Ye hymns that rule the lyre! what god, what hero, aye, and what man shall we loudly praise? Verily Zeus is the lord of Pisa; and Heracles established the Olympic festival, from the spoils of war; while Thérén must be proclaimed by reason of his victorious chariot with its four horses, Thérén who is just in his regard for guests, and who is the bulwark of Acragas, the choicest flower of an auspicious line of sires, whose city towers on high,—those sires who, by much labour of mind, gat them a hallowed home glory to crown their native merits. But, O thou son of Cronus and Rhea, that rulest over thine abode on Olympus, and over the foremost of festivals, and over the ford of the Alpheüs! soothed by our lays, do thou graciously preserve their ancestral soil their future race. Even Time, the father of all, could not undo the accomplished end of things that
have been finally completed, whether in right or in wrong; but, if fortune be favourable, that end may be forgotten. For, under the power of noble joys, a cruel trouble is quelled and dieth away, whenever good fortune is lifted on high by a god-sent fate. This saying befitteth the fair-throned daughters of Cadmus, who sorely suffered, but their heavy sorrow was abated by the presence of greater blessings. Semelé of the streaming hair liveth amid the gods Olympian, when she had been slain by the thunderbolt,—Semelé, beloved for ever by Pallas and, in very deed, by father Zeus; beloved by her ivy-crowned son; while Ino, as the story telleth, hath allotted to her for all time a deathless life beneath the sea, amid the ocean-daughters of Néreus. Verily, for mortal men at least, the time when their life will end in the bourne of death is not clearly marked; no, nor the time when we shall bring a calm day, the Sun’s own child, to its close amid happiness that is unimpaired. But diverse are the currents that at divers times come upon men, either with joys or with toils. Even thus Fate, which handeth a kindly fortune down from sire to son, bringeth at another time some sad reverse, together with the heaven-sent bliss, from the day when that fated son met and slew Laius, and thus fulfilled the oracle spoken of old at Pytho. But the keen-eyed Fury saw
it, and caused his war-like sons to be slain by one another's hands. Yet Polyneicés, when laid low, left behind him a son, Thersander, who was honoured amid youthful contests and amid the conflicts of war, a scion destined to succour the house of the descendants of Adrastus; and it is fitting that the son of Aristodémus, who hath sprung from that seed, should meet with songs of praise and with notes of the lyre. For at Olympia, he himself won a prize, while, at Pytho and at the Isthmus, the impartial Graces brought unto his brother, who shared the same victorious lot, crowns that were won from the teams of four horses that twelve times traverse the course. Now, to win the victory when essaying contest, giveth us release from hardships. But, verily, wealth adorned with virtues bringeth the fitting chance of divers boons, prompting the heart of man to a keen and eager quest, wealth which is that star conspicuous, that truest light of man. But if, in very deed, when he hath that wealth, he knoweth of the future, that immediately after death, on earth, it is the lawless spirits that suffer punishment,—and the sins committed in this realm of Zeus are judged by One who passeth sentence stern and inevitable; while the good, having the
sun shining for evermore, for equal nights and equal days, receive the boon of a life of lightened toil, not vexing the soil with the strength of their hands, no, nor the water of the sea, to gain a scanty livelihood; but, in the presence of the honoured gods, all who were wont to rejoice in keeping their oaths, share a life that knoweth no tears, while the others endure labour that none can look upon. But, whosoever, while dwelling in either world, have thrice been courageous in keeping their souls pure from all deeds of wrong, pass by the highway of Zeus unto the tower of Cronus, where the ocean-breezes blow around the Islands of the Blest, and flowers of gold are blazing, some on the shore from radiant trees, while others the water fostereth ; and with chaplets thereof they entwine their hands, and with crowns, according to the righteous councils of Rhadamanthys, who shareth for evermore the judgement-seat of the mighty Father, even the Lord of Rhea with her throne exalted beyond
all beside. And among them are numbered Péleus and Cadmus, while Achilles was borne thither by his mother, when, by her prayers, she had entreated the heart of Zeus,—Achilles, who laid low Hector, that resistless, that unswerving tower of Troy, and who consigned to death Memnon, the son of Morning. Full many a swift arrow have I beneath mine arm, within my quiver, many an arrow that is vocal to the wise; but for the crowd they need interpreters. The true poet is he who knoweth much by gift of nature, but they that have only learnt the lore of song, and are turbulent and intemperate of tongue, like a pair of crows, chatter in vain against the god-like bird of Zeus. Now, bend thy bow toward the mark! tell me, my soul, whom are we essaying to hit, while we now shoot forth our shafts of fame from the quiver of a kindly heart? Lo! I would aim mine arrow at Acragas, and would loudly utter with true intent a saying sealed by a solemn oath, when I declare that, for these hundred years, no city hath given birth to a man more munificent in heart, more ungrudging in
hand, than Thérén. But praise is attacked by envy,— envy, not mated with justice, but prompted by besotted minds, envy that is ever eager to babble, and to blot the fair deeds of noble men; whereas sand can never be numbered, and who could ever count up all the joys that he hath given to others?
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