§3.1Τυνδαρίδαις τε φιλοξείνοις ἁδεῖν καλλιπλοκάμῳ θʼ Ἑλένᾳ §3.2κλεινὰν Ἀκράγαντα γεραίρων εὔχομαι, §3.3Θήρωνος Ὀλυμπιονίκαν ὕμνον ὀρθώσαις, ἀκαμαντοπόδων §3.4ἵππων ἄωτον.
I pray that I may please the hospitable sons of Tyndareus and lovely-haired Helen, as I honor famous Akragas, by setting upright Theron’s Olympic victory song, the choice flower of untiring-footed horses.
Μοῖσα δʼ οὕτω ποι παρέστα μοι νεοσίγαλον εὑρόντι τρόπον §3.5Δωρίῳ φωνὰν ἐναρμόξαι πεδίλῳ §3.6ἀγλαόκωμον.
The Muse stood beside me in this way, as I found a newly-shining way to fit the glorious-reveling voice to the Dorian sandal.
ἐπεὶ χαίταισι μὲν ζευχθέντες ἔπι στέφανοι §3.7πράσσοντί με τοῦτο θεόδματον χρέος, §3.8φόρμιγγά τε ποικιλόγαρυν καὶ βοὰν αὐλῶν ἐπέων τε θέσιν
For the crowns bound upon my hair demand of me this god-established duty, to blend properly for the son of Ainesidamos the varied-sounding lyre, the shout of flutes, and the arrangement of verses.
§3.9Αἰνησιδάμου παιδὶ συμμῖξαι πρεπόντως, ἅ τε Πίσα με γεγωνεῖν·
And Pisa calls on me to cry aloud.
τᾶς ἄπο §3.10θεόμοροι νίσοντʼ ἐπʼ ἀνθρώπους ἀοιδαί, §3.11ᾧ τινι, κραίνων ἐφετμὰς Ἡρακλέος προτέρας, §3.12ἀτρεκὴς Ἑλλανοδίκας γλεφάρων Αἰτωλὸς ἀνὴρ ὑψόθεν §3.13ἀμφὶ κόμαισι βάλῃ γλαυκόχροα κόσμον ἐλαίας·
From there god-allotted songs go forth to men, to whomever, fulfilling the ancient commands of Heracles, the strict Aetolian judge of the Greeks from on high casts around his hair the gray-colored adornment of the olive.
τάν ποτε §3.14Ἴστρου ἀπὸ σκιαρᾶν παγᾶν ἔνεικεν Ἀμφιτρυωνιάδας, §3.15μνᾶμα τῶν Οὐλυμπίᾳ κάλλιστον ἄθλων §3.16δᾶμον Ὑπερβορέων πείσαις Ἀπόλλωνος θεράποντα λόγῳ.
Which once Amphitryon's son brought from the shaded springs of Ister, as the most beautiful memorial of the contests at Olympia, after persuading with words the Hyperborean people, the servants of Apollo.
§3.17πιστὰ φρονέων Διὸς αἴτει πανδόκῳ §3.18ἄλσει σκιαρόν τε φύτευμα ξυνὸν ἀνθρώποις στέφανόν τʼ ἀρετᾶν.
Loyal in mind, he asked for Zeus's all-welcoming grove a shaded planting, common to men, and a crown for virtues.
§3.19ἤδη γὰρ αὐτῷ, πατρὶ μὲν βωμῶν ἁγισθέντων, διχόμηνις ὅλον χρυσάρματος §3.20ἑσπέρας ὀφθαλμὸν ἀντέφλεξε Μήνα, §3.21καὶ μεγάλων ἀέθλων ἁγνὰν κρίσιν καὶ πενταετηρίδʼ ἁμᾶ §3.22θῆκε ζαθέοις ἐπὶ κρημνοῖς Ἀλφεοῦ·
For already for him, when the altars had been consecrated to his father, the golden-charioted Moon, split-month, kindled in full her eye of evening, and he established the holy judgment of the great contests and the five-year festival together on the sacred banks of Alpheus.
§3.23ἀλλʼ οὐ καλὰ δένδρεʼ ἔθαλλεν χῶρος ἐν βάσσαις Κρονίου Πέλοπος.
But the land in the valleys of Pelops, son of Cronus, did not flourish with beautiful trees.
§3.24τούτων ἔδοξεν γυμνὸς αὐτῷ κᾶπος ὀξείαις ὑπακουέμεν αὐγαῖς ἁλίου.
Bare of these, the garden seemed to him to submit to the sharp rays of the sun.
§3.25δὴ τότʼ ἐς γαῖαν πορεύεν θυμὸς ὥρμα §3.26Ἰστρίαν νιν· ἔνθα Λατοῦς ἱπποσόα θυγάτηρ §3.27δέξατʼ ἐλθόντʼ Ἀρκαδίας ἀπὸ δειρᾶν καὶ πολυγνάμπτων μυχῶν, §3.28εὖτέ νιν ἀγγελίαις Εὐρυσθέος ἔντυʼ ἀνάγκα πατρόθεν §3.29χρυσόκερων ἔλαφον θήλειαν ἄξονθʼ, ἅν ποτε Ταϋγέτα §3.30ἀντιθεῖσʼ Ὀρθωσίᾳ ἔγραψεν ἱράν.
Then indeed, his heart urged him to travel to the Istrian land; there the horse-driving daughter of Leto received him when he came from the ridges and many-winding glens of Arcadia, when the compulsion of Eurystheus by his father’s will pressed him to bring the golden-horned female deer, which once Taygete had dedicated to Orthosia and inscribed as sacred.
§3.31τὰν μεθέπων ἴδε καὶ κείναν χθόνα πνοιᾶς ὄπιθεν Βορέα §3.32ψυχροῦ. τόθι δένδρεα θάμβαινε σταθείς. §3.33τῶν νιν γλυκὺς ἵμερος ἔσχεν δωδεκάγναμπτον περὶ τέρμα δρόμου §3.34ἵππων φυτεῦσαι.
Pursuing her, he saw also that land behind the breath of cold Boreas; there he stood and marveled at the trees, and a sweet desire possessed him to plant them around the twelve-lap boundary of the horse race.
καί νυν ἐς ταύταν ἑορτὰν ἵλαος ἀντιθέοισιν νίσσεται §3.35σὺν βαθυζώνου διδύμοις παισὶ Λήδας.
And now he comes graciously to this festival for the godlike men, along with the twin sons of deep-girdled Leda.
§3.36τοῖς γὰρ ἐπέτραπεν Οὐλυμπόνδʼ ἰὼν θαητὸν ἀγῶνα νέμειν §3.37ἀνδρῶν τʼ ἀρετᾶς πέρι καὶ ῥιμφαρμάτου §3.38διφρηλασίας.
For to them he entrusted, as he went to Olympus, the management of the wonderful contest concerning men’s prowess and the rapid-chariot driving.
ἐμὲ δʼ ὦν πᾳ θυμὸς ὀτρύνει φάμεν Ἐμμενίδαις §3.39Θήρωνί τʼ ἐλθεῖν κῦδος, εὐΐππων διδόντων Τυνδαριδᾶν, ὅτι πλείσταισι βροτῶν §3.40ξεινίαις αὐτοὺς ἐποίχονται τραπέζαις, §3.41εὐσεβεῖ γνώμᾳ φυλάσσοντες μακάρων τελετάς.
But my heart somehow urges me to say that glory has come to the Emmenidae and to Theron, granted by the Tyndaridae of fine horses, because of all mortals they approach them with the greatest number of hospitable tables, keeping the rites of the blessed ones with a pious mind.
§3.42εἰ δʼ ἀριστεύει μὲν ὕδωρ, κτεάνων δὲ χρυσὸς αἰδοιέστατος, §3.43νῦν δὲ πρὸς ἐσχατιὰν Θήρων ἀρεταῖσιν ἱκάνων ἅπτεται §3.44οἴκοθεν Ἡρακλέος σταλᾶν.
If water is best, and gold is the most honored of possessions, now Theron, reaching the limit by his prowess, touches from his home the pillars of Heracles.
τὸ πόρσω δʼ ἔστι σοφοῖς ἄβατον §3.45κἀσόφοις.
What is beyond is inaccessible to the wise and to the foolish.
οὔ νιν διώξω· κεινὸς εἴην.
I will not pursue it; I would be empty.