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

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

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

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