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If a mortal has been granted health and can live off his own goods, he rivals the most fortunate. There is joy in all human life
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as long as it lacks disease and helpless deprivation. The rich man desires great things the same way the poor man desires less.
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But it is not sweet for mortals to get everything easily; they always seek to catch what flees from them.
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A man whose spirit is whirled about by the lightest ambitions
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has honor only as long as he lives. Excellence is a difficult struggle, but when the struggle is completed rightly it leaves a man, even when he dies, the enviable ornament of renown.
Ode 2 For Argeius of Ceos Boys' Boxing Match (?) at the Isthmus Date unknown
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Fame, whose gifts are revered, speed to holy Ceos bringing the gracious message:
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that Argeius won the victory in the battle of bold hands,
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and brought to mind the fine deeds which we, from the holy island of Euxantius, have shown at the famous neck of the Isthmus,
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winning seventy garlands.
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the native Muse summons the sweet clang of flutes, honoring the dear son of Pantheides with victory songs.
Ode 3 For Hieron of Syracuse Chariot-Race at Olympia 468 B. C.
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Clio , giver of sweet gifts, sing the praises of the mistress of most fertile Sicily, Demeter, and of her violet-garlanded daughter, and of Hieron's swift horses, racers at Olympia;
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for they sped with majestic Victory and with Aglaia by the wide-whirling Alpheus, where they made the son of Deinomenes a prosperous man, a victor winning garlands.
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And the people shouted,
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Ah! thrice-blessed man! Zeus has granted him the honor of ruling most widely over the Greeks, and he knows not to hide his towered wealth under black-cloaked darkness.
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The temples teem with cattle-sacrificing festivities; the streets teem with hospitality. Gold flashes and glitters, the gold of tall ornate tripods standing
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before the temple, where the Delphians administer the great precinct
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of Phoebus beside the Castalian stream. A man should honor the god, for that is the greatest prosperity.
