Page:Writings of Henry David Thoreau (1906) v5.djvu/422

380 Drooping his swift wings on either side,

The king of birds.

Whatever things Zeus has not loved

Are terrified, hearing

The voice of the Pierians,

On earth and the immeasurable sea.

A plain-spoken man brings advantage to every government,—

To a monarchy, and when the

Impetuous crowd, and when the wise, rule a city.

As a whole, the third Pythian Ode, to Hiero, on his victory in the single-horse race, is one of the most memorable. We extract first the account of

As many, therefore, as came suffering

From spontaneous ulcers, or wounded

In their limbs with glittering steel,

Or with the far-cast stone,

Or by the summer's heat o'ercome in body,

Or by winter, relieving he saved from

Various ills; some cherishing

With soothing strains,

Others having drunk refreshing draughts, or applying

Remedies to the limbs, others by cutting off he made erect.