Philosopher Pindar: The Complete Odes #8/71

Mother of gold-crowned games, Olympia, queen of truth,

where men who are seers interpret burnt offerings*

and test the mind of Zeus of the flashing thunderbolt,

to see if he has any word for men who struggle in their hearts

to win the rewards of excellence, and respite from their labours;

for men’s prayers are fulfilled in accordance with their piety.

O wooded grove of Pisa beside the Alpheus,

I pray you welcome this victory revel, garlanded with crowns;

10

great for ever will be the glory of the man who is honoured by your prize.

Good fortune comes to men in different ways,

and many are the paths to god-aided success.

Timosthenes, destiny has allotted your clan to Zeus as its protector,*

who has brought you fame at Nemea, and has made your brother Alcimedon

an Olympic victor beside the hill of Cronus.

Handsome to look upon, his deeds matched his beauty;*

by his victory in the wrestling match

20

he proclaimed Aegina of the long oars as his fatherland,

where Themis*the Saviour, throned beside Zeus, Protector of Strangers,

is especially honoured among men.

When much hangs in the balance and it inclines this way and that,

a man may wrestle hard to make a straight, apt judgement;

but some ordinance of the immortals has established this sea-bound land

as a divine pillar of strength for strangers from every region.

May future time never grow weary of this work.

It is a land held in trust for the Dorian people,

30

from the time of Aeacus, who was summoned by Leto’s son*

and by wide-ruling Poseidon to help them build Troy’s walls as they prepared to crown it with defences;

for it was fated that at war’s onset Troy would in city-sacking battles

breathe forth gusts of angry smoke.

When the city was nearly built, three grey serpents tried to leap onto the wall;

two fell back in terror and died there and then,

but one leapt over with a triumphant cry.

40

Apollo pondered this adverse omen, and at once spoke:
‘Hero Aeacus, Pergamus*will fall at the point where your hands have worked;

this is what the vision sent by the loud-thundering son of Cronus means to me.

Your descendants will have a hand in this:

it will begin in the first and fourth generations.’*

So the god spoke clearly, and in haste drove his team off towards the Xanthus,*

to the Amazons with their fine horses, and to the Ister.

But Poseidon the trident-wielder*urged his swift chariot towards the sea-lapped Isthmus, returning Aeacus home behind his golden mares,

50

while he himself went on to visit the mountain ridge of Corinth, famous for its festivals.

Nothing will ever please all men equally.

If my song has raced on to tell of Melesias’*fame, trainer of beardless boys,

let not envy hurl a jagged stone at me;

I shall also speak of a like success won at Nemea,

and another there among men in the pancration.

In truth, teaching comes more easily to the man who already knows,

and not to be prepared beforehand is stupidity,

60

for the minds of the unpractised are insubstantial things.

But that man beyond all others can tell of his own successes,

and the best way to advance the man

who desires to win longed-for glory from the holy games.

And so now Alcimedon has brought him the honour of his thirtieth victory.