THE FOURTH ISTHMIAN ODE.
TO THE SAME MELISSUS.
ARGUMENT.
This ode begins with the praises of Melissus' ancestors, and relates the melancholy consequences of a defeat sustained by his family; whose good fortune, however, again shone forth in this triumph gained by Melissus.—The panegyric of his ancestors and of himself is resumed, and continued with digression to the story of Ajax and Ulysses, Hercules and Antæus, &c.—Apotheosis of Hercules, and divine honours paid him by the yearly sacrifices of the Thebans.—The ode concludes with the praise of Melissus and his charioteer Orseas.
Bless'd by the gods, to me belong
A thousand avenues of song;
Thy triumphs in the Isthmian field,
Melissus, fair occasion yield
The hymn of victory to frame 5
That all thy virtues shall proclaim;
With which the god delights to grace
Through life Cleonymus' high race;
While by the ever-varying blast
Mankind are still at random cast. 10 10
For they at Thebes with honour crown'd,
From times of ancient date were said
To be the hosts of all around,
And free from strife's discordant sound,
By every deed to make their own 15
What tests of glory wide had flown
Among the living or the dead.
Brave in the valour of their race,
They touch'd at the remotest land,
Where the Herculean pillars stand: 20
Nor let ambition ask an ampler space. 22
