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Seek not to be as Zeus; if the portion of these honours fall to thee, thou hast already all. The things of mortals best befit mortality. For thee, Phylakidas, a double glory of valour is at Isthmos stored, and at Nemea both for thee and for Pytheas a pankratiast's crown.
Our first, O Zeus, was unto thee, when at Nemea we won thy excellent crown, and now is this second unto the lord of Isthmos and unto the fifty daughters of Nereus, for that Phylakidas the youngest son is winner in the games. And be it ours to make ready yet a third for the Saviour , the Olympian one, and in honour of Aigina make libation of our honey-speaking song.
How for Melesias' praise must such an one grapple in the strife, bending the words beneath his grasp, yielding not his ground as he wrestleth in speech, of gentle temper toward the good, but to the froward a stern adversary. The date of this ode is uncertain. The winner's brother Phylakidas, gained the two victories, also in the pankration, which are celebrated in the fourth and fifth Isthmians.
This Phylakidas was a son of Lampon, and a brother of the Pytheas for whom the fifth Nemean was written. This ode must have been written shortly after the battle of Salamis, probably B.C. 478, and was to be sung at Aigina, perhaps at a festival of the goddess Theia who is invoked at the beginning.
Also have I praise for Pytheas, for that he guided aright the course of Phylakidas' blows in the struggle of hands that bring limbs low, an adversary he of cunning soul. Take for him a crown, and bring the fleecy fillet, and speed him on his way with this new winged hymn. This ode seems to be of earlier date than the last, though placed after it in our order. The occasion is similar.
But for me it were long to tell all those valiant deeds. For for Phylakidas am I come, O Muse, a dispenser of thy triumphal songs, and for Pytheas, and for Euthymenes ; therefore in Argive fashion my tale shall be of fewest words.
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