The Odes of Pindar (Penguin ed.) by Cecil Bowra

Author:Cecil Bowra
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241241974
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2013-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

III

For the Gods give all the means of mortal greatness.

They grant men skill,

Might of hand and eloquence.

My praise is ripe for One:

I do not mean

To make a No-Throw with the javelin’s bronze cheek

That quivers in my hand,

[45] But with a great cast to outdistance all the field.

Ah! may the rest of time guide him straight

As now, in prosperous and rich possession,

And grant him to forget his troubles.

Then will he remember the wars and the battles,

When his soul endured, and he stood firm,

When in the strength of the Gods his house won glory

More than is reaped by any in Hellas,

[50] A nobleness to crown their wealth.

– But this last time he went to war

Like Philoktetes of old: (enforcement here

Brought even a mighty Lord

To fawn on him for friendship).

For the godlike heroes fetched from Lemnos once

(The tale says), weary with his wound,

The son of Poias, the archer:

Who broke down Priam’s city and ended the Danaans’ toil,

[55] His body weak as he went, yet it was foreordained.

So God be Hieron’s maintainer

In the time that comes, and give him

Enough of his heart’s desire.

Muse, I pray you consent

To sing in the house of Deinomenes also

The chariot’s due of song:

He too has joy in his father’s victory.

Come, now, let us find a song

[60] Of love for Aitna’s King.

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