Even as when one taketh up in his wealthy hand a golden bowl, the prime of his possessions, a bowl that foameth with the dew of the vine, and giveth it to the youth, whom, when betrothed unto his daughter, with a friendly draught he welcometh from one home to another, for the sake of them that sit at meat with him, and in honour of his new alliance ; and thereby, in the presence of his friends, maketh him envied for this union of true love. Even so, while I am sending to the men who win the prize my liquid nectar, the Muses’ gift, the sweet fruit of my fancy, I pay homage to them, as victors at Olympia and at Pytho. Blessed is he who is ever encompassed by good report; but the Grace that giveth life its bloom looketh with favour, now on one, now on another, not only with the sweetly-sounding lyre, but also amid the varied notes of the flute. ; And now, to the music of flute and lyre alike, have I come to land, while singing of the daughter of the sea, the child of Aphrodité, the bride of the Sun, even Rhodes, that so I may honour [. . .]
in fight and his skill in boxing, that giant form which won the crown beside the Alpheüs and the stream of Castalia, and also his father Damagétus, in that he was well-pleasing unto Justice, while both of them are dwelling amid Argive spearmen in the isle of cities three, near the foreland of Asia. Full fain shall I be to proclaim my message, and duly to tell my tale that toucheth all the common stock descended of old from Tlépolemus, even the widely powerful race of Heracles. For, on the father’s side, they boast descent from Zeus, while, on the mother's, they are sprung from Amyntor, through Astydameia, his daughter. But countless are the snares that hang around the minds of men, and there is no means of finding what is best for a man to light on, not only now, but also in the end. For, on a day in Tiryns, Tlépolemus, the founder of this land, struck with his staff of hard-grained olive-wood Licymnius, the bastard brother of Aleméné, on his coming forth from the chamber of (his mother) Midea. Tumult of mind hath ere now caused even the wise man to go astray. Therefore Tlépolemus went to the god of Delphi and asked of the oracle. Then the Lord of the golden hair spake from the fragrant shrine of his temple, and bade him sail with his ships, straight from the shore of Lerna to the sea-washed pasture-land, where, in olden time, the great
King of the gods shed on a city a snow-shower of gold, what time, by the cunning craft of Hephaestus, at the stroke of the brazen hatchet, Athéné leapt forth from the crest of her father’s head, and cried aloud with a mighty shout, while Heaven and Mother Earth trembled before her. Then it was that the god that bringeth light unto men, even Hyperion, enjoined his dear children to give heed to the rite that was soon to be due, how that they should be the first to build: for the goddess an altar in sight of all men, and, by founding a holy sacrifice, gladden the heart of the Father, and of the Daughter with the sounding spear. Now it is Reverence, daughter of Forethought, that implanteth in men high merit and its attendant joys. Howbeit, a strange cloud of forgetfulness draweth near them in baffling wise, and causeth the path of duty to vanish from the mind. For, when they climbed to the height, the seed of blazing fire had been forgotten; and thus it was with fireless sacrifices that, on the citadel, they laid out the sacred precinct. He caused a yellow cloud to draw nigh to them and rained on them abundant gold, while the grey-eyed goddess herself bestowed upon them every art, so that they surpassed all mortal men by their deftness of hand, and along the roads rose works of art like unto beings that lived
and moved; and great was their fame. Yet, to the wise man, even surpassing art is no magic power. But the tale is told in ancient story that, when Zeus and the immortals were dividing the earth among them, the isle of Rhodes was not yet to be seen in the open main, but was hidden in the briny depths of the sea; and that, as the Sun-god was absent, no one put forth a lot on his behalf, and so they left him without any allotment of land, though the god himself was pure from blame. But when that god made mention of it, Zeus was about to order a new casting of the lot, but the Sun-god would not suffer it. For, as he said, he could see a plot of land rising from the bottom of the foaming main, a plot that was destined to prove rich in substance for men, and kindly for pasture; and he urged that Lachesis of the golden snood should forthwith lift up her hands and take, not in vain, the great oath of the gods, but consent with the Son of Cronus, that that island, when it had risen forth into the light of day, should for ever after be a boon granted to himself alone. And all these several words were fulfilled and fell out truly. From the waters of the sea arose an island, which is held by the Father of the piercing
beams of light, the ruler of the steeds whose breath is fire. There it was that the Sun-god was wedded of old with the nymph of the isle, and begat seven sons, who inherited from him minds wiser than any among the heroes of olden days ; and, of these, one begat Cameirus, and Ialysus, the eldest born, and Lindus ; and, with the land of their sire divided into three shares, they had their several cities apart from one another, and their dwelling-places were called after their own names. There it is that, in sweet requital for that sad mischance, there is still established for Tlépolemus, the chief of the Tirynthians, even as for a god, a reeking sacrifice of flocks that pass in procession, and a contest of the games. With flowers from that contest, twice hath Diagoras crowned himself, and at the famous Isthmus four times, in his good fortune ; and, again and again, at Nemea and at rocky Athens; while he is not unknown to the shield of bronze in Argos, and the works of art given as prizes in Arcadia and at Thebes, and to the duly ordered contests amid the Boeotians, and to Pellana, and to Aegina, where he was six times victor, while in Megata the reckoning on the tablet of stone telleth no other tale. But do thou, O father Zeus, that rulest over the height of Atabyrium, grant honour to the hymn ordained in praise of an Olympian victor, and to the
hero who hath found fame for his prowess as a boxer; and do thou give him grace and reverence in the eyes of citizens and of strangers too. For he goeth in a straight course along a path that hateth insolence ; he hath learnt full well all the lessons prompted by the prudence which he inheriteth from goodly ancestors. Suffer not the common glory of the seed of Callianax to be buried in obscurity. Whenever the Eratidae are victorious, the city also holdeth festivities; but, in one single space of apportioned time, the breezes swiftly change from day to day.
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