Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo

To Pythian Apollo translated by H. G. EVELYN-WHITE

"Leto's all-glorious son goes to rocky Pytho, playing upon his hollow lyre, clad in divine, perfumed garments; and at the touch of the golden key his lyre sings sweet. Thence, swift as thought, he speeds from earth to Olympus, to the house of Zeus, to join the gathering of the other gods: then straightway the undying gods think only of the lyre and song, and all the Muses together, voice sweetly answering voice, hymn the unending gifts the gods enjoy and the sufferings of men, all that they endure at the hands of the deathless gods, and how they live witless and helpless and cannot find healing for death or defence against old age".

From Thelma Sargent's translation:

"The Muses together...

Hymn the undying gifts of the  gods everlasting and the sufferings of men,

Who, enduring so much at  the hands of the gods everlasting,

Live heedless and hapless, unable to find for themselves

Either a cure for death or a bulwark against old age."

(My cheerful holiday reading...)



Εἲς Ἀπόλλωνα Πύθιον

εἶσι δὲ φορμίζων Λητοῦς ἐρικυδέος υἱὸς

φόρμιγγι γλαφυρῇ πρὸς Πυθὼ πετρήεσσαν,

ἄμβροτα εἵματ᾽ ἔχων τεθυωμένα: τοῖο δὲ φόρμιγξ

χρυσέου ὑπὸ πλήκτρου καναχὴν ἔχει ἱμερόεσσαν.

ἔνθεν δὲ πρὸς Ὄλυμπον ἀπὸ χθονός, ὥστε νόημα,

εἶσι Διὸς πρὸς δῶμα θεῶν μεθ᾽ ὁμήγυριν ἄλλων.

αὐτίκα δ᾽ ἀθανάτοισι μέλει κίθαρις καὶ ἀοιδή:

Μοῦσαι μέν θ᾽ ἅμα πᾶσαι ἀμειβόμεναι ὀπὶ καλῇ

ὑμνεῦσίν ῥα θεῶν δῶρ᾽ ἄμβροτα ἠδ᾽ ἀνθρώπων

τλημοσύνας, ὅσ᾽ ἔχοντες ὑπ᾽ ἀθανάτοισι θεοῖσι

ζώουσ᾽ ἀφραδέες καὶ ἀμήχανοι, οὐδὲ δύνανται

εὑρέμεναι θανάτοιό τ᾽ ἄκος καὶ γήραος ἄλκαρ: