§8.1Κλεάνδρῳ τις ἁλικίᾳ τε λύτρον §8.2εὔδοξον, ὦ νέοι, καμάτων §8.3πατρὸς ἀγλαὸν Τελεσάρχου παρὰ πρόθυρον ἰὼν ἀνεγειρέτω §8.4κῶμον, Ἰσθμιάδος τε νίκας ἄποινα, καὶ Νεμέᾳ §8.5ἀέθλων ὅτι κράτος ἐξεῦρε.
Let someone, O youth, for Kleandros and his peers, as a glorious ransom for their labors, go to the splendid portal of his father Telesarchos and awaken the comus, in return for his Isthmian victory and because at Nemea he found victory in the contests.
τῷ καὶ ἐγώ, καίπερ ἀχνύμενος θυμόν, αἰτέομαι χρυσέαν καλέσαι Μοῖσαν.
Therefore I too, though grieving in my heart, am requested to summon the golden Muse.
ἐκ μεγάλων δὲ πενθ έω ν λυθέντες §8.6μήτʼ ἐν ὀρφανίᾳ πέσωμεν στεφάνων, §8.7μήτε κάδεα θεράπευε· παυσάμενοι δʼ ἀπρήκτων κακῶν §8.8γλυκύ τι δαμωσόμεθα καὶ μετὰ πόνον· §8.9ἐπειδὴ τὸν ὑπὲρ κεφαλᾶς §8.10τὸν Ταντάλου λίθον παρά τις ἔτρεψεν ἄμμι θεός, §8.11ἀτόλματον Ἑλλάδι μόχθον.
Released from great sorrows, let us not fall into a state of being orphaned of crowns, nor do you nurse your griefs; but ceasing from unavailing evils, let us make public something sweet even after our toil; since that stone of Tantalus above our heads, an intolerable labor for Greece, has been turned aside for us by some god.
ἀλλά §8.12μοι δεῖμα μὲν παροιχόμενον §8.13καρτερὰν ἔπαυσε μέριμναν· τὸ δὲ πρὸ ποδὸς ἄρειον ἀεὶ σκοπεῖν §8.14χρῆμα πᾶν.
But for me, the past terror has put an end to heavy anxiety; and it is always better in every matter to look at what is before one's foot.
δόλιος γὰρ αἰὼν ἐπʼ ἀνδράσι κρέμαται, §8.15ἑλίσσων βίου πόρον· ἰατὰ δʼ ἔστι βροτοῖς σύν γʼ ἐλευθερίᾳ καὶ τά.
For a treacherous age hangs over men, twisting the path of life; yet even these things are curable for mortals, at least with freedom.
χρὴ δʼ ἀγαθὰν ἐλπίδʼ ἀνδρὶ μέλειν· χρὴ δʼ ἐν ἑπταπύλοισι Θήβαις τραφέντα §8.16Αἰγίνᾳ Χαρίτων ἄωτον προνέμειν, §8.17πατρὸς οὕνεκα δίδυμαι γένοντο θύγατρες Ἀσωπίδων §8.18ὁπλόταται, Ζηνί τε ἅδον βασιλέϊ.
A man must care for good hope; and one reared in seven-gated Thebes must offer the finest bloom of the Graces to Aegina, because from one father were born twin daughters, the youngest of the Asopides, and they pleased King Zeus.
§8.19ὃ τὰν μὲν παρὰ καλλιρόῳ §8.20Δίρκᾳ φιλαρμάτου πόλιος ᾤκισσεν ἁγεμόνα· §8.21σὲ δʼ ἐς νᾶσον Οἰνοπίαν ἐνεγκὼν §8.22κοιμᾶτο, δῖον ἔνθα τέκες §8.23Αἰακὸν βαρυσφαράγῳ πατρὶ κεδνότατον ἐπιχθονίων·
He indeed settled one of them by the fair-flowing Dirce as the leader of a chariot-loving city; but carrying you to the island of Oenopia, he lay with you, where you bore divine Aeacus, the most loyal of earthly men to his loud-thundering father; who also decided disputes even for the gods.
ὃ καὶ §8.24δαιμόνεσσι δίκας ἐπείραινε· τοῦ μὲν ἀντίθεοι §8.25ἀρίστευον υἱέες υἱέων τʼ ἀρηΐφιλοι παῖδες ἀνορέᾳ χάλκεον στονόεντʼ ἀμφέπειν ὅμαδον· σώφρονές τʼ ἐγένοντο πινυτοί τε θυμόν.
His godlike sons and their war-loving children were supreme in courage, managing the bronze and groaning tumult of war; and they were prudent and wise in mind.
§8.26ταῦτα καὶ μακάρων ἐμέμναντʼ ἀγοραί, §8.27Ζεὺς ὅτʼ ἀμφὶ Θέτιος ἀγλαός τʼ ἔρισαν Ποσειδᾶν γάμῳ, §8.28ἄλοχον εὐειδέʼ ἐθέλων ἑκάτερος §8.29ἑὰν ἔμμεν· ἔρως γὰρ ἔχεν.
These things the assemblies of the blessed also remembered, when Zeus and glorious Poseidon strove over the marriage of Thetis, each wishing her to be his beautiful wife; for love possessed them.
§8.30ἀλλʼ οὔ σφιν ἄμβροτοι τέλεσαν εὐνὰν θεῶν πραπίδες, §8.31ἐπεὶ θεσφάτων ἐπάκουσαν· εἶπε δʼ §8.32εὔβουλος ἐν μέσοισι Θέμις, §8.33οὕνεκεν πεπρωμένον ἦν φέρτερον γόνον ἄνακτα πατρὸς τεκεῖν §8.34ποντίαν θεόν, ὃς κεραυνοῦ τε κρέσσον ἄλλο βέλος §8.35διώξει χερὶ τριόδοντός τʼ ἀμαιμακέτου, Δί τε μισγομέναν ἢ Διὸς παρʼ ἀδελφεοῖσιν.
But the immortal minds of the gods did not bring about that union for them, once they heard the prophecies; and wise Themis spoke in their midst, how it was fated that the sea-goddess should bear a lordly son more powerful than his father, who would wield in his hand another weapon mightier than the thunderbolt and the untamable trident, if she coupled with Zeus or with the brothers of Zeus.
—
ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν παύσατε· βροτέων δὲ λεχέων τυχοῖσα §8.36υἱὸν εἰσιδέτω θανόντʼ ἐν πολέμῳ, §8.37χεῖρας Ἄρεΐ τʼ ἐναλίγκιον στεροπαῖσί τʼ ἀκμὰν ποδῶν.
"But cease from this; meeting with a mortal bed, let her look upon her son dying in war, resembling Ares in his hands and the lightning in the swiftness of his feet.
§8.38τὸ μὲν ἐμὸν Πηλέϊ γάμου θεόμορον §8.39ὀπάσσαι γέρας Αἰακίδᾳ, §8.40ὅντʼ εὐσεβέστατον φάτις Ἰωλκοῦ τράφειν πεδίον·
My counsel is to grant this god-apportioned privilege of marriage to Peleus the son of Aeacus, whom the plain of Iolcus is said to have reared as the most pious man.
§8.41ἰόντων δʼ ἐς ἄφθιτον ἄντρον εὐθὺς §8.42Χείρωνος αὐτίκʼ ἀγγελίαι· §8.43μηδὲ Νηρέος θυγάτηρ νεικέων πέταλα δὶς ἐγγυαλιζέτω §8.44ἄμμιν·
And let messages go straightway to the immortal cave of Chiron; nor let the daughter of Nereus twice place the leaves of strife into our hands.
ἐν διχομηνίδεσσιν δὲ ἑσπέραις ἐρατὸν §8.45λύοι κεν χαλινὸν ὑφʼ ἥρωϊ παρθενίας. ὣς φάτο Κρονίδαις ἐννέποισα θεά· τοὶ δʼ ἐπὶ γλεφάροις νεῦσαν ἀθανάτοισιν·
But on the evenings of the mid-month let her loosen for the hero the lovely bridle of her virginity." So spoke the goddess, addressing the sons of Kronos; and they nodded with their immortal brow.
The fruit of her words did not decay; for they say that the kings also took shared interest in the marriage of Thetis.
καὶ νεαρὰν ἔδειξαν σοφῶν §8.48στόματʼ ἀπείροισιν ἀρετὰν Ἀχιλέος· §8.49ὃ καὶ Μύσιον ἀμπελόεν §8.50αἵμαξε Τηλέφου μέλανι ῥαίνων φόνῳ πεδίον, §8.51γεφύρωσέ τʼ Ἀτρεΐδαισι νόστον, §8.52Ἑλέναν τʼ ἐλύσατο, Τρωΐας §8.53ἶνας ἐκταμὼν δορί, ταί νιν ῥύοντό ποτε μάχας ἐναριμβρότου §8.54ἔργον ἐν πεδίῳ κορύσσοντα, Μέμνονός τε βίαν §8.55ὑπέρθυμον Ἕκτορά τʼ ἄλλους τʼ ἀριστέας· οἷς δῶμα Φερσεφόνας μανύων Ἀχιλεύς, οὖρος Αἰακιδᾶν, Αἴγιναν σφετέραν τε ῥίζαν πρόφαινεν.
And the mouths of the wise revealed to those without experience the youthful virtue of Achilles; who also bloodied the vine-clad Mysian plain, sprinkling it with the dark gore of Telephus, and built a bridge for the return of the Atreidae, and ransomed Helen, cutting out with his spear the strength of Troy, which once tried to hold him back from the work of man-slaying battle on the plain, as he marshaled his forces, and the mighty power of Memnon, and high-hearted Hector and other champions; to whom Achilles, showing the house of Persephone, the guardian of the Aeacidae, made manifest his Aegina and his own root.
§8.56τὸν μὲν οὐδὲ θανόντʼ ἀοιδαὶ ἔλιπον, §8.57ἀλλά οἱ παρά τε πυρὰν τάφον θʼ Ἑλικώνιαι παρθένοι §8.58στάν, ἐπὶ θρῆνόν τε πολύφαμον ἔχεαν.
Him, not even in death, did songs desert, but by his pyre and tomb the Heliconian maidens stood, and poured over him a many-voiced lament.
This, indeed, seemed good to the immortals, to deliver a noble man, even when dead, to the songs of the goddesses.
This brings repute even now, and the chariot of the Muses hastens to celebrate the memorial of Nikokles the boxer.
γεραίρετέ νιν, ὃς Ἴσθμιον ἂν νάπος §8.64Δωρίων ἔλαχεν σελίνων· ἐπεὶ περικτίονας §8.65ἐνίκασε δή ποτε καὶ κεῖνος ἄνδρας ἀφύκτῳ χερὶ κλονέων.
Honor him, who obtained the Isthmian glen of Dorian wild celery; since he too once conquered the neighboring men, throwing them into confusion with his inescapable hand.
τὸν μὲν οὐ κατελέγχει κριτοῦ γενεὰ πατραδελφεοῦ· ἁλίκων τῷ τις ἁβρὸν §8.66ἀμφὶ παγκρατίου Κλεάνδρῳ πλεκέτω §8.67μυρσίνας στέφανον, ἐπεί νιν Ἀλκαθόου τʼ ἀγὼν σὺν τύχᾳ §8.68ἐν Ἐπιδαύρῳ τε νεότας δέκετο πρίν· §8.69τὸν αἰνεῖν ἀγαθῷ παρέχει· §8.70ἥβαν γὰρ οὐκ ἄπειρον ὑπὸ χειᾷ καλῶν δάμασεν.
The family of his father's brother does not shame him; therefore let some of his peers weave for Kleandros a delicate crown of myrtle for the pancratium, since the contest of Alcathous with good fortune and Epidaurus received his youth before; for a good man, he provides occasion for praise; for he did not tame his youth under a hole, unpracticed in beautiful deeds.