Sunday, April 18, 2021

 

The Graces

Pindar, Olympian Odes 14.1-9 (tr. John Sandys):
Ye that have your portion beside the waters of Cephisus! Ye that dwell in a home of fair horses! Ye Graces of fertile Orchomenus, ye queens of song that keep watch over the ancient Minyae, listen to my prayer! For, by your aid, all things pleasant and sweet are accomplished for mortals, if any man be skilled in song, or be fair to look upon, or hath won renown. Yea, not even the gods order the dance or the banquet, without the aid of the holy Graces.
From Sandys' introduction to the ode:
Orchomenus in Boeotia was a most ancient city. It was the home of the primeval Minyae, and the Graces were there worshipped from the earhest times. The Ode is a brief processional hymn, mainly in honour of the Graces.
The Greek:
Καφισίων ὑδάτων
λαχοῖσαι, αἵτε ναίετε καλλίπωλον ἕδραν,
ὦ λιπαρᾶς ἀοίδιμοι βασίλειαι
Χάριτες Ὀρχομενοῦ, παλαιγόνων Μινυᾶν ἐπίσκοποι,
κλῦτ᾽, ἐπεὶ εὔχομαι. σὺν γὰρ ὔμμιν τὰ τερπνὰ καὶ
τὰ γλυκέ᾽ ἄνεται πάντα βροτοῖς,
εἰ σοφός, εἰ καλός, εἴ τις ἀγλαὸς ἀνήρ.
οὐδὲ γὰρ θεοὶ σεμνᾶν Χαρίτων ἄτερ
κοιρανέοισιν χοροὺς οὔτε δαῖτας.



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