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The First Nemæan Ode
Translated by Abraham Cowley
I. BEAUTEOUS Ortygia! the first breathing-place | |
| Of great Alpheus’ close and amorous race, | |
| Fair Delos’ sister, the childbed | |
| Of bright Latona, where she bred | |
| The original new-moon,— | 5 |
| Who saw’st her tender forehead ere the horns were grown! | |
| Who, like a gentle scion, newly started out | |
| From Syracusa’s side dost sprout; | |
| Thee, first, my song does greet | |
| With numbers smooth and fleet | 10 |
| As thine own horses’ airy feet, | |
| When they young Chromius’ chariot drew, | |
| And o’er the Nemæan race triumphant flew. | |
| Jove will approve my song and me; | |
| Jove is concerned in Nemea, and in thee. | 15 |
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II. With Jove, my song; this happy man, | |
| Young Chromius, too, with Jove began; | |
| From hence came his success; | |
| Nor ought he, therefore, like it less, | |
| Since the best fame is that of happiness; | 20 |
| For whom should we esteem above | |
| The men whom gods do love? | |
| ’T is them, alone, the Muse, too, does approve. | |
| Lo, how it makes this victory shine | |
| O’er all the fruitful isle of Proserpine! | 25 |
| The torches which the mother brought, | |
| When the ravished maid she sought, | |
| Appeared not half so bright, | |
| But cast a weaker light | |
| Through earth and air and seas and up to the heavenly vault. | 30 |
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III. “To thee, O Proserpine, this isle I give,” | |
| Said Jove, and as he said | |
| Smiled, and bent his gracious head. | |
| “And thou, O isle,” said he, “forever thrive, | |
| And keep the value of our gift alive; | 35 |
| As heaven with stars, so let | |
| The country thick with towns be set; | |
| And, numberless as stars, | |
| Let all the towns be then | |
| Replenished, thick, with men | 40 |
| Wise in peace and bold in wars; | |
| Of thousand glorious towns the nation, | |
| Of thousand glorious men each town a constellation, | |
| Nor let their warlike laurel scorn | |
| With the Olympic olive to be worn, | 45 |
| Whose gentler honors do so well the brows of Peace adorn!” | |
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IV. Go to great Syracuse, my Muse! and wait | |
| At Chromius’ hospitable gate; | |
| ’T will open wide to let thee in, | |
| When thy lyre’s voice shall but begin; | 50 |
| Joy, plenty, and free welcome, dwells within. | |
| The Tyrian beds thou shalt find ready dressed, | |
| The ivory table crowded with a feast. | |
| The table which is free for every guest | |
| No doubt will thee admit, | 55 |
| And feast more upon thee than thou on it. | |
| Chromius and thou art met aright, | |
| For as by nature thou dost write, | |
| So he by nature loves, and does by nature fight. | |
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V. Nature herself, whilst in the womb he was, | 60 |
| Sowed strength and beauty through the forming mass; | |
| They moved the vital lump in every part, | |
| And carved the members out with wondrous art. | |
| She filled his mind with courage, and with wit, | |
| And a vast bounty, apt and fit | 65 |
| For the great dower which Fortune made to it. | |
| ’T is madness, sure, treasures to hoard, | |
| And make them useless (as in mines) remain, | |
| To lose the occasion Fortune does afford | |
| Fame and public love to gain. | 70 |
| Even for self-concerning ends | |
| ’T is wiser much to hoard up friends. | |
| Though happy men the present goods possess, | |
| The unhappy have their share in future hopes no less. | |
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VI. How early has young Chromius begun | 75 |
| The race of virtue, and how swiftly run, | |
| And borne the noble prize away, | |
| Whilst other youths yet at the barrier stay! | |
| None but Alcides e’er set earlier forth than he; | |
| The god his father’s blood naught could restrain, | 80 |
| ’T was ripe at first, and did disdain | |
| The slow advance of dull humanity. | |
| The big-limbed babe in his huge cradle lay, | |
| Too weighty to be rocked by nurses’ hands, | |
| Wrapped in purple swaddling-bands; | 85 |
| When, lo! by jealous Juno’s fierce commands | |
| Two dreadful serpents come, | |
| Rolling and hissing loud, into the room; | |
| To the bold babe they trace their bidden way; | |
| Forth from their flaming eyes dread lightnings went; | 90 |
| Their gaping mouths did forked tongues, like thunderbolts, present. | |
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VII. Some of the amazed women dropped down, dead | |
| With fear; some wildly fled | |
| About the room; some into corners crept, | |
| Where silently they shook and wept. | 95 |
| All naked, from her bed, the passionate mother leaped | |
| To save, or perish with her child; | |
| She trembled, and she cried; the mighty infant smiled: | |
| The mighty infant seemed well-pleased | |
| At his gay, gilded foes; | 100 |
| And as their spotted necks up to the cradle rose, | |
| With his young warlike hands on both he seized; | |
| In vain they raged, in vain they hissed, | |
| In vain their armed tails they twist, | |
| And angry circles cast about; | 105 |
| Black blood and fiery breath and poisonous soul he squeezes out. | |
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VIII. With their drawn swords | |
| In ran Amphitryo and the Theban lords; | |
| With doubting wonder and with troubled joy | |
| They saw the conquering boy | 110 |
| Laugh, and point downwards to his prey, | |
| Where, in death’s pangs and their own gore, they folding lay. | |
| When wise Tiresias this beginning knew, | |
| He told with ease the things to ensue, | |
| From what monsters he should free | 115 |
| The earth, the air, and sea; | |
| What mighty tyrants he should slay, | |
| Greater monsters far than they; | |
| How much at Phlægra’s field the distressed gods should owe | |
| To their great offspring here below, | 120 |
| And how his club should there outdo | |
| Apollo’s silver bow, and his own father’s thunder too. | |
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IX. And that the grateful gods, at last, | |
| (The race of his laborious virtue passed,) | |
| Heaven, which he saved, should to him give, | 125 |
| Where, married to eternal Youth, he should forever live; | |
| Drink nectar with the gods, and all his senses please | |
| In their harmonious, golden palaces; | |
| Walk with ineffable delight | |
| Through the thick groves of never-withering light, | 130 |
| And, as he walks, affright | |
| The lion and the bear, | |
| Bull, centaur, scorpion, all the radiant monsters there. | |
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