The poet here gives an account of the firft inftitution of the Olympic games, by Hercules, after the victory he had obtained over Augeas, and his allies Creatus and Eurytus, fons of Neptune and Molione; with whom he made war, to obtain the reward promifed him by Augeas: and to revenge the lois of his army, which had been before cut to pieces by Cteatus and Eurytus; in which were Ver. 17. Where gently fanned by Zephyr's bal- flain his brother Iphicles, and alfo Telamon and my breeze, Fair truth o'er Locris' colony prefides. There was a colony of Locrians established in that part of Italy called Magna Græcia; who, from their western fituation, were ftiled Epizephyrian Locrians. Agefidamus was of this colony; the ode being infcribed in the original, Ayirdau, Κόπρω Επιζεφυρίω. Calcedon. Ver. 62. The Altis' confecrated ground.] The Ver. 65. Who worshipped with imperial train Μελὰ δώδεκ' ἀνάκλων θεών. twelve of the principal gods: the firft was dediThere were fix altars erected by Hercules, to cated to Jupiter and Neptune; the fecond, to Ver. 21. Bold Cycnus in the hard-fought field, Forced Hercules at firft to yield. Hercules, making war with Cycnus, the fun of Mars (the Cycnus flain by Achilles was a fon of Neptune), on account of his cruelty, was at first defeated, though he afterwards overcame and kil-Jung and Minerva; the third to Mercury and Apollo; the fourth, to Bacchus and the Graces; the fifth to Diana and Alpheus; the fixth to Saturn and Rhea. led him. From this circumstance, and from Patroclus being encouraged by the exhortations of Achilles at the fiege of Troy, he confoles Agefidamus for being worked at the beginning of the conflict, till he affumed frefa ftrength and spirits 1 from the encouragement of Ilas, his 'Axuns, or anointer: whofe bufinefs it was, not only to prepare the combatants for the conteft, by anointing them, but also to inftruct them in the athletic ex- Ver. 35. Jove's feftival and folemn game, Ver. 85. On the long Stadiums even course.] The poet here gives the names of the conquerors at the first inftitution of the Olympic games, in the fix different exercifes, viz. the foot race; the palé, ing; and throwing the difcus; all of which, with or wrestling; the cæftus; the chariot race; dartother exercites added afterwards, are accurately defcribed in Weft's differtation on the Olympic games. Ver. 112.-Formed on Dirce's brink.] Dirce was the name of a fountain near Thebes, fuppofed to have been wife to Lycus, king of Thebes, and transformed into a fountain by Jupiter, after having been torn to pieces by horfes, for her cruelty to Antiope. O DE XIII.. TO XENOPHON, OF CORINTH, ON HIS VICTORY IN THE STADIC COURSE, AND PEN. TATHLON, AT OLYMPIA. THE ARGUMENT. THE pot begins his ode, by complimenting the family of Xenophon, on their fucceffes, in the Olympic games, and their hofpitality; and then celebrates their country, Corinth, for its good government and for the quick genius of its inhabitants. in the invention of many ufeful and ornamental arts. He then implores Jupiter to continue his bleffings on them, and to remain propitious to Xenoph whofe exploits he enumerates, together with those of Theffalus and Ptodorus, his father, and grandfather. He then, launches out again in praife of Corinth and her citizens, and relates the Hory of Bellerophon. He then, checking himself for digrefling fo far, returns to his hero, relates his variom fuccefs in the inferior games of Greece, and concludes with a prayer to Jupiter. But bloated infolence and fell difdain Who bade the bullock facred bleed And bade the fculptured bird of Jove His ornamental wings extend? With Proodorus too, his fire, What wreaths! what honours! too, they bore STROPHE III. Some medium though will every praise been- When warred the Greeks on Phrygin Who by the filver fountain's fide 66 Show it to Neptune, potent god of steeds, "While at his hallowed flrine the votive beas "bleeds." STROPHE IV. The Egis-bearing maid Minerva ípoke, While midnight flumbers clos'd his heavy yes. Straight from the dull embrace of fleep be brist And feiz'd with eager hand the glittering p Caranus' fon he fought, the neighbouring fee, And pour'd the wonderous tidings in his ear; That, as in awful Pallas' holy fane, Sleep o'er his temples fpread her leaden rege Before him flood confefs'd the warlike muc And by his fide at once the golden bridic 14 ANTISTROPHE IV. The wondering augur bade him straight obey Each myftic mandate of the dream divine; To Neptune firft the votive bullock pay; Then to equeftrian Pallas rear a Shrine: Beyond his hopes the gods with favouring The object of his wishes foon fulfil; VER. 1. The illuftrions house Ver. 25. And bade the fculptured bird of Jove, His ornamental wings extend. This is rather an obfcure paffage, and relates to a particular ornament of the Grecian temples, viz. the Aëtoma, or figure of an eagle placed there; the invention of which the poet here afcribes to the Corinthians. The Scholiaft adds, it was called double, from its form; or rather from there being one placed on each end of the temple, Δίδυμον δὲ φησὶν ὅτι διπλᾶτον ἀξιώμαλα τὰ ἔπισ θεν καὶ ἔμπροσθεν. Sudorus only differs from me by placing within the temple; and perhaps he is in the right, as the word in the original is krônx'; -vel intra, Templa aquile fpeciem locavit ? I have seen a Latin comment on Pindar, which fuppofes asrama to mean a part of the temple itfelf, and to be fo called, from its extending on each fide as an eagle does its wings Sciendum eft śrua ocum et partem templi fuiffe, ita diciam qua is etiam dicta eft propterea quod in modum aquile extendentis alas formata effet. Comment. in Pind. auctore Benedicto Aretio Bernenfi, p. 189. Ver. 37. Surpaffing, when on Pifa's fhore, What mortal valour had perform'd before; crown. The mention only of two prizes here, confirms, I think, my opinion of the paffage fpoken of in the full note. The Pentathlon confi^ed of five dif ferent exercises viz. leaping, running, quoiting, darting, and wrestling; thus expreffed in a Greek epigram; Ἴσθμια καὶ Πυθοί Διοφὼν ὁ Φίλωνος ἐνίκα, Άλμα, Ποδοκείην, Δίσκον, Ακόνα, πά λην. Anthologia, l. i. cap. 1. epig. 8. What made it fo extraordinary for the Pentathlete to fucceed in any of the other exercifes, was the great application, and ftrict and peculiar regimen, neceflary to be obferved in the attaining 66 perfection in any one of the Gymnastic exercises; which care the Pentathlete was obliged to divide amongst fo many. Plato confirms this in his 'Egasa; where he makes Socrates anfwer to a perfon who affirms philofophy to confift in a general knowledge: Δοκεῖς γάρ μοι λέγειν οἷον ἐν TH ἀγωνίᾳ εἰσὶν οἱ Πένταθλοι προς τὰς δρομέας, ἢ τὰς πελλαςὰς, καὶ γὰρ ἐκεῖναι τέτων μὲν λείπονται κατὰ τὰ τέτων ἄθλα, καὶ δεύτεροι εἰσί, πρὸς τέ της τῶν δ ̓ ἄλλων ἀθλητῶν, πρῶτοι, καὶ νικῶσιν αὐτές. "You seem to speak of a person like the Pentathlete; who, when matched with a runner, or darter in their own particular exercifes, "is always inferior, though he may be the first among the other Athlets (i. e. those of his own profeffion), and overcome them." Longinus has also a paffage much to the fame purpofe; when, comparing Hyperides with Demofthenes, he mentions the various merits of the former, and fays, "He bears the second rank in almost every thing, like a Pentathlete, who, though he may "be inferior to those who hold the firft eftima"tion in their feveral particular exercises, yet "excels all others of the fame clafs with himself:" “Ως ὁ Πένταθλος, ὥσε τῶν μὲν πρωτείων ἐν ἅπασιτων ἄλλων ἀγωνισῶν λείπεσθαι, πρωτεύειν δὲ τῶν ἰδιωτῶν. Ver. 48. The Ifthmian parsley crown'd his victor brow. 46 The prizes in the four facred games are enumerated in the following line: “Αθλα δὲ τῶν Κότινος, Μῆλα, Σέλινα, Πίτυς. The latter of which, i. e. a garland made of the leaves of the wild pine, was the reward given in the Ifthmian games. But Pindar's Scholiaft informs us, that caz, the parsley, was alfo fometimes given at the Ifthmian games, as well as the Nemean; only with this difference, that the Ifthmian parsley was dried, and the Nemean green. The third queftion of the fifth book of Plutarch's Sympofiacs affigns the reafons for changing the pine branch for the parfley, and afterwards reftoring the pine again. Ver. 48. Diaulic prize.] The Dialus was a foot-race, twice the length of the Stadic, conft. ing of two Stadiums, as that did of one. Ver. 77. For Lycian Glaucus to the Achaian hoft Trembling before his lance, would often boaft His fire's abode, and wealth, and wide demain, Where fair Pirene's waves enrich the krile plain. Glaucus was king of Lycia, great great grandion to Bellerophon; though Pindar fays Пas dev 27. λ. He was an ally of Priam's at the liege of Troy, In Homer, he gives an account of his whole lineage, and the ftory of Bellerophon, at large, in his fpeech to Diomedes, in the fixth Iliad. It is too long to infert here. Ver. 121. While thus the fhafts of harmony I throw. This is another inftance of that manner of expreffion I have taken notice of in the note upon the fifth line of the ninth ode. Ver. 124. To Oligathide's triumpbant band] The Oligæthidæ, were a tribe, or divifion of the people at Corinth, to which Xenophon belonged. The Scholiaft fays, the number of their prizes was equal in each of the games, viz. Thirty in the Ifthmian, and Thirty in the Nemean. Th κις γὰρ ἀμφότεροι τοῖς ἀγῶσιν Ἰσέμιοις μέοις ἀνεκυρήχθησαν οἱ Ὀλιγαιθίδαι, τριακοία ἐν ἑκάτῳ ἀγῶν. Ver. 137. Oft from Parnaffus beights, &c.] The poet here, as in feveral of his other odes, enumerates the exploits of his patron and his family, in those inferior feftivals which were held in almost every city throughout Greece; and where the fame exercises were performed, though the prizes were not fo honourable as in the four principal ones, viz. the Olympic, Pythian, Nemean, and Ifthmian; which were called, by way of eminence, facred. A lift of these fettivals, with the occafion of them, and the places where they were held, may be found in the twentieth chapter of the first volume of Potter's Grecian Antiquities. |