The mighty city of Athens is the fairest prelude of song, which the widely powerful race of the Alcmaeonidae can lay as a foundation of odes in honour of their steeds. What fatherland, what family, in which thou dwellest, shalt thou name as more illustrious of report in Greece? For all the cities are haunted by the story of those citizens of Erechtheus, who in divine Pytho made thy temple, O Apollo, a marvel to behold. I am also prompted to song by five victories, one at the Isthmus, and one famous victory at the Olympian festival of Zeus, and two from Cirrha, won by yourselves, Megaclés, and by your ancestors. At this new good fortune I have no little joy; but it is very grievous that noble acts are requited by envy. Yet they say that prosperity which abideth in bloom bringeth evil as well as good in its train.
Kindly Goddess of Peace, daughter of Justice, that makest cities great; thou that holdest the master-keys of councils and of wars, receive from Aristomenes the honour due for a Pythian victory ; for thou knowest with perfect fitness the secret of gentleness, both in giving, and in taking. And yet, whenever any man hurleth into his heart relentless wrath, rudely confronting the strength of thine enemies, thou plungest Insolence in the brine. Thy power Porphyrion did not know, when he provoked thee beyond all measure, yet gain is best, whenever one getteth it from the home of a willing giver. But violence overthroweth the braggart at the last. The Cilician Typhéeus with his hundred heads did not escape thy power ; no, nor the king of the Giants. They were severally overcome by the thunderbolt of Zeus, and by the bow of Apollo, who with gracious mind welcomed the son of Xenarcés on his return from Cirrha, crowned with Parnassian verdure and with Dorian triumph-song. Right near to the Graces hath fallen that isle
where Justice reigneth; it knoweth the famous merits of the sons of Aeacus, and hath perfect glory from the beginning. It is famed in song for having fostered heroes supreme in many a victorious contest and in swift battles; and, again, it is also conspicuous for its men; but time would fail me to consign to the lyre and the gentle voice of song all the long story of their fame, lest haply envy should draw near and vex us; but let that, which runneth before my feet, go forward, even the debt that is due, my son, unto thee, the latest of its glories, sped with wings of my skill. For, in the contests of the ring, thou followest hard on the track of thy mother’s brothers, and bringest no dishonour on Theognétus, as victor at Olympia, or on the conquest won by the sturdy limbs of Cleitomachus at the Isthmus; and, by exalting the clan of the Midylidae, thou earnest the praise darkly prophesied of old by the son of Oiclés when he saw those sons holding their ground in battle before seven-gated Thebes, what time the Epigoni came from Argos on that second march. Thus spoke he, while they were fighting :— “Tis by the gift of Nature that there standeth forth to view that noble spirit, which passeth from sires to sons. I clearly see Alcmaeon, the first to mount
upon the walls of Cadmus, wielding a glittering dragon on his shining shield, while he that aforetime suffered from disaster, even the hero Adrastus, is now compassed by tidings of a happier omen; but, as for his own household, he shall fare far otherwise. For he alone of the host of the Danai shall gather the bones of his slain son, and by the destiny sent by the gods, shall, with his folk unscathed, safely return to the spacious streets of. Abas.”” Thus spake Amphiaraüs; and I too gladly fling my garlands over Alcmaeon, and besprinkle him with song, because he is my neighbour, and proffered himself as guardian of my goods, when I was going to the storied centre of the world, and himself had a share in his ancestor's arts of prophecy.® But thou, far-darting god, that rulest over the famous temple that welcometh all in the dells of Pytho, there hast thou granted the greatest of joys; and, even aforetime, at home, with thine own and thy sister's festival, thou didst bring him a welcome boon in the prize for the five contests. I pray, O king, that, with willing mind, I may keep due measure in view in every step of my path of song.
The sweet-voiced triumph-band hath Justice standing beside it; but I pray that the gods may regard with no envy the fortunes of thy home, Xenarcés. For, if anyone hath a glorious victory with no long toil, to many he seemeth to be wise among fools, and to be arming his life by powers of good counsel; yet victory doth not depend on men alone; but he that giveth is God, who, at one while, exalteth on high, and, at another, bringeth one below the level of his hands. In Megara, thou already hast a prize, and in the lonely plain of Marathon, and in Héra’s games at thine own home, hast thou, Aristomenés, been verily victor in three conflicts ; and thou didst, with fell intent, fall heavily on the bodies of four youths, for whom fate had not ordained, at the Pythian festival, any gladsome homecoming, as for thee. Nor, indeed, as they returned to their mothers, did pleasant laughter awaken delight ; but they slunk along the bye-ways, aloof from their foes, sorely wounded by their mischance. But he that hath won a fresh victory in his green youth, by reason of his high hopes, flieth lightly on the wings of his manly exploits, with his thought superior to the pursuit of wealth.
Short is the space of time in which the happiness of mortal men groweth up, and even so, doth it fall to the ground, when stricken down by adverse doom. Creatures of a day, what is any one? what is he not? Man is but a dream of a shadow ; but, when a gleam of sunshine cometh as a gift of heaven, a radiant light resteth on men, aye and a gentle life. O mother dear, Aegina, do thou waft this city onward in her voyage of freedom with the blessing of Zeus and of king Aeacus, and of Péleus and good Telamon and Achilles.
Cite This Text