To think how large the debt became.
But ample interest now shall close
The sharp reproach of envious foes, 15
And all the guilty past atone.
Now whelm'd beneath the flowing tide, [1]
Where is the pebble seen to glide?
And to confound the slanderous tongue,
How shall the friendly strain be sung? 16 20
For Truth her Locrians' favour'd land, [2]
Refresh'd by Zephyr's breath, defends:
Calliope her guardian hand
O'er them with brazen Mars extends.
E'en Hercules' superior might 25
Fainted in the Cycnean fight.
And as Patroclus, safe from harm,
Bowed grateful to Achilles' arm,
So should Agesidamus pay
His thanks to Ilas in the fray. 30
Who gave him on Olympia's plain
The wrestler's chaplet to obtain.
For by the favouring god inspired,
To glorious deeds the breast is fired,
Where emulation points the way. 25 35
But few to eminence can rise, [3]
And without labour seize the prize,
- ↑ The metaphor in the original is similar to that in Joshua, v., 9: "I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt." I understand the words of Pindar interrogatively with the Oxford editors, although against the opinion of Heyne.
- ↑ One of the scholiasts, instead of Ατρεκεια, here reads ἁ τραχεια πολις, as if the poet was alluding to the rocky situation of the town; but the common reading appears far preferable.
- ↑ This passage is rather obscure, and the construction not very clear. From the words as they stand, I have endeavoured to elicit the most obvious and natural meaning. By the Themites, daughters of Jupiter, the poet probably means nothing more than the righteous eye of the heavenly king, surveying with especial interest his own Olympic contests. The younger
