THE FIFTH ISTHMIAN ODE.
TO PHYLACIDES OF ÆGINA, VICTOR IN THE PANCRATIUM.
ARGUMENT.
This ode opens with an invocation to Thia; who, according to the ancient theogony, was the mother of the Sun, Moon, and Aurora.—Under this name the poet designates glory and renown; for the sake of which men achieve the most illustrious deeds.—He then makes a transition to the victor, with a digression commemorating the heroes of Ægina.—Then to the battle of Salamis.—Returns to Phylacides, and concludes by the praise of Pytheas, his alipta: (the person whose office it was to train and anoint the combatants for the games.)
Illustrious mother of the solar beam,[1]
Mankmd, bright Thia, for thy sake esteem
The first of metals, all-subduing gold;
And ships, oh queen! that struggle in the deep,
With car-yoked coursers o'er the plain that sweep,
To honour thee, the wondrous contests hold.6
Through thee in every warlike game
Heroes the frequent meed of fame
Achieve, whose hair the wreath around,
By strength or swiftness won, is bound.10
When two events propitious meet,
They make the span of life most sweet,
- ↑ Pindar, in this magnificent exordium, addresses Thia, the goddess of splendour, and, according to Hesiod, cited by the scholiast, the mother, by Hyperion, of Sol, Luna, and Aurora. By this invocation he intimates the glory of the Æginetans, to whose exertions in the battle of Salamis the victory over the Persian fleet was mainly attributable. (See l. 56, et. seq.)
