Olympian 5: For Psaumis of Camarina

Daughter of Ocean! receive with happy heart the choicest prize of deeds of prowess and of crowns Olympian, the guerdon won by Psaumis and his tireless-footed team,—Psaumis who, exalting thy city, Camarina, that fostereth its people, at the greatest festivals of the gods essayed to honour the twice six altars with the slaughter of oxen, and also with contests of games, lasting for five days, even with horses and mules, and with the riding of the single steed. And, by his victory, he hath set up for thee a bright renown, and hath caused to be proclaimed by the herald his father Acron and his newly-founded home.

Coming from the loved abodes of Oenomaus and of Pelops, he singeth of thy holy precinct, O Pallas, thou guardian of the State, and the river Oanis, and the lake of the land, and the sacred streams with which Hipparis watereth the folk; and he swiftly weldeth together a soaring forest of steadfast dwellings, bringing this people of citizens out of perplexity into the light of day.

But evermore, amid deeds of prowess, must toil and cost strive for the mastery with victory in view, veiled though it be in peril; and it is those that are prosperous who are deemed wise, even by their fellow-citizens.

O saviour Zeus, in the clouds on high! thou that dwellest on the hill of Cronus, and honourest the broad stream of Alpheus, and the hallowed cave of Ida! as thy suppliant am I coming, while I call on thee amid the sound of Lydian flutes, praying thee to adorn this city with famous hosts of noble men, praying, too, that thou, the Olympian victor, mayest reach the end of life in a kindly eld, while rejoicing in the steeds of Poseidon, and with thy sons, O Psaumis, standing beside thee. But, if any one tendeth his wealth in wholesome wise by being bountiful with his possessions and by winning good report, let him not seek to become a god.