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

So they waited till the wind was in the right direction, and then brought vast quantities of faggots, and threw them into the space between the mound and the wall; and this being soon filled up, they piled

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

On hearing their decision, the Spartan king made a last solemn appeal to the powers who presided over the territory of Plataea, a hallowed precinct, now about to be given up to plunder and ravage: "Ye

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

And we need not blame the great statesmen too harshly for not foreseeing the wild excesses of folly and extravagance which we shall have to record in the following pages. INVESTMENT OF PLATAEA In the third

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

Persuasion, we are told, sat enthroned on his lips; like a strong athlete, he overtook and outran all other orators; his words struck home like the lightning, while he held his audience enchained, as by

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

Envoys were sent with overtures of peace to Sparta, and when these returned with no favourable answer, the storm of popular fury grew more violent than ever. Pericles, who knew the temper of his people,

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,

It is recorded as a curious fact, showing the strange and outlandish character of the pestilence, that the birds and animals which feed on human flesh generally shunned the bodies of those who died of

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

Great was the rage of the Acharnians, a hardy race of farmers and charcoal-burners, when they saw the smoke rising from their ruined homesteads; and their feelings were shared by the general body of the

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

When the herald arrived, he found the men already slain, and the Athenians then proceeded to place the town in a state of defence, removing the women and children and all those who were unfit for military

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

For the party which had betrayed the town was but small, and the general body of the citizens detested the thought of falling once more under the supremacy of Thebes. Their measures were taken with great

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

The furious zeal of Corinth had united her enemies against her, and they were bent on her ruin. The demands put forward by Sparta were a mere pretext, and if the Athenians had yielded the smallest point,