when he would fain enter into the heavenly +habitations and mix among the company of Zeus. Unrighteous joyance a +bitter end awaiteth. + +But to us, O Loxias of the golden-flowing hair, give also at thy +Pythian games a new fair-flowering crown. + + +[Footnote 1: The Theban Aigidai helped the mythical 'return of the +Herakleidai.'] + +[Footnote 2: Wisdom of bards.] + +[Footnote 3: Strepsiades the uncle.] + +[Footnote 4: Poseidon.] + + + +VII. + +FOR KLEANDROS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +All that we can be certain of as to the date of this ode is that it +was written soon after the final expulsion of the Persians. From the +first strophe we learn that Kleandros had won a Nemean as well as an +Isthmian victory, and perhaps this ode really belongs to the former. +It was to be sung, it seems, before the house of Telesarchos the +winner's father, at Aigina. + + * * * * * + +For Kleandros in his prime let some of you, ye young men, go stand +before the shining portal of his father Telesarchos, and rouse a song +of triumph, to be a glorious recompense of his toils, for that he hath +achieved reward of victory at Isthmos, and hath showed his strength in +the games of Nemea. + +For him I also, albeit heavy at heart[1], am bidden to call upon the +golden Muse. Yea since we are come forth from our sore troubles let +us not fall into the desolation of crownlessness, neither nurse our +griefs; but having ease from our ills that are past mending, we will +set some pleasant thing before the people, though it follow hard on +pain: inasmuch as some god hath put away from us the Tantalos-stone +that hung above our heads, a curse intolerable to Hellas. + +But now hath the passing of this terror ended my sore disquietude, and +ever it is better to look only on the thing hard by. For the guile of +time hangeth above the heads of men, and maketh the way of their life +crooked, yet if Freedom abide with them, even such things may mortals +cure. + +But it is meet that a man cherish good hope: and meet also that I, +whom seven-gated Thebes reared, proffer chiefly unto Aigina the +choicest of the Graces' gifts, for that from one sire were two +daughters[2] born, youngest of the children of Asopos, and found +favour in the eyes of the king Zeus. + +One by the fair stream of Dirke he set to be the queen of a city of +charioteers, and thee the other he bare to the Oinopian isle, and lay +with thee, whence to the sire of great thunderings thou didst bear the +godlike Aiakos, best of men upon the earth. + +This man even among divinities became a decider of strife: and his +godlike sons and his sons' sons delighting in battle were foremost in +valour when they met in the ringing brazen melley: chaste also were +they approved, and wise of heart. + +Thereof was the god's council mindful, what time for the hand of +Thetis there was strife between Zeus and glorious Poseidon, each +having desire that she should be his fair bride, for love had obtained +dominion over them. + +Yet did not the wisdom of the immortal gods fulfil for them such +marriage, when they had heard a certain oracle. For Themis of wise +counsels spake in the midst of them of how it was pre-destined that +the sea-goddess should bear a royal offspring mightier than his +father, whose hand should wield a bolt more terrible than the +lightning or the dread trident, if she came ever into the bed of Zeus, +or of brethren of Zeus. + +'Cease ye herefrom: let her enter a mortal's couch and see her son +fall in war, who shall be as Ares in the might of his hands, and as +the lightning in the swiftness of his feet. My counsel is that ye give +her to be the heaven-sent prize of Peleus son of Aiakos, whom the +speech of men showeth to be their most righteous, an offspring of +Iolkos' plain. Thus straightway let the message go forth to Cheiron's +cave divine, neither let the daughter of Nereus put a second time +into your hands the ballot-leaves of strife. So on the evening of the +mid-month moon shall she unbind for the hero the fair girdle of her +virginity.' + +Thus spake the goddess her word to the children of Kronos, and they +bowed their everlasting brows. Nor failed her words of fruit, for they +say that to Thetis' bridals came those twain kings even with the rest. + +Out of the mouths of the wise hath the young valour of Achilles +been declared to them that beheld it not. He it was who stained the +vine-clad Mysian plain with the dark blood of Telephos that he shed +thereon, and made for the sons of Atreus a safe return across the sea, +and delivered Helen, when that he had cut asunder with his spear the +sinews of Troy, even the men who kept him back as he plied the work +of slaughterous battle on the plain, the strength of Memnon and +high-hearted Hektor, and other chiefs of pride. Unto all these did +Achilles, champion of the Aiakid race, point the way to the house of +Persephone, and thereby did he glorify Aigina and the root whence he +was sprung. + +Neither in death was he of songs forsaken, for at his funeral pyre and +beside his tomb stood the Helikonian maiden-choir, and poured thereon +a dirge of many melodies. For so the immortals willed, to give charge +unto the songs of goddesses over that valorous man even in his death. + +And now also holdeth such charge good, and the Muses' chariot speedeth +to sound the glories of Nikokles the boxer[3]. Honour to him who in +the Isthmian vale hath won the Dorian parsley: for he even as Achilles +overcame men in battle, turning them to confusion, with hand from +which flight was vain. Him shameth not this kinsman of his father's +noble brother. Wherefore let some one of the young men his fellows +twine for Kleandros a wreath of tender myrtle for his pankratiast +victory. For the games whose name is of Alkathoos[4], and the youth of +Epidauros[5], have ere now entertained him with good hap. To praise +him is given unto the good: for in no hidden corner quenched he his +youth, unproven in honourable deeds. + + +[Footnote 1: Because, though the Persians had been defeated, Thebes, +Pindar's city, had not shared the glory.] + +[Footnote 2: Thebe and Aigine.] + +[Footnote 3: Uncle of the winner.] + +[Footnote 4: A son of Pelops: he slew the lion of Kithairon.] + +[Footnote 5: The Epidaurian games were in honour of Asklepios.] + + + +FRAGMENTS. + +Nearly two-thirds of the Fragments cannot be assigned to any distinct +class: the rest are divided among (1) [Greek: Epinikia], or Triumphal +Odes (such as are the odes remaining to us entire), (2) [Greek: +Hymnoi], or Hymns sung by a choir in honour of gods, (3) [Greek: +Paianes], or Hymns of a like kind but anciently addressed especially +to Apollo and Artemis for their intervention against pestilence, (4) +[Greek: Dithyramboi], or choral songs of more general compass, verging +sometimes on the drama, (5) [Greek: Prosodia], or Processional Songs, +(6) [Greek: Parthenia], or Songs for a Choir of Maidens, (7) [Greek: +Hyporchaemata], or Songs with Accompaniment of Dance, (8) [Greek: +Enkomia], or Odes sung by a [Greek: komos] in praise of some person +but not necessarily on any special occasion, (9) [Greek: Skolia], or +Songs to be sung at Banquets, (10) [Greek: Thraenoi], or Dirges. + + + +FRAGMENT OF A DITHYRAMB, + +TO BE SUNG AT ATHENS. + +Hither! Olympian gods to our choice dance, and make your grace to +descend thereon and to glorify it, ye who in sacred Athens visit the +city's incensed centre-stone, and her famed market-place of splendid +ornament; receive ye violet-entwinëd crowns and drink-offerings of +spring-gathered herbs, and look on me who am come from the house of +Zeus with my bright song a second time unto the ivy-crownëd god, whom +we call Bromios, even the god of clamorous shout. + +To sing the offspring[1] of the Highest and of Kadmeän mothers am I +come. + +In Argive Nemea the prophet of the god overlooketh not the branch of +palm, what time with the opening of the chamber of the Hours, the +nectarous plants perceive the fragrant spring[2]. + +Then, then are strown over the face of the eternal earth the lovely +violet-tufts, then are roses twined in hair, then sound to the flute's +accompaniment voices of song, then sound our choice hymns unto the +honour of bright-filleted Semele ... + + +[Footnote 1: Dionysos, son of Zeus and of Semele, daughter of Kadmos.] + +[Footnote 2: Bockh has suggested the following ingenious explanation +of this passage. In the temple of Zeus at Nemea grew a sacred palm, +and a branch of this was given, together with his crown, to a winner +in the Nemean games. Pindar had been at those games in the winter, and +means that he, like the priest of the temple, could foresee from the +tokens of the branch that spring was approaching, and with spring the +vernal Dionysia at Athens.] + + +FRAGMENTS OF A PROCESSION-SONG ([Greek: prosodion]), + +IN HONOUR OF DELOS. + +Hail! god-reared daughter of the sea, earth-shoot most dear to +bright-haired Leto's children, wide earth's immoveable marvel, who of +mortals art called Delos, but of the blessed gods in Olympus the dark +earth's far-seen star[1]... ... For of old time it[2] drifted before +the waves and stress of winds from every side; but when she[3] of +Koios set foot thereon, as the swift pains of her travailing drew +nigh, then verily from roots deep down in earth there sprang upright +four pillars with adamantine base, and on their capitals they held up +the rock: there was the goddess delivered, and looked upon her blessed +brood........ + + +[Footnote 1: The old mythical name of Delos was Asteria.] + +[Footnote 2: The island.] + +[Footnote 3: Leto.] + + * * * * * + + +FRAGMENT OF A SONG WITH ACCOMPANIMENT OF DANCE +([Greek: huporchaema]), WRITTEN ON OCCASION OF AN ECLIPSE +OF THE SUN, PROBABLY THAT OF APRIL 30, B.C. 463. + +Wherefore, O Light of the Sun, thou that seest all things and givest +bounds unto the sight of mine eyes--wherefore O star supreme hast thou +in the daytime hidden thyself, and made useless unto men the wings of +their strength and the paths that wisdom findeth, and hastest along a +way of darkness to bring on us some strange thing? + +Now in the name of Zeus I pray unto thee, O holy Light, that by thy +swift steeds thou turn this marvel in the sight of all men to be for +the unimpaired good hap of Thebes. Yet if the sign which thou showest +us be of some war, or destruction of harvest, or an exceeding storm of +snow, or ruinous civil strife, or emptying of the sea upon the earth, +or freezing of the soil, or summer rains pouring in vehement flood, or +whether thou wilt drown the earth and make anew another race of men, +then will I suffer it amid the common woe of all.... + + + +FRAGMENTS. + +I + +FRAGMENTS OF DIRGES (thraenoi). + +.... For them shineth below the strength of the sun while in our world +it is night, and the space of crimsonflowered meadows before their +city is full of the shade of frankincense-trees, and of fruits of +gold. And some in horses, and in bodily feats, and some in dice, +and some in harp-playing have delight; and among them thriveth all +fair-flowering bliss; and fragrance streameth ever through the lovely +land, as they mingle incense of every kind upon the altars of the +gods.... + +II. + +.... BY happy lot travel all unto an end that giveth them rest from +toils. And the body indeed is subject unto the great power of death, +but there remaineth yet alive a shadow of life; for this only is from +the gods; and while the limbs stir, it sleepeth, but unto sleepers +in dreams discovereth oftentimes the judgment that draweth nigh for +sorrow or for joy.. + +III + +But from whomsoever Persephone accepteth atonement made for an ancient +woe, their souls unto the light of the sun above she sendeth back +again in the ninth year. And from those souls spring noble kings, +and men swift and strong and in wisdom very great: and through the +after-time they are called holy heroes among men...... + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Extant Odes of Pindar, by Pindar + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10717 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..90cb83d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10717 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10717) diff --git a/old/10717-8.txt b/old/10717-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2804966 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10717-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6752 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Extant Odes of Pindar, by Pindar + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Extant Odes of Pindar + +Author: Pindar + +Release Date: January 14, 2004 [EBook #10717] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXTANT ODES OF PINDAR *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE EXTANT + +ODES OF PINDAR + +TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH + +with + +INTRODUCTION AND SHORT NOTES + +BY + +ERNEST MYERS, M.A. + +_Sometime Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford_ + + +1904 + +_First edition printed 1874._ + +_Reprinted (with corrections) 1884, 1888, 1892, 1895, 1899, 1904_ + + SON OF THE LIGHTNING, FAIR AND FIERY STAR, + STRONG-WINGED IMPERIAL PINDAR, VOICE DIVINE, + LET THESE DEEP DRAUGHTS OF THY ENCHANTED WINE + LIFT ME WITH THEE IN SOARINGS HIGH AND FAR + PROUDER THAN PEGASEAN, OR THE CAR + WHEREIN APOLLO RAPT THE HUNTRESS MAID. + SO LET ME RANGE MINE HOUR, TOO SOON TO FADE + INTO STRANGE PRESENCE OF THE THINGS THAT ARE. + YET KNOW THAT EVEN AMID THIS JARRING NOISE + OF HATES, LOVES, CREEDS, TOGETHER HEAPED AND HURLED, + SOME ECHO FAINT OF GRACE AND GRANDEUR STIRS + FROM THY SWEET HELLAS, HOME OF NOBLE JOYS. + FIRST FRUIT AND BEST OF ALL OUR WESTERN WORLD; + WHATE'ER WE HOLD OF BEAUTY, HALF IS HERS. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Probably no poet of importance equal or approaching to that of Pindar +finds so few and so infrequent readers. The causes are not far to +seek: in the first and most obvious place comes the great difficulty +of his language, in the second the frequent obscurity of his thought, +resulting mainly from his exceeding allusiveness and his abrupt +transitions, and in the third place that amount of monotony which must +of necessity attach to a series of poems provided for a succession of +similar occasions. + +It is as an attempt towards obviating the first of these hindrances +to the study of Pindar, the difficulty of his language, that this +translation is of course especially intended. To whom and in what +cases are translations of poets useful? To a perfect scholar in the +original tongue they are superfluous, to one wholly ignorant of it +they are apt to be (unless here and there to a Keats) meaningless, +flat, and puzzling. There remains the third class of those who have a +certain amount of knowledge of a language, but not enough to +enable them to read unassisted its more difficult books without an +expenditure of time and trouble which is virtually prohibitive. It +is to this class that a translation ought, it would seem, chiefly to +address itself. An intelligent person of cultivated literary taste, +and able to read the easier books in an acquired language, will feel +himself indebted to a hand which unlocks for him the inner chambers +of a temple in whose outer courts he had already delighted to wander. +Without therefore saying that the merely 'English reader' may never +derive pleasure and instruction from a translation of a foreign poet, +for to this rule our current version of the Hebrew psalmists and +prophets furnish one marked exception at least--still, it is probably +to what may be called the half-learned class that the translator must +preeminently look to find an audience. + +The other causes of Pindar's unpopularity to which reference was made +above, the obscurity of his thought and the monotony of his subjects, +will in great measure disappear by means of attentive study of the +poems themselves, and of other sources from which may be gathered an +understanding of the region of thought and feeling in which they move. +In proportion to our familiarity not only with Hellenic mythology and +history, but with Hellenic life and habits of thought generally, will +be our readiness and facility in seizing the drift and import of what +Pindar says, in divining what has passed through his mind: and in his +case perhaps even more than in the case of other poets, this facility +will increase indefinitely with our increasing acquaintance with his +works and with the light thrown on each part of them by the rest[1]. + +The monotony of the odes, though to some extent unquestionably and +unavoidably real, is to some extent also superficial and in appearance +only. The family of the victor, or his country, some incident of his +past, some possibility of his future life, suggest in each case some +different legendary matter, some different way of treating it, some +different application of it, general or particular, or both. Out +of such resources Pindar is inexhaustible in building up in subtly +varying forms the splendid structure of his song. + +Yet doubtless the drawbacks in reading Pindar, though they may be +largely reduced, will always in some degree exist: we shall always +wish that he was easier to construe, that his allusions to things +unfamiliar and sometimes undiscoverable to us were less frequent, that +family pride had not made it customary for him to spend so many lines +on an enumeration of prizes won elsewhere and at other times by the +victor of the occasion or by his kin. Such drawbacks can only fall +into insignificance when eclipsed by consideration of the far more +than counterbalancing attractions of the poems, of their unique and +surpassing interest, poetical, historical, and moral. + + +Of Pindar as a poet it is hard indeed to speak adequately, and +almost as hard to speak briefly, for a discussion of his poetical +characteristics once begun may wander far before even a small part +has been said of what might be. To say that to his poetry in supreme +degree belong the qualities of force, of vividness, often of +impressive weight, of a lofty style, seeming to be the expression of +a like personality, of a mastery of rhythm and metre and imaginative +diction, of a profoundly Hellenic spirit modified by an unmistakable +individuality, above all of a certain sweep and swiftness as of the +flight of an eagle's wing--to say all this would be to suggest some of +the most obvious features of these triumphal odes; and each of these +qualities, and many more requiring exacter delineation, might be +illustrated with numberless instances which even in the faint image +of a translation would furnish ample testimony[2]. But as this +introduction is intended for those who purpose reading Pindar's +poetry, or at any rate the present translation of it, for themselves, +I will leave it to them to discover for themselves the qualities which +have given Pindar his high place among poets, and will pass on to +suggest briefly his claims to interest us by reason of his place in +the history of human action and human thought. + +We know very little of Pindar's life. He was born in or about the year +B.C. 522, at the village of Kynoskephalai near Thebes. He was thus a +citizen of Thebes and seems to have always had his home there. But he +travelled among other states, many of which have been glorified by his +art. For his praise of Athens, 'bulwark of Hellas,' the city which at +Artemision 'laid the foundation of freedom,' the Thebans are said to +have fined him; but the generous Athenians paid the fine, made him +their Proxenos, and erected his statue at the public cost. For the +magnificent Sicilian princes, Hieron of Syracuse and Theron of +Akragas, not unlike the Medici in the position they held, Pindar wrote +five of the longest of his extant odes, and probably visited them in +Sicily. But he would not quit his home to be an ornament of their +courts. When asked why he did not, like Simonides, accept the +invitations of these potentates to make his home with them, he +answered that he had chosen to live his own life, and not to be the +property of another. He died at the age of 79, that is, probably, in +the year 443, twelve years before the Peloponnesian war began. Legend +said that he died in the theatre of Argos, in the arms of Theoxenos, +the boy in whose honour he wrote a Skolion of which an immortal +fragment remains to us. Other myths gathered round his name. It was +said that once when in childhood he had fallen asleep by the way 'a +bee had settled on his lips and gathered honey,' and again that +'he saw in a dream that his mouth was filled with honey and the +honeycomb;' that Pan himself learnt a poem of his and rejoiced to sing +it on the mountains; that finally, while he awaited an answer from +the oracle of Ammon, whence he had enquired what was best for man, +Persephone appeared to him in his sleep and said that she only of the +gods had had no hymn from him, but that he should make her one shortly +when he had come to her; and that he died within ten days of the +vision. + +Two several conquerors of Thebes, Pausanias of Sparta and Alexander of +Macedon, + + 'bade spare + The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower + Went to the ground.' + +At Delphi they kept with reverence his iron chair, and the priest of +Apollo cried nightly as he closed the temple, 'Let Pindar the poet go +in unto the supper of the god.' + +Thus Pindar was contemporary with an age of Greek history which +justifies the assertion of his consummate interest for the student of +Hellenic life in its prime. It was impossible that a man of his +genius and temperament should have lived through these times without +representing to us with breadth and intensity the spirit that was in +them, and there are several points in Pindar's circumstances which +make his relation to his age peculiarly interesting. We may look on +him as in some points supplementary to the great Athenian dramatists, +whose works are doubtless far the most valuable literary legacy of the +time. Perhaps however the surpassing brilliance of Athenian literature +and history has made us somewhat prone to forget the importance of +non-Athenian elements in the complex whole of Hellenic life and +thought. Athens was the eye of Hellas, nay, she had at Marathon and +Salamis made good her claim to be called the saving arm, but there +were other members not to be forgotten if we would picture to +ourselves the national body in its completeness. + +Pindar was a Boeotian, of a country not rich in literary or indeed any +kind of intellectual eminence, yet by no means to be ignored in an +estimate of the Hellenic race. Politically indeed it only rises into +pre-eminence under Epameinondas; before and afterwards Boeotian +policy under the domination of Thebes is seldom either beneficent or +glorious: it must be remembered, however, that the gallant Plataeans +also were Boeotians. The people of Boeotia seem to have had generally +an easy, rather sensually inclined nature, which accorded with their +rich country and absence of nautical and commercial enterprise and +excitement, but in their best men this disposition remains only in the +form of a genial simplicity. Pelopidas in political, and Plutarch and +Pausanias in literary history, will be allowed to be instances of +this. That the poetry which penetrated Hellenic life was not wanting +in Boeotia we have proof enough in the existence of the Sacred Band, +that goodly fellowship of friends which seems to have united what +Hallam has called the three strongest motives to enthusiastic action +that have appeared in history, patriotism, chivalric honour, and +religion. Nor is there any nobler figure in history than that of +Epameinondas. + +One fact indeed there is which must always make the thought of +Pindar's Theban citizenship painful to us, and that is the shameful +part taken by Thebes in the Persian war, when compulsion of her +exposed situation, and oligarchical cabal within her walls, drew her +into unholy alliance with the barbarian invader. Had it been otherwise +how passionately pure would Pindar's joy have uttered itself when the +'stone of Tantalos' that hung over the head of Hellas was smitten into +dust in that greatest crisis of the fortunes of humanity. He exults +nobly as it is, he does all honour to Athens, 'bulwark of Hellas,' but +the shame of his own city, his 'mother' Thebes, must have caused him a +pang as bitter as a great soul has ever borne. + +For his very calling of song-writer to all Hellenic states without +discrimination, especially when the songs he had to write were of the +class which we still possess, triumphal odes for victories in those +great games which drew to them all men of Hellenic blood at the feet +of common deities, and which with each recurring festival could even +hush the clamour of war in an imperious Truce of God--such a calling +and such associations must have cherished in him the passion for +Panhellenic brotherhood and unanimity, even had there not been much +else both within and without him to join to the same generous end. It +was the time when Panhellenic feeling was probably stronger than ever +before or after. Before, the states had been occupied in building +up their own polities independently; the Hellenic activity had been +dispersing itself centrifugally among the trans-marine colonies, +and those of Italy and Sicily seemed at one time to make it doubtful +whether the nucleus of civilization were to be there or in the +mother-country. But by the time of the Persian war the best energies +of the race had concentrated themselves between the Aegean and Ionian +seas; and the supreme danger of the war had bound the states together +against the common enemy and taught them to forget smaller differences +in the great strife between Hellene and barbarian. Yet again when that +supreme danger was past the old quarrels arose anew more deadly and +more complicated: instead of a Persian there was a Peloponnesian war, +and the Peloponnesian war in its latter stages came, by virtue of the +political principles involved, to partake much of the character of +a civil war. But the time of Pindar, of Aeschylus, of Sophocles, of +Pheidias, of Polygnotos, was that happy interval when Hellas had +beaten off the barbarian from her throat and had not yet murdered +herself. And Pindar's imagination and generosity were both kindled by +the moment; there was no room in his mind for border squabbles, for +commercial jealousies, for oligarchic or democratic envy: these things +were overridden by a sentiment of nationality wanting indeed in +many circumstances which modern nationalities deem essential to the +existence of such sentiment, and many of which are really essential to +its permanence--yet a sentiment which no other nation ever before or +since can have possessed in the peculiar lustre which it then wore in +Hellas; for no other nation has ever before or since known what it was +to stand alone immeasurably advanced at the head of the civilization +of the world. + +Pindar was of a noble family, of the house of the Aigeidai, and it is +probable that his kinsmen, or some of them, may have taken the side of +oligarchy in the often recurring dissensions at Thebes, but of this +we know nothing certain. He himself seems to have taken no part in +politics. When he speaks on the subject in his odes it is not with the +voice of a partisan. An ochlocracy is hateful to him, but if he shows +himself an 'aristocrat' it is in the literal and etymological meaning +of the word. Doubtless if Pindar had been asked where the best +servants of the state in public life were most likely to be found he +would have answered that it would be among those ancient families in +whose veins ran the blood of gods and demigods, who had spent blood +and money for the city's honour, championing her in war or in the +mimic strife of the games, who had honourable traditions to be guided +by and an honourable name to lose or save. These things were seldom +undervalued by Hellenic feeling: even in Athens, after it was already +the headquarters of the democratic principle, the noble and wealthy +families obtained, not probably without wisdom of their own in loyally +accepting a democratic position, as fair a place and prospects as +anywhere in Hellas. But that, when the noble nature, the [Greek: +aretae], which traditions of nobility ought to have secured, was +lacking, then wealth and birth were still entitled to power, this +was a doctrine repugnant utterly to Pindar's mind: nor would his +indignation slumber when he saw the rich and highborn, however gifted, +forgetting at any time that their power was a trust for the community +and using it for their own selfish profit. An 'aristocrat' after +Pindar's mind would assuredly have a far keener eye to his duties +than to his rights, would consider indeed that in his larger share of +duties lay his infinitely most precious right. + +But he 'loved that beauty should go beautifully;' personal excellence +of some kind was in his eyes essential; but on this he would fain +shed outward radiance and majesty. His imagination rejoiced in +splendour--splendour of stately palace--halls where the columns were +of marble and the entablature of wrought gold, splendour of temples of +gods where the sculptor's waxing art had brought the very deities to +dwell with man, splendour of the white-pillared cities that glittered +across the Aegean and Sicilian seas, splendour of the holy Panhellenic +games, of whirlwind chariots and the fiery grace of thoroughbreds, +of the naked shapely limbs of the athlete man and boy. On this +characteristic of Pindar it is needless to dwell, for there are not +many odes of those remaining which do not impress it on our minds. + +And it is more with him than a mere manner in poetical style. The +same defect which we feel more or less present in all poets of +antiquity--least of all perhaps in Virgil and Sophokles, but even in +them somewhat--a certain want of widely sympathetic tenderness, this +is unquestionably present in Pindar. What of this quality may have +found expression in his lost poems, especially the Dirges, we can +scarcely guess, but in his triumphal odes it hardly appears at all, +unless in the touches of tender gracefulness into which he softens +when speaking of the young. And we find this want in him mainly +because objects of pity, such as especially elicit that quality of +tenderness, are never or seldom present to Pindar's mind. He sees evil +only in the shape of some moral baseness, falsehood, envy, arrogance, +and the like, to be scathed in passing by the good man's scorn, or +else in the shape of a dark mystery of pain, to be endured by those on +whom it causelessly falls in a proud though undefiant silence. It was +not for him, as for the great tragedians, to 'purge the mind by pity +and fear,' for those passions had scarcely a place in his own mind or +in the minds of those of whom he in his high phantasy would fain have +had the world consist. And as in this point somewhat, so still more in +others, does Pindar remind us, even more than might have been expected +in a contemporary, of Aeschylus. The latter by virtue of his Athenian +nurture as well as of his own greater natural gifts reveals to us +a greater number of thoughts, and those more advanced and more +interesting than we find in Pindar, but the similarity in moral temper +and tone is very striking, as also is the way in which we see this +temper acting on their beliefs. Both hold strongly, as is the wont +of powerful minds in an age of stability as opposed to an age of +transition, to the traditions and beliefs on which the society around +them rests, but both modify these traditions and beliefs according +to the light which arises in them, and which is as much moral as +intellectual light. In so doing they are indeed in harmony with the +best instincts of the society around them, but they lead and guide +such instincts and give them shape and definiteness. In the Oresteän +trilogy of Aeschylus we have an ever-memorable assertion of the +supreme claims of human morality to human allegiance, of the eternal +truth that humanity can know no object of reverence and worship except +itself idealised, its own virtues victorious over its own vices, and +existing in the greatest perfection which it can at any given time +conceive. Somewhat the same lesson as that of the Oresteia is taught +later, with more of sweetness and harmony, but not with more force, +in the Oedipus Coloneus of Sophokles. And in Pindar we see the same +tendencies inchoate. Like Aeschylus he does by implication subordinate +to morality both politics and religion. He ignores or flatly denies +tales that bring discredit on the gods; he will only bow down to them +when they have the virtues he respects in man. Yet he, like Aeschylus +and Sophokles, does so bow down, sincerely and without hesitation, and +that poets of their temper could do so was well indeed for poetry. +By rare and happy fortune they were inspired at once by the rich and +varied presences of mythology, 'the fair humanities of old religion,' +and also by the highest aspirations of an age of moral and +intellectual advance. We do not of course always, or even often, find +the moral principles clearly and consciously expressed or consistently +supported, but we cannot but feel that they are present in the shape +of instincts, and those instincts pervading and architectonic. + +And if we allow so much of ethical enlightenment to these great +spokesmen of the Hellenic people, we cannot deny something of like +honour to the race among whom they were reared. Let us apportion our +debt of gratitude to our forerunners as it is justly due. There would +seem to be much of fallacy and of the injustice of a shallow judgment +in the contrast as popularly drawn between 'Hellenism' and 'Hebraism,' +according to which the former is spoken of as exclusively proclaiming +to the world the value of Beauty, the latter the value of +Righteousness. In this there is surely much injustice done to Hellas. +Because she taught the one, she did not therefore leave the other +untaught. It may have been for a short time, as her other greatness +was for a short time, though its effects are eternal, but for that +short time the national life, of Athens at any rate, is at least as +full of high moral feeling as that of any other people in the world. +Will not the names of Solon, of Aristeides, of Kallikratidas, of +Epameinondas, of Timoleon and many more, remind us that life could be +to the Hellene something of deeper moral import than a brilliant game, +or a garden of vivid and sweet sights and sounds where Beauty and +Knowledge entered, but Goodness was forgotten and shut out? For it +is not merely that these men, and very many more endowed with ample +portion of their spirit, were produced and reared among the race; they +were honoured and valued in a way that surely postulated the existence +of high ethical feeling in their countrymen. And even when the days +of unselfish statesmen and magnanimous cities were over, there were +philosophers whose schools were not the less filled because they +claimed a high place for righteousness in human life. To Solon and +Aristeides succeeded Socrates and Plato, to Epameinondas and Timoleon +succeeded Zeno and Epictetus. That the morality of the Hellenes was +complete on all sides, it would of course be irrational to maintain. +They had not, for instance, any more than the Hebrews, or any other +nation of antiquity, learnt to abhor slavery, though probably it +existed in a milder form at Athens than anywhere else in the old or +new world: they were more implacable in revenge and laxer in sexual +indulgence than the Christian ethics would allow in theory, though not +perhaps much more so than Christendom has shown itself in practice. +And though undoubtedly the greatest single impulse ever given to +morality came from Palestine, yet the ground which nurtured the seeds +of Christianity was as much Hellenic as Hebrew. It would be impossible +here to enter on an exhaustive comparison of the ethical capacities of +the two races, but before we pronounce hastily for the superiority of +the Hebrew there are surely some difficulties to surmount. We may +well ask, for example, Would Hellas ever have accepted as her chief +national hero such a man as David a man who in his life is conspicuous +by his crimes not less than by his brilliant gifts, and who dies with +the words of blood and perfidy on his lips, charging his son with the +last slaughterous satisfaction of his hate which he had sworn before +his God to forego? And though the great Hebrew prophets teach often +a far loftier morality than this, they cannot have been nearly so +representative of the feeling of this nation as were Aeschylus and +Sophocles and Pindar of the feeling of theirs. The Hebrews of the +prophets' age 'slew the prophets,' and left it to the slayers' +descendants to 'build their sepulchres,' and at the same time to +show their inherited character still more unmistakeably by once more +slaying the last prophet and the greatest.[3] + +In truth in the literature, the art, the life generally of Hellas in +her prime, the moral interest whenever it appears, and that is not +seldom, claims for itself the grave and preponderant attention which +it must claim if it is to appear with fit dignity. But it is not +thrust forward unseasonably or in exaggeration, nor is it placed in a +false opposition to the interests of the aesthetic instincts, which +after all shade into the moral more imperceptibly than might be +generally allowed. There must be a moral side to all societies, and +the Hellenic society, the choicest that the world has seen, the +completest, that is, at once in sensibilities and in energies, could +not but show the excellence of its sensibilities in receiving moral +impressions, the excellence of its energies in achieving moral +conduct. + +This, however, is no place to discuss at length questions in the +history of ethics. Yet it must be remembered that in the ancient world +departments of thought, and the affairs of men generally, were far +less specialized than in modern times. If the philosophy of Hellas be +the most explicit witness to her ethical development, her poetry +is the most eloquent. And scarcely at any time, scarcely even in +Aristotle, did Hellenic philosophy in any department lose most +significant traces of its poetical ancestry. But enough here if I have +succeeded in pointing out that in the great poet with whom we are +concerned there is an ethical as well as a poetical and historical +interest, supplying one more reason against neglect of his legacy of +song. + +Yet indeed even now there remains a further question which to the +mind of any one who at present labours in this field of classical +scholarship must recur persistently if not depressingly, and on which +it is natural if not necessary to say a few words. If the selection +of Pindar in particular as a Greek poet with claims to be further +popularized among Englishmen may be defended, there is still a more +general count to which all who make endeavours to attract or retain +attention to Greek literature will in these times be called upon to +plead by voices which command respect. To such pleas this is not the +place to give large room, or to discriminate in detail between the +reasonable and unreasonable elements in the attacks on a system of +education in which a preeminent position is allotted to the literature +of antiquity. While fully admitting that much time and labour are +still wasted in efforts to plant the study of ancient and especially +of Greek literature in uncongenial soil, while admitting also most +fully the claims, and the still imperfect recognition of the claims, +of physical science to a rank among the foremost in modern education, +I should yet be abundantly willing that this attempt to help in +facilitating the study of a Greek author should be looked on as +implying adhesion to the protest still sometimes raised, that in +the higher parts of a liberal education no study can claim a more +important place than the study of the history and the literature of +Hellas. The interest which belongs to these is far wider and +deeper than any mere literary interest. To the human mind the most +interesting of phenomena are and ought to be the phenomena of the +human mind, and this granted, can there be any knowledge more +desirable than the knowledge of the most vigorous and sensitive and in +some ways also the most fruitful action of human minds that the world +has known hitherto? + +But again, we are told that the age we seek thus toilsomely to +illustrate and realize is too remote to justify the attempt, that our +civilisation is of too different a type from the Hellenic, and that a +gulf of three-and-twenty centuries is too much for our sight to strain +across. But is not the Hellenic life at least less remote now to +Western Europe than it has ever been since the Northern invasions? +Though the separation in time widens does not the separation in +thought decrease? Is not one civilisation more like another than it +can be to any barbarism? And shall not this same Physical Science +herself by accustoming us to look on men in large masses at once, and +on the development of humanity as a process of infinite duration, as +a sectional growth included in universal evolution--Science, in whose +eyes a thousand years are as a watch in the night--shall she not +thereby quicken our sympathies with the most gifted race that has +appeared in our short human history, and arouse the same feeling +toward it as a family may cherish toward the memory of their best and +choicest, who has died young? + +Only let us take heed that such regret shall make us not more but +less unworthy of those noble forerunners. One symptom of the renewed +influence of antiquity on the modern world is doubtless and has been +from time to time since the Revival of Letters a tendency to selfish +and somewhat sickly theories so-called of life, where sensibility +degenerates through self-consciousness into affectation, and +efforts to appreciate fully the delightfulness of life and art are +overstrained into a wearisome literary voluptuousness, where duty has +already disappeared and the human sympathies on which duty is based +scarcely linger in a faint aesthetic form, soon to leave the would-be +exquisiteness to putrefy into the vulgarity of egoism. Such tendencies +have less in common with the Hellenic prime than with the court of +Leo the Tenth, though even that had perhaps an advantage over them as +being in some ways a more real thing. But that the Hellenic prime with +all its exquisite sensibility was deficient in recognition of a high +ideal of duty can never be believed among those who have studied it +candidly and attentively; I have endeavoured above to suggest that in +this point, take it all in all, it yields to no age or race. It would +indeed be a mistaken following of those noble servants of humanity +to draw from their memories an argument for selfish isolation or for +despair of the commonwealth of man. He who has drunk deeply of that +divine well and gazed long at the fair vision of what then was, will, +if his nature be capable of true sympathy with the various elements +of that wonderful age, turn again without bitterness to the confused +modern world, saddened but not paralysed by the comparison, grieving, +but with no querulous grief, for the certainty that those days are +done. + +1874. + + + +PREFATORY NOTE. + +The few notes appended to this translation are not intended to supply +the place of such reference to Dictionaries of Mythology, Antiquities +and Geography, as is needful to the student of Pindar who is not +already somewhat accomplished in knowledge of the customs, history +and legendary traditions of Hellas. And although it may reasonably be +supposed that the chief of these will be already known to most readers +of Pindar, yet so profusely allusive is this poet that to understand +his allusions will very often require knowledge which would not have +been derived from a study of the more commonly read Hellenic writers. + +Nor have I attempted to trace in detail the connection of the parts +in each ode which binds them into one harmonious whole with many +meanings--a connection so consummately contrived where we can trace it +that we may suppose it no less exquisite where we cannot. Study +and thought will generally suggest explanations, though these will +sometimes approve themselves differently to different minds. Too often +we must acknowledge, as elsewhere in ancient literature, that the key +is lost beyond all certain hope of recovery. + +Still less have I attempted to discuss questions of critical +scholarship. Sometimes where there are more than one plausible reading +I have signified which I adopt; once only (Ol. 2. 56.) I have ventured +on an emendation of my own. For the most part I have, as was natural, +followed the text of Böckh and Dissen. + +In the spelling of names I remain in that inconsistency which at +present attaches to most modern writers who deal with them. Olympus, +Athens, Corinth, Syracuse, and the like are naturalized among us by +long familiarity; it seems at present at least pedantic to change +them. In the case of other less familiar names I have concurred with +the desire, which seems in the main a reasonable one, that the names +of Hellenic persons and places should be reproduced, as far as +possible, without Latin mediation. + +Of the Fragments I have translated six of the longest and most +interesting. They are 289 in all, but the greater part are not longer +than a line or two, and very many even shorter. + +The odes are unequal in poetical merit, and many readers may not +unreasonably wish to have those pointed out which, in the judgement of +one acquainted with all, are among the best worth reading; though of +course the choice of individual readers will not always be the same. +To those therefore who would wish to begin with a selection, the +following may be recommended as at any rate among those of preeminent +merit: Pyth. 4, 9, 1, 10, 3; Ol. 7, 6, 2, 3, 13, 8, 1; Nem. 5, 10; +Isthm. 2, 7; all the Fragments translated. + +In the arrangement of the odes I have adhered to the traditional +order. I should much have liked to place them in what must always be +the most interesting and rational arrangement of a poet's works, +that is, in chronological order. This would have been approximately +possible, as we know the dates of the greater part of them. But +convenience of reference and of comparison with the Greek text seems +to supply a balance of reasons on the other side. Subjoined however is +a list of the odes in their probable chronological order so far as it +can be obtained. + + Pythian 10-------------B.C. 502. + " 6------------- " 494. + " 12------------- " 494 or 490. + " 7------------- " 490. + " 3------------- " 486 or 482. + Olympian 10 } ---------- " 484. + " 11 } ---------- " 484. + Isthmian 5 + Nemean 5 + Isthmian 7 ------------ " 480. + Isthmian 3 + Pythian 8-------------- " 478. + " 9-------------- " 478. + " 11-------------- " 478. + " 2-------------- " 477. + Olympian 14-------------- " 476. + " }----------------- " 476. + " }----------------- " 476. + Pythian 1 + Nemean 1--------------- " 473. + Olympian 1--------------- " 472. + " 12-------------- " 472. + Nemean 9 + Isthmian 2 + Olympian 6-------------- " 468. + Pythian 4 }------------- " 466. + " 5 } + Olympian 7-------------- " 464. + " 13-------------- " 464. + Nemean 7 + " 3 + " 4 + " 6 + " 8 + Olympian 9-------------- " 456. + Isthmian 6 + Olympian 4 }------------ " 452. + " 5 } + +The Olympic games were held once in four years, in honour of Zeus. The +prize was a wreath of wild olive. + +The Pythian games were held once in four years, in honour of Apollo. +The prize was a wreath of bay. + +The Nemean games were held once in two years, in honour of Zeus. The +prize was a wreath of wild parsley. + +The Isthmian games were held once in two years, in honour of Poseidon. +The prize was a wreath of wild parsley or of pine. + + +[Footnote 1: The importance and interest to a student in Hellenic +literature of a collateral study of whatever remains to us of Hellenic +plastic art--statues, vases, gems, and coins--can hardly be too +strongly insisted on.] + +[Footnote 2: In Mr. J.A. Symonds' 'Studies of the Greek Poets' there +is an essay on Pindar which dwells with much appreciative eloquence +upon the poets literary characteristics.] + +[Footnote 3: In thus touching on the obligations of our morality to +the Hebrew and to the Hellene respectively, I have insisted more +exclusively on the weak points of the former than I should have done +in a fuller discussion of the subject: here I am merely concerned to +question in passing what seems to be a popular one-sided estimate.] + + * * * * * + + + +OLYMPIAN ODES. + + +I. + +FOR HIERON OF SYRACUSE, + +WINNER IN THE HORSE-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode seems to owe its position at the head of Pindar's extant +works to Aristophanes the grammarian, who placed it there on account +of its being specially occupied with the glorification of the Olympic +games in comparison with others, and with the story of Pelops, who was +their founder. + +Hieron won this race B.C. 472, while at the height of his power at +Syracuse. Probably the ode was sung at Syracuse, perhaps, as has been +suggested, at a banquet. + + * * * * * + +Best is Water of all, and Gold as a flaming fire in the night shineth +eminent amid lordly wealth; but if of prizes in the games thou art +fain, O my soul, to tell, then, as for no bright star more quickening +than the sun must thou search in the void firmament by day, so neither +shall we find any games greater than the Olympic whereof to utter our +voice: for hence cometh the glorious hymn and entereth into the minds +of the skilled in song, so that they celebrate the son[1] of Kronos, +when to the rich and happy hearth of Hieron they are come; for he +wieldeth the sceptre of justice in Sicily of many flocks, culling the +choice fruits of all kinds of excellence: and with the flower of music +is he made splendid, even such strains as we sing blithely at the +table of a friend. + +Take from the peg the Dorian lute, if in any wise the glory of +Pherenikos[2] at Pisa hath swayed thy soul unto glad thoughts, when by +the banks of Alpheos he ran, and gave his body ungoaded in the +course, and brought victory to his master, the Syracusans' king, who +delighteth in horses. + +Bright is his fame in Lydian Pelops' colony[3], inhabited of a goodly +race, whose founder mighty earth-enfolding Poseidon loved, what time +from the vessel of purifying[4] Klotho took him with the bright ivory +furnishment of his shoulder. + +Verily many things are wondrous, and haply tales decked out with +cunning fables beyond the truth make false men's speech concerning +them. For Charis[5], who maketh all sweet things for mortal men, by +lending honour unto such maketh oft the unbelievable thing to be +believed; but the days that follow after are the wisest witnesses. + +Meet is it for a man that concerning gods he speak honourably; for the +reproach is less. Of thee, son of Tantalos, I will speak contrariwise +to them who have gone before me, and I will tell how when thy father +had bidden thee to that most seemly feast at his beloved Sipylos, +repaying to the gods their banquet, then did he of the Bright +Trident[6], his heart vanquished by love, snatch thee and bear thee +behind his golden steeds to the house of august Zeus in the highest, +whither again on a like errand came Ganymede in the after time. + +But when thou hadst vanished, and the men who sought thee long brought +thee not to thy mother, some one of the envious neighbours said +secretly that over water heated to boiling they had hewn asunder with +a knife thy limbs, and at the tables had shared among them and eaten +sodden fragments of thy flesh. But to me it is impossible to call one +of the blessed gods cannibal; I keep aloof; in telling ill tales is +often little gain. + +Now if any man ever had honour of the guardians of Olympus, Tantalos +was that man; but his high fortune he could not digest, and by excess +thereof won him an overwhelming woe, in that the Father hath hung +above him a mighty stone that he would fain ward from his head, and +therewithal he is fallen from joy. + +This hopeless life of endless misery he endureth with other three[7], +for that he stole from the immortals and gave to his fellows at +a feast the nectar and ambrosia, whereby the gods had made him +incorruptible. But if a man thinketh that in doing aught he shall be +hidden from God, he erreth. + +Therefore also the immortals sent back again his son to be once more +counted with the short-lived race of men. And he when toward the bloom +of his sweet youth the down began to shade his darkening cheek, took +counsel with himself speedily to take to him for his wife the noble +Hippodameia from her Pisan father's hand. + +And he came and stood upon the margin of the hoary sea, alone in the +darkness of the night, and called aloud on the deep-voiced Wielder of +the Trident; and he appeared unto him nigh at his foot. + +Then he said unto him: 'Lo now, O Poseidon, if the kind gifts of the +Cyprian goddess are anywise pleasant in thine eyes, restrain Oinomaos' +bronze spear, and send me unto Elis upon a chariot exceeding swift, +and give the victory to my hands. Thirteen lovers already hath +Oinomaos slain, and still delayeth to give his daughter in marriage. +Now a great peril alloweth not of a coward: and forasmuch as men must +die, wherefore should one sit vainly in the dark through a dull and +nameless age, and without lot in noble deeds? Not so, but I will dare +this strife: do thou give the issue I desire.' + +Thus spake he, nor were his words in vain: for the god made him a +glorious gift of a golden car and winged untiring steeds: so he +overcame Oinomaos and won the maiden for his bride. + +And he begat six sons, chieftains, whose thoughts were ever of brave +deeds: and now hath he part in honour of blood-offerings in his grave +beside Alpheos' stream, and hath a frequented tomb, whereto many +strangers resort: and from afar off he beholdeth the glory of the +Olympian games in the courses called of Pelops, where is striving +of swift feet and of strong bodies brave to labour; but he that +overcometh hath for the sake of those games a sweet tranquillity +throughout his life for evermore. + +Now the good that cometh of to-day is ever sovereign unto every man. +My part it is to crown Hieron with an equestrian strain in Aeolian +mood: and sure am I that no host among men that now are shall I ever +glorify in sounding labyrinths of song more learned in the learning of +honour and withal with more might to work thereto. A god hath guard +over thy hopes, O Hieron, and taketh care for them with a peculiar +care: and if he fail thee not, I trust that I shall again proclaim in +song a sweeter glory yet, and find thereto in words a ready way, when +to the fair-shining hill of Kronos I am come. Her strongest-wingëd +dart my Muse hath yet in store. + +Of many kinds is the greatness of men; but the highest is to be +achieved by kings. Look not thou for more than this. May it be thine +to walk loftily all thy life, and mine to be the friend of winners in +the games, winning honour for my art among Hellenes everywhere. + + +[Footnote 1: The Olympic games were sacred to Zeus.] + +[Footnote 2: The horse that won this race for Hieron.] + +[Footnote 3: Peloponnesos.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. immediately on his birth, for among the Fates +Klotho was peculiarly concerned with the beginning of man's life. +Pindar refuses to accept the legend which made Pelops' ivory shoulder +a substitute for his fleshly one eaten at Tantalos' table by the gods; +for thus the gods would have been guilty of an infamous act.] + +[Footnote 5: Goddess of Grace or Beauty. Often there are three +Charites or Graces. Pindar means here that men are prone to believe +an untrue tale for the sake of the beauty of the form in which it is +presented, but that such tales will not stand the test of time.] + +[Footnote 6: Poseidon.] + +[Footnote 7: Sisyphos, Ixion, and Tityos.] + + + +II. + +FOR THERON OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + + Theron's ancestors the Emmenidai migrated from Rhodes to Sicily and + first colonized Gela and then Akragas (the Latin Agrigentum and + Italian Girgenti). His chariot won this victory B.C. 476. + + * * * * * + +Lords of the lute[1], my songs, what god, what hero, or what man, are +we to celebrate?[2] Verily of Zeus is Pisa the abode, of Herakles the +Olympian feast was founded from the chief spoils of war, and Theron's +name must we proclaim for his victory with the four-horse-car, a +righteous and god-fearing host, the stay of Akragas, of famous sires +the flower, a saviour of the state. + +They after long toils bravely borne took by a river's side a sacred +dwelling place, and became the eye of Sicily, and a life of good luck +clave to them, bringing them wealth and honour to crown their inborn +worth. + +O son of Kronos and of Rhea, lord of Olympus' seat, and of the chief +of games and of Alpheos' ford, for joy in these my songs guard ever +graciously their native fields for their sons that shall come after +them. + +Now of deeds done whether they be right or wrong not even Time the +father of all can make undone the accomplishment, yet with happy +fortune forgetfulness may come. For by high delights an alien pain is +quelled and dieth, when the decree of God sendeth happiness to grow +aloft and widely. + +And this word is true concerning Kadmos' fair-throned daughters, whose +calamities were great, yet their sore grief fell before greater +good. Amid the Olympians long-haired Semele still liveth, albeit she +perished in the thunder's roar, and Pallas cherisheth her ever, and +Father Zeus exceedingly, and her son, the ivy-bearing god. And in the +sea too they say that to Ino, among the sea-maids of Nereus, life +incorruptible hath been ordained for evermore. + +Ay but to mortals the day of death is certain never, neither at what +time we shall see in calm the end of one of the Sun's children, the +Days, with good thitherto unfailing; now this way and now that run +currents bringing joys or toils to men. + +Thus destiny which from their fathers holdeth the happy fortune of +this race[3], together with prosperity heaven-sent bringeth ever at +some other time better reverse: from the day when Laïos was slain by +his destined son[4] who met him on the road and made fulfilment of the +oracle spoken of old at Pytho. Then swift Erinys when she saw it slew +by each other's hand his war-like sons: yet after that Polyneikes fell +Thersander[5] lived after him and won honour in the Second Strife[6] +and in the fights of war, a saviour scion to the Adrastid house. + +From him they have beginning of their race: meet is it that +Ainesidamos receive our hymn of triumph, on the lyre. For at Olympia +he himself received a prize and at Pytho, and at the Isthmus to his +brother of no less a lot did kindred Graces bring crowns for the +twelve rounds of the four-horse chariot-race. + +Victory setteth free the essayer from the struggle's griefs, yea and +the wealth that a noble nature hath made glorious bringeth power for +this and that, putting into the heart of man a deep and eager mood, a +star far seen, a light wherein a man shall trust if but[7] the holder +thereof knoweth the things that shall be, how that of all who die the +guilty souls pay penalty, for all the sins sinned in this realm +of Zeus One judgeth under earth, pronouncing sentence by unloved +constraint. + +But evenly ever in sunlight night and day an unlaborious life the good +receive, neither with violent hand vex they the earth nor the waters +of the sea, in that new world; but with the honoured of the gods, +whosoever had pleasure in keeping of oaths, they possess a tearless +life: but the other part suffer pain too dire to look upon. + +Then whosoever have been of good courage to the abiding steadfast +thrice on either side of death and have refrained their souls from +all iniquity, travel the road of Zeus unto the tower of Kronos: there +round the islands of the blest the Ocean-breezes blow, and golden +flowers are glowing, some from the land on trees of splendour, and +some the water feedeth, with wreaths whereof they entwine their hands: +so ordereth Rhadamanthos' just decree, whom at his own right hand hath +ever the father Kronos, husband of Rhea, throned above all worlds[8]. + +Peleus and Kadmos are counted of that company; and the mother of +Achilles, when her prayer had moved the heart of Zeus, bare thither +her son, even him who overthrew Hector, Troy's unbending invincible +pillar, even him who gave Kyknos to death and the Ethiop son[9] of the +Morning. + +Many swift arrows have I beneath my bended arm within my quiver, +arrows that have a voice for the wise, but for the multitude they need +interpreters. His art is true who of his nature hath knowledge; they +who have but learnt, strong in the multitude of words, are but as +crows that chatter vain things in strife against the divine bird of +Zeus. + +Come bend thy bow on the mark, O my soul--at whom again are we to +launch our shafts of honour from a friendly mind? At Akragas will I +take aim, and will proclaim and swear it with a mind of truth, that +for a hundred years no city hath brought forth a man of mind more +prone to well-doing towards friends or of more liberal mood than +Theron. + +Yet praise is overtaken of distaste, wherewith is no justice, but from +covetous men it cometh, and is fain to babble against and darken the +good man's noble deeds. + +The sea-sand none hath numbered; and the joys that Theron hath given +to others--who shall declare the tale thereof? + + +[Footnote 1: In Hellenic music the accompaniment was deemed +subordinate to the words.] + +[Footnote 2: Here are three questions and three answers.] + +[Footnote 3: The Emmenidai.] + +[Footnote 4: Oedipus.] + +[Footnote 5: Son of Polyneikes. Theron traced his descent from him.] + +[Footnote 6: The War of the Epigonoi against Thebes.] + +[Footnote 7: Reading [Greek: ei ge min echon]. The old readings were +[Greek: ei de min echon] and [Greek: ei de min echei; eu de min echon] +has also been suggested; but of these three none seems to me to be at +all satisfactory. In the reading I suggest the change is very slight, +and it makes good sense.] + +[Footnote 8: For Pindar's ideas as to a future life see especially +the fragments of his Dirges which remain to us. He seems to have been +influenced by Pythagoreanism.] + +[Footnote 9: Memnon.] + + + +III. + +FOR THERON OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode celebrates the same victory as the preceeding one. It was +sung at the feast of the Theoxenia, given by Theron in the name of +the Dioskouroi (Kastor and Polydeukes) to the other gods. Hence the +epithet _hospitable_ ([Greek: philoxeinois]) applied to the Dioskouroi +in the first line. The clan of the Emmenidai to which Theron belonged +was especially devoted to the worship of the Twins. + + * * * * * + +Tyndareus' hospitable sons and lovely-haired Helen shall I please +assuredly in doing honour to renownëd Akragas by a hymn upraised for +Theron's Olympian crown; for hereunto hath the Muse been present with +me that I should find out a fair new[1] device, fitting to feet that +move in Dorian time the Komos-voices' splendid strain. + +For crowns entwined about his hair demand from me this god-appointed +debt, that for Ainesidamos' son I join in seemly sort the lyre of +various tones with the flute's cry and ordering of words. + +And Pisa bids me speak aloud, for from her come to men songs of +divine assignment, when the just judge of games the Aitolian[2] man, +fulfilling Herakles' behests of old, hath laid upon one's hair above +his brows pale-gleaming glory of olive. + +That tree from Ister's shadowy springs did the son of Amphitryon bear +to be a memorial most glorious of Olympian triumphs, when that by his +words he had won the Hyperborean folk, who serve Apollo. In loyal +temper he besought for the precinct of Zeus, whereto all men go up, +a plant that should be a shadow of all folk in common, and withal a +crown for valorous deeds. + +For already, when the altars had been sanctified to his sire, the +midmonth Moon riding her golden car lit full the counter-flame of the +eye of Even, and just judgment of great games did he ordain, and the +fifth year's feast beside the holy steeps of Alpheos[3]. + +But no fair trees were nursed upon that place in Kronian Pelops' +glens; whereof being naked his garden seemed to him to be given over +to the keen rays of the sun. + +Then was it that his soul stirred to urge him into the land of Ister; +where Leto's horse-loving daughter[4] received him erst when he was +come from the ridged hills and winding dells of Arcady, what time his +father laid constraint upon him to go at Eurystheus' bidding to fetch +the golden-hornëd hind, which once Taÿgete vowed to her[5] of Orthion +and made a sign thereon of consecration. For in that chase he saw also +the land that lieth behind the blast of the cold North-wind: there he +halted and marvelled at the trees: and sweet desire thereof possessed +him that he might plant them at the end of the course which the +race-horses should run twelve times round. + +So now to this feast cometh he in good-will in company with the Twins +Divine, deep-girdled Leto's children. For to them he gave charge when +he ascended into Olympus to order the spectacle of the games, both the +struggle of man with man, and the driving of the nimble car. + +Me anywise my soul stirreth to declare that to the Emmenidai and to +Theron hath glory come by gift of the Tyndaridai of goodly steeds, +for that beyond all mortals they do honour to them with tables of +hospitality, keeping with pious spirit the rite of blessed gods. + +Now if Water be the Best[6], and of possessions Gold be the most +precious, so now to the furthest bound doth Theron by his fair deeds +attain, and from his own home touch the pillars of Herakles. Pathless +the things beyond, pathless alike to the unwise and the wise. Here I +will search no more; the quest were vain. + + +[Footnote 1: i. e. probably a new combination of lyre and flute to +accompany the singing.] + +[Footnote 2: When the Dorians invaded Peloponnesos one of their +leaders is said to have been Oxylos, a man of Elean descent but living +in Aitolia. As a result of the invasion he became king of Elis; +and the judge at the Olympic games seems to have been considered a +descendant of him or of some Aitolian who came with him.] + +[Footnote 3: The Olympic games were held in the middle of the month +Hekatombaion, when the moon was full. It is here implied that Herakles +wished to institute them when the moon was full, as that was a season +of good luck.] + +[Footnote 4: Artemis.] + +[Footnote 5: Artemis.] + +[Footnote 6: See Ol. i. 1.] + + + +IV. + +FOR PSAUMIS OF KAMARINA, + +WINNER IN THE MULE-CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +Psaumis won this race in the year 452; therefore this ode and its +companion, the next following, are the latest work of Pindar possessed +by us to which we can assign a date. + +The mule-chariot-race was introduced at Olympia B.C. 500 and abolished +B.C. 444, according to Pausanias. + +This ode seems to have been written immediately on Psaumis' victory, +to be sung the same night beneath the moon by the company of friends +who escorted the winner to return thanks at the altar of Zeus. + + * * * * * + +Hurler of thunderbolts unfaltering, the most high Zeus, for that thy +chosen hour recurrent hath sent me with a song set to the music of +the subtle lute for a witness to the greatest of all games--and +when friends have good hap the good are glad forthwith at the sweet +tidings--now therefore, O son of Kronos, unto whom Ætna belongeth, +the wind-beaten burden that crusheth fierce Typhon's hundred heads, +receive thou this band of triumph for an Olympian victory won by the +Graces' aid, a most enduring light of far-prevailing valorous deeds. + +For the sake of Psaumis' mule-chariot it draweth nigh to +thee--Psaumis, who, crowned with Pisan olive, hasteth to raise up +glory for Kamarina. May God be gracious to our prayers for what shall +be! For I praise him as a man most zealous in the rearing of horses, +and delighting in ever-open hospitality, and bent on peace and on the +welfare of his city, with guileless soul. + +With no lie will I tinge my tale: trial is the test of men; this +it was that delivered the son of Klymenos from the Lemnian women's +slight. He, when he had won the foot-race in bronze armour[1], spake +thus to Hypsipyle as he went to receive his crown: 'For fleetness such +am I: hands have I and a heart to match. So also on young men grow +oftentimes grey hairs even before the natural season of man's +life[2].' + + +[Footnote 1: See introduction to Pythian ix.] + +[Footnote 2: We may suppose that Psaumis probably had grey hair.] + + + +V. + +FOR PSAUMIS OF KAMARINA, + +WINNER IN THE MULE-CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + + This ode is for the same victory as the foregoing one, but was to be + sung after Psaumis' return home, at Kamarina, and probably at, or in + procession to, a temple of either Pallas, Zeus, or the tutelary nymph + Kamarina, all of whom are invoked. The city is called 'new-peopled' + ([Greek: neoikos]) because it had been destroyed by Gelo, and was only + restored B.C. 461, nine years before this victory, the first which had + been won by any citizen since its restoration. + + * * * * * + +Of lofty deeds and crowns Olympian this sweet delight, O daughter[1] +of Ocean, with glad heart receive, the gift of Psaumis and his +untiring car. He to make great thy city, Kamarina, with its fostered +folk, hath honoured six twin altars in great feasts of the gods with +sacrifices of oxen and five-day contests of games, with chariots of +horses and of mules and with the steed of single frontlet[2]. + +To thee hath the victor consecrated the proud token[3] of his fame, +and hath glorified by the herald's voice his father Akron and this +new-peopled town. + +Also, returning from the gracious dwelling place of Oinomaos and +Pelops, thy sacred grove, O city-guarding Pallas, doth he sing, and +the river Oanis, and the lake of his native land, and the sacred +channels wherethrough doth Hipparis give water to the people, and +build[4] with speed a lofty forest of stedfast dwellings, bringing +from perplexity to the light this commonwealth of citizens. + +Now ever in fair deeds must toil and cost contend toward an +accomplishment hidden in perilous chance: yet if men have good hap +therein, even to their own townsfolk is their wisdom approved. + +O guardian Zeus that sittest above the clouds, that inhabitest the +Kronian hill and honourest the broad river of Alpheos and Ida's holy +cave, suppliant to thee I come, making my cry on Lydian flutes, to +pray thee that thou wilt glorify this city with brave men's renown. + +For thee also, Olympian victor, I pray that, joying in the steeds +Poseidon[5] gave, thou mayest bear with thee to the end a serene old +age, and may thy sons, O Psaumis, be at thy side. If a man cherish his +wealth to sound ends, having a sufficiency of goods and adding thereto +fair repute, let him not seek to become a god. + + +[Footnote 1: Kamarina.] + +[Footnote 2: I. e. probably with horses ridden, not driven.] + +[Footnote 3: His Olympian crown of wild olive.] + +[Footnote 4: This seems to mean that the new city was built with wood +brought down the stream of the river Hipparis.] + +[Footnote 5: When Poseidon and Athene were contending for the +protectorate of Athens, Poseidon brought the first horse up out of the +earth, Athene the first olive-tree.] + + + +VI. + +FOR AGESIAS OF SYRACUSE, + +WINNER IN THE MULE-CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + One of the Iamid clan, to which belonged hereditary priestly functions + in Arcadia and at Olympia, had come with the first colonists to Syracuse, + and from him the present victor Agesias was descended. Thus + the ode is chiefly concerned with the story of his ancestor Iamos. + Agesias was a citizen of Stymphalos in Arcadia, as well as of Syracuse, + where he lived, and the ode was sung by a chorus in Stymphalos, + B.C. 468. + + * * * * * + +Golden pillars will we set up in the porch of the house of our song, +as in a stately palace-hall; for it beseemeth that in the fore-front +of the work the entablature shoot far its splendour. + +Now if one be an Olympian conqueror and treasurer to the prophetic +altar of Zeus at Pisa, and joint founder[1] of glorious Syracuse, +shall such an one hide him from hymns of praise, if his lot be among +citizens who hear without envy the desired sounds of song? For in a +sandal of such sort let the son of Sostratos know that his fortunate +foot is set. Deeds of no risk are honourless whether done among men or +among hollow ships; but if a noble deed be wrought with labour, many +make mention thereof. + +For thee, Agesias, is that praise prepared which justly and openly +Adrastos spake of old concerning the seer Amphiaraos the son of +Oikleus, when the earth had swallowed him and his shining steeds. For +afterward, when on seven pyres dead men were burnt, the son[2] of +Talaos spake on this wise: 'I seek the eye of my host, him who was +alike a good seer and a good fighter with the spear.' + +This praise also belongeth to the Syracusan who is lord of this +triumphal song. I who am no friend of strife or wrongful quarrel will +bear him this witness even with a solemn oath, and the sweet voice of +the Muses shall not say me nay. + +O Phintis[3] yoke me now with all speed the strength of thy mules that +on the clear highway we may set our car, that I may go up to the far +beginning of this race. For those mules know well to lead the way in +this course as in others, who at Olympia have won crowns: it behoveth +them that we throw open to them the gates of song, for to Pitane by +Eurotas' stream must I begone betimes to-day. + +Now Pitane[4], they say, lay with Poseidon the son of Kronos and +bare the child Euadne with tresses iris-dark. The fruit of her body +unwedded she hid by her robe's folds, and in the month of her delivery +she sent her handmaids and bade them give the child to the hero son[5] +of Elatos to rear, who was lord of the men of Arcady who dwelt at +Phaisane, and had for his lot Alpheos to dwell beside. + +There was the child Euadne nurtured, and by Apollo's side she first +knew the joys of Aphrodite. + +But she might not always hide from Aipytos the seed of the god within +her; and he in his heart struggling with bitter strain against a grief +too great for speech betook him to Pytho that he might ask of the +oracle concerning the intolerable woe. + +But she beneath a thicket's shade put from her silver pitcher and her +girdle of scarlet web, and she brought forth a boy in whom was the +spirit of God. By her side the gold-haired god set kindly Eleutho and +the Fates, and from her womb in easy travail came forth Iamos to the +light. Him in her anguish she left upon the ground, but by the counsel +of gods two bright-eyed serpents nursed and fed him with the harmless +venom[6] of the bee. + +But when the king came back from rocky Delphi in his chariot he asked +all who were in the house concerning the child whom Euadne had born; +for he said that the sire whereof he was begotten was Phoibos, and +that he should be a prophet unto the people of the land excelling all +mortal men, and that his seed should be for ever. + +Such was his tale, but they answered that they had neither seen nor +heard of him, though he was now born five days. For he was hidden +among rushes in an impenetrable brake, his tender body all suffused +with golden and deep purple gleams of iris flowers; wherefore his +mother prophesied saying that by this holy name[7] of immortality he +should be called throughout all time. + +But when he had come to the ripeness of golden-crowned sweet youth, +he went down into the middle of Alpheos and called on wide-ruling +Poseidon his grandsire, and on the guardian of god-built Delos, the +bearer of the bow[8], praying that honour might be upon his head for +the rearing of a people; and he stood beneath the heavens, and it was +night. + +Then the infallible Voice of his father answered and said unto him: +Arise, my son, and come hither, following my voice, into a place where +all men shall meet together. + +So they came to the steep rock of lofty Kronion; there the god gave +him a twofold treasure of prophecy, that for the time then being he +should hearken to his voice that cannot lie; but when Herakles of +valorous counsels, the sacred scion of the Alkeidai, should have come, +and should have founded a multitudinous feast and the chief ordinance +of games[9], then again on the summit of the altar of Zeus he bade him +establish yet another oracle, that thenceforth the race of Iamidai +should be glorious among Hellenes. + +Good luck abode with them; for that they know the worth of valour they +are entered on a glorious road. + +The matter proveth the man, but from the envious calumny ever +threateneth them on whom, as they drive foremost in the twelfth[10] +round of the course, Charis sheddeth blushing beauty to win them fame +more fair. + +Now if in very truth, Agesias, thy mother's ancestors dwelling by the +borders of Kyllene did piously and oft offer up prayer and sacrifice +to Hermes, herald of the gods, who hath to his keeping the strife and +appointment of games, and doeth honour to Arcadia the nurse of goodly +men,--then surely he, O son of Sostratos, with his loud-thundering +sire, is the accomplisher of this thy bliss. + +Methinks I have upon my tongue a whetstone of loud sounding speech, +which to harmonious breath constraineth me nothing loth. Mother of my +mother was Stymphalian Metope[11] of fair flowers, for she bare Thebe +the charioteer, whose pleasant fountain I will drink, while I weave +for warriors the changes of my song. + +Now rouse thy fellows, Ainëas, first to proclaim the name of +maiden[12] Hera, and next to know for sure whether we are escaped from +the ancient reproach that spake truly of Boeotian swine. For thou art +a true messenger, a writing-tally[13] of the Muses goodly-haired, a +bowl wherein to mix high-sounding songs. + +And bid them make mention of Syracuse and of Ortygia, which Hieron +ruleth with righteous sceptre devising true counsels, and doth honour +to Demeter whose footsteps make red the corn, and to the feast of her +daughter with white steeds, and to the might of Aetnaean Zeus. Also he +is well known of the sweet voices of the song and lute. Let not the +on-coming time break his good fortune. And with joyful welcome may +he receive this triumphal song, which travelleth from home to home, +leaving Stymphalos' walls, the mother-city of Arcadia, rich in flocks. + +Good in a stormy night are two anchors let fall from a swift ship. May +friendly gods grant to both peoples[14] an illustrious lot: and thou +O lord and ruler of the sea, husband of Amphitrite of the golden +distaff, grant this my friend straight voyage and unharmed, and bless +the joyous flower of my song. + + +[Footnote 1: Agesias is so called because an Iamid ancestor of his had +gone with Archias when he planted the Corinthian colony of Syracuse.] + +[Footnote 2: Adrastos.] + +[Footnote 3: Phintis was Agesias' charioteer.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. the nymph who gave her name to the place.] + +[Footnote 5: Aipytos.] + +[Footnote 6: Honey.] + +[Footnote 7: Iamos, from [Greek: ion]: the iris was considered a +symbol of immortality.] + +[Footnote 8: His father, Apollo.] + +[Footnote 9: At Olympia.] + +[Footnote 10: The course in the chariot-race was twelve times round +the Hippodrome.] + +[Footnote 11: The nymph of the lake Metopë near Stymphalos.] + +[Footnote 12: Hera was worshipped in her prenuptial as well as her +postnuptial state.] + +[Footnote 13: It was a custom between correspondents who wished for +secrecy to have duplicate [Greek: skutalai], or letter-sticks. The +writer wrote on a roll wrapt round his stick, and the receiver of the +letter read it wrapt similarly on his. And thus Aineas the bearer of +this ode would teach the chorus of Stymphalians how rightly to sing +and understand it. See [Greek: skutalae] in Dict. Ant.] + +[Footnote 14: I. e. of Stymphalos and Syracuse. Agesias was a citizen +of both, and thus his two homes are compared to two anchors.] + + + +VII. + +FOR DIAGORAS OF RHODES, + +WINNER IN THE BOXING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + + Rhodes is said to have been colonised at the time of the Dorian + migrations by Argive Dorians from Epidauros, who were Herakleidai of + of the family of Tlepolemos. They founded a confederacy of three + cities, Kameiros, Lindos, and Ialysos. Ialysos was then ruled by + the dynasty of the Eratidai. Their kingly power had now been extinct + two hundred years, but the family was still pre-eminent in the state. + Of this family was Diagoras, and probably the ode was sung at a + family festival; but it commemorates the glories of the island generally. + The Rhodians caused it to be engraved in letters of gold in the + temple of Athene at Lindos. + + There is a noteworthy incident of the Peloponnesian war which should + be remembered in connection with this ode. In the year 406, fifty-eight + years after this victory of Diagoras, during the final and most + embittering agony of Athens, one Dorieus, a son of Diagoras, and himself + a famous athlete, was captured by the Athenians in a sea-fight. + It was then the custom either to release prisoners of war for a ransom + or else to put them to death. The Athenians asked no ransom of + Dorieus, but set him free on the spot. + + * * * * * + +As when from a wealthy hand one lifting a cup, made glad within with +the dew of the vine, maketh gift thereof to a youth his daughter's +spouse, a largess of the feast from home to home, an all-golden +choicest treasure, that the banquet may have grace, and that he may +glorify his kin; and therewith he maketh him envied in the eyes of the +friends around him for a wedlock wherein hearts are wedded-- + +So also I, my liquid nectar sending, the Muses' gift, the sweet fruit +of my soul, to men that are winners in the games at Pytho or Olympia +make holy offering. Happy is he whom good report encompasseth; now +on one man, now on another doth the Grace that quickeneth look +favourably, and tune for him the lyre and the pipe's stops of music +manifold. + +Thus to the sound of the twain am I come with Diagoras sailing home, +to sing the sea-girt Rhodes, child of Aphrodite and bride of Helios, +that to a mighty and fair-fighting man, who by Alpheos' stream and by +Kastalia's hath won him crowns, I may for his boxing make award of +glory, and to his father Demegetos in whom Justice hath her delight, +dwellers in the isle of three cities with an Argive host, nigh to a +promontory of spacious Asia. + +Fain would I truly tell from the beginning from Tlepolemos the message +of my word, the common right of this puissant seed of Herakles. For +on the father's side they claim from Zeus, and on the mother's from +Astydameia, sons of Amyntor. + +Now round the minds of men hang follies unnumbered--this is the +unachievable thing, to find what shall be best hap for a man both +presently and also at the last. Yea for the very founder[1] of this +country once on a time struck with his staff of tough wild-olive-wood +Alkmene's bastard brother Likymnios in Tiryns as he came forth from +Midea's chamber, and slew him in the kindling of his wrath. So even +the wise man's feet are turned astray by tumult of the soul. + +Then he came to enquire of the oracle of God. And he of the golden +hair from his sweet-incensed shrine spake unto him of a sailing of +ships that should be from the shore of Lerna unto a pasture ringed +with sea, where sometime the great king of gods rained on the +city golden snow, what time by Hephaistos' handicraft beneath the +bronze-wrought axe from the crown of her father's head Athene leapt to +light and cried aloud with an exceeding cry; and Heaven trembled at +her coming, and Earth, the Mother. + +Then also the god who giveth light to men, Hyperion, bade his beloved +sons see that they guard the payment of the debt, that they should +build first for the goddess an altar in the sight of all men, and +laying thereon a holy offering they should make glad the hearts of +the father and of his daughter of the sounding spear. Now Reverence, +Forethought's child, putteth valour and the joy of battle into the +hearts of men; yet withal there cometh upon them bafflingly the cloud +of forgetfulness and maketh the mind to swerve from the straight path +of action. For they though they had brands burning yet kindled not the +seed of flame, but with fireless rites they made a grove on the hill +of the citadel. For them Zeus brought a yellow cloud into the sky and +rained much gold upon the land; and Glaukopis herself gave them to +excel the dwellers upon earth in every art of handicraft. For on their +roads ran the semblances of beasts and creeping things: whereof they +have great glory, for to him that hath knowledge the subtlety that is +without deceit[2] is the greater altogether. + +Now the ancient story of men saith that when Zeus and the other gods +made division of the earth among them, not yet was island Rhodes +apparent in the open sea, but in the briny depths lay hid. And for +that Helios was otherwhere, none drew a lot for him; so they left him +portionless of land, that holy god. And when he spake thereof Zeus +would cast lots afresh; but he suffered him not, for that he said that +beneath the hoary sea he saw a certain land waxing from its root in +earth, that should bring forth food for many men, and rejoice in +flocks. And straightway he bade her of the golden fillet, Lachesis, to +stretch her hands on high, nor violate the gods' great oath, but with +the son of Kronos promise him that the isle sent up to the light of +heaven should be thenceforth a title of himself alone. + +And in the end of the matter his speech had fulfilment; there sprang +up from the watery main an island, and the father who begetteth +the keen rays of day hath the dominion thereof, even the lord of +fire-breathing steeds. There sometime having lain with Rhodos he begat +seven sons, who had of him minds wiser than any among the men of old; +and one begat Kameiros, and Ialysos his eldest, and Lindos: and they +held each apart their shares of cities, making threefold division of +their father's land, and these men call their dwelling-places. There +is a sweet amends for his piteous ill-hap ordained for Tlepolemos +leader of the Tirynthians at the beginning, as for a god, even the +leading thither of sheep for a savoury burnt-offering, and the award +of honour in games[3]. + +Of garlands from these games hath Diagoras twice won him crowns, and +four times he had good luck at famous Isthmos and twice following +at Nemea, and twice at rocky Athens. And at Argos the bronze shield +knoweth him, and the deeds of Arcadia and of Thebes and the yearly +games Boeotian, and Pellene and Aigina where six times he won; and the +pillar of stone at Megara hath the same tale to tell. + +But do thou, O Father Zeus, who holdest sway on the mountain-ridges of +Atabyrios glorify the accustomed Olympian winner's hymn, and the man +who hath done valiantly with his fists: give him honour at the hands +of citizens and of strangers; for he walketh in the straight way that +abhorreth insolence, having learnt well the lessons his true soul hath +taught him, which hath come to him from his noble sires. Darken not +thou the light of one who springeth from the same stock of Kallianax. +Surely with the joys of Eratidai the whole city maketh mirth. But the +varying breezes even at the same point of time speed each upon their +various ways. + + +[Footnote 1: Tlepolemos.] + +[Footnote 2: That is, probably, without magic, or the pretence of +being anything but machines. This is considered an allusion to the +Telchines who lived before the Heliadai in Rhodes, and were magicians +as well as craftsmen. For illustrations of Rhodian art at various +times the British Museum may be consulted, which is particularly rich +in vases from Kameiros and Ialysos.] + +[Footnote 3: That is, he presides over the celebration of games, as +tutelar hero of the island.] + + + +VIII. + +FOR ALKIMEDON OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE WRESTLING-MATCH OF BOYS. + + * * * * * + +The date of this victory is B.C. 460. Long as the ode is, it would +seem however to have been written, like the fourth Olympian, to be +sung in the procession to the altar of Zeus on the night of the +victory. + +Of the forty-four odes remaining to us no less than eleven are in +honour of winners from Aigina. + + * * * * * + +O mother of gold-crowned contests, Olympia, queen of truth; where men +that are diviners observing burnt-offerings make trial of Zeus the +wielder of white lightnings, whether he hath any word concerning +men who seek in their hearts to attain unto great prowess and a +breathing-space from toil; for it is given in answer to the reverent +prayers of men--do thou, O tree-clad precinct of Pisa by Alpheos, +receive this triumph and the carrying of the crown. + +Great is his glory ever on whom the splendour of thy honour waiteth. +Yet this good cometh to one, that to another, and many are the roads +to happy life by the grace of gods. + +Thee, O Timosthenes[1], and thy brother hath Destiny assigned to Zeus +the guardian of your house, even to him who hath made thee glorious at +Nemea, and Alkimedon by the hill of Kronos a winner in Olympic games. + +Now the boy was fair to look upon, neither shamed he by his deeds his +beauty, but in the wrestling match victorious made proclamation that +his country was Aigina of long oars, where saviour Themis who sitteth +in judgment by Zeus the stranger's succour is honoured more than any +elsewhere among men[2]. + +For in a matter mighty and bearing many ways to judge with unswayed +mind and suitably, this is a hard essay, yet hath some ordinance of +immortals given this sea-defended land to be to strangers out of every +clime a pillar built of God. May coming time not weary of this work. + +To a Dorian folk was the land given in trust from Aiakos, even the man +whom Leto's son and far-ruling Poseidon, when they would make a crown +for Ilion, called to work with them at the wall, for that it was +destined that at the uprising of wars in city-wasting fights it should +breathe forth fierce smoke. + +Now when it was new-built three dragons fiery-eyed leapt at the +rampart: two fell and perished in despair; but the third sprang in +with a war-cry[3]. + +Then Apollo pondering, the sign spake straightway unto Aiakos by his +side: 'Hero, where thy hands have wrought is Pergamos taken: thus +saith this sign, sent of the son of Kronos, loud-thundering Zeus. And +that not without thy seed; but with the first and fourth it shall be +subdued'[4]. + +Thus plainly spoke the god, and away to Xanthos and the Amazons of +goodly steeds and to Ister urged his car. + +And the Trident-wielder for Isthmos over seas harnessed his swift +chariot, and hither[5] first he bare with him Aiakos behind the golden +mares, and so on unto the mount of Corinth, to behold his feast of +fame. + +Now shall there never among men be aught that pleaseth all alike. If +I for Melesias[6] raise up glory in my song of his boys, let not envy +cast at me her cruel stone. Nay but at Nemea too will I tell of honour +of like kind with this, and of another ensuing thereon, won in the +pankration of men. + +Verily to teach is easier to him that knoweth: it is folly if one hath +not first learnt, for without trial the mind wavereth. And beyond all +others can Melesias declare all works on that wise, what method shall +advance a man who from the sacred games may win the longed-for glory. + +Now for the thirtieth time is honour gained for him by the victory of +Alkimedon, who by God's grace, nor failing himself in prowess, hath +put off from him upon the bodies of four striplings the loathed return +ungreeted of fair speech, and the path obscure[7]; and in his father's +father he hath breathed new vigour to wrestle with old age. A man that +hath done honourable deeds taketh no thought of death. + +But I must needs arouse memory, and tell of the glory of their hands +that gave victory to the Blepsiad clan, to whom this is now the sixth +crown that hath come from the wreathed games to bind their brows. + +Even the dead have their share when paid them with due rites, and +the grace of kinsmen's honour the dust concealeth not. From Hermes' +daughter Fame shall Iphion[8] hear and tell to Kallimachos this lustre +of Olympic glory, which Zeus hath granted to this house. Honour upon +honour may he vouchsafe unto it, and shield it from sore disease[9]. I +pray that for the share of glory fallen to them he raise against them +no contrary discontent, but granting them a life unharmed may glorify +them and their commonwealth. + + +[Footnote 1: Alkimedon's brother. He had won a victory at the Nemean +games.] + +[Footnote 2: Aigina had a high commercial reputation, and strangers +were equitably dealt with in her courts.] + +[Footnote 3: The two first dragons typify the Aiakids, Aias and +Achilles, who failed to enter Troy, the third typifies Achilles' son, +Neoptolemos, who succeeded.] + +[Footnote 4: Aiakos' son, Telamon, was with Herakles when he took +Troy: his great-grandson Neoptolemos was in the Wooden Horse.] + +[Footnote 5: To Aigina.] + +[Footnote 6: Alkimedon's trainer.] + +[Footnote 7: I. e. Alkimedon has escaped the disagreeable +circumstances of defeat and transferred them to the four opponents +against whom he was matched in four successive ties.] + +[Footnote 8: Iphion seems to have been the father and Kallimachos the +uncle of Alkimedon.] + +[Footnote 9: Perhaps Iphion and Kallimachos died of some severe +illness.] + + + +IX. + +FOR EPHARMOSTOS OF OPOUS, + +WINNER IN THE WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is uncertain. Its last line seems to imply that +it was sung at a banquet at Opous, after crowning the altar of Aias +Oileus, tutelar hero of the Lokrians. From the beginning we gather +that on the night of the victory at Olympia Epharmostos' friends had +sung in his honour the conventional triple strain of Archilochos-- + + [Greek: (o kallinike chair' anax Herakleaes + autos te k' Iolaos, aichmaeta duo. + taenella kallinike)] + +to which perhaps some slight additions had been made, but not by +Pindar. + + * * * * * + +The strain of Archilochos sung without music at Olympia, the triple +resonant psalm of victory, sufficed to lead to the hill of Kronos +Epharmostos triumphing with his comrade friends: but now with darts of +other sort, shot from the Muses' far-delivering bow, praise Zeus of +the red lightning, and Elis' holy headland, which on a time Pelops the +Lydian hero chose to be Hippodameia's goodly dower. + +And shoot a feathered arrow of sweet song Pythoward, for thy words +shall not fall to the ground when thou tunest the throbbing lyre +to the praise of the wrestlings of a man from famous Opous, and +celebratest her and her son. For Themis and her noble daughter +Eunomia the Preserver have made her their own, and she flourisheth in +excellent deeds both at Kastalia and beside Alpheos' stream: whence +come the choicest of all crowns to glorify the mother city of +Lokrians, the city of beautiful trees. + +I, to illuminate the city of my friends with eager blaze of song, +swifter than high-bred steed or winged ship will send everywhere these +tidings, so be it that my hand is blessed at all in labouring in the +choice garden of the Graces; for they give all pleasant things to men. + +By fate divine receive men also valour and wisdom: how else[1] might +the hands of Herakles have wielded his club against the trident, when +at Pylos Poseidon took his stand and prest hard on him, ay, and there +prest him hard embattled Phoibos with his silver bow, neither would +Hades keep his staff unraised, wherewith he leadeth down to ways +beneath the hollow earth the bodies of men that die? + +O my mouth, fling this tale from thee, for to speak evil of gods is +a hateful wisdom, and loud and unmeasured words strike a note that +trembleth upon madness. Of such things talk thou not; leave war of +immortals and all strife aside; and bring thy words to the city of +Protogeneia, where by decree of Zeus of the bickering lightning-flash +Pyrrha and Deukalion coming down from Parnassos first fixed their +home, and without bed of marriage made out of stones a race to be one +folk: and hence cometh the name of peoples[2]. Awake for them the +clear-toned gale of song, and if old wine be best, yet among songs +prefer the newer flowers. + +Truly men say that once a mighty water swept over the dark earth, but +by the craft of Zeus an ebb suddenly drew off the flood. From these +first men came anciently your ancestors of the brazen shields, sons of +the women of the stock of Iapetos and of the mighty Kronidai, Kings +that dwelt in the land continually; until the Olympian Lord caught up +the daughter[3] of Opöeis from the land of the Epeians, and lay with +her in a silent place among the ridges of Mainalos; and afterward +brought her unto Lokros, that age might not bring him[4] low beneath +the burden of childlessness. But the wife bare within her the seed of +the Mightiest, and the hero saw the bastard born and rejoiced, and +called him by the name of his mother's father, and he became a man +preeminent in beauty and great deeds: and his father gave unto him a +city and a people to rule over. + +Then there came unto him strangers, from Argos and from Thebes, and +from Arcadia others, and from Pisa. But the son of Aktor and Aigina, +Menoitios, he honoured above all settlers, him whose son[5] went with +the Atreidai to the plain of Teuthras and stood alone beside Achilles, +when Telephos had turned the valiant Danaoi to flight, and drove them +into the sterns of their sea-ships; so proved he to them that had +understanding that Patroklos' soul was strong. And thenceforward the +son of Thetis persuaded him that he should never in murderous battle +take his post far from his friend's conquering spear. + +Fit speech may I find for my journey in the Muses' car; and let me +therewith have daring and powers of ample scope. To back the prowess +of a friend I came, when Lampromachos won his Isthmian crown, when on +the same day both he and his brother overcame. And afterward at the +gates[6] of Corinth two triumphs again befell Epharmostos, and more in +the valleys of Nemea. At Argos he triumphed over men, as over boys +at Athens. And I might tell how at Marathon he stole from among the +beardless and confronted the full-grown for the prize of silver +vessels, how without a fall he threw his men with swift and cunning +shock, and how loud the shouting pealed when round the ring he ran, +in the beauty of his youth and his fair form and fresh from fairest +deeds. + +Also before the Parrhasian host was he glorified, at the assembly of +Lykaian Zeus, and again when at Pellene he bare away a warm antidote +of cold winds[7]. And the tomb of Iolaos, and Eleusis by the sea, are +just witnesses to his honours. + +The natural is ever best: yet many men by learning of prowess essay to +achieve fame. The thing done without God is better kept in silence. +For some ways lead further than do others, but one practice will not +train us all alike. Skill of all kinds is hard to attain unto: but +when thou bringest forth this prize, proclaim aloud with a good +courage that by fate divine this man at least was born deft-handed, +nimble-limbed, with the light of valour in his eyes, and that now +being victorious he hath crowned at the feast Oilean Alas' altar. + + +[Footnote 1: This is the common interpretation, implying that Herakles +in contending with the gods here mentioned must have been helped by +other gods. But perhaps it might also be translated 'therefore how +could the hands, &c.,' meaning that since valour, as has just been +said, comes from a divine source, it could not be used against gods, +and that thus the story ought to be rejected.] + +[Footnote 2: Perhaps the story of the stones arose from the like sound +of [Greek: Laos] and [Greek: Laas], words here regarded in the inverse +relation to each other.] + +[Footnote 3: Protogeneia.] + +[Footnote 4: Lokros.] + +[Footnote 5: Patroklos.] + +[Footnote 6: The Isthmus, the gate between the two seas.] + +[Footnote 7: A cloak, the prize.] + + + +X. + +FOR AGESIDAMOS OF EPIZEPHYRIAN LOKRIS, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' BOXING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + + This ode bears somewhat the same relation to the next that the fourth + does to the fifth. It was to be sung at Olympia on the night after + the victory, and Pindar promises the boy to write a longer one for + the celebration of his victory in his Italian home. The date is + B.C. 484. + + * * * * * + +Sometimes have men most need of winds, sometimes of showered waters of +the firmament, the children of the cloud. + +But when through his labour one fareth well, then are due honey-voiced +songs, be they even a prelude to words that shall come after, a pledge +confirmed by oath in honour of high excellence. + +Ample is the glory stored for Olympian winners: thereof my shepherd +tongue is fain to keep some part in fold. But only by the help of God +is wisdom[1] kept ever blooming in the soul. + +Son of Archestratos, Agesidamos, know certainly that for thy boxing I +will lay a glory of sweet strains upon thy crown of golden[2] olive, +and will have in remembrance the race of the Lokrians' colony in the West. + +There do ye, O Muses, join in the song of triumph: I pledge my word +that to no stranger-banishing folk shall ye come, nor unacquainted +with things noble, but of the highest in arts and valiant with the +spear. For neither tawny fox nor roaring lion may change his native +temper. + +[Footnote 1: Perhaps [Greek: sophos] (which means often rather clever +or skilful than wise) has here the special reference to poetic skill, +which it often has in Pindar.] + +[Footnote 2: Golden here means supremely excellent, as in the first +line of the eighth Olympian.] + + + +XI. + +FOR AGESIDAMOS OF EPIZEPHYRIAN LOKRIS, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' BOXING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + + It would seem by his own confession that Pindar did not remember till + long afterwards the promise he made to Agesidamos in the last ode. + We do not know how long afterwards this was written, but it must + have been too late to greet the winner on his arrival in Italy; probably + it was to be sung at the anniversary or some memorial celebration + of his victory. + + * * * * * + +Read me the name of the Olympic winner Archestratos' son that I may +know where it is written upon my heart: for I had forgotten that I +owed him a sweet strain. + +But do thou, O Muse, and thou Truth, daughter of Zeus, put forth your +hands and keep from me the reproach of having wronged a friend by +breaking my pledged word. For from afar hath overtaken me the time +that was then yet to come, and hath shamed my deep debt. + +Nevertheless from that sore reproach I may be delivered by payment +with usury: behold how[1] the rushing wave sweepeth down the rolling +shingle, and how we also will render for our friend's honour a tribute +to him and to his people. + +Truth inhabiteth the city of the Lokrians of the West, and Kalliope +they hold in honour and mailëd Ares; yea even conquering Herakles was +foiled by that Kykneän combat[2]. + +Now let Agesidamos, winner in the boxing at Olympia, so render thanks +to Ilas[3] as Patroklos of old to Achilles. If one be born with +excellent gifts, then may another who sharpeneth his natural edge +speed him, God helping, to an exceeding weight of glory. Without toil +there have triumphed a very few. + +Of that light in the life of a man before all other deeds, that first +of contests, the ordinances of Zeus[4] have stirred me to sing, even +the games which by the ancient tomb of Pelops the mighty Herakles +founded, after that he slew Kleatos, Poseidon's goodly son, and slew +also Eurytos, that he might wrest from tyrannous Augeas against his +will reward for service done[5]. + +Lying in ambush beneath Kleonai did Herakles overcome them on the +road, for that formerly these same violent sons of Molos made havoc of +his own Tirynthian folk by hiding in the valleys of Elis. And not long +after the guest-betraying king of the Epeans saw his rich native land, +his own city, beneath fierce fire and iron blows sink down into the +deep moat of calamity. Of strife against stronger powers it is hard +to be rid. Likewise Augeas last of all in his perplexity fell into +captivity and escaped not precipitate death. + +Then the mighty son of Zeus having gathered together all his host at +Pisa, and all the booty, measured a sacred grove for his sovereign +Father; and having fenced round the Altis he marked the bounds thereof +in a clear space, and the plain encompassing it he ordained for rest +and feasting, and paid honour to the river Alpheos together with the +twelve greatest gods. And he named it by the name of the Hill of +Kronos; for theretofore it was without name, when Oinomaos was king, +and it was sprinkled with much snow[6]. + +And at this first-born rite the Fates stood hard at hand, and he who +alone proveth sure truth, even Time. He travelling onward hath told us +the clear tale of how the founder set apart the choicest of the spoil +for an offering from the war, and sacrificed, and how he ordained the +fifth-year feast with the victories of that first Olympiad. + +Who then won to their lot the new-appointed crown by hands or feet +or chariot, setting before them the prize of glory in the games, and +winning it by their act? In the foot-race down the straight course of +the stadion was Likymnios' son Oionos first, from Nidea had he led his +host: in the wrestling was Tegea glorified by Echemos: Doryklos won +the prize of boxing, a dweller in the city of Tiryns, and with the +four-horse chariot, Samos of Mantinea, Halirrhothios' son: with the +javelin Phrastor hit the mark: in distance Enikeus beyond all others +hurled the stone with a circling sweep, and all the warrior company +thundered a great applause. + +Then on the evening the lovely shining of the fair-faced moon beamed +forth, and all the precinct sounded with songs of festal glee, after +the manner which is to this day for triumph. + +So following the first beginning of old time, we likewise in a song +named of proud victory will celebrate the thunder and the flaming +bolt of loud-pealing Zeus, the fiery lightning that goeth with all +victory[7]. + +And soft tones to the music of the flute shall meet and mingle with my +verse, which beside famous Dirke hath come to light after long time. + +But even as a son by his lawful wife is welcome to a father who hath +now travelled to the other side of youth, and maketh his soul warm +with love--for wealth that must fall to a strange owner from without +is most hateful to a dying man--so also, Agesidamos, when a man who +hath done honourable deeds goeth unsung to the house of Hades, this +man hath spent vain breath, and won but brief gladness for his toil. + +On thee the pleasant lyre and the sweet pipe shed their grace, and the +Pierian daughters of Zeus foster thy wide-spread fame. + +I with them, setting myself thereunto fervently, have embraced the +Lokrians' famous race, and have sprinkled my honey upon a city of +goodly men: and I have told the praises of Archestratos' comely son, +whom I beheld victorious by the might of his hand beside the altar at +Olympia, and saw on that day how fair he was of form, how gifted with +that spring-tide bloom, which erst with favour of the Cyprian queen +warded from Ganymede unrelenting death. + + +[Footnote 1: Reading [Greek: horat on hopa].] + +[Footnote 2: This Kyknos seems to have been a Lokrian freebooter, said +to have fought with success against Herakles.] + +[Footnote 3: His trainer.] + +[Footnote 4: Probably because Zeus was especially concerned, both with +the fulfilment of promises and with the Olympic games.] + +[Footnote 5: For the story of these Moliones see Nestor's speech, Hom. +Il. xi. 670-761.] + +[Footnote 6: Perhaps this implies a tradition of a colder climate +anciently prevailing in Peloponnesos: perhaps the mention of snow is +merely picturesque, referring to the habitual appearance of the hill +in winter, and the passage should then rather be rendered 'when +Oinomaos was king its snow-sprinkled top was without name.'] + +[Footnote 7: The Lokrians worshipped Zeus especially as the Thunderer, +as certain coins of theirs, stamped with a thunderbolt, still +testify.] + + + +XII. + +FOR ERGOTELES OF HIMERA, + +WINNER IN THE LONG FOOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + + Ergoteles was a native of Knosos in Crete, but civil dissension had + compelled him to leave his country. He came to Sicily and was + naturalized as a citizen of Himera. Had he stayed in Crete he + would not have won this victory; nor the Pythian and Isthmian + victories, referred to at the end of the ode, for the Cretans seem to + have kept aloof, in an insular spirit, from the Panhellenic games. + + The date of the ode is B.C. 472, the year after the Himeraeans had + expelled the tyrant Thrasydaios of Akragas. The prayer to Fortune + would seem to have reference specially to this event. The ode was + probably sung in a temple either of Zeus or of Fortune. + + * * * * * + +I pray thee, daughter of Zeus the Deliverer, keep watch over +wide-ruling Himera, O saviour Fortune. + +By thee upon the sea swift ships are piloted, and on dry land fierce +wars and meetings of councils. + +Up and down the hopes of men are tossed as they cleave the waves of +baffling falsity: and a sure token of what shall come to pass hath +never any man on the earth received from God: the divinations of +things to come are blind. + +Many the chances that fall to men when they look not for them, +sometimes to thwart delight, yet others after battling with the surge +of sorrowful pain have suddenly received for their affliction some +happiness profound. + +Son of Philanor, verily even the glory of thy fleet feet would have +fallen into the sere leaf unrenowned, abiding by the hearth of thy +kin, as a cock that fighteth but at home, had not the strife of +citizen against citizen driven thee from Knosos thy native land. + +But now at Olympia hast thou won a crown, O Ergoteles, and at Pytho +twice, and at Isthmos, whereby thou glorifiest the hot springs where +the nymphs Sicilian bathe, dwelling in a land that is become to thee +as thine own. + + + +XIII. + +FOR XENOPHON OF CORINTH, + +WINNER IN THE STADION RACE AND IN THE PENTATHLON. + + * * * * * + +The date of this victory is B.C. 464, when Xenophon won both the +Stadion, or short foot-race of about a furlong or 220 yards, and also +the Pentathlon, that is, probably, he won at least three out of the +five contests which composed the Pentathlon--the Jump, Throwing the +Disk, Throwing the Javelin, the Foot-race, and Wrestling, ([Greek: +alma podokeian diskon akonta palaen]). For details, see Dict. Antiq. +and Note on Nem. vii 71-73. + +This ode and the speech of Glaukos in the sixth Book of the Iliad +are the most conspicuous passages in poetry which refer to the great +Corinthian hero Bellerophon. + +It is thought that this ode was sung on the winner's public entrance +into Corinth. + + * * * * * + +Thrice winner in Olympic games, of citizens beloved, to strangers +hospitable, the house in whose praise will I now celebrate happy +Corinth, portal of Isthmian Poseidon and nursery of splendid youth. +For therein dwell Order, and her sisters, sure foundation of states, +Justice and likeminded Peace, dispensers of wealth to men, wise +Themis' golden daughters. And they are minded to keep far from them +Insolence the braggart mother of Loathing. + +I have fair witness to bear of them, and a just boldness stirreth my +tongue to speak. Nature inborn none shall prevail to hide. Unto you, +sons[1] of Aletes, ofttimes have the flowery Hours given splendour +of victory, as to men excelling in valour, pre-eminent at the sacred +games, and ofttimes of old have they put subtleties into your men's +hearts to devise; and of an inventor cometh every work. + +Whence were revealed the new graces of Dionysos with the dithyramb +that winneth the ox[2]? Who made new means of guidance to the harness +of horses, or on the shrines of gods set the twin images of the king +of birds [3]? Among them thriveth the Muse of dulcet breath, and Ares +in the young men's terrible spears. Sovran lord of Olympia, be not +thou jealous of my words henceforth for ever, O father Zeus; rule +thou this folk unharmed, and keep unchanged the favourable gale of +Xenophon's good hap. Welcome from him this customary escort of his +crown, which from the plains of Pisa he is bringing, having won with +the five contests the stadion-race beside; the like whereof never yet +did mortal man. + +Also two parsley-wreaths shadowed his head before the people at the +games of Isthmos, nor doth Nemea tell a different tale. And of his +father Thessalos' lightning feet is record by the streams of Alpheos, +and at Pytho he hath renown for the single and for the double stadion +gained both in a single day, and in the same month at rocky Athens a +day of swiftness crowned his hair for three illustrious deeds, and the +Hellotia[4] seven times, and at the games of Poseidon between seas +longer hymns followed his father Ptoiodoros with Terpsias and +Eritimos. And how often ye were first at Delphi or in the Pastures of +the Lion[5], though with full many do I match your crowd of honours, +yet can I no more surely tell than the tale of pebbles on the +sea-shore. But in everything is there due measure, and most excellent +is it to have respect unto fitness of times. + +I with your fleet sailing a privateer will speak no lie concerning the +valour of Corinth's heroes, whether I proclaim the craft of her men +of old or their might in war, whether of Sisyphos of subtlest cunning +even as a god, and Medea who made for herself a marriage in her sire's +despite, saviour of the ship Argo and her crew: or whether how of old +in the struggle before the walls of Dardanos the sons of Corinth were +deemed to turn the issue of battle either way, these with Atreus' son +striving to win Helen back, those to thrust them utterly away[6]. + +Now when Glaukos was come thither out of Lydia the Danaoi feared him. +To them he proclaimed that in the city of Peirene his sire bare rule +and had rich heritage of land and palace, even he who once, when he +longed to bridle the snaky Gorgon's son, Pegasos, at Peirene's spring, +suffered many things, until the time when maiden Pallas brought to +him a bit with head-band of gold, and from a dream behold it was very +deed. + +For she said unto him 'Sleepest thou O Aiolid king? Come, take this +charmer of steeds, and show it to thy father[7] the tamer of horses, +with the sacrifice of a white bull.' + +Thus in the darkness as he slumbered spake the maiden wielder of +the shadowy aegis--so it seemed unto him--and he leapt up and stood +upright upon his feet. And he seized the wondrous bit that lay by his +side, and found with joy the prophet of the land, and showed to him, +the son of Koiranos, the whole issue of the matter, how on the altar +of the goddess he lay all night according to the word of his prophecy, +and how with her own hands the child of Zeus whose spear is the +lightning brought unto him the soul-subduing gold. + +Then the seer bade him with all speed obey the vision, and that when +he should have sacrificed to the wide-ruling Earth-enfolder the +strong-foot beast[8], he should build an altar straightway to Athene, +queen of steeds. + +Now the power of Gods bringeth easily to pass such things as make +forecast forsworn. Surely with zealous haste did bold Bellerophon bind +round the winged steed's jaw the softening charm, and make him his: +then straightway he flew up and disported him in his brazen arms. + +In company with that horse also on a time, from out of the bosom of +the chill and desert air, he smote the archer host of Amazons, and +slew the Solymoi, and Chimaira breathing fire. I will keep silence +touching the fate of him: howbeit Pegasos hath in Olympus found a home +in the ancient stalls of Zeus. + +But for me who am to hurl straight the whirling javelin it is not meet +to spend beside the mark my store of darts with utmost force of hand: +for to the Muses throned in splendour and to the Oligaithidai a +willing ally came I, at the Isthmos and again at Nemea. In a brief +word will I proclaim the host of them, and a witness sworn and true +shall be to me in the sweet-tongued voice of the good herald[9], heard +at both places sixty times. + +Now have their acts at Olympia, methinks, been told already: of those +that shall be hereafter I will hereafter clearly speak. Now I live in +hope, but the end is in the hands of gods. But if the fortune of the +house fail not, we will commit to Zeus and Enyalios the accomplishment +thereof. + +Yet other glories won they, by Parnassos' brow, and at Argos how many +and at Thebes, and such as nigh the Arcadians[10] the lordly altar of +Zeus Lykaios shall attest, and Pallene, and Sikyon, and Megara, +and the well-fenced grove of the Aiakidai, and Eleusis, and lusty +Marathon, and the fair rich cities beneath Aetna's towering crest, and +Euboea. Nay over all Hellas if thou searchest, thou shalt find more +than one sight can view. + +O king Zeus the Accomplisher, grant them with so light feet[11] to +move through life, give them all honour, and sweet hap of their goodly +things. + + +[Footnote 1: The clan of the Oligaithidai, to which Xenophon +belonged.] + +[Footnote 2: I. e. as a prize. But the passage may be taken +differently as referring to the symbolical identification of Dionysos +with the bull. Dithyrambic poetry was said to have been invented or +improved by Arion of Corinth.] + +[Footnote 3: This refers to the introduction into architecture by the +Corinthians of the pediment, within or above which were at that time +constantly placed images of eagles.] + +[Footnote 4: The feast of Athene Hellotis.] + +[Footnote 5: Nemea.] + +[Footnote 6: The Lykians who fought under Glaukos on the Trojan side +were of Corinthian descent.] + +[Footnote 7: Poseidon.] + +[Footnote 8: A bull.] + +[Footnote 9: Proclaiming the name and city of the winner in the +games.] + +[Footnote 10: Reading [Greek: Arkasin asson].] + +[Footnote 11: As in their foot-races.] + + + +XIV. + +FOR ASOPICHOS OF ORCHOMENOS, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' SHORT FOOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode was to be sung, probably by a chorus of boys, at the winner's +city Orchomenos, and most likely in the temple of the three or Graces, +Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia. + +The date of the victory is B.C. 476. + + * * * * * + +O ye who haunt the land of goodly steeds that drinketh of Kephisos' +waters, lusty Orchomenos' queens renowned in song, O Graces, guardians +of the Minyai's ancient race, hearken, for unto you I pray. For by +your gift come unto men all pleasant things and sweet, and the wisdom +of a man and his beauty, and the splendour of his fame. Yea even gods +without the Graces' aid rule never at feast or dance; but these have +charge of all things done in heaven, and beside Pythian Apollo of +the golden bow they have set their thrones, and worship the eternal +majesty of the Olympian Father. + +O lady Aglaia, and thou Euphrosyne, lover of song, children of the +mightiest of the gods, listen and hear, and thou Thalia delighting in +sweet sounds, and look down upon this triumphal company, moving with +light step under happy fate. In Lydian mood of melody concerning +Asopichos am I come hither to sing, for that through thee, Aglaia, +in the Olympic games the Minyai's home is winner. Fly, Echo, to +Persephone's dark-walled home, and to his father bear the noble +tidings, that seeing him thou mayest speak to him of his son, saying +that for his father's honour in Pisa's famous valley he hath crowned +his boyish hair with garlands from the glorious games. + + + +THE PYTHIAN ODES. + +I. + +FOR HIERON OF AITNA, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * +The date of this victory is B.C. 474 + +In the year 480, the year of Salamis, the Syracusans under Hieron had +defeated the Carthaginians in the great battle of Himera. + +In 479 a great eruption of Etna (Aitna) began. In 476 Hieron founded, +near the mountain but we may suppose at a safe distance, the new city +of Aitna, in honour of which he had himself proclaimed as an Aitnaian +after this and other victories in the games. + +And in this same year, 474, he had defeated the Etruscans, or Tuscans, +or Tyrrhenians in a great sea-fight before Cumae. + +Pindar might well delight to honour those who had been waging so well +against the barbarians of the South and West the same war which the +Hellenes of the mother-country waged against the barbarians of the +East. + + * * * * * + +O golden Lyre, thou common treasure of Apollo and the Muses +violet-tressed, thou whom the dancer's step, prelude of festal mirth, +obeyeth, and the singers heed thy bidding, what time with quivering +strings thou utterest preamble of choir-leading overture--lo even the +sworded lightning of immortal fire thou quenched, and on the sceptre +of Zeus his eagle sleepeth, slackening his swift wings either side, +the king of birds, for a dark mist thou hast distilled on his arched +head, a gentle seal upon his eyes, and he in slumber heaveth his +supple back, spell-bound beneath thy throbs. + +Yea also violent Ares, leaving far off the fierce point of his spears, +letteth his heart have joy in rest, for thy shafts soothe hearts +divine by the cunning of Leto's son and the deep-bosomed Muses. + +But whatsoever things Zeus loveth not fly frighted from the voice of +the Pierides, whether on earth or on the raging sea; whereof is he who +lieth in dreadful Tartaros, the foe of the gods, Typhon of the hundred +heads, whom erst the den Kilikian of many names did breed, but now +verily the sea-constraining cliffs beyond Cumae, and Sicily, lie heavy +on his shaggy breast: and he is fast bound by a pillar of the sky, +even by snowy Etna, nursing the whole year's length her frozen snow. + +Whereout pure springs of unapproachable fire are vomited from the +inmost depths: in the daytime the lava-streams pour forth a lurid rush +of smoke: but in the darkness a red rolling flame sweepeth rocks with +uproar to the wide deep sea. + +That dragon-thing[1] it is that maketh issue from beneath the terrible +fiery flood, a monster marvellous to look upon, yea a marvel to hear +of from such as go thereby and tell what thing is prisoned between +the dark-wooded tops of Etna and the plain, where the back of him is +galled and furrowed by the bed whereon he lieth. + +O Zeus, be it ours to find favour in thy sight, who art defender +of this mountain, the forehead of a fruitful land, whose namesake +neighbour city hath been ennobled by her glorious founder, for that on +the race-course at the Pythian games the herald made proclamation of +her name aloud, telling of Hieron's fair victory in the chariot-race. + +Now the first boon to men in ships is that a favourable breeze come to +them as they set forth upon the sea; for this is promise that in +the end also they shall come with good hap home. So after this good +fortune doth reason show us hope of crowns to come for Aitna's horses, +and honour in the banquet-songs. + +O Phoibos, lord of Lykia and of Delos, who lovest the spring of +Castaly on thy Parnassos, be this the purpose of thy will, and grant +the land fair issue of her men. + +For from gods come all means of mortal valour, hereby come bards and +men of mighty hand and eloquent speech. + +This is the man I am fain to praise, and trust that not outside the +ring shall I hurl the bronze-tipped javelin I brandish in my hand, but +with far throw outdo my rivals in the match. + +Would that his whole life may give him, even as now, good luck and +wealth right onward, and of his pains forgetfulness. + +Verily it shall remind him in what fightings of wars he stood up with +steadfast soul, when the people found grace of glory at the hands +of gods, such as none of the Hellenes hath reaped, a proud crown of +wealth. + +For after the ensample of Philoktetes he went but now to war: and when +necessity was upon them even they of proud spirit sought of him a +boon. + +To Lemnos once they say came godlike heroes to fetch thence the archer +son of Paian, vexed of an ulcerous wound; and he sacked the city of +Priam and made an end of the Danaoi's labours, for the body wherewith +he went was sick, but this was destined from the beginning. + +Even thus to Hieron may God be a guide for the time approaching, and +give him to lay hold upon the things of his desire. + +Also in the house of Deinomenes do me grace, O Muse, to sing, for sake +of our four-horsed car: no alien joy to him is his sire's victory. + +Come then and next for Etna's king let us devise a friendly song, for +whom with god-built freedom after the laws of Hyllic pattern hath that +city been founded of Hieron's hand: for the desire of the sons of +Pamphylos and of the Herakleidai dwelling beneath the heights of +Taÿgetos is to abide continually in the Dorian laws of Aigimios. At +Amyklai they dwelt prosperously, when they were come down out of +Pindos and drew near in honour to the Tyndaridai who ride on white +horses, and the glory of their spears waxed great. + +Thou Zeus, with whom are the issues of things, grant that the true +speech of men ever bear no worse report of citizens and kings beside +the water of Amënas. By thine aid shall a man that is chief and +that instructeth his son after him give due honour unto his people and +move them to be of one voice peacefully. + +I pray thee, son of Kronos, grant that the Phenician and the Tuscan +war-cry be hushed at home, since they have beheld the calamity of +their ships that befell them before Cumae, even how they were smitten +by the captain of the Syracusans, who from their swift ships hurled +their youth into the sea, to deliver Hellas from the bondage of the +oppressor. + +From Salamis shall I of Athenians take reward of thanks, at Sparta +when I shall tell[2] in a song to come of the battle[3] before +Kithairon, wherein the Medes that bear crooked bows were overthrown, +but by the fair-watered banks of Himëras it shall be for the song +I have rendered to the sons of Deinomenes, which by their valour they +have earned, since the men that warred against them are overthrown. + +If thou shalt speak in season, and comprehend in brief the ends of +many matters, less impeachment followeth of men; for surfeit blunteth +the eagerness of expectancy; and city-talk of others' praise grieveth +hearts secretly. + +Nevertheless, for that envy is preferred before pity[4], let slip not +fair occasion: guide with just helm thy people and forge the sword +of thy speech on an anvil whereof cometh no lie. Even a word falling +lightly is of import in that it proceedeth from thee. Of many things +art thou steward: many witnesses are there to thy deeds of either +kind. + +But abiding in the fair flower of this spirit, if thou art fain to be +continually of good report, be not too careful for the cost: loose +free like a mariner thy sail unto the wind. + +Friend, be not deceived by time-serving words of guile. The voice of +the report that liveth after a man, this alone revealeth the lives of +dead men to the singers and to the chroniclers: the loving-kindness +of Craesus fadeth not away; but him who burned men with fire within a +brazen bull, Phalaris that had no pity, men tell of everywhere +with hate, neither will any lute in hall suffer him in the gentle +fellowship of young boys' themes of songs. + +To be happy is the chiefest prize; to be glorious the next lot: if a +man have lighted on both and taken them to be his, he hath attained +unto the supreme crown. + + +[Footnote 1: Typhon.] + +[Footnote 2: Reading [Greek: erion].] + +[Footnote 3: Plataea.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. it is better to be envied than to be pitied.] + + + +II. + +FOR HIERON OF SYRACUSE, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The classification of this ode as Pythian is probably a mistake: +perhaps the victory was won at the Theban festival in honour of +Herakles, or of Iolaos. + +Anaxilaos, tyrant of Rhegium and Messana, had been deterred by +Hieron's threats from attacking the Epizephyrian Lokrians, and the ode +is partly occupied with congratulations of Hieron on this protective +act. As Anaxilaos died B.C. 476, and Hieron was only placed at the +head of the Syracusan state two years before, this seems to fix the +date somewhere in these two years. As Pindar talks of sending his song +across the sea, we may suppose that it was sung at Syracuse. + +There is much obscurity about the significances of this ode. The +poet's motive in telling the story of Ixion's sins has been variously +guessed at. Some think it was meant to deter Hieron from contriving +the death of his brother Polyzelos in battle in order to get +possession of Polyzelos' wife (and if Hieron was to be suspected of +such a thought it would be quite in Pindar's manner to mingle warning +and reproof with praise): some think that it refers to the ingratitude +of Anaxilaos toward Hieron. And most probably the latter part of the +ode, in which sincerity is approved, and flattery and calumny are +condemned, had some special and personal reference, though we need not +suppose, as the commentators are fond of doing here and elsewhere, +that it was aimed at Bacchylides or other rival poets. + + * * * * * + +Great city of Syracuse, precinct of warrior Ares, of iron-armed men +and steeds the nursing-place divine, to thee I come[1], bearing from +my bright Thebes this song, the tidings of earth-shaking racing of the +four-horse car, wherein hath Hieron with his goodly chariot +overcome, and decked with far-seen splendour of crowns Ortygia the +dwelling-place of Artemis of the river, her by whose help he tamed +with soothing hand his colts of spangled rein. + +For the archer maiden with both hands fitteth the glittering +trappings, and Hermes, god of games, whensoever Hieron to the polished +car and bridle-guided wheels[2] yoketh the strength of his steeds, +calling on the wide-ruling god, the trident-wielder. + +Now unto various kings pay various men sweet song, their valour's +meed. So the fair speech of Cyprus echoeth around the name of Kinyras, +him whom Apollo of the golden hair loved fervently, and who dwelt a +priest in the house of Aphrodite: for to such praise are men moved by +the thankfulness that followeth the recompense of friendly acts. But +of thee, O thou son of Deinomenes, the maiden daughter of the Lokrian +in the west before the house-door telleth in her song, being out of +bewildering woes of war by thy might delivered, so that her eyes are +not afraid for anything. + +Ixion, they say, by order of the gods, writhing on his winged wheel, +proclaimeth this message unto men: _To him who doeth thee service make +recompense of fair reward_. + +This lesson learned he plainly; for when that among the friendly +Kronidai he had gotten a life of pleasantness, his bliss became +greater than he could bear, and with mad heart he lusted after Hera, +whose place was in the happy marriage-bed of Zeus: yet insolence drove +him to the exceeding folly; but quickly suffering his deserts the man +gained to himself a misery most rare. + +Two sins are the causes of his pain; one that he first among the +heroes shed blood of kindred[3] craftily, the other that in the +chambers of the ample heavens he attempted the wife of Zeus--for in +all things it behoveth to take measure by oneself[4]. + +Yet a mocking love-bed hurried him as he approached the couch[5] into +a sea of trouble; for he lay with a cloud, pursuing the sweet lie, +fond man: for its form was as the form of the most highest among the +daughters of heaven, even the child of Kronos; and the hands of Zeus +had made it that it might be a snare unto him, a fair mischief. Thus +came he unto the four-spoked wheel, his own destruction; and having +fallen into chains without escape he became proclaimer of that +message[6] unto many. + +His mate[7], without favour of the Graces, bare unto him a monstrous +son, and like no other thing anywhere, even as its mother was, a thing +with no place or honour, neither among men, neither in the society of +gods. Him she reared and called by the name Kentauros, and he in the +valleys of Pelion lay with Magnesian mares, and there were born thence +a wondrous tribe, like unto both parents, their nether parts like unto +the dams, and their upper parts like unto the sire. + +God achieveth all ends whereon he thinketh--God who overtaketh even +the winged eagle, and outstrippeth the dolphin of the sea, and +bringeth low many a man in his pride, while to others he giveth glory +incorruptible. + +For me it is meet to eschew the sharp tooth of bitter words; for, +though afar off, I have seen the fierce Archilochos lacking most +things and fattening but on cruel words of hate. Of most worth are +riches when joined to the happy gift of wisdom. And this lot hast +thou, and mayest illustrate it with liberal soul, thou sovereign chief +over many streets filled with goodly garlands, and much people. If any +saith that ever yet was any man of old time throughout Hellas who +excelled thee in honour or in the multitude of possessions, such an one +with vain purpose essayeth a fruitless task. + +Upon the flower-crowned prow[8] will I go up to sing of brave deeds +done. Youth is approved by valour in dread wars; and hence say I that +thou hast won boundless renown in thy battles, now with horsemen, now +on foot: also the counsels of thine elder years give me sure ground of +praising thee every way. + +All hail! This song like to Phenician merchandize is sent across the +hoary sea: do thou look favourably on the strain of Kaster in Aeolian +mood[9], and greet it in honour of the seven-stringed lute. + +Be what thou art, now I have told thee what that is: in the eyes of +children the fawning ape is ever comely: but the good fortune of +Rhadamanthos hath come to him because the fruit that his soul bare was +true, neither delighteth he in deceits within his heart, such as by +whisperer's arts ever wait upon mortal man. + +An overpowering evil are the secret speakings of slander, to the +slandered and to the listener thereto alike, and are as foxes in +relentless temper. Yet for the beast whose name is of gain[10] what +great thing is gained thereby? For like the cork above the net, while +the rest of the tackle laboureth deep in the sea, I am unmerged in the +brine. + +Impossible is it that a guileful citizen utter potent words among the +good, nevertheless he fawneth on all and useth every subtlety. No part +have I in that bold boast of his, 'Let me be a friend to my friend, +but toward an enemy I will be an enemy and as a wolf will cross his +path, treading now here now there in crooked ways[11].' For every form +of polity is a man of direct speech best, whether under a despotism, +or whether the wild multitude, or the wisest, have the state in their +keeping. + +Against God it is not meet to strive, who now upholdeth these, and +now again to those giveth great glory. But not even this cheereth the +heart of the envious; for they measure by an unjust balance, and their +own hearts they afflict with bitter pain, till such time as they +attain to that which their hearts devise. + +To take the car's yoke on one's neck and run on lightly, this helpeth; +but to kick against the goad is to make the course perilous. Be it +mine to dwell among the good, and to win their love. + + +[Footnote 1: Pindar here identifies himself with his ode, which he +sent, not took, to Syracuse. Compare Ol. vii. 13, &c.] + +[Footnote 2: Properly [Greek: harmata] would seem to include all +except the body of the chariot ([Greek: diphros]) in which the +charioteer stood.] + +[Footnote 3: His father-in-law Deioneus.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. to estimate rightly one's capacities, +circumstances, rights, duties.] + +[Footnote 5: Reading [Greek: poti koiton ikont'].] + +[Footnote 6: The message spoken of above, v. 24.] + +[Footnote 7: The cloud, the phantom-Hera.] + +[Footnote 8: The prow of the ship carrying this ode, with which +Pindar, as has been said, identifies himself.] + +[Footnote 9: It is supposed that another ode, more especially in +honour of the chariot-victory, is here meant, which was to be sent +later. + +From this point to the end the ode reads like a postscript of private +import and reference.] + +[Footnote 10: It is at least doubtful whether [Greek: kerdo] a fox is +really connected with [Greek: kerdos] gain.] + +[Footnote 11: It appears to me to be an absurdity to suppose that +Pindar means to express in this sentence his own rule of conduct, +as the commentators have fancied. He is all through this passage +condemning 'crooked ways.'] + + + +III. + +FOR HIERON OF SYRACUSE, + +WINNER IN THE HORSE-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The dates both of the victory and of the ode are uncertain. But as +Pherenikos, the horse that won this race at Pytho, is the same that +won at Olympia B.C. 472, in honour of which event the First Olympian +was written, the victory cannot have been very long before that date, +though the language of the ode implies that it was written a good deal +later, probably for an anniversary of the victory. It must at least +have been written before Hieron's death in 467. It is much occupied +with his illness. + + * * * * * + +Fain were I (if meet it be to utter from my mouth the prayer conceived +of all) that Cheiron the son of Philyra were alive and had not +perished among men, even the wide-ruling seed of Kronos the son of +Ouranos; and that there still lorded it in Pelion's glens that Beast +untamed, whose soul was loving unto men, even such as when of old he +trained the gentle deviser of limb-saving anodynes, Asklepios, the +hero that was a defence against all kind of bodily plague. + +Of him was the daughter[1] of Phlegyas of goodly steeds not yet +delivered by Eileithuia aid of mothers, ere by the golden bow she was +slain at the hands of Artemis, and from her child-bed chamber went +down into the house of Hades, by contriving of Apollo. Not idle is the +wrath of sons of Zeus. + +She in the folly of her heart had set Apollo at nought, and taken +another spouse without knowledge of her sire, albeit ere then she had +lain with Phoibos of the unshorn hair, and bare within her the seed of +a very god. + +Neither awaited she the marriage-tables nor the sound of many voices +in hymeneal song, such as the bride's girl-mates are wont to sing at +eventide with merry minstrelsy: but lo, she had longing for things +otherwhere, even as many before and after. For a tribe there is most +foolish among men, of such as scorn the things of home, and gaze on +things that are afar off, and chase a cheating prey with hopes that +shall never be fulfilled. + +Of such sort was the frenzied strong desire fair-robed Koronis +harboured in her heart, for she lay in the couch of a stranger that +was come from Arcady. + +But one that watched beheld her: for albeit he was at sheep-gathering +Pytho, yet was the temple's king Loxias aware thereof, beside his +unerring partner[2], for he gave heed to his own wisdom, his mind that +knoweth all things; in lies it hath no part, neither in act or thought +may god or man deceive him. + +Therefore when he was aware of how she lay with the stranger Ischys +son of Elatos, and of her guile unrighteous, he sent his sister fierce +with terrible wrath to go to Lakereia--for by the steep shores of the +Boibian lake was the home of her virginity--and thus a doom adverse +blasted her life and smote her down: and of her neighbours many fared +ill therefore and perished with her: so doth a fire that from one +spark has leapt upon a mountain lay waste wide space of wood. + +But when her kinsfolk had laid the damsel upon the pile of wood, and +fierce brightness of Hephaistos ran around it, then said Apollo: 'Not +any longer may I endure in my soul to slay mine own seed by a most +cruel death in company with its mother's grievous fate.' + +He said, and at the first stride he was there, and from the corpse +caught up the child, and the blaze of the burning fiery pile was +cloven before him asunder in the midst. + +Then to the Kentaur of Magnes he bare the child, that he should teach +him to be a healer of the many-plaguing maladies of men. And thus all +that came unto him whether plagued with self-grown sores or with limbs +wounded by the lustrous bronze or stone far-hurled, or marred by +summer heat or winter cold--these he delivered, loosing each from +his several infirmity, some with emollient spells and some by kindly +potions, or else he hung their limbs with charms, or by surgery he +raised them up to health. + +Yet hath even wisdom been led captive of desire of gain. Even him did +gold in his hands glittering beguile for a great reward to bring back +from death a man already prisoner thereto: wherefore the hands of the +son of Kronos smote the twain of them through the midst, and bereft +their breasts of breath, and the bright lightning dealt them doom. + +It behoveth to seek from gods things meet for mortal souls, knowing +the things that are in our path and to what portion we are born. +Desire not thou, dear my soul, a life immortal, but use the tools that +are to thine hand. + +Now were wise Cheiron in his cavern dwelling yet, and had our +sweet-voiced songs laid haply some fair magic on his soul, then had +I won him to grant to worthy men some healer of hot plagues, some +offspring of Leto's son, or of her son's sire[3]. + +And then in a ship would I have sailed, cleaving the Ionian sea, to +the fountain of Arethusa, to the home of my Aitnaian friend, who +ruleth at Syracuse, a king of good will to the citizens, not envious +of the good, to strangers wondrous fatherly. Had I but landed there +and brought unto him a twofold joy, first golden health and next this +my song of triumph to be a splendour in his Pythian crown, which of +late Pherenikos[4] won by his victory at Kirrha--I say that then +should I have come unto him, after that I had passed over the deep +sea, a farther-shining light than any heavenly star. + +But I am minded to pray to the Mother[5] for him, to the awful goddess +unto whom, and unto Pan, before my door nightly the maidens move in +dance and song. + +Yet, O Hieron, if thou art skilled to apprehend the true meaning of +sayings, thou hast learnt to know this from the men of old; _The +immortals deal to men two ill things for one good._ The foolish cannot +bear these with steadfastness but the good only, putting the fair side +forward. + +But thee a lot of happiness attendeth, for if on any man hath mighty +Destiny looked favourably, surely it is on a chief and leader of a +people. + +A life untroubled abode not either with Peleus, son of Aiakos, or with +godlike Kadmos: yet of all mortals these, they say, had highest +bliss, who both erewhile listened to the singing of the Muses +golden-filleted, the one in seven-gated Thebes, when he wedded +large-eyed Harmonia, the other on the mountainside, when he took to +him Thetis to be his wife, wise Nereus' glorious daughter. And with +both of them gods sate at meat, and they beheld the sons of Kronos +sitting as kings on thrones of gold, and they received from them gifts +for their espousals; and by grace of Zeus they escaped out of their +former toils and raised up their hearts to gladness. + +Yet again in the after time the bitter anguish of those daughters[6] +robbed Kadmos of a part of bliss: howbeit the Father Zeus came to +white-armed Thyone's[7] longed-for couch. + +And so did the son of Peleus whom Thetis bare at Phthia, her only son, +die by an arrow in war, and moved the Danaoi to lament aloud, when his +body was burning in fire. + +Now if any by wisdom hath the way of truth he may yet lack good +fortune, which cometh of the happy gods. + +The blasts of soaring winds blow various ways at various times. +Not for long cometh happiness to men, when it accompanieth them in +exceeding weight. + +Small will I be among the small, and great among the great. Whatever +fortune follow me, I will work therewith, and wield it as my power +shall suffice. If God should offer me wealth and ease, I have hope +that I should first have won high honour to be in the times afar off. + +Nestor and Lykian Sarpedon, who live in the speech of men, we know +from tales of sounding song, built up by cunning builders. + +By songs of glory hath virtue lasting life, but to achieve them is +easy to but few. + + +[Footnote 1: Koronis.] + +[Footnote 2: His father, Zeus.] + +[Footnote 3: Some Asklepios or Apollo.] + +[Footnote 4: Hieron's horse.] + +[Footnote 5: Rhea or Kybele, the mother of the gods. 'Next door to +Pindar's house was a temple of the mother of the gods and of Pan, +which he had built himself.' Scholiast.] + +[Footnote 6: Ino, Agaue, and Autonoe.] + +[Footnote 7: Semele.] + + + +IV. + +FOR ARKESILAS OF KYRENE, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +Pindar has made this victory of Arkesilas, King of the Hellenic colony +of Kyrene in Africa, an occasion for telling the story of Jason's +expedition with the Argonauts. The ostensible reason for introducing +the story is that Kyrene had been colonised from the island of Thera +by the descendants of the Argonaut Euphemos, according to the prophecy +of Medea related at the beginning of the ode. But Pindar had another +reason. He wished to suggest an analogy between the relation of the +Iolkian king Pelias to Jason and the relation of Arkesilas to his +exiled kinsman Demophilos. Demophilos had been staying at Thebes, +where Pindar wrote this ode, to be afterwards recited at Kyrene. It +was written B.C. 466, when Pindar was fifty-six years of age, and is +unsurpassed in his extant works, or indeed by anything of this kind in +all poetry. + + * * * * * + +This day O Muse must thou tarry in a friend's house, the house of the +king of Kyrene of goodly horses, that with Arkesilas at his triumph +thou mayst swell the favourable gale of song, the due of Leto's +children, and of Pytho. For at Pytho of old she who sitteth beside the +eagles of Zeus--nor was Apollo absent then--the priestess, spake this +oracle, that Battos should found a power in fruitful Libya, that +straightway departing from the holy isle he might lay the foundations +of a city of goodly chariots upon a white breast of the swelling +earth, and might fulfil in the seventeenth generation the word of +Medea spoken at Thera, which of old the passionate child of Aietes, +queen of Colchians, breathed from immortal lips. For on this wise +spake she to the warrior Jason's god-begotten crew: 'Hearken O sons +of high-hearted mortals and of gods. Lo I say unto you that from this +sea-lashed land the daughter[1] of Epaphos shall sometime be planted +with a root to bring forth cities that shall possess the minds of men, +where Zeus Ammon's shrine is builded. + +And instead of short-finned dolphins they shall take to them fleet +mares, and reins instead of oars shall they ply, and speed the +whirlwind-footed car. + +By that augury shall it come to pass that Thera shall be mother-city +of mighty commonwealths, even the augury that once at the outpourings +of the Tritonian lake Euphemos leaping from the prow took at the hands +of a god who in the likeness of man tendered this present to the +stranger of a clod of earth; and the Father Kronian Zeus confirmed it +with a peal of thunder. + +[2]What time he came suddenly upon them as they were hanging against +the ship the bronze-fluked anchor, fleet Argo's bridle; for now for +twelve days had we borne from Ocean over long backs of desert-land our +sea-ship, after that by my counsel we drew it up upon the shore. + +Then came to us the solitary god, having put on the splendid semblance +of a noble man; and he began friendly speech, such as well-doers use +when they bid new-comers to the feast. + +But the plea of the sweet hope of home suffered us not to stay. Then +he said that he was Eurypylos son of the earth-embracer, immortal +Ennosides; and for that he was aware that we hasted to be gone, he +straightway caught up of the chance earth at his feet a gift that he +would fain bestow. Nor was the hero unheeding, but leaping on the +shore and striking hand in hand he took to him the fateful clod. + +But now I hear that it was washed down from the ship and departed into +the sea with the salt spray of evening, following the watery deep. Yet +verily often did I charge the labour-lightening servants that they +should keep it safe, but they forgat: and now upon this island[3] +is the imperishable seed of spacious Libya strown before the time +appointed; for if the royal son[4] of Poseidon, lord of horses, whom +Europa Tityos' child bare him on Kephisos' banks, had in his own home +thrown it down beside the mouth of Hades'[5] gulf, then in the fourth +generation of his sons his seed would have taken that wide continent +of Libya, for then they would have gone forth from mighty Lakedaimon, +and from the Argive gulf, and from Mykenai. + +But now he shall in wedlock with a stranger-wife raise up a chosen +seed, who coming to this island with worship of their gods shall beget +one to be lord of the misty plains[6]. Him sometime shall Phoibos in +his golden house admonish by oracles, when in the latter days he shall +go down into the inner shrine at Pytho, to bring a host in ships to +the rich Nile-garden of the son of Kronos[7].' + +So ran Medea's rhythmic utterance, and motionless in silence the +godlike heroes bowed their heads as they hearkened to the counsels of +wisdom. + +Thee, happy son[8] of Polymnestos, did the oracle of the Delphian +bee[9] approve with call unasked to be the man whereof the word was +spoken, for thrice she bid thee hail and declared thee by decree of +fate Kyrene's king, what time thou enquiredst what help should be from +heaven for thy labouring speech. And verily even now long afterward, +as in the bloom of rosy-blossomed spring, in the eighth descent from +Battos the leaf of Arkesilas is green. To him Apollo and Pytho have +given glory in the chariot-race at the hands of the Amphiktyons: him +will I commend to the Muses, and withal the tale of the all-golden +fleece; for this it was the Minyai sailed to seek when the god-given +glories of their race began. + +What power first drave them in the beginning to the quest? What +perilous enterprise clenched them with strong nails of adamant? + +There was an oracle of God which said that Pelias should die by force +or by stern counsels of the proud sons of Aiolos, and there had come +to him a prophecy that froze his cunning heart, spoken at the central +stone of tree-clad mother Earth, that by every means he should keep +safe guard against the man of one sandal, whensoever from a homestead +on the hills he shall have come to the sunny land of glorious Iolkos, +whether a stranger or a citizen he be. + +So in the fulness of time he came, wielding two spears, a wondrous +man; and the vesture that was upon him was twofold, the garb of the +Magnetes' country close fitting to his splendid limbs, but above he +wore a leopard-skin to turn the hissing showers; nor were the bright +locks of his hair shorn from him but over all his back ran rippling +down. Swiftly he went straight on, and took his stand, making trial of +his dauntless soul, in the marketplace when the multitude was full. + +Him they knew not; howbeit some one looking reverently on him would +speak on this wise: 'Not Apollo surely is this, nor yet Aphrodite's +lord of the brazen car; yea and in glistening Naxos died ere now, they +say, the children of Iphimedeia, Otos and thou, bold king Ephialtes: +moreover Tityos was the quarry of Artemis' swift arrow sped from her +invincible quiver, warning men to touch only the loves within their +power.' + +They answering each to each thus talked; but thereon with headlong +haste of mules and polished car came Pelias; and he was astonied when +he gazed on the plain sign of the single sandal on the right foot. But +he dissembled his fear within his heart and said unto him, 'What land, +O stranger, dost thou claim to be thy country, and who of earth-born +mortals bare thee of her womb out of due time[10]? Tell me thy race +and shame it not by hateful lies.' + +And him with gentle words the other answered undismayed, 'I say to +thee that I bear with me the wisdom of Cheiron, for from Chariklo +and Philyra I come, from the cave where the Centaur's pure daughters +reared me up, and now have I fulfilled twenty years among them without +deceitful word or deed, and I am come home to seek the ancient honour +of my father, held now in rule unlawful, which of old Zeus gave to +the chief Aiolos and his children. For I hear that Pelias yielding +lawlessly to evil thoughts hath robbed it from my fathers whose right +it was from the beginning; for they, when first I looked upon the +light, fearing the violence of an injurious lord, made counterfeit +of a dark funeral in the house as though I were dead, and amid the +wailing of women sent me forth secretly in purple swathing-bands, when +none but Night might know the way we went, and gave me to Cheiron the +son of Kronos to be reared. + +But of these things the chief ye know. Now therefore kind citizens +show me plainly the house of my fathers who drave white horses; for it +shall hardly be said that a son of Aison, born in the land, is come +hither to a strange and alien soil. And Jason was the name whereby the +divine Beast[11] spake to me.' + +Thus he said, and when he had entered in, the eyes of his father knew +him; and from his aged eyelids gushed forth tears, for his soul was +glad within him when he beheld his son, fairest of men and goodliest +altogether. + +Then came to him both brothers, when they heard that Jason was come +home, Pheres from hard by, leaving the fountain Hypereis, and out of +Messena Amythaon, and quickly came Admetos and Melampos to welcome +home their cousin. And at a common feast with gracious words Jason +received them and made them friendly cheer, culling for five long +nights and days the sacred flower of joyous life. + +But on the sixth day he began grave speech, and set the whole matter +before his kinsmen from the beginning, and they were of one mind with +him. + +Then quickly he rose up with them from their couches, and they came to +Pelias' hall, and they made haste and entered and stood within. + +And when he heard them the king himself came forth to them, even the +son of Tyro of the lovely hair. Then Jason with gentle voice opened on +him the stream of his soft speech, and laid foundation of wise words: +'Son of Poseidon of the Rock, too ready are the minds of mortal men to +choose a guileful gain rather than righteousness, howbeit they travel +ever to a stern reckoning. But thee and me it behoveth to give law +to our desires, and to devise weal for the time to come. Though +thou knowest it yet will I tell thee, how that the same mother bare +Kretheus and rash Salmoneus, and in the third generation we again were +begotten and look upon the strength of the golden sun. Now if there +be enmity between kin, the Fates stand aloof and would fain hide the +shame. Not with bronze-edged swords nor with javelins doth it beseem +us twain to divide our forefathers' great honour, nor needeth it, +for lo! all sheep and tawny herds of kine I yield, and all the lands +whereon thou feedest them, the spoil of my sires wherewith thou makest +fat thy wealth. That these things furnish forth thy house moveth me +not greatly; but for the kingly sceptre and throne whereon the son of +Kretheus sate of old and dealt justice to his chivalry, these without +wrath between us yield to me, lest some new evil arise up therefrom.' + +Thus he spake, and mildly also did Pelias make reply: 'I will be even +as thou wilt, but now the sere of life alone remaineth to me, whereas +the flower of thy youth is but just burgeoning; thou art able to take +away the sin that maketh the powers beneath the earth wroth with us: +for Phrixos biddeth us lay his ghost, and that we go to the house of +Aietes, and bring thence the thick-fleeced hide of the ram, whereby of +old he was delivered from the deep and from the impious weapons of his +stepmother. This message cometh to me in the voice of a strange dream: +also I have sent to ask of the oracle at Kastalia whether it be worth +the quest, and the oracle chargeth me straightway to send a ship on +the sacred mission. This deed do thou offer me to do, and I swear to +give thee up the sway and kingly rule. Let Zeus the ancestral god of +thee and me be witness of my oath and stablish it surely in thine +eyes.' + +So they made this covenant and parted; but Jason straightway bade +heralds to make known everywhere that a sailing was toward. And +quickly came three sons of Zeus, men unwearied in battle, whose +mothers were Alkmene and Leto of the glancing eyes[12], and two +tall-crested men of valour, children of the Earth-shaker, whose honour +was perfect as their might, from Pylos and from farthest Tainaros: +hereby was the excellence of their fame established--even Euphemos' +fame, and thine, wide-ruling Periklymenos. And at Apollo's bidding +came the minstrel father of song, Orpheus of fair renown. + +And Hermes of the golden staff sent two sons to the toilsome task, +Echion and Eurytos in the joy of their youth; swiftly they came, even +from their dwelling at the foot of Pangaios: and willingly and with +glad heart their father Boreas, king of winds, harnessed Zetes and +Kalaïs, men both with bright wings shooting from their backs. For Hera +kindled within those sons of gods the all-persuading sweet desire +for the ship Argo, that none should be left behind and stay by his +mother's side in savourless and riskless life, but each, even were +death the price, achieve in company with his peers a magic potency of +his valour. + +Now when that goodly crew were come to Iolkos, Jason mustered them +with thanks to each, and the seer Mopsos prophesied by omens and by +sacred lots, and with good will sped the host on board. + +And when they had hung the anchors over the prow, then their chief +taking in his hands a golden goblet stood up upon the stern and called +on Zeus whose spear is the lightning, and on the rush of waves and +winds and the nights and paths of the deep, to speed them quickly +over, and for days of cheer and friendly fortune of return. And from +the clouds a favourable voice of thunder pealed in answer; and there +came bright lightning flashes bursting through. + +Then the heroes took heart in obedience to the heavenly signs; and the +seer bade them strike into the water with their oars, while he spake +to them of happy hopes; and in their rapid hands the rowing sped +untiringly. + +And with breezes of the South they came wafted to the mouth of the +Axine sea; there they founded a shrine and sacred close of Poseidon, +god of seas, where was a red herd of Thracian bulls, and a new-built +altar of stone with hollow top[13]. + +Then as they set forth toward an exceeding peril they prayed the lord +of ships that they might shun the terrible shock of the clashing +rocks: for they were twain that had life, and plunged along more +swiftly than the legions of the bellowing winds; but that travel of +the seed of gods made end of them at last[14]. + +After that they came to the Phasis; there they fought with dark-faced +Kolchians even in the presence of Aietes. And there the queen of +keenest darts, the Cyprus-born, first brought to men from Olympus the +frenzied bird, the speckled wry-neck[15], binding it to a four-spoked +wheel without deliverance, and taught the son of Aison to be wise in +prayers and charms, that he might make Medea take no thought to honour +her parents, and longing for Hellas might drive her by persuasion's +lash, her heart afire with love. + +Then speedily she showed him the accomplishment of the tasks her +father set, and mixing drugs with oil gave him for his anointment +antidotes of cruel pain, and they vowed to be joined together in sweet +wedlock. + +But when Aietes had set in the midst a plough of adamant, and oxen +that from tawny jaws breathed flame of blazing fire, and with bronze +hoofs smote the earth in alternate steps, and had led them and yoked +them single-handed, he marked out in a line straight furrows, and for +a fathom's length clave the back of the loamy earth; then he spake +thus: 'This work let your king, whosoever he be that hath command +of the ship, accomplish me, and then let him bear away with him the +imperishable coverlet, the fleece glittering with tufts of gold.' + +He said, and Jason flung off from him his saffron mantle, and putting +his trust in God betook himself to the work; and the fire made him not +to shrink, for that he had had heed to the bidding of the stranger +maiden skilled in all pharmacy. So he drew to him the plough and +made fast by force the bulls' necks in the harness, and plunged the +wounding goad into the bulk of their huge sides, and with manful +strain fulfilled the measure of his work. And a cry without speech +came from Aietes in his agony, at the marvel of the power he beheld. + +Then to the strong man his comrades stretched forth their hands, and +crowned him with green wreaths, and greeted him with gracious words. +And thereupon the wondrous son[16] of Helios told him in what place +the knife of Phrixos had stretched the shining fell; yet he trusted +that this labour at least should never be accomplished by him. For it +lay in a thick wood and grasped by a terrible dragon's jaws, and he in +length and thickness was larger than their ship of fifty oars, which +the iron's blows had welded. + +Long were it for me to go by the beaten track, for the time is nigh +out, and I know a certain short path, and many others look to me for +skill. The glaring speckled dragon, O Arkesilas, he slew by subtlety, +and by her own aid he stole away Medea, the murderess of Pelias. And +they went down into the deep of Ocean and into the Red Sea, and to the +Lemnian race of husbandslaying wives; there also they had games and +wrestled for a prize of vesture, and lay with the women of the land. + +And then it was that in a stranger womb, by night or day, the fateful +seed was sown of the bright fortune of thy race. For there began the +generations of Euphemos, which should be thenceforth without end. And +in time mingling among the homes of Lakedaimonian men they made their +dwelling in the isle that once was Kalliste[17]: and thence the son +of Leto gave thy race the Libyan plain to till it and to do honour +therein to your gods, and to rule the divine city of golden-throned +Kyrene with devising of the counsels of truth. + +Now hearken to a wise saying even as the wisdom of Oedipus. If one +with sharp axe lop the boughs of a great oak and mar the glorious +form, even in the perishing of the fruit thereof it yet giveth token +of that it was; whether at the last it come even to the winter fire, +or whether with upright pillars in a master's house it stand, to serve +drear service within alien walls, and the place thereof knoweth it no +more[18]. + +But thou art a physician most timely, and the god of healing maketh +thy light burn brightly. A gentle hand must thou set to a festering +wound. It is a small thing even for a slight man to shake a city, but +to set it firm again in its place this is hard struggle indeed, unless +with sudden aid God guide the ruler's hand. For thee are prepared the +thanks which these deeds win. Be strong to serve with all thy might +Kyrene's goodly destiny. + +And of Homer's words take this to ponder in thy heart: _Of a good +messenger_, he saith, _cometh great honour to every deed._ Even to the +Muse is right messengership a gain. Now good cause have Kyrene and the +glorious house of Battos to know the righteous mind of Demophilos. For +he was a boy with boys, yet in counsels an old man of a hundred years: +and the evil tongue he robbeth of its loud voice, and hath learnt to +abhor the insolent, neither will he make strife against the good, nor +tarry when he hath a deed in hand. For a brief span hath opportunity +for men, but of him it is known surely when it cometh, and he waiteth +thereon a servant but no slave. + +Now this they say is of all griefs the sorest, that one knowing good +should of necessity abide without lot therein. Yea thus doth Atlas +struggle now against the burden of the firmament, far from his native +land and his possessions. Yet the Titans were set free by immortal +Zeus. As time runneth on the breeze abateth and there are shiftings of +the sails. And he hath hope that when he shall have endured to the end +his grievous plague he shall see once more his home, and at Apollo's +fountain[19] joining in the feast give his soul to rejoice in her +youth, and amid citizens who love his art, playing on his carven lute, +shall enter upon peace, hurting and hurt of none. Then shall he tell +how fair a fountain of immortal verse he made to flow for Arkesilas, +when of late he was the guest of Thebes. + + +[Footnote 1: Libya. Epaphos was son of Zeus by Io.] + +[Footnote 2: This incident happened during the wanderings of the +Argonauts on their return with the Golden Fleece from Kolchis to +Iolkos.] + +[Footnote 3: Thera.] + +[Footnote 4: Euphemos.] + +[Footnote 5: At Tainaros there was a cave supposed to be a mouth of +Hades.] + +[Footnote 6: Of Libya.] + +[Footnote 7: The purport of this is: If Euphemos had taken the clod +safely home to Tainaros in Lakonia, then his great-grandsons with +emigrants from other Peloponnesian powers would have planted a colony +in Libya. But since the clod had fallen into the sea and would be +washed up on the shore of the island of Thera, it was necessary that +Euphemos' descendants should first colonize Thera, and then, but not +till the seventeenth generation, proceed, under Battos, to found the +colony of Kyrene in Libya.] + +[Footnote 8: Battos.] + +[Footnote 9: The priestess.] + +[Footnote 10: The epithet [Greek: polias] is impossible to explain +satisfactorily. It has been suggested to me by Professor S.H. Butcher, +that [Greek: chamaigenaes] may have been equivalent to [Greek: +gaegenaes] and that Pelias may thus mean, half ironically, to imply +that Jason's stature, garb and mien, as well as his mysteriously +sudden appearance, argue him a son of one of the ancient giants who +had been seen of old among men.] + +[Footnote 11: The Kentaur Cheiron.] + +[Footnote 12: I. e. one son of Zeus and Alkmene, Herakles, and two +sons of Zeus and Leto, Kastor and Polydeukes.] + +[Footnote 13: For the blood of the victims.] + +[Footnote 14: The Symplegades having failed to crush the ship Argo +between them were themselves destroyed by the shock of their encounter +with each other. Probably a tradition of icebergs survived in this +story.] + +[Footnote 15: Used as a love-charm.] + +[Footnote 16: Aietes.] + +[Footnote 17: Thera.] + +[Footnote 18: In this parable the oak is the state, the boughs its +best men, the fire and the alien house destruction and servitude.] + +[Footnote 19: The fountain Kyra in the heart of the city Kyrene.] + + + +V. + +FOR ARKESILAS OF KYRENE, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode celebrates the same victory as the foregoing. It would seem +that the chariot had been consecrated to Apollo and left in the temple +at Delphi, but the horses were brought home to Kyrene and led in +procession through the sacred street of Apollo, with their charioteer +Karrhotos, brother of Arkesilas' wife. + + * * * * * + +Wide-reaching is the power of wealth, whensoever a mortal man hath +received it at the hands of Fate with pure virtue mingled, and +bringeth it to his home, a follower that winneth him many friends. +Arkesilas, thou favourite of the gods, thou verily seekest after it +with good report from the first steps of thy glorious life, with aid +of Kastor of the golden car, who after the wintry storm hath shed +bright calm about thy happy hearth[1]. + +Now the wise bear better the power that is given of God. And thou +walkest in righteousness amid thy prosperity which is now great; +first, for that thou art king of mighty cities, thy inborn virtue +hath brought this majestic honour to thy soul, and again thou art now +blessed in that from the famous Pythian games thou hast won glory by +thy steeds, and hast received this triumphal song of men, Apollo's +joy. + +Therefore forget not, while at Kyrene round Aphrodite's pleasant +garden thy praise is sung, to set God above every other as the cause +thereof: also love thou Karrhotos[2] chiefest of thy friends; who +hath not brought with him Excuse the daughter of late-considering +Afterthought back to the house of the just-ruling sons of Battos; but +beside the waters of Kastalia a welcomed guest he crowned thy hair +with the crown of the conquering car, for the reins were safe[3] in +his hands throughout the twelve swift turns along the sacred course. + +Of the strong harness brake he no whit: but there is hung up[4] all +that cunning work of the artificers that he brought with him when he +passed over the Krisaian hill to the plain within the valley of the +god: therefore now the chamber of cypress-wood possesseth it, hard by +the statue which the bow-bearing Kretans dedicated in the Parnassian +shrine, the natural image in one block[5]. Therefore with eager heart +it behoveth thee to go forth to meet him who hath done thee this good +service. + +Thee also, son[6] of Alexibios, the Charites of lovely hair make +glorious. Blessed art thou for that after much toil thou hast a +monument of noble words. Among forty charioteers who fell[7] thou +didst with soul undaunted bring thy car unhurt, and hast now come back +from the glorious games unto the plain of Libya and the city of thy +sires. + +Without lot in trouble hath there been never any yet, neither shall +be: yet still the ancient bliss of Battos followeth the race, albeit +with various fortune; a bulwark is it to the city, and to strangers a +most welcome light. + +From Battos even deep-voiced lions[8] fled in fear when he uttered +before them a voice from overseas: for the captain and founder Apollo +gave the beasts over to dire terror, that he might not be false to his +oracles which he had delivered to the ruler of Kyrene. + +Apollo it is who imparteth unto men and women cures for sore maladies, +and hath bestowed on them the lute, and giveth the Muse to whomsoever +he will, bringing into their hearts fair order of peace; and +inhabiteth the secret place of his oracles; whereby at Lakedaimon and +at Argos and at sacred Pylos he made to dwell the valiant sons of +Herakles and Aigimios[9]. + +From Sparta they say came my own dear famous race[10]: thence sprang +the sons of Aigeus who came to Thera, my ancestors, not without +help of God; but a certain destiny brought thither a feast of much +sacrifice[11], and thence receiving, O Apollo, thy Karneia we honour +at the banquet the fair-built city of Kyrene, which the spear-loving +strangers haunt[12], the Trojan seed of Antenor. For with Helen they +came thither after they had seen their native city smoking in the +fires of war. + +And now to that chivalrous race do the men whom Aristoteles[13] +brought, opening with swift ships a track through the deep sea, give +greeting piously, and draw nigh to them with sacrifice and gifts. + +He also planted greater groves of gods, and made a paved road[14] cut +straight over the plain, to be smitten with horsehoofs in processions +that beseech Apollo's guardianship for men; and there at the end of +the market-place he lieth apart in death. Blessed was he while he +dwelt among men, and since his death the people worship him as their +hero. + +And apart from him before their palace lie other sacred kings that +have their lot with Hades; and even now perchance they hear, with +such heed as remaineth to the dead, of this great deed sprinkled with +kindly dew of outpoured song triumphal, whence have they bliss in +common with their son Arkesilas unto whom it falleth due. + +Him it behoveth by the song of the young men to celebrate Phoibos of +the golden sword, seeing that from Pytho he hath won a recompense of +his cost in this glad strain of glorious victory. + +Of him the wise speak well: I but repeat their words saying that he +cherisheth understanding above his years, that in eloquent speech and +boldness he is as the wide-winged eagle among birds, and his strength +in combat like a tower. And he hath wings to soar with the Muses, +as his mother before him, and now hath he proved him a cunning +charioteer: and by all ways that lead to honour at home hath he +adventured. + +As now the favour of God perfecteth his might, so for the time to +come, blest children of Kronos, grant him to keep it in counsel and +in deed, that never at any time the wintry blast of the late autumn +winds[15] sweep him away. Surely the mighty mind of Zeus guideth the +destiny of the men he loveth. I pray that to the seed of Battos he may +at Olympia grant a like renown. + + +[Footnote 1: Kastor was not only a patron of charioteers, but also, +with his twin-brother Polydeukes, a protector of mariners and giver of +fair weather.] + +[Footnote 2: The charioteer.] + +[Footnote 3: I. e. well-handled and un-broken in the sharp turns round +the goal.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. in Apollo's temple at Delphi.] + +[Footnote 5: This would seem to have been a piece of wood growing +naturally in the form of a man.] + +[Footnote 6: Karrhotos.] + +[Footnote 7: This seems great havoc among the starters. Probably +besides the forty who fell there were others who were not actually +upset but yet did not win. No doubt the race must have been run in +heats, but these must still have been crowded enough to make the crush +at the turns exceedingly dangerous.] + +[Footnote 8: Pausanias says that Battos, the founder of Kyrene, was +dumb when he went to Africa, but that on suddenly meeting a lion the +fright gave him utterance. According to Pindar the lions seem to have +been still more alarmed, being startled by Battos' foreign accent.] + +[Footnote 9: The Dorians.] + +[Footnote 10: There were Aigidai at Sparta and Spartan colonies, of +which Kyrene was one, and also at Thebes: to the latter branch of the +family Pindar belonged.] + +[Footnote 11: The Karneia, a Dorian feast of which we hear often in +history.] + +[Footnote 12: These Trojan refugees were supposed to have anciently +settled on the site where Kyrene was afterwards built. Battos (or +Aristoteles) and his new settlers honoured the dead Trojans as tutelar +heroes of the spot.] + +[Footnote 13: Battos.] + +[Footnote 14: The sacred street of Apollo, along which the procession +moved which sang this ode. The pavement, and the tombs cut in the rock +on each side are still to be seen, or at least were in 1817, when the +Italian traveller Della Cella visited the place. Böckh quotes from +his Viaggio da Tripoli di Barberia alle frontiere occedentali dell' +Egitto, p. 139: 'Oggi ho passeggiato in una delle strade (di Cirene) +che serba ancora Papparenza di essere stata fra le più cospicue. Non +solo è tutta intagliata nel vivo sasso, ma a due lati è fiancheggiata +da lunga fila di tombe quadrate di dieci circa piedi di altezza, anch' +esse tutte d'un pezzo scavate nella roccia.'] + +[Footnote 15: I. e., probably, calamity in old age.] + + + +VI. + +FOR XENOKRATES OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This victory was won B.C. 494, when Pindar was twenty-eight years old, +and the ode was probably written to be sung at Delphi immediately +on the event. Thus, next to the tenth Pythian, written eight years +before, this is the earliest of Pindar's poems that remains to us. + +Xenokrates was a son of Ainesidamos and brother of Theron. The second +Isthmian is also in his honour. + + * * * * * + +Hearken! for once more we plough the field[1] of Aphrodite of the +glancing eyes, or of the Graces call it if you will, in this our +pilgrimage to the everlasting centre-stone of deep-murmuring[2] earth. + +For there for the blissful Emmenidai, and for Akragas by the +riverside, and chiefliest for Xenokrates, is builded a ready treasure +of song within the valley of Apollo rich in golden gifts. + +That treasure of his shall neither wind nor wintry rain-storm coming +from strange lands, as a fierce host born of the thunderous cloud, +carry into the hiding places of the sea, to be beaten by the +all-sweeping drift: + +But in clear light its front shall give tidings of a victory won +in Krisa's dells, glorious in the speech of men to thy father +Thrasyboulos, and to all his kin with him. + +Thou verily in that thou settest him ever at thy right hand cherishest +the charge which once upon the mountains they say the son[3] of +Philyra gave to him of exceeding might, even to the son of Peleas, +when he had lost his sire: first that of all gods he most reverence +Kronos' son, the deep-voiced lord of lightnings and of thunders, and +then that he never rob of like honour a parent's spell of life. + +Also of old time had mighty Antilochos this mind within him, who died +for his father's sake, when he abode the murderous onset of Memnon, +the leader of the Ethiop hosts. + +For Nestor's chariot was stayed by a horse that was stricken of the +arrows of Paris, and Memnon made at him with his mighty spear. Then +the heart of the old man of Messene was troubled, and he cried unto +his son; nor wasted he his words in vain; in his place stood up the +godlike man and bought his father's flight by his own death. So by the +young men of that ancient time he was deemed to have wrought a mighty +deed, and in succouring of parents to be supreme. + +These things are of the past; but of men that now are Thrasyboulos +hath come nearest to our fathers' gauge. And following his uncle also +he hath made glory to appear for him; and with wisdom doth he handle +wealth, neither gathereth the fruit of an unrighteous or overweening +youth, but rather of knowledge amid the secret places of the Pierides. +And to thee, Earthshaker, who didst devise ventures of steeds, with +right glad heart he draweth nigh. Sweet is his spirit toward the +company of his guests, yea sweeter than the honeycomb, the toil of +bees. + + +[Footnote 1: The field of poesy.] + +[Footnote 2: An epithet appropriate to volcanic soils.] + +[Footnote 3: Cheiron.] + + + +VII. + +FOR MEGAKLES OF ATHENS, + +WINNER IN THE FOUR-HORSE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +Megakles won this victory B.C. 490, the year of the battle of +Marathon. He was a member of the great house of the Alkmaionidai, to +which Kleisthenes and Perikles belonged. Megakles was a frequent name +in the family: this Megakles was probably the nephew, possibly the +son, of Kleisthenes. + + * * * * * + +Fairest of preludes is the great name of Athens to whosoever will lay +foundation of songs for the mighty race of Alkmaionidai and for their +steeds. What country, what house among all lands shall I name more +glorious throughout Hellas? + +For unto all cities is the fame familiar of the citizens of +Erechtheus, who at divine Pytho have wrought thee, O Apollo, a +glorious house[1]. + +And I hereto am led by victories, at Isthmos five, and one +pre-eminent, won at Olympia at the feast of Zeus, and two at Kirrha, +which thou, O Megakles, and thy sire have won. + +Now at this new good fortune I rejoice; yet somewhat also I grieve, +even to behold how envy requiteth noble deeds[2]. Yet thus ever, they +say, must fair hap abiding with a man engender bad with good. + + +[Footnote 1: The Alkmainodai had lately been spending large sums on +the rebuilding of Apollo's temple at Delphi.] + +[Footnote 2: Megakles was twice ostracized.] + + + +VIII. + +FOR ARISTOMENES OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +The precise date of this ode is uncertain, but there is strong +internal evidence of its having been written soon after the battle of +Salamis, after which, as is well known, the [Greek: aristeia] or first +honours for valour, were awarded to Aigina. The insolence of the +barbarian despot seems to be symbolized by that of the giants Typhon +and Porphyrion. + +The ode was apparently to be sung on the winner's return to Aigina. No +less than eleven of the extant odes were written for winners from that +island. + + * * * * * + +O kindly Peace, daughter of Righteousness, thou that makest cities +great, and boldest the supreme keys of counsels and of wars, welcome +thou this honour to Aristomenes, won in the Pythian games. + +Thou knowest how alike to give and take gentleness in due season: thou +also, if any have moved thy heart unto relentless wrath, dost terribly +confront the enemy's might, and sinkest Insolence in the sea. + +Thus did Porphyrion provoke thee unaware. Now precious is the gain +that one beareth away from the house of a willing giver. But violence +shall ruin a man at the last, boast he never so loudly. He of Kilikia, +Typhon of the hundred heads, escaped not this, neither yet the king of +giants[1]: but by the thunderbolt they fell and by the bow of Apollo, +who with kind intent hath welcomed Xenarches home from Kirrha, crowned +with Parnassian wreaths and Dorian song. + +Not far from the Graces' ken falleth the lot of this righteous +island-commonwealth, that hath attained unto the glorious deeds of the +sons of Aiakos[2]: from the beginning is her fame perfect, for she is +sung of as the nurse of heroes foremost in many games and in violent +fights: and in her mortal men also is she pre-eminent. + +But my time faileth me to offer her all I might tell at length by lute +and softer voice of man, so that satiety vex not. + +So let that which lieth in my path, my debt to thee, O boy, the +youngest of thy country's glories, run on apace, winged by my art. + +For in wrestlings thou art following the footsteps of thy uncles, and +shamest neither Theognetos at Olympia, nor the victory that at Isthmos +was won by Kleitomachos' stalwart limbs. + +And in that thou makest great the clan of the Midylidai thou attainest +unto the very praise which on a time the son of Oikleus spake in +a riddle, when he saw at seven-gated Thebes the sons of the Seven +standing to their spears, what time from Argos came the second race on +their new enterprise[3]. Thus spake he while they fought: 'By nature, +son, the noble temper of thy sires shineth forth in thee. I see +clearly the speckled dragon that Alkmaion weareth on his bright +shield, foremost at the Kadmean gates. + +And he who in the former fight fared ill, hero Adrastos, is now +endowed with tidings of a better omen. Yet in his own house his +fortune shall be contrariwise: for he alone of all the Danaan host, +after that he shall have gathered up the bones of his dead son, shall +by favour of the gods come back with unharmed folk to the wide streets +of Abas[4].' + +On this wise spake Amphiaraos. Yea and with joy I too myself throw +garlands on Alkmaion's grave, and shower it withal with songs, for +that being my neighbour and guardian of my possessions[5] he met me as +I went up to the earth's centre-stone, renowned in song, and showed +forth the gift of prophecy which belongeth unto his house[6]. + +But thou, far-darter, ruler of the glorious temple whereto all men go +up, amid the glens of Pytho didst there grant this the greatest of +joys: and at home before didst thou bring to him at the season of thy +feast the keen-sought prize of the pentathlon. My king, with willing +heart I make avowal that through thee is harmony before mine eyes in +all that I sing of every conqueror. + +By the side of our sweet-voiced song of triumph hath Righteousness +taken her stand, and I pray, O Xenarches[7], that the favour of God be +unfailing toward the fortune of thee and thine. For if one hath good +things to his lot without long toil, to many he seemeth therefore to +be wise among fools and to be crowning his life by right devising of +the means. But these things lie not with men: it is God that ordereth +them, who setteth up one and putteth down another, so that he is bound +beneath the hands of the adversary. + +Now at Megara also hast thou won a prize, and in secluded Marathon, +and in the games of Hera in thine own land, three times, Aristomenes, +hast thou overcome. + +And now on the bodies of four others[8] hast thou hurled thyself with +fierce intent, to whom the Pythian feast might not award, as unto +thee, the glad return, nor the sweet smile that welcometh thee to thy +mother's side; nay but by secret ways they shrink from meeting their +enemies, stricken down by their evil hap. + +Now he that hath lately won glory in the time of his sweet youth is +lifted on the wings of his strong hope and soaring valour, for his +thoughts are above riches. + +In a little moment groweth up the delight of men; yea and in like sort +falleth it to the ground, when a doom adverse hath shaken it. + +Things of a day--what are we, and what not? Man is a dream of shadows. + +Nevertheless when a glory from God hath shined on them, a clear light +abideth upon men, and serene life. + +Aigina[9], mother dear, this city in her march among the free, with +Zeus and lordly Aiakos, with Peleus and valiant Telamon and with +Achilles, guard thou well. + + + +[Footnote 1: Porphyrion.] + +[Footnote 2: Aiakos and his descendants, especially Aias, were the +chief national heroes of Aigina.] + +[Footnote 3: It seems doubtful what this legend exactly was. Either +Amphiaraos, during the attack of the first Seven against Thebes, +saw by prophetic vision the future battle of the second Seven, the +Epigonoi, among whom were his own son Alkmaion, and Adrastos, the sole +survivor of the first Seven; or else these are the words of his oracle +after his death, spoken when the battle of the Epigonoi had begun but +was not yet ended.] + +[Footnote 4: Abas was an ancient king of Argos.] + +[Footnote 5: Probably there was a shrine of Alkmaion near Pindar's +house at Thebes, so that he considered his household to be under the +hero's protection: perhaps he had deposited money in the shrine, for +temples were often used as treasuries.] + +[Footnote 6: Probably in some vision seen by Pindar on his journey to +Delphi.] + +[Footnote 7: Father of Aristomenes.] + +[Footnote 8: His competitors in four ties of the wrestling-match.] + +[Footnote 9: The nymph, protectress of the island.] + + + +IX. + +FOR TELESIKRATES OF KYRENE, + +WINNER OF THE FOOT-RACE IN FULL ARMOUR. + + * * * * * + +The Hellenic heavy-armed soldier was often called upon to advance at a +run, as for instance in the charge at Marathon. With a view no doubt +to such occasions this race in full armour had been instituted at +Pytho in 498, and in 478 it was won by Telesikrates. The ode was +probably sung in a procession at Thebes, before Telesikrates had gone +back to Kyrene, but the legends related are mainly connected with +Kyrene. Probably the commentators are right in supposing +that Telesikrates was to take home with him a bride from the +mother-country, a fact which makes the legends told specially +appropriate. + + * * * * * + +I have desire to proclaim with aid of the deep-vested Graces a victory +at Pytho of Telesikrates bearing the shield of bronze, and to speak +aloud his name, for his fair fortune and the glory wherewith he hath +crowned Kyrene, city of charioteers. + +Kyrene[1] once from Pelion's wind-echoing dells Leto's son, the +flowing-haired, caught up and in a golden car bore away the +huntress-maiden to the place where he made her queen of a land rich in +flocks, yea richest of all lands in the fruits of the field, that her +home might be the third part[2] of the mainland of earth, a stock that +should bear lovely bloom. And silver-foot Aphrodite awaited the Delian +stranger issuing from his car divine, and lightly laid on him her +hand: then over their sweet bridal-bed she cast the loveliness of +maiden shame, and in a common wedlock joined the god and the daughter +of wide-ruling Hypseus, who then was king of the haughty Lapithai, +a hero whose father's father was the Ocean-god--for amid the famous +mountain-dells of Pindos the Naiad Kreüsa bare him after she had +delight in the bed of Peneus, Kreüsa, daughter of Earth. + +Now the child he reared was Kyrene of the lovely arms: She was not one +who loved the pacings to and fro before the loom, neither the delights +of feastings with her fellows within the house, but with bronze +javelins and a sword she fought against and slew wild beasts of prey; +yea and much peace and sure she gave thereby to her father's herds, +but for sleep, the sharer of her bed, short spent she it and sweet, +descending on her eyelids as the dawn drew near. + +Once as she struggled alone, without spear, with a terrible lion, he +of the wide quiver, far-darting Apollo, found her: and straightway he +called Cheiron from his hall and spake to him aloud: 'Son of Philyra, +come forth from thy holy cave, and behold and wonder at the spirit of +this woman, and her great might, what strife she wageth here with soul +undaunted, a girl with heart too high for toil to quell; for her mind +shaketh not in the storm of fear. What man begat her? From what tribe +was she torn to dwell in the secret places of the shadowing hills? She +hath assayed a struggle unachievable. Is it lawful openly to put forth +my hand to her, or rather on a bridal-bed pluck the sweet flower?' + +To him the Centaur bold with a frank smile on his mild brow made +answer straightway of his wisdom: 'Secret are wise Lovecraft's keys +unto love's sanctities, O Phoibos, and among gods and men alike all +deem this shame, to have pleasure of marriage at the first openly. Now +even thee, who mayest have no part in lies, thy soft desire hath led +to dissemble in this thy speech. + +The maiden's lineage dost thou, O king, enquire of me--thou who +knowest the certain end of all things, and all ways? How many leaves +the earth sendeth forth in spring, how many grains of sand in sea and +river are rolled by waves and the winds' stress, what shall come to +pass, and whence it shall be, thou discernest perfectly. But if even +against wisdom I must match myself, I will speak on. To wed this +damsel camest thou unto this glen, and thou art destined to bear her +beyond the sea to a chosen garden of Zeus, where thou shalt make her a +city's queen, when thou hast gathered together an island-people to +a hill in the plain's midst. And now shall queenly Libya of broad +meadow-lands well-pleased receive for thee within a golden house thy +glorious bride, and there make gift to her of a portion in the land, +to be an inhabiter thereof with herself, neither shall it be lacking +in tribute of plants bearing fruit after all kinds, neither a stranger +to the beasts of chase. There shall she bring forth a son, whom +glorious Hermes taking up from his mother's arms shall bear to the +fair-throned Hours and to Earth: and they shall set the babe upon +their knees, and nectar and ambrosia they shall distil upon his lips, +and shall make him as an immortal, a Zeus or a holy Apollo, to men +beloved of him a very present help, a tutelar of flocks, and to some +Agreus and Nomios; but to others Aristaios shall be his name.' + +By these words he made him ready for the bridal's sweet fulfilment. +And swift the act and short the ways of gods who are eager to an end. +That same day made accomplishment of the matter, and in a golden +chamber of Libya they lay together; where now she haunteth a city +excellent in beauty and glorious in the games. + +And now at sacred Pytho hath the son of Karneadas wedded that city +to the fair flower of good luck: for by his victory there he hath +proclaimed Kyrene's name, even her's who shall receive him with glad +welcome home, to the country of fair women bringing precious honour +out of Delphi. + +Great merits stir to many words: yet to be brief and skilful on +long themes is a good hearing for bards: for fitness of times is in +everything alike of chief import. + +That Iolaos had respect thereto[3] seven-gated Thebes knoweth well, +for when he had stricken down the head of Eurystheus beneath the edge +of the sword, she buried the slayer beneath the earth in the tomb of +Amphitryon the charioteer, where his father's father was laid, a guest +of the Spartoi, who had left his home to dwell among the streets of +the sons of Kadmos who drave white horses. To him and to Zeus at once +did wise Alkmene bear the strength of twin sons prevailing in battle. + +Dull is that man who lendeth not his voice to Herakles, nor hath in +remembrance continually the waters of Dirke that nurtured him and +Iphikles. To them will I raise a song of triumph for that I have +received good at their hands, after that I had prayed to them that the +pure light of the voiceful Graces might not forsake me. For at Aigma +and on the hill of Nisos twice ere now I say that I have sung Kyrene's +praise, and by my act have shunned the reproach of helpless dumbness. + +Wherefore if any of the citizens be our friend, yea even if he be +against us, let him not seek to hide the thing that hath been well +done in the common cause, and so despise the word of the old god of +the sea[4]. He biddeth one give praise with the whole heart to noble +deeds, yea even to an enemy, so be it that justice be on his side. + +Full many times at the yearly feast of Pallas have the maidens seen +thee winner, and silently they prayed each for herself that such an +one as thou, O Telesikrates, might be her beloved husband or her son; +and thus also was it at the games of Olympia and of ample-bosomed +Earth[5], and at all in thine own land. + +Me anywise to slake my thirst for song the ancient glory of thy +forefathers summoneth to pay its due and rouse it yet again--to tell +how that for love of a Libyan woman there went up suitors to the city +of Irasa to woo Antaios' lovely-haired daughter of great renown; whom +many chiefs of men, her kinsmen, sought to wed, and many strangers +also; for the beauty of her was marvellous, and they were fain to cull +the fruit whereto her gold-crowned youth had bloomed. + +But her father gained for his daughter a marriage more glorious still. +Now he had heard how sometime Danaos at Argos devised for his forty +and eight maiden daughters, ere mid-day was upon them, a wedding +of utmost speed--for he straightway set the whole company at the +race-course end, and bade determine by a foot-race which maiden each +hero should have, of all the suitors that had come. + +Even on this wise gave the Libyan a bridegroom to his daughter, and +joined the twain. At the line he set the damsel, having arrayed her +splendidly, to be the goal and prize, and proclaimed in the midst that +he should lead her thence to be his bride who, dashing to the front, +should first touch the robes she wore. + +Thereon Alexidamos, when that he had sped through the swift course, +took by her hand the noble maiden, and led her through the troops of +Nomad horsemen. Many the leaves and wreaths they showered on him; yea +and of former days many plumes of victories had he won. + + + +[Footnote 1: A Thessalian maiden, from whom, according to this legend, +the colony of Kyrene in Africa took its name.] + +[Footnote 2: I. e. Libya, the continent which we now call Africa.] + +[Footnote 3: I. e. by seizing the moment left to him before it should +be too late to act. Thebes and Kyrene were connected by the fact that +members of the Aigid family lived at both places.] + +[Footnote 4: Nereus. Powers of divination and wisdom generally are +often attributed to sea-deities.] + +[Footnote 5: I. e. at Delphi or Pytho. As being the supposed centre of +the Earth it was the place of the worship of the Earth-goddess.] + + + +X. + +FOR HIPPOKLEAS OF THESSALY, + +WINNER IN THE TWO-STADION FOOT-RACE OF BOYS. + + * * * * * + +The only reason we know for the digression about Perseus which +occupies great part of this ode seems to be that Thorax, who engaged +Pindar to write it for Hippokleas, and perhaps Hippokleas himself, +belonged to the family of the Aleuadai, who were descended through +Herakles from Perseus. + +This ode is the earliest entire poem of Pindar's which survives. He +wrote it when he was twenty years old. The simplicity of the style and +manner of composition are significant of this. But there can scarcely +be said to be traces here of Pindar's early tendency in dealing with +mythological allusions to 'sow not with the hand but with the whole +sack,' which Korinna advised him to correct, and which is conspicuous +in a fragment remaining to us of one of his Hymns. + + * * * * * + +Happy is Lakedaimon, blessed is Thessaly: in both there reigneth a +race sprung from one sire, from Herakles bravest in the fight. What +vaunt is this unseasonable? Nay, now, but Pytho calleth me, and +Pelinnaion[1], and the sons of Aleuas who would fain lead forth the +loud voices of a choir of men in honour of Hippokleas. + +For now hath he tasted the joy of games, and to the host of the +dwellers round about hath the valley beneath Parnassos proclaimed him +best among the boys who ran the double race[2]. + +O Apollo, sweet is the end when men attain thereto, and the beginning +availed more when it is speeded of a god. Surely of thy devising were +his deeds: and this his inborn valour hath trodden in the footsteps +of his father twice victor at Olympia in panoply of war-affronting +arms[3]: moreover the games in the deep meadow beneath Kirrha's cliff +gave victory to the fleet feet of Phrikias[4]. + +May good luck follow them, so that even in after days the splendour of +their wealth shall bloom. Of the pleasant things of Hellas they +have no scanty portion to their lot; may they happen on no envious +repentings of the gods. A god's heart, it may be, is painless ever; +but happy and a theme of poet's song is that man who for his valiance +of hands or feet the chiefest prizes hath by strength and courage won, +and in his life-time seen his young son by good hap attaining to the +Pythian crown. Never indeed shall he climb the brazen heaven, but +whatsoever splendours we of mortal race may reach, through such he +hath free course even to the utmost harbourage. But neither by taking +ship, neither by any travel on foot, to the Hyperborean folk shalt +thou find the wondrous way. + +Yet of old the chieftain Perseus entered into their houses and feasted +among them, when that he had lighted on them as they were sacrificing +ample hecatombs of asses to their god. For ever in their feasts and +hymns hath Apollo especial joy, and laugheth to see the braying ramp +of the strange beasts. Nor is the Muse a stranger to their lives, but +everywhere are stirring to and fro dances of maidens and shrill noise +of pipes: and binding golden bay-leaves in their hair they make them +merry cheer. Nor pestilence nor wasting eld approach that hallowed +race: they toil not neither do they fight, and dwell unharmed of cruel +Nemesis. + +In the eagerness of his valiant heart went of old the son of Danaë, +for that Athene led him on his way, unto the company of that blessed +folk. Also he slew the Gorgon and bare home her head with serpent +tresses decked, to the island folk a stony death. I ween there is no +marvel impossible if gods have wrought thereto. + +Let go the oar, and quickly drive into the earth an anchor from the +prow, to save us from the rocky reef, for the glory of my song of +praise flitteth like a honey-bee from tale to tale. + +I have hope that when the folk of Ephyra pour forth my sweet strains +by Peneus' side, yet more glorious shall I make their Hippokleas for +his crowns and by my songs among his fellows and his elders, and I +will make him possess the minds of the young maidens. + +For various longings stir secretly the minds of various men; yet each +if he attain to the thing he striveth for will hold his eager desire +for the time present to him, but what a year shall bring forth, none +shall foreknow by any sign. + +My trust is in the kindly courtesy of my host Thorax, of him who to +speed my fortune hath yoked this four-horse car of the Pierides, as +friend for friend, and willing guide for guide. + +As gold to him that trieth it by a touch-stone, so is a true soul +known. + +His noble brethren also will we praise, for that they exalt and make +great the Thessalians' commonwealth. For in the hands of good men +lieth the good piloting of the cities wherein their fathers ruled. + + +[Footnote 1: Hippokleas' birth-place.] + +[Footnote 2: Down the stadion (220 yards) and back.] + +[Footnote 3: I. e. in the race run in full armour, like that at Pytho +which Telesikrates, of Kyrene won, celebrated in the fore-going ode.] + +[Footnote 4: Probably a horse with which Hippokleas' father won a race +at Pytho.] + + + +XI. + +FOR THRASYDAIOS OF THEBES, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' SHORT FOOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The date of this victory was B.C. 478, nearly two years after the +battle of Plataea, and the deliverance of Thebes from Persian +influence and the sway of a tyrannous oligarchy. But beyond this we +have nothing certain to which we can refer the allusions to Theban +affairs, public and private, which we have reason to think present in +the ode. + + * * * * * + +Daughters of Kadmos, thou Semele whose goings are with the queens of +Olympus, and thou Ino Leukothea who housest with the Nereids of the +sea, come ye up with the mother[1] of a mighty son, even of Herakles, +unto the temple of M[)e]lia[2] and into the holy place of the golden +tripods, which beyond all others Loxias hath honoured, and named it +the shrine Ismenian, a truthful seat of seers; where now, O children +of Harmonia, he calleth the whole heroic sisterhood of the soil to +assemble themselves together, that of holy Themis and of Pytho and +the Earth-navel of just judgments ye may sing at early evening, doing +honour to seven-gated Thebes, and to the games at Kirrha, wherein +Thrasydaios hath made his father's house glorious by casting thereon a +third wreath for his victory in the rich cornlands[3] of Pylades, who +was the host of Lakonian Orestes. + +Orestes, on the murder of his father, Arsinoë his nurse saved from the +violent hands of Klytaimnestra and out of the ruinous treason, what +time the daughter of Dardanid Priam, Kassandra, was by the glittering +bronze in company with Agamemnon's soul sped to the shadowy shore of +Acheron by the woman who had no pity. + +Did then the slaughter of Iphigenia far from her own land on Euripos' +shore so sting her mother to the arousal of a wrath of grievous act? +Or had nocturnal loves misguided her, in thraldom to a paramour's +embrace? a sin in new-wed brides most hateful, and that cannot be +hidden for the talk of stranger tongues: for the citizens repeat the +shame. For prosperity must sustain an envy equalling itself: but +concerning the man of low place the rumour is obscure. + +Thus died the hero himself[4], the son of Atreus, when after long +time he came unto famous Amyklai, and drew down with him to death the +maiden prophetess[5], after that he consumed with fire the Trojans' +habitations of softness. + +And thus Orestes, in the tenderness of his youth, came and was the +guest of the old man Strophios, who dwelt at the foot of Parnassos: +but with long-tarrying sword he slew his mother, and left Aigisthos' +body in its blood. + +Verily, my friends, by triple roads of interchanging ways I have wound +about, though heretofore I had kept on a straight track. Or hath some +wind blown me out of my course, as when it bloweth a boat upon the +sea? But thine it is, my Muse, since thou for reward didst promise the +loan thereof, to raise thy voice for silver now on this tale, now +on that, so that for this time at least it is on behalf either of +Thrasydaios or of his sire who conquered at Pytho: for of both are the +joy and glory burning lights. + +Of old for victories in the chariot-race they had bright glory at +Olympia in the famous games for the swiftness of their steeds: and now +have they gone down among the naked runners in the stadion, and have +put to rebuke the host of the Hellenes by their speed. + +God grant me to desire things honourable, seeking things possible in +my life's prime. + +The middle course I find to prosper most enduringly in the +commonwealth, and a state of tyranny I condemn. On well-doing for the +common good[6] I bestow my pains: so are the envious baffled, if one +hath excelled in such acts to the uttermost, and bearing it modestly +hath shunned the perilous reproach of insolence: so also at the end +shall he find black death more gracious unto him, to his dear children +leaving the best of possessions, even the glory of an honourable name. + +This it is that beareth abroad the name of Iolaos in song, and the +names of the mighty Kastor and of thee, king Polydeukes, ye sons of +gods, who one day in Therapnai and the next in Olympus have your +dwelling-place. + + +[Footnote 1: Alkmene.] + +[Footnote 2: Mother of Ismenios and Teucros, by Apollo.] + +[Footnote 3: In Phokis.] + +[Footnote 4: Agamemnon. It is a strange variety of the tale that he +is spoken of as having been murdered at Amyklai and not at Argos or +Mykenai. So above Orestes is called Lakonian.] + +[Footnote 5: Kassandra.] + +[Footnote 6: (Not for a party.)] + + + +XII. + +FOR MIDAS OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE FLUTE-PLAYING MATCH. + + * * * * * + +This is an early ode: the victory was won either in 494 or 450. It +was to be sung, it would seem, at Akragas, and very probably in a +procession to the shrine of the tutelar divinity of the city, with an +address to whom it seemingly begins, though it is difficult to say +what degree of personification is intended. + + * * * * * + +I pray thee, lover of splendour, most beautiful among the cities of +men, haunt of Persephone, thou who by the banks of Akragas' stream +that nourisheth thy flocks, inhabitest a citadel builded pleasantly--O +queen, graciously and with goodwill of gods and men welcome this crown +that is come forth from Pytho for Midas' fair renown; and him too +welcome therewithal who hath overcome all Hellas in the art which once +on a time Pallas Athene devised, when she made music of the fierce +Gorgon's death-lament. + +That heard she pouring from the maiden heads and heads of serpents +unapproachable amidst the anguish of their pains, when Perseus had +stricken the third sister, and to the isle Seriphos and its folk bare +thence their doom. + +Yea also he struck with blindness the wondrous brood of Phorkos[1], +and to Polydektes' bridal brought a grievous gift, and grievous +eternally he made for that man his mother's slavery and ravished bed: +for this he won the fair-faced Medusa's head, he who was the son of +Danaë, and sprung, they say, from a living stream of gold. + +But the Maiden[2], when that she had delivered her well-beloved from +these toils, contrived the manifold music of the flute, that with such +instrument she might repeat the shrill lament that reached her from +Euryale's[3] ravening jaws. + +A goddess was the deviser thereof, but having created it for +a possession of mortal men, she named that air she played the +many-headed[4] air, that speaketh gloriously of folk-stirring games, +as it issueth through the thin-beat bronze and the reeds which grow by +the Graces' city of goodly dancing-ground in the precinct of Kephisos' +nymph, the dancers' faithful witnesses. + +But if there be any bliss among mortal men, without labour it is not +made manifest: it may be that God will accomplish it even to-day, yet +the thing ordained is not avoidable: yea, there shall be a time that +shall lay hold on a man unaware, and shall give him one thing beyond +his hope, but another it shall bestow not yet. + + +[Footnote 1: The three Grey Sisters, whose one common eye Perseus +stole, + + [Greek: daenaiai korai + treis kyknomorphoi koinon omm' ektaemenai + monodontes, has outh' haelios prosderketai + aktisin, outh' hae nukteros maenae pote.] + +Aesch. Prom. 813. + +This must mean some kind of twilight, not total darkness, or they +could hardly have missed their eye.] + +[Footnote 2: Athene.] + +[Footnote 3: One of the Gorgons.] + +[Footnote 4: A certain [Greek: nomos aulaetikos] was known by this +name.] + + + +THE NEMEAN ODES. + +I. + +FOR CHROMIOS OF AITNA, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This Chromios was a son of Agesidamos and brother-in-law of Hieron, +and the same man for whom the ninth Nemean was written. He had become +a citizen of Hieron's new city of Aitna, and won this victory B.C. +473. + +This ode seems to have been sung before his house in Ortygia, a +peninsula on which part of Syracuse was built, and in which was the +fountain Arethusa. The legend of Arethusa and Alpheos explains the +epithets of Ortygia with which the ode opens. The greater part of the +ode is occupied with the story of Herakles, perhaps because Chromios +was of the Hyllean tribe and thus traced his descent to Herakles. + + * * * * * + +O resting-place august of Alpheos, Ortygia, scion of famous Syracuse, +thou that art a couch of Artemis and a sister of Delos[1], from thee +goeth forth a song of sweet words, to set forth the great glory of +whirlwind-footed steeds in honour of Aitnaian Zeus. + +For now the car of Chromios, and Nemea, stir me to yoke to his +victorious deeds the melody of a triumphal song. And thus by that +man's heaven-sped might I lay my foundations in the praise of gods. In +good fortune men speak well of one altogether: and of great games the +Muse is fain to tell. + +Sow then some seed of splendid words in honour of this isle, which +Zeus, the lord of Olympus, gave unto Persephone, and bowed his hair +toward her in sign that this teeming Sicily he would exalt to be the +best land in the fruitful earth, with gorgeous crown of citadels. And +the son of Kronos gave unto her a people that wooeth mailed war, a +people of the horse and of the spear, and knowing well the touch of +Olympia's golden olive-leaves. Thus shoot I arrows many, and without +falsehood I have hit the mark. + +And now at the doors of the hall of a hospitable man I stand to sing +a goodly song, where is prepared for me a friendly feast, and not +unwonted in that house are frequent stranger-guests: thus hath he +found good friends to pour a quenching flood on the mouldering fire of +reproach. + +Each hath his several art: but in straight paths it behoveth him to +walk, and to strive hard wherein his nature setteth him. Thus worketh +strength in act, and mind in counsels, when one is born to foresee +what shall come after. In thy nature, son of Agesidamos, are uses both +for this and that. + +I love not to keep hidden in my house great wealth, but to have joy of +that I have, and to have repute of liberality to my friends: for the +hopes of much-labouring men seem to me even as mine. + +Now I to Herakles cleave right willingly, among high deeds of valour +rousing an ancient tale; how that when from his mother's womb the son +of Zeus escaping the birth-pang came quickly into the glorious light +with his twin-brother, not unobserved of Hera did he put on the +saffron swaddling bands; but the queen of gods in the kindling of her +anger sent presently the two snakes, and they when the doors were +opened went right on into the wide bedchamber, hasting to entwine the +children, that they should be a prey to their fierce teeth. + +But the boy lifted up his head upright and was first to essay the +fight, seizing with inevitable grasp of both his hands the two +serpents by the necks, and time, as he strangled them, forced the +breath out of their monstrous forms. + +But a shock unendurable startled the women about Alkmene's bed, yea +and herself too started to her feet from the couch half-robed, and +would fain have beaten back the fierce beasts' violence. + +And quickly ran thronging thither with bronze arms the captains of +the sons of Kadmos; and brandishing in his hand his sword bare of its +sheath came Amphitryon smitten with sharp pain; for everyone alike is +grieved by the ills of his own house, but the heart is soon quit of +sorrow that careth but for another's care. + +And he stood in amazement, and gladness mingled with his fear; for he +saw the marvellous courage and might of his son, since the immortals +had turned to the contrary the saying of the messengers unto him. + +Then he called a man that lived nigh to him, a chosen prophet of the +most high Zeus, Teiresias the true seer: and he set forth to him and +to all his company with what manner of fortune should the child have +his lot cast, how many lawless monsters on the dry land, how many on +the sea he should destroy. + +Others moreover, of men the hatefullest, who walked in guile and +insolence, he prophesied that he should deliver over unto death: +saying that when on Phlegra's plain the gods should meet the giants +in battle, beneath the rush of his arrows their bright hair should be +soiled with earth; but he in peace himself should obtain a reward of +rest from his great toils throughout all time continually within the +house of bliss, and after that he had received fair Hebe to be his +bride, and made his marriage-feast, should remain beside Zeus, the son +of Kronos, well-pleased with his dwelling-place divine. + + +[Footnote 1: I. e. so honoured by Artemis as to rank with her native +Delos.] + + + +II. + +FOR TIMODEMOS OF ATHENS, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + +* * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown. It would seem to have been sung at +Athens on the winner's return home. He belonged to the clan of the +Timodemidai of Salamis, but to the deme of Acharnai. + +As to the nature of the Pankration see Dict. Ant. It was a combination +of wrestling and boxing, probably with wide license of rules. The best +extant illustration of it in sculpture is the famous group of the +Pankratiasts (commonly called the Luttatori) in the Tribune of the +Uffizi at Florence. + + * * * * * + +From the self-same beginning whence the Homerid bards draw out the +linkèd story of their song, even a prelude calling upon Zeus--so also +Nemeaian Zeus it is in whose far-famous grove this man hath attained +unto laying his first foundation of victory in the sacred games. + +And yet again must the son of Timonoös, if in the way of his fathers' +guiding him straight this age hath given him to be a glory of great +Athens--yet again and often must he pluck the noble flower of Isthmian +games, and in the Pythian conquer. Like is it that not far from the +mountain-brood of Pleiads[1] shall be the rising of Orion. + +Well able verily is Salamis to rear a man of battles: so at Troy was +Hektor aware of Aias; and so now, O Timodemos, art thou glorified by +thy stubborn prowess in the pankration. + +Acharnai of old was famous for its men, and as touching games the +Timodemidai rank there pre-eminent. Beneath Parnassos' lordly height +they won four victories in the games; moreover in the valleys of noble +Pelops they have obtained eight crowns at the hands of the men of +Corinth, and seven at Nemea; and at home more than may be numbered, at +the games of Zeus: + +To whose glory, O citizens, sing for Timodemos a song of triumph, and +bring him in honour home, and chant our prelude tunefully. + + +[Footnote 1: The Pleiads were daughters of Atlas. One victory betokens +another to come, as the rising of a constellation betokens the rising +of its neighbour.] + + + +III. + +FOR ARISTOKLEIDES OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +The date of the victory is unknown: the ode seems to have been written +long afterwards, probably for some anniversary celebration of the +event. + + * * * * * + +O divine Muse, our mother, I pray thee come unto this Dorian isle +Aigina stranger-thronged, for the sacred festival of the Nemean +games[1]: for by the waters of Asopos[2] young men await thee, skilled +to sing sweet songs of triumph, and desiring to hear thy call. + +For various recompense are various acts athirst; but victory in the +games above all loveth song, of crowns and valiant deeds the fittest +follower. Thereof grant us large store for our skill, and to the king +of heaven with its thronging clouds do thou who art his daughter begin +a noble lay; and I will marry the same to the voices of singers and to +the lyre. + +A pleasant labour shall be mine in glorifying this land where of old +the Myrmidons dwelt, whose ancient meeting-place Aristokleides through +thy favour hath not sullied with reproach by any softness in the +forceful strife of the pankration; but a healing remedy of wearying +blows he hath won at least in this fair victory in the deep-lying +plain of Nemea. + +Now if this son of Aristophanes, being fair of form and achieving +deeds as fair, hath thus attained unto the height of manly excellence, +no further is it possible for him to sail untraversed sea beyond the +pillars of Herakles, which the hero-god set to be wide-famed witnesses +of the end of voyaging: for he had overcome enormous wild-beasts on +the seas, and tracked the streams through marshes to where he came to +the goal that turned him to go back homeward, and there did he mark +out the ends of the earth. + +But to what headland of a strange shore, O my soul, art thou carrying +aside the course of my ship? To Aiakos and to his race I charge thee +bring the Muse. Herein is perfect justice, to speak the praise of good +men: neither are desires for things alien the best for men to cherish: +search first at home: a fitting glory for thy sweet song hast thou +gotten there in deeds of ancient valour. + +Glad was King Peleus when he cut him his gigantic spear, he who took +Iolkos by his single arm without help of any host, he who held firm in +the struggle Thetis the daughter of the sea. + +Also the city of Laomedon did mighty Telamon sack, when he fought with +Iolaos by his side, and again to the war of the Amazons with brazen +bows he followed him; neither at any time did man-subduing terror +abate the vigour of his soul. + +By inborn worth doth one prevail mightily; but whoso hath but precepts +is a vain man and is fain now for this thing and now again for that, +but a sure step planteth he not at any time, but handleth countless +enterprises with a purpose that achieveth naught. + +Now Achilles of the yellow hair, while he dwelt in the house of +Philyra[3], being yet a child made mighty deeds his play; and +brandishing many a time his little javelin in his hands, swift as the +wind he dealt death to wild lions in the fight, and boars he slew also +and dragged their heaving bodies to the Centaur, son of Kronos, a six +years' child when he began, and thenceforward continually. And Artemis +marvelled at him, and brave Athene, when he slew deer without dogs or +device of nets; for by fleetness of foot he overcame them. + +This story also of the men of old have I heard: how within his cavern +of stone did deep-counselled Cheiron rear Jason, and next Asklepios, +whom he taught to apportion healing drugs with gentle hand: after this +it was that he saw the espousals of Nereus' daughter of the shining +wrists, and fondling nursed her son, strongest of men, rearing his +soul in a life of harmony; until by blowing of sea winds wafted to +Troy he should await the war-cry of the Lykians and of the Phrygians +and of the Dardanians, cried to the clashing of spears; and joining in +battle with the lancer Ethiops hand to hand should fix this purpose in +his soul, that their chieftain Memnon, Helenos' fiery cousin, should +go back again to his home no more. + +Thenceforward burneth ever a far-shining light for the house of +Aiakos; for thine O Zeus is their blood, even as thine also are the +games whereat my song is aimed, by the voice of the young men of the +land proclaiming aloud her joy. For victorious Aristokleides hath well +earned a cheer, in that he hath brought new renown to this island, and +to the Theoroi[4] of the Pythian god, by striving for glory in the +games. + +By trial is the issue manifest, wherein may one be more excellent than +his fellows, whether among boys a boy, or among men a man, or in the +third age among elders, according to the nature of our mortal race. +Four virtues doth a long life bring, and biddeth one fit his thought +to the things about him[5]. From such virtues this man is not far. + +Friend, fare thee well: I send to thee this honey mingled with white +milk, and the dew of the mixing hangeth round about it, to be a drink +of minstrelsy distilled in breathings of Aiolian flutes; albeit it +come full late. + +Swift is the eagle among the birds of the air, who seizeth presently +with his feet his speckled prey[6], seeking it from afar off; but in +low places dwell[7] the chattering daws. To thee at least, by the will +of throned Kleio, for sake of thy zeal in the games, from Nemea and +from Epidauros and from Megara hath a great light shined. + + +[Footnote 1: I. e. commemorating the Nemean games and the victories +obtained by citizens of Aigina there.] + +[Footnote 2: There seems to have been a stream of this name in Aigina, +as well as in Boeotia.] + +[Footnote 3: Cheiron's mother.] + +[Footnote 4: Sent from Aigina to Apollo's temple at Delphi.] + +[Footnote 5: This is very obscure: Böckh said that the longer he +considered it the more obscure it became to him. Donaldson 'is +inclined to think that Pindar is speaking with reference to the +Pythagorean division of virtue into four species, and that he assigns +one virtue to each of the four ages of human life (on the same +principle as that which Shakespeare has followed in his description of +the seven ages) namely temperance as the virtue of youth, courage of +early manhood, justice of mature age, and prudence of old age.'] + +[Footnote 6: Snakes.] + +[Footnote 7: Or 'on vile things feed.'] + + + +IV. + +FOR TIMASARCHOS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown: we can only infer, from the way in +which Athens is spoken of, that it was written before the war between +that state and Aigina. It seems to have been sung on the winner's +return home, very likely in a procession through the streets. + + * * * * * + +Best of physicians for a man's accomplished toil is festive joy: +and the touch of songs, wise daughters of the Muses, hath power of +comforting. Less doth warm water avail to bathe limbs for soothing +than words of praise married to the music of the lyre. For speech is +longer-lived than act, whensoever by favour of the Graces the tongue +hath drawn it forth out of the depth of the heart. + +Be it the prelude of my hymn to dedicate it to Zeus the son of Kronos, +and to Nemea, and to the wrestling of Timasarchos; and may it have +welcome in the Aiakids' stronghold of goodly towers, the common light +of all, which aideth the stranger with justice[1]. + +Now if thy sire Timokritos were still cheered by the quickening sun, +full oft with music manifold of the lute would he have bent him unto +this my theme, and sounded a hymn for the fair triumphs that +have brought thee a chain of wreaths, even from the games of the +Kleonaians[2] now, and erewhile from the bright and famous Athens, and +at seven-gated Thebes: for beside Amphitryon's splendid sepulchre the +sons of Kadmos nothing loth sprinkled the winner with flowers for +Aigina's sake. For thither as a friend to friends he came, though to a +city not his own, and abode in the fortunate hall of Herakles. + +With Herakles on a time did mighty Telamon destroy the city of Troy, +and the Meropes, and the man of war, the great and terrible Alkyoneus, +yet not until by hurling of stones he had subdued twelve four-horse +chariots, and horse-taming heroes twice so many thereupon. Unversed in +battles must he be who understandeth not this tale, for whoso will do +aught is like to suffer also. + +But to tell the tale at length custom forbiddeth me, and the +constraining hours: and a love-spell draweth me to put forth my hand +to the feast of the new moon. + +Albeit the deep brine of the sea hold thee even to thy waist, +nevertheless bear bravely up against conspirings; assuredly shall +we shine forth above our enemies as we sail home in open day; while +another man of envious eye turneth about in darkness an empty purpose +that falleth to the ground. For me I know certainly that whatsoever +excellence Fate that is our lord hath given me, time creeping onward +will bring to its ordained fulfilment. + +Weave then this woof too presently, sweet my lute, a strain with +Lydian harmony that shall be dear to Oinone[3], and to Cyprus, where +Teukros, son of Telamon, holdeth rule in a new land. + +But Aias hath the Salamis of his father: and in the Euxine Sea +Achilles hath a shining isle, and at Phthia hath Thetis power, and +Neoptolemos in wide Epeiros, where cattle-pasturing headlands, from +Dodona onwards, slope forward to the Ionian Sea. And beside the foot +of Pelion did Peleus set his face against Iolkos, and deliver it over +to be a servant to the Haimones, after that he had proved the guileful +counsels of Hippolyte, Akastos' wife. + +For by (stealing) his sword of cunning workmanship the son[4] of +Pelias prepared death for him in an ambush; but Cheiron delivered him +out of his hand; and thus he fulfilled the destiny ordained him of +Zeus, and having escaped the violence of the fire and the dauntless +lion's claws exceeding keen, and the bitings of teeth most +terrible[5], he espoused one of the Nereids high-enthroned, and beheld +the circle of fair seats whereon were sitting the kings of heaven and +of the sea, as they revealed unto him their gifts, and the kingdom +that should be unto him and unto his seed. + +Nightward[6] beyond Gadeira none may pass. Turn back again to the +mainland of Europe the tackle of our ship; for it were impossible for +me to go through unto the end all the tale of the sons of Aiakos. + +For the Theandrid clan came I a ready herald of games that make men's +limbs wax strong, to Olympia and to Isthmos, and to Nemea according +to my promise, where having put themselves to the proof they are +returning homeward, not without wreaths whose fruitage is renown; and +there report hath told us, O Timasarchos, that thy clan's name is +preeminent in songs of victory. + +Or if further for thy mother's brother Kallikles thou biddest me set +up a pillar whiter than Parian stone, lo as the refining of gold +showeth forth all his splendours, so doth a song that singeth a +man's rare deeds make him as the peer of kings. Let Kallikles in his +dwelling beside Acheron find in my tongue a minstrel of his praise, +for that at the games[7] of the deep-voiced wielder of the trident +his brows were green with parsley of Corinth; of him, boy, did +Euphänes, thy aged grandsire, rejoice erewhile to sing. + +Each hath his own age-fellow; and what each hath seen for himself that +may he hope to set forth best of all. How for Melesias'[8] praise +must such an one grapple in the strife, bending the words beneath his +grasp, yielding not his ground as he wrestleth in speech, of gentle +temper toward the good, but to the froward a stern adversary. + + +[Footnote 1: Aigina. See Ol viii. 21; Pyth. viii. 22.] + +[Footnote 2: Kleonai was very near Nemea, and the Kleonaians were for +a long time managers of the Nemean games.] + +[Footnote 3: Seemingly the same personage as Aigina.] + +[Footnote 4: Akastos.] + +[Footnote 5: Thetis, resisting her wooer Peleus, changed herself into +fire and wild beasts. See Dict. Myth.] + +[Footnote 6: Westward.] + +[Footnote 7: The Isthmian games.] + +[Footnote 8: Timasarchos' trainer in wrestling. He is here praised in +terms borrowed from the wrestling-school.] + + + +V. + +FOR PYTHEAS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is uncertain. The winner's brother Phylakidas, +gained the two victories, also in the pankration, which are celebrated +in the fourth and fifth Isthmians. + + * * * * * + +No statuary I, that I should fashion images to rest idly on their +pedestals, nay but by every trading-ship and plying boat forth from +Aigina fare, sweet song of mine, and bear abroad the news, how that +Lampon's son, the strong-limbed Pytheas, hath won at Nemea the +pankratiast's crown, while on his cheeks he showeth not as yet the +vine-bloom's mother, mellowing midsummer. + +So to the warrior heroes sprung from Kronos and Zeus and from the +golden nymphs, even to the Aiakidai, hath he done honour, and to the +mother-city, a friendly field to strangers. That she should have issue +of goodly men and should be famous in her ships, this prayed they of +old, standing beside the altar of their grandsire, Zeus Hellenios, and +together stretched forth their hands toward heaven, even the glorious +sons of Endais[1] and the royal strength of Phokos, the goddess-born, +whom on the sea-beach Psamatheia[2] bare. Of their deed portentous and +unjustly dared I am loth to tell, and how they left that famous isle, +and of the fate that drove the valiant heroes from Oinone. I will make +pause: not for every perfect truth is it best that it discover its +face: silence is oft man's wisest thought. + +But if the praise of good hap or of strength of hand or of steel-clad +war be my resolve, let one mark me a line for a long leap hence: in +my knees I have a nimble spring: even beyond the sea the eagles wing +their way. + +With goodwill too for the Aiakidai in Pelion sang the Muses' choir +most fair, and in the midst Apollo playing with golden quill upon his +seven-toned lyre led them in ever-changing strains. They first of all +from Zeus beginning sang of holy Thetis and of Peleus, and how that +Kretheus' dainty daughter Hippolyte would fain have caught him by her +wile, and persuaded his friend the king of the Magnetes her husband by +counsels of deceit, for she forged a lying tale thereto devised, how +that he essayed to go in unto her in Akastos' bridal bed. But the +truth was wholly contrary thereto, for often and with all her soul she +had besought him with beguiling speech; but her bold words vexed his +spirit; and forthwith he refused the bride, fearing the wrath of the +Father who guardeth host and guest. And he, the cloud-compelling Zeus +in heaven, the immortal's king, was aware thereof, and he promised +him that with all speed he would find him a sea-bride from among the +Nereids of golden distaffs, having persuaded thereto Poseidon, their +kinsman by his marriage, who from Aigai to the famous Dorian Isthmus +cometh oftentimes, where happy troops with the reed-flute's noise +welcome the god, and in bold strength of limb men strive. + +The fate that is born with a man is arbiter of all his acts. Thou, +Euthymenes[3], at Aigina falling into the goddess victory's arms didst +win thee hymns of subtle strain: yea and now too to thee, O Pytheas, +who art his kinsman of the same stock and followest in his footsteps, +doth thy mother's brother honour. Nemea is favourable unto him, and +the month[4] of his country that Apollo loveth: the youth that came +to strive with him he overcame, both at home and by Nisos' hill of +pleasant glades[5]. I have joy that the whole state striveth for +glory. Know that through Menander's[6] aid thou hast attained unto +sweet recompense of toils. And meet it is that from Athens a fashioner +of athletes come. + +But if thou comest to Themistios[7], to sing of him, away with chill +reserve, shout aloud, hoist to the top-yard of the mast the sail, and +tell how in the boxing and the pankration at Epidauros he won a double +prize of valour, and to the portals of Aiakos bare fresh wreaths of +flowers, led by the Graces of the yellow hair. + + +[Footnote 1: Wife of Aiakos and mother of Peleus and Telamon. They +killed Phokos.] + +[Footnote 2: A sea-nymph, mother of Phokos by Aiakos.] + +[Footnote 3: Maternal uncle of Pytheas.] + +[Footnote 4: The month called in Aigina Delphinios (April-May) when +the Nemean games took place.] + +[Footnote 5: At Megara] + +[Footnote 6: Pytheas' trainer, an Athenian.] + +[Footnote 7: Maternal grandfather of Pytheas.] + + + +VI. + +FOR ALKIMIDAS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown, but from the mention of the trainer +Melesias it has been inferred that it was among Pindar's later works. +It would seem to have been sung at Aigina, perhaps at some feast of +the Bassid clan given in honour of the victory. + + * * * * * + +One race there is of men and one of gods, but from one mother[1] draw +we both our breath, yet is the strength of us diverse altogether, +for the race of man is as nought, but the brazen heaven abideth, a +habitation steadfast unto everlasting. + +Yet withal have we somewhat in us like unto the immortals' bodily +shape or mighty mind, albeit we know not what course hath Destiny +marked out for us to run, neither in the daytime, neither in the +night. + +And now doth Alkimidas give proof that it is with his kindred as with +fruitful fields: for they in turn now yield to man his yearly bread +upon the plains, and now again they pause, and gather back their +strength[2]. + +From the pleasant meeting-places of Nemea hath the athlete boy come +back, who following the ordinance[3] of Zeus hath now approved him no +baffled hunter in his wrestling-quest, and hath guided his feet by +the foot-prints of Praxidamas, his father father, of whose blood he +sprang. + +For Praxidamas also by his Olympian victory first won olive-wreath +from Alpheos for the Aiakidai, and five times been crowned at Isthmos, +and at Nemea thrice, he took away thereby the obscurity of Sokleides, +who was the eldest of the sons of Agesimachos[4]. + +For these three-warriors attained unto the topmost height of prowess, +of all who essayed the games, and by grace of God to no other house +hath the boxing-match given keeping of so many crowns in this inmost +place of all Hellas. I deem that though my speech be of high sound I +yet shall hit the mark, as it were an archer shooting from a bow. + +Come, Muse, direct thou upon this house a gale of glorious song: for +after that men are vanished away, the minstrel's story taketh up their +noble acts, whereof is no lack to the Bassid clan; old in story is the +race and they carry cargo of home-made renown, able to deliver into +the Muses' husbandmen rich matter of song in honour of their lofty +deeds. + +For at sacred Pytho in like wise did a scion of the same stock +overcome, with the thong of the boxer bound about his hand, even +Kallias in whom were well-pleased the children of Leto of the golden +distaff, and beside Kastaly in the evening his name burnt bright, when +the glad sounds of the Graces rose. + +Also the Bridge[5] of the untiring sea did honour unto Kreontidas at +the triennial sacrifice of bulls by the neighbour states in the holy +place of Poseidon; and once did the herb[6] of the lion shadow his +brows for a victory won beneath the shadeless primal hills of Phlious. + +Wide avenues of glory are there on every side for chroniclers to +draw nigh to do honour unto this isle: for supreme occasion have the +children of Aiakos given them by the showing forth of mighty feats. + +Over land and beyond the sea is their name flown forth from afar: even +unto the Ethiopians it sprang forth, for that Memnon came not home: +for bitter was the battle that Achilles made against him, having +descended from his chariot upon the earth, what time by his fierce +spear's point he slew the son of the bright Morn. + +And herein found they of old time a way wherein to drive their car: +and I too follow with my burden of song: and all men's minds, they +say, are stirred the most by whatsoever wave at the instant rolleth +nearest to the mainsheet of the ship. + +On willing shoulders bear I this double load, and am come a messenger +to proclaim this honour won in the games that men call holy to be the +five-and-twentieth that the noble house of Alkimidas hath shown forth: +yet were two wreaths in the Olympian games beside the precinct of +Kronion denied to thee, boy, and to Polytimidas, by the fall of the +lot[7]. + +Peer of the dolphin hurrying through the brine--such would I call +Melesias[8] by whom thy hands and strength were guided, as a chariot +by the charioteer. + + +[Footnote 1: Earth.] + +[Footnote 2: The ancients understood little of the rotation of crops, +and often let their fields lie fallow alternate years.] + +[Footnote 3: Of the celebrity of alternate generations.] + +[Footnote 4: The order of descent was: Agesimachos, Sokleides, +Praxidamas, Theon, Alkimidas. Of these the first, third, and fifth, +were distinguished athletes, the others not.] + +[Footnote 5: The Isthmos.] + +[Footnote 6: The parsley which grew near the lair of the Nemean lion.] + +[Footnote 7: This can hardly mean, as some commentators take it, +the drawing of any particular tie; for if better men than any given +competitor were entered for the match, his defeat would be inevitable +whether they were encountered sooner or later.] + +[Footnote 8: Alkimidas' trainer.] + + + +VII. + +FOR SOGENES OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' PENTATHLON. + + * * * * * + +This victory was probably won B.C. 462. The ode would seem to be full +of allusions, which however we cannot with any certainty explain. It +is partly occupied with the celebration of Achilles' son Neoptolemos, +and Pindar seems anxious to repel the charge of having on some +occasion depreciated that hero. + + * * * * * + +O Eileithuia that sittest beside the deep-counselling Moirai, child of +the mighty Hera, thou who bringest babes to the birth, hearken unto +us! Without thee looked we never on the light or on the darkness of +the night, nor came ever unto her who is thy sister, even Hebe of the +comely limbs. + +But we receive our breath not all for a like life; each to his several +lot is kept apart by the yoke of fate. + +Now by thy grace hath Sogenes the son of Thearion been foremost +in prowess, and his glory is sung aloud among the winners of the +five-game prize. + +For he is a dweller in a city that loveth song, even this city of the +spear-clashing sons of Aiakos, and exceeding fain are they to cherish +a spirit apt for the strife of the games. + +If a man have good hap in his attempt, he throweth into the Muses' +stream sweet cause of song: for even deeds of might for lack of song +fall into deep darkness, and in but one way have we knowledge of a +mirror for fair deeds, if by the grace of Mnemosyne of the shining +fillet they attain unto a recompense of toils by the sound of voice +and verse. + +Wise shipmates know that the wind which tarrieth shall come on the +third day, nor throw away their goods through greed of more[1]: the +rich and the poor alike fare on their way to death. + +Now I have suspicion that the fame of Odysseus is become greater +than his toils, through the sweet lays that Homer sang; for over the +feigning of his winged craft something of majesty abideth, and the +excellence of his skill persuadeth us to his fables unaware. + +Blind hearts have the general folk of men; for could they have +discovered the truth, never would stalwart Aias in anger for the arms +have struck through his midriff the sharp sword--even he who after +Achilles was best in battle of all men whom, to win back his bride for +fair-haired Menelaos, the fair breeze of straight-blowing Zephyros +wafted in swift ships toward Ilos' town. + +But to all men equally cometh the wave of death, and falleth on the +fameless and the famed: howbeit honour ariseth for them whose fair +story God increaseth to befriend them even when dead, whoso have +journeyed to the mighty centre-stone of wide-bosomed earth. + +There now beneath the floor of Pytho lieth Neoptolemos, dying there +when he had sacked the city of Priam where the Danaoi toiled with him. +He sailing thence missed Skyros, and they wandered till they came to +Ephyra, and in Molossia he was king for a little while: howbeit his +race held this state[2] continually. Then was he gone to the god's +home[3], carrying an offering of the chief spoils from Troy: and there +in quarrel concerning meats a man smote him with a knife. + +Thereat were the Delphian entertainers of strangers grieved +exceedingly: nevertheless he but paid a debt to destiny: for it was +needful that in that most ancient grove someone of the lords the sons +of Aiakos should abide within thenceforward, beside the goodly walls +of the god's house, and that when with plenteous sacrifice the +processions do honour to the heroes, he should keep watch that fair +right be done. Three words shall be enough: when he presideth over the +games there is no lie found in his testimony thereof. + +O thou Aigina, of thy children that are of Zeus I have good courage to +proclaim that as of inheritance they claim the path to glory, through +splendour of their valorous deeds: howbeit in every work a rest is +sweet, yea even of honey cometh surfeit and of the lovely flowers of +Love. + +Now each of us is in his nature diverse, and several are the lots +of life we draw, one this and one another: but that one man receive +perfect bliss, this is impossible to men. I cannot find to tell of any +to whom Fate hath given this award abidingly. + +To thee, Thearion[4], she giveth fair measure of bliss, first daring +in goodly deeds, and then understanding and sound mind. Thy friend am +I, and I will keep far from the man I love the secret slander, and +bring nigh unto him praise and true glory, as it were streams of +water: for meet is such recompense for the good. + +If there be near me now a man of the Achaians who dwelleth far up the +Ionian sea, he shall not upbraid me: I have faith in my proxeny[5]: +and among the folk of my own land I look forth with clear gaze, having +done naught immoderate, and having put away all violence from before +my feet. So let the life that remaineth unto me run cheerly on. + +He who knoweth shall say if indeed I come with slanderous speech upon +my lips to strike a jarring note. To thee, Sogenes of the house of the +sons of Euxenos, I swear that without overstepping the bound I have +sent forth the swift speech of my tongue as it were a bronze-headed +javelin, such as saveth from the wrestling the strong neck sweatless +yet, or ever the limbs be plunged in the sun's fire[6]. + +If toil there were, delight more abundant followeth after. Let be; if +somewhat over far I soared when I cried aloud, yet am I not froward, +that I should deny his glory unto one that conquereth. + +The weaving of wreaths is an easy thing: tarry a little: behold the +Muse fasteneth together gold and white ivory, and a lily flower +withal, that she hath plucked from beneath the deep sea's dew[7]. + +Of Zeus be mindful when thou tellest of Nemea, and guide the +multitudinous voices of our song with a quiet mind: meet is it that +with gentle voice we celebrate in this land the king of gods: for +they tell how he begat Aiakos of a mortal mother, to be for his own +fortunate land a ruler of cities, and for thee, Herakles, a loving +friend and brother. + +And if man receiveth aught from man, then may we say that neighbour +is to neighbour a joy worth all else, if he loveth him with steadfast +soul: now if even a god will consent hereto, then in such bond with +thee, O conqueror of the giants[8], is Sogenes fain to dwell happily +in the well-built sacred street of his ancestors, cherishing a mind of +tenderness toward his sire: for as when four horses are yoked together +in a car, so hath he his house in the midst of thy holy places, and +goeth in unto them both on the right hand and on the left[9]. + +O blessed spirit, thine is it to win hereto the husband of Hera, and +the grey-eyed maid[10]; and thou art able to give to mortals strength +ever and again against baffling perplexities. Make thou to cleave to +them[11] a life of steadfast strength, and wind the bliss thereof amid +both youth and a serene old age, and may their children's children +possess continually the honours that they now have, and greater in the +time to come. + +Never shall my heart confess that I have outraged Neoptolemos with +irreclaimable words. But thrice and four times to tell over the same +tale is emptiness in the end thereof, even as he of the proverb that +babbleth among children how that Korinthos was the son of Zeus[12]. + + +[Footnote 1: Retaining the reading [Greek: hupo kerdei balon]. I +conjecture it to mean, 'do not in their eagerness for trade choose an +unfavourable and dangerous time for their voyage, but wait for the +[Greek: kairos], the right opportunity.'] + +[Footnote 2: The kingdom of Epeiros. Pyrrhos, the invader of Italy, +called himself a descendant of Neoptolemos (who was also called +Pyrrhos).] + +[Footnote 3: Delphi.] + +[Footnote 4: Father of Sogenes.] + +[Footnote 5: Pindar would seem to have been [Greek: proxenos] at +Thebes for some state of Epeiros, to which fact he appeals as a proof +that he stood well with the Epirot descendants of Neoptolemos.] + +[Footnote 6: The Pentathlon was composed of five contests, namely, +the jump, throwing the disk, throwing the javelin, the foot-race, and +wrestling. The prize was for the best man in three contests out of the +five. These came in the order in which they are enumerated above; thus +if the best javelin-thrower had already won two of the other matches +he would not be challenged to wrestle, as the prize of the Pentathlon +would be already his. Very probably this had been the case with +Sogenes, so that it would naturally occur to Pindar thus allusively to +expand his not unfrequent comparison of his own art of poetry to that +of a javelin-thrower or archer. On the Pentathlon may be consulted +an article by Professor Percy Gardner in the _Journal of Hellenic +Studies_ for October, 1880; and also Smith's _Dictionary of +Antiquities_ (revised edition).] + +[Footnote 7: Coral.] + +[Footnote 8: Herakles.] + +[Footnote 9: Thearion's house seems to have had a shrine, or at least +some sacred ground, of Herakles at each side of it, so that he might +regard that hero as his neighbour.] + +[Footnote 10: Athene.] + +[Footnote 11: Thearion and Sogenes.] + +[Footnote 12: A proverbial equivalent for vain and wearisome +repetition.] + + + +VIII. + +FOR DEINIS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE SHORT FOOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown. It was probably sung before the +shrine of Aiakos at Aigina. + + * * * * * + +Spirit of beautiful youth, thou herald of Aphrodite's loves ambrosial, +who on the eyes of girl or boy alighting, with tenderly constraining +hands dost handle one, but other otherwise--it is enough if one not +swerving from the true aim, in his every act prevail to attain to the +fulfilment of his worthier loves. + +Such loves were they that waited on the bridal-bed of Zeus and Aigina, +and were dispensers unto them of the Cyprian's[1] gifts: and thence +sprang there a son[2] to be king of Oinone[3], in might of hand and in +counsel excellent, and many a time did many pray that they might look +on him: for the chosen among the heroes that dwelt around him were +fain of their own will to submit them unto his sovereignty, both whoso +in rocky Athens were leaders of the host, and at Sparta the children +of Pelops. + +So Aiakos' holy knees clasp I a suppliant for a city well-beloved and +for these citizens, and I bear a Lydian crown wrought cunningly with +the sound of song, a glory out of Nemea for two races run, of Deinis +and of his father Meges. + +Behold, the happiness that is planted with the favour of God is most +abiding among men; even such as once in the isle of Cyprus loaded +Kinyras with riches. + +With poised feet I stand, and take breath for a little ere I speak. +For much and in many ways hath been said ere now; and the contriving +of new things and putting them to the touchstone to be tried is +perilous altogether. + +In words find the envious their dainties: envy fasteneth ever on the +good, and careth not to strive against the base. + +Yea thus did envy slay the son of Telamon, thrusting him through with +his own sword. Verily if one be of stout heart but without gift of +speech, such an one is a prey unto forgetfulness in a bitter strife, +and to the shiftiness of lies is proffered the prize of the greatest. +For in the secret giving of their votes the Danaoi courted Odysseus, +and thus did Aias, robbed of the golden arms, wrestle in the grip of a +bloody death. + +Yet diverse verily were the strokes wherewith those twain had cloven +the warm flesh of the foe, what time they bare up the war against the +hedge of spears, whether about Achilles newly slain, or in whatsoever +labours else of those wide-ruining days. + +Thus was there even of old the treacherous speech of hate, that +walketh with the subtleties of tales, intent on guile, slander that +breedeth ill: so doth it violence on the thing that shineth, and +uplifteth the rottenness of dim men's fame. + +Never in me be this mind, O our father Zeus, but to the paths of +simplicity let me cleave throughout my life, that being dead I may set +upon my children a name that shall be of no ill report. + +For gold some pray, and some for limitless lands: mine be it amid my +townsfolk's love to shroud my limbs in earth, still honouring where +honour is due, and sowing rebuke on the evildoers. + +Thus groweth virtue greater, uplifted of the wise and just, as when a +tree watered by fresh dew shooteth toward the moist air on high. + +Manifold are the uses of friends, chiefest truly amid the press of +toil, yet doth joy also desire to behold his own assurance.[4] + +Ah Meges, to bring back thy spirit to earth is to me impossible, and +of empty hopes the end is naught. Yet for thy house and the clan of +Chariadai I can upraise a lofty column of song in honour of these two +pairs of fortunate feet[5]. + +I have joy to utter praise meet for the act, for by such charms of +song doth a man make even labour a painless thing. Yet surely was +there a Komos-song even of old time, yea before strife began between +Adrastos and the sons of Kadmos[6]. + + +[Footnote 1: Aphrodite.] + +[Footnote 2: Aiakos.] + +[Footnote 3: Aigina.] + +[Footnote 4: Through celebration in song, which a friendly poet can +give.] + +[Footnote 5: Of Meges and Deinis.] + +[Footnote 6: The invention of encomiastic hymns was attributed by +legend to the time of the expedition of Adrastos and the other six +against Thebes.] + + + +IX. + +FOR CHROMIOS OF AITNA, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode is placed by usage among the Nemeans, but the victory was not +won at Nemea, but at Sikyon, in the local games called Pythian. Its +date is unknown: it must have been after the founding of Aitna, B.C. +476. Probably the ode was sung in a procession at Aitna, some length +of time after the victory. The Chromios is the Chromios of the first +Nemean, Hieron's brother-in-law. + + * * * * * + +From Apollo at Sikyon will we lead our triumph forth, ye Muses, unto +the new-made city of Aitna, where doors are opened wide to greet the +invading guests, even to the fortunate house of Chromios. Come claim +for him a song of sweetness: for he goeth up into the chariot of his +victory, and biddeth us sing aloud to the mother[1] and her twin +children who keep watch over high Pytho in fellowship. + +Now there is a saying among men, that one hide not in silence on the +ground a good deed done: and meet for such brave tales is divine song. + +Therefore will we arouse the pealing lyre and rouse the flute, in +honour of the very crown of all contests of steeds, which Adrastos in +honour of Phoibos ordained beside Asopos' stream. + +Whereof when I make mention with voiceful honour I will celebrate +withal the Hero[2], who then being king in that place did by the +founding of a new feast and struggles of the strength of men and of +carven cars make his city known abroad and glorious. + +For he was flying before Amphiaraos of bold counsels, and before a +dangerous civil strife, from Argos and his father's house: for no +longer were the sons of Talaos lords therein, for a sedition had +thrust them forth. The stronger man endeth the contention that hath +been before. + +But when they had given to the son of Oikleus for his wife, as one +should give surety of an oath, Eriphyle, the slayer of her husband, +they became the greatest of the fair-haired Danaoi. So thereafter led +they on a time against seven-gated Thebes a host of men, but not by a +road of signs propitious: nor would the son of Kronos speed them on +their mad journey from their homes, but by the quivering lightnings he +darted forth he bade them hold from their road[3]. + +But unto a revealed calamity hasted that company to go forth with +bronze shields and the gear of steeds; and on the banks of Ismenos, +stayed from their sweet return, they fed the white smoke with their +bodies. + +For seven pyres devoured the young men's limbs, but for Amphiaraos +Zeus by almighty thunderbolt clave the deep-breasted earth, and buried +him with his steeds, or ever the warrior's soul should be shamed by +the smiting of him in the back by Periklymenos' spear. For when the +terror cometh of heaven, then flee even the sons of gods. + +If it be possible, O son of Kronos, this trial of valour against +Phenician spears[4] for life or death I would fain defer unto the +utmost: and I beg of thee to grant unto the sons of the men of Aitna +for long time a portion in good laws, and to make their people to +dwell among glories that the citizens have won. Men are there here +that love steeds and that have souls above desire of wealth. Hard of +credence is the word I have spoken; for the spirit of honour which +bringeth glory is stolen secretly by lust of gain. + +Hadst thou been shield-bearer to Chromios among foot and horse and in +fightings of ships, thou hadst judged concerning his jeopardy in the +fierce fray, for in war did that divine honour stir his warrior-soul +to ward off havoc of Enyalios. Few are there who may prevail by +strength or valour to contrive a turning of the cloud of imminent +death against the ranks of the enemy. Howbeit they tell how Hektor's +glory flowered beside Skamander's streams, and thus on the steep +cliffs of Heloros' banks[5], where men call the ford the Fountain of +Ares, hath this light shined for Agesidamos' son in the beginning of +his praise. + +And other deeds on other days will I declare, many done amid the dust +on the dry land, and yet others on the neighbouring sea. Now out of +toils which in youth have been done with righteousness there ripeneth +toward old age a day of calm. + +Let Chromios know that he hath from the gods a lot of wondrous bliss. +For if one together with much wealth have won him glorious renown, it +is impossible that a mortal's feet touch any further mountain-top. + +The banquet loveth peace, and by a gentle song a victory flourisheth +afresh, and beside the bowl the singer's voice waxeth brave. Let one +mix it now, that sweet proclaimer of the triumphal song, and in silver +goblets hand the grapes' potent child, even the goblets which for +Chromios his mares erst won, and sent to him from sacred Sikyon, +entwined with well-earned crowns of Leto's son. + +Now claim I, father Zeus, to have well sung this excellent deed by aid +of the Charites, and beyond many to do honour to this victory by my +words, for the javelin that I throw falleth nearest to the Muses' +mark. + + +[Footnote 1: Leto.] + +[Footnote 2: Adrastos.] + +[Footnote 3: Lightning and thunder were often an encouraging sign +(there is an instance in the fourth Pythian), but this would depend on +the manner of them.] + +[Footnote 4: War with the Carthaginians, who were still threatening +the Hellenic colonists in Sicily, in spite of their recent defeat.] + +[Footnote 5: About B.C. 492 a battle was fought on the Heloros between +the Syracusans and the army of Hippokrates, tyrant of Gela.] + + + +X. + +FOR THEAIOS OF ARGOS, + +WINNER IN THE WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +This ode, like the last, is improperly called Nemean. It commemorates +a victory won at the feast of the Hekatombaia at Argos. The date is +unknown. + + * * * * * + +The city of Danaos and of his fifty bright-throned daughters, Argos +the home of Hera, meet abode of gods, sing Graces! for by excellencies +innumerable it is made glorious in the deeds of valiant men. + +Long is the tale of Perseus[1], that telleth of the Gorgon Medusa: +many are the cities in Egypt founded by the hands of Epaphos[2]: +neither went Hypermnestra's choice astray when she kept sheathed her +solitary sword[3]. + +Also their Diomedes did the grey-eyed goddess make incorruptible and +a god: and at Thebes, the earth blasted by the bolts of Zeus received +within her the prophet[4], the son of Oikleus, the storm-cloud of war. + +Moreover in women of beautiful hair doth the land excel. Thereto in +days of old Zeus testified, when he followed after Alkmene and after +Danaë. + +And in the father of Adrastos and in Lynkeus did Argos mingle ripe +wisdom with upright justice: and she reared the warrior Amphitryon. +Now he came to the height of honour in his descendants, for in bronze +armour he slew the Teleboai, and in his likeness the king of the +immortals entered his hall, bearing the seed of fearless Herakles, +whose bride in Olympos is Hebe, who by the side of her mother, the +queen of marriage, walketh of all divinities most fair. + +My tongue would fail to tell in full the honours wherein the sacred +Argive land hath part: also the distaste[5] of men is ill to meet. Yet +wake the well-strung lyre, and take thought of wrestlings; a strife +for the bronze shield stirreth the folk to sacrifice of oxen unto Hera +and to the issue of games, wherein the son of Oulias, Theaios, having +overcome twice, hath obtained forgetfulness of the toils he lightly +bore. + +Also on a time at Pytho he was first of the Hellenic host, and won +crowns at Isthmos and at Nemea, led thither by fair hap, and gave work +for the Muses' plough by thrice winning at the Gates[6] of the Sea and +thrice on the famous plains in the pastures of Adrastos' home[7]. Of +that he longeth for, O Father Zeus, his mouth is silent, with thee are +the issues of deeds: but with a spirit strong to labour and of a good +courage he prayeth thy grace. Both Theaios, and whosoever struggleth +in the perfect consummation of all games, know this, even the +supremacy of the ordinance of Herakles that is holden at Pisa[8]: yet +sweet preluding strains are those that twice have welcomed his triumph +at the festival of the Athenians: and in earthenware baked in the +fire, within the closure of figured urns, there came among the goodly +folk of Hera[9] the prize of the olive fruit[10]. + +On the renowned race of thy mother's sires there waiteth glory of +games by favour of the Graces and the sons of Tyndareus together. Were +I kinsman of Thrasyklos and Antias I would claim at Argos not to hide +mine eyes. For with how many victories hath this horse-breeding city +of Proitos flourished! even in the Corinthian corner and from the +men of Kleonai[11] four times, and from Sikyon they came laden with +silver, even goblets for wine, and out of Pellene clad in soft woof of +wool[12]. But to tell over the multitude of their prizes of bronze is +a thing impossible--to count them longer leisure were needed--which +Kleitor and Tegea and the Achaians' high-set cities and the Lykaion +set for a prize by the race-course of Zeus for the conquerors by +strength of hands or feet. + +And since Kastor and his brother Polydeukes came to be the guests +of Pamphaes[13], no marvel is it that to be good athletes should be +inborn in the race. For they[14] it is who being guardians of the wide +plains of Sparta with Hermes and Herakles mete out fair hap in games, +and to righteous men they have great regard. Faithful is the race of +gods. + +Now, changing climes alternately, they dwell one day with their dear +father Zeus, and the next in the secret places under the earth, within +the valleys of Therapnai, fulfilling equal fate: because on this wise +chose Polydeukes to live his life rather than to be altogether god and +abide continually in heaven, when that Kastor had fallen in the fight. + +Him did Idas, wroth for his oxen, smite with a bronze spearhead, when +from his watch upon Taÿgetos Lynkeus had seen them sitting within a +hollow oak; for he of all men walking the earth had keenest eyes. So +with swift feet they were straightway come to the place, and compassed +speedily a dreadful deed[15]. + +But terrible also was the vengeance which by the devising of Zeus +those sons[16] of Aphareus suffered: for on the instant came Leto's +son[17] in chase of them: and they stood up against him hard by the +sepulchre of their father. Thence wrenched they a carved headstone +that was set to glorify the dead, and they hurled it at the breast of +Polydeukes. But they crushed him not, neither made him give back, +but rushing onward with fierce spear he drave the bronze head into +Lynkeus' side. And against Idas Zeus hurled a thunderbolt of consuming +fire. + +So were those brothers in one flame[18] burnt unbefriended: for a +strife with the stronger is grievous for men to mix in. + +Then quickly came back the son of Tyndareus[19] to his great brother, +and found him not quite dead, but the death-gasp rattled in his +throat. Then Polydeukes wept hot tears, and groaned, and lifted up his +voice, and cried: 'Father Kronion--ah! what shall make an end of woes? +Bid me, me also, O king, to die with him. The glory is departed from +a man bereaved of friends. Few are they who in a time of trouble are +faithful in companionship of toil.' + +Thus said he, and Zeus came, and stood before his face, and spake +these words: 'Thou art my son: but thy brother afterward was by mortal +seed begotten in thy mother of the hero that was her husband. But +nevertheless, behold I give thee choice of these two lots: if, +shunning death and hateful old age, thou desirest for thyself to dwell +in Olympus with Athene and with Ares of the shadowing spear, this lot +is thine to take: but if in thy brother's cause thou art so hot, and +art resolved in all to have equal share with him, then half thy time +thou shalt be alive beneath the earth, and half in the golden house of +heaven.' + +Thus spake his father, and Polydeukes doubted not which counsel he +should choose. So Zeus unsealed the eye, and presently the tongue +also, of Kastor of the brazen mail. + + +[Footnote 1: Son of the Argive Danaë.] + +[Footnote 2: Son of the Argive Io.] + +[Footnote 3: Or perhaps: 'Neither were Hypermnestra's story misplaced +here, how she, &c.'] + +[Footnote 4: Amphiaraos.] + +[Footnote 5: Disgust at hearing anything profusely praised.] + +[Footnote 6: At Corinth, in the Isthmian games.] + +[Footnote 7: Nemea.] + +[Footnote 8: The Olympic games.] + +[Footnote 9: The Argives.] + +[Footnote 10: The Athenian prize seems to have been an olive-bough in +a vase of burnt clay.] + +[Footnote 11: Near Nemea.] + +[Footnote 12: I. e. with prizes of cloaks.] + +[Footnote 13: An ancestor of Theaios. Probably he had given Theoxenia. +See Ol. III.] + +[Footnote 14: Kastor and Polydeukes.] + +[Footnote 15: They slew Kastor.] + +[Footnote 16: Idas and Lynkeus.] + +[Footnote 17: Polydeukes.] + +[Footnote 18: Either of the thunderbolt, or of a funeral-pile.] + +[Footnote 19: Both brothers were nominally sons of Tyndareus, but +really only Kastor was: Polydeukes was a son of Zeus.] + + + +XI. + +FOR ARISTAGORAS OF TENEDOS, + +ON HIS ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY OF THE SENATE. + + * * * * * + +This ode again was written neither for a Nemean nor for any other +athletic victory, but for the [Greek: eisitaeria] or initiatory +ceremonies at the election of a new [Greek: prytanis] of Tenedos. The +Prytanis would seem to have been a kind of President of the Senate. +The date is unknown. + + * * * * * + +Daughter of Rhea, who hast in thy keeping the city halls[1], O +Hestia! sister of highest Zeus and of Hera sharer of his throne, with +good-will welcome Aristagoras to thy sanctuary, with good-will also +his fellows[2] who draw nigh to thy glorious sceptre, for they +in paying honour unto thee keep Tenedos in her place erect, by +drink-offerings glorifying thee many times before the other gods, and +many times by the savour of burnt sacrifice; and the sound of their +lutes is loud, and of their songs: and at their tables never-failing +are celebrated the rites of Zeus, the stranger's friend. + +So with fair fame and unvexed heart may Aristagoras fulfil his +twelve-month term. + +Blessed among men I count his father Arkesilas, and himself for his +splendid body and his heritage of a dauntless heart. + +But if any man shall possess wealth, and withal surpass his fellows in +comely form, and in games have shown his strength to be the best, let +such an one remember that his raiment is upon mortal limbs, and that +the earth shall be his vesture at the end. + +Yet in good words of his fellow-citizens is it meet that his praise be +told, and that we make his name comely with notes of honey-sounding +song. + +Now among the neighbouring peoples sixteen illustrious victories have +crowned Aristagoras and his famous clan in the wrestling-match and +in the pankration of weighty honour. But hopes too diffident of his +parents kept back the might of their son from essaying the Pythian or +Olympian strife: yet verily by the God of Truth I am persuaded that +both at Castaly and at the tree-clad hill of Kronos, had he gone +thither, he should have turned back home with more honour than any of +his rivals who had striven with him, when that he had kept the fifth +year's feast[3] ordained of Herakles with dance and song, and with the +shining shoots had bound his hair. + +But thus among mortals is one cast down from weal by empty boasts, +while another through overmuch mistrusting of his strength is robbed +of his due honours, for that a spirit of little daring draggeth him +backward by the hand. + +This were an easy thing to divine, that Peisander's[4] stock was from +Sparta in the time of old (for from Amyklai he came[5] with Orestes, +bringing hither an army of Aiolians in bronze mail): and also that the +blood of his mother's brother Melanippos was blended with Ismenos' +stream[6]. + +The virtues of an old descent repeat their vigour uncertainly in the +generations of men. Neither doth the black-soiled tilth bring forth +fruit continually, neither will the trees be persuaded to bear with +every year's return a fragrant flower of equal wealth, but in their +turns only. Thus also doth destiny lead on the race of mortals. From +Zeus there cometh no clear sign to men: yet nevertheless we enter on +high counsels, and meditate many acts: for by untameable hope our +bodies are enthralled: but the tides of our affairs are hidden from +our fore-knowledge. Meet is it to pursue advantage moderately: +fiercest is the madness that springeth from unappeasable desires. + + +[Footnote 1: The sacred fire of the state, over which Hestia watched, +was kept in the Prytaneion.] + +[Footnote 2: The other Senators.] + +[Footnote 3: The Olympic.] + +[Footnote 4: Ancestor of Aristagoras and head of his clan.] + +[Footnote 5: 'In the loins of his father.'] + +[Footnote 6: I. e. a Theban alliance.] + + + +THE ISTHMIAN ODES. + + +I. + +FOR HERODOTOS OF THEBES. + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown. We gather from the first strophe that +Pindar was engaged at the time to write an ode in honour of the Delian +Apollo to be sung at Keos, but that he put this off in order first to +write the present ode in honour of a victory won for his own native +state of Thebes. + + * * * * * + +O mother, Thebe of the golden shield, thy service will I set even +above the matter that was in my hand. May rocky Delos, whereto I am +vowed, be not therefore wroth with me. Is there aught dearer to the +good than noble parents? + +Give place O Apollonian isle: these twain fair offices, by the grace +of God, will I join together in their end, and to Phoibos of the +unshorn hair in island Keos with men of her sea-race will I make my +choral song, and therewithal this other for the sea-prisoning cliffs +of Isthmos. + +For six crowns hath Isthmos given from her games to the people of +Kadmos, a fair glory of triumph for my country, for the land wherein +Alkmene bare her dauntless son, before whom trembled aforetime the +fierce hounds of Geryon. + +But I for Herodotos' praise am fain to do honour unto his four-horsed +car, and to marry to the strain of Kastoreian or Iolaic song the fame +that he hath earned, handling his reins in his own and no helping +hand. + +For these Kastor and Iolaos were of all heroes the mightiest +charioteers, the one to Lakedaimon, the other born to Thebes. And at +the games they entered oftenest for the strife, and with tripods and +caldrons and cups of gold they made fair their houses, attaining unto +victorious crowns: clear shineth their prowess in the foot-race, run +naked or with the heavy clattering shield; and when they hurled the +javelin and the quoit: for then was there no five-fold game[1], but +for each several feat there was a prize. Oft did they bind about their +hair a crowd of crowns, and showed themselves unto the waters of Dirke +or on Eurotas' banks[2], the son of Iphikles a fellow-townsman of +the Spartoi's race, the son of Tyndareus inhabiting the upland +dwelling-place of Therapna[3] among the Achaians. + +So hail ye and farewell: I on Poseidon and holy Isthmos, and on the +lake-shores of Onchestos will throw the mantle of my song, and will +among the glories of this man make glorious also the story of his +father Asopodoros' fate, and his new country Orchomenos, which, when +he drave ashore on a wrecked ship, harboured him amid his dismal +hap[4]. But now once more hath the fortune of his house raised him up +to see the fair days of the old time: and he who hath suffered pain +beareth forethought within his soul. + +If a man's desire be wholly after valour, and he give thereto both +wealth and toil, meet is it that to such as attain unto it we offer +with ungrudging heart high meed of praise. For an easy gift it is for +a son of wisdom[5], by a good word spoken in recompense for labour +manifold to set on high the public fame. For diverse meeds for diverse +works are sweet to men, to the shepherd and to the ploughman, to the +fowler and to him whom the sea feedeth--howbeit all those strive but +to keep fierce famine from their bellies; but whoso in the games or in +war hath won delightful fame, receiveth the highest of rewards in fair +words of citizens and of strangers. + +Us it beseemeth to requite the earth-shaking son of Kronos, who is +also neighbour unto us, and to sound his praise as our well-doer, +who hath given speed to the horses of our car, and to call upon thy +sons[6], Amphitryon, and the inland dwelling[7] of Minyas, and the +famous grove of Demeter, even Eleusis, and Euboia with her curving +race-course. And thy holy place, Protesilas, add I unto these, built +thee at Phylake by Achaian men. + +But to tell over all that Hermes lord of games hath given to Herodotos +by his horses, the short space of my hymn alloweth not. Yea and full +oft doth the keeping of silence bring forth a larger joy. + +Now may Herodotos, up-borne upon the sweet-voiced Muse's shining +wings, yet again with wreaths from Pytho and choice wreaths from +Alpheos from the Olympian games entwine his hand, and bring honour +unto seven-gated Thebes. + +Now if one at home store hidden wealth, and fall upon other men to +mock them, this man considereth not that he shall give up his soul to +death having known no good report. + + +[Footnote 1: The Pentathlon. See Introduction to Ol. xiii, and note on +Nem. vii, p. 129.] + +[Footnote 2: Rivers were [Greek: kourotrophoi] (nurturers of youth), +and thus young men who had achieved bodily feats were especially bound +to return thanks to the streams of their native places.] + +[Footnote 3: In Lakonia.] + +[Footnote 4: Asopodoros seems to have been banished from Thebes and +kindly received in his banishment by Orchomenos.] + +[Footnote 5: Here, as elsewhere probably in the special sense of a +poet.] + +[Footnote 6: Herakles and Iolaos.] + +[Footnote 7: Orchomenos.] + + + +II. + +FOR XENOKRATES OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This is the same winner for whom the sixth Pythian ode was written. +Its date would seem to be 476, while that of the sixth Pythian +was 494. Yet the opening passage of this ode seems to imply that +Xenokiates' son Thrasyboulos was still little more than a boy, whereas +in 494 he had been old enough to be his father's charioteer, and this +would be eighteen years later. But perhaps the passage is only an +allusion to Thrasyboulos' boyhood as a time past. And certainly both +Xenokrates and his brother Theron seem to be spoken of in this ode as +already dead, and we know that Theron did not die till 473. Perhaps +therefore Thrasyboulos was celebrating in 472 the anniversary of his +deceased father's victory, four years after the victory itself. + + * * * * * + +The men of old, Thrasyboulos, who went up into the Muse's car to give +welcome with the loud-voiced lyre, lightly for honour of boys shot +forth their honey-sounding songs, whensoever in one fair of form was +found that sweetest summer-bloom that turneth hearts to think on +fair-throned Aphrodite. + +For then the Muse was not yet covetous nor a hireling, neither were +sweet lays tender-voiced sold with silvered faces by Terpsichore of +honeyed speech. But now doth she bid heed the word of the Argive +man[1] which keepeth nigh to the paths of truth: + +'Money, money maketh man,' he said, when robbed of goods at once and +friends. + +Forasmuch as thou art wise it is nothing hidden to thee that I sing, +while I do honour to the Isthmian victory won by speed of horses, +which to Xenokrates did Poseidon give, and sent to him a wreath of +Dorian parsley to bind about his hair, a man of goodly chariot, a +light of the people of Akragas. + +Also at Krisa did far-prevailing Apollo look upon him, and gave him +there too glory: and again when he attained unto the crowns of the +Erectheidai in shining Athens he found no fault in the chariot-saving +hand of the man Nikomachos who drave his horses, the hand wherewith in +the instant of need he bare on all the reins[2]. + +Moreover the heralds of the seasons[3], the Elean truce-bringers +of Zeus the son of Kronos, recognized him, having met belike with +hospitality from him, and in a voice of dulcet breath they gave him +greeting for that he had fallen at the knees of golden Victory in +their land which men call the holy place of Olympic Zeus, where the +sons[4] of Ainesidamos attained unto honour everlasting. + +For no stranger is your house, O Thrasyboulos, to pleasant shouts +of triumph, neither to sweet-voiced songs. For not uphill neither +steep-sloped is the path whereby one bringeth the glories of the +Helikonian maidens to dwell with famous men. + +By a far throw of the quoit may I hurl even so far as did Xenokrates +surpass all men in the sweetness of his spirit. In converse with +citizens was he august, and upheld horse-racing after the Hellenes' +wont: also worshipped he at all festivals of the gods, nor ever did +the breeze that breathed around his hospitable board give him cause to +draw in his sail, but with the summer-gales he would fare unto Phasis, +and in his winter voyage unto the shores of Nile[5]. + +Let not Thrasyboulos now, because that jealous hopes beset the mind +of mortals, be silent concerning his father's prowess, nor from these +hymns: for not to lie idle have I devised them. That message give him, +Nikesippos, when thou comest unto my honoured friend. + + +[Footnote 1: Aristodemos.] + +[Footnote 2: I. e. either tightened the near or slackened the off +reins to the utmost in turning the goal, or perhaps, gave full rein to +his horses between each turn or after the final one.] + +[Footnote 3: The heralds who proclaimed throughout Hellas the approach +of the Olympic games, and an universal solemn truce during their +celebration.] + +[Footnote 4: Theron, the tyrant of Akragas, and Xenokrates.] + +[Footnote 5: Metaphorically, in the extent of his hospitality.] + + + +III. + +FOR MELISSOS OF THEBES, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is uncertain, though some on the hypothesis that +the battle alluded to is the battle of Plataiai, have dated it 478 +or 474. In this battle, whatever it was, the Kleonymid clan to which +Melissos belonged had lost four men. The celebrity of the clan in the +games seems to have been eclipsed for some time, but Melissos revived +it by a chariot-victory at Nemea and this pankration-victory at the +Isthmus, won in spite of his small stature which might have seemed to +place him at a disadvantage. The ode compares his match against his +antagonists with that of Herakles against the African giant Antaios. + +Very probably this ode was sung at a night meeting of the clan, while +the altars of Herakles were blazing. + + * * * * * + +If any among men having good fortune and dwelling amid prizes of +renown or the power of wealth restraineth in his heart besetting +insolence, this man is worthy to have part in his citizens' good +words. + +But from thee, O Zeus, cometh all high excellence to mortals; and +longer liveth their bliss who have thee in honour, but with minds +perverse it consorteth never steadfastly, flourishing throughout all +time. + +In recompense for glorious deeds it behoveth that we sing the valiant, +and amid his triumphal company exalt him with fair honours. Of two +prizes is the lot fallen to Melissos, to turn his heart unto sweet +mirth, for in the glens of Isthmos hath he won crowns, and again +in the hollow vale of the deep-chested lion being winner in the +chariot-race he made proclamation that his home was Thebes. + +Thus shameth he not the prowess of his kinsmen. Ye know the ancient +fame of Kleonymos with the chariot: also on the mother's side being +akin to the Labdakidai his race hath been conversant with riches, and +bestowed them on the labours of the four-horse car. + +But time with rolling days bringeth changes manifold: only the +children of gods are free of wounds. + +By grace of God I have ways countless everywhere open unto me[1]: for +thou hast shown forth to me, O Melissos, in the Isthmian games an +ample means to follow in song the excellence of thy race: wherein the +Kleonymidai flourish continually, and in favour with God pass onward +through the term of mortal life: howbeit changing gales drive all men +with ever-changing drift. + +These men verily are spoken of as having honour at Thebes from the +beginning, for that they cherished the inhabitants round about, and +had no part in loud insolence; if there be borne about by the winds +among men aught of witness to the great honour of quick or dead, unto +such have they attained altogether. By the brave deeds of their house +they have touched the pillars of Herakles, that are at the end of +things. Beyond that follow thou no excellence. + +Horse-breeders moreover have they been, and found favour with mailed +Ares; but in one day the fierce snow-storm of war hath made a happy +hearth to be desolate of four men. + +But now once more after that wintry gloom hath it blossomed, even as +in the flowery months the earth blossometh with red roses, according +to the counsels of gods. + +For the Shaker of Earth who inhabiteth Onchestos and the Bridge[2] +between seas that lieth before the valley of Corinth, now giveth to +the house this hymn of wonder, and leadeth up out of her bed the +ancient glory of the famous deeds thereof: for she was fallen on +sleep; but she awaketh and her body shineth preeminent, as among stars +the Morning-star. + +For in the land of Athens proclaiming a victory of the car, and at +Sikyon at the games of Adrastos did she give like wreaths of song for +the sons of Kleonymos that then were. For neither did they refrain to +contend with the curved chariot in the great meetings of the people, +but they had delight to strive with the whole folk of Hellas in +spending their wealth on steeds. + +Touching the unproven there is silence, and none knoweth them: yea and +even from them that strive Fortune hideth herself until they come unto +the perfect end; for she giveth of this and of that. + +The better man hath been ere now overtaken and overthrown by the craft +of worse. Verily ye know the bloody deed of Aias, that he wrought +beneath the far-spent night, when he smote himself through with his +own sword, whereby he upbraideth yet the children of the Hellenes, as +many as went forth to Troy. + +But lo! Homer hath done him honour among men, and by raising up his +excellence in the fulness thereof hath through the rod[3] of his +divine lays delivered it to bards after him to sing. + +For the thing that one hath well said goeth forth with a voice unto +everlasting: over fruitful earth and beyond the sea hath the light of +fair deeds shined, unquenchable for ever. + +May we find favour with the Muses, that for Melissos too we kindle +such beacon-blaze of song, a worthy prize of the pankration for this +scion of Telesias' son. + +He being like unto the roaring lions in courage taketh unto him their +spirit to be his own in the struggle: but in sleight he is as the fox +that spreadeth out her feet[4] and preventeth the swoop of the eagle: +for all means must be essayed by him that would prevail over his foe. +For not of the stature of Orion was this man, but his presence is +contemptible, yet terrible is he to grapple with in his strength. + +And verily once to the house of Antaios came a man to wrestle against +him, of short stature but of unbending soul, from Kadmean Thebes even +unto corn-bearing Libya, that he might cause him to cease from roofing +Poseidon's temple with the skulls of strangers--even the son of +Alkmene, he who ascended up to Olympus, after that he had searched out +the surface of the whole earth and of the crag-walled hoary sea, +and had made safe way for the sailing of ships. And now beside the +aegis-bearer he dwelleth, possessing happiness most fair, and hath +honour from the immortals as their friend, and hath Hebe to wife, and +is lord of a golden house, and husband of Hera's child. + +Unto his honour upon the heights Elektrai we of this city prepare a +feast and new-built altar-ring, where we offer burnt sacrifice in +honour of the eight mail-clad men that are dead, whom Megara, Kreon's +daughter, bore to be sons of Herakles. + +To them at the going down of the day there ariseth a flame of fire and +burneth all night continually, amid a savoury smoke hurling itself +against the upper air: and on the second day is the award of the +yearly games, a trial of strength. + +Therein did this our man, his head with myrtle-wreaths made white, +show forth a double victory, after another won already among the boys, +for that he had regard unto the many counsels of him who was the pilot +of his helm[5]. And with Orseas' name I join him in my triumphal song, +and shed over them a glory of delight. + + +[Footnote 1: 'Many themes on which I can justly praise the clan.'] + +[Footnote 2: The Isthmus.] + +[Footnote 3: The rod or staff carried anciently by poets and reciters +of poems.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. throwing herself on her back with feet upward. If +it is meant that she counterfeits death, then of course the parallel +with the pankratiast will only hold good to the extent of the supine +posture.] + +[Footnote 5: His trainer, Orseas.] + + + +IV. + +FOR PHYLAKIDAS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +This Phylakidas was a son of Lampon, and a brother of the Pytheas for +whom the fifth Nemean was written. This ode must have been written +shortly after the battle of Salamis, probably B.C. 478, and was to +be sung at Aigina, perhaps at a festival of the goddess Theia who is +invoked at the beginning. She, according to Hesiod, was the mother +of the Sun, the Moon, and the Morning, and was also called [Greek: +Euruphaessa] and [Greek: chruse], from which latter name perhaps came +her association with gold and wealth. + + * * * * * + +Mother of the Sun, Theia of many names, through thee it is that men +prize gold as mighty above all things else: for ships that strive upon +the sea and horses that run in chariots, for the honour that is of +thee, O queen, are glorified in swiftly circling struggle. + +And that man also hath won longed-for glory in the strife of games, +for whose strong hand or fleet foot abundant wreaths have bound his +hair. Through God is the might of men approved. + +Two things alone there are that cherish life's bloom to its utmost +sweetness amidst the fair flowers of wealth--to have good success and +to win therefore fair fame. Seek not to be as Zeus; if the portion +of these honours fall to thee, thou hast already all. The things of +mortals best befit mortality. + +For thee, Phylakidas, a double glory of valour is at Isthmos stored, +and at Nemea both for thee and for Pytheas a pankratiast's crown. + +Not without the sons of Aiakos will my heart indite of song: and in +company of the Graces am I come for sake of Lampon's sons to this +commonwealth of equal laws[1]. If then on the clear high road of +god-given deeds she hath set her feet, grudge not to mingle in song a +seemly draught of glory for her toil. + +For even the great men of old that were good warriors have profited of +the telling of their tale, and are glorified on the lute and in the +pipe's strains manifold, through immeasurable time: and to the cunning +in words[2] they give matter by the grace of Zeus. + +Thus by their worship with the blaze of burnt-offerings among +Aitolians have the mighty sons[3] of Oineus honour, and at Thebes +Iolaos the charioteer, and at Argos Perseus, and by the streams of +Eurotas Polydeukes and Kastor's spear: + +But in Oinone the great souls of Aiakos and his sons, who after much +fighting twice sacked the Trojans' town, first when they went with +Herakles, and again with the sons of Atreus. + +Now drive me upward still; say who slew Kyknos, and who Hektor, and +the dauntless chief of Ethiop hosts, bronze-mailed Memnon. What man +was he who with his spear smote noble Telephos by Kaïkos' banks? Even +they whose home my mouth proclaimeth to be Aigina's glorious isle: +a tower is she, builded from long ago, to tempt the climb of +high-adventuring valour. + +Many arrows hath my truthful tongue in store wherewith to sound +the praises of her sons: and even but now in war might Aias' city, +Salamis, bear witness thereto in her deliverance by Aigina's seamen +amid the destroying tempest of Zeus, when death came thick as hail on +the unnumbered hosts. Yet let no boast be heard. Zeus ordereth this or +that, Zeus, lord of all. + +Now in pleasant song even these honours also of the games welcome the +joy for a fair victory. Let any strive his best in such, who hath +learnt what Kleonikos' house can do. Undulled is the fame of their +long toil, nor ever was their zeal abated by any counting of the cost. + +Also have I praise for Pytheas, for that he guided aright[4] the +course of Phylakidas' blows in the struggle of hands that bring limbs +low, an adversary he of cunning soul. + +Take for him a crown, and bring the fleecy fillet, and speed him on +his way with this new winged hymn. + + +[Footnote 1: Aigina.] + +[Footnote 2: Poets.] + +[Footnote 3: Meleager and his brothers.] + +[Footnote 4: Pytheas had given his brother example, and very probably +precept also, in the pankration.] + + + +V. + +FOR PHYLAKIDAS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +This ode seems to be of earlier date than the last, though placed +after it in our order. The occasion is similar. Probably it was sung +at a banquet at Lampon's house. + + * * * * * + +As one may do amid merry revel of men, so mingle we a second time the +bowls of Muses' melody in honour of Lampon's athlete progeny. + +Our first, O Zeus, was unto thee, when at Nemea we[1] won thy +excellent crown, and now is this second unto the lord[2] of Isthmos +and unto the fifty daughters of Nereus, for that Phylakidas the +youngest son is winner in the games. And be it ours to make ready yet +a third for the Saviour[3], the Olympian one, and in honour of Aigina +make libation of our honey-speaking song. + +For if a man rejoice to suffer cost and toil, and achieve god-builded +excellence, and therewithal fate plant for him fair renown, already +at the farthest bounds of bliss hath such an one cast anchor, for the +glory that he hath thereby from God. With such desires prayeth the +son[4] of Kleonikos that he may fulfil them ere he meet death or hoary +eld. + +Now I call on high-throned Klotho and her sister Fates to draw nigh +unto the praying of the man I love. + +And upon you also, golden-charioted seed of Aiakos, I say it is clear +law to me to shed the dew of my good words, what time I set my foot[5] +upon this isle. + +For innumerable hundred-foot[6] straight roads are cleft for your +fair deeds to go forth, beyond the springs of Nile, and through the +Hyperboreans' midst: neither is any town so barbarous and strange +of speech that it knoweth not the fame of Peleus, that blissful +son-in-law of gods, or of Aias son of Telamon, and of Aias' sire; whom +unto brazen war an eager ally with Tirynthian men Alkmene's son took +with him in his ships to Troy, to the place of heroes' toil, to take +vengeance for Laomedon's untruth. + +There did Herakles take the city of Pergamos, and with help of Telamon +slew the nations of the Meropes, and the herdsman whose stature was as +a mountain, Alkyoneus whom he found at Phlegrai, and spared not of his +hands the terrible twanging bowstring. + +But when he went to call the son of Aiakos to the voyage he found the +whole company at the feast. And as he stood there in his lion's skin, +then did Telamon their chief challenge Amphitryon's son of the mighty +spear to make initiative libation of nectar, and handed on unto him +the wine-cup rough with gold. + +And Herakles stretched forth to heaven his invincible hands and spake +on this wise: 'If ever, O father Zeus, thou hast heard my prayer with +willing heart, now, even now, with strong entreaty I pray thee that +thou give this man a brave child of Eriboia's womb, that by award of +fate my friend may gain a son of body as staunch[7] as this hide that +hangeth about me, which was of the beast that I slew at Nemea, first +of all my labours; and let his soul be of like sort.' + +And when he had thus spoken, the god sent forth the king of birds, +a mighty eagle, and sweet delight thrilled him within, and he spake +aloud as a seer speaketh: 'Behold, the son whom thou askest shall +be born unto thee, O Telamon:' also after the bird's name that had +appeared unto them he said that the child's name should be the mighty +Aias[8], terrible in the strife of warring hosts: so he spake, and +sate him down straightway. + +But for me it were long to tell all those valiant deeds. For for +Phylakidas am I come, O Muse, a dispenser of thy triumphal songs, and +for Pytheas, and for Euthymenes[9]; therefore in Argive fashion my +tale shall be of fewest words. + +Three victories have they won in the pankration of Isthmos, and others +at leafy Nemea, even these noble sons and their mother's brother: how +fair a portion of song have they brought to light! yea and they water +with the Charites' delicious dew their clan of the Psalychidai, and +have raised up the house of Themistios, and dwell here in a city which +the gods love well. + +And Lampon, in that he bestoweth practice on all he doth, holdeth +in high honour the word of Hesiod which speaketh thereof[10], and +exhorteth thereunto his sons, whereby he bringeth unto his city a +general fame: and for his kind entreating of strangers is he loved, to +the just mean aspiring, to the just mean holding fast; and his tongue +departeth not from his thoughts: and among athlete men he is as the +bronze-grinding Naxian whetstone amid stones[11]. + +Now will I give him to drink of the holy water of Dirke, which +golden-robed Mnemosyne's deep-girdled daughters made once to spring +out of the earth, beside the well-walled gates of Kadmos. + + +[Footnote 1: I. e. Pytheas. See Nem. v.] + +[Footnote 2: Poseidon.] + +[Footnote 3: [Greek: Zeus Sotaer], to whom the third cup at a feast +was drunk. He is here invoked also to give a third victory to the +family at the Olympic games.] + +[Footnote 4: Lampon.] + +[Footnote 5: Figuratively said, as elsewhere.] + +[Footnote 6: A hundred feet wide, seemingly.] + +[Footnote 7: Not 'invulnerable.' A magic invulnerability was only +attributed to heroes by later legend.] + +[Footnote 8: From [Greek: aietos] an eagle.] + +[Footnote 9: Maternal uncle of Pytheas and Phylakidas.] + +[Footnote 10: [Greek: melete de ergon ophellei]. Opp. 411.] + +[Footnote 11: I. e. he stimulates their zeal and skill. The Naxian +whetstone seems to be emery.] + + + +VI. + +FOR STREPSIADES OF THEBES, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is not fixed, but it has been supposed that the +battle referred to--apparently a defeat--in which the winner's uncle +was killed was the battle of Oinophyta, fought B.C. 457. But this, and +the notion that the democratic revolution at Thebes is referred to, +are only conjectures. + + * * * * * + +Wherewithal of the fair deeds done in thy land, O divine Thebe, hath +thy soul had most delight? Whether when thou broughtest forth to the +light Dionysos of the flowing hair, who sitteth beside Demeter to whom +the cymbals clang? or when at midnight in a snow of gold thou didst +receive the mightiest of the gods, what time he stood at Amphitryon's +doors and beguiled his wife, to the begetting of Herakles? Or when +thou hadst honour in the wise counsels of Teiresias, or in Iolaos the +cunning charioteer, or the unwearied spears of the Spartoi? or when +out of the noise of the strong battle-cry thou sentest Adrastos home +to horse-breeding Argos, of his countless company forlorn? or when +thou madest the Dorian colony of the men of Lakedaimon stand upright +upon its feet[1], and the sons of Aigeus thy progeny took Amyklai, +according to the oracles of Pytho? + +Nay, but the glory of the old time sleepeth, and mortals are unmindful +thereof, save such as married to the sounding stream of song attaineth +unto the perfect meed that wisdom[2] giveth. New triumph now lead for +Strepsiades with melodious hymn: for at Isthmos hath he borne away the +pankratiast's prize. Wondrous in strength is he, and to look upon of +goodly shape, and his valour is such as shameth not his stature. + +So shineth he forth by grace of the Muses iris-haired, and to his +uncle of like name hath he given to share his crown, for albeit +bronze-shielded Ares gave him over unto death, yet remaineth there for +the valiant a recompense of renown. For let whoso amid the cloud of +war from his beloved country wardeth the bloody shower, and maketh +havoc in the enemy's host, know assuredly that for the race of his +fellow-citizens he maketh their renown wax mightily, yea when he is +dead even as while he was yet alive. + +So didst thou, son[3] of Diodotos, following the praise of the warrior +Meleagros, and of Hektor, and of Amphiaraos, breathe forth the spirit +of thy fair-flowering youth amid the company of fighters in the front, +where the bravest on slenderest hopes bare up the struggle of war. + +Then suffered I a pang unspeakable, but now hath the earth-grasper[4] +granted unto me a calm after the storm: I will set chaplets on my hair +and sing. Now let no jealousy of immortals mar whatever sweet thing +through a day's pursuit I follow, as it leadeth on up to old age, and +unto the term of life appointed. + +For all we in like manner die, albeit our lots be diverse. If any lift +up his eye to look upon things afar off, yet is he too weak to attain +unto the bronze-paved dwelling of the gods. Thus did winged Pegasos +throw his lord Bellerophon, when he would fain enter into the heavenly +habitations and mix among the company of Zeus. Unrighteous joyance a +bitter end awaiteth. + +But to us, O Loxias of the golden-flowing hair, give also at thy +Pythian games a new fair-flowering crown. + + +[Footnote 1: The Theban Aigidai helped the mythical 'return of the +Herakleidai.'] + +[Footnote 2: Wisdom of bards.] + +[Footnote 3: Strepsiades the uncle.] + +[Footnote 4: Poseidon.] + + + +VII. + +FOR KLEANDROS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +All that we can be certain of as to the date of this ode is that it +was written soon after the final expulsion of the Persians. From the +first strophe we learn that Kleandros had won a Nemean as well as an +Isthmian victory, and perhaps this ode really belongs to the former. +It was to be sung, it seems, before the house of Telesarchos the +winner's father, at Aigina. + + * * * * * + +For Kleandros in his prime let some of you, ye young men, go stand +before the shining portal of his father Telesarchos, and rouse a song +of triumph, to be a glorious recompense of his toils, for that he hath +achieved reward of victory at Isthmos, and hath showed his strength in +the games of Nemea. + +For him I also, albeit heavy at heart[1], am bidden to call upon the +golden Muse. Yea since we are come forth from our sore troubles let +us not fall into the desolation of crownlessness, neither nurse our +griefs; but having ease from our ills that are past mending, we will +set some pleasant thing before the people, though it follow hard on +pain: inasmuch as some god hath put away from us the Tantalos-stone +that hung above our heads, a curse intolerable to Hellas. + +But now hath the passing of this terror ended my sore disquietude, and +ever it is better to look only on the thing hard by. For the guile of +time hangeth above the heads of men, and maketh the way of their life +crooked, yet if Freedom abide with them, even such things may mortals +cure. + +But it is meet that a man cherish good hope: and meet also that I, +whom seven-gated Thebes reared, proffer chiefly unto Aigina the +choicest of the Graces' gifts, for that from one sire were two +daughters[2] born, youngest of the children of Asopos, and found +favour in the eyes of the king Zeus. + +One by the fair stream of Dirke he set to be the queen of a city of +charioteers, and thee the other he bare to the Oinopian isle, and lay +with thee, whence to the sire of great thunderings thou didst bear the +godlike Aiakos, best of men upon the earth. + +This man even among divinities became a decider of strife: and his +godlike sons and his sons' sons delighting in battle were foremost in +valour when they met in the ringing brazen melley: chaste also were +they approved, and wise of heart. + +Thereof was the god's council mindful, what time for the hand of +Thetis there was strife between Zeus and glorious Poseidon, each +having desire that she should be his fair bride, for love had obtained +dominion over them. + +Yet did not the wisdom of the immortal gods fulfil for them such +marriage, when they had heard a certain oracle. For Themis of wise +counsels spake in the midst of them of how it was pre-destined that +the sea-goddess should bear a royal offspring mightier than his +father, whose hand should wield a bolt more terrible than the +lightning or the dread trident, if she came ever into the bed of Zeus, +or of brethren of Zeus. + +'Cease ye herefrom: let her enter a mortal's couch and see her son +fall in war, who shall be as Ares in the might of his hands, and as +the lightning in the swiftness of his feet. My counsel is that ye give +her to be the heaven-sent prize of Peleus son of Aiakos, whom the +speech of men showeth to be their most righteous, an offspring of +Iolkos' plain. Thus straightway let the message go forth to Cheiron's +cave divine, neither let the daughter of Nereus put a second time +into your hands the ballot-leaves of strife. So on the evening of the +mid-month moon shall she unbind for the hero the fair girdle of her +virginity.' + +Thus spake the goddess her word to the children of Kronos, and they +bowed their everlasting brows. Nor failed her words of fruit, for they +say that to Thetis' bridals came those twain kings even with the rest. + +Out of the mouths of the wise hath the young valour of Achilles +been declared to them that beheld it not. He it was who stained the +vine-clad Mysian plain with the dark blood of Telephos that he shed +thereon, and made for the sons of Atreus a safe return across the sea, +and delivered Helen, when that he had cut asunder with his spear the +sinews of Troy, even the men who kept him back as he plied the work +of slaughterous battle on the plain, the strength of Memnon and +high-hearted Hektor, and other chiefs of pride. Unto all these did +Achilles, champion of the Aiakid race, point the way to the house of +Persephone, and thereby did he glorify Aigina and the root whence he +was sprung. + +Neither in death was he of songs forsaken, for at his funeral pyre and +beside his tomb stood the Helikonian maiden-choir, and poured thereon +a dirge of many melodies. For so the immortals willed, to give charge +unto the songs of goddesses over that valorous man even in his death. + +And now also holdeth such charge good, and the Muses' chariot speedeth +to sound the glories of Nikokles the boxer[3]. Honour to him who in +the Isthmian vale hath won the Dorian parsley: for he even as Achilles +overcame men in battle, turning them to confusion, with hand from +which flight was vain. Him shameth not this kinsman of his father's +noble brother. Wherefore let some one of the young men his fellows +twine for Kleandros a wreath of tender myrtle for his pankratiast +victory. For the games whose name is of Alkathoos[4], and the youth of +Epidauros[5], have ere now entertained him with good hap. To praise +him is given unto the good: for in no hidden corner quenched he his +youth, unproven in honourable deeds. + + +[Footnote 1: Because, though the Persians had been defeated, Thebes, +Pindar's city, had not shared the glory.] + +[Footnote 2: Thebe and Aigine.] + +[Footnote 3: Uncle of the winner.] + +[Footnote 4: A son of Pelops: he slew the lion of Kithairon.] + +[Footnote 5: The Epidaurian games were in honour of Asklepios.] + + + +FRAGMENTS. + +Nearly two-thirds of the Fragments cannot be assigned to any distinct +class: the rest are divided among (1) [Greek: Epinikia], or Triumphal +Odes (such as are the odes remaining to us entire), (2) [Greek: +Hymnoi], or Hymns sung by a choir in honour of gods, (3) [Greek: +Paianes], or Hymns of a like kind but anciently addressed especially +to Apollo and Artemis for their intervention against pestilence, (4) +[Greek: Dithyramboi], or choral songs of more general compass, verging +sometimes on the drama, (5) [Greek: Prosodia], or Processional Songs, +(6) [Greek: Parthenia], or Songs for a Choir of Maidens, (7) [Greek: +Hyporchaemata], or Songs with Accompaniment of Dance, (8) [Greek: +Enkomia], or Odes sung by a [Greek: komos] in praise of some person +but not necessarily on any special occasion, (9) [Greek: Skolia], or +Songs to be sung at Banquets, (10) [Greek: Thraenoi], or Dirges. + + + +FRAGMENT OF A DITHYRAMB, + +TO BE SUNG AT ATHENS. + +Hither! Olympian gods to our choice dance, and make your grace to +descend thereon and to glorify it, ye who in sacred Athens visit the +city's incensed centre-stone, and her famed market-place of splendid +ornament; receive ye violet-entwinëd crowns and drink-offerings of +spring-gathered herbs, and look on me who am come from the house of +Zeus with my bright song a second time unto the ivy-crownëd god, whom +we call Bromios, even the god of clamorous shout. + +To sing the offspring[1] of the Highest and of Kadmeän mothers am I +come. + +In Argive Nemea the prophet of the god overlooketh not the branch of +palm, what time with the opening of the chamber of the Hours, the +nectarous plants perceive the fragrant spring[2]. + +Then, then are strown over the face of the eternal earth the lovely +violet-tufts, then are roses twined in hair, then sound to the flute's +accompaniment voices of song, then sound our choice hymns unto the +honour of bright-filleted Semele ... + + +[Footnote 1: Dionysos, son of Zeus and of Semele, daughter of Kadmos.] + +[Footnote 2: Bockh has suggested the following ingenious explanation +of this passage. In the temple of Zeus at Nemea grew a sacred palm, +and a branch of this was given, together with his crown, to a winner +in the Nemean games. Pindar had been at those games in the winter, and +means that he, like the priest of the temple, could foresee from the +tokens of the branch that spring was approaching, and with spring the +vernal Dionysia at Athens.] + + +FRAGMENTS OF A PROCESSION-SONG ([Greek: prosodion]), + +IN HONOUR OF DELOS. + +Hail! god-reared daughter of the sea, earth-shoot most dear to +bright-haired Leto's children, wide earth's immoveable marvel, who of +mortals art called Delos, but of the blessed gods in Olympus the dark +earth's far-seen star[1]... ... For of old time it[2] drifted before +the waves and stress of winds from every side; but when she[3] of +Koios set foot thereon, as the swift pains of her travailing drew +nigh, then verily from roots deep down in earth there sprang upright +four pillars with adamantine base, and on their capitals they held up +the rock: there was the goddess delivered, and looked upon her blessed +brood........ + + +[Footnote 1: The old mythical name of Delos was Asteria.] + +[Footnote 2: The island.] + +[Footnote 3: Leto.] + + * * * * * + + +FRAGMENT OF A SONG WITH ACCOMPANIMENT OF DANCE +([Greek: huporchaema]), WRITTEN ON OCCASION OF AN ECLIPSE +OF THE SUN, PROBABLY THAT OF APRIL 30, B.C. 463. + +Wherefore, O Light of the Sun, thou that seest all things and givest +bounds unto the sight of mine eyes--wherefore O star supreme hast thou +in the daytime hidden thyself, and made useless unto men the wings of +their strength and the paths that wisdom findeth, and hastest along a +way of darkness to bring on us some strange thing? + +Now in the name of Zeus I pray unto thee, O holy Light, that by thy +swift steeds thou turn this marvel in the sight of all men to be for +the unimpaired good hap of Thebes. Yet if the sign which thou showest +us be of some war, or destruction of harvest, or an exceeding storm of +snow, or ruinous civil strife, or emptying of the sea upon the earth, +or freezing of the soil, or summer rains pouring in vehement flood, or +whether thou wilt drown the earth and make anew another race of men, +then will I suffer it amid the common woe of all.... + + + +FRAGMENTS. + +I + +FRAGMENTS OF DIRGES (thraenoi). + +.... For them shineth below the strength of the sun while in our world +it is night, and the space of crimsonflowered meadows before their +city is full of the shade of frankincense-trees, and of fruits of +gold. And some in horses, and in bodily feats, and some in dice, +and some in harp-playing have delight; and among them thriveth all +fair-flowering bliss; and fragrance streameth ever through the lovely +land, as they mingle incense of every kind upon the altars of the +gods.... + +II. + +.... BY happy lot travel all unto an end that giveth them rest from +toils. And the body indeed is subject unto the great power of death, +but there remaineth yet alive a shadow of life; for this only is from +the gods; and while the limbs stir, it sleepeth, but unto sleepers +in dreams discovereth oftentimes the judgment that draweth nigh for +sorrow or for joy.. + +III + +But from whomsoever Persephone accepteth atonement made for an ancient +woe, their souls unto the light of the sun above she sendeth back +again in the ninth year. And from those souls spring noble kings, +and men swift and strong and in wisdom very great: and through the +after-time they are called holy heroes among men...... + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Extant Odes of Pindar, by Pindar + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXTANT ODES OF PINDAR *** + +***** This file should be named 10717-8.txt or 10717-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/7/1/10717/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS," WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + + https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/10717-8.zip b/old/10717-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3009114 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10717-8.zip diff --git a/old/10717.txt b/old/10717.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ceeb8d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10717.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6752 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Extant Odes of Pindar, by Pindar + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Extant Odes of Pindar + +Author: Pindar + +Release Date: January 14, 2004 [EBook #10717] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXTANT ODES OF PINDAR *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +THE EXTANT + +ODES OF PINDAR + +TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH + +with + +INTRODUCTION AND SHORT NOTES + +BY + +ERNEST MYERS, M.A. + +_Sometime Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford_ + + +1904 + +_First edition printed 1874._ + +_Reprinted (with corrections) 1884, 1888, 1892, 1895, 1899, 1904_ + + SON OF THE LIGHTNING, FAIR AND FIERY STAR, + STRONG-WINGED IMPERIAL PINDAR, VOICE DIVINE, + LET THESE DEEP DRAUGHTS OF THY ENCHANTED WINE + LIFT ME WITH THEE IN SOARINGS HIGH AND FAR + PROUDER THAN PEGASEAN, OR THE CAR + WHEREIN APOLLO RAPT THE HUNTRESS MAID. + SO LET ME RANGE MINE HOUR, TOO SOON TO FADE + INTO STRANGE PRESENCE OF THE THINGS THAT ARE. + YET KNOW THAT EVEN AMID THIS JARRING NOISE + OF HATES, LOVES, CREEDS, TOGETHER HEAPED AND HURLED, + SOME ECHO FAINT OF GRACE AND GRANDEUR STIRS + FROM THY SWEET HELLAS, HOME OF NOBLE JOYS. + FIRST FRUIT AND BEST OF ALL OUR WESTERN WORLD; + WHATE'ER WE HOLD OF BEAUTY, HALF IS HERS. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +Probably no poet of importance equal or approaching to that of Pindar +finds so few and so infrequent readers. The causes are not far to +seek: in the first and most obvious place comes the great difficulty +of his language, in the second the frequent obscurity of his thought, +resulting mainly from his exceeding allusiveness and his abrupt +transitions, and in the third place that amount of monotony which must +of necessity attach to a series of poems provided for a succession of +similar occasions. + +It is as an attempt towards obviating the first of these hindrances +to the study of Pindar, the difficulty of his language, that this +translation is of course especially intended. To whom and in what +cases are translations of poets useful? To a perfect scholar in the +original tongue they are superfluous, to one wholly ignorant of it +they are apt to be (unless here and there to a Keats) meaningless, +flat, and puzzling. There remains the third class of those who have a +certain amount of knowledge of a language, but not enough to +enable them to read unassisted its more difficult books without an +expenditure of time and trouble which is virtually prohibitive. It +is to this class that a translation ought, it would seem, chiefly to +address itself. An intelligent person of cultivated literary taste, +and able to read the easier books in an acquired language, will feel +himself indebted to a hand which unlocks for him the inner chambers +of a temple in whose outer courts he had already delighted to wander. +Without therefore saying that the merely 'English reader' may never +derive pleasure and instruction from a translation of a foreign poet, +for to this rule our current version of the Hebrew psalmists and +prophets furnish one marked exception at least--still, it is probably +to what may be called the half-learned class that the translator must +preeminently look to find an audience. + +The other causes of Pindar's unpopularity to which reference was made +above, the obscurity of his thought and the monotony of his subjects, +will in great measure disappear by means of attentive study of the +poems themselves, and of other sources from which may be gathered an +understanding of the region of thought and feeling in which they move. +In proportion to our familiarity not only with Hellenic mythology and +history, but with Hellenic life and habits of thought generally, will +be our readiness and facility in seizing the drift and import of what +Pindar says, in divining what has passed through his mind: and in his +case perhaps even more than in the case of other poets, this facility +will increase indefinitely with our increasing acquaintance with his +works and with the light thrown on each part of them by the rest[1]. + +The monotony of the odes, though to some extent unquestionably and +unavoidably real, is to some extent also superficial and in appearance +only. The family of the victor, or his country, some incident of his +past, some possibility of his future life, suggest in each case some +different legendary matter, some different way of treating it, some +different application of it, general or particular, or both. Out +of such resources Pindar is inexhaustible in building up in subtly +varying forms the splendid structure of his song. + +Yet doubtless the drawbacks in reading Pindar, though they may be +largely reduced, will always in some degree exist: we shall always +wish that he was easier to construe, that his allusions to things +unfamiliar and sometimes undiscoverable to us were less frequent, that +family pride had not made it customary for him to spend so many lines +on an enumeration of prizes won elsewhere and at other times by the +victor of the occasion or by his kin. Such drawbacks can only fall +into insignificance when eclipsed by consideration of the far more +than counterbalancing attractions of the poems, of their unique and +surpassing interest, poetical, historical, and moral. + + +Of Pindar as a poet it is hard indeed to speak adequately, and +almost as hard to speak briefly, for a discussion of his poetical +characteristics once begun may wander far before even a small part +has been said of what might be. To say that to his poetry in supreme +degree belong the qualities of force, of vividness, often of +impressive weight, of a lofty style, seeming to be the expression of +a like personality, of a mastery of rhythm and metre and imaginative +diction, of a profoundly Hellenic spirit modified by an unmistakable +individuality, above all of a certain sweep and swiftness as of the +flight of an eagle's wing--to say all this would be to suggest some of +the most obvious features of these triumphal odes; and each of these +qualities, and many more requiring exacter delineation, might be +illustrated with numberless instances which even in the faint image +of a translation would furnish ample testimony[2]. But as this +introduction is intended for those who purpose reading Pindar's +poetry, or at any rate the present translation of it, for themselves, +I will leave it to them to discover for themselves the qualities which +have given Pindar his high place among poets, and will pass on to +suggest briefly his claims to interest us by reason of his place in +the history of human action and human thought. + +We know very little of Pindar's life. He was born in or about the year +B.C. 522, at the village of Kynoskephalai near Thebes. He was thus a +citizen of Thebes and seems to have always had his home there. But he +travelled among other states, many of which have been glorified by his +art. For his praise of Athens, 'bulwark of Hellas,' the city which at +Artemision 'laid the foundation of freedom,' the Thebans are said to +have fined him; but the generous Athenians paid the fine, made him +their Proxenos, and erected his statue at the public cost. For the +magnificent Sicilian princes, Hieron of Syracuse and Theron of +Akragas, not unlike the Medici in the position they held, Pindar wrote +five of the longest of his extant odes, and probably visited them in +Sicily. But he would not quit his home to be an ornament of their +courts. When asked why he did not, like Simonides, accept the +invitations of these potentates to make his home with them, he +answered that he had chosen to live his own life, and not to be the +property of another. He died at the age of 79, that is, probably, in +the year 443, twelve years before the Peloponnesian war began. Legend +said that he died in the theatre of Argos, in the arms of Theoxenos, +the boy in whose honour he wrote a Skolion of which an immortal +fragment remains to us. Other myths gathered round his name. It was +said that once when in childhood he had fallen asleep by the way 'a +bee had settled on his lips and gathered honey,' and again that +'he saw in a dream that his mouth was filled with honey and the +honeycomb;' that Pan himself learnt a poem of his and rejoiced to sing +it on the mountains; that finally, while he awaited an answer from +the oracle of Ammon, whence he had enquired what was best for man, +Persephone appeared to him in his sleep and said that she only of the +gods had had no hymn from him, but that he should make her one shortly +when he had come to her; and that he died within ten days of the +vision. + +Two several conquerors of Thebes, Pausanias of Sparta and Alexander of +Macedon, + + 'bade spare + The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower + Went to the ground.' + +At Delphi they kept with reverence his iron chair, and the priest of +Apollo cried nightly as he closed the temple, 'Let Pindar the poet go +in unto the supper of the god.' + +Thus Pindar was contemporary with an age of Greek history which +justifies the assertion of his consummate interest for the student of +Hellenic life in its prime. It was impossible that a man of his +genius and temperament should have lived through these times without +representing to us with breadth and intensity the spirit that was in +them, and there are several points in Pindar's circumstances which +make his relation to his age peculiarly interesting. We may look on +him as in some points supplementary to the great Athenian dramatists, +whose works are doubtless far the most valuable literary legacy of the +time. Perhaps however the surpassing brilliance of Athenian literature +and history has made us somewhat prone to forget the importance of +non-Athenian elements in the complex whole of Hellenic life and +thought. Athens was the eye of Hellas, nay, she had at Marathon and +Salamis made good her claim to be called the saving arm, but there +were other members not to be forgotten if we would picture to +ourselves the national body in its completeness. + +Pindar was a Boeotian, of a country not rich in literary or indeed any +kind of intellectual eminence, yet by no means to be ignored in an +estimate of the Hellenic race. Politically indeed it only rises into +pre-eminence under Epameinondas; before and afterwards Boeotian +policy under the domination of Thebes is seldom either beneficent or +glorious: it must be remembered, however, that the gallant Plataeans +also were Boeotians. The people of Boeotia seem to have had generally +an easy, rather sensually inclined nature, which accorded with their +rich country and absence of nautical and commercial enterprise and +excitement, but in their best men this disposition remains only in the +form of a genial simplicity. Pelopidas in political, and Plutarch and +Pausanias in literary history, will be allowed to be instances of +this. That the poetry which penetrated Hellenic life was not wanting +in Boeotia we have proof enough in the existence of the Sacred Band, +that goodly fellowship of friends which seems to have united what +Hallam has called the three strongest motives to enthusiastic action +that have appeared in history, patriotism, chivalric honour, and +religion. Nor is there any nobler figure in history than that of +Epameinondas. + +One fact indeed there is which must always make the thought of +Pindar's Theban citizenship painful to us, and that is the shameful +part taken by Thebes in the Persian war, when compulsion of her +exposed situation, and oligarchical cabal within her walls, drew her +into unholy alliance with the barbarian invader. Had it been otherwise +how passionately pure would Pindar's joy have uttered itself when the +'stone of Tantalos' that hung over the head of Hellas was smitten into +dust in that greatest crisis of the fortunes of humanity. He exults +nobly as it is, he does all honour to Athens, 'bulwark of Hellas,' but +the shame of his own city, his 'mother' Thebes, must have caused him a +pang as bitter as a great soul has ever borne. + +For his very calling of song-writer to all Hellenic states without +discrimination, especially when the songs he had to write were of the +class which we still possess, triumphal odes for victories in those +great games which drew to them all men of Hellenic blood at the feet +of common deities, and which with each recurring festival could even +hush the clamour of war in an imperious Truce of God--such a calling +and such associations must have cherished in him the passion for +Panhellenic brotherhood and unanimity, even had there not been much +else both within and without him to join to the same generous end. It +was the time when Panhellenic feeling was probably stronger than ever +before or after. Before, the states had been occupied in building +up their own polities independently; the Hellenic activity had been +dispersing itself centrifugally among the trans-marine colonies, +and those of Italy and Sicily seemed at one time to make it doubtful +whether the nucleus of civilization were to be there or in the +mother-country. But by the time of the Persian war the best energies +of the race had concentrated themselves between the Aegean and Ionian +seas; and the supreme danger of the war had bound the states together +against the common enemy and taught them to forget smaller differences +in the great strife between Hellene and barbarian. Yet again when that +supreme danger was past the old quarrels arose anew more deadly and +more complicated: instead of a Persian there was a Peloponnesian war, +and the Peloponnesian war in its latter stages came, by virtue of the +political principles involved, to partake much of the character of +a civil war. But the time of Pindar, of Aeschylus, of Sophocles, of +Pheidias, of Polygnotos, was that happy interval when Hellas had +beaten off the barbarian from her throat and had not yet murdered +herself. And Pindar's imagination and generosity were both kindled by +the moment; there was no room in his mind for border squabbles, for +commercial jealousies, for oligarchic or democratic envy: these things +were overridden by a sentiment of nationality wanting indeed in +many circumstances which modern nationalities deem essential to the +existence of such sentiment, and many of which are really essential to +its permanence--yet a sentiment which no other nation ever before or +since can have possessed in the peculiar lustre which it then wore in +Hellas; for no other nation has ever before or since known what it was +to stand alone immeasurably advanced at the head of the civilization +of the world. + +Pindar was of a noble family, of the house of the Aigeidai, and it is +probable that his kinsmen, or some of them, may have taken the side of +oligarchy in the often recurring dissensions at Thebes, but of this +we know nothing certain. He himself seems to have taken no part in +politics. When he speaks on the subject in his odes it is not with the +voice of a partisan. An ochlocracy is hateful to him, but if he shows +himself an 'aristocrat' it is in the literal and etymological meaning +of the word. Doubtless if Pindar had been asked where the best +servants of the state in public life were most likely to be found he +would have answered that it would be among those ancient families in +whose veins ran the blood of gods and demigods, who had spent blood +and money for the city's honour, championing her in war or in the +mimic strife of the games, who had honourable traditions to be guided +by and an honourable name to lose or save. These things were seldom +undervalued by Hellenic feeling: even in Athens, after it was already +the headquarters of the democratic principle, the noble and wealthy +families obtained, not probably without wisdom of their own in loyally +accepting a democratic position, as fair a place and prospects as +anywhere in Hellas. But that, when the noble nature, the [Greek: +aretae], which traditions of nobility ought to have secured, was +lacking, then wealth and birth were still entitled to power, this +was a doctrine repugnant utterly to Pindar's mind: nor would his +indignation slumber when he saw the rich and highborn, however gifted, +forgetting at any time that their power was a trust for the community +and using it for their own selfish profit. An 'aristocrat' after +Pindar's mind would assuredly have a far keener eye to his duties +than to his rights, would consider indeed that in his larger share of +duties lay his infinitely most precious right. + +But he 'loved that beauty should go beautifully;' personal excellence +of some kind was in his eyes essential; but on this he would fain +shed outward radiance and majesty. His imagination rejoiced in +splendour--splendour of stately palace--halls where the columns were +of marble and the entablature of wrought gold, splendour of temples of +gods where the sculptor's waxing art had brought the very deities to +dwell with man, splendour of the white-pillared cities that glittered +across the Aegean and Sicilian seas, splendour of the holy Panhellenic +games, of whirlwind chariots and the fiery grace of thoroughbreds, +of the naked shapely limbs of the athlete man and boy. On this +characteristic of Pindar it is needless to dwell, for there are not +many odes of those remaining which do not impress it on our minds. + +And it is more with him than a mere manner in poetical style. The +same defect which we feel more or less present in all poets of +antiquity--least of all perhaps in Virgil and Sophokles, but even in +them somewhat--a certain want of widely sympathetic tenderness, this +is unquestionably present in Pindar. What of this quality may have +found expression in his lost poems, especially the Dirges, we can +scarcely guess, but in his triumphal odes it hardly appears at all, +unless in the touches of tender gracefulness into which he softens +when speaking of the young. And we find this want in him mainly +because objects of pity, such as especially elicit that quality of +tenderness, are never or seldom present to Pindar's mind. He sees evil +only in the shape of some moral baseness, falsehood, envy, arrogance, +and the like, to be scathed in passing by the good man's scorn, or +else in the shape of a dark mystery of pain, to be endured by those on +whom it causelessly falls in a proud though undefiant silence. It was +not for him, as for the great tragedians, to 'purge the mind by pity +and fear,' for those passions had scarcely a place in his own mind or +in the minds of those of whom he in his high phantasy would fain have +had the world consist. And as in this point somewhat, so still more in +others, does Pindar remind us, even more than might have been expected +in a contemporary, of Aeschylus. The latter by virtue of his Athenian +nurture as well as of his own greater natural gifts reveals to us +a greater number of thoughts, and those more advanced and more +interesting than we find in Pindar, but the similarity in moral temper +and tone is very striking, as also is the way in which we see this +temper acting on their beliefs. Both hold strongly, as is the wont +of powerful minds in an age of stability as opposed to an age of +transition, to the traditions and beliefs on which the society around +them rests, but both modify these traditions and beliefs according +to the light which arises in them, and which is as much moral as +intellectual light. In so doing they are indeed in harmony with the +best instincts of the society around them, but they lead and guide +such instincts and give them shape and definiteness. In the Oresteaen +trilogy of Aeschylus we have an ever-memorable assertion of the +supreme claims of human morality to human allegiance, of the eternal +truth that humanity can know no object of reverence and worship except +itself idealised, its own virtues victorious over its own vices, and +existing in the greatest perfection which it can at any given time +conceive. Somewhat the same lesson as that of the Oresteia is taught +later, with more of sweetness and harmony, but not with more force, +in the Oedipus Coloneus of Sophokles. And in Pindar we see the same +tendencies inchoate. Like Aeschylus he does by implication subordinate +to morality both politics and religion. He ignores or flatly denies +tales that bring discredit on the gods; he will only bow down to them +when they have the virtues he respects in man. Yet he, like Aeschylus +and Sophokles, does so bow down, sincerely and without hesitation, and +that poets of their temper could do so was well indeed for poetry. +By rare and happy fortune they were inspired at once by the rich and +varied presences of mythology, 'the fair humanities of old religion,' +and also by the highest aspirations of an age of moral and +intellectual advance. We do not of course always, or even often, find +the moral principles clearly and consciously expressed or consistently +supported, but we cannot but feel that they are present in the shape +of instincts, and those instincts pervading and architectonic. + +And if we allow so much of ethical enlightenment to these great +spokesmen of the Hellenic people, we cannot deny something of like +honour to the race among whom they were reared. Let us apportion our +debt of gratitude to our forerunners as it is justly due. There would +seem to be much of fallacy and of the injustice of a shallow judgment +in the contrast as popularly drawn between 'Hellenism' and 'Hebraism,' +according to which the former is spoken of as exclusively proclaiming +to the world the value of Beauty, the latter the value of +Righteousness. In this there is surely much injustice done to Hellas. +Because she taught the one, she did not therefore leave the other +untaught. It may have been for a short time, as her other greatness +was for a short time, though its effects are eternal, but for that +short time the national life, of Athens at any rate, is at least as +full of high moral feeling as that of any other people in the world. +Will not the names of Solon, of Aristeides, of Kallikratidas, of +Epameinondas, of Timoleon and many more, remind us that life could be +to the Hellene something of deeper moral import than a brilliant game, +or a garden of vivid and sweet sights and sounds where Beauty and +Knowledge entered, but Goodness was forgotten and shut out? For it +is not merely that these men, and very many more endowed with ample +portion of their spirit, were produced and reared among the race; they +were honoured and valued in a way that surely postulated the existence +of high ethical feeling in their countrymen. And even when the days +of unselfish statesmen and magnanimous cities were over, there were +philosophers whose schools were not the less filled because they +claimed a high place for righteousness in human life. To Solon and +Aristeides succeeded Socrates and Plato, to Epameinondas and Timoleon +succeeded Zeno and Epictetus. That the morality of the Hellenes was +complete on all sides, it would of course be irrational to maintain. +They had not, for instance, any more than the Hebrews, or any other +nation of antiquity, learnt to abhor slavery, though probably it +existed in a milder form at Athens than anywhere else in the old or +new world: they were more implacable in revenge and laxer in sexual +indulgence than the Christian ethics would allow in theory, though not +perhaps much more so than Christendom has shown itself in practice. +And though undoubtedly the greatest single impulse ever given to +morality came from Palestine, yet the ground which nurtured the seeds +of Christianity was as much Hellenic as Hebrew. It would be impossible +here to enter on an exhaustive comparison of the ethical capacities of +the two races, but before we pronounce hastily for the superiority of +the Hebrew there are surely some difficulties to surmount. We may +well ask, for example, Would Hellas ever have accepted as her chief +national hero such a man as David a man who in his life is conspicuous +by his crimes not less than by his brilliant gifts, and who dies with +the words of blood and perfidy on his lips, charging his son with the +last slaughterous satisfaction of his hate which he had sworn before +his God to forego? And though the great Hebrew prophets teach often +a far loftier morality than this, they cannot have been nearly so +representative of the feeling of this nation as were Aeschylus and +Sophocles and Pindar of the feeling of theirs. The Hebrews of the +prophets' age 'slew the prophets,' and left it to the slayers' +descendants to 'build their sepulchres,' and at the same time to +show their inherited character still more unmistakeably by once more +slaying the last prophet and the greatest.[3] + +In truth in the literature, the art, the life generally of Hellas in +her prime, the moral interest whenever it appears, and that is not +seldom, claims for itself the grave and preponderant attention which +it must claim if it is to appear with fit dignity. But it is not +thrust forward unseasonably or in exaggeration, nor is it placed in a +false opposition to the interests of the aesthetic instincts, which +after all shade into the moral more imperceptibly than might be +generally allowed. There must be a moral side to all societies, and +the Hellenic society, the choicest that the world has seen, the +completest, that is, at once in sensibilities and in energies, could +not but show the excellence of its sensibilities in receiving moral +impressions, the excellence of its energies in achieving moral +conduct. + +This, however, is no place to discuss at length questions in the +history of ethics. Yet it must be remembered that in the ancient world +departments of thought, and the affairs of men generally, were far +less specialized than in modern times. If the philosophy of Hellas be +the most explicit witness to her ethical development, her poetry +is the most eloquent. And scarcely at any time, scarcely even in +Aristotle, did Hellenic philosophy in any department lose most +significant traces of its poetical ancestry. But enough here if I have +succeeded in pointing out that in the great poet with whom we are +concerned there is an ethical as well as a poetical and historical +interest, supplying one more reason against neglect of his legacy of +song. + +Yet indeed even now there remains a further question which to the +mind of any one who at present labours in this field of classical +scholarship must recur persistently if not depressingly, and on which +it is natural if not necessary to say a few words. If the selection +of Pindar in particular as a Greek poet with claims to be further +popularized among Englishmen may be defended, there is still a more +general count to which all who make endeavours to attract or retain +attention to Greek literature will in these times be called upon to +plead by voices which command respect. To such pleas this is not the +place to give large room, or to discriminate in detail between the +reasonable and unreasonable elements in the attacks on a system of +education in which a preeminent position is allotted to the literature +of antiquity. While fully admitting that much time and labour are +still wasted in efforts to plant the study of ancient and especially +of Greek literature in uncongenial soil, while admitting also most +fully the claims, and the still imperfect recognition of the claims, +of physical science to a rank among the foremost in modern education, +I should yet be abundantly willing that this attempt to help in +facilitating the study of a Greek author should be looked on as +implying adhesion to the protest still sometimes raised, that in +the higher parts of a liberal education no study can claim a more +important place than the study of the history and the literature of +Hellas. The interest which belongs to these is far wider and +deeper than any mere literary interest. To the human mind the most +interesting of phenomena are and ought to be the phenomena of the +human mind, and this granted, can there be any knowledge more +desirable than the knowledge of the most vigorous and sensitive and in +some ways also the most fruitful action of human minds that the world +has known hitherto? + +But again, we are told that the age we seek thus toilsomely to +illustrate and realize is too remote to justify the attempt, that our +civilisation is of too different a type from the Hellenic, and that a +gulf of three-and-twenty centuries is too much for our sight to strain +across. But is not the Hellenic life at least less remote now to +Western Europe than it has ever been since the Northern invasions? +Though the separation in time widens does not the separation in +thought decrease? Is not one civilisation more like another than it +can be to any barbarism? And shall not this same Physical Science +herself by accustoming us to look on men in large masses at once, and +on the development of humanity as a process of infinite duration, as +a sectional growth included in universal evolution--Science, in whose +eyes a thousand years are as a watch in the night--shall she not +thereby quicken our sympathies with the most gifted race that has +appeared in our short human history, and arouse the same feeling +toward it as a family may cherish toward the memory of their best and +choicest, who has died young? + +Only let us take heed that such regret shall make us not more but +less unworthy of those noble forerunners. One symptom of the renewed +influence of antiquity on the modern world is doubtless and has been +from time to time since the Revival of Letters a tendency to selfish +and somewhat sickly theories so-called of life, where sensibility +degenerates through self-consciousness into affectation, and +efforts to appreciate fully the delightfulness of life and art are +overstrained into a wearisome literary voluptuousness, where duty has +already disappeared and the human sympathies on which duty is based +scarcely linger in a faint aesthetic form, soon to leave the would-be +exquisiteness to putrefy into the vulgarity of egoism. Such tendencies +have less in common with the Hellenic prime than with the court of +Leo the Tenth, though even that had perhaps an advantage over them as +being in some ways a more real thing. But that the Hellenic prime with +all its exquisite sensibility was deficient in recognition of a high +ideal of duty can never be believed among those who have studied it +candidly and attentively; I have endeavoured above to suggest that in +this point, take it all in all, it yields to no age or race. It would +indeed be a mistaken following of those noble servants of humanity +to draw from their memories an argument for selfish isolation or for +despair of the commonwealth of man. He who has drunk deeply of that +divine well and gazed long at the fair vision of what then was, will, +if his nature be capable of true sympathy with the various elements +of that wonderful age, turn again without bitterness to the confused +modern world, saddened but not paralysed by the comparison, grieving, +but with no querulous grief, for the certainty that those days are +done. + +1874. + + + +PREFATORY NOTE. + +The few notes appended to this translation are not intended to supply +the place of such reference to Dictionaries of Mythology, Antiquities +and Geography, as is needful to the student of Pindar who is not +already somewhat accomplished in knowledge of the customs, history +and legendary traditions of Hellas. And although it may reasonably be +supposed that the chief of these will be already known to most readers +of Pindar, yet so profusely allusive is this poet that to understand +his allusions will very often require knowledge which would not have +been derived from a study of the more commonly read Hellenic writers. + +Nor have I attempted to trace in detail the connection of the parts +in each ode which binds them into one harmonious whole with many +meanings--a connection so consummately contrived where we can trace it +that we may suppose it no less exquisite where we cannot. Study +and thought will generally suggest explanations, though these will +sometimes approve themselves differently to different minds. Too often +we must acknowledge, as elsewhere in ancient literature, that the key +is lost beyond all certain hope of recovery. + +Still less have I attempted to discuss questions of critical +scholarship. Sometimes where there are more than one plausible reading +I have signified which I adopt; once only (Ol. 2. 56.) I have ventured +on an emendation of my own. For the most part I have, as was natural, +followed the text of Boeckh and Dissen. + +In the spelling of names I remain in that inconsistency which at +present attaches to most modern writers who deal with them. Olympus, +Athens, Corinth, Syracuse, and the like are naturalized among us by +long familiarity; it seems at present at least pedantic to change +them. In the case of other less familiar names I have concurred with +the desire, which seems in the main a reasonable one, that the names +of Hellenic persons and places should be reproduced, as far as +possible, without Latin mediation. + +Of the Fragments I have translated six of the longest and most +interesting. They are 289 in all, but the greater part are not longer +than a line or two, and very many even shorter. + +The odes are unequal in poetical merit, and many readers may not +unreasonably wish to have those pointed out which, in the judgement of +one acquainted with all, are among the best worth reading; though of +course the choice of individual readers will not always be the same. +To those therefore who would wish to begin with a selection, the +following may be recommended as at any rate among those of preeminent +merit: Pyth. 4, 9, 1, 10, 3; Ol. 7, 6, 2, 3, 13, 8, 1; Nem. 5, 10; +Isthm. 2, 7; all the Fragments translated. + +In the arrangement of the odes I have adhered to the traditional +order. I should much have liked to place them in what must always be +the most interesting and rational arrangement of a poet's works, +that is, in chronological order. This would have been approximately +possible, as we know the dates of the greater part of them. But +convenience of reference and of comparison with the Greek text seems +to supply a balance of reasons on the other side. Subjoined however is +a list of the odes in their probable chronological order so far as it +can be obtained. + + Pythian 10-------------B.C. 502. + " 6------------- " 494. + " 12------------- " 494 or 490. + " 7------------- " 490. + " 3------------- " 486 or 482. + Olympian 10 } ---------- " 484. + " 11 } ---------- " 484. + Isthmian 5 + Nemean 5 + Isthmian 7 ------------ " 480. + Isthmian 3 + Pythian 8-------------- " 478. + " 9-------------- " 478. + " 11-------------- " 478. + " 2-------------- " 477. + Olympian 14-------------- " 476. + " }----------------- " 476. + " }----------------- " 476. + Pythian 1 + Nemean 1--------------- " 473. + Olympian 1--------------- " 472. + " 12-------------- " 472. + Nemean 9 + Isthmian 2 + Olympian 6-------------- " 468. + Pythian 4 }------------- " 466. + " 5 } + Olympian 7-------------- " 464. + " 13-------------- " 464. + Nemean 7 + " 3 + " 4 + " 6 + " 8 + Olympian 9-------------- " 456. + Isthmian 6 + Olympian 4 }------------ " 452. + " 5 } + +The Olympic games were held once in four years, in honour of Zeus. The +prize was a wreath of wild olive. + +The Pythian games were held once in four years, in honour of Apollo. +The prize was a wreath of bay. + +The Nemean games were held once in two years, in honour of Zeus. The +prize was a wreath of wild parsley. + +The Isthmian games were held once in two years, in honour of Poseidon. +The prize was a wreath of wild parsley or of pine. + + +[Footnote 1: The importance and interest to a student in Hellenic +literature of a collateral study of whatever remains to us of Hellenic +plastic art--statues, vases, gems, and coins--can hardly be too +strongly insisted on.] + +[Footnote 2: In Mr. J.A. Symonds' 'Studies of the Greek Poets' there +is an essay on Pindar which dwells with much appreciative eloquence +upon the poets literary characteristics.] + +[Footnote 3: In thus touching on the obligations of our morality to +the Hebrew and to the Hellene respectively, I have insisted more +exclusively on the weak points of the former than I should have done +in a fuller discussion of the subject: here I am merely concerned to +question in passing what seems to be a popular one-sided estimate.] + + * * * * * + + + +OLYMPIAN ODES. + + +I. + +FOR HIERON OF SYRACUSE, + +WINNER IN THE HORSE-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode seems to owe its position at the head of Pindar's extant +works to Aristophanes the grammarian, who placed it there on account +of its being specially occupied with the glorification of the Olympic +games in comparison with others, and with the story of Pelops, who was +their founder. + +Hieron won this race B.C. 472, while at the height of his power at +Syracuse. Probably the ode was sung at Syracuse, perhaps, as has been +suggested, at a banquet. + + * * * * * + +Best is Water of all, and Gold as a flaming fire in the night shineth +eminent amid lordly wealth; but if of prizes in the games thou art +fain, O my soul, to tell, then, as for no bright star more quickening +than the sun must thou search in the void firmament by day, so neither +shall we find any games greater than the Olympic whereof to utter our +voice: for hence cometh the glorious hymn and entereth into the minds +of the skilled in song, so that they celebrate the son[1] of Kronos, +when to the rich and happy hearth of Hieron they are come; for he +wieldeth the sceptre of justice in Sicily of many flocks, culling the +choice fruits of all kinds of excellence: and with the flower of music +is he made splendid, even such strains as we sing blithely at the +table of a friend. + +Take from the peg the Dorian lute, if in any wise the glory of +Pherenikos[2] at Pisa hath swayed thy soul unto glad thoughts, when by +the banks of Alpheos he ran, and gave his body ungoaded in the +course, and brought victory to his master, the Syracusans' king, who +delighteth in horses. + +Bright is his fame in Lydian Pelops' colony[3], inhabited of a goodly +race, whose founder mighty earth-enfolding Poseidon loved, what time +from the vessel of purifying[4] Klotho took him with the bright ivory +furnishment of his shoulder. + +Verily many things are wondrous, and haply tales decked out with +cunning fables beyond the truth make false men's speech concerning +them. For Charis[5], who maketh all sweet things for mortal men, by +lending honour unto such maketh oft the unbelievable thing to be +believed; but the days that follow after are the wisest witnesses. + +Meet is it for a man that concerning gods he speak honourably; for the +reproach is less. Of thee, son of Tantalos, I will speak contrariwise +to them who have gone before me, and I will tell how when thy father +had bidden thee to that most seemly feast at his beloved Sipylos, +repaying to the gods their banquet, then did he of the Bright +Trident[6], his heart vanquished by love, snatch thee and bear thee +behind his golden steeds to the house of august Zeus in the highest, +whither again on a like errand came Ganymede in the after time. + +But when thou hadst vanished, and the men who sought thee long brought +thee not to thy mother, some one of the envious neighbours said +secretly that over water heated to boiling they had hewn asunder with +a knife thy limbs, and at the tables had shared among them and eaten +sodden fragments of thy flesh. But to me it is impossible to call one +of the blessed gods cannibal; I keep aloof; in telling ill tales is +often little gain. + +Now if any man ever had honour of the guardians of Olympus, Tantalos +was that man; but his high fortune he could not digest, and by excess +thereof won him an overwhelming woe, in that the Father hath hung +above him a mighty stone that he would fain ward from his head, and +therewithal he is fallen from joy. + +This hopeless life of endless misery he endureth with other three[7], +for that he stole from the immortals and gave to his fellows at +a feast the nectar and ambrosia, whereby the gods had made him +incorruptible. But if a man thinketh that in doing aught he shall be +hidden from God, he erreth. + +Therefore also the immortals sent back again his son to be once more +counted with the short-lived race of men. And he when toward the bloom +of his sweet youth the down began to shade his darkening cheek, took +counsel with himself speedily to take to him for his wife the noble +Hippodameia from her Pisan father's hand. + +And he came and stood upon the margin of the hoary sea, alone in the +darkness of the night, and called aloud on the deep-voiced Wielder of +the Trident; and he appeared unto him nigh at his foot. + +Then he said unto him: 'Lo now, O Poseidon, if the kind gifts of the +Cyprian goddess are anywise pleasant in thine eyes, restrain Oinomaos' +bronze spear, and send me unto Elis upon a chariot exceeding swift, +and give the victory to my hands. Thirteen lovers already hath +Oinomaos slain, and still delayeth to give his daughter in marriage. +Now a great peril alloweth not of a coward: and forasmuch as men must +die, wherefore should one sit vainly in the dark through a dull and +nameless age, and without lot in noble deeds? Not so, but I will dare +this strife: do thou give the issue I desire.' + +Thus spake he, nor were his words in vain: for the god made him a +glorious gift of a golden car and winged untiring steeds: so he +overcame Oinomaos and won the maiden for his bride. + +And he begat six sons, chieftains, whose thoughts were ever of brave +deeds: and now hath he part in honour of blood-offerings in his grave +beside Alpheos' stream, and hath a frequented tomb, whereto many +strangers resort: and from afar off he beholdeth the glory of the +Olympian games in the courses called of Pelops, where is striving +of swift feet and of strong bodies brave to labour; but he that +overcometh hath for the sake of those games a sweet tranquillity +throughout his life for evermore. + +Now the good that cometh of to-day is ever sovereign unto every man. +My part it is to crown Hieron with an equestrian strain in Aeolian +mood: and sure am I that no host among men that now are shall I ever +glorify in sounding labyrinths of song more learned in the learning of +honour and withal with more might to work thereto. A god hath guard +over thy hopes, O Hieron, and taketh care for them with a peculiar +care: and if he fail thee not, I trust that I shall again proclaim in +song a sweeter glory yet, and find thereto in words a ready way, when +to the fair-shining hill of Kronos I am come. Her strongest-winged +dart my Muse hath yet in store. + +Of many kinds is the greatness of men; but the highest is to be +achieved by kings. Look not thou for more than this. May it be thine +to walk loftily all thy life, and mine to be the friend of winners in +the games, winning honour for my art among Hellenes everywhere. + + +[Footnote 1: The Olympic games were sacred to Zeus.] + +[Footnote 2: The horse that won this race for Hieron.] + +[Footnote 3: Peloponnesos.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. immediately on his birth, for among the Fates +Klotho was peculiarly concerned with the beginning of man's life. +Pindar refuses to accept the legend which made Pelops' ivory shoulder +a substitute for his fleshly one eaten at Tantalos' table by the gods; +for thus the gods would have been guilty of an infamous act.] + +[Footnote 5: Goddess of Grace or Beauty. Often there are three +Charites or Graces. Pindar means here that men are prone to believe +an untrue tale for the sake of the beauty of the form in which it is +presented, but that such tales will not stand the test of time.] + +[Footnote 6: Poseidon.] + +[Footnote 7: Sisyphos, Ixion, and Tityos.] + + + +II. + +FOR THERON OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + + Theron's ancestors the Emmenidai migrated from Rhodes to Sicily and + first colonized Gela and then Akragas (the Latin Agrigentum and + Italian Girgenti). His chariot won this victory B.C. 476. + + * * * * * + +Lords of the lute[1], my songs, what god, what hero, or what man, are +we to celebrate?[2] Verily of Zeus is Pisa the abode, of Herakles the +Olympian feast was founded from the chief spoils of war, and Theron's +name must we proclaim for his victory with the four-horse-car, a +righteous and god-fearing host, the stay of Akragas, of famous sires +the flower, a saviour of the state. + +They after long toils bravely borne took by a river's side a sacred +dwelling place, and became the eye of Sicily, and a life of good luck +clave to them, bringing them wealth and honour to crown their inborn +worth. + +O son of Kronos and of Rhea, lord of Olympus' seat, and of the chief +of games and of Alpheos' ford, for joy in these my songs guard ever +graciously their native fields for their sons that shall come after +them. + +Now of deeds done whether they be right or wrong not even Time the +father of all can make undone the accomplishment, yet with happy +fortune forgetfulness may come. For by high delights an alien pain is +quelled and dieth, when the decree of God sendeth happiness to grow +aloft and widely. + +And this word is true concerning Kadmos' fair-throned daughters, whose +calamities were great, yet their sore grief fell before greater +good. Amid the Olympians long-haired Semele still liveth, albeit she +perished in the thunder's roar, and Pallas cherisheth her ever, and +Father Zeus exceedingly, and her son, the ivy-bearing god. And in the +sea too they say that to Ino, among the sea-maids of Nereus, life +incorruptible hath been ordained for evermore. + +Ay but to mortals the day of death is certain never, neither at what +time we shall see in calm the end of one of the Sun's children, the +Days, with good thitherto unfailing; now this way and now that run +currents bringing joys or toils to men. + +Thus destiny which from their fathers holdeth the happy fortune of +this race[3], together with prosperity heaven-sent bringeth ever at +some other time better reverse: from the day when Laios was slain by +his destined son[4] who met him on the road and made fulfilment of the +oracle spoken of old at Pytho. Then swift Erinys when she saw it slew +by each other's hand his war-like sons: yet after that Polyneikes fell +Thersander[5] lived after him and won honour in the Second Strife[6] +and in the fights of war, a saviour scion to the Adrastid house. + +From him they have beginning of their race: meet is it that +Ainesidamos receive our hymn of triumph, on the lyre. For at Olympia +he himself received a prize and at Pytho, and at the Isthmus to his +brother of no less a lot did kindred Graces bring crowns for the +twelve rounds of the four-horse chariot-race. + +Victory setteth free the essayer from the struggle's griefs, yea and +the wealth that a noble nature hath made glorious bringeth power for +this and that, putting into the heart of man a deep and eager mood, a +star far seen, a light wherein a man shall trust if but[7] the holder +thereof knoweth the things that shall be, how that of all who die the +guilty souls pay penalty, for all the sins sinned in this realm +of Zeus One judgeth under earth, pronouncing sentence by unloved +constraint. + +But evenly ever in sunlight night and day an unlaborious life the good +receive, neither with violent hand vex they the earth nor the waters +of the sea, in that new world; but with the honoured of the gods, +whosoever had pleasure in keeping of oaths, they possess a tearless +life: but the other part suffer pain too dire to look upon. + +Then whosoever have been of good courage to the abiding steadfast +thrice on either side of death and have refrained their souls from +all iniquity, travel the road of Zeus unto the tower of Kronos: there +round the islands of the blest the Ocean-breezes blow, and golden +flowers are glowing, some from the land on trees of splendour, and +some the water feedeth, with wreaths whereof they entwine their hands: +so ordereth Rhadamanthos' just decree, whom at his own right hand hath +ever the father Kronos, husband of Rhea, throned above all worlds[8]. + +Peleus and Kadmos are counted of that company; and the mother of +Achilles, when her prayer had moved the heart of Zeus, bare thither +her son, even him who overthrew Hector, Troy's unbending invincible +pillar, even him who gave Kyknos to death and the Ethiop son[9] of the +Morning. + +Many swift arrows have I beneath my bended arm within my quiver, +arrows that have a voice for the wise, but for the multitude they need +interpreters. His art is true who of his nature hath knowledge; they +who have but learnt, strong in the multitude of words, are but as +crows that chatter vain things in strife against the divine bird of +Zeus. + +Come bend thy bow on the mark, O my soul--at whom again are we to +launch our shafts of honour from a friendly mind? At Akragas will I +take aim, and will proclaim and swear it with a mind of truth, that +for a hundred years no city hath brought forth a man of mind more +prone to well-doing towards friends or of more liberal mood than +Theron. + +Yet praise is overtaken of distaste, wherewith is no justice, but from +covetous men it cometh, and is fain to babble against and darken the +good man's noble deeds. + +The sea-sand none hath numbered; and the joys that Theron hath given +to others--who shall declare the tale thereof? + + +[Footnote 1: In Hellenic music the accompaniment was deemed +subordinate to the words.] + +[Footnote 2: Here are three questions and three answers.] + +[Footnote 3: The Emmenidai.] + +[Footnote 4: Oedipus.] + +[Footnote 5: Son of Polyneikes. Theron traced his descent from him.] + +[Footnote 6: The War of the Epigonoi against Thebes.] + +[Footnote 7: Reading [Greek: ei ge min echon]. The old readings were +[Greek: ei de min echon] and [Greek: ei de min echei; eu de min echon] +has also been suggested; but of these three none seems to me to be at +all satisfactory. In the reading I suggest the change is very slight, +and it makes good sense.] + +[Footnote 8: For Pindar's ideas as to a future life see especially +the fragments of his Dirges which remain to us. He seems to have been +influenced by Pythagoreanism.] + +[Footnote 9: Memnon.] + + + +III. + +FOR THERON OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode celebrates the same victory as the preceeding one. It was +sung at the feast of the Theoxenia, given by Theron in the name of +the Dioskouroi (Kastor and Polydeukes) to the other gods. Hence the +epithet _hospitable_ ([Greek: philoxeinois]) applied to the Dioskouroi +in the first line. The clan of the Emmenidai to which Theron belonged +was especially devoted to the worship of the Twins. + + * * * * * + +Tyndareus' hospitable sons and lovely-haired Helen shall I please +assuredly in doing honour to renowned Akragas by a hymn upraised for +Theron's Olympian crown; for hereunto hath the Muse been present with +me that I should find out a fair new[1] device, fitting to feet that +move in Dorian time the Komos-voices' splendid strain. + +For crowns entwined about his hair demand from me this god-appointed +debt, that for Ainesidamos' son I join in seemly sort the lyre of +various tones with the flute's cry and ordering of words. + +And Pisa bids me speak aloud, for from her come to men songs of +divine assignment, when the just judge of games the Aitolian[2] man, +fulfilling Herakles' behests of old, hath laid upon one's hair above +his brows pale-gleaming glory of olive. + +That tree from Ister's shadowy springs did the son of Amphitryon bear +to be a memorial most glorious of Olympian triumphs, when that by his +words he had won the Hyperborean folk, who serve Apollo. In loyal +temper he besought for the precinct of Zeus, whereto all men go up, +a plant that should be a shadow of all folk in common, and withal a +crown for valorous deeds. + +For already, when the altars had been sanctified to his sire, the +midmonth Moon riding her golden car lit full the counter-flame of the +eye of Even, and just judgment of great games did he ordain, and the +fifth year's feast beside the holy steeps of Alpheos[3]. + +But no fair trees were nursed upon that place in Kronian Pelops' +glens; whereof being naked his garden seemed to him to be given over +to the keen rays of the sun. + +Then was it that his soul stirred to urge him into the land of Ister; +where Leto's horse-loving daughter[4] received him erst when he was +come from the ridged hills and winding dells of Arcady, what time his +father laid constraint upon him to go at Eurystheus' bidding to fetch +the golden-horned hind, which once Taygete vowed to her[5] of Orthion +and made a sign thereon of consecration. For in that chase he saw also +the land that lieth behind the blast of the cold North-wind: there he +halted and marvelled at the trees: and sweet desire thereof possessed +him that he might plant them at the end of the course which the +race-horses should run twelve times round. + +So now to this feast cometh he in good-will in company with the Twins +Divine, deep-girdled Leto's children. For to them he gave charge when +he ascended into Olympus to order the spectacle of the games, both the +struggle of man with man, and the driving of the nimble car. + +Me anywise my soul stirreth to declare that to the Emmenidai and to +Theron hath glory come by gift of the Tyndaridai of goodly steeds, +for that beyond all mortals they do honour to them with tables of +hospitality, keeping with pious spirit the rite of blessed gods. + +Now if Water be the Best[6], and of possessions Gold be the most +precious, so now to the furthest bound doth Theron by his fair deeds +attain, and from his own home touch the pillars of Herakles. Pathless +the things beyond, pathless alike to the unwise and the wise. Here I +will search no more; the quest were vain. + + +[Footnote 1: i. e. probably a new combination of lyre and flute to +accompany the singing.] + +[Footnote 2: When the Dorians invaded Peloponnesos one of their +leaders is said to have been Oxylos, a man of Elean descent but living +in Aitolia. As a result of the invasion he became king of Elis; +and the judge at the Olympic games seems to have been considered a +descendant of him or of some Aitolian who came with him.] + +[Footnote 3: The Olympic games were held in the middle of the month +Hekatombaion, when the moon was full. It is here implied that Herakles +wished to institute them when the moon was full, as that was a season +of good luck.] + +[Footnote 4: Artemis.] + +[Footnote 5: Artemis.] + +[Footnote 6: See Ol. i. 1.] + + + +IV. + +FOR PSAUMIS OF KAMARINA, + +WINNER IN THE MULE-CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +Psaumis won this race in the year 452; therefore this ode and its +companion, the next following, are the latest work of Pindar possessed +by us to which we can assign a date. + +The mule-chariot-race was introduced at Olympia B.C. 500 and abolished +B.C. 444, according to Pausanias. + +This ode seems to have been written immediately on Psaumis' victory, +to be sung the same night beneath the moon by the company of friends +who escorted the winner to return thanks at the altar of Zeus. + + * * * * * + +Hurler of thunderbolts unfaltering, the most high Zeus, for that thy +chosen hour recurrent hath sent me with a song set to the music of +the subtle lute for a witness to the greatest of all games--and +when friends have good hap the good are glad forthwith at the sweet +tidings--now therefore, O son of Kronos, unto whom AEtna belongeth, +the wind-beaten burden that crusheth fierce Typhon's hundred heads, +receive thou this band of triumph for an Olympian victory won by the +Graces' aid, a most enduring light of far-prevailing valorous deeds. + +For the sake of Psaumis' mule-chariot it draweth nigh to +thee--Psaumis, who, crowned with Pisan olive, hasteth to raise up +glory for Kamarina. May God be gracious to our prayers for what shall +be! For I praise him as a man most zealous in the rearing of horses, +and delighting in ever-open hospitality, and bent on peace and on the +welfare of his city, with guileless soul. + +With no lie will I tinge my tale: trial is the test of men; this +it was that delivered the son of Klymenos from the Lemnian women's +slight. He, when he had won the foot-race in bronze armour[1], spake +thus to Hypsipyle as he went to receive his crown: 'For fleetness such +am I: hands have I and a heart to match. So also on young men grow +oftentimes grey hairs even before the natural season of man's +life[2].' + + +[Footnote 1: See introduction to Pythian ix.] + +[Footnote 2: We may suppose that Psaumis probably had grey hair.] + + + +V. + +FOR PSAUMIS OF KAMARINA, + +WINNER IN THE MULE-CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + + This ode is for the same victory as the foregoing one, but was to be + sung after Psaumis' return home, at Kamarina, and probably at, or in + procession to, a temple of either Pallas, Zeus, or the tutelary nymph + Kamarina, all of whom are invoked. The city is called 'new-peopled' + ([Greek: neoikos]) because it had been destroyed by Gelo, and was only + restored B.C. 461, nine years before this victory, the first which had + been won by any citizen since its restoration. + + * * * * * + +Of lofty deeds and crowns Olympian this sweet delight, O daughter[1] +of Ocean, with glad heart receive, the gift of Psaumis and his +untiring car. He to make great thy city, Kamarina, with its fostered +folk, hath honoured six twin altars in great feasts of the gods with +sacrifices of oxen and five-day contests of games, with chariots of +horses and of mules and with the steed of single frontlet[2]. + +To thee hath the victor consecrated the proud token[3] of his fame, +and hath glorified by the herald's voice his father Akron and this +new-peopled town. + +Also, returning from the gracious dwelling place of Oinomaos and +Pelops, thy sacred grove, O city-guarding Pallas, doth he sing, and +the river Oanis, and the lake of his native land, and the sacred +channels wherethrough doth Hipparis give water to the people, and +build[4] with speed a lofty forest of stedfast dwellings, bringing +from perplexity to the light this commonwealth of citizens. + +Now ever in fair deeds must toil and cost contend toward an +accomplishment hidden in perilous chance: yet if men have good hap +therein, even to their own townsfolk is their wisdom approved. + +O guardian Zeus that sittest above the clouds, that inhabitest the +Kronian hill and honourest the broad river of Alpheos and Ida's holy +cave, suppliant to thee I come, making my cry on Lydian flutes, to +pray thee that thou wilt glorify this city with brave men's renown. + +For thee also, Olympian victor, I pray that, joying in the steeds +Poseidon[5] gave, thou mayest bear with thee to the end a serene old +age, and may thy sons, O Psaumis, be at thy side. If a man cherish his +wealth to sound ends, having a sufficiency of goods and adding thereto +fair repute, let him not seek to become a god. + + +[Footnote 1: Kamarina.] + +[Footnote 2: I. e. probably with horses ridden, not driven.] + +[Footnote 3: His Olympian crown of wild olive.] + +[Footnote 4: This seems to mean that the new city was built with wood +brought down the stream of the river Hipparis.] + +[Footnote 5: When Poseidon and Athene were contending for the +protectorate of Athens, Poseidon brought the first horse up out of the +earth, Athene the first olive-tree.] + + + +VI. + +FOR AGESIAS OF SYRACUSE, + +WINNER IN THE MULE-CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + One of the Iamid clan, to which belonged hereditary priestly functions + in Arcadia and at Olympia, had come with the first colonists to Syracuse, + and from him the present victor Agesias was descended. Thus + the ode is chiefly concerned with the story of his ancestor Iamos. + Agesias was a citizen of Stymphalos in Arcadia, as well as of Syracuse, + where he lived, and the ode was sung by a chorus in Stymphalos, + B.C. 468. + + * * * * * + +Golden pillars will we set up in the porch of the house of our song, +as in a stately palace-hall; for it beseemeth that in the fore-front +of the work the entablature shoot far its splendour. + +Now if one be an Olympian conqueror and treasurer to the prophetic +altar of Zeus at Pisa, and joint founder[1] of glorious Syracuse, +shall such an one hide him from hymns of praise, if his lot be among +citizens who hear without envy the desired sounds of song? For in a +sandal of such sort let the son of Sostratos know that his fortunate +foot is set. Deeds of no risk are honourless whether done among men or +among hollow ships; but if a noble deed be wrought with labour, many +make mention thereof. + +For thee, Agesias, is that praise prepared which justly and openly +Adrastos spake of old concerning the seer Amphiaraos the son of +Oikleus, when the earth had swallowed him and his shining steeds. For +afterward, when on seven pyres dead men were burnt, the son[2] of +Talaos spake on this wise: 'I seek the eye of my host, him who was +alike a good seer and a good fighter with the spear.' + +This praise also belongeth to the Syracusan who is lord of this +triumphal song. I who am no friend of strife or wrongful quarrel will +bear him this witness even with a solemn oath, and the sweet voice of +the Muses shall not say me nay. + +O Phintis[3] yoke me now with all speed the strength of thy mules that +on the clear highway we may set our car, that I may go up to the far +beginning of this race. For those mules know well to lead the way in +this course as in others, who at Olympia have won crowns: it behoveth +them that we throw open to them the gates of song, for to Pitane by +Eurotas' stream must I begone betimes to-day. + +Now Pitane[4], they say, lay with Poseidon the son of Kronos and +bare the child Euadne with tresses iris-dark. The fruit of her body +unwedded she hid by her robe's folds, and in the month of her delivery +she sent her handmaids and bade them give the child to the hero son[5] +of Elatos to rear, who was lord of the men of Arcady who dwelt at +Phaisane, and had for his lot Alpheos to dwell beside. + +There was the child Euadne nurtured, and by Apollo's side she first +knew the joys of Aphrodite. + +But she might not always hide from Aipytos the seed of the god within +her; and he in his heart struggling with bitter strain against a grief +too great for speech betook him to Pytho that he might ask of the +oracle concerning the intolerable woe. + +But she beneath a thicket's shade put from her silver pitcher and her +girdle of scarlet web, and she brought forth a boy in whom was the +spirit of God. By her side the gold-haired god set kindly Eleutho and +the Fates, and from her womb in easy travail came forth Iamos to the +light. Him in her anguish she left upon the ground, but by the counsel +of gods two bright-eyed serpents nursed and fed him with the harmless +venom[6] of the bee. + +But when the king came back from rocky Delphi in his chariot he asked +all who were in the house concerning the child whom Euadne had born; +for he said that the sire whereof he was begotten was Phoibos, and +that he should be a prophet unto the people of the land excelling all +mortal men, and that his seed should be for ever. + +Such was his tale, but they answered that they had neither seen nor +heard of him, though he was now born five days. For he was hidden +among rushes in an impenetrable brake, his tender body all suffused +with golden and deep purple gleams of iris flowers; wherefore his +mother prophesied saying that by this holy name[7] of immortality he +should be called throughout all time. + +But when he had come to the ripeness of golden-crowned sweet youth, +he went down into the middle of Alpheos and called on wide-ruling +Poseidon his grandsire, and on the guardian of god-built Delos, the +bearer of the bow[8], praying that honour might be upon his head for +the rearing of a people; and he stood beneath the heavens, and it was +night. + +Then the infallible Voice of his father answered and said unto him: +Arise, my son, and come hither, following my voice, into a place where +all men shall meet together. + +So they came to the steep rock of lofty Kronion; there the god gave +him a twofold treasure of prophecy, that for the time then being he +should hearken to his voice that cannot lie; but when Herakles of +valorous counsels, the sacred scion of the Alkeidai, should have come, +and should have founded a multitudinous feast and the chief ordinance +of games[9], then again on the summit of the altar of Zeus he bade him +establish yet another oracle, that thenceforth the race of Iamidai +should be glorious among Hellenes. + +Good luck abode with them; for that they know the worth of valour they +are entered on a glorious road. + +The matter proveth the man, but from the envious calumny ever +threateneth them on whom, as they drive foremost in the twelfth[10] +round of the course, Charis sheddeth blushing beauty to win them fame +more fair. + +Now if in very truth, Agesias, thy mother's ancestors dwelling by the +borders of Kyllene did piously and oft offer up prayer and sacrifice +to Hermes, herald of the gods, who hath to his keeping the strife and +appointment of games, and doeth honour to Arcadia the nurse of goodly +men,--then surely he, O son of Sostratos, with his loud-thundering +sire, is the accomplisher of this thy bliss. + +Methinks I have upon my tongue a whetstone of loud sounding speech, +which to harmonious breath constraineth me nothing loth. Mother of my +mother was Stymphalian Metope[11] of fair flowers, for she bare Thebe +the charioteer, whose pleasant fountain I will drink, while I weave +for warriors the changes of my song. + +Now rouse thy fellows, Aineas, first to proclaim the name of +maiden[12] Hera, and next to know for sure whether we are escaped from +the ancient reproach that spake truly of Boeotian swine. For thou art +a true messenger, a writing-tally[13] of the Muses goodly-haired, a +bowl wherein to mix high-sounding songs. + +And bid them make mention of Syracuse and of Ortygia, which Hieron +ruleth with righteous sceptre devising true counsels, and doth honour +to Demeter whose footsteps make red the corn, and to the feast of her +daughter with white steeds, and to the might of Aetnaean Zeus. Also he +is well known of the sweet voices of the song and lute. Let not the +on-coming time break his good fortune. And with joyful welcome may +he receive this triumphal song, which travelleth from home to home, +leaving Stymphalos' walls, the mother-city of Arcadia, rich in flocks. + +Good in a stormy night are two anchors let fall from a swift ship. May +friendly gods grant to both peoples[14] an illustrious lot: and thou +O lord and ruler of the sea, husband of Amphitrite of the golden +distaff, grant this my friend straight voyage and unharmed, and bless +the joyous flower of my song. + + +[Footnote 1: Agesias is so called because an Iamid ancestor of his had +gone with Archias when he planted the Corinthian colony of Syracuse.] + +[Footnote 2: Adrastos.] + +[Footnote 3: Phintis was Agesias' charioteer.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. the nymph who gave her name to the place.] + +[Footnote 5: Aipytos.] + +[Footnote 6: Honey.] + +[Footnote 7: Iamos, from [Greek: ion]: the iris was considered a +symbol of immortality.] + +[Footnote 8: His father, Apollo.] + +[Footnote 9: At Olympia.] + +[Footnote 10: The course in the chariot-race was twelve times round +the Hippodrome.] + +[Footnote 11: The nymph of the lake Metope near Stymphalos.] + +[Footnote 12: Hera was worshipped in her prenuptial as well as her +postnuptial state.] + +[Footnote 13: It was a custom between correspondents who wished for +secrecy to have duplicate [Greek: skutalai], or letter-sticks. The +writer wrote on a roll wrapt round his stick, and the receiver of the +letter read it wrapt similarly on his. And thus Aineas the bearer of +this ode would teach the chorus of Stymphalians how rightly to sing +and understand it. See [Greek: skutalae] in Dict. Ant.] + +[Footnote 14: I. e. of Stymphalos and Syracuse. Agesias was a citizen +of both, and thus his two homes are compared to two anchors.] + + + +VII. + +FOR DIAGORAS OF RHODES, + +WINNER IN THE BOXING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + + Rhodes is said to have been colonised at the time of the Dorian + migrations by Argive Dorians from Epidauros, who were Herakleidai of + of the family of Tlepolemos. They founded a confederacy of three + cities, Kameiros, Lindos, and Ialysos. Ialysos was then ruled by + the dynasty of the Eratidai. Their kingly power had now been extinct + two hundred years, but the family was still pre-eminent in the state. + Of this family was Diagoras, and probably the ode was sung at a + family festival; but it commemorates the glories of the island generally. + The Rhodians caused it to be engraved in letters of gold in the + temple of Athene at Lindos. + + There is a noteworthy incident of the Peloponnesian war which should + be remembered in connection with this ode. In the year 406, fifty-eight + years after this victory of Diagoras, during the final and most + embittering agony of Athens, one Dorieus, a son of Diagoras, and himself + a famous athlete, was captured by the Athenians in a sea-fight. + It was then the custom either to release prisoners of war for a ransom + or else to put them to death. The Athenians asked no ransom of + Dorieus, but set him free on the spot. + + * * * * * + +As when from a wealthy hand one lifting a cup, made glad within with +the dew of the vine, maketh gift thereof to a youth his daughter's +spouse, a largess of the feast from home to home, an all-golden +choicest treasure, that the banquet may have grace, and that he may +glorify his kin; and therewith he maketh him envied in the eyes of the +friends around him for a wedlock wherein hearts are wedded-- + +So also I, my liquid nectar sending, the Muses' gift, the sweet fruit +of my soul, to men that are winners in the games at Pytho or Olympia +make holy offering. Happy is he whom good report encompasseth; now +on one man, now on another doth the Grace that quickeneth look +favourably, and tune for him the lyre and the pipe's stops of music +manifold. + +Thus to the sound of the twain am I come with Diagoras sailing home, +to sing the sea-girt Rhodes, child of Aphrodite and bride of Helios, +that to a mighty and fair-fighting man, who by Alpheos' stream and by +Kastalia's hath won him crowns, I may for his boxing make award of +glory, and to his father Demegetos in whom Justice hath her delight, +dwellers in the isle of three cities with an Argive host, nigh to a +promontory of spacious Asia. + +Fain would I truly tell from the beginning from Tlepolemos the message +of my word, the common right of this puissant seed of Herakles. For +on the father's side they claim from Zeus, and on the mother's from +Astydameia, sons of Amyntor. + +Now round the minds of men hang follies unnumbered--this is the +unachievable thing, to find what shall be best hap for a man both +presently and also at the last. Yea for the very founder[1] of this +country once on a time struck with his staff of tough wild-olive-wood +Alkmene's bastard brother Likymnios in Tiryns as he came forth from +Midea's chamber, and slew him in the kindling of his wrath. So even +the wise man's feet are turned astray by tumult of the soul. + +Then he came to enquire of the oracle of God. And he of the golden +hair from his sweet-incensed shrine spake unto him of a sailing of +ships that should be from the shore of Lerna unto a pasture ringed +with sea, where sometime the great king of gods rained on the +city golden snow, what time by Hephaistos' handicraft beneath the +bronze-wrought axe from the crown of her father's head Athene leapt to +light and cried aloud with an exceeding cry; and Heaven trembled at +her coming, and Earth, the Mother. + +Then also the god who giveth light to men, Hyperion, bade his beloved +sons see that they guard the payment of the debt, that they should +build first for the goddess an altar in the sight of all men, and +laying thereon a holy offering they should make glad the hearts of +the father and of his daughter of the sounding spear. Now Reverence, +Forethought's child, putteth valour and the joy of battle into the +hearts of men; yet withal there cometh upon them bafflingly the cloud +of forgetfulness and maketh the mind to swerve from the straight path +of action. For they though they had brands burning yet kindled not the +seed of flame, but with fireless rites they made a grove on the hill +of the citadel. For them Zeus brought a yellow cloud into the sky and +rained much gold upon the land; and Glaukopis herself gave them to +excel the dwellers upon earth in every art of handicraft. For on their +roads ran the semblances of beasts and creeping things: whereof they +have great glory, for to him that hath knowledge the subtlety that is +without deceit[2] is the greater altogether. + +Now the ancient story of men saith that when Zeus and the other gods +made division of the earth among them, not yet was island Rhodes +apparent in the open sea, but in the briny depths lay hid. And for +that Helios was otherwhere, none drew a lot for him; so they left him +portionless of land, that holy god. And when he spake thereof Zeus +would cast lots afresh; but he suffered him not, for that he said that +beneath the hoary sea he saw a certain land waxing from its root in +earth, that should bring forth food for many men, and rejoice in +flocks. And straightway he bade her of the golden fillet, Lachesis, to +stretch her hands on high, nor violate the gods' great oath, but with +the son of Kronos promise him that the isle sent up to the light of +heaven should be thenceforth a title of himself alone. + +And in the end of the matter his speech had fulfilment; there sprang +up from the watery main an island, and the father who begetteth +the keen rays of day hath the dominion thereof, even the lord of +fire-breathing steeds. There sometime having lain with Rhodos he begat +seven sons, who had of him minds wiser than any among the men of old; +and one begat Kameiros, and Ialysos his eldest, and Lindos: and they +held each apart their shares of cities, making threefold division of +their father's land, and these men call their dwelling-places. There +is a sweet amends for his piteous ill-hap ordained for Tlepolemos +leader of the Tirynthians at the beginning, as for a god, even the +leading thither of sheep for a savoury burnt-offering, and the award +of honour in games[3]. + +Of garlands from these games hath Diagoras twice won him crowns, and +four times he had good luck at famous Isthmos and twice following +at Nemea, and twice at rocky Athens. And at Argos the bronze shield +knoweth him, and the deeds of Arcadia and of Thebes and the yearly +games Boeotian, and Pellene and Aigina where six times he won; and the +pillar of stone at Megara hath the same tale to tell. + +But do thou, O Father Zeus, who holdest sway on the mountain-ridges of +Atabyrios glorify the accustomed Olympian winner's hymn, and the man +who hath done valiantly with his fists: give him honour at the hands +of citizens and of strangers; for he walketh in the straight way that +abhorreth insolence, having learnt well the lessons his true soul hath +taught him, which hath come to him from his noble sires. Darken not +thou the light of one who springeth from the same stock of Kallianax. +Surely with the joys of Eratidai the whole city maketh mirth. But the +varying breezes even at the same point of time speed each upon their +various ways. + + +[Footnote 1: Tlepolemos.] + +[Footnote 2: That is, probably, without magic, or the pretence of +being anything but machines. This is considered an allusion to the +Telchines who lived before the Heliadai in Rhodes, and were magicians +as well as craftsmen. For illustrations of Rhodian art at various +times the British Museum may be consulted, which is particularly rich +in vases from Kameiros and Ialysos.] + +[Footnote 3: That is, he presides over the celebration of games, as +tutelar hero of the island.] + + + +VIII. + +FOR ALKIMEDON OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE WRESTLING-MATCH OF BOYS. + + * * * * * + +The date of this victory is B.C. 460. Long as the ode is, it would +seem however to have been written, like the fourth Olympian, to be +sung in the procession to the altar of Zeus on the night of the +victory. + +Of the forty-four odes remaining to us no less than eleven are in +honour of winners from Aigina. + + * * * * * + +O mother of gold-crowned contests, Olympia, queen of truth; where men +that are diviners observing burnt-offerings make trial of Zeus the +wielder of white lightnings, whether he hath any word concerning +men who seek in their hearts to attain unto great prowess and a +breathing-space from toil; for it is given in answer to the reverent +prayers of men--do thou, O tree-clad precinct of Pisa by Alpheos, +receive this triumph and the carrying of the crown. + +Great is his glory ever on whom the splendour of thy honour waiteth. +Yet this good cometh to one, that to another, and many are the roads +to happy life by the grace of gods. + +Thee, O Timosthenes[1], and thy brother hath Destiny assigned to Zeus +the guardian of your house, even to him who hath made thee glorious at +Nemea, and Alkimedon by the hill of Kronos a winner in Olympic games. + +Now the boy was fair to look upon, neither shamed he by his deeds his +beauty, but in the wrestling match victorious made proclamation that +his country was Aigina of long oars, where saviour Themis who sitteth +in judgment by Zeus the stranger's succour is honoured more than any +elsewhere among men[2]. + +For in a matter mighty and bearing many ways to judge with unswayed +mind and suitably, this is a hard essay, yet hath some ordinance of +immortals given this sea-defended land to be to strangers out of every +clime a pillar built of God. May coming time not weary of this work. + +To a Dorian folk was the land given in trust from Aiakos, even the man +whom Leto's son and far-ruling Poseidon, when they would make a crown +for Ilion, called to work with them at the wall, for that it was +destined that at the uprising of wars in city-wasting fights it should +breathe forth fierce smoke. + +Now when it was new-built three dragons fiery-eyed leapt at the +rampart: two fell and perished in despair; but the third sprang in +with a war-cry[3]. + +Then Apollo pondering, the sign spake straightway unto Aiakos by his +side: 'Hero, where thy hands have wrought is Pergamos taken: thus +saith this sign, sent of the son of Kronos, loud-thundering Zeus. And +that not without thy seed; but with the first and fourth it shall be +subdued'[4]. + +Thus plainly spoke the god, and away to Xanthos and the Amazons of +goodly steeds and to Ister urged his car. + +And the Trident-wielder for Isthmos over seas harnessed his swift +chariot, and hither[5] first he bare with him Aiakos behind the golden +mares, and so on unto the mount of Corinth, to behold his feast of +fame. + +Now shall there never among men be aught that pleaseth all alike. If +I for Melesias[6] raise up glory in my song of his boys, let not envy +cast at me her cruel stone. Nay but at Nemea too will I tell of honour +of like kind with this, and of another ensuing thereon, won in the +pankration of men. + +Verily to teach is easier to him that knoweth: it is folly if one hath +not first learnt, for without trial the mind wavereth. And beyond all +others can Melesias declare all works on that wise, what method shall +advance a man who from the sacred games may win the longed-for glory. + +Now for the thirtieth time is honour gained for him by the victory of +Alkimedon, who by God's grace, nor failing himself in prowess, hath +put off from him upon the bodies of four striplings the loathed return +ungreeted of fair speech, and the path obscure[7]; and in his father's +father he hath breathed new vigour to wrestle with old age. A man that +hath done honourable deeds taketh no thought of death. + +But I must needs arouse memory, and tell of the glory of their hands +that gave victory to the Blepsiad clan, to whom this is now the sixth +crown that hath come from the wreathed games to bind their brows. + +Even the dead have their share when paid them with due rites, and +the grace of kinsmen's honour the dust concealeth not. From Hermes' +daughter Fame shall Iphion[8] hear and tell to Kallimachos this lustre +of Olympic glory, which Zeus hath granted to this house. Honour upon +honour may he vouchsafe unto it, and shield it from sore disease[9]. I +pray that for the share of glory fallen to them he raise against them +no contrary discontent, but granting them a life unharmed may glorify +them and their commonwealth. + + +[Footnote 1: Alkimedon's brother. He had won a victory at the Nemean +games.] + +[Footnote 2: Aigina had a high commercial reputation, and strangers +were equitably dealt with in her courts.] + +[Footnote 3: The two first dragons typify the Aiakids, Aias and +Achilles, who failed to enter Troy, the third typifies Achilles' son, +Neoptolemos, who succeeded.] + +[Footnote 4: Aiakos' son, Telamon, was with Herakles when he took +Troy: his great-grandson Neoptolemos was in the Wooden Horse.] + +[Footnote 5: To Aigina.] + +[Footnote 6: Alkimedon's trainer.] + +[Footnote 7: I. e. Alkimedon has escaped the disagreeable +circumstances of defeat and transferred them to the four opponents +against whom he was matched in four successive ties.] + +[Footnote 8: Iphion seems to have been the father and Kallimachos the +uncle of Alkimedon.] + +[Footnote 9: Perhaps Iphion and Kallimachos died of some severe +illness.] + + + +IX. + +FOR EPHARMOSTOS OF OPOUS, + +WINNER IN THE WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is uncertain. Its last line seems to imply that +it was sung at a banquet at Opous, after crowning the altar of Aias +Oileus, tutelar hero of the Lokrians. From the beginning we gather +that on the night of the victory at Olympia Epharmostos' friends had +sung in his honour the conventional triple strain of Archilochos-- + + [Greek: (o kallinike chair' anax Herakleaes + autos te k' Iolaos, aichmaeta duo. + taenella kallinike)] + +to which perhaps some slight additions had been made, but not by +Pindar. + + * * * * * + +The strain of Archilochos sung without music at Olympia, the triple +resonant psalm of victory, sufficed to lead to the hill of Kronos +Epharmostos triumphing with his comrade friends: but now with darts of +other sort, shot from the Muses' far-delivering bow, praise Zeus of +the red lightning, and Elis' holy headland, which on a time Pelops the +Lydian hero chose to be Hippodameia's goodly dower. + +And shoot a feathered arrow of sweet song Pythoward, for thy words +shall not fall to the ground when thou tunest the throbbing lyre +to the praise of the wrestlings of a man from famous Opous, and +celebratest her and her son. For Themis and her noble daughter +Eunomia the Preserver have made her their own, and she flourisheth in +excellent deeds both at Kastalia and beside Alpheos' stream: whence +come the choicest of all crowns to glorify the mother city of +Lokrians, the city of beautiful trees. + +I, to illuminate the city of my friends with eager blaze of song, +swifter than high-bred steed or winged ship will send everywhere these +tidings, so be it that my hand is blessed at all in labouring in the +choice garden of the Graces; for they give all pleasant things to men. + +By fate divine receive men also valour and wisdom: how else[1] might +the hands of Herakles have wielded his club against the trident, when +at Pylos Poseidon took his stand and prest hard on him, ay, and there +prest him hard embattled Phoibos with his silver bow, neither would +Hades keep his staff unraised, wherewith he leadeth down to ways +beneath the hollow earth the bodies of men that die? + +O my mouth, fling this tale from thee, for to speak evil of gods is +a hateful wisdom, and loud and unmeasured words strike a note that +trembleth upon madness. Of such things talk thou not; leave war of +immortals and all strife aside; and bring thy words to the city of +Protogeneia, where by decree of Zeus of the bickering lightning-flash +Pyrrha and Deukalion coming down from Parnassos first fixed their +home, and without bed of marriage made out of stones a race to be one +folk: and hence cometh the name of peoples[2]. Awake for them the +clear-toned gale of song, and if old wine be best, yet among songs +prefer the newer flowers. + +Truly men say that once a mighty water swept over the dark earth, but +by the craft of Zeus an ebb suddenly drew off the flood. From these +first men came anciently your ancestors of the brazen shields, sons of +the women of the stock of Iapetos and of the mighty Kronidai, Kings +that dwelt in the land continually; until the Olympian Lord caught up +the daughter[3] of Opoeeis from the land of the Epeians, and lay with +her in a silent place among the ridges of Mainalos; and afterward +brought her unto Lokros, that age might not bring him[4] low beneath +the burden of childlessness. But the wife bare within her the seed of +the Mightiest, and the hero saw the bastard born and rejoiced, and +called him by the name of his mother's father, and he became a man +preeminent in beauty and great deeds: and his father gave unto him a +city and a people to rule over. + +Then there came unto him strangers, from Argos and from Thebes, and +from Arcadia others, and from Pisa. But the son of Aktor and Aigina, +Menoitios, he honoured above all settlers, him whose son[5] went with +the Atreidai to the plain of Teuthras and stood alone beside Achilles, +when Telephos had turned the valiant Danaoi to flight, and drove them +into the sterns of their sea-ships; so proved he to them that had +understanding that Patroklos' soul was strong. And thenceforward the +son of Thetis persuaded him that he should never in murderous battle +take his post far from his friend's conquering spear. + +Fit speech may I find for my journey in the Muses' car; and let me +therewith have daring and powers of ample scope. To back the prowess +of a friend I came, when Lampromachos won his Isthmian crown, when on +the same day both he and his brother overcame. And afterward at the +gates[6] of Corinth two triumphs again befell Epharmostos, and more in +the valleys of Nemea. At Argos he triumphed over men, as over boys +at Athens. And I might tell how at Marathon he stole from among the +beardless and confronted the full-grown for the prize of silver +vessels, how without a fall he threw his men with swift and cunning +shock, and how loud the shouting pealed when round the ring he ran, +in the beauty of his youth and his fair form and fresh from fairest +deeds. + +Also before the Parrhasian host was he glorified, at the assembly of +Lykaian Zeus, and again when at Pellene he bare away a warm antidote +of cold winds[7]. And the tomb of Iolaos, and Eleusis by the sea, are +just witnesses to his honours. + +The natural is ever best: yet many men by learning of prowess essay to +achieve fame. The thing done without God is better kept in silence. +For some ways lead further than do others, but one practice will not +train us all alike. Skill of all kinds is hard to attain unto: but +when thou bringest forth this prize, proclaim aloud with a good +courage that by fate divine this man at least was born deft-handed, +nimble-limbed, with the light of valour in his eyes, and that now +being victorious he hath crowned at the feast Oilean Alas' altar. + + +[Footnote 1: This is the common interpretation, implying that Herakles +in contending with the gods here mentioned must have been helped by +other gods. But perhaps it might also be translated 'therefore how +could the hands, &c.,' meaning that since valour, as has just been +said, comes from a divine source, it could not be used against gods, +and that thus the story ought to be rejected.] + +[Footnote 2: Perhaps the story of the stones arose from the like sound +of [Greek: Laos] and [Greek: Laas], words here regarded in the inverse +relation to each other.] + +[Footnote 3: Protogeneia.] + +[Footnote 4: Lokros.] + +[Footnote 5: Patroklos.] + +[Footnote 6: The Isthmus, the gate between the two seas.] + +[Footnote 7: A cloak, the prize.] + + + +X. + +FOR AGESIDAMOS OF EPIZEPHYRIAN LOKRIS, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' BOXING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + + This ode bears somewhat the same relation to the next that the fourth + does to the fifth. It was to be sung at Olympia on the night after + the victory, and Pindar promises the boy to write a longer one for + the celebration of his victory in his Italian home. The date is + B.C. 484. + + * * * * * + +Sometimes have men most need of winds, sometimes of showered waters of +the firmament, the children of the cloud. + +But when through his labour one fareth well, then are due honey-voiced +songs, be they even a prelude to words that shall come after, a pledge +confirmed by oath in honour of high excellence. + +Ample is the glory stored for Olympian winners: thereof my shepherd +tongue is fain to keep some part in fold. But only by the help of God +is wisdom[1] kept ever blooming in the soul. + +Son of Archestratos, Agesidamos, know certainly that for thy boxing I +will lay a glory of sweet strains upon thy crown of golden[2] olive, +and will have in remembrance the race of the Lokrians' colony in the West. + +There do ye, O Muses, join in the song of triumph: I pledge my word +that to no stranger-banishing folk shall ye come, nor unacquainted +with things noble, but of the highest in arts and valiant with the +spear. For neither tawny fox nor roaring lion may change his native +temper. + +[Footnote 1: Perhaps [Greek: sophos] (which means often rather clever +or skilful than wise) has here the special reference to poetic skill, +which it often has in Pindar.] + +[Footnote 2: Golden here means supremely excellent, as in the first +line of the eighth Olympian.] + + + +XI. + +FOR AGESIDAMOS OF EPIZEPHYRIAN LOKRIS, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' BOXING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + + It would seem by his own confession that Pindar did not remember till + long afterwards the promise he made to Agesidamos in the last ode. + We do not know how long afterwards this was written, but it must + have been too late to greet the winner on his arrival in Italy; probably + it was to be sung at the anniversary or some memorial celebration + of his victory. + + * * * * * + +Read me the name of the Olympic winner Archestratos' son that I may +know where it is written upon my heart: for I had forgotten that I +owed him a sweet strain. + +But do thou, O Muse, and thou Truth, daughter of Zeus, put forth your +hands and keep from me the reproach of having wronged a friend by +breaking my pledged word. For from afar hath overtaken me the time +that was then yet to come, and hath shamed my deep debt. + +Nevertheless from that sore reproach I may be delivered by payment +with usury: behold how[1] the rushing wave sweepeth down the rolling +shingle, and how we also will render for our friend's honour a tribute +to him and to his people. + +Truth inhabiteth the city of the Lokrians of the West, and Kalliope +they hold in honour and mailed Ares; yea even conquering Herakles was +foiled by that Kykneaen combat[2]. + +Now let Agesidamos, winner in the boxing at Olympia, so render thanks +to Ilas[3] as Patroklos of old to Achilles. If one be born with +excellent gifts, then may another who sharpeneth his natural edge +speed him, God helping, to an exceeding weight of glory. Without toil +there have triumphed a very few. + +Of that light in the life of a man before all other deeds, that first +of contests, the ordinances of Zeus[4] have stirred me to sing, even +the games which by the ancient tomb of Pelops the mighty Herakles +founded, after that he slew Kleatos, Poseidon's goodly son, and slew +also Eurytos, that he might wrest from tyrannous Augeas against his +will reward for service done[5]. + +Lying in ambush beneath Kleonai did Herakles overcome them on the +road, for that formerly these same violent sons of Molos made havoc of +his own Tirynthian folk by hiding in the valleys of Elis. And not long +after the guest-betraying king of the Epeans saw his rich native land, +his own city, beneath fierce fire and iron blows sink down into the +deep moat of calamity. Of strife against stronger powers it is hard +to be rid. Likewise Augeas last of all in his perplexity fell into +captivity and escaped not precipitate death. + +Then the mighty son of Zeus having gathered together all his host at +Pisa, and all the booty, measured a sacred grove for his sovereign +Father; and having fenced round the Altis he marked the bounds thereof +in a clear space, and the plain encompassing it he ordained for rest +and feasting, and paid honour to the river Alpheos together with the +twelve greatest gods. And he named it by the name of the Hill of +Kronos; for theretofore it was without name, when Oinomaos was king, +and it was sprinkled with much snow[6]. + +And at this first-born rite the Fates stood hard at hand, and he who +alone proveth sure truth, even Time. He travelling onward hath told us +the clear tale of how the founder set apart the choicest of the spoil +for an offering from the war, and sacrificed, and how he ordained the +fifth-year feast with the victories of that first Olympiad. + +Who then won to their lot the new-appointed crown by hands or feet +or chariot, setting before them the prize of glory in the games, and +winning it by their act? In the foot-race down the straight course of +the stadion was Likymnios' son Oionos first, from Nidea had he led his +host: in the wrestling was Tegea glorified by Echemos: Doryklos won +the prize of boxing, a dweller in the city of Tiryns, and with the +four-horse chariot, Samos of Mantinea, Halirrhothios' son: with the +javelin Phrastor hit the mark: in distance Enikeus beyond all others +hurled the stone with a circling sweep, and all the warrior company +thundered a great applause. + +Then on the evening the lovely shining of the fair-faced moon beamed +forth, and all the precinct sounded with songs of festal glee, after +the manner which is to this day for triumph. + +So following the first beginning of old time, we likewise in a song +named of proud victory will celebrate the thunder and the flaming +bolt of loud-pealing Zeus, the fiery lightning that goeth with all +victory[7]. + +And soft tones to the music of the flute shall meet and mingle with my +verse, which beside famous Dirke hath come to light after long time. + +But even as a son by his lawful wife is welcome to a father who hath +now travelled to the other side of youth, and maketh his soul warm +with love--for wealth that must fall to a strange owner from without +is most hateful to a dying man--so also, Agesidamos, when a man who +hath done honourable deeds goeth unsung to the house of Hades, this +man hath spent vain breath, and won but brief gladness for his toil. + +On thee the pleasant lyre and the sweet pipe shed their grace, and the +Pierian daughters of Zeus foster thy wide-spread fame. + +I with them, setting myself thereunto fervently, have embraced the +Lokrians' famous race, and have sprinkled my honey upon a city of +goodly men: and I have told the praises of Archestratos' comely son, +whom I beheld victorious by the might of his hand beside the altar at +Olympia, and saw on that day how fair he was of form, how gifted with +that spring-tide bloom, which erst with favour of the Cyprian queen +warded from Ganymede unrelenting death. + + +[Footnote 1: Reading [Greek: horat on hopa].] + +[Footnote 2: This Kyknos seems to have been a Lokrian freebooter, said +to have fought with success against Herakles.] + +[Footnote 3: His trainer.] + +[Footnote 4: Probably because Zeus was especially concerned, both with +the fulfilment of promises and with the Olympic games.] + +[Footnote 5: For the story of these Moliones see Nestor's speech, Hom. +Il. xi. 670-761.] + +[Footnote 6: Perhaps this implies a tradition of a colder climate +anciently prevailing in Peloponnesos: perhaps the mention of snow is +merely picturesque, referring to the habitual appearance of the hill +in winter, and the passage should then rather be rendered 'when +Oinomaos was king its snow-sprinkled top was without name.'] + +[Footnote 7: The Lokrians worshipped Zeus especially as the Thunderer, +as certain coins of theirs, stamped with a thunderbolt, still +testify.] + + + +XII. + +FOR ERGOTELES OF HIMERA, + +WINNER IN THE LONG FOOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + + Ergoteles was a native of Knosos in Crete, but civil dissension had + compelled him to leave his country. He came to Sicily and was + naturalized as a citizen of Himera. Had he stayed in Crete he + would not have won this victory; nor the Pythian and Isthmian + victories, referred to at the end of the ode, for the Cretans seem to + have kept aloof, in an insular spirit, from the Panhellenic games. + + The date of the ode is B.C. 472, the year after the Himeraeans had + expelled the tyrant Thrasydaios of Akragas. The prayer to Fortune + would seem to have reference specially to this event. The ode was + probably sung in a temple either of Zeus or of Fortune. + + * * * * * + +I pray thee, daughter of Zeus the Deliverer, keep watch over +wide-ruling Himera, O saviour Fortune. + +By thee upon the sea swift ships are piloted, and on dry land fierce +wars and meetings of councils. + +Up and down the hopes of men are tossed as they cleave the waves of +baffling falsity: and a sure token of what shall come to pass hath +never any man on the earth received from God: the divinations of +things to come are blind. + +Many the chances that fall to men when they look not for them, +sometimes to thwart delight, yet others after battling with the surge +of sorrowful pain have suddenly received for their affliction some +happiness profound. + +Son of Philanor, verily even the glory of thy fleet feet would have +fallen into the sere leaf unrenowned, abiding by the hearth of thy +kin, as a cock that fighteth but at home, had not the strife of +citizen against citizen driven thee from Knosos thy native land. + +But now at Olympia hast thou won a crown, O Ergoteles, and at Pytho +twice, and at Isthmos, whereby thou glorifiest the hot springs where +the nymphs Sicilian bathe, dwelling in a land that is become to thee +as thine own. + + + +XIII. + +FOR XENOPHON OF CORINTH, + +WINNER IN THE STADION RACE AND IN THE PENTATHLON. + + * * * * * + +The date of this victory is B.C. 464, when Xenophon won both the +Stadion, or short foot-race of about a furlong or 220 yards, and also +the Pentathlon, that is, probably, he won at least three out of the +five contests which composed the Pentathlon--the Jump, Throwing the +Disk, Throwing the Javelin, the Foot-race, and Wrestling, ([Greek: +alma podokeian diskon akonta palaen]). For details, see Dict. Antiq. +and Note on Nem. vii 71-73. + +This ode and the speech of Glaukos in the sixth Book of the Iliad +are the most conspicuous passages in poetry which refer to the great +Corinthian hero Bellerophon. + +It is thought that this ode was sung on the winner's public entrance +into Corinth. + + * * * * * + +Thrice winner in Olympic games, of citizens beloved, to strangers +hospitable, the house in whose praise will I now celebrate happy +Corinth, portal of Isthmian Poseidon and nursery of splendid youth. +For therein dwell Order, and her sisters, sure foundation of states, +Justice and likeminded Peace, dispensers of wealth to men, wise +Themis' golden daughters. And they are minded to keep far from them +Insolence the braggart mother of Loathing. + +I have fair witness to bear of them, and a just boldness stirreth my +tongue to speak. Nature inborn none shall prevail to hide. Unto you, +sons[1] of Aletes, ofttimes have the flowery Hours given splendour +of victory, as to men excelling in valour, pre-eminent at the sacred +games, and ofttimes of old have they put subtleties into your men's +hearts to devise; and of an inventor cometh every work. + +Whence were revealed the new graces of Dionysos with the dithyramb +that winneth the ox[2]? Who made new means of guidance to the harness +of horses, or on the shrines of gods set the twin images of the king +of birds [3]? Among them thriveth the Muse of dulcet breath, and Ares +in the young men's terrible spears. Sovran lord of Olympia, be not +thou jealous of my words henceforth for ever, O father Zeus; rule +thou this folk unharmed, and keep unchanged the favourable gale of +Xenophon's good hap. Welcome from him this customary escort of his +crown, which from the plains of Pisa he is bringing, having won with +the five contests the stadion-race beside; the like whereof never yet +did mortal man. + +Also two parsley-wreaths shadowed his head before the people at the +games of Isthmos, nor doth Nemea tell a different tale. And of his +father Thessalos' lightning feet is record by the streams of Alpheos, +and at Pytho he hath renown for the single and for the double stadion +gained both in a single day, and in the same month at rocky Athens a +day of swiftness crowned his hair for three illustrious deeds, and the +Hellotia[4] seven times, and at the games of Poseidon between seas +longer hymns followed his father Ptoiodoros with Terpsias and +Eritimos. And how often ye were first at Delphi or in the Pastures of +the Lion[5], though with full many do I match your crowd of honours, +yet can I no more surely tell than the tale of pebbles on the +sea-shore. But in everything is there due measure, and most excellent +is it to have respect unto fitness of times. + +I with your fleet sailing a privateer will speak no lie concerning the +valour of Corinth's heroes, whether I proclaim the craft of her men +of old or their might in war, whether of Sisyphos of subtlest cunning +even as a god, and Medea who made for herself a marriage in her sire's +despite, saviour of the ship Argo and her crew: or whether how of old +in the struggle before the walls of Dardanos the sons of Corinth were +deemed to turn the issue of battle either way, these with Atreus' son +striving to win Helen back, those to thrust them utterly away[6]. + +Now when Glaukos was come thither out of Lydia the Danaoi feared him. +To them he proclaimed that in the city of Peirene his sire bare rule +and had rich heritage of land and palace, even he who once, when he +longed to bridle the snaky Gorgon's son, Pegasos, at Peirene's spring, +suffered many things, until the time when maiden Pallas brought to +him a bit with head-band of gold, and from a dream behold it was very +deed. + +For she said unto him 'Sleepest thou O Aiolid king? Come, take this +charmer of steeds, and show it to thy father[7] the tamer of horses, +with the sacrifice of a white bull.' + +Thus in the darkness as he slumbered spake the maiden wielder of +the shadowy aegis--so it seemed unto him--and he leapt up and stood +upright upon his feet. And he seized the wondrous bit that lay by his +side, and found with joy the prophet of the land, and showed to him, +the son of Koiranos, the whole issue of the matter, how on the altar +of the goddess he lay all night according to the word of his prophecy, +and how with her own hands the child of Zeus whose spear is the +lightning brought unto him the soul-subduing gold. + +Then the seer bade him with all speed obey the vision, and that when +he should have sacrificed to the wide-ruling Earth-enfolder the +strong-foot beast[8], he should build an altar straightway to Athene, +queen of steeds. + +Now the power of Gods bringeth easily to pass such things as make +forecast forsworn. Surely with zealous haste did bold Bellerophon bind +round the winged steed's jaw the softening charm, and make him his: +then straightway he flew up and disported him in his brazen arms. + +In company with that horse also on a time, from out of the bosom of +the chill and desert air, he smote the archer host of Amazons, and +slew the Solymoi, and Chimaira breathing fire. I will keep silence +touching the fate of him: howbeit Pegasos hath in Olympus found a home +in the ancient stalls of Zeus. + +But for me who am to hurl straight the whirling javelin it is not meet +to spend beside the mark my store of darts with utmost force of hand: +for to the Muses throned in splendour and to the Oligaithidai a +willing ally came I, at the Isthmos and again at Nemea. In a brief +word will I proclaim the host of them, and a witness sworn and true +shall be to me in the sweet-tongued voice of the good herald[9], heard +at both places sixty times. + +Now have their acts at Olympia, methinks, been told already: of those +that shall be hereafter I will hereafter clearly speak. Now I live in +hope, but the end is in the hands of gods. But if the fortune of the +house fail not, we will commit to Zeus and Enyalios the accomplishment +thereof. + +Yet other glories won they, by Parnassos' brow, and at Argos how many +and at Thebes, and such as nigh the Arcadians[10] the lordly altar of +Zeus Lykaios shall attest, and Pallene, and Sikyon, and Megara, +and the well-fenced grove of the Aiakidai, and Eleusis, and lusty +Marathon, and the fair rich cities beneath Aetna's towering crest, and +Euboea. Nay over all Hellas if thou searchest, thou shalt find more +than one sight can view. + +O king Zeus the Accomplisher, grant them with so light feet[11] to +move through life, give them all honour, and sweet hap of their goodly +things. + + +[Footnote 1: The clan of the Oligaithidai, to which Xenophon +belonged.] + +[Footnote 2: I. e. as a prize. But the passage may be taken +differently as referring to the symbolical identification of Dionysos +with the bull. Dithyrambic poetry was said to have been invented or +improved by Arion of Corinth.] + +[Footnote 3: This refers to the introduction into architecture by the +Corinthians of the pediment, within or above which were at that time +constantly placed images of eagles.] + +[Footnote 4: The feast of Athene Hellotis.] + +[Footnote 5: Nemea.] + +[Footnote 6: The Lykians who fought under Glaukos on the Trojan side +were of Corinthian descent.] + +[Footnote 7: Poseidon.] + +[Footnote 8: A bull.] + +[Footnote 9: Proclaiming the name and city of the winner in the +games.] + +[Footnote 10: Reading [Greek: Arkasin asson].] + +[Footnote 11: As in their foot-races.] + + + +XIV. + +FOR ASOPICHOS OF ORCHOMENOS, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' SHORT FOOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode was to be sung, probably by a chorus of boys, at the winner's +city Orchomenos, and most likely in the temple of the three or Graces, +Aglaia, Euphrosyne and Thalia. + +The date of the victory is B.C. 476. + + * * * * * + +O ye who haunt the land of goodly steeds that drinketh of Kephisos' +waters, lusty Orchomenos' queens renowned in song, O Graces, guardians +of the Minyai's ancient race, hearken, for unto you I pray. For by +your gift come unto men all pleasant things and sweet, and the wisdom +of a man and his beauty, and the splendour of his fame. Yea even gods +without the Graces' aid rule never at feast or dance; but these have +charge of all things done in heaven, and beside Pythian Apollo of +the golden bow they have set their thrones, and worship the eternal +majesty of the Olympian Father. + +O lady Aglaia, and thou Euphrosyne, lover of song, children of the +mightiest of the gods, listen and hear, and thou Thalia delighting in +sweet sounds, and look down upon this triumphal company, moving with +light step under happy fate. In Lydian mood of melody concerning +Asopichos am I come hither to sing, for that through thee, Aglaia, +in the Olympic games the Minyai's home is winner. Fly, Echo, to +Persephone's dark-walled home, and to his father bear the noble +tidings, that seeing him thou mayest speak to him of his son, saying +that for his father's honour in Pisa's famous valley he hath crowned +his boyish hair with garlands from the glorious games. + + + +THE PYTHIAN ODES. + +I. + +FOR HIERON OF AITNA, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * +The date of this victory is B.C. 474 + +In the year 480, the year of Salamis, the Syracusans under Hieron had +defeated the Carthaginians in the great battle of Himera. + +In 479 a great eruption of Etna (Aitna) began. In 476 Hieron founded, +near the mountain but we may suppose at a safe distance, the new city +of Aitna, in honour of which he had himself proclaimed as an Aitnaian +after this and other victories in the games. + +And in this same year, 474, he had defeated the Etruscans, or Tuscans, +or Tyrrhenians in a great sea-fight before Cumae. + +Pindar might well delight to honour those who had been waging so well +against the barbarians of the South and West the same war which the +Hellenes of the mother-country waged against the barbarians of the +East. + + * * * * * + +O golden Lyre, thou common treasure of Apollo and the Muses +violet-tressed, thou whom the dancer's step, prelude of festal mirth, +obeyeth, and the singers heed thy bidding, what time with quivering +strings thou utterest preamble of choir-leading overture--lo even the +sworded lightning of immortal fire thou quenched, and on the sceptre +of Zeus his eagle sleepeth, slackening his swift wings either side, +the king of birds, for a dark mist thou hast distilled on his arched +head, a gentle seal upon his eyes, and he in slumber heaveth his +supple back, spell-bound beneath thy throbs. + +Yea also violent Ares, leaving far off the fierce point of his spears, +letteth his heart have joy in rest, for thy shafts soothe hearts +divine by the cunning of Leto's son and the deep-bosomed Muses. + +But whatsoever things Zeus loveth not fly frighted from the voice of +the Pierides, whether on earth or on the raging sea; whereof is he who +lieth in dreadful Tartaros, the foe of the gods, Typhon of the hundred +heads, whom erst the den Kilikian of many names did breed, but now +verily the sea-constraining cliffs beyond Cumae, and Sicily, lie heavy +on his shaggy breast: and he is fast bound by a pillar of the sky, +even by snowy Etna, nursing the whole year's length her frozen snow. + +Whereout pure springs of unapproachable fire are vomited from the +inmost depths: in the daytime the lava-streams pour forth a lurid rush +of smoke: but in the darkness a red rolling flame sweepeth rocks with +uproar to the wide deep sea. + +That dragon-thing[1] it is that maketh issue from beneath the terrible +fiery flood, a monster marvellous to look upon, yea a marvel to hear +of from such as go thereby and tell what thing is prisoned between +the dark-wooded tops of Etna and the plain, where the back of him is +galled and furrowed by the bed whereon he lieth. + +O Zeus, be it ours to find favour in thy sight, who art defender +of this mountain, the forehead of a fruitful land, whose namesake +neighbour city hath been ennobled by her glorious founder, for that on +the race-course at the Pythian games the herald made proclamation of +her name aloud, telling of Hieron's fair victory in the chariot-race. + +Now the first boon to men in ships is that a favourable breeze come to +them as they set forth upon the sea; for this is promise that in +the end also they shall come with good hap home. So after this good +fortune doth reason show us hope of crowns to come for Aitna's horses, +and honour in the banquet-songs. + +O Phoibos, lord of Lykia and of Delos, who lovest the spring of +Castaly on thy Parnassos, be this the purpose of thy will, and grant +the land fair issue of her men. + +For from gods come all means of mortal valour, hereby come bards and +men of mighty hand and eloquent speech. + +This is the man I am fain to praise, and trust that not outside the +ring shall I hurl the bronze-tipped javelin I brandish in my hand, but +with far throw outdo my rivals in the match. + +Would that his whole life may give him, even as now, good luck and +wealth right onward, and of his pains forgetfulness. + +Verily it shall remind him in what fightings of wars he stood up with +steadfast soul, when the people found grace of glory at the hands +of gods, such as none of the Hellenes hath reaped, a proud crown of +wealth. + +For after the ensample of Philoktetes he went but now to war: and when +necessity was upon them even they of proud spirit sought of him a +boon. + +To Lemnos once they say came godlike heroes to fetch thence the archer +son of Paian, vexed of an ulcerous wound; and he sacked the city of +Priam and made an end of the Danaoi's labours, for the body wherewith +he went was sick, but this was destined from the beginning. + +Even thus to Hieron may God be a guide for the time approaching, and +give him to lay hold upon the things of his desire. + +Also in the house of Deinomenes do me grace, O Muse, to sing, for sake +of our four-horsed car: no alien joy to him is his sire's victory. + +Come then and next for Etna's king let us devise a friendly song, for +whom with god-built freedom after the laws of Hyllic pattern hath that +city been founded of Hieron's hand: for the desire of the sons of +Pamphylos and of the Herakleidai dwelling beneath the heights of +Taygetos is to abide continually in the Dorian laws of Aigimios. At +Amyklai they dwelt prosperously, when they were come down out of +Pindos and drew near in honour to the Tyndaridai who ride on white +horses, and the glory of their spears waxed great. + +Thou Zeus, with whom are the issues of things, grant that the true +speech of men ever bear no worse report of citizens and kings beside +the water of Amenas. By thine aid shall a man that is chief and +that instructeth his son after him give due honour unto his people and +move them to be of one voice peacefully. + +I pray thee, son of Kronos, grant that the Phenician and the Tuscan +war-cry be hushed at home, since they have beheld the calamity of +their ships that befell them before Cumae, even how they were smitten +by the captain of the Syracusans, who from their swift ships hurled +their youth into the sea, to deliver Hellas from the bondage of the +oppressor. + +From Salamis shall I of Athenians take reward of thanks, at Sparta +when I shall tell[2] in a song to come of the battle[3] before +Kithairon, wherein the Medes that bear crooked bows were overthrown, +but by the fair-watered banks of Himeras it shall be for the song +I have rendered to the sons of Deinomenes, which by their valour they +have earned, since the men that warred against them are overthrown. + +If thou shalt speak in season, and comprehend in brief the ends of +many matters, less impeachment followeth of men; for surfeit blunteth +the eagerness of expectancy; and city-talk of others' praise grieveth +hearts secretly. + +Nevertheless, for that envy is preferred before pity[4], let slip not +fair occasion: guide with just helm thy people and forge the sword +of thy speech on an anvil whereof cometh no lie. Even a word falling +lightly is of import in that it proceedeth from thee. Of many things +art thou steward: many witnesses are there to thy deeds of either +kind. + +But abiding in the fair flower of this spirit, if thou art fain to be +continually of good report, be not too careful for the cost: loose +free like a mariner thy sail unto the wind. + +Friend, be not deceived by time-serving words of guile. The voice of +the report that liveth after a man, this alone revealeth the lives of +dead men to the singers and to the chroniclers: the loving-kindness +of Craesus fadeth not away; but him who burned men with fire within a +brazen bull, Phalaris that had no pity, men tell of everywhere +with hate, neither will any lute in hall suffer him in the gentle +fellowship of young boys' themes of songs. + +To be happy is the chiefest prize; to be glorious the next lot: if a +man have lighted on both and taken them to be his, he hath attained +unto the supreme crown. + + +[Footnote 1: Typhon.] + +[Footnote 2: Reading [Greek: erion].] + +[Footnote 3: Plataea.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. it is better to be envied than to be pitied.] + + + +II. + +FOR HIERON OF SYRACUSE, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The classification of this ode as Pythian is probably a mistake: +perhaps the victory was won at the Theban festival in honour of +Herakles, or of Iolaos. + +Anaxilaos, tyrant of Rhegium and Messana, had been deterred by +Hieron's threats from attacking the Epizephyrian Lokrians, and the ode +is partly occupied with congratulations of Hieron on this protective +act. As Anaxilaos died B.C. 476, and Hieron was only placed at the +head of the Syracusan state two years before, this seems to fix the +date somewhere in these two years. As Pindar talks of sending his song +across the sea, we may suppose that it was sung at Syracuse. + +There is much obscurity about the significances of this ode. The +poet's motive in telling the story of Ixion's sins has been variously +guessed at. Some think it was meant to deter Hieron from contriving +the death of his brother Polyzelos in battle in order to get +possession of Polyzelos' wife (and if Hieron was to be suspected of +such a thought it would be quite in Pindar's manner to mingle warning +and reproof with praise): some think that it refers to the ingratitude +of Anaxilaos toward Hieron. And most probably the latter part of the +ode, in which sincerity is approved, and flattery and calumny are +condemned, had some special and personal reference, though we need not +suppose, as the commentators are fond of doing here and elsewhere, +that it was aimed at Bacchylides or other rival poets. + + * * * * * + +Great city of Syracuse, precinct of warrior Ares, of iron-armed men +and steeds the nursing-place divine, to thee I come[1], bearing from +my bright Thebes this song, the tidings of earth-shaking racing of the +four-horse car, wherein hath Hieron with his goodly chariot +overcome, and decked with far-seen splendour of crowns Ortygia the +dwelling-place of Artemis of the river, her by whose help he tamed +with soothing hand his colts of spangled rein. + +For the archer maiden with both hands fitteth the glittering +trappings, and Hermes, god of games, whensoever Hieron to the polished +car and bridle-guided wheels[2] yoketh the strength of his steeds, +calling on the wide-ruling god, the trident-wielder. + +Now unto various kings pay various men sweet song, their valour's +meed. So the fair speech of Cyprus echoeth around the name of Kinyras, +him whom Apollo of the golden hair loved fervently, and who dwelt a +priest in the house of Aphrodite: for to such praise are men moved by +the thankfulness that followeth the recompense of friendly acts. But +of thee, O thou son of Deinomenes, the maiden daughter of the Lokrian +in the west before the house-door telleth in her song, being out of +bewildering woes of war by thy might delivered, so that her eyes are +not afraid for anything. + +Ixion, they say, by order of the gods, writhing on his winged wheel, +proclaimeth this message unto men: _To him who doeth thee service make +recompense of fair reward_. + +This lesson learned he plainly; for when that among the friendly +Kronidai he had gotten a life of pleasantness, his bliss became +greater than he could bear, and with mad heart he lusted after Hera, +whose place was in the happy marriage-bed of Zeus: yet insolence drove +him to the exceeding folly; but quickly suffering his deserts the man +gained to himself a misery most rare. + +Two sins are the causes of his pain; one that he first among the +heroes shed blood of kindred[3] craftily, the other that in the +chambers of the ample heavens he attempted the wife of Zeus--for in +all things it behoveth to take measure by oneself[4]. + +Yet a mocking love-bed hurried him as he approached the couch[5] into +a sea of trouble; for he lay with a cloud, pursuing the sweet lie, +fond man: for its form was as the form of the most highest among the +daughters of heaven, even the child of Kronos; and the hands of Zeus +had made it that it might be a snare unto him, a fair mischief. Thus +came he unto the four-spoked wheel, his own destruction; and having +fallen into chains without escape he became proclaimer of that +message[6] unto many. + +His mate[7], without favour of the Graces, bare unto him a monstrous +son, and like no other thing anywhere, even as its mother was, a thing +with no place or honour, neither among men, neither in the society of +gods. Him she reared and called by the name Kentauros, and he in the +valleys of Pelion lay with Magnesian mares, and there were born thence +a wondrous tribe, like unto both parents, their nether parts like unto +the dams, and their upper parts like unto the sire. + +God achieveth all ends whereon he thinketh--God who overtaketh even +the winged eagle, and outstrippeth the dolphin of the sea, and +bringeth low many a man in his pride, while to others he giveth glory +incorruptible. + +For me it is meet to eschew the sharp tooth of bitter words; for, +though afar off, I have seen the fierce Archilochos lacking most +things and fattening but on cruel words of hate. Of most worth are +riches when joined to the happy gift of wisdom. And this lot hast +thou, and mayest illustrate it with liberal soul, thou sovereign chief +over many streets filled with goodly garlands, and much people. If any +saith that ever yet was any man of old time throughout Hellas who +excelled thee in honour or in the multitude of possessions, such an one +with vain purpose essayeth a fruitless task. + +Upon the flower-crowned prow[8] will I go up to sing of brave deeds +done. Youth is approved by valour in dread wars; and hence say I that +thou hast won boundless renown in thy battles, now with horsemen, now +on foot: also the counsels of thine elder years give me sure ground of +praising thee every way. + +All hail! This song like to Phenician merchandize is sent across the +hoary sea: do thou look favourably on the strain of Kaster in Aeolian +mood[9], and greet it in honour of the seven-stringed lute. + +Be what thou art, now I have told thee what that is: in the eyes of +children the fawning ape is ever comely: but the good fortune of +Rhadamanthos hath come to him because the fruit that his soul bare was +true, neither delighteth he in deceits within his heart, such as by +whisperer's arts ever wait upon mortal man. + +An overpowering evil are the secret speakings of slander, to the +slandered and to the listener thereto alike, and are as foxes in +relentless temper. Yet for the beast whose name is of gain[10] what +great thing is gained thereby? For like the cork above the net, while +the rest of the tackle laboureth deep in the sea, I am unmerged in the +brine. + +Impossible is it that a guileful citizen utter potent words among the +good, nevertheless he fawneth on all and useth every subtlety. No part +have I in that bold boast of his, 'Let me be a friend to my friend, +but toward an enemy I will be an enemy and as a wolf will cross his +path, treading now here now there in crooked ways[11].' For every form +of polity is a man of direct speech best, whether under a despotism, +or whether the wild multitude, or the wisest, have the state in their +keeping. + +Against God it is not meet to strive, who now upholdeth these, and +now again to those giveth great glory. But not even this cheereth the +heart of the envious; for they measure by an unjust balance, and their +own hearts they afflict with bitter pain, till such time as they +attain to that which their hearts devise. + +To take the car's yoke on one's neck and run on lightly, this helpeth; +but to kick against the goad is to make the course perilous. Be it +mine to dwell among the good, and to win their love. + + +[Footnote 1: Pindar here identifies himself with his ode, which he +sent, not took, to Syracuse. Compare Ol. vii. 13, &c.] + +[Footnote 2: Properly [Greek: harmata] would seem to include all +except the body of the chariot ([Greek: diphros]) in which the +charioteer stood.] + +[Footnote 3: His father-in-law Deioneus.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. to estimate rightly one's capacities, +circumstances, rights, duties.] + +[Footnote 5: Reading [Greek: poti koiton ikont'].] + +[Footnote 6: The message spoken of above, v. 24.] + +[Footnote 7: The cloud, the phantom-Hera.] + +[Footnote 8: The prow of the ship carrying this ode, with which +Pindar, as has been said, identifies himself.] + +[Footnote 9: It is supposed that another ode, more especially in +honour of the chariot-victory, is here meant, which was to be sent +later. + +From this point to the end the ode reads like a postscript of private +import and reference.] + +[Footnote 10: It is at least doubtful whether [Greek: kerdo] a fox is +really connected with [Greek: kerdos] gain.] + +[Footnote 11: It appears to me to be an absurdity to suppose that +Pindar means to express in this sentence his own rule of conduct, +as the commentators have fancied. He is all through this passage +condemning 'crooked ways.'] + + + +III. + +FOR HIERON OF SYRACUSE, + +WINNER IN THE HORSE-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The dates both of the victory and of the ode are uncertain. But as +Pherenikos, the horse that won this race at Pytho, is the same that +won at Olympia B.C. 472, in honour of which event the First Olympian +was written, the victory cannot have been very long before that date, +though the language of the ode implies that it was written a good deal +later, probably for an anniversary of the victory. It must at least +have been written before Hieron's death in 467. It is much occupied +with his illness. + + * * * * * + +Fain were I (if meet it be to utter from my mouth the prayer conceived +of all) that Cheiron the son of Philyra were alive and had not +perished among men, even the wide-ruling seed of Kronos the son of +Ouranos; and that there still lorded it in Pelion's glens that Beast +untamed, whose soul was loving unto men, even such as when of old he +trained the gentle deviser of limb-saving anodynes, Asklepios, the +hero that was a defence against all kind of bodily plague. + +Of him was the daughter[1] of Phlegyas of goodly steeds not yet +delivered by Eileithuia aid of mothers, ere by the golden bow she was +slain at the hands of Artemis, and from her child-bed chamber went +down into the house of Hades, by contriving of Apollo. Not idle is the +wrath of sons of Zeus. + +She in the folly of her heart had set Apollo at nought, and taken +another spouse without knowledge of her sire, albeit ere then she had +lain with Phoibos of the unshorn hair, and bare within her the seed of +a very god. + +Neither awaited she the marriage-tables nor the sound of many voices +in hymeneal song, such as the bride's girl-mates are wont to sing at +eventide with merry minstrelsy: but lo, she had longing for things +otherwhere, even as many before and after. For a tribe there is most +foolish among men, of such as scorn the things of home, and gaze on +things that are afar off, and chase a cheating prey with hopes that +shall never be fulfilled. + +Of such sort was the frenzied strong desire fair-robed Koronis +harboured in her heart, for she lay in the couch of a stranger that +was come from Arcady. + +But one that watched beheld her: for albeit he was at sheep-gathering +Pytho, yet was the temple's king Loxias aware thereof, beside his +unerring partner[2], for he gave heed to his own wisdom, his mind that +knoweth all things; in lies it hath no part, neither in act or thought +may god or man deceive him. + +Therefore when he was aware of how she lay with the stranger Ischys +son of Elatos, and of her guile unrighteous, he sent his sister fierce +with terrible wrath to go to Lakereia--for by the steep shores of the +Boibian lake was the home of her virginity--and thus a doom adverse +blasted her life and smote her down: and of her neighbours many fared +ill therefore and perished with her: so doth a fire that from one +spark has leapt upon a mountain lay waste wide space of wood. + +But when her kinsfolk had laid the damsel upon the pile of wood, and +fierce brightness of Hephaistos ran around it, then said Apollo: 'Not +any longer may I endure in my soul to slay mine own seed by a most +cruel death in company with its mother's grievous fate.' + +He said, and at the first stride he was there, and from the corpse +caught up the child, and the blaze of the burning fiery pile was +cloven before him asunder in the midst. + +Then to the Kentaur of Magnes he bare the child, that he should teach +him to be a healer of the many-plaguing maladies of men. And thus all +that came unto him whether plagued with self-grown sores or with limbs +wounded by the lustrous bronze or stone far-hurled, or marred by +summer heat or winter cold--these he delivered, loosing each from +his several infirmity, some with emollient spells and some by kindly +potions, or else he hung their limbs with charms, or by surgery he +raised them up to health. + +Yet hath even wisdom been led captive of desire of gain. Even him did +gold in his hands glittering beguile for a great reward to bring back +from death a man already prisoner thereto: wherefore the hands of the +son of Kronos smote the twain of them through the midst, and bereft +their breasts of breath, and the bright lightning dealt them doom. + +It behoveth to seek from gods things meet for mortal souls, knowing +the things that are in our path and to what portion we are born. +Desire not thou, dear my soul, a life immortal, but use the tools that +are to thine hand. + +Now were wise Cheiron in his cavern dwelling yet, and had our +sweet-voiced songs laid haply some fair magic on his soul, then had +I won him to grant to worthy men some healer of hot plagues, some +offspring of Leto's son, or of her son's sire[3]. + +And then in a ship would I have sailed, cleaving the Ionian sea, to +the fountain of Arethusa, to the home of my Aitnaian friend, who +ruleth at Syracuse, a king of good will to the citizens, not envious +of the good, to strangers wondrous fatherly. Had I but landed there +and brought unto him a twofold joy, first golden health and next this +my song of triumph to be a splendour in his Pythian crown, which of +late Pherenikos[4] won by his victory at Kirrha--I say that then +should I have come unto him, after that I had passed over the deep +sea, a farther-shining light than any heavenly star. + +But I am minded to pray to the Mother[5] for him, to the awful goddess +unto whom, and unto Pan, before my door nightly the maidens move in +dance and song. + +Yet, O Hieron, if thou art skilled to apprehend the true meaning of +sayings, thou hast learnt to know this from the men of old; _The +immortals deal to men two ill things for one good._ The foolish cannot +bear these with steadfastness but the good only, putting the fair side +forward. + +But thee a lot of happiness attendeth, for if on any man hath mighty +Destiny looked favourably, surely it is on a chief and leader of a +people. + +A life untroubled abode not either with Peleus, son of Aiakos, or with +godlike Kadmos: yet of all mortals these, they say, had highest +bliss, who both erewhile listened to the singing of the Muses +golden-filleted, the one in seven-gated Thebes, when he wedded +large-eyed Harmonia, the other on the mountainside, when he took to +him Thetis to be his wife, wise Nereus' glorious daughter. And with +both of them gods sate at meat, and they beheld the sons of Kronos +sitting as kings on thrones of gold, and they received from them gifts +for their espousals; and by grace of Zeus they escaped out of their +former toils and raised up their hearts to gladness. + +Yet again in the after time the bitter anguish of those daughters[6] +robbed Kadmos of a part of bliss: howbeit the Father Zeus came to +white-armed Thyone's[7] longed-for couch. + +And so did the son of Peleus whom Thetis bare at Phthia, her only son, +die by an arrow in war, and moved the Danaoi to lament aloud, when his +body was burning in fire. + +Now if any by wisdom hath the way of truth he may yet lack good +fortune, which cometh of the happy gods. + +The blasts of soaring winds blow various ways at various times. +Not for long cometh happiness to men, when it accompanieth them in +exceeding weight. + +Small will I be among the small, and great among the great. Whatever +fortune follow me, I will work therewith, and wield it as my power +shall suffice. If God should offer me wealth and ease, I have hope +that I should first have won high honour to be in the times afar off. + +Nestor and Lykian Sarpedon, who live in the speech of men, we know +from tales of sounding song, built up by cunning builders. + +By songs of glory hath virtue lasting life, but to achieve them is +easy to but few. + + +[Footnote 1: Koronis.] + +[Footnote 2: His father, Zeus.] + +[Footnote 3: Some Asklepios or Apollo.] + +[Footnote 4: Hieron's horse.] + +[Footnote 5: Rhea or Kybele, the mother of the gods. 'Next door to +Pindar's house was a temple of the mother of the gods and of Pan, +which he had built himself.' Scholiast.] + +[Footnote 6: Ino, Agaue, and Autonoe.] + +[Footnote 7: Semele.] + + + +IV. + +FOR ARKESILAS OF KYRENE, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +Pindar has made this victory of Arkesilas, King of the Hellenic colony +of Kyrene in Africa, an occasion for telling the story of Jason's +expedition with the Argonauts. The ostensible reason for introducing +the story is that Kyrene had been colonised from the island of Thera +by the descendants of the Argonaut Euphemos, according to the prophecy +of Medea related at the beginning of the ode. But Pindar had another +reason. He wished to suggest an analogy between the relation of the +Iolkian king Pelias to Jason and the relation of Arkesilas to his +exiled kinsman Demophilos. Demophilos had been staying at Thebes, +where Pindar wrote this ode, to be afterwards recited at Kyrene. It +was written B.C. 466, when Pindar was fifty-six years of age, and is +unsurpassed in his extant works, or indeed by anything of this kind in +all poetry. + + * * * * * + +This day O Muse must thou tarry in a friend's house, the house of the +king of Kyrene of goodly horses, that with Arkesilas at his triumph +thou mayst swell the favourable gale of song, the due of Leto's +children, and of Pytho. For at Pytho of old she who sitteth beside the +eagles of Zeus--nor was Apollo absent then--the priestess, spake this +oracle, that Battos should found a power in fruitful Libya, that +straightway departing from the holy isle he might lay the foundations +of a city of goodly chariots upon a white breast of the swelling +earth, and might fulfil in the seventeenth generation the word of +Medea spoken at Thera, which of old the passionate child of Aietes, +queen of Colchians, breathed from immortal lips. For on this wise +spake she to the warrior Jason's god-begotten crew: 'Hearken O sons +of high-hearted mortals and of gods. Lo I say unto you that from this +sea-lashed land the daughter[1] of Epaphos shall sometime be planted +with a root to bring forth cities that shall possess the minds of men, +where Zeus Ammon's shrine is builded. + +And instead of short-finned dolphins they shall take to them fleet +mares, and reins instead of oars shall they ply, and speed the +whirlwind-footed car. + +By that augury shall it come to pass that Thera shall be mother-city +of mighty commonwealths, even the augury that once at the outpourings +of the Tritonian lake Euphemos leaping from the prow took at the hands +of a god who in the likeness of man tendered this present to the +stranger of a clod of earth; and the Father Kronian Zeus confirmed it +with a peal of thunder. + +[2]What time he came suddenly upon them as they were hanging against +the ship the bronze-fluked anchor, fleet Argo's bridle; for now for +twelve days had we borne from Ocean over long backs of desert-land our +sea-ship, after that by my counsel we drew it up upon the shore. + +Then came to us the solitary god, having put on the splendid semblance +of a noble man; and he began friendly speech, such as well-doers use +when they bid new-comers to the feast. + +But the plea of the sweet hope of home suffered us not to stay. Then +he said that he was Eurypylos son of the earth-embracer, immortal +Ennosides; and for that he was aware that we hasted to be gone, he +straightway caught up of the chance earth at his feet a gift that he +would fain bestow. Nor was the hero unheeding, but leaping on the +shore and striking hand in hand he took to him the fateful clod. + +But now I hear that it was washed down from the ship and departed into +the sea with the salt spray of evening, following the watery deep. Yet +verily often did I charge the labour-lightening servants that they +should keep it safe, but they forgat: and now upon this island[3] +is the imperishable seed of spacious Libya strown before the time +appointed; for if the royal son[4] of Poseidon, lord of horses, whom +Europa Tityos' child bare him on Kephisos' banks, had in his own home +thrown it down beside the mouth of Hades'[5] gulf, then in the fourth +generation of his sons his seed would have taken that wide continent +of Libya, for then they would have gone forth from mighty Lakedaimon, +and from the Argive gulf, and from Mykenai. + +But now he shall in wedlock with a stranger-wife raise up a chosen +seed, who coming to this island with worship of their gods shall beget +one to be lord of the misty plains[6]. Him sometime shall Phoibos in +his golden house admonish by oracles, when in the latter days he shall +go down into the inner shrine at Pytho, to bring a host in ships to +the rich Nile-garden of the son of Kronos[7].' + +So ran Medea's rhythmic utterance, and motionless in silence the +godlike heroes bowed their heads as they hearkened to the counsels of +wisdom. + +Thee, happy son[8] of Polymnestos, did the oracle of the Delphian +bee[9] approve with call unasked to be the man whereof the word was +spoken, for thrice she bid thee hail and declared thee by decree of +fate Kyrene's king, what time thou enquiredst what help should be from +heaven for thy labouring speech. And verily even now long afterward, +as in the bloom of rosy-blossomed spring, in the eighth descent from +Battos the leaf of Arkesilas is green. To him Apollo and Pytho have +given glory in the chariot-race at the hands of the Amphiktyons: him +will I commend to the Muses, and withal the tale of the all-golden +fleece; for this it was the Minyai sailed to seek when the god-given +glories of their race began. + +What power first drave them in the beginning to the quest? What +perilous enterprise clenched them with strong nails of adamant? + +There was an oracle of God which said that Pelias should die by force +or by stern counsels of the proud sons of Aiolos, and there had come +to him a prophecy that froze his cunning heart, spoken at the central +stone of tree-clad mother Earth, that by every means he should keep +safe guard against the man of one sandal, whensoever from a homestead +on the hills he shall have come to the sunny land of glorious Iolkos, +whether a stranger or a citizen he be. + +So in the fulness of time he came, wielding two spears, a wondrous +man; and the vesture that was upon him was twofold, the garb of the +Magnetes' country close fitting to his splendid limbs, but above he +wore a leopard-skin to turn the hissing showers; nor were the bright +locks of his hair shorn from him but over all his back ran rippling +down. Swiftly he went straight on, and took his stand, making trial of +his dauntless soul, in the marketplace when the multitude was full. + +Him they knew not; howbeit some one looking reverently on him would +speak on this wise: 'Not Apollo surely is this, nor yet Aphrodite's +lord of the brazen car; yea and in glistening Naxos died ere now, they +say, the children of Iphimedeia, Otos and thou, bold king Ephialtes: +moreover Tityos was the quarry of Artemis' swift arrow sped from her +invincible quiver, warning men to touch only the loves within their +power.' + +They answering each to each thus talked; but thereon with headlong +haste of mules and polished car came Pelias; and he was astonied when +he gazed on the plain sign of the single sandal on the right foot. But +he dissembled his fear within his heart and said unto him, 'What land, +O stranger, dost thou claim to be thy country, and who of earth-born +mortals bare thee of her womb out of due time[10]? Tell me thy race +and shame it not by hateful lies.' + +And him with gentle words the other answered undismayed, 'I say to +thee that I bear with me the wisdom of Cheiron, for from Chariklo +and Philyra I come, from the cave where the Centaur's pure daughters +reared me up, and now have I fulfilled twenty years among them without +deceitful word or deed, and I am come home to seek the ancient honour +of my father, held now in rule unlawful, which of old Zeus gave to +the chief Aiolos and his children. For I hear that Pelias yielding +lawlessly to evil thoughts hath robbed it from my fathers whose right +it was from the beginning; for they, when first I looked upon the +light, fearing the violence of an injurious lord, made counterfeit +of a dark funeral in the house as though I were dead, and amid the +wailing of women sent me forth secretly in purple swathing-bands, when +none but Night might know the way we went, and gave me to Cheiron the +son of Kronos to be reared. + +But of these things the chief ye know. Now therefore kind citizens +show me plainly the house of my fathers who drave white horses; for it +shall hardly be said that a son of Aison, born in the land, is come +hither to a strange and alien soil. And Jason was the name whereby the +divine Beast[11] spake to me.' + +Thus he said, and when he had entered in, the eyes of his father knew +him; and from his aged eyelids gushed forth tears, for his soul was +glad within him when he beheld his son, fairest of men and goodliest +altogether. + +Then came to him both brothers, when they heard that Jason was come +home, Pheres from hard by, leaving the fountain Hypereis, and out of +Messena Amythaon, and quickly came Admetos and Melampos to welcome +home their cousin. And at a common feast with gracious words Jason +received them and made them friendly cheer, culling for five long +nights and days the sacred flower of joyous life. + +But on the sixth day he began grave speech, and set the whole matter +before his kinsmen from the beginning, and they were of one mind with +him. + +Then quickly he rose up with them from their couches, and they came to +Pelias' hall, and they made haste and entered and stood within. + +And when he heard them the king himself came forth to them, even the +son of Tyro of the lovely hair. Then Jason with gentle voice opened on +him the stream of his soft speech, and laid foundation of wise words: +'Son of Poseidon of the Rock, too ready are the minds of mortal men to +choose a guileful gain rather than righteousness, howbeit they travel +ever to a stern reckoning. But thee and me it behoveth to give law +to our desires, and to devise weal for the time to come. Though +thou knowest it yet will I tell thee, how that the same mother bare +Kretheus and rash Salmoneus, and in the third generation we again were +begotten and look upon the strength of the golden sun. Now if there +be enmity between kin, the Fates stand aloof and would fain hide the +shame. Not with bronze-edged swords nor with javelins doth it beseem +us twain to divide our forefathers' great honour, nor needeth it, +for lo! all sheep and tawny herds of kine I yield, and all the lands +whereon thou feedest them, the spoil of my sires wherewith thou makest +fat thy wealth. That these things furnish forth thy house moveth me +not greatly; but for the kingly sceptre and throne whereon the son of +Kretheus sate of old and dealt justice to his chivalry, these without +wrath between us yield to me, lest some new evil arise up therefrom.' + +Thus he spake, and mildly also did Pelias make reply: 'I will be even +as thou wilt, but now the sere of life alone remaineth to me, whereas +the flower of thy youth is but just burgeoning; thou art able to take +away the sin that maketh the powers beneath the earth wroth with us: +for Phrixos biddeth us lay his ghost, and that we go to the house of +Aietes, and bring thence the thick-fleeced hide of the ram, whereby of +old he was delivered from the deep and from the impious weapons of his +stepmother. This message cometh to me in the voice of a strange dream: +also I have sent to ask of the oracle at Kastalia whether it be worth +the quest, and the oracle chargeth me straightway to send a ship on +the sacred mission. This deed do thou offer me to do, and I swear to +give thee up the sway and kingly rule. Let Zeus the ancestral god of +thee and me be witness of my oath and stablish it surely in thine +eyes.' + +So they made this covenant and parted; but Jason straightway bade +heralds to make known everywhere that a sailing was toward. And +quickly came three sons of Zeus, men unwearied in battle, whose +mothers were Alkmene and Leto of the glancing eyes[12], and two +tall-crested men of valour, children of the Earth-shaker, whose honour +was perfect as their might, from Pylos and from farthest Tainaros: +hereby was the excellence of their fame established--even Euphemos' +fame, and thine, wide-ruling Periklymenos. And at Apollo's bidding +came the minstrel father of song, Orpheus of fair renown. + +And Hermes of the golden staff sent two sons to the toilsome task, +Echion and Eurytos in the joy of their youth; swiftly they came, even +from their dwelling at the foot of Pangaios: and willingly and with +glad heart their father Boreas, king of winds, harnessed Zetes and +Kalais, men both with bright wings shooting from their backs. For Hera +kindled within those sons of gods the all-persuading sweet desire +for the ship Argo, that none should be left behind and stay by his +mother's side in savourless and riskless life, but each, even were +death the price, achieve in company with his peers a magic potency of +his valour. + +Now when that goodly crew were come to Iolkos, Jason mustered them +with thanks to each, and the seer Mopsos prophesied by omens and by +sacred lots, and with good will sped the host on board. + +And when they had hung the anchors over the prow, then their chief +taking in his hands a golden goblet stood up upon the stern and called +on Zeus whose spear is the lightning, and on the rush of waves and +winds and the nights and paths of the deep, to speed them quickly +over, and for days of cheer and friendly fortune of return. And from +the clouds a favourable voice of thunder pealed in answer; and there +came bright lightning flashes bursting through. + +Then the heroes took heart in obedience to the heavenly signs; and the +seer bade them strike into the water with their oars, while he spake +to them of happy hopes; and in their rapid hands the rowing sped +untiringly. + +And with breezes of the South they came wafted to the mouth of the +Axine sea; there they founded a shrine and sacred close of Poseidon, +god of seas, where was a red herd of Thracian bulls, and a new-built +altar of stone with hollow top[13]. + +Then as they set forth toward an exceeding peril they prayed the lord +of ships that they might shun the terrible shock of the clashing +rocks: for they were twain that had life, and plunged along more +swiftly than the legions of the bellowing winds; but that travel of +the seed of gods made end of them at last[14]. + +After that they came to the Phasis; there they fought with dark-faced +Kolchians even in the presence of Aietes. And there the queen of +keenest darts, the Cyprus-born, first brought to men from Olympus the +frenzied bird, the speckled wry-neck[15], binding it to a four-spoked +wheel without deliverance, and taught the son of Aison to be wise in +prayers and charms, that he might make Medea take no thought to honour +her parents, and longing for Hellas might drive her by persuasion's +lash, her heart afire with love. + +Then speedily she showed him the accomplishment of the tasks her +father set, and mixing drugs with oil gave him for his anointment +antidotes of cruel pain, and they vowed to be joined together in sweet +wedlock. + +But when Aietes had set in the midst a plough of adamant, and oxen +that from tawny jaws breathed flame of blazing fire, and with bronze +hoofs smote the earth in alternate steps, and had led them and yoked +them single-handed, he marked out in a line straight furrows, and for +a fathom's length clave the back of the loamy earth; then he spake +thus: 'This work let your king, whosoever he be that hath command +of the ship, accomplish me, and then let him bear away with him the +imperishable coverlet, the fleece glittering with tufts of gold.' + +He said, and Jason flung off from him his saffron mantle, and putting +his trust in God betook himself to the work; and the fire made him not +to shrink, for that he had had heed to the bidding of the stranger +maiden skilled in all pharmacy. So he drew to him the plough and +made fast by force the bulls' necks in the harness, and plunged the +wounding goad into the bulk of their huge sides, and with manful +strain fulfilled the measure of his work. And a cry without speech +came from Aietes in his agony, at the marvel of the power he beheld. + +Then to the strong man his comrades stretched forth their hands, and +crowned him with green wreaths, and greeted him with gracious words. +And thereupon the wondrous son[16] of Helios told him in what place +the knife of Phrixos had stretched the shining fell; yet he trusted +that this labour at least should never be accomplished by him. For it +lay in a thick wood and grasped by a terrible dragon's jaws, and he in +length and thickness was larger than their ship of fifty oars, which +the iron's blows had welded. + +Long were it for me to go by the beaten track, for the time is nigh +out, and I know a certain short path, and many others look to me for +skill. The glaring speckled dragon, O Arkesilas, he slew by subtlety, +and by her own aid he stole away Medea, the murderess of Pelias. And +they went down into the deep of Ocean and into the Red Sea, and to the +Lemnian race of husbandslaying wives; there also they had games and +wrestled for a prize of vesture, and lay with the women of the land. + +And then it was that in a stranger womb, by night or day, the fateful +seed was sown of the bright fortune of thy race. For there began the +generations of Euphemos, which should be thenceforth without end. And +in time mingling among the homes of Lakedaimonian men they made their +dwelling in the isle that once was Kalliste[17]: and thence the son +of Leto gave thy race the Libyan plain to till it and to do honour +therein to your gods, and to rule the divine city of golden-throned +Kyrene with devising of the counsels of truth. + +Now hearken to a wise saying even as the wisdom of Oedipus. If one +with sharp axe lop the boughs of a great oak and mar the glorious +form, even in the perishing of the fruit thereof it yet giveth token +of that it was; whether at the last it come even to the winter fire, +or whether with upright pillars in a master's house it stand, to serve +drear service within alien walls, and the place thereof knoweth it no +more[18]. + +But thou art a physician most timely, and the god of healing maketh +thy light burn brightly. A gentle hand must thou set to a festering +wound. It is a small thing even for a slight man to shake a city, but +to set it firm again in its place this is hard struggle indeed, unless +with sudden aid God guide the ruler's hand. For thee are prepared the +thanks which these deeds win. Be strong to serve with all thy might +Kyrene's goodly destiny. + +And of Homer's words take this to ponder in thy heart: _Of a good +messenger_, he saith, _cometh great honour to every deed._ Even to the +Muse is right messengership a gain. Now good cause have Kyrene and the +glorious house of Battos to know the righteous mind of Demophilos. For +he was a boy with boys, yet in counsels an old man of a hundred years: +and the evil tongue he robbeth of its loud voice, and hath learnt to +abhor the insolent, neither will he make strife against the good, nor +tarry when he hath a deed in hand. For a brief span hath opportunity +for men, but of him it is known surely when it cometh, and he waiteth +thereon a servant but no slave. + +Now this they say is of all griefs the sorest, that one knowing good +should of necessity abide without lot therein. Yea thus doth Atlas +struggle now against the burden of the firmament, far from his native +land and his possessions. Yet the Titans were set free by immortal +Zeus. As time runneth on the breeze abateth and there are shiftings of +the sails. And he hath hope that when he shall have endured to the end +his grievous plague he shall see once more his home, and at Apollo's +fountain[19] joining in the feast give his soul to rejoice in her +youth, and amid citizens who love his art, playing on his carven lute, +shall enter upon peace, hurting and hurt of none. Then shall he tell +how fair a fountain of immortal verse he made to flow for Arkesilas, +when of late he was the guest of Thebes. + + +[Footnote 1: Libya. Epaphos was son of Zeus by Io.] + +[Footnote 2: This incident happened during the wanderings of the +Argonauts on their return with the Golden Fleece from Kolchis to +Iolkos.] + +[Footnote 3: Thera.] + +[Footnote 4: Euphemos.] + +[Footnote 5: At Tainaros there was a cave supposed to be a mouth of +Hades.] + +[Footnote 6: Of Libya.] + +[Footnote 7: The purport of this is: If Euphemos had taken the clod +safely home to Tainaros in Lakonia, then his great-grandsons with +emigrants from other Peloponnesian powers would have planted a colony +in Libya. But since the clod had fallen into the sea and would be +washed up on the shore of the island of Thera, it was necessary that +Euphemos' descendants should first colonize Thera, and then, but not +till the seventeenth generation, proceed, under Battos, to found the +colony of Kyrene in Libya.] + +[Footnote 8: Battos.] + +[Footnote 9: The priestess.] + +[Footnote 10: The epithet [Greek: polias] is impossible to explain +satisfactorily. It has been suggested to me by Professor S.H. Butcher, +that [Greek: chamaigenaes] may have been equivalent to [Greek: +gaegenaes] and that Pelias may thus mean, half ironically, to imply +that Jason's stature, garb and mien, as well as his mysteriously +sudden appearance, argue him a son of one of the ancient giants who +had been seen of old among men.] + +[Footnote 11: The Kentaur Cheiron.] + +[Footnote 12: I. e. one son of Zeus and Alkmene, Herakles, and two +sons of Zeus and Leto, Kastor and Polydeukes.] + +[Footnote 13: For the blood of the victims.] + +[Footnote 14: The Symplegades having failed to crush the ship Argo +between them were themselves destroyed by the shock of their encounter +with each other. Probably a tradition of icebergs survived in this +story.] + +[Footnote 15: Used as a love-charm.] + +[Footnote 16: Aietes.] + +[Footnote 17: Thera.] + +[Footnote 18: In this parable the oak is the state, the boughs its +best men, the fire and the alien house destruction and servitude.] + +[Footnote 19: The fountain Kyra in the heart of the city Kyrene.] + + + +V. + +FOR ARKESILAS OF KYRENE, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode celebrates the same victory as the foregoing. It would seem +that the chariot had been consecrated to Apollo and left in the temple +at Delphi, but the horses were brought home to Kyrene and led in +procession through the sacred street of Apollo, with their charioteer +Karrhotos, brother of Arkesilas' wife. + + * * * * * + +Wide-reaching is the power of wealth, whensoever a mortal man hath +received it at the hands of Fate with pure virtue mingled, and +bringeth it to his home, a follower that winneth him many friends. +Arkesilas, thou favourite of the gods, thou verily seekest after it +with good report from the first steps of thy glorious life, with aid +of Kastor of the golden car, who after the wintry storm hath shed +bright calm about thy happy hearth[1]. + +Now the wise bear better the power that is given of God. And thou +walkest in righteousness amid thy prosperity which is now great; +first, for that thou art king of mighty cities, thy inborn virtue +hath brought this majestic honour to thy soul, and again thou art now +blessed in that from the famous Pythian games thou hast won glory by +thy steeds, and hast received this triumphal song of men, Apollo's +joy. + +Therefore forget not, while at Kyrene round Aphrodite's pleasant +garden thy praise is sung, to set God above every other as the cause +thereof: also love thou Karrhotos[2] chiefest of thy friends; who +hath not brought with him Excuse the daughter of late-considering +Afterthought back to the house of the just-ruling sons of Battos; but +beside the waters of Kastalia a welcomed guest he crowned thy hair +with the crown of the conquering car, for the reins were safe[3] in +his hands throughout the twelve swift turns along the sacred course. + +Of the strong harness brake he no whit: but there is hung up[4] all +that cunning work of the artificers that he brought with him when he +passed over the Krisaian hill to the plain within the valley of the +god: therefore now the chamber of cypress-wood possesseth it, hard by +the statue which the bow-bearing Kretans dedicated in the Parnassian +shrine, the natural image in one block[5]. Therefore with eager heart +it behoveth thee to go forth to meet him who hath done thee this good +service. + +Thee also, son[6] of Alexibios, the Charites of lovely hair make +glorious. Blessed art thou for that after much toil thou hast a +monument of noble words. Among forty charioteers who fell[7] thou +didst with soul undaunted bring thy car unhurt, and hast now come back +from the glorious games unto the plain of Libya and the city of thy +sires. + +Without lot in trouble hath there been never any yet, neither shall +be: yet still the ancient bliss of Battos followeth the race, albeit +with various fortune; a bulwark is it to the city, and to strangers a +most welcome light. + +From Battos even deep-voiced lions[8] fled in fear when he uttered +before them a voice from overseas: for the captain and founder Apollo +gave the beasts over to dire terror, that he might not be false to his +oracles which he had delivered to the ruler of Kyrene. + +Apollo it is who imparteth unto men and women cures for sore maladies, +and hath bestowed on them the lute, and giveth the Muse to whomsoever +he will, bringing into their hearts fair order of peace; and +inhabiteth the secret place of his oracles; whereby at Lakedaimon and +at Argos and at sacred Pylos he made to dwell the valiant sons of +Herakles and Aigimios[9]. + +From Sparta they say came my own dear famous race[10]: thence sprang +the sons of Aigeus who came to Thera, my ancestors, not without +help of God; but a certain destiny brought thither a feast of much +sacrifice[11], and thence receiving, O Apollo, thy Karneia we honour +at the banquet the fair-built city of Kyrene, which the spear-loving +strangers haunt[12], the Trojan seed of Antenor. For with Helen they +came thither after they had seen their native city smoking in the +fires of war. + +And now to that chivalrous race do the men whom Aristoteles[13] +brought, opening with swift ships a track through the deep sea, give +greeting piously, and draw nigh to them with sacrifice and gifts. + +He also planted greater groves of gods, and made a paved road[14] cut +straight over the plain, to be smitten with horsehoofs in processions +that beseech Apollo's guardianship for men; and there at the end of +the market-place he lieth apart in death. Blessed was he while he +dwelt among men, and since his death the people worship him as their +hero. + +And apart from him before their palace lie other sacred kings that +have their lot with Hades; and even now perchance they hear, with +such heed as remaineth to the dead, of this great deed sprinkled with +kindly dew of outpoured song triumphal, whence have they bliss in +common with their son Arkesilas unto whom it falleth due. + +Him it behoveth by the song of the young men to celebrate Phoibos of +the golden sword, seeing that from Pytho he hath won a recompense of +his cost in this glad strain of glorious victory. + +Of him the wise speak well: I but repeat their words saying that he +cherisheth understanding above his years, that in eloquent speech and +boldness he is as the wide-winged eagle among birds, and his strength +in combat like a tower. And he hath wings to soar with the Muses, +as his mother before him, and now hath he proved him a cunning +charioteer: and by all ways that lead to honour at home hath he +adventured. + +As now the favour of God perfecteth his might, so for the time to +come, blest children of Kronos, grant him to keep it in counsel and +in deed, that never at any time the wintry blast of the late autumn +winds[15] sweep him away. Surely the mighty mind of Zeus guideth the +destiny of the men he loveth. I pray that to the seed of Battos he may +at Olympia grant a like renown. + + +[Footnote 1: Kastor was not only a patron of charioteers, but also, +with his twin-brother Polydeukes, a protector of mariners and giver of +fair weather.] + +[Footnote 2: The charioteer.] + +[Footnote 3: I. e. well-handled and un-broken in the sharp turns round +the goal.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. in Apollo's temple at Delphi.] + +[Footnote 5: This would seem to have been a piece of wood growing +naturally in the form of a man.] + +[Footnote 6: Karrhotos.] + +[Footnote 7: This seems great havoc among the starters. Probably +besides the forty who fell there were others who were not actually +upset but yet did not win. No doubt the race must have been run in +heats, but these must still have been crowded enough to make the crush +at the turns exceedingly dangerous.] + +[Footnote 8: Pausanias says that Battos, the founder of Kyrene, was +dumb when he went to Africa, but that on suddenly meeting a lion the +fright gave him utterance. According to Pindar the lions seem to have +been still more alarmed, being startled by Battos' foreign accent.] + +[Footnote 9: The Dorians.] + +[Footnote 10: There were Aigidai at Sparta and Spartan colonies, of +which Kyrene was one, and also at Thebes: to the latter branch of the +family Pindar belonged.] + +[Footnote 11: The Karneia, a Dorian feast of which we hear often in +history.] + +[Footnote 12: These Trojan refugees were supposed to have anciently +settled on the site where Kyrene was afterwards built. Battos (or +Aristoteles) and his new settlers honoured the dead Trojans as tutelar +heroes of the spot.] + +[Footnote 13: Battos.] + +[Footnote 14: The sacred street of Apollo, along which the procession +moved which sang this ode. The pavement, and the tombs cut in the rock +on each side are still to be seen, or at least were in 1817, when the +Italian traveller Della Cella visited the place. Boeckh quotes from +his Viaggio da Tripoli di Barberia alle frontiere occedentali dell' +Egitto, p. 139: 'Oggi ho passeggiato in una delle strade (di Cirene) +che serba ancora Papparenza di essere stata fra le piu cospicue. Non +solo e tutta intagliata nel vivo sasso, ma a due lati e fiancheggiata +da lunga fila di tombe quadrate di dieci circa piedi di altezza, anch' +esse tutte d'un pezzo scavate nella roccia.'] + +[Footnote 15: I. e., probably, calamity in old age.] + + + +VI. + +FOR XENOKRATES OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This victory was won B.C. 494, when Pindar was twenty-eight years old, +and the ode was probably written to be sung at Delphi immediately +on the event. Thus, next to the tenth Pythian, written eight years +before, this is the earliest of Pindar's poems that remains to us. + +Xenokrates was a son of Ainesidamos and brother of Theron. The second +Isthmian is also in his honour. + + * * * * * + +Hearken! for once more we plough the field[1] of Aphrodite of the +glancing eyes, or of the Graces call it if you will, in this our +pilgrimage to the everlasting centre-stone of deep-murmuring[2] earth. + +For there for the blissful Emmenidai, and for Akragas by the +riverside, and chiefliest for Xenokrates, is builded a ready treasure +of song within the valley of Apollo rich in golden gifts. + +That treasure of his shall neither wind nor wintry rain-storm coming +from strange lands, as a fierce host born of the thunderous cloud, +carry into the hiding places of the sea, to be beaten by the +all-sweeping drift: + +But in clear light its front shall give tidings of a victory won +in Krisa's dells, glorious in the speech of men to thy father +Thrasyboulos, and to all his kin with him. + +Thou verily in that thou settest him ever at thy right hand cherishest +the charge which once upon the mountains they say the son[3] of +Philyra gave to him of exceeding might, even to the son of Peleas, +when he had lost his sire: first that of all gods he most reverence +Kronos' son, the deep-voiced lord of lightnings and of thunders, and +then that he never rob of like honour a parent's spell of life. + +Also of old time had mighty Antilochos this mind within him, who died +for his father's sake, when he abode the murderous onset of Memnon, +the leader of the Ethiop hosts. + +For Nestor's chariot was stayed by a horse that was stricken of the +arrows of Paris, and Memnon made at him with his mighty spear. Then +the heart of the old man of Messene was troubled, and he cried unto +his son; nor wasted he his words in vain; in his place stood up the +godlike man and bought his father's flight by his own death. So by the +young men of that ancient time he was deemed to have wrought a mighty +deed, and in succouring of parents to be supreme. + +These things are of the past; but of men that now are Thrasyboulos +hath come nearest to our fathers' gauge. And following his uncle also +he hath made glory to appear for him; and with wisdom doth he handle +wealth, neither gathereth the fruit of an unrighteous or overweening +youth, but rather of knowledge amid the secret places of the Pierides. +And to thee, Earthshaker, who didst devise ventures of steeds, with +right glad heart he draweth nigh. Sweet is his spirit toward the +company of his guests, yea sweeter than the honeycomb, the toil of +bees. + + +[Footnote 1: The field of poesy.] + +[Footnote 2: An epithet appropriate to volcanic soils.] + +[Footnote 3: Cheiron.] + + + +VII. + +FOR MEGAKLES OF ATHENS, + +WINNER IN THE FOUR-HORSE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +Megakles won this victory B.C. 490, the year of the battle of +Marathon. He was a member of the great house of the Alkmaionidai, to +which Kleisthenes and Perikles belonged. Megakles was a frequent name +in the family: this Megakles was probably the nephew, possibly the +son, of Kleisthenes. + + * * * * * + +Fairest of preludes is the great name of Athens to whosoever will lay +foundation of songs for the mighty race of Alkmaionidai and for their +steeds. What country, what house among all lands shall I name more +glorious throughout Hellas? + +For unto all cities is the fame familiar of the citizens of +Erechtheus, who at divine Pytho have wrought thee, O Apollo, a +glorious house[1]. + +And I hereto am led by victories, at Isthmos five, and one +pre-eminent, won at Olympia at the feast of Zeus, and two at Kirrha, +which thou, O Megakles, and thy sire have won. + +Now at this new good fortune I rejoice; yet somewhat also I grieve, +even to behold how envy requiteth noble deeds[2]. Yet thus ever, they +say, must fair hap abiding with a man engender bad with good. + + +[Footnote 1: The Alkmainodai had lately been spending large sums on +the rebuilding of Apollo's temple at Delphi.] + +[Footnote 2: Megakles was twice ostracized.] + + + +VIII. + +FOR ARISTOMENES OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +The precise date of this ode is uncertain, but there is strong +internal evidence of its having been written soon after the battle of +Salamis, after which, as is well known, the [Greek: aristeia] or first +honours for valour, were awarded to Aigina. The insolence of the +barbarian despot seems to be symbolized by that of the giants Typhon +and Porphyrion. + +The ode was apparently to be sung on the winner's return to Aigina. No +less than eleven of the extant odes were written for winners from that +island. + + * * * * * + +O kindly Peace, daughter of Righteousness, thou that makest cities +great, and boldest the supreme keys of counsels and of wars, welcome +thou this honour to Aristomenes, won in the Pythian games. + +Thou knowest how alike to give and take gentleness in due season: thou +also, if any have moved thy heart unto relentless wrath, dost terribly +confront the enemy's might, and sinkest Insolence in the sea. + +Thus did Porphyrion provoke thee unaware. Now precious is the gain +that one beareth away from the house of a willing giver. But violence +shall ruin a man at the last, boast he never so loudly. He of Kilikia, +Typhon of the hundred heads, escaped not this, neither yet the king of +giants[1]: but by the thunderbolt they fell and by the bow of Apollo, +who with kind intent hath welcomed Xenarches home from Kirrha, crowned +with Parnassian wreaths and Dorian song. + +Not far from the Graces' ken falleth the lot of this righteous +island-commonwealth, that hath attained unto the glorious deeds of the +sons of Aiakos[2]: from the beginning is her fame perfect, for she is +sung of as the nurse of heroes foremost in many games and in violent +fights: and in her mortal men also is she pre-eminent. + +But my time faileth me to offer her all I might tell at length by lute +and softer voice of man, so that satiety vex not. + +So let that which lieth in my path, my debt to thee, O boy, the +youngest of thy country's glories, run on apace, winged by my art. + +For in wrestlings thou art following the footsteps of thy uncles, and +shamest neither Theognetos at Olympia, nor the victory that at Isthmos +was won by Kleitomachos' stalwart limbs. + +And in that thou makest great the clan of the Midylidai thou attainest +unto the very praise which on a time the son of Oikleus spake in +a riddle, when he saw at seven-gated Thebes the sons of the Seven +standing to their spears, what time from Argos came the second race on +their new enterprise[3]. Thus spake he while they fought: 'By nature, +son, the noble temper of thy sires shineth forth in thee. I see +clearly the speckled dragon that Alkmaion weareth on his bright +shield, foremost at the Kadmean gates. + +And he who in the former fight fared ill, hero Adrastos, is now +endowed with tidings of a better omen. Yet in his own house his +fortune shall be contrariwise: for he alone of all the Danaan host, +after that he shall have gathered up the bones of his dead son, shall +by favour of the gods come back with unharmed folk to the wide streets +of Abas[4].' + +On this wise spake Amphiaraos. Yea and with joy I too myself throw +garlands on Alkmaion's grave, and shower it withal with songs, for +that being my neighbour and guardian of my possessions[5] he met me as +I went up to the earth's centre-stone, renowned in song, and showed +forth the gift of prophecy which belongeth unto his house[6]. + +But thou, far-darter, ruler of the glorious temple whereto all men go +up, amid the glens of Pytho didst there grant this the greatest of +joys: and at home before didst thou bring to him at the season of thy +feast the keen-sought prize of the pentathlon. My king, with willing +heart I make avowal that through thee is harmony before mine eyes in +all that I sing of every conqueror. + +By the side of our sweet-voiced song of triumph hath Righteousness +taken her stand, and I pray, O Xenarches[7], that the favour of God be +unfailing toward the fortune of thee and thine. For if one hath good +things to his lot without long toil, to many he seemeth therefore to +be wise among fools and to be crowning his life by right devising of +the means. But these things lie not with men: it is God that ordereth +them, who setteth up one and putteth down another, so that he is bound +beneath the hands of the adversary. + +Now at Megara also hast thou won a prize, and in secluded Marathon, +and in the games of Hera in thine own land, three times, Aristomenes, +hast thou overcome. + +And now on the bodies of four others[8] hast thou hurled thyself with +fierce intent, to whom the Pythian feast might not award, as unto +thee, the glad return, nor the sweet smile that welcometh thee to thy +mother's side; nay but by secret ways they shrink from meeting their +enemies, stricken down by their evil hap. + +Now he that hath lately won glory in the time of his sweet youth is +lifted on the wings of his strong hope and soaring valour, for his +thoughts are above riches. + +In a little moment groweth up the delight of men; yea and in like sort +falleth it to the ground, when a doom adverse hath shaken it. + +Things of a day--what are we, and what not? Man is a dream of shadows. + +Nevertheless when a glory from God hath shined on them, a clear light +abideth upon men, and serene life. + +Aigina[9], mother dear, this city in her march among the free, with +Zeus and lordly Aiakos, with Peleus and valiant Telamon and with +Achilles, guard thou well. + + + +[Footnote 1: Porphyrion.] + +[Footnote 2: Aiakos and his descendants, especially Aias, were the +chief national heroes of Aigina.] + +[Footnote 3: It seems doubtful what this legend exactly was. Either +Amphiaraos, during the attack of the first Seven against Thebes, +saw by prophetic vision the future battle of the second Seven, the +Epigonoi, among whom were his own son Alkmaion, and Adrastos, the sole +survivor of the first Seven; or else these are the words of his oracle +after his death, spoken when the battle of the Epigonoi had begun but +was not yet ended.] + +[Footnote 4: Abas was an ancient king of Argos.] + +[Footnote 5: Probably there was a shrine of Alkmaion near Pindar's +house at Thebes, so that he considered his household to be under the +hero's protection: perhaps he had deposited money in the shrine, for +temples were often used as treasuries.] + +[Footnote 6: Probably in some vision seen by Pindar on his journey to +Delphi.] + +[Footnote 7: Father of Aristomenes.] + +[Footnote 8: His competitors in four ties of the wrestling-match.] + +[Footnote 9: The nymph, protectress of the island.] + + + +IX. + +FOR TELESIKRATES OF KYRENE, + +WINNER OF THE FOOT-RACE IN FULL ARMOUR. + + * * * * * + +The Hellenic heavy-armed soldier was often called upon to advance at a +run, as for instance in the charge at Marathon. With a view no doubt +to such occasions this race in full armour had been instituted at +Pytho in 498, and in 478 it was won by Telesikrates. The ode was +probably sung in a procession at Thebes, before Telesikrates had gone +back to Kyrene, but the legends related are mainly connected with +Kyrene. Probably the commentators are right in supposing +that Telesikrates was to take home with him a bride from the +mother-country, a fact which makes the legends told specially +appropriate. + + * * * * * + +I have desire to proclaim with aid of the deep-vested Graces a victory +at Pytho of Telesikrates bearing the shield of bronze, and to speak +aloud his name, for his fair fortune and the glory wherewith he hath +crowned Kyrene, city of charioteers. + +Kyrene[1] once from Pelion's wind-echoing dells Leto's son, the +flowing-haired, caught up and in a golden car bore away the +huntress-maiden to the place where he made her queen of a land rich in +flocks, yea richest of all lands in the fruits of the field, that her +home might be the third part[2] of the mainland of earth, a stock that +should bear lovely bloom. And silver-foot Aphrodite awaited the Delian +stranger issuing from his car divine, and lightly laid on him her +hand: then over their sweet bridal-bed she cast the loveliness of +maiden shame, and in a common wedlock joined the god and the daughter +of wide-ruling Hypseus, who then was king of the haughty Lapithai, +a hero whose father's father was the Ocean-god--for amid the famous +mountain-dells of Pindos the Naiad Kreuesa bare him after she had +delight in the bed of Peneus, Kreuesa, daughter of Earth. + +Now the child he reared was Kyrene of the lovely arms: She was not one +who loved the pacings to and fro before the loom, neither the delights +of feastings with her fellows within the house, but with bronze +javelins and a sword she fought against and slew wild beasts of prey; +yea and much peace and sure she gave thereby to her father's herds, +but for sleep, the sharer of her bed, short spent she it and sweet, +descending on her eyelids as the dawn drew near. + +Once as she struggled alone, without spear, with a terrible lion, he +of the wide quiver, far-darting Apollo, found her: and straightway he +called Cheiron from his hall and spake to him aloud: 'Son of Philyra, +come forth from thy holy cave, and behold and wonder at the spirit of +this woman, and her great might, what strife she wageth here with soul +undaunted, a girl with heart too high for toil to quell; for her mind +shaketh not in the storm of fear. What man begat her? From what tribe +was she torn to dwell in the secret places of the shadowing hills? She +hath assayed a struggle unachievable. Is it lawful openly to put forth +my hand to her, or rather on a bridal-bed pluck the sweet flower?' + +To him the Centaur bold with a frank smile on his mild brow made +answer straightway of his wisdom: 'Secret are wise Lovecraft's keys +unto love's sanctities, O Phoibos, and among gods and men alike all +deem this shame, to have pleasure of marriage at the first openly. Now +even thee, who mayest have no part in lies, thy soft desire hath led +to dissemble in this thy speech. + +The maiden's lineage dost thou, O king, enquire of me--thou who +knowest the certain end of all things, and all ways? How many leaves +the earth sendeth forth in spring, how many grains of sand in sea and +river are rolled by waves and the winds' stress, what shall come to +pass, and whence it shall be, thou discernest perfectly. But if even +against wisdom I must match myself, I will speak on. To wed this +damsel camest thou unto this glen, and thou art destined to bear her +beyond the sea to a chosen garden of Zeus, where thou shalt make her a +city's queen, when thou hast gathered together an island-people to +a hill in the plain's midst. And now shall queenly Libya of broad +meadow-lands well-pleased receive for thee within a golden house thy +glorious bride, and there make gift to her of a portion in the land, +to be an inhabiter thereof with herself, neither shall it be lacking +in tribute of plants bearing fruit after all kinds, neither a stranger +to the beasts of chase. There shall she bring forth a son, whom +glorious Hermes taking up from his mother's arms shall bear to the +fair-throned Hours and to Earth: and they shall set the babe upon +their knees, and nectar and ambrosia they shall distil upon his lips, +and shall make him as an immortal, a Zeus or a holy Apollo, to men +beloved of him a very present help, a tutelar of flocks, and to some +Agreus and Nomios; but to others Aristaios shall be his name.' + +By these words he made him ready for the bridal's sweet fulfilment. +And swift the act and short the ways of gods who are eager to an end. +That same day made accomplishment of the matter, and in a golden +chamber of Libya they lay together; where now she haunteth a city +excellent in beauty and glorious in the games. + +And now at sacred Pytho hath the son of Karneadas wedded that city +to the fair flower of good luck: for by his victory there he hath +proclaimed Kyrene's name, even her's who shall receive him with glad +welcome home, to the country of fair women bringing precious honour +out of Delphi. + +Great merits stir to many words: yet to be brief and skilful on +long themes is a good hearing for bards: for fitness of times is in +everything alike of chief import. + +That Iolaos had respect thereto[3] seven-gated Thebes knoweth well, +for when he had stricken down the head of Eurystheus beneath the edge +of the sword, she buried the slayer beneath the earth in the tomb of +Amphitryon the charioteer, where his father's father was laid, a guest +of the Spartoi, who had left his home to dwell among the streets of +the sons of Kadmos who drave white horses. To him and to Zeus at once +did wise Alkmene bear the strength of twin sons prevailing in battle. + +Dull is that man who lendeth not his voice to Herakles, nor hath in +remembrance continually the waters of Dirke that nurtured him and +Iphikles. To them will I raise a song of triumph for that I have +received good at their hands, after that I had prayed to them that the +pure light of the voiceful Graces might not forsake me. For at Aigma +and on the hill of Nisos twice ere now I say that I have sung Kyrene's +praise, and by my act have shunned the reproach of helpless dumbness. + +Wherefore if any of the citizens be our friend, yea even if he be +against us, let him not seek to hide the thing that hath been well +done in the common cause, and so despise the word of the old god of +the sea[4]. He biddeth one give praise with the whole heart to noble +deeds, yea even to an enemy, so be it that justice be on his side. + +Full many times at the yearly feast of Pallas have the maidens seen +thee winner, and silently they prayed each for herself that such an +one as thou, O Telesikrates, might be her beloved husband or her son; +and thus also was it at the games of Olympia and of ample-bosomed +Earth[5], and at all in thine own land. + +Me anywise to slake my thirst for song the ancient glory of thy +forefathers summoneth to pay its due and rouse it yet again--to tell +how that for love of a Libyan woman there went up suitors to the city +of Irasa to woo Antaios' lovely-haired daughter of great renown; whom +many chiefs of men, her kinsmen, sought to wed, and many strangers +also; for the beauty of her was marvellous, and they were fain to cull +the fruit whereto her gold-crowned youth had bloomed. + +But her father gained for his daughter a marriage more glorious still. +Now he had heard how sometime Danaos at Argos devised for his forty +and eight maiden daughters, ere mid-day was upon them, a wedding +of utmost speed--for he straightway set the whole company at the +race-course end, and bade determine by a foot-race which maiden each +hero should have, of all the suitors that had come. + +Even on this wise gave the Libyan a bridegroom to his daughter, and +joined the twain. At the line he set the damsel, having arrayed her +splendidly, to be the goal and prize, and proclaimed in the midst that +he should lead her thence to be his bride who, dashing to the front, +should first touch the robes she wore. + +Thereon Alexidamos, when that he had sped through the swift course, +took by her hand the noble maiden, and led her through the troops of +Nomad horsemen. Many the leaves and wreaths they showered on him; yea +and of former days many plumes of victories had he won. + + + +[Footnote 1: A Thessalian maiden, from whom, according to this legend, +the colony of Kyrene in Africa took its name.] + +[Footnote 2: I. e. Libya, the continent which we now call Africa.] + +[Footnote 3: I. e. by seizing the moment left to him before it should +be too late to act. Thebes and Kyrene were connected by the fact that +members of the Aigid family lived at both places.] + +[Footnote 4: Nereus. Powers of divination and wisdom generally are +often attributed to sea-deities.] + +[Footnote 5: I. e. at Delphi or Pytho. As being the supposed centre of +the Earth it was the place of the worship of the Earth-goddess.] + + + +X. + +FOR HIPPOKLEAS OF THESSALY, + +WINNER IN THE TWO-STADION FOOT-RACE OF BOYS. + + * * * * * + +The only reason we know for the digression about Perseus which +occupies great part of this ode seems to be that Thorax, who engaged +Pindar to write it for Hippokleas, and perhaps Hippokleas himself, +belonged to the family of the Aleuadai, who were descended through +Herakles from Perseus. + +This ode is the earliest entire poem of Pindar's which survives. He +wrote it when he was twenty years old. The simplicity of the style and +manner of composition are significant of this. But there can scarcely +be said to be traces here of Pindar's early tendency in dealing with +mythological allusions to 'sow not with the hand but with the whole +sack,' which Korinna advised him to correct, and which is conspicuous +in a fragment remaining to us of one of his Hymns. + + * * * * * + +Happy is Lakedaimon, blessed is Thessaly: in both there reigneth a +race sprung from one sire, from Herakles bravest in the fight. What +vaunt is this unseasonable? Nay, now, but Pytho calleth me, and +Pelinnaion[1], and the sons of Aleuas who would fain lead forth the +loud voices of a choir of men in honour of Hippokleas. + +For now hath he tasted the joy of games, and to the host of the +dwellers round about hath the valley beneath Parnassos proclaimed him +best among the boys who ran the double race[2]. + +O Apollo, sweet is the end when men attain thereto, and the beginning +availed more when it is speeded of a god. Surely of thy devising were +his deeds: and this his inborn valour hath trodden in the footsteps +of his father twice victor at Olympia in panoply of war-affronting +arms[3]: moreover the games in the deep meadow beneath Kirrha's cliff +gave victory to the fleet feet of Phrikias[4]. + +May good luck follow them, so that even in after days the splendour of +their wealth shall bloom. Of the pleasant things of Hellas they +have no scanty portion to their lot; may they happen on no envious +repentings of the gods. A god's heart, it may be, is painless ever; +but happy and a theme of poet's song is that man who for his valiance +of hands or feet the chiefest prizes hath by strength and courage won, +and in his life-time seen his young son by good hap attaining to the +Pythian crown. Never indeed shall he climb the brazen heaven, but +whatsoever splendours we of mortal race may reach, through such he +hath free course even to the utmost harbourage. But neither by taking +ship, neither by any travel on foot, to the Hyperborean folk shalt +thou find the wondrous way. + +Yet of old the chieftain Perseus entered into their houses and feasted +among them, when that he had lighted on them as they were sacrificing +ample hecatombs of asses to their god. For ever in their feasts and +hymns hath Apollo especial joy, and laugheth to see the braying ramp +of the strange beasts. Nor is the Muse a stranger to their lives, but +everywhere are stirring to and fro dances of maidens and shrill noise +of pipes: and binding golden bay-leaves in their hair they make them +merry cheer. Nor pestilence nor wasting eld approach that hallowed +race: they toil not neither do they fight, and dwell unharmed of cruel +Nemesis. + +In the eagerness of his valiant heart went of old the son of Danae, +for that Athene led him on his way, unto the company of that blessed +folk. Also he slew the Gorgon and bare home her head with serpent +tresses decked, to the island folk a stony death. I ween there is no +marvel impossible if gods have wrought thereto. + +Let go the oar, and quickly drive into the earth an anchor from the +prow, to save us from the rocky reef, for the glory of my song of +praise flitteth like a honey-bee from tale to tale. + +I have hope that when the folk of Ephyra pour forth my sweet strains +by Peneus' side, yet more glorious shall I make their Hippokleas for +his crowns and by my songs among his fellows and his elders, and I +will make him possess the minds of the young maidens. + +For various longings stir secretly the minds of various men; yet each +if he attain to the thing he striveth for will hold his eager desire +for the time present to him, but what a year shall bring forth, none +shall foreknow by any sign. + +My trust is in the kindly courtesy of my host Thorax, of him who to +speed my fortune hath yoked this four-horse car of the Pierides, as +friend for friend, and willing guide for guide. + +As gold to him that trieth it by a touch-stone, so is a true soul +known. + +His noble brethren also will we praise, for that they exalt and make +great the Thessalians' commonwealth. For in the hands of good men +lieth the good piloting of the cities wherein their fathers ruled. + + +[Footnote 1: Hippokleas' birth-place.] + +[Footnote 2: Down the stadion (220 yards) and back.] + +[Footnote 3: I. e. in the race run in full armour, like that at Pytho +which Telesikrates, of Kyrene won, celebrated in the fore-going ode.] + +[Footnote 4: Probably a horse with which Hippokleas' father won a race +at Pytho.] + + + +XI. + +FOR THRASYDAIOS OF THEBES, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' SHORT FOOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The date of this victory was B.C. 478, nearly two years after the +battle of Plataea, and the deliverance of Thebes from Persian +influence and the sway of a tyrannous oligarchy. But beyond this we +have nothing certain to which we can refer the allusions to Theban +affairs, public and private, which we have reason to think present in +the ode. + + * * * * * + +Daughters of Kadmos, thou Semele whose goings are with the queens of +Olympus, and thou Ino Leukothea who housest with the Nereids of the +sea, come ye up with the mother[1] of a mighty son, even of Herakles, +unto the temple of M[)e]lia[2] and into the holy place of the golden +tripods, which beyond all others Loxias hath honoured, and named it +the shrine Ismenian, a truthful seat of seers; where now, O children +of Harmonia, he calleth the whole heroic sisterhood of the soil to +assemble themselves together, that of holy Themis and of Pytho and +the Earth-navel of just judgments ye may sing at early evening, doing +honour to seven-gated Thebes, and to the games at Kirrha, wherein +Thrasydaios hath made his father's house glorious by casting thereon a +third wreath for his victory in the rich cornlands[3] of Pylades, who +was the host of Lakonian Orestes. + +Orestes, on the murder of his father, Arsinoe his nurse saved from the +violent hands of Klytaimnestra and out of the ruinous treason, what +time the daughter of Dardanid Priam, Kassandra, was by the glittering +bronze in company with Agamemnon's soul sped to the shadowy shore of +Acheron by the woman who had no pity. + +Did then the slaughter of Iphigenia far from her own land on Euripos' +shore so sting her mother to the arousal of a wrath of grievous act? +Or had nocturnal loves misguided her, in thraldom to a paramour's +embrace? a sin in new-wed brides most hateful, and that cannot be +hidden for the talk of stranger tongues: for the citizens repeat the +shame. For prosperity must sustain an envy equalling itself: but +concerning the man of low place the rumour is obscure. + +Thus died the hero himself[4], the son of Atreus, when after long +time he came unto famous Amyklai, and drew down with him to death the +maiden prophetess[5], after that he consumed with fire the Trojans' +habitations of softness. + +And thus Orestes, in the tenderness of his youth, came and was the +guest of the old man Strophios, who dwelt at the foot of Parnassos: +but with long-tarrying sword he slew his mother, and left Aigisthos' +body in its blood. + +Verily, my friends, by triple roads of interchanging ways I have wound +about, though heretofore I had kept on a straight track. Or hath some +wind blown me out of my course, as when it bloweth a boat upon the +sea? But thine it is, my Muse, since thou for reward didst promise the +loan thereof, to raise thy voice for silver now on this tale, now +on that, so that for this time at least it is on behalf either of +Thrasydaios or of his sire who conquered at Pytho: for of both are the +joy and glory burning lights. + +Of old for victories in the chariot-race they had bright glory at +Olympia in the famous games for the swiftness of their steeds: and now +have they gone down among the naked runners in the stadion, and have +put to rebuke the host of the Hellenes by their speed. + +God grant me to desire things honourable, seeking things possible in +my life's prime. + +The middle course I find to prosper most enduringly in the +commonwealth, and a state of tyranny I condemn. On well-doing for the +common good[6] I bestow my pains: so are the envious baffled, if one +hath excelled in such acts to the uttermost, and bearing it modestly +hath shunned the perilous reproach of insolence: so also at the end +shall he find black death more gracious unto him, to his dear children +leaving the best of possessions, even the glory of an honourable name. + +This it is that beareth abroad the name of Iolaos in song, and the +names of the mighty Kastor and of thee, king Polydeukes, ye sons of +gods, who one day in Therapnai and the next in Olympus have your +dwelling-place. + + +[Footnote 1: Alkmene.] + +[Footnote 2: Mother of Ismenios and Teucros, by Apollo.] + +[Footnote 3: In Phokis.] + +[Footnote 4: Agamemnon. It is a strange variety of the tale that he +is spoken of as having been murdered at Amyklai and not at Argos or +Mykenai. So above Orestes is called Lakonian.] + +[Footnote 5: Kassandra.] + +[Footnote 6: (Not for a party.)] + + + +XII. + +FOR MIDAS OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE FLUTE-PLAYING MATCH. + + * * * * * + +This is an early ode: the victory was won either in 494 or 450. It +was to be sung, it would seem, at Akragas, and very probably in a +procession to the shrine of the tutelar divinity of the city, with an +address to whom it seemingly begins, though it is difficult to say +what degree of personification is intended. + + * * * * * + +I pray thee, lover of splendour, most beautiful among the cities of +men, haunt of Persephone, thou who by the banks of Akragas' stream +that nourisheth thy flocks, inhabitest a citadel builded pleasantly--O +queen, graciously and with goodwill of gods and men welcome this crown +that is come forth from Pytho for Midas' fair renown; and him too +welcome therewithal who hath overcome all Hellas in the art which once +on a time Pallas Athene devised, when she made music of the fierce +Gorgon's death-lament. + +That heard she pouring from the maiden heads and heads of serpents +unapproachable amidst the anguish of their pains, when Perseus had +stricken the third sister, and to the isle Seriphos and its folk bare +thence their doom. + +Yea also he struck with blindness the wondrous brood of Phorkos[1], +and to Polydektes' bridal brought a grievous gift, and grievous +eternally he made for that man his mother's slavery and ravished bed: +for this he won the fair-faced Medusa's head, he who was the son of +Danae, and sprung, they say, from a living stream of gold. + +But the Maiden[2], when that she had delivered her well-beloved from +these toils, contrived the manifold music of the flute, that with such +instrument she might repeat the shrill lament that reached her from +Euryale's[3] ravening jaws. + +A goddess was the deviser thereof, but having created it for +a possession of mortal men, she named that air she played the +many-headed[4] air, that speaketh gloriously of folk-stirring games, +as it issueth through the thin-beat bronze and the reeds which grow by +the Graces' city of goodly dancing-ground in the precinct of Kephisos' +nymph, the dancers' faithful witnesses. + +But if there be any bliss among mortal men, without labour it is not +made manifest: it may be that God will accomplish it even to-day, yet +the thing ordained is not avoidable: yea, there shall be a time that +shall lay hold on a man unaware, and shall give him one thing beyond +his hope, but another it shall bestow not yet. + + +[Footnote 1: The three Grey Sisters, whose one common eye Perseus +stole, + + [Greek: daenaiai korai + treis kyknomorphoi koinon omm' ektaemenai + monodontes, has outh' haelios prosderketai + aktisin, outh' hae nukteros maenae pote.] + +Aesch. Prom. 813. + +This must mean some kind of twilight, not total darkness, or they +could hardly have missed their eye.] + +[Footnote 2: Athene.] + +[Footnote 3: One of the Gorgons.] + +[Footnote 4: A certain [Greek: nomos aulaetikos] was known by this +name.] + + + +THE NEMEAN ODES. + +I. + +FOR CHROMIOS OF AITNA, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This Chromios was a son of Agesidamos and brother-in-law of Hieron, +and the same man for whom the ninth Nemean was written. He had become +a citizen of Hieron's new city of Aitna, and won this victory B.C. +473. + +This ode seems to have been sung before his house in Ortygia, a +peninsula on which part of Syracuse was built, and in which was the +fountain Arethusa. The legend of Arethusa and Alpheos explains the +epithets of Ortygia with which the ode opens. The greater part of the +ode is occupied with the story of Herakles, perhaps because Chromios +was of the Hyllean tribe and thus traced his descent to Herakles. + + * * * * * + +O resting-place august of Alpheos, Ortygia, scion of famous Syracuse, +thou that art a couch of Artemis and a sister of Delos[1], from thee +goeth forth a song of sweet words, to set forth the great glory of +whirlwind-footed steeds in honour of Aitnaian Zeus. + +For now the car of Chromios, and Nemea, stir me to yoke to his +victorious deeds the melody of a triumphal song. And thus by that +man's heaven-sped might I lay my foundations in the praise of gods. In +good fortune men speak well of one altogether: and of great games the +Muse is fain to tell. + +Sow then some seed of splendid words in honour of this isle, which +Zeus, the lord of Olympus, gave unto Persephone, and bowed his hair +toward her in sign that this teeming Sicily he would exalt to be the +best land in the fruitful earth, with gorgeous crown of citadels. And +the son of Kronos gave unto her a people that wooeth mailed war, a +people of the horse and of the spear, and knowing well the touch of +Olympia's golden olive-leaves. Thus shoot I arrows many, and without +falsehood I have hit the mark. + +And now at the doors of the hall of a hospitable man I stand to sing +a goodly song, where is prepared for me a friendly feast, and not +unwonted in that house are frequent stranger-guests: thus hath he +found good friends to pour a quenching flood on the mouldering fire of +reproach. + +Each hath his several art: but in straight paths it behoveth him to +walk, and to strive hard wherein his nature setteth him. Thus worketh +strength in act, and mind in counsels, when one is born to foresee +what shall come after. In thy nature, son of Agesidamos, are uses both +for this and that. + +I love not to keep hidden in my house great wealth, but to have joy of +that I have, and to have repute of liberality to my friends: for the +hopes of much-labouring men seem to me even as mine. + +Now I to Herakles cleave right willingly, among high deeds of valour +rousing an ancient tale; how that when from his mother's womb the son +of Zeus escaping the birth-pang came quickly into the glorious light +with his twin-brother, not unobserved of Hera did he put on the +saffron swaddling bands; but the queen of gods in the kindling of her +anger sent presently the two snakes, and they when the doors were +opened went right on into the wide bedchamber, hasting to entwine the +children, that they should be a prey to their fierce teeth. + +But the boy lifted up his head upright and was first to essay the +fight, seizing with inevitable grasp of both his hands the two +serpents by the necks, and time, as he strangled them, forced the +breath out of their monstrous forms. + +But a shock unendurable startled the women about Alkmene's bed, yea +and herself too started to her feet from the couch half-robed, and +would fain have beaten back the fierce beasts' violence. + +And quickly ran thronging thither with bronze arms the captains of +the sons of Kadmos; and brandishing in his hand his sword bare of its +sheath came Amphitryon smitten with sharp pain; for everyone alike is +grieved by the ills of his own house, but the heart is soon quit of +sorrow that careth but for another's care. + +And he stood in amazement, and gladness mingled with his fear; for he +saw the marvellous courage and might of his son, since the immortals +had turned to the contrary the saying of the messengers unto him. + +Then he called a man that lived nigh to him, a chosen prophet of the +most high Zeus, Teiresias the true seer: and he set forth to him and +to all his company with what manner of fortune should the child have +his lot cast, how many lawless monsters on the dry land, how many on +the sea he should destroy. + +Others moreover, of men the hatefullest, who walked in guile and +insolence, he prophesied that he should deliver over unto death: +saying that when on Phlegra's plain the gods should meet the giants +in battle, beneath the rush of his arrows their bright hair should be +soiled with earth; but he in peace himself should obtain a reward of +rest from his great toils throughout all time continually within the +house of bliss, and after that he had received fair Hebe to be his +bride, and made his marriage-feast, should remain beside Zeus, the son +of Kronos, well-pleased with his dwelling-place divine. + + +[Footnote 1: I. e. so honoured by Artemis as to rank with her native +Delos.] + + + +II. + +FOR TIMODEMOS OF ATHENS, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + +* * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown. It would seem to have been sung at +Athens on the winner's return home. He belonged to the clan of the +Timodemidai of Salamis, but to the deme of Acharnai. + +As to the nature of the Pankration see Dict. Ant. It was a combination +of wrestling and boxing, probably with wide license of rules. The best +extant illustration of it in sculpture is the famous group of the +Pankratiasts (commonly called the Luttatori) in the Tribune of the +Uffizi at Florence. + + * * * * * + +From the self-same beginning whence the Homerid bards draw out the +linked story of their song, even a prelude calling upon Zeus--so also +Nemeaian Zeus it is in whose far-famous grove this man hath attained +unto laying his first foundation of victory in the sacred games. + +And yet again must the son of Timonooes, if in the way of his fathers' +guiding him straight this age hath given him to be a glory of great +Athens--yet again and often must he pluck the noble flower of Isthmian +games, and in the Pythian conquer. Like is it that not far from the +mountain-brood of Pleiads[1] shall be the rising of Orion. + +Well able verily is Salamis to rear a man of battles: so at Troy was +Hektor aware of Aias; and so now, O Timodemos, art thou glorified by +thy stubborn prowess in the pankration. + +Acharnai of old was famous for its men, and as touching games the +Timodemidai rank there pre-eminent. Beneath Parnassos' lordly height +they won four victories in the games; moreover in the valleys of noble +Pelops they have obtained eight crowns at the hands of the men of +Corinth, and seven at Nemea; and at home more than may be numbered, at +the games of Zeus: + +To whose glory, O citizens, sing for Timodemos a song of triumph, and +bring him in honour home, and chant our prelude tunefully. + + +[Footnote 1: The Pleiads were daughters of Atlas. One victory betokens +another to come, as the rising of a constellation betokens the rising +of its neighbour.] + + + +III. + +FOR ARISTOKLEIDES OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +The date of the victory is unknown: the ode seems to have been written +long afterwards, probably for some anniversary celebration of the +event. + + * * * * * + +O divine Muse, our mother, I pray thee come unto this Dorian isle +Aigina stranger-thronged, for the sacred festival of the Nemean +games[1]: for by the waters of Asopos[2] young men await thee, skilled +to sing sweet songs of triumph, and desiring to hear thy call. + +For various recompense are various acts athirst; but victory in the +games above all loveth song, of crowns and valiant deeds the fittest +follower. Thereof grant us large store for our skill, and to the king +of heaven with its thronging clouds do thou who art his daughter begin +a noble lay; and I will marry the same to the voices of singers and to +the lyre. + +A pleasant labour shall be mine in glorifying this land where of old +the Myrmidons dwelt, whose ancient meeting-place Aristokleides through +thy favour hath not sullied with reproach by any softness in the +forceful strife of the pankration; but a healing remedy of wearying +blows he hath won at least in this fair victory in the deep-lying +plain of Nemea. + +Now if this son of Aristophanes, being fair of form and achieving +deeds as fair, hath thus attained unto the height of manly excellence, +no further is it possible for him to sail untraversed sea beyond the +pillars of Herakles, which the hero-god set to be wide-famed witnesses +of the end of voyaging: for he had overcome enormous wild-beasts on +the seas, and tracked the streams through marshes to where he came to +the goal that turned him to go back homeward, and there did he mark +out the ends of the earth. + +But to what headland of a strange shore, O my soul, art thou carrying +aside the course of my ship? To Aiakos and to his race I charge thee +bring the Muse. Herein is perfect justice, to speak the praise of good +men: neither are desires for things alien the best for men to cherish: +search first at home: a fitting glory for thy sweet song hast thou +gotten there in deeds of ancient valour. + +Glad was King Peleus when he cut him his gigantic spear, he who took +Iolkos by his single arm without help of any host, he who held firm in +the struggle Thetis the daughter of the sea. + +Also the city of Laomedon did mighty Telamon sack, when he fought with +Iolaos by his side, and again to the war of the Amazons with brazen +bows he followed him; neither at any time did man-subduing terror +abate the vigour of his soul. + +By inborn worth doth one prevail mightily; but whoso hath but precepts +is a vain man and is fain now for this thing and now again for that, +but a sure step planteth he not at any time, but handleth countless +enterprises with a purpose that achieveth naught. + +Now Achilles of the yellow hair, while he dwelt in the house of +Philyra[3], being yet a child made mighty deeds his play; and +brandishing many a time his little javelin in his hands, swift as the +wind he dealt death to wild lions in the fight, and boars he slew also +and dragged their heaving bodies to the Centaur, son of Kronos, a six +years' child when he began, and thenceforward continually. And Artemis +marvelled at him, and brave Athene, when he slew deer without dogs or +device of nets; for by fleetness of foot he overcame them. + +This story also of the men of old have I heard: how within his cavern +of stone did deep-counselled Cheiron rear Jason, and next Asklepios, +whom he taught to apportion healing drugs with gentle hand: after this +it was that he saw the espousals of Nereus' daughter of the shining +wrists, and fondling nursed her son, strongest of men, rearing his +soul in a life of harmony; until by blowing of sea winds wafted to +Troy he should await the war-cry of the Lykians and of the Phrygians +and of the Dardanians, cried to the clashing of spears; and joining in +battle with the lancer Ethiops hand to hand should fix this purpose in +his soul, that their chieftain Memnon, Helenos' fiery cousin, should +go back again to his home no more. + +Thenceforward burneth ever a far-shining light for the house of +Aiakos; for thine O Zeus is their blood, even as thine also are the +games whereat my song is aimed, by the voice of the young men of the +land proclaiming aloud her joy. For victorious Aristokleides hath well +earned a cheer, in that he hath brought new renown to this island, and +to the Theoroi[4] of the Pythian god, by striving for glory in the +games. + +By trial is the issue manifest, wherein may one be more excellent than +his fellows, whether among boys a boy, or among men a man, or in the +third age among elders, according to the nature of our mortal race. +Four virtues doth a long life bring, and biddeth one fit his thought +to the things about him[5]. From such virtues this man is not far. + +Friend, fare thee well: I send to thee this honey mingled with white +milk, and the dew of the mixing hangeth round about it, to be a drink +of minstrelsy distilled in breathings of Aiolian flutes; albeit it +come full late. + +Swift is the eagle among the birds of the air, who seizeth presently +with his feet his speckled prey[6], seeking it from afar off; but in +low places dwell[7] the chattering daws. To thee at least, by the will +of throned Kleio, for sake of thy zeal in the games, from Nemea and +from Epidauros and from Megara hath a great light shined. + + +[Footnote 1: I. e. commemorating the Nemean games and the victories +obtained by citizens of Aigina there.] + +[Footnote 2: There seems to have been a stream of this name in Aigina, +as well as in Boeotia.] + +[Footnote 3: Cheiron's mother.] + +[Footnote 4: Sent from Aigina to Apollo's temple at Delphi.] + +[Footnote 5: This is very obscure: Boeckh said that the longer he +considered it the more obscure it became to him. Donaldson 'is +inclined to think that Pindar is speaking with reference to the +Pythagorean division of virtue into four species, and that he assigns +one virtue to each of the four ages of human life (on the same +principle as that which Shakespeare has followed in his description of +the seven ages) namely temperance as the virtue of youth, courage of +early manhood, justice of mature age, and prudence of old age.'] + +[Footnote 6: Snakes.] + +[Footnote 7: Or 'on vile things feed.'] + + + +IV. + +FOR TIMASARCHOS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown: we can only infer, from the way in +which Athens is spoken of, that it was written before the war between +that state and Aigina. It seems to have been sung on the winner's +return home, very likely in a procession through the streets. + + * * * * * + +Best of physicians for a man's accomplished toil is festive joy: +and the touch of songs, wise daughters of the Muses, hath power of +comforting. Less doth warm water avail to bathe limbs for soothing +than words of praise married to the music of the lyre. For speech is +longer-lived than act, whensoever by favour of the Graces the tongue +hath drawn it forth out of the depth of the heart. + +Be it the prelude of my hymn to dedicate it to Zeus the son of Kronos, +and to Nemea, and to the wrestling of Timasarchos; and may it have +welcome in the Aiakids' stronghold of goodly towers, the common light +of all, which aideth the stranger with justice[1]. + +Now if thy sire Timokritos were still cheered by the quickening sun, +full oft with music manifold of the lute would he have bent him unto +this my theme, and sounded a hymn for the fair triumphs that +have brought thee a chain of wreaths, even from the games of the +Kleonaians[2] now, and erewhile from the bright and famous Athens, and +at seven-gated Thebes: for beside Amphitryon's splendid sepulchre the +sons of Kadmos nothing loth sprinkled the winner with flowers for +Aigina's sake. For thither as a friend to friends he came, though to a +city not his own, and abode in the fortunate hall of Herakles. + +With Herakles on a time did mighty Telamon destroy the city of Troy, +and the Meropes, and the man of war, the great and terrible Alkyoneus, +yet not until by hurling of stones he had subdued twelve four-horse +chariots, and horse-taming heroes twice so many thereupon. Unversed in +battles must he be who understandeth not this tale, for whoso will do +aught is like to suffer also. + +But to tell the tale at length custom forbiddeth me, and the +constraining hours: and a love-spell draweth me to put forth my hand +to the feast of the new moon. + +Albeit the deep brine of the sea hold thee even to thy waist, +nevertheless bear bravely up against conspirings; assuredly shall +we shine forth above our enemies as we sail home in open day; while +another man of envious eye turneth about in darkness an empty purpose +that falleth to the ground. For me I know certainly that whatsoever +excellence Fate that is our lord hath given me, time creeping onward +will bring to its ordained fulfilment. + +Weave then this woof too presently, sweet my lute, a strain with +Lydian harmony that shall be dear to Oinone[3], and to Cyprus, where +Teukros, son of Telamon, holdeth rule in a new land. + +But Aias hath the Salamis of his father: and in the Euxine Sea +Achilles hath a shining isle, and at Phthia hath Thetis power, and +Neoptolemos in wide Epeiros, where cattle-pasturing headlands, from +Dodona onwards, slope forward to the Ionian Sea. And beside the foot +of Pelion did Peleus set his face against Iolkos, and deliver it over +to be a servant to the Haimones, after that he had proved the guileful +counsels of Hippolyte, Akastos' wife. + +For by (stealing) his sword of cunning workmanship the son[4] of +Pelias prepared death for him in an ambush; but Cheiron delivered him +out of his hand; and thus he fulfilled the destiny ordained him of +Zeus, and having escaped the violence of the fire and the dauntless +lion's claws exceeding keen, and the bitings of teeth most +terrible[5], he espoused one of the Nereids high-enthroned, and beheld +the circle of fair seats whereon were sitting the kings of heaven and +of the sea, as they revealed unto him their gifts, and the kingdom +that should be unto him and unto his seed. + +Nightward[6] beyond Gadeira none may pass. Turn back again to the +mainland of Europe the tackle of our ship; for it were impossible for +me to go through unto the end all the tale of the sons of Aiakos. + +For the Theandrid clan came I a ready herald of games that make men's +limbs wax strong, to Olympia and to Isthmos, and to Nemea according +to my promise, where having put themselves to the proof they are +returning homeward, not without wreaths whose fruitage is renown; and +there report hath told us, O Timasarchos, that thy clan's name is +preeminent in songs of victory. + +Or if further for thy mother's brother Kallikles thou biddest me set +up a pillar whiter than Parian stone, lo as the refining of gold +showeth forth all his splendours, so doth a song that singeth a +man's rare deeds make him as the peer of kings. Let Kallikles in his +dwelling beside Acheron find in my tongue a minstrel of his praise, +for that at the games[7] of the deep-voiced wielder of the trident +his brows were green with parsley of Corinth; of him, boy, did +Euphaenes, thy aged grandsire, rejoice erewhile to sing. + +Each hath his own age-fellow; and what each hath seen for himself that +may he hope to set forth best of all. How for Melesias'[8] praise +must such an one grapple in the strife, bending the words beneath his +grasp, yielding not his ground as he wrestleth in speech, of gentle +temper toward the good, but to the froward a stern adversary. + + +[Footnote 1: Aigina. See Ol viii. 21; Pyth. viii. 22.] + +[Footnote 2: Kleonai was very near Nemea, and the Kleonaians were for +a long time managers of the Nemean games.] + +[Footnote 3: Seemingly the same personage as Aigina.] + +[Footnote 4: Akastos.] + +[Footnote 5: Thetis, resisting her wooer Peleus, changed herself into +fire and wild beasts. See Dict. Myth.] + +[Footnote 6: Westward.] + +[Footnote 7: The Isthmian games.] + +[Footnote 8: Timasarchos' trainer in wrestling. He is here praised in +terms borrowed from the wrestling-school.] + + + +V. + +FOR PYTHEAS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is uncertain. The winner's brother Phylakidas, +gained the two victories, also in the pankration, which are celebrated +in the fourth and fifth Isthmians. + + * * * * * + +No statuary I, that I should fashion images to rest idly on their +pedestals, nay but by every trading-ship and plying boat forth from +Aigina fare, sweet song of mine, and bear abroad the news, how that +Lampon's son, the strong-limbed Pytheas, hath won at Nemea the +pankratiast's crown, while on his cheeks he showeth not as yet the +vine-bloom's mother, mellowing midsummer. + +So to the warrior heroes sprung from Kronos and Zeus and from the +golden nymphs, even to the Aiakidai, hath he done honour, and to the +mother-city, a friendly field to strangers. That she should have issue +of goodly men and should be famous in her ships, this prayed they of +old, standing beside the altar of their grandsire, Zeus Hellenios, and +together stretched forth their hands toward heaven, even the glorious +sons of Endais[1] and the royal strength of Phokos, the goddess-born, +whom on the sea-beach Psamatheia[2] bare. Of their deed portentous and +unjustly dared I am loth to tell, and how they left that famous isle, +and of the fate that drove the valiant heroes from Oinone. I will make +pause: not for every perfect truth is it best that it discover its +face: silence is oft man's wisest thought. + +But if the praise of good hap or of strength of hand or of steel-clad +war be my resolve, let one mark me a line for a long leap hence: in +my knees I have a nimble spring: even beyond the sea the eagles wing +their way. + +With goodwill too for the Aiakidai in Pelion sang the Muses' choir +most fair, and in the midst Apollo playing with golden quill upon his +seven-toned lyre led them in ever-changing strains. They first of all +from Zeus beginning sang of holy Thetis and of Peleus, and how that +Kretheus' dainty daughter Hippolyte would fain have caught him by her +wile, and persuaded his friend the king of the Magnetes her husband by +counsels of deceit, for she forged a lying tale thereto devised, how +that he essayed to go in unto her in Akastos' bridal bed. But the +truth was wholly contrary thereto, for often and with all her soul she +had besought him with beguiling speech; but her bold words vexed his +spirit; and forthwith he refused the bride, fearing the wrath of the +Father who guardeth host and guest. And he, the cloud-compelling Zeus +in heaven, the immortal's king, was aware thereof, and he promised +him that with all speed he would find him a sea-bride from among the +Nereids of golden distaffs, having persuaded thereto Poseidon, their +kinsman by his marriage, who from Aigai to the famous Dorian Isthmus +cometh oftentimes, where happy troops with the reed-flute's noise +welcome the god, and in bold strength of limb men strive. + +The fate that is born with a man is arbiter of all his acts. Thou, +Euthymenes[3], at Aigina falling into the goddess victory's arms didst +win thee hymns of subtle strain: yea and now too to thee, O Pytheas, +who art his kinsman of the same stock and followest in his footsteps, +doth thy mother's brother honour. Nemea is favourable unto him, and +the month[4] of his country that Apollo loveth: the youth that came +to strive with him he overcame, both at home and by Nisos' hill of +pleasant glades[5]. I have joy that the whole state striveth for +glory. Know that through Menander's[6] aid thou hast attained unto +sweet recompense of toils. And meet it is that from Athens a fashioner +of athletes come. + +But if thou comest to Themistios[7], to sing of him, away with chill +reserve, shout aloud, hoist to the top-yard of the mast the sail, and +tell how in the boxing and the pankration at Epidauros he won a double +prize of valour, and to the portals of Aiakos bare fresh wreaths of +flowers, led by the Graces of the yellow hair. + + +[Footnote 1: Wife of Aiakos and mother of Peleus and Telamon. They +killed Phokos.] + +[Footnote 2: A sea-nymph, mother of Phokos by Aiakos.] + +[Footnote 3: Maternal uncle of Pytheas.] + +[Footnote 4: The month called in Aigina Delphinios (April-May) when +the Nemean games took place.] + +[Footnote 5: At Megara] + +[Footnote 6: Pytheas' trainer, an Athenian.] + +[Footnote 7: Maternal grandfather of Pytheas.] + + + +VI. + +FOR ALKIMIDAS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown, but from the mention of the trainer +Melesias it has been inferred that it was among Pindar's later works. +It would seem to have been sung at Aigina, perhaps at some feast of +the Bassid clan given in honour of the victory. + + * * * * * + +One race there is of men and one of gods, but from one mother[1] draw +we both our breath, yet is the strength of us diverse altogether, +for the race of man is as nought, but the brazen heaven abideth, a +habitation steadfast unto everlasting. + +Yet withal have we somewhat in us like unto the immortals' bodily +shape or mighty mind, albeit we know not what course hath Destiny +marked out for us to run, neither in the daytime, neither in the +night. + +And now doth Alkimidas give proof that it is with his kindred as with +fruitful fields: for they in turn now yield to man his yearly bread +upon the plains, and now again they pause, and gather back their +strength[2]. + +From the pleasant meeting-places of Nemea hath the athlete boy come +back, who following the ordinance[3] of Zeus hath now approved him no +baffled hunter in his wrestling-quest, and hath guided his feet by +the foot-prints of Praxidamas, his father father, of whose blood he +sprang. + +For Praxidamas also by his Olympian victory first won olive-wreath +from Alpheos for the Aiakidai, and five times been crowned at Isthmos, +and at Nemea thrice, he took away thereby the obscurity of Sokleides, +who was the eldest of the sons of Agesimachos[4]. + +For these three-warriors attained unto the topmost height of prowess, +of all who essayed the games, and by grace of God to no other house +hath the boxing-match given keeping of so many crowns in this inmost +place of all Hellas. I deem that though my speech be of high sound I +yet shall hit the mark, as it were an archer shooting from a bow. + +Come, Muse, direct thou upon this house a gale of glorious song: for +after that men are vanished away, the minstrel's story taketh up their +noble acts, whereof is no lack to the Bassid clan; old in story is the +race and they carry cargo of home-made renown, able to deliver into +the Muses' husbandmen rich matter of song in honour of their lofty +deeds. + +For at sacred Pytho in like wise did a scion of the same stock +overcome, with the thong of the boxer bound about his hand, even +Kallias in whom were well-pleased the children of Leto of the golden +distaff, and beside Kastaly in the evening his name burnt bright, when +the glad sounds of the Graces rose. + +Also the Bridge[5] of the untiring sea did honour unto Kreontidas at +the triennial sacrifice of bulls by the neighbour states in the holy +place of Poseidon; and once did the herb[6] of the lion shadow his +brows for a victory won beneath the shadeless primal hills of Phlious. + +Wide avenues of glory are there on every side for chroniclers to +draw nigh to do honour unto this isle: for supreme occasion have the +children of Aiakos given them by the showing forth of mighty feats. + +Over land and beyond the sea is their name flown forth from afar: even +unto the Ethiopians it sprang forth, for that Memnon came not home: +for bitter was the battle that Achilles made against him, having +descended from his chariot upon the earth, what time by his fierce +spear's point he slew the son of the bright Morn. + +And herein found they of old time a way wherein to drive their car: +and I too follow with my burden of song: and all men's minds, they +say, are stirred the most by whatsoever wave at the instant rolleth +nearest to the mainsheet of the ship. + +On willing shoulders bear I this double load, and am come a messenger +to proclaim this honour won in the games that men call holy to be the +five-and-twentieth that the noble house of Alkimidas hath shown forth: +yet were two wreaths in the Olympian games beside the precinct of +Kronion denied to thee, boy, and to Polytimidas, by the fall of the +lot[7]. + +Peer of the dolphin hurrying through the brine--such would I call +Melesias[8] by whom thy hands and strength were guided, as a chariot +by the charioteer. + + +[Footnote 1: Earth.] + +[Footnote 2: The ancients understood little of the rotation of crops, +and often let their fields lie fallow alternate years.] + +[Footnote 3: Of the celebrity of alternate generations.] + +[Footnote 4: The order of descent was: Agesimachos, Sokleides, +Praxidamas, Theon, Alkimidas. Of these the first, third, and fifth, +were distinguished athletes, the others not.] + +[Footnote 5: The Isthmos.] + +[Footnote 6: The parsley which grew near the lair of the Nemean lion.] + +[Footnote 7: This can hardly mean, as some commentators take it, +the drawing of any particular tie; for if better men than any given +competitor were entered for the match, his defeat would be inevitable +whether they were encountered sooner or later.] + +[Footnote 8: Alkimidas' trainer.] + + + +VII. + +FOR SOGENES OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE BOYS' PENTATHLON. + + * * * * * + +This victory was probably won B.C. 462. The ode would seem to be full +of allusions, which however we cannot with any certainty explain. It +is partly occupied with the celebration of Achilles' son Neoptolemos, +and Pindar seems anxious to repel the charge of having on some +occasion depreciated that hero. + + * * * * * + +O Eileithuia that sittest beside the deep-counselling Moirai, child of +the mighty Hera, thou who bringest babes to the birth, hearken unto +us! Without thee looked we never on the light or on the darkness of +the night, nor came ever unto her who is thy sister, even Hebe of the +comely limbs. + +But we receive our breath not all for a like life; each to his several +lot is kept apart by the yoke of fate. + +Now by thy grace hath Sogenes the son of Thearion been foremost +in prowess, and his glory is sung aloud among the winners of the +five-game prize. + +For he is a dweller in a city that loveth song, even this city of the +spear-clashing sons of Aiakos, and exceeding fain are they to cherish +a spirit apt for the strife of the games. + +If a man have good hap in his attempt, he throweth into the Muses' +stream sweet cause of song: for even deeds of might for lack of song +fall into deep darkness, and in but one way have we knowledge of a +mirror for fair deeds, if by the grace of Mnemosyne of the shining +fillet they attain unto a recompense of toils by the sound of voice +and verse. + +Wise shipmates know that the wind which tarrieth shall come on the +third day, nor throw away their goods through greed of more[1]: the +rich and the poor alike fare on their way to death. + +Now I have suspicion that the fame of Odysseus is become greater +than his toils, through the sweet lays that Homer sang; for over the +feigning of his winged craft something of majesty abideth, and the +excellence of his skill persuadeth us to his fables unaware. + +Blind hearts have the general folk of men; for could they have +discovered the truth, never would stalwart Aias in anger for the arms +have struck through his midriff the sharp sword--even he who after +Achilles was best in battle of all men whom, to win back his bride for +fair-haired Menelaos, the fair breeze of straight-blowing Zephyros +wafted in swift ships toward Ilos' town. + +But to all men equally cometh the wave of death, and falleth on the +fameless and the famed: howbeit honour ariseth for them whose fair +story God increaseth to befriend them even when dead, whoso have +journeyed to the mighty centre-stone of wide-bosomed earth. + +There now beneath the floor of Pytho lieth Neoptolemos, dying there +when he had sacked the city of Priam where the Danaoi toiled with him. +He sailing thence missed Skyros, and they wandered till they came to +Ephyra, and in Molossia he was king for a little while: howbeit his +race held this state[2] continually. Then was he gone to the god's +home[3], carrying an offering of the chief spoils from Troy: and there +in quarrel concerning meats a man smote him with a knife. + +Thereat were the Delphian entertainers of strangers grieved +exceedingly: nevertheless he but paid a debt to destiny: for it was +needful that in that most ancient grove someone of the lords the sons +of Aiakos should abide within thenceforward, beside the goodly walls +of the god's house, and that when with plenteous sacrifice the +processions do honour to the heroes, he should keep watch that fair +right be done. Three words shall be enough: when he presideth over the +games there is no lie found in his testimony thereof. + +O thou Aigina, of thy children that are of Zeus I have good courage to +proclaim that as of inheritance they claim the path to glory, through +splendour of their valorous deeds: howbeit in every work a rest is +sweet, yea even of honey cometh surfeit and of the lovely flowers of +Love. + +Now each of us is in his nature diverse, and several are the lots +of life we draw, one this and one another: but that one man receive +perfect bliss, this is impossible to men. I cannot find to tell of any +to whom Fate hath given this award abidingly. + +To thee, Thearion[4], she giveth fair measure of bliss, first daring +in goodly deeds, and then understanding and sound mind. Thy friend am +I, and I will keep far from the man I love the secret slander, and +bring nigh unto him praise and true glory, as it were streams of +water: for meet is such recompense for the good. + +If there be near me now a man of the Achaians who dwelleth far up the +Ionian sea, he shall not upbraid me: I have faith in my proxeny[5]: +and among the folk of my own land I look forth with clear gaze, having +done naught immoderate, and having put away all violence from before +my feet. So let the life that remaineth unto me run cheerly on. + +He who knoweth shall say if indeed I come with slanderous speech upon +my lips to strike a jarring note. To thee, Sogenes of the house of the +sons of Euxenos, I swear that without overstepping the bound I have +sent forth the swift speech of my tongue as it were a bronze-headed +javelin, such as saveth from the wrestling the strong neck sweatless +yet, or ever the limbs be plunged in the sun's fire[6]. + +If toil there were, delight more abundant followeth after. Let be; if +somewhat over far I soared when I cried aloud, yet am I not froward, +that I should deny his glory unto one that conquereth. + +The weaving of wreaths is an easy thing: tarry a little: behold the +Muse fasteneth together gold and white ivory, and a lily flower +withal, that she hath plucked from beneath the deep sea's dew[7]. + +Of Zeus be mindful when thou tellest of Nemea, and guide the +multitudinous voices of our song with a quiet mind: meet is it that +with gentle voice we celebrate in this land the king of gods: for +they tell how he begat Aiakos of a mortal mother, to be for his own +fortunate land a ruler of cities, and for thee, Herakles, a loving +friend and brother. + +And if man receiveth aught from man, then may we say that neighbour +is to neighbour a joy worth all else, if he loveth him with steadfast +soul: now if even a god will consent hereto, then in such bond with +thee, O conqueror of the giants[8], is Sogenes fain to dwell happily +in the well-built sacred street of his ancestors, cherishing a mind of +tenderness toward his sire: for as when four horses are yoked together +in a car, so hath he his house in the midst of thy holy places, and +goeth in unto them both on the right hand and on the left[9]. + +O blessed spirit, thine is it to win hereto the husband of Hera, and +the grey-eyed maid[10]; and thou art able to give to mortals strength +ever and again against baffling perplexities. Make thou to cleave to +them[11] a life of steadfast strength, and wind the bliss thereof amid +both youth and a serene old age, and may their children's children +possess continually the honours that they now have, and greater in the +time to come. + +Never shall my heart confess that I have outraged Neoptolemos with +irreclaimable words. But thrice and four times to tell over the same +tale is emptiness in the end thereof, even as he of the proverb that +babbleth among children how that Korinthos was the son of Zeus[12]. + + +[Footnote 1: Retaining the reading [Greek: hupo kerdei balon]. I +conjecture it to mean, 'do not in their eagerness for trade choose an +unfavourable and dangerous time for their voyage, but wait for the +[Greek: kairos], the right opportunity.'] + +[Footnote 2: The kingdom of Epeiros. Pyrrhos, the invader of Italy, +called himself a descendant of Neoptolemos (who was also called +Pyrrhos).] + +[Footnote 3: Delphi.] + +[Footnote 4: Father of Sogenes.] + +[Footnote 5: Pindar would seem to have been [Greek: proxenos] at +Thebes for some state of Epeiros, to which fact he appeals as a proof +that he stood well with the Epirot descendants of Neoptolemos.] + +[Footnote 6: The Pentathlon was composed of five contests, namely, +the jump, throwing the disk, throwing the javelin, the foot-race, and +wrestling. The prize was for the best man in three contests out of the +five. These came in the order in which they are enumerated above; thus +if the best javelin-thrower had already won two of the other matches +he would not be challenged to wrestle, as the prize of the Pentathlon +would be already his. Very probably this had been the case with +Sogenes, so that it would naturally occur to Pindar thus allusively to +expand his not unfrequent comparison of his own art of poetry to that +of a javelin-thrower or archer. On the Pentathlon may be consulted +an article by Professor Percy Gardner in the _Journal of Hellenic +Studies_ for October, 1880; and also Smith's _Dictionary of +Antiquities_ (revised edition).] + +[Footnote 7: Coral.] + +[Footnote 8: Herakles.] + +[Footnote 9: Thearion's house seems to have had a shrine, or at least +some sacred ground, of Herakles at each side of it, so that he might +regard that hero as his neighbour.] + +[Footnote 10: Athene.] + +[Footnote 11: Thearion and Sogenes.] + +[Footnote 12: A proverbial equivalent for vain and wearisome +repetition.] + + + +VIII. + +FOR DEINIS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE SHORT FOOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown. It was probably sung before the +shrine of Aiakos at Aigina. + + * * * * * + +Spirit of beautiful youth, thou herald of Aphrodite's loves ambrosial, +who on the eyes of girl or boy alighting, with tenderly constraining +hands dost handle one, but other otherwise--it is enough if one not +swerving from the true aim, in his every act prevail to attain to the +fulfilment of his worthier loves. + +Such loves were they that waited on the bridal-bed of Zeus and Aigina, +and were dispensers unto them of the Cyprian's[1] gifts: and thence +sprang there a son[2] to be king of Oinone[3], in might of hand and in +counsel excellent, and many a time did many pray that they might look +on him: for the chosen among the heroes that dwelt around him were +fain of their own will to submit them unto his sovereignty, both whoso +in rocky Athens were leaders of the host, and at Sparta the children +of Pelops. + +So Aiakos' holy knees clasp I a suppliant for a city well-beloved and +for these citizens, and I bear a Lydian crown wrought cunningly with +the sound of song, a glory out of Nemea for two races run, of Deinis +and of his father Meges. + +Behold, the happiness that is planted with the favour of God is most +abiding among men; even such as once in the isle of Cyprus loaded +Kinyras with riches. + +With poised feet I stand, and take breath for a little ere I speak. +For much and in many ways hath been said ere now; and the contriving +of new things and putting them to the touchstone to be tried is +perilous altogether. + +In words find the envious their dainties: envy fasteneth ever on the +good, and careth not to strive against the base. + +Yea thus did envy slay the son of Telamon, thrusting him through with +his own sword. Verily if one be of stout heart but without gift of +speech, such an one is a prey unto forgetfulness in a bitter strife, +and to the shiftiness of lies is proffered the prize of the greatest. +For in the secret giving of their votes the Danaoi courted Odysseus, +and thus did Aias, robbed of the golden arms, wrestle in the grip of a +bloody death. + +Yet diverse verily were the strokes wherewith those twain had cloven +the warm flesh of the foe, what time they bare up the war against the +hedge of spears, whether about Achilles newly slain, or in whatsoever +labours else of those wide-ruining days. + +Thus was there even of old the treacherous speech of hate, that +walketh with the subtleties of tales, intent on guile, slander that +breedeth ill: so doth it violence on the thing that shineth, and +uplifteth the rottenness of dim men's fame. + +Never in me be this mind, O our father Zeus, but to the paths of +simplicity let me cleave throughout my life, that being dead I may set +upon my children a name that shall be of no ill report. + +For gold some pray, and some for limitless lands: mine be it amid my +townsfolk's love to shroud my limbs in earth, still honouring where +honour is due, and sowing rebuke on the evildoers. + +Thus groweth virtue greater, uplifted of the wise and just, as when a +tree watered by fresh dew shooteth toward the moist air on high. + +Manifold are the uses of friends, chiefest truly amid the press of +toil, yet doth joy also desire to behold his own assurance.[4] + +Ah Meges, to bring back thy spirit to earth is to me impossible, and +of empty hopes the end is naught. Yet for thy house and the clan of +Chariadai I can upraise a lofty column of song in honour of these two +pairs of fortunate feet[5]. + +I have joy to utter praise meet for the act, for by such charms of +song doth a man make even labour a painless thing. Yet surely was +there a Komos-song even of old time, yea before strife began between +Adrastos and the sons of Kadmos[6]. + + +[Footnote 1: Aphrodite.] + +[Footnote 2: Aiakos.] + +[Footnote 3: Aigina.] + +[Footnote 4: Through celebration in song, which a friendly poet can +give.] + +[Footnote 5: Of Meges and Deinis.] + +[Footnote 6: The invention of encomiastic hymns was attributed by +legend to the time of the expedition of Adrastos and the other six +against Thebes.] + + + +IX. + +FOR CHROMIOS OF AITNA, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This ode is placed by usage among the Nemeans, but the victory was not +won at Nemea, but at Sikyon, in the local games called Pythian. Its +date is unknown: it must have been after the founding of Aitna, B.C. +476. Probably the ode was sung in a procession at Aitna, some length +of time after the victory. The Chromios is the Chromios of the first +Nemean, Hieron's brother-in-law. + + * * * * * + +From Apollo at Sikyon will we lead our triumph forth, ye Muses, unto +the new-made city of Aitna, where doors are opened wide to greet the +invading guests, even to the fortunate house of Chromios. Come claim +for him a song of sweetness: for he goeth up into the chariot of his +victory, and biddeth us sing aloud to the mother[1] and her twin +children who keep watch over high Pytho in fellowship. + +Now there is a saying among men, that one hide not in silence on the +ground a good deed done: and meet for such brave tales is divine song. + +Therefore will we arouse the pealing lyre and rouse the flute, in +honour of the very crown of all contests of steeds, which Adrastos in +honour of Phoibos ordained beside Asopos' stream. + +Whereof when I make mention with voiceful honour I will celebrate +withal the Hero[2], who then being king in that place did by the +founding of a new feast and struggles of the strength of men and of +carven cars make his city known abroad and glorious. + +For he was flying before Amphiaraos of bold counsels, and before a +dangerous civil strife, from Argos and his father's house: for no +longer were the sons of Talaos lords therein, for a sedition had +thrust them forth. The stronger man endeth the contention that hath +been before. + +But when they had given to the son of Oikleus for his wife, as one +should give surety of an oath, Eriphyle, the slayer of her husband, +they became the greatest of the fair-haired Danaoi. So thereafter led +they on a time against seven-gated Thebes a host of men, but not by a +road of signs propitious: nor would the son of Kronos speed them on +their mad journey from their homes, but by the quivering lightnings he +darted forth he bade them hold from their road[3]. + +But unto a revealed calamity hasted that company to go forth with +bronze shields and the gear of steeds; and on the banks of Ismenos, +stayed from their sweet return, they fed the white smoke with their +bodies. + +For seven pyres devoured the young men's limbs, but for Amphiaraos +Zeus by almighty thunderbolt clave the deep-breasted earth, and buried +him with his steeds, or ever the warrior's soul should be shamed by +the smiting of him in the back by Periklymenos' spear. For when the +terror cometh of heaven, then flee even the sons of gods. + +If it be possible, O son of Kronos, this trial of valour against +Phenician spears[4] for life or death I would fain defer unto the +utmost: and I beg of thee to grant unto the sons of the men of Aitna +for long time a portion in good laws, and to make their people to +dwell among glories that the citizens have won. Men are there here +that love steeds and that have souls above desire of wealth. Hard of +credence is the word I have spoken; for the spirit of honour which +bringeth glory is stolen secretly by lust of gain. + +Hadst thou been shield-bearer to Chromios among foot and horse and in +fightings of ships, thou hadst judged concerning his jeopardy in the +fierce fray, for in war did that divine honour stir his warrior-soul +to ward off havoc of Enyalios. Few are there who may prevail by +strength or valour to contrive a turning of the cloud of imminent +death against the ranks of the enemy. Howbeit they tell how Hektor's +glory flowered beside Skamander's streams, and thus on the steep +cliffs of Heloros' banks[5], where men call the ford the Fountain of +Ares, hath this light shined for Agesidamos' son in the beginning of +his praise. + +And other deeds on other days will I declare, many done amid the dust +on the dry land, and yet others on the neighbouring sea. Now out of +toils which in youth have been done with righteousness there ripeneth +toward old age a day of calm. + +Let Chromios know that he hath from the gods a lot of wondrous bliss. +For if one together with much wealth have won him glorious renown, it +is impossible that a mortal's feet touch any further mountain-top. + +The banquet loveth peace, and by a gentle song a victory flourisheth +afresh, and beside the bowl the singer's voice waxeth brave. Let one +mix it now, that sweet proclaimer of the triumphal song, and in silver +goblets hand the grapes' potent child, even the goblets which for +Chromios his mares erst won, and sent to him from sacred Sikyon, +entwined with well-earned crowns of Leto's son. + +Now claim I, father Zeus, to have well sung this excellent deed by aid +of the Charites, and beyond many to do honour to this victory by my +words, for the javelin that I throw falleth nearest to the Muses' +mark. + + +[Footnote 1: Leto.] + +[Footnote 2: Adrastos.] + +[Footnote 3: Lightning and thunder were often an encouraging sign +(there is an instance in the fourth Pythian), but this would depend on +the manner of them.] + +[Footnote 4: War with the Carthaginians, who were still threatening +the Hellenic colonists in Sicily, in spite of their recent defeat.] + +[Footnote 5: About B.C. 492 a battle was fought on the Heloros between +the Syracusans and the army of Hippokrates, tyrant of Gela.] + + + +X. + +FOR THEAIOS OF ARGOS, + +WINNER IN THE WRESTLING-MATCH. + + * * * * * + +This ode, like the last, is improperly called Nemean. It commemorates +a victory won at the feast of the Hekatombaia at Argos. The date is +unknown. + + * * * * * + +The city of Danaos and of his fifty bright-throned daughters, Argos +the home of Hera, meet abode of gods, sing Graces! for by excellencies +innumerable it is made glorious in the deeds of valiant men. + +Long is the tale of Perseus[1], that telleth of the Gorgon Medusa: +many are the cities in Egypt founded by the hands of Epaphos[2]: +neither went Hypermnestra's choice astray when she kept sheathed her +solitary sword[3]. + +Also their Diomedes did the grey-eyed goddess make incorruptible and +a god: and at Thebes, the earth blasted by the bolts of Zeus received +within her the prophet[4], the son of Oikleus, the storm-cloud of war. + +Moreover in women of beautiful hair doth the land excel. Thereto in +days of old Zeus testified, when he followed after Alkmene and after +Danae. + +And in the father of Adrastos and in Lynkeus did Argos mingle ripe +wisdom with upright justice: and she reared the warrior Amphitryon. +Now he came to the height of honour in his descendants, for in bronze +armour he slew the Teleboai, and in his likeness the king of the +immortals entered his hall, bearing the seed of fearless Herakles, +whose bride in Olympos is Hebe, who by the side of her mother, the +queen of marriage, walketh of all divinities most fair. + +My tongue would fail to tell in full the honours wherein the sacred +Argive land hath part: also the distaste[5] of men is ill to meet. Yet +wake the well-strung lyre, and take thought of wrestlings; a strife +for the bronze shield stirreth the folk to sacrifice of oxen unto Hera +and to the issue of games, wherein the son of Oulias, Theaios, having +overcome twice, hath obtained forgetfulness of the toils he lightly +bore. + +Also on a time at Pytho he was first of the Hellenic host, and won +crowns at Isthmos and at Nemea, led thither by fair hap, and gave work +for the Muses' plough by thrice winning at the Gates[6] of the Sea and +thrice on the famous plains in the pastures of Adrastos' home[7]. Of +that he longeth for, O Father Zeus, his mouth is silent, with thee are +the issues of deeds: but with a spirit strong to labour and of a good +courage he prayeth thy grace. Both Theaios, and whosoever struggleth +in the perfect consummation of all games, know this, even the +supremacy of the ordinance of Herakles that is holden at Pisa[8]: yet +sweet preluding strains are those that twice have welcomed his triumph +at the festival of the Athenians: and in earthenware baked in the +fire, within the closure of figured urns, there came among the goodly +folk of Hera[9] the prize of the olive fruit[10]. + +On the renowned race of thy mother's sires there waiteth glory of +games by favour of the Graces and the sons of Tyndareus together. Were +I kinsman of Thrasyklos and Antias I would claim at Argos not to hide +mine eyes. For with how many victories hath this horse-breeding city +of Proitos flourished! even in the Corinthian corner and from the +men of Kleonai[11] four times, and from Sikyon they came laden with +silver, even goblets for wine, and out of Pellene clad in soft woof of +wool[12]. But to tell over the multitude of their prizes of bronze is +a thing impossible--to count them longer leisure were needed--which +Kleitor and Tegea and the Achaians' high-set cities and the Lykaion +set for a prize by the race-course of Zeus for the conquerors by +strength of hands or feet. + +And since Kastor and his brother Polydeukes came to be the guests +of Pamphaes[13], no marvel is it that to be good athletes should be +inborn in the race. For they[14] it is who being guardians of the wide +plains of Sparta with Hermes and Herakles mete out fair hap in games, +and to righteous men they have great regard. Faithful is the race of +gods. + +Now, changing climes alternately, they dwell one day with their dear +father Zeus, and the next in the secret places under the earth, within +the valleys of Therapnai, fulfilling equal fate: because on this wise +chose Polydeukes to live his life rather than to be altogether god and +abide continually in heaven, when that Kastor had fallen in the fight. + +Him did Idas, wroth for his oxen, smite with a bronze spearhead, when +from his watch upon Taygetos Lynkeus had seen them sitting within a +hollow oak; for he of all men walking the earth had keenest eyes. So +with swift feet they were straightway come to the place, and compassed +speedily a dreadful deed[15]. + +But terrible also was the vengeance which by the devising of Zeus +those sons[16] of Aphareus suffered: for on the instant came Leto's +son[17] in chase of them: and they stood up against him hard by the +sepulchre of their father. Thence wrenched they a carved headstone +that was set to glorify the dead, and they hurled it at the breast of +Polydeukes. But they crushed him not, neither made him give back, +but rushing onward with fierce spear he drave the bronze head into +Lynkeus' side. And against Idas Zeus hurled a thunderbolt of consuming +fire. + +So were those brothers in one flame[18] burnt unbefriended: for a +strife with the stronger is grievous for men to mix in. + +Then quickly came back the son of Tyndareus[19] to his great brother, +and found him not quite dead, but the death-gasp rattled in his +throat. Then Polydeukes wept hot tears, and groaned, and lifted up his +voice, and cried: 'Father Kronion--ah! what shall make an end of woes? +Bid me, me also, O king, to die with him. The glory is departed from +a man bereaved of friends. Few are they who in a time of trouble are +faithful in companionship of toil.' + +Thus said he, and Zeus came, and stood before his face, and spake +these words: 'Thou art my son: but thy brother afterward was by mortal +seed begotten in thy mother of the hero that was her husband. But +nevertheless, behold I give thee choice of these two lots: if, +shunning death and hateful old age, thou desirest for thyself to dwell +in Olympus with Athene and with Ares of the shadowing spear, this lot +is thine to take: but if in thy brother's cause thou art so hot, and +art resolved in all to have equal share with him, then half thy time +thou shalt be alive beneath the earth, and half in the golden house of +heaven.' + +Thus spake his father, and Polydeukes doubted not which counsel he +should choose. So Zeus unsealed the eye, and presently the tongue +also, of Kastor of the brazen mail. + + +[Footnote 1: Son of the Argive Danae.] + +[Footnote 2: Son of the Argive Io.] + +[Footnote 3: Or perhaps: 'Neither were Hypermnestra's story misplaced +here, how she, &c.'] + +[Footnote 4: Amphiaraos.] + +[Footnote 5: Disgust at hearing anything profusely praised.] + +[Footnote 6: At Corinth, in the Isthmian games.] + +[Footnote 7: Nemea.] + +[Footnote 8: The Olympic games.] + +[Footnote 9: The Argives.] + +[Footnote 10: The Athenian prize seems to have been an olive-bough in +a vase of burnt clay.] + +[Footnote 11: Near Nemea.] + +[Footnote 12: I. e. with prizes of cloaks.] + +[Footnote 13: An ancestor of Theaios. Probably he had given Theoxenia. +See Ol. III.] + +[Footnote 14: Kastor and Polydeukes.] + +[Footnote 15: They slew Kastor.] + +[Footnote 16: Idas and Lynkeus.] + +[Footnote 17: Polydeukes.] + +[Footnote 18: Either of the thunderbolt, or of a funeral-pile.] + +[Footnote 19: Both brothers were nominally sons of Tyndareus, but +really only Kastor was: Polydeukes was a son of Zeus.] + + + +XI. + +FOR ARISTAGORAS OF TENEDOS, + +ON HIS ELECTION TO THE PRESIDENCY OF THE SENATE. + + * * * * * + +This ode again was written neither for a Nemean nor for any other +athletic victory, but for the [Greek: eisitaeria] or initiatory +ceremonies at the election of a new [Greek: prytanis] of Tenedos. The +Prytanis would seem to have been a kind of President of the Senate. +The date is unknown. + + * * * * * + +Daughter of Rhea, who hast in thy keeping the city halls[1], O +Hestia! sister of highest Zeus and of Hera sharer of his throne, with +good-will welcome Aristagoras to thy sanctuary, with good-will also +his fellows[2] who draw nigh to thy glorious sceptre, for they +in paying honour unto thee keep Tenedos in her place erect, by +drink-offerings glorifying thee many times before the other gods, and +many times by the savour of burnt sacrifice; and the sound of their +lutes is loud, and of their songs: and at their tables never-failing +are celebrated the rites of Zeus, the stranger's friend. + +So with fair fame and unvexed heart may Aristagoras fulfil his +twelve-month term. + +Blessed among men I count his father Arkesilas, and himself for his +splendid body and his heritage of a dauntless heart. + +But if any man shall possess wealth, and withal surpass his fellows in +comely form, and in games have shown his strength to be the best, let +such an one remember that his raiment is upon mortal limbs, and that +the earth shall be his vesture at the end. + +Yet in good words of his fellow-citizens is it meet that his praise be +told, and that we make his name comely with notes of honey-sounding +song. + +Now among the neighbouring peoples sixteen illustrious victories have +crowned Aristagoras and his famous clan in the wrestling-match and +in the pankration of weighty honour. But hopes too diffident of his +parents kept back the might of their son from essaying the Pythian or +Olympian strife: yet verily by the God of Truth I am persuaded that +both at Castaly and at the tree-clad hill of Kronos, had he gone +thither, he should have turned back home with more honour than any of +his rivals who had striven with him, when that he had kept the fifth +year's feast[3] ordained of Herakles with dance and song, and with the +shining shoots had bound his hair. + +But thus among mortals is one cast down from weal by empty boasts, +while another through overmuch mistrusting of his strength is robbed +of his due honours, for that a spirit of little daring draggeth him +backward by the hand. + +This were an easy thing to divine, that Peisander's[4] stock was from +Sparta in the time of old (for from Amyklai he came[5] with Orestes, +bringing hither an army of Aiolians in bronze mail): and also that the +blood of his mother's brother Melanippos was blended with Ismenos' +stream[6]. + +The virtues of an old descent repeat their vigour uncertainly in the +generations of men. Neither doth the black-soiled tilth bring forth +fruit continually, neither will the trees be persuaded to bear with +every year's return a fragrant flower of equal wealth, but in their +turns only. Thus also doth destiny lead on the race of mortals. From +Zeus there cometh no clear sign to men: yet nevertheless we enter on +high counsels, and meditate many acts: for by untameable hope our +bodies are enthralled: but the tides of our affairs are hidden from +our fore-knowledge. Meet is it to pursue advantage moderately: +fiercest is the madness that springeth from unappeasable desires. + + +[Footnote 1: The sacred fire of the state, over which Hestia watched, +was kept in the Prytaneion.] + +[Footnote 2: The other Senators.] + +[Footnote 3: The Olympic.] + +[Footnote 4: Ancestor of Aristagoras and head of his clan.] + +[Footnote 5: 'In the loins of his father.'] + +[Footnote 6: I. e. a Theban alliance.] + + + +THE ISTHMIAN ODES. + + +I. + +FOR HERODOTOS OF THEBES. + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is unknown. We gather from the first strophe that +Pindar was engaged at the time to write an ode in honour of the Delian +Apollo to be sung at Keos, but that he put this off in order first to +write the present ode in honour of a victory won for his own native +state of Thebes. + + * * * * * + +O mother, Thebe of the golden shield, thy service will I set even +above the matter that was in my hand. May rocky Delos, whereto I am +vowed, be not therefore wroth with me. Is there aught dearer to the +good than noble parents? + +Give place O Apollonian isle: these twain fair offices, by the grace +of God, will I join together in their end, and to Phoibos of the +unshorn hair in island Keos with men of her sea-race will I make my +choral song, and therewithal this other for the sea-prisoning cliffs +of Isthmos. + +For six crowns hath Isthmos given from her games to the people of +Kadmos, a fair glory of triumph for my country, for the land wherein +Alkmene bare her dauntless son, before whom trembled aforetime the +fierce hounds of Geryon. + +But I for Herodotos' praise am fain to do honour unto his four-horsed +car, and to marry to the strain of Kastoreian or Iolaic song the fame +that he hath earned, handling his reins in his own and no helping +hand. + +For these Kastor and Iolaos were of all heroes the mightiest +charioteers, the one to Lakedaimon, the other born to Thebes. And at +the games they entered oftenest for the strife, and with tripods and +caldrons and cups of gold they made fair their houses, attaining unto +victorious crowns: clear shineth their prowess in the foot-race, run +naked or with the heavy clattering shield; and when they hurled the +javelin and the quoit: for then was there no five-fold game[1], but +for each several feat there was a prize. Oft did they bind about their +hair a crowd of crowns, and showed themselves unto the waters of Dirke +or on Eurotas' banks[2], the son of Iphikles a fellow-townsman of +the Spartoi's race, the son of Tyndareus inhabiting the upland +dwelling-place of Therapna[3] among the Achaians. + +So hail ye and farewell: I on Poseidon and holy Isthmos, and on the +lake-shores of Onchestos will throw the mantle of my song, and will +among the glories of this man make glorious also the story of his +father Asopodoros' fate, and his new country Orchomenos, which, when +he drave ashore on a wrecked ship, harboured him amid his dismal +hap[4]. But now once more hath the fortune of his house raised him up +to see the fair days of the old time: and he who hath suffered pain +beareth forethought within his soul. + +If a man's desire be wholly after valour, and he give thereto both +wealth and toil, meet is it that to such as attain unto it we offer +with ungrudging heart high meed of praise. For an easy gift it is for +a son of wisdom[5], by a good word spoken in recompense for labour +manifold to set on high the public fame. For diverse meeds for diverse +works are sweet to men, to the shepherd and to the ploughman, to the +fowler and to him whom the sea feedeth--howbeit all those strive but +to keep fierce famine from their bellies; but whoso in the games or in +war hath won delightful fame, receiveth the highest of rewards in fair +words of citizens and of strangers. + +Us it beseemeth to requite the earth-shaking son of Kronos, who is +also neighbour unto us, and to sound his praise as our well-doer, +who hath given speed to the horses of our car, and to call upon thy +sons[6], Amphitryon, and the inland dwelling[7] of Minyas, and the +famous grove of Demeter, even Eleusis, and Euboia with her curving +race-course. And thy holy place, Protesilas, add I unto these, built +thee at Phylake by Achaian men. + +But to tell over all that Hermes lord of games hath given to Herodotos +by his horses, the short space of my hymn alloweth not. Yea and full +oft doth the keeping of silence bring forth a larger joy. + +Now may Herodotos, up-borne upon the sweet-voiced Muse's shining +wings, yet again with wreaths from Pytho and choice wreaths from +Alpheos from the Olympian games entwine his hand, and bring honour +unto seven-gated Thebes. + +Now if one at home store hidden wealth, and fall upon other men to +mock them, this man considereth not that he shall give up his soul to +death having known no good report. + + +[Footnote 1: The Pentathlon. See Introduction to Ol. xiii, and note on +Nem. vii, p. 129.] + +[Footnote 2: Rivers were [Greek: kourotrophoi] (nurturers of youth), +and thus young men who had achieved bodily feats were especially bound +to return thanks to the streams of their native places.] + +[Footnote 3: In Lakonia.] + +[Footnote 4: Asopodoros seems to have been banished from Thebes and +kindly received in his banishment by Orchomenos.] + +[Footnote 5: Here, as elsewhere probably in the special sense of a +poet.] + +[Footnote 6: Herakles and Iolaos.] + +[Footnote 7: Orchomenos.] + + + +II. + +FOR XENOKRATES OF AKRAGAS, + +WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. + + * * * * * + +This is the same winner for whom the sixth Pythian ode was written. +Its date would seem to be 476, while that of the sixth Pythian +was 494. Yet the opening passage of this ode seems to imply that +Xenokiates' son Thrasyboulos was still little more than a boy, whereas +in 494 he had been old enough to be his father's charioteer, and this +would be eighteen years later. But perhaps the passage is only an +allusion to Thrasyboulos' boyhood as a time past. And certainly both +Xenokrates and his brother Theron seem to be spoken of in this ode as +already dead, and we know that Theron did not die till 473. Perhaps +therefore Thrasyboulos was celebrating in 472 the anniversary of his +deceased father's victory, four years after the victory itself. + + * * * * * + +The men of old, Thrasyboulos, who went up into the Muse's car to give +welcome with the loud-voiced lyre, lightly for honour of boys shot +forth their honey-sounding songs, whensoever in one fair of form was +found that sweetest summer-bloom that turneth hearts to think on +fair-throned Aphrodite. + +For then the Muse was not yet covetous nor a hireling, neither were +sweet lays tender-voiced sold with silvered faces by Terpsichore of +honeyed speech. But now doth she bid heed the word of the Argive +man[1] which keepeth nigh to the paths of truth: + +'Money, money maketh man,' he said, when robbed of goods at once and +friends. + +Forasmuch as thou art wise it is nothing hidden to thee that I sing, +while I do honour to the Isthmian victory won by speed of horses, +which to Xenokrates did Poseidon give, and sent to him a wreath of +Dorian parsley to bind about his hair, a man of goodly chariot, a +light of the people of Akragas. + +Also at Krisa did far-prevailing Apollo look upon him, and gave him +there too glory: and again when he attained unto the crowns of the +Erectheidai in shining Athens he found no fault in the chariot-saving +hand of the man Nikomachos who drave his horses, the hand wherewith in +the instant of need he bare on all the reins[2]. + +Moreover the heralds of the seasons[3], the Elean truce-bringers +of Zeus the son of Kronos, recognized him, having met belike with +hospitality from him, and in a voice of dulcet breath they gave him +greeting for that he had fallen at the knees of golden Victory in +their land which men call the holy place of Olympic Zeus, where the +sons[4] of Ainesidamos attained unto honour everlasting. + +For no stranger is your house, O Thrasyboulos, to pleasant shouts +of triumph, neither to sweet-voiced songs. For not uphill neither +steep-sloped is the path whereby one bringeth the glories of the +Helikonian maidens to dwell with famous men. + +By a far throw of the quoit may I hurl even so far as did Xenokrates +surpass all men in the sweetness of his spirit. In converse with +citizens was he august, and upheld horse-racing after the Hellenes' +wont: also worshipped he at all festivals of the gods, nor ever did +the breeze that breathed around his hospitable board give him cause to +draw in his sail, but with the summer-gales he would fare unto Phasis, +and in his winter voyage unto the shores of Nile[5]. + +Let not Thrasyboulos now, because that jealous hopes beset the mind +of mortals, be silent concerning his father's prowess, nor from these +hymns: for not to lie idle have I devised them. That message give him, +Nikesippos, when thou comest unto my honoured friend. + + +[Footnote 1: Aristodemos.] + +[Footnote 2: I. e. either tightened the near or slackened the off +reins to the utmost in turning the goal, or perhaps, gave full rein to +his horses between each turn or after the final one.] + +[Footnote 3: The heralds who proclaimed throughout Hellas the approach +of the Olympic games, and an universal solemn truce during their +celebration.] + +[Footnote 4: Theron, the tyrant of Akragas, and Xenokrates.] + +[Footnote 5: Metaphorically, in the extent of his hospitality.] + + + +III. + +FOR MELISSOS OF THEBES, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is uncertain, though some on the hypothesis that +the battle alluded to is the battle of Plataiai, have dated it 478 +or 474. In this battle, whatever it was, the Kleonymid clan to which +Melissos belonged had lost four men. The celebrity of the clan in the +games seems to have been eclipsed for some time, but Melissos revived +it by a chariot-victory at Nemea and this pankration-victory at the +Isthmus, won in spite of his small stature which might have seemed to +place him at a disadvantage. The ode compares his match against his +antagonists with that of Herakles against the African giant Antaios. + +Very probably this ode was sung at a night meeting of the clan, while +the altars of Herakles were blazing. + + * * * * * + +If any among men having good fortune and dwelling amid prizes of +renown or the power of wealth restraineth in his heart besetting +insolence, this man is worthy to have part in his citizens' good +words. + +But from thee, O Zeus, cometh all high excellence to mortals; and +longer liveth their bliss who have thee in honour, but with minds +perverse it consorteth never steadfastly, flourishing throughout all +time. + +In recompense for glorious deeds it behoveth that we sing the valiant, +and amid his triumphal company exalt him with fair honours. Of two +prizes is the lot fallen to Melissos, to turn his heart unto sweet +mirth, for in the glens of Isthmos hath he won crowns, and again +in the hollow vale of the deep-chested lion being winner in the +chariot-race he made proclamation that his home was Thebes. + +Thus shameth he not the prowess of his kinsmen. Ye know the ancient +fame of Kleonymos with the chariot: also on the mother's side being +akin to the Labdakidai his race hath been conversant with riches, and +bestowed them on the labours of the four-horse car. + +But time with rolling days bringeth changes manifold: only the +children of gods are free of wounds. + +By grace of God I have ways countless everywhere open unto me[1]: for +thou hast shown forth to me, O Melissos, in the Isthmian games an +ample means to follow in song the excellence of thy race: wherein the +Kleonymidai flourish continually, and in favour with God pass onward +through the term of mortal life: howbeit changing gales drive all men +with ever-changing drift. + +These men verily are spoken of as having honour at Thebes from the +beginning, for that they cherished the inhabitants round about, and +had no part in loud insolence; if there be borne about by the winds +among men aught of witness to the great honour of quick or dead, unto +such have they attained altogether. By the brave deeds of their house +they have touched the pillars of Herakles, that are at the end of +things. Beyond that follow thou no excellence. + +Horse-breeders moreover have they been, and found favour with mailed +Ares; but in one day the fierce snow-storm of war hath made a happy +hearth to be desolate of four men. + +But now once more after that wintry gloom hath it blossomed, even as +in the flowery months the earth blossometh with red roses, according +to the counsels of gods. + +For the Shaker of Earth who inhabiteth Onchestos and the Bridge[2] +between seas that lieth before the valley of Corinth, now giveth to +the house this hymn of wonder, and leadeth up out of her bed the +ancient glory of the famous deeds thereof: for she was fallen on +sleep; but she awaketh and her body shineth preeminent, as among stars +the Morning-star. + +For in the land of Athens proclaiming a victory of the car, and at +Sikyon at the games of Adrastos did she give like wreaths of song for +the sons of Kleonymos that then were. For neither did they refrain to +contend with the curved chariot in the great meetings of the people, +but they had delight to strive with the whole folk of Hellas in +spending their wealth on steeds. + +Touching the unproven there is silence, and none knoweth them: yea and +even from them that strive Fortune hideth herself until they come unto +the perfect end; for she giveth of this and of that. + +The better man hath been ere now overtaken and overthrown by the craft +of worse. Verily ye know the bloody deed of Aias, that he wrought +beneath the far-spent night, when he smote himself through with his +own sword, whereby he upbraideth yet the children of the Hellenes, as +many as went forth to Troy. + +But lo! Homer hath done him honour among men, and by raising up his +excellence in the fulness thereof hath through the rod[3] of his +divine lays delivered it to bards after him to sing. + +For the thing that one hath well said goeth forth with a voice unto +everlasting: over fruitful earth and beyond the sea hath the light of +fair deeds shined, unquenchable for ever. + +May we find favour with the Muses, that for Melissos too we kindle +such beacon-blaze of song, a worthy prize of the pankration for this +scion of Telesias' son. + +He being like unto the roaring lions in courage taketh unto him their +spirit to be his own in the struggle: but in sleight he is as the fox +that spreadeth out her feet[4] and preventeth the swoop of the eagle: +for all means must be essayed by him that would prevail over his foe. +For not of the stature of Orion was this man, but his presence is +contemptible, yet terrible is he to grapple with in his strength. + +And verily once to the house of Antaios came a man to wrestle against +him, of short stature but of unbending soul, from Kadmean Thebes even +unto corn-bearing Libya, that he might cause him to cease from roofing +Poseidon's temple with the skulls of strangers--even the son of +Alkmene, he who ascended up to Olympus, after that he had searched out +the surface of the whole earth and of the crag-walled hoary sea, +and had made safe way for the sailing of ships. And now beside the +aegis-bearer he dwelleth, possessing happiness most fair, and hath +honour from the immortals as their friend, and hath Hebe to wife, and +is lord of a golden house, and husband of Hera's child. + +Unto his honour upon the heights Elektrai we of this city prepare a +feast and new-built altar-ring, where we offer burnt sacrifice in +honour of the eight mail-clad men that are dead, whom Megara, Kreon's +daughter, bore to be sons of Herakles. + +To them at the going down of the day there ariseth a flame of fire and +burneth all night continually, amid a savoury smoke hurling itself +against the upper air: and on the second day is the award of the +yearly games, a trial of strength. + +Therein did this our man, his head with myrtle-wreaths made white, +show forth a double victory, after another won already among the boys, +for that he had regard unto the many counsels of him who was the pilot +of his helm[5]. And with Orseas' name I join him in my triumphal song, +and shed over them a glory of delight. + + +[Footnote 1: 'Many themes on which I can justly praise the clan.'] + +[Footnote 2: The Isthmus.] + +[Footnote 3: The rod or staff carried anciently by poets and reciters +of poems.] + +[Footnote 4: I. e. throwing herself on her back with feet upward. If +it is meant that she counterfeits death, then of course the parallel +with the pankratiast will only hold good to the extent of the supine +posture.] + +[Footnote 5: His trainer, Orseas.] + + + +IV. + +FOR PHYLAKIDAS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +This Phylakidas was a son of Lampon, and a brother of the Pytheas for +whom the fifth Nemean was written. This ode must have been written +shortly after the battle of Salamis, probably B.C. 478, and was to +be sung at Aigina, perhaps at a festival of the goddess Theia who is +invoked at the beginning. She, according to Hesiod, was the mother +of the Sun, the Moon, and the Morning, and was also called [Greek: +Euruphaessa] and [Greek: chruse], from which latter name perhaps came +her association with gold and wealth. + + * * * * * + +Mother of the Sun, Theia of many names, through thee it is that men +prize gold as mighty above all things else: for ships that strive upon +the sea and horses that run in chariots, for the honour that is of +thee, O queen, are glorified in swiftly circling struggle. + +And that man also hath won longed-for glory in the strife of games, +for whose strong hand or fleet foot abundant wreaths have bound his +hair. Through God is the might of men approved. + +Two things alone there are that cherish life's bloom to its utmost +sweetness amidst the fair flowers of wealth--to have good success and +to win therefore fair fame. Seek not to be as Zeus; if the portion +of these honours fall to thee, thou hast already all. The things of +mortals best befit mortality. + +For thee, Phylakidas, a double glory of valour is at Isthmos stored, +and at Nemea both for thee and for Pytheas a pankratiast's crown. + +Not without the sons of Aiakos will my heart indite of song: and in +company of the Graces am I come for sake of Lampon's sons to this +commonwealth of equal laws[1]. If then on the clear high road of +god-given deeds she hath set her feet, grudge not to mingle in song a +seemly draught of glory for her toil. + +For even the great men of old that were good warriors have profited of +the telling of their tale, and are glorified on the lute and in the +pipe's strains manifold, through immeasurable time: and to the cunning +in words[2] they give matter by the grace of Zeus. + +Thus by their worship with the blaze of burnt-offerings among +Aitolians have the mighty sons[3] of Oineus honour, and at Thebes +Iolaos the charioteer, and at Argos Perseus, and by the streams of +Eurotas Polydeukes and Kastor's spear: + +But in Oinone the great souls of Aiakos and his sons, who after much +fighting twice sacked the Trojans' town, first when they went with +Herakles, and again with the sons of Atreus. + +Now drive me upward still; say who slew Kyknos, and who Hektor, and +the dauntless chief of Ethiop hosts, bronze-mailed Memnon. What man +was he who with his spear smote noble Telephos by Kaikos' banks? Even +they whose home my mouth proclaimeth to be Aigina's glorious isle: +a tower is she, builded from long ago, to tempt the climb of +high-adventuring valour. + +Many arrows hath my truthful tongue in store wherewith to sound +the praises of her sons: and even but now in war might Aias' city, +Salamis, bear witness thereto in her deliverance by Aigina's seamen +amid the destroying tempest of Zeus, when death came thick as hail on +the unnumbered hosts. Yet let no boast be heard. Zeus ordereth this or +that, Zeus, lord of all. + +Now in pleasant song even these honours also of the games welcome the +joy for a fair victory. Let any strive his best in such, who hath +learnt what Kleonikos' house can do. Undulled is the fame of their +long toil, nor ever was their zeal abated by any counting of the cost. + +Also have I praise for Pytheas, for that he guided aright[4] the +course of Phylakidas' blows in the struggle of hands that bring limbs +low, an adversary he of cunning soul. + +Take for him a crown, and bring the fleecy fillet, and speed him on +his way with this new winged hymn. + + +[Footnote 1: Aigina.] + +[Footnote 2: Poets.] + +[Footnote 3: Meleager and his brothers.] + +[Footnote 4: Pytheas had given his brother example, and very probably +precept also, in the pankration.] + + + +V. + +FOR PHYLAKIDAS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +This ode seems to be of earlier date than the last, though placed +after it in our order. The occasion is similar. Probably it was sung +at a banquet at Lampon's house. + + * * * * * + +As one may do amid merry revel of men, so mingle we a second time the +bowls of Muses' melody in honour of Lampon's athlete progeny. + +Our first, O Zeus, was unto thee, when at Nemea we[1] won thy +excellent crown, and now is this second unto the lord[2] of Isthmos +and unto the fifty daughters of Nereus, for that Phylakidas the +youngest son is winner in the games. And be it ours to make ready yet +a third for the Saviour[3], the Olympian one, and in honour of Aigina +make libation of our honey-speaking song. + +For if a man rejoice to suffer cost and toil, and achieve god-builded +excellence, and therewithal fate plant for him fair renown, already +at the farthest bounds of bliss hath such an one cast anchor, for the +glory that he hath thereby from God. With such desires prayeth the +son[4] of Kleonikos that he may fulfil them ere he meet death or hoary +eld. + +Now I call on high-throned Klotho and her sister Fates to draw nigh +unto the praying of the man I love. + +And upon you also, golden-charioted seed of Aiakos, I say it is clear +law to me to shed the dew of my good words, what time I set my foot[5] +upon this isle. + +For innumerable hundred-foot[6] straight roads are cleft for your +fair deeds to go forth, beyond the springs of Nile, and through the +Hyperboreans' midst: neither is any town so barbarous and strange +of speech that it knoweth not the fame of Peleus, that blissful +son-in-law of gods, or of Aias son of Telamon, and of Aias' sire; whom +unto brazen war an eager ally with Tirynthian men Alkmene's son took +with him in his ships to Troy, to the place of heroes' toil, to take +vengeance for Laomedon's untruth. + +There did Herakles take the city of Pergamos, and with help of Telamon +slew the nations of the Meropes, and the herdsman whose stature was as +a mountain, Alkyoneus whom he found at Phlegrai, and spared not of his +hands the terrible twanging bowstring. + +But when he went to call the son of Aiakos to the voyage he found the +whole company at the feast. And as he stood there in his lion's skin, +then did Telamon their chief challenge Amphitryon's son of the mighty +spear to make initiative libation of nectar, and handed on unto him +the wine-cup rough with gold. + +And Herakles stretched forth to heaven his invincible hands and spake +on this wise: 'If ever, O father Zeus, thou hast heard my prayer with +willing heart, now, even now, with strong entreaty I pray thee that +thou give this man a brave child of Eriboia's womb, that by award of +fate my friend may gain a son of body as staunch[7] as this hide that +hangeth about me, which was of the beast that I slew at Nemea, first +of all my labours; and let his soul be of like sort.' + +And when he had thus spoken, the god sent forth the king of birds, +a mighty eagle, and sweet delight thrilled him within, and he spake +aloud as a seer speaketh: 'Behold, the son whom thou askest shall +be born unto thee, O Telamon:' also after the bird's name that had +appeared unto them he said that the child's name should be the mighty +Aias[8], terrible in the strife of warring hosts: so he spake, and +sate him down straightway. + +But for me it were long to tell all those valiant deeds. For for +Phylakidas am I come, O Muse, a dispenser of thy triumphal songs, and +for Pytheas, and for Euthymenes[9]; therefore in Argive fashion my +tale shall be of fewest words. + +Three victories have they won in the pankration of Isthmos, and others +at leafy Nemea, even these noble sons and their mother's brother: how +fair a portion of song have they brought to light! yea and they water +with the Charites' delicious dew their clan of the Psalychidai, and +have raised up the house of Themistios, and dwell here in a city which +the gods love well. + +And Lampon, in that he bestoweth practice on all he doth, holdeth +in high honour the word of Hesiod which speaketh thereof[10], and +exhorteth thereunto his sons, whereby he bringeth unto his city a +general fame: and for his kind entreating of strangers is he loved, to +the just mean aspiring, to the just mean holding fast; and his tongue +departeth not from his thoughts: and among athlete men he is as the +bronze-grinding Naxian whetstone amid stones[11]. + +Now will I give him to drink of the holy water of Dirke, which +golden-robed Mnemosyne's deep-girdled daughters made once to spring +out of the earth, beside the well-walled gates of Kadmos. + + +[Footnote 1: I. e. Pytheas. See Nem. v.] + +[Footnote 2: Poseidon.] + +[Footnote 3: [Greek: Zeus Sotaer], to whom the third cup at a feast +was drunk. He is here invoked also to give a third victory to the +family at the Olympic games.] + +[Footnote 4: Lampon.] + +[Footnote 5: Figuratively said, as elsewhere.] + +[Footnote 6: A hundred feet wide, seemingly.] + +[Footnote 7: Not 'invulnerable.' A magic invulnerability was only +attributed to heroes by later legend.] + +[Footnote 8: From [Greek: aietos] an eagle.] + +[Footnote 9: Maternal uncle of Pytheas and Phylakidas.] + +[Footnote 10: [Greek: melete de ergon ophellei]. Opp. 411.] + +[Footnote 11: I. e. he stimulates their zeal and skill. The Naxian +whetstone seems to be emery.] + + + +VI. + +FOR STREPSIADES OF THEBES, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +The date of this ode is not fixed, but it has been supposed that the +battle referred to--apparently a defeat--in which the winner's uncle +was killed was the battle of Oinophyta, fought B.C. 457. But this, and +the notion that the democratic revolution at Thebes is referred to, +are only conjectures. + + * * * * * + +Wherewithal of the fair deeds done in thy land, O divine Thebe, hath +thy soul had most delight? Whether when thou broughtest forth to the +light Dionysos of the flowing hair, who sitteth beside Demeter to whom +the cymbals clang? or when at midnight in a snow of gold thou didst +receive the mightiest of the gods, what time he stood at Amphitryon's +doors and beguiled his wife, to the begetting of Herakles? Or when +thou hadst honour in the wise counsels of Teiresias, or in Iolaos the +cunning charioteer, or the unwearied spears of the Spartoi? or when +out of the noise of the strong battle-cry thou sentest Adrastos home +to horse-breeding Argos, of his countless company forlorn? or when +thou madest the Dorian colony of the men of Lakedaimon stand upright +upon its feet[1], and the sons of Aigeus thy progeny took Amyklai, +according to the oracles of Pytho? + +Nay, but the glory of the old time sleepeth, and mortals are unmindful +thereof, save such as married to the sounding stream of song attaineth +unto the perfect meed that wisdom[2] giveth. New triumph now lead for +Strepsiades with melodious hymn: for at Isthmos hath he borne away the +pankratiast's prize. Wondrous in strength is he, and to look upon of +goodly shape, and his valour is such as shameth not his stature. + +So shineth he forth by grace of the Muses iris-haired, and to his +uncle of like name hath he given to share his crown, for albeit +bronze-shielded Ares gave him over unto death, yet remaineth there for +the valiant a recompense of renown. For let whoso amid the cloud of +war from his beloved country wardeth the bloody shower, and maketh +havoc in the enemy's host, know assuredly that for the race of his +fellow-citizens he maketh their renown wax mightily, yea when he is +dead even as while he was yet alive. + +So didst thou, son[3] of Diodotos, following the praise of the warrior +Meleagros, and of Hektor, and of Amphiaraos, breathe forth the spirit +of thy fair-flowering youth amid the company of fighters in the front, +where the bravest on slenderest hopes bare up the struggle of war. + +Then suffered I a pang unspeakable, but now hath the earth-grasper[4] +granted unto me a calm after the storm: I will set chaplets on my hair +and sing. Now let no jealousy of immortals mar whatever sweet thing +through a day's pursuit I follow, as it leadeth on up to old age, and +unto the term of life appointed. + +For all we in like manner die, albeit our lots be diverse. If any lift +up his eye to look upon things afar off, yet is he too weak to attain +unto the bronze-paved dwelling of the gods. Thus did winged Pegasos +throw his lord Bellerophon, when he would fain enter into the heavenly +habitations and mix among the company of Zeus. Unrighteous joyance a +bitter end awaiteth. + +But to us, O Loxias of the golden-flowing hair, give also at thy +Pythian games a new fair-flowering crown. + + +[Footnote 1: The Theban Aigidai helped the mythical 'return of the +Herakleidai.'] + +[Footnote 2: Wisdom of bards.] + +[Footnote 3: Strepsiades the uncle.] + +[Footnote 4: Poseidon.] + + + +VII. + +FOR KLEANDROS OF AIGINA, + +WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. + + * * * * * + +All that we can be certain of as to the date of this ode is that it +was written soon after the final expulsion of the Persians. From the +first strophe we learn that Kleandros had won a Nemean as well as an +Isthmian victory, and perhaps this ode really belongs to the former. +It was to be sung, it seems, before the house of Telesarchos the +winner's father, at Aigina. + + * * * * * + +For Kleandros in his prime let some of you, ye young men, go stand +before the shining portal of his father Telesarchos, and rouse a song +of triumph, to be a glorious recompense of his toils, for that he hath +achieved reward of victory at Isthmos, and hath showed his strength in +the games of Nemea. + +For him I also, albeit heavy at heart[1], am bidden to call upon the +golden Muse. Yea since we are come forth from our sore troubles let +us not fall into the desolation of crownlessness, neither nurse our +griefs; but having ease from our ills that are past mending, we will +set some pleasant thing before the people, though it follow hard on +pain: inasmuch as some god hath put away from us the Tantalos-stone +that hung above our heads, a curse intolerable to Hellas. + +But now hath the passing of this terror ended my sore disquietude, and +ever it is better to look only on the thing hard by. For the guile of +time hangeth above the heads of men, and maketh the way of their life +crooked, yet if Freedom abide with them, even such things may mortals +cure. + +But it is meet that a man cherish good hope: and meet also that I, +whom seven-gated Thebes reared, proffer chiefly unto Aigina the +choicest of the Graces' gifts, for that from one sire were two +daughters[2] born, youngest of the children of Asopos, and found +favour in the eyes of the king Zeus. + +One by the fair stream of Dirke he set to be the queen of a city of +charioteers, and thee the other he bare to the Oinopian isle, and lay +with thee, whence to the sire of great thunderings thou didst bear the +godlike Aiakos, best of men upon the earth. + +This man even among divinities became a decider of strife: and his +godlike sons and his sons' sons delighting in battle were foremost in +valour when they met in the ringing brazen melley: chaste also were +they approved, and wise of heart. + +Thereof was the god's council mindful, what time for the hand of +Thetis there was strife between Zeus and glorious Poseidon, each +having desire that she should be his fair bride, for love had obtained +dominion over them. + +Yet did not the wisdom of the immortal gods fulfil for them such +marriage, when they had heard a certain oracle. For Themis of wise +counsels spake in the midst of them of how it was pre-destined that +the sea-goddess should bear a royal offspring mightier than his +father, whose hand should wield a bolt more terrible than the +lightning or the dread trident, if she came ever into the bed of Zeus, +or of brethren of Zeus. + +'Cease ye herefrom: let her enter a mortal's couch and see her son +fall in war, who shall be as Ares in the might of his hands, and as +the lightning in the swiftness of his feet. My counsel is that ye give +her to be the heaven-sent prize of Peleus son of Aiakos, whom the +speech of men showeth to be their most righteous, an offspring of +Iolkos' plain. Thus straightway let the message go forth to Cheiron's +cave divine, neither let the daughter of Nereus put a second time +into your hands the ballot-leaves of strife. So on the evening of the +mid-month moon shall she unbind for the hero the fair girdle of her +virginity.' + +Thus spake the goddess her word to the children of Kronos, and they +bowed their everlasting brows. Nor failed her words of fruit, for they +say that to Thetis' bridals came those twain kings even with the rest. + +Out of the mouths of the wise hath the young valour of Achilles +been declared to them that beheld it not. He it was who stained the +vine-clad Mysian plain with the dark blood of Telephos that he shed +thereon, and made for the sons of Atreus a safe return across the sea, +and delivered Helen, when that he had cut asunder with his spear the +sinews of Troy, even the men who kept him back as he plied the work +of slaughterous battle on the plain, the strength of Memnon and +high-hearted Hektor, and other chiefs of pride. Unto all these did +Achilles, champion of the Aiakid race, point the way to the house of +Persephone, and thereby did he glorify Aigina and the root whence he +was sprung. + +Neither in death was he of songs forsaken, for at his funeral pyre and +beside his tomb stood the Helikonian maiden-choir, and poured thereon +a dirge of many melodies. For so the immortals willed, to give charge +unto the songs of goddesses over that valorous man even in his death. + +And now also holdeth such charge good, and the Muses' chariot speedeth +to sound the glories of Nikokles the boxer[3]. Honour to him who in +the Isthmian vale hath won the Dorian parsley: for he even as Achilles +overcame men in battle, turning them to confusion, with hand from +which flight was vain. Him shameth not this kinsman of his father's +noble brother. Wherefore let some one of the young men his fellows +twine for Kleandros a wreath of tender myrtle for his pankratiast +victory. For the games whose name is of Alkathoos[4], and the youth of +Epidauros[5], have ere now entertained him with good hap. To praise +him is given unto the good: for in no hidden corner quenched he his +youth, unproven in honourable deeds. + + +[Footnote 1: Because, though the Persians had been defeated, Thebes, +Pindar's city, had not shared the glory.] + +[Footnote 2: Thebe and Aigine.] + +[Footnote 3: Uncle of the winner.] + +[Footnote 4: A son of Pelops: he slew the lion of Kithairon.] + +[Footnote 5: The Epidaurian games were in honour of Asklepios.] + + + +FRAGMENTS. + +Nearly two-thirds of the Fragments cannot be assigned to any distinct +class: the rest are divided among (1) [Greek: Epinikia], or Triumphal +Odes (such as are the odes remaining to us entire), (2) [Greek: +Hymnoi], or Hymns sung by a choir in honour of gods, (3) [Greek: +Paianes], or Hymns of a like kind but anciently addressed especially +to Apollo and Artemis for their intervention against pestilence, (4) +[Greek: Dithyramboi], or choral songs of more general compass, verging +sometimes on the drama, (5) [Greek: Prosodia], or Processional Songs, +(6) [Greek: Parthenia], or Songs for a Choir of Maidens, (7) [Greek: +Hyporchaemata], or Songs with Accompaniment of Dance, (8) [Greek: +Enkomia], or Odes sung by a [Greek: komos] in praise of some person +but not necessarily on any special occasion, (9) [Greek: Skolia], or +Songs to be sung at Banquets, (10) [Greek: Thraenoi], or Dirges. + + + +FRAGMENT OF A DITHYRAMB, + +TO BE SUNG AT ATHENS. + +Hither! Olympian gods to our choice dance, and make your grace to +descend thereon and to glorify it, ye who in sacred Athens visit the +city's incensed centre-stone, and her famed market-place of splendid +ornament; receive ye violet-entwined crowns and drink-offerings of +spring-gathered herbs, and look on me who am come from the house of +Zeus with my bright song a second time unto the ivy-crowned god, whom +we call Bromios, even the god of clamorous shout. + +To sing the offspring[1] of the Highest and of Kadmeaen mothers am I +come. + +In Argive Nemea the prophet of the god overlooketh not the branch of +palm, what time with the opening of the chamber of the Hours, the +nectarous plants perceive the fragrant spring[2]. + +Then, then are strown over the face of the eternal earth the lovely +violet-tufts, then are roses twined in hair, then sound to the flute's +accompaniment voices of song, then sound our choice hymns unto the +honour of bright-filleted Semele ... + + +[Footnote 1: Dionysos, son of Zeus and of Semele, daughter of Kadmos.] + +[Footnote 2: Bockh has suggested the following ingenious explanation +of this passage. In the temple of Zeus at Nemea grew a sacred palm, +and a branch of this was given, together with his crown, to a winner +in the Nemean games. Pindar had been at those games in the winter, and +means that he, like the priest of the temple, could foresee from the +tokens of the branch that spring was approaching, and with spring the +vernal Dionysia at Athens.] + + +FRAGMENTS OF A PROCESSION-SONG ([Greek: prosodion]), + +IN HONOUR OF DELOS. + +Hail! god-reared daughter of the sea, earth-shoot most dear to +bright-haired Leto's children, wide earth's immoveable marvel, who of +mortals art called Delos, but of the blessed gods in Olympus the dark +earth's far-seen star[1]... ... For of old time it[2] drifted before +the waves and stress of winds from every side; but when she[3] of +Koios set foot thereon, as the swift pains of her travailing drew +nigh, then verily from roots deep down in earth there sprang upright +four pillars with adamantine base, and on their capitals they held up +the rock: there was the goddess delivered, and looked upon her blessed +brood........ + + +[Footnote 1: The old mythical name of Delos was Asteria.] + +[Footnote 2: The island.] + +[Footnote 3: Leto.] + + * * * * * + + +FRAGMENT OF A SONG WITH ACCOMPANIMENT OF DANCE +([Greek: huporchaema]), WRITTEN ON OCCASION OF AN ECLIPSE +OF THE SUN, PROBABLY THAT OF APRIL 30, B.C. 463. + +Wherefore, O Light of the Sun, thou that seest all things and givest +bounds unto the sight of mine eyes--wherefore O star supreme hast thou +in the daytime hidden thyself, and made useless unto men the wings of +their strength and the paths that wisdom findeth, and hastest along a +way of darkness to bring on us some strange thing? + +Now in the name of Zeus I pray unto thee, O holy Light, that by thy +swift steeds thou turn this marvel in the sight of all men to be for +the unimpaired good hap of Thebes. Yet if the sign which thou showest +us be of some war, or destruction of harvest, or an exceeding storm of +snow, or ruinous civil strife, or emptying of the sea upon the earth, +or freezing of the soil, or summer rains pouring in vehement flood, or +whether thou wilt drown the earth and make anew another race of men, +then will I suffer it amid the common woe of all.... + + + +FRAGMENTS. + +I + +FRAGMENTS OF DIRGES (thraenoi). + +.... For them shineth below the strength of the sun while in our world +it is night, and the space of crimsonflowered meadows before their +city is full of the shade of frankincense-trees, and of fruits of +gold. And some in horses, and in bodily feats, and some in dice, +and some in harp-playing have delight; and among them thriveth all +fair-flowering bliss; and fragrance streameth ever through the lovely +land, as they mingle incense of every kind upon the altars of the +gods.... + +II. + +.... BY happy lot travel all unto an end that giveth them rest from +toils. And the body indeed is subject unto the great power of death, +but there remaineth yet alive a shadow of life; for this only is from +the gods; and while the limbs stir, it sleepeth, but unto sleepers +in dreams discovereth oftentimes the judgment that draweth nigh for +sorrow or for joy.. + +III + +But from whomsoever Persephone accepteth atonement made for an ancient +woe, their souls unto the light of the sun above she sendeth back +again in the ninth year. And from those souls spring noble kings, +and men swift and strong and in wisdom very great: and through the +after-time they are called holy heroes among men...... + + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Extant Odes of Pindar, by Pindar + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EXTANT ODES OF PINDAR *** + +***** This file should be named 10717.txt or 10717.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/7/1/10717/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS," WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Each eBook is in a subdirectory of the same number as the eBook's +eBook number, often in several formats including plain vanilla ASCII, +compressed (zipped), HTML and others. + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks replace the old file and take over +the old filename and etext number. The replaced older file is renamed. +VERSIONS based on separate sources are treated as new eBooks receiving +new filenames and etext numbers. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + +EBooks posted prior to November 2003, with eBook numbers BELOW #10000, +are filed in directories based on their release date. If you want to +download any of these eBooks directly, rather than using the regular +search system you may utilize the following addresses and just +download by the etext year. + + https://www.gutenberg.org/etext06 + + (Or /etext 05, 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, + 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90) + +EBooks posted since November 2003, with etext numbers OVER #10000, are +filed in a different way. The year of a release date is no longer part +of the directory path. The path is based on the etext number (which is +identical to the filename). The path to the file is made up of single +digits corresponding to all but the last digit in the filename. For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/10717.zip b/old/10717.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..e8d3319 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10717.zip |