Page:Pindar and Anacreon.djvu/26

18 Thus too when flames the orb of day

The anxious eye in vain would soar

Along the desert air,

Intently gazing to explore

Another star whose lustre fair

Shines with a warmer ray.

And we will sing in loftiest strain

The contest of Olympia's plain;

Whence, Saturn's mighty son to praise,

Poets the hymn of triumph raise,

To Hiero's festal dome who bend their way.

The monarch whose supreme command

In Sicily's prolific land

The righteous sceptre sways,

Culling the pride of every flower

That blooms in Virtue's hallow'd bower;

A wreath of highest praise.

While music adds a brighter gem

To gild the regal diadem,

When poets' sportive songs around

His hospitable board resound.

Then from its lofty station freed

Quickly seize the Dorian lyre,

If Pisa or the victor steed,

Ne'er doom'd beneath the scourge to bleed

The mind with sweetest cares inspire.

When by Alpheus urged, his flight

Exalts his lord with conquering might,

In Syracuse who holds his reign,

And loves the generous horse to train.

Such too his fame and lustre high

From Lydian Pelops' colony;