fell slain, his daughter fell to the conqueror. Six noble sons she bare him; and now he rests a deified hero, consecrating with his tomb the scene of his successful race. There to this day the noblest of Greece vie in friendly contests, and the victors enjoy for life all bliss that triumphs can bring.
And now a lay for Hiero! wisest and best of men that ever graced a poet's song. Long may he prosper, and earn yet loftier praises. The gifts of men differ—his is kingship, mine is poesy. I may not rival his bliss, but I am content with my own—to associate with victors, and excel all Greeks in song!
So the poem closes.
The Third Olympian Ode is addressed to Thero of Acragas, victor in the chariot-race. It was composed for performance at a feast in Acragas in honour of the great Twin-heroes to whom (as already mentioned) Heracles had bequeathed the superintendence of his games.
These accordingly, with their sister Helen, are invoked at starting, and then the poet passes to the occasion of his Ode—the recent victory at Olympia, which demands his choicest lay for the son of Ænesidamus. Well has Thero earned such praise; the fair award of the "Ætolian arbiter" (i. e., the Eleian[1] judge) has crowned him with the olive that Heracles brought of old from the distant north, the marvellous land of the Hyperboreans, the shady fountains of Ister (the Danube).
- ↑ The Eleians, who in Pindar's day regulated the contests, were regarded as immigrants from Ætolia.
