No mother's smile of joyful praise
Could their desponding spirits raise;
But as their steps in coward flight
Shunn'd the proud adversaries' sight, 125
Harass'd by shame and grief they trod the darkest ways.
But he who has obtain'd the meed
That crowns each fair and noble deed,
With hope and joy transported glows.
Him swift-wing'd valour gives to rise, 130
And a superior good supplies
To all the bliss that wealth bestows. 131
Full often with increasing light
Glitters each mortal pleasure bright,
And shortly dash'd upon the ground 135
By some unhappy stroke 'tis found.
Man, the frail being of a day,
Uncertain shadow of a dream,
Illumined by the heavenly beam,
Flutters his easy life away. 140
Ægina! guardian of the land
Peopled by freedom's generous band,
Preserve this city with a mother's love.
Thee may King Æacus behold,
Peleus and Telamon the bold, 145
With bless'd Achilles and immortal Jove. 145
here is κριθη, (pro εκριθη,) was decreed, although some commentators prefer εν Πυθιαδι κριθῃ: founding the interpretation on a notion, which I believe to be quite gratuitous, of the victors in the Pythian games being sent home, crowned with a barley chaplet. Besides that the first syllable in the Homeric word κριθη, hordeum, is long; (Il., xi., 69; Od., ix., 110; xix., 112, &c. ;) whereas the correspondmg verse in the antistrophe requires a short one:—
ανο-
ρεαις, εχων κρεσσονα πλουτου.
