If the poet’s tongue might breathe the prayer that is on the lips of all, I would pray that Cheiron, son of Philyra, who is dead and gone, were now alive again,—he who once ruled far and wide as the offspring of Cronus, who was the son of Heaven. Would that that rugged monster with spirit kindly unto men, were reigning still in Pélion’s glens, even such as when, in olden days, he reared Asclépius, that gentle craftsman who drove pain from the limbs that he healed,—that hero who gave aid in all manner of maladies. Or ever the daughter of Phlegyas could bear him, in the fulness of time, with the aid of Eleithuia, the goddess of child-birth, she was stricken in her chamber by the golden arrows of Artemis, and thus descended to the home of Hades by the counsels of Apollo. Not in vain is the wrath of the sons of Zeus. For she, in the errors of her heart, had lightly regarded that wrath; and, although she had aforetime consorted with Phoebus of the unshorn hair,
and bare within her the pure seed of the god, yet without her father’s knowledge she consented to be wedded to another. She waited not for the coming of the marriage feast, nor for the music of the full-voiced hymenaeal chorus, even the playful strains that maiden-mates love to utter in evening songs. No! she was enamoured of an absent love,—that passion, which many, ere now, have felt. For, among men, there is a foolish company of those, who, putting shame on their home, cast their glances afar, and pursue idle dreams in hopes that shall not be fulfilled. Such was the strong infatuation that the spirit of the fair-robed Corénis had caught. For she slept in the couch of a stranger who came from Arcadia; but she escaped not the ken of the watchful god; for, although he was then at the sacrificial shrine of Pytho, yet Loxias, the king of the temple, perceived it in his mind that knoweth all things, with his thought convinced by an unerring prompter. He never deceiveth others; and he is not himself deceived by god or man, in deed or counsel. Even so, at that time, he knew of her consorting with the stranger, Ischys, son of Elatus, and of her lawless deceit. Thereupon did he send his sister, Artemis, speeding with resistless might, even to Lacereia, for the unwedded girl was dwelling by the banks of the Boebian lake; and a hateful doom perverted her
heart and laid her low, and many of her neighbours suffered for the same, and perished with her; even as, on a mountain, the fire that hath been sped by a single spark layeth low a mighty forest. But, when the kinsmen had placed the girl in the midst of the wooden walls of the pyre, and the wild flame of the fire-god was playing around it, then spake Apollo :—“No longer can I endure in my heart to slay my own child by a death most piteous, at the self-same time as its mother’s grievous doom.” He stepped forward but once, and anon he found his child, and snatched it from the corse, while the kindled fire opened for him a path of light; and he bare the babe away, and gave it to the Magnesian Centaur to teach it how to heal mortal men of painful maladies. And those whosoever came suffering from the sores of nature, or with their limbs wounded either by gray bronze or by far-hurled stone, or with bodies wasting away with summer's heat or winter's cold, he loosed and delivered divers of them from diverse pains, tending some of them with kindly incantations, giving to others a soothing potion, or, haply, swathing their limbs with simples, or restoring others by the knife. But, alas! even the lore of leech-craft is
enthralled by the love of gain; even he was seduced, by a splendid fee of gold displayed upon his palm, to bring back from death one who was already its lawful prey. Therefore the son of Cronus with his hands hurled his shaft through both of them, and swiftly reft the breath from out their breasts, for they were stricken with sudden doom by the gleaming thunderbolt. We must seek from the gods for such boons as best befit a mortal mind, knowing what lieth before our feet, and knowing of what estate we are. Seek not, my soul, the life of the immortals; but enjoy to the full the resources that are within thy reach. But, if only the sage Cheiron had still been dwelling in his cave, and if only our honey-sweet songs had cast a spell upon his soul, surely I had persuaded him to send some one to heal noble men from their fits of fever, some one called the son of Asclépius or of Apollo. Thus had I gone on shipboard, cleaving the Ionian main, on my voyage to the fount of Arethusa and to the presence of my friend, the lord of Aetna, who ruleth at Syracuse as a king who is gentle to his citizens, bearing no grudge against them that are noble, while he is adored as a father by his friends from afar. And, had I reached his shores with a double boon, bringing with me golden health, as well as the triumph-song that lendeth new lustre to those crowns from the Pythian contests, which Pherenicus won in former years at Cirrha, I aver that, on crossing the deep sea, I had landed as a light which, in his eyes, would have shone afar more brightly than the orb of heaven itself. Yet, even
so, “tis my wish to offer a vow to the Mother-goddess, that adorable queen, whose praises, with those of Pan, are oft sung of maidens in the night beside my portal. But since thou, Hieron, art skilled to learn the true lesson that is taught by the sayings of former time, the immortals, as thou knowest, apportion to man two trials for every boon they grant ; and these trials foolish men cannot bear with a good grace, but the noble can, by ever turning the fairer side to the front. Yet thou art attended by a happy lot, for lo! the lord of his people, if any man, is viewed with favour by Fortune. But a life free from reverses was the fate neither of Péleus, son of Aeacus, nor of godlike Cadmus: Yet we learn that they attained the highest happiness of all mortal men, in that they heard the Muses of the golden snood singing on mount Pélion, and in seven-gated Thebes, what time Cadmus took to wife Harmonia, with those full-orbed eyes; and when Péleus wedded Thetis, the famous daughter of wise Néreus. And the gods banqueted with them, and they saw the royal sons of Cronus seated on their golden thrones, and received marriage-gifts from them; and, by the favour of Zeus, they escaped from their former troubles, and lifted up their hearts again in gladness. And yet, in time, Cadmus was reft of his portion of bliss by the bitter woes of three of his daughters, although Father Zeus visited the bridal couch of
their sister, the white-armed Semelé. Aye, and the son of Péleus, the only son whom immortal Thetis bare in Phthia, reft of his life by the bow in battle, awakened the mourning of the Danai, while his body was burning on the pyre. But, if any mortal hath in mind the course things take in very truth, right it is for one, who hath received favour from the blessed ones, to enjoy his lot. Yet changeful are the breezes of the winds that blow on high. The bliss of man doth not proceed unimpaired for long, whene’er it followeth them in its full weight and measure. Small shall I be, when small is my estate, and great, when it is great. The fortune that, ever and anon, attendeth me, I shall heartily honour, and shall do it service with all my might. But, if God were to give me the gladness of wealth, I hope, in future days, to find high fame. We know of Nestor, and of Lycian Sarpédén, whose names are on the lips of men, thanks to those lays of sounding song, such as wise builders framed for them. Virtue gaineth a long life by means of glorious strains; but they that find it easy to win those strains, are few.
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