518 B.C. PINDAROS by Pindaros Translated and Annotated by Willis Barnstone Copyright(C) 1962, 1967, 1988 by Willis Barnstone şiElectronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R) DAK Upgraded Edition, Copyright 2000, DAK Industries 2000, Inc(R)şI {PINDAROS Pindaros (Pindar) {ECLIPSE Eclipse God has in his power to make dazzling unmixed light spring from the somber depths of evening. He can also enclose the white explosion of day under the gloom of black clouds. {SINGING_DANCE Singing Dance Singing Dance *001 Follow the curving line of melody, and in contest dance frenetically to imitate the Amyklian hound or a wild unbroken horse. And move your body as a hound flies across the windy plain of Dotia to kill a horned deer who, in desparate dance, bobs her head and neck convulsively to either side. {OLYMPIAN Olympian Ode XII (r)For Ergoteles of Himera, winner of (r)the long distance run, 472 B.C., now (r)exiled from Knossos. O daughter of liberating Zeus, I beseech you, O saviour Fortune, guard the strength of Himera. At sea you pilot our speeding ships, and on land the erupting wars and assemblies depend on your will. For men's hopes splash high, break low as they toss through an ocean of lies. No man of the earth has ever encounterd a sure sign from God of things to come. The future is blind to him. It teases his judgment: as the reversal of delight; or as after suffering a surge of pain the sudden turning from gloom to meadows of joy. Son of Philanor, like a cock who fights only at home, even your legs' splendor might be dull had civil strife among bitter men not expelled you from your homeland, Knossos. Now, Ergoteles, garlanded at Olympia and twice festooned at Pytho and at the Isthmos, you honor the Hot Springs of Nymphs- here at your new home, Himera. {AFTERLIFE_ELYSIUM Afterlife in Elysium For them the sun shines at full strength- while we here walk in night. The plains around their city are red with roses and shaded by incense trees heavy with golden fruit. And some enjoy horses and wrestling, or table games and the lyre, and near them blossoms a flower of perfect joy. Perfumes alway hover above the land from the frankincense stewn in deep-shining fire of the gods' altars. And across from them the sluggish rivers of black night vomit forth a boundless gloom. {OLYMPIAN_ODE_XI Olympian Ode XI (r)To the Lokrian boy Agesidamos, (r)winner in the boxing, 476 B.C. There is a time when men most need winds; there is a time for waters from the sky, for raindrops, daughters of the cloud. But if by effort a man is victorious, sweet songs foretell later fame, and are a pledge for remembrance of great achieve- ments. Abundant is the praise waiting for Olympian victory, and my lips are pleased to shepherd these words. Yet only through God can wisdom blossom in a man's soul. So know this, Agesidamos, for you, son of Archestratos, for your boxing triumph I will raise a sweet song to add radiance to your olive wreath of gold, and speak of the West Wind Lokrians, your people. Let us acclaim him here, Muses. I warrant you will not be received coldly like strangers, nor find bluntness to lovely things, but wisdom and excellent spearmen. For neither the fiery brown fox nor raucous lion can change this nature given from birth. {LAMENT Lament The stars and the rivers and waves call you back. {GLORIOUS ATHENS Glorious Athens O shining city, festooned in violets, draped in song, you are the marble strength of all Hellas, glorious Athens, sacred citadel. {OLYMPIAN_ODE_III Olympian Ode III (r)To Theron of Akragas in Sicily, (r)winner in the chariot race, 466 B.C. I shall honor glorious Akragas and please the Dioskouroi, kind to strangers, and Helen of the lovely hair, when I have raised a hymn of Olympic victroy for Theron and his stallions of the never-tiring hooves. The Muses were faithful as I found a shining virgin mode to link Dorian rhythms with the speech of celebration. The olive wreath on his flowing locks moves me to my God-appointed duty to blend clamoring flutes and the lyre's supple voice with my pattern of words, all for Ainesidamos' son. And Pisa bids me speak out. From Pisa come heavenly songs to man and to the victor. The upright Aitolian judge of Greeks, obeying Herakles' ancient laws, loops the gray glory of the olive over the hero's brow and locks. Long ago Amphitryon's son carried the silver olive tree from the shadowy springs of the Danube, to be the handsomest symbol of the Olympian games. With candid heart he persuaded the Hyperboreans, people of Apollo; he begged them for a tree for Zeus' garden to bring refreshing shade to all men, and crown their valor. Already the altars were hallowed for his father; and the mid-month moon, riding in her gold cart, illumined the round eye of evening. He established the fair judging for the great fifth-year games by the overhanging banks of holy Alpheus River. But the valley of Kronian Pelops was not yet verdant with beauty of trees. He thought his garden, naked of green, must suffer the sun's daggar rays. So his spirit moved him to journey to Istrian land. There, Leto's daughter, driver of horses, welcomed him as he came from ridges and mazy gullies of Arkadia when, at Eurysteus' command, his doomed ties with Zeus drove him on his misson to bring back the gold-horned doe that Taygeta one day wrote down to be sacrificed to Artemis Orthosia. Chasing the doe, he saw the distant land behind the cold north wind and stood in wonder at the trees. A sweet desire burned in him to plant them at the finish-mark of the twelve-lap track of horses. And now he comes graciously to the festival, with the godlike twin sons of deep-girdled Leda. At Olympos he had charged those future stars to guide the wonderful games where men's courage and chariot-speed are tested. My heart impels me to say that glory has come to Theron and the children of Emmenos as a gift from the horsemen Dioskouroi. Among all mortals they drew near the gods through lavish feasts and true reverence for the mysteries. If water is best of all things, and gold the dearest possession, then Theron's virtues touch the uttermost realm of excellence, reaching Herakles' pillars. Beyond, the world is untracked by wise or foolish. There I will not venture, being no fool. THE END {FOOTNOTE Footnote *001 Also attributed to Simonides.