University of Virginia Library

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[NEMEAN ODES.]

THE FIRST NEMEAN ODE.

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This Ode is inscribed to Chromius of Ætna (a City of Sicily) who gained the Victory in the Chariot-Race, in the Nemean Games.

ARGUMENT.

From the Praises of Ortygia (an Island near Sicily, and Part of the City of Syracuse, to which it was joined by a Bridge) Pindar passes to the Subject or Occasion of this Ode, viz. the Victory obtained by Chromius in the Nemean Games; which, as it was the first of that Kind gained by him, the Poet styles the Basis of his future Fame, laid by the Co-operation of the Gods, who assisted and seconded his divine Virtues; and, adds he, if Fortune continues to be favourable, he may arrive at the highest Summit of Glory: by which is meant chiefly, though not solely, the gaining more Prizes in the Great or Sacred Games (particularly the Olympick) where the Muses constantly attend to celebrate and record the Conquerors. From thence, after a short Digression to the general Praise of Sicily, he comes to an Enumeration of the particular Virtues of Chromius, viz. his Hospitality, Liberality, Prudence in Council, and Courage in War. Then returning to the Nemean Victory, be takes

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Occasion from so auspicious a Beginning, to promise Chromius a large Increase of Glory, in like manner as Tiresias, the famous Poet and Prophet of Thebes (the Country of Pindar) upon viewing the first Exploit of Hercules, which was killing in his Cradle the two Serpents sent by Juno to devour him, foretold the subsequent Atchievements of that Hero; and the great Reward he should receive for all his Labours, by being admitted into the Number of the Gods, and married to Hebe; with which Story he concludes the Ode.

STROPHE I.

Sister of Delos! pure Abode
Of Virgin Cynthia, Goddess of the Chace!
In whose Recesses rests th'emerging Flood
Of Alpheus, breathing from his am'rous Race!

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Divine Ortygia! to thy Name
The Muse preluding tunes her Strings,
Pleas'd with the sweet Preamble of thy Fame,
To usher in the Verse, that sings
Thy Triumphs, Chromius; while Sicilian Jove
Hears with Delight thro' Ætna's sounding Grove
The Gratulations of the hymning Choir,
Whom thy victorious Carr, and Nemea's Palms inspire.

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ANTISTROPHE I.

The Basis of his future Praise
Assisted by the Gods hath Chromius laid;
And to its Height the tow'ring Pile may raise,
If Fortune lends her favourable Aid:

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Assur'd that all th'Aonian Train
Their wonted Friendship will afford,
Who with Delight frequent the listed Plain,
The Toils of Virtue to record.
Mean time around this Isle, harmonious Muse!
The brightest Beams of shining Verse diffuse:
This fruitful Island, with whose flow'ry Pride
Heav'n's awful King endow'd great Pluto's beauteous Bride.

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STROPHE II.

To Chromius no unwelcome Guest
I come, high sounding my Dircæan Chord;
Who for his Poet hath prepar'd the Feast,
And spread with Luxury his friendly Board,

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For never from his gen'rous Gate
Unentertain'd the Stranger flies.
While Envy's scorching Flame, that blasts the Great,
Quench'd with his flowing Bounty, dies.
But Envy ill becomes the human Mind;
Since various Parts to various Men assign'd
All to Perfection and to Praise will lead,
Would each those Paths pursue, which Nature bids him tread.

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EPODE II.

Thy early Virtues, Chromius, deck'd with Praise,
And these First-fruits of Fame inspire
The Muse to promise for thy future Days

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A large Increase of Merit and Renown.
So when of old Jove's mighty Son,
Worthy his great immortal Sire,
Forth from Alcmena's teeming Bed
With his Twin-Brother came,
Safe thro' Life's painful Entrance led
To view the dazzling Sun's reviving Flame,
Th'Imperial Cradle Juno quick survey'd,
Where slept the Twins in Saffron Bands array'd.

ANTISTROPHE III.

Fast by the azure Necks he held
And grip'd in either Hand his scaly Foes;
Till from their horrid Carcasses expell'd,
At length the pois'nous Soul unwilling flows.

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Mean time intolerable Dread
Congeal'd each Female's curdling Blood,
All who attendant on the genial Bed,
Around the languid Mother stood.
She with distracting Fear and Anguish stung,
Forth from her sickly Couch impatient sprung;
Her cumb'rous Robe regardless off she threw,
And to protect her Child with fondest Ardour flew.

STROPHE IV.

Amaz'd the trembling Father stood,
While doubtful Pleasure, mix'd with wild Surprize,
Drove from his troubled Heart the vital Flood:
His Son's stupendous Deed with wondring Eyes

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He view'd, and how the gracious Will
Of Heav'n to Joy had chang'd his Fear
And falsify'd the Messengers of Ill.
Then strait he calls th'unerring Seer,
Divine Tiresias, whose Prophetick Tongue
Jove's sacred Mandates from the Tripod sung;
Who then to all th'attentive Throng explain'd
What Fate th'immortal Gods for Hercules ordain'd.

EPODE IV.

Then shall his gen'rous Toils for ever cease,
With Fame, with endless Life repaid;
With pure Tranquillity and heav'nly Peace:

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Then led in Triumph to his starry Dome,
To grace his spousal Bed shall come,
In Beauty's glowing Bloom array'd,
Immortal Hebe, ever young.
In Jove's august Abodes
Then shall he hear the bridal Song,
Then in the blest Society of Gods
The nuptial Banquet share, and rapt in Praise
And Wonder round the glitt'ring Mansion gaze.

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THE ELEVENTH NEMEAN ODE.

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This Ode is incribed to Aristagoras, upon occasion of his entering on his Office of President or Governor of the Island of Tenedos; so that although it is placed among the Nemean Odes, it has no sort of relation to those Games, and is indeed properly an Inauguration-Ode, composed to be sung by a Chorus at the Sacrifices and the Feast made by Aristagoras and his Collegues, in the Town-Hall, at the Time of their being invested with the Magistracy, as is evident from many Expressions in the first Strophe and Antistrophe.

ARGUMENT.

Pindar opens this Ode with an Invocation to Vesta (the Goddess who presided over the Courts of Justice, and whose Statue and Altar were for that Reason placed in the Town-Halls, or Prytanæums, as the Greeks called them) beseeching her to receive favourably Aristagoras and his Collegues, who were then coming to offer Sacrifices to her, upon their entering on their Office of Prytans or Magistrates of Tenedos; which Office continuing for a Year, he begs the Goddess to take Aristagoras under her Protection during that Time; and to conduct him to the End of it without Trouble

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or Disgrace. From Aristagoras Pindar turns himself, in the next Place, to his Father Arcesilas, whom he pronounces happy, as well upon account of his Son's Merit and Honour, as upon his own great Endowments, and good Fortune; such as Beauty, Strength, Courage, Riches, and Glory resulting from his many Victories in the Games. But lest he should be too much puffed up with these Praises, he reminds him at the same Time of his Mortality, and tells him that his Cloathing of Flesh is perishable, and that he must e're long be cloathed with Earth, the End of all Things; and yet, continues he, it is but Justice to praise and celebrate the Worthy and Deserving, who from good Citizens ought to receive all kinds of Honour and Commendation; as Aristagoras, for Instance, who hath rendered both himself and his Country illustrious by the many Victories he hath obtained, to the Number of Sixteen, over the neighbouring Youth, in the Games exhibited in and about his own Country. From whence, says the Poet, I conclude he would have come off victorious even in the Pythian and Olympick Games, had he not been restrained from engaging in those famous Lists by the too timid and cautious Love of his Parents: upon which he falls into a moral Reflection upon the Vanity of Mens Hopes and Fears, by the former of which they are oftentimes excited to Attempts beyond their Strength, which accordingly issue in their Disgrace; as, on the other Hand, they are frequently restrained by unreasonable and ill-grounded Fears, from Enterprizes, in which they would, in all probability, have come off with Honour. This Reflection he applies to

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Aristagoras, by saying it was very easy to foresee what Success he was like to meet with, who both by Father and Mother was descended from a long Train of great and valiant Men. But here again, with a very artful Turn of Flattery to his Father Arcesilas, whom he had before represented as strong and valiant, and famous for his Victories in the Games, he observes that every Generation even of a great and glorious Family, is not equally illustrious, any more than the Fields and Trees are every Year equally fruitful; that the Gods had not given Mortals any certain Tokens, by which they might foreknow when the rich Years of Virtue should succeed; whence it comes to pass, that Men out of Self-conceit and Presumption, are perpetually laying Schemes, and forming Enterprizes, without previously consulting Prudence or Wisdom, whose Streams, says he, lye remote, and out of the common Road. From all which he infers, that it is better to moderate our Desires, and set bounds to our Avarice and Ambition; with which moral Precept he concludes the Ode.

STROPHE I.

Daughter of Rhea! thou, whose holy Fire
Before the awful Seat of Justice flames!
Sister of Heav'n's Almighty Sire!
Sister of Juno, who co-equal claims
With Jove to share the Empire of the Gods!
O Virgin Vesta! To thy dread Abodes,
Lo! Aristagoras directs his Pace!
Receive, and near thy sacred Scepter place

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Him, and his Collegues, who with honest Zeal
O'er Tenedos preside, and guard the Publick Weal.

EPODE I.

But hail, Arcesilas! all hail
To Thee! bless'd Father of a Son so great!
Thou, whom on Fortune's highest Scale
The favourable Hand of Heav'n hath set,
Thy manly Form with Beauty hath refin'd,
And match'd that Beauty with a valiant Mind.

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Yet let not Man too much presume,
Tho' grac'd with Beauty's fairest Bloom;
Tho' for superior Strength renown'd;
Tho' with triumphal Chaplets crown'd:
Let him remember, that in Flesh array'd
Soon shall he see that mortal Vestment fade;
Till last imprison'd in the mould'ring Urn
To Earth, the End of all Things, he return.

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EPODE II.

Then his triumphal Tresses bound
With the dark Verdure of th'Olympick Grove,
With joyous Banquets had he crown'd
The great Quinquennial Festival of Jove;
And chear'd the solemn Pomp with Choral Lays,
Sweet Tribute, which the Muse to Virtue pays.
But, such is Man's prepost'rous Fate!
Now with o'er-weening Pride elate
Too far he aims his Shaft to throw,
And straining bursts his feeble Bow.

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Now pusillanimous, depress'd with Fear,
He checks his Virtue in the mid-Career;
And of his Strength distrustful coward flies
The Contest, tho' impow'r'd to gain the Prize.

ANTISTROPHE III.

Tho' for long Intervals obscur'd, again
Oft-times the Seeds of lineal Worth appear.
For neither can the furrow'd Plain
Full Harvests yield with each returning Year:
Nor in each Period, will the pregnant Bloom
Invest the smiling Tree with rich Perfume.
So, barren often and inglorious pass
The Generations of a noble Race;

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While Nature's Vigour, working at the Root,
In After-ages swells, and blossoms into Fruit.