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19. But if one wins a victory by swiftness of foot, or in the pentathlon, where the grove of Zeus lies by Fisas' stream at Olympia, or as a wrestler, or in painful boxing, 5 or in that severe contest called the pancration, he would be more glorious in the eyes of the citizens, he would win a front seat at assemblies, and would be entertained by the city at the public table, and he would receive a gift which would be a keepsake for him. If he won 10 by means of horses he would get all these things

although he did not deserve them, as I deserve them, for our wisdom is better than the strength of men or of horses. This is indeed a very wrong custom, nor is it right to prefer strength to excellent wisdom. For if there 15 should be in the city a man good at boxing, or in the pentathlon, or in wrestling, or in swiftness of foot, which is honoured more than strength (among the contests men enter into at the games), the city would not on that account be any better governed. Small joy would it be 20 to any city in this case if a citizen conquers at the games on the banks of the Pisas, for this does not fill with wealth its secret chambers.

20. Having learned profitless luxuries from the Lydians, while as yet they had no experience of hateful tyranny, they proceeded into the market-place, no less than a thousand in number all told, with purple garments completely covering them, boastful, proud of their comely locks, anointed with unguents of rich perfume.

21 νῦν γὰρ δὴ ζάπεδον καθαρὸν καὶ χεῖρες ἁπάντων καὶ κύλικες πλεκτοὺς δ ̓ ἀμφιτιθεῖ στεφάνους, ἄλλος δ' εὐῶδες μύρον ἐν φιάλῃ παρατείνει· κρατὴρ δ' ἕστηκεν μεστὸς ἐυφροσύνης·

ἄλλος δ' οἶνος ἑτοῖμος, ὃς οὔποτέ φησι προδώσειν, 5
μείλιχος ἐν κεράμοισ', ἄνθεος ὀσδόμενος·
ἐν δὲ μέσοισ ̓ ἁγνὴν ὀδμὴν λιβανωτὸς ἵησιν,
ψυχρὸν δ' ἔστιν ὕδωρ καὶ γλυκὺ καὶ καθαρόν·
πάρκεινται δ' ἄρτοι ξανθοὶ γεραρή τε τράπεζα
τυροῦ καὶ μέλιτος πίονος ἀχθομένη·
βωμὸς δ' ἄνθεσιν ἀν τὸ μέσον πάντῃ πεπύκασται,

10

μολπὴ δ' ἀμφὶς ἔχει δώματα καὶ θαλίη. χρὴ δὲ πρῶτον μὲν θεὸν ὑμνεῖν εὔφρονας ἄνδρας εὐφήμοις μύθοις καὶ καθαροῖσι λόγοις. σπείσαντας δὲ καὶ εὐξαμένους τὰ δίκαια δύνασθαι 15 πρήσσειν· (ταῦτα γὰρ ὧν ἐστι προχειρότερον·) οὐχ ὕβρις πίνειν ὁπόσον κεν ἔχων ἀφίκοιο

οἴκαδ ̓ ἄνευ προπόλου, μὴ πάνυ γηραλέος· ἀνδρῶν δ' αἰνεῖν τοῦτον, ὃς ἐσθλὰ πιὼν ἀναφαίνει,

ὥς οἱ μνημοσύνη καὶ < πόνος> ἀμφ' ἀρετῆς. οὔτι μάχας διέπειν Τιτάνων οὐδὲ Γιγάντων,

οὐδέ τι Κενταύρων, πλάσματα τῶν προτέρων, ἢ στασίας σφεδανάς· τοῖσ ̓ οὐδὲν χρηστὸν ἔνεστιν· θεῶν < δὲ προμηθείην αἰὲν ἔχειν ἀγαθόν.

21. Athen. xi. p. 462.

20

Vv. 4-8 : Eustath. Od. ι 359, p. 1633, 53. V. 2: MSS. ἀμφιτιθεὶς, corr. Dindorf. V. 13: Bergk' reads πορσύνει. V. 4: Eust. omits δὲ and reads ἐμφροσύνης. V. 5: ΑΕ οἶνος ἐστὶν ἕτοιμος, Karst. ἄλλῳ δ' οἶνος ἕτοιμος. Text follows Meineke and Bergk. V. 11: Vulg. αὐτὸ μέσον, corr. Karst. V. 14: MSS. λόγοις, Eichstädt νόοις, Schneid. νόμοις. V. 16: Vulg. puts colon after phoσe and period at end of line. Meineke puts comma at end of line, and colon after ὕβρις. Bergk reads ταῦτα γὰρ ὧν . . . ὕβρις as parenthetical. Schneid. προαιρέτεον. V. 19: Hermann ἀναφαίνῃ. V.20: Vulg. ἡ μνημοσύνη, καὶ τὸν ὃς, Schneid. οἱ μνημοσύνη καὶ πόνος, Bergk οἱ μνημοσύν' ᾖ, καὶ τὸν, ὃς. V. 21 : Bergk διέπει. V. 22 : Hermann οὐδέ τι, Bergk οὐδ ̓ αὖ: MSS. πλασμάτων, corr. Hermann. V. 23: MSS. φενδόνας, Scalig. φλεδόνας, Osann. σφεδανάς. V. 24: Scalig. adds δὲ: MSS. ἀγαθήν, corr. Franke et al.

21. For now the floor is clean, the hands of all and the cups are clean; one puts on the woven garlands, another passes around the fragrant ointment in a vase; the mixing bowl stands full of good cheer, and more wine, 5 mild and of delicate bouquet, is at hand in jars, which says it will never fail. In the midst frankincense sends forth its sacred fragrance, and there is water, cold, and sweet, and pure; the yellow loaves are near at hand, and the table of honour is loaded with cheese and rich 10 honey. The altar in the midst is thickly covered with

flowers on every side; singing and mirth fill the house. Men making merry should first hymn the god with propitious stanzas and pure words; and when they have poured out libations and prayed for power to do the 15 right (since this lies nearest at hand), then it is no un

fitting thing to drink as much as will not prevent your walking home without a slave, if you are not very old. And one ought to praise that man who, when he has drunk, unfolds noble things as his memory and his toil 20 for virtue suggest; but there is nothing praiseworthy in discussing battles of Titans or of Giants or Centaurs, fictions of former ages, nor in plotting violent revolutions. But it is good always to pay careful respect to the gods.

22 πέμψας γὰρ κωλὴν ἐρίφου σκέλος ἤραο πιον
ταύρου λαρινοῦ, τίμιον ἀνδρὶ λαχεῖν,

τοῦ κλέος Ελλάδα πᾶσαν ἐφίξεται οὐδ ̓ ἀπολήξει
ἔστ ̓ ἂν ἀοιδάων ᾖ γένος Ελλαδικόν.

23 οὐδέ κεν ἐν κύλικι πρότερον κεράσειέ τις οἶνον
ἐγχέας, ἀλλ ̓ ὕδωρ καὶ καθύπερθε μέθυ.

24 ἤδη δ' ἑπτά τ' ἔασι καὶ ἑξήκοντ' ἐνιαυτοί

βληστρίζοντες ἐμὴν φροντίδ ̓ ἀν' Ἑλλάδα γῆν· ἐκ γενετῆς δὲ τότ ̓ ἦσαν ἐείκοσι πέντε τε πρὸς τοῖς, εἴπερ ἐγὼ περὶ τῶνδ ̓ οἶδα λέγειν ἐτύμως.

25 οὐκ ἴση πρόκλησις αὕτη, ἀσεβεῖ πρὸς εὐσεβῆ. 26 ἀνδρὸς γηρέντος πολλὸν ἀφαυρότερος.

27 ἑστᾶσιν δ' ἐλάτης <βάκχοι> πυκινὸν περὶ δῶμα. 28 ἐξ ἀρχῆς καθ' Ομηρον ἐπεὶ μεμαθήκασι πάντες. 29 εἰ μὴ χλωρὸν ἔφυσε θεὸς μέλι, πολλὸν ἔφασκον γλύσσονα σύκα πέλεσθαι.

30 <ἁγνὸν> ἐνὶ σπεάτεσσι τεοῖς καταλείβεται ὕδωρ. 31 ὁππόσα δὴ θνητοῖσι πεφήνασιν εἰσοράασθαι.

22. Athen. ix. p. 368 E. V. 3: MSS. ἀφίξεται, corr. Karst. V. 4: Meineke κλέος Ελλαδικῶν, Bergk ἀοιδοπόλων ᾖ γένος Ἑλλαδικῶν.

23. Athen. xi. p. 782. V. 2 : Vulg. ἐγχεύας, corr. Casaub.

24. Diog. Laer. ix. 19.

25. Arist. Rhet. i. 15; p. 377 a 20.

26. Etym. Magn. s.v. гnpás; attributed to Xenophon.

27. Schol. ad Aristoph. Equit. v. 408. Vulg. ἐλάται, MS. Θ ἐλάτε, ν ἐλάτη. Lobeck, Aglaoph. p. 308 i, suggests ἐκστᾶσιν ἐλατῶν πυκινοί περὶ δώματα βάκχοι, and compares Eurip. Bacch. 110.

(28). Draco Straton. p. 33, ed. Herm.; Cram. An. Oxon. iii. p. 296 (Herod. περὶ διχρόν. p. 367 Lehrs); Cram. An. Oxon. iv. p. 415 (Choerob. dict. p. 566 Gais.).

(29). Herod. περὶ μον. λέξ. 41, 5. MSS. Ξενοφῶν, corr. Dind. Cf. Etym. Magn. 235, 4. Etym. Gud. 301, 15. (30). Herod. Ibid. 30, 30.

όνομ. 772, 33.

MSS. καὶ μὴν, corr. Lehrs. Cf. περὶ κλισ.

31). Herod. περὶ διχρόν. 296, 5.

22. For sending the thigh-bone of a goat, thou didst receive the rich leg of a fatted bull, an honourable present to a man, the fame whereof shall come to all Greece, and shall not cease so long as there is a race of Greek bards.

23. Nor would any one first pour the wine into the cup to mix it, but water first and the wine above it.

24. Already now sixty-seven years my thoughts have been tossed restlessly up and down Greece, but then it was twenty and five years from my birth, if I know how to speak the truth about these things.'

25. Nor is this (an oath) an equal demand to make of an impious man as compared with a pious man.

26. Much more feeble than an aged man.

27. Bacchic wands of fir stand about the firmly built house.

28. From the beginning, according to Homer, since all have learned them.2

29. If the god had not made light-coloured honey, I should have said that a fig was far sweeter.

30. Holy water trickles down in thy grottoes.

31. As many things as they have made plain for mortals to see!

'Bergk' interprets opovrida by carmen.

2 Hiller, Deut. Litt. Zeitg., 1886, Coll. 474-475, suggests' (Men know the wanderings of Odysseus) from the beginning as Homer tells them, since all have learned them.' .

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