Pindar and Anacreon/Pindar/Pythian Odes/10
THE TENTH PYTHIAN ODE.
TO HIPPOCLEAS, THE THESSALIAN, ON HIS VICTORY IN THE RACE OF TWO STADIA, GAINED IN THE TWENTY-SECOND PYTHIAD.
ARGUMENT.
The poet, tracing the victor's lineage to Aristomachus, the descendant of Hercules, attributes his conquest to the favour of Apollo, and the example of his father Phricias.—Expresses his wishes for the perpetuity of the good fortune which both father and son have acquired, and which is so great that no mortal can surpass it; as the traveller who has arrived at the Hyperborean regions can proceed no farther.—This leads him to a digression on the mythology of the Hyperboreans.—Pindar then checks himself, and concludes with renewed commendation of the victor, and his kinsmen and brothers, Thorax, &c., whose glorious deeds ennoble their native Thessaly.
Bless'd Lacedæmon! Thessaly the bless'd!
Whose sceptred kings their potent race
To the same valiant Hercules can trace,
Why should my ardent spirit raise
Strains of unseasonable praise? 5
But me prophetic Pytho's wall,
Aleva's sons and Pelinæum call; [1]
Wishing Hippocleas to grace
With strains of high renown by tuneful bards express'd. 10
For in the contests as he tried his strength, 10
Amphictyon's host and the Parnassian cave
Pronounced him foremost of the youthful brave,
Contending in the double stadium's length.
Apollo! if thine aid befriend,
Sweet is man's onset and his end; 15
This deed the youth achieved through thee,
And thine auspicious deity.
Twice from the field, by kindred fire,
Urged in the footsteps of his sire,
Th' Olympic chaplet he convey'd, 20
In martial panoply array'd. 23
And where, upon her sheltering plain,
Beneath the rock fair Cirrha lies,
Swift-footed Phricias joy'd to gain
The Pythian contest's glorious prize. 25
In times to come may prosperous fate
Exalt, as now, their blissful state!
Nor, having gain'd an ample share
Of all that Greece esteems as fair,
May envious blasts from Heaven assail 30
The victims of a backward gale. 31
Still may the god with liberal heart
Unshaken happiness impart!
Hymn'd is that man in poets' lay
Who with strong hands or rapid feet 35
Has borne the noblest palms away;
In whom firm strength and valour meet.
Still living, by his youthful son
Who saw the Pythian garlands won.
Not yet to them the lot is given 40
To scale the brazen soil of heaven: [2]
But the remotest point that lies
Open to human enterprise
Their course has gain'd, well skill'd to sweep
The wide expanse of glory's deep; 45
But not along the wondrous way [3]
To Hyperborean crowds can ships or feet convey.
Of old, as at their sacred feast,
Whole hecatombs appeased the god,
The steps of an illustrious guest, 50
Perseus, their habitation trod;
Whose festivals and songs of praise
Apollo with delight surveys;
And smiles to see the bestial train
In wanton pride erect and vain. 56 55
Yet never will th' impartial muse
To dwell with minds like these refuse:
Around them move the virgin choirs,
The breathing flutes and sounding lyres;
And twining with their festive hair 60
The wreath of golden laurel fair,
With temperate mirth and social glee
They join in solemn revelry.
Nor dire disease, nor wasting age,
Against their sacred lives engage: 65
But free from trouble and from strife,
Through the mild tenour of their life
Secure they dwell, nor fear to know
Avenging Nemesis their foe.
Erst, breathing with a heart of flame, 70
The valiant son of Danae came;
Who by divine Athena's hand,
Led to the bless'd heroic band,
Slew Gorgon, and her dire head bore
With dragon locks all cover'd o'er; 75
And thus, with stony ruin fraught,
Death to the islanders he brought. 75
But when the gods their power display,
How strange soe'er the mighty deed,
Firm rev'rence and belief to pay, 80
Nor doubt nor wonder shall impede.
Restrain the oar; and from the prow
Fix, to secure against the shock
Of many a sea-imbosom'd rock,
Your anchor in the deep below. 85
For now th' encomiastic lay,
Like bee that flits on changeful wing,
To fresher glories hastes away. 84
But ardent hope inspires my breast,
That while the Ephyræans sing 90
My sweet lays by Peneus' spring,
Hippocleas above the rest,
Mindful of each triumphant crown,
Among the old, the virgin train,
And fellow-combatants, the strain 95
Shall dignify with bright renown.
In various minds far different objects move
The cares and fond solicitudes of love. 94
But he whose fortune can obtain
The object of his strong desire, 100
Calm and contented should remain,
Nor to uncertain good aspire;
Since veil'd in doubtful gloom appear
The issues of the coming year.
I trust in Thorax' friendly care, 105
Who wishing my kind deeds to share,
Has yoked for me the muses' car,
By its four coursers whirl'd afar;
Urging, with like affection'd soul,
The willing poet to the goal. 104 110
As gold to Lydian stone applied,
Thus shines the upright mind when tried.
Then to his virtuous brother's praise
Let us the joyful tribute raise;
Since their bright deeds Thessalia's state 115
On wings of fame have borne elate;
Enrich'd by whose paternal sway,
Her children glory to obey. 112
- ↑ Aleva was an ancient king of Thessaly, from whom the inhabitants were named. Pelinæum was the native city of the victor. It is doubted by commentators whether the word Ἀριστομαχου be used by Pindar as an epithet to Hercules or to denote one of the Heraclidæ, from whom Aleva derived his origin. The scholiast asserts the former.
- ↑ This epithet of Olympus is repeated in the seventh Isthmian: (v. 72.) It will probably remind the reader of that terrible prophetic denunciation of the Jewish lawgiver: (Deut., xxviii., 3:) "Thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass."
- ↑ This digression to the Hyperborean regions, which Pindar here seems to consider as the western boundary of the world, and to the story of Perseus, who came suddenly on the pious inhabitants as they were sacrificing hecatombs of wild asses to Apollo, is greatly censured by the scholiast as an unreasonable deviation from the original scope and design of the ode. But these irregularities are so characteristic of our poet, that whatever place or persons the progress of his story leads him, however slightly, to mention, we look as a matter of course for any mythological record connected with them.