by Nonnus
85 ψυχὴν ἠνεμόφοιτον Ἀρεστορίδαο γεραίρων.
[77] The Wind left the rosy chamber of Dawn his mother, and fanned the blazing pyre all night long, stirring up the windfed leaping fire; the wild breezes, neighbours of the sun, shot the gleams into the air. Along with sorrowing Lyaios, Asterios of Dicte who was one of his kindred, holding a twohandled cup of sweet fragrant wine, made the dust of the earth drunken in honour of the soul of Arestor’s son now carried on the wind.
Ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε δὴ δροσεριῖο προάγγελος ἅρματος Ἠοῦς
ὄρθρος ἐρευθιόων ἀμαρύσσετο νύκτα χαράσσων,
δὴ τότε πάντες ὄρουσαν, ἀμοιβαίνῳ δὲ κυπίλλῳ
πυρκαϊὴν ἑτάροιο κατέαβεσαν ἰκμάδι Βάκχου.
90 καὶ βαλίαις πτερύγεσσιν ἐχάζετο θερμὸς ἀήτης
εἰς δόμον Ἠελίοιο φαεσφόρον. Ἀστέριος δὲ
ὀστέα συλλέξας κεκαλυμμένα δίπλακι δημῷ
εἰς χρυσέην φιάλην κατεθήκατο λείψανα νεκροῦ.
καὶ τροχαλοὶ Κκορύβαντες, ἐπεὶ λάχον ἔνδιον Ἴδης,
νεκροὸν ἐταρχύσαωτο, μιῆς οἰκήτορα πάτρης,
Κρήτης γνήσιον αἷμα, βαθυνομένων δὲ θεμέθλων
τύμβον ἐτορνώσαωτο πεδοσκαφέος διὰ κόλπου:
καὶ κόνιν ὀθνείην πυμάτην ἐτέχευαν Ὀφέλτῃ,
καὶ τάφον αἰπυτέροισιν ἀνεστήσαντο δομαίοις,
100 τοῖον ἐπιγράψαντες ἔπος νεοπενθέι τύμβῳ:
‘νεκρός Ἀρεστορίδης μινυώριος ἐνθάδε κεῖται,
Κνώσσιος, Ἰνδοφόνος, Βρομίου συνάεθλος, Ὀφέλτης.’
[86] But when morning, the harbinger of Dawn’s dewy car, scored the night with his ruddy gleams, then all awoke, and quenched their comrade’s pyre with cups of Bacchos’s juice in turn. Then the hot wind returned on quick pinions to the lightbringing mansion of Helios. Asterios collected the bones, and wrapping them in folded fat laid the relics of the dead in a golden urn. Then the whirling Corybants, since their lot was cast in the haunts of Ida, gave burial to the body as an inhabitant of one country, a true-born son of Crete, and digging the foundations deep they made his round tomb in a hollow dug in the earth, and last of all they poured foreign dust over Opheltes. They built up his barrow with taller stones, and engraved these lines on this monument of their recent sorrow: “Here lies Arestor’s son who untimely died: Cnossian, Indianslayer, comrade of Bromios, Opheltes.”
καὶ θεὸς ἀμπελόεις ἐπιτύμβια δῶρα κομίζων
αὐτόθι λαὸν ἔρυκε, καὶ ἵζανεν εὐρὺν ἀγῶνα,
105 τέρμα δρόμου τελέσας ἱππήλατον: ἐν δαπέδῳ δέ
ὀργυίης ἰσόμετρος ἔην λίθος εὐρέι μέτρῳ,
ἡμιτόμου κύκλοιο φέρων τύπον, εἰκόνα μήνης,
ἀντιτύποις λαγόνεσσιν ἐύξοος, οἷον ὑφαίνων
ἐργοπόνοις παλάμῃσι γέρων τορνώσατο τέκτων,
110 ἔνθεον ἀσκῆσαι ποθέων βρέτας: ὃν τότε γαίῃ
κουφίζων παλάμῃσι πέλωρ ἱδρύσατο Κύκλωψ
νύσσης λαϊνέης ἀντίρροπν, ἶσον ἐκείνῳ
ἀντόπορον λίθον ἄλλον ὁμόζυγον ἐν χθονἰ πήξας.
ποικίλα δ᾽ ἦεν ἄεθλα, λέβης, τρίπος, ἀσπίδες, ἵπποι,
115 ἄργυρος, Ἰνδὰ μέταλλα, βόες, Πακτώλιος ἰλύς.
[103] Then the god of the vine brought the funeral prizes. He kept the people there, and marked out a wide space for games with the goal for a chariot-race. There was on the ground a stone of a fathom’s width, rounded into a half-circle, like the moon, well smoothed on its two sides, such as an old craftsman has fashioned and rounded with industrious hands wishing to make the statue of a god. A giant Cyclops lifted this in his hands and set it in the earth for a stone turning-post, and fixed another like it at the opposite end. There were various prizes, cauldron, tripod, shields, horses, silver, Indian jewels, cattle, Pactolian silt.
καὶ θεὸς ἱππήεσσιν ἀέθλια θήκατο νίκης:
πρώτῳ μὲν θέτο τόξον Ἀμαζονίην τε φαρέτρην
καὶ σάκος ἡμιτέλεστον Ἀρηιφίλην τε γυναῖκα,
τήν ποτε Θερμώδοντος ὑπ᾽ ὀφρύσι πεζὸς ὁδεύων
120 λουομένην ζώγρησε, καὶ ἤγαγεν εἰς πόλιν Ἰνδῶν:
δευτέρῳ ἵππον ἔθηκε Βορειάδι σύνδρομον αὔρῃ,
ξανθοφυῆ, δολιχῇσι κατάσκιον αὐχένα χαίταις,
ἡμιτελὲς κυέουσαν ἔτι βρέφος, ἧς ἔτι φόρτῳ
ἵππιον ὄγκον ἔχουσα γονῆς οἰδαίνετο γαστηρ:
125 καὶ τριτάτῳ θώρηκα, καὶ ἀσπίδα θῆκε τετάρτῳ:
τὸν μὲν ἀριστοπόνος τεχνήσατο Λήμνιος ἄκμων
ἀσκήσας χρυσέῳ δαιδάλματι, τῆς δ᾽ ἐνὶ μέσσῳ
ὀμφαλὸς ἀργυρέῳ τροχόεις ποικίλλετο κόσμῳ:
πέμπτῳ δοιὰ τὰλαντα, γέρας Πακτωλίδος ὄχθης.
130 ὀρθωθεὶς δ᾽ ἀγόρευεν ἐπισπέρχων ἐλατῆρας:
[116] The god offered prizes of victory for the charioteers. For the first, a bow and Amazonian quiver, a demilune buckler, and one of those warlike women, whom once as he walked on the banks of Thermodon he had taken while bathing and brought to the Indian city. For the second, a bay mare swift as the north wind, with long mane overshadowing her neck, still in foal and gone half her time and her belly swollen with the burden her mate had begotten. For the third, a corselet, and a shield for the fourth. This was a masterpiece made on the Lemnian anvil and adorned with gold patterns; the round boss in the middle was wrought with silver ornaments. For the fifth, two ingots, treasure from the banks of Pactolos. Then he stood up and encouraged the drivers:
‘ὦ φίλοι, οὓς ἐδίδαξεν Ἄρης πολίπορθον Ἐνυώ,
οἷς δρόμον ἱπποδύνης δωρήσατο κυανοχαίτης,
οὐ μὲν ἐγώ καμάτων ἀδαήμονας ἄνδρας ἐπείγω,
ἀλλὰ πόνοις βριαροῖσιν ἐθήμονας: ἡμέτεροι γὰρ
135 παντοίαις ἀρετῇσι μεμηλότες εἰσὶ μαχηταί:
εἰ γὰρ ἀπὸ Τμώλοιο γένος λάχε Λύδιος ἀνήρ,
ἱππείης τελέσει Πελοπηίδος ἄξια νίκης:
εἰ δὲ πέδον Πισαῖον ἔχει μαιήιον ἵππων
Ἤλιδος εὐδίφροιο καὶ Οἰνομαοιο πολίτης,
140 οἶδεν Ὀλυμπιάδος κοτινηφόρον ὄζον ἐλαίης:
ἀλλ᾽ οὐκ Οἰνομάοιο πέλει δρόμος, οὐκ ἐλατῆρες
ἐνθάδε κέντρον ἔχουσι κακοξείνων ὑμεναίων,
ἀλλ᾽ ἀρετῇς δρόμος οὗτος, ἐλεύοερος ἀφρογενείης:
&nb
sp; εἰ πέδον Ἀονίης ἢ Φωκίδος αἷμα κομίζει,
145 Πύθιον Ἀπόλλωνι τετιμένον οἶδεν ὰγῶνα:
εἰ μεθέπει σοφὸν οὖδας ἐλαιοκόμου Μαραθῶνος,
ἔγνω πιαλέης ἐγκύμονα κάλαπιν ἐέρσης:
εἰ πέλεν εὐώδινος Ἀχαιίδος ἀστὸς ἀρούρης,
Πελλήνην δεδάηκεν, ὅπῃ ῥιγηλὸν ἀγῶνα
150 ἄνδρες ἀεθλεύουσι φιλοχλαίνου περὶ νίκης,
χειμερίῳ σφίγγοντες ἀθαλπέα γυῖα χιτῶνι:
εἰ ναέτης βλάστησεν ἁλιζώνοιο Κορίνθου,
Ἴσθμιον ἡμετέροιο Παλαίμονος οἶδεν ἀγῶνα.’
[131] “My friends, whom Ares has taught citystorming war, to whom Seabluehair has given the racer’s horsemanship! You whom I urge are men not unacquainted with hardship, but used to heavy toils; for our warriors hold dear all sorts of manly prowess.
If one is of Lydian birth from Tmolos, he will do deeds worthy of the victorious racing of Pelops. If one comes from the land of Pisa, nurse of horses, a man of Elis with its fine chariots, a countryman of Oinomaos, he knows the sprigs of Olympian wild olive: but this is not the race of Oinomaos, our drivers here have not the goad of a marriage fatal to strangers — this is a race for honour and free from the Foamborn. If one has the land of Aonia or the blood of Phocis, he knows the Pythian contest honoured by Apollo. If he holds Marathon, rich in olives, the home of artists, he knows those jars teeming with rich juice. If one is a habitant of the fruitful land of Achaia, he has learnt of Pellene, where men wage a shivery contest for the welcome prize of a woollen cloak, a coat to huddle up their cold limbs in winter. If he has grown up to live in sea-girdled Corinth, he knows the Isthmian contest of our Palaimon.”
ὣς φαμένου σπεύδοντες ἐπέτρεχον ἡγεμονῆες,
155 δίφρα περιτροχόωντες ἀμοιβαδίς: ὠκυπόδην δὲ
Ξάνθον ἄγων πρώτιστος ὑπὸ ζυγὰ δῆσεν Ἐρεχθεὺς
ἄρσενα, καὶ θήλειαν ἐπεσφήκωσε Ποδάρκην,
οὓς Βορέης ἔσπειρεν ἐυπτερύγων ἐπὶ λέκτρων
Στθοωίην Ἅρπυιαν ἀελλόπον εἰς γάμον ἕλκων,
160 καί σφεας, Ὠρείθυιαν ὅθ᾽ ἥρπασεν Ἀτθίδα νύμφην,
ὤπασεν ἕδνον ἕρςτος Ἐρεχθέι γαμβρὸς ἀήτης.
[154] He spoke, and the leaders came hastening up and ran round each to his chariot. First Erechtheus brought his horse Bayard under the yoke, and if they are from the regions near Delphi (144), they are neighbours of the Pythian Games (that these were not founded till centuries later does not seem to trouble Nonnos). If they are from the Isthmus of Corinth (152-153) they are to remember that the Games there are in honour of Palaimon (cf ix. 90). Apparently a chronological scruple prevents him naming the Nemean Games, said to have been founded by the Seven champions on their way to Thebes. Of the minor Games, the prizes for which were not wreaths but objects of value, he mentions (146) the (Heracleia at) Marathon, but obviously confuses them with the Panathenaia, for the Marathonian prizes were silver goblets (schol. Find. 01. xiii. 110), oil being the prize of the Panathenaia. In 148-149 the allusion is to the Hermaia at Pellene in Achaia, where the prize was a woollen cloak. Probably he had his information from Pindar and his scholiast. fastened in his mare Swiftfoot; both sired by North-wind Boreas in winged coupling when he dragged a stormfoot Sithonian Harpy to himself, and the Wind gave them as loveprice to his goodfather Erechtheus when he stole Attic Oreithyia for his bride.
δεύτερος Ἀκταίων Ἰσμηνίδα πάλλεν ἱμάσθλην:
καὶ τρίτος ὑγρομέδοντος ἀπόσπορος ἐννοσιγαίου
Σκέλμις ἔην ταχύπωλος, ὃς ἔγραφε πολλάκις ὕδωρ
165 πάτριον ἰθύνων Ποσιδήιον ἅρμα θαλάσσης.
τέτρατος ἄνθορε Φαῦνος, ὃς εἰς μέσον ἧλθεν ἀγῶνος
μοῦνος ἔχων τύπον ἶσον ἑῆς γενέταο τεκούσης,
Ἠελίου μίμημα φέρων τετράζυγας ἵππους:
καὶ Σικελῶν ὀχέων ἐπεβήσατο πέμπτος Ἀχάτης,
170 οἶστπον ἔχων Πισαῖον ἐλαιοκόμου ποταμοῖο,
ἱπποσύνης ἀκόρητος, ἐπεὶ πέδον ᾤκεε νύμφης
Ἀλοειοῦ δυσέρωτος ὃς εἰς Ἀπέθουσαν ἱκάνει
ἄβροχον ἕδνον ἔρωτος ἄγων στεφανηφόρον ὕδωρ.
[162] Second, Actaion swung his Ismenian lash. Third was speedyfoal Scelmis, offspring of Earthshaker lord of the wet, who often cut the water of the sea driving the car of his father Poseidon. Fourth Phaunos leapt up, who came into the assembly alone bearing the semblance of his mother’s father, with four horses under his yoke like Helios; and fifth Achates mounted his Sicilian chariot, one insatiable for horsemanship, full of the passion which belongs to the river that feeds the olivetrees of Pisa. For he lived in the land of the nymph loved by hapless Alpheios, who brings to Arethusa as a gift of love his garlanded waters untainted by the brine.
καὶ θρασὺν Ἀκταίωνα λαβὼν ἀπάνευθεν ὁμίλου
175 παιδὶ πατὴρ σπεύδοντι φίλους ἐπετέλλετο μύθους:
[174] Bold Actaion was led away from the crowd by his father, who addressed these loving injunctions to his eager son:
‘Τέκνον Ἀρισταίοιο περισσονόοιο τοκῆος,
οἶδα μέν, ὅττι φέρεις σθένος ἄριον, ὅττι κομίζεις
σύμφυτον ἠνορέῃ κεκερασμένον ἄνθεμον ἥβης,
πάτριον αἷμα φέρων Φοιβήιον, ἡμέτεραι δὲ
180 κρείσσονες ἀίσσουσιν ἐπὶ δρόμον Ἀρκάδες ἵπποι:
ἀλλὰ ματην τάδε πάντα, καὶ οὐ σθένος, οὐ δρόμος ἵππων
νικῆσαι δεδάασιν, ὅσον φρένες ἡνιοχῆος:
μούνης κερδοσύνης ἐπιδεύεαι: ἱπποσύνη γὰρ
χπηίζει πινυτοῖο δαήμονος ἡνιοχῆος.
[176] “My son, your father Aristaios has more experience than you. I know you have strength enough, that in you the bloom of youth is joined with courage; for you have in you the blood of Apollo my father, and our Arcadian mares are stronger than any for the race. But all this is in vain, neither strength nor running horses know how to win, as much as the driver’s brains. Cunning, only cunning you want; for horseracing needs a smart clever man to drive.
185 ἀλλὰ σὺ πατρὸς ἄκουε, καὶ ἵππια κέρδεα τέχνης,
ὅσσα χρόνῳ δεδάηκα πολύτροπα, καὶ σὲ διδάξω.
σπεῦδε, τέκος, γενετῆρα τεαῖς ἀρετῇσι γεραίρειν:
καὶ δρόμος ἱπποσύνης μεθέπει κλίος, ὅσσον Ἐνυώ:
σπεῦδε καὶ ἐν σταδίοισι μετὰ πτολέμους με γεραίρειν:
190 Ἄρεα νικήσας ἑτέρην ὑποδύσεο νίκην,
ὄφρα μετ᾽ αἰχμητῆρα καὶ ἀθλοφόρον σε καλέσσω.
ὦ τέκος, ἄξια ῥέξον ὁμογνήτῳ Διονύσῳ,
ἄξια καὶ Φοίβοιο καὶ εὐπα
λάμοιο Κυρήνης,
καὶ καμάτους νίκησον Ἀρισταίοιο τοκῆος:
195 ἱπποσύνην δ᾽ ἀνάφαινε, φέρων τεχνήμονα νίκην,
κερδαλέην σέο μῆτιν, ἐπεὶ κατὰ μέσσον ἀγῶνος
ἄλλος ἀνὴρ ἀδίδακτος ἀπόσσυτον ἅρμα παρέηκων
πλάζεται ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα, καὶ ἀντιπόρων δρόμος ἵππων
ἄστατος οὐ μάστιγι βιάζεται, οὐδὲ χαλινῷ
200 πείθεται, ἡνίοχος δὲ μετάτροπος ἔκτοθι νύσσης
ἕλκεται, ἧχι φέρουσιν ἀπειθέες ἅρπαγες ἵπποι:
ὃς δέ κε τεχνήεντι δόλῳ μεμελημένος εἴη
ἡνίοχος πολύμητις, ἔχων καὶ ἐηάσσονας ἵππους,
ἰθύνει, προκέλευθον ὀπιπεύων ἐλατῆρα,
205 ἐγγὺς ἀεὶ περὶ νύσσαν ἄγων δρόμον, ἅρμα δὲ κάμπτει
ἱππεύων περὶ τέρμα καὶ οὔ ποτε τέρμα χαράσσων.
σκέπτεό μοι καὶ σφίγγε κυβερνητῆρι χαλινῷ
δοχμώσας ὅηον ἵππον ἀπιστεπὸν ἐγγύθι νύσσης,
λοξὸς ἐπὶ πλευρῇσι παρακλιδὸν ἅρμα βαρύνων,
210 ἀγχιφανὴς ἄψαυστος ἀναγκαίῳ τινὶ μέτρῳ
σὸν δρόμον ἰθύνων, πεφυλαγμένος, ἄχρι φανείη
πλήμνη ἑλισσομένου σέθεν ἅρματος οἷά περ ἄκρου
τέρματος ἁπτομένη τροχειδέι γείτονι κύκλῳ:
ἀλλὰ λίθον πεφύλαξο, μὴ ἄξονι νύσσαν ἀράξας
215 εἰν ἑνὶ δηλήσαιο καὶ ἅρματα καὶ σέθεν ἵππους.
