Nemean

Pindar

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

  1. and I pray to you, grant to the children of the Aetnaeans the long-lived blessing of good laws,
  2. father Zeus, and join the people with splendid celebrations in their city. There they have men who love horses and whose souls are superior to wealth. My words are hard to believe; for reverence, which brings renown, is secretly beguiled by the love of gain. If you had been Chromius’ shield-bearer among foot-soldiers and horses, and in ship-battles,
  3. you would have been able to judge the danger of the sharp battle-cry,
  4. because in battle it was that goddess, Reverence, who armed his warrior-spirit to repel the destruction of the war-god. But few are able to conspire with hand and heart to turn back against the ranks of the enemy the cloud of slaughter that presses close upon them. Indeed men say that glory blossomed for Hector beside the flowing Scamander;
  5. and around the steep cliffs of the Helorus’ banks
  6. at the place which men call “the passage of Rhea,” this light has shone on the son of Hagesidamus, in his earliest manhood. I will tell of the honors he won at other times, many on the dust of dry land and on the neighboring sea. And out of toils, which are undertaken with the aid of youth and justice, there comes a gentle life at the approach of old age.
  7. Let him know that he has received marvellous prosperity from the gods.
  8. For if, together with many possessions, a man wins renown and glory, there is no higher peak on which a mortal can set his feet. Peace loves the symposium, and new-flourishing victory is fostered by soft song, and the voice becomes bold beside the mixing-bowl.
  9. Let someone mix the wine now, the sweet forerunner of victory-song,
  10. and dispense the powerful son of the vine in those silver goblets which once Chromius’ horses won for him and sent from holy Sicyon together with the duly twined garlands of Leto’s son. Father Zeus, I pray that I may celebrate this excellence by the favor of the Graces, and excel many poets in honoring victory with my verses,
  11. throwing my shaft nearest of all to the mark of the Muses.
  1. Graces, sing of the city of Danaus and his fifty daughters on their splendid thrones, Hera’s Argos, a home suitable for a god; it blazes with countless excellences because of its bold deeds. Long indeed is the story of Perseus and the Gorgon Medusa,
  2. and many are the cities founded in Egypt by the devising of Epaphus. Nor did Hypermnestra go astray, when she restrained in its scabbard her sword, which was alone in its verdict.
  3. And once the golden-haired, gray-eyed goddess made Diomedes an immortal god; and the earth in Thebes, thunder-struck by the bolts of Zeus, swallowed up the prophetic son of Oicles, Amphiaraus, the storm-cloud of war.
  4. And Argos has long been the best city for women with beautiful hair; Zeus made this saying clear by visiting Alcmena and Danae, and he united the fruit of intelligence with straightforward justice in the father of Adrastus and in Lynceus.
  5. And Zeus nourished the spear of Amphitryon, who attained the height of prosperity and entered into kinship with that god, when, clad in bronze armor,
  6. he slew the Teleboae. Taking on the appearance of Amphitryon, the king of the immortals entered the hall of that hero, bearing the fearless seed of Heracles; whose bride Hebe, the most beautiful of the goddesses, walks forever in Olympus beside her mother Hera, goddess of marriage.
  7. My mouth is too small to tell the whole story of all the noble things in which the precinct of Argos has a share.
  8. And there is also the satiety of men, which is grievous to encounter. But nevertheless, awaken the well-strung lyre, and take thought of wrestling; the contest for the bronze shield calls the people to the sacrifice of oxen in honor of Hera and to the trial of contests. There the son of Ulias, Theaeus, was victorious twice, and gained forgetfulness of toils that were bravely borne.
  9. And he once was victor over the people of Greece at Pytho ; and, going with good fortune, he won the crown at the Isthmus and at Nemea, and he gave the Muses a field to plough, since he won three times at the gates of the sea, and three times on the sacred ground, according to the ordinance of Adrastus. Father Zeus, his mouth keeps silent what his heart truly desires. The accomplishment of all