Olympian
Pindar
Pindar, creator; Arnson Svarlien, Diane, 1960-, translator
- Mother of golden-crowned contests, Olympia , queen of truth! where prophets, judging from burnt sacrifices, inquire of Zeus of the flashing thunderbolt, if he has any message to give concerning men
- whose spirits are seeking to attain great excellence and a breathing-space from toils.
- Accomplishment is granted to the prayers of men in gratitude for their piety. Well-wooded grove of Pisa beside the Alpheus,
- welcome this victory-procession and the garland we bring to the victor; the man who is attended by your splendid prize of honor has great glory forever. Some good things come to one man, some to another; with the favor of the gods, there are many paths of success.
- Timosthenes, fortune has allotted you and your brother to the care of your ancestor Zeus, who made you renowned at Nemea , and made Alcimedon an Olympic victor beside the hill of Cronus. He was beautiful to look at, and his deeds did not belie his beauty
- when by his victory in wrestling he had Aegina with her long oars proclaimed as his fatherland. There the savior Themis, seated beside Zeus the god of hospitality, is honored
- more than among all other men. For when there is a heavy weight in the balance that sways many ways, to judge with a straight mind and not inopportunely
- is a difficult struggle. But some ordinance of the immortals set up as a divine pillar for visitors of all kinds this sea-girt land—and may the dawning time to come never tire of fulfilling this—
- guarded by the Dorian people since the time of Aeacus, whom wide-ruling Poseidon and the son of Leto, when they were about to build the crown of walls to encircle Ilium , summoned as a fellow worker; for it was fated that when war arose,
- in the city-destroying battles, that wall would breathe forth ravening smoke.
- And three gray-green serpents, when the wall was newly built, tried to leap into it; two of them fell down, stunned, and gave up their lives,
- and the third leapt up with a cry. Pondering this adverse omen, Apollo said right away: “ Pergamos is taken, hero, through the works of your hands—so says a vision sent to me from the son of Cronus, loud-thundering Zeus—
- not without your sons: the city will be destroyed [*]( Reading with Gildersleeve r(a/zetai for a)/rzetai . ) with the first generation, and with the third.” [*]( Reading with the MSS terta/tois . See GRBS 1987 . ) The god spoke clearly, and then hurried on his way, driving to Xanthus , and to the Amazons with their fine horses, and to the Danube . And the wielder of the trident drove his swift chariot to the sea-washed Isthmus,
- bringing Aeacus here on his golden horses,
- and going to see the ridge of Corinth , famous for its feasts. But nothing can be equally delightful to all men. If I have, in my song, exalted the glory of Melesias for his training of beardless youths,
- let envy not strike me with a rough stone. For I will tell how he himself won the same grace at Nemea , and later, among men, in the battle
- of the pancratium. To teach
- is easier for one who has knowledge himself. And it is foolish not to learn in advance; for the minds of those with no experience are insubstantial. Melesias, beyond all others, could speak of those deeds: what manner of training will advance a man who is going to win the most longed-for glory from the sacred games.
- Now it is his honor that his thirtieth victory has been won for him by Alcimedon,
- who, with divine good fortune, yet without falling short in his own manliness, thrust off from himself and onto the four limbs of other boys a hateful homecoming with contemptuous talk and a secret way back,