# Masterpieces of Greek Literature (1902)/First Pythian Ode

* related portals: Odes of Pindar.
* sister projects: Wikipedia article, Wikidata item.
Layout 2
FIRST PYTHIAN ODE.
In honor of a victory with the chariot in the Pythian Gaines won by Hiero, king of Syracuse, in 470 B. C. Reference is made to a recent volcanic eruption of Mt. Aetna, and to the newly founded city Aetna, which Hiero had recently established with a Spartan constitution, near the foot of that mountain, on the site of the modern Catania. There Hiero had made his son Deinomenes king. Matthew Arnold paraphrases part of this ode in his Empedocles on Etna.
Hail, golden lyre! whose heav'n-invented string To Phoebus and the blaek-hair'd nine belongs; Who in sweet chorus round their tuneful king Mix with thy sounding chords their sacred songs. The dance, gay queen of pleasure, thee attends; 5 Thy jocund strains her list'ning feet inspire; And each melodious tongue its voice suspends Till thou, great leader of the heav'nly quire, With wanton art preluding giv'st the sign— Swells the full concert then with harmony divine. 10
Then, of their streaming lightnings all disarm'd, The smould'ring thunderbolts of Jove expire; Then, by the music of thy numbers charm'd, The birds' fierce monarch drops his vengeful ire; Perch'd on the sceptre of th' Olympian king, 15 The thrilling darts of harmony he feels; And indolently hangs his rapid wing, While gentle sleep his closing eyelid seals; And o'er his heaving limbs in loose array To ev'ry balmy gale the ruffling feathers play. 20
Ev'n Mars, stern god of violence and war, Soothes with thy lulling strains his furious breast, ​And driving from his heart each bloody care, His pointed lance consigns to peaceful rest. Nor less enraptur'd each immortal mind 25 Owns the soft influence of enchanting song, When, in melodious symphony combin'd, Thy son, Latona, and the tuneful throng Of muses, skill'd in wisdom's deepest lore, The subtle pow'rs of verse and harmony explore. 30
But they, on earth, or the devouring main, Whom righteous Jove with detestation views, With envious horror hear the heav'nly strain, Exil'd from praise, from virtue, and the muse. Such is Typhoeus, impious foe of gods, 35 Whose hundred headed form Cilicia's cave Once foster'd in her infamous abodes; Till daring with presumptuous arms to brave The might of thund'ring Jove, subdued he fell, Plung'd in the horrid dungeons of profoundest hell. 40
Now under sulph'rous Cumae's sea-bound coast, And vast Sicilia lies his shaggy breast; By snowy Aetna, nurse of endless frost, The pillar'd prop of heav'n, for ever press'd: Forth from whose nitrous caverns issuing rise 45 Pure liquid fountains of tempestuous fire, And veil in ruddy mists the noon-day skies, While wrapt in smoke the eddying flames aspire, ​Or gleaming thro' the night with hideous roar Far o'er the redd'ning main huge rocky fragments pour. 50
But he, vulcanian monster, to the clouds The fiercest, hottest inundations throws, While with the burthen of incumbent woods, And Aetna's gloomy cliffs o'erwhelm'd he glows. There on his flinty bed out-stretch'd he lies, 55 Whose pointed rock his tossing carcase wounds: There with dismay he strikes beholding eyes, Or frights the distant ear with horrid sounds. Ο save us from thy wrath, Sicilian Jove! Thou, that here reign'st, ador'd in Aetna's sacred grove: 60
Aetna, fair forehead of this fruitful land! Whose borrow'd name adorns the royal town, Rais'd by illustrious Hiero's gen'rous hand, And render'd glorious with his high renown. By Pythian heralds were her praises sung, 65 When Hiero triumph'd in the dusty course, When sweet Castalia with applauses rung, And glorious laurels crown'd the conqu'ring horse. The happy city for her future days Presages hence increase of victory and praise. 70
Thus when the mariners to prosp'rous winds, The port forsaking, spread their swelling sails; The fair departure cheers their jocund minds With pleasing hopes of favorable gales, While o'er the dang'rous deserts of the main, 75 To their lov'd country they pursue their ways. ​Ev'n so, Apollo, thou, whom Lycia's plain, Whom Delus, and Castalia's springs obey, These hopes regard, and Aetna's glory raise With valiant sons, triumphant steeds, and heav'nly lays! 80
For human virtue from the gods proceeds; They the wise mind bestow'd, and smooth'd the tongue With elocution, and for mighty deeds The nervous arm with manly vigor strung. All these are Hiero's: these to rival lays 85 Call forth the bard. Arise then, Muse, and speed To this contention; strive in Hiero's praise, Nor fear thy efforts shall his worth exceed; Within the lines of truth secure to throw, Thy dart shall still surpass each vain attempting foe. 90
So may succeeding ages, as they roll, Great Hiero still in wealth and bliss maintain, And joyous health recalling, on his sold Oblivion pour of life-consuming pain. Yet may thy memory with sweet delight 95 The various dangers and the toils recount, Which in intestine wars and bloody fight Thy patient virtue, Hiero, did surmount; What time, by Heav'n above all Grecians crown'd, The prize of sov'reign sway with thee thy brother found. 100
Then like the son of Poean didst thou war, Smit with the arrows of a sore disease; ​While, as along slow rolls thy sickly car, Love and amaze the haughtiest bosoms seize. In Lemnos pining with th' envenom'd wound 105 The son of Poean, Philoctetes, lay: There, after tedious quest, the heroes found, And bore the limping archer thence away; By whom fell Priam's tow'rs (so Fate ordain'd) And the long harass'd Greeks their wish'd repose obtain'd. 110
May Hiero too, like Poeau's son, receive Recovered vigor from celestial hands! And may the healing God proceed to give The pow'r to gain whate'er his wish demands. But now, Ο Muse, address thy sounding lays 115 To young Dinomenes, his virtuous heir. Sing to Dinomenes his father's praise; His fathers praise shall glad his filial ear. For him hereafter shalt thou touch the string, And chant in friendly strains fair Aetna's future king. 120
Hiero for him th' illustrious city rear'd, And fill'd with sons of Greece her stately tow'rs, Where by the free-born citizen rever'd The Spartan laws exert their virtuous pow'rs. For by the statutes, which their fathers gave, 125 Still must the restive Dorian youth be led; Who dwelling once on cold Eurotas' wave, ​Where proud Taÿgetus exalts his head, From the great stock of Hercules divine And warlike Pamphylus deriv'd their noble line. 130
These from Thessalian Pindus rushing down, The walls of fam'd Amyclae once possess'd, And rich in fortune's gifts and high renown, Dwelt near the twins of Leda, while they press'd Their milky coursers, and the pastures o'er 135 Of neighb'ring Argos rang'd, in arms supreme. To king and people on the flow'ry shore Of lucid Amenas, Sicilian stream, Grant the like fortune, Jove, with like desert The splendor of their race and glory to assert. 140
And do thou aid Sicilia's hoary lord To form and rule his son's obedient mind; And still in golden chains of sweet accord, And mutual peace the friendly people bind. Then grant, Ο Son of Saturn, grant my pray'r! 145 The bold Phoenician on his shore detain; And may the hardy Tuscan never dare To vex with clam'rous war Sicilia's main; Rememb'ring Hiero, how on Cumae's coast Wreck'd by his stormy arms their groaning fleets were lost. 150
What terrors! what destruction then assail'd! Hurl'd from their riven decks what numbers died! When o'er their might Sicilia's chief prevail'd, Their youth o'erwhelming in the foamy tide, Greece from impending servitude to save. 155 Thy favor, glorious Athens! to acquire ​Would I record the Salaminian wave Fam'd in thy triumphs; and my tuneful lyre To Sparta's sons with sweetest praise should tell, Beneath Cithaeron's shade what Medish archers fell. 160
But on fair Himera's wide-water'd shores Thy sons, Dinomenes, my lyre demand, To grace their virtues with the various stores Of sacred verse, and sing th' illustrious band Of valiant brothers, who from Carthage won 165 The glorious meed of conquest, deathless praise. A pleasing theme! but censure's dreaded frown Compels me to contract my spreading lays. In verse conciseness pleases ev'ry guest, While each impatient blames and loathes a tedious feast. 170
Nor less distasteful is excessive fame To the sour palate of the envious mind; Who hears with grief his neighbor's goodly name, And hates the fortune that he ne'er shall find. Yet in thy virtue, Hiero, persevere! 175 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. Ο king, beware Of ev'ry step! a prince can never lightly err. 180
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 185 On the sweet melody of well-earn'd fame, In gen'rous purposes confirm thy breast, Nor dread expenses that will grace thy name; But scorning sordid and unprincely gain, Spread all thy bounteous sails, and launch into the main. 190
When in the mould'ring 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 195 The virtue, Croesus, 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. 200
Him therefore nor in sweet society The gen'rous youth conversing ever name, Nor with the harp's delightful melody Mingle his odious inharmonious fame. The first, the greatest bliss on man conferr'd 205 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 bless'd indeed, Since fortune here below can give no richer meed. 210
Translated by Gilbert West.
* ↑ Apollo.
* ↑ Typhoeus or Typhon, an enemy of Zeus, is supposed by Homer to lie beneath the Cilician plain, in the "earthquake belt" of Asia Minor. But now that Mt. Aetna is an active volcano, Pindar transfers him thither, and he is said to extend from Cumae's coast (i. e. Mt. Vesuvius) to Sicily (Mt. Aetna).
* ↑ The Greeks on their way to Troy abandoned Philoctetes at Lemnos, but were obliged to seek his aid.
* ↑ The Eurotas flows past Sparta, and Mt. Taÿgetus rises high above the city. The Spartans derived their origin from Doris on the slopes of Pindus. Amyclae was the old capital of Lacedaemon. The "Twins of Leda" were Castor and Pollux, whose sanctuary was near Amyclae.
* ↑ I. e. the western Phoenician, or Carthaginian.
* ↑ Referring to the battle of Salamis, 480 B. C.
* ↑ Referring to the battle of Plataea, 479 B. C.
* ↑ The poet thus compares the battle of Himera, 480 B. C., won by Hiero and his brothers (sons of Dinomenes the elder) over the Carthaginians, with the battles of Salamis and Plataea.
* ↑ I. e. of the Muses.
* ↑ Phalaris, tyrant of Agrigentum (Girgenti), who was said to roast men alive in a bronze bull.