Nemean

Pindar

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

  1. In very holy Pytho the blood of this family was once victorious, his hands bound with leather straps—Callias, who had found favor with
  2. the children of Leto of the golden distaff, and beside Castalia at evening he was made radiant by the loud chorus of the Graces.
  3. And the bridge of the untiring sea [*](i.e. the Isthmus of Corinth.) honored Creontidas in the biennial festival of those who live around, when bulls are slain in the sacred precinct of Poseidon. And the herb of the Nemean lion once
  4. crowned him when he was victorious beneath the shady primeval mountains of Phlius.
  5. There are broad avenues open on every side for storytellers to adorn this glorious island, since the Aeacids provided them by example with an outstanding share of great excellence.
  6. Their name flies far, over the land and across the sea. It even reached the Ethiopians, when Memnon did not return to his home; Achilles descended from his chariot and fell upon [*](Reading with Snell ἔμπεσε for ἔμβαλε. ) them, a grievous antagonist,
  7. when he slew the son of the shining Dawn with the edge
  8. of his raging sword. Poets of former times found this highway, and I myself am following them; this is my concern. But the wave that rolls nearest to the ship is said to stir the spirit most of all. I came as a messenger, willingly bearing on my back a double burden,
  9. to proclaim that this twenty-fifth
  10. boast of victory from the games which men call sacred, Alcimidas, has been provided by you for your glorious family. Beside the sacred precinct of the son of Cronus, child, you and Polytimidas were deprived of two Olympic garlands
  11. by a sudden drawing of lots. I would say that Melesias is equal in speed to a dolphin that darts through the salt sea; he is the charioteer who guided your hands and strength.
  1. [*](On the uncertainty of the date, see C. Carey,A Commentary on Five Odes of Pindar ( New York 1981 ), p. 133. ) Eleithuia, seated beside the deep-thinking Fates, hear me, creator of offspring, child of Hera great in strength. Without you we see neither the light nor the dark night before it is our lot to go to your sister, Hebe, [*](Youth) with her lovely limbs.
  2. Yet we do not all draw our first breath for equal ends. Under the yoke of destiny, different men are held by different restraints. But it is by your favor that, even so, Sogenes the son of Thearion, distinguished by his excellence, is celebrated in song as glorious among pentathletes.
  3. For he lives in a city that loves music, the city of the Aeacidae with their clashing spears;
  4. and they very much want to foster a spirit familiar with contests. If someone is successful in his deeds, he casts a cause for sweet thoughts into the streams of the Muses. For those great acts of prowess dwell in deep darkness, if they lack songs, and we know of only one way to hold a mirror up to fine deeds:
  5. if, by the grace of Mnemosyne with her splendid headdress, one finds a recompense for toils in glorious song.
  6. Skillful men know the wind that will come on the day after tomorrow, and they do not suffer loss through the love of gain. The rich man and the poor man alike travel together to the boundary of death.
  7. And I expect that the story of Odysseus came to exceed his experiences, through the sweet songs of Homer,
  8. since there is a certain solemnity in his lies and winged artfulness, and poetic skill deceives, seducing us with stories, and the heart of the mass of men is blind. For if
  9. they had been able to see the truth, then mighty Aias, in anger over the arms, would never have planted in his chest the smooth sword—Aias, who was the most powerful in battle, except for Achilles, and whom the breath of the unswerving Zephyr conveyed in swift ships, to bring back the wife of golden-haired Menelaus