Olympian

Pindar

Pindar. Arnson Svarlien, Diane, translator. Created for the Perseus Project, 1990.

  1. Charioteer of the thundercloud with untiring feet, highest Zeus! Your Seasons, whirling to the embroidered notes of the lyre’s song, sent me as a witness of the most lofty games. When friends are successful, the noble immediately smile on
  2. the sweet announcement. Son of Cronus, you who hold Aetna, the wind-swept weight on terrible hundred-headed Typhon, receive, for the sake of the Graces, this Olympic victory-procession,
  3. this most enduring light of widely powerful excellence. For the procession comes in honor of Psaumis’ chariot; Psaumis, who, crowned with the olive of Pisa, hurries to rouse glory for Camarina. May the god be gracious to his future prayers, since I praise a man who is most eager in the raising of horses,
  4. who rejoices in being hospitable to all guests, and whose pure thoughts are turned towards city-loving peace. I will not stain my words with lies. Perseverance is what puts men to the test,
  5. and what saved the son of Clymenus
  6. from the contempt of the Lemnian women. He won the foot race in bronze armor, and said to Hypsipyle as he went to take the garland: “Such is my swiftness;
  7. and I have hands and heart to match. Even on young men gray hair often grows, even before the expected age.”
  1. Daughter of Ocean, with a smiling heart receive the sweet bloom of lofty excellence and Olympian garlands, the gifts of Psaumis and of his mule car team with untiring feet.
  2. Psaumis who, exalting your city, Camarina, which cares for its people,
  3. honored the six double altars, at the greatest festivals of the gods, with the sacrifice of oxen and in contests on the fifth day,
  4. contests of horse teams, and mule teams, and of riding the single horse. To you he has dedicated rich renown by his victory, and he had his father Acron and his new-founded home proclaimed by the herald.
  5. Coming from the lovely homes of Oenomaus and of Pelops,
  6. he sings of your sacred grove, Pallas protector of the city, and of the river Oanis, and the local lake,
  7. and the sacred canals with which Hipparis waters its people, and swiftly builds a tall-standing grove of steadfast dwellings, bringing this host of citizens out of helplessness into the light.
  8. Always, when it is a question of excellence, toil and expense strive to accomplish a deed that is shrouded in danger; those who are successful seem wise, even to their fellow-citizens.
  9. Savior Zeus, high in the clouds, you who dwell on the hill of Cronus and honor the wide-flowing Alpheus and the sacred cave of Ida! I come as your suppliant, singing to the sound of Lydian flutes,
  10. entreating you to adorn this city with glorious hosts of noble men; and that you, Psaumis the Olympic victor, delighting in the horses of Poseidon, may carry on to the end a pleasurable old age
  11. with your sons standing beside you. If a man cultivates both prosperity and health, being generous with his possessions and winning praise as well, let him not seek to become a god.