gin the contest. A man would say that they were immortal and without age, the Ionians who are then assembled †opposite† thee.[1] For he would perceive the pleasure of all, and would be delighted in mind, both contemplating the men, and the well-girt women, and the swift ships, and their many possessions. And besides these, this mighty marvel, the glory of which shall never perish, the Delian girls, the servants[2] of the Far-Darter, who, after they have first chaunted Apollo in hymns, and then Latona and shaft-rejoicing Diana, calling to mind the heroes and heroines of old, sing a hymn, and charm the crowds of men. And they ken how to imitate the voices and modulation[3] of all men. And each single man would say that he himself spoke, so beautiful a song is contrived by them. But come now, O Latona, and Apollo, with Diana, and hail all of you![4] And be mindful of me hereafter also, when any one of earthly men, coming hither as a sad stranger, shall ask: "O virgins, what man among you dwells here, the sweetest of bards, and in whom do ye take most delight?" But do ye all answer, "[He is] of us, a blind man, and he dwells at rocky Chios, whose songs shall all hereafter excel. But we[5] shall bear our own renown [with us], how far soever over the earth we shall visit the well-inhabited cities of men." And they will be persuaded, since it is also true. But I will not cease hymning far-darting Apollo of the silver bow, whom fair-haired Latona bore.
O king,[6] thou who possessest both Lycia, and pleasant Mæo-
- ↑ Hermann, after Ilgen, reads ὃς τοτ' ἐπαντιάσει', ὅτ' Ἰάονες ἀθρόοι εἶεν, which seems the most satisfactory reading yet proposed.
- ↑ Cf. Callim. in Del. 296, sqq.
- ↑ See Ernesti.
- ↑ The following translation of these beautiful lines is given in Coleridge, p. 286:
"Virgins! farewell—and oh! remember me
Hereafter, when some stranger from the sea,
A hapless wanderer, may your isle explore,
And ask you, maids, of all the bards you boast,
Who sings the sweetest, and delights you most—
O! answer all—'A blind old man and poor—
Sweetest he sings—and dwells on Chios' rocky shore!'"These lines are quoted by Thucydides, iii. 104.
- ↑ Ruhnken would omit these four verses, which Hermann, I think, vainly defends.
- ↑ Here begins the hymn to the Pythian Apollo, of which Muller, Gk. Lit. vii. § 4, observes, "it belongs to a time when the Pythian sanctuary was still in the territory of Crissa: of the hostility between the Pythian
