O Mother mine, O Thébé of the golden shield, I shall deem thy behest enough to outweigh all lack of leisure. Let not rocky Delos be indignant at me, for in her praise have I been fully spent. What is dearer to the good than noble parents? Give place, Apollo's isle; for, in very deed, by help of heaven shall I bring to an end both hymns of praise alike, by honouring in the dance, not only the unshorn Phoebus in wave- washed Ceés with its mariners, but also the Isthmian reef that severeth seas asunder; since to the host of Cadmus that Isthmus gave from her games six garlands, to grace with glorious triumph my fatherland, the very land in which Alcméné bare her dauntless son, before whom trembled erst the savage hounds of Géryon." But I, while framing for Herodotus an honour for his chariot of four horses, and for his having plied the reins in his own hands and not another's, would
wed him to the strain of Castor or of Iolaüs, for, of all the heroes, they were the bravest charioteers, the one in Sparta born, in Thebes the other. And, in the games, they essayed the greatest number of contests, and decked their homes with tripods and cauldrons and with bowls of gold, by tasting of crowns victorious. Clear shineth their prowess, both in the courses of stript runners, and amid the warrior-races with the sounding shield; and in all the deeds of their hands, in flinging the spear, and whensoe’er they hurled the discs of stone. For, as yet, there was no pentathlum, but for each several feat a separate prize was set up. Full oft, with their hair enwreathed with coronals from these contests, did they appear beside the streams of Dircé, or hard by the Eurdtas, (by the first) the son of Iphiclés, clansman of the dragon’s brood, (by the other) the son of Tyndareüs, dwelling amid the Achaeans in his highland home of Therapné. Now fare ye well, while I, arraying with song Poseidon and the hallowed Isthmus and the shores of Onchéstus, shall, amid the honours of this hero, tell aloud of the fortune, the famous fortune of his sire Asépodérus, and of the ancestral glebe of Orchomenus, which welcomed him, when, hard pressed by shipwreck, he came in chilly plight from
out the boundless main. But now, once more, hath, the fortune of his home embarked him on the fair weather of the olden days. Yet he, who hath suffered troubles, winneth forethought also in his heart; and, whensoever a man, with all his spirit, throweth himself into pursuit of prowess, sparing neither cost nor pains, ‘tis meet that, when the prize is won, we should, with thoughts ungrudging, give him ennobling praise. For the wise poet finds it an easy boon, in requital for manifold toil, to- say his good word, and thus, besides, to set on high the fame of the State. Aye! even as divers meeds for divers works are sweet to men, to the shepherd and to the ploughman, to the fowler and to him whom the sea doth nourish, while every man straineth his strength in defending his belly from weary famine; even so, whosoever winneth bright renown, either in the games or in war, receiveth the highest gain in the choicest praises of citizens and of strangers. ‘Tis meet for us, in strains of grateful song, to sound aloud the praises of our neighbour, the earthshaking son of Cronus, for blessing our chariots as the god of racing steeds. “Tis meet, again, to invoke thy sons, Amphitryon, and the secluded valley of Minyas, and Eleusis, the famous precinct
of Deméter, and Euboea too, among the circling race-courses. And I add, beside, thy sacred ground, Prétesilas, in Phylacé, the home of Achaean heroes. But to tell of all the victories that Hermes, lord of games, granted to Herodotus and his steeds, is reft from me by the brief limits of my song. Yea, full oft doth even that which is hushed in silence bring the greater joy. Heaven grant that, wafted on the beaming pinions of the voiceful Pierides, he yet may fill his hand with wreaths from Pytho, with choicest wreaths from the Alpheüs and the Olympian games, thus winning glory for seven-gated Thebes. But, if any one broodeth at home over hoarded wealth, and rejoiceth in oppressing others, he little thinketh that he is giving up his soul to death—death without glory.
Cite This Text