With eager, anxious step he came; A wound so near his heart Shook with dismay his inmost frame, And rous'd the active spirits in every part. To our own sorrows serious heed we give; But for another's woe soon cease to grieve. STROPHE IV. Amaz'd the trembling father stood, While doubtful pleasure, mixt with wild surprise, Drove from his troubled heart the vital flood: His son's stupendous deed with wondering eyes He view'd, and how the gracious will Of Heaven to joy had chang'd his fear And falsified the messengers of ill. Then straight he calls th' unerring seer, Divine Tiresias, whose prophetic 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. ANTISTROPHE IV. What fell despoilers of the land The prophet, told, what monsters of the main, Should feel the vengeance of his righteous hand: What savage, proud, pernicious tyrant slain, To Hercules should bow his head, Hurl'd from his arbitrary throne, Whose glittering pomp his curs'd ambition fed, And made indignant nations groan. Last, when the giant sons of Earth shall dare To wage against the gods rebellious war, Pierc'd by his rapid shafts on Phlegra's plain With dust their radiant locks the haughty foe shall stain. EPODE IV. Then shall his generous toils for ever cease, To grace his spousal bed shall come, In Jove's august abodes Then shall be hear the bridal song; Then, in the blest society of gods, The nuptial banquet share, and, rapt in praise And wonder, round the glittering mansion gaze. THE ELEVENTH NEMEAN ODE. This ode is inscribed 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 colleagues, 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 pryta næums, as the Greeks called them); beseeching her to receive favourably Aristagoras and his colleagues, 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 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 endowinents, 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 clothing of flesh is perishable, and that he must cre long be clothed with earth, the end of all things; and yet, continues be, 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 Olympic 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 men's 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 enterprises, in which they would, in all probability, have come off with honour. This reflection he applies to 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, aud forming enterprises, without previously consulting Prudence or Wisdom, whose streams, says he, lie 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. But hail, Arcesilas! all hail Thou, whom on Fortune's highest scale Now pusillanimous, deprest with fear, STROPHE III. But who could err in prophesying good Swells with a tide of Spartan blood, wave. ANTISTROPHE III. Though 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; While Nature's vigour, working at the root, In after-ages swells, and blossoms into fruit. EPUDE III. Nor hath Jove given us to foreknow When the rich years of virtue shall succeed; Yet bold and daring on we go, Contriving schemes of many a mighty deed. While Hope, fond inmate of the human mind, And Self-opinion, active, rash, and blind, Hold up a false illusive ray, That leads our dazzled feet astray Far from the springs, where calm and slow The secret streams of wisdom flow. Hence should we learn our ardour to restrain, And limit to due bounds the thirst of gain. To rage and madness oft that passion turns, Which with forbidden flames despairing burns. with his riches lost all his friends; and of this truth, continues Pindar, you, Thrasybulus, are not ignorant, for you are a wise man: I shall therefore say no more about it, but proceed to celebrate the victories of Xenocrates: after an enumeration of which, he passes on to the mention of the virtues of Xenocrates, whom he praises for his benevolence, his public spirit, his devo tion to the gods, and his constant uninterrupted course of hospitality in all changes of fortune, These virtues of his father he encourages Thrasybulus not to conceal throngh the fear of exciting the envy of mankind, and bids Nicasippus (by whom this He was sent to Thrasybulus) to tell him to publish it; concluding with observing, that a poem is not made to continue always, like a mute and motionless statue, in one place. For not unknown to victory and praise STROPHE IIL In smooth and flowery paths th' encomiast treads, ANTISTROPHE III. To all benevolent, revered, belov'd, In every social virtue he excell'd; EPODE III. Nor did he e'er when rose a stormy gale Or gather in his swelling sail: The fierce extremes of fortune to allay, Form'd, like a statue, to remain, TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ARGONAUTICS OF APOLLONIUS RHODIUS. On Saturn's head Ophion's honours plac'd, This said, the tuneful bard his lyre unstrung, While from her vocal keel loud murmurs broke; On their allotted posts now rang'd along Their hausers now they loose, and on the brine THE SONG OF ORPHEUS, AND THE SET- To Neptune pour the consecrated wine. TING OUT OF THE ARGO. THEN too, the jarring heroes to compose, "In the beginning how heaven, earth, and sea, Then from his native shores sad Jason turns Then too on Pelion's cloud-topt summit stood THE STORY OF PHINE US. THE following day Bithynia's coast they reach, For, lo! descending sudden from the sky, But now the princely crew approaching near, But faint and breathless as he reach'd the gate, This saw the chiefs amaz'd, and gather'd round; When from his labouring lungs a hollow sound, With breath and utterance scarce recover'd, broke, And thus th' enlighten'd seer prophetic spoke: "Princes of Greece, attend; if ye be they Whom o'er the main Thessalia's pines convey, And Jason leads to Colchos' magic land, Such is your cruel tyrant's stern command. Yes, ye be they; for yet my mental eye Undimm'd past, present, future, can descry. Thanks to thy son, Latona, who bestows This grace, this only solace of my woes. By Jove, to whom the suppliant's cause belongs, Who hates the merciless, who avenges wrongs, By Phoebus, by Saturnia, wife of Jove, By all the blest immortal powers above, Who lead you o'er the main with watchful care, O help! O save from famine and despair A wretch ill-fated, to affliction born, Nor leave me here unpitied and forlorn. For not these orbs alone depriv'd of sight Vindictive Heaven hath veil'd in doleful night; But to extreme old age his cruel law Dooms me th' unwasting thread of life to draw. Nor end my sorrows here; a heavy chain Of woes succeeds, and pain still link'd to pain. From secret baunts aërial, unexplor'd, Flights of devouring harpies vex my board. Swift, instantaneous, sudden they descend, And from my mouth the tasteful morsel rend. Meanwhile my troubled soul, with woes opprest, No means of aid, no comfort can suggest. For when the feast I purpose to prepare, They see that purpose, and prevent my care. But cloy'd and glutted with the luscious spoil, With noisome ordure, parting, they defile Whate'er remains, if aught perchance remain, That none approaching may the stench sustain, Though his strong heart were wrapt in plated mail, The filthy fragments such dire steams exhale: Yet me fell Hunger's all-subduing pain Compells, reluctant, loathing, to remain; Compells the deadly odours to endure, And gorge the craving maw with food impure. From these invaders (so hath Fate decreed) By Boreas' offspring shall my board be freed. Nor on a stranger to your house and blood, O sons of Boreas, is your aid bestow'd! Phineus behold, Agenor's hapless sun, Ouce for prophetic skill and riches known; Who, while I sway'd the Thracian sceptre, led Your dower'd sister to my spousal bed." Here Phineus ceas'd; each pitying hero groans, But chief, O Borcas, thy relenting sons Feel kind compassion swelling in their souls, While down their checks the generous torrent rolls. Then Zetes neer approaching closely press'd His hand, and thus the labouring seer address'd: "O most disastrous of all human kind, Whence sprung the evils that o'erwhelm thy mind? Hast thou, intrusted with the book of Fate, By folly merited celestial hate? Hence falls this indignation on thy head? Fain would the sons of Boreas give thee aid; Fain would they execute what Heaven ordains, But awful dread their willing hands restrains. To frighted mortals well thy sufferings prove, How fierce the vengeance of the gods above. Then swear, or never shall this righteous sword, Though drawn for thy deliverance, aid afford; |