Odes of Pindar :: :: University of Virginia Library

Odes of Pindar

With several other Pieces in Prose and Verse, Translated from the Greek. To which is added a dissertation on the Olympick games. By Gilbert West

West, Gilbert (1703-1756)

[epigraph]

THE FIRST OLYMPICK ODE.

THE SECOND OLYMPICK ODE.

THE THIRD OLYMPICK ODE.

THE FIFTH OLYMPICK ODE.

THE SEVENTH OLYMPICK ODE.

11.

THE ELEVENTH OLYMPICK ODE.

12.

THE TWELFTH. OLYMPICK ODE.

14.

THE FOURTEENTH OLYMPICK ODE. MONOSTROPHAICK.

[PYTHIAN ODES]

THE FIRST PYTHIAN ODE.

[NEMEAN ODES.]

THE FIRST NEMEAN ODE.

11.

THE ELEVENTH NEMEAN ODE.

[ISTHMIAN ODES]

THE SECOND ISTHMIAN ODE.

The Fourth Ode of the Fourth Book of HORACE.

II.

III.

II.

III.

IV.

THE TRIUMPHS OF THE GOUT.

TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ARGONAUTICKS OF APOLLONIUS RHODIUS.

THE Song of Orpheus, AND THE Setting out of the Argo.

The Story of Phineus.

The Hymn of Cleanthes.

II.

VOL. II.

A DISSERTATION ON THE Olympick Games.

On Arias of Tarsus, Victor in the Stadium.

On Milo the Wrestler.

On a Conqueror in the Cæstus.

[But fond Amphitryon, with a Father's Zeal]

A Description of a Chariot-Race.

[So when a Horseman from the watry Mead]

[To the swift Victor be no more assign'd]

[A Youth, who hopes th'Olympick Prize to gain]

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THE SECOND OLYMPICK ODE.
[_]

This Ode is inscribed to Theron King of Agrigentum, who came off Conqueror in the Race of Chariots drawn by Four Horses, in the Seventy seventh Olympiad.

ARGUMENT

The Poet, in answer to the Question, What God, what Here, and what Mortal he should sing (with which Words this Ode immediately begins) having named Jupiter and Hercules, not only as the first of Gods and Heroes, but as they were peculiarly related to his Subject; the one being the Protector, and the other the Founder of the Olympick Games; falls directly into the Praises of Theron: by this Method artfully insinuating, that Theron held the same Rank among all Mortals, as the Two former did among the Gods and Heroes. In enumerating the many Excellencies of Theron, the Poet, having made mention of the Nobility of his Family (a Topick seldom or never omitted by Pindar) takes occasion to lay before him the various Accidents and Vicissitudes of human Life, by Instances drawn from the History of his own Ancestors, the Founders of Agrigentum; who, it seems, underwent many Difficulties, before they could

build, and settle themselves in that City; where afterwards, indeed, they made a very considerable Figure, and were rewarded for their past Sufferings with Wealth and Honour; according to which Method of proceeding, the Poet (alluding to some Misfortunes that had befallen Theron) beseeches Jupiter to deal with their Posterity, by recompensing their former Afflictions with a Series of Peace and Happiness for the future; in the Enjoyment of which they would soon lose the Memory of whatever they had suffered in Times past: the constant Effect of Prosperity being to make Men forget their past Adversity; which is the only Reparation that can be made to them for the Miseries they have undergone. The Truth of this Position he makes appear from the History of the same Family; by the farther Instances of Semele, Ino, and Thersander; and lastly, of Theron himself, whose former Cares and Troubles, he insinuates, are repaid by his present Happiness and Victory in the Olympick Games: For his Success in which, the Poet however intimates, that Theron was no less indebted to his Riches, than to his Virtue, since he was enabled by the one, as well as disposed by the other, to undergo the Trouble and Expence that was necessary to qualify him for a Candidate for the Olympick Crown in particular, and, in general, for the Performance of any great and worthy Action: for the Words are general. From whence he takes occasion to tell him, that the Man who possesses these Treasures, viz. Riches and Virtue, that is, the Means and the Inclination of doing good and great Actions, has the farther Satisfaction of knowing, that he
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shall be rewarded for it hereafter; and go among the Heroes into the Fortunate Islands (the Paradise of the Ancients) which he here describes; some of whose Inhabitants are likewise mentioned by way of inciting Theron to an Imitation of their Actions; as Peleus, Cadmus, and Achilles. Here the Poet, finding himself, as well from the Abundance of Matter, as from the Fertility of his own Genius, in danger of wandering too far from his Subject, recalls his Muse, and returns to the Praise of Theron; whose Beneficence and Generosity, he tells us, were not to be equalled: With which, and with some Reflections upon the Enemies and Malignen of Theron, he concludes.

STROPHE I.

Ye choral Hymns, harmonious Lays,
Sweet Rulers of the Lyrick String,
What God? what Hero's godlike Praise?
What Mortal shall we sing?
With Jove, with Pisa's Guardian God,
Begin, O Muse, th'Olympick Ode.
Alcides, Jove's Heroick Son,
The second Honours claims;
Who, off'ring up the Spoils from Augeas won,
Establish'd to his Sire th'Olympick Games;
Where bright in Wreaths of Conquest Theron shone.

Then of victorious Theron sing!
Of Theron hospitable, just, and great!
Fam'd Agrigentum's honour'd King,
The Prop and Bulwark of her tow'ring State;
A righteous Prince! whose flow'ring Virtues grace
The venerable Stem of his illustrious Race:

ANTISTROPHE I.

A Race, long exercis'd in Woes,
Ere, smiling o'er her kindred Flood,
The Mansion of their wish'd Repose,
Their sacred City stood;
And through amaz'd Sicilia shone
The Lustre of their fair Renown.
Thence, as the milder Fates decreed,
In destin'd Order born,
Auspicious Hours with smoother Pace succeed;
While Pow'r and Wealth the noble Line adorn,
And Public Favour, Virtue's richest Meed.

O Son of Rhea, God supreme!
Whose kingly Hands th'Olympian Sceptre wield!
Rever'd on Alpheus' sacred Stream!
And honour'd most in Pisa's listed Field!
Propitious listen to my soothing Strain!
And to the worthy Sons their Father's Rights maintain!

EPODE I.

Peace on their future Life, and Wealth bestow;
And bid their present Moments calmly flow.
The Deed once done no Pow'r can abrogate,
Not the great Sire of all Things, Time, nor Fate.
But sweet Oblivion of disastrous Care,
And Good succeeding, may the Wrong repair,
Lost in the Brightness of returning Day,
The gloomy Terrors of the Night decay;
When Jove commands the Sun of Joy to rise,
And opens into Smiles the Cloud-invelop'd Skies.

STROPHE II.

Thy hapless Daughters' various Fate
This moral Truth, O Cadmus, shows;
Who vested now with Godlike State
On heav'nly Thrones repose;

And yet Affliction's thorny Road
In bitter Anguish once they trod.
But Bliss superior hath eras'd
The Mem'ry of their Woe;
While Semele, on high Olympus plac'd,
To heav'nly Zephyrs bids her Tresses flow,
Once by devouring Lightnings all defac'd.
There with immortal Charms improv'd,
Inhabitant of Heav'n's serene Abodes
She dwells, by Virgin Pallas lov'd,
Lov'd by Saturnius, Father of the Gods;
Lov'd by her youthful Son, whose Brows divine,
In twisting Ivy bound, with Joy eternal shine.

ANTISTROPHE II.

To Ino, Goddess of the Main,
The Fates an equal Lot decree,
Rank'd with old Ocean's Nereid Train,
Bright Daughters of the Sea.
Deep in the pearly Realms below,
Immortal Happiness to know.
But here our Day's appointed End
To Mortals is unknown;
Whether Distress our Period shall attend,
And in tumultuous Storms our Sun go down,
Or to the Shades in peaceful Calms descend.

For various flows the Tide of Life,
Obnoxious still to Fortune's veering Gale;
Now rough with Anguish, Care, and Strife,
O'erwhelming Waves the shatter'd Bark assail:
Now glide serene and smooth the limpid Streams;
And on the Surface play Apollo's golden Beams.

EPODE II.

Thus, Fate, O Theron, that with Bliss divine
And Glory once enrich'd thy ancient Line,
Again reversing ev'ry gracious Deed,
Woe to thy wretched Sires and Shame decreed;
What Time, encount'ring on the Phocian Plain,
By luckless Oedipus was Laius slain.
To Parricide by Fortune blindly led,
His Father's precious Life the Hero shed;
Doom'd to fulfill the Oracles of Heav'n,
To Thebes' ill destin'd King by Pythian Phœbus giv'n.

STROPHE III.

But with a fierce avenging Eye
Erinnys the foul Murder view'd,
And bade his warring Offspring die,
By mutual Rage subdu'd.
Pierc'd by his Brother's hateful Steel
Thus haughty Polynices fell.
Thersander, born to calmer Days,
Surviv'd his falling Sire,
In youthful Games to win immortal Praise;
Renown in martial Combats to acquire,
And high in Pow'r th'Adrastian House to raise.
Forth from this venerable Root
Ænesidamus and his Theron spring;
For whom I touch my Dorian Flute,
For whom triumphant strike my sounding String.
Due to his Glory is th'Aonian Strain,
Whose Virtue gain'd the Prize in fam'd Olympia's Plain.

ANTISTROPHE III.

Alone in fam'd Olympia's Sand
The Victor's Chaplet Theron wore;
But with him on the Isthmian Strand,
On sweet Castalia's Shore,
The verdant Crowns, the proud Reward
Of Victory his Brother shar'd,
Copartner in immortal Praise,
As warm'd with equal Zeal
The light-foot Courser's gen'rous Breed to raise,
And whirl around the Goal the fervid Wheel.
The painful Strife Olympia's Wreath repays:
But Wealth with nobler Virtue join'd
The Means and fair Occasions must procure;
In Glory's Chace must aid the Mind,
Expence, and Toil, and Danger to endure;
With mingling Rays they feed each other's Flame,
And shine the brightest Lamp in all the Sphere of Fame.

EPODE III.

The happy Mortal, who these Treasures shares,
Well knows what Fate attends his gen'rous Cares;
Knows, that beyond the Verge of Life and Light,
In the sad Regions of infernal Night,

The fierce, impracticable, churlish Mind
Avenging Gods and penal Woes shall find;
Where strict inquiring Justice shall bewray
The Crimes committed in the Realms of Day.
The impartial Judge the rigid Law declares,
No more to be revers'd by Penitence or Pray'rs.

STROPHE IV.

But in the happy Fields of Light,
Where Phœbus with an equal Ray
Illuminates the balmy Night,
And gilds the cloudless Day,
In peaceful, unmolested Joy,
The Good their smiling Hours employ.
Them no uneasy Wants constrain
To vex th'ungrateful Soil,
To tempt the Dangers of the billowy Main,
And break their Strength with unabating Toil,
A frail disastrous Being to maintain.
But in their joyous calm Abodes,
The Recompence of Justice they receive;
And in the Fellowship of Gods
Without a Tear eternal Ages live.
While banish'd by the Fates from Joy and Rest,
Intolerable Woes the impious Soul infest.

ANTISTROPHE IV.

But they who, in true Virtue strong,
The third Purgation can endure;
And keep their Minds from fraudful Wrong,
And Guilt's Contagion pure;
They through the starry Paths of Jove
To Saturn's blissful Seat remove;
Where fragrant Breezes, vernal Airs,
Sweet Children of the Main,
Purge the blest Island from corroding Cares,
And fan the Bosom of each verdant Plain:
Whose fertile Soil immortal Fruitage bears;
Trees, from whose flaming Branches flow
Array'd in golden Bloom refulgent Beams;
And Flow'rs of golden Hue, that blow
On the fresh Borders of their Parent Streams.
These by the Blest in solemn Triumph worn,
Their unpolluted Hands and clust'ring Locks adorn.

EPODE IV.

Such is the righteous Will, the high Behest
Of Rhadamanthus, Ruler of the Blest;
The just Assessor of the Throne divine,
On which, high rais'd above all Gods, recline,
Link'd in the Golden Bands of wedded Love,
The great Progenitors of Thund'ring Jove.
There, in the Number of the Blest enroll'd,
Live Cadmus, Peleus, Heroes fam'd of old;
And young Achilles, to those Isles remov'd,
Soon as, by Thetis won, relenting Jove approv'd:

STROPHE V.

Achilles, whose resistless Might
Troy's stable Pillar overthrew,
The valiant Hector, firm in Fight,
And hardy Cygnus slew,
And Memnon, Offspring of the Morn,
In torrid Æthiopia born—
Yet in my well-stor'd Breast remain
Materials to supply
With copious Argument my Moral Strain,
Whose mystick Sense the Wise alone descry,
Still to the Vulgar sounding harsh and vain.

He only, in whose ample Breast
Nature hath true inherent Genius pour'd,
The Praise of Wisdom may contest;
Not they who, with loquacious Learning stor'd,
Like Crows and chatt'ring Jays, with clam'rous Cries
Pursue the Bird of Jove, that sails along the Skies.

ANTISTROPHE V.

Come on! thy brightest Shafts prepare,
And bend, O Muse, thy sounding Bow;
Say, through what Paths of liquid Air
Our Arrows shall we throw?

On Agrigentum fix thine Eye,
Thither let all thy Quiver fly.
And thou, O Agrigentum, hear,
While with religious Dread,
And taught the Laws of Justice to revere,
To heav'nly Vengeance I devote my Head,
If aught to Truth repugnant now I swear,
Swear, that no State, revolving o'er
The long Memorials of recorded Days,
Can shew in all her boasted Store
A Name to parallel thy Theron's Praise;
One to the Acts of Friendship so inclin'd,
So fam'd for bounteous Deeds, and Love of Human Kind.

EPODE V.

Yet hath obstrep'rous Envy sought to drown
The goodly Musick of his sweet Renown;
While by some frantick Spirits borne along
To mad Attempts of Violence and Wrong,
She turn'd against him Faction's raging Flood,
And strove with evil Deeds to conquer Good.

But who can number ev'ry sandy Grain
Wash'd by Sicilia's hoarse-resounding Main?
Or who can Theron's gen'rous Works express,
And tell how many Hearts his bounteous Virtues bless!

University of Virginia Library

THE SECOND OLYMPICK ODE. [_] This Ode is inscribed to Theron King of Agrigentum, who came off Conqueror in the Race of Chariots drawn by Four Horses, in the Seventy seventh Olympiad.

ARGUMENT

STROPHE I.

ANTISTROPHE I.

EPODE I.

STROPHE II.

ANTISTROPHE II.

EPODE II.

STROPHE III.

ANTISTROPHE III.

EPODE III.

STROPHE IV.

ANTISTROPHE IV.

EPODE IV.

STROPHE V.

ANTISTROPHE V.

EPODE V.

THE SECOND OLYMPICK ODE.
[_]

This Ode is inscribed to Theron King of Agrigentum, who came off Conqueror in the Race of Chariots drawn by Four Horses, in the Seventy seventh Olympiad.