Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, ed. Poems of Places: An Anthology in 31 Volumes.
Greece and Turkey in Europe: Vol. XIX. 1876–79.
Athens
By Pindar (c. 522–433 B.C.)Translated by H. F. Cary
A
Proem most beauteous for Alcmæon’s race,
Whereon to lay the base
Of sacred song, their steeds’ proud ornament!
For what more eminent
Country or home, shall I in Grecia name,
Inhabited? No city, wherein fame
Sounds not Erectheus’ sons; they who for thee,
Apollo, have built up a gorgeous shrine
In Pytho the divine.
Five victories in Corinth lead me on;
One in Olympia, Jove’s, the chief of these;
And two from Cyrrha; yours, O Megacles,
And your forefathers’! At the new success
In part rejoicing, yet for this I mourn;
That beauteous deeds in envy meet return.
’T is said indeed that mortal happiness,
When most it flourisheth, to last, must be
Thus checkered with a strange variety.