οἷα Συρακοσίων ἀρχῶι δαμασθέντες πάθον, ὠκυπόρων ἀπὸ ναῶν ὅ σφιν ἐν πόντωι βάλεν ἁλικίαν, ῾Ελλάδ᾽ ἐξέλκων βαρείας δουλίας] ἔνιοι μὲν ῾Ελλάδα τὴν Σικελίαν ἤκουσαν, τινὲς δὲ ῾Ελλάδα τὴν ᾽Αττικήν. εἰκὸς δὲ ταῖς ᾽Εφόρου ἱστορίαις ἐντυχόντα τὸν Πίνδαρον ἐξηκολουθηκέναι αὐτὸν αὐτῶι. ἱστορεῖ γὰρ ῎Εφορος τοιοῦτον, ὅτι παρασκευαζομένου Ξέρξου τὸν ἐπὶ τῆι ῾Ελλάδι στόλον, πρέσβεις παραγενέσθαι πρὸς Γέλωνα τὸν τύραννον ἱκετεύοντας εἰς τὸν τῶν ῾Ελλήνων σύλλογον ἐλθεῖν· εκ δὲ Περσῶν καὶ Φοινίκων πρέσβεις πρὸς Καρχηδονίους προστάσσοντας ὡς πλεῖστον δέοι στόλον εἰς Σικελίαν βαδίζειν <καὶ> καταστρεψαμένους τοὺς τὰ τῶν ῾Ελλήνων φρονοῦντας πλεῖν ἐπὶ Πελοπόννησον. ἀμφοτέρων δὲ τὸν λόγον δεξαμένων καὶ τοῦ μὲν ῾Ιέρωνος συμμαχῆσαι τοῖς ῞Ελλησι προθυμουμένου, τῶν δὲ Καρχηδονίων ἑτοίμων ὄντων συμπρᾶξαι τῶι Ξέρξηι, Γέλωνα διακοσίας εὐτρεπίσαντα ναῦς καὶ δισχιλίους ἱππεῖς καὶ πεζοὺς μυρίους κατακοῦσαι στόλον Καρχηδονίων καταπλεῖν ἐπὶ Σικελίαν, καὶ διαμαχησάμενον μὴ μόνον τοὺς Σικελιώτας ἐλευθερῶσαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ σύμπασαν τὴν ῾Ελλάδα. εἰκὸς οὖν ταύτηι τῆι ἱστορίαι ἐντετυχηκέναι τὸν Πίνδαρον.

They (i.e., the Carthaginians) suffered such things, when they were defeated by the Syracusans’ lord (i.e., Gelon, the tyrant of Syracuse), that they threw their youth from the sharp-prowed ships into the sea, whilst he (i.e., Gelon) saved Greece from heavy slavery ...: Some interpreted Greece as meaning Sicily, but others as meaning Attica. It is likely that Pindar, having chanced upon the Histories of Ephoros, himself follows him. For Ephoros writes this in his History, that when Xerxes was preparing his army against Greece, ambassadors (i.e., from mainland Greece) came to Gelon the tyrant to beg him to come to the Greeks’ mustering: meanwhile ambassadors from the Persians and the Phoenicians came to the Carthaginians and asked for a great host to go to Sicily and, when they (i.e., the Carthaginians) had subjugated those taking the Greeks’ side, to sail to the Peloponnese. When both (i.e., the Sicilian tyrant and the Carthaginians) had received the (respective) message and Hieron (i.e., Gelon’s brother) was eager to fight on the side of the Greeks, but the Carthaginians were keen to fight for Xerxes, then Gelon, who had prepared two-hundred ships and two-thousand horse and ten-thousand foot, heard that the host of the Carthaginians was sailing to Sicily, and he fought for the freedom not just of the Sikeliotai, but for that of all Greeks as well. It is likely that Pindar had read this history.