A

I. 1.

LBION, exult! thy fons a voice divine have heard, The Man of Thebes hath in thy vales appear'd! Hark! with fresh rage and undiminish'd fire, The sweet enthufiaft fmites the British lyre; The founds that echoed on Alpheus' ftreams, Reach the delighted ear of liftening Thames; Lo! fwift across the dusty plain

Great Theron's foaming courfers strain!
What mortal tongue e'er roll'd along
Such full impetuous tides of nervous song?
I. 2.

The fearful, frigid lays of cold and creeping art,
Nor touch, nor can tranfport th' unfeeling heart;
Pindar, our inmost bofom piercing, warms
With glory's love, and eager thirst of arms:
When freedom fpeaks in his majestic ftrain,
The patriot-paffions beat in every vein:
We long to fit with heroes old,
'Mid groves of vegetable gold,

* Where Cadmus and Achilles dwell, And ftill of daring deeds and dangers tell.

*Sec 2 Olymp. Od.

I. 3. Away,

1. 3.

Away, enervate Bards, away,

Who fpin the courtly, filken lay,

* As wreaths for fome vain Louis' head,
Or mourn fome foft Adonis dead:
No more your polish'd Lyricks boaft,
In British Pindar's ftrength o'erwhelm'd and loft:
As well might ye compare

The glimmerings of a waxen flame
(Emblem of Verfe correctly tame)

To his own Ætna's fulphur-fpouting caves,
When to Heaven's vault the fiery deluge raves,

When clouds and burning rocks dart through the trou

bled air.

II. ì.

In roaring Cataracts down Andes' channel'd steeps
Mark how enormous Orellana fweeps!

Monarch of mighty Floods' fupremely ftrong,

Foaming from cliff to cliff he whirls along,
Swoln with an hundred hills' collected fnows:
Thence over nameless regions widely flows,
Round fragrant ifles, and citron-groves,
Where still the naked Indian roves,
And fafely builds his leafy bower,

From flavery far, and curft Iberian power;

K 2
201

II. 2. Se

Alluding to the French and Italian Lyrick Poets.

+ See Pyth. Od.

132 ODE ON WEST'S PINDAR, &c.

II. 2.

So rapid Pindar flows.-O Parent of the Lyre,
Let me for ever thy sweet fons admire!

O ancient Greece, but chief the Bard whofe lays
The matchlefs tale of Troy divine emblaze;
And next Euripides, foft pity's priest,

Who melts in ufeful Woes the bleeding breaft;
And him, who paints th' incestuous king,
Whofe foul amaze and horror wring;

Teach me to taste their charms refin'd,
The richest banquet of th' enraptur'd mind:

II. 3.

For the bleft man, the Mufe's child
On whofe aufpicious birth the fmil'd,
Whofe foul fhe form'd of purer fire,
For whom the tun'd a golden lyre,
Seeks not in fighting fields renown:
No widows' midnight fhrieks, nor burning town,
The peaceful Poet please :

Nor ceafelefs toils for fordid gains,

Nor purple pomp, nor wide domains,

Nor heaps of wealth, nor power, nor statesman's

fchemes,

Nor all deceiv'd ambition's feverish dreams,

Lure his contented heart from the fweet vale of eafe.

* Hor. lib. IV. Od. iii.

ODES

THE FIRST OLYMPICK ODE.

This Ode is infcribed to Hiero of Syracufe, who, in the Seventy-third Olympiad, obtained the Victory in the Race of Single Horses.

Α R G U M E N T.

THE fubject of this Ode being a victory obtained by Hiero in the Olympick Games, Pindar fet out with fhewing the fuperiority and pre-eminence of thofe Games over all others; among which, he fays, they hold the fame rank, as Water (which, according to the opinion of Thales and other Philofophers, was the original of all things) among the elements, and Gold among the gifts of Fortune. Wherefore, continues he, O my heart, if thou art inclined to fing of Games, it would be as abfurd to think of any other but the Olympick Games,

K 3

Games, as to look for ftars in the sky when the fun is fhining in his meridian glory; efpecially as all the Guests at Hiero's table (among which number it is not improbable that Pindar was one at this time) are finging Odes upon that fubject. From the mention of Hicro, he falls into a fhort panegyrick upon his virtues, and then paffes to what gave occafion to this Ode, viz. his Olympick victory; under which head he makes honourable mention of his horfe Phrenicus (for that was his name), who gained the victory, and thread his master's glory as far as Pifa, or Olympia, the ancient refidence of Pelops the fon of Tantalus; into a long account of whom he digreffes; and ridiculing, as abfurd and impious, the ftory of his having been cut in pieces by his father Tantalus, boiled and ferved up at an entertainment given by him to the gods, relates another ftory, which he thought more to the honour both of Pelops and the Gods. This relation he concludes with the account of Pelops vanquishing Oenomaus, king of Pifa, in the chariot-race, and by that victory gaining his daughter Hippodamia, fettling at Pifa, and being there honoured as a God. From this relation the Poet falls again naturally into an account of the Olympick Games, and, after a fhort reflection upon the felicity af thofe who gained the Clympick crown, returns to the praifes of Hiero; with which, and fome occafional reflections on the profperity of Hiero, to whom he wishes a continuance of his good fortune and a long reign, he clofes his Ode.

STRO