They loved to train the generous steeds,
While brazen Mars approved their deeds.
But in the course of one short day
The rough and sanguine cloud of war 25
Four heroes had impell'd away
From their deserted hearth afar:
And now, the wintry darkness o'er,
Soon as the vernal months succeed,
Serene they flourish as before; 30
Thus crimson roses cover o'er,
At Heaven's behest, the altered mead. 32
While he, the earth-disturbing god,
Who makes Onchestus his abode, [1]
And the sea bridge that bids the tide 35
From Corinth's walls at distance glide—
Granting this hymn their noble race
With wondrous potency to grace,
Sings their high deeds, whose loud acclaim
Wakes from her couch primeval fame. 40
Aroused, her fair form glows with splendour bright,
As mid the other stars shines Phosphor's nobler light. 41
She who in Athens' verdant field
Proclaim'd the triumphs of his car,
And bade the bards of Sicyon wield 45
Their vocal lyres, to tell afar
What wreaths the Adrastean contests yield.
- ↑ See note on ode i., 53. By the sea bridge in the next verse is to be understood the isthmus of Corinth, which Claudian describes in similar terms: (de Bel. Get. 188:)—
"Vallata mari Scironia rupes,
Et duo continuo connectens æquora muro
Isthmus."So Ovid: (Med. Jasoni, 104:)—
"Quique maris gemini distinet isthmos aquas?"
(See [[../../Nemean Odes/6|Nem., vi.]], 65)
