Pindar and Anacreon/Pindar/Olympic Odes/7

by Pindar

Layout 2

 

THE SEVENTH OLYMPIC ODE.

TO DIAGORAS, THE RHODIAN, ON HIS VICTORY WITH THE CÆSTUS, GAINED IN THE SEVENTY-NINTH OLYMPIAD.

ARGUMENT.

Pindar begins this beautiful ode (which, as the younger scholiast informs us, was said to have been written in letters of gold, and suspended in the temple of Minerva) with a highly poetical simile drawn from domestic life, which introduces the praise of the Rhodian victor and his race.—He then proceeds to the story of Tlepolemus, an ancestor of Diagoras, who, after having murdered Licymnius, departed for Rhodes by the command of Apollo; the shower of gold which Jupiter caused to descend there.—Then follow the fables respecting the origin of Rhodes, the birth of Pallas, her most ancient sacrifices instituted without the aid of fire, and the gifts imparted by her to the favoured Rhodians, especially their skill in statuary.—Then follows a digression explaining the reason for consecrating the island to the sun—(Hyperionides;) his intrigue with the nymph Rhodos, from which sprang seven sons, one of whom gave birth to Camirus, Lindus, and Ialysus, who built the three cities of the island of Rhodes, which were named after them.

The poet then proceeds to panegyrize Tlepolemus and Diagoras, enumerating the several victories of the latter.

The ode concludes with an invocation to Jupiter, to whom divine honours were paid on Atabyrius, a mountain of Rhodes, propitiating his continued favour both for the poet and the victor, and a moral reflection on the mutability of human fortune.

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As when a sire the golden bowl
All foaming with the dew of wine,
Takes with a liberal hand and soul,
Chief gem where all his treasures shine—
Then tends the beverage (hallow'd first 5
By prayers to all the powers above)
To slake the youthful bridegroom's thirst,
In honour of connubial love.
The social pledge he bears on high,
And homeward as his course he bends, 10
Blesses the fond connubial tie,
Admired by all his circling friends. 11

E'en thus I bring the nectar'd strain,
The muses' gift, to those who gain
The Pythian and Olympic crown; 15
Thrice bless'd, to whom 'tis giv'n to share
The arduous fruit of mental care,
Cheer'd by the voice of high renown!
Full many a victor in the fray
My life-inspiring strains survey— 20
Which bids the sweet-toned, lyre its music raise,
And wake the sounding flutes through all their notes of praise. 22

And now, Diagoras, to thee
They breathe united melody.
When Rhodes the warlike isle is sung, 25
Apollo's bride from Venus sprung;
He too, the hero brave and bold,
With hardy frame of giant mould,
Who by Alphéus' sacred tide,
And where Castalia's waters glide, 30
First in the cæstus' manly fray
Bore the triumphant prize away.
Let Damagetus next, his sire,
To justice dear, the strain inspire.
Fix'd on that isle which three fair cities grace, 35
Where Embolus protects wide Asia's coast, ^[1]
They dwell united with the Argive host. 35

 

Now to Tlepolemus my song would trace ^[2]
As its first source Alcides' potent race.
From Jove their sire's high lineage springs; 40
While to Astydameia's line
Amyntor, born of race divine,
An equal lustre brings. 42

But ah! what crimes round erring mortals wait,
Unnumber'd torments in their happiest state— 45
Who, ere the checker'd scene of life be past,
Can tell if weal or wo shall mark his lot at last? 48

Since the high founder of the Rhodian state,
Impell'd by fierce ungovernable hate,
Laid with his olive sceptre's deadly blow 50
On earth Alcmena's bastard brother low.
Licymnius, whom his hand to Pluto sent,
From Midea's chamber as his steps he bent.
'Tis thus the maddening tumults of the mind
Have oft seduced the wisest of mankind. 56 55

He sought the god who could unfold
The purpose of the will divine,
When thus the power with locks of gold
Spoke from his perfume-breathing shrine:
"Go, launch your fleet from Lerne's strand, 60
To gain the sea-encircled land,
Where the great monarch of the skies
Sent from his golden clouds a shower
With flames commission'd to devour
Th' accepted sacrifice. 65
What time by aid of Vulcan's art
And brazen axe, Minerva sprang
From Jove's head with impetuous start,
With long-continued warlike clang:
While heaven's high dome and mother earth 70
Shuddering beheld the wondrous birth. 70

Then too the god whose splendour bright
Glads mortals with his radiant light,
Bade his loved sons the high behest obey.
Them first he urged to rear the splendid shrine, 75
And to the goddess every rite divine
With prompt submissive reverence pay.
This their immortal sire with joy would cheer,
And please the maid who wields her sounding spear.

Yet oft oblivion's shadowy veil 80
O'erclouds the well-intending mind;
Then wise Prometheus' counsels fail,
And reason's path is left behind.
So they, obedient to their heavenly sire,
Bade in th' acropolis an altar rise, 85
But carried to the shrine no spark of fire
To waft from earth the pious sacrifice.
On them the supplicated power
Rain'd from his yellow cloud a golden shower. ^[3]

 

Meanwhile the maid with azure eye 90
Her favour'd Rhodians deign'd to grace
Above all else of mortal race,
With arts of manual industry.
Hence framed by the laborious hand,
The animated figures stand, 95
Adorning every public street,
And seem to breathe in stone, or move their marble feet. ^[4] 98

Wisdom true glory can impart
Without the aid of magic art.
As ancient fame reports, when Jove 100
And all th' immortal powers above
Held upon earth divided sway;
Not yet had Rhodes in glittering pride
On Ocean's breast appeared to ride,
But hid beneath his briny caverns lay. 105 105

Then while the absent god of light
Delay'd to claim his equal share,
No friendly voice maintain'd his right
Of all the bless'd assembly there.
Jove, to repair the wrong, in vain 110
Wish'd to adjudge the lots again.
Since in his course the sun had found
Retired within the hoary deep
A fertile land with heroes crown'd,
Prolific nurse of fleecy sheep. 116 115

Then straight he gave the high command
To Lachesis,^[5] whose locks of jet
Are gather'd in a golden net,
To fix with her extended hand
The oath that binds the powers above, 120
And stamp with fate the nod of Jove,
Which the bright isle emerging from the wave,
To Phœbus and his latest offspring gave. 124

Hence o'er the land extends his sway
Who darts the piercing beams of day; 125
The charioteer whose guiding rein
Wide over the celestial plain
His fire-exhaling steeds obey. 130

With Rhodos there in amorous embrace
Conjoin'd, the god begat a valiant race; 130
Seven noble sons,^[6] with wisdom's gifts endow'd
By their great sire above the vulgar crowd.
Cameirus from this root with Lindus came,
And Ialysus, venerable name:
Three chiefs who over the divided land 135
In equal portions held supreme command.
Apart they reign'd, and bade each city bear
The monarch's name who sway'd the sceptre there.

In that bless'd isle secure at last
'Twas thine, Tlepolemus, to meet 140
For each afflictive trial past
A recompense and respite sweet.
Chief of Tirynthian hosts, to thee
As to a present deity,
The fumes of slaughter'd sheep arise 145
In all the pomp of sacrifice:
Awarded by thy just decree
The victor gains his verdant prize.
That crown whose double honours glow,
Diagoras, around thy brow: 150
On which four times the Isthmian pine,
And twice the Nemean olive shine:
While Athens on her rocky throne
Made her illustrious wreath his own. ^[7] 151

Trophies of many a well-fought field 155
He won in glory's sacred cause,
The Theban tripod, brazen shield
At Argos, and Arcadia's vase.
Her palms Bœotia's genuine contests yield;
Six times Ægina's prize he gain'd, 160
As oft Pellene's robe obtain'd,
And graved in characters of fame,
Thy column, Megara, records his name. 159

Great sire of all, immortal Jove,
On Atabyrius' mount enshrined, ^[8] 165
Oh! still may thy propitious mind
Th' encomiastic hymn approve,
Which celebrates in lawful strain
The victor on Olympia's plain,
Whose valorous arm the cæstus knows to wield.

Protected by thy constant care, 171
In citizens' and strangers' eyes
Still more exalted shall he rise
Whose virtuous deeds thy favour share:
Since he to violence and fraud unknown, 175
Treads the straight paths of equity alone:
His fathers' counsels mindful to pursue,
And keep their bright example still in view.
Then let not inactivity disgrace
The well-earn'd fame of thine illustrious race, 170
Who sprang from great Callianax, and crown
Th' Eratidæ with splendour all their own.
With joy and festal hymns the streets resound—
But soon, as shifts the ever varying gale,
The storms of adverse fortune may assail— 185
Then, Rhodians, be your mirth with sober temperance crown'd. 175

 

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1. "Lycia," says the younger scholiast, "is opposite to Rhodes, and in Lycia is a place called Embolus, sharp and narrow, and jutting into the sea, so named from its resemblance to the prow of a ship."
2. Homer relates the history of Tlepolemus, son of Hercules and Astydameia, and the Rhodians at great length, (Il. ii. 653.)

   Τληπολεμος δ᾽ Ἡρακλειδης, ηϋς τε μεγας τε,
   Εκ Ῥοδου εννεα νηας αγεν, κ. τ. λ.

   Astydameia was the daughter of Amyntor, son of Jupiter.

3. This was a clear manifestation of the divine presence. The same portent attended the birth of Apollo, according to Callimachus, (in. Del. 260:)—

   Χρυσεα τοι τοτε παντα θεμειλια γεινετο Δηλε,
   Χρυσῳ δε τροχοεσσα πανημερος εῤῥεε, κ. τ. λ.

   Thus, too, at the birth of Hercules, Bromia relates to the astonished Amphitryo, (Act. V., sc. i. 44:)—

   "Ædes totæ confulgebant tuæ, quasi essent aureæ."

   So Theocritus, (Idyl. 24:)—

   "And see what light o'er all the chamber falls!
   Though yet not morn, how visible the walls!
   Some strange event!"—Polwhele's version.

   Compare also Homer, (Od. xix. 37—40.)

4. Pindar probably alludes to the Telchines, an ancient people of Rhodes, much addicted to magical fascination, from which probably they derive their name: (Ov. Met. vii. 365:)—

   "Phœbeamque Rhodon, et Ialysios Telchinas,
   Quorum oculos ipso vitiantes omnia visu
   Jupiter exosus, fraternis abdiait undis."

5. This ratifying power, which distinguishes Lachesis above her sister Destinies, is also asserted by Plutarch: (De Facie in Orbe Lunæ, sub finem.)
6. Their names, according to the scholiast, were Cercaphus, Ochimus, Actis, Macaresas, Tenages, Triopes, Phaethon.
7. Athens is here put synecdochically for the whole of Attica. Pindar, as the younger scholiast observes, leaves it doubtful in what Attic contest Diagoras came off victorious: whether in the Panathenaic, the Heraclean, the Eleusinian, or the Panhellenic; or whether he obtained the prize in all these. The same epithet is applied by Homer to Ithaca: (Il.. ii. 201.)
8. A mountain in Rhodes, on which was erected a temple to Jupiter, containing brazen bulls, that, according to the scholiast, had the property of lowing whenever any unseemly action was about to be committed there.