Pindar and Anacreon/Pindar/Pythian Odes/2
THE SECOND PYTHIAN ODE.
TO THE SAME HIERO, ON HIS VICTORY IN THE CHARIOT RACE.
ARGUMENT.
Pindar begins this ode with an address to Syracuse, declaring that he brings her a hymn on account of Hiero's victory.—The merits of the victor justly demand this tribute.—By way of illustration, he digresses to the story of Ixion, who repaid the benefits received from Jupiter by base ingratitude, and when placed on the wheel, uttered a memorable saying, in order to deter men from such conduct: this leads to the fabulous birth and history of Centaurus.—The poet then adds various moral sentiments, with a view of confirming the moral truth deduced from this narration, and repels the odious charge of having slandered his patron and benefactor, from which the example of Archilochus would be sufficient to deter him.—Then follow the praises of Hiero, especially on account of his wisdom, and the glory of his martial exploits, in the assistance which he rendered to his brother Gelon, whom Hiero succeeded on the throne of Syracuse, in his contest with the Carthaginians.—In conclusion, he subjoins various precepts and admonitions, especially warning him not to lend an ear to the voice of adulation.
Oh Syracuse! in whom combine
Four towns their might to furnish thine, [1]
Mars' loved abode—of generous steeds,
And men renown'd for martial deeds,
The fostering nurse divine— 5
To thee from splendid Thebes I come,
And bear the grateful tidings home,
How Hiero's victor coursers' might
Sped his earth-shaking chariot's flight.
By frequent crowns that shine afar 10
Resplendent in the Pythian war,
Ennobling high Ortygia's seat,
Where Dian's river shrine Alphéus' waters greet. [2]
Without whose aid his agile grasp in vain
Had check'd his coursers with the varied rein. 15
For prompt with each assisting hand,
The huntress maid who joys to slay
With certain aim her sylvan prey,
And Mercury whose godhead claims [3]
Dominion o'er the sacred games, 20
Placed round his polished car the shining band.
Taming by bit and curb applied
The docile steeds' impetuous pride;
And calling to the arduous course
The god who wields the trident's force. 25
Each lyric poet for a different lord
Frames the sweet hymn his valour to record.
The Cyprians thus with acclamations sing
The praise of Cinyras, their glorious king; [4]
Loved by Apollo with his golden hair, 30
The priest of Venus and her cherish'd care.
Favours of friends conferr'd upon the good,
Lead to a just return of gratitude.
Son of Deinomenes! the Locrian maid
Raises the loud and joyful strain to thee, 35
Whose step secure proclaims her nation made
By thy brave arm from war's dire tumults free.
As fame reports, thus by the gods' behest,
Whirl'd on his rapid wheel Ixion cries—
"Mortals, bear this upon your minds impress'd— 40
Requite their love from whom your blessings rise."
This truth he from experience drew,
Dwelling with heaven's Saturnian train,
His raptured soul unable grew
Such mighty transport to sustain; 45
When raging with unhallow'd flame
His wild imagination strove
To ravish the celestial dame
Who shares the glorious couch of Jove.
The deed, with peril fraught, he tried, 50
By fearless insolence impell'd;
But quickly his aspiring pride
Avenging retribution quell'd.
These crimes with double weight pursued
The sinning hero to his doom, 55
Hands first in kindred blood imbrued,
A father hurried to the tomb. [5] 59
Next his endeavour, rash and vain,
The partner of Jove's bed to gain.
Let this instruct ambitious man 60
The measure of his might to scan;
Since but disgrace and endless wo
From unallow'd embraces flow.
The fool who grasp'd at heavenly charms
Fill'd with a cloud his cheated arms; 65
Whose form became the stately mien
That marks the bright Saturnian queen.
The hands of Jove this dire deceit
Framed, for his crimes a guerdon meet.
There on the deadly circle laid, 70
Whose fourfold chain himself had made, [6]
His limbs in dreadful torment wound
Th' inevitable wheel around,
The wretch with tardy wisdom fraught,
To all mankind this lesson taught. 75
Submitting to his strong embrace,
Her proud ungracious son she bore,
Unhonour'd by the heavenly race,
Nor known to mortal birth before.
Centaurus (such the nursling's name) 80
Mingled in Pelion's shady grove
With the Magnesian mares in love,
And hence a wondrous army came.
Each parent's nature form'd to show—
Bent to the mother's shape below, 85
While rose the stately sire above. 88
The god whose speed prevents the eagle's wing,
And moves more swiftly than the dolphins sweep,
Sporting on rapid fin, the watery deep,
Can mortal hopes to prosperous issue bring; 90
Subdues the pride of one aspiring mind,
And deathless fame to others has assign'd.
But let me not with slanderous tale
Like beast of hostile tooth assail;
For as I saw, though far away, 95
Archilochus, whose bitter vein [7]
His rancorous spleen could ne'er restrain,
O'erwhelmed in want and misery lay.
Imperial wealth by wisdom graced
In the first lot of bliss is placed; 100
And this high rank is clearly thine—
Lord of the host and well-built town,
Let thy free mind with blessings crown
Those whom thy fates to thee assign.
Of all thy mighty fathers gone, 105
Whatever tongue should dare proclaim
Through Greece that any hero's fame
In wealth or honours brighter shone,
With folly's mark would stamp his name. 112
But when thy virtues wake the song, 110
By flowery ways I pass along.
In youth the valour of thine arm
Shielded thy life from adverse harm.
Hence I declare that thou hast found
A glory which exceeds all bound; 115
Whether on foot the warriors rage,
Or in equestrian strife engage;
And free from blame my praise shall sound
Thy counsels in maturer age.
Farewell—this hymn across the hoary sea, 120
As by Phœnician craft, I send to thee. [8]
Thou the triumphant Castorean song,
With music that th' Æolian lyre shall make,
To which the seven harmonious chords belong,
Skill'd as thou art, with willing candour take. 125
Let witless boys extol the shape
Of the deform'd unsightly ape:
But we the lofty song of praise
To Rhadamanthus justly raise—
Clear-sighted judge! whose rigorous mind 130
With wisdom and experience fraught,
Ne'er by the mists of flattery blind,
In her seducing wiles is caught.
How often from her whisper'd lies
Inextricable evils rise! 135
To him whose lips with foxlike art
The slanderous calumnies impart;
And him who with believing ear
The tale of falsehood joys to hear.
From such deceit what good can spring? 140
Will this or fame or profit bring?
As in the fisher's watery toil,
Aloft the buoyant cork remains,
While laden with its finny spoil,
The whelming gulf his net retains. 145
So I from fear and danger free,
Float corklike on the briny sea. 147
Ne'er is a good and potent word
From lips of treacherous townsman heard.
His wiles that all alike deceive, 150
A web of endless mischief weave. [9]
Such boldness ne'er can I approve—
Still be it mine a friend to love;
But like a wolf the foe to view,
And in his crooked ways pursue. 155
Oft from a man of upright tongue
A state's true happiness has sprung:
Whether in solitary pride
A king the reins of empire guide,
Or the grave band of nobles proud, 160
Or chief of the tumultuous crowd.
Against the potent will of Heaven
'Tis mad ambition to contend,
By whom to these now might is given,
Now others call the god their friend. 165
But calm content the envious mind
In their delight can never find.
When the preponderating scale
Bids any happier lot prevail,
The rankling wound torments their breast, 170
Till in the wish'd possession bless'd.
But he, the patient and the wise,
Who to the yoke his neck applies,
Lifts not, like oxen prone to feel
Each casual sting, his angry heel— 175
Be my complacent temper shown,
Conversing with the good alone. 176
- ↑ These towns are thus enumerated by the scholiast: Acradina, Neapolis, Tyche, Epipolæ: justly, therefore, might the poet address Syracuse by the epithet μεγαλοπολιες.
- ↑ I. e., the island Ortygia, at the south of Sicily, The scholiast interprets ποταμιας by της Αλφειωσας.
- ↑ The scholiast quotes a fragment of Æschylus in which Mercury is called εναγωνιος, president of the games. In the Agamemnon (v. 521.) the herald invokes Apollo under the titles of σωτηρ καπαγωνιος; and in the next verse addresses τους αγωνιους θεους Παντας.
- ↑ Homer, who so often confirms the historical and mythological tales of Pindar, also mentions Cinyras, king of Cyprus, as having given to Agamemnon a breastplate, as a pledge of hospitable friendship: (Il., xi., 19, 20.)
- ↑ This alludes to the murder of Deioneus by his son-in-law Ixion, which was perpetrated by throwing him alive into a pit filled with burning coals.
- ↑ I. e., the wheel with four radii or spokes to which Ixion was bound.
- ↑ The story of this poet, who, by the bitterness of his poetical slander, caused the death of his father-in-law Lycambes, presents a remarkable instance of retributive justice. By far away is meant distant in point of time, as Archilochus flourished nearly one hundred and fifty years prior to Pindar.
- ↑ It appears from this passage, which is confirmed by a fragment of Sophocles, as well as one of Aristophanes, that the Phœnicians, like the Canaanites of Scripture, were always distinguished above other nations by their eminence as merchants, which seems to have passed into a sort of proverb. The Castorean song, which Pindar sends across the sea to Hiero, it is probable that nothing more is intended than a hymn commemorative of an equestrian victory, Castor being the god of horsemanship: nor must it be confounded with the Καστορειον μελος, or war song of the Spartans. The purport of the following passage is very obscure, referring, probably, to some story unknown to us. The praise of the righteous judge, Rhadamanthus, which follows, Heyne considers to have been a favourite theme with the ancient poets, and affords another proof of the noble independence of Pindar's mind, and of the value of his friendship, which prompted him to warn even a king with perfect plainness and sincerity against being corrupted by the false praises of venal adulators. The construction of the next four lines is by no means clear, although the sentiment, cautioning Hiero to beware of being misled by the arts of whispering slanderers, is sufficiently obvious.
- ↑ I have here followed Heyne's emendation, αταν instead of the common reading αγαν.