Pindar, Isthmian 7.40-48
“By finding whatever pleasure each day brings
I approach old age and the end of my life
At peace. I mean, we all die the same.
But our luck isn’t equal. If someone squints
Too far off, they’re too small
To reach the bronze threshold of the gods.
Surely that’s why winged Pegasos dropped
His master when he wanted to enter the stables
Of heaven and the assembly of Zeus.
The sweetest injustice meets
The bitterest end.”
ὅ τι τερπνὸν ἐφάμερον διώκων
ἕκαλος ἔπειμι γῆρας ἔς τε τὸν μόρσιμον
αἰῶνα. θνᾴσκομεν γὰρ ὁμῶς ἅπαντες·
δαίμων δ᾿ ἄισος· τὰ μακρὰ δ᾿ εἴ τις
παπταίνει, βραχὺς ἐξικέσθαι χαλκόπεδον θεῶν
ἕδραν· ὅ τοι πτερόεις ἔρριψε Πάγασος
δεσπόταν ἐθέλοντ᾿ ἐς οὐρανοῦ σταθμούς
ἐλθεῖν μεθ᾿ ὁμάγυριν Βελλεροφόνταν
Ζηνός. τὸ δὲ πὰρ δίκαν
γλυκὺ πικροτάτα μένει τελευτά.
