Pythian

Pindar

Pindar. Arnson Svarlien, Diane, translator. Created for the Perseus Project, 1990.

  1. that she should be living in the hollows of the shady mountains
  2. and putting to the test her boundless valor? [*](Following Snell’s punctuation.) Is it lawful to lay my renowned hand on her? And to cut the honey-sweet grass of her bed?” And the powerful Centaur, laughing softly with a gentle brow, right away gave his wise advice in reply: “Hidden are skilled Persuasion’s keys to holy love,
  3. Phoebus, and both gods and men blush to take the pleasure of a bed for the first time openly.
  4. For even in your case, for whom it is unlawful to touch on falsehood, a gentle impulse has swayed you to dissemble your words. You ask me from what race the girl comes, lord Apollo? You who know the appointed end of all things,
  5. and all the paths that lead to them? And how many leaves the earth puts forth in spring, and how many grains of sand in the sea and in rivers are dashed by the waves and the gusting winds; and that which will be, and from where it will come, all this you clearly see.
  6. But if I must match myself even against one who is wise,
  7. I will speak. You came to this glen to be her husband, and you will bear her over the sea to the choicest garden of Zeus, where you will make her the ruler of a city, when you have gathered the island-people
  8. to the hill encircled by plains. And now queen Libya of the broad meadows will gladly welcome your glorious bride in her golden halls. There she will right away give her a portion of land to flourish with her as her lawful possession, not without tribute of all kinds of fruit, nor unfamiliar with wild animals.
  9. There she will bear a child, whom famous Hermes
  10. will take from beneath his own dear mother and carry to the Seasons on their lovely thrones and to Gaia. They will admire [*](Reading with Bergk and Snell θαησάμενοι for κατθηκάμεναι. ) the baby on their knees and drop nectar and ambrosia on his lips, and they will make him immortal, to be called Zeus and holy Apollo, a delight to men he loves, an ever-present guardian of flocks,