Nemean

Pindar

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

  1. broods in the darkness over an empty thought
  2. that falls to the ground. As for me, I know that whatever excellence ruling destiny gave me, time will creep forward and bring it to its appointed perfection. Weave out, sweet lyre, right now,
  3. the beloved song with Lydian harmony, for Oenone and Cyprus, where Teucer the son of Telamon reigns far from home; but Aias holds ancestral Salamis,
  4. and Achilles holds the shining island in the Euxine sea.
  5. Thetis rules in Phthia, and Neoptolemus in the expanses of Epirus, where jutting ox-pasturing headlands, beginning in Dodona, slope down to the Ionian sea. But beside the foot of Pelion,
  6. Peleus turned a warlike hand against Iolcus and gave it in subjection to the Haemones [*](Following Snell’s punctuation.)
  7. after encountering the crafty arts of Acastus’ wife Hippolyte. With the sword of Daedalus, the son of Pelias sowed the seeds of death for Peleus
  8. from an ambush. But Cheiron rescued him and carried out the destiny which had been fated by Zeus. And Peleus, having thwarted all-powerful fire, and the sharp claws of bold-plotting lions, and the edge of their terrible teeth,
  9. married one of the Nereids throned on high, and saw the fine circle of seats in which the lords of sky and sea were sitting, as they gave him gifts and revealed the future strength of his race. Beyond Gadeira towards the western darkness there is no passage; turn back
  10. the ship’s sails again to the mainland of Europe, for it is impossible for me to tell the full story of the sons of Aeacus.
  11. For the Theandridae, having pledged my word, I went as a ready herald of the limb-strengthening contests
  12. at Olympia and the Isthmus and Nemea, where, whenever they make trial of their skill, they return home with the glorious fruit of garlands; in that home, Timasarchus, we hear that your family is an attendant of victory songs. But if
  13. in honor of your uncle Callicles you bid me
  14. to build a monument whiter than Parian stone, know that gold, when it is refined, shows all radiance, and a song in honor of noble deeds makes a man equal in fortune to kings.
  15. May that man, who dwells beside the stream of Acheron, hear my voice singing, where in the contest of the loud-roaring wielder of the trident he flourished with crowns of Corinthian wild celery.
  16. Euphanes, your aged grandfather,
  17. once willingly sang his praises, child. Each man has his own generation; and each man expects to speak best of what he has seen himself. If he were praising Melesias, how he would throw his opponent in the struggle! Weaving his words, impossible to wrestle down in speech;
  18. with gentle thoughts towards noble men, but a rough adversary to his opponents.