having been always reputed a brave, wise, and hospitable nation; from whence he insinuates, that their virtues being hereditary and innate, there was no more likelihood of their departing from them, than there was of the fox and lion's changing their natures.

STROPHE.

To wind-bound mariners most welcome blow The breezy zephyrs through the whistling shrouds :

Most welcome to the thirsty mountains flow Soft showers, the pearly daughters of the clouds;

And when on virtuous toils the gods bestow

Success, most welcome sound mellifluous odes, Whose numbers ratify the voice of l'ame, And to illustrious Worth insure a lasting name.

ANTISTROPHE.

Such Fame, superior to the hostile dart

Of canker'd Envy, Pisa's chiefs attends. Fain would my Muse th' immortal boon impart, Th' immortal boon which from high Heaven descends

And now, inspir'd by Heaven, thy valiant heart, Agesidamus, she to Fame commends: Now adds the ornament of tuneful praise, [lays. And decks thy olive-crown with sweetly-sounding

EPODE.

But while thy bold achievements I rehearse,
Thy youthful victory in Pisa's sand,
With thee partaking in the friendly verse

Not unregarded shall thy Locris stand,
Then haste, ye Muses, join the choral band
Of festive youths upon the Locrian plain;
To an unciviliz'd and savage land
Think not I now invite your virgin train,
Where barbarous ignorance and foul disdain
Of social Virtue's hospitable lore
Prompts the unmanner'd and inhuman swain
To drive the stranger from his churlish door.
A nation shall ye find, renown'd of yore
For martial valour and for worthy deeds;

Rich in a vast and unexhausted store Of innate wisdom, whose prolific seeds Spring in each age. So Nature's laws require : And the great laws of Nature ne'er expire. Unchang'd the lion's valiant race remains, And all his father's wiles the youthful fox retains.

THE TWELFTH OLYMPIC Ode.

This ode is inscribed to Ergoteles the son of Philanor of Himera, who, in the seventy-seventh Olympiad, gained the prize in the foot-race called Dolichos or the long course.

ARGUMENT.

Ergoteles was originally of Crete, but being driven from thence by the fury of a prevailing faction, he retired to Himera, a town of Sicily, where he was hononrably received, and admitted to the freedom of the city; after which he had the happiness to obtain, what the Greeks esteemed the highest pitch of glory, the Olympic crown. Pausanias says he gained two Olympic crowns;

and the same number in each of the other three sacred games, the Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean. From these remarkable vicissitudes of fortune in the life of Ergoteles, Pindar takes occasion to address himself to that powerful directress of all human affairs, imploring her protection for Himera, the adopted country of Ergoteles. Then, after describing in general terms the universal influence of that deity upon all the actions of mankind, the uncertainty of events, and the vanity of hope, ever fluctuating in ignorance and errour, he assigns a reason for that vanity, viz. That the gods have not given to mortal men any certain evidence of their future fortunes, which often happen to be the very reverse both of their hopes and fears. Thus, says he, it happened to Ergoteles, whose very misfortunes were to him the occasion of happiness and glory; since, had he not been banished from his country, he had probably passed his life in obscurity, and wasted in domestic broils and quarrels that strength and activity, which his more peaceful situation at Himera enabled him to improve, and employ for the obtaining the Olympic crown.

This ode, one of the shortest, is, at the same time, in its order and connection, the clearest and most compact of any to be met with in Pindar.

STROPHE.

DAUGHTER of Eleutherian Jove,

To thee my supplications I prefer ! For potent Himera my suit I move; Protectress Fortune, hear!

Thy deity along the pathless main

In her wild course the rapid vessel guides;
Rules the fierce conflict on th' embattled plain,
And in deliberating states presides.
Toss'd by thy uncertain gale

On the seas of errour sail
Human hopes, now mounting high
On the swelling surge of joy;
Now with unexpected woe
Sinking to the depths below.

ANTISTROPHE,

For sure presage of things to come
None yet on mortals have the gods bestow'd;
Nor of futurity's impervious gloom

Can wisdom pierce the cloud.
Oft our most sanguine views th' event deceives,
And veils in sudden grief the smiling ray:
Oft, when with woe the mournful bosom heaves,
Caught in a storm of anguish and dismay,
Pass some fleeting moments by,
All at once the tempests fly:
Instant shifts the clouded scene;
Heaven renews its smiles serene;
And on joy's untroubled tides
Smooth to port the vessel glides,

Had not Sedition's civil broils Expell'd thee from thy native Crete, And driven thee with more glorious toils Th' Olympic crown in Pisa's plain to meet. With olive now, with Pythian laurels grac'd, And the dark chaplets of the Isthmian pine, In Himera's adopted city plac'd, To all, Ergoteles, thy honours shine, And raise her lustre by imparting thine.

THE FOURTEENTH OLYMPIC ODE.

This ode is inscribed to Asophicus, the son of Cleodemus of Orchomenus; who, in the seventy. sixth Olympiad, gained the victory in the simple foot-race, and in the class of boys.

ARGUMENT.

Orchomenus, a city of Boeotia, and the country of the victor Asophicus, being under the protection of the Graces, her tutelary deities, to them Pindar addresses this ode; which was probably sung in the very temple of those goddesses, at a sacrifice offered by Asophicus on occasion of his victory. The poet begins this invocation with styling the Graces queens of Orchomenus, and guardians of the children of Minyas, the first king of that city; whose fertile terrritories, he says, were by lot assigned to their protection. Then, after describing in general the properties and operations of these deities, both in Earth and Heaven, he proceeds to call upon each of them by name to assist at the singing of this ode; which was made, he tells them, to celebrate the victory of Asophicus, in the glory of which Orchomenus had her share. Then addressing himself to Echo, a nymph that formerly resided on the banks of Cephisus, a river of that country, he charges her to repair to the mansion of Proserpine, and impart to Cleodemus, the father of Asophicus, (who from hence appears to have been dead at that time) the happy news of his son's victory; and so concludes.

The poet, addressing himself in the first place to his harp, lanches out immediately into a description of the wonderful effects produced in Heaven by the enchanting harmony of that divine instrument, when played upon by Apollo, and accompanied by the Muses; these effects, says he, are to celestial minds delight and rapture; but the contrary to the wicked, who cannot hear, without horrour, this heavenly music. Having mentioned the wicked, he falls into an account of the punishment of Typhoeus, an impious giant; who, having presumed to defy Jupiter, was by him cast into Tartarus, and then chained under Mount Etna, whose fiery eruptions he ascribes to this giant, whom he therefore styles Vulcanian Monster. The description of these eruptions of Mount Etna, he closes with a short prayer to Jupiter, who had a temple upon that mountain, and from thence passes to, what indeed is more properly the subject of this ode, the Pythian victory of Hiero. This part of the poem is connected with what went before by the means of Etna, a city built by Hiero, and named after the mountain in whose neighbourhood it stood. Hiero had ordered himself to be styled of Ætna

by the herald who proclaimed his victory in the Pythian games; from which glorious beginning, says Pindar, the happy city presages to herself all kinds of glory and felicity for the future. Then addressing himself to Apollo, the patron of the Pythian games, he beseeches him to make the citizens of Etna great and happy; all human excellencies being the gifts of Heaven. To Hiero, in like manner, he wishes felicity and prosperity for the future, not to be disturbed by the return or remembrance of any past aflictions. The toils indeed and troubles which Hiero had undergone, before he and his brother Gelo obtained the sovereignty of Syracuse, having been crowned with success, will doubtless, says Pindar, recur often to his memory with great delight: and then taking notice of the condition of Hiero, who, it seems, being at that time troubled with the stone, was carried about in the army in a litter, or chariot, he compares him to Philoctetes: this hero, having been wounded in the foot by one of Hercules's arrows, staid in Lemnos to get cured of his wound; but it being decreed by the Fates, that Troy should not be taken without those arrows, of which Philoctetes had the possession, the Greeks fetched him from Lemnos, lame and wounded as he was, and carried him to the siege. As Hiero resembled Philoctetes in one point, may he also, adds the poet, resemble him in another, and recover his health by the assistance of a divinity! Then addressing himself to Dinomenes, the son of Hiero, whom that prince intended to make king of Etna, he enters into an account of the colony, which Hiero had settled in that city: the people of this colony being originally descended from Sparta, were, at their own request, governed by the laws of that famous commonwealth. To this account Pindar subjoins a prayer to Jupiter, imploring him to grant that both the king and people of Etna may, by answerable deeds, maintain the glory and splendour of their race; and that Hiero, and his son Dinomenes, taught to govern by the precepts of his father, may be able to dispose their minds to peace and unity. For this purpose, continues he, do thou, O Jupiter, prevent the Carthaginians and the Tuscans from invading Sicily any more, by recalling to their minds the great losses they had lately sustained from the valour of Hiero and his brothers; into a more particular detail of whose courage and virtue, Pindar insinuates he would gladly enter, was he not afraid of being too prolix and tedious; a fault which is apt to breed in the reader satiety and disgust; and though, continues he, excessive fame produces often the same effects in envious minds, yet do not thou, O Hiero! upon that consideration, omit doing any great or good action; it being far better to be envied than to be pitied. With this, and some precepts useful to all kings in general, and others more peculiarly adapted to the temple of Hiero, whom, as he was somewhat inclined to avarice, he encourages to acts of generosity and munificence, from the consideration of the fame accruing to the princes of that character, and the infamy redounding to tyrants, he concludes; winding up all with observing, that the first of all human blessings consists in being virtuous; the second in being praised; and that he who has the happiness to YOL. XII.

In verse conciseness pleases every guest, While each impatient blames and loaths a tedious feast.

DECADE XVIII.

Nor less distasteful is excessive fame

To the sour palate of the envious mind; Who hears with grief his neighbour's goodly name, And hates the fortune that he ne'er shall find. Yet in thy virtue, Hiero, persevere !

Since to be envied is a nobler fate Than to be pitied: let strict Justice steer

With equitable hand the helm of state,

And arm thy tongue with truth: O king, beware Of every step! a prince can never lightly err. DECADE XIX.

O'er many nations art thou set, to deal
The goods of Fortune with impartial hand;
And, ever watchful of the public weal,

Unnumber'd witnesses around thee stand.
Then, would thy virtuous ear for ever feast
On the sweet melody of well-earn'd fame,
In generous purposes confirm thy breast,

Nor dread expenses that will grace thy name; But scorning sordid and unprincely gain, Spread all thy bounteous sails, and lanch into the main.

DECADE XX.

When in the mouldering urn the monarch lies, His fame in lively characters remains,

Or grav'd in monumental histories,

Or deck'd and painted in Aonian strains. Thus fresh, and fragrant, and immortal, blooms The virtue, Crasus, of thy gentle mind: While Fate to infamy and hatred dooms Sicilia's tyrant, scorn of human kind; Whose ruthless bosom swell'd with cruel pride, When in his brazen bull the broiling wretches died.

DECADE XXI.

Him therefore nor in sweet society

The generous youth conversing ever name
Nor with the harp's delightful melody

Mingle his odious inharmonious faine;
The first, the greatest bliss on man conferr'd
Is, in the acts of virtue to excel;
The second, to obtain their high reward,

The soul-exalting praise of doing well.
Who both these lots attains, is blest indeed,
Since Fortune here below can give no richer meed.

THE FIRST NEMEAN ODE.

This ode is inscribed to Chromius of Etna (a city of Sicily) who gained the victory in the chariotrace, 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 Olympic), 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, he takes 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 achievements 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 chase'
In whose recesses rests th' emerging flood
Of Alpheus, breathing from his amorous race!
Divine Ortygia! to thy name'

The Muse preluding tunes her strings,
Pleas'd with the sweet preamble of thy fam
To usher in the verse, that sings

Thy triumphs, Chromius; while Sicilian Jore Hears with delight through Etna's sounding gove The gratulations of the hymning choir,

Whom thy victorious car and Nemea's palms ir pire.

ANTISTROPHE I.

The basis of his future praise

Assisted by the gods hath Chromius laid; And to its height the towering pile may If Fortune lends her favourable aid: Assur'd that all th' Aonian train Their wonted friendship will afford, Who with delight frequent the listed plu The toils of Virtue to record. Meantime around this isle, harmoniousl The brightest beams of shining verse dite e: This fruitful island, with whose flowery de Heaven's awful king endow'd great Plute's beautecus bride.

EPODE 1.

Sicilia with transcendant plenty crown'd
Jove to Proserpina consign'd;
Then with a nod his solemn promise bow',
Still further to enrich her fertile shores
With peopled cities, stately towers,
And sons in arts and arms refin'd;
Skill'd to the dreadful works of war:
The thundering steed to train;
Or mounted on the whirling car

Olympia's all-priz'd olive to obtain.
Abundant is my theme; nor need I wrong
The fair occasion with a flattering song.

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: