# Pindar and Anacreon/Pindar/Olympic Odes/6

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Celebrating the victory of Agesias of Syracuse in the Olympic Games of 468 B. C., and incorporating the myths of Iamus and Evadne.
"The inner number, placed at the end of the several paragraphs, shows the corresponding line of the original." [ note on p. 17 ]
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THE SIXTH OLYMPIC ODE.
TO AGESIAS OF SYRACUSE, ON HIS VICTORY IN THE CHARIOT DRAWN BY MULES.
ARGUMENT.
The scholiast informs us that this ode, according to some, was inscribed to Stymphelius, son of Sostratus, and that his victory was achieved in the eighty-sixth or eighty-seventh Olympiad.—The poem opens with a noble simile drawn from the frontispiece of a building, to which he compares the opening of his ode, expatiating on the glory of the Olympic contest.—He then proceeds to mention the praises and regret expressed by Adrastus on Amphiaraus, occasioned by the death of the latter; instituting a comparison between Agesias and the Theban seer.—The birth of Iamus, one of the ancestors of the victor, who are thence called Iamidæ, is then related at great length, together with the story of Evadne, daughter of Æpytus.—Agesias derived his lineage on the mother's side from Arcadia; and as there was a connection between the inhabitants of that country and the Thebans, the poet includes them in his praises.—He then addresses Æneas, the master of the chorus, whom he compliments on his musical skill, and exhorts to wipe away by his exertions the proverbial disgrace attached to his countrymen by the appellation of Bœotian swine.—Renews his praise of Agesias, and concludes with a prayer to Neptune, still to keep the victor under his propitious guidance, and to render the poet's hymns agreeable to those in whose honour they are written and sung.
Oft as the architect's creative hand Bids the fair porch on golden columns rise, And all the dome's magnificence expand, To strike the gazing eye with mute surprise— ​Thus splendid from afar should gleam 5 A noble deed's incipient beam— The guard of Jove's prophetic shrine, If he thy wreath, Olympia, bear, Sprung from that old and noble line Who founded Syracusa fair, 10 A grateful city hymns the hero's name, While her unenvying sons unite in glad acclaim 11
In this exalted station placed, The son of Sostratus is found With no inglorious chaplet graced, 15 But with his well-earn'd honours crown'd. The warrior on the battle plain, The sailor on the trackless main, Through paths of peril and dismay Wins to renown his arduous way, 20 And when his toils achieve some glorious deed, The memory of the good shall be his meed.
Agesias, may such ready praise be thine, As to Oiclides, seer of Theban line, Adrastus gave, when in an earthly tomb 25 Himself and noble steeds were hurried to their doom.
But when the seven funeral pyres Raised to the dead their sacred fires, In sorrow thus his Theban host The son of Talaus address'd: 30 "The pride of all my army lost Fills with regret this aching breast. Quench'd is the augur's prescient light, Nerveless the warrior's arm of fight." ​The triumphs which these hymns afford 35 Wait on my Syracusan lord. 32
No lover of contention, I Respect my oath's compulsive tie— And while this honest suffrage crowns my lays, The sweet-toned muses' choir will ratify his praise.
Oh, Phintis! spurn each dull delay, 41 And haste the vigorous mules to join— Pursue thy clear and open way To reach his ancestors' remotest line. 41
No other guide our steps will need 45 Safe through these lofty paths to lead. Since upon their victorious brow Olympia's verdant chaplets glow— Then to their flight expanding wide Let us unbar the gates of song— 50 Where Pitane in towering pride O'erlooks Eurotas' sacred tide, This day the bard must pass along. 47
To Neptune of Saturnian race She the black-hair'd Evadne bore— 55 ​This tale to rumour's voice we trace— But when the circling moons reveal'd What virgin throes her bosom long conccal'd, To brave Eitatides her high command Bade the attendant damsels bear 60 The nursling to the hero's care, Whose sceptre ruled Arcadia's land In fair Phæsana by Alpheus' shore, Apollo taught her there to prove The fond solicitudes of love. 57 65
When time to Æpytus confess'd The stolen caresses' fruit divine, The hero in his manly breast Unutterable rage repress'd, And humbly sought the Pythian shrine, 70 With mind intent the end to know Of this intolerable wo. Her virgin zone with saffron died, And urn of silver laid aside, In the thick grove conceal'd from sight 75 She brought the heavenly babe to light. Meanwhile the god with golden hair Propitious fate invoked, and kind Eleutho's care. 72
Her pleasing pains without delay Produced young Iamus to day. 80 While there upon the verdant glade By his afflicted parent laid, Two dragons of cærulean eye Commission'd by the will divine, With bees' innoxious produce hie 85 To feed the youth of heavenly line. But when from Pytho's rocky height The monarch urged his chariot's flight, He sought of all the menial train Evadne's infant to regain, 90 ​Whom erst from his prophetic throne Phœbus, he said, had call'd his own. 84
That he, o'er all of mortal birth, His sire's prophetic power might claim, Nor should his race e'er fail on earth 95 To keep alive their deathless name. Thus spoke the god—but they averr'd No eye had seen, no ear had heard; Though since his natal day The fifth revolving sun had shed 100 Its lustre o'er the infant's head. 89 Meanwhile within the rushy glade, And tangled bushes' thickest shade, His tender frame all wet with dew, And gemm'd with violet's purple hue, 105 Conceal'd from human sight he lay 93 And hence his mother bade the prophet's name To each succeeding age his birth proclaim.
Soon as he gain'd from opening time The golden flower of youthful prime, 110 Shrouded in night his steps he bore Down to Alphéus' middle shore, Invoking from the depths below His great forefather Neptune's might, And potent sire, whose silver bow 115 Defends the heaven-built Delos' height. That public honour and renown His brows might with their chaplet crown.
When thus in accents of eternal truth 119 His father's voice approved the suppliant's prayer, "To Pisa's crowded plain, adventurous youth, Follow my call, and strive for glory there." 108
​To lofty Cronium's sun-crown'd hill they came; Where great Apollo bade his son receive A twofold portion of prophetic fame; 125 To hear the voice that knows not to deceive— But when the glory of Amphitryo's line Alcides prosperous in each bold design Appear'd to crown his sire's immortal feast, From every clime to call the frequent guest, 130 And fix the laws of each heroic game, He placed the augur's seat near Jove's exalted shrine. 119
New glories hence through Hellas grace Th' Iamidæ's illustrious race— And wealth attends to crown their state— 135 For those who seek with high emprise The steep where virtue's guerdon lies, The brightest walks of life await. In his own path each seeks renown, But carping Envy most his course attends, 140 Who first to win Olympia's crown Twelve times around the goal his chariot bends— On him sweet Grace distils a lustre all her own. 128
Agesias! if thy brave maternal line, Who dwelt beneath Cyllene's hallow'd shade, 145 Duly their suppliant vows and rites divine To Mercury, the god's swift herald, paid; Whose favouring power the contest's law maintains, And guards Arcadia's richly peopled plains; By him and by his thundering sire decreed, 150 Oh son of Sostratus! expect the victor's meed.
Another motive prompts my tongue— Which as the stone that whets the blade Upon its sharpening surface laid, Impels me down the flowing tide of song. 143 155
​From the Stymphalian nymph, Metopa fair, My mother drew the vital air— Within equestrian Thebes, whose fame Salutes her with a founder's name. At her pure wave my thirst I slake, and raise 160 The varied hymn that chants the warriors' praise.
Now, Æneas, urge thy tuneful band, Parthenian Juno first demands the stram. 150 Then let clear truth the old disgrace That loads Bœotia's sons efface; 165 Thou, like the general's trusty wand, Art charged the faithful embassy to bear, From the sweet muses with the lovely hair, Who bade thy cup the sounding lays retain. 155
Command them in their grateful verse 170 The praise of Hiero to rehearse, That monarch whose unblemish'd sway Ortygia's isle and Syracuse obey. ​To Ceres and her daughter fair Whose milk-white steeds the goddess bear, Duly he pays each sacred rite, 176 Adoring Jove's Ætnæan might. His name the song and sweet-toned lyre resound, Oh! may no future age his happy state confound!
With willing mind may he receive 180 The hymn which in Agesias' praise I weave. Since Fortune now the hero calls To kindred Syracuse again, Far from his own Stymphalian walls That crown Arcadia's fleecy plain. 185 E'en thus amid the wintry tides, Secure the rapid vessel rides, If two firm anchors' grasp her bulk maintain. 173
Still may the god exalt thy state With either nation's prosperous fate; 190 And sceptred Amphitrite's lord, Whose trident rules the stormy sea, Through his own realm a path afford From adverse winds and troubles free. Adorning with sweet flowers my song, 195 To hail thy vessel as it speeds along. 180
* ↑ Gwillim, in a quaint epigram placed after the title page to his book on heraldry, thus alludes to the opening of this ode:— "The noble Pindar doth compare somewhere, Writing with building, and instructs us there That every great and goodly edifice Doth ask to have a comely frontispiece.
* ↑ Amphiaraus, son of Oicleus. I have here followed the ingenious emendation of Dr. Bloomfield, εν Διρκᾳ, instead of the common flat reading εν δικᾳ.
* ↑ The commonly received interpretation of the word Phintis or Philtis, given by the elder scholiast, is doubtless the true one, viz., the poet's own soul, considered as the directing charioteer of the body. With this passage compare Cowley (to his muse:)— "Go, the rich chariot instantly prepare, The queen, my muse, will take the air. The wheels of thy bold coach pass quick and free, And all's an open road to thee— Whatever god did say, Is all thy plain and smooth, uninterrupted way."
* ↑ The metaphor here is strikingly similar to that in Psalm cxviii. 23. "Open me the gates of righteousness, that I may go into them, and give thanks unto the Lord."
* ↑ I. e. Apollo; this epithet is applied by Alcæus to Zephyrus. (Frag. v. ap. Blomf.) χρυσοκομᾳ Ζεφυρῳ μιγεισα.
* ↑ The exquisite periphrasis of the original may be illustrated by a passage in Lord Byron, (Childe Harold, iv. cxvii.) "The sweetness of the violet's deep-blue dies, Kiss'd by the breath of heaven, seems colour'd by its skies."
* ↑ Pindar uses the same metaphor—(Pyth. i. 172.) Hence probably Horace borrowed the idea in his well-known lines, (ad Pis. 304 :)— "Fungar vice cotis, acutum Reddere quæ ferrum valet, exsors ipsa secandi."
* ↑ The scholiast on this passage gives a long explanation of the scytale, or staff, which was used in battle to convey orders from the Lacedæmonian general that were to be unintelligible to all but the person to whom they were sent.—(Corn. Nepos. in vit. Pausan. cap. 3.) Aulus Gellius is still more minute in his account of this enigmatical wand. (Lib. XVII., cap. ix. 1.) His description is too long to be transcribed, and will not easily admit of abbreviation. Pindar calls Æneas the scytale of the muses, as being the faithful messenger in conveying his poetical strains to those in whose honour they were addressed.
* ↑ The reader will be reminded by this passage, especially in the original, in which Hiero is spoken of as governing with a clear sceptre, of Macbeth's commendation of the royal Duncan:— "Besides, this Duncan Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been So clear in his great office."
* ↑ Compare Casimir, (Lyric, iv. 36, 27.) "Fortius proram gemino revincit Anchora morsu."