Connected with this hero's name,
Will I his sire Asopodorus' fame,55
And thy paternal soil, Orchomenos, proclaim. 51
Propp'd on a wreck that 'scaped the boundless wave,
A refuge from his dire mischance she gave;
And now once more congenial fate
Has raised him to his ancient state;60
While prudence arms his mind to bear
The heavy load of adverse care.
But if to purchase valour's meed,
Expense and toil must crown the deed,
Ne'er should the victor's praise be sung65
By an unjust and envious tongue. 61
The poet's recompense is light
His various labours to requite;
Who by the honest meed of praise
A common monument will raise.70
To mortal toils of various kind
Are sweet but different gifts assign'd.
The fowler, he that tends his sheep,
Who tills the soil, or ploughs the deep,
All by laborious efforts strive75
Hunger's dire pest away to drive.
But he whose valour in the fight,
Or contests of superior might,
Hath borne the splendid prize away,
Shall hear his panegyric sung80
By citizens' and strangers' tongue,
And gain of highest worth convey. 75
Be mine the task with loud acclaim
Saturn's earth-shaking son to name,
in which he conquered, and the god who particularly presided over it. It appears that the father of Herodotus had been expelled from Thebes in a civil commotion, and banished to Orchomenos.
