The Odes of Pindar (Penguin ed.)
Page 14
Pagasos, until Pallas brought to him
[65] A gold-frontleted bridle. Straightway
His dream was the truth. She said:
‘Do you sleep, King, son of Aiolos?
Come take this charm for the horse;
Sacrifice a glossy bull
And show it to the Father, the Tamer.’
IV
[70] In the darkness the black-shielded Maiden
Seemed to say this to him in his sleep.
He leapt upright to his feet,
And seized the marvel that lay at his side.
In joy he found the seer of the land
[75] And revealed to Koiranos’ son
The whole end of the matter:
‘On the Goddess’s altar I slept
A whole night at your bidding;
And the daughter of Zeus herself,
Of him whose spear is the lightning,
Gave me the gold to break his spirit in.’
The prophet bade him: ‘Obey the dream
[80] Quickly, and when you have sacrificed
Strong-hooved beasts to the Earth-holder,
Straightway set up an altar
To Athana, goddess of horses.’
The gods’ power makes it easy to win
What is beyond oath and beyond hope.
Truly strong Bellerophon strove and caught,
[85] By stretching the gentle drug about its mouth,
The flying horse. He mounted it and therewith
Played the weapon-game in brazen armour;
And with it in time he slew
With shafts from the cold vales of the desolate air
The archer-host of Amazon women,
[90] The fire-breathing Chimaira and the Solymoi.
On his doom I shall keep silence,
But the horse is kept on Olympos
In the stables of Zeus as of old.
V
– I must make a straight cast with my javelins
And not send the many shafts in my hand
[95] Beside the mark. I have come
Of my own will to help
The Muses on shining thrones
And Oligaithos’ sons. All they have done
At Isthmos and Nemea I shall make plain
In a short word; and a true statement on oath,
Heard sixty times at both places,
[100] Shall be the sweet-tongued cry of a noble herald.
What they did at Olympia
Has, it seems, already been told;
What is to come, at the time I shall speak it clearly.
Now I have hope, but with God
[105] Is the end. If the fate of the race goes on,
We shall leave this to Zeus
And to the Lord of the War-cry to do.
Six are their victories
Under the brow of Parnassos; and how many at Argos and Thebes,
And how many in Arkadian valleys,
The master-altar of the Lykaian God shall witness,
Pellana and Sikyon and Megara,
The well-walled precinct of the Aiakidai,
[110] Eleusis and shining Marathon,
And the fine rich cities beneath Aitna’s tall peak,
And Euboia, – if you search all Hellas,
You will find more than the eye can see.
Up! with nimble feet I shall swim away.
Zeus Accomplishes grant them modesty
[115] And a fortune of sweet delights.
Olympian XIII was written in 464 B.C. and performed at Korinth, which Pindar visited for the occasion.
1 Xenophon had already won two victories at Olympia, and his father Thessalos one (34).
6–8 Lawfulness, Justice, and Peace are the qualities on which aristocratic communities like Korinth prided themselves.
10 ‘Pride … mother of surfeit’. Solon and Theognis make Surfeit the mother of Pride.
18–22 Korinth is credited with the invention of the dithyramb, the bit for horses, and the eagles on the crests of temples.
29–46 Enumeration of victories won by Xenophon and his kinsmen.
49 Pindar will go his own way in singing of familiar Korinthian themes.
52 Sisyphos, king of Korinth, got back from death by a trick.
53 Medeia marries Jason against the will of her father Aietas.
55 In the Trojan War Korinthians fought on the Achaian side under Euchenor, on the Trojan side under Glaukos.
63–92 Myth of Bellerophon and the winged horse, Pagasos. The latter was the national emblem of Korinth, displayed on its coins.
63 Pagasos was the child of the Gorgon.
69 The ‘Tamer’ is a cult-name for Poseidon.
75 The seer Polyeidos was son of Koiranos.
86 ff. The feats of Bellerophon on Pagasos.
91–2 Bellerophon tries to scale the sky on Pagasos, and is thrown. Pindar may suggest a warning against pride in mentioning this.
97 The Oligaithidai are the victor’s family.
106–13 More victories.
Nemean X
For Theaios of Argos, a wrestler
I
The city of Danaos
And his fifty daughters on shining thrones,
Sing of it, Graces,
Of Argos, home of Hera, fit for the Gods.
It is aflame with glories past number
Because of bold doings.
Long are the tales of what Perseus did to the Gorgon Medoisa,
[5] And many the cities of Egypt founded by Epaphos’ hands;
Nor went Hypermestra astray
When she kept in its sheath
Her single, dissentient sword.
Once the fair Bright-eyed One
Made Diomedes a god undying,
And at Thebes the earth,
Thunderstruck with the bolts of Zeus,
Swallowed Oikleës’ son, the battle’s cloud.
[10] In lovely-haired women it is first from of old;
Zeus proved the truth of this
When he came to Alkmana and to Danaä.
In Adrastos’ father and in Lynkeus he grafted
The heart’s fruit on upstanding right.
He nursed the spear of Amphitryon,
Who was foremost in fortune and came to kinship with him,
[15] When in armour of bronze he spoiled the Teleboai.
In his likeness the King of Immortals came into his palace
And brought the unconquerable seed of Herakles,
Whose bride Youth walks on Olympus
At the side of the Mother, the Match-maker,
Most beautiful of goddesses.
II
My breath is too short to rehearse all the fine things
[20] That belong to the precinct of Argos;
The boredom of men is heavy to counter.
Nevertheless, awake the fine strings of the harp
And turn your thoughts to wrestling.
The brazen struggle hurries the people
To the sacrifice of oxen to Hera
And the verdict of the Games,
Where Theaios, son of Oulias, conquered twice,
And found forgetfulness of toils he had lightly borne.
[25] Once he routed the host of Hellas at Pytho,
And fortunate was his coming
To the crown at the Isthmos and Nemea.
He gave ploughland to the Muses
When he won three times in the gates of the sea,
Three times by Adrastos’ rules on holy ground.
Father Zeus, on his heart’s desire his lips are silent;
Every end of doing rests with thee –
[30] But not with a sluggard’s heart
Does he ask for favour wrongly,
But brings endurance with him.
I sing what is known to him
And to all who strive for the peaks of the highest Games.
The foremost, which Herakles founded, belongs to Pisa,
Yet in prelude sweet Ath
enian voices
Have twice extolled him in their festivals;
[35] And in fire-baked clay the olive’s fruit
Has come to Hera’s people of noble men
In the pots’ richly patterned walls.
III
Over the far-famed race
Of your mother’s clan, Theaios,
Watches renown for success in the Games,
With the Graces often to help and Tyndareos’ sons.
[40] If I were kin of Thrasyklos and Antias,
I should hold it right
Not to veil the light of my eyes from Argos.
For with how many victories
Has this horse-breeding city of Proitos burst into flower
In the Gulf of Korinth,
And four times over the men of Kleonai.
From Sikyon they came silvered with wine-cups,
From Pellana with clothes of soft wool on their backs.
[45] But I cannot add up the multitudinous bronze,
– It takes too long to count –
Which Kleitor and Tegea,
The Achaians’ high-set towns and the Lykaian Hill,
Set in the race-track of Zeus
To be won by strong feet and hands.
Since Kastor and his brother Polydeukes
[50] Came to be guests of Pamphaes,
It is no wonder that this race begets good athletes.
For they who watch over Sparta’s broad places,
With Hermes and Herakles,
Make the rule of the Games to prosper,
And care for good men exceedingly. Truly
The breed of the Gods may be trusted.
IV
[55] Turn and turn about they pass
One day with their loving father Zeus,
The other hidden by earth in Therapna’s caverns,
And fulfil a like fate.
This life, and not to be fully a god and live in the sky,
Polydeukes chose, when Kastor was killed in war.
[60] For Idas, in anger over some oxen,
Struck him with a spear’s bronze point.
Lynkeus looked out from Taygetos
And saw them sitting in an oak’s dry trunk;
For his eye was the sharpest of all on earth.
With racing feet they came at once and quickly
Devised a great enterprise,
And Zeus worked terrible suffering for them,
[65] The sons of Aphareus.
For straightway in chase came Leda’s son,
And they stood on defence by their father’s tomb.
From it they ripped Death’s ornament,
A polished stone,
And flung it on Polydeukes’ breast.
But they did not break him or drive him back.
With his quick spear he jumped upon them
[70] And drove the bronze into Lynkeus’ lungs;
And on Idas Zeus threw a fiery smoking thunderbolt.
V
To his strong brother quickly came back Tyndareos’ son
And found him not yet dead
But shaking with gasps in his breath.
[75] He let hot tears fall and lifted his voice in lament:
‘Father Kronion, what release shall there be from sorrows?
Give death to me also, Master, with him.
Honour goes from one who has lost his friends,
And in trouble few among men may be trusted
To share in suffering.’ He spoke,
And Zeus came before him
[80] And spoke this word clearly:
‘You are my son,
But this man was begotten of mortal seed
By his hero father,
Who drew after me to your mother.
Yet now I give you this choice:
If you would escape from death and from hated old age
And dwell on Olympus with me
And with Athana and with black-speared Ares,
[85] This lot may be yours.
But if you fight for your brother,
And are minded to share with him in all things alike,
You may live half beneath the earth,
And half in the sky’s golden palaces.’
He spoke, and Polydeukes set
No double counsel in his heart,
[90] But freed the eye, and then the voice
Of bronze-belted Kastor.
Nemean X seems to have been written about 464 B.C. for an Argive who won not at Nemea but in local games at the festival of Hera.
1–18 The first triad deals with the glories of Argos.
1 Danaos was the father of fifty daughters, of whom all but one was forced to marry an Egyptian suitor.
4 Perseus was born in Argos.
5 Epaphos, the son of Io, founded Memphis and other Egyptian cities.
6 Hypermestra was the only daughter of Danaos who did not kill her suitor but married him.
7 Athana made Diomedes a god in the Adriatic.
8–9 Amphiaraos, son of Oikleës, was swallowed up in the earth in the war of the Seven against Thebes.
11 Alkmana, wife of Amphitryon, bears Herakles to Zeus.
12 Talaos is father of Adrastos, Lynkeus the son of Aphareus, both renowned for their wisdom.
15 Zeus begets Herakles by assuming the likeness of Amphitryon who is away fighting the Teleboai.
19–36 The second triad tells of the victories won by Theaios.
24 Oulias is father of Theaios.
28 The Adrastos games were at Argos.
35–6 The prizes at Athens were painted pots.
37–54 The third triad tells of victories won by the family of Theaios.
49–54 A connexion is made between the present victor and the Dio-skouroi. In the past Pamphaes used to entertain them. With Hermes and Herakles they look after games.
55–90 The last two triads tell the story of the last fight of the Dioskouroi against the sons of Aphareus, Idas and Lynkeus.
60 Pindar hurries past the real reason for the quarrel, which included women as well as oxen.
62 Lynkeus sees the Dioskouroi from a great distance.
72 Tyndareos’ son is Polydeukes, who comes to the help of Kastor.
90 Polydeukes’ decision brings his brother back to life.
Pythian V
For Arkesilas of Kyrene, winner in the chariot-race
I
The strength of wealth is wide,
When a mortal man
Has it from Fortune’s hands, and mixes with it
An unstained nobleness: and, whom it follows,
Many are his friends.
[5] You, Arkesilas, for whom the Gods care,
Have won it from the high steps of your glorious life
Through Kastor, gold-charioted lord.
After the storm-shower
[10] He smiles fair weather down on your happy hearth.
The wise wear with a fairer grace
This power which Gods have given.
You who walk in righteousness
Have great prosperity around you.
[15] First, you are king of mighty cities
(Your royal eye
Looks on no title so honourable
As this, engrafted on your heart)
[20] And today too you are happy, your horses
Have won your prayer
At the feast of glorious Pytho,
And you have received this visit, a triumph of men,
The light of Apollo’s eyes. –
Forget not, while you are sung of
In Aphrodita’s sweet garden at Kyrene,
[25] To set a God as the cause
Over all things and to love
Karrhotos the best of your companions.
He did not come bringing
Excuse, the daughter of late-wise Afterthought,
To the halls where Battos’ sons
Of right bear rule –
[30] No, but he proved your chariot the best
And set the prize on your hair,
II
His reins untangled, where swift feet go
Twelve times around the holy field.
He broke nothing of his strong-harnessed car:
It is hung on high,
[35] All that cunning handwork that he took with him
Past the Krisean Hill
Into the level field, the glade of the God.
The Cypress Chamber keeps it
[40] Hard by that image
Which the Kretan bowmen set
In a shrine on Parnassos – a tree-trunk uprooted whole.
With glad heart then you may meet him
Who has done you so fine service.
[45] – On you, son of Alexibios,
Is the light of the lovely-haired Graces:
Happy, for if your labour was great,
In noblest words is your memorial.
Among forty drivers who fell
[50] You brought your chariot
Whole, with unflinching heart;
And now from the splendid encounter you have come
To Libya’s plain and the city of your fathers.
There is no man, nor shall be,
Without his portion of troubles.
[55] Yet, after one thing and another,
Still the old happiness of Battos clings,
A tower of the city,
A most bright eye to strangers.
From him in terror
Loud-roaring lions fled
When he unloosed on them his seafarer’s tongue.
[60] Apollo, the leader of the way,
Delivered the wild beasts to terrible fear,
That his vice-regent in Kyrene
Should know his oracles come true.
III
He grants to men and women
Healing from grievous sicknesses:
[65] His is the harp. He gives to whom he will
The Muse, and brings into the heart
Law, that thinks not of battle:
In the Cave of Prophecy he is to be found.
Thence he established in Lakedaimon,
[70] In Argos and holy Pylos, the valiant children
Of Herakles and Aigimios.
And he proclaims
My well-prized glory that I have from Sparta.
For thence were sprung
The men who came to Thera, the Aigeidai,
[75] Kinsmen to me,
(Not without Gods, a destiny led them):
From them