In vain with virtuous deeds the isle
Where cities ruled in justice smile;
Since from old time her glorious name
Excites her sons to deeds of fame:
Great heroes nourish'd to the fight 35
Of swiftness and victorious might;
And tribes of meaner mortals round
Throughout the earth her praises sound.
But all my vacant hours will fail;
Ere to the lyre and dulcet strain 40
I can commit the lengthen'd tale
Satiety the mind will pain. 46
Thy triumphs now, heroic boy,
The labours of my muse employ,
Who shall convey with winged speed 45
The record of thy latest deed;
For in th' Olympic wrestler's game
Tracking thy noble uncle's fame,
Thine efforts Theognotus not disgrace:
And in the strong-limb'd Isthmian fray 50
The wreaths thy vigour bore away
The glories of Clitomachus efface.
Thy deeds, the tribe of Midylus that raise,
Deserve Oïcleus son's prophetic praise; [1]
Who erst in Thebes beheld with prescient sight 55
The martial youth still constant in the fight,
When having now twice left their Argive home,
To the seven-portall'd town th' Epigoni were come.
When thus he spoke: "Of those whose heart
Nature with generous ardour fires, 60
I see th' impetuous youth depart,
Warm'd with the spirit of their sires.
- ↑ Amphiaraus, the Theban prophet, whose son Alcmæon, called by Pindar Alcman, bears on his shield the insigne of a dragon, prefiguring, according to the scholiast, the death of his father, who was to descend alive into the grave, as that animal goes into the holes and caverns of the earth.
