THE TENTH PYTHIAN ODE.
TO HIPPOCLEAS, THE THESSALIAN, ON HIS VICTORY IN THE RACE OF TWO STADIA, GAINED IN THE TWENTY-SECOND PYTHIAD.
ARGUMENT.
The poet, tracing the victor's lineage to Aristomachus, the descendant of Hercules, attributes his conquest to the favour of Apollo, and the example of his father Phricias.—Expresses his wishes for the perpetuity of the good fortune which both father and son have acquired, and which is so great that no mortal can surpass it; as the traveller who has arrived at the Hyperborean regions can proceed no farther.—This leads him to a digression on the mythology of the Hyperboreans.—Pindar then checks himself, and concludes with renewed commendation of the victor, and his kinsmen and brothers, Thorax, &c., whose glorious deeds ennoble their native Thessaly.
Bless'd Lacedæmon! Thessaly the bless'd!
Whose sceptred kings their potent race
To the same valiant Hercules can trace,
Why should my ardent spirit raise
Strains of unseasonable praise? 5
But me prophetic Pytho's wall,
Aleva's sons and Pelinæum call; [1]
Wishing Hippocleas to grace
With strains of high renown by tuneful bards express'd. 10
