OLYMPIAN ODES: 8. BELLEROPHON by PINDAR

AND long it irked his father when he tried
To capture Pegasus, the Gorgon's son,
Hard by Pirene's spring, until it seemed
That Pallas, with a gold-chased bridle, shone
Before him -- and 'twas even as he dreamed --
And thus the Virgin cried:
'Sleepest thou still, AEolian king? Arise!
Take to thy father this horse-amulet,
-- He is the Steed-Subduer -- nor forget
A bull all-white shall be thy sacrifice.'

So spake the Maid of the grey-glimmering Shield
As he lay sleeping in the shades of night.
Then up he sprang, and taking in his hand
The wondrous gift, he showed it with delight
To Coiranus' son, the prophet of the land,
And all the tale revealed,
How at her altar -- as his mandate ran --
He laid him down at nightfall to repose,
When She, the Child of thundering Zeus, uprose,
And gave to him that golden talisman.

And the seer bade him with all haste obey
The Vision's rede, and, after he had killed
For Earth's Enfolder the strong-footed beast,
Then for Athene's self an altar build,
Where the pure Goddess of the Steed might feast.
Now that which seems to-day
A desperate thing that no man dare foretell
God's power will lightly do, so that winged horse
Bellerophon o'ermastered not by force
But placing in his mouth the gentle spell.

Then in his bronzen armour mounting high
On that swift steed he made his weapons play,
And from the cold air's bosom waste and wide
He smote the Amazonian array
Of women archers in their warlike pride,
And slew the Solymi,
And quenched the fierce Chimaera's breath of fire.
Of his own fate no word my song shall tell,
But that immortal horse doth ever dwell
In age-old stables of Olympus' Sire.

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