Whoever Zeus may be, if this name
is pleasing to him,
by this name I address him.
I can compare with him,
measuring all things against him,
none but Zeus, if from my mind the vain burden
may be cast in sincerity.
Not even he who in time past was great,
bounding in boldness irresistible,
he shall not even be counted, since he was of the past;
and he who then came into being
is gone, having met his victor in three falls.
But he who gladly sings the triumph of Zeus
shall hit full on the target of understanding;
of Zeus who put men on the way to wisdom by making it a valid law
that by suffering they shall learn.
There drips before the heart instead of sleep
pain that reminds them of their wounds;
and against their will there comes discretion.
There is, I think, a grace that comes by violence from the gods
seated upon the dread bench of the helmsman.