Pindar and Anacreon/Pindar/Olympic Odes/10
THE TENTH OLYMPIC ODE.
TO AGESIDAMUS, SON OF ARCHESTRATUS, THE EPIZEPHYRIAN, OR WESTERN LOCRIAN, ON HIS VICTORY WITH THE CÆSTUS GAINED IN THE SEVENTY-THIRD OLYMPIAD.
ARGUMENT.
This ode opens with an address to the muse and to Truth, whom he wishes to remind him of his long-forgotten promise to celebrate the son of Archestratus and the city of the Locrians; as well as his alipta Ilas, who encouraged him by the example of Hercules and Patroclus to persevere in the contest notwithstanding its unfavourable commencement.—Then follows a digression concerning the institution of the Olympic games by Hercules, with an enumeration of his conquests over the Molionidæ, and Augeas, king of Elis: the victors in these games are likewise recorded.—The poet then sings the praises of Jupiter, and concludes with complimenting Agesidamus on his prowess and personal beauty, comparing him in this respect to Ganymedes.
Inscribed upon the poet's mind
Archestratus' illustrious son,
Who late th' Olympic wreath has won,
Thou know'st, celestial muse, to find:
For dull oblivion swept away 5
All record of the promised lay.
And thou, oh Truth! fair child of Jove,
With thine unerring hand efface
The tale that speaks his foul disgrace,
Who slights a claim, and wrongs the stranger's love. 10
For when time's rapid course had flown,
I felt the glowing tinge of shame,
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 light and joy of fleeting life.
Daughters of heaven's eternal king,
Urged by your high command, I sing, 40
Ye Themites, the glorious strife,
Which Hercules at Pelops' ancient shrine
Ordain'd, when from unwilling Augeas' hand,
That he the promised guerdon might demand,
Neptune's proud sons he slew, who scorn'd his might divine. 45
Within Cleonæ's thickest wood
Alcides in dark ambush lay,
When blameless Cteatus pursued
With Eurytus his deadly way.
Thus was avenged his brave Tirynthian host, 50
By Molion's haughty race in pass of Elis lost. [4] 42
Ere long the fraudulent Epean king
Saw potent fire and the devouring blade
Destruction to his rich dominions bring,
Deep in the lowest gulf of misery laid. 55
'Tis hard a mightier foe's assault to quell.
Thus the devoted Augeas, seized at last
By vengeful fate, bereft of counsel, fell,
And death atoned for all his treachery past. 50
His whole array the warlike son of Jove 60
On Pisa's plain assembling with the spoil, [5]
Raised to his mighty father Altis' grove,
And fenced from tread profane the hallow'd soil.
Shrines to th' immortal twelve he placed,
Who the celestial banquet graced, 65
Ranking with these Alphéus' wave,
To Saturn's hill the name he gave.
(For erst, while old Œnomaus' hand
Possess'd the sceptre of the land,
Upon the nameless mountain's head 70
Their snows unnumber'd ages shed.)
On the first rites with aspect mild
The destinies assistant smiled;
And hoary Time, whose steady ray
Oft brings undoubted truth to day. 67 75
He in his onward course reveal'd
What time Alcides' conquering might
Bestow'd, to found Olympia's field,
The earliest offerings of the fight.
And on each fifth returning year 80
Bade victory's sons the chaplet wear.
Tell, muse, in that illustrious day
Who first the glorious prize obtain'd;
Who bore the wrestler's palm away;
Who the high meed of swiftness gain'd: 85
Or urged his chariot to the goal,
Curbing by deeds the pride of boastful rivals' soul. 75
First in the stadium's level course
Œonus, brave Licymnius' son,
Who brought from Midea's walls his force,90
The chaplet's glorious honours won:
And Echemus his Tegea's name
Raised in the wrestler's ring to fame.
Doryclus bade the manly cæstus crown
His lovely Tirynthian city with renown. 8295
And Semus' steeds unwearied in the race,
Mantinea with the hymn of triumph grace.
Phrastor with certain aim the javelin threw;
While from Eniceus' hand the discus flew,
And as the circling orb ascended high100
Above the rest, what clamours rent the sky!
The full-orb'd moon, with her nocturnal ray
Shed o'er the scene a lovely flood of day. 91
And all the grove with festal chorus rang,
Oft as the crowd the victor's praises sang.105
Now shall the muse prepare her loftiest verse,
Obedient to the rites of ancient days,
The lurid bolts and shafts of light rehearse,
And sing the mighty Thunderer's deathless praise.
Symphonious with the song shall wake the reed,
By Dirce's sacred fount—a tardy note indeed! 111
Grateful as comes th' expected heir
To bless his age—enfeebled sire,
The source of sweetly anxious care,
And object of his fond desire.115
Since wealth, if foreign hands must seize the hoard,
Is view'd with hatred by its dying lord.
E'en thus, arrived at Pluto's dark domain,
The hero, nameless in the poet's lay,
By glorious acts and aspirations vain120
Will not have soothed life's brief and anxious day.
The dulcet flute and lyre's accordant string
Thy happier deeds, Agesidamus, sing,
While the Pierian maids, Jove's tuneful race,
On thy fair deeds bestow illustrious grace! 116125
And I, the muses' faithful friend,
With ardent zeal my efforts bend
To hymn the mighty Locrians' name:
Shedding o'er their well-peopled town
The honey'd dews of fair renown,130
Archestratus' loved stripling I proclaim.
Victorious near th' Olympic shrine,
With strength of arm I saw him shine
In bloom of youth and beauty's flower,
Incipient manhood's golden hour,135
Which with the Cyprian queen of love
Disgraceful fate from Ganymedes drove. 125
- ↑ 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 scholiast says: αἱ Θεμιτες, ηγουν αἱ νομοθεσιαι του Διος, αἱ κατα νομους συνηθειαι.
- ↑ This story is related at great length to Patroclus by old Nestor, (Il., xi. 670, et seq.,) whose unseasonable garrulity on the occasion is justly reprehended by Pope.
- ↑ An early instance of the consecration of a tenth part of the spoils taken in battle to the service of the gods is given by Xenophon, (Anab., v., 3.;) και την δεκατην, ἡν τῳ Απολλωνι εξειλον και τῃ Εφεσιᾳ Αρτεμιδι, διελαβον οἱ στρατηγοι, το μερος εκαστας, φυλαττειν τοις θεοις· at the end of the chapter the planting of a large grove around the temple of Jupiter is mentioned. Thus Ovid, addressing Bacchus, says, (Fast. iii., 729)—
"Te memorant, Gange, totoque Oriente subacto,
Primitias magno seposuisse Jovi."And Callimachus, addressing Apollo, (in Del. 278)—
Αλλα τοι αμφιετεις δεκατηφοροι αιεν απαρχαι
Πεμπονται.On which passage see the learned dissertation of Spanheim, who mentions the same custom to have prevailed among the Jews, who were wont to convey to their holy metropolis the first fruits and tenths of the produce of the soil fort he maintenance of the temple and its service. Spencer (de Legg. Heb. 1161. &c.) shows at great length that many of the rites observed in bringing the first fruits to Jerusalem were borrowed from heathen nations.