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160 For in the contests as he tried his strength,

Amphictyon's host and the Parnassian cave

Pronounced him foremost of the youthful brave,

Contending in the double stadium's length.

Apollo! if thine aid befriend,

Sweet is man's onset and his end;

This deed the youth achieved through thee,

And thine auspicious deity.

Twice from the field, by kindred fire,

Urged in the footsteps of his sire,

Th' Olympic chaplet he convey'd,

In martial panoply array'd.

And where, upon her sheltering plain,

Beneath the rock fair Cirrha lies,

Swift-footed Phricias joy'd to gain

The Pythian contest's glorious prize.

In times to come may prosperous fate

Exalt, as now, their blissful state!

Nor, having gain'd an ample share

Of all that Greece esteems as fair,

May envious blasts from Heaven assail

The victims of a backward gale.

Still may the god with liberal heart

Unshaken happiness impart!

Hymn'd is that man in poets' lay

Who with strong hands or rapid feet

Has borne the noblest palms away;

In whom firm strength and valour meet.

Still living, by his youthful son

Who saw the Pythian garlands won.

Not yet to them the lot is given

To scale the brazen soil of heaven: