PYTHIAN 3For Hieron of SyracuseIf it is right for my tongue to speak this communal prayer,I would wish that the now dead Chiron,*son of Philyraand wide-ruling scion of Cronus son of Uranus, were still

30Two crimes brought punishment on this hero:he was the first to pollute mortals with the taint of kindred bloodshed—not without cunning—and once in the recesses of her great bedchamberhe made an attempt

Zeus, Accomplisher, grant that such a destiny may always hold goodfor Aetna’s citizens and kings beside the waters of Amenas,*a true record on the lips of men.For if you help him, a ruler who advises his

PYTHIANSPYTHIAN 1For Hieron of Aetna, winner of the chariot raceGolden lyre, possession and colleague of Apollo and the violet-haired Muses;to you the dancer’s step listens as it begins the bright

70He sprang to his feet and seized the marvellous bit that lay beside him,and joyfully sought out the seer of the place, Coeranus’ son,*and explained all that had happened in the dream:how he had slept

Son of Philanor, the glory that your swift feet have brought youwould have shed its leaves ingloriously,*like a cock that fights only in its native yard,had not factional strife robbed you of Cnossus,

He fenced the Altis*round and marked it off in an open space,designated the plain around as a resting place for meals,and honoured the Alpheus along with the twelve chief gods.He gave the hill of Cronus

To him came strangers from Argos, from Thebes, from Arcadia and from Pisa;but above all these settlers he honoured Menoetius, son of Actor and Aegina,70he whose sonwent with Atreus’ sons to the plain of

With good fortune from the gods, and because he did not fail his manhood,he has shifted from himself onto the limbs of four boysthe bitterest of returns,the jeering tongues, and the skulking journey home.He

In these Diagoras*has twice been crowned with garlands,and has won four times at the famous Isthmus,time after time at Nemea, and in rocky Athens.The bronze*at Argos came to know him well,as did the prizes

When the king had driven back from rocky Pythohe questioned everyone in the house about the boy Euadnehad borne, because, he said, his father was Phoebus,and he would surpass all mortals as a seer for

O Pallas,*protector of cities, he has come10from the beautiful dwellings of Pelops and Oenomaus,*and he sings in praise of your sacred groveand Oanos your river and its neighbouring lake,and the holy channels

Heracles had by his eloquence won overthe Hyperborean people,*Apollo’s servants.With honourable intent he begged from themfor the all-welcoming grove of Zeusa tree to furnish shade for all,and to be a

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