THE THIRD OLYMPIC ODE.
TO THE SAME THERON, ON OCCASION OF A VICTORY OBTAINED BY HIM IN THE CHARIOT RACE: THE DATE IS NOT RECORDED.
ARGUMENT.
This ode was addressed to the King of Agrigentum, to whom the victory was announced as he was celebrating the Theoxenia: (a festival in honour af all the gods, instituted by the inhabitants of Pallene, or, according to the mythological story, by Castor and Pollux.) Pindar therefore begins by invoking the aid and approbation of the Dioscuræ and their sister Helen—thence on the mention of the olive wreath he digresses to the fable of Hercules transplanting the wild olive tree from the Hyperborean regions to Olympia. He concludes by congratulating Theron, who had attained the highest point of human glory, and attributes his success to the favour of the twin deities, influenced by his piety and the regularity with which he celebrated the festival of the gods: the attempt to proceed farther would be as vain as the endeavour to sail beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the supposed boundary of the old world.
To please the hospitable pair [1]
From godlike Tyndarus who spring,
And Helen, nymph of lovely hair,
I would awake th' Olympic string,
And raise the lyric song, to crown 5
Bright Agrigentum with renown,
And Theron's glories sing,
Whose steeds' unwearied feet achieve the guerdon fair.
