The Pythian Odes + 

O golden Lyre, who art Phoebus’ treasure + 

Which he shares with the dusk-haired Song-queens aye, + 

The light feet hear thee beating the measure + 

As the revellers marshal their dance-array. + 

O Lyre, thy signals the singers obey + 

When in preludes of choral song low-dreaming + 

O’er thy strings quick-throbbing the harmonies glide. + 

Thou quenchest the thunderbolt’s self red-gleaming + 

Javelined with flame-jets aye outstreaming. + 

On the sceptre of Zeus the slumber-tide + 

O’er his eagle ripples, on either side + 

Of the king of birds as his pinions are trailing: + 

O’er his bowing head doth a dark mist flow + 

Sweet-sealing his eyes; ’neath sleep’s prevailing + 

His back heaves wave-like soft and slow, + 

Spell-bound by thy melodies pulsing low. + 

Yea, the soul of the wild War-god lies sleeping + 

Hushed, warm-cradled in slumber’s nest, + 

And his keen spear slips from his strong hand’s keeping. + 

Gods’ hearts are thy shafts in enchantment steeping + 

By the inspiration of Phoebus to rest + 

Lulled, and by the deep-bosomed Muses’ behest. + 

But creatures beloved not of Zeus, things haunting + 

Earth’s crypts, and the sea’s gulfs storm-uprolled, + 

Flee panic-struck, hearing the Pierids chanting, + 

As was Typhon, whom Tartarus’ dread depths hold, + 

The hundred-headed, the hate undying + 

Of the Gods, in Cilician caverns of old + 

Nursed. Sicily now and her sea-defying + 

Cliffs above Kyme are heavily lying + 

On his shag-haired breast, and the cloud-kissing height + 

Of a crag-column crusheth him⁠—Etna, white + 

Through the livelong year with snows that bite + 

With ice-fangs cold. + 

Upbelched from his deep-hidden crypts is a fountain + 

Of pure white fire none dare draw nigh. + 

In the day from the lava-flood rifting the mountain + 

Is the lurid smoke uptossed to the sky; + 

In the darkness a red-rolling flame flares high + 

As it sweepeth the rocks with thunderous crashing + 

To the sea that afar below doth lie. + 

’Tis the monster upspurting through anguish-gnashing + 

Jaws that fire-fountain fearfully flashing⁠— + 

A wondrous portent appalling the eye, + 

A marvel to hear when men pass by; + 

Such horror is prisoned through years unending + 

’Neath the heights dark-leaved in the earth’s embrace, + 

While his back is furrowed with gory rending + 

By the flints of his restless resting-place! + 

O Zeus, may we in thy sight find grace + 

Who dost make this mountain thine habitation, + 

This rich land’s forefront, whose namesake-town + 

Her founder ennobled, what time his nation + 

Was “of Etna” published by proclamation + 

Of the Pythian herald who spake the renown + 

Of Hiero’s car-won victory-crown. + 

As seafarers hail as the first boon of Heaven + 

That their sails by a fair-speeding wind be fanned + 

When the anchor is weighed, as an earnest given + 

Of yet fairer return to the home-land’s strand, + 

So reason enkindleth the expectation + 

That with this fair fortune linked hand in hand + 

Shall the fame be of this thy new creation + 

For athletes and horses and glad celebration + 

Of her name by the singers. O Lycian King + 

And Delian, who lovest Castaly’s spring, + 

Of thy goodwill vouchsafe it, and stablish the thing + 

For this hero-land. + 

’Tis the Gods that ope all paths unto mortals + 

Whereby unto excellence toilers attain; + 

For poesy’s, prowess’s, eloquence’ portals + 

They unbar. Albeit to praise I am fain + 

This hero, I trust I shall hurl not in vain + 

Wide of the lists my javelin, winging + 

From the hand that hath poised it its quivering flight, + 

Beyond all rivals my shaft far-flinging. + 

May the days through his life-tide be alway bringing + 

Wealth, bliss, in a course ever steered aright, + 

With oblivion of fortune’s past despite. + 

He shall surely recall the old wars’ story⁠— + 

He whose steadfast soul was their battle-stay⁠— + 

When his folk at the Gods’ hands reaped for them glory + 

Such as none other Hellenes have borne away + 

From a stricken field, nor such goodly prey. + 

For, a new Philoktetes, with help all-availing + 

Battleward fared he, when came to implore + 

Humbly his friendship the proud ones, quailing + 

From foes over-strong⁠—as the heroes went sailing + 

To Lemnos, to bring him to Troyland’s shore + 

Whom the wound snake-venomed tormented sore, + 

The archer, Poias’ son, and he wended + 

Troyward, though sickness-worn was his frame, + 

And he ravaged the city of Priam, and ended + 

The Danaans’ toil; for of Fate this came. + 

So by Hiero’s side may a God go guiding + 

His steps, as in years past ever the same, + 

The desire of his heart in its season providing. + 

By Deinomenes’ side, O my Muse, abiding + 

Chant thou the meed by the chariot won + 

Of the father whose triumph is joy for the son. + 

This king, then, whose reign is in Etna begun, + 

Sing we his fame, + 

For whom, with freedom on God’s rock grounded, + 

The statutes of Hyllus pledged to maintain, + 

That city hath been by Hiero founded; + 

For the sons of Pamphylus are ever fain⁠— + 

Yea, so is the line of the Herakleid strain + 

’Neath the beetling crags of Taÿgetus dwelling⁠— + 

By Aegimius’ Dorian laws to abide. + 

They gat them Amyklae, and prospered past telling + 

Who from Pindus down-swooping in glory excelling + 

By the Tyndarids dwelt, who on white steeds ride, + 

And their spear-fame as flower-studded meads blossomed wide. + 

Zeus All-accomplisher, grant that never + 

May the tale of the fortunes of burgher and king + 

Be worser than now; may they prosper ever + 

Where Amenas’ waters are murmuring! + 

By thy grace may the old chief’s counsels bring + 

To his son and his folk, with all honour, fruition + 

In their borders ever of concord and peace. + 

May the war-cry of Tuscan no more nor Phoenician + 

Be heard on our shores since battle’s decision + 

By Cumae brought woe for lost ships upon these + 

Who in insolence claimed to be lords of the seas; + 

When the captain of Sicily’s fleet on-leading + 

The might of Syracuse, hurled to the sea + 

Their warrior youths from their ships light-speeding, + 

And set you thereby, ye Hellenes, free + 

From thraldom’s yoke hanging heavily o’er ye. + 

Yea, Athens and Sparta shall guerdon me + 

With thanks for my Salamis-lay, for the story + 

Of the battle before Kithairon, the glory + 

Won when the Medes of the curved bow fell: + 

And by Himera’s bank shall the song-flood swell + 

To Deinomenes’ sons’ battle-prowess, and tell + 

Of their victory. + 

If in season due be thy speech, if blended + 

Into close-knit order thy thoughts be, as when + 

A weaver upgathers his threads, attended + 

Shall thy words be with scantier cavil of men. + 

For if speech be tedious and long-drawn, then + 

Thine hearers’ eager expectancy dieth. + 

And when burghers the praise of their fellows hear, + 

On their hearts a weight of jealousy lieth. + 

Yet better is envy than pity, which sigheth + 

Over failure. In justice thy folk do thou steer, + 

And in truth’s forge fashion thy tongue’s keen spear. + 

How light soe’er be the word that hath flitted + 

From thy lips, it is weighty, as coming from thee. + 

To thy keeping a nation’s weal is committed: + 

Of thy deeds, good or ill, many watchers there be. + 

Be thy spirit a flower of chivalry. + 

If thou wilt that report true-royal declare thee, + 

No niggard be thou: like a wise timoneer + 

Thy sails spread wide, that the breeze may bear thee + 

Onward. Let time-serving guile not ensnare thee + 

By flattery, friend! Nought save the sincere + 

Praise that, when mortals are no more here, + 

Lives on after death, to the world revealeth + 

What their true life was whose days are sped, + 

And in chronicles shines and in lays outpealeth. + 

Blooms Croesus’ kindness with petals unshed; + 

But Phalaris, ruthlessly joying in rending + 

Men’s lives from the tortured in brass glowing red, + 

He is compassed with infamy’s hate unending, + 

Nor lutes nor young voices in harmony blending + 

In the hall of the casters his name shall greet. + 

Best of all is fair fortune; yet fame is sweet. + 

Who wins both, life’s chief crowns all meet + 

To engarland his head. + 

O Syracuse, city in greatness excelling, + 

Precinct of Ares through gulfs of war + 

Who plungeth, O nurse of the warrior and steed + 

That in clash of the steel of battle-weed + 

Exult, from radiant Thebes do I speed + 

Bearing a song of the great race, telling + 

Of the swift earth-shaking four-horsed car, + 

The race wherein Hiero triumphward riding + 

Flashed down the course with his glorious team, + 

And crowned with garlands that glowed far-seen + 

Ortygia, the haunt of the River-queen + 

Artemis⁠—aided of her, I ween, + 

His hands as with spells of enchantment were guiding + 

Those steeds with a bridle of rainbow-gleam; + 

For she, the arrow-triumphant Maiden, + 

And Hermes the Ruler of Contests, bring⁠— + 

Yea, the gifts of the Gods’ linked hands they are⁠— + 

These harness-adornings that glitter afar + 

When he yokes strong steeds to his shining car + 

And its wheels rein-piloted, victory-laden, + 

Invoking the wide-ruling Trident-king. + 

The prowess-guerdon of song sweet-ringing + 

From the lips of many a bard shall swell + 

To the feet of lords that o’er far lands reign; + 

As the Cyprian bards in triumphant strain + 

Chant Kinyras’ praises once and again, + 

Aphrodite’s priestly minion singing + 

Whom Apollo the golden-haired loved well; + 

For their gratitude’s praise for his kindness is gushing + 

From the hearts in loving reverence bowed. + 

O Deinomenes’ son, the Lokrian maid + 

In the far west sings at her door unafraid + 

The delivering might of thine arm, that stayed + 

War’s march of afflictions spirit-crushing, + 

That her eyes no longer are terror-cowed. + 

In old-time legend it stands recorded + 

That Ixion, the while on the fire-winged wheel + 

By the sentence of Gods he is endlessly whirled, + 

Ever shrieketh his warning, a cry that is hurled + 

Unto men’s ears up from the underworld⁠— + 

“Be the kindness of thy benefactors rewarded + 

With all the love that thine heart can reveal!” + 

That lesson he learned in uttermost measure; + 

For, though he received a life of bliss + 

Mid the Children of Kronos, the gracious-souled, + 

He contented him not with its joys untold, + 

But for Hera he lusted frenzy-bold, + 

Of Zeus’s couch the inviolate treasure; + 

For presumption drave him on into this + 

His overweening infatuation. + 

But swiftly he reaped meet harvest of sin + 

To suffer of all hell’s torments the worst: + 

For his twofold transgression earned the Accurst + 

That vengeance⁠—the one, that he was the first + 

Who stained mankind with contamination + 

Of the treacherous spilling of blood of kin; + 

The other, that in the recesses most holy + 

Of the bride-bower of Zeus did he make essay + 

Of the Queen of Heaven! Meet is it to know + 

Our mortality’s limits, meet to forego + 

The lawless loves that their victim throw + 

Into gulfs of destruction. Such was his folly; + 

For with nought but a cloud it was that he lay, + 

Unknowing all, to his own confusion + 

Lured on by a sweetly-beckoning lie; + 

For the cloud-wrought image the semblance bare + 

Of Kronos’ Child, Heaven’s fairest fair; + 

For the hands of Zeus had fashioned the snare, + 

The beautiful bane, for his soul’s delusion. + 

So he compassed his own dire doom thereby, + 

Outstretched on the wheel’s arms crucifying, + 

Tangled in bonds whence escape is none, + 

Shrieking that warning the whole world o’er. + 

And his cloud-mate, unblessed of the Graces, bore + 

A monstrous child⁠—such dam never more + 

Nor such offspring shall be, ’neath a black curse lying + 

Of menfolk, of godfolk⁠—a thing to shun! + 

And the cloud-mother reared that evil abortion + 

And named Kentaurus. By Pelion’s foot + 

In Magnesia he mated with many a mare; + 

And a horde of monsters was born of them there + 

Wondrous to see, for the likeness they bare + 

Of either parent; the upper portion + 

As man was shapen, the nether as brute. + 

What purpose soever God conceiveth + 

He accomplisheth; none his intent may defy⁠— + 

God, who o’ertaketh the eagle’s wing, + 

Who outstrippeth the dolphin, o’er waves though it spring, + 

And the pride of man to the dust can bring, + 

While unto the lowly one glory he giveth + 

That waxeth not old as the years fleet by. + 

But for me is it well that I lack not discretion + 

From slander’s viper-fangs to refrain. + 

Ay, venomous-tongued Archilochus’ fate + 

Have I known from of old, and his low estate + 

Who with rancorous speech fed fat his hate. + 

Of all things that Fortune can give in possession + 

Riches with wisdom are best to attain. + 

These blessings be thine, may all see plainly; + 

And this thou showest, O liberal-souled, + 

O princely ruler of many a street + 

Fair-circled with towers where thy squadrons meet; + 

And such riches and honour thy weal complete + 

That in fantasy’s folly he striveth vainly + 

Who saith that any surpassed thee of old + 

Among Hellene lords that be famed in story. + 

On the prow of my galley with flowers hung round + 

Will I take my stand as the praises I sing + 

Of thy prowess. Young hearts win strengthening + 

From courage when trumpets for onset ring. + 

Yea, thou, I proclaim it, hast won thee glory + 

Therefrom, a glory that knows no bound, + 

Now warring mid horsemen battleward racing, + 

And now mid warriors afoot that fight. + 

And thy wisdom now when thy locks be grey + 

Is of all gainsaying unperilled⁠—O yea, + 

It giveth me fullest assurance aye + 

For extolling thy name with manifold praising. + 

All hail! This song o’er the sea-foam white + 

Like Tyrian merchandise lo, I have brought thee. + 

Let thine eyes then smile on the Kastor-strain + 

That my fingers from chords Aeolian drew: + 

O greet it thou with the honour due + 

To the seven-stringed lute. To thyself be true, + 

To the royal wisdom the years have taught thee. + 

’Tis from children alone that the ape doth gain + 

The praise of beauty, is beauteous ever! + 

Rhadamanthus is homed in the Isles of the Blest, + 

For the fruit of his soul was uncankered of guile: + 

No pleasure he hath in the treacherous wile + 

Of the whisperer working by calumnies vile. + 

The secret speakings of slander never + 

Can be openly fought and for ever repressed. + 

There is nothing of man in them⁠—nay, ’tis the slinking + 

Spirit of foxes they show; and yet + 

From his cunning what gain doth the sly fox reap? + 

As for me⁠—while the rest of the net-tackle deep + 

In the briny darkness doth toilsomely sweep + 

The sea-floor⁠—I, like the float unsinking + 

Am riding the waves high over the net. + 

In a city of honest men unavailing + 

Is the trickster’s babble, yet still he essays, + 

Fawning on all men, the toils to twine + 

Of his subtlety. Never his vaunt shall be mine⁠— + 

“To a friend he I friend, to a foe malign! + 

As a wolf will I covertly track him, assailing + 

This side and that side, by crooked ways.” + 

In what state soever a people be dwelling, + 

’Tis the man of straightforward speech alway + 

That unto the foremost place attains; + 

Whether it be where a despot reigns, + 

Or where the rabble hot-headed strains + 

Against use and wont, or where sages excelling + 

In wisdom the helm of the commonweal sway. + 

Strive not against God, who exalts at his pleasure + 

Now one, now setteth another on high. + 

Yet doth not even His will seem right + 

Unto envious ones, but they strain over-tight + 

The line, and their own hearts so do they smite + 

With a wound whose bitterness none may measure, + 

Ere the prize be gained for the which they sigh. + 

Nay, better it is that a man bear lightly + 

The yoke of Fate on his neck that lies. + 

But he makes for his feet a perilous road + 

Who backward lashes against the goad. + 

But on me be this fair fortune bestowed, + 

To dwell among them which walk uprightly, + 

And to be well-pleasing in good men’s eyes. + 

I were fain⁠—if my tongue might breathe the prayer + 

Which on all lips trembles⁠—that Philyra’s son, + 

That yet alive old Cheiron were + 

Who perished from earth, ah, long agone, + 

Even heaven-born Kronos’ seed, who of yore + 

A sceptre of wide dominion bore⁠— + 

That now in the glens of Pelion + 

That man-brute reigned in the woods once more + 

Who was gracious-hearted to men when of old + 

He dwelt in the shadowy forest-land + 

Where he fostered Asklepius kindly-souled, + 

The lord of leechcraft, whose healing hand + 

From the limbs of the stricken banished pain + 

With salves by the which each malady’s bane + 

From their frames was banned. + 

The daughter of Phlegyas, lord of the car, + 

Not yet with help of the Travail-queen + 

Had borne that Healer renowned afar, + 

Ere by Artemis’ golden arrows keen + 

In her bride-bower stricken to death she lay, + 

And trod the unreturning way + 

Unto Hades’ halls; for Apollo had seen + 

The transgression that slew his love in a day. + 

For the wrath of the Sons of Zeus not in vain + 

Burns. In her folly she dared think scorn + 

Of his anger: unknown to her sire had she ta’en + 

To her arms a human lover, forsworn + 

To her bridal troth, to her plighted word, + 

To the love of Apollo the Archer-lord + 

Of the hair unshorn, + 

Though she bare ’neath her zone a God’s pure seed, + 

Yet the marriage-feast’s coming she would not abide; + 

Not she of the full-voiced song took heed, + 

Such song as the young girl-mates of the bride + 

Merrily chant in the eventide. + 

But she longed for a love that was otherwhere + 

With the passion that oft is the soul’s death-snare. + 

For a people foolish beyond compare + 

Is found among mortals, who scorn things near, + 

And gaze upon things that be far away, + 

And chase an ever-elusive prey + 

With hopes whose fulfilment shall never appear. + 

Even with such overmastering might + 

Did unbridled desire o’er the spirit sweep + 

Of Koronis in queenly vesture dight, + 

That she dared in the unblest couch to sleep + 

Of a stranger faring from Arcady. + 

But she ’scaped not the all-beholding eye + 

Of the God⁠—albeit where myriad sheep + 

To his altar at Pytho be led to die + 

Was the Lord of the Temple then⁠—for their lust + 

By the all-divining mind was descried. + 

To his soul’s inner vision did Phoebus trust + 

As it were to a seer enthroned at his side. + 

He knows not delusion, whom neither man + 

Nor God by thought or by action can + 

Deceive or misguide. + 

So when of her harlotry Phoebus was ware + 

With the stranger Ischys Eilatus’ son, + 

And her godless guile in his sight lay bare, + 

Then sent he against that faithless one + 

His sister Artemis rushing with might + 

Of a Goddess whose arrows resistlessly smite + 

Unto Lakereia, by whose walls shine + 

The mere Boebeïs’ waters bright, + 

Whereby did the woman unwedded abide + 

Whom her evil genius misled to the doom + 

Which destroyed her; and many a neighbour died + 

With her, by her sin dragged down to the tomb, + 

As when on a mountain the fire that hath leapt + 

From one spark over a forest hath swept, + 

And doth wholly consume. + 

But now when her kinsmen had laid the maid + 

In the midst of the pinewood walls of the pyre, + 

And when round about her upleaping played + 

The splendour-light of the Lord of Fire, + 

Spake Apollo: “I will not by death so dire + 

Endure that mine own son also should die + 

In the flames wherein doth his mother lie!” + 

He spake, and at one stride stood thereby, + 

And he caught up the child from the corse, and sprang + 

The flames asunder. That babe he brought + 

To Magnesia’s Centaur, by him to be taught + 

To heal each mortal malady’s pang. + 

And so what mortals soever sought + 

Unto him of the earth’s afflicted ones, + 

Or with sores by nature’s corruption wrought, + 

Or with limbs deep-gashed by the gleaming bronze, + 

Or the stone hurled far from the whirling sling, + 

Or through feverous summers languishing, + 

Or whom winter had cramped in sinews and bones, + 

He delivered them all, that leechcraft-king, + 

And loosed from their diverse infirmities + 

Or by spells with magic’s nepenthe rife; + 

Or a pain-lulling draught would he pour for these, + 

Or with salves that requickened the fainting life + 

The limbs of those would he swathe around, + 

Or for cureless sores was a remedy found + 

In the merciful knife. + 

But alas for him, even leechcraft’s lore + 

May be made the thrall of the lust of gain! + 

Even him did guerdon of golden ore, + 

In his palm as it glittered, seduce to his bane, + 

To bring back a man from the realm of the dead + 

Whom Hades already had captive led. + 

Wherefore Kronion smote those twain + 

With the vengeance-bolt from his hand swift-sped; + 

And that all-dreaded thunder-stone + 

Dashed from their bosoms the breath for their sin. + 

From the Gods it behoves that we seek alone + 

Things meet for mortal spirits to win, + 

That, knowing what lies at the feet of man, + 

And discerning the bounds of our mortal span, + 

We abide therein. + 

Covet not thou, O my soul, to live + 

The Immortals’ life! Let us use as we may + 

The means that Fate to our hands shall give. + 

Yet, if Cheiron the wise in his cave this day + 

Dwelt, and our honey-sweet songs might lay + 

On his spirit a spell that his will might bend, + 

I had won on him then some healer to send + 

To deliver from feverous pains my friend, + 

Such an one as Asklepius Apollo’s son. + 

O’er Ionian waters voyaging + 

Oh then had I reached Arethusa’s spring, + 

And to Etna’s ruler, mine host, had I gone, + 

Who o’er Syracuse holdeth empery, + 

A king to his citizens gracious-souled; + 

Never jealous of good men’s weal is he + 

Whom stranger-friends from far lands hold + 

As a father with worshipful marvelling. + 

O might I but land on his shores and bring + 

A twofold boon, even health’s pure gold, + 

And the triumph-chant therewithal that I sing + 

To light with splendour the Pythian crown + 

Which his steed Pherenikus in days gone by + 

At Kirrha won for his lord’s renown, + 

To my friend then, crossing the deep sea, I + 

Had come as a light clear-shining afar, + 

Ay, beaming brighter than any star + 

In yonder sky. + 

Yet, unto the Mother, the Goddess adored, + 

For thine helping with prayers would I fain draw near. + 

Whose praises, with those of the Forest-lord, + 

Beside my portal chanted I hear + 

By maidens oft, when the night is still. + 

But, Hiero, seeing thyself hast skill + 

To interpret the lore of the ancient seer, + 

This knowest thou⁠—This is the high Gods’ will + 

To apportion alway afflictions twain + 

For each one boon that on man they bestow. + 

It is only the foolish who cannot sustain + 

With fit resignation their burden of woe: + 

But spirits heroic their sorrow can hide + 

’Neath a calm smile; so life’s fairer side + 

To the world do they show. + 

Yet on thee doth a lot of happiness wait; + 

For if upon any man She hath deigned + 

With favour to look, all-ruling Fate, + 

’Tis on him who over a nation hath reigned. + 

Nor Peleus nor Kadmus the godlike attained + 

To a life safeguarded from suffering aye: + 

Yet of all men these, as the old myths say, + 

To the highest happiness rose, for they + 

Heard the gold-tired Muses on Pelion + 

And in Thebes of the seven gates, when the bride + 

Of the one was Harmonia lovely-eyed, + 

And Thetis the Sea-queen Peleus won. + 

Yea, and the Gods sat at meat with these, + 

And the Sons of Kronos did they behold + 

As kings in the heavenly palaces + 

Seated upon their thrones of gold, + 

And received of them many a bridal gift; + 

And by Zeus were they saved from the stormy drift + 

Of woes overpast o’er their heads that had rolled; + 

And their hearts in gladness did they uplift. + 

Yet the days of their joyance were all too brief; + 

For the years drew nigh when Kadmus should see + 

His portion of happiness turned to grief + 

By the bitter travail of daughters three. + 

Yet Thyone the white-armed drew from above + 

Down to her couch by the spell of love + 

Zeus’ majesty. + 

And the son of Peleus, the only son + 

Whom Thetis the deathless Goddess bore + 

In Phthia to him⁠—from that glorious one + 

The arrow in battle his sweet life tore; + 

And the Danaans’ wail rang loud, as they yearned + 

For their mightiest lost, on the pyre as he burned. + 

Now if any of mortals by wisdom’s lore + 

The way of truth in his soul hath discerned, + 

Well may he be happy, if God bestow + 

The fortune fair by the Blessèd given. + 

Yet ever the blasts veer to and fro + 

Of the winds that fly o’er the fields of heaven. + 

Not long doth the bliss of mortals endure, + 

Yea, though it have come in full measure, and pure + 

From sorrow’s leaven. + 

Small shall I be if small my estate, + 

And great shall I grow if great it be. + 

What fortune soever for me may wait, + 

I will strive to adorn it worthily. + 

Should God grant easeful wealth unto me, + 

I would fain win fame too in oncoming days. + 

So Nestor and Lycian Sarpedon in lays + 

Ringing loud on the lips of men, have praise, + 

Whom we see as it were in temples enshrined + 

Uppiled by the master-builders of song; + 

For through glorious strains liveth chivalry long⁠— + 

But the path unto that fame few may find. + 

This day, O Muse, in the presence of a friend it behoves thee to stand, + 

Even the King of Kyrene, the goodly battle-steed’s land, + 

That so, when Arkesilas leadeth the revel-dance sweeping along, + 

Thou at his side mayst be swelling the breeze of acclaiming song + 

Which is due unto Leto’s children, to Pytho the temple due, + 

Where of old, when Apollo’s presence was a glory that shone therethrough, + 

The priestess enthroned by the golden eagles of Zeus revealed + 

That Battus should found an empire in Libya’s fruitful field, + 

Should depart from his hallowed island, and build on the gleaming height + 

Of the breast of the earth a city of chariots splendour-dight. + 

In the seventeenth generation so should the word be fulfilled + 

Which at Thera Medea spake, which the daughter passionate-willed + 

Of Aietes, the Colchian princess, breathed from immortal lips + 

To the heroes that with Jason fared on the highway of ships: + 

“Hearken to me, ye scions of warriors mighty-souled, + 

Ye that of Gods be descended, to the thing of my tongue foretold: + 

Lo, from this land of Thera that is scourged by the brine of the sea + 

Shall in Epaphus’ daughter Libya be planted in days to be + 

A root that shall grow into cities that mortals shall hold full dear. + 

To the temple-foundations of Ammon, of Libyan Zeus, lying near. + 

“And instead of the short-finned dolphin shall they take the fleetfoot steed, + 

Wield reins instead of the oar-blade, drive chariots of whirlwind speed. + 

For by that augury-token fulfilled shall be Thera’s fate + 

To become the mother-city of burgs exceeding great, + 

That token the which aforetime at Tritonis the mere’s outflow + 

On Euphemus who leapt from Argo did a God of the sea bestow, + 

A God who in man’s shape proffered a clod of earth for his gift: + 

And Zeus Kronion thundered approval thereof from the lift. + 

“For he lighted on us, that stranger, as the men were in act to hang + 

Upon Argo’s side the anchor, the curb of the brazen fang. + 

Over ridges of homeless desert had they borne for twelve days’ space + 

Away from the Ocean the galley that wont o’er the sea to race; + 

For they haled her ashore, obeying the counsel spoken of me. + 

Then came that Solitary, the Triton-god of the sea, + 

Wearing the splendid semblance of a worship-worthy man, + 

And with words of kindly welcome his utterance began, + 

Such speech as of hosts good-hearted is spoken, when such draw near + 

Unto far-travelled guests, and bid them to taste of the banquet’s cheer. + 

“Howbeit for that guest-feasting the heroes might not stay, + 

For the lure of the sweet home-coming beckoned them ever away. + 

But Eurypylus he named him, deathless Earth-shaker’s son, + 

Born of the Land-enfolder: yet marking our haste to begone, + 

He put forth his hand, and straightway caught up from the earth a clod + 

As it lay at his feet, and proffered the same as the gift of a god. + 

Nor scorned it Euphemus, but leaping from Argo’s deck to the strand + 

He received that fateful guest-gift, and clasped the giver’s hand. + 

But alas, it abode not with us! Washed over the galley’s side + 

It fleeted away on the sea-brine in the dusk of eventide + 

“Adrift on the heaving outsea: yet laid I once and again + 

My charge to watch it safely on our helpers the serving-men: + 

But ah, they forgat! So on Thera’s isle the unperishing seed + 

Of Libya the wide is upwashen before the time decreed. + 

For if only Euphemus, the scion of Poseidon the chariot-lord⁠— + 

Whom Europa Tityos’ daughter bare on the margent-sward + 

Of Kephisus⁠—to Tainarus speeding, there in the homeland had hurled + 

That clod through the chasm-portals of Hades’ underworld, + 

“Then in the fourth generation the sons of his blood had ta’en + 

With the Danaans’ help possession of Libya’s boundless plain; + 

For then from great Lacedaemon, from Argos’ wide-mouthed bay + 

And Mycenae, had warriors thither fared in a mighty array. + 

But, as things have befallen, Euphemus shall wed with an alien dame, + 

And shall win him from those espousals a chosen seed of his name + 

The which, of the high Gods honoured, shall come unto Thera’s strand + 

And beget a man to be ruler of that cloud-shadowed land: + 

Unto him in the hall of Phoebus, the temple rich in gold, + 

Shall the word of the revelation of an oracle be told, + 

“When in days to come he descendeth into the sanctuary + 

At Pytho, bidding him carry a host of men oversea + 

To Kronion’s fertile precinct that lieth beside the Nile.” + 

Even such was the chant prophetic that Medea uttered, the while + 

Moveless sitting in silence the heroes bowed the head, + 

And hearkened the counsel of wisdom that breathed in the words that she said. + 

Blest scion of Polymnestus, of no man save of thee + 

The oracle told that glory by the voice of the Delphic Bee + 

With utterance unprompted; and “All hail!” thrice she cried, + 

And proclaimed thee the destined ruler of Kyrene’s kingdom wide, + 

When thou earnest to ask what healing the Gods would grant of their grace + 

For thy stammering tongue. Of a surety now in the latter days, + 

As when mid the springtide’s roses a burgeoning tree is seen, + 

So, eighth in the line of Battus, Arkesilas’ leaf is green. + 

Even him did Apollo and Pytho cause to be triumph-renowned + 

In the chariot-race in the presence of all folk dwelling around. + 

I will hymn his fame to the Song-queens, and will sing of the Golden Fleece, + 

Of the Minyans’ Quest and the sowing of god-given glory for these. + 

What Power overshadowing lured them forth on the sea-track long? + 

What peril to that Quest bound them with clamps as of adamant strong? + 

A god-given oracle boded that Pelias should die + 

By the hands of Aiolus’ children, or their merciless subtlety. + 

Yea, a prophecy came to him chilling the heart of the crafty-souled; + 

From the mid-stone of Earth-mother vestured with trees was the word outrolled: + 

“Above all things else beware thou with uttermost heed,” said the God, + 

“Of the man that from highland homesteads with single sandal shod + 

Unto far-renowned lolkos of the sunny plains shall fare, + 

Be he a man of thy country, or stranger from otherwhere.” + 

At the last was he come, a hero of wondrous-mighty frame; + 

With lances twain that quivered in his iron grasp he came. + 

And twofold vesture arrayed him; the garb of the Magnete folk + 

To his goodly limbs close-lapping clung; but tossed like a cloak + 

O’er his shoulders a pard’s fell screening from arrowy showers lay. + 

From the glory of his bright tresses nought had been shorn away, + 

But unminished, a rippling splendour, adown his back they shone. + 

With feet unfaltering straightway and swiftly strode he on, + 

And he stood, as one that proveth a spirit of peril uncowed, + 

In the midst of the place of folkmote filled with its thronging crowd. + 

And no man knew him; but awestruck they gazed, and one spake word: + 

“Of a surety is this not Apollo, nor Aphrodite’s lord + 

Of the chariot of brass! And Otus, and Ephialtes thou + 

The dauntless, in gleaming Naxos perished long ere now, + 

Ye sons of Iphimedeia; nor Tityos could outrun + 

The arrow as lightning leaping the heart of the quarry that won, + 

Which Artemis out of her quiver invincible sped, that man + 

Might be warned to grasp not at dalliance beyond our mortal span.” + 

So spake they each unto other, questioning, answering thus. + 

But now Cometh Pelias speeding with haste impetuous + 

His mules and his polished chariot⁠—suddenly stayed he and stared + 

In amaze at the one foot sandalled of the man with the left foot bared, + 

The unmistakable token! Howbeit he hid in his heart + 

His dread, and he spake: “Thou stranger, say of what land thou art, + 

And what is thy fatherland tell me! What womb gave thee birth? + 

What giantess was thy mother of the ancient children of Earth? + 

Speak out! Of thy lineage tell us; and see that thou do not defile + 

Thy lips with words of feigning, with falsehoods loathsome-vile!” + 

But unafraid that stranger answering spake to the king + 

With unangry words: “The wisdom of Cheiron hither I bring: + 

From Chariklo and Philyra’s presence, from the cave of the shadows I come + 

Whom the Centaur’s stainless daughters reared in their mountain-home. + 

Years twice ten there I accomplished, and never deed or word + 

In truth or in honesty lacking in me have they seen or heard. + 

And hither I come returning to this the home of my race + 

To win me back the honour that in unforgotten days + 

Was my sire’s, which a godless usurper out of his hands hath torn, + 

The honour to Aiolus granted of Zeus, by his sons to be borne. + 

“For I hear how the lawless-hearted, one Pelias, lured astray + 

By the lusts of his envy, by violence snatched the sceptre away + 

From my father and mother, to whom it pertained by ancestral right, + 

These, dreading the tyrant’s outrage, so soon as I looked on the light, + 

As though for a new-dead dear one, made dusky-garbed lament, + 

And amid wild wailing of women the babe from the home they sent + 

Swaddled in purple swathings, by paths Night knew alone; + 

And to Cheiron they gave me to foster, to the Centaur, Kronos’ son. + 

“Now therefore of this my story the sum and the substance ye know; + 

And I pray you, O kindly burghers, to me do ye plainly show + 

The dwelling wherein my fathers, lords of white steeds, abode; + 

For the feet of a son of Aison shall surely not have trode + 

Upon alien soil in the homeland, the land I claim for mine! + 

Jason my name is: the Centaur named me with lips divine.” + 

Then his father’s eyes, as he entered the old home, knew him again, + 

And gushed from his aged eyelids the tears like summer rain; + 

For his spirit rejoiced within him when he beheld that son, + 

The chief est among ten thousand, the goodliest-moulded one. + 

And the brethren twain of the father came thither the son to greet, + 

So soon as they heard the tidings of his home-returning feet. + 

Not from afar came Pheres from Hypereia’s spring: + 

From Messene fared Amythaon: Admetus hastening + 

Thitherward came with Melampus, and greeted lovingly + 

Their kinsman. And while they feasted, with gracious courtesy + 

Did Jason commune with them ever, and he made them abundant cheer, + 

And he lengthened out all joyance of the hearts that held him dear: + 

For five long nights together, five days, did the hero abide + 

Still plucking the consecrated flowers of the festal tide. + 

But with earnest speech on the sixth day at last did Jason begin + 

To set forth from the beginning the whole tale unto his kin. + 

And these to his counsel consented: from the banqueting-couch straightway + 

With these he uprose; to the palace of Pelias on passed they. + 

And they hasted and stood there; and hearing them, came to meet the men + 

That son of Tyro the lovely-haired. Spake Jason then, + 

And of wise speech laid the foundation, with words of unangry tone + 

Soft-flowing: “Son of Poseidon the Cleaver of crag-piled stone, + 

“The spirits of men run swiftly, too swiftly they run on the path + 

Of the wages of treachery, rather than guerdons that justice hath; + 

Yet their lives glide on to the reckoning stern that for all doth remain. + 

But thee and me it behoveth by law our passions to rein, + 

And for days to come to be weaving the web of our well-being so. + 

One mother had our forefathers⁠—this I would say dost thou know⁠— + 

Rash-hearted Salmoneus and Kretheus; and we who in these days see + 

Helios’ majesty golden, of the third generation are we. + 

Now if there arise black hatred ’twixt mortals by blood akin. + 

Far off stand the Destiny-weavers, to see not the shame and the sin. + 

“Us twain it beseemeth in no wise with spear or with bronze-forged sword + 

To apportion the goodly honour of our fathers’ treasure-hoard; + 

Nor needeth it⁠—lo, all sheep-flocks and tawny herds of kine + 

I yield unto thee, and the pastures and tilth-lands, still to be thine, + 

Whereof thou hast spoiled my parents, and ever art swelling thy store. + 

O yea, and it nowise vexeth my soul that of these evermore + 

Thou increasest thine house’s riches:⁠—but the kingly sceptre and throne + 

Whereon the son of Kretheus sat in the days bygone, + 

And over a nation of horsemen ruled in equity, + 

Even these without malice between us yield unto him and to me, + 

“Lest out of it some new mischief should spring up.” Thus he spake. + 

And with words that peaceably sounded did Pelias answer make: + 

“I will be as thou wilt: but already is old age compassing + 

Mine head; but thy life is waxing in the fiower-tide of thy spring; + 

And strength is thine for appeasing the Powers of the world below; + 

For unto the halls of Aietes Phrixus biddeth us go + 

To lead homeward his spirit, and hither the fell thick-fleeced to bear + 

Of the Ram from the sea that saved him, from his stepdame’s impious snare. + 

“Such was the strange hest spoken by a voice in a dream that came. + 

And to Kastaly’s oracle also have I sent to enquire of the same, + 

Whether truly the quest should be ventured; and the oracle biddeth me + 

To make ready with speed a galley to bring these home oversea. + 

This emprise do thou accomplish of free will: then, when again + 

Thou comest, I swear to yield thee the throne thereon to reign. + 

And let Zeus himself be the witness, that the oath-pledge firm may be, + 

Zeus, the ancestral father of the race of thee and me.” + 

So in peace they parted, consenting that so should the covenant stand. + 

Then Jason sent heralds to publish the Quest through every land. + 

And lo, three sons of Kronion came at his call straightway: + 

No labour of battle could tire them, seed of the Highest they! + 

The one of Alkmena the star-eyed was born, and of Leda twain. + 

And there came two heroes with helmets tossing the stormy mane; + 

And these were the Earth-shaker’s scions, and honour was blent with their might. + 

Thither they journeyed from Pylos and Tainarus’ foreland-height. + 

Perfected so is the glory that thou, Euphemus, hast found, + 

And thine, Periklymenus, peerless in prowess far-renowned. + 

And, sped by Apollo thither, the master of harp-strings came, + 

The father of song, even Orpheus of unforgotten fame. + 

And of Hermes, the Lord of the Golden Sword, have two sons gone + 

To the toil wherefrom no respite was given, Echion the one, + 

And the other Eurytus, joying in the strength of life’s spring-day. + 

And swiftly came from their dwelling at the roots of Pangaius that lay + 

Zetes and Kalais: gladly their father Boreas, king + 

Of the Winds, arrayed them in pinions on their shoulders fluttering. + 

Hera it was that enkindled the yearning whose strong spell drew + 

All these demigod heroes to be of Argo’s crew, + 

That none by the side of his mother be left still drowsing on + 

In a sodden life unperilled, but, though through death it were won, + 

Along with the rest his compeers he should find in the land oversea + 

And drain the magic chalice of the glory of chivalry. + 

So came they, the flower of all shipmen, down to Iolkos’ shore; + 

And the tale of them all told Jason, and thanked them o’er and o’er. + 

And his helper Mopsus the prophet enquired the will of Heaven, + 

For he noted the tokens of bird-flight and hallowed lots that were given; + 

Then joyfully cried to them: “Get you aboard, for the hour is now!” + 

And they heaved and hung the anchor over the galley’s prow. + 

Then a golden bowl their chieftain took in his hands, and high + 

On the stern unto Zeus the Father of the Heavenly Ones did he cry, + 

Unto him whose lance is the lightning; to the rushing feet did he pray + 

Of the waves, and the wild wind-pinions, to speed them on their way; + 

To the nights and the great deep’s highways he prayed, that the days might be + 

Gracious, and kindly the fortune of the home-return oversea. + 

And a voice of thunder propitious out of the welkin crashed, + 

And dazzling gleams of lightning from the rifted cloud-walls flashed. + 

And the heroes breathed more lightly, their hearts with comfort glowed, + 

For they put their trust in the tokens that God from his heaven forth-showed. + 

And of hopes with fear unmingled the seer spake, while he bade + 

To smite with the oar the waters: the swiftly-flashing blade + 

Swung by their hands untiring over the sea sped on, + 

And the south-wind onward-wafting blew; and so they won + 

To the mouth of the Sea Unfriendly: there made they a holy place + 

To the Lord of the Deep; and a red-felled herd of the bulls of Thrace + 

Was there, and a new-built altar of stone with a basin therein. + 

And now, as they sped on, deeper they plunged into peril’s gin. + 

But they cried to the Lord of Shipmen to bring them safely through + 

The resistless rush of the Countering Rocks; for these were two, + 

And alive they were, and onward they rolled more fearful-fast + 

Than the thunderous-roaring battalions of winds; but death at the last + 

By the demigods’ voyage was dealt them. To Phasis then came they, + 

And there with the swart-faced Colchians they clashed in battle-play, + 

Yea, in the very presence of King Aietes. Then + 

The Queen of the Darts keen-piercing brought from Olympus to men + 

That dappled bird of the madness of love, the wryneck, and bound + 

Was the thing by the Lady of Cyprus on a wheel whirled ceaselessly round + 

From whose arms there was no escaping; and she was the first that brought + 

Unto earth that charm. And to Aison’s son the Goddess taught + 

The Suppliant’s Incantation, whose glamour should cause to depart + 

All reverent love of parents out of Medea’s heart, + 

That a longing for Hellas might lash her with Suasion’s whip, till afire + 

Was her soul. And she straightway taught him to achieve the tasks that her sire + 

Had appointed to him; for she blended in magical wise with oil + 

Strange drugs to anoint him, counter-spells for the fiery toil. + 

And therewithal these vowed them each unto other to be + 

Linked in the bands delightsome of spousal unity. + 

But when in the midst Aietes had set the adamant plough + 

And the bulls, which out of their glowing jaws were breathing now + 

The flame of a fire fierce-burning, as hoof after hoof of them stamped + 

On the shuddering ground, as with brazen feet they heavily tramped, + 

Then, unholpen of any, he led them to the yoke; straight furrows he drew, + 

And up from a trench of a fathom deep huge clods he threw. + 

Thereafter he cried his challenge: “This work now let your king, + 

Whosoe’er hath command of your galley, to its accomplishment bring, + 

“And so bear off for his guerdon the unperishing coverlet, + 

Even the Fleece with golden-gleaming tassels beset.” + 

As he spake it, his saffron mantle did Jason cast aside, + 

And trusting in God he grappled with the task, and the rushing tide + 

Of flame played on him unquailing, for magic wrapped him round + 

By the spells of the sorceress-stranger. He seized the plough, and he bound + 

The bulls’ necks fast in the harness, he stabbed each strong-ribbed frame + 

With the merciless goad; and so to the end of the set task came + 

That stalwart hero. Aietes, in amazement’s agony, + 

Beholding the might of the stranger, gasped a wordless cry. + 

Then to the strong-limbed hero, in token of love that they bare. + 

Stretched forth their hands his comrades, and crowned with garlands his hair, + 

And with loving praises they hailed him, and glad acclaiming shout. + 

Then straightway the wondrous scion of Helios pointed out + 

The place where the golden-gleaming Fleece was hung, wide-strained + 

By the falchion of Phrixus: he trusted the goal should ne’er be attained + 

Of that last toil by the stranger: in a tangled thicket it lay + 

In a ravening dragon’s warding whose jaw-teeth gripped it aye; + 

And in length and in breadth was he greater than a galley fifty-oared + 

Welded by iron mallets with blow upon blow down-poured. + 

Too long for me is the wheel-rutted track, for the sands run low + 

Of time; moreover a certain short bypath I know + 

Who am leader in song unto many. The serpent lurid-eyed, + 

Iridescent-scaled, by the magic spells of the hero died⁠— + 

O Arkesilas;⁠—and aided of Medea, he stole her, and fled + 

With her who was Pelias’ death-snare. Through Ocean’s deeps they sped + 

And the Red Sea; thence to the husband-slayers in Lemnos they came. + 

There strove they for guerdons of raiment in many an athlete-game, + 

And they couched with the women: in alien furrows there did they sow + 

By night or by day the fateful seed of the bright sun-glow + 

Of your line’s fair fortune. Planted there was Euphemus’ race, + 

Destined to fadeless increase through ever-during days. + 

In the homesteads of Lacedaemon the wanderers tarried awhile; + 

In Thera thereafter abode they, once named Kalliste’s Isle. + 

Thence was it the Son of Leto led your sires oversea, + 

And gave them the plains of Libya, to bring prosperity + 

To the land by god-given honours, and to rule o’er the hallowed town + 

Of golden-throned Kyrene, the Nymph of old renown, + 

Having devised for it counsel that ruleth in righteousness aye. + 

Now learn thou of Oedipus’ wisdom:⁠—“If one should shear away + 

With the axe keen-cleaving the branches of a stately oak, and bring + 

To shame its glorious beauty, even in the perishing + 

Of its fruitage, it still giveth token of that which it was of old, + 

Yea, though it should come to the hearth-fire at last in the winter’s cold, + 

Or whether, a great beam resting athwart the columns tall + 

That bear the weight of the rafters of a proud lord’s feasting-hall, + 

It doeth slavish service walled in ’twixt roof and floor, + 

And the place that knew it aforetime shall know it again no more.” + 

A physician thou art most timely; the light that from thee doth pour + 

The Healer-god honours. For tending a deeply festering sore + 

One needeth a hand most gentle. The weakest fool may shake + 

A state to its very foundations; but hard is the struggle to make + 

It again in its place stand firmly, unless God hasten to be + 

Unto its rulers a pilot o’er discord’s stormy sea. + 

But for thee is the vesture woven of such fair fortune. Be strong + 

In thy striving to stablish Kyrene in weal to continue long; + 

And of Homer’s sayings ponder thou this with diligent heed:⁠— + 

“A prudent messenger bringeth,” he saith, “unto every deed + 

Honour exceeding goodly.” By a message rightly told + 

The Muse herself is exalted. Now Kyrene knoweth of old, + 

And the world-famed hall of Battus knoweth, how righteously + 

Demophilus ruled his spirit: a youth mid the youths was he + 

In years, albeit in counsel was he as an elder of days, + 

Yea, as one that through years a hundred hath run life’s weary race. + 

He silenceth slander; her blatant tongue is loud no more; + 

And insolence overweening hath he throughly learned to abhor: + 

He contendeth not with the noble; he lingereth no long space + 

In bringing a work to fulfilment;⁠—for Opportunity stays + 

By a man but a fleeting moment: well is it marked of him still + 

How it waiteth on him as a helper, not as the slave of his will. + 

Of all gifts this is the saddest, to know what is best for man, + 

And yet that Fate the tyrant thy winning thereto should ban. + 

Ay, Atlas still stands straining beneath heaven’s crushing load, + 

From all his possessions exiled, from his ancestral abode. + 

Yet by Zeus ever-living the Titans were unchained; and as on time fleets, + 

With the lulling and veering of breezes may the shipmen shift the sheets. + 

And this thy banished one prayeth that, now that his cup of pain + 

Hath been drained to the dregs, he may look on the home of his youth again, + 

May have part by Apollo’s fountain in the feast, may yield his heart + 

To the joyance of youth, and mid burghers wise in the minstrel’s art + 

May hold in his hands the cithern cunningly carved, and to peace + 

May attain, doing hurt unto no man, and injured by none of these; + 

And shall tell how fair a fountain of song immortal he found + 

For Arkesilas, late welcomed by a friend on Theban ground. + 

Far-reaching power has wealth for him to whom + 

It comes, a gift that Destiny sends + 

With stainless honour linked: so leads he home + 

A charm that wins him friends. + 

Thon, O Arkesilas the heaven-blest, + 

Since from its first steps glory crowned + 

Thy life, hast held that boon of Heaven in quest, + 

Hast sought fair fame, and found, + 

With aid of Kastor of the chariot golden, + 

Who bade the wintry tempest cease, + 

And sheds upon thine hearthstone bliss-enfolden + 

Sunlight of skies of peace. + 

Whoso are noble bear with fairest grace + 

Such power as God bestows on thee; + 

And thou on paths of righteousness dost pace + 

Crowned with prosperity; + 

For over mighty cities king thou art; + 

And thy discernment eagle-eyed, + 

Inborn with thee, hath wedded to thine heart + 

Honour as to a bride. + 

And this day crowns thy bliss with triumph glorious + 

In Pythian Games by fleet steeds won. + 

Now hast thou welcomed home the chant victorious + 

As sweeps the revel on, + 

Phoebus’ delight. So, when the song they raise + 

Around Kyrene’s garden fair + 

Of Aphrodite, to give God the praise + 

For all, have thou a care. + 

And hold Karrhotus dearest friend, who brought + 

Not back, to cloak disaster’s shame, + 

Excuse, the child of late-wise Afterthought, + 

When to the halls he came + 

Of Battus’ sons, whose just rule lives in story; + 

But, hailed her guest by Kastaly’s Spring, + 

Won for thee with his car a crown of glory⁠— + 

Thy car all-conquering! + 

With reins unsnapped through all that hallowed space + 

Around the courses twelve he swung, + 

Nor car nor harness brake he in the race, + 

But dedicate hath hung + 

On Phoebus’ wall the craftsmen’s masteries + 

Riding whereon he passed ere then + 

The hill of Krisa to the plain that lies + 

In the God’s bosomed glen. + 

The cypress shrine now hath them in possession + 

By that self-moulded statue placed + 

Which Cretan bowmen ’neath the roof Parnassian + 

Unto the God upraised. + 

Beseems that with blithe heart thou welcome one + 

Who hath done thee such service fair. + 

Splendour ye shed on Alexibius’ son, + 

O Graces of bright hair! + 

O happy thou, that after labour sore + 

Thou hast the praise of noblest song + 

To keep thy memory green! Mid those twoscore + 

Drivers, who mid the throng + 

Were hurled to earth, thou with a heart undaunted + 

Didst drive unscathed thy chariot on, + 

And now to Libya from Games glory-haunted + 

And thy sires’ home hast won. + 

No man is now, nor shall be, portionless + 

Of trouble: yet on Battus’ line + 

Still waits the olden bliss, though happiness + 

And grief may intertwine. + 

Kyrene’s warder-tower is this, a light + 

Of splendour on the stranger shed. + 

Yea, thunder-throated lions in affright + 

From Battus’ outcry fled⁠— + 

That voice from overseas! Your founder Apollo + 

Thrilled them with dread, that on the word + 

Of prophecy might sure fulfilment follow + 

For him, Kyrene’s lord. + 

’Tis Phoebus gives to men and women skill + 

To heal all manner of disease; + 

He gave the lyre, he teacheth whom he will + 

All Song’s sweet melodies. + 

Into men’s hearts Fair Governance he brings, + 

Mother of peace: o’er Pytho’s cell + 

He broodeth, whence his voice prophetic rings. + 

In Sparta he made dwell, + 

In Argos, Pylos’ hallowed town, undaunted + 

Heracles’ and Aigimius’ line. + 

Now Sparta’s dear renown must needs be chanted + 

By her son’s lips, yea, mine. + 

Thence my forefathers sprang, the Aigeïdae, + 

Who, by the Gods’ grace destiny-led, + 

To Thera fared of old, whence also we + 

That Feast inherited + 

Of sacrifice wherein all people share, + 

And in thy feast Karneian, King + 

Apollo, of Kyrene builded fair + 

The glorious honour sing, + 

Where dwell the brazen-harnessed Trojan strangers, + 

Antenor’s sons, who fled the war + 

Wherein they saw Troy burnt, and came, sea-rangers, + 

With Helen from afar. + 

Kind welcome to that chariot-driving band + 

With gifts and sacrifice they gave + 

Whom Aristoteles brought to Libyan land + 

In swift ships o’er the wave, + 

Cleaving a deep path through the sea, and made + 

Greater the temple-groves divine, + 

And for the festival-processions laid + 

A paved road’s level line + 

For trampling steeds, and pilgrims magnifying + 

Apollo, Helper of our race. + 

There now in death apart is Battus lying + 

Hard by the market-place. + 

Blest was he while with men he found a home: + 

All reverence him, their hero, yet. + 

Apart from him is each king’s hallowed tomb + 

Before the palace set. + 

To them in Hades wins some echo through⁠— + 

If such life-music reach the dead⁠— + 

How prowess is besprent with kindly dew + 

Of victory-song outshed. + 

So theirs too is Arkesilas’ triumph-story, + 

The fame that justice doth award. + 

While chant the youths, ’tis meet he sing the glory + 

Of Phoebus Golden-sword, + 

He whom glad Pythian songs immortalize⁠— + 

The victor’s guerdon for all pains. + 

I bat repeat the praises of the wise + 

In these my triumph-strains. + 

His mind, his tongue, transcend his spring of life; + 

In courage as a broad-winged erne + 

Mid weakling fowl, a tower in athlete-strife + 

No strength can overturn. + 

Even from his mother’s knee did he give token + 

Of wings with my Song-queens to soar: + 

Of his car-driving skill the praise is spoken + 

By this the wide world o’er. + 

And all paths that exalt his Libyan home + 

Hath he essayed. Now graciously + 

God perfecteth his powers. Through years to come, + 

Blest Kronos’ Sons, do ye + 

Vouchsafe to him alike with hand and mind + 

Still to excel. May his work stay, + 

Wrecked by no blast of devastating wind + 

In his life’s autumn-day. + 

The mighty mind of Zeus is ever guiding + 

Their destiny whom he loveth well. + 

To Battus’ seed may he grant fame abiding + 

Also in Pisa’s dell. + 

Hear! for our ploughshare is sundering + 

The glebe-furrows of starry-eyed + 

Aphrodite, where Graces guide + 

Our feet drawing nigh to the shrine + 

At the navel of earth hollow-thundering, + 

Where for Emmenus’ heaven-blest line + 

And for Akragas’ city enfolden + 

By her river, and, more than all, + 

For Xenocrates, riseth the hall + 

Of a treasure-house song-upholden + 

In Apollo’s glen of the golden + 

Gifts gracing his temple-wall. + 

That treasure no rain-storm, hurling + 

Its pitiless hosts from the cloud + 

Amid thunders crashing loud + 

Shall sweep to abysses of sea + 

By the storm-wind with shingle-drift swirling; + 

But the porch of our treasury + 

In brightness unsullied shall flame, it + 

Shall publish the triumph afar, + 

Thrasybulus, won by thy car + 

In Krisa; and men shall acclaim it + 

For thy sire and thy kindred, shall name it + 

Their glory, their splendour-star. + 

At thy right hand thou settest him ever, + 

And so by the charge dost thou hold + 

Which of yore mid the hills, it is told. + 

To Achilles the child left lone + 

Did Philyra’s son deliver, + 

Unto Peleus’ mighty son: + 

“First of Abiders in Heaven + 

Kronion do thou adore + 

Lord of the thunder’s roar, + 

And be reverence alway given + 

Unto thy parents, even + 

To the end, till life be o’er.” + 

This selfsame spirit aforetime + 

Did mighty Antilochus bear: + 

For his father’s sake did he dare + 

That Aethiop chief’s death-stroke + 

When Memnon prevailed in the war-time. + 

For trammelled was Nestor’s yoke + 

By the steed on the red earth lying + 

By the arrow of Paris shot. + 

Ever nearer was havoc wrought + 

By the lance that Memnon was plying; + 

And the sire to his son spake, crying + 

For help, being terror-distraught. + 

That cry on the air was not wasted; + 

But withstanding a mightier alone, + 

His father’s life with his own + 

That godlike son redeemed, + 

And death’s cup of glory he tasted. + 

So in after days he seemed + 

To the sons of each new generation + 

In those old times bygone + 

Ever the noblest son + 

In filial love’s consecration. + 

Now⁠—by none out of any nation + 

Is Thrasybulus outdone + 

In the duty ordained of our fathers. + 

With his sire’s brother’s glory he vies, + 

Is in usance of wealth ever wise, + 

Nor in arrogance lawlessly + 

Grasps at youth’s pleasures, but gathers + 

Flower-wisdom of poesy + 

To the Muses’ hid garden ascending. + 

And he draweth nigh unto thee, + 

O Earth-shaker, Lord of the sea, + 

In thy chariot-contests contending. + 

More sweet is his guest-befriending + 

Than the celled honeycomb of the bee. + 

No fairer prelude of the minstrel’s victory-chant can be + 

Than praise of Athens’ mighty town, + 

When he would hymn the far-prevailing Alkmaionidae, + 

And their swift steeds’ renown. + 

Yea, for what fatherland, what habitation, + 

O singer, canst thou name + 

That doth transcend, through all the Hellene nation, + 

Fair Athens’ fame? + 

There is no city but therethrough doth that proud story ring + 

Of King Erechtheus’ burghers told, + 

Who made thy shrine in hallowed Pytho, Phoebus Harper-King, + 

A marvel to behold. + 

In Isthmian contests five were ye victorious + 

Inspiring the bard’s strain; + 

At Zeus’ Olympian Feast one prize most glorious, + 

At Kirrha twain, + 

Thou and thy sires, O Megakles, achieved. + 

In your fair fortune I delight, + 

Yet for the recompense my soul is grieved + 

That envy doth requite + 

Your noble deeds withal. Yet long-enduring + 

Prosperity still brings, they say, + 

Evil with good; for there is no assuring + 

That bliss shall stay. + 

O gentle-hearted Queen of Peace, thou Daughter + 

Of Righteousness, to greatness dost thou raise + 

Cities: of counsel calm and war’s mad slaughter + 

The master-keys thou holdest. Of thy grace + 

Welcome the praise + 

Of Aristomenes, in athlete-strife + 

Won at the Pythian Games. Thou knowest truly + 

How to receive and give in season duly + 

The kindly courtesies that sweeten life. + 

Yet thou, whenever any man hath driven + 

Thine heart to righteous wrath, relentlessly, + 

Sternly against the might of foes hast striven: + 

Their insolence into the abyss of sea + 

Is hurled by thee. + 

Porphyrion had not learned thy mighty sway + 

When he provoked thy spirit overmeasure. + 

If willing be the giver, precious treasure + 

Is that which the receiver bears away. + 

But violence bringeth low the fool high-vaunting + 

At last. Cihcia’s spawn, that demon-thing, + 

Typhoeus hundred-headed, spirit-daunting, + 

Escaped not thee, nor yet the Giants’ king, + 

Whom lightning’s wing + 

And Phoebus’ shafts o’erthrew, though ne’er so strong. + 

Phoebus received with gracious condescending + 

Xenokrates’ son home from Kirrha wending + 

Crowned with Parnassian wreaths and Dorian song. + 

Ne’er hath she lost the favour of the Graces, + 

That isle which aye doth public faith uphold. + 

The Aiakids’ glory never she effaces: + 

Her fame abideth flawless as is told + 

In songs of old. + 

Rings down the years the music of her name: + 

They hymn the nurse of many an heir of glory + 

Who reaped renown in battle’s stormy story, + 

Who won the crown in many an athlete-game. + 

Yea, yet is she pre-eminent, a nation + 

Of men heroic⁠—but the time would fail + 

If I should now essay the consecration + 

To lyre-strings and to song’s soft-rippling gale + 

Of all that tale, + 

Lest men’s ears should be overfilled the while + 

And envy vex us. Let the task yet lying + 

Before me speed on wings of poesy flying, + 

Thy due, boy, youngest glory of thine isle. + 

Thou in the wrestlers’ strife with feet unfailing + 

Followest thy mother’s brethren glory-hymned: + 

Theognotus at Olympia stood prevailing; + 

His, nor Kleitomachus’ fame by thee is dimmed, + 

The mighty-limbed + 

At Isthmus victor. The Midylid Clan + 

Dost thou exalt, who gainest that fruition + 

Of glory of which the Prophet spake in vision + 

Before Thebes’ gates, who saw in battle’s van + 

Them of the Second Race, sons of the Seven, + 

Who to avenge their sires from Argos came⁠— + 

Spake riddling, while that first fight yet was striven: + 

“The spirit of their sires’ heroic fame + 

Brighter shall flame + 

Yet in the sons inborn. I see, I see + 

Alkmaion, with the iridescent-glancing + 

Dragon on his bright shield, foremost advancing + 

Through Kadmus’ rifted gates victoriously. + 

“But he, who in this war must flee the foemen, + 

Hero Adrastus⁠—in that day I see + 

He is with tidings of far happier omen + 

Compassed as with a wreath of victory. + 

Yet also he + 

In his own house affliction’s cup shall drain; + 

For, of the Danaan host shall he, he only + 

Gather a slain son’s bones in anguish lonely, + 

Ere safe, with folk unscathed, he comes again + 

“By the Gods’ doom to Abas’ street-ways stately.” + 

So Amphiaraus spake. And also I + 

Cast on Alkmaion’s tomb, rejoicing greatly, + 

My wreaths of song: the dews of poesy + 

Thereon shall lie. + 

Neighbour and warder of my wealth is he, + 

Who met me to earth’s storied centre faring + 

With triumph-boding. Dead, he still is sharing + 

In his forefathers’ gift of prophecy. + 

But thou, Far-smiter, of whose presence haunted + 

Is that world-welcoming fane in Pytho’s glen, + 

Even there unto our champion hast thou granted + 

The greatest of all joys within the ken + 

Of mortal men. + 

In the home-isle, at Artemis’ Feast and thine + 

The Fivefold Contest’s prize by thee was given + 

To him, for which men passionately have striven. + 

O King, I pray thee, graciously incline + 

Thine eyes on each new song, that still my singing + 

May with the Muses peal in harmony. + 

Beside our revel-band of sweetly ringing + 

Voices, doth Justice pace. Ye Gods, hear me! + 

Oh let there be + 

No jealousy of thee in heavenly eyes, + 

Xenarkes, nor of thine! If one attaineth + 

Glory the which with no long toil he gaineth + 

To many a fool he seemeth to be wise. + 

Who think his own good counsel still begetteth + 

Triumph; yet not with man success is found: + 

God is the all-bestower; yea, he setteth + 

On high the low, abaseth the renowned + 

Even to the ground. + 

At Megara also didst thou win the prize; + 

In Marathon’s valley-nook thy name was glorious, + 

Aristomenes, and thou didst stand victorious + 

In thine own land at Hera’s contests thrice. + 

With purpose grim thou hurld’st thee, with fierce straining, + 

On four that met thee in the wrestling-ring, + 

Youths to whom was not given by Fate’s ordaining + 

From Pythian Games thy glad mien home to bring + 

Which now I sing; + 

Nor, as each fared back to his mother’s side, + 

Thrilled them with joy proud laughter softly pealing, + 

But from the sneers of foes through byways stealing + 

Heart-stung by their ill-hap in shame they hied. + 

He that in youth-tide’s bloom hath won so lately + 

Glory, is wont to be uplifted high + 

On wings of hope; his courage waxeth greatly + 

With lifting pinions: riches’ witchery + 

Doth he defy. + 

Yet ah, it is but for one little hour + 

That mortal bliss grows, not curse-overtaken. + 

In one short hour, as by an earthquake shaken, + 

’Tis hurled to the dust by adverse Destiny’s power. + 

What are we?⁠—what not?⁠—things in one day ending! + 

Man is a dream through shadows dimly seen. + 

But when a glory shines from God descending + 

Then rests on men a sunbright splendour-sheen + 

And life serene. + 

Speed thou, Aegina, mother love-adored, + 

This city on her voyage of freedom onward! + 

May Zeus’ and Aiakus’ blessing lift her sunward, + 

Peleus, Achilles, valiant Telamon ward! + 

Fain am I, by the favour of the Graces + 

Deep-girt, to chant aloud the victory won + 

By Telesikrates, Kyrene’s son, + 

At Pytho in the brazen-harnessed races. + 

His fortune fair I sing, and chant the glory + 

That crowns the city of the flying car, + 

Kyrene!⁠—Her Apollo, saith the story, + 

The bright-haired Son of Leto, caught afar + 

From Pelion’s dells with echoing winds enfolden, + 

And bare her thence upon his chariot golden, + 

That huntress-maid, to where he made her queen + 

Of flocks and harvests in her wide demesne, + 

The third part of the great earth’s boundless bosom, + 

A root of leafage fair and lovely blossom. + 

Then welcomed Aphrodite silver-footed + 

Her Delian guest, and touched with fingers light + 

The car a God had fashioned starry-bright; + 

And o’er their bridal couch, the rapture-fruited, + 

The loveliness of shamefastness down-shedding + 

In bonds of mutual love she linked the twain, + 

The Archer-god unto the daughter wedding + 

Of Hypseus wide-dominioned, who did reign + 

In that day o’er the haughty Lapith nation, + 

A hero-son of the third generation + 

Of Ocean’s Lord. Him mid the mountain-dells + 

World-famed where mighty Pindus heavenward swells, + 

The child of Earth, Kreusa Fountain-maiden, + 

Bare to Peneius’ bed with sweetness laden. + 

His child Kjnrene of the arms of snow + 

Had little love for pacings to and fro + 

Before the loom, nor for feast-revelry + 

With maiden-friends home-keeping young as she; + 

But warring with bronze darts without surcease, + 

And with the hunter’s knife, that princess slew + 

Fierce beasts of prey. Ay, wide-spread was the peace + 

And restful that her father’s cattle knew. + 

But little wasted she upon her eyes + 

Of slumber, restfellow that sweetly lies + 

On tired ones, when Dawn’s feet prepare to climb the skies. + 

Where gloomed the forest-solitudes around her + 

She grappled a fierce lion once in fight + 

Spearless. Then He of the far arrow-flight, + 

Apollo, God of the wide quiver, found her. + 

Straightway amazement-stricken did he cry on + 

Cheiron, whose rocky hall was hard thereby: + 

“Leave thou thine hallowed cave, O Philyra’s scion; + 

Gaze on the mighty strength with wondering eye + 

Of yonder woman, how with brow undaunted + 

She wages conflict grim! Not terror-haunted + 

Her spirit is in peril’s tempest-rush: + 

Her iron heart no weight of toil can crush! + 

What sire begat a child so lion-hearted? + 

From what strong kindred is she exile-parted, + 

“That now in hidden folds she should be dwelling + 

Of hills dark-shadowed? She puts to the test + 

Strength limitless! Doth it beseem the Blest + 

To lay on her his glorious hands all-quelling + 

Even now, or rather to pluck this sweet flower + 

Of spousal rites upon a bridal bed?” + 

Came on the Centaur inspiration’s power, + 

And in the wisdom of his heart he said, + 

“With eyes beneath his kindly brow soft-smiling: + 

Phoebus, the keys of Suasion heart-beguiling + 

That ope the portal of love’s sanctities + 

Are from the light withheld. A shame it is + 

For Gods or men to leap to love’s fruition + 

First in broad day, dishonouring Night’s sweet mission. + 

“Now even thee, whose tongue hath never lied, + 

Nor can, thy softened mood hath turned aside + 

To utter feignèd speech. Thou askest, King, + 

The maiden’s lineage!⁠—thou to whom everything + 

Is known, all issues whereto all things tend, + 

All paths that lead thereto through all the world: + 

How many leaves earth up to light doth send + 

In spring, the number of the sand-grains hurled + 

Down seas and streams when waves wind-driven rise, + 

And what shall come to pass and whence⁠—thine eyes + 

See clearly. Yet, if I must match me against the wise, + 

“I will speak on. To this glade sombre-shady + 

Thou cam’st to espouse her; yea, and thou shalt bear + 

Her overseas unto the garden fair + 

Of Zeus, where thou shalt make her royal lady + 

Of a new city. Thou shalt gather thither + 

An isle-folk round its plain-encircled hill. + 

And that land’s queen, content to queen it with her, + 

Libya of broad meads, shall with gracious will + 

Welcome thy glorious bride in golden bower. + 

And there the lady Libya shall, for dower, + 

Give her a portion of the land to be + 

Lawful domain beneath her sovereignty, + 

Land rich in tribute of all plants fruit-laden + 

And wildwood-prowlers for thine huntress-maiden. + 

“There shall she bear the son whom thou hast given, + 

Whom glorious Hermes in his hour of birth + 

Shall from his mother take, and bear to Earth + 

And to the Hours, the splendour-throned in Heaven. + 

And while upon their knees thy child is lying + 

Soft-cradled, these between his lips shall pour + 

Ambrosia and nectar; so undying, + 

Even as a God, shall he be evermore, + 

As Zeus, as holy Apollo: sweetest, dearest + 

To all his friends, to their hearts ever nearest. + 

Nomeus, ‘flock-warder,’ Agreus, these shall name + 

Thy son, as Aristaius those acclaim.” + 

His words spurred on the God’s heart passion-thrilling + 

To bring to pass the bridal’s sweet fulfilling. + 

Swift are the acts of Gods, and short their ways + 

Whose purposes to their fulfilment race. + 

That selfsame day saw Love his goal attain; + 

For in a golden chamber were the twain + 

Made one, in Libya’s bower, whence she looks down + 

On a fair city famed in athlete-rings. + 

Kameades’ son hath linked Kyrene’s town + 

At Pytho with the fair flower fortune brings. + 

His victory there hath published wide her name. + 

The city of fair girls with glad acclaim + 

Greets him who brings to her from Delphi lovely fame. + 

Great deeds of prowess lure the bard unwitting + 

To lengthen out his strain; yet brevity + 

Grace-clad the wise hear most acceptably. + 

In everything to grasp the season fitting + 

Crowneth the emprise. Thebe seven-gated + 

Knew it; nor Iolaus failed to tread + 

That path. He clave Eurystheus’ head all-hated + 

With the keen sword; but when himself lay dead, + 

Then Thebe buried him with honour, heaping + 

His grave-mound where Amphitryon lay sleeping, + 

Her chariot-chief⁠—that tomb wherein did rest + 

His father’s father, he who was the guest + 

Of the Sown Men, lords of white steeds, who greeted + 

That hero well in Thebe stately-streeted. + 

To him and Zeus did royal-souled Alkmena + 

In love united, in one travail bear + 

The might of twin sons: conquerors they were + 

Ever, these twain, in battle’s grim arena. + 

A dullard is the man who never raiseth + 

His voice to sing the deeds of Heracles, + 

And Dirke’s streams remembereth not nor praiseth + 

Whose Fountain-maid reared him and Iphikles. + 

Unto these now will I uplift a chanting + 

Of triumph-song for that their gracious granting + 

Of vows’ fulfilment. On me may your light, + 

O Graces ringing-voiced, shine ever bright! + 

Aegina and Nisus’ Hill have heard me singing + 

Three times ere this, Kyrene’s praise outringing. + 

And so the impotence that is the shame + 

Of tongue-tied bards do I escape. I claim + 

That citizens, friends or foes, shall ne’er conceal + 

Good work accomplished for the common weal, + 

That jealousy set not at nought the rede + 

Of that old Sea-god: “Give whole-hearted praise, + 

If justice claim it, for each noble deed, + 

Even to a foe⁠—dispraise is thy disgrace!” + 

Our maids at Pallas’ yearly feasts saw thee + 

Full oft victorious, and prayed silently, + 

Telesikrates, that such their spouse or son might be. + 

In Games Olympian thine was fame far-ringing, + 

And in the lists beside Earth’s central stone, + 

And in the land thou claimest for thine own:⁠— + 

But lo, as I would quench my thirst for singing, + 

I hear a voice that speaks of old-time glory + 

That bids me pay a debt, recall the pride + 

Of thy forefathers, bids me tell the story + 

How, for the winning of a Libyan bride, + 

Hasted to Irasa’s city many a lover + 

Of a fair-haired one famed the wide world over, + 

Drawn thither for Antaius’ daughter’s sake, + 

Whom many a gallant kinsman fain would take + 

To wife, and many in far countries dwelling; + 

For wondrous was her beauty, past all telling. + 

With passionate longing for love’s fruit they sought her, + 

This mortal Hebe of the Golden Crown. + 

Howbeit a marriage of more high renown + 

Her father purposed for his princess-daughter. + 

For he had heard how Danaus meditated + 

At Argos how should spousal-rites be won + 

For eight-and-forty daughters yet unmated, + 

Ere their life’s noontide should have come and gone, + 

And how he compassed this with no delaying. + 

For at the limits of the lists arraying + 

The throng of suitors of the maidens sweet, + 

He bade them by contention of swift feet + 

Decide which several daughter should be given + 

To each whose feet had for the guerdon striven. + 

So would that lord of Libya-land decide + 

Between those suitors for a princess-bride. + 

He set the maid bedecked with gold and gem + 

To be the goal and prize, and cried to them + 

That he should lead her home who foremost sped + 

And touched her robes. Of all that suitor-band + 

Alexidamus’ swift feet foremost fled, + 

And his hand clasped the noble maiden’s hand, + 

And led her through the Nomad horse-array. + 

Leaves many and wreaths upon him showered they, + 

Ay, many a victory-plume had he won ere that day. + 

Happy is Sparta, and blessed is Thessaly, seeing there reigneth + 

In one and the other a race descended from Heracles. + 

Is not the vaunt out of season? O nay, for a summons constraineth + 

Me from Pelinna and Pytho and sons of Aleuas, for these + 

Would bring to Hippokleas chanting of victory-choruses. + 

He hath tasted the joy of the athlete: the gorge of Parnassus hath hailed him + 

To the host of the dwellers around as first in the boys’ double-race. + 

Sweet, O Apollo, man’s work is when God’s strong help hath availed him, + 

Sweet in beginning and end; and this he achieved by thy grace; + 

And his prowess inborn in the print of the feet of his father doth pace. + 

For twice in Olympia’s contests in armour of battle-biding + 

Ares did Phrikias run: in the mead under Kirrha’s rock hiding + 

Were the feet of the father winged with the might of victory. + 

So ever may fortune fair follow these in the days to be! + 

So may their splendour of wealth ever bloom as the flower-starred lea. + 

Of the blessings delightsome of Hellas may these win no small measure! + 

No jealous repen tings of Gods turn ever to darkness their light! + 

Sooth, a God’s heart only is painless; yet he winneth happiness’ treasure, + 

And is hymned of the singers, whose prowess of hands or of feet to the height + 

Of athlete-triumph hath climbed by his courage and bodily might, + 

And he who hath lived to behold a son by Fate’s favour attaining + 

The Pythian crown. Heaven’s towers are for mortals unscaleable aye; + 

Yet all havens of splendour a mortal may sail to are his for the gaining + 

But neither the journeying foot nor the galley, quest as they may, + 

To the Rest-land Auroral shall find the mvstery-hidden way. + 

Yet did Perseus the war-chief feast in their halls, and their sacrificing + 

Behold, as from altars he saw the smoke of ass-hecatombs rising + 

Unto Apollo; yea, and the God hath delight evermore + 

In the festival-banquets of these, and their chants that heavenward soar; + 

And he laugheth beholding the beasts as they wanton with ramp and roar. + 

Yea, and the Muse from their lives is not exiled, but circlewise winding + 

Dances of maidens sweep, and the voice of the lyre rings clear, + 

And the notes of the pipe, and their tresses with golden bay-leaves binding + 

Blithely they banquet, nor eld nor wasting disease draw near + 

To that hallowed folk, but from toil and from clash of sword and spear + 

Dwell they afar, and the tyrannous Goddess of Retribution + 

They escape. To that happy folk of old fared Danae’s son + 

Guided on by Athene, and breathing an aweless heart’s resolution. + 

And the Gorgon he slew, and he bare that head which luridly shone + 

With serpents that dealt to the island people a death of stone. + 

So the Gods but accomplish it, nought is too hard for our credence and wonder. + 

Now stay the car. Muse; from the prow slip the anchor to grapple thereunder + 

The sea-floor, to guard thee against the reef that lurking lies. + 

For the flower-sweet glory of this my song ever restlessly flies + 

From legend to legend, a bee with honey-laden thighs. + 

O, I trust that, the while the lips of Ephyra’s singers are pouring + 

My sweet strains forth by the side of Peneius, my songs may make + 

Hippokleas by age-mates and elders more honoured, with eyes adoring + 

Looked on by maidens young, for his victory-garlands’ sake. + 

Men’s hearts do diverse temptations with longing captive take; + 

But the prize for which each man hath striven, and won, is the soul-alluring + 

Desire of his heart for the hour that is present⁠—yet what the tide + 

Of time in a year shall bring, none knoweth. Ah, but enduring + 

Shall be Thorax’ friendship, I trust! On this car of the Muses I ride + 

By the help he hath rendered, a friend to a friend, and a guide to a guide. + 

As gold by the touchstone tried is the soul that from right never falters. + 

His noble brethren withal will we praise, the princely exalters + 

Of Thessaly’s commonweal, which ever they magnify. + 

Yea, best in the hands of highborn men doth the piloting lie + 

Of cities wherein their fathers have ruled in the years gone by. + 

Daughters of Kadmus!⁠—Semele borne mid flame + 

To Olympus’ streets⁠—White Goddess whose earth-name + 

Was Ino, who dost share the hyaline caves + 

Of Nereus’ daughters, maidens of the waves; + 

Come with the mother of that mighty son + 

Heracles: pace to Melia’s temple on. + 

Come to the treasure-house of tripods golden + 

Which Loxias hath in chiefest honour holden, + 

And named the Shrine Ismenian, the home + 

Of truthful oracles. Ye children come + 

Born of Harmonia! Lo, he doth command + 

The host of goddess-heroines of the land + 

To gather to his temple, that at fall + 

Of eventide ye may with one voice all + 

Of holy Themis sing, of Pytho’s visions, + 

And of Earth’s Heart that giveth just decisions. + 

Of seven-gated Thebes the glory sing, + 

And of the strife in Kirrha’s athlete-ring + 

Wherein hath Thrasydaius made renowned + 

His sire’s hearth, for the third time garland-crowned + 

In those rich fields where Pylades the loyal + 

Welcomed the heir to Sparta’s sceptre royal, + 

Orestes: him his nurse Arsinoe + 

Rescued from the fierce hands, the treachery + 

Most foul of Klytaemnestra, when she laid + 

The young child’s father dead with murderous blade, + 

And when with the pale-gleaming bronze she sped + 

To Acheron’s shadowy margent of the dead + 

Kassandra, Dardanid Priam’s prophet-daughter + 

With Agamemnon’s soul, in one red slaughter + 

Wrought by a ruthless woman. Was she stung + 

By heavy-handed wrath, to life that sprung + 

When on the altar Iphigeneia lay + 

Beside Euripus’ sea-gorge, far away + 

From her own land? Or was she adultery’s thrall + 

Passion-seduced to sin beneath night’s pall?⁠— + 

For brides new-wedded hatefullest transgression, + 

Not to be hidden, made the world’s possession + 

By scandal-gloating neighbours’ tongues: for spite + 

Of jealousy clings cloudlike to the height + 

Of royal station. Of the common herd + 

The sins and follies pass unmarked, unheard. + 

So, after ten long years returned, to die on + 

His own hearthstone in Amyklae, Atreus’ scion, + 

And drew to death with him the prophetess-maid, + 

When he, avenging Helen’s rape, had laid + 

Low all Troy’s homes delectable in flame. + 

But that child-head, his son Orestes, came + 

Safe to old Strophius, his father’s guest, + 

Who in the vale dwelt ’neath Parnassus’ crest. + 

And the years watched that murderess, till they brought her + 

A son to join with hers her paramour’s slaughter. + 

Surely, O friends, where brancheth into twain + 

One track, in wilderment have I in vain + 

Sought the straight path I travelled hitherto! + 

Was it some wind that from the right course blew + 

Me, as a boat drifts chartless o’er the sea? + 

Nay, Muse, ’tis thine, if thou for silver fee + 

Didst covenant to uplift thy voice in singing, + 

To send it this way now, now that way ringing, + 

Now to the father’s wreath at Pytho won, + 

To Thrasydaius now, his victor son. + 

Gladness and glory ever shine on these: + 

Erewhile they won proud chariot-victories + 

When down Olympus’ world-famed course went dashing + 

Their horses’ splendour of swiftness sunlike-flashing. + 

Last, mid disvestured runners forth they came + 

In Pytho’s athlete-lists, and put to shame + 

A host of Hellene rivals by their speed. + 

God grant that I may crave such prowess-meed + 

As fits with honour, while life’s tree is green + 

May seek things possible. Still have I seen, + 

In all states, happiest is the middle station, + 

But despotism hath my condemnation. + 

The general good I seek with my whole might. + 

So baffled is infatuate envy’s spite, + 

When he who hath climbed high holds his spirit’s reins, + 

And the brute pride of arrogance restrains. + 

So, when his feet draw nigh the last long home, + 

More bright and fair to him shall dark death come, + 

Who to his nearest and his dearest leaveth + 

A good name⁠—costlier treasure none receiveth. + 

’Tis this hath raised above the common throng + 

Iolaus Iphikles’ son renowned in song; + 

So Kastor’s might lives on in poesy’s strain, + 

And thine, King Polydeukes, god-born twain, + 

Who in the tomb lie through one day of sorrow, + 

On whom Heaven’s glory shineth on each morrow. + 

Lover of splendour, above all cities beauty-dowered, + 

Persephone’s home, who dost dwell by Akragas’ water-meads green + 

Sheep-pastured, throned on thine hill of the ramparts stately-towered, + 

With kindly favour of Gods and of men accept, O Queen, + 

This crown that from Pytho is brought thee: the glory of Midas hailing + 

Welcome him, him who is champion of Hellas in that flute-strain + 

Which Pallas Athene devised when she wove into music the wailing + 

Of the Gorgons fierce, their death-dirge over a sister slain, + 

The lament that she heard from the awful maids’ snake-heads outshrieking, + 

As it poured from their lips forth laden with bitterest anguish of grief, + 

When Perseus had smitten the third, their sister, with bronze death-wreaking, + 

And bare thence doom to Seriphus’ island-folk and their chief. + 

Yea, and the wondrous daughters of Phorkys he spoiled of vision, + 

And bitter for Polydektes his bridal-gift he made, + 

Bitter his mother’s thraldom, her spousals’ enforced decision, + 

With the head of Medusa the weirdly beautiful, shorn by the blade + 

Of Danae’s son, of the shower of gold, as the legend telleth, + 

Begotten. But when the Maid had released from his labours’ strain + 

The man she befriended, she framed the manifold music that welleth + 

From the flute, that her harmonies so might mimic the shrieks of pain + 

Wild and high from Euryale’s ravening jaws outshrilling. + 

Her devising it was, but she gave it to mortal men to possess; + 

And the “Strain of the Many Heads” she named it, the spirit-thrilling + 

Kindler of hearts to the contests whereinto multitudes press, + 

Notes poured thick and fast through the thin-beaten bronze and the reeds upspringing + 

By the burg of the Graces, the city of fair dance-lawns in the close + 

Of the Nymph of Kephisus, true witnesses they of the dance soft-swinging. + 

If bliss among mortals there be, ’tis not won but with travail-throes. + 

Yet a God may accomplish it even to-day⁠—but there is no fleeing + 

That which of Fate is foredoomed: but surely a time shall be + 

When a Power that smites with a stroke all-sudden, past man’s foreseeing, + 

Shall grant thee a boon unhoped for, yet hold back another from thee. + 