Nemean III
O queenly Muse, our mother, hitherward come, I pray,When the holy Moon brings round the Nemean festal day,To Aegina the guest-thronged Dorian isle. Where the ripples are slidingOf Asopian waves, young craftsmen of songs honey-savoured, abidingThy coming, are longing to hear thy voice's great song-burden!Sooth, diverse deeds ever thirst for many a diverse guerdon,But victory in these Games above all things loveth SongMeetest companion of crowns and of triumphs achieved by the strong.
O Muse, unto me full measure of inspiration accord,And do thou, his daughter, upraise to the cloud-thronged heaven's LordA noble hymn: I will blend it—its strains as in spousals allyingWith the lyre and the voices of singers. Aegina's glorifyingShall be a delightsome task; for there did the Myrmidons oldenDwell: on the place where in ancient days were their gatherings holdenBy thy favour no shameful reproach did Aristokleides bringBy weakness in that great strife of the strong in the athlete-ring
Of the fivefold grapple, but there in Nemea's low-lying plainWon victory's healing balm for the blows' overtasking pain.But if Aristophanes' son, in whom is the beauty blendedOf glorious goodlihead and glorious deeds, hath ascendedTo the heights of heroic achievement, impossible is it that hePast Herakles' Pillars should voyage on o'er a trackless sea,
Pillars the Hero-god set for a world-famed witness to menOf their voyaging's limits. Monstrous beasts had he quelled ere thenIn the seas, and had tracked to the end the fen-floods sluggishly flowingTill he came to the uttermost bourne that constrained his homeward going,And he meted the bounds of earth:—but to what far foreland art bearingOn an alien shore, my soul, thy bark over dim seas faring?Nay, I bid thee for Aiakus summon the Muse, and for Aiakus' race;For the flower of justice adorneth the precept, ' The good shalt thou praise.'
To cherish hot longings for far-away themes is nowise best:Search rather at home. A fitting theme is the fruit of thy questFor sweet song's gracing. When deeds of the heroes of old thou art telling,Sing the joy of king Peleus in hewing a lance all lances excelling,How alone with no war-host he compassed Iolkos' storming and spoiling,And made captive and bride the Sea-goddess Thetis by strenuous toiling.Sing of the world-famed might of Telamon, how with aidOf Iolaus his war-fellow low was Laomedon laid,
And the Amazon Maids of the brazen bows did he face in the frayWith him; nor the edge of his spirit was ever dulled by dismayThe queller of men. It is inborn valour with peril that copeth;He whose valour of others is learnt is a man that in darkness gropeth.His will is a wind ever-veering; his feet are unstable aye;Ineffectual his purpose is still, though achievements untold he essay.
But Achilles the golden-haired, while in Philyra's home yet he stayed,Child though he were, made mighty deeds but his sport: he swayedThe short-headed dart in his hands, and, swift as the wild wind's pinions,Death to the lions he dealt whom he tracked through their forest-dominions.Boars also he slew, and the pulsing bodies of boar and lionStill would he hale to the cave of the Centaur, Zeus's scion,At the first when but six years old, but thereafter through all those days,So that Artemis, yea, and Athene the dauntless beheld with amaze,
As he slew the deer, unholpen of hounds or the net's hidden guile;For by fleetness of foot he outran them. This tale told long erewhileI recall, how that Jason was reared in the cave of the rock-rib rafterBy deep-thoughted Cheiron, who nurtured Asklepius thereafter,And taught how by herbs and the pain-soothing hand is disease resisted,And who won for Peleus the Daughter of Nereus, the ivory-wristed,And fostered for her that goodliest man of men, their son,And trained up his soul unto greatness by chivalry alone,
That, borne on the swift-rushing wings of the winds o'er the sea's highwayUnto Troy, he might bide the Lycian and Phrygian and Dardan arrayAs their battle-cry rang through the clashing of lances, and close undauntedWith the Aethiop spearmen, and set the resolve in his heart firm-plantedThat Helenus' fiery-hearted kinsman from battle-strainShould return not, nor Memnon their chieftain behold his home again.
Thence flashed it, the splendour of Aiakus' house, which abideth for aye,O Zeus! They are thy blood: thine is the contest whereon my layLike an arrow hath lit; in its strains young voices the glory are singingOf the land: for victorious Aristokleides 'tis meetly outringing,Who hath added another wreath of renown unto this isle's story,And hath brightened the Pythian Shrine of the Envoys with visions of glory.For the issue of all endeavours is seen in the hour of the test,Whereby alone is it proved what champion is best of the best,
Be he a boy among boys, or a man among men, or againAn elder mid elders, as places in life's race-course appertainUnto humankind—yea, four be the excellences attendingEach life, and to each as it comes all heed should a man be lending.Thou art lacking in none. Farewell, friend! Lo, unto thee am I speedingThe Muses' honey; and blended therewith is milk white-beadingWith fairy bubbles the foam of whose mingling mantles aroundA chalice of song ushered in by Aeolian flutes' sweet sound,
Late though it come. Most swift is the eagle of all winged things,Who suddenly grips in his talons with far-flying swoop of his wingsHis blood-stained quarry. But chattering daws o'er the low grounds hover.On thee, whom the favour of Klio the splendour-throned doth coverWith glory, because of thy spirit, the athlete-champion's mind,From Nemea and Megara light, and from Epidaurus, hath shined.
Words in this poem 51
- queenly a.
- Like, becoming, or suitable to, a queen. [AS. cwenlic feminine.]
- hitherward adv.
- Toward this place; hither. [AS. hiderweard.]
- nemean a.
- Of or pertaining to Nemea, in Argolis, where the ancient Greeks celebrated games, and Hercules killed a lion.
- festal a.
- Of or pertaining to a holiday or a feast; joyous; festive. [L. festum holiday, feast. See feast.]
- dorian a.
- Of or pertaining to the ancient Greeks of Doris; Doric; as, a Dorian fashion.
- isle v. t.
- To cause to become an island, or like an island; to surround or encompass; to island.
- sooth a.
- True; faithful; trustworthy. [OE. soth, AS. s, for san; akin to OS. s, OHG. sand, Icel. sannr, Sw. sann, Dan. sand, Skr. sat, sant, real, genuine, present, being; properly p. pr. from a root]
- guerdon n.
- A reward; requital; recompense; -- used in both a good and a bad sense. [OF. guerdon, guerredon, LL. widerdonum (influenced by L. donum gift, cf. Donation ), fr. OHG. widarl; widar again, against (G. wider wieder) + lon reward, G. lo]
- upraise v. t.
- To raise; to lift up.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- delightsome a.
- Very pleasing; delightful.
- olden a.
- Old; ancient; as, the olden time.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- fivefold a.
- In fives; consisting of five in one; five repeated; quintuple.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- trackless a.
- Having no track; marked by no footsteps; untrodden; as, a trackless desert.
- uttermost a.
- Extreme; utmost; being; in the farthest, greatest, or highest degree; as, the uttermost extent or end. [From Utter, a.; cf. Utmost, and Outermost.]
- bourne n.
- A stream or rivulet; a burn. [OE. burne, borne, AS. burna; akin to OS. brunno spring, G. born, brunnen, OHG. prunno, Goth. brunna, Icel. brunnr, and perh. to Gr. burn, v., because the source]
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- foreland n.
- A promontory or cape; a headland; as, the North and South Foreland in Kent, England.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- nowise adv.
- Not in any manner or degree; in no way; noways. [For in no wise. See Wise, n.]
- compassed a.
- Rounded; arched.
- storming a.
- from Storm, v. Storming party (Mil.), a party assigned to the duty of making the first assault in storming a fortress.
- strenuous a.
- Eagerly pressing or urgent; zealous; ardent; earnest; bold; valiant; intrepid; as, a strenuous advocate for national rights; a strenuous reformer; a strenuous defender of his country.
- queller n.
- A killer; as, Jack the Giant Queller. Wyclif (Mark vi. 27).
- untold a.
- Not told; not related; not revealed; as, untold secrets.
- stayed a.
- Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid.
- swayed a.
- Bent down, and hollow in the back; sway-backed; -- said of a horse.
- centaur n.
- A fabulous being, represented as half man and half horse.
- thereafter adv.
- After that; afterward. [AS. th\'d6ræfter after that. See There, and After.]
- dauntless a.
- Incapable of being daunted; undaunted; bold; fearless; intrepid.
- amaze v. t.
- To bewilder; to stupefy; to bring into a maze. [Pref. a- + maze.]
- fleetness n.
- Swiftness; rapidity; velocity; celerity; speed; as, the fleetness of a horse or of time.
- erewhile adv.
- Some time ago; a little while before; heretofore.
- rafter n.
- Originally, any rough and somewhat heavy piece of timber. Now, commonly, one of the timbers of a roof which are put on sloping, according to the inclination of the roof. See Illust. of Queen-post. [AS. ræfter; akin to E. raft, n. See Raft.]
- bide v. i.
- To dwell; to inhabit; to abide; to stay. [OE. biden, AS. bidan; akin to OHG. bitan, Goth. beidan, Icel. bi; perh. orig., to wait with trust, and akin to bid. See Bid, v. t., and cf. Abide.]
- undaunted a.
- Not daunted; not subdued or depressed by fear.
- kinsman n.
- A man of the same race or family; one related by blood.
- memnon n.
- A celebrated Egyptian statue near Thebes, said to have the property of emitting a harplike sound at sunrise.
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- whereon adv.
- On which; -- used relatively; as, the earth whereon we live.
- meetly adv.
- Fitly; suitably; properly.
- appertain v. i.
- To belong or pertain, whether by right, nature, appointment, or custom; to relate. [OE. apperteinen, apertenen, OF. apartenir, F. appartenir, fr. L. appertinere; ad + pertinere to reach to, belong. See Pertain.]
- therewith adv.
- With that or this.
- chalice n.
- A cup or bowl; especially, the cup used in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. [OR. chalis, calice, OF. chalice, calice, F. calice, fr. L. calix, akin to Gr. helmet. Cf. Calice, Calyx.]
- swoop v. t.
- To fall on at once and seize; to catch while on the wing; as, a hawk swoops a chicken. [OE. swopen, usually, to sweep, As. swapan to sweep, to rush; akin to G. schweifen to rove, to ramble, to curve, OHG. sweifan to whirl, Icel. sveipa to sweep; al]
- chattering n.
- The act or habit of talking idly or rapidly, or of making inarticulate sounds; the sounds so made; noise made by the collision of the teeth; chatter.
- hover n.
- A cover; a shelter; a protection. Carew. C. Kingsley. [Etymol. doubtful.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Nemean III is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pindar in English Verse, Internet Archive, the Arthur S. Way translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Pindar, Nemean III, in The Odes of Pindar (1922), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pindar-odes/nemean-3.html, id L29152.
Form and metre
Nemean III is 88 lines in 12 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCDD, complete in 7 of its 12 stanzas.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDD prayA · dayA · slidingB · abidingB · burdenC · guerdonC · songD · strongD
- 2 AABBCCDD accordA · lordA · allyingB · glorifyingB · oldenC · holdenC · bringD · ringD
- 3 AABBCC plainA · painA · blendedB · ascendedB · heC · seaC
- 4 AABBCCDD menA · thenA · flowingB · goingB · bearingC · faringC · raceD · praiseD
- 5 AABBCCDD bestA · questA · tellingB · excellingB · spoilingC · toilingC · aidD · laidD
- 6 AABB-A frayA · dismayA · copethB · gropethB · aye · essayA
- 7 AABBCCDD stayedA · swayedA · pinionsB · dominionsB · lionC · scionC · daysD · amazeD
- 8 AABBCCDD guileA · erewhileA · rafterB · thereafterB · resistedC · wristedC · sonD · aloneD
- 9 AABBCC highwayA · arrayA · undauntedB · plantedB · strainC · againC
- 10 --AABBCC aye · lay · singingA · outringingA · storyB · gloryB · testC · bestC
- 11 AABBCCDD againA · appertainA · attendingB · lendingB · speedingC · beadingC · aroundD · soundD
- 12 AABBCC thingsA · wingsA · hoverB · coverB · mindC · shinedC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O queenly Muse, our mother, hitherward come, I pray, | 13 | ·/˘·//˘/˘˘··· |
| When the holy Moon brings round the Nemean festal day, | 13 | ··/˘····/˘/˘· |
| To Aegina the guest-thronged Dorian isle. Where the ripples are sliding | 17 | ·······/˘···/˘·/˘ |
| Of Asopian waves, young craftsmen of songs honey-savoured, abiding | 17 | ······/˘··/˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Thy coming, are longing to hear thy voice's great song-burden! | 15 | ·/˘·/˘···/˘··/˘ |
| Sooth, diverse deeds ever thirst for many a diverse guerdon, | 11 | ·/·/··/·//˘ |
| But victory in these Games above all things loveth Song | 13 | ·/˘·········· |
| Meetest companion of crowns and of triumphs achieved by the strong. | 16 | /˘˘/˘····/˘˘/··· |
| O Muse, unto me full measure of inspiration accord, | 15 | ······/˘··˘/˘˘/ |
| And do thou, his daughter, upraise to the cloud-thronged heaven's Lord | 15 | ····/˘˘/····/˘· |
| A noble hymn: I will blend it—its strains as in spousals allying | 16 | ·/˘·········/˘/˘ |
| With the lyre and the voices of singers. Aegina's glorifying | 17 | ·····/˘·/˘···/˘·˘ |
| Shall be a delightsome task; for there did the Myrmidons olden | 15 | ···˘/˘·····/˘/˘ |
| Dwell: on the place where in ancient days were their gatherings holden | 15 | ······/˘···/˘/˘ |
| By thy favour no shameful reproach did Aristokleides bring | 15 | ··/˘·/˘˘/······ |
| By weakness in that great strife of the strong in the athlete-ring | 15 | ·/˘·········/·· |
| Of the fivefold grapple, but there in Nemea's low-lying plain | 15 | ··/·/˘······/˘· |
| Won victory's healing balm for the blows' overtasking pain. | 14 | ·/˘/˘········· |
| But if Aristophanes' son, in whom is the beauty blended | 15 | ···˘/˘·····/˘/˘ |
| Of glorious goodlihead and glorious deeds, hath ascended | 14 | ·/˘····/˘··˘/˘ |
| To the heights of heroic achievement, impossible is it that he | 17 | ····˘/˘˘/˘˘/˘···· |
| Past Herakles' Pillars should voyage on o'er a trackless sea, | 14 | ···/˘·/˘···/˘· |
| Pillars the Hero-god set for a world-famed witness to men | 15 | /˘·/˘······/˘·· |
| Of their voyaging's limits. Monstrous beasts had he quelled ere then | 14 | ····/˘/˘······ |
| In the seas, and had tracked to the end the fen-floods sluggishly flowing | 15 | ············/˘/ |
| Till he came to the uttermost bourne that constrained his homeward going, | 16 | ·····/˘˘··˘/·/˘/ |
| And he meted the bounds of earth:—but to what far foreland art bearing | 17 | ··/˘········/˘·/˘ |
| On an alien shore, my soul, thy bark over dim seas faring? | 14 | ··/˘········/˘ |
| Nay, I bid thee for Aiakus summon the Muse, and for Aiakus' race; | 16 | ·······/˘······· |
| For the flower of justice adorneth the precept, ' The good shalt thou praise.' | 17 | ··/·/˘˘/˘·/······ |
| To cherish hot longings for far-away themes is nowise best: | 15 | ·/˘·/˘··˘/··/˘· |
| Search rather at home. A fitting theme is the fruit of thy quest | 15 | ·/˘···/˘······· |
| For sweet song's gracing. When deeds of the heroes of old thou art telling, | 17 | ···/˘····/˘····/˘ |
| Sing the joy of king Peleus in hewing a lance all lances excelling, | 18 | ········/˘···/˘˘/˘ |
| How alone with no war-host he compassed Iolkos' storming and spoiling, | 17 | ·˘/·····/˘··/˘·/˘ |
| And made captive and bride the Sea-goddess Thetis by strenuous toiling. | 17 | ··/˘····/˘/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Sing of the world-famed might of Telamon, how with aid | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Of Iolaus his war-fellow low was Laomedon laid, | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| And the Amazon Maids of the brazen bows did he face in the fray | 17 | ··/˘····/˘······· |
| With him; nor the edge of his spirit was ever dulled by dismay | 14 | ·······/·/··˘/ |
| The queller of men. It is inborn valour with peril that copeth; | 17 | ·/˘····/·/˘·/˘··· |
| He whose valour of others is learnt is a man that in darkness gropeth. | 18 | ··/˘·/˘·······/˘/˘ |
| His will is a wind ever-veering; his feet are unstable aye; | 15 | ·····//˘···˘/˘· |
| Ineffectual his purpose is still, though achievements untold he essay. | 18 | ·˘/˘·/˘···˘/˘˘/·˘/ |
| But Achilles the golden-haired, while in Philyra's home yet he stayed, | 17 | ·˘/˘·/˘·········· |
| Child though he were, made mighty deeds but his sport: he swayed | 13 | ·····/˘······ |
| The short-headed dart in his hands, and, swift as the wild wind's pinions, | 16 | ··/˘··········/˘ |
| Death to the lions he dealt whom he tracked through their forest-dominions. | 17 | ···/˘·······/˘˘/˘ |
| Boars also he slew, and the pulsing bodies of boar and lion | 15 | ·/˘····/˘/˘···/ |
| Still would he hale to the cave of the Centaur, Zeus's scion, | 15 | ·········/·/˘/˘ |
| At the first when but six years old, but thereafter through all those days, | 16 | ·········˘/˘···· |
| So that Artemis, yea, and Athene the dauntless beheld with amaze, | 17 | ··········/˘˘/·˘/ |
| As he slew the deer, unholpen of hounds or the net's hidden guile; | 16 | ·············/˘· |
| For by fleetness of foot he outran them. This tale told long erewhile | 18 | ··/˘···˘/········· |
| I recall, how that Jason was reared in the cave of the rock-rib rafter | 18 | ·˘/··/˘·········/˘ |
| By deep-thoughted Cheiron, who nurtured Asklepius thereafter, | 15 | ··/˘···/˘···˘/˘ |
| And taught how by herbs and the pain-soothing hand is disease resisted, | 17 | ········/˘··˘/˘/˘ |
| And who won for Peleus the Daughter of Nereus, the ivory-wristed, | 17 | ·······/˘····/˘/˘ |
| And fostered for her that goodliest man of men, their son, | 13 | ·/˘·········· |
| And trained up his soul unto greatness by chivalry alone, | 14 | ·······/˘·/˘˘/ |
| That, borne on the swift-rushing wings of the winds o'er the sea's highway | 16 | ·····/˘·······/· |
| Unto Troy, he might bide the Lycian and Phrygian and Dardan array | 17 | ··········/˘···˘/ |
| As their battle-cry rang through the clashing of lances, and close undaunted | 18 | ··/˘····/˘·/˘··˘/˘ |
| With the Aethiop spearmen, and set the resolve in his heart firm-planted | 17 | ·········˘/····/˘ |
| That Helenus' fiery-hearted kinsman from battle-strain | 14 | ····/˘/˘/··/˘· |
| Should return not, nor Memnon their chieftain behold his home again. | 16 | ·˘/··/··/˘˘/··˘/ |
| Thence flashed it, the splendour of Aiakus' house, which abideth for aye, | 15 | ····/˘·····/˘·· |
| O Zeus! They are thy blood: thine is the contest whereon my lay | 15 | ·········˘/˘/·· |
| Like an arrow hath lit; in its strains young voices the glory are singing | 18 | ··/˘······/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| Of the land: for victorious Aristokleides 'tis meetly outringing, | 17 | ····˘/˘·····/˘··· |
| Who hath added another wreath of renown unto this isle's story, | 17 | ··/˘˘/˘··˘/····/˘ |
| And hath brightened the Pythian Shrine of the Envoys with visions of glory. | 19 | ··/˘·/˘˘···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| For the issue of all endeavours is seen in the hour of the test, | 17 | ··/˘··˘/˘····/··· |
| Whereby alone is it proved what champion is best of the best, | 15 | ··˘/····/˘····· |
| Be he a boy among boys, or a man among men, or again | 16 | ··············˘/ |
| An elder mid elders, as places in life's race-course appertain | 16 | ·/˘·/˘·/˘······· |
| Unto humankind—yea, four be the excellences attending | 14 | ··/˘·····/˘˘/˘ |
| Each life, and to each as it comes all heed should a man be lending. | 16 | ··············/˘ |
| Thou art lacking in none. Farewell, friend! Lo, unto thee am I speeding | 17 | ··/˘···/·······/˘ |
| The Muses' honey; and blended therewith is milk white-beading | 15 | ·/˘/˘·/˘˘/···/˘ |
| With fairy bubbles the foam of whose mingling mantles around | 15 | ·/˘/˘····/˘/˘·· |
| A chalice of song ushered in by Aeolian flutes' sweet sound, | 14 | ·/˘··/˘······· |
| Late though it come. Most swift is the eagle of all winged things, | 14 | ········/˘···· |
| Who suddenly grips in his talons with far-flying swoop of his wings | 16 | ·/˘···/˘··/˘···· |
| His blood-stained quarry. But chattering daws o'er the low grounds hover. | 15 | ···/˘·/˘·····/˘ |
| On thee, whom the favour of Klio the splendour-throned doth cover | 15 | ····/˘···/˘··/˘ |
| With glory, because of thy spirit, the athlete-champion's mind, | 14 | ·/˘····/·/·/˘· |
| From Nemea and Megara light, and from Epidaurus, hath shined. | 16 | ················ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.