ditary and innate, there was no more likelihood of their departing from them, than there was of the fox and lion's changing their natures. STROP HE. O wind-bound mariners most welcome blow The breezy zephyrs through the whistling fhrouds : Moft welcome to the thirsty mountains flow Soft showers, the pearly daughters of the clouds; And when on virtuous toils the gods bestow Succefs, most welcome found mellifluous odes, Whofe numbers ratify the voice of Fame, And to illuftrious worth insure a lafting name. ANTIS TROPHE. Such fame, fuperior to the hoftile dart Of canker'd envy, Pifa's Chiefs attends. Fain would my Mufe th' immortal boon impart, Th' immortal 'boon which from high Heaven And now inspir'd by Heaven thy valiant heart, Now adds the ornament of tuneful praise, E PODE. But while thy bold atchievements I rehearse, Then Then hafte, ye Muses, join the choral band Prompts the unmanner'd and inhuman fwain THE TWELFTH OLYMPICK ODE. This Ode is infcribed to Ergoteles the Son of Philanor of Himera, who, in the Seventy-seventh Olympiad, gained the prize in the Foot-Race called Dolichos or the Long Course. ARG U M E N T. Ergoteles was originally of Crete, but being driven from thence by the fury of a prevailing faction, he retired to Himera, a town of Sicily, where he was honourably received, and admitted to the freedom of the city; after which he had the happinefs to obtain, what the Greeks efteemed the highest pitch of glory, the Olympick Crown. Paufanias fays he gained two Olympick Crowns; and the fame number in each of the other three facred Games, the Pythian, Ifthmian, and Nemean. From thefe remarkable viciffitudes of Fortune in the life of Ergoteles, Pindar takes occafion to addrefs himself to that powerful directress of all human affairs, imploring her protection for Himera, the adopted country of Ergoteles. Then, after defcribing in general terms the univerfal influence of that deity upon all the actions of mankind, the uncertainty of events, and the vanity of Hope, ever fluctuating in igno ignorance and error, he affigns a reafon for that vanity, viz. That the gods have not given to mortal men any certain evidence of their future fortunes, which often happen to be the very reverse both of their hopes and fears. happened to Ergoteles, whofe Thus, fays he, it very misfortunes were to him the occafion of happiness and glory; fince, had he not been banished from his country, he had probably paffed his life in obfcurity, and wafted in domeftick broils and quarrels that ftrength and activity, which his more peaceful fituation at Himera enabled him to improve, and employ for the obtaining the Olympick crown. This Ode, one of the fhorteft, is, at the fame time, in its order and connection, the clearest and moft compact of any to be met with in Pindar. DAUGH STROPH E. AUGHTER of Eleutherian Jove, For potent Himera my fuit I move; Thy deity along the pathlefs main In her wild courfe the rapid veffel guides; Tofs'd by thy uncertain gale On the feas of error fail Human hopes, now mounting high. ANTIS TROPHE. For fure prefage of things to come Can wisdom pierce the cloud. Oft our most sanguine views th' event deceives, All at once the tempefts fly: E PODE. * Son of Philanort in the fecret fhade Thus had thy fpeed unknown to fame decay'd; Thus, like the † crefted bird of Mars, at home Engag'd in foul domeftick jars, And wafted with inteftine wars, * Ergoteles. + The cock. Inglorious |