Where, as ordain'd by heaven's eternal king, 60
Whose power directs the lightning's varied wing,
Descending from Parnassus' lofty height,
Pyrrha and her Deucalion sought the plain,
Rear'd the first dome, and call'd that race to light,
Whose stony birth they bade the name retain. [1] 65
Then wake for them the tuneful string—
Though wine improved by mellowing age
The palate's suffrage more engage,
Yet choose a newer lay the victors praise to sing.
In tales of ancient lore 'tis said 70
O'er earth the whelming waters spread
Urged all their congregated force.
But Jove's high will his headlong course
Bade the usurping foe restrain,
And sink absorb'd the refluent main. 75
From them your sires, the warlike race
Of old Iapetus, descend;
Whose glorious deeds the brightest grace
- ↑ Λαος, a people, from λαας, a stone. So Ovid, speaking of Deucalion's Deluge, (Met. i. 411,) says:—
"Superorum munere, saxa
Missa viri manibus faciem traxere virilem;
Et de fœmineo reparata est fœmina jactu.
Inde genus durum sumus, experiensque laborum,
Et documenta damus, qua simus origine nati."Pindar, by deducing the origin of the Locrians from a daughter or daughters of Jupiter, gives another proof of his anxiety to assign to the cities in honour of whose townsmen his odes are composed, as ancient and illustrious a source as history or mythology will permit. It would be a futile attempt to supply the defective links in the genealogical chain between Deucalion and Locrus, from whom the people derive their appellation; but this perplexity involves the origin of many ancient nations, who have recourse to mythological fiction for that which the integrity of truth will not supply.
