Happy is Lacedaemon ; blessed is Thessaly; and both of them are under the royal sway of a race descended from Heracles, prince of warriors. Why this untimely boast? Nay, but I am summoned by Pytho and Pelinna and the sons of Aleuas, who desire to bring to Hippocleas the ringing voices of a triumphant band of men. For he is making trial of contests, and the gorge of Parnassus hath proclaimed him to the host of them that dwell around as are: most of the boys in the double course. Sweet, O Apollo, becometh the end and the beginning of man’s work, when it is sped of Heaven; and, haply, it was even by thy counsels that he hath attained this prize. And his inborn valour hath trodden in the foot-prints of his father, who was twice victor at Olympia in the armour of Arés that bears the brunt of war; and the contest in the deep meadow stretching beneath the rock of Cirrha made
Phricias! victorious in the race. Even in the days to come may good fortune attend them, so that their noble wealth may flourish; may they win no small share of the pleasant things of Hellas, and suffer no envious reversal at the hands of the gods. He that is free from pain of heart may well be divine ; but by poets wise that man is held happy, and is a theme for their song, whosoever, by being victorious with his hands or with the prowess of his feet, gaineth the greatest prizes by courage or by strength, and who, while still living, seeth his youthful son win more than one Pythian crown. The brazen heaven he cannot climb ; but, as for all the bright achievements which we mortals attain, he reacheth the utmost limit of that voyage. Neither by ships nor by land canst thou find the wondrous road to the trysting-place of the Hyperboreans. Yet among them, in olden days, Perseus, the leader of the people, shared the banquet on entering their homes and finding them sacrificing famous hecatombs of asses in honour of the god. In the banquets and praises of that people- Apollo chiefly rejoiceth, and he laugheth as he looketh on the brute beasts in their rampant lewdness.
Yet, such are their ways that the Muse is not banished, but, on every side, the dances of maidens and the sounds of the lyre and the notes of the flute are ever circling; and, with their hair crowned with golden bay-leaves, they hold glad revelry; and neither sickness nor baneful eld mingleth among that chosen people ; but, aloof from toil and conflict, they dwell afar from the wrath of Nemesis. To that host of happy men, went of old the son of Danaé, breathing boldness of spirit, with Athéna for his guide. And he slew the Gorgon, and came back with her head that glittered with serpent-locks, to slay the islanders by turning them into stone. But, as for me, in the handiwork of the gods, nothing ever seemeth too incredible for wonder. Now, stay thine oar, and swiftly let the anchor slip from the prow to grapple with the ground, and guard thy ship against the rocky reef. For the blossom of these hymns of praise flitteth, like a bee, from theme to theme. But I trust that, while the Ephyreans pour forth my sweet strain beside the Péneius, I may, with my strains of minstrelsy, cause Hippocleas to be admired still more’ among his fellows and his elders, and to be looked upon with a sweet care by the young maidens; for the heart is thrilled with
love for objects varied as men are varied ; but whatever each man striveth for, if he win it, he must hold it as his near and dear delight; but that which is a year hence hath no sure sign for our foreseeing. I trust in the kindly hospitality of Thorax who, busying himself for my sake, hath yoked this my four-horsed chariot of the Muses, loving one who loveth him in return, and readily offering hand to hand. But, even as gold showeth its nature, when tried by the touchstone, so is it with an upright mind. We shall further praise his noble brethren, in that they increase and exalt the State of Thessaly ; and it is in the hands of high-born men that there resteth the good piloting of cities, while they pass from sire to son.
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