THE TWELFTH OLYMPIC ODE.
TO ERGOTELES OF HIMERA, ON HIS VICTORY IN THE FOOT RACE, CALLED Δολιχοδρομος,[1] OR THE LONG COURSE, GAINED IN THE SEVENTY-SEVENTH OLYMPIAD.
ARGUMENT.
This ode, almost as short as the preceding, begins with an invocation to Fortune, the supreme arbitress of events, the issue of which is always uncertain, to be propitious to the Himeræans. The victor would have remained in ignoble obscurity, passing his life in domestic broils, had he not removed from Crete, his native land, to Himera: in which town, being favourably received, he cultivated those faculties of strength and swiftness which enabled him to obtain the Olympic, Pythian, and Isthmian crowns.
Oh Fortune, saviour of the state,
Daughter of Eleutherian Jove,
For Himera thy constant love
And guardian care I supplicate.
Toss'd on the rough and stormy sea, 5
The rapid ships are sway'd by thee;
And marshall'd in its long array
Uncertain war allows thy sway.
Since, or in council or in field,
All to thy sovereign fiat yield. 10
While flattering hope's delusive dream
