Epharmostus' Victory and the Myth of Opus

The song of Archilochus indeed, resounding at Olympia, the triple victory song swelling, sufficed to lead the way near the hill of Cronus for Epharmostus as he went in revel with his dear companions; but now, from the far-shooting bows of the Muses, shoot at Zeus of the red lightning and the holy promontory of Elis, with such arrows, which once the Lydian hero Pelops won as the fairest dowry of Hippodameia; and send a sweet winged arrow to Pytho; indeed, you will not touch words falling to the ground, when you vibrate the lyre for the wrestling-matches of a man from famous Opus; praise both her and her son, whom saving Themis and her daughter have obtained as their share, glorious Eunomia, have obtained as their allotment; and she flourishes with virtues beside your stream, Castalia, and beside the stream of Alpheus; whence the choicest of crowns raise up the famous mother of the Locrians, famous with its beautiful trees.

And I, indeed, for the dear city, kindling it with blazing songs, and swifter than a proud horse and a winged ship, everywhere will send this message, if indeed with some fated hand I cultivate the choice garden of the Graces; for they grant pleasant things; and men become brave and wise by divine dispensation.

Since otherwise, how could Heracles have brandished the club in his hands against the trident, when Poseidon, standing around Pylos, pressed him hard, and Phoebus pressed him, fighting with silver bow, nor did Hades keep his staff unmoved, with which he leads mortal bodies down to the hollow street of the dying?

Fling away from me this word, O mouth!

Since to insult the gods is a hateful wisdom, and to boast out of season accords with madness.

Babble not now of such things; leave all war and battle apart from the immortals.

But bring your tongue to the city of Protogeneia, where, by the decree of Zeus of the flashing thunderbolt, Pyrrha and Deucalion, having descended from Parnassus, established their home first, and without union created a united people, stone offspring; and they were named "laoi." Arouse for them a clear path of song, and praise old wine, but the flowers of newer songs.

Indeed they say that the dark earth was flooded by the power of water, but by the arts of Zeus, an ebb suddenly drained the flood.

From them came your bronze-shielded ancestors from the beginning, of the race of Iapetus' daughter, sons of daughters and of the mightiest sons of Cronus, native kings always, before the Olympian ruler having snatched the daughter of Opus from the land of the Epeians, quietly united with her in the Maenalian ridges, and brought her to Locrus, lest life should destroy him, bringing on a destiny bereft of offspring.

But the wife held the greatest seed, and the hero was glad when he saw his adopted son, and he called him by his mother's father's name to be his namesake, a man outstanding in beauty and in deeds.

And he gave him the city and the people to rule.

And strangers came to him, from Argos and from Thebes, others from Arcadia, and some from Pisa; and among the settlers he especially honored Menoetius, the son of Actor and of Aegina; whose son, going with the Atreidae to the plain of Teuthras, stood beside Achilles alone, when Telephus, having turned the valiant Danaans, fell upon their marine sterns; so as to show to an intelligent mind to learn the mighty spirit of Patroclus.

From then on, the son of Thetis exhorted him in destructive war never to be marshaled apart from his own man-subduing spear.

May I be inventive in words, to go forward fittingly in the chariot of the Muses; and may courage and abundant power attend me.

And because of guest-friendship and virtue I came to honor the Isthmian headbands of Lampromachus, when both conquered in one day's work.

And two other victories afterward occurred at the gates of Corinth, and others in the valley of Nemea for Epharmostus; and in Argos he won glory among men, and as a boy in Athens, and what a fight he sustained at Marathon, when, excluded from the class of the youth, he faced the contest of older men for the silver cups!

And having subdued the men with swift-tilting artifice without falling, he went through the ring with what a shout, being in his youth and beautiful, and having achieved the fairest deeds.

And to the Parrhasian host he appeared wondrous, around the assembly of Lycaean Zeus, and when he carried the warm remedy against cold winds to Pellene; and as a witness for him, the tomb of Iolaus tomb and marine Eleusis bear witness in splendors.

That which is by nature is always best; but many by taught virtues of men have striven to win glory.

But without God, every deed kept in silence is none the worse.

For there are other paths of paths that go further, and a single pursuit will not sustain all of us; skills indeed are steep; but while offering this prize, shout out loud with courage, that this man was born by divine favor strong-handed, nimble-limbed, with valor in his eyes, who, conquering, crowned the altar of Ajax, son of Oileus, at his feast.