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
defcends.

And now inspir'd by Heaven thy valiant heart,
Agefidamus, fhe to Fame commends:

Now adds the ornament of tuneful praise,
And decks thy olive-crown with fweetly-founding lays.

E PODE.

But while thy bold atchievements I rehearse,
Thy youthful victory in Pifa's fand,
With thee partaking in the friendly verse
Not unregarded shall thy Locris ftand.

Then

Then hafte, ye Muses, join the choral band
Of festive youths upon the Locrian plain ;
To an unciviliz’d and savage land
Think not I now invite your virgin train,
Where barbarous ignorance and foul disdain
Of focial Virtue's hofpitable lore

Prompts the unmanner'd and inhuman fwain
To drive the stranger from his churlish door.
A nation fhall ye find, renown'd of yore
For martial valour and for worthy deeds;
Rich in a vaft and unexhausted store
Of innate wisdom, whofe prolific feeds
Spring in each age. So Nature's laws require:
And the great laws of Nature ne'er expire.
Unchang'd the lion's valiant race remains,
And all his father's wiles the youthful fox retains.

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,
To thee my fupplications I prefer!

For potent Himera my fuit I move;
Protectrefs fortune, hear!

Thy deity along the pathlefs main

In her wild courfe the rapid veffel guides;
Rules the fierce conflict on th' embattled plain,
And in deliberating ftates prefides.

Tofs'd by thy uncertain gale

On the feas of error fail

Human hopes, now mounting high.
On the swelling surge of joy ;
Now with unexpected woe
Sinking to the depths below.

ANTIS TROPHE.

For fure prefage of things to come
None yet on mortals have the gods befow'd;
Nor of futurity's impervious gloom

Can wisdom pierce the cloud.

Oft our most sanguine views th' event deceives,
And veils in fudden grief the fmiling ray:
Oft, when with woe the mournful bofom heaves,
Caught in a storm of anguish and difmay,
Pafs fome fleeting moments by,

All at once the tempefts fly:
Inftant fhifts the clouded fcene;
Heaven renews its fmiles ferenc ;
And on Joy's untroubled tides
Smooth to port the veffel glides.

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