The triumphs which these hymns afford 35
Wait on my Syracusan lord. 32
No lover of contention, I
Respect my oath's compulsive tie—
And while this honest suffrage crowns my lays,
The sweet-toned muses' choir will ratify his praise.
Oh, Phintis! spurn each dull delay, [1] 41
And haste the vigorous mules to join—
Pursue thy clear and open way
To reach his ancestors' remotest line. 41
No other guide our steps will need 45
Safe through these lofty paths to lead.
Since upon their victorious brow
Olympia's verdant chaplets glow—
Then to their flight expanding wide
Let us unbar the gates of song— [2] 50
Where Pitane in towering pride
O'erlooks Eurotas' sacred tide,
This day the bard must pass along. 47
To Neptune of Saturnian race
She the black-hair'd Evadne bore— 55
- ↑ The commonly received interpretation of the word Phintis or Philtis, given by the elder scholiast, is doubtless the true one, viz., the poet's own soul, considered as the directing charioteer of the body. With this passage compare Cowley (to his muse:)—
"Go, the rich chariot instantly prepare,
The queen, my muse, will take the air.
The wheels of thy bold coach pass quick and free,
And all's an open road to thee—
Whatever god did say,
Is all thy plain and smooth, uninterrupted way." - ↑ The metaphor here is strikingly similar to that in Psalm cxviii. 23.
"Open me the gates of righteousness, that I may go into them, and give thanks unto the Lord."
