Philosopher Pindar: The Complete Odes #12/71

Praising the house that is three times victor at Olympia,

one kindly to its townsmen and hospitable to strangers,

will lead me to learn of prosperous Corinth,

gateway to Poseidon’s isthmus,*city of brilliant young men.

There live Good Order and her sister Justice, a secure foundation for cities,

and Peace, nurtured with them, dispenser of wealth for men:

golden daughters of Themis*of good counsel,

eager to protect the city from Insolence, loose-mouthed mother of Excess.*

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I have good things to tell,

and an honest confidence impels my tongue to speak:

inborn character cannot be concealed.

To you, sons of Aletes,*the many-flowered Seasons*have often granted victory’s glory,

when, at the peak of your achievements, you triumphed at the sacred games;

often they have put ancient expertise into your men’s hearts.

Everything looks back to its inventor:

from where did the delights of Dionysus come, and the dithyramb*that wins the ox prize?

Who added the guiding bit to the harness of horses?

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Who set the twin kings of birds*on the temples of the gods?

Among this people the sweet-voiced Muse thrives,

and Ares in its young men’s death-dealing spears.

Father Zeus on high, wide-ruling lord of Olympia,

do not for ever look with jealousy on my words,

but shield this people from harm

and give a fair wind to Xenophon’s heaven-sent fortune.

Welcome this ritual celebration, honouring the crowns he brings from Pisa’s plain,

victor in both the pentathlon and the stadion-race; he has accomplished what no mortal man has reached before.

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When he appeared at the Isthmian games two wreaths of wild celery

crowned his head, nor will Nemea tell a different story.

The brilliance of his father Thessalus’ racing feet

is recorded by the waters of Alpheus,

and at Delphi he won fame in the double and single stadion-race in one day.

In the same month at rocky Athens one swift-footed day

crowned his head with prizes for three splendid victories,

and seven times was he honoured at the Hellotian*games.

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As for Poseidon’s festival*between the seas, it would need longer songs

to do justice to his father Ptoeodorus,*and to Terpsias and Eritimus.

Touching your family’s victories at Delphi, or in the lion’s haunts,*

I must contend with many who tell of the great number of their successes;

how indeed could I accurately number pebbles on the seashore?

Each thing is attended by due measure, and to understand this brings the greatest profit.

I am a private passenger on a public voyage,

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and when I speak of the talents of their forefathers and their heroic deeds in war

I shall give no false account of the people of Corinth:

such as Sisyphus,*subtle and inventive as a god,

or Medea,*saviour of the ship Argo and its crew,

putting her own marriage before her father’s wishes.

Again, in time past before the walls of Dardanian Troy

they showed by their courage they could decide the battles’ issue,

one way or the other: some trying with Atreus’ dear sons*

to win back Helen, others striving in every way to stop them;

for the Danaans trembled at the coming from Lycia of Glaucus,*

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who claimed among them that his ancestor had ruled in Peirene’s*city, where there was a palace and a rich estate that were his.

He it was who, in his desire to harness Pegasus, the snaky Gorgon’s son,

suffered much near the spring—at least until the maiden goddess Pallas

brought to him a bit with its golden headstall,

and his dream at once turned to waking vision.*She said:
‘Are you asleep, prince of Aeolus’ race? Come, take this charmer of horses,*

sacrifice a white bull to your father the horse-tamer*and show it to him.’

So it seemed to him that the maiden of the dark aegis had spoken to him as he slept.