Even as water is most excellent, while gold, like fire flaming at night, gleameth more brightly than all other lordly wealth ; even so, fond heart, if thou art fain to tell of prizes won in the games, look not by day for any star in the lonely sky, that shineth with warmth more genial than the sun, nor let us think to praise a place of festival more glorious than Olympia. Thence cometh the famous song of praise that enfoldeth the thoughts of poets wise, so that they loudly sing the son of Cronus, when they arrive at the rich and happy hearth of Hieron; Hieron, who wieldeth the sceptre of law in fruitful Sicily, culling the prime of all virtues, while he rejoiceth in the full bloom of song, even in such merry strains as we men full often raise around the friendly board. Now, take the Dorian lyre down from its resting-place, if in sooth the grateful thought of Pisa and of
Pherenicus laid upon thy heart the spell of sweetest musings, what time, beside the Alpheüs, that steed rushed by, lending those limbs that in the race needed not the lash, and thus brought power unto his master, the lord of Syracuse, that warlike horseman for whom glory shineth in the new home of heroes erst founded by the Lydian Pelops ; Pelops, of whom Poseidon, the mighty shaker of the earth, was once enamoured, when Cléthé lifted him out of the purifying waters of the caldron with his shoulder gleaming with ivory. Wonders are rife indeed ; and, as for the tale that is told among mortals, transgressing the language of truth, it may haply be that stories deftly decked with glittering lies lead them astray. But the Grace of song, that maketh for man all things that soothe him, by adding her spell, full often causeth even what is past belief to be indeed believed ; but the days that are still to come are the wisest witnesses. In truth it is seemly for man to say of the gods nothing ignoble; for so he giveth less cause for blame. Son of Tantalus! I will tell of thee a tale far other than that of earlier bards:—what time thy father, in return for the banquets he had enjoyed, bade the gods come to his own dear Sipylus, and share his duly-ordered festal board, then it was that the god of the gleaming trident, with his heart
enthralled with love, seized thee and carried thee away on his golden chariot to the highest home of Zeus, who is honoured far and wide,—that home to which, in after-time, Ganymede was also brought for the self-same service ; and when thou wast seen no more, and, in spite of many a quest, men brought thee not to thy mother, anon some envious neighbours secretly devised the story that with a knife they clave thy limbs asunder, and plunged them into water which fire had caused to boil, and at the tables, during the latest course, divided the morsels of thy flesh and feasted. Far be it from me to call any one of the blessed gods a cannibal! I stand aloof. Full oft hath little gain fallen to the lot of evil-speakers. But, if indeed there was any mortal man who was honoured by the guardian-gods of Olympus, that man was Tantalus ; but, alas! he could not brook his great prosperity, and, owing to his surfeit of good things, he gat himself an overpowering curse, which the Father hung over him in the semblance of a monstrous stone, which he is ever eager to thrust away from his head, thus wandering from the ways of joy. And thereby hath he a helpless life of never-ending
labour, with three besides and his own toil the fourth, because he stole from the gods the nectar and ambrosia, with which they had made him immortal, and gave them to the partners of his feast. But, if any man hopeth, in aught he doeth, to escape the eye of God, he is grievously wrong. Therefore it was that the immortals once more thrust forth the son of Tantalus amid the short-lived race of men. But when, about the time of youthful bloom, the down began to mantle his cheek with dusky hue, he turned his thoughts to a marriage that was a prize open to all, even to the winning of the glorious Hippodameia from the hand of her father, the lord of Pisa. He drew near unto the foaming sea, and, alone in the darkness, called aloud on the loudly roaring god of the fair trident; who appeared to him, even close beside him, at his very feet ; and to the god he said :— “If the kindly gifts of Cypris count in any wise in one’s favour, then stay thou, Poseidon, the brazen spear of Oenomaüs, and speed me in the swiftest of all chariots to Elis, and cause me to draw nigh unto power. Thirteen suitors hath he slain, thus deferring his daughter’s marriage. But high emprise brooketh no coward wight. Yet, as all men must needs die, why should one, sitting idly in the darkness, nurse
without aim an inglorious eld, reft of all share of blessings? As for me, on this contest shall I take my stand; and do thou grant a welcome consummation.” Even thus he’ spake, nor did he light upon language that came to naught. The god honoured him with the gift of a golden chariot and of steeds unwearied of wing; and he overcame the might of Oenomaüs, and won the maiden as his bride, and she bare him six sons, who were eager in deeds of valour. And now hath he a share in the splendid funeral-sacrifices, while he resteth beside the ford of the Alpheüs, having his oft-frequented tomb hard by the altar that is thronged by many a visitant ; and the fame of the Olympic festivals shineth from afar amid the race-courses of Pelops, where strife is waged in swiftness of foot and in doughty deeds of strength ; but he that overcometh hath, on either hand, for the rest of his life, the sweetest calm, so far as crowns in the games can give it. Yet for every one of all mortal men the brightest boon is the blessing that ever cometh day by day. I must crown the victor with the horseman’s song, even with the Aeolian strains, and I am persuaded that there is no host of the present time, whom I shall glorify with sounding bouts of song, as one
who is at once more familiar with things noble, or is more sovereign in power. A god who hath this care, watcheth and broodeth over thy desires; but, if he doth not desert thee too soon, I trust I shall celebrate a still sweeter victory, even with the swift chariot, having found a path that prompteth praises, when I have reached the sunny hill of Cronus. Howsoever, for myself, the Muse is keeping a shaft most mighty in strength. Some men are great in one thing; others in another: but the crowning summit is for kings. Refrain from peering too far! Heaven grant that thou mayest plant thy feet on high, so long as thou livest, and that I may consort with victors for all my days, and be foremost in the lore of song among Hellenes in every land.
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