ANTIS TROPHE VII.

No more worthy of her lay

Can the Mufe a mortal find;

Greater in imperial sway,

Richer in a virtuous mind;
Heaven, O king, with tender care
Waits thy wishes to fulfil.
Then ere long will I prepare,
Plac'd on Chronium's funny hill,
Thee in fweeter verse to praise,
Following thy victorious steeds;
If to profper all thy ways

Still thy Guardian God proceeds.

E PODE VII.

Fate hath in various stations rank'd mankind &
In royal power the long gradations end.
By that horizon prudently confin'd,

Let not thy hopes to farther views extend,
Long may'st thou wear the regal crown!

And may thy Bard his wish receive,

With thee, and fuch as thee to live,
Around his native Greece for wisdom known!

THE

THE SECOND OLYMPICK ODE.

This Ode is infcribed to Theron King of Agrigentum, who came off Conqueror in the Race of Chariots drawn by four Horses, in the Seventy-feventh Olympiad.

ARGU M E N T.

THE Poet, in anfwer to the question, What God, what Hero, and what Mortal he should fing (with which words this Ode immediately begins) having named Jupiter and Hercules, not only as the first of gods and heroes, but as they were peculiarly related to his fubject; the one being the Protector, and the other the Founder of the Olympick Games; falls directly into the praises of Theron by this method artfully infinuating, that Theron held the fame rank among all mortals, as the two former did among the gods and heroes. In enumerating the many excellencies of Theron, the Poet having made mention of the nobility of his family (a topick feldom or never omitted by Pindar) takes occafion to lay before him the various accidents and viciffitudes of human life, by inftances drawn from the hiftory of his own ancestors, the founders of Agrigentum; who, it seems, underwent many difficulties, before they could build, and fettle themselves in that city; where afterwards, indeed, they made a very confiderable figure, and were rewarded for their pat Lufferings

fufferings with wealth and honour; according to which method of proceeding, the Poet (alluding to fome misfortunes that had befallen Theron) befeeches Jupiter to deal with their pofterity, by recompenfing their former afflictions with a feries of peace and happiness for the future; in the enjoyment of which they would foon lofe the memory of whatever they had fuffered in times paft: the conftant effect of profperity being to make men forget their past adversity; which is the only reparation that can be made to them for the miferies they have undergone. The truth of this pofition he makes appear from the history of the fame family; by the farther inftances of Semele, Ino, and Therfander; and lastly, of Theron himself, whofe former cares and troubles, he infinuates, are repaid by his prefent happiness and victory in the Olympick Games: for his fuccefs in which, the Poet however intimates, that Theron was no lefs indebted to his riches than to his virtue, fince he was enabled by the one, as well as difpofed by the other, to undergo the trouble and expence that was neceffary to qualify him for a candidate for the Olympick crown in particular, and, in general, for the performance of any great and worthy action for the words are general. From whence he takes occafion to tell him, that the man who poffeffes thefe treafures, viz. Riches and Virtue, that is, the means and the inclination of doing good and great actions, has the farther fatisfaction of knowing, that he shall be rewarded for it hereafter; and go

:

among the heroes into the Fortunate Islands (the Paradife of the Ancients), which he here defcribes ; fome of whofe inhabitants are likewife mentioned by way of inciting Theron to an imitation of their actions; as Peleus, Cadmus, and Achilles. Here the Poet, finding himself, as well from the abundance of matter, as from the fertility of his own genius, in danger of wandering too far from his subject, recalls his Mufe, and returns to the praise of Theron ; whofe beneficence and generosity, he tells us, were not to be equalled: with which, and with some reflections upon the enemies and maligners of Theron, he concludes.

Y

STROPHE I.

E choral hymns, harmonious lays, Sweet rulers of the Lyrick ftring, What god? what hero's god-like praise ? What mortal fhall we fing?

With Jove, with Pifa's Guardian God,

Begin, O Mufe, th' Olympick Ode.
Alcides, Jove's heroick fon,

The fecond honours claims;

Who, offering up the fpoils from Augeas won,
Establish'd to his fire th' Olympick Games;
Where bright in wreaths of Conqueft Theron fhone.
Then of victorious Theron fing!

Of Theron hofpitable, just, and great!
Fam'd Agrigentum's honour'd king,

The prop and bulwark of her towering state;

A

A righteous prince! whofe flowering virtues grace The venerable ftem of his illuftrious race:

ANTIS TROPHE I

A race, long exercis'd in woes,
Ere, fmiling o'er her kindred flood,
The mansion of their wish'd repofe,
Their facred city stood;

And through amaz'd Sicilia fhone
The luftre of their fair renown.

Thence, as the milder Fates decreed,

In deftin'd order born,

Aufpicious hours with smoother

pace fucceed;

While Power and Wealth the noble line adorn,
And Public Favour, Virtue's richest meed.
O Son of Rhea, God fupreme!

Whose kingly hands th' Olympian sceptre wield!
Rever'd on Alpheus' facred stream!

And honour'd moft in Pifa's lifted field!

Propitious liften to my foothing ftrain!

And to the worthy fons their father's rights maintain !

E PODE I.

Peace on their future life, and wealth bestow;
And bid their prefent moments calmly flow.
The deed once done no power can abrogate,
Not the great Sire of all Things, Time, nor Fate.
But fweet oblivion of difaftrous care,

And good fucceeding, may the wrong repair.