Pindar and Anacreon/Pindar/Pythian Odes/7
THE SEVENTH PYTHIAN ODE.
TO MEGACLES THE ATHENIAN, ON HIS VICTORY WITH THE QUADRIGÆ, GAINED IN THE TWENTY-EIGHTH PYTHIAD.
ARGUMENT.
This short ode opens with an address to Athens, whence the victor derives a great portion of his fame, tracing his lineage to Alcmæon; his triumphs in the different games of Greece are enumerated.—The poet expresses his concern that the happiness of Megacles should be diminished by the envy of his rivals, and the mutability of human fortune, which, however, affects all men alike.
The fairest prelude to my strain
Athena's noble walls contain;
Whence struck, thy steeds the lyre shall grace,
That hymns Alcmæon's potent race.
What house, what country shall I name 5
Through Greece of more illustrious fame,
When all the various cities round
Erectheus' townsmen's praise resound? 7
They who in Pytho the divine,
Apollo, rear'd thy wondrous shrine. 10
Five triumphs in the Isthmian field
Urge me the lyric song to yield—
Oh Megacles! one glorious crown,
In Jove's Olympic strife obtain'd,
And two from Cirrha's sacred town, 15
By thee and thy forefathers gain'd. 16
I joy that merited success
Should all thy recent efforts bless.
But I lament that envy's cloud
Must thy victorious actions shroud. 20
Yet such they say is man—whose fate
By weal or wo is checker'd still;
No constant happiness his state
Attends without approaching ill. 23