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Ode 19 (Dithyramb 5) Io: for the Athenians
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There are countless paths of divine song for one who has received gifts from the Pierian Muses,
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and upon whose songs the violet-eyed maidens, the garland-bearing Graces, cast honor. Now, much-praised Cean ingenuity, weave something new, in lovely,
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prosperous
Athens
. It is fitting for you to travel the greatest road, since you have received an outstanding honor from Calliope.
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when the golden heifer, the rose-fingered daughter of Inachus, left
Argos
, land of horses, by the counsels of widely powerful, greatest Zeus?
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When Argus,
who could see all around with untiring eyes, was bidden by golden-robed Hera, the greatest queen, to guard the lovely-horned heifer, unresting and unsleeping;
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and the son of
Maia could not evade him, neither by shining day nor by sacred night. Did it then happen that
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the swift-footed messenger [of Zeus] then killed [the son of Earth] with mighty offspring
Argus? Or was it that
unutterable cares?
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Or did the Pierian Muses bring about
rest from troubles
?
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For me, the most secure [path?] is the one which
when she arrived at the flowery banks
of the
Nile
, [gadfly-driven] Io, bearing the child
Epaphus. There [she bore him?]
ruler over linen-robed
teeming with majestic
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and greatest
mortal
from this race Cadmus, son of Agenor, begat Semele in seven-gated
Thebes
, and she bore the rouser of Bacchants,
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Dionysus, the
and [lord of] garland-[bearing] choruses.
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Dithyrambs. Bacchylides. Diane Arnson Svarlien (Translator). New Haven, CT. 1996.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.