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 Pindarfinds so few and so infrequent readers. The causes are not far toseek: in the first and most obvious place comes the great difficultyof his language, in the second the frequent obscurity of his thought, resulting mainly from his exceeding allusiveness and his abrupttransitions, and in the third place that amount of monotony which mustof necessity attach to a series of poems provided for a succession ofsimilar occasions. 

It is as an attempt towards obviating the first of these hindrancesto the study of Pindar, the difficulty of his language, that thistranslation is of course especially intended. To whom and in whatcases are translations of poets useful? To a perfect scholar in theoriginal tongue they are superfluous, to one wholly ignorant of itthey are apt to be (unless here and there to a Keats) meaningless, flat, and puzzling. There remains the third class of those who have acertain amount of knowledge of a language, but not enough toenable them to read unassisted its more difficult books without anexpenditure of time and trouble which is virtually prohibitive. Itis to this class that a translation ought, it would seem, chiefly toaddress itself. An intelligent person of cultivated literary taste, and able to read the easier books in an acquired language, will feelhimself indebted to a hand which unlocks for him the inner chambersof a temple in whose outer courts he had already delighted to wander. Without therefore saying that the merely 'English reader' may neverderive pleasure and instruction from a translation of a foreign poet, for to this rule our current version of the Hebrew psalmists andprophets furnish one marked exception at least--still, it is probablyto what may be called the half-learned class that the translator mustpreeminently look to find an audience. 

The other causes of Pindar's unpopularity to which reference was madeabove, the obscurity of his thought and the monotony of his subjects, will in great measure disappear by means of attentive study of thepoems themselves, and of other sources from which may be gathered anunderstanding of the region of thought and feeling in which they move. In proportion to our familiarity not only with Hellenic mythology andhistory, but with Hellenic life and habits of thought generally, willbe our readiness and facility in seizing the drift and import of whatPindar says, in divining what has passed through his mind: and in hiscase perhaps even more than in the case of other poets, this facilitywill increase indefinitely with our increasing acquaintance with hisworks and with the light thrown on each part of them by the rest[1]. 

The monotony of the odes, though to some extent unquestionably andunavoidably real, is to some extent also superficial and in appearanceonly. The family of the victor, or his country, some incident of hispast, some possibility of his future life, suggest in each case somedifferent legendary matter, some different way of treating it, somedifferent application of it, general or particular, or both. Outof such resources Pindar is inexhaustible in building up in subtlyvarying forms the splendid structure of his song. 

Yet doubtless the drawbacks in reading Pindar, though they may belargely reduced, will always in some degree exist: we shall alwayswish that he was easier to construe, that his allusions to thingsunfamiliar and sometimes undiscoverable to us were less frequent, thatfamily pride had not made it customary for him to spend so many lineson an enumeration of prizes won elsewhere and at other times by thevictor of the occasion or by his kin. Such drawbacks can only fallinto insignificance when eclipsed by consideration of the far morethan counterbalancing attractions of the poems, of their unique andsurpassing interest, poetical, historical, and moral. 

Of Pindar as a poet it is hard indeed to speak adequately, andalmost as hard to speak briefly, for a discussion of his poeticalcharacteristics once begun may wander far before even a small parthas been said of what might be. To say that to his poetry in supremedegree belong the qualities of force, of vividness, often ofimpressive weight, of a lofty style, seeming to be the expression ofa like personality, of a mastery of rhythm and metre and imaginativediction, of a profoundly Hellenic spirit modified by an unmistakableindividuality, above all of a certain sweep and swiftness as of theflight of an eagle's wing--to say all this would be to suggest some ofthe most obvious features of these triumphal odes; and each of thesequalities, and many more requiring exacter delineation, might beillustrated with numberless instances which even in the faint imageof a translation would furnish ample testimony[2]. But as thisintroduction is intended for those who purpose reading Pindar'spoetry, or at any rate the present translation of it, for themselves, I will leave it to them to discover for themselves the qualities whichhave given Pindar his high place among poets, and will pass on tosuggest briefly his claims to interest us by reason of his place inthe history of human action and human thought. 

We know very little of Pindar's life. He was born in or about the yearB. C. 522, at the village of Kynoskephalai near Thebes. He was thus acitizen of Thebes and seems to have always had his home there. But hetravelled among other states, many of which have been glorified by hisart. For his praise of Athens, 'bulwark of Hellas, ' the city which atArtemision 'laid the foundation of freedom, ' the Thebans are said tohave fined him; but the generous Athenians paid the fine, made himtheir Proxenos, and erected his statue at the public cost. For themagnificent Sicilian princes, Hieron of Syracuse and Theron ofAkragas, not unlike the Medici in the position they held, Pindar wrotefive of the longest of his extant odes, and probably visited them inSicily. But he would not quit his home to be an ornament of theircourts. When asked why he did not, like Simonides, accept theinvitations of these potentates to make his home with them, heanswered that he had chosen to live his own life, and not to be theproperty of another. He died at the age of 79, that is, probably, inthe year 443, twelve years before the Peloponnesian war began. Legendsaid 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 immortalfragment remains to us. Other myths gathered round his name. It wassaid that once when in childhood he had fallen asleep by the way 'abee had settled on his lips and gathered honey, ' and again that'he saw in a dream that his mouth was filled with honey and thehoneycomb;' that Pan himself learnt a poem of his and rejoiced to singit on the mountains; that finally, while he awaited an answer fromthe 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 thegods had had no hymn from him, but that he should make her one shortlywhen he had come to her; and that he died within ten days of thevision. 

Two several conquerors of Thebes, Pausanias of Sparta and Alexander ofMacedon, '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 ofApollo cried nightly as he closed the temple, 'Let Pindar the poet goin unto the supper of the god. '

Thus Pindar was contemporary with an age of Greek history whichjustifies the assertion of his consummate interest for the student ofHellenic life in its prime. It was impossible that a man of hisgenius and temperament should have lived through these times withoutrepresenting to us with breadth and intensity the spirit that was inthem, and there are several points in Pindar's circumstances whichmake his relation to his age peculiarly interesting. We may look onhim as in some points supplementary to the great Athenian dramatists, whose works are doubtless far the most valuable literary legacy of thetime. Perhaps however the surpassing brilliance of Athenian literatureand history has made us somewhat prone to forget the importance ofnon-Athenian elements in the complex whole of Hellenic life andthought. Athens was the eye of Hellas, nay, she had at Marathon andSalamis made good her claim to be called the saving arm, but therewere other members not to be forgotten if we would picture toourselves the national body in its completeness. 

Pindar was a Boeotian, of a country not rich in literary or indeed anykind of intellectual eminence, yet by no means to be ignored in anestimate of the Hellenic race. Politically indeed it only rises intopre-eminence under Epameinondas; before and afterwards Boeotianpolicy under the domination of Thebes is seldom either beneficent orglorious: it must be remembered, however, that the gallant Plataeansalso were Boeotians. The people of Boeotia seem to have had generallyan easy, rather sensually inclined nature, which accorded with theirrich country and absence of nautical and commercial enterprise andexcitement, but in their best men this disposition remains only in theform of a genial simplicity. Pelopidas in political, and Plutarch andPausanias in literary history, will be allowed to be instances ofthis. That the poetry which penetrated Hellenic life was not wantingin Boeotia we have proof enough in the existence of the Sacred Band, that goodly fellowship of friends which seems to have united whatHallam has called the three strongest motives to enthusiastic actionthat have appeared in history, patriotism, chivalric honour, andreligion. Nor is there any nobler figure in history than that ofEpameinondas. 

One fact indeed there is which must always make the thought ofPindar's Theban citizenship painful to us, and that is the shamefulpart taken by Thebes in the Persian war, when compulsion of herexposed situation, and oligarchical cabal within her walls, drew herinto unholy alliance with the barbarian invader. Had it been otherwisehow passionately pure would Pindar's joy have uttered itself when the'stone of Tantalos' that hung over the head of Hellas was smitten intodust in that greatest crisis of the fortunes of humanity. He exultsnobly as it is, he does all honour to Athens, 'bulwark of Hellas, ' butthe shame of his own city, his 'mother' Thebes, must have caused him apang as bitter as a great soul has ever borne. 

For his very calling of song-writer to all Hellenic states withoutdiscrimination, especially when the songs he had to write were of theclass which we still possess, triumphal odes for victories in thosegreat games which drew to them all men of Hellenic blood at the feetof common deities, and which with each recurring festival could evenhush the clamour of war in an imperious Truce of God--such a callingand such associations must have cherished in him the passion forPanhellenic brotherhood and unanimity, even had there not been muchelse both within and without him to join to the same generous end. Itwas the time when Panhellenic feeling was probably stronger than everbefore or after. Before, the states had been occupied in buildingup their own polities independently; the Hellenic activity had beendispersing itself centrifugally among the trans-marine colonies, and those of Italy and Sicily seemed at one time to make it doubtfulwhether the nucleus of civilization were to be there or in themother-country. But by the time of the Persian war the best energiesof the race had concentrated themselves between the Aegean and Ionianseas; and the supreme danger of the war had bound the states togetheragainst the common enemy and taught them to forget smaller differencesin the great strife between Hellene and barbarian. Yet again when thatsupreme danger was past the old quarrels arose anew more deadly andmore complicated: instead of a Persian there was a Peloponnesian war, and the Peloponnesian war in its latter stages came, by virtue of thepolitical principles involved, to partake much of the character ofa civil war. But the time of Pindar, of Aeschylus, of Sophocles, ofPheidias, of Polygnotos, was that happy interval when Hellas hadbeaten off the barbarian from her throat and had not yet murderedherself. And Pindar's imagination and generosity were both kindled bythe moment; there was no room in his mind for border squabbles, forcommercial jealousies, for oligarchic or democratic envy: these thingswere overridden by a sentiment of nationality wanting indeed inmany circumstances which modern nationalities deem essential to theexistence of such sentiment, and many of which are really essential toits permanence--yet a sentiment which no other nation ever before orsince can have possessed in the peculiar lustre which it then wore inHellas; for no other nation has ever before or since known what it wasto stand alone immeasurably advanced at the head of the civilizationof the world. 

Pindar was of a noble family, of the house of the Aigeidai, and it isprobable that his kinsmen, or some of them, may have taken the side ofoligarchy in the often recurring dissensions at Thebes, but of thiswe know nothing certain. He himself seems to have taken no part inpolitics. When he speaks on the subject in his odes it is not with thevoice of a partisan. An ochlocracy is hateful to him, but if he showshimself an 'aristocrat' it is in the literal and etymological meaningof the word. Doubtless if Pindar had been asked where the bestservants of the state in public life were most likely to be found hewould have answered that it would be among those ancient families inwhose veins ran the blood of gods and demigods, who had spent bloodand money for the city's honour, championing her in war or in themimic strife of the games, who had honourable traditions to be guidedby and an honourable name to lose or save. These things were seldomundervalued by Hellenic feeling: even in Athens, after it was alreadythe headquarters of the democratic principle, the noble and wealthyfamilies obtained, not probably without wisdom of their own in loyallyaccepting a democratic position, as fair a place and prospects asanywhere in Hellas. But that, when the noble nature, the [Greek:aretae], which traditions of nobility ought to have secured, waslacking, then wealth and birth were still entitled to power, thiswas a doctrine repugnant utterly to Pindar's mind: nor would hisindignation slumber when he saw the rich and highborn, however gifted, forgetting at any time that their power was a trust for the communityand using it for their own selfish profit. An 'aristocrat' afterPindar's mind would assuredly have a far keener eye to his dutiesthan to his rights, would consider indeed that in his larger share ofduties lay his infinitely most precious right. 

But he 'loved that beauty should go beautifully;' personal excellenceof some kind was in his eyes essential; but on this he would fainshed outward radiance and majesty. His imagination rejoiced insplendour--splendour of stately palace--halls where the columns wereof marble and the entablature of wrought gold, splendour of temples ofgods where the sculptor's waxing art had brought the very deities todwell with man, splendour of the white-pillared cities that glitteredacross the Aegean and Sicilian seas, splendour of the holy Panhellenicgames, of whirlwind chariots and the fiery grace of thoroughbreds, of the naked shapely limbs of the athlete man and boy. On thischaracteristic of Pindar it is needless to dwell, for there are notmany 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. Thesame defect which we feel more or less present in all poets ofantiquity--least of all perhaps in Virgil and Sophokles, but even inthem somewhat--a certain want of widely sympathetic tenderness, thisis unquestionably present in Pindar. What of this quality may havefound expression in his lost poems, especially the Dirges, we canscarcely guess, but in his triumphal odes it hardly appears at all, unless in the touches of tender gracefulness into which he softenswhen speaking of the young. And we find this want in him mainlybecause objects of pity, such as especially elicit that quality oftenderness, are never or seldom present to Pindar's mind. He sees evilonly in the shape of some moral baseness, falsehood, envy, arrogance, and the like, to be scathed in passing by the good man's scorn, orelse in the shape of a dark mystery of pain, to be endured by those onwhom it causelessly falls in a proud though undefiant silence. It wasnot for him, as for the great tragedians, to 'purge the mind by pityand fear, ' for those passions had scarcely a place in his own mind orin the minds of those of whom he in his high phantasy would fain havehad the world consist. And as in this point somewhat, so still more inothers, does Pindar remind us, even more than might have been expectedin a contemporary, of Aeschylus. The latter by virtue of his Atheniannurture as well as of his own greater natural gifts reveals to usa greater number of thoughts, and those more advanced and moreinteresting than we find in Pindar, but the similarity in moral temperand tone is very striking, as also is the way in which we see thistemper acting on their beliefs. Both hold strongly, as is the wontof powerful minds in an age of stability as opposed to an age oftransition, to the traditions and beliefs on which the society aroundthem rests, but both modify these traditions and beliefs accordingto the light which arises in them, and which is as much moral asintellectual light. In so doing they are indeed in harmony with thebest instincts of the society around them, but they lead and guidesuch instincts and give them shape and definiteness. In the Oresteäntrilogy of Aeschylus we have an ever-memorable assertion of thesupreme claims of human morality to human allegiance, of the eternaltruth that humanity can know no object of reverence and worship exceptitself idealised, its own virtues victorious over its own vices, andexisting in the greatest perfection which it can at any given timeconceive. Somewhat the same lesson as that of the Oresteia is taughtlater, with more of sweetness and harmony, but not with more force, in the Oedipus Coloneus of Sophokles. And in Pindar we see the sametendencies inchoate. Like Aeschylus he does by implication subordinateto morality both politics and religion. He ignores or flatly deniestales that bring discredit on the gods; he will only bow down to themwhen they have the virtues he respects in man. Yet he, like Aeschylusand Sophokles, does so bow down, sincerely and without hesitation, andthat 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 andvaried presences of mythology, 'the fair humanities of old religion, 'and also by the highest aspirations of an age of moral andintellectual advance. We do not of course always, or even often, findthe moral principles clearly and consciously expressed or consistentlysupported, but we cannot but feel that they are present in the shapeof instincts, and those instincts pervading and architectonic. 

And if we allow so much of ethical enlightenment to these greatspokesmen of the Hellenic people, we cannot deny something of likehonour to the race among whom they were reared. Let us apportion ourdebt of gratitude to our forerunners as it is justly due. There wouldseem to be much of fallacy and of the injustice of a shallow judgmentin the contrast as popularly drawn between 'Hellenism' and 'Hebraism, 'according to which the former is spoken of as exclusively proclaimingto the world the value of Beauty, the latter the value ofRighteousness. In this there is surely much injustice done to Hellas. Because she taught the one, she did not therefore leave the otheruntaught. It may have been for a short time, as her other greatnesswas for a short time, though its effects are eternal, but for thatshort time the national life, of Athens at any rate, is at least asfull of high moral feeling as that of any other people in the world. Will not the names of Solon, of Aristeides, of Kallikratidas, ofEpameinondas, of Timoleon and many more, remind us that life could beto the Hellene something of deeper moral import than a brilliant game, or a garden of vivid and sweet sights and sounds where Beauty andKnowledge entered, but Goodness was forgotten and shut out? For itis not merely that these men, and very many more endowed with ampleportion of their spirit, were produced and reared among the race; theywere honoured and valued in a way that surely postulated the existenceof high ethical feeling in their countrymen. And even when the daysof unselfish statesmen and magnanimous cities were over, there werephilosophers whose schools were not the less filled because theyclaimed a high place for righteousness in human life. To Solon andAristeides succeeded Socrates and Plato, to Epameinondas and Timoleonsucceeded Zeno and Epictetus. That the morality of the Hellenes wascomplete on all sides, it would of course be irrational to maintain. They had not, for instance, any more than the Hebrews, or any othernation of antiquity, learnt to abhor slavery, though probably itexisted in a milder form at Athens than anywhere else in the old ornew world: they were more implacable in revenge and laxer in sexualindulgence than the Christian ethics would allow in theory, though notperhaps much more so than Christendom has shown itself in practice. And though undoubtedly the greatest single impulse ever given tomorality came from Palestine, yet the ground which nurtured the seedsof Christianity was as much Hellenic as Hebrew. It would be impossiblehere to enter on an exhaustive comparison of the ethical capacities ofthe two races, but before we pronounce hastily for the superiority ofthe Hebrew there are surely some difficulties to surmount. We maywell ask, for example, Would Hellas ever have accepted as her chiefnational hero such a man as David a man who in his life is conspicuousby his crimes not less than by his brilliant gifts, and who dies withthe words of blood and perfidy on his lips, charging his son with thelast slaughterous satisfaction of his hate which he had sworn beforehis God to forego? And though the great Hebrew prophets teach oftena far loftier morality than this, they cannot have been nearly sorepresentative of the feeling of this nation as were Aeschylus andSophocles and Pindar of the feeling of theirs. The Hebrews of theprophets' age 'slew the prophets, ' and left it to the slayers'descendants to 'build their sepulchres, ' and at the same time toshow their inherited character still more unmistakeably by once moreslaying the last prophet and the greatest. [3]

In truth in the literature, the art, the life generally of Hellas inher prime, the moral interest whenever it appears, and that is notseldom, claims for itself the grave and preponderant attention whichit must claim if it is to appear with fit dignity. But it is notthrust forward unseasonably or in exaggeration, nor is it placed in afalse opposition to the interests of the aesthetic instincts, whichafter all shade into the moral more imperceptibly than might begenerally allowed. There must be a moral side to all societies, andthe Hellenic society, the choicest that the world has seen, thecompletest, that is, at once in sensibilities and in energies, couldnot but show the excellence of its sensibilities in receiving moralimpressions, the excellence of its energies in achieving moralconduct. 

This, however, is no place to discuss at length questions in thehistory of ethics. Yet it must be remembered that in the ancient worlddepartments of thought, and the affairs of men generally, were farless specialized than in modern times. If the philosophy of Hellas bethe most explicit witness to her ethical development, her poetryis the most eloquent. And scarcely at any time, scarcely even inAristotle, did Hellenic philosophy in any department lose mostsignificant traces of its poetical ancestry. But enough here if I havesucceeded in pointing out that in the great poet with whom we areconcerned there is an ethical as well as a poetical and historicalinterest, supplying one more reason against neglect of his legacy ofsong. 

Yet indeed even now there remains a further question which to themind of any one who at present labours in this field of classicalscholarship must recur persistently if not depressingly, and on whichit is natural if not necessary to say a few words. If the selectionof Pindar in particular as a Greek poet with claims to be furtherpopularized among Englishmen may be defended, there is still a moregeneral count to which all who make endeavours to attract or retainattention to Greek literature will in these times be called upon toplead by voices which command respect. To such pleas this is not theplace to give large room, or to discriminate in detail between thereasonable and unreasonable elements in the attacks on a system ofeducation in which a preeminent position is allotted to the literatureof antiquity. While fully admitting that much time and labour arestill wasted in efforts to plant the study of ancient and especiallyof Greek literature in uncongenial soil, while admitting also mostfully 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 infacilitating the study of a Greek author should be looked on asimplying adhesion to the protest still sometimes raised, that inthe higher parts of a liberal education no study can claim a moreimportant place than the study of the history and the literature ofHellas. The interest which belongs to these is far wider anddeeper than any mere literary interest. To the human mind the mostinteresting of phenomena are and ought to be the phenomena of thehuman mind, and this granted, can there be any knowledge moredesirable than the knowledge of the most vigorous and sensitive and insome ways also the most fruitful action of human minds that the worldhas known hitherto?

But again, we are told that the age we seek thus toilsomely toillustrate and realize is too remote to justify the attempt, that ourcivilisation is of too different a type from the Hellenic, and that agulf of three-and-twenty centuries is too much for our sight to strainacross. But is not the Hellenic life at least less remote now toWestern Europe than it has ever been since the Northern invasions?Though the separation in time widens does not the separation inthought decrease? Is not one civilisation more like another than itcan be to any barbarism? And shall not this same Physical Scienceherself by accustoming us to look on men in large masses at once, andon the development of humanity as a process of infinite duration, asa sectional growth included in universal evolution--Science, in whoseeyes a thousand years are as a watch in the night--shall she notthereby quicken our sympathies with the most gifted race that hasappeared in our short human history, and arouse the same feelingtoward it as a family may cherish toward the memory of their best andchoicest, who has died young?

Only let us take heed that such regret shall make us not more butless unworthy of those noble forerunners. One symptom of the renewedinfluence of antiquity on the modern world is doubtless and has beenfrom time to time since the Revival of Letters a tendency to selfishand somewhat sickly theories so-called of life, where sensibilitydegenerates through self-consciousness into affectation, andefforts to appreciate fully the delightfulness of life and art areoverstrained into a wearisome literary voluptuousness, where duty hasalready disappeared and the human sympathies on which duty is basedscarcely linger in a faint aesthetic form, soon to leave the would-beexquisiteness to putrefy into the vulgarity of egoism. Such tendencieshave less in common with the Hellenic prime than with the court ofLeo the Tenth, though even that had perhaps an advantage over them asbeing in some ways a more real thing. But that the Hellenic prime withall its exquisite sensibility was deficient in recognition of a highideal of duty can never be believed among those who have studied itcandidly and attentively; I have endeavoured above to suggest that inthis point, take it all in all, it yields to no age or race. It wouldindeed be a mistaken following of those noble servants of humanityto draw from their memories an argument for selfish isolation or fordespair of the commonwealth of man. He who has drunk deeply of thatdivine well and gazed long at the fair vision of what then was, will, if his nature be capable of true sympathy with the various elementsof that wonderful age, turn again without bitterness to the confusedmodern world, saddened but not paralysed by the comparison, grieving, but with no querulous grief, for the certainty that those days aredone. 

1874. 

PREFATORY NOTE. 

The few notes appended to this translation are not intended to supplythe place of such reference to Dictionaries of Mythology, Antiquitiesand Geography, as is needful to the student of Pindar who is notalready somewhat accomplished in knowledge of the customs, historyand legendary traditions of Hellas. And although it may reasonably besupposed that the chief of these will be already known to most readersof Pindar, yet so profusely allusive is this poet that to understandhis allusions will very often require knowledge which would not havebeen derived from a study of the more commonly read Hellenic writers. 

Nor have I attempted to trace in detail the connection of the partsin each ode which binds them into one harmonious whole with manymeanings--a connection so consummately contrived where we can trace itthat we may suppose it no less exquisite where we cannot. Studyand thought will generally suggest explanations, though these willsometimes approve themselves differently to different minds. Too oftenwe must acknowledge, as elsewhere in ancient literature, that the keyis lost beyond all certain hope of recovery. 

Still less have I attempted to discuss questions of criticalscholarship. Sometimes where there are more than one plausible readingI have signified which I adopt; once only (Ol. 2. 56. ) I have venturedon 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 atpresent attaches to most modern writers who deal with them. Olympus, Athens, Corinth, Syracuse, and the like are naturalized among us bylong familiarity; it seems at present at least pedantic to changethem. In the case of other less familiar names I have concurred withthe desire, which seems in the main a reasonable one, that the namesof Hellenic persons and places should be reproduced, as far aspossible, without Latin mediation. 

Of the Fragments I have translated six of the longest and mostinteresting. They are 289 in all, but the greater part are not longerthan a line or two, and very many even shorter. 

The odes are unequal in poetical merit, and many readers may notunreasonably wish to have those pointed out which, in the judgement ofone acquainted with all, are among the best worth reading; though ofcourse the choice of individual readers will not always be the same. To those therefore who would wish to begin with a selection, thefollowing may be recommended as at any rate among those of preeminentmerit: 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 traditionalorder. I should much have liked to place them in what must always bethe most interesting and rational arrangement of a poet's works, that is, in chronological order. This would have been approximatelypossible, as we know the dates of the greater part of them. Butconvenience of reference and of comparison with the Greek text seemsto supply a balance of reasons on the other side. Subjoined however isa list of the odes in their probable chronological order so far as itcan 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. Theprize 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. Theprize 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 Hellenicliterature of a collateral study of whatever remains to us of Hellenicplastic art--statues, vases, gems, and coins--can hardly be toostrongly insisted on. ]

[Footnote 2: In Mr. J. A. Symonds' 'Studies of the Greek Poets' thereis an essay on Pindar which dwells with much appreciative eloquenceupon the poets literary characteristics. ]

[Footnote 3: In thus touching on the obligations of our morality tothe Hebrew and to the Hellene respectively, I have insisted moreexclusively on the weak points of the former than I should have donein a fuller discussion of the subject: here I am merely concerned toquestion in passing what seems to be a popular one-sided estimate. ]

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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 extantworks to Aristophanes the grammarian, who placed it there on accountof its being specially occupied with the glorification of the Olympicgames in comparison with others, and with the story of Pelops, who wastheir founder. 

Hieron won this race B. C. 472, while at the height of his power atSyracuse. Probably the ode was sung at Syracuse, perhaps, as has beensuggested, at a banquet. 

 * * * * *

Best is Water of all, and Gold as a flaming fire in the night shinetheminent amid lordly wealth; but if of prizes in the games thou artfain, O my soul, to tell, then, as for no bright star more quickeningthan the sun must thou search in the void firmament by day, so neithershall we find any games greater than the Olympic whereof to utter ourvoice: for hence cometh the glorious hymn and entereth into the mindsof 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 hewieldeth the sceptre of justice in Sicily of many flocks, culling thechoice fruits of all kinds of excellence: and with the flower of musicis he made splendid, even such strains as we sing blithely at thetable of a friend. 

Take from the peg the Dorian lute, if in any wise the glory ofPherenikos[2] at Pisa hath swayed thy soul unto glad thoughts, when bythe banks of Alpheos he ran, and gave his body ungoaded in thecourse, and brought victory to his master, the Syracusans' king, whodelighteth in horses. 

Bright is his fame in Lydian Pelops' colony[3], inhabited of a goodlyrace, whose founder mighty earth-enfolding Poseidon loved, what timefrom the vessel of purifying[4] Klotho took him with the bright ivoryfurnishment of his shoulder. 

Verily many things are wondrous, and haply tales decked out withcunning fables beyond the truth make false men's speech concerningthem. For Charis[5], who maketh all sweet things for mortal men, bylending honour unto such maketh oft the unbelievable thing to bebelieved; but the days that follow after are the wisest witnesses. 

Meet is it for a man that concerning gods he speak honourably; for thereproach is less. Of thee, son of Tantalos, I will speak contrariwiseto them who have gone before me, and I will tell how when thy fatherhad bidden thee to that most seemly feast at his beloved Sipylos, repaying to the gods their banquet, then did he of the BrightTrident[6], his heart vanquished by love, snatch thee and bear theebehind 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 broughtthee not to thy mother, some one of the envious neighbours saidsecretly that over water heated to boiling they had hewn asunder witha knife thy limbs, and at the tables had shared among them and eatensodden fragments of thy flesh. But to me it is impossible to call oneof the blessed gods cannibal; I keep aloof; in telling ill tales isoften little gain. 

Now if any man ever had honour of the guardians of Olympus, Tantaloswas that man; but his high fortune he could not digest, and by excessthereof won him an overwhelming woe, in that the Father hath hungabove him a mighty stone that he would fain ward from his head, andtherewithal 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 ata feast the nectar and ambrosia, whereby the gods had made himincorruptible. But if a man thinketh that in doing aught he shall behidden from God, he erreth. 

Therefore also the immortals sent back again his son to be once morecounted with the short-lived race of men. And he when toward the bloomof his sweet youth the down began to shade his darkening cheek, tookcounsel with himself speedily to take to him for his wife the nobleHippodameia from her Pisan father's hand. 

And he came and stood upon the margin of the hoary sea, alone in thedarkness of the night, and called aloud on the deep-voiced Wielder ofthe Trident; and he appeared unto him nigh at his foot. 

Then he said unto him: 'Lo now, O Poseidon, if the kind gifts of theCyprian 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 hathOinomaos slain, and still delayeth to give his daughter in marriage. Now a great peril alloweth not of a coward: and forasmuch as men mustdie, wherefore should one sit vainly in the dark through a dull andnameless age, and without lot in noble deeds? Not so, but I will darethis strife: do thou give the issue I desire. '

Thus spake he, nor were his words in vain: for the god made him aglorious gift of a golden car and winged untiring steeds: so heovercame Oinomaos and won the maiden for his bride. 

And he begat six sons, chieftains, whose thoughts were ever of bravedeeds: and now hath he part in honour of blood-offerings in his gravebeside Alpheos' stream, and hath a frequented tomb, whereto manystrangers resort: and from afar off he beholdeth the glory of theOlympian games in the courses called of Pelops, where is strivingof swift feet and of strong bodies brave to labour; but he thatovercometh hath for the sake of those games a sweet tranquillitythroughout 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 Aeolianmood: and sure am I that no host among men that now are shall I everglorify in sounding labyrinths of song more learned in the learning ofhonour and withal with more might to work thereto. A god hath guardover thy hopes, O Hieron, and taketh care for them with a peculiarcare: and if he fail thee not, I trust that I shall again proclaim insong a sweeter glory yet, and find thereto in words a ready way, whento the fair-shining hill of Kronos I am come. Her strongest-wingëddart my Muse hath yet in store. 

Of many kinds is the greatness of men; but the highest is to beachieved by kings. Look not thou for more than this. May it be thineto walk loftily all thy life, and mine to be the friend of winners inthe 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 FatesKlotho was peculiarly concerned with the beginning of man's life. Pindar refuses to accept the legend which made Pelops' ivory shouldera 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 threeCharites or Graces. Pindar means here that men are prone to believean untrue tale for the sake of the beauty of the form in which it ispresented, 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, arewe to celebrate?[2] Verily of Zeus is Pisa the abode, of Herakles theOlympian feast was founded from the chief spoils of war, and Theron'sname must we proclaim for his victory with the four-horse-car, arighteous and god-fearing host, the stay of Akragas, of famous siresthe flower, a saviour of the state. 

They after long toils bravely borne took by a river's side a sacreddwelling place, and became the eye of Sicily, and a life of good luckclave to them, bringing them wealth and honour to crown their inbornworth. 

O son of Kronos and of Rhea, lord of Olympus' seat, and of the chiefof games and of Alpheos' ford, for joy in these my songs guard evergraciously their native fields for their sons that shall come afterthem. 

Now of deeds done whether they be right or wrong not even Time thefather of all can make undone the accomplishment, yet with happyfortune forgetfulness may come. For by high delights an alien pain isquelled and dieth, when the decree of God sendeth happiness to growaloft and widely. 

And this word is true concerning Kadmos' fair-throned daughters, whosecalamities were great, yet their sore grief fell before greatergood. Amid the Olympians long-haired Semele still liveth, albeit sheperished in the thunder's roar, and Pallas cherisheth her ever, andFather Zeus exceedingly, and her son, the ivy-bearing god. And in thesea too they say that to Ino, among the sea-maids of Nereus, lifeincorruptible hath been ordained for evermore. 

Ay but to mortals the day of death is certain never, neither at whattime we shall see in calm the end of one of the Sun's children, theDays, with good thitherto unfailing; now this way and now that runcurrents bringing joys or toils to men. 

Thus destiny which from their fathers holdeth the happy fortune ofthis race[3], together with prosperity heaven-sent bringeth ever atsome other time better reverse: from the day when Laïos was slain byhis destined son[4] who met him on the road and made fulfilment of theoracle spoken of old at Pytho. Then swift Erinys when she saw it slewby each other's hand his war-like sons: yet after that Polyneikes fellThersander[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 thatAinesidamos receive our hymn of triumph, on the lyre. For at Olympiahe himself received a prize and at Pytho, and at the Isthmus to hisbrother of no less a lot did kindred Graces bring crowns for thetwelve rounds of the four-horse chariot-race. 

Victory setteth free the essayer from the struggle's griefs, yea andthe wealth that a noble nature hath made glorious bringeth power forthis and that, putting into the heart of man a deep and eager mood, astar far seen, a light wherein a man shall trust if but[7] the holderthereof knoweth the things that shall be, how that of all who die theguilty souls pay penalty, for all the sins sinned in this realmof Zeus One judgeth under earth, pronouncing sentence by unlovedconstraint. 

But evenly ever in sunlight night and day an unlaborious life the goodreceive, neither with violent hand vex they the earth nor the watersof the sea, in that new world; but with the honoured of the gods, whosoever had pleasure in keeping of oaths, they possess a tearlesslife: but the other part suffer pain too dire to look upon. 

Then whosoever have been of good courage to the abiding steadfastthrice on either side of death and have refrained their souls fromall iniquity, travel the road of Zeus unto the tower of Kronos: thereround the islands of the blest the Ocean-breezes blow, and goldenflowers are glowing, some from the land on trees of splendour, andsome the water feedeth, with wreaths whereof they entwine their hands:so ordereth Rhadamanthos' just decree, whom at his own right hand hathever the father Kronos, husband of Rhea, throned above all worlds[8]. 

Peleus and Kadmos are counted of that company; and the mother ofAchilles, when her prayer had moved the heart of Zeus, bare thitherher son, even him who overthrew Hector, Troy's unbending invinciblepillar, even him who gave Kyknos to death and the Ethiop son[9] of theMorning. 

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 needinterpreters. His art is true who of his nature hath knowledge; theywho have but learnt, strong in the multitude of words, are but ascrows that chatter vain things in strife against the divine bird ofZeus. 

Come bend thy bow on the mark, O my soul--at whom again are we tolaunch our shafts of honour from a friendly mind? At Akragas will Itake aim, and will proclaim and swear it with a mind of truth, thatfor a hundred years no city hath brought forth a man of mind moreprone to well-doing towards friends or of more liberal mood thanTheron. 

Yet praise is overtaken of distaste, wherewith is no justice, but fromcovetous men it cometh, and is fain to babble against and darken thegood man's noble deeds. 

The sea-sand none hath numbered; and the joys that Theron hath givento others--who shall declare the tale thereof?

[Footnote 1: In Hellenic music the accompaniment was deemedsubordinate 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 atall 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 especiallythe fragments of his Dirges which remain to us. He seems to have beeninfluenced 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 wassung at the feast of the Theoxenia, given by Theron in the name ofthe Dioskouroi (Kastor and Polydeukes) to the other gods. Hence theepithet _hospitable_ ([Greek: philoxeinois]) applied to the Dioskouroiin the first line. The clan of the Emmenidai to which Theron belongedwas especially devoted to the worship of the Twins. 

 * * * * *

Tyndareus' hospitable sons and lovely-haired Helen shall I pleaseassuredly in doing honour to renownëd Akragas by a hymn upraised forTheron's Olympian crown; for hereunto hath the Muse been present withme that I should find out a fair new[1] device, fitting to feet thatmove in Dorian time the Komos-voices' splendid strain. 

For crowns entwined about his hair demand from me this god-appointeddebt, that for Ainesidamos' son I join in seemly sort the lyre ofvarious tones with the flute's cry and ordering of words. 

And Pisa bids me speak aloud, for from her come to men songs ofdivine assignment, when the just judge of games the Aitolian[2] man, fulfilling Herakles' behests of old, hath laid upon one's hair abovehis brows pale-gleaming glory of olive. 

That tree from Ister's shadowy springs did the son of Amphitryon bearto be a memorial most glorious of Olympian triumphs, when that by hiswords he had won the Hyperborean folk, who serve Apollo. In loyaltemper 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 acrown for valorous deeds. 

For already, when the altars had been sanctified to his sire, themidmonth Moon riding her golden car lit full the counter-flame of theeye of Even, and just judgment of great games did he ordain, and thefifth 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 overto 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 wascome from the ridged hills and winding dells of Arcady, what time hisfather laid constraint upon him to go at Eurystheus' bidding to fetchthe golden-hornëd hind, which once Taÿgete vowed to her[5] of Orthionand made a sign thereon of consecration. For in that chase he saw alsothe land that lieth behind the blast of the cold North-wind: there hehalted and marvelled at the trees: and sweet desire thereof possessedhim that he might plant them at the end of the course which therace-horses should run twelve times round. 

So now to this feast cometh he in good-will in company with the TwinsDivine, deep-girdled Leto's children. For to them he gave charge whenhe ascended into Olympus to order the spectacle of the games, both thestruggle of man with man, and the driving of the nimble car. 

Me anywise my soul stirreth to declare that to the Emmenidai and toTheron hath glory come by gift of the Tyndaridai of goodly steeds, for that beyond all mortals they do honour to them with tables ofhospitality, keeping with pious spirit the rite of blessed gods. 

Now if Water be the Best[6], and of possessions Gold be the mostprecious, so now to the furthest bound doth Theron by his fair deedsattain, and from his own home touch the pillars of Herakles. Pathlessthe things beyond, pathless alike to the unwise and the wise. Here Iwill search no more; the quest were vain. 

[Footnote 1: i. E. Probably a new combination of lyre and flute toaccompany the singing. ]

[Footnote 2: When the Dorians invaded Peloponnesos one of theirleaders is said to have been Oxylos, a man of Elean descent but livingin Aitolia. As a result of the invasion he became king of Elis;and the judge at the Olympic games seems to have been considered adescendant of him or of some Aitolian who came with him. ]

[Footnote 3: The Olympic games were held in the middle of the monthHekatombaion, when the moon was full. It is here implied that Herakleswished to institute them when the moon was full, as that was a seasonof 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 itscompanion, the next following, are the latest work of Pindar possessedby us to which we can assign a date. 

The mule-chariot-race was introduced at Olympia B. C. 500 and abolishedB. 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 friendswho escorted the winner to return thanks at the altar of Zeus. 

 * * * * *

Hurler of thunderbolts unfaltering, the most high Zeus, for that thychosen hour recurrent hath sent me with a song set to the music ofthe subtle lute for a witness to the greatest of all games--andwhen friends have good hap the good are glad forthwith at the sweettidings--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 theGraces' aid, a most enduring light of far-prevailing valorous deeds. 

For the sake of Psaumis' mule-chariot it draweth nigh tothee--Psaumis, who, crowned with Pisan olive, hasteth to raise upglory for Kamarina. May God be gracious to our prayers for what shallbe! 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 thewelfare of his city, with guileless soul. 

With no lie will I tinge my tale: trial is the test of men; thisit was that delivered the son of Klymenos from the Lemnian women'sslight. He, when he had won the foot-race in bronze armour[1], spakethus to Hypsipyle as he went to receive his crown: 'For fleetness sucham I: hands have I and a heart to match. So also on young men growoftentimes grey hairs even before the natural season of man'slife[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 hisuntiring car. He to make great thy city, Kamarina, with its fosteredfolk, hath honoured six twin altars in great feasts of the gods withsacrifices of oxen and five-day contests of games, with chariots ofhorses 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 thisnew-peopled town. 

Also, returning from the gracious dwelling place of Oinomaos andPelops, thy sacred grove, O city-guarding Pallas, doth he sing, andthe river Oanis, and the lake of his native land, and the sacredchannels wherethrough doth Hipparis give water to the people, andbuild[4] with speed a lofty forest of stedfast dwellings, bringingfrom perplexity to the light this commonwealth of citizens. 

Now ever in fair deeds must toil and cost contend toward anaccomplishment hidden in perilous chance: yet if men have good haptherein, even to their own townsfolk is their wisdom approved. 

O guardian Zeus that sittest above the clouds, that inhabitest theKronian hill and honourest the broad river of Alpheos and Ida's holycave, suppliant to thee I come, making my cry on Lydian flutes, topray thee that thou wilt glorify this city with brave men's renown. 

For thee also, Olympian victor, I pray that, joying in the steedsPoseidon[5] gave, thou mayest bear with thee to the end a serene oldage, and may thy sons, O Psaumis, be at thy side. If a man cherish hiswealth to sound ends, having a sufficiency of goods and adding theretofair 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 woodbrought down the stream of the river Hipparis. ]

[Footnote 5: When Poseidon and Athene were contending for theprotectorate of Athens, Poseidon brought the first horse up out of theearth, 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-frontof the work the entablature shoot far its splendour. 

Now if one be an Olympian conqueror and treasurer to the propheticaltar 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 amongcitizens who hear without envy the desired sounds of song? For in asandal of such sort let the son of Sostratos know that his fortunatefoot is set. Deeds of no risk are honourless whether done among men oramong hollow ships; but if a noble deed be wrought with labour, manymake mention thereof. 

For thee, Agesias, is that praise prepared which justly and openlyAdrastos spake of old concerning the seer Amphiaraos the son ofOikleus, when the earth had swallowed him and his shining steeds. Forafterward, when on seven pyres dead men were burnt, the son[2] ofTalaos spake on this wise: 'I seek the eye of my host, him who wasalike a good seer and a good fighter with the spear. '

This praise also belongeth to the Syracusan who is lord of thistriumphal song. I who am no friend of strife or wrongful quarrel willbear him this witness even with a solemn oath, and the sweet voice ofthe Muses shall not say me nay. 

O Phintis[3] yoke me now with all speed the strength of thy mules thaton the clear highway we may set our car, that I may go up to the farbeginning of this race. For those mules know well to lead the way inthis course as in others, who at Olympia have won crowns: it behoveththem that we throw open to them the gates of song, for to Pitane byEurotas' stream must I begone betimes to-day. 

Now Pitane[4], they say, lay with Poseidon the son of Kronos andbare the child Euadne with tresses iris-dark. The fruit of her bodyunwedded she hid by her robe's folds, and in the month of her deliveryshe 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 atPhaisane, and had for his lot Alpheos to dwell beside. 

There was the child Euadne nurtured, and by Apollo's side she firstknew the joys of Aphrodite. 

But she might not always hide from Aipytos the seed of the god withinher; and he in his heart struggling with bitter strain against a grieftoo great for speech betook him to Pytho that he might ask of theoracle concerning the intolerable woe. 

But she beneath a thicket's shade put from her silver pitcher and hergirdle of scarlet web, and she brought forth a boy in whom was thespirit of God. By her side the gold-haired god set kindly Eleutho andthe Fates, and from her womb in easy travail came forth Iamos to thelight. Him in her anguish she left upon the ground, but by the counselof gods two bright-eyed serpents nursed and fed him with the harmlessvenom[6] of the bee. 

But when the king came back from rocky Delphi in his chariot he askedall who were in the house concerning the child whom Euadne had born;for he said that the sire whereof he was begotten was Phoibos, andthat he should be a prophet unto the people of the land excelling allmortal men, and that his seed should be for ever. 

Such was his tale, but they answered that they had neither seen norheard of him, though he was now born five days. For he was hiddenamong rushes in an impenetrable brake, his tender body all suffusedwith golden and deep purple gleams of iris flowers; wherefore hismother prophesied saying that by this holy name[7] of immortality heshould 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-rulingPoseidon his grandsire, and on the guardian of god-built Delos, thebearer of the bow[8], praying that honour might be upon his head forthe rearing of a people; and he stood beneath the heavens, and it wasnight. 

Then the infallible Voice of his father answered and said unto him:Arise, my son, and come hither, following my voice, into a place whereall men shall meet together. 

So they came to the steep rock of lofty Kronion; there the god gavehim a twofold treasure of prophecy, that for the time then being heshould hearken to his voice that cannot lie; but when Herakles ofvalorous counsels, the sacred scion of the Alkeidai, should have come, and should have founded a multitudinous feast and the chief ordinanceof games[9], then again on the summit of the altar of Zeus he bade himestablish yet another oracle, that thenceforth the race of Iamidaishould be glorious among Hellenes. 

Good luck abode with them; for that they know the worth of valour theyare entered on a glorious road. 

The matter proveth the man, but from the envious calumny everthreateneth them on whom, as they drive foremost in the twelfth[10]round of the course, Charis sheddeth blushing beauty to win them famemore fair. 

Now if in very truth, Agesias, thy mother's ancestors dwelling by theborders of Kyllene did piously and oft offer up prayer and sacrificeto Hermes, herald of the gods, who hath to his keeping the strife andappointment of games, and doeth honour to Arcadia the nurse of goodlymen, --then surely he, O son of Sostratos, with his loud-thunderingsire, 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 mymother was Stymphalian Metope[11] of fair flowers, for she bare Thebethe charioteer, whose pleasant fountain I will drink, while I weavefor warriors the changes of my song. 

Now rouse thy fellows, Ainëas, first to proclaim the name ofmaiden[12] Hera, and next to know for sure whether we are escaped fromthe ancient reproach that spake truly of Boeotian swine. For thou arta true messenger, a writing-tally[13] of the Muses goodly-haired, abowl wherein to mix high-sounding songs. 

And bid them make mention of Syracuse and of Ortygia, which Hieronruleth with righteous sceptre devising true counsels, and doth honourto Demeter whose footsteps make red the corn, and to the feast of herdaughter with white steeds, and to the might of Aetnaean Zeus. Also heis well known of the sweet voices of the song and lute. Let not theon-coming time break his good fortune. And with joyful welcome mayhe 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. Mayfriendly gods grant to both peoples[14] an illustrious lot: and thouO lord and ruler of the sea, husband of Amphitrite of the goldendistaff, grant this my friend straight voyage and unharmed, and blessthe joyous flower of my song. 

[Footnote 1: Agesias is so called because an Iamid ancestor of his hadgone 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 asymbol of immortality. ]

[Footnote 8: His father, Apollo. ]

[Footnote 9: At Olympia. ]

[Footnote 10: The course in the chariot-race was twelve times roundthe Hippodrome. ]

[Footnote 11: The nymph of the lake Metopë near Stymphalos. ]

[Footnote 12: Hera was worshipped in her prenuptial as well as herpostnuptial state. ]

[Footnote 13: It was a custom between correspondents who wished forsecrecy to have duplicate [Greek: skutalai], or letter-sticks. Thewriter wrote on a roll wrapt round his stick, and the receiver of theletter read it wrapt similarly on his. And thus Aineas the bearer ofthis ode would teach the chorus of Stymphalians how rightly to singand understand it. See [Greek: skutalae] in Dict. Ant. ]

[Footnote 14: I. E. Of Stymphalos and Syracuse. Agesias was a citizenof 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 withthe dew of the vine, maketh gift thereof to a youth his daughter'sspouse, a largess of the feast from home to home, an all-goldenchoicest treasure, that the banquet may have grace, and that he mayglorify his kin; and therewith he maketh him envied in the eyes of thefriends around him for a wedlock wherein hearts are wedded--

So also I, my liquid nectar sending, the Muses' gift, the sweet fruitof my soul, to men that are winners in the games at Pytho or Olympiamake holy offering. Happy is he whom good report encompasseth; nowon one man, now on another doth the Grace that quickeneth lookfavourably, and tune for him the lyre and the pipe's stops of musicmanifold. 

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 byKastalia's hath won him crowns, I may for his boxing make award ofglory, and to his father Demegetos in whom Justice hath her delight, dwellers in the isle of three cities with an Argive host, nigh to apromontory of spacious Asia. 

Fain would I truly tell from the beginning from Tlepolemos the messageof my word, the common right of this puissant seed of Herakles. Foron the father's side they claim from Zeus, and on the mother's fromAstydameia, sons of Amyntor. 

Now round the minds of men hang follies unnumbered--this is theunachievable thing, to find what shall be best hap for a man bothpresently and also at the last. Yea for the very founder[1] of thiscountry once on a time struck with his staff of tough wild-olive-woodAlkmene's bastard brother Likymnios in Tiryns as he came forth fromMidea's chamber, and slew him in the kindling of his wrath. So eventhe 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 goldenhair from his sweet-incensed shrine spake unto him of a sailing ofships that should be from the shore of Lerna unto a pasture ringedwith sea, where sometime the great king of gods rained on thecity golden snow, what time by Hephaistos' handicraft beneath thebronze-wrought axe from the crown of her father's head Athene leapt tolight and cried aloud with an exceeding cry; and Heaven trembled ather coming, and Earth, the Mother. 

Then also the god who giveth light to men, Hyperion, bade his belovedsons see that they guard the payment of the debt, that they shouldbuild first for the goddess an altar in the sight of all men, andlaying thereon a holy offering they should make glad the hearts ofthe father and of his daughter of the sounding spear. Now Reverence, Forethought's child, putteth valour and the joy of battle into thehearts of men; yet withal there cometh upon them bafflingly the cloudof forgetfulness and maketh the mind to swerve from the straight pathof action. For they though they had brands burning yet kindled not theseed of flame, but with fireless rites they made a grove on the hillof the citadel. For them Zeus brought a yellow cloud into the sky andrained much gold upon the land; and Glaukopis herself gave them toexcel the dwellers upon earth in every art of handicraft. For on theirroads ran the semblances of beasts and creeping things: whereof theyhave great glory, for to him that hath knowledge the subtlety that iswithout deceit[2] is the greater altogether. 

Now the ancient story of men saith that when Zeus and the other godsmade division of the earth among them, not yet was island Rhodesapparent in the open sea, but in the briny depths lay hid. And forthat Helios was otherwhere, none drew a lot for him; so they left himportionless of land, that holy god. And when he spake thereof Zeuswould cast lots afresh; but he suffered him not, for that he said thatbeneath the hoary sea he saw a certain land waxing from its root inearth, that should bring forth food for many men, and rejoice inflocks. And straightway he bade her of the golden fillet, Lachesis, tostretch her hands on high, nor violate the gods' great oath, but withthe son of Kronos promise him that the isle sent up to the light ofheaven should be thenceforth a title of himself alone. 

And in the end of the matter his speech had fulfilment; there sprangup from the watery main an island, and the father who begetteththe keen rays of day hath the dominion thereof, even the lord offire-breathing steeds. There sometime having lain with Rhodos he begatseven 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 theyheld each apart their shares of cities, making threefold division oftheir father's land, and these men call their dwelling-places. Thereis a sweet amends for his piteous ill-hap ordained for Tlepolemosleader of the Tirynthians at the beginning, as for a god, even theleading thither of sheep for a savoury burnt-offering, and the awardof honour in games[3]. 

Of garlands from these games hath Diagoras twice won him crowns, andfour times he had good luck at famous Isthmos and twice followingat Nemea, and twice at rocky Athens. And at Argos the bronze shieldknoweth him, and the deeds of Arcadia and of Thebes and the yearlygames Boeotian, and Pellene and Aigina where six times he won; and thepillar of stone at Megara hath the same tale to tell. 

But do thou, O Father Zeus, who holdest sway on the mountain-ridges ofAtabyrios glorify the accustomed Olympian winner's hymn, and the manwho hath done valiantly with his fists: give him honour at the handsof citizens and of strangers; for he walketh in the straight way thatabhorreth insolence, having learnt well the lessons his true soul hathtaught him, which hath come to him from his noble sires. Darken notthou the light of one who springeth from the same stock of Kallianax. Surely with the joys of Eratidai the whole city maketh mirth. But thevarying breezes even at the same point of time speed each upon theirvarious ways. 

[Footnote 1: Tlepolemos. ]

[Footnote 2: That is, probably, without magic, or the pretence ofbeing anything but machines. This is considered an allusion to theTelchines who lived before the Heliadai in Rhodes, and were magiciansas well as craftsmen. For illustrations of Rhodian art at varioustimes the British Museum may be consulted, which is particularly richin vases from Kameiros and Ialysos. ]

[Footnote 3: That is, he presides over the celebration of games, astutelar 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 wouldseem however to have been written, like the fourth Olympian, to besung in the procession to the altar of Zeus on the night of thevictory. 

Of the forty-four odes remaining to us no less than eleven are inhonour of winners from Aigina. 

 * * * * *

O mother of gold-crowned contests, Olympia, queen of truth; where menthat are diviners observing burnt-offerings make trial of Zeus thewielder of white lightnings, whether he hath any word concerningmen who seek in their hearts to attain unto great prowess and abreathing-space from toil; for it is given in answer to the reverentprayers 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 roadsto happy life by the grace of gods. 

Thee, O Timosthenes[1], and thy brother hath Destiny assigned to Zeusthe guardian of your house, even to him who hath made thee glorious atNemea, 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 hisbeauty, but in the wrestling match victorious made proclamation thathis country was Aigina of long oars, where saviour Themis who sittethin judgment by Zeus the stranger's succour is honoured more than anyelsewhere among men[2]. 

For in a matter mighty and bearing many ways to judge with unswayedmind and suitably, this is a hard essay, yet hath some ordinance ofimmortals given this sea-defended land to be to strangers out of everyclime 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 manwhom Leto's son and far-ruling Poseidon, when they would make a crownfor Ilion, called to work with them at the wall, for that it wasdestined that at the uprising of wars in city-wasting fights it shouldbreathe forth fierce smoke. 

Now when it was new-built three dragons fiery-eyed leapt at therampart: two fell and perished in despair; but the third sprang inwith a war-cry[3]. 

Then Apollo pondering, the sign spake straightway unto Aiakos by hisside: 'Hero, where thy hands have wrought is Pergamos taken: thussaith this sign, sent of the son of Kronos, loud-thundering Zeus. Andthat not without thy seed; but with the first and fourth it shall besubdued'[4]. 

Thus plainly spoke the god, and away to Xanthos and the Amazons ofgoodly steeds and to Ister urged his car. 

And the Trident-wielder for Isthmos over seas harnessed his swiftchariot, and hither[5] first he bare with him Aiakos behind the goldenmares, and so on unto the mount of Corinth, to behold his feast offame. 

Now shall there never among men be aught that pleaseth all alike. IfI for Melesias[6] raise up glory in my song of his boys, let not envycast at me her cruel stone. Nay but at Nemea too will I tell of honourof like kind with this, and of another ensuing thereon, won in thepankration of men. 

Verily to teach is easier to him that knoweth: it is folly if one hathnot first learnt, for without trial the mind wavereth. And beyond allothers can Melesias declare all works on that wise, what method shalladvance 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 ofAlkimedon, who by God's grace, nor failing himself in prowess, hathput off from him upon the bodies of four striplings the loathed returnungreeted of fair speech, and the path obscure[7]; and in his father'sfather he hath breathed new vigour to wrestle with old age. A man thathath done honourable deeds taketh no thought of death. 

But I must needs arouse memory, and tell of the glory of their handsthat gave victory to the Blepsiad clan, to whom this is now the sixthcrown that hath come from the wreathed games to bind their brows. 

Even the dead have their share when paid them with due rites, andthe grace of kinsmen's honour the dust concealeth not. From Hermes'daughter Fame shall Iphion[8] hear and tell to Kallimachos this lustreof Olympic glory, which Zeus hath granted to this house. Honour uponhonour may he vouchsafe unto it, and shield it from sore disease[9]. Ipray that for the share of glory fallen to them he raise against themno contrary discontent, but granting them a life unharmed may glorifythem and their commonwealth. 

[Footnote 1: Alkimedon's brother. He had won a victory at the Nemeangames. ]

[Footnote 2: Aigina had a high commercial reputation, and strangerswere equitably dealt with in her courts. ]

[Footnote 3: The two first dragons typify the Aiakids, Aias andAchilles, who failed to enter Troy, the third typifies Achilles' son, Neoptolemos, who succeeded. ]

[Footnote 4: Aiakos' son, Telamon, was with Herakles when he tookTroy: 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 disagreeablecircumstances of defeat and transferred them to the four opponentsagainst whom he was matched in four successive ties. ]

[Footnote 8: Iphion seems to have been the father and Kallimachos theuncle of Alkimedon. ]

[Footnote 9: Perhaps Iphion and Kallimachos died of some severeillness. ]

IX. 

FOR EPHARMOSTOS OF OPOUS, WINNER IN THE WRESTLING-MATCH. 

 * * * * *

The date of this ode is uncertain. Its last line seems to imply thatit was sung at a banquet at Opous, after crowning the altar of AiasOileus, tutelar hero of the Lokrians. From the beginning we gatherthat on the night of the victory at Olympia Epharmostos' friends hadsung 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 byPindar. 

 * * * * *

The strain of Archilochos sung without music at Olympia, the tripleresonant psalm of victory, sufficed to lead to the hill of KronosEpharmostos triumphing with his comrade friends: but now with darts ofother sort, shot from the Muses' far-delivering bow, praise Zeus ofthe red lightning, and Elis' holy headland, which on a time Pelops theLydian hero chose to be Hippodameia's goodly dower. 

And shoot a feathered arrow of sweet song Pythoward, for thy wordsshall not fall to the ground when thou tunest the throbbing lyreto the praise of the wrestlings of a man from famous Opous, andcelebratest her and her son. For Themis and her noble daughterEunomia the Preserver have made her their own, and she flourisheth inexcellent deeds both at Kastalia and beside Alpheos' stream: whencecome the choicest of all crowns to glorify the mother city ofLokrians, 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 thesetidings, so be it that my hand is blessed at all in labouring in thechoice garden of the Graces; for they give all pleasant things to men. 

By fate divine receive men also valour and wisdom: how else[1] mightthe hands of Herakles have wielded his club against the trident, whenat Pylos Poseidon took his stand and prest hard on him, ay, and thereprest him hard embattled Phoibos with his silver bow, neither wouldHades keep his staff unraised, wherewith he leadeth down to waysbeneath the hollow earth the bodies of men that die?

O my mouth, fling this tale from thee, for to speak evil of gods isa hateful wisdom, and loud and unmeasured words strike a note thattrembleth upon madness. Of such things talk thou not; leave war ofimmortals and all strife aside; and bring thy words to the city ofProtogeneia, where by decree of Zeus of the bickering lightning-flashPyrrha and Deukalion coming down from Parnassos first fixed theirhome, and without bed of marriage made out of stones a race to be onefolk: and hence cometh the name of peoples[2]. Awake for them theclear-toned gale of song, and if old wine be best, yet among songsprefer the newer flowers. 

Truly men say that once a mighty water swept over the dark earth, butby the craft of Zeus an ebb suddenly drew off the flood. From thesefirst men came anciently your ancestors of the brazen shields, sons ofthe women of the stock of Iapetos and of the mighty Kronidai, Kingsthat dwelt in the land continually; until the Olympian Lord caught upthe daughter[3] of Opöeis from the land of the Epeians, and lay withher in a silent place among the ridges of Mainalos; and afterwardbrought her unto Lokros, that age might not bring him[4] low beneaththe burden of childlessness. But the wife bare within her the seed ofthe Mightiest, and the hero saw the bastard born and rejoiced, andcalled him by the name of his mother's father, and he became a manpreeminent in beauty and great deeds: and his father gave unto him acity and a people to rule over. 

Then there came unto him strangers, from Argos and from Thebes, andfrom Arcadia others, and from Pisa. But the son of Aktor and Aigina, Menoitios, he honoured above all settlers, him whose son[5] went withthe Atreidai to the plain of Teuthras and stood alone beside Achilles, when Telephos had turned the valiant Danaoi to flight, and drove theminto the sterns of their sea-ships; so proved he to them that hadunderstanding that Patroklos' soul was strong. And thenceforward theson of Thetis persuaded him that he should never in murderous battletake his post far from his friend's conquering spear. 

Fit speech may I find for my journey in the Muses' car; and let metherewith have daring and powers of ample scope. To back the prowessof a friend I came, when Lampromachos won his Isthmian crown, when onthe same day both he and his brother overcame. And afterward at thegates[6] of Corinth two triumphs again befell Epharmostos, and more inthe valleys of Nemea. At Argos he triumphed over men, as over boysat Athens. And I might tell how at Marathon he stole from among thebeardless and confronted the full-grown for the prize of silvervessels, how without a fall he threw his men with swift and cunningshock, 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 fairestdeeds. 

Also before the Parrhasian host was he glorified, at the assembly ofLykaian Zeus, and again when at Pellene he bare away a warm antidoteof cold winds[7]. And the tomb of Iolaos, and Eleusis by the sea, arejust witnesses to his honours. 

The natural is ever best: yet many men by learning of prowess essay toachieve fame. The thing done without God is better kept in silence. For some ways lead further than do others, but one practice will nottrain us all alike. Skill of all kinds is hard to attain unto: butwhen thou bringest forth this prize, proclaim aloud with a goodcourage that by fate divine this man at least was born deft-handed, nimble-limbed, with the light of valour in his eyes, and that nowbeing victorious he hath crowned at the feast Oilean Alas' altar. 

[Footnote 1: This is the common interpretation, implying that Heraklesin contending with the gods here mentioned must have been helped byother gods. But perhaps it might also be translated 'therefore howcould the hands, &c. , ' meaning that since valour, as has just beensaid, 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 soundof [Greek: Laos] and [Greek: Laas], words here regarded in the inverserelation 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 ofthe firmament, the children of the cloud. 

But when through his labour one fareth well, then are due honey-voicedsongs, be they even a prelude to words that shall come after, a pledgeconfirmed by oath in honour of high excellence. 

Ample is the glory stored for Olympian winners: thereof my shepherdtongue is fain to keep some part in fold. But only by the help of Godis wisdom[1] kept ever blooming in the soul. 

Son of Archestratos, Agesidamos, know certainly that for thy boxing Iwill 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 wordthat to no stranger-banishing folk shall ye come, nor unacquaintedwith things noble, but of the highest in arts and valiant with thespear. For neither tawny fox nor roaring lion may change his nativetemper. 

[Footnote 1: Perhaps [Greek: sophos] (which means often rather cleveror 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 firstline 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 mayknow where it is written upon my heart: for I had forgotten that Iowed him a sweet strain. 

But do thou, O Muse, and thou Truth, daughter of Zeus, put forth yourhands and keep from me the reproach of having wronged a friend bybreaking my pledged word. For from afar hath overtaken me the timethat was then yet to come, and hath shamed my deep debt. 

Nevertheless from that sore reproach I may be delivered by paymentwith usury: behold how[1] the rushing wave sweepeth down the rollingshingle, and how we also will render for our friend's honour a tributeto him and to his people. 

Truth inhabiteth the city of the Lokrians of the West, and Kalliopethey hold in honour and mailëd Ares; yea even conquering Herakles wasfoiled by that Kykneän combat[2]. 

Now let Agesidamos, winner in the boxing at Olympia, so render thanksto Ilas[3] as Patroklos of old to Achilles. If one be born withexcellent gifts, then may another who sharpeneth his natural edgespeed him, God helping, to an exceeding weight of glory. Without toilthere have triumphed a very few. 

Of that light in the life of a man before all other deeds, that firstof contests, the ordinances of Zeus[4] have stirred me to sing, eventhe games which by the ancient tomb of Pelops the mighty Heraklesfounded, after that he slew Kleatos, Poseidon's goodly son, and slewalso Eurytos, that he might wrest from tyrannous Augeas against hiswill reward for service done[5]. 

Lying in ambush beneath Kleonai did Herakles overcome them on theroad, for that formerly these same violent sons of Molos made havoc ofhis own Tirynthian folk by hiding in the valleys of Elis. And not longafter the guest-betraying king of the Epeans saw his rich native land, his own city, beneath fierce fire and iron blows sink down into thedeep moat of calamity. Of strife against stronger powers it is hardto be rid. Likewise Augeas last of all in his perplexity fell intocaptivity and escaped not precipitate death. 

Then the mighty son of Zeus having gathered together all his host atPisa, and all the booty, measured a sacred grove for his sovereignFather; and having fenced round the Altis he marked the bounds thereofin a clear space, and the plain encompassing it he ordained for restand feasting, and paid honour to the river Alpheos together with thetwelve greatest gods. And he named it by the name of the Hill ofKronos; 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 whoalone proveth sure truth, even Time. He travelling onward hath told usthe clear tale of how the founder set apart the choicest of the spoilfor an offering from the war, and sacrificed, and how he ordained thefifth-year feast with the victories of that first Olympiad. 

Who then won to their lot the new-appointed crown by hands or feetor chariot, setting before them the prize of glory in the games, andwinning it by their act? In the foot-race down the straight course ofthe stadion was Likymnios' son Oionos first, from Nidea had he led hishost: in the wrestling was Tegea glorified by Echemos: Doryklos wonthe prize of boxing, a dweller in the city of Tiryns, and with thefour-horse chariot, Samos of Mantinea, Halirrhothios' son: with thejavelin Phrastor hit the mark: in distance Enikeus beyond all othershurled the stone with a circling sweep, and all the warrior companythundered a great applause. 

Then on the evening the lovely shining of the fair-faced moon beamedforth, and all the precinct sounded with songs of festal glee, afterthe manner which is to this day for triumph. 

So following the first beginning of old time, we likewise in a songnamed of proud victory will celebrate the thunder and the flamingbolt of loud-pealing Zeus, the fiery lightning that goeth with allvictory[7]. 

And soft tones to the music of the flute shall meet and mingle with myverse, 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 hathnow travelled to the other side of youth, and maketh his soul warmwith love--for wealth that must fall to a strange owner from withoutis most hateful to a dying man--so also, Agesidamos, when a man whohath done honourable deeds goeth unsung to the house of Hades, thisman 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 thePierian daughters of Zeus foster thy wide-spread fame. 

I with them, setting myself thereunto fervently, have embraced theLokrians' famous race, and have sprinkled my honey upon a city ofgoodly men: and I have told the praises of Archestratos' comely son, whom I beheld victorious by the might of his hand beside the altar atOlympia, and saw on that day how fair he was of form, how gifted withthat spring-tide bloom, which erst with favour of the Cyprian queenwarded from Ganymede unrelenting death. 

[Footnote 1: Reading [Greek: horat on hopa]. ]

[Footnote 2: This Kyknos seems to have been a Lokrian freebooter, saidto have fought with success against Herakles. ]

[Footnote 3: His trainer. ]

[Footnote 4: Probably because Zeus was especially concerned, both withthe 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 climateanciently prevailing in Peloponnesos: perhaps the mention of snow ismerely picturesque, referring to the habitual appearance of the hillin winter, and the passage should then rather be rendered 'whenOinomaos 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, stilltestify. ]

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 overwide-ruling Himera, O saviour Fortune. 

By thee upon the sea swift ships are piloted, and on dry land fiercewars and meetings of councils. 

Up and down the hopes of men are tossed as they cleave the waves ofbaffling falsity: and a sure token of what shall come to pass hathnever any man on the earth received from God: the divinations ofthings 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 surgeof sorrowful pain have suddenly received for their affliction somehappiness profound. 

Son of Philanor, verily even the glory of thy fleet feet would havefallen into the sere leaf unrenowned, abiding by the hearth of thykin, as a cock that fighteth but at home, had not the strife ofcitizen against citizen driven thee from Knosos thy native land. 

But now at Olympia hast thou won a crown, O Ergoteles, and at Pythotwice, and at Isthmos, whereby thou glorifiest the hot springs wherethe nymphs Sicilian bathe, dwelling in a land that is become to theeas 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 theStadion, or short foot-race of about a furlong or 220 yards, and alsothe Pentathlon, that is, probably, he won at least three out of thefive contests which composed the Pentathlon--the Jump, Throwing theDisk, 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 Iliadare the most conspicuous passages in poetry which refer to the greatCorinthian hero Bellerophon. 

It is thought that this ode was sung on the winner's public entranceinto Corinth. 

 * * * * *

Thrice winner in Olympic games, of citizens beloved, to strangershospitable, the house in whose praise will I now celebrate happyCorinth, 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, wiseThemis' golden daughters. And they are minded to keep far from themInsolence the braggart mother of Loathing. 

I have fair witness to bear of them, and a just boldness stirreth mytongue to speak. Nature inborn none shall prevail to hide. Unto you, sons[1] of Aletes, ofttimes have the flowery Hours given splendourof victory, as to men excelling in valour, pre-eminent at the sacredgames, and ofttimes of old have they put subtleties into your men'shearts to devise; and of an inventor cometh every work. 

Whence were revealed the new graces of Dionysos with the dithyrambthat winneth the ox[2]? Who made new means of guidance to the harnessof horses, or on the shrines of gods set the twin images of the kingof birds [3]? Among them thriveth the Muse of dulcet breath, and Aresin the young men's terrible spears. Sovran lord of Olympia, be notthou jealous of my words henceforth for ever, O father Zeus; rulethou this folk unharmed, and keep unchanged the favourable gale ofXenophon's good hap. Welcome from him this customary escort of hiscrown, which from the plains of Pisa he is bringing, having won withthe five contests the stadion-race beside; the like whereof never yetdid mortal man. 

Also two parsley-wreaths shadowed his head before the people at thegames of Isthmos, nor doth Nemea tell a different tale. And of hisfather Thessalos' lightning feet is record by the streams of Alpheos, and at Pytho he hath renown for the single and for the double stadiongained both in a single day, and in the same month at rocky Athens aday of swiftness crowned his hair for three illustrious deeds, and theHellotia[4] seven times, and at the games of Poseidon between seaslonger hymns followed his father Ptoiodoros with Terpsias andEritimos. And how often ye were first at Delphi or in the Pastures ofthe 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 thesea-shore. But in everything is there due measure, and most excellentis it to have respect unto fitness of times. 

I with your fleet sailing a privateer will speak no lie concerning thevalour of Corinth's heroes, whether I proclaim the craft of her menof old or their might in war, whether of Sisyphos of subtlest cunningeven as a god, and Medea who made for herself a marriage in her sire'sdespite, saviour of the ship Argo and her crew: or whether how of oldin the struggle before the walls of Dardanos the sons of Corinth weredeemed to turn the issue of battle either way, these with Atreus' sonstriving 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 ruleand had rich heritage of land and palace, even he who once, when helonged to bridle the snaky Gorgon's son, Pegasos, at Peirene's spring, suffered many things, until the time when maiden Pallas brought tohim a bit with head-band of gold, and from a dream behold it was verydeed. 

For she said unto him 'Sleepest thou O Aiolid king? Come, take thischarmer 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 ofthe shadowy aegis--so it seemed unto him--and he leapt up and stoodupright upon his feet. And he seized the wondrous bit that lay by hisside, 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 altarof 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 thelightning brought unto him the soul-subduing gold. 

Then the seer bade him with all speed obey the vision, and that whenhe should have sacrificed to the wide-ruling Earth-enfolder thestrong-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 makeforecast forsworn. Surely with zealous haste did bold Bellerophon bindround 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 ofthe chill and desert air, he smote the archer host of Amazons, andslew the Solymoi, and Chimaira breathing fire. I will keep silencetouching the fate of him: howbeit Pegasos hath in Olympus found a homein the ancient stalls of Zeus. 

But for me who am to hurl straight the whirling javelin it is not meetto spend beside the mark my store of darts with utmost force of hand:for to the Muses throned in splendour and to the Oligaithidai awilling ally came I, at the Isthmos and again at Nemea. In a briefword will I proclaim the host of them, and a witness sworn and trueshall be to me in the sweet-tongued voice of the good herald[9], heardat both places sixty times. 

Now have their acts at Olympia, methinks, been told already: of thosethat shall be hereafter I will hereafter clearly speak. Now I live inhope, but the end is in the hands of gods. But if the fortune of thehouse fail not, we will commit to Zeus and Enyalios the accomplishmentthereof. 

Yet other glories won they, by Parnassos' brow, and at Argos how manyand at Thebes, and such as nigh the Arcadians[10] the lordly altar ofZeus Lykaios shall attest, and Pallene, and Sikyon, and Megara, and the well-fenced grove of the Aiakidai, and Eleusis, and lustyMarathon, and the fair rich cities beneath Aetna's towering crest, andEuboea. Nay over all Hellas if thou searchest, thou shalt find morethan one sight can view. 

O king Zeus the Accomplisher, grant them with so light feet[11] tomove through life, give them all honour, and sweet hap of their goodlythings. 

[Footnote 1: The clan of the Oligaithidai, to which Xenophonbelonged. ]

[Footnote 2: I. E. As a prize. But the passage may be takendifferently as referring to the symbolical identification of Dionysoswith the bull. Dithyrambic poetry was said to have been invented orimproved by Arion of Corinth. ]

[Footnote 3: This refers to the introduction into architecture by theCorinthians of the pediment, within or above which were at that timeconstantly 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 sidewere of Corinthian descent. ]

[Footnote 7: Poseidon. ]

[Footnote 8: A bull. ]

[Footnote 9: Proclaiming the name and city of the winner in thegames. ]

[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'scity 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, guardiansof the Minyai's ancient race, hearken, for unto you I pray. For byyour gift come unto men all pleasant things and sweet, and the wisdomof a man and his beauty, and the splendour of his fame. Yea even godswithout the Graces' aid rule never at feast or dance; but these havecharge of all things done in heaven, and beside Pythian Apollo ofthe golden bow they have set their thrones, and worship the eternalmajesty of the Olympian Father. 

O lady Aglaia, and thou Euphrosyne, lover of song, children of themightiest of the gods, listen and hear, and thou Thalia delighting insweet sounds, and look down upon this triumphal company, moving withlight step under happy fate. In Lydian mood of melody concerningAsopichos am I come hither to sing, for that through thee, Aglaia, in the Olympic games the Minyai's home is winner. Fly, Echo, toPersephone's dark-walled home, and to his father bear the nobletidings, that seeing him thou mayest speak to him of his son, sayingthat for his father's honour in Pisa's famous valley he hath crownedhis 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 haddefeated 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 cityof Aitna, in honour of which he had himself proclaimed as an Aitnaianafter 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 wellagainst the barbarians of the South and West the same war which theHellenes of the mother-country waged against the barbarians of theEast. 

 * * * * *

O golden Lyre, thou common treasure of Apollo and the Musesviolet-tressed, thou whom the dancer's step, prelude of festal mirth, obeyeth, and the singers heed thy bidding, what time with quiveringstrings thou utterest preamble of choir-leading overture--lo even thesworded lightning of immortal fire thou quenched, and on the sceptreof Zeus his eagle sleepeth, slackening his swift wings either side, the king of birds, for a dark mist thou hast distilled on his archedhead, a gentle seal upon his eyes, and he in slumber heaveth hissupple 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 heartsdivine by the cunning of Leto's son and the deep-bosomed Muses. 

But whatsoever things Zeus loveth not fly frighted from the voice ofthe Pierides, whether on earth or on the raging sea; whereof is he wholieth in dreadful Tartaros, the foe of the gods, Typhon of the hundredheads, whom erst the den Kilikian of many names did breed, but nowverily the sea-constraining cliffs beyond Cumae, and Sicily, lie heavyon 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 theinmost depths: in the daytime the lava-streams pour forth a lurid rushof smoke: but in the darkness a red rolling flame sweepeth rocks withuproar to the wide deep sea. 

That dragon-thing[1] it is that maketh issue from beneath the terriblefiery flood, a monster marvellous to look upon, yea a marvel to hearof from such as go thereby and tell what thing is prisoned betweenthe dark-wooded tops of Etna and the plain, where the back of him isgalled and furrowed by the bed whereon he lieth. 

O Zeus, be it ours to find favour in thy sight, who art defenderof this mountain, the forehead of a fruitful land, whose namesakeneighbour city hath been ennobled by her glorious founder, for that onthe race-course at the Pythian games the herald made proclamation ofher 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 tothem as they set forth upon the sea; for this is promise that inthe end also they shall come with good hap home. So after this goodfortune 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 ofCastaly on thy Parnassos, be this the purpose of thy will, and grantthe land fair issue of her men. 

For from gods come all means of mortal valour, hereby come bards andmen of mighty hand and eloquent speech. 

This is the man I am fain to praise, and trust that not outside thering shall I hurl the bronze-tipped javelin I brandish in my hand, butwith far throw outdo my rivals in the match. 

Would that his whole life may give him, even as now, good luck andwealth right onward, and of his pains forgetfulness. 

Verily it shall remind him in what fightings of wars he stood up withsteadfast soul, when the people found grace of glory at the handsof gods, such as none of the Hellenes hath reaped, a proud crown ofwealth. 

For after the ensample of Philoktetes he went but now to war: and whennecessity was upon them even they of proud spirit sought of him aboon. 

To Lemnos once they say came godlike heroes to fetch thence the archerson of Paian, vexed of an ulcerous wound; and he sacked the city ofPriam and made an end of the Danaoi's labours, for the body wherewithhe went was sick, but this was destined from the beginning. 

Even thus to Hieron may God be a guide for the time approaching, andgive him to lay hold upon the things of his desire. 

Also in the house of Deinomenes do me grace, O Muse, to sing, for sakeof 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, forwhom with god-built freedom after the laws of Hyllic pattern hath thatcity been founded of Hieron's hand: for the desire of the sons ofPamphylos and of the Herakleidai dwelling beneath the heights ofTaÿgetos is to abide continually in the Dorian laws of Aigimios. AtAmyklai they dwelt prosperously, when they were come down out ofPindos and drew near in honour to the Tyndaridai who ride on whitehorses, and the glory of their spears waxed great. 

Thou Zeus, with whom are the issues of things, grant that the truespeech of men ever bear no worse report of citizens and kings besidethe water of Amënas. By thine aid shall a man that is chief andthat instructeth his son after him give due honour unto his people andmove them to be of one voice peacefully. 

I pray thee, son of Kronos, grant that the Phenician and the Tuscanwar-cry be hushed at home, since they have beheld the calamity oftheir ships that befell them before Cumae, even how they were smittenby the captain of the Syracusans, who from their swift ships hurledtheir youth into the sea, to deliver Hellas from the bondage of theoppressor. 

From Salamis shall I of Athenians take reward of thanks, at Spartawhen I shall tell[2] in a song to come of the battle[3] beforeKithairon, wherein the Medes that bear crooked bows were overthrown, but by the fair-watered banks of Himëras it shall be for the songI have rendered to the sons of Deinomenes, which by their valour theyhave earned, since the men that warred against them are overthrown. 

If thou shalt speak in season, and comprehend in brief the ends ofmany matters, less impeachment followeth of men; for surfeit blunteththe eagerness of expectancy; and city-talk of others' praise grievethhearts secretly. 

Nevertheless, for that envy is preferred before pity[4], let slip notfair occasion: guide with just helm thy people and forge the swordof thy speech on an anvil whereof cometh no lie. Even a word fallinglightly is of import in that it proceedeth from thee. Of many thingsart thou steward: many witnesses are there to thy deeds of eitherkind. 

But abiding in the fair flower of this spirit, if thou art fain to becontinually of good report, be not too careful for the cost: loosefree like a mariner thy sail unto the wind. 

Friend, be not deceived by time-serving words of guile. The voice ofthe report that liveth after a man, this alone revealeth the lives ofdead men to the singers and to the chroniclers: the loving-kindnessof Craesus fadeth not away; but him who burned men with fire within abrazen bull, Phalaris that had no pity, men tell of everywherewith hate, neither will any lute in hall suffer him in the gentlefellowship of young boys' themes of songs. 

To be happy is the chiefest prize; to be glorious the next lot: if aman have lighted on both and taken them to be his, he hath attainedunto 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 ofHerakles, or of Iolaos. 

Anaxilaos, tyrant of Rhegium and Messana, had been deterred byHieron's threats from attacking the Epizephyrian Lokrians, and the odeis partly occupied with congratulations of Hieron on this protectiveact. As Anaxilaos died B. C. 476, and Hieron was only placed at thehead of the Syracusan state two years before, this seems to fix thedate somewhere in these two years. As Pindar talks of sending his songacross the sea, we may suppose that it was sung at Syracuse. 

There is much obscurity about the significances of this ode. Thepoet's motive in telling the story of Ixion's sins has been variouslyguessed at. Some think it was meant to deter Hieron from contrivingthe death of his brother Polyzelos in battle in order to getpossession of Polyzelos' wife (and if Hieron was to be suspected ofsuch a thought it would be quite in Pindar's manner to mingle warningand reproof with praise): some think that it refers to the ingratitudeof Anaxilaos toward Hieron. And most probably the latter part of theode, in which sincerity is approved, and flattery and calumny arecondemned, had some special and personal reference, though we need notsuppose, 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 menand steeds the nursing-place divine, to thee I come[1], bearing frommy bright Thebes this song, the tidings of earth-shaking racing of thefour-horse car, wherein hath Hieron with his goodly chariotovercome, and decked with far-seen splendour of crowns Ortygia thedwelling-place of Artemis of the river, her by whose help he tamedwith soothing hand his colts of spangled rein. 

For the archer maiden with both hands fitteth the glitteringtrappings, and Hermes, god of games, whensoever Hieron to the polishedcar 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'smeed. So the fair speech of Cyprus echoeth around the name of Kinyras, him whom Apollo of the golden hair loved fervently, and who dwelt apriest in the house of Aphrodite: for to such praise are men moved bythe thankfulness that followeth the recompense of friendly acts. Butof thee, O thou son of Deinomenes, the maiden daughter of the Lokrianin the west before the house-door telleth in her song, being out ofbewildering woes of war by thy might delivered, so that her eyes arenot 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 makerecompense of fair reward_. 

This lesson learned he plainly; for when that among the friendlyKronidai he had gotten a life of pleasantness, his bliss becamegreater than he could bear, and with mad heart he lusted after Hera, whose place was in the happy marriage-bed of Zeus: yet insolence drovehim to the exceeding folly; but quickly suffering his deserts the mangained to himself a misery most rare. 

Two sins are the causes of his pain; one that he first among theheroes shed blood of kindred[3] craftily, the other that in thechambers of the ample heavens he attempted the wife of Zeus--for inall things it behoveth to take measure by oneself[4]. 

Yet a mocking love-bed hurried him as he approached the couch[5] intoa 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 thedaughters of heaven, even the child of Kronos; and the hands of Zeushad made it that it might be a snare unto him, a fair mischief. Thuscame he unto the four-spoked wheel, his own destruction; and havingfallen into chains without escape he became proclaimer of thatmessage[6] unto many. 

His mate[7], without favour of the Graces, bare unto him a monstrousson, and like no other thing anywhere, even as its mother was, a thingwith no place or honour, neither among men, neither in the society ofgods. Him she reared and called by the name Kentauros, and he in thevalleys of Pelion lay with Magnesian mares, and there were born thencea wondrous tribe, like unto both parents, their nether parts like untothe dams, and their upper parts like unto the sire. 

God achieveth all ends whereon he thinketh--God who overtaketh eventhe winged eagle, and outstrippeth the dolphin of the sea, andbringeth low many a man in his pride, while to others he giveth gloryincorruptible. 

For me it is meet to eschew the sharp tooth of bitter words; for, though afar off, I have seen the fierce Archilochos lacking mostthings and fattening but on cruel words of hate. Of most worth areriches when joined to the happy gift of wisdom. And this lot hastthou, and mayest illustrate it with liberal soul, thou sovereign chiefover many streets filled with goodly garlands, and much people. If anysaith that ever yet was any man of old time throughout Hellas whoexcelled thee in honour or in the multitude of possessions, such an onewith vain purpose essayeth a fruitless task. 

Upon the flower-crowned prow[8] will I go up to sing of brave deedsdone. Youth is approved by valour in dread wars; and hence say I thatthou hast won boundless renown in thy battles, now with horsemen, nowon foot: also the counsels of thine elder years give me sure ground ofpraising thee every way. 

All hail! This song like to Phenician merchandize is sent across thehoary sea: do thou look favourably on the strain of Kaster in Aeolianmood[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 ofchildren the fawning ape is ever comely: but the good fortune ofRhadamanthos hath come to him because the fruit that his soul bare wastrue, neither delighteth he in deceits within his heart, such as bywhisperer's arts ever wait upon mortal man. 

An overpowering evil are the secret speakings of slander, to theslandered and to the listener thereto alike, and are as foxes inrelentless temper. Yet for the beast whose name is of gain[10] whatgreat thing is gained thereby? For like the cork above the net, whilethe rest of the tackle laboureth deep in the sea, I am unmerged in thebrine. 

Impossible is it that a guileful citizen utter potent words among thegood, nevertheless he fawneth on all and useth every subtlety. No parthave 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 hispath, treading now here now there in crooked ways[11]. ' For every formof polity is a man of direct speech best, whether under a despotism, or whether the wild multitude, or the wisest, have the state in theirkeeping. 

Against God it is not meet to strive, who now upholdeth these, andnow again to those giveth great glory. But not even this cheereth theheart of the envious; for they measure by an unjust balance, and theirown hearts they afflict with bitter pain, till such time as theyattain 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 itmine to dwell among the good, and to win their love. 

[Footnote 1: Pindar here identifies himself with his ode, which hesent, not took, to Syracuse. Compare Ol. Vii. 13, &c. ]

[Footnote 2: Properly [Greek: harmata] would seem to include allexcept the body of the chariot ([Greek: diphros]) in which thecharioteer 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 whichPindar, as has been said, identifies himself. ]

[Footnote 9: It is supposed that another ode, more especially inhonour of the chariot-victory, is here meant, which was to be sentlater. 

From this point to the end the ode reads like a postscript of privateimport and reference. ]

[Footnote 10: It is at least doubtful whether [Greek: kerdo] a fox isreally connected with [Greek: kerdos] gain. ]

[Footnote 11: It appears to me to be an absurdity to suppose thatPindar means to express in this sentence his own rule of conduct, as the commentators have fancied. He is all through this passagecondemning '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 asPherenikos, the horse that won this race at Pytho, is the same thatwon at Olympia B. C. 472, in honour of which event the First Olympianwas written, the victory cannot have been very long before that date, though the language of the ode implies that it was written a good deallater, probably for an anniversary of the victory. It must at leasthave been written before Hieron's death in 467. It is much occupiedwith his illness. 

 * * * * *

Fain were I (if meet it be to utter from my mouth the prayer conceivedof all) that Cheiron the son of Philyra were alive and had notperished among men, even the wide-ruling seed of Kronos the son ofOuranos; and that there still lorded it in Pelion's glens that Beastuntamed, whose soul was loving unto men, even such as when of old hetrained the gentle deviser of limb-saving anodynes, Asklepios, thehero that was a defence against all kind of bodily plague. 

Of him was the daughter[1] of Phlegyas of goodly steeds not yetdelivered by Eileithuia aid of mothers, ere by the golden bow she wasslain at the hands of Artemis, and from her child-bed chamber wentdown into the house of Hades, by contriving of Apollo. Not idle is thewrath of sons of Zeus. 

She in the folly of her heart had set Apollo at nought, and takenanother spouse without knowledge of her sire, albeit ere then she hadlain with Phoibos of the unshorn hair, and bare within her the seed ofa very god. 

Neither awaited she the marriage-tables nor the sound of many voicesin hymeneal song, such as the bride's girl-mates are wont to sing ateventide with merry minstrelsy: but lo, she had longing for thingsotherwhere, even as many before and after. For a tribe there is mostfoolish among men, of such as scorn the things of home, and gaze onthings that are afar off, and chase a cheating prey with hopes thatshall never be fulfilled. 

Of such sort was the frenzied strong desire fair-robed Koronisharboured in her heart, for she lay in the couch of a stranger thatwas come from Arcady. 

But one that watched beheld her: for albeit he was at sheep-gatheringPytho, yet was the temple's king Loxias aware thereof, beside hisunerring partner[2], for he gave heed to his own wisdom, his mind thatknoweth all things; in lies it hath no part, neither in act or thoughtmay god or man deceive him. 

Therefore when he was aware of how she lay with the stranger Ischysson of Elatos, and of her guile unrighteous, he sent his sister fiercewith terrible wrath to go to Lakereia--for by the steep shores of theBoibian lake was the home of her virginity--and thus a doom adverseblasted her life and smote her down: and of her neighbours many faredill therefore and perished with her: so doth a fire that from onespark has leapt upon a mountain lay waste wide space of wood. 

But when her kinsfolk had laid the damsel upon the pile of wood, andfierce brightness of Hephaistos ran around it, then said Apollo: 'Notany longer may I endure in my soul to slay mine own seed by a mostcruel death in company with its mother's grievous fate. '

He said, and at the first stride he was there, and from the corpsecaught up the child, and the blaze of the burning fiery pile wascloven before him asunder in the midst. 

Then to the Kentaur of Magnes he bare the child, that he should teachhim to be a healer of the many-plaguing maladies of men. And thus allthat came unto him whether plagued with self-grown sores or with limbswounded by the lustrous bronze or stone far-hurled, or marred bysummer heat or winter cold--these he delivered, loosing each fromhis several infirmity, some with emollient spells and some by kindlypotions, or else he hung their limbs with charms, or by surgery heraised them up to health. 

Yet hath even wisdom been led captive of desire of gain. Even him didgold in his hands glittering beguile for a great reward to bring backfrom death a man already prisoner thereto: wherefore the hands of theson of Kronos smote the twain of them through the midst, and berefttheir breasts of breath, and the bright lightning dealt them doom. 

It behoveth to seek from gods things meet for mortal souls, knowingthe 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 thatare to thine hand. 

Now were wise Cheiron in his cavern dwelling yet, and had oursweet-voiced songs laid haply some fair magic on his soul, then hadI won him to grant to worthy men some healer of hot plagues, someoffspring of Leto's son, or of her son's sire[3]. 

And then in a ship would I have sailed, cleaving the Ionian sea, tothe fountain of Arethusa, to the home of my Aitnaian friend, whoruleth at Syracuse, a king of good will to the citizens, not enviousof the good, to strangers wondrous fatherly. Had I but landed thereand brought unto him a twofold joy, first golden health and next thismy song of triumph to be a splendour in his Pythian crown, which oflate Pherenikos[4] won by his victory at Kirrha--I say that thenshould I have come unto him, after that I had passed over the deepsea, a farther-shining light than any heavenly star. 

But I am minded to pray to the Mother[5] for him, to the awful goddessunto whom, and unto Pan, before my door nightly the maidens move indance and song. 

Yet, O Hieron, if thou art skilled to apprehend the true meaning ofsayings, thou hast learnt to know this from the men of old; _Theimmortals deal to men two ill things for one good. _ The foolish cannotbear these with steadfastness but the good only, putting the fair sideforward. 

But thee a lot of happiness attendeth, for if on any man hath mightyDestiny looked favourably, surely it is on a chief and leader of apeople. 

A life untroubled abode not either with Peleus, son of Aiakos, or withgodlike Kadmos: yet of all mortals these, they say, had highestbliss, who both erewhile listened to the singing of the Musesgolden-filleted, the one in seven-gated Thebes, when he weddedlarge-eyed Harmonia, the other on the mountainside, when he took tohim Thetis to be his wife, wise Nereus' glorious daughter. And withboth of them gods sate at meat, and they beheld the sons of Kronossitting as kings on thrones of gold, and they received from them giftsfor their espousals; and by grace of Zeus they escaped out of theirformer 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 towhite-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 hisbody was burning in fire. 

Now if any by wisdom hath the way of truth he may yet lack goodfortune, 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 inexceeding weight. 

Small will I be among the small, and great among the great. Whateverfortune follow me, I will work therewith, and wield it as my powershall suffice. If God should offer me wealth and ease, I have hopethat 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 knowfrom tales of sounding song, built up by cunning builders. 

By songs of glory hath virtue lasting life, but to achieve them iseasy 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 toPindar'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 colonyof Kyrene in Africa, an occasion for telling the story of Jason'sexpedition with the Argonauts. The ostensible reason for introducingthe story is that Kyrene had been colonised from the island of Theraby the descendants of the Argonaut Euphemos, according to the prophecyof Medea related at the beginning of the ode. But Pindar had anotherreason. He wished to suggest an analogy between the relation of theIolkian king Pelias to Jason and the relation of Arkesilas to hisexiled kinsman Demophilos. Demophilos had been staying at Thebes, where Pindar wrote this ode, to be afterwards recited at Kyrene. Itwas written B. C. 466, when Pindar was fifty-six years of age, and isunsurpassed in his extant works, or indeed by anything of this kind inall poetry. 

 * * * * *

This day O Muse must thou tarry in a friend's house, the house of theking of Kyrene of goodly horses, that with Arkesilas at his triumphthou mayst swell the favourable gale of song, the due of Leto'schildren, and of Pytho. For at Pytho of old she who sitteth beside theeagles of Zeus--nor was Apollo absent then--the priestess, spake thisoracle, that Battos should found a power in fruitful Libya, thatstraightway departing from the holy isle he might lay the foundationsof a city of goodly chariots upon a white breast of the swellingearth, and might fulfil in the seventeenth generation the word ofMedea spoken at Thera, which of old the passionate child of Aietes, queen of Colchians, breathed from immortal lips. For on this wisespake she to the warrior Jason's god-begotten crew: 'Hearken O sonsof high-hearted mortals and of gods. Lo I say unto you that from thissea-lashed land the daughter[1] of Epaphos shall sometime be plantedwith 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 fleetmares, and reins instead of oars shall they ply, and speed thewhirlwind-footed car. 

By that augury shall it come to pass that Thera shall be mother-cityof mighty commonwealths, even the augury that once at the outpouringsof the Tritonian lake Euphemos leaping from the prow took at the handsof a god who in the likeness of man tendered this present to thestranger of a clod of earth; and the Father Kronian Zeus confirmed itwith a peal of thunder. 

[2]What time he came suddenly upon them as they were hanging againstthe ship the bronze-fluked anchor, fleet Argo's bridle; for now fortwelve days had we borne from Ocean over long backs of desert-land oursea-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 semblanceof a noble man; and he began friendly speech, such as well-doers usewhen they bid new-comers to the feast. 

But the plea of the sweet hope of home suffered us not to stay. Thenhe said that he was Eurypylos son of the earth-embracer, immortalEnnosides; and for that he was aware that we hasted to be gone, hestraightway caught up of the chance earth at his feet a gift that hewould fain bestow. Nor was the hero unheeding, but leaping on theshore 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 intothe sea with the salt spray of evening, following the watery deep. Yetverily often did I charge the labour-lightening servants that theyshould keep it safe, but they forgat: and now upon this island[3]is the imperishable seed of spacious Libya strown before the timeappointed; for if the royal son[4] of Poseidon, lord of horses, whomEuropa Tityos' child bare him on Kephisos' banks, had in his own homethrown it down beside the mouth of Hades'[5] gulf, then in the fourthgeneration of his sons his seed would have taken that wide continentof 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 chosenseed, who coming to this island with worship of their gods shall begetone to be lord of the misty plains[6]. Him sometime shall Phoibos inhis golden house admonish by oracles, when in the latter days he shallgo down into the inner shrine at Pytho, to bring a host in ships tothe rich Nile-garden of the son of Kronos[7]. '

So ran Medea's rhythmic utterance, and motionless in silence thegodlike heroes bowed their heads as they hearkened to the counsels ofwisdom. 

Thee, happy son[8] of Polymnestos, did the oracle of the Delphianbee[9] approve with call unasked to be the man whereof the word wasspoken, for thrice she bid thee hail and declared thee by decree offate Kyrene's king, what time thou enquiredst what help should be fromheaven for thy labouring speech. And verily even now long afterward, as in the bloom of rosy-blossomed spring, in the eighth descent fromBattos the leaf of Arkesilas is green. To him Apollo and Pytho havegiven glory in the chariot-race at the hands of the Amphiktyons: himwill I commend to the Muses, and withal the tale of the all-goldenfleece; for this it was the Minyai sailed to seek when the god-givenglories of their race began. 

What power first drave them in the beginning to the quest? Whatperilous enterprise clenched them with strong nails of adamant?

There was an oracle of God which said that Pelias should die by forceor by stern counsels of the proud sons of Aiolos, and there had cometo him a prophecy that froze his cunning heart, spoken at the centralstone of tree-clad mother Earth, that by every means he should keepsafe guard against the man of one sandal, whensoever from a homesteadon 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 wondrousman; and the vesture that was upon him was twofold, the garb of theMagnetes' country close fitting to his splendid limbs, but above hewore a leopard-skin to turn the hissing showers; nor were the brightlocks of his hair shorn from him but over all his back ran ripplingdown. Swiftly he went straight on, and took his stand, making trial ofhis dauntless soul, in the marketplace when the multitude was full. 

Him they knew not; howbeit some one looking reverently on him wouldspeak on this wise: 'Not Apollo surely is this, nor yet Aphrodite'slord of the brazen car; yea and in glistening Naxos died ere now, theysay, the children of Iphimedeia, Otos and thou, bold king Ephialtes:moreover Tityos was the quarry of Artemis' swift arrow sped from herinvincible quiver, warning men to touch only the loves within theirpower. '

They answering each to each thus talked; but thereon with headlonghaste of mules and polished car came Pelias; and he was astonied whenhe gazed on the plain sign of the single sandal on the right foot. Buthe 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-bornmortals bare thee of her womb out of due time[10]? Tell me thy raceand shame it not by hateful lies. '

And him with gentle words the other answered undismayed, 'I say tothee that I bear with me the wisdom of Cheiron, for from Charikloand Philyra I come, from the cave where the Centaur's pure daughtersreared me up, and now have I fulfilled twenty years among them withoutdeceitful word or deed, and I am come home to seek the ancient honourof my father, held now in rule unlawful, which of old Zeus gave tothe chief Aiolos and his children. For I hear that Pelias yieldinglawlessly to evil thoughts hath robbed it from my fathers whose rightit was from the beginning; for they, when first I looked upon thelight, fearing the violence of an injurious lord, made counterfeitof a dark funeral in the house as though I were dead, and amid thewailing of women sent me forth secretly in purple swathing-bands, whennone but Night might know the way we went, and gave me to Cheiron theson of Kronos to be reared. 

But of these things the chief ye know. Now therefore kind citizensshow me plainly the house of my fathers who drave white horses; for itshall hardly be said that a son of Aison, born in the land, is comehither to a strange and alien soil. And Jason was the name whereby thedivine Beast[11] spake to me. '

Thus he said, and when he had entered in, the eyes of his father knewhim; and from his aged eyelids gushed forth tears, for his soul wasglad within him when he beheld his son, fairest of men and goodliestaltogether. 

Then came to him both brothers, when they heard that Jason was comehome, Pheres from hard by, leaving the fountain Hypereis, and out ofMessena Amythaon, and quickly came Admetos and Melampos to welcomehome their cousin. And at a common feast with gracious words Jasonreceived them and made them friendly cheer, culling for five longnights and days the sacred flower of joyous life. 

But on the sixth day he began grave speech, and set the whole matterbefore his kinsmen from the beginning, and they were of one mind withhim. 

Then quickly he rose up with them from their couches, and they came toPelias' hall, and they made haste and entered and stood within. 

And when he heard them the king himself came forth to them, even theson of Tyro of the lovely hair. Then Jason with gentle voice opened onhim 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 tochoose a guileful gain rather than righteousness, howbeit they travelever to a stern reckoning. But thee and me it behoveth to give lawto our desires, and to devise weal for the time to come. Thoughthou knowest it yet will I tell thee, how that the same mother bareKretheus and rash Salmoneus, and in the third generation we again werebegotten and look upon the strength of the golden sun. Now if therebe enmity between kin, the Fates stand aloof and would fain hide theshame. Not with bronze-edged swords nor with javelins doth it beseemus twain to divide our forefathers' great honour, nor needeth it, for lo! all sheep and tawny herds of kine I yield, and all the landswhereon thou feedest them, the spoil of my sires wherewith thou makestfat thy wealth. That these things furnish forth thy house moveth menot greatly; but for the kingly sceptre and throne whereon the son ofKretheus sate of old and dealt justice to his chivalry, these withoutwrath 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 evenas thou wilt, but now the sere of life alone remaineth to me, whereasthe flower of thy youth is but just burgeoning; thou art able to takeaway 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 ofAietes, and bring thence the thick-fleeced hide of the ram, whereby ofold he was delivered from the deep and from the impious weapons of hisstepmother. 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 worththe quest, and the oracle chargeth me straightway to send a ship onthe sacred mission. This deed do thou offer me to do, and I swear togive thee up the sway and kingly rule. Let Zeus the ancestral god ofthee and me be witness of my oath and stablish it surely in thineeyes. '

So they made this covenant and parted; but Jason straightway badeheralds to make known everywhere that a sailing was toward. Andquickly came three sons of Zeus, men unwearied in battle, whosemothers were Alkmene and Leto of the glancing eyes[12], and twotall-crested men of valour, children of the Earth-shaker, whose honourwas 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 biddingcame 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, evenfrom their dwelling at the foot of Pangaios: and willingly and withglad heart their father Boreas, king of winds, harnessed Zetes andKalaïs, men both with bright wings shooting from their backs. For Herakindled within those sons of gods the all-persuading sweet desirefor the ship Argo, that none should be left behind and stay by hismother's side in savourless and riskless life, but each, even weredeath the price, achieve in company with his peers a magic potency ofhis valour. 

Now when that goodly crew were come to Iolkos, Jason mustered themwith thanks to each, and the seer Mopsos prophesied by omens and bysacred lots, and with good will sped the host on board. 

And when they had hung the anchors over the prow, then their chieftaking in his hands a golden goblet stood up upon the stern and calledon Zeus whose spear is the lightning, and on the rush of waves andwinds and the nights and paths of the deep, to speed them quicklyover, and for days of cheer and friendly fortune of return. And fromthe clouds a favourable voice of thunder pealed in answer; and therecame bright lightning flashes bursting through. 

Then the heroes took heart in obedience to the heavenly signs; and theseer bade them strike into the water with their oars, while he spaketo them of happy hopes; and in their rapid hands the rowing speduntiringly. 

And with breezes of the South they came wafted to the mouth of theAxine 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-builtaltar of stone with hollow top[13]. 

Then as they set forth toward an exceeding peril they prayed the lordof ships that they might shun the terrible shock of the clashingrocks: for they were twain that had life, and plunged along moreswiftly than the legions of the bellowing winds; but that travel ofthe seed of gods made end of them at last[14]. 

After that they came to the Phasis; there they fought with dark-facedKolchians even in the presence of Aietes. And there the queen ofkeenest darts, the Cyprus-born, first brought to men from Olympus thefrenzied bird, the speckled wry-neck[15], binding it to a four-spokedwheel without deliverance, and taught the son of Aison to be wise inprayers and charms, that he might make Medea take no thought to honourher parents, and longing for Hellas might drive her by persuasion'slash, her heart afire with love. 

Then speedily she showed him the accomplishment of the tasks herfather set, and mixing drugs with oil gave him for his anointmentantidotes of cruel pain, and they vowed to be joined together in sweetwedlock. 

But when Aietes had set in the midst a plough of adamant, and oxenthat from tawny jaws breathed flame of blazing fire, and with bronzehoofs smote the earth in alternate steps, and had led them and yokedthem single-handed, he marked out in a line straight furrows, and fora fathom's length clave the back of the loamy earth; then he spakethus: 'This work let your king, whosoever he be that hath commandof the ship, accomplish me, and then let him bear away with him theimperishable coverlet, the fleece glittering with tufts of gold. '

He said, and Jason flung off from him his saffron mantle, and puttinghis trust in God betook himself to the work; and the fire made him notto shrink, for that he had had heed to the bidding of the strangermaiden skilled in all pharmacy. So he drew to him the plough andmade fast by force the bulls' necks in the harness, and plunged thewounding goad into the bulk of their huge sides, and with manfulstrain fulfilled the measure of his work. And a cry without speechcame from Aietes in his agony, at the marvel of the power he beheld. 

Then to the strong man his comrades stretched forth their hands, andcrowned him with green wreaths, and greeted him with gracious words. And thereupon the wondrous son[16] of Helios told him in what placethe knife of Phrixos had stretched the shining fell; yet he trustedthat this labour at least should never be accomplished by him. For itlay in a thick wood and grasped by a terrible dragon's jaws, and he inlength and thickness was larger than their ship of fifty oars, whichthe iron's blows had welded. 

Long were it for me to go by the beaten track, for the time is nighout, and I know a certain short path, and many others look to me forskill. The glaring speckled dragon, O Arkesilas, he slew by subtlety, and by her own aid he stole away Medea, the murderess of Pelias. Andthey went down into the deep of Ocean and into the Red Sea, and to theLemnian race of husbandslaying wives; there also they had games andwrestled 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 fatefulseed was sown of the bright fortune of thy race. For there began thegenerations of Euphemos, which should be thenceforth without end. Andin time mingling among the homes of Lakedaimonian men they made theirdwelling in the isle that once was Kalliste[17]: and thence the sonof Leto gave thy race the Libyan plain to till it and to do honourtherein to your gods, and to rule the divine city of golden-thronedKyrene with devising of the counsels of truth. 

Now hearken to a wise saying even as the wisdom of Oedipus. If onewith sharp axe lop the boughs of a great oak and mar the gloriousform, even in the perishing of the fruit thereof it yet giveth tokenof 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 servedrear service within alien walls, and the place thereof knoweth it nomore[18]. 

But thou art a physician most timely, and the god of healing makeththy light burn brightly. A gentle hand must thou set to a festeringwound. It is a small thing even for a slight man to shake a city, butto set it firm again in its place this is hard struggle indeed, unlesswith sudden aid God guide the ruler's hand. For thee are prepared thethanks which these deeds win. Be strong to serve with all thy mightKyrene's goodly destiny. 

And of Homer's words take this to ponder in thy heart: _Of a goodmessenger_, he saith, _cometh great honour to every deed. _ Even to theMuse is right messengership a gain. Now good cause have Kyrene and theglorious house of Battos to know the righteous mind of Demophilos. Forhe 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 toabhor the insolent, neither will he make strife against the good, nortarry when he hath a deed in hand. For a brief span hath opportunityfor men, but of him it is known surely when it cometh, and he waiteththereon a servant but no slave. 

Now this they say is of all griefs the sorest, that one knowing goodshould of necessity abide without lot therein. Yea thus doth Atlasstruggle now against the burden of the firmament, far from his nativeland and his possessions. Yet the Titans were set free by immortalZeus. As time runneth on the breeze abateth and there are shiftings ofthe sails. And he hath hope that when he shall have endured to the endhis grievous plague he shall see once more his home, and at Apollo'sfountain[19] joining in the feast give his soul to rejoice in heryouth, and amid citizens who love his art, playing on his carven lute, shall enter upon peace, hurting and hurt of none. Then shall he tellhow 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 theArgonauts on their return with the Golden Fleece from Kolchis toIolkos. ]

[Footnote 3: Thera. ]

[Footnote 4: Euphemos. ]

[Footnote 5: At Tainaros there was a cave supposed to be a mouth ofHades. ]

[Footnote 6: Of Libya. ]

[Footnote 7: The purport of this is: If Euphemos had taken the clodsafely home to Tainaros in Lakonia, then his great-grandsons withemigrants from other Peloponnesian powers would have planted a colonyin Libya. But since the clod had fallen into the sea and would bewashed up on the shore of the island of Thera, it was necessary thatEuphemos' descendants should first colonize Thera, and then, but nottill the seventeenth generation, proceed, under Battos, to found thecolony of Kyrene in Libya. ]

[Footnote 8: Battos. ]

[Footnote 9: The priestess. ]

[Footnote 10: The epithet [Greek: polias] is impossible to explainsatisfactorily. 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 implythat Jason's stature, garb and mien, as well as his mysteriouslysudden appearance, argue him a son of one of the ancient giants whohad been seen of old among men. ]

[Footnote 11: The Kentaur Cheiron. ]

[Footnote 12: I. E. One son of Zeus and Alkmene, Herakles, and twosons 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 Argobetween them were themselves destroyed by the shock of their encounterwith each other. Probably a tradition of icebergs survived in thisstory. ]

[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 itsbest 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 seemthat the chariot had been consecrated to Apollo and left in the templeat Delphi, but the horses were brought home to Kyrene and led inprocession through the sacred street of Apollo, with their charioteerKarrhotos, brother of Arkesilas' wife. 

 * * * * *

Wide-reaching is the power of wealth, whensoever a mortal man hathreceived it at the hands of Fate with pure virtue mingled, andbringeth it to his home, a follower that winneth him many friends. Arkesilas, thou favourite of the gods, thou verily seekest after itwith good report from the first steps of thy glorious life, with aidof Kastor of the golden car, who after the wintry storm hath shedbright calm about thy happy hearth[1]. 

Now the wise bear better the power that is given of God. And thouwalkest in righteousness amid thy prosperity which is now great;first, for that thou art king of mighty cities, thy inborn virtuehath brought this majestic honour to thy soul, and again thou art nowblessed in that from the famous Pythian games thou hast won glory bythy steeds, and hast received this triumphal song of men, Apollo'sjoy. 

Therefore forget not, while at Kyrene round Aphrodite's pleasantgarden thy praise is sung, to set God above every other as the causethereof: also love thou Karrhotos[2] chiefest of thy friends; whohath not brought with him Excuse the daughter of late-consideringAfterthought back to the house of the just-ruling sons of Battos; butbeside the waters of Kastalia a welcomed guest he crowned thy hairwith the crown of the conquering car, for the reins were safe[3] inhis hands throughout the twelve swift turns along the sacred course. 

Of the strong harness brake he no whit: but there is hung up[4] allthat cunning work of the artificers that he brought with him when hepassed over the Krisaian hill to the plain within the valley of thegod: therefore now the chamber of cypress-wood possesseth it, hard bythe statue which the bow-bearing Kretans dedicated in the Parnassianshrine, the natural image in one block[5]. Therefore with eager heartit behoveth thee to go forth to meet him who hath done thee this goodservice. 

Thee also, son[6] of Alexibios, the Charites of lovely hair makeglorious. Blessed art thou for that after much toil thou hast amonument of noble words. Among forty charioteers who fell[7] thoudidst with soul undaunted bring thy car unhurt, and hast now come backfrom the glorious games unto the plain of Libya and the city of thysires. 

Without lot in trouble hath there been never any yet, neither shallbe: yet still the ancient bliss of Battos followeth the race, albeitwith various fortune; a bulwark is it to the city, and to strangers amost welcome light. 

From Battos even deep-voiced lions[8] fled in fear when he utteredbefore them a voice from overseas: for the captain and founder Apollogave the beasts over to dire terror, that he might not be false to hisoracles 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 whomsoeverhe will, bringing into their hearts fair order of peace; andinhabiteth the secret place of his oracles; whereby at Lakedaimon andat Argos and at sacred Pylos he made to dwell the valiant sons ofHerakles and Aigimios[9]. 

From Sparta they say came my own dear famous race[10]: thence sprangthe sons of Aigeus who came to Thera, my ancestors, not withouthelp of God; but a certain destiny brought thither a feast of muchsacrifice[11], and thence receiving, O Apollo, thy Karneia we honourat the banquet the fair-built city of Kyrene, which the spear-lovingstrangers haunt[12], the Trojan seed of Antenor. For with Helen theycame thither after they had seen their native city smoking in thefires 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, givegreeting piously, and draw nigh to them with sacrifice and gifts. 

He also planted greater groves of gods, and made a paved road[14] cutstraight over the plain, to be smitten with horsehoofs in processionsthat beseech Apollo's guardianship for men; and there at the end ofthe market-place he lieth apart in death. Blessed was he while hedwelt among men, and since his death the people worship him as theirhero. 

And apart from him before their palace lie other sacred kings thathave their lot with Hades; and even now perchance they hear, withsuch heed as remaineth to the dead, of this great deed sprinkled withkindly dew of outpoured song triumphal, whence have they bliss incommon with their son Arkesilas unto whom it falleth due. 

Him it behoveth by the song of the young men to celebrate Phoibos ofthe golden sword, seeing that from Pytho he hath won a recompense ofhis cost in this glad strain of glorious victory. 

Of him the wise speak well: I but repeat their words saying that hecherisheth understanding above his years, that in eloquent speech andboldness he is as the wide-winged eagle among birds, and his strengthin 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 cunningcharioteer: and by all ways that lead to honour at home hath headventured. 

As now the favour of God perfecteth his might, so for the time tocome, blest children of Kronos, grant him to keep it in counsel andin deed, that never at any time the wintry blast of the late autumnwinds[15] sweep him away. Surely the mighty mind of Zeus guideth thedestiny of the men he loveth. I pray that to the seed of Battos he mayat 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 offair weather. ]

[Footnote 2: The charioteer. ]

[Footnote 3: I. E. Well-handled and un-broken in the sharp turns roundthe goal. ]

[Footnote 4: I. E. In Apollo's temple at Delphi. ]

[Footnote 5: This would seem to have been a piece of wood growingnaturally in the form of a man. ]

[Footnote 6: Karrhotos. ]

[Footnote 7: This seems great havoc among the starters. Probablybesides the forty who fell there were others who were not actuallyupset but yet did not win. No doubt the race must have been run inheats, but these must still have been crowded enough to make the crushat the turns exceedingly dangerous. ]

[Footnote 8: Pausanias says that Battos, the founder of Kyrene, wasdumb when he went to Africa, but that on suddenly meeting a lion thefright gave him utterance. According to Pindar the lions seem to havebeen still more alarmed, being startled by Battos' foreign accent. ]

[Footnote 9: The Dorians. ]

[Footnote 10: There were Aigidai at Sparta and Spartan colonies, ofwhich Kyrene was one, and also at Thebes: to the latter branch of thefamily Pindar belonged. ]

[Footnote 11: The Karneia, a Dorian feast of which we hear often inhistory. ]

[Footnote 12: These Trojan refugees were supposed to have ancientlysettled on the site where Kyrene was afterwards built. Battos (orAristoteles) and his new settlers honoured the dead Trojans as tutelarheroes of the spot. ]

[Footnote 13: Battos. ]

[Footnote 14: The sacred street of Apollo, along which the processionmoved which sang this ode. The pavement, and the tombs cut in the rockon each side are still to be seen, or at least were in 1817, when theItalian traveller Della Cella visited the place. Böckh quotes fromhis 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. Nonsolo è tutta intagliata nel vivo sasso, ma a due lati è fiancheggiatada 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 immediatelyon the event. Thus, next to the tenth Pythian, written eight yearsbefore, this is the earliest of Pindar's poems that remains to us. 

Xenokrates was a son of Ainesidamos and brother of Theron. The secondIsthmian is also in his honour. 

 * * * * *

Hearken! for once more we plough the field[1] of Aphrodite of theglancing eyes, or of the Graces call it if you will, in this ourpilgrimage to the everlasting centre-stone of deep-murmuring[2] earth. 

For there for the blissful Emmenidai, and for Akragas by theriverside, and chiefliest for Xenokrates, is builded a ready treasureof song within the valley of Apollo rich in golden gifts. 

That treasure of his shall neither wind nor wintry rain-storm comingfrom strange lands, as a fierce host born of the thunderous cloud, carry into the hiding places of the sea, to be beaten by theall-sweeping drift:

But in clear light its front shall give tidings of a victory wonin Krisa's dells, glorious in the speech of men to thy fatherThrasyboulos, and to all his kin with him. 

Thou verily in that thou settest him ever at thy right hand cherishestthe charge which once upon the mountains they say the son[3] ofPhilyra 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 reverenceKronos' son, the deep-voiced lord of lightnings and of thunders, andthen 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 diedfor 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 thearrows of Paris, and Memnon made at him with his mighty spear. Thenthe heart of the old man of Messene was troubled, and he cried untohis son; nor wasted he his words in vain; in his place stood up thegodlike man and bought his father's flight by his own death. So by theyoung men of that ancient time he was deemed to have wrought a mightydeed, and in succouring of parents to be supreme. 

These things are of the past; but of men that now are Thrasybouloshath come nearest to our fathers' gauge. And following his uncle alsohe hath made glory to appear for him; and with wisdom doth he handlewealth, neither gathereth the fruit of an unrighteous or overweeningyouth, but rather of knowledge amid the secret places of the Pierides. And to thee, Earthshaker, who didst devise ventures of steeds, withright glad heart he draweth nigh. Sweet is his spirit toward thecompany of his guests, yea sweeter than the honeycomb, the toil ofbees. 

[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 ofMarathon. He was a member of the great house of the Alkmaionidai, towhich Kleisthenes and Perikles belonged. Megakles was a frequent namein the family: this Megakles was probably the nephew, possibly theson, of Kleisthenes. 

 * * * * *

Fairest of preludes is the great name of Athens to whosoever will layfoundation of songs for the mighty race of Alkmaionidai and for theirsteeds. What country, what house among all lands shall I name moreglorious throughout Hellas?

For unto all cities is the fame familiar of the citizens ofErechtheus, who at divine Pytho have wrought thee, O Apollo, aglorious house[1]. 

And I hereto am led by victories, at Isthmos five, and onepre-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, theysay, must fair hap abiding with a man engender bad with good. 

[Footnote 1: The Alkmainodai had lately been spending large sums onthe 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 stronginternal evidence of its having been written soon after the battle ofSalamis, after which, as is well known, the [Greek: aristeia] or firsthonours for valour, were awarded to Aigina. The insolence of thebarbarian despot seems to be symbolized by that of the giants Typhonand Porphyrion. 

The ode was apparently to be sung on the winner's return to Aigina. Noless than eleven of the extant odes were written for winners from thatisland. 

 * * * * *

O kindly Peace, daughter of Righteousness, thou that makest citiesgreat, and boldest the supreme keys of counsels and of wars, welcomethou this honour to Aristomenes, won in the Pythian games. 

Thou knowest how alike to give and take gentleness in due season: thoualso, if any have moved thy heart unto relentless wrath, dost terriblyconfront the enemy's might, and sinkest Insolence in the sea. 

Thus did Porphyrion provoke thee unaware. Now precious is the gainthat one beareth away from the house of a willing giver. But violenceshall 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 ofgiants[1]: but by the thunderbolt they fell and by the bow of Apollo, who with kind intent hath welcomed Xenarches home from Kirrha, crownedwith Parnassian wreaths and Dorian song. 

Not far from the Graces' ken falleth the lot of this righteousisland-commonwealth, that hath attained unto the glorious deeds of thesons of Aiakos[2]: from the beginning is her fame perfect, for she issung of as the nurse of heroes foremost in many games and in violentfights: 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 luteand softer voice of man, so that satiety vex not. 

So let that which lieth in my path, my debt to thee, O boy, theyoungest of thy country's glories, run on apace, winged by my art. 

For in wrestlings thou art following the footsteps of thy uncles, andshamest neither Theognetos at Olympia, nor the victory that at Isthmoswas won by Kleitomachos' stalwart limbs. 

And in that thou makest great the clan of the Midylidai thou attainestunto the very praise which on a time the son of Oikleus spake ina riddle, when he saw at seven-gated Thebes the sons of the Sevenstanding to their spears, what time from Argos came the second race ontheir new enterprise[3]. Thus spake he while they fought: 'By nature, son, the noble temper of thy sires shineth forth in thee. I seeclearly the speckled dragon that Alkmaion weareth on his brightshield, foremost at the Kadmean gates. 

And he who in the former fight fared ill, hero Adrastos, is nowendowed with tidings of a better omen. Yet in his own house hisfortune shall be contrariwise: for he alone of all the Danaan host, after that he shall have gathered up the bones of his dead son, shallby favour of the gods come back with unharmed folk to the wide streetsof Abas[4]. '

On this wise spake Amphiaraos. Yea and with joy I too myself throwgarlands on Alkmaion's grave, and shower it withal with songs, forthat being my neighbour and guardian of my possessions[5] he met me asI went up to the earth's centre-stone, renowned in song, and showedforth the gift of prophecy which belongeth unto his house[6]. 

But thou, far-darter, ruler of the glorious temple whereto all men goup, amid the glens of Pytho didst there grant this the greatest ofjoys: and at home before didst thou bring to him at the season of thyfeast the keen-sought prize of the pentathlon. My king, with willingheart I make avowal that through thee is harmony before mine eyes inall that I sing of every conqueror. 

By the side of our sweet-voiced song of triumph hath Righteousnesstaken her stand, and I pray, O Xenarches[7], that the favour of God beunfailing toward the fortune of thee and thine. For if one hath goodthings to his lot without long toil, to many he seemeth therefore tobe wise among fools and to be crowning his life by right devising ofthe means. But these things lie not with men: it is God that ordereththem, who setteth up one and putteth down another, so that he is boundbeneath 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 withfierce intent, to whom the Pythian feast might not award, as untothee, the glad return, nor the sweet smile that welcometh thee to thymother's side; nay but by secret ways they shrink from meeting theirenemies, stricken down by their evil hap. 

Now he that hath lately won glory in the time of his sweet youth islifted on the wings of his strong hope and soaring valour, for histhoughts are above riches. 

In a little moment groweth up the delight of men; yea and in like sortfalleth 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 lightabideth upon men, and serene life. 

Aigina[9], mother dear, this city in her march among the free, withZeus and lordly Aiakos, with Peleus and valiant Telamon and withAchilles, guard thou well. 

[Footnote 1: Porphyrion. ]

[Footnote 2: Aiakos and his descendants, especially Aias, were thechief national heroes of Aigina. ]

[Footnote 3: It seems doubtful what this legend exactly was. EitherAmphiaraos, during the attack of the first Seven against Thebes, saw by prophetic vision the future battle of the second Seven, theEpigonoi, among whom were his own son Alkmaion, and Adrastos, the solesurvivor of the first Seven; or else these are the words of his oracleafter his death, spoken when the battle of the Epigonoi had begun butwas not yet ended. ]

[Footnote 4: Abas was an ancient king of Argos. ]

[Footnote 5: Probably there was a shrine of Alkmaion near Pindar'shouse at Thebes, so that he considered his household to be under thehero's protection: perhaps he had deposited money in the shrine, fortemples were often used as treasuries. ]

[Footnote 6: Probably in some vision seen by Pindar on his journey toDelphi. ]

[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 arun, as for instance in the charge at Marathon. With a view no doubtto such occasions this race in full armour had been instituted atPytho in 498, and in 478 it was won by Telesikrates. The ode wasprobably sung in a procession at Thebes, before Telesikrates had goneback to Kyrene, but the legends related are mainly connected withKyrene. Probably the commentators are right in supposingthat Telesikrates was to take home with him a bride from themother-country, a fact which makes the legends told speciallyappropriate. 

 * * * * *

I have desire to proclaim with aid of the deep-vested Graces a victoryat Pytho of Telesikrates bearing the shield of bronze, and to speakaloud his name, for his fair fortune and the glory wherewith he hathcrowned Kyrene, city of charioteers. 

Kyrene[1] once from Pelion's wind-echoing dells Leto's son, theflowing-haired, caught up and in a golden car bore away thehuntress-maiden to the place where he made her queen of a land rich inflocks, yea richest of all lands in the fruits of the field, that herhome might be the third part[2] of the mainland of earth, a stock thatshould bear lovely bloom. And silver-foot Aphrodite awaited the Delianstranger issuing from his car divine, and lightly laid on him herhand: then over their sweet bridal-bed she cast the loveliness ofmaiden shame, and in a common wedlock joined the god and the daughterof wide-ruling Hypseus, who then was king of the haughty Lapithai, a hero whose father's father was the Ocean-god--for amid the famousmountain-dells of Pindos the Naiad Kreüsa bare him after she haddelight in the bed of Peneus, Kreüsa, daughter of Earth. 

Now the child he reared was Kyrene of the lovely arms: She was not onewho loved the pacings to and fro before the loom, neither the delightsof feastings with her fellows within the house, but with bronzejavelins 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, heof the wide quiver, far-darting Apollo, found her: and straightway hecalled 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 ofthis woman, and her great might, what strife she wageth here with soulundaunted, a girl with heart too high for toil to quell; for her mindshaketh not in the storm of fear. What man begat her? From what tribewas she torn to dwell in the secret places of the shadowing hills? Shehath assayed a struggle unachievable. Is it lawful openly to put forthmy 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 madeanswer straightway of his wisdom: 'Secret are wise Lovecraft's keysunto love's sanctities, O Phoibos, and among gods and men alike alldeem this shame, to have pleasure of marriage at the first openly. Noweven thee, who mayest have no part in lies, thy soft desire hath ledto dissemble in this thy speech. 

The maiden's lineage dost thou, O king, enquire of me--thou whoknowest the certain end of all things, and all ways? How many leavesthe earth sendeth forth in spring, how many grains of sand in sea andriver are rolled by waves and the winds' stress, what shall come topass, and whence it shall be, thou discernest perfectly. But if evenagainst wisdom I must match myself, I will speak on. To wed thisdamsel camest thou unto this glen, and thou art destined to bear herbeyond the sea to a chosen garden of Zeus, where thou shalt make her acity's queen, when thou hast gathered together an island-people toa hill in the plain's midst. And now shall queenly Libya of broadmeadow-lands well-pleased receive for thee within a golden house thyglorious bride, and there make gift to her of a portion in the land, to be an inhabiter thereof with herself, neither shall it be lackingin tribute of plants bearing fruit after all kinds, neither a strangerto the beasts of chase. There shall she bring forth a son, whomglorious Hermes taking up from his mother's arms shall bear to thefair-throned Hours and to Earth: and they shall set the babe upontheir 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 menbeloved of him a very present help, a tutelar of flocks, and to someAgreus 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 goldenchamber of Libya they lay together; where now she haunteth a cityexcellent in beauty and glorious in the games. 

And now at sacred Pytho hath the son of Karneadas wedded that cityto the fair flower of good luck: for by his victory there he hathproclaimed Kyrene's name, even her's who shall receive him with gladwelcome home, to the country of fair women bringing precious honourout of Delphi. 

Great merits stir to many words: yet to be brief and skilful onlong themes is a good hearing for bards: for fitness of times is ineverything 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 edgeof the sword, she buried the slayer beneath the earth in the tomb ofAmphitryon the charioteer, where his father's father was laid, a guestof the Spartoi, who had left his home to dwell among the streets ofthe sons of Kadmos who drave white horses. To him and to Zeus at oncedid wise Alkmene bear the strength of twin sons prevailing in battle. 

Dull is that man who lendeth not his voice to Herakles, nor hath inremembrance continually the waters of Dirke that nurtured him andIphikles. To them will I raise a song of triumph for that I havereceived good at their hands, after that I had prayed to them that thepure light of the voiceful Graces might not forsake me. For at Aigmaand on the hill of Nisos twice ere now I say that I have sung Kyrene'spraise, and by my act have shunned the reproach of helpless dumbness. 

Wherefore if any of the citizens be our friend, yea even if he beagainst us, let him not seek to hide the thing that hath been welldone in the common cause, and so despise the word of the old god ofthe sea[4]. He biddeth one give praise with the whole heart to nobledeeds, 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 seenthee winner, and silently they prayed each for herself that such anone 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-bosomedEarth[5], and at all in thine own land. 

Me anywise to slake my thirst for song the ancient glory of thyforefathers summoneth to pay its due and rouse it yet again--to tellhow that for love of a Libyan woman there went up suitors to the cityof Irasa to woo Antaios' lovely-haired daughter of great renown; whommany chiefs of men, her kinsmen, sought to wed, and many strangersalso; for the beauty of her was marvellous, and they were fain to cullthe 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 fortyand eight maiden daughters, ere mid-day was upon them, a weddingof utmost speed--for he straightway set the whole company at therace-course end, and bade determine by a foot-race which maiden eachhero should have, of all the suitors that had come. 

Even on this wise gave the Libyan a bridegroom to his daughter, andjoined the twain. At the line he set the damsel, having arrayed hersplendidly, to be the goal and prize, and proclaimed in the midst thathe 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 ofNomad horsemen. Many the leaves and wreaths they showered on him; yeaand 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 shouldbe too late to act. Thebes and Kyrene were connected by the fact thatmembers of the Aigid family lived at both places. ]

[Footnote 4: Nereus. Powers of divination and wisdom generally areoften attributed to sea-deities. ]

[Footnote 5: I. E. At Delphi or Pytho. As being the supposed centre ofthe 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 whichoccupies great part of this ode seems to be that Thorax, who engagedPindar to write it for Hippokleas, and perhaps Hippokleas himself, belonged to the family of the Aleuadai, who were descended throughHerakles from Perseus. 

This ode is the earliest entire poem of Pindar's which survives. Hewrote it when he was twenty years old. The simplicity of the style andmanner of composition are significant of this. But there can scarcelybe said to be traces here of Pindar's early tendency in dealing withmythological allusions to 'sow not with the hand but with the wholesack, ' which Korinna advised him to correct, and which is conspicuousin a fragment remaining to us of one of his Hymns. 

 * * * * *

Happy is Lakedaimon, blessed is Thessaly: in both there reigneth arace sprung from one sire, from Herakles bravest in the fight. Whatvaunt is this unseasonable? Nay, now, but Pytho calleth me, andPelinnaion[1], and the sons of Aleuas who would fain lead forth theloud voices of a choir of men in honour of Hippokleas. 

For now hath he tasted the joy of games, and to the host of thedwellers round about hath the valley beneath Parnassos proclaimed himbest among the boys who ran the double race[2]. 

O Apollo, sweet is the end when men attain thereto, and the beginningavailed more when it is speeded of a god. Surely of thy devising werehis deeds: and this his inborn valour hath trodden in the footstepsof his father twice victor at Olympia in panoply of war-affrontingarms[3]: moreover the games in the deep meadow beneath Kirrha's cliffgave victory to the fleet feet of Phrikias[4]. 

May good luck follow them, so that even in after days the splendour oftheir wealth shall bloom. Of the pleasant things of Hellas theyhave no scanty portion to their lot; may they happen on no enviousrepentings 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 valianceof 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 thePythian crown. Never indeed shall he climb the brazen heaven, butwhatsoever splendours we of mortal race may reach, through such hehath free course even to the utmost harbourage. But neither by takingship, neither by any travel on foot, to the Hyperborean folk shaltthou find the wondrous way. 

Yet of old the chieftain Perseus entered into their houses and feastedamong them, when that he had lighted on them as they were sacrificingample hecatombs of asses to their god. For ever in their feasts andhymns hath Apollo especial joy, and laugheth to see the braying rampof the strange beasts. Nor is the Muse a stranger to their lives, buteverywhere are stirring to and fro dances of maidens and shrill noiseof pipes: and binding golden bay-leaves in their hair they make themmerry cheer. Nor pestilence nor wasting eld approach that hallowedrace: they toil not neither do they fight, and dwell unharmed of cruelNemesis. 

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 blessedfolk. Also he slew the Gorgon and bare home her head with serpenttresses decked, to the island folk a stony death. I ween there is nomarvel impossible if gods have wrought thereto. 

Let go the oar, and quickly drive into the earth an anchor from theprow, to save us from the rocky reef, for the glory of my song ofpraise flitteth like a honey-bee from tale to tale. 

I have hope that when the folk of Ephyra pour forth my sweet strainsby Peneus' side, yet more glorious shall I make their Hippokleas forhis crowns and by my songs among his fellows and his elders, and Iwill make him possess the minds of the young maidens. 

For various longings stir secretly the minds of various men; yet eachif he attain to the thing he striveth for will hold his eager desirefor the time present to him, but what a year shall bring forth, noneshall foreknow by any sign. 

My trust is in the kindly courtesy of my host Thorax, of him who tospeed my fortune hath yoked this four-horse car of the Pierides, asfriend for friend, and willing guide for guide. 

As gold to him that trieth it by a touch-stone, so is a true soulknown. 

His noble brethren also will we praise, for that they exalt and makegreat the Thessalians' commonwealth. For in the hands of good menlieth 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 Pythowhich Telesikrates, of Kyrene won, celebrated in the fore-going ode. ]

[Footnote 4: Probably a horse with which Hippokleas' father won a raceat 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 thebattle of Plataea, and the deliverance of Thebes from Persianinfluence and the sway of a tyrannous oligarchy. But beyond this wehave nothing certain to which we can refer the allusions to Thebanaffairs, public and private, which we have reason to think present inthe ode. 

 * * * * *

Daughters of Kadmos, thou Semele whose goings are with the queens ofOlympus, and thou Ino Leukothea who housest with the Nereids of thesea, 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 goldentripods, which beyond all others Loxias hath honoured, and named itthe shrine Ismenian, a truthful seat of seers; where now, O childrenof Harmonia, he calleth the whole heroic sisterhood of the soil toassemble themselves together, that of holy Themis and of Pytho andthe Earth-navel of just judgments ye may sing at early evening, doinghonour to seven-gated Thebes, and to the games at Kirrha, whereinThrasydaios hath made his father's house glorious by casting thereon athird wreath for his victory in the rich cornlands[3] of Pylades, whowas the host of Lakonian Orestes. 

Orestes, on the murder of his father, Arsinoë his nurse saved from theviolent hands of Klytaimnestra and out of the ruinous treason, whattime the daughter of Dardanid Priam, Kassandra, was by the glitteringbronze in company with Agamemnon's soul sped to the shadowy shore ofAcheron 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'sembrace? a sin in new-wed brides most hateful, and that cannot behidden for the talk of stranger tongues: for the citizens repeat theshame. For prosperity must sustain an envy equalling itself: butconcerning the man of low place the rumour is obscure. 

Thus died the hero himself[4], the son of Atreus, when after longtime he came unto famous Amyklai, and drew down with him to death themaiden 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 theguest 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 woundabout, though heretofore I had kept on a straight track. Or hath somewind blown me out of my course, as when it bloweth a boat upon thesea? But thine it is, my Muse, since thou for reward didst promise theloan thereof, to raise thy voice for silver now on this tale, nowon that, so that for this time at least it is on behalf either ofThrasydaios or of his sire who conquered at Pytho: for of both are thejoy and glory burning lights. 

Of old for victories in the chariot-race they had bright glory atOlympia in the famous games for the swiftness of their steeds: and nowhave they gone down among the naked runners in the stadion, and haveput to rebuke the host of the Hellenes by their speed. 

God grant me to desire things honourable, seeking things possible inmy life's prime. 

The middle course I find to prosper most enduringly in thecommonwealth, and a state of tyranny I condemn. On well-doing for thecommon good[6] I bestow my pains: so are the envious baffled, if onehath excelled in such acts to the uttermost, and bearing it modestlyhath shunned the perilous reproach of insolence: so also at the endshall he find black death more gracious unto him, to his dear childrenleaving the best of possessions, even the glory of an honourable name. 

This it is that beareth abroad the name of Iolaos in song, and thenames of the mighty Kastor and of thee, king Polydeukes, ye sons ofgods, who one day in Therapnai and the next in Olympus have yourdwelling-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 heis spoken of as having been murdered at Amyklai and not at Argos orMykenai. 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. Itwas to be sung, it would seem, at Akragas, and very probably in aprocession to the shrine of the tutelar divinity of the city, with anaddress to whom it seemingly begins, though it is difficult to saywhat degree of personification is intended. 

 * * * * *

I pray thee, lover of splendour, most beautiful among the cities ofmen, haunt of Persephone, thou who by the banks of Akragas' streamthat nourisheth thy flocks, inhabitest a citadel builded pleasantly--Oqueen, graciously and with goodwill of gods and men welcome this crownthat is come forth from Pytho for Midas' fair renown; and him toowelcome therewithal who hath overcome all Hellas in the art which onceon a time Pallas Athene devised, when she made music of the fierceGorgon's death-lament. 

That heard she pouring from the maiden heads and heads of serpentsunapproachable amidst the anguish of their pains, when Perseus hadstricken the third sister, and to the isle Seriphos and its folk barethence their doom. 

Yea also he struck with blindness the wondrous brood of Phorkos[1], and to Polydektes' bridal brought a grievous gift, and grievouseternally 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 ofDanaë, and sprung, they say, from a living stream of gold. 

But the Maiden[2], when that she had delivered her well-beloved fromthese toils, contrived the manifold music of the flute, that with suchinstrument she might repeat the shrill lament that reached her fromEuryale's[3] ravening jaws. 

A goddess was the deviser thereof, but having created it fora possession of mortal men, she named that air she played themany-headed[4] air, that speaketh gloriously of folk-stirring games, as it issueth through the thin-beat bronze and the reeds which grow bythe 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 notmade manifest: it may be that God will accomplish it even to-day, yetthe thing ordained is not avoidable: yea, there shall be a time thatshall lay hold on a man unaware, and shall give him one thing beyondhis hope, but another it shall bestow not yet. 

[Footnote 1: The three Grey Sisters, whose one common eye Perseusstole, [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 theycould hardly have missed their eye. ]

[Footnote 2: Athene. ]

[Footnote 3: One of the Gorgons. ]

[Footnote 4: A certain [Greek: nomos aulaetikos] was known by thisname. ]

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 becomea 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, apeninsula on which part of Syracuse was built, and in which was thefountain Arethusa. The legend of Arethusa and Alpheos explains theepithets of Ortygia with which the ode opens. The greater part of theode is occupied with the story of Herakles, perhaps because Chromioswas 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 theegoeth forth a song of sweet words, to set forth the great glory ofwhirlwind-footed steeds in honour of Aitnaian Zeus. 

For now the car of Chromios, and Nemea, stir me to yoke to hisvictorious deeds the melody of a triumphal song. And thus by thatman's heaven-sped might I lay my foundations in the praise of gods. Ingood fortune men speak well of one altogether: and of great games theMuse is fain to tell. 

Sow then some seed of splendid words in honour of this isle, whichZeus, the lord of Olympus, gave unto Persephone, and bowed his hairtoward her in sign that this teeming Sicily he would exalt to be thebest land in the fruitful earth, with gorgeous crown of citadels. Andthe son of Kronos gave unto her a people that wooeth mailed war, apeople of the horse and of the spear, and knowing well the touch ofOlympia's golden olive-leaves. Thus shoot I arrows many, and withoutfalsehood I have hit the mark. 

And now at the doors of the hall of a hospitable man I stand to singa goodly song, where is prepared for me a friendly feast, and notunwonted in that house are frequent stranger-guests: thus hath hefound good friends to pour a quenching flood on the mouldering fire ofreproach. 

Each hath his several art: but in straight paths it behoveth him towalk, and to strive hard wherein his nature setteth him. Thus workethstrength in act, and mind in counsels, when one is born to foreseewhat shall come after. In thy nature, son of Agesidamos, are uses bothfor this and that. 

I love not to keep hidden in my house great wealth, but to have joy ofthat I have, and to have repute of liberality to my friends: for thehopes of much-labouring men seem to me even as mine. 

Now I to Herakles cleave right willingly, among high deeds of valourrousing an ancient tale; how that when from his mother's womb the sonof Zeus escaping the birth-pang came quickly into the glorious lightwith his twin-brother, not unobserved of Hera did he put on thesaffron swaddling bands; but the queen of gods in the kindling of heranger sent presently the two snakes, and they when the doors wereopened went right on into the wide bedchamber, hasting to entwine thechildren, that they should be a prey to their fierce teeth. 

But the boy lifted up his head upright and was first to essay thefight, seizing with inevitable grasp of both his hands the twoserpents by the necks, and time, as he strangled them, forced thebreath out of their monstrous forms. 

But a shock unendurable startled the women about Alkmene's bed, yeaand herself too started to her feet from the couch half-robed, andwould fain have beaten back the fierce beasts' violence. 

And quickly ran thronging thither with bronze arms the captains ofthe sons of Kadmos; and brandishing in his hand his sword bare of itssheath came Amphitryon smitten with sharp pain; for everyone alike isgrieved by the ills of his own house, but the heart is soon quit ofsorrow that careth but for another's care. 

And he stood in amazement, and gladness mingled with his fear; for hesaw the marvellous courage and might of his son, since the immortalshad 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 themost high Zeus, Teiresias the true seer: and he set forth to him andto all his company with what manner of fortune should the child havehis lot cast, how many lawless monsters on the dry land, how many onthe sea he should destroy. 

Others moreover, of men the hatefullest, who walked in guile andinsolence, he prophesied that he should deliver over unto death:saying that when on Phlegra's plain the gods should meet the giantsin battle, beneath the rush of his arrows their bright hair should besoiled with earth; but he in peace himself should obtain a reward ofrest from his great toils throughout all time continually within thehouse of bliss, and after that he had received fair Hebe to be hisbride, and made his marriage-feast, should remain beside Zeus, the sonof Kronos, well-pleased with his dwelling-place divine. 

[Footnote 1: I. E. So honoured by Artemis as to rank with her nativeDelos. ]

II. 

FOR TIMODEMOS OF ATHENS, WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. 

* * * *

The date of this ode is unknown. It would seem to have been sung atAthens on the winner's return home. He belonged to the clan of theTimodemidai of Salamis, but to the deme of Acharnai. 

As to the nature of the Pankration see Dict. Ant. It was a combinationof wrestling and boxing, probably with wide license of rules. The bestextant illustration of it in sculpture is the famous group of thePankratiasts (commonly called the Luttatori) in the Tribune of theUffizi at Florence. 

 * * * * *

From the self-same beginning whence the Homerid bards draw out thelinkèd story of their song, even a prelude calling upon Zeus--so alsoNemeaian Zeus it is in whose far-famous grove this man hath attainedunto 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 greatAthens--yet again and often must he pluck the noble flower of Isthmiangames, and in the Pythian conquer. Like is it that not far from themountain-brood of Pleiads[1] shall be the rising of Orion. 

Well able verily is Salamis to rear a man of battles: so at Troy wasHektor aware of Aias; and so now, O Timodemos, art thou glorified bythy stubborn prowess in the pankration. 

Acharnai of old was famous for its men, and as touching games theTimodemidai rank there pre-eminent. Beneath Parnassos' lordly heightthey won four victories in the games; moreover in the valleys of noblePelops they have obtained eight crowns at the hands of the men ofCorinth, and seven at Nemea; and at home more than may be numbered, atthe games of Zeus:

To whose glory, O citizens, sing for Timodemos a song of triumph, andbring him in honour home, and chant our prelude tunefully. 

[Footnote 1: The Pleiads were daughters of Atlas. One victory betokensanother to come, as the rising of a constellation betokens the risingof its neighbour. ]

III. 

FOR ARISTOKLEIDES OF AIGINA, WINNER IN THE PANKRATION. 

 * * * * *

The date of the victory is unknown: the ode seems to have been writtenlong afterwards, probably for some anniversary celebration of theevent. 

 * * * * *

O divine Muse, our mother, I pray thee come unto this Dorian isleAigina stranger-thronged, for the sacred festival of the Nemeangames[1]: for by the waters of Asopos[2] young men await thee, skilledto sing sweet songs of triumph, and desiring to hear thy call. 

For various recompense are various acts athirst; but victory in thegames above all loveth song, of crowns and valiant deeds the fittestfollower. Thereof grant us large store for our skill, and to the kingof heaven with its thronging clouds do thou who art his daughter begina noble lay; and I will marry the same to the voices of singers and tothe lyre. 

A pleasant labour shall be mine in glorifying this land where of oldthe Myrmidons dwelt, whose ancient meeting-place Aristokleides throughthy favour hath not sullied with reproach by any softness in theforceful strife of the pankration; but a healing remedy of wearyingblows he hath won at least in this fair victory in the deep-lyingplain of Nemea. 

Now if this son of Aristophanes, being fair of form and achievingdeeds as fair, hath thus attained unto the height of manly excellence, no further is it possible for him to sail untraversed sea beyond thepillars of Herakles, which the hero-god set to be wide-famed witnessesof the end of voyaging: for he had overcome enormous wild-beasts onthe seas, and tracked the streams through marshes to where he came tothe goal that turned him to go back homeward, and there did he markout the ends of the earth. 

But to what headland of a strange shore, O my soul, art thou carryingaside the course of my ship? To Aiakos and to his race I charge theebring the Muse. Herein is perfect justice, to speak the praise of goodmen: neither are desires for things alien the best for men to cherish:search first at home: a fitting glory for thy sweet song hast thougotten there in deeds of ancient valour. 

Glad was King Peleus when he cut him his gigantic spear, he who tookIolkos by his single arm without help of any host, he who held firm inthe struggle Thetis the daughter of the sea. 

Also the city of Laomedon did mighty Telamon sack, when he fought withIolaos by his side, and again to the war of the Amazons with brazenbows he followed him; neither at any time did man-subduing terrorabate the vigour of his soul. 

By inborn worth doth one prevail mightily; but whoso hath but preceptsis 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 countlessenterprises with a purpose that achieveth naught. 

Now Achilles of the yellow hair, while he dwelt in the house ofPhilyra[3], being yet a child made mighty deeds his play; andbrandishing many a time his little javelin in his hands, swift as thewind he dealt death to wild lions in the fight, and boars he slew alsoand dragged their heaving bodies to the Centaur, son of Kronos, a sixyears' child when he began, and thenceforward continually. And Artemismarvelled at him, and brave Athene, when he slew deer without dogs ordevice of nets; for by fleetness of foot he overcame them. 

This story also of the men of old have I heard: how within his cavernof stone did deep-counselled Cheiron rear Jason, and next Asklepios, whom he taught to apportion healing drugs with gentle hand: after thisit was that he saw the espousals of Nereus' daughter of the shiningwrists, and fondling nursed her son, strongest of men, rearing hissoul in a life of harmony; until by blowing of sea winds wafted toTroy he should await the war-cry of the Lykians and of the Phrygiansand of the Dardanians, cried to the clashing of spears; and joining inbattle with the lancer Ethiops hand to hand should fix this purpose inhis soul, that their chieftain Memnon, Helenos' fiery cousin, shouldgo back again to his home no more. 

Thenceforward burneth ever a far-shining light for the house ofAiakos; for thine O Zeus is their blood, even as thine also are thegames whereat my song is aimed, by the voice of the young men of theland proclaiming aloud her joy. For victorious Aristokleides hath wellearned a cheer, in that he hath brought new renown to this island, andto the Theoroi[4] of the Pythian god, by striving for glory in thegames. 

By trial is the issue manifest, wherein may one be more excellent thanhis fellows, whether among boys a boy, or among men a man, or in thethird age among elders, according to the nature of our mortal race. Four virtues doth a long life bring, and biddeth one fit his thoughtto 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 whitemilk, and the dew of the mixing hangeth round about it, to be a drinkof minstrelsy distilled in breathings of Aiolian flutes; albeit itcome full late. 

Swift is the eagle among the birds of the air, who seizeth presentlywith his feet his speckled prey[6], seeking it from afar off; but inlow places dwell[7] the chattering daws. To thee at least, by the willof throned Kleio, for sake of thy zeal in the games, from Nemea andfrom Epidauros and from Megara hath a great light shined. 

[Footnote 1: I. E. Commemorating the Nemean games and the victoriesobtained 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 heconsidered it the more obscure it became to him. Donaldson 'isinclined to think that Pindar is speaking with reference to thePythagorean division of virtue into four species, and that he assignsone virtue to each of the four ages of human life (on the sameprinciple as that which Shakespeare has followed in his description ofthe seven ages) namely temperance as the virtue of youth, courage ofearly 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 inwhich Athens is spoken of, that it was written before the war betweenthat state and Aigina. It seems to have been sung on the winner'sreturn 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 ofcomforting. Less doth warm water avail to bathe limbs for soothingthan words of praise married to the music of the lyre. For speech islonger-lived than act, whensoever by favour of the Graces the tonguehath 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 havewelcome in the Aiakids' stronghold of goodly towers, the common lightof 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 untothis my theme, and sounded a hymn for the fair triumphs thathave brought thee a chain of wreaths, even from the games of theKleonaians[2] now, and erewhile from the bright and famous Athens, andat seven-gated Thebes: for beside Amphitryon's splendid sepulchre thesons of Kadmos nothing loth sprinkled the winner with flowers forAigina's sake. For thither as a friend to friends he came, though to acity 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-horsechariots, and horse-taming heroes twice so many thereupon. Unversed inbattles must he be who understandeth not this tale, for whoso will doaught is like to suffer also. 

But to tell the tale at length custom forbiddeth me, and theconstraining hours: and a love-spell draweth me to put forth my handto 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 shallwe shine forth above our enemies as we sail home in open day; whileanother man of envious eye turneth about in darkness an empty purposethat falleth to the ground. For me I know certainly that whatsoeverexcellence Fate that is our lord hath given me, time creeping onwardwill bring to its ordained fulfilment. 

Weave then this woof too presently, sweet my lute, a strain withLydian harmony that shall be dear to Oinone[3], and to Cyprus, whereTeukros, son of Telamon, holdeth rule in a new land. 

But Aias hath the Salamis of his father: and in the Euxine SeaAchilles hath a shining isle, and at Phthia hath Thetis power, andNeoptolemos in wide Epeiros, where cattle-pasturing headlands, fromDodona onwards, slope forward to the Ionian Sea. And beside the footof Pelion did Peleus set his face against Iolkos, and deliver it overto be a servant to the Haimones, after that he had proved the guilefulcounsels of Hippolyte, Akastos' wife. 

For by (stealing) his sword of cunning workmanship the son[4] ofPelias prepared death for him in an ambush; but Cheiron delivered himout of his hand; and thus he fulfilled the destiny ordained him ofZeus, and having escaped the violence of the fire and the dauntlesslion's claws exceeding keen, and the bitings of teeth mostterrible[5], he espoused one of the Nereids high-enthroned, and beheldthe circle of fair seats whereon were sitting the kings of heaven andof the sea, as they revealed unto him their gifts, and the kingdomthat should be unto him and unto his seed. 

Nightward[6] beyond Gadeira none may pass. Turn back again to themainland of Europe the tackle of our ship; for it were impossible forme 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'slimbs wax strong, to Olympia and to Isthmos, and to Nemea accordingto my promise, where having put themselves to the proof they arereturning homeward, not without wreaths whose fruitage is renown; andthere report hath told us, O Timasarchos, that thy clan's name ispreeminent in songs of victory. 

Or if further for thy mother's brother Kallikles thou biddest me setup a pillar whiter than Parian stone, lo as the refining of goldshoweth forth all his splendours, so doth a song that singeth aman's rare deeds make him as the peer of kings. Let Kallikles in hisdwelling beside Acheron find in my tongue a minstrel of his praise, for that at the games[7] of the deep-voiced wielder of the tridenthis brows were green with parsley of Corinth; of him, boy, didEuphänes, thy aged grandsire, rejoice erewhile to sing. 

Each hath his own age-fellow; and what each hath seen for himself thatmay he hope to set forth best of all. How for Melesias'[8] praisemust such an one grapple in the strife, bending the words beneath hisgrasp, yielding not his ground as he wrestleth in speech, of gentletemper 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 fora 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 intofire and wild beasts. See Dict. Myth. ]

[Footnote 6: Westward. ]

[Footnote 7: The Isthmian games. ]

[Footnote 8: Timasarchos' trainer in wrestling. He is here praised interms 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 celebratedin the fourth and fifth Isthmians. 

 * * * * *

No statuary I, that I should fashion images to rest idly on theirpedestals, nay but by every trading-ship and plying boat forth fromAigina fare, sweet song of mine, and bear abroad the news, how thatLampon's son, the strong-limbed Pytheas, hath won at Nemea thepankratiast's crown, while on his cheeks he showeth not as yet thevine-bloom's mother, mellowing midsummer. 

So to the warrior heroes sprung from Kronos and Zeus and from thegolden nymphs, even to the Aiakidai, hath he done honour, and to themother-city, a friendly field to strangers. That she should have issueof goodly men and should be famous in her ships, this prayed they ofold, standing beside the altar of their grandsire, Zeus Hellenios, andtogether stretched forth their hands toward heaven, even the glorioussons of Endais[1] and the royal strength of Phokos, the goddess-born, whom on the sea-beach Psamatheia[2] bare. Of their deed portentous andunjustly 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 makepause: not for every perfect truth is it best that it discover itsface: silence is oft man's wisest thought. 

But if the praise of good hap or of strength of hand or of steel-cladwar be my resolve, let one mark me a line for a long leap hence: inmy knees I have a nimble spring: even beyond the sea the eagles wingtheir way. 

With goodwill too for the Aiakidai in Pelion sang the Muses' choirmost fair, and in the midst Apollo playing with golden quill upon hisseven-toned lyre led them in ever-changing strains. They first of allfrom Zeus beginning sang of holy Thetis and of Peleus, and how thatKretheus' dainty daughter Hippolyte would fain have caught him by herwile, and persuaded his friend the king of the Magnetes her husband bycounsels of deceit, for she forged a lying tale thereto devised, howthat he essayed to go in unto her in Akastos' bridal bed. But thetruth was wholly contrary thereto, for often and with all her soul shehad besought him with beguiling speech; but her bold words vexed hisspirit; and forthwith he refused the bride, fearing the wrath of theFather who guardeth host and guest. And he, the cloud-compelling Zeusin heaven, the immortal's king, was aware thereof, and he promisedhim that with all speed he would find him a sea-bride from among theNereids of golden distaffs, having persuaded thereto Poseidon, theirkinsman by his marriage, who from Aigai to the famous Dorian Isthmuscometh oftentimes, where happy troops with the reed-flute's noisewelcome 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 didstwin 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, andthe month[4] of his country that Apollo loveth: the youth that cameto strive with him he overcame, both at home and by Nisos' hill ofpleasant glades[5]. I have joy that the whole state striveth forglory. Know that through Menander's[6] aid thou hast attained untosweet recompense of toils. And meet it is that from Athens a fashionerof athletes come. 

But if thou comest to Themistios[7], to sing of him, away with chillreserve, shout aloud, hoist to the top-yard of the mast the sail, andtell how in the boxing and the pankration at Epidauros he won a doubleprize of valour, and to the portals of Aiakos bare fresh wreaths offlowers, led by the Graces of the yellow hair. 

[Footnote 1: Wife of Aiakos and mother of Peleus and Telamon. Theykilled 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) whenthe 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 trainerMelesias 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 ofthe Bassid clan given in honour of the victory. 

 * * * * *

One race there is of men and one of gods, but from one mother[1] drawwe both our breath, yet is the strength of us diverse altogether, for the race of man is as nought, but the brazen heaven abideth, ahabitation steadfast unto everlasting. 

Yet withal have we somewhat in us like unto the immortals' bodilyshape or mighty mind, albeit we know not what course hath Destinymarked out for us to run, neither in the daytime, neither in thenight. 

And now doth Alkimidas give proof that it is with his kindred as withfruitful fields: for they in turn now yield to man his yearly breadupon the plains, and now again they pause, and gather back theirstrength[2]. 

From the pleasant meeting-places of Nemea hath the athlete boy comeback, who following the ordinance[3] of Zeus hath now approved him nobaffled hunter in his wrestling-quest, and hath guided his feet bythe foot-prints of Praxidamas, his father father, of whose blood hesprang. 

For Praxidamas also by his Olympian victory first won olive-wreathfrom 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 househath the boxing-match given keeping of so many crowns in this inmostplace of all Hellas. I deem that though my speech be of high sound Iyet 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: forafter that men are vanished away, the minstrel's story taketh up theirnoble acts, whereof is no lack to the Bassid clan; old in story is therace and they carry cargo of home-made renown, able to deliver intothe Muses' husbandmen rich matter of song in honour of their loftydeeds. 

For at sacred Pytho in like wise did a scion of the same stockovercome, with the thong of the boxer bound about his hand, evenKallias in whom were well-pleased the children of Leto of the goldendistaff, and beside Kastaly in the evening his name burnt bright, whenthe glad sounds of the Graces rose. 

Also the Bridge[5] of the untiring sea did honour unto Kreontidas atthe triennial sacrifice of bulls by the neighbour states in the holyplace of Poseidon; and once did the herb[6] of the lion shadow hisbrows for a victory won beneath the shadeless primal hills of Phlious. 

Wide avenues of glory are there on every side for chroniclers todraw nigh to do honour unto this isle: for supreme occasion have thechildren of Aiakos given them by the showing forth of mighty feats. 

Over land and beyond the sea is their name flown forth from afar: evenunto the Ethiopians it sprang forth, for that Memnon came not home:for bitter was the battle that Achilles made against him, havingdescended from his chariot upon the earth, what time by his fiercespear'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, theysay, are stirred the most by whatsoever wave at the instant rollethnearest to the mainsheet of the ship. 

On willing shoulders bear I this double load, and am come a messengerto proclaim this honour won in the games that men call holy to be thefive-and-twentieth that the noble house of Alkimidas hath shown forth:yet were two wreaths in the Olympian games beside the precinct ofKronion denied to thee, boy, and to Polytimidas, by the fall of thelot[7]. 

Peer of the dolphin hurrying through the brine--such would I callMelesias[8] by whom thy hands and strength were guided, as a chariotby 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 givencompetitor were entered for the match, his defeat would be inevitablewhether 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 fullof allusions, which however we cannot with any certainty explain. Itis partly occupied with the celebration of Achilles' son Neoptolemos, and Pindar seems anxious to repel the charge of having on someoccasion depreciated that hero. 

 * * * * *

O Eileithuia that sittest beside the deep-counselling Moirai, child ofthe mighty Hera, thou who bringest babes to the birth, hearken untous! Without thee looked we never on the light or on the darkness ofthe night, nor came ever unto her who is thy sister, even Hebe of thecomely limbs. 

But we receive our breath not all for a like life; each to his severallot is kept apart by the yoke of fate. 

Now by thy grace hath Sogenes the son of Thearion been foremostin prowess, and his glory is sung aloud among the winners of thefive-game prize. 

For he is a dweller in a city that loveth song, even this city of thespear-clashing sons of Aiakos, and exceeding fain are they to cherisha 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 songfall into deep darkness, and in but one way have we knowledge of amirror for fair deeds, if by the grace of Mnemosyne of the shiningfillet they attain unto a recompense of toils by the sound of voiceand verse. 

Wise shipmates know that the wind which tarrieth shall come on thethird day, nor throw away their goods through greed of more[1]: therich and the poor alike fare on their way to death. 

Now I have suspicion that the fame of Odysseus is become greaterthan his toils, through the sweet lays that Homer sang; for over thefeigning of his winged craft something of majesty abideth, and theexcellence of his skill persuadeth us to his fables unaware. 

Blind hearts have the general folk of men; for could they havediscovered the truth, never would stalwart Aias in anger for the armshave struck through his midriff the sharp sword--even he who afterAchilles was best in battle of all men whom, to win back his bride forfair-haired Menelaos, the fair breeze of straight-blowing Zephyroswafted in swift ships toward Ilos' town. 

But to all men equally cometh the wave of death, and falleth on thefameless and the famed: howbeit honour ariseth for them whose fairstory God increaseth to befriend them even when dead, whoso havejourneyed to the mighty centre-stone of wide-bosomed earth. 

There now beneath the floor of Pytho lieth Neoptolemos, dying therewhen he had sacked the city of Priam where the Danaoi toiled with him. He sailing thence missed Skyros, and they wandered till they came toEphyra, and in Molossia he was king for a little while: howbeit hisrace held this state[2] continually. Then was he gone to the god'shome[3], carrying an offering of the chief spoils from Troy: and therein quarrel concerning meats a man smote him with a knife. 

Thereat were the Delphian entertainers of strangers grievedexceedingly: nevertheless he but paid a debt to destiny: for it wasneedful that in that most ancient grove someone of the lords the sonsof Aiakos should abide within thenceforward, beside the goodly wallsof the god's house, and that when with plenteous sacrifice theprocessions do honour to the heroes, he should keep watch that fairright be done. Three words shall be enough: when he presideth over thegames there is no lie found in his testimony thereof. 

O thou Aigina, of thy children that are of Zeus I have good courage toproclaim that as of inheritance they claim the path to glory, throughsplendour of their valorous deeds: howbeit in every work a rest issweet, yea even of honey cometh surfeit and of the lovely flowers ofLove. 

Now each of us is in his nature diverse, and several are the lotsof life we draw, one this and one another: but that one man receiveperfect bliss, this is impossible to men. I cannot find to tell of anyto whom Fate hath given this award abidingly. 

To thee, Thearion[4], she giveth fair measure of bliss, first daringin goodly deeds, and then understanding and sound mind. Thy friend amI, and I will keep far from the man I love the secret slander, andbring nigh unto him praise and true glory, as it were streams ofwater: for meet is such recompense for the good. 

If there be near me now a man of the Achaians who dwelleth far up theIonian 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, havingdone naught immoderate, and having put away all violence from beforemy feet. So let the life that remaineth unto me run cheerly on. 

He who knoweth shall say if indeed I come with slanderous speech uponmy lips to strike a jarring note. To thee, Sogenes of the house of thesons of Euxenos, I swear that without overstepping the bound I havesent forth the swift speech of my tongue as it were a bronze-headedjavelin, such as saveth from the wrestling the strong neck sweatlessyet, or ever the limbs be plunged in the sun's fire[6]. 

If toil there were, delight more abundant followeth after. Let be; ifsomewhat 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 theMuse fasteneth together gold and white ivory, and a lily flowerwithal, that she hath plucked from beneath the deep sea's dew[7]. 

Of Zeus be mindful when thou tellest of Nemea, and guide themultitudinous voices of our song with a quiet mind: meet is it thatwith gentle voice we celebrate in this land the king of gods: forthey tell how he begat Aiakos of a mortal mother, to be for his ownfortunate land a ruler of cities, and for thee, Herakles, a lovingfriend and brother. 

And if man receiveth aught from man, then may we say that neighbouris to neighbour a joy worth all else, if he loveth him with steadfastsoul: now if even a god will consent hereto, then in such bond withthee, O conqueror of the giants[8], is Sogenes fain to dwell happilyin the well-built sacred street of his ancestors, cherishing a mind oftenderness toward his sire: for as when four horses are yoked togetherin a car, so hath he his house in the midst of thy holy places, andgoeth 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, andthe grey-eyed maid[10]; and thou art able to give to mortals strengthever and again against baffling perplexities. Make thou to cleave tothem[11] a life of steadfast strength, and wind the bliss thereof amidboth youth and a serene old age, and may their children's childrenpossess continually the honours that they now have, and greater in thetime to come. 

Never shall my heart confess that I have outraged Neoptolemos withirreclaimable words. But thrice and four times to tell over the sametale is emptiness in the end thereof, even as he of the proverb thatbabbleth among children how that Korinthos was the son of Zeus[12]. 

[Footnote 1: Retaining the reading [Greek: hupo kerdei balon]. Iconjecture it to mean, 'do not in their eagerness for trade choose anunfavourable 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 calledPyrrhos). ]

[Footnote 3: Delphi. ]

[Footnote 4: Father of Sogenes. ]

[Footnote 5: Pindar would seem to have been [Greek: proxenos] atThebes for some state of Epeiros, to which fact he appeals as a proofthat 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, andwrestling. The prize was for the best man in three contests out of thefive. These came in the order in which they are enumerated above; thusif the best javelin-thrower had already won two of the other matcheshe would not be challenged to wrestle, as the prize of the Pentathlonwould be already his. Very probably this had been the case withSogenes, so that it would naturally occur to Pindar thus allusively toexpand his not unfrequent comparison of his own art of poetry to thatof a javelin-thrower or archer. On the Pentathlon may be consultedan article by Professor Percy Gardner in the _Journal of HellenicStudies_ for October, 1880; and also Smith's _Dictionary ofAntiquities_ (revised edition). ]

[Footnote 7: Coral. ]

[Footnote 8: Herakles. ]

[Footnote 9: Thearion's house seems to have had a shrine, or at leastsome sacred ground, of Herakles at each side of it, so that he mightregard that hero as his neighbour. ]

[Footnote 10: Athene. ]

[Footnote 11: Thearion and Sogenes. ]

[Footnote 12: A proverbial equivalent for vain and wearisomerepetition. ]

VIII. 

FOR DEINIS OF AIGINA, WINNER IN THE SHORT FOOT-RACE. 

 * * * * *

The date of this ode is unknown. It was probably sung before theshrine 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 constraininghands dost handle one, but other otherwise--it is enough if one notswerving from the true aim, in his every act prevail to attain to thefulfilment 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 thencesprang there a son[2] to be king of Oinone[3], in might of hand and incounsel excellent, and many a time did many pray that they might lookon him: for the chosen among the heroes that dwelt around him werefain of their own will to submit them unto his sovereignty, both whosoin rocky Athens were leaders of the host, and at Sparta the childrenof Pelops. 

So Aiakos' holy knees clasp I a suppliant for a city well-beloved andfor these citizens, and I bear a Lydian crown wrought cunningly withthe sound of song, a glory out of Nemea for two races run, of Deinisand of his father Meges. 

Behold, the happiness that is planted with the favour of God is mostabiding among men; even such as once in the isle of Cyprus loadedKinyras 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 contrivingof new things and putting them to the touchstone to be tried isperilous altogether. 

In words find the envious their dainties: envy fasteneth ever on thegood, and careth not to strive against the base. 

Yea thus did envy slay the son of Telamon, thrusting him through withhis own sword. Verily if one be of stout heart but without gift ofspeech, 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 abloody death. 

Yet diverse verily were the strokes wherewith those twain had cloventhe warm flesh of the foe, what time they bare up the war against thehedge of spears, whether about Achilles newly slain, or in whatsoeverlabours else of those wide-ruining days. 

Thus was there even of old the treacherous speech of hate, thatwalketh with the subtleties of tales, intent on guile, slander thatbreedeth ill: so doth it violence on the thing that shineth, anduplifteth the rottenness of dim men's fame. 

Never in me be this mind, O our father Zeus, but to the paths ofsimplicity let me cleave throughout my life, that being dead I may setupon my children a name that shall be of no ill report. 

For gold some pray, and some for limitless lands: mine be it amid mytownsfolk's love to shroud my limbs in earth, still honouring wherehonour is due, and sowing rebuke on the evildoers. 

Thus groweth virtue greater, uplifted of the wise and just, as when atree watered by fresh dew shooteth toward the moist air on high. 

Manifold are the uses of friends, chiefest truly amid the press oftoil, yet doth joy also desire to behold his own assurance. [4]

Ah Meges, to bring back thy spirit to earth is to me impossible, andof empty hopes the end is naught. Yet for thy house and the clan ofChariadai I can upraise a lofty column of song in honour of these twopairs of fortunate feet[5]. 

I have joy to utter praise meet for the act, for by such charms ofsong doth a man make even labour a painless thing. Yet surely wasthere a Komos-song even of old time, yea before strife began betweenAdrastos 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 cangive. ]

[Footnote 5: Of Meges and Deinis. ]

[Footnote 6: The invention of encomiastic hymns was attributed bylegend to the time of the expedition of Adrastos and the other sixagainst Thebes. ]

IX. 

FOR CHROMIOS OF AITNA, WINNER IN THE CHARIOT-RACE. 

 * * * * *

This ode is placed by usage among the Nemeans, but the victory was notwon at Nemea, but at Sikyon, in the local games called Pythian. Itsdate 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 lengthof time after the victory. The Chromios is the Chromios of the firstNemean, Hieron's brother-in-law. 

 * * * * *

From Apollo at Sikyon will we lead our triumph forth, ye Muses, untothe new-made city of Aitna, where doors are opened wide to greet theinvading guests, even to the fortunate house of Chromios. Come claimfor him a song of sweetness: for he goeth up into the chariot of hisvictory, and biddeth us sing aloud to the mother[1] and her twinchildren who keep watch over high Pytho in fellowship. 

Now there is a saying among men, that one hide not in silence on theground a good deed done: and meet for such brave tales is divine song. 

Therefore will we arouse the pealing lyre and rouse the flute, inhonour of the very crown of all contests of steeds, which Adrastos inhonour of Phoibos ordained beside Asopos' stream. 

Whereof when I make mention with voiceful honour I will celebratewithal the Hero[2], who then being king in that place did by thefounding of a new feast and struggles of the strength of men and ofcarven cars make his city known abroad and glorious. 

For he was flying before Amphiaraos of bold counsels, and before adangerous civil strife, from Argos and his father's house: for nolonger were the sons of Talaos lords therein, for a sedition hadthrust them forth. The stronger man endeth the contention that hathbeen before. 

But when they had given to the son of Oikleus for his wife, as oneshould give surety of an oath, Eriphyle, the slayer of her husband, they became the greatest of the fair-haired Danaoi. So thereafter ledthey on a time against seven-gated Thebes a host of men, but not by aroad of signs propitious: nor would the son of Kronos speed them ontheir mad journey from their homes, but by the quivering lightnings hedarted forth he bade them hold from their road[3]. 

But unto a revealed calamity hasted that company to go forth withbronze shields and the gear of steeds; and on the banks of Ismenos, stayed from their sweet return, they fed the white smoke with theirbodies. 

For seven pyres devoured the young men's limbs, but for AmphiaraosZeus by almighty thunderbolt clave the deep-breasted earth, and buriedhim with his steeds, or ever the warrior's soul should be shamed bythe smiting of him in the back by Periklymenos' spear. For when theterror cometh of heaven, then flee even the sons of gods. 

If it be possible, O son of Kronos, this trial of valour againstPhenician spears[4] for life or death I would fain defer unto theutmost: and I beg of thee to grant unto the sons of the men of Aitnafor long time a portion in good laws, and to make their people todwell among glories that the citizens have won. Men are there herethat love steeds and that have souls above desire of wealth. Hard ofcredence is the word I have spoken; for the spirit of honour whichbringeth glory is stolen secretly by lust of gain. 

Hadst thou been shield-bearer to Chromios among foot and horse and infightings of ships, thou hadst judged concerning his jeopardy in thefierce fray, for in war did that divine honour stir his warrior-soulto ward off havoc of Enyalios. Few are there who may prevail bystrength or valour to contrive a turning of the cloud of imminentdeath against the ranks of the enemy. Howbeit they tell how Hektor'sglory flowered beside Skamander's streams, and thus on the steepcliffs of Heloros' banks[5], where men call the ford the Fountain ofAres, hath this light shined for Agesidamos' son in the beginning ofhis praise. 

And other deeds on other days will I declare, many done amid the duston the dry land, and yet others on the neighbouring sea. Now out oftoils which in youth have been done with righteousness there ripenethtoward 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, itis impossible that a mortal's feet touch any further mountain-top. 

The banquet loveth peace, and by a gentle song a victory flourishethafresh, and beside the bowl the singer's voice waxeth brave. Let onemix it now, that sweet proclaimer of the triumphal song, and in silvergoblets hand the grapes' potent child, even the goblets which forChromios 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 aidof the Charites, and beyond many to do honour to this victory by mywords, 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 onthe manner of them. ]

[Footnote 4: War with the Carthaginians, who were still threateningthe Hellenic colonists in Sicily, in spite of their recent defeat. ]

[Footnote 5: About B. C. 492 a battle was fought on the Heloros betweenthe 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 commemoratesa victory won at the feast of the Hekatombaia at Argos. The date isunknown. 

 * * * * *

The city of Danaos and of his fifty bright-throned daughters, Argosthe home of Hera, meet abode of gods, sing Graces! for by excellenciesinnumerable 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 hersolitary sword[3]. 

Also their Diomedes did the grey-eyed goddess make incorruptible anda god: and at Thebes, the earth blasted by the bolts of Zeus receivedwithin her the prophet[4], the son of Oikleus, the storm-cloud of war. 

Moreover in women of beautiful hair doth the land excel. Thereto indays of old Zeus testified, when he followed after Alkmene and afterDanaë. 

And in the father of Adrastos and in Lynkeus did Argos mingle ripewisdom with upright justice: and she reared the warrior Amphitryon. Now he came to the height of honour in his descendants, for in bronzearmour he slew the Teleboai, and in his likeness the king of theimmortals entered his hall, bearing the seed of fearless Herakles, whose bride in Olympos is Hebe, who by the side of her mother, thequeen of marriage, walketh of all divinities most fair. 

My tongue would fail to tell in full the honours wherein the sacredArgive land hath part: also the distaste[5] of men is ill to meet. Yetwake the well-strung lyre, and take thought of wrestlings; a strifefor the bronze shield stirreth the folk to sacrifice of oxen unto Heraand to the issue of games, wherein the son of Oulias, Theaios, havingovercome twice, hath obtained forgetfulness of the toils he lightlybore. 

Also on a time at Pytho he was first of the Hellenic host, and woncrowns at Isthmos and at Nemea, led thither by fair hap, and gave workfor the Muses' plough by thrice winning at the Gates[6] of the Sea andthrice on the famous plains in the pastures of Adrastos' home[7]. Ofthat he longeth for, O Father Zeus, his mouth is silent, with thee arethe issues of deeds: but with a spirit strong to labour and of a goodcourage he prayeth thy grace. Both Theaios, and whosoever strugglethin the perfect consummation of all games, know this, even thesupremacy of the ordinance of Herakles that is holden at Pisa[8]: yetsweet preluding strains are those that twice have welcomed his triumphat the festival of the Athenians: and in earthenware baked in thefire, within the closure of figured urns, there came among the goodlyfolk of Hera[9] the prize of the olive fruit[10]. 

On the renowned race of thy mother's sires there waiteth glory ofgames by favour of the Graces and the sons of Tyndareus together. WereI kinsman of Thrasyklos and Antias I would claim at Argos not to hidemine eyes. For with how many victories hath this horse-breeding cityof Proitos flourished! even in the Corinthian corner and from themen of Kleonai[11] four times, and from Sikyon they came laden withsilver, even goblets for wine, and out of Pellene clad in soft woof ofwool[12]. But to tell over the multitude of their prizes of bronze isa thing impossible--to count them longer leisure were needed--whichKleitor and Tegea and the Achaians' high-set cities and the Lykaionset for a prize by the race-course of Zeus for the conquerors bystrength of hands or feet. 

And since Kastor and his brother Polydeukes came to be the guestsof Pamphaes[13], no marvel is it that to be good athletes should beinborn in the race. For they[14] it is who being guardians of the wideplains of Sparta with Hermes and Herakles mete out fair hap in games, and to righteous men they have great regard. Faithful is the race ofgods. 

Now, changing climes alternately, they dwell one day with their dearfather Zeus, and the next in the secret places under the earth, withinthe valleys of Therapnai, fulfilling equal fate: because on this wisechose Polydeukes to live his life rather than to be altogether god andabide continually in heaven, when that Kastor had fallen in the fight. 

Him did Idas, wroth for his oxen, smite with a bronze spearhead, whenfrom his watch upon Taÿgetos Lynkeus had seen them sitting within ahollow oak; for he of all men walking the earth had keenest eyes. Sowith swift feet they were straightway come to the place, and compassedspeedily a dreadful deed[15]. 

But terrible also was the vengeance which by the devising of Zeusthose sons[16] of Aphareus suffered: for on the instant came Leto'sson[17] in chase of them: and they stood up against him hard by thesepulchre of their father. Thence wrenched they a carved headstonethat was set to glorify the dead, and they hurled it at the breast ofPolydeukes. But they crushed him not, neither made him give back, but rushing onward with fierce spear he drave the bronze head intoLynkeus' side. And against Idas Zeus hurled a thunderbolt of consumingfire. 

So were those brothers in one flame[18] burnt unbefriended: for astrife 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 histhroat. Then Polydeukes wept hot tears, and groaned, and lifted up hisvoice, 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 froma man bereaved of friends. Few are they who in a time of trouble arefaithful in companionship of toil. '

Thus said he, and Zeus came, and stood before his face, and spakethese words: 'Thou art my son: but thy brother afterward was by mortalseed begotten in thy mother of the hero that was her husband. Butnevertheless, behold I give thee choice of these two lots: if, shunning death and hateful old age, thou desirest for thyself to dwellin Olympus with Athene and with Ares of the shadowing spear, this lotis thine to take: but if in thy brother's cause thou art so hot, andart resolved in all to have equal share with him, then half thy timethou shalt be alive beneath the earth, and half in the golden house ofheaven. '

Thus spake his father, and Polydeukes doubted not which counsel heshould choose. So Zeus unsealed the eye, and presently the tonguealso, 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 misplacedhere, 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 ina 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, butreally 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 otherathletic victory, but for the [Greek: eisitaeria] or initiatoryceremonies at the election of a new [Greek: prytanis] of Tenedos. ThePrytanis 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], OHestia! sister of highest Zeus and of Hera sharer of his throne, withgood-will welcome Aristagoras to thy sanctuary, with good-will alsohis fellows[2] who draw nigh to thy glorious sceptre, for theyin paying honour unto thee keep Tenedos in her place erect, bydrink-offerings glorifying thee many times before the other gods, andmany times by the savour of burnt sacrifice; and the sound of theirlutes is loud, and of their songs: and at their tables never-failingare celebrated the rites of Zeus, the stranger's friend. 

So with fair fame and unvexed heart may Aristagoras fulfil histwelve-month term. 

Blessed among men I count his father Arkesilas, and himself for hissplendid body and his heritage of a dauntless heart. 

But if any man shall possess wealth, and withal surpass his fellows incomely form, and in games have shown his strength to be the best, letsuch an one remember that his raiment is upon mortal limbs, and thatthe earth shall be his vesture at the end. 

Yet in good words of his fellow-citizens is it meet that his praise betold, and that we make his name comely with notes of honey-soundingsong. 

Now among the neighbouring peoples sixteen illustrious victories havecrowned Aristagoras and his famous clan in the wrestling-match andin the pankration of weighty honour. But hopes too diffident of hisparents kept back the might of their son from essaying the Pythian orOlympian strife: yet verily by the God of Truth I am persuaded thatboth at Castaly and at the tree-clad hill of Kronos, had he gonethither, he should have turned back home with more honour than any ofhis rivals who had striven with him, when that he had kept the fifthyear's feast[3] ordained of Herakles with dance and song, and with theshining 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 robbedof his due honours, for that a spirit of little daring draggeth himbackward by the hand. 

This were an easy thing to divine, that Peisander's[4] stock was fromSparta 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 theblood of his mother's brother Melanippos was blended with Ismenos'stream[6]. 

The virtues of an old descent repeat their vigour uncertainly in thegenerations of men. Neither doth the black-soiled tilth bring forthfruit continually, neither will the trees be persuaded to bear withevery year's return a fragrant flower of equal wealth, but in theirturns only. Thus also doth destiny lead on the race of mortals. FromZeus there cometh no clear sign to men: yet nevertheless we enter onhigh counsels, and meditate many acts: for by untameable hope ourbodies are enthralled: but the tides of our affairs are hidden fromour 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 thatPindar was engaged at the time to write an ode in honour of the DelianApollo to be sung at Keos, but that he put this off in order first towrite the present ode in honour of a victory won for his own nativestate of Thebes. 

 * * * * *

O mother, Thebe of the golden shield, thy service will I set evenabove the matter that was in my hand. May rocky Delos, whereto I amvowed, be not therefore wroth with me. Is there aught dearer to thegood than noble parents?

Give place O Apollonian isle: these twain fair offices, by the graceof God, will I join together in their end, and to Phoibos of theunshorn hair in island Keos with men of her sea-race will I make mychoral song, and therewithal this other for the sea-prisoning cliffsof Isthmos. 

For six crowns hath Isthmos given from her games to the people ofKadmos, a fair glory of triumph for my country, for the land whereinAlkmene bare her dauntless son, before whom trembled aforetime thefierce hounds of Geryon. 

But I for Herodotos' praise am fain to do honour unto his four-horsedcar, and to marry to the strain of Kastoreian or Iolaic song the famethat he hath earned, handling his reins in his own and no helpinghand. 

For these Kastor and Iolaos were of all heroes the mightiestcharioteers, the one to Lakedaimon, the other born to Thebes. And atthe games they entered oftenest for the strife, and with tripods andcaldrons and cups of gold they made fair their houses, attaining untovictorious crowns: clear shineth their prowess in the foot-race, runnaked or with the heavy clattering shield; and when they hurled thejavelin and the quoit: for then was there no five-fold game[1], butfor each several feat there was a prize. Oft did they bind about theirhair a crowd of crowns, and showed themselves unto the waters of Dirkeor on Eurotas' banks[2], the son of Iphikles a fellow-townsman ofthe Spartoi's race, the son of Tyndareus inhabiting the uplanddwelling-place of Therapna[3] among the Achaians. 

So hail ye and farewell: I on Poseidon and holy Isthmos, and on thelake-shores of Onchestos will throw the mantle of my song, and willamong the glories of this man make glorious also the story of hisfather Asopodoros' fate, and his new country Orchomenos, which, whenhe drave ashore on a wrecked ship, harboured him amid his dismalhap[4]. But now once more hath the fortune of his house raised him upto see the fair days of the old time: and he who hath suffered painbeareth forethought within his soul. 

If a man's desire be wholly after valour, and he give thereto bothwealth and toil, meet is it that to such as attain unto it we offerwith ungrudging heart high meed of praise. For an easy gift it is fora son of wisdom[5], by a good word spoken in recompense for labourmanifold to set on high the public fame. For diverse meeds for diverseworks are sweet to men, to the shepherd and to the ploughman, to thefowler and to him whom the sea feedeth--howbeit all those strive butto keep fierce famine from their bellies; but whoso in the games or inwar hath won delightful fame, receiveth the highest of rewards in fairwords of citizens and of strangers. 

Us it beseemeth to requite the earth-shaking son of Kronos, who isalso 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 thysons[6], Amphitryon, and the inland dwelling[7] of Minyas, and thefamous grove of Demeter, even Eleusis, and Euboia with her curvingrace-course. And thy holy place, Protesilas, add I unto these, builtthee at Phylake by Achaian men. 

But to tell over all that Hermes lord of games hath given to Herodotosby his horses, the short space of my hymn alloweth not. Yea and fulloft doth the keeping of silence bring forth a larger joy. 

Now may Herodotos, up-borne upon the sweet-voiced Muse's shiningwings, yet again with wreaths from Pytho and choice wreaths fromAlpheos from the Olympian games entwine his hand, and bring honourunto seven-gated Thebes. 

Now if one at home store hidden wealth, and fall upon other men tomock them, this man considereth not that he shall give up his soul todeath having known no good report. 

[Footnote 1: The Pentathlon. See Introduction to Ol. Xiii, and note onNem. Vii, p. 129. ]

[Footnote 2: Rivers were [Greek: kourotrophoi] (nurturers of youth), and thus young men who had achieved bodily feats were especially boundto return thanks to the streams of their native places. ]

[Footnote 3: In Lakonia. ]

[Footnote 4: Asopodoros seems to have been banished from Thebes andkindly received in his banishment by Orchomenos. ]

[Footnote 5: Here, as elsewhere probably in the special sense of apoet. ]

[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 Pythianwas 494. Yet the opening passage of this ode seems to imply thatXenokiates' son Thrasyboulos was still little more than a boy, whereasin 494 he had been old enough to be his father's charioteer, and thiswould be eighteen years later. But perhaps the passage is only anallusion to Thrasyboulos' boyhood as a time past. And certainly bothXenokrates and his brother Theron seem to be spoken of in this ode asalready dead, and we know that Theron did not die till 473. Perhapstherefore Thrasyboulos was celebrating in 472 the anniversary of hisdeceased father's victory, four years after the victory itself. 

 * * * * *

The men of old, Thrasyboulos, who went up into the Muse's car to givewelcome with the loud-voiced lyre, lightly for honour of boys shotforth their honey-sounding songs, whensoever in one fair of form wasfound that sweetest summer-bloom that turneth hearts to think onfair-throned Aphrodite. 

For then the Muse was not yet covetous nor a hireling, neither weresweet lays tender-voiced sold with silvered faces by Terpsichore ofhoneyed speech. But now doth she bid heed the word of the Argiveman[1] which keepeth nigh to the paths of truth:

'Money, money maketh man, ' he said, when robbed of goods at once andfriends. 

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 ofDorian parsley to bind about his hair, a man of goodly chariot, alight of the people of Akragas. 

Also at Krisa did far-prevailing Apollo look upon him, and gave himthere too glory: and again when he attained unto the crowns of theErectheidai in shining Athens he found no fault in the chariot-savinghand of the man Nikomachos who drave his horses, the hand wherewith inthe instant of need he bare on all the reins[2]. 

Moreover the heralds of the seasons[3], the Elean truce-bringersof Zeus the son of Kronos, recognized him, having met belike withhospitality from him, and in a voice of dulcet breath they gave himgreeting for that he had fallen at the knees of golden Victory intheir land which men call the holy place of Olympic Zeus, where thesons[4] of Ainesidamos attained unto honour everlasting. 

For no stranger is your house, O Thrasyboulos, to pleasant shoutsof triumph, neither to sweet-voiced songs. For not uphill neithersteep-sloped is the path whereby one bringeth the glories of theHelikonian maidens to dwell with famous men. 

By a far throw of the quoit may I hurl even so far as did Xenokratessurpass all men in the sweetness of his spirit. In converse withcitizens was he august, and upheld horse-racing after the Hellenes'wont: also worshipped he at all festivals of the gods, nor ever didthe breeze that breathed around his hospitable board give him cause todraw 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 mindof mortals, be silent concerning his father's prowess, nor from thesehymns: 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 offreins to the utmost in turning the goal, or perhaps, gave full rein tohis horses between each turn or after the final one. ]

[Footnote 3: The heralds who proclaimed throughout Hellas the approachof the Olympic games, and an universal solemn truce during theircelebration. ]

[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 thatthe battle alluded to is the battle of Plataiai, have dated it 478or 474. In this battle, whatever it was, the Kleonymid clan to whichMelissos belonged had lost four men. The celebrity of the clan in thegames seems to have been eclipsed for some time, but Melissos revivedit by a chariot-victory at Nemea and this pankration-victory at theIsthmus, won in spite of his small stature which might have seemed toplace him at a disadvantage. The ode compares his match against hisantagonists with that of Herakles against the African giant Antaios. 

Very probably this ode was sung at a night meeting of the clan, whilethe altars of Herakles were blazing. 

 * * * * *

If any among men having good fortune and dwelling amid prizes ofrenown or the power of wealth restraineth in his heart besettinginsolence, this man is worthy to have part in his citizens' goodwords. 

But from thee, O Zeus, cometh all high excellence to mortals; andlonger liveth their bliss who have thee in honour, but with mindsperverse it consorteth never steadfastly, flourishing throughout alltime. 

In recompense for glorious deeds it behoveth that we sing the valiant, and amid his triumphal company exalt him with fair honours. Of twoprizes is the lot fallen to Melissos, to turn his heart unto sweetmirth, for in the glens of Isthmos hath he won crowns, and againin the hollow vale of the deep-chested lion being winner in thechariot-race he made proclamation that his home was Thebes. 

Thus shameth he not the prowess of his kinsmen. Ye know the ancientfame of Kleonymos with the chariot: also on the mother's side beingakin to the Labdakidai his race hath been conversant with riches, andbestowed them on the labours of the four-horse car. 

But time with rolling days bringeth changes manifold: only thechildren of gods are free of wounds. 

By grace of God I have ways countless everywhere open unto me[1]: forthou hast shown forth to me, O Melissos, in the Isthmian games anample means to follow in song the excellence of thy race: wherein theKleonymidai flourish continually, and in favour with God pass onwardthrough the term of mortal life: howbeit changing gales drive all menwith ever-changing drift. 

These men verily are spoken of as having honour at Thebes from thebeginning, for that they cherished the inhabitants round about, andhad no part in loud insolence; if there be borne about by the windsamong men aught of witness to the great honour of quick or dead, untosuch have they attained altogether. By the brave deeds of their housethey have touched the pillars of Herakles, that are at the end ofthings. Beyond that follow thou no excellence. 

Horse-breeders moreover have they been, and found favour with mailedAres; but in one day the fierce snow-storm of war hath made a happyhearth to be desolate of four men. 

But now once more after that wintry gloom hath it blossomed, even asin the flowery months the earth blossometh with red roses, accordingto 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 tothe house this hymn of wonder, and leadeth up out of her bed theancient glory of the famous deeds thereof: for she was fallen onsleep; but she awaketh and her body shineth preeminent, as among starsthe Morning-star. 

For in the land of Athens proclaiming a victory of the car, and atSikyon at the games of Adrastos did she give like wreaths of song forthe sons of Kleonymos that then were. For neither did they refrain tocontend with the curved chariot in the great meetings of the people, but they had delight to strive with the whole folk of Hellas inspending their wealth on steeds. 

Touching the unproven there is silence, and none knoweth them: yea andeven from them that strive Fortune hideth herself until they come untothe perfect end; for she giveth of this and of that. 

The better man hath been ere now overtaken and overthrown by the craftof worse. Verily ye know the bloody deed of Aias, that he wroughtbeneath the far-spent night, when he smote himself through with hisown sword, whereby he upbraideth yet the children of the Hellenes, asmany as went forth to Troy. 

But lo! Homer hath done him honour among men, and by raising up hisexcellence in the fulness thereof hath through the rod[3] of hisdivine lays delivered it to bards after him to sing. 

For the thing that one hath well said goeth forth with a voice untoeverlasting: over fruitful earth and beyond the sea hath the light offair deeds shined, unquenchable for ever. 

May we find favour with the Muses, that for Melissos too we kindlesuch beacon-blaze of song, a worthy prize of the pankration for thisscion of Telesias' son. 

He being like unto the roaring lions in courage taketh unto him theirspirit to be his own in the struggle: but in sleight he is as the foxthat 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 iscontemptible, yet terrible is he to grapple with in his strength. 

And verily once to the house of Antaios came a man to wrestle againsthim, of short stature but of unbending soul, from Kadmean Thebes evenunto corn-bearing Libya, that he might cause him to cease from roofingPoseidon's temple with the skulls of strangers--even the son ofAlkmene, he who ascended up to Olympus, after that he had searched outthe 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 theaegis-bearer he dwelleth, possessing happiness most fair, and hathhonour from the immortals as their friend, and hath Hebe to wife, andis lord of a golden house, and husband of Hera's child. 

Unto his honour upon the heights Elektrai we of this city prepare afeast and new-built altar-ring, where we offer burnt sacrifice inhonour of the eight mail-clad men that are dead, whom Megara, Kreon'sdaughter, bore to be sons of Herakles. 

To them at the going down of the day there ariseth a flame of fire andburneth all night continually, amid a savoury smoke hurling itselfagainst the upper air: and on the second day is the award of theyearly 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 pilotof 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 recitersof poems. ]

[Footnote 4: I. E. Throwing herself on her back with feet upward. Ifit is meant that she counterfeits death, then of course the parallelwith the pankratiast will only hold good to the extent of the supineposture. ]

[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 forwhom the fifth Nemean was written. This ode must have been writtenshortly after the battle of Salamis, probably B. C. 478, and was tobe sung at Aigina, perhaps at a festival of the goddess Theia who isinvoked at the beginning. She, according to Hesiod, was the motherof the Sun, the Moon, and the Morning, and was also called [Greek:Euruphaessa] and [Greek: chruse], from which latter name perhaps cameher association with gold and wealth. 

 * * * * *

Mother of the Sun, Theia of many names, through thee it is that menprize gold as mighty above all things else: for ships that strive uponthe sea and horses that run in chariots, for the honour that is ofthee, 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 hishair. Through God is the might of men approved. 

Two things alone there are that cherish life's bloom to its utmostsweetness amidst the fair flowers of wealth--to have good success andto win therefore fair fame. Seek not to be as Zeus; if the portionof these honours fall to thee, thou hast already all. The things ofmortals 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 incompany of the Graces am I come for sake of Lampon's sons to thiscommonwealth of equal laws[1]. If then on the clear high road ofgod-given deeds she hath set her feet, grudge not to mingle in song aseemly draught of glory for her toil. 

For even the great men of old that were good warriors have profited ofthe telling of their tale, and are glorified on the lute and in thepipe's strains manifold, through immeasurable time: and to the cunningin words[2] they give matter by the grace of Zeus. 

Thus by their worship with the blaze of burnt-offerings amongAitolians have the mighty sons[3] of Oineus honour, and at ThebesIolaos the charioteer, and at Argos Perseus, and by the streams ofEurotas Polydeukes and Kastor's spear:

But in Oinone the great souls of Aiakos and his sons, who after muchfighting twice sacked the Trojans' town, first when they went withHerakles, and again with the sons of Atreus. 

Now drive me upward still; say who slew Kyknos, and who Hektor, andthe dauntless chief of Ethiop hosts, bronze-mailed Memnon. What manwas he who with his spear smote noble Telephos by Kaïkos' banks? Eventhey whose home my mouth proclaimeth to be Aigina's glorious isle:a tower is she, builded from long ago, to tempt the climb ofhigh-adventuring valour. 

Many arrows hath my truthful tongue in store wherewith to soundthe praises of her sons: and even but now in war might Aias' city, Salamis, bear witness thereto in her deliverance by Aigina's seamenamid the destroying tempest of Zeus, when death came thick as hail onthe unnumbered hosts. Yet let no boast be heard. Zeus ordereth this orthat, Zeus, lord of all. 

Now in pleasant song even these honours also of the games welcome thejoy for a fair victory. Let any strive his best in such, who hathlearnt what Kleonikos' house can do. Undulled is the fame of theirlong 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] thecourse of Phylakidas' blows in the struggle of hands that bring limbslow, an adversary he of cunning soul. 

Take for him a crown, and bring the fleecy fillet, and speed him onhis 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 probablyprecept 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 placedafter it in our order. The occasion is similar. Probably it was sungat a banquet at Lampon's house. 

 * * * * *

As one may do amid merry revel of men, so mingle we a second time thebowls of Muses' melody in honour of Lampon's athlete progeny. 

Our first, O Zeus, was unto thee, when at Nemea we[1] won thyexcellent crown, and now is this second unto the lord[2] of Isthmosand unto the fifty daughters of Nereus, for that Phylakidas theyoungest son is winner in the games. And be it ours to make ready yeta third for the Saviour[3], the Olympian one, and in honour of Aiginamake libation of our honey-speaking song. 

For if a man rejoice to suffer cost and toil, and achieve god-buildedexcellence, and therewithal fate plant for him fair renown, alreadyat the farthest bounds of bliss hath such an one cast anchor, for theglory that he hath thereby from God. With such desires prayeth theson[4] of Kleonikos that he may fulfil them ere he meet death or hoaryeld. 

Now I call on high-throned Klotho and her sister Fates to draw nighunto the praying of the man I love. 

And upon you also, golden-charioted seed of Aiakos, I say it is clearlaw 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 yourfair deeds to go forth, beyond the springs of Nile, and through theHyperboreans' midst: neither is any town so barbarous and strangeof speech that it knoweth not the fame of Peleus, that blissfulson-in-law of gods, or of Aias son of Telamon, and of Aias' sire; whomunto brazen war an eager ally with Tirynthian men Alkmene's son tookwith him in his ships to Troy, to the place of heroes' toil, to takevengeance for Laomedon's untruth. 

There did Herakles take the city of Pergamos, and with help of Telamonslew the nations of the Meropes, and the herdsman whose stature was asa mountain, Alkyoneus whom he found at Phlegrai, and spared not of hishands the terrible twanging bowstring. 

But when he went to call the son of Aiakos to the voyage he found thewhole 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 mightyspear to make initiative libation of nectar, and handed on unto himthe wine-cup rough with gold. 

And Herakles stretched forth to heaven his invincible hands and spakeon this wise: 'If ever, O father Zeus, thou hast heard my prayer withwilling heart, now, even now, with strong entreaty I pray thee thatthou give this man a brave child of Eriboia's womb, that by award offate my friend may gain a son of body as staunch[7] as this hide thathangeth about me, which was of the beast that I slew at Nemea, firstof 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 spakealoud as a seer speaketh: 'Behold, the son whom thou askest shallbe born unto thee, O Telamon:' also after the bird's name that hadappeared unto them he said that the child's name should be the mightyAias[8], terrible in the strife of warring hosts: so he spake, andsate him down straightway. 

But for me it were long to tell all those valiant deeds. For forPhylakidas am I come, O Muse, a dispenser of thy triumphal songs, andfor Pytheas, and for Euthymenes[9]; therefore in Argive fashion mytale shall be of fewest words. 

Three victories have they won in the pankration of Isthmos, and othersat leafy Nemea, even these noble sons and their mother's brother: howfair a portion of song have they brought to light! yea and they waterwith the Charites' delicious dew their clan of the Psalychidai, andhave raised up the house of Themistios, and dwell here in a city whichthe gods love well. 

And Lampon, in that he bestoweth practice on all he doth, holdethin high honour the word of Hesiod which speaketh thereof[10], andexhorteth thereunto his sons, whereby he bringeth unto his city ageneral fame: and for his kind entreating of strangers is he loved, tothe just mean aspiring, to the just mean holding fast; and his tonguedeparteth not from his thoughts: and among athlete men he is as thebronze-grinding Naxian whetstone amid stones[11]. 

Now will I give him to drink of the holy water of Dirke, whichgolden-robed Mnemosyne's deep-girdled daughters made once to springout 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 feastwas drunk. He is here invoked also to give a third victory to thefamily 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 onlyattributed 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 Naxianwhetstone 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 thebattle referred to--apparently a defeat--in which the winner's unclewas killed was the battle of Oinophyta, fought B. C. 457. But this, andthe 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, haththy soul had most delight? Whether when thou broughtest forth to thelight Dionysos of the flowing hair, who sitteth beside Demeter to whomthe cymbals clang? or when at midnight in a snow of gold thou didstreceive the mightiest of the gods, what time he stood at Amphitryon'sdoors and beguiled his wife, to the begetting of Herakles? Or whenthou hadst honour in the wise counsels of Teiresias, or in Iolaos thecunning charioteer, or the unwearied spears of the Spartoi? or whenout of the noise of the strong battle-cry thou sentest Adrastos hometo horse-breeding Argos, of his countless company forlorn? or whenthou madest the Dorian colony of the men of Lakedaimon stand uprightupon 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 unmindfulthereof, save such as married to the sounding stream of song attainethunto the perfect meed that wisdom[2] giveth. New triumph now lead forStrepsiades with melodious hymn: for at Isthmos hath he borne away thepankratiast's prize. Wondrous in strength is he, and to look upon ofgoodly shape, and his valour is such as shameth not his stature. 

So shineth he forth by grace of the Muses iris-haired, and to hisuncle of like name hath he given to share his crown, for albeitbronze-shielded Ares gave him over unto death, yet remaineth there forthe valiant a recompense of renown. For let whoso amid the cloud ofwar from his beloved country wardeth the bloody shower, and makethhavoc in the enemy's host, know assuredly that for the race of hisfellow-citizens he maketh their renown wax mightily, yea when he isdead even as while he was yet alive. 

So didst thou, son[3] of Diodotos, following the praise of the warriorMeleagros, and of Hektor, and of Amphiaraos, breathe forth the spiritof 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 hairand sing. Now let no jealousy of immortals mar whatever sweet thingthrough a day's pursuit I follow, as it leadeth on up to old age, andunto the term of life appointed. 

For all we in like manner die, albeit our lots be diverse. If any liftup his eye to look upon things afar off, yet is he too weak to attainunto the bronze-paved dwelling of the gods. Thus did winged Pegasosthrow his lord Bellerophon, when he would fain enter into the heavenlyhabitations and mix among the company of Zeus. Unrighteous joyance abitter end awaiteth. 

But to us, O Loxias of the golden-flowing hair, give also at thyPythian games a new fair-flowering crown. 

[Footnote 1: The Theban Aigidai helped the mythical 'return of theHerakleidai. ']

[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 itwas written soon after the final expulsion of the Persians. From thefirst strophe we learn that Kleandros had won a Nemean as well as anIsthmian victory, and perhaps this ode really belongs to the former. It was to be sung, it seems, before the house of Telesarchos thewinner's father, at Aigina. 

 * * * * *

For Kleandros in his prime let some of you, ye young men, go standbefore the shining portal of his father Telesarchos, and rouse a songof triumph, to be a glorious recompense of his toils, for that he hathachieved reward of victory at Isthmos, and hath showed his strength inthe games of Nemea. 

For him I also, albeit heavy at heart[1], am bidden to call upon thegolden Muse. Yea since we are come forth from our sore troubles letus not fall into the desolation of crownlessness, neither nurse ourgriefs; but having ease from our ills that are past mending, we willset some pleasant thing before the people, though it follow hard onpain: inasmuch as some god hath put away from us the Tantalos-stonethat hung above our heads, a curse intolerable to Hellas. 

But now hath the passing of this terror ended my sore disquietude, andever it is better to look only on the thing hard by. For the guile oftime hangeth above the heads of men, and maketh the way of their lifecrooked, yet if Freedom abide with them, even such things may mortalscure. 

But it is meet that a man cherish good hope: and meet also that I, whom seven-gated Thebes reared, proffer chiefly unto Aigina thechoicest of the Graces' gifts, for that from one sire were twodaughters[2] born, youngest of the children of Asopos, and foundfavour in the eyes of the king Zeus. 

One by the fair stream of Dirke he set to be the queen of a city ofcharioteers, and thee the other he bare to the Oinopian isle, and laywith thee, whence to the sire of great thunderings thou didst bear thegodlike Aiakos, best of men upon the earth. 

This man even among divinities became a decider of strife: and hisgodlike sons and his sons' sons delighting in battle were foremost invalour when they met in the ringing brazen melley: chaste also werethey approved, and wise of heart. 

Thereof was the god's council mindful, what time for the hand ofThetis there was strife between Zeus and glorious Poseidon, eachhaving desire that she should be his fair bride, for love had obtaineddominion over them. 

Yet did not the wisdom of the immortal gods fulfil for them suchmarriage, when they had heard a certain oracle. For Themis of wisecounsels spake in the midst of them of how it was pre-destined thatthe sea-goddess should bear a royal offspring mightier than hisfather, whose hand should wield a bolt more terrible than thelightning 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 sonfall in war, who shall be as Ares in the might of his hands, and asthe lightning in the swiftness of his feet. My counsel is that ye giveher to be the heaven-sent prize of Peleus son of Aiakos, whom thespeech of men showeth to be their most righteous, an offspring ofIolkos' plain. Thus straightway let the message go forth to Cheiron'scave divine, neither let the daughter of Nereus put a second timeinto your hands the ballot-leaves of strife. So on the evening of themid-month moon shall she unbind for the hero the fair girdle of hervirginity. '

Thus spake the goddess her word to the children of Kronos, and theybowed their everlasting brows. Nor failed her words of fruit, for theysay that to Thetis' bridals came those twain kings even with the rest. 

Out of the mouths of the wise hath the young valour of Achillesbeen declared to them that beheld it not. He it was who stained thevine-clad Mysian plain with the dark blood of Telephos that he shedthereon, 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 thesinews of Troy, even the men who kept him back as he plied the workof slaughterous battle on the plain, the strength of Memnon andhigh-hearted Hektor, and other chiefs of pride. Unto all these didAchilles, champion of the Aiakid race, point the way to the house ofPersephone, and thereby did he glorify Aigina and the root whence hewas sprung. 

Neither in death was he of songs forsaken, for at his funeral pyre andbeside his tomb stood the Helikonian maiden-choir, and poured thereona dirge of many melodies. For so the immortals willed, to give chargeunto the songs of goddesses over that valorous man even in his death. 

And now also holdeth such charge good, and the Muses' chariot speedethto sound the glories of Nikokles the boxer[3]. Honour to him who inthe Isthmian vale hath won the Dorian parsley: for he even as Achillesovercame men in battle, turning them to confusion, with hand fromwhich flight was vain. Him shameth not this kinsman of his father'snoble brother. Wherefore let some one of the young men his fellowstwine for Kleandros a wreath of tender myrtle for his pankratiastvictory. For the games whose name is of Alkathoos[4], and the youth ofEpidauros[5], have ere now entertained him with good hap. To praisehim is given unto the good: for in no hidden corner quenched he hisyouth, 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 distinctclass: the rest are divided among (1) [Greek: Epinikia], or TriumphalOdes (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 especiallyto Apollo and Artemis for their intervention against pestilence, (4)[Greek: Dithyramboi], or choral songs of more general compass, vergingsometimes 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 personbut not necessarily on any special occasion, (9) [Greek: Skolia], orSongs 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 todescend thereon and to glorify it, ye who in sacred Athens visit thecity's incensed centre-stone, and her famed market-place of splendidornament; receive ye violet-entwinëd crowns and drink-offerings ofspring-gathered herbs, and look on me who am come from the house ofZeus with my bright song a second time unto the ivy-crownëd god, whomwe call Bromios, even the god of clamorous shout. 

To sing the offspring[1] of the Highest and of Kadmeän mothers am Icome. 

In Argive Nemea the prophet of the god overlooketh not the branch ofpalm, what time with the opening of the chamber of the Hours, thenectarous plants perceive the fragrant spring[2]. 

Then, then are strown over the face of the eternal earth the lovelyviolet-tufts, then are roses twined in hair, then sound to the flute'saccompaniment voices of song, then sound our choice hymns unto thehonour of bright-filleted Semele . .. 

[Footnote 1: Dionysos, son of Zeus and of Semele, daughter of Kadmos. ]

[Footnote 2: Bockh has suggested the following ingenious explanationof 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 winnerin the Nemean games. Pindar had been at those games in the winter, andmeans that he, like the priest of the temple, could foresee from thetokens of the branch that spring was approaching, and with spring thevernal 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 tobright-haired Leto's children, wide earth's immoveable marvel, who ofmortals art called Delos, but of the blessed gods in Olympus the darkearth's far-seen star[1]. .. . .. For of old time it[2] drifted beforethe waves and stress of winds from every side; but when she[3] ofKoios set foot thereon, as the swift pains of her travailing drewnigh, then verily from roots deep down in earth there sprang uprightfour pillars with adamantine base, and on their capitals they held upthe rock: there was the goddess delivered, and looked upon her blessedbrood. .. .. .. . 

[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 ECLIPSEOF THE SUN, PROBABLY THAT OF APRIL 30, B. C. 463. 

Wherefore, O Light of the Sun, thou that seest all things and givestbounds unto the sight of mine eyes--wherefore O star supreme hast thouin the daytime hidden thyself, and made useless unto men the wings oftheir strength and the paths that wisdom findeth, and hastest along away of darkness to bring on us some strange thing?

Now in the name of Zeus I pray unto thee, O holy Light, that by thyswift steeds thou turn this marvel in the sight of all men to be forthe unimpaired good hap of Thebes. Yet if the sign which thou showestus be of some war, or destruction of harvest, or an exceeding storm ofsnow, or ruinous civil strife, or emptying of the sea upon the earth, or freezing of the soil, or summer rains pouring in vehement flood, orwhether 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 worldit is night, and the space of crimsonflowered meadows before theircity is full of the shade of frankincense-trees, and of fruits ofgold. And some in horses, and in bodily feats, and some in dice, and some in harp-playing have delight; and among them thriveth allfair-flowering bliss; and fragrance streameth ever through the lovelyland, as they mingle incense of every kind upon the altars of thegods. .. . 

II. 

. .. . BY happy lot travel all unto an end that giveth them rest fromtoils. 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 fromthe gods; and while the limbs stir, it sleepeth, but unto sleepersin dreams discovereth oftentimes the judgment that draweth nigh forsorrow or for joy. . 

III

But from whomsoever Persephone accepteth atonement made for an ancientwoe, their souls unto the light of the sun above she sendeth backagain in the ninth year. And from those souls spring noble kings, and men swift and strong and in wisdom very great: and through theafter-time they are called holy heroes among men. .. .. . 

THE END.