The Odes 9780520971578

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The Odes

The Odes Pindar Translated with introduction and notes by Andrew M. Miller

UNIVERSIT Y OF CALIFORNIA PRESS

University of California Press Oakland, California © 2019 by Andrew M. Miller Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Pindar, author. | Miller, Andrew M., translator. Title: The odes / Pindar ; translated with introduction and notes by Andrew M. Miller. Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2019] | Includes index. | Identifiers: lccn 2019002206 (print) | lccn 2019005746 (ebook) | isbn 9780520971578 () | isbn 9780520299986 (cloth : alk. paper) | isbn 9780520300002 (pbk. : alk. paper) Subjects: lcsh: Pindar—Translations into English. | Laudatory poetry, Greek—Translations into English. | Athletics—Greece—Poetry. | Games—Greece—Poetry. Classification: lcc pa4275.e5 (ebook) | lcc pa4275.e5 m55 2019 (print) | ddc 884/.01—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019002206 Manufactured in the United States of America 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For Bill Race each the other’s ready guide and friend

c ontents

Preface Maps Introduction The Olympian Odes

ix xiv 1 25

The Pythian Odes

105

The Nemean Odes

197

The Isthmian Odes

263

Appendix on Conventions and Motifs Glossary of Names Textual Conspectus

303 313 359

preface

Given current presuppositions about the nature, significance, and social functions both of sports and of poetry, it may seem incongruous—even downright bizarre—that the foremost lyric poet of ancient Greece gained much of his renown by composing, on demand and for a fee, poems in praise of victorious athletes. Yet writing victory odes (epinikia, epinicians), and getting paid for them, is precisely what Pindar did, employing in the process—along with his close contemporary Bacchylides—an elaborate repertoire of poetic and rhetorical conventions in the clear expectation of being understood by an audience well schooled in generic norms. As a living genre, however, the epinician did not long survive its two most distinguished practitioners, and for readers increasingly unfamiliar with its conventions Pindar’s odes began to pose serious problems of interpretation. Among the Hellenistic scholars whose views are recorded in the marginal commentaries (scholia) of medieval manuscripts, one favorite tactic was to resort to “biographical” hypotheses about Pindar’s professional antagonisms and political opinions, resulting in flights of unfettered fancy that continued to haunt Pindaric scholarship well into the twentieth century. Then too, since making consecutive sense of an ode often requires an understanding of epinician conventions, Pindar came to be regarded as an impulsively wayward genius, a stereotype reflected in Abraham Cowley’s remark that translating him word for word “would be like one madman translating another,” or in Voltaire’s burlesquing of a divin Pindare whom no one understands but everyone feels compelled to praise. To Romantic ix

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and post-Romantic sensibilities, finally, there was the scandal of a great poet shackling himself to the tyranny not just of patrons but of crudely indigestible facts, an outrageous state of affairs that prompted more than one scholar to divide the odes up into “poetic” and “non-poetic” portions for the benefit of unwary readers. In the course of the twentieth century, however, a number of scholars—most notably E. L. Bundy in his groundbreaking Studia Pindarica (1962)—turned their attention to the essentially rhetorical (i.e., persuasive) underpinnings of the genre and affirmed the critical importance of its system of literary and social conventions to the understanding of Pindar’s occasionally “erratic” train of thought. As specimens of a complex and long-vanished genre, then, Pindar’s forty-five surviving victory odes present considerable challenges to a translator who wishes to make them accessible to contemporary readers while still doing justice to the aesthetic and expressive qualities that have made them admired since antiquity. To meet the goal of accessibility I have provided an ample informational and explanatory apparatus comprising five distinct elements: 1. A substantial introduction with sections on Greek athletics and on various aspects of the epinician genre, including the important concept of the encomiastic persona (the “I” of the ode). 2. Notes to the individual odes, clarifying names and references, highlighting formal features (with cross-references to relevant sections of the introduction and appendix), and, as needed, briefly elucidating the train of thought, particularly in complex transitional passages where generic norms and expectations make it possible for Pindar to express a good deal with comparatively few words. 3. An appendix containing more detailed treatment of recurrent conventions, motifs, and rhetorical devices. 4. A pronouncing glossary of all proper names in the odes, supplying pertinent information and briefly summarizing stories to which frequent reference is made. 5. Three maps locating the various regions, cities, and geographical features mentioned in the odes or referred to in the notes. Also included, although addressed only to specialists, is a conspectus of places in Pindar’s Greek where my translation assumes readings

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different from those printed in the Teubner edition of B. Snell and H. Maehler (1987), which otherwise has served as the basis of my work. In my translation of the odes themselves I have sought to give an adequate account not only of their propositional content but also of the artistic means through which that content is presented. With those ends in view, I have been guided throughout by five basic principles: 1. First and foremost, to render verse as verse by making consistent use of the iambic rhythm that has for centuries been the mainstay of traditional English verse (while also availing myself of such well-established licenses as reversed feet and occasional anapaestic substitutions). Any attempt at a closer approximation of Pindar’s complex metrical forms would be doomed from the outset; on the other hand, his mastery of those forms is so complete and their rhythmical power so integral a part of his aesthetic achievement that it seemed to me important to do more than simply to write prose and lineate it as verse. Then again, I have not held myself to fixed line-lengths within the stanzaic structure, fearing that the resultant need for compression or expansion might lead to distortions of meaning. In all but one or two instances I have followed the typographical layout of the Snell-Maehler text, which divides longer lines colometrically and indents the second segment; I have, however, found it advantageous to treat such indented lines as metrically independent entities (while retaining the S-M line numbers for ease of reference). 2. To strive for stylistically appropriate diction, steering a middle course between excessive archaism on the one hand and the flatly prosaic or colloquial on the other. Though praised since antiquity for its grandeur and exuberance, Pindar’s style is in fact equally characterized by effects of great simplicity, either stark or poignant according to context, and a translation needs to accommodate both ends of the spectrum. 3. To preserve, as much as possible, the vigor and vividness of metaphor so pervasive in Pindar’s handling of language, including the kinds of “implicit” metaphor that can inhere in (e.g.) the derivation or etymology of words and the literal meaning of compound verbs.

xii

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4. To reproduce (when possible) the general disposition of semantic content within the stanzaic structure, particularly in regard to such matters as end-stopping vs. enjambment, the placement of logical signposts and thematically significant words, and the emphatic advancement or postponement of key syntactical elements. Given the great freedom of Greek word order, which (for example) readily separates adjectives from their nouns and can withhold a grammatical subject to the very end of its sentence, achieving this goal may often require a wholesale recasting of syntax. 5. Generally speaking, to keep pace with Pindar’s sentences, short with short and long with long, even though where Pindar is concerned a “long” sentence can be long indeed, stretching over an entire stanza (or more) through an intricately suspended network of appositional phrases, participial constructions, nested subordinate clauses, and the like. Such large-scale syntactical suspension is so characteristic of Pindar that I have sought to recreate it to the degree that the norms and resources of English will allow. Various acknowledgments are in order. I wish to offer thanks to Hackett Publishing Company for permission to incorporate (in revised form) the fourteen Pindaric odes included in my Greek Lyric: An Anthology in Translation (1996); to Bill Nelson for executing the handsome maps; to Marian Rogers for copy editing; and to Eric Schmidt and Cindy Fulton at University of California Press for shepherding the project through its various stages. That there was a project to shepherd at all I owe in significant measure to Paul Lench of Philadelphia, an enthusiastic amateur classicist whose out-of-the-blue email of appreciation for Greek Lyric (and “especially for de-mystifying Pindar”) inspired me to take up once again the long-abandoned idea of tackling the entire corpus. While the needs and interests of its primary audience have made this a book without footnotes, almost every page of it reveals my indebtedness to the many Pindarists, past and present, whose work has enriched and deepened my understanding of this magnificent poet. There are two scholars in particular, however, whom I must single out for explicit and heartfelt recognition. The first of these is my

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teacher and mentor Elroy Bundy, whose classes and (latterly) seminars I was privileged to attend from 1968 until his untimely death in 1975, being drawn back term after term by the never-disappointed expectation of learning new things about Greek, about poetry, about Greek poetry, and about Pindar. His influence on my scholarship, my teaching, and my life has truly been incalculable. Secondly, I wish to thank William H. Race for unfailing support, encouragement, and counsel throughout the forty-five years that we have been friends and intellectual colleagues. Everything I have ever published, including this volume, has received the benefit of his simultaneously critical and sympathetic eye. The Byzantine scholar Eustathius speaks in his Preface to Pindar of certain “acute persons” who can “make their way unerringly through that labyrinth of his utterance which baffles most people; and, after passing along the convolutions right to the center, trace their winding course back again and are restored to their homes with intelligence unimpaired” (the felicitous rendering is Gilbert Norwood’s). Not only has Bill Race performed that feat repeatedly in many books and articles, emerging with intelligence unimpaired every time, but through the acuity of his perceptions, the cogency of his analyses, and the clarity of his expositions he has helped many others to do the same. To him, with gratitude and affection, I dedicate this book.

PIERIA

Mt. Olympus

EPIRUS Ephyra

Pelinnaeum (Pelinna) THESSALY

Lacerea Ephyra (Crannon)

SIA

TS. SM DU P IN

MOLOSSIA Dodona

R.

E GN MA

eus Pen

L. Boebias

Iolcus

AEGEAN SEA

N

Mt. Pelion

Phylace

PHTHIA Pytho LOCRIS Opus (Delphi) Mt. Ce EUBOEA ph Orchomenus Parnassus isu Crisa sR Euripus Str. Cirrha . Onchestus Thebes Gul BOEOTIA . f of Asopus R Cori nth Marathon Mt. Aegae Sicyon Cithaeron Eleusis Acharnae Pellene Megara Mt. Cyllene ATTICA R. us Clitor Athens sop Phlius Corinth A Stymphalus Salamis Cleonae Nemea Pisa ARCADIA Argos Mycenae Aegina Mantinea Tiryns Alp Lerna he Epidaurus us Mt. Maenalus Tegea Mt. Lycaeus Sparta Messene (Lacedaemon) Therapne MESSENIA Amyclae Pylos

AETOLIA

Elis ELIS Olympia

R.

IONIAN SEA

o Eur

tas

R.

Mt. LACONIA Taÿgetus

Taenarum 0 0

30 50

map 1. Mainland Greece

60 mi 100 km

Ceos

. rR Tib e

Rome ADRIATIC SEA

I T A L Y Naples

Cumae

Mt. Vesuvius

N

TYRRHENIAN SEA

Himeras R. Mt. Aetna

Amenas

Himera

SICILY

.

is ar ipp Gela H

Camarina Oanus R.

map 2. Sicily and Southern Italy

Western Locri

Aetna (Catana)

R.

R

Acragas

Rhegium

Syracuse Helorus Helorus R.

0

30

60 mi

0

50

100 km

MACEDONIA

THRACE

Mt. Pangaeum

N

Mt. Olympus

Lemnos Tenedos

GREECE

AEGEAN SEA

Ilium (Pergamus) Scamander R. MYSIA ASIA MINOR cus R. Caï

Scyros

Mt. Sipylus LYDIA

I ON I AN SE A

nder R. M ae a

Ceos Seriphos

Delos Paros

Naxos

hus

Cos Thera

Ialysus Mt. Atabyrion Rhodes

Cnossus CRETE

R.

Xant

PELOPONNESUS

LYCIA

Camirus Lindus

THRACE GREECE

Euxine Sea (Black Sea) ASIA MINOR CILICIA

MEDITERRANEAN SEA 0 0

50 100

100

150 mi 200 km

Crete Cyprus Mediterranean Sea Cyrene LIBYA

map 3. The Eastern Mediterranean

EGYPT

Introduction

1. Generally reckoned the greatest lyric poet of ancient Greece, Pindar was born in a village near Thebes, the chief city of Boeotia, in 518 b.c. According to ancient accounts of his life, he studied music and choral poetry in Athens as a youth; the training was evidently effective, since his earliest datable poem, Pythian 10, was composed in 498, when he was only twenty. In the collected edition produced by the Hellenistic scholar Aristophanes of Byzantium (ca. 257–180 b.c.) his large and varied poetic output filled seventeen volumes (i.e., papyrus rolls), their contents organized according to genre; among the different types of composition were hymns, paeans, dithyrambs, maiden-songs (partheneia), dirges, and odes for victorious athletes (epinikia or epinicians). Pindar received poetic commissions from individuals, families, and whole communities throughout the Greek world, including the rulers of some of its wealthiest and most powerful cities; the distribution of dedicatees among his epinicians suggests that he found a particularly eager market for his services in Sicily and on the island of Aegina, which together account for more than half the corpus. His latest datable epinician, Pythian 8, was composed in 446. If one ancient source is correct in asserting that he lived to his eightieth year, he died in 438. 2. Out of Pindar’s extensive oeuvre only the four books of victory odes have come down to us through a continuous manuscript tradition, accompanied by numerous marginal notes (“scholia”) extracted from earlier commentaries, most notably those written by Aristarchus (ca. 217–145 b.c.) and Didymus (ca. 80–10 b.c.). Each of the books 1

2

Introduction

contains odes written for victories gained at one of the four major game-sites of ancient Greece (Olympia, Pytho, Nemea, and the Isthmus of Corinth), while within each book odes are arranged according to the types of contest that they celebrate (first equestrian events, then combat sports, then footraces). In the original edition of Pindar’s works the Isthmian odes were placed ahead of the Nemeans to reflect the relative prestige of the two festivals (see below, §4), and for that reason it was to the Nemeans as the final volume that three otherwise unclassifiable poems (N. 9, N. 10, N. 11) were attached as a kind of appendix; at a later point the order was reversed and the volume of Isthmians lost its final pages. As extant, the corpus comprises fortyfive complete odes: fourteen Olympians, twelve Pythians, eleven Nemeans (three of them Nemean in name only), and eight Isthmians (plus the first eight lines of a ninth). Individual odes are conventionally identified by book and numerical position, e.g., Olympian 2 (O. 2), Pythian 4 (P. 4), Nemean 6 (N. 6), Isthmian 8 (I. 8). G R E E K AT H L E T IC S

3. The fact that out of all Pindar’s many works it was the victory odes that survived essentially intact—like, indeed, the fact that there was such a genre as the victory ode in the first place—reflects the central role played by athletics in the life of the ancient Greeks. That centrality is itself reflective of a culture-wide competitiveness that finds archetypical expression in the injunction issued by Peleus to his son Achilles when he went off to fight at Troy (Iliad 11.783): “Always to be the best and preeminent over others.” From the realm of myth, with its Judgment of Paris (which of three goddesses deserved a golden apple inscribed “to the fairest”?) and its Contest of Arms (should Ajax or Odysseus be the one to inherit Achilles’ armor and, with it, his status as “best of the Achaeans”?), to the dramatic festivals of Athens, where every year both tragic and comic poets vied for first, second, and third place, to the military custom of awarding “prizes of valor” (aristeia) to individual warriors or entire contingents in the aftermath of victory, to female beauty-contests on the island of Lesbos and even a boys’ kissing-contest at Megara—everywhere the drive to excel and to outdo others is apparent. Among its various institutional manifestations none were as ubiquitous and long-enduring as the games, the athloi or

Introduction

3

agōnes that have given us the words “athlete” and “athletics” and provided a somewhat abstruse synonym for “competitive” in “agonistic.” The representation of athletics in Greek literature is as old as Greek literature itself, since Book 23 of the Iliad contains a lengthy and detailed account of the funeral games put on by Achilles for his beloved friend Patroclus, while Book 8 of the Odyssey offers a briefer description of contests staged by the Phaeacians for the entertainment of Odysseus. In historical times, however, the usual context for competition was provided by regularly recurring religious festivals in dozens of different cities and locales, each one held in honor of some patron deity or hero and accompanied by a full array of animal sacrifices and other ritual activities. 4. Among these athletic festivals—called panēgyreis as well as agōnes, both terms in origin meaning “gathering” or “assembly”—four enjoyed special status as being Panhellenic (“all Greek”) in character, drawing competitors and spectators from throughout the Greek-speaking world. By far the oldest and most celebrated of the four were the games at Olympia, a sanctuary of Olympian Zeus in the western Peloponnesus, which were founded in 776 b.c. and held thereafter at four-year intervals (known as Olympiads) for well over a millennium. Next in order of prestige were the Pythian games at Delphi in central Greece, a site known also as Pytho; likewise quadrennial but dedicated to the god Apollo, they were established in 582 and took place in the third year of each Olympiad. Very shortly thereafter (ca. 581 and ca. 573) biennial games were instituted at the Isthmus of Corinth and at Nemea in the northeastern Peloponnesus, dedicated respectively to Poseidon and to Zeus. Since these festivals were held in the second and fourth year of each Olympiad (the Isthmian in the spring, the Nemean in the summer), athletes were able to compete in at least one Panhellenic contest every year. The four festivals taken together constituted a well-defined circuit or cycle (periodos) of competition, with Nemea as the lowest rung on the ladder, the Isthmus next, then Pytho, and Olympia at the very top. Ambitious athletes would aspire to win victories at all four venues and thereby earn the coveted status of “circuit-victor” (periodonikēs). Lying outside of the Panhellenic circuit, but still playing an important role in the careers of athletes, were numerous local festivals hosted by communities large and small throughout the Greekspeaking world, including venues in Attica and its environs (Eleusis,

4

Introduction

Marathon, Megara), Boeotia (Thebes, Orchomenus), the Peloponnesus (Argos, Epidaurus, Sicyon, Pellene, Arcadia), the Aegean islands (Aegina, Euboea), North Africa (Cyrene), and Sicily. Several of these local contests, most notably the Athenian Panathenaea and the festival of Hera (Heraea) in Argos, enjoyed a position of prestige not far below that of the Isthmian and Nemean games; others, however, were very minor indeed and unlikely to attract many non-regional competitors. 5. At athletic festivals generally, of whatever rank or stature, the chief categories of competition were equestrian events, footraces of different kinds, and combat sports. Particularly popular with spectators were the equestrian events, which comprised races for horse and rider (kelēs), the four-horse chariot (tethrippon), and the mule-cart (apēnē), although this last formed part of the Olympic program only during the first half of the fifth century b.c. The considerable expense involved in breeding, maintaining, and transporting horses effectively limited participation in the equestrian events to the well-to-do, and credit for victory went to the owner of the horse or chariot team in question rather than to its rider or driver. Since the layout of the hippodrome required chariots to negotiate 180-degree turns at either end throughout a twelve-lap race, there was a constant risk of serious accidents. The track events were four in number: the stade-race or stadion (ca. 200 meters), the double stade-race or diaulos (ca. 400 meters), the long race or dolichos (ca. 4,800 meters), and the race-in-armor or hoplitēs dromos, for which contestants wore and carried the equipment (including breastplate, greaves, and shield) of a heavy-armed foot soldier or hoplite. The combat sports were wrestling (in which three throws were required for victory), boxing (for which contestants wore leather straps around their knuckles instead of gloves), and the pancratium, an “all-in” contest that combined elements of wrestling and boxing (the only prohibited tactics were biting and eye-gouging). Straddling several categories, finally, was the pentathlon, composed of stade-race, long jump, discus, javelin-toss, and wrestling. In certain events (stade-race, pentathlon, the combat sports) separate competitions were held for boys, while at the Isthmus, Nemea, and various local games there was also an intermediate division for “beardless” youths or ageneioi, most likely defined as between the ages of sixteen and eighteen. 6. The types of prizes awarded to victorious athletes varied according to venue. At the funeral games of Patroclus in Iliad 23, Achilles sets

Introduction

5

out as many prizes as there are contestants in any one event, with a correlation between their material value and the range of outcomes; in a three-man footrace, for example, he offers a large silver mixing bowl as first prize, an ox as second, and half a talent of gold as third. At the regular athletic festivals of historical times, however, only first place was recognized, and hence a single prize was awarded in each event. The prizes offered at the four major festivals were simple wreaths or crowns (stephanoi) plaited from a particular foliage: wild olive at Olympia, laurel at Pytho, and wild celery both at the Isthmus and at Nemea (some ancient sources identify the Isthmian wreath as being of pine, but in Pindar’s epinicians only celery is mentioned). Though purely symbolic in value, such wreaths were greatly coveted and conferred on the Panhellenic festivals the alternative designation of “crown games”; moreover, the home-cities of victorious athletes made a practice of supplementing symbolism with cash awards and various types of subsidy, including free meals at public expense for the rest of their lives. The prizes awarded at local contests, by contrast, were likely to be durable objects of material value, such as decorated jars (amphorae) of olive oil at the Panathenaea, bronze shields at the Argive Heraea, silver drinking-cups at the games of Apollo in Sicyon, and thick woolen cloaks at Pellene. T H E E P I N IC IA N A S P E R F O R M A N C E

7. In the end, however, the most important reward of athletic success was not the symbolic or material prize itself but the mere fact that the victor was publicly known to have won, that his “preeminence over others” had received recognition in the world at large. The ultimate objects of aspiration, in other words, were reputational in nature, bearing such names as “honor” (timē), “glory” (doxa), “renown” (kudos), and “fame” (kleos). The first step in securing such public recognition was taken at the time of the festival itself, when a herald would proclaim that so-and-so, son of so-and-so, from such-and-such a city, was the victor in such-and-such an event; but of course this kind of proclamation (kērygma) was a fleeting event, confined in its efficacy to a single place and time. Inscribed on a statue-base or stele and set up for view at the game-site or in some other public location, the essential facts of an athlete’s achievement—supplemented, as was often the case,

6

Introduction

by the record of other achievements at other venues—could (with luck) be preserved for future generations, but the information was still spatially restricted; only people who happened to visit the site in question could be expected to observe and absorb, as the Greek travel-writer Pausanias (ca. a.d. 150) so assiduously did, the names and deeds of the long-departed. To propagate agonistic kleos with maximum effectiveness, therefore, required combining the functions of the herald’s cry and the lapidary (or bronze) inscription while simultaneously transcending their temporal and/or spatial limitations—and it was precisely with such an end in view that an athlete (or his family) would hire a professional poet to commemorate his success in a victory ode. Considered as a performance, executed by a trained chorus within a context of communal celebration, an epinician was—among other things—a highly expanded and elaborated recreation of the original heraldic proclamation at the game-site, but one that allowed for (literal or imaginative) re-performance at other times and in other circumstances. Considered as a text, on the other hand, it was endowed with the permanence, the fixity, and the documentary utility of a “reckoning carved on stone” (O. 7.86), effectively preserving information for posterity while adding the capacity for active circulation through space that epigraphic records so signally lack. 8. That epinicians were indeed composed to be performed—that is, sung and danced—to musical accompaniment by a male chorus is a point assumed in the ancient scholia, generally (though not universally) agreed upon by modern scholars, and borne out by various passages in the poems themselves. The instruments used (and frequently mentioned in the odes) were the lyre (lyra, phorminx) and/or the aulos, the latter (translated as “pipe” in this volume) being a wind instrument with a reed-and-metal mouthpiece that made it akin to the modern clarinet or oboe. Both types of instrument were capable of being played in distinctively different styles or “modes” of tuning, among them the Aeolian (e.g., O. 1.102, P. 2.69) and the Lydian (e.g., O. 14.17, N. 4.45). In the absence of any musical or choreographic notation, however, the only hints at the odes’ performative aspects available to us are those offered by the metrical patterns of the verse itself. The two chief categories of meter employed in Pindar’s epinicians— based, like all Greek meters, on the alternation of long (ˉ) and short (˘) syllables in various combinations—are the dactylo-epitritic and the

Introduction

7

aeolic. The former, found in just over half the odes, strings together double-short (e.g. ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ) and single-short (e.g. ˉ ˘ ˉ × ˉ ˘ ˉ ) segments in different lengths and sequences (“x” indicates a syllable that may be either long or short); its partial overlap with the dactylic hexameter of Homeric epic can be felt to endow this rhythm with a certain amplitude and stateliness. More multifarious and less easily described than dactylo-epitritic as a metrical category, aeolic verse draws extensively on metrical segments built around a “choriambic nucleus” ( ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ ) and was much used by composers of monody (“solo song”) like Alcaeus and Sappho, who wrote in the Aeolic dialect. 9. Regardless of metrical type, the great majority of Pindar’s odes are composed of three-part units called triads, each triad comprising two metrically identical stanzas (the strophe and antistrophe) followed by another of a different shape (the epode). Some sources from late antiquity associate the literal meaning of these terms (“turn,” “counter-turn,” “after-song”) with hypothetical movements by the chorus (dancing in one direction during the strophe, reversing that direction during the antistrophe, standing still during the epode), but there is no evidence to confirm that hypothesis. Although most triadic odes range in length between three and five triads, a few (O. 4, O. 11, O. 12, P. 7, I. 3) consist of a single triad only, while the entirely anomalous Pythian 4 runs to a remarkable thirteen. Seven odes (O. 14, P. 6, P. 12, N. 2, N. 4, N. 9, I. 8) are monostrophic rather than triadic in form, comprising a series of strophes of metrically identical shape that range in number from two (O. 14) to twelve (N. 4). It has been suggested that monostrophic odes were intended to be sung while the chorus was in procession from one place to another, but once again there can be no certainty on the point. It is important to note that in Pindar’s practice stanzas and triads as metrical entities bear no consistent relationship either with content or with syntax, which means that not only general topics but even individual clauses are frequently carried over from one unit to another. This fluidity can at times achieve striking effects, as when a phrase or word is placed at the end of a sentence and the beginning of a strophe simultaneously for rhetorical emphasis (e.g., “most among men” at O. 8.23, “Time itself ” at O. 10.55, “late though it be” at N. 3.80) or to underscore its emotional impact (e.g., “his own destruction” at P. 2.41, referring to Ixion’s self-wrought doom; “pitiless woman” at P. 11.22, characterizing Clytemnestra’s murder of Agamemnon and Cassandra).

8

Introduction C OM P O N E N T M AT E R IA L S O F T H E E P I N IC IA N

10. Although the extant fragments of Simonides (ca. 556–468) suggest that the epinician as a literary “kind” had already assumed recognizable form at the time he was writing, its full flowering took place in the succeeding generation, when not only Pindar but also Simonides’ nephew Bacchylides—not to mention, we must assume, a number of other poets now unknown—composed victory odes for pay on a regular basis. Like Pindar, Bacchylides was both prolific and versatile, and in the collected edition of later Alexandrian scholars his poetic output filled nine volumes, one of which was devoted to epinicians. By a stroke of good fortune fifteen of these odes were discovered, in varying states of completeness or disrepair, on an Egyptian papyrus scroll at the end of the nineteenth century. Taking Bacchylides and Pindar together, then, we have some sixty specimens of the epinician genre, a body of material extensive enough to establish (a) that when the two poets fulfilled their commissions they were drawing on the same elaborate repertoire of poetic and rhetorical conventions, and (b) that the audiences for whom they were composing had been schooled by experience to expect, appreciate, and respond to those conventions with appropriate acuity. Considered at the highest level of generality, the corpus demonstrates that three main types of material go into the fashioning of a typical epinician. Occupying a position of primacy among the three is the factual information—in its minimal form, “X son of Y from city Z has won event A at the B games”—which the ode is meant to preserve and disseminate, thereby propagating the victor’s kleos both “horizontally” throughout the Greek world and “vertically” through ensuing centuries. An ode’s kernel of personal fact—one that in practice is often expanded to include other victories won by the athlete, his close relatives, and/or his clan as a whole—may well have been the element of liveliest interest to the principals, and the one that they viewed as most concretely and legitimately earning the poet his fee. And yet in order to appeal to audiences beyond the victor’s immediate circle, and certainly in order to appeal to the future generations in whose hands any “immortality of fame” will rest, an ode must not merely record such information but also interpret and evaluate it through reference to some larger context—be it the home-city and its

Introduction

9

traditions, or Hellenic culture in general, or human life considered sub specie aeternitatis—that will allow it to transcend its bare particularity. 11. It is precisely in order to create this larger context that the irreducible factual component of the epinician is regularly supplemented by two other types of material. One is myth, applying that term broadly to the vast corpus of stories about gods and heroes—an aggregate both wildly ramifying and densely interwoven—that formed the core of the Greeks’ cultural patrimony. Above all, myth served the Greeks for centuries as an inexhaustible treasure-house of examples (paradeigmata) for educational, exhortatory, and literary use—exemplary exploits (e.g., the labors of Heracles), exemplary virtues (e.g., the consummate valor of Achilles, the piety and self-control of Peleus), even exemplary transgressors (e.g., Tantalus and Ixion). Already in the Iliad characters are depicted as telling stories to one another for purposes of persuasion, as when Phoenix recites the tale of Meleager’s anger (9.527–99) as an admonishment to Achilles, or when Achilles himself holds up the example of Niobe to the grieving Priam (24.602–18). In Pindar’s odes the scale on which mythical material is treated varies widely according to rhetorical circumstances. At one end of the range are cursory typological allusions, as when youthful beauty is fleetingly instantiated in Ganymede (O. 10.104–5), god-given prosperity in Cinyras (N. 8.18), or martial heroism in Hector (N. 9.39–40), or such one-sentence distillations of a story or episode as “Cycnus routed in battle even the huge might of Heracles” (O. 10.15–16) or “at Troy Hector heard Ajax” (N. 2.14). At the opposite end of the scale are the fully developed narratives, often extending a triad or more in length, that so frequently form an ode’s centerpiece (see §18 below). In the middle range, finally, more developed than a passing allusion but still lacking the expansiveness (and internal articulation) of major narratives, we find short mythical anecdotes cited in explicit illustration of a general statement (e.g., O. 4.19–27, N. 7.24–30, I. 7.44–48), perhaps, or to elaborate on some point of praise relating to the victor (e.g., O. 6.12–17, P. 1.52–55, I. 4.52–54b). Whether traditional stories of this sort were told at length and in detail, succinctly summarized, or merely touched on in passing with a name and an epithet, they would have been sufficiently familiar to audiences that any blanks could be filled in as necessary and paradigmatic significance could be apprehended even when (as often happens) it is not explicitly signaled on the level of the text.

10

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12. The other type of material used in creating a larger context for agonistic particulars takes the form of general reflections, often pithily phrased, on the conditions and issues of human existence, and as such it may conveniently be labeled gnomic, after the Greek word for “maxim” or “adage” (gnōmē). Not surprisingly, such gnomai are abundant in the tradition of didactic poetry represented by Hesiod’s Works and Days and the elegiacs of Theognis, and like mythical exempla (though less frequently) they are also used for purposes of persuasion in Homeric speeches. In Pindar’s odes they are ubiquitous, serving a number of different purposes. One prime function is to enhance the significance of a victor’s accomplishments by implicitly subsuming them under general truths through a process of syllogistic deduction (e.g., if it is a generally accepted principle that effort crowned with success deserves unstinting recognition, then unstinting recognition must be given to X, whose efforts have been crowned by success). Such, implicitly, is the logical force of propositions like “Fortunate is the one whom fair reports encompass” (O. 7.10), “Within success is found the peak of perfect glory” (N. 1.10–11), and “Men’s prowess comes to judgment through the gods” (I. 5.11). Maxims are also freely deployed in mythical narratives, where they may articulate a moral (e.g., O. 1.64, O. 7.30–31, P. 2.34–36, P. 3.21–23) and/or demarcate “chapters” in the unfolding story (e.g., O. 10.39–40, N. 1.53–54, N. 10.72); they can serve as links or bridges between different sections of an ode (e.g., O. 1.99–100, O. 8.53, P. 5.54, I. 1.40); and they can bring whole odes to a contemplative conclusion (e.g., O. 7.94–95, P. 1.99– 100, P. 7.19–21, I. 1.67–68). Recurrent subjects of generalizing reflection include the nature and limitations of human happiness (e.g., O. 2.18–22, P. 8.92–97, P. 12.28–32), the powers and proper uses of wealth (e.g., O. 2.53–56, P. 5.1–4, N. 1.31–33), the relative importance of natural ability and systematic instruction (e.g., O. 2.86–88, O. 9.100–104, N. 3.40–42), verbal skill and its relation to truth and falsehood (e.g., O. 1.28–34, N. 7.20–23, N. 8.32–34), and the functions and capacities of song or poetry itself (e.g., P. 3.111–15, N. 7.11–16, I. 7.16–19). The last three of these topics are discussed at greater length in §§25–27 below. T H E E P I N IC IA N P E R S O NA

13. Such, then, are the chief types of material out of which, in different proportions and in different sequences, the typical epinician is con-

Introduction

11

structed: first the factual information that the ode is intended to preserve and disseminate, then the mythical paradigms and general propositions that endow such information with meaning and value— or more accurately, perhaps, that give explicit expression to the meaning and value with which such information was already implicitly laden in the Greek cultural context. Heterogeneity of constituent elements is thus an inherent feature of the genre; in Pindar’s own words, “the choicest kind of victory-hymn darts like a bee from one theme to another” (P. 10.53–54). Faced with the challenge of forging such disparate materials into a coherent (and performable) composition, the poet’s chief resource is the creation of an encomiastic persona, an “I” whose act of speaking the ode can purport to be. That a multiplicity of singer-dancers performing in unison should speak of themselves using first-person singular pronouns and verb-forms is far from unusual in Greek choral poetry, as can be readily seen from surviving examples of paeans and maiden-songs and the scene-separating odes of Attic drama. In the case of paeans and tragic choruses, the “I” typically embodies some collectivity: the inhabitants of Abdera in Pindar’s Paean 2 and those of Ceos in Paean 4, the elders of Argos in Aeschylus’s Agamemnon, a crew of Salaminian sailors in Sophocles’ Ajax, Troezenian housewives in Euripides’ Hippolytus. When it came to Pindar’s epinicians, however, the ancient commentators whose views are recorded in the scholia were strongly (though not invariably; see §14) inclined to view the “I” as a direct representation of the poet himself in all his historical specificity, and indeed proceeded on that basis to spin various “biographical” hypotheses about such things as his professional rivalries, his supposed political allegiances and aversions, and his personal relations with particular patrons. That general assumption of unmediated identity, along with those (and other) historicizing hypotheses, continued to dominate approaches to Pindar until well into the twentieth century, and did so despite the perennial difficulty that scholars experienced in reconciling the supposed “personal” elements in the odes with their ostensibly public and occasional nature. 14. Now to be sure, there are indeed quite a few passages in the odes that to all appearances point unambiguously in Pindar’s direction. Some do so by identifying the speaker as Theban, whether directly (e.g., I. 8.16), by means of genealogical metaphor (e.g., O. 6.84–86), or

12

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as an implication of the ode’s own Theban provenance (e.g., O. 10.84– 85, P. 4.298–99). Others do so by representing the “I” as enjoying a Panhellenic reputation for “poetic skill” (sophia) (O. 1.115–16) and artistic preeminence in that same quality among contemporary practitioners (P. 4.247–48), or as a hard-working professional who enters into contracts for money (P. 11.41–44), who is forced to juggle the competing claims of simultaneous commissions (I. 1.1–10), and who, on consulting his ledger, discovers that he is in arrears with an obligation of long standing (O. 10.1–12). By the same token, however, there are also a few passages where an identification with Pindar appears to be excluded because the “I” represents himself—if only momentarily—as belonging to the community of the victor and the chorus. Such is the case, for example, when in an ode for an Aeginetan he addresses the eponymous nymph of Aegina as “cherished mother” (P. 8.98) or when in another ode for an Aeginetan he refers to Aeacus, the island’s first (legendary) king, as “the city-ruler of my fair-famed homeland” (N. 7.85), or when in an ode for the king of Cyrene he asserts that his own Aegid forefathers, setting out from their birthplace in Sparta, migrated first to Thera and then on to Cyrene itself, where “we,” the people of that city, celebrate the festival of Carnean Apollo (P. 5.72–81). That the “I” can occasionally speak “in the person of the chorus” (apo tou chorou) is indeed an idea propounded by ancient commentators with reference to these and others passages, though a number of modern scholars have strenuously denied it on a priori grounds and sought to evade consequent difficulties by means of emendation or convoluted exegesis. 15. The most reasonable way to accommodate both sorts of evidence, surely, is to think of the epinician persona not as having a fixed identity but as ranging along a spectrum between two poles, one pole representing the industrious verbal craftsman who in literal fact composed the odes and the other representing the chorus of trained singers, fellow townsmen of the victor, who in literal fact performed them. Now and then, in response to particular poetic or rhetorical circumstances, the “I” may temporarily take up a position at one pole or the other—in order to imbue the encomiastic occasion with an atmosphere of ethnic and cultic solidarity (P. 5), perhaps, or to enhance an ode’s value by glancing at actually existent circumstances in its creator’s professional life (O. 10, I. 1), or to claim a relationship of special closeness with the victor and his family, whether through a shared

Introduction

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civic identity (as in I. 1 and I. 4, both composed for Thebans) or some mythological nexus (e.g., between Thebes and Stymphalus in O. 6, or between Thebes and Aegina in I. 6 and I. 8). Far more often, though— indeed, often enough to constitute (as it were) the default setting—the “I” situates himself somewhere in the indefinite middle where distinctions between composing and performing disappear in an imitation of spontaneous utterance. While on occasion—notable instances are to be found at Olympian 3.4–9 and Nemean 3.1–12—he may refer to himself as a premeditating craftsman of song, one who shapes words into verse with the Muse’s aid and inspiration and then presents them, through singers’ voices and with musical accompaniment, to the public, he habitually represents himself as an extemporizing speaker who exhibits the impulsiveness, the digressiveness, the false starts and self-corrections of ordinary spoken discourse. By “imitating” a person who is intently engaged in the generation and formulation of his thoughts at the very moment of public utterance, Pindar gains great freedom in the disposition of his heterogeneous materials; not only does the carefully sustained illusion of spontaneity permit all manner of stops and starts and changes of direction, but persuasively verisimilar motivation for those maneuvers can be supplied by the speaker’s supposed character and feelings. However much the finished ode may appear to reflect the momentary impulses and ratiocinations of the fictitious persona that speaks it, we can safely assume that it has in fact been carefully plotted to include everything that Pindar himself wants and needs to have said in order to fulfill his encomiastic obligations. Because the persona is called into being by the contractual bond (chreos) between poet and patron and is largely (if not entirely) defined by the inherently encomiastic intention of the epinician qua genre, it was dubbed the laudator (“praiser”) in E. L. Bundy’s influential Studia Pindarica (1962), which also supplied the useful correlative designation laudandus (“he who must be praised”) for the ode’s recipient and honoree. In this volume “speaker” and “laudator” will be used on an interchangeable basis, with occasional references to “the poet” in situations where the speaker explicitly casts himself in the role of premeditating verbal craftsman. 16. In order to motivate the step-by-step unfolding of an ode’s train of thought, representing as it does the “spontaneously” generated discourse of an extemporizing speaker, Pindar as composer uses several

14

Introduction

distinct modes of connection or progression. The most straightforward of these, and by far the most frequently employed, we may term the explicitly logical, whereby sentence follows sentence and clause follows clause in accordance with such mental operations as inference, explication, exemplification, and generalization. The train of thought in entire odes, long (e.g., O. 6, O. 7, O. 10) as well as short (e.g., O. 11, N. 2, I. 3), can be constructed on this basis, and even in less linear odes logical progression still predominates; indeed, it may be justly regarded as the prevailing norm from which the other modes represent marked departures. Those other modes—we shall call them the associative, the ethical/emotional, and the situational—are all overtly mimetic or dramatic in nature, and it is precisely that quality that makes them a key source of flexibility in the compositional process. Briefly stated (more detailed discussion can be found in app. §§6–8), associative transitions imitate the commonplace psychological phenomenon whereby people engaged in extemporaneous speech are likely to say Y after X not because Y bears some clearly definable relation to X but simply because X has made Y “pop into their heads.” Transitions of the “ethical/emotional” type hinge on the supposed moral character (ēthos) and/or emotional state of the speaker as a fictional personage, one whose moods, scruples, apprehensions, enthusiasms, and antipathies can prompt him to abandon one topic or introduce another. Situational transitions, finally, are grounded in the conditions of performance and the nature of the rhetorical occasion—grounded, that is to say, in the situation of a person with encomiastic responsibilities to discharge, a finite amount of time at his disposal, and an audience whose attention and goodwill cannot be taken for granted. However much Pindar himself would have had to take such considerations into account during the process of composition, the extent to which they make an explicit appearance within the text is determined by their usefulness in steering or shaping an ode’s unfolding train of thought. E P I N IC IA N S T RU C T U R E

17. Along with the fiction of spontaneous utterance itself, these four modes of progression and connection—logical, associative, ethical/ emotional, situational—are the chief means by which an ode’s constituent materials (factual, mythic, gnomic) are woven into sequentially

Introduction

15

unified discourse, in which each statement seems to emerge naturally and persuasively from what precedes and to lead naturally and persuasively into what follows until a point is reached at which, as regards both the poet’s encomiastic responsibilities and the expectations of the audience, nothing further needs to be said. Except in the case of very short odes, the resultant whole is typically tripartite (ABA') in structure, with two sections chiefly focused on the celebratory occasion and its principal figures (victor, family, clan) flanking a central section of contrasting material, usually (though not invariably) mythic in nature. An essential element in the first A section—as indeed in any epinician of whatever length and internal articulation—is a statement of the ode’s encomiastic occasion as defined by certain facts of identity (typically the victor’s name, his father’s name, and his hometown) and facts of achievement (the event and venue of the victory being celebrated). Reduced to propositional form (“X, son of Y, from city Z, has won event A at the B games”), this declaration is all but identical to the herald’s announcement at the game-site (see above, §7), where venue was of course a situational given and thus did not need to be specified. Although not all five items of information make an appearance in every ode (the father’s name in particular is not uncommonly omitted), the cluster or constellation as a whole still remains the one indispensable ingredient of an epinician, and perhaps for that reason its most basic elements are likely to make their appearance early on, sometimes in overtly proclamatory form (e.g., O. 3.1–4, P. 9.1–4, N. 5.3–5) but more often dispersed over a stretch of sentences within the opening triad or two. In tripartite odes, however, certain items of information—most frequently the father’s name and the event— are likely to be held back until the second A section (see §20 below). It seems reasonable to suppose that for the principals and their close friends and associates, if not indeed for the community at large, the distribution of “defining facts” throughout an ode would have been a matter of considerable interest and (when postponed) of expectancy. 18. If “myth” can designate a general type or category of material used in the fashioning of epinicians (§11 above), “the myth,” in the parlance of Pindaric scholarship, refers to one specific form that such material can take, namely a (relatively) extended and self-contained narration of one or more episodes from the ample corpus of Hellenic legend. If we set aside poems that are too short to accommodate it,

16

Introduction

fully three-quarters of Pindar’s odes contain a narrative of this sort, and a similar proportion (short odes once again excluded) obtains among the extant epinicians of Bacchylides; we may thus safely regard it as a regular and even expected feature of the genre, though not one whose absence would have caused consternation or even surprise. Although two of Pindar’s most stirring narratives occupy the last two triads of their respective odes (N. 1 and N. 10), the typical ABA' pattern outlined above puts most myths in a central position, both preceded and followed by sections more immediately relevant to the encomiastic occasion. As for the stories themselves, they may be chosen with reference to the victor’s homeland, as in Olympian 7 (for Diagoras of Rhodes), Olympian 13 (for Xenophon of Corinth), Pythian 9 (for Telesicrates of Cyrene), and the many odes for Aeginetans that pay homage to Aegina’s illustrious lineage of heroes, the Aeacids (O. 8, N. 3, N. 4, N. 5, N. 7, I. 5, I. 6, I. 8); other myths are linked to the victor’s heroic ancestry or ancestral associations (O. 6, P. 4, N. 10) or to the game-site at which the victory being celebrated was won (O. 1, O. 3, O. 10, N. 9). There are in addition certain legendary figures that can be regarded as apropos in almost any encomiastic situation; of these the most notable is Heracles, who roamed throughout (and beyond) the Greek world performing agonistic and philanthropic labors and was eventually rewarded with posthumous immortality. 19. Given the Greek conception of myth as inherently exemplary (see §11 above), it is reasonable to assume that Pindaric narratives are always intended to have some paradigmatic force relative to the laudandus, his family, and/or his city, and yet only on rare occasions (e.g., P. 2.21ff., P. 6.28ff., P. 8.38ff.) does the poet choose to have that force explicitly signaled by the speaker when he introduces the story. The commonest way to effect a transition into narrative is via an overt (though often metaphorical) announcement of intent along the lines of “Now I will (or must) tell the story of . . .” (e.g., O. 6.22ff., O. 10.24ff., P. 4.67ff., P. 9.103ff., N. 1.33ff., I. 6.19ff.). Other ostensible motivations include the (apparently) associative (e.g., O. 8.31ff., P. 9.5ff., P. 10.31ff., P. 11.16ff.; see also app. §6) and the explanatory or aetiological (e.g., O. 3.13ff., P. 12.6ff.). Transitions out of myth and back to the current occasion are generally handled in one of two ways: either past and present are explicitly linked and bridged via such temporal signposts as “now also,” “and now,” “since then,” and the like (e.g., O. 1.90, O. 3.34, O. 6.71, O. 10.78, I. 8.61), or else

Introduction

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an elaborate “break-off ” is staged and various reasons brought forward to justify (or compel) a change of topic (see app. §11). Internally, several different structures of myth are discernible. Some narratives, particularly those that unfold over several generations (e.g., O. 6.29–70, O. 9.41–79, I. 8.16–60), are entirely linear in form, while others (e.g., O. 13.49–92, N. 3.29–64, N. 4.25–68, I. 6.19–54) combine an initial catalogue-style survey of potential themes with more detailed and leisurely treatment of a single figure or scene. By far the commonest pattern, however, involves temporal retrogression from and eventual return to the narrative’s point of entry; see the appendix on ring composition (§9) and kephalaion structure (§10) for discussion and illustration. 20. As was noted above (§17), odes that have an extended myth at their center—or, if not a myth, then some other material at a temporal and/or tonal remove from the here and now (e.g., I. 7.25–36 on the death in battle of the victor’s uncle)—regularly follow that centerpiece with a section that refocuses the audience’s attention on the encomiastic occasion and its principal figure(s). In this “second praise,” to use its conventional label, the current victory itself is not infrequently revisited, sometimes in more elaborate terms (e.g., O. 8.67–73, O. 10.99–106, P. 8.81–87) and/or with the addition of “defining facts” that were omitted from the initial announcement (e.g., P. 9.71–75, P. 11.41– 50, N. 7.80–82, I. 8.65a–67). Personal qualities lying outside the athletic or agonistic sphere may also be praised, including such virtues as martial prowess, intelligence, hospitality (philoxenia), piety, and civicmindedness; in the case of rulers and other magnates special commendation may be given to their just and benevolent governance and/ or the philanthropic uses to which they put their wealth. In addition, the “second praise” section is the commonest place for the victor’s clan to be named (e.g., O. 3.38, O. 7.93, O. 8.75, N. 8.46, I. 6.63); it is a place where recognition may be accorded to individual relatives of the victor, both living (e.g., P. 11.43–48, N. 5.41–46, 50–54, I. 6.57–73) and dead (e.g., N. 4.79–90, N. 8.44–45, I. 8.61–65); and in odes for young victors in the combat sports (wrestling, boxing, pancratium) it is where the formative role played by the boy’s trainer is typically acknowledged (e.g., O. 8.54–66, N. 4.93–96, N. 5.48–49, N. 6.64–66, I. 4.71–72b, I. 5.59–63). 21. Above all, the “second praise” section is the regular (though not invariable) position for one of the epinician’s most characteristic

18

Introduction

features, and the one in which its documentary aspect (see §§7, 10 above) comes most nakedly into view, namely the catalogue of prior victories won by the laudandus, by other members of his immediate family, and/or by his clan as a whole. Such catalogues normally begin with Panhellenic victories, their venues being listed in descending order of prestige (Olympia, Pytho, the Isthmus, Nemea); local contests then follow, pride of place generally being given (when facts allow it) to the Athenian Panathenaea and/or the Argive Heraea. Multiple wins at the same venue are sometimes specified as to number, sometimes left indefinite; local wins are most commonly cited by location alone. Although such passages have struck many later readers as tediously “prosaic,” the information contained within them was presumably of great interest and importance to the parties most closely concerned, and considerable artistry is expended on their construction and stylistic adornment. In particular, venues are often not named directly but instead identified through various periphrases, topographical and otherwise. Thus the Olympic games are regularly designated through a reference to the river Alpheus flowing past the site, to the nearby town of Pisa, or to a local landmark known as “the hill of Cronus,” and the Pythian games by allusions to Mt. Parnassus, to Apollo’s sacred spring of Castalia, or to Cirrha (also known as Crisa), a town on the plain below Delphi. The Isthmian and Nemean games are sometimes signified by the cities that administered them (Corinth and Cleonae respectively), sometimes via topography (e.g., the Isthmus of Corinth as a “bridge between two seas”) or myth (e.g., Nemea as the “vale” or “pasture” of the monstrous lion Heracles killed as the first of his famous labors). T R A N S C E N D I N G G E N R E : S OM E A SP E C T S O F P I N DA R’ S P O E T IC A P P E A L

22. Up to this point the chief focus of discussion has been the generic dimensions of the epinician: the documentary and encomiastic intentions by which it is animated, the several types of material that go into its making, the compositional utility of the first-person speaker, and the basic structure exhibited by a typical ode. More detailed information on individual conventions and motifs is to be found both in the appendix and in the notes to individual poems. Faced with so elaborate an explanatory apparatus, would-be readers may be readily

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forgiven for wondering whether tackling a Pindaric ode is really worth the effort that seems to be entailed—particularly by comparison with poets such as Archilochus and Sappho, whose highly fragmentary remains give the appearance (however deceptive that appearance may be) of providing unmediated access to the personalities and deepest feelings of their respective authors. Certainly Pindar’s epinicians offer a wealth of insights into important aspects of ancient Greek life and thought, including not only athletics and the culture-wide competitiveness of which athletics was an institutionalized manifestation but also, for example, conceptions of kingship and political power, attitudes toward the gods and toward the traditional paradigms embodied in myth and legend, and the educative value of poetry and song in a (still) aurally oriented cultural environment. Yet they are also capable of providing more purely literary pleasures, some arising from Pindar’s artistic virtuosity as stylist and storyteller, others from his clear-sighted understanding of human life and the particular world in which our bodily and spiritual natures require it to be lived. 23. In pronouncing Pindar the greatest lyric poet of Greece, the Roman rhetorician Quintilian (ca. a.d. 35–ca. 95) cites “his inspired magnificence, the beauty of his thoughts and figures, the rich exuberance of his language and matter, and his rolling flood of eloquence” (10.1.61). Although certain aspects of Pindar’s style, particularly those involving rhythm, aural texture, and word-order, are inextricably bound up with the Greek language that was his instrument, there are others, like word-choice and imagery, that can be discerned and appreciated even through the medium of translation. While it cannot be denied that Pindar’s vocabulary has a stratum of the merely generic running through it, as is exemplified most clearly by his tireless recycling of the same half-dozen adjectives meaning “famous,” “renowned,” “glorious,” “splendid,” and the like, his diction considered as a whole shows great variety (poikilia), vigor, and aptness. He uses compound adjectives—a mainstay of Greek poetry from Homer’s “wine-dark sea” and “ox-eyed Hera” onward—with far greater freedom and frequency than can be directly represented in English translation, which must be sparing with hyphenated epithets; but even in much reduced numbers they still include Zeus’s “all-subduing thunderbolt” (N. 9.24) and “fireflung shaft” (O. 10.80), the “wind-loud glens” of Pelion (P. 9.5) and Libya’s “cloud-darkened plains” (P. 4.52), the “man-mastering spear” of

20

Introduction

Achilles (O. 9.79) and the “spirit-taming gold” with which Bellerophon bridled Pegasus (O. 13.78). Vivid imagery and vigorous turns of phrase abound, as when sacrificial flames are said to “mount up / and hold continuous festival throughout the night, / kicking the upper air with savory smoke” (I. 4.65–66), or when, speaking of Ajax’s suicide, the laudator describes how “envy feasted on the son of Telamon, / wheeling him over on his sword” while he “wrestled with a blood-soaked death” (N. 8.23, 27). This concretizing tendency can be particularly effective in gnomic contexts, as in “grief / falls heavy to the ground / when blessings gain the upper hand” (O. 2.23–24) or “Time’s treacherous span / hangs over humankind, / swirling the current of life’s course” (I. 8.14– 15), or in the depiction of a too-diffident competitor as being “balked of prizes properly his own / when an undaring spirit drags him backward by the hand” (N. 11.31–32). Carried still further, it can result in outright personifications like “Arrogance, bold-mouthed mother of Excess” (O. 13.10) or “Excuse . . . the daughter of tardy-minded Afterthought” (P. 5.27–28) and in the free-ranging metaphorical imagination that turns a “brazen-jawed” anchor into “swift Argo’s bit and bridle” (P. 4.24–25), wine into “the vine’s impetuous child” (N. 9. 51–52), a chorus-trainer into a “sweet mixing-bowl of loud-resounding song” (O. 6.91), Mt. Aetna into a “yearlong nurse of biting snow” (P. 1.20), and Hector into “Troy’s unswervable, unconquerable pillar” (O. 2.81–82). 24. Another ready point of access for appreciating Pindar can be found in the mythical narratives that figure so prominently in the odes (see above, §18). To modern readers, of course. the myths themselves are unlikely to be as familiar as they were to the odes’ original audience (or audiences), and it was precisely that culturally conditioned familiarity that made Pindar’s selective, compressed, and elliptical manner of storytelling not only possible but distinctly advantageous. Still, any challenges posed by allusiveness are amply offset by other qualities no less characteristic of the poet, chief among them pictorial vividness and dramatic power. Many are the figures and moments that catch the imagination: Pelops standing “alone in dark of night” at the sea’s edge, calling on his former lover Poseidon to help him win a bride (O. 1.71– 85); Evadne “laying down her crimson belt / and silver pitcher underneath a thicket of dark shade” in order to give birth to Iamus (O. 6.39– 41), or the infant Iamus himself, “hidden within a rush-bed and impenetrable brambles, / where violets immersed in beams / of yellow

Introduction

21

and deep-purple light / his tender body” (O. 6.53–56); Athena leaping forth from the head of Zeus with a shout that frightens Sky and Earth (O. 7.35–38), or that same goddess appearing in a dream to Bellerophon, “her aegis gleaming darkly in the night” (O. 13.65–72); Apollo “standing in divided flame” to rescue Asclepius from his mother’s funeral pyre (P. 3.38–44); Peleus holding fast to Thetis while she transmutes herself into “all-conquering fire, the razor claws / of lions bold in stratagem, / and the keen edge of terrifying teeth” (N. 4.62–64). Memorable, too, though varying in tone, are the scenes played out between two speaking actors, as when Apollo summons Chiron to witness Cyrene’s bare-handed combat with a “brawny lion” and then disingenuously belies his own omniscience in the bashfulness of first love, thereby evoking from the Centaur both amusement and gentle rebuke (P. 9.26–49); or when Jason squares off against the usurper Pelias in two extended confrontations that display the young hero’s selfconfidence, clear-headedness, and resolute determination to recover his rights as heir of Aeolus (P. 4.94–119, 135–67); or—most sublimely— when Polydeuces begs Zeus to let him die with his brother Castor and Zeus responds with an unexpected revelation of identity and the propounding of a fateful choice (N. 10.75–90). To sum up Pindar’s genius as a storyteller in a single example, one can point to the tale of the infant Heracles and his strangling of Hera’s serpents (N. 1.35–72). The horror of the creatures themselves, the prodigious strength of the baby’s “inescapable hands,” the panic and bustle in the royal household, Amphitryon’s mingled awe and joy when he sees, “defying bounds, / the purpose and the power of / his son”—all these elements, rendered with the utmost vividness and feeling, form a highly effective backdrop for Tiresias’s prophetic speech, which adumbrates both the career of monster-slaying labor that lies ahead of the newborn hero and the apotheosis that will be its eventual reward. 25. A third source of literary interest in Pindar’s odes, along with style and storytelling, is the content of his thought. Given his habitual use of gnomic statements and mythical paradigms both to create a larger conceptual context for athletic achievements and to reflect on the challenges of treating such achievements justly and effectively in verse, it is not surprising that he should raise issues of concern and relevance to thoughtful readers in any age. One of these issues, broached in a number of odes, is the inherently ambiguous nature of verbal expertise and the

22

Introduction

persuasive charm (charis) that it engenders. Pindar’s usual word for the expertise itself is sophia, the “skill,” “art,” or (practical) “wisdom” of the craftsman or other adept in a technical pursuit, while its persuasive effect is generally represented as being a gift of the Graces or Charites, those daughters of Zeus through whom “all pleasure and all sweetness come to mortals” (O. 14.5–6). Yet the sophia to which the laudator proudly lays claim when he declares that he is “foremost in poetic skill among Greeks everywhere” (O. 1.116) and has “served as guide to many others in poetic skill” (P. 4.248) is the same sophia that can be “put to a hateful use” in speaking abusively about the gods (O. 9.37–38), or that “deceives, leading astray with stories,” when wielded by a poet like Homer, who succeeded in securing greater credit for Odysseus than he deserves because “on his lies, through soaring craftsmanship, / there rests some quality of awe” (N. 7.20–23). Similarly, the “embellishments” rightfully applied to the praise of worthy men (O. 1.105, N. 11.18) assume quite a different cast when they appear in “tales embellished beyond the true account / with lies of intricate design” and those tales in turn gain currency because “Charm, which fashions all that pleases mortals, / by adding her authority makes even what outstrips belief / be frequently believed” (O. 1.28–32). So too in Nemean 5, when Hippolyta persuades her husband that Peleus has tried to rape her, the terms used to characterize the slanderous accusation—her “intricate designs,” the “lying tale” that she “crafted, fitting piece to piece” (28–29)—seem intended to suggest linguistic resources and techniques all but identical to those employed by poets, and this point is underscored later in the ode when the word “intricate” (poikilos) is transferred from wily plots to praisesongs earned by victorious athletes (42). Although it seems on the face of it a risky business to raise the issue of credibility so forcefully while engaged in poetic encomia, which after all must command the belief of those who hear them for their purpose to be achieved, it is characteristic of Pindar to confront hard truths head-on and thereby add ethical weight to his poetic mission. 26. A second topic of perennial debate that often arises in the odes is the relative importance of “nature” and “nurture” in the genesis and development of human aptitudes. Exemplified above all by the figure of Heracles and by the lineage of heroes descended from Aeacus (Peleus, Telamon, Ajax, and Achilles), the concept of innate ability is fundamental to Pindar’s representation of athletic victory, and he has

Introduction

23

several different ways of expressing it. One general word for it is areta or “excellence” (e.g., O. 10.20, N. 4.41, I. 3.13), which when pluralized becomes that quality made manifest through concrete action in the form of “exploits,” “achievements,” or “deeds of prowess” (e.g., O. 9.16, P. 8.24, N. 3.32, I. 5.45). Another term in regular use is phua or “nature” (from the same root that gives us “physics”), which in this sense always appears in the dative case with modal force, as in such statements as “By nature does the noble spirit passed / from fathers to their sons stand forth to view” (P. 8.44–45) and “By nature we each differ, like the lots we draw in life, / one this and others that” (N. 7.54; cf. also O. 2.86, O. 9.100, N. 1.25). Common too are the adjectives sungenēs and sungonos, both denoting what is “born with” a person and hence inherent in his being; thus it is “by inborn nature” (to sungenes) that the young Thessalian Hippocleas has gained victory like his father before him (P. 10.12; cf. N. 6.8–9), and thus Aristagoras of Tenedos is praised for his “wondrous build and inborn (sungonon) fearlessness” (N. 11.12; cf. P. 8.60). Viewed from another perspective, “inborn” qualities possessed “by nature” can be regarded as “god-given” or conferred by “destiny,” as when it is said of Epharmostus that “by divine grace this man was born / strong-handed, nimble-limbed, with valor in his gaze” (O. 9.110–11; cf. O. 11.10, P. 1.41–42, N. 1.9), or when the laudator himself lays claim to “some destined artfulness” in his cultivation of “the Graces’ choicest garden” (O. 9.26–27; cf. N. 4.41–43, N. 5.40–41). 27. Whereas for the relationship between natural ability (whether martial, athletic, or poetic) and systematic instruction, passages in which the two are directly juxtaposed incline strongly toward the disadvantage of the latter, as can be seen at Nemean 3.40–42: “Glory that is inborn gives heft to action, / while one whose skills are taught, a man of dark / and shifting purpose, never with sure foot / steps to his goal, but tastes a thousand sorts of worth with ineffectual will” (cf. O. 2.86–88, O. 9.100–104). In other contexts, however, the value of instruction in enhancing native gifts is given due recognition, particularly in connection with athletic trainers (cf. O. 8.59–64, O. 10.20–21); and even in Nemean 3 itself the denigration of “one whose skills are taught” is followed a mere dozen lines later by a passage (53–58) on Chiron the Centaur, great educator of heroes, and the key role he played in helping to actualize the potential of those who grew up under his tutelage, including Jason (cf. P. 4.102–3), Asclepius (cf. P. 3.5–7, 45–46), and

24

Introduction

Achilles (cf. P. 6.21–23). The notion that Pindar exalts natural ability and depreciates mere “learning” has long been a truism among his commentators, who have tended to link it with a supposed “aristocratic” bias toward heredity. The evidence of the corpus as a whole, however, points to a more complex and nuanced understanding of the issue, and one more in keeping with the poet’s own conception of his mission as combining the roles of praiser and preceptor. If the vein of ethical counsel runs strongest in odes for powerful rulers like Hieron of Syracuse (O. 1, P. 2, P. 3), Theron of Acragas (O. 2), and Arcesilas of Cyrene (P. 4), it is in fact implicit in any commendation of choices made and aspirations achieved, as well as in any exemplary figure, positive or negative, that is brought forward for contemplation. The paradoxical injunction addressed to Hieron at Pythian 2.72—“Become what you have learned you are”—is pertinent to anyone who recognizes his own best self in the interwoven fabric of particular facts, general truths, and mythic paradigms that constitutes an epinician ode.

The Olympian Odes

O LYM P IA N 1

for Hieron of Syracuse, victor in the horse race

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Best is water, and gold, like blazing fire by night, [Str. 1] shines forth preeminent amid the lordliness of wealth. But if it’s contests that you wish to sing of, O my heart, then look no further than the sun for warmth and brilliance in a star within the empty air of day, nor let us herald any games as higher than Olympia’s, from which comes glorious song to cast itself about the intellects of skillful men, that they may celebrate the son of Cronus when, amid great riches, they arrive at the blest hearth of Hieron, who wields his scepter lawfully among the fruitful fields of Sicily. He culls the foremost of all excellences, and he is made resplendent too by music’s choicest strains, such songs as we men often sing in playful fashion round his friendly table. Now from its peg take down 25

[Ant. 1]

26

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the Dorian lyre, if Pisa’s grace and Pherenicus’ too have placed your mind beneath the spell of sweetest thoughts, recalling how beside the Alpheus he rushed on, giving his body’s strength ungoaded to the race, and so infused his lord with mastery, the Syracusan king whose joy [Ep. 1] is horses. Bright for him shines fame in the brave-hearted colony of Lydian Pelops, with whom the mighty Earthholder fell in love, Poseidon, when from that pure cauldron he was by Clotho taken out, his shoulder marked with gleaming ivory. Wonders are many, to be sure, yet doubtless too men’s talk, tales embellished beyond the true account with lies of intricate design, beguile and lead astray. And Charm, which fashions all that pleases mortals, [Str. 2] by adding her authority makes even what outstrips belief be frequently believed; still, future days remain the wisest witnesses. It’s fitting for a man to say good things about the gods, for so the blame is less. Son of Tantalus, contrary to earlier accounts I shall proclaim how when your father called the gods to that most orderly of feasts at his dear Sipylus, offering them a banquet in return, then was it that the One with Splendid Trident snatched you up, his mind subdued by longing, and on golden horses [Ant. 2] brought you up to the lofty house of widely worshipped Zeus, where at a later time Ganymede came as well, to render Zeus the selfsame services. But when you disappeared, and those who sought you long

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27

failed to return you to your mother, at once some envious neighbor told a tale in secret, how into water brought by fire to fullest boil they cut you with a cleaver, limb by limb, and then among the tables, as the final course, they portioned out your flesh and ate. For me, however, there’s no way to call [Ep. 2] any among the blessed gods a glutton: I stand back. Often a lack of profit falls to slanderers. And truly, if the watchers on Olympus ever held a mortal man in honor, Tantalus was he—but all in vain, for he could not digest his great good fortune. In his greed he gained excess of ruin, for the Father hung over him a mighty stone; and, anxious at all times to cast it from his head, he strays exiled from merriment. He has this helpless life of lasting toil, [Str. 3] a fourth trial with three others, since he cheated the immortals by sharing with his drinking friends and age-mates the nectar and ambrosia that they had used to render him free from decay. But if in any action any man hopes to elude divinity, he is in error. Thus the immortals sent his son back once again to dwell among the short-lived race of men. And when, toward the time of his youth’s blossoming, his chin was darkening with soft hair, he set his thoughts upon the ready marriage that might be his by wresting fair-famed [Ant. 3] Hippodamia from her father, the king of Pisa. Drawing near the white-flecked sea, alone in dark of night, he hailed the loud-resounding

28

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80

85 86b

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God of the Trident, who close by the young man’s feet revealed himself. To him he said: “Come, if in any way the Cyprian’s affectionate gifts, Poseidon, can lay claim to gratitude, then curb Oenomaus’ brazen spear; convey me on the swiftest of all chariots to Elis; couple me with mastery. For thirteen men, all suitors, he has killed, and so puts off the marriage of his own daughter. Great risk lays [Ep. 3] no hold on those that lack both strength and spirit. Since we must die, why sit amidst the dark and to no purpose coddle an inglorious old age, lacking a share of all that’s noble? No, for me this contest is a task that must be undertaken, and may you fulfill my dearest wish.” He spoke thus, and the words he seized upon were not without effect. Exalting him, the god granted a golden chariot and a team of tireless winged horses. He took down strong Oenomaus and took the maiden as his bride, begetting six sons, leaders eager to excel. And now he has a share in splendid acts of sacrifice, reclining by Alpheus’ course, in his well-tended tomb beside the altar which throngs of strangers visit. Fame gleams far and wide from the Olympic races of Pelops, where the speed of feet contends, and utmost strength courageous to bear toil. The one who wins enjoys, throughout the rest of life, a honeyed calm,

[Str. 4]

as far as games can give it. Still, the blessing that [Ant. 4] comes day by day is always uppermost for every mortal. As for me, to crown

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110

115 115b

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that man with music in the Aeolian mode, a tune appropriate to a horseman, is my duty. I am confident that no host exists who can lay claim to deeper knowledge of noble ends nor yet to greater power, at least among those living now, to be embellished with loud folds of song. Having this as his special care, a guardian god takes thought for your ambitions, Hieron. Unless he should leave suddenly, I hope to honor a still sweeter triumph with a swift chariot, having found [Ep. 4] a path of words to lend assistance as I draw near to Cronus’ sunny hill. For me, indeed, the Muse in her reserves of force maintains the mightiest arrow: while different men are great in different ways, the utmost peak belongs to kings. Extend your gaze no further. May your lot be to walk on high throughout the time you have; may mine be to keep company with those who win on each occasion, foremost in poetic skill among Greeks everywhere.

Olympian 1 is one of four odes (P. 1, P. 2, and P. 3 are the others) composed by Pindar for Hieron of Syracuse, who ruled that city—the most powerful in Sicily—from 478 until his death in 467. Commissioned to celebrate a victory won by Hieron’s racehorse Pherenicus in 476, the ode seems to have been placed first among the Olympians in part because it begins with ringing praise of the Olympic games, in part because Pelops’s chariot race against Oenomaus, the culminating focus of the ode’s central narrative, can be regarded as a mythical prototype of Olympic competition. According to the tale it tells, Pelops owed his success in that race to the passion that his own youthful beauty had earlier inspired in Poseidon, a passion so strong that the god even brought him up to dwell on Olympus. In presenting this love relationship, which may well have been his own invention, Pindar

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contrives to acknowledge the existence of an alternative version of events, one that had Pelops “subsumed” into the divine in an even more literal sense when his father, Tantalus, cooked and served up his dismembered body at a banquet for the gods. Deftly summoned up with a few brief strokes in 25–27, this lurid tale prompts immediate misgivings in the speaker and is forthwith replaced by an account that both puts the love motif front and center (36–45) and explains how the old story, now condemned as impious slander, first came into being (46–53). Revealed to involve the misappropriation and misuse of nectar and ambrosia rather than an anthropophagous feast, Tantalus’s transgression and subsequent punishment (54–64) form a dark background for the next chapter in Pelops’s story, which brings Poseidon’s love for the young man to fruition in his gift of the chariot and winged horses that will ensure success (65–89). Although the myth’s paradigmatic significance relative to the laudandus remains inexplicit, as is typically the case with Pindar’s narratives, we are presumably invited to conclude that Hieron, like Pelops, owes his success in equestrian competition to divine favor; that, like Pelops, he has made the “heroic choice” that wagers risk for glory (cf. 81–84 with note); and that unlike Tantalus—an illustration per contrarium—he has been able to “digest” his good fortune and not succumb to that “greed” and “ruin” that proverbially lie in wait for those of high and prosperous station (55–58). Meanwhile, however, by prompting reflections on the seductive power and charm of verbal artistry (28–34), the rejected tale of Pelops’s youth has raised issues of truth and credibility that one might suppose a praise-poet would wish above all to leave untouched, dependent as he is for his effectiveness on winning the belief of his audience. This willingness to confront the potential abuses to which persuasive speech can be put is highly characteristic of Pindar and attests to the ethical seriousness with which, for him, the encomiastic endeavor is imbued. 1–7 A priamel (app. §2): As water is supreme on the level of physical subsistence and gold on the level of material possessions, so on the level of spiritual goods like honor and fame the Olympic games are supreme among athletic contests. The same hierarchy (though couched in conditional form) appears at O. 3.42–45.

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9 the intellects of skillful men The adjective sophos and noun sophia, conventionally rendered as “wise” and “wisdom,” are often used by Pindar with reference to the professional expertise of craftsmen, including craftsmen of the verbal arts, i.e., poets; cf. intro. §25. 10 the son of Cronus I.e., Zeus, here in his capacity as divine patron of the Olympic games. 18 Pisa I.e., Olympia; see intro. §21. Hieron’s racehorse Pherenicus (“bringer of victory”) won also at the Pythian games (cf. P. 3.73–74). 20 Alpheus The river on which Olympia is situated. 23 Bright for him shines fame See note on 93–94 and app. §9. 24 the brave-hearted colony of Lydian Pelops I.e., Elis in the western Peloponnesus, where Pelops was brought by Poseidon and where Olympia is located. 25–27 On its initial appearance the motif of Poseidon’s love for Pelops is simply added to the traditional tale of dismemberment and anthropophagy: once the pieces of Pelops’s body were returned to the cooking pot, he reemerged in miraculous good health, with an ivory shoulder to replace the only part that had actually been consumed (by Demeter). Clotho facilitates the return to life just as she and her sister Fates attend collectively at childbirth (cf. O. 6.42, N. 7.1). 28–32 Two reasons are given for the prevalence of false “wonders” in the world: (a) the innate human tendency to embroider truth with fiction, and (b) the equally innate human tendency to be taken in by the “charm” (charis) of artful speech. Personified and pluralized, charis becomes the Graces (Charites), on whom see glossary and app. §15. 37–38 that most orderly of feasts Implicitly corrects one aspect of the speaker’s first attempt at telling the story: Tantalus’s banquet was not the cannibalistic horror that envious neighbors subsequently made it out to be (47–51). 40 the One with Splendid Trident Poseidon, often identified by his weapon of choice, the three-pronged fishing spear (cf. 73, O. 8.48, P. 2.12, N. 4.87).

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44 Ganymede See glossary, and cf. O. 10.105. 45 the selfsame services Although Ganymede is usually represented as a cupbearer to the gods, it is clearly implied here (as in Theognis 1345–48) that the “services” rendered were sexual in nature. 52 I stand back A similar instance of “ethical recoil” occurs at N. 5.16; see app. §7. 54 the watchers on Olympus I.e., the gods; cf. P. 3.27 (of Apollo). 55–64 Tantalus’s great good fortune (olbos) was epitomized by the extraordinary privilege of social intimacy with the gods that he enjoyed, one that extended even to his consumption of nectar and ambrosia. According to the “revised” version of events, it was his misappropriation of these immortalizing substances, not his supposed serving-up of human flesh, that led to his everlasting punishment. 57 the Father Zeus. 57b a mighty stone See glossary under “Tantalus,” and cf. I. 8.9–11. 58 he strays exiled from merriment I.e., he is banished from the joys of festivity by his never-ending apprehension of imminent catastrophe. On festal merriment (euphrosynē) as an epinician theme, see note to N. 4.1, and cf. P. 4.129, I. 3.10. 60 a fourth trial with three others It is uncertain whether this phrase alludes (a) to three other trials endured by Tantalus in addition to the suspended rock or (b) to three other sinners in whose company he undergoes his eternal torment. 64 But if in any action any man . . . This conditional sentence and the one in 54–55 beginning And truly, if the watchers on Olympus neatly frame the account of Tantalus’s transgression and punishment in an instance of ring form, on which see app. §9. 70 Hippodamia Daughter of Oenomaus of Elis, the king of Pisa (71). Oenomaus insisted that any man who wanted to marry Hippodamia must compete with him in a chariot race. Since the king’s own horses were of divine origin, he was able to overtake

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and kill each suitor that presented himself—until he encountered Pelops and the winged horses bestowed by Poseidon. 75 the Cyprian Aphrodite. 81–84 For Pelops’s heroic sentiments in the face of mortality, cf. P. 4.185–87; the ultimate prototype of this attitude is Achilles’ choice of a short life with kleos (fame and glory) over a long one without it (Iliad 9.410–16). 90–91 he has a share in splendid acts of sacrifice An allusion to the active hero cult that was accorded to Pelops at Olympia in historical times. 93–94 Fame gleams far and wide A ring-form echo of Bright for him shines fame (23); see app. §9. 101 the Aeolian mode On the several “modes” of Greek music, see intro. §8. 103 my duty A hint both at contractual obligation (app. §8) and at a more general ethical imperative to praise good men (cf. P. 9.93–96). 103–5 On the particular form of this “categorical vaunt,” which combines (1) a negative pronoun or equivalent (“no host”), (2) a geographical or temporal category (“among those living now”), and (3) an expression of comparison (“deeper knowledge,” “greater power”), see app. §13. Epinician poets not infrequently speak of their patrons in terms of the Greek social institution of “guest-friendship” (xenia), which binds its partners together in an enduring relationship of mutual respect and obligation; cf. P. 3.69, P. 10.64–66, I. 6.18. 109 a still sweeter triumph I.e., one gained in the four-horse chariot race, which was more prestigious than the race for horse and jockey alone that was won by Pherenicus. The hope here expressed was finally fulfilled for Hieron in 468, but the commission to celebrate that victory was awarded to Bacchylides (Ode 3) instead of Pindar. On “victory wishes” as a recurrent element in epinicians, see app. §12. 111 Cronus’ sunny hill A small hill at Olympia (known also as Cronion), frequently mentioned in connection with the game-site.

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112 the mightiest arrow Refers to the sentiment that follows: in exercising kingship my client has attained the loftiest distinction attainable by human beings. On the “archery of song,” see app. §14. 115b–16 In these lines the persona of the speaker becomes essentially indistinguishable from Pindar of Thebes, an epinician poet of Panhellenic stature and reputation; see intro. §14. O LYM P IA N 2

for Theron of Acragas, victor in the chariot race

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O songs that rule the lyre, [Str. 1] what god, what hero, and what man are we to celebrate? Pisa, indeed, belongs to Zeus; and Heracles established the Olympic festival as the first-fruits of war; but it is Theron, victor in the four-horse chariot race, who must be shouted forth, righteous in his regard for strangers, bulwark of Acragas, his city’s savior, flower of a famous line, men who, steeling their hearts to labor, [Ant. 1] gained sacred ground to be their riverside home, and proved themselves the eye of Sicily. Unfolding in its destined form, life brought both wealth and glory to crown their native virtues. O Cronian child of Rhea, you who guard Olympus’ seat, the summit of all contests, and Alpheus’ crossing, may you, cheered by the warmth of song, preserve with gracious spirit their ancestral soil for their posterity. Once deeds are done, [Ep. 1] for good or ill, just or unjust, not even Time who is father of all things has power to undo the end. Forgetfulness, however, may with kindly fortune come;

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under the weight of noble joys, pain dies, its fierce resistance mastered, whenever Destiny, which comes from god, propels [Str. 2] prosperity aloft. This truth applies to Cadmus’s regal daughters, who suffered hugely: grief falls heavy to the ground when blessings gain the upper hand. One lives among the Olympians, having died amid the thunder’s flash and roar, Semele of the streaming hair; she is held dear by Pallas always and father Zeus, but chiefly by her son, the ivy-crowned. And then they say that in the sea as well, [Ant. 2] among the briny Nereids, imperishable life has been ordained for Ino through the whole of time. For mortals, truly, no fixed bound of death has been allotted, nor can we know, when sunrise brings each day to birth, whether it will close peacefully, with good unblemished. Various currents flow at various times, bearing delights and troubles to mankind. Thus Destiny, maintaining in hereditary trust [Ep. 2] this family’s benevolent fate, along with heaven-sent prosperity brings pain too in some measure, itself reversible with time. This has been so since Laius’ destined son stepped out across his path and killed him, and so brought the prophecy spoken of old at Pytho to fulfillment. A sharp-eyed Fury marked the deed [Str. 3] and slew his warlike progeny with mutual slaughter; and yet, though Polynices fell, Thersander still lived on, in young men’s games and in the brunt of war much honored, scion and savior of Adrastus’ house. Deriving thence his stock and seed, it is

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befitting that Aenesidamus’ son should meet with lyres and revel-songs of triumph.

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For at Olympia he himself [Ant. 3] has won a prize, while to the brother whose inheritance he shares the Graces have conjointly brought, at Pytho and the Isthmus, flowers of victory in the twelve-turn chariot race. To hit upon success, attempting competition, frees one from the charge of folly. Wealth indeed, when adorned with virtues, brings due measure of diverse ends within one’s grasp, sustaining deep ambitions eager at the chase, a star conspicuously bright, the truest source [Ep. 3] of steady radiance for men. If one who has it knows the future— knows that the dead whose souls are reckless forthwith pay penalty here, while crimes committed in this realm of Zeus are judged beneath the earth by one whose sentence resounds with grim necessity; but always under equal nights [Str. 4] and equal days of shining sun, the good are granted life with little labor, not troubling the soil with strength of hand, nor yet the sea’s expanse, to earn an ineffectual livelihood. Instead, beside revered divinities sit those who found their joy in keeping oaths; existence without tears is theirs, while what the rest endure bears no beholding. But those who have the hardihood, [Ant. 4] sojourning thrice on either side, to keep their souls apart from all injustice, pass along the road of Zeus to Cronus’ tower, there where ocean breezes blow around the Island of the Blessed. Golden flowers blaze,

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some on dry land, from shining trees, while others grow in water; with such wreaths do they deck both hand and head 75

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as Rhadamanthys, upright judge, decrees. [Ep. 4] He sits in readiness beside the mighty father, husband of Rhea, goddess whose throne is over all. Both Peleus and Cadmus have a place among them, and there Achilles too was brought, once Zeus’s heart had yielded to his mother’s pleas— that man who leveled Hector, Troy’s [Str. 5] unswervable, unconquerable pillar, and brought death to Cycnus, and to the son of Dawn, the Ethiopian prince. Many swift arrows lie in store within the quiver crooked beneath my arm, having a voice that speaks to experts; but to grasp their gist requires interpreters. That man has wisdom who knows many things by nature; but let those whose skills are learned fling forth, like boisterous crows, their futile, indiscriminate chatter against the godlike bird of Zeus. Come, aim the bow now at the target, O my heart! Who is the one at whom we now are launching darts of fame once more with mild intent? Drawing at Acragas, I shall proclaim on oath straightforward truth: no city has within a hundred years produced a man who toward his friends is more beneficent in thought or free of hand

[Ant. 5]

than Theron. Yet excess can tread down praise when, partnered with no sense of right and wielded by the greedy, it is disposed to babble on and so

[Ep. 5]

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obscure the noble deeds of good men. For as sand escapes all counting, so all the joys which that man has bestowed on others who has the power to set forth?

Theron ruled as tyrant of Acragas, a large and wealthy city in southwestern Sicily, from 488 until his death in 472; the chariot victory that this ode celebrates was won in 476. Theron’s family of Emmenidae traced their descent from the royal house of Thebes (cf. 35–47), and the checkered history of that line contributes in a significant way to one of the ode’s central themes, the vicissitudes of fortune. Another important theme is wealth and its proper uses. The topic is initially expounded in lines 53–56, which stress the enormous scope for action, achievement, and enduring recognition that wealth makes possible—but only if one who possesses it also “knows the future” in the sense of grasping the full implications of human mortality and allowing those implications to regulate his conduct. After articulating this proviso in 56, however, the speaker gets so carried away by the complex and picturesque details of his unfolding eschatological vision (57–83) that the conditional clause with which he began is left in syntactical suspension. If from that point of view the entire account of the afterlife is a kind of “digression” from the business at hand, in terms of Pindar’s larger purposes in the ode it plays a key role in setting forth the general principle that human actions, for good or ill, have lasting consequences, as well as the specifically relevant corollary that posthumous rewards await the virtuous and noble—of whom Theron is a conspicuous (although within the excursus itself merely tacit) example. Only in the poem’s final triad, once the speaker has renounced further artful indirection in favor of a boldly “natural” declaration of simple facts (83–88), does a resounding vaunt bring Theron and his innumerable benefactions explicitly to the fore (89–100). 3 Pisa . . . belongs to Zeus I.e., Olympia and the Olympic festival are under the patronage and protection of Zeus. On the synonymity of Pisa and Olympia, see intro. §21. 4 as the first-fruits of war Heracles founded the Olympic games using booty gathered from his war against Augeas, king of Elis; the story is told at O. 10.24–77. 9 their riverside home The city of Acragas was situated on a river of the same name; cf. P. 6.6, P. 12.1–3.

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10 the eye of Sicily I.e., its greatest glory; the metaphor recurs at O. 6.16. 12 Cronian child of Rhea I.e., Zeus. 13 Alpheus The river on which Olympia is situated. 22–23 Cadmus’s regal daughters For the stories alluded to in the lines that follow, see glossary under “Cadmus,” “Semele,” and “Ino.” 26 Pallas Athena. 27 her son, the ivy-crowned Dionysus, to whom ivy (like the grapevine) was sacred. 29 Nereids Daughters of the sea-god Nereus. 38 Laius’ destined son Oedipus; see glossary for the story. 40 Pytho Delphi, site of Apollo’s most famous oracle. 42 mutual slaughter The two sons of Oedipus, Eteocles and Polynices, killed one another during the attack of the Seven against Thebes; for the story see glossary under “Adrastus.” 43 Thersander Polynices’ son by Argia, a daughter of Adrastus (45). 49 the brother Xenocrates, whose victories at the Pythian and Isthmian games are celebrated in P. 6 and I. 2. 50 the Graces On the Graces’ role as dispensers of athletic victory, see app. §15. 51–52 To win at the games is to refute the commonsense view that it is foolish to wager great outlays of effort and expense on so inherently uncertain an enterprise; cf. “those who hit upon success are judged wise even by their fellow citizens” (O. 5.16). 53 Wealth . . . adorned with virtues Pindar’s praise of wealth is usually qualified by reference to the virtuous manner in which it is wielded and/or to the philanthropic and honor-enhancing purposes to which it is put; cf. P. 1.90–94, P. 3.110–15, P. 5.1–9. 56 If one who has it knows the future In an instance of “narrative momentum” (cf. app. §6), the speaker never gets around to providing this conditional clause with a proper conclusion; parallels elsewhere indicate that it would be something along the lines of “such a man is worthy of the

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highest praise” (see app. §4). The connection between the proper use of wealth and “knowing the future”—ultimately, recognizing death as the common lot of mankind—is most explicitly articulated at N. 7.17–20, but cf. also N. 1.31–33, I. 1.67–68. 57–60 What seems to be said here is that misdeeds committed in the world below are punished here on earth (through the process of reincarnation) and vice versa, but the lines are controversial and have been variously interpreted. The eschatological passage as a whole, showing as it apparently does the influence of the Pythagorean doctrine of metempsychosis (reincarnation), has been of considerable interest to historians of Greek religious thought. Since the doctrine is alluded to nowhere else in Pindar’s epinicians, its presence here is perhaps to be taken as reflecting Theron’s own personal beliefs and concerns. 59–60 one whose sentence resounds Presumably either Hades/ Pluto (schol.) or Minos (cf. Odyssey 11.568–71). 70 Cronus’ tower This detail, like husband of Rhea (77), presupposes the (non-Hesiodic) tradition whereby Cronus (perhaps along with the other Titans; cf. P. 4.291) was ultimately released by Zeus from his imprisonment in Tartarus. 71–75 This picture of a paradise at the western edge of the world appears to draw on Hesiod’s Works and Days 167–73 and on Odyssey 4.563–68, though the latter refers to “the Elysian plain” rather than “the Isles of the Blessed.” 75 Rhadamanthys See glossary, and cf. P. 2.73–75. 78 Peleus and Cadmus On these two exemplars of supreme human felicity, see glossary, and cf. P. 3.86–95. 80 his mother The sea-goddess Thetis. 81–83 On Hector, Cycnus, and Memnon (the son of the Dawn) as victims of Achilles’ valor, see glossary; on allusions to death and destruction as harbingers of an impending “break-off,” see app. §11. 83–95 The speaker declines any further treatment of the posthumous rewards awaiting the righteous in favor of a straightfor-

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ward assertion that Theron’s philanthropic use of wealth is unsurpassed. The mode of implicit praise through paradigms may appeal to the cognoscenti, but a poet whose ability is rooted in nature knows unerringly when “artfulness” should give way to an unvarnished simplicity of statement. 86–87 On the contrast between skills possessed “by nature” (or, alternatively, bestowed “by god”) and those that have been “learned” or “taught,” see intro. §25, and cf. O. 9.100–104, N. 3.40–42. 88 the godlike bird of Zeus I.e., the eagle, regularly associated with Zeus (cf. P. 1.6–10, P. 4.4, I. 6.49–50); it recurs as an image of poetic supremacy at N. 3.80–82. 89–95 The conditional clause left suspended earlier is finally supplied with the injunction to praise which by convention it expects (see note on 56). Instead of being stated as such, however, the injunction is directly enacted through the “archery of song” motif (app. §14) and the “categorical vaunt” that follows; cf. O. 1.103–105 with note. 95–100 To particularize Theron’s countless acts of beneficence would be to defeat the very purpose of praise by burying its object under a plethora of detail. A similar image of innumerability is found at O. 13.44–46. O LYM P IA N 3

for Theron of Acragas, victor in the chariot race

5

To please the Tyndarids who welcome guests [Str. 1] and please too Helen of the lovely hair while honoring famous Acragas—such is my prayer as I in Theron’s name raise high an Olympic victor’s hymn, the choicest prize for horses with untiring feet. The Muse, no doubt with this in view, stood by me as I found a fresh new way of matching Dorian dance-steps to the voice of splendid revelry, for festal crowns

[Ant. 1]

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10

bound fast to flowing locks exact from me this debt laid down by gods, to fashion from the lyre’s assorted tones, the shout of pipes, and words adroitly placed a fitting mixture for Aenesidamus’ son. Pisa as well demands that I cry out, from whence songs come by heaven’s allotment to mankind

15

whenever, heeding Heracles’ behests of old, the strict Hellenic judge, a man of Elis, places above a victor’s brows, circling his hair, the ornament of olive, silver-green, which once from Ister’s shady springs Amphitryon’s son brought back to be the fairest emblem of Olympic contests,

20

after he had through argument won over [Str. 2] the Hyperborean people, servants of Apollo. Trustworthy in intent, he begged from them, for Zeus’s sanctuary that welcomes all, a tree whose planting would give shade for men to share in and a crown of exploits. Already then, when he had hallowed altars to the Father, square in his face the midmonth moon with golden chariot had set the eye of evening blazing at the full,

25

and he had instituted sacred judging of great games, [Ant. 2] along with a four-yearly festival, upon Alpheus’ holy banks. But no fair trees were flourishing in Pelops’ country by the glens of Cronion; naked the precinct seemed to him, in thralldom to the sun’s sharp rays. Then was it that his heart impelled him to set forth to the Istrian land, where Leto’s own horse-driving daughter had welcomed him on his arrival from

[Ep. 1]

[Ep. 2]

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30

Arcadia’s ridges and deep-winding dells, that time when at Eurystheus’ bidding, and urged onward by compulsion from his father, he went to fetch the doe, gold-horned, which once Taÿgeta had offered, marked as sacred, to Orthosia.

35

Pursuing her, he saw too that far country [Str. 3] behind the frigid blasts of Boreas, and stood there, struck with wonder at the trees. It was for those that, later, sweet desire possessed him, to plant about the course’s turning-post rounded twelve times by horses. So now to that festival he comes in gracious mood, together with the Twins, the godlike children of deep-girded Leda.

40

To them did he entrust, on going to Olympus, [Ant. 3] the spectacle of games for stewardship, where men’s distinction is at stake, as is the nimble speed of racing chariots. As for me, some impulse of the heart rouses me to declare that to the Emmenidae, and Theron too, great glory has been granted by the Tyndarids, those splendid horsemen, since beyond all mortals the family honors them at tables set for guests,

45

keeping with pious mind the ceremonies of the gods. [Ep. 3] If water is supreme, and of possessions gold inspires the greatest reverence, now Theron to the utmost bounds has made his way through deeds of worth and grasps, from his own home, the pillars of Heracles. What lies beyond is closed to sage and fool alike. I shall not seek it out; to do so would be futile.

This ode was composed for the same chariot victory as Olympian 2, an instance of duplication that has parallels elsewhere in Pindar’s epinicians (e.g., O. 10 and O. 11). Some ancient commentators surmise that it was intended for performance at a ritual banquet (theoxenia) in honor of the Tyndarids Castor and Polydeuces (cf. 1, 34–41), but this is

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by no means certain. Having defined the ode’s occasion and the obligation to praise which it imposes (1–10), the speaker then embarks on an extended aetiological narrative that purports to explain how the olive wreath came to be the prize and symbol of Olympic victory (13– 34). As often happens in Pindar’s handling of myths, the events of the story are presented out of their proper chronological order. Unscrambled, the sequence is as follows: (A) While pursuing an elusive deer with golden horns, Heracles came upon the land of the Hyperboreans and there observed some olive trees, whose beauty filled him with wonder (26–32). (B) Some time later, when he had founded the Olympic games and then been struck by the barrenness of his chosen site (19–24), he remembered the olive trees with longing and conceived the idea of planting some around the racecourse (33–34). (C) Setting out on a second journey to the sources of the river Ister (25–26), he there persuaded the Hyperboreans to grant him the object of his quest (16–18). Heracles’ continued involvement with the Olympic festival and the oversight of athletic competition that he bequeathed to the Tyndarids serve to effect a transition back to the here-and-now (34– 38), where Theron’s family of Emmenidae are recognized, and Theron himself is accorded the compliment of the ne plus ultra theme: his victory at Olympia has carried him, metaphorically speaking, to the uttermost limits of the earth (38–45). 1 Tyndarids, Helen See glossary. The reference to the Tyndarids’ hospitality (philoxenia) anticipates a theme that will recur in amplified form near the end of the poem (39–41). 4–9 Representing himself with unusual explicitness as a premeditating craftsman of choral song, the encomiastic “I” draws a clear temporal distinction between the present moment of performance and an earlier phase of invention and composition (including choreographic composition), then emphatically underscores the need for a judicious blending of musical and textual elements in the finished product. On the distinction between speaking and making as functions of the encomiastic persona, see intro. §15. 8 On the lyre and pipe as sources of musical accompaniment, see intro. §8.

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9 Pisa I.e., Olympia. 11 heeding Heracles’ behests of old I.e., as founder of the Olympic games (cf. 19–22). 12 the strict Hellenic judge The judges supervising the Olympic games were known as Hellanodikai (“judges of the Greeks”), a name that reflected the Panhellenic character of the games. Elis The region of the western Peloponnesus where Olympia was located. 14 Ister’s shady springs Pindar here imagines the river Ister (Danube) as having its source in some indefinitely distant region of the north. Amphitryon’s son Heracles; see glossary on the complexities of his parentage. 16 the Hyperborean people On this mythical race living “beyond the north wind” (the literal meaning of their name; cf. 31–32), see glossary, and cf. P. 10.33–44. 19–22 Heracles’ founding of the games at Olympia is narrated at length in O. 10. 19 the Father Zeus, who begot Heracles on Alcmene. the midmonth moon The Olympic games were celebrated during the period of the full moon; cf. O. 10.73–75. 22 the Alpheus The river that flows past Olympia. 23 Pelops’ country I.e., Elis; see glossary, and cf. O. 1.24. Cronion The “hill of Cronus,” a landmark near the Olympic game-site. 26 Leto’s . . . daughter Artemis. 28 Eurystheus See glossary for information on Heracles’ subjection to this Tirynthian king and the role played in it by Zeus (his father). 29 the doe, gold-horned The lengthy pursuit and eventual capture of this animal (traditionally known as the Hind of Ceryneia) was one of Heracles’ Twelve Labors. Taÿgeta One of the Pleiades (see glossary), saved from Zeus’s amorous attentions through the intervention of Artemis; the doe was presumably intended to serve as a thank-offering to the goddess.

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30 Orthosia A cult-title of Artemis in Sparta. 32 Boreas The North Wind. 34 that festival The Olympic games. the Twins The Tyndarids, here in their capacity as patrons of athletes and athletic competition. 38 the Emmenidae Theron’s clan; cf. P. 6.5. 39–41 The implication seems to be that Theron’s success in equestrian competition reflects an ongoing relationship of mutual benefaction between his family and the Tyndarids. 42–44 On this priamel, cf. O. 1.1–7 with note. 44 the pillars of Heracles Supposedly erected by the hero on either side of the Straits of Gibraltar to mark the western limit of navigation (cf. N. 3.22–26); on their symbolic force as representing the ultimate maximum of human achievement, see app. §4, and cf. N. 3.19–21, N. 4.69–70, I. 4.11–13. 45 I shall not seek it out The first person has “indefinite” force (app. §5), endorsing (on Theron’s behalf) a clear-sighted recognition of human limits. O LYM P IA N 4

for Psaumis of Camarina, victor in the chariot or mule-cart race

5

Sovereign charioteer of tireless-footed thunder, [Str.] O Zeus—for yours they are, the Seasons that, circling, have with song and changeful lyre dispatched me as witness of the loftiest of contests; then too, when friends enjoy success, good men receive the sweet news with immediate delight— but you, I beg, O Cronus’ son, who hold sway over Aetna, that wind-blown height which presses hard on mighty Typhon and his hundred heads, offer due welcome to the Olympic victor and this revel-song, by virtue of the Graces

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10

15

20

25

47

a most enduring light for exploits of wide power. [Ant.] As Psaumis’s it comes, to hail the chariot of a man who, crowned with Pisan olive, strives to wake renown for Camarina. May the gods look kindly upon his future prayers, since I commend him for his zeal in rearing horses, the joy he takes in hospitality to all strangers, and his devotion, staunch and unalloyed, to peace and concord in the town he loves. I will not stain my speech with lies; direct experience is the proof of men. In that way was the son of Clymenus [Ep.] delivered from the Lemnian women’s scorn. Victorious at the race in brazen armor, he said this to Hypsipyle, on coming for his crown: “Such am I in my speed, with hands and heart to match. Thus on young men as well gray hair may grow, and often does, contrary to the likely time of life.”

According to the ancient commentators this ode commemorates a victory with the four-horse chariot in the 82nd Olympiad (452 b.c.); other dates have been suggested by modern scholars, however, and some believe that its occasion was not a chariot victory at all but rather the same triumph with the mule-cart that is celebrated in Olympian 5. About the victor, Psaumis of Camarina, nothing is known beyond what can be gathered from the odes themselves. Two of the traits singled out for praise in this poem, his enthusiasm for rearing and racing horses (14) and his civic-mindedness (16), receive ampler development in Olympian 5. 1–3 On the Seasons, see glossary under “Horae.” They can be said to belong to Zeus in two different senses: as divine personages, they are his daughters by Themis (cf. O. 13.6–8); as the time periods denoted by their collective name, they measure off the quadrennial recurrences of the Olympic festival (the loftiest of contests) over which he presides. It is in the latter capacity that they have laid on the speaker the solemn mission he is now discharging.

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6–7 Aetna, Typhon On this volcano in eastern Sicily and the monster reputedly imprisoned beneath it, see glossary, and cf. P. 1.15–28; for Aetna’s association with Zeus, cf. O. 6.96, P. 1.29–30, N. 1.6. 9–10 On the Graces’ recurrent role as dispensers of poetically and rhetorically effective speech, see app. §15, and cf. in particular N. 4.6–8: “Words live a longer time than deeds, / whenever with the Graces’ happy aid / the tongue has drawn them from the mind’s deep thought.” 10 As Psaumis’s it comes The referent of it is this revel-song (9). 11 Pisan I.e., Olympian; see glossary. 12–16 In an instance of “ethical” motivation (app. §7), the speaker’s brief prayer for continued prosperity and success provides the pretext for a catalogue of Psaumis’s virtues, all of them standard topics of praise in epinicians: his enthusiasm for rearing horses (hippotrophia), his generous treatment of guests and strangers (philoxenia), and his commitment to maintaining domestic tranquility (hēsychia) within the city-state; cf., e.g., I. 2.37–42, I. 4.7–9, 14, P. 8.1ff. with note. 17–18 In vouching for his veracity on the subject of Psaumis, the speaker appeals to his auditors’ own firsthand knowledge of their fellow citizen. 19 the son of Clymenus Erginus of Orchomenus, one of the Argonauts; for their sojourn of Lemnos, cf. P. 4.252–54. 22 Hypsipyle Queen of the Lemnian women. 24–26 Appearances can be deceiving: just as young men may be gray-haired before their time, so men who are on in years may still have the capacities of youth. The grueling race-in-armor (intro. §5) required both speed and stamina. O LYM P IA N 5

for Psaumis of Camarina, victor in the mule-cart race Of lofty deeds of excellence, and of Olympic crowns, [Str. 1] receive this sweet reward, daughter of Ocean, with glad heart, the gift of Psaumis and his team of tireless-footed mules.

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5

49

Making your city, Camarina, and its cherished [Ant. 1] people prosper, he honored six twin-altars at the greatest of gods’ festivals, through sacrifice of cattle and five-day contests at the games, with chariot, mules, and single horse. To you, when [Ep. 1] he had won, he offered the delightful prize, and through the herald’s voice proclaimed his father Acron and his newly founded home.

10

Coming from the fair stabling-place of Pelops and Oenomaus, it is, O city-guarding Pallas, your most holy precinct he sings of, the Oanus river and the country’s lake,

[Str. 2]

and Hipparis’s stately channels that bring water to [Ant. 2] the people; then too, he swiftly builds a precinct, lofty-timbered, of firm-standing houses, delivering to the light, from helpless straits, this commonwealth of townsfolk. 15

Always, when acts of prowess are at stake, expense [Ep. 2] and toil contend toward an outcome cloaked in risk; but those who strike success are judged wise even by their fellow citizens. Savior Zeus aloft in the clouds, who have a home [Str. 3] on Cronus’ hill and honor broad Alpheus’ waters and the sacred cave of Ida, as your suppliant I approach, my voice attuned to Lydian pipes,

20

entreating that this city with illustrious deeds of [Ant. 3] manhood may be adorned, and you, Olympic victor, while delighting in

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Poseidon’s horses, may with cheerfulness bear old age to its end, surrounded, Psaumis, by your sons. If a man [Ep. 3] nurtures hale prosperity, being generous with his wealth and winning praise as well, let him not seek to make himself a god. As an Olympic event the race with mule-cart (apēnē) was short-lived, being instituted in 500 and discontinued in 444, and perhaps for that reason it was ignored by the compilers of the victor-lists so crucial to the dating of epinicians. A clue to the date of this ode, however, can be found in the designation of Camarina as Psaumis’s “newly founded home” (8), which is generally taken as a reference to the rebuilding of that city in 461, some twenty-five years after its destruction by Gelon, tyrant of Syracuse. If not long after that rebuilding—perhaps, indeed, in the very next year—a man of Camarina competed at Olympia in multiple events (cf. 7) and triumphed in one of them, one can easily imagine what a boost to civic morale it would be to have his name linked with the city in the herald’s proclamation to a Panhellenic assembly. Moreover, if Psaumis himself had made a significant contribution to the rebuilding process, as lines 13–14 seem to indicate, then he could be justly regarded as a public benefactor in at least two quite different senses. This civic dimension to the occasion may be reflected in the divinities that are invoked in each of the three triads: the eponymous nymph of Camarina herself (1–8), Pallas Athena in her aspect as protector of cities (9–11), and Zeus Soter, the Savior or Deliverer (17– 19). It should be added that, from the time of the ancient scholia onward, doubts have been entertained about the ode’s authenticity as a work of Pindar, but none of the arguments for excluding it from the corpus can be regarded as definitive. 1–3 An invocation to Camarina as nymph of both the city and the lake for which it was named (cf. 11), requesting in hymnal form (app. §1) that she “receive” the ode (this sweet reward) from Psaumis. Camarina is addressed as daughter of Ocean because Ocean (or Oceanus) was regarded as the father (by Tethys) of both the world’s (male) rivers (cf. P. 9.14) and its (female) springs and lakes.

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5 six twin-altars The sacred precinct at Olympia contained six double altars, each dedicated to a pair of gods (cf. O. 10.48–49); the expense of offering sacrifices at all of them must have been very considerable. 6 five-day contests The Olympic festival took place over a period of five days. 7 with chariot, mules, and single horse It would appear that Psaumis entered three different events but met with success in only one. 9 stabling-place of Pelops and Oenomaus I.e., Pisa and Olympia; for the story that links the two figures in a prototype of Olympian chariot-racing, see glossary under “Oenomaus,” and cf. O. 1.67–89. 11–12 Camarina lay between the mouths of two rivers, the Oanus and the Hipparis. 15 expense and toil These two factors in agonistic success are similarly paired at I. 1.42, I. 5.56–58, I. 6.10–11. The first of them pertains particularly to equestrian competition, which was necessarily limited to the wealthy; see intro. §5. 16 For the sentiment, cf. O. 2.51–52 with note. The point of even is that members of the same community are stereotypically inclined to begrudge one another’s good fortune; cf. P. 1.84, P. 11.28–30, Herodotus 7.237 (“one citizen envies another citizen when he is successful”). 17 Cronus’ hill A landmark at Olympia. 18 cave of Ida There were mountains named Ida both in Asia Minor and on Crete, but the close linkage with Cronion and Alpheus suggests some feature local to Olympia. 19 Lydian pipes Presumably a reference to musical “mode,” on which see intro. §8. 22 Poseidon’s horses On Poseidon’s connection with horses, cf. P. 6.50–51, I. 1.54. 23–24 On the form and content of this “encomiastic conditional,” see app. §4.

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for Hagesias of Syracuse, victor in the mule-cart race

5

10

15

20

By raising golden pillars such as brace the well-built foreporch of a house, we shall construct a mansion, so to speak, worth gazing at; one must, commencing on a work, make its façade shine far and wide. Supposing him to be an Olympic victor, a steward of Zeus’s altar-oracle at Pisa, and a co-founder of illustrious Syracuse, what hymn of praise could such a man escape, so long as he encounters fellow townsfolk ungrudging in regard to longed-for songs?

[Str. 1]

The son of Sostratus can be assured [Ant. 1] that he by grace of heaven has his foot in just that sandal. Exploits lacking risk neither by landsmen nor on hollow ships are held in honor; many, though, remember if some fine deed is compassed by hard toil. For you, Hagesias, there lies in store the commendation once delivered by Adrastus, roundly and as right required, concerning Oïcles’ son, the prophet Amphiaraus, when the earth had caught and dragged down both the man himself and his sleek horses. Thereafter, when the bodies laid [Ep. 1] on seven pyres had been consumed, the son of Talaus made in Thebes a pronouncement such as this: “I yearn for my battalions’ eye, one good both as a prophet and at fighting with the spear.” The same can be said of the man from Syracuse, the master of the revels. Though not contentious nor too fond of triumph, to this at least—yes, even swearing a great oath— I shall bear lucid witness, and the honey-voiced Muses will offer no objection.

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25

30

35

40

53

O Phintis, now yoke up for me [Str. 2] the strength of mules with all speed, so that on a clear and open highway our chariot may set forth, and I may reach the family’s very stock. Along this road, indeed, out of all others, those mules know how they should lead the way, since at Olympia they were awarded crowns. The gates of song must therefore be thrown wide for them, and at Pitane on Eurotas’ banks we must today arrive in time. She indeed, having lain—so goes the tale— [Ant. 2] beside Poseidon, Cronus’ son, brought forth a child, Evadne of the violet locks. She hid her unwed pregnancy within her robe’s loose folds, and in the appointed month dispatched attendants, charging them to give the child for fostering to that hero, son of Elatus, who in Phaesana ruled Arcadian men and claimed the Alpheus as his dwelling-place. There was she reared, and in Apollo’s arms first touched and tasted Aphrodite’s sweetness. But she did not, through all her time, keep secret [Ep. 2] from Aepytus the offspring of the god. To Pytho then, heart filled with inexpressible rage which only keen exertion held in check, he went off, to consult the oracle about that unendurable mischance. She, meanwhile, laying down her crimson belt and silver pitcher underneath a thicket of dark shade, bore a divinely minded child. The One with Golden Hair set Ilithyia, skilled in gentleness, beside her, and the Fates as well. Thus Iamus, from the womb and from the longed-for pangs of birth, came forth into the light at once. In pain and grief

[Str. 3]

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45

she left him on the ground. Two snakes with gleaming eyes, conforming to the gods’ designs, nourished him on the blameless venom of bees in their solicitude. But when the king drove back in haste from rocky Pytho, he questioned everyone within the house about the child born to Evadne, for he said that Phoebus was the father

50

from whom he sprang, and that he would surpass [Ant. 3] all mortals as a prophet for men on earth, and never would his line leave off. This Aepytus revealed; but they had neither heard nor seen a thing, they vowed, although the infant was already five days old. In truth, he lay hidden within a rush-bed and impenetrable brambles, where violets immersed in beams of yellow and deep-purple light his tender body; and his mother thus declared that for all time he would be called

55

60

65

by that immortal name. And after he had plucked [Ep. 3] the fruit that pleasing Youth, gold-garlanded, puts forth, he went down to the middle of the Alpheus and called upon Poseidon, wide in might, his ancestor, and called as well on him who guards god-founded Delos with his bow, requesting for himself some honor useful to the people, at night beneath the open sky. Replying in clear words, his father’s utterance sought him out: “Arise, my son, and set out hither to a place that all will share in, following my speech.” They came to Cronus’ lofty hill with its precipitous cliff, where he bestowed on him a twofold treasure of divination: there and then to hear a voice unknown to lies; and later, when Heracles, bold in stratagems, would come,

[Str. 4]

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70

75

80

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grand scion of Alcaeus’ line, and for his father set up a much-thronged festival and institute the greatest games, at that time on the heights of Zeus’s altar he ordered him to found an oracle. Since then, far-famed among the Greeks [Ant. 4] has been the stock of Iamids. Good fortune has attended them; esteeming worth in all its forms, they move along a radiant road. Proof shows itself in every deed and circumstance: disparagement from others held in envy’s grip hangs over any on whom, while driving in first place around twelve circuits of the course, an awe-inspiring Grace distills the shapeliness of fame. If in all truth, Hagesias, while dwelling under Cyllene’s mountain, your maternal ancestors with sacrifice and pious supplication [Ep. 4] paid ample tribute many times to Hermes, herald of the gods, who has athletic contests as his portion and holds Arcadia’s brave men in esteem— he is the one, O son of Sostratus, who with the thunderous Father brings your good luck to fulfillment. I seem to have, upon my tongue, some touchstone of clear sound that draws me, willingly, toward fair streams of breath. My mother’s mother was Stymphalian, Metope rich in flowers; she bore in turn horse-driving [Str. 5] Thebe, whose lovely water will be my drink as I weave out for warlike men a song of many strands. Now urge on your companions, Aeneas, first to celebrate Hera, goddess of maidenhood,

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and then to judge if through veracious words we can evade the ancient slur, “Boeotian swine.” You are an upright messenger, the fair-haired Muses’ dispatch-stick, sweet mixing-bowl of loud-resounding song. Tell them, moreover, to make mention both [Ant. 5] of Syracuse and of Ortygia, which Hieron governs with unsullied scepter, adroitly framing counsels; there too, he reveres Demeter of the ruddy feet, the festival that honors her daughter brought back on white horses, and Aetna’s Zeus in all his power. Sweet-speaking lyres and choral songs accord him recognition. May approaching time not throw good fortune in confusion; and may he with affection and good cheer receive Hagesias’ revel-band of triumph as from Stymphalus’ very walls [Ep. 5] it comes, from one home to another, leaving Arcadia’s mother-city rich in flocks. A good thing is it, when a storm comes on at night, to have a pair of anchors to throw out from a swift ship. May heaven’s love, for both these citizens and those, apportion an illustrious lot. Master, lord of the sea, provide a voyage that sails straight, beyond the reach of trouble; and, O spouse of Amphitrite who plies a golden distaff, cause my song’s blossom to thrive and give delight.

Since victories in the mule-car race at Olympia were not officially recorded (see introductory note to O. 5), this ode for Hagesias of Syracuse cannot be dated with precision, but it was most probably composed in 472 or 468. A friend and associate of Hieron, to whose piety and just governance tribute is paid in the ode’s final triad (92–96), Hagesias belonged by birth to the Iamidae or Iamids, a priestly family that traced its descent from Apollo’s son Iamus, who was credited with establishing the practice of pyromancy (divination by fire) at Zeus’s altar in Olympia (70; cf. 5). In addition to furnishing the subject matter of the ode’s central

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narrative, which deals in leisurely fashion with the antecedents, birth, and coming of age of Iamus (29–70), this ancestral connection also motivates the preliminary exemplum of the warrior-prophet Amphiaraus (12–17); moreover, since Iamids had participated in the original colonization of Syracuse from Corinth in the eighth century, it endowed Hagesias with the status of being, by heritage, a “co-founder” of his city (7). As the ode indicates, however, he also had civic ties with the Arcadian city of Stymphalus, and the text is designed to be performable with equal propriety in either place, under the direction of a chorus-trainer named Aeneas (87–91). The speaker reveals an Arcadian connection of his own in the fictive genealogy of 84–87, which allows him to assert a bond of kinship with Hagesias through the Stymphalian water-nymph Metope and her daughter Thebe, from whom, as a Theban, he claims descent. Moreover, when he invokes Aeneas’s aid in refuting the proverbial stereotype of Boeotian rusticity and boorishness (89–90), his Theban identity serves to highlight by contrast the consummate urbanity and tact with which he handles Hagesias’s dual allegiance to Stymphalus and to Syracuse: the balancing of Cyllenian Hermes (77–81) and Parthenian Hera (88) against Sicilian Demeter and Aetnaean Zeus (94–96), the two homes (99), the two anchors (101), the two bodies of citizens (102). Heard in Stymphalus, the brief valedictory prayer to Poseidon with which the ode concludes (103–5) would naturally be understood as a request for the ode’s safe conveyance to Sicily and its successful re-performance there; the same words sung in Sicily would gesture toward a metaphorical “voyage of life” and the ode’s survival into aftertime. 1–7 The eye-catching foreporch or façade of the ode is the succinct announcement (in generic and hypothetical form) of three honors to which Hagesias can lay claim, one of them (Olympic victory) being a matter of personal achievement, the others accruing through his membership in the Iamid clan. 6–7 what hymn of praise could such a man escape A “negative expression” (app. §13) equivalent in sense to “such a man must receive all sorts of praise.” The proviso in line 7 is significant given the stereotypical envy and ill will of fellow citizens; cf. O. 5.16 with note. 9 Exploits lacking risk Although Hagesias himself did not drive the winning mule-car (cf. 22–27), the risk of failure—and with

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it, of wasted effort and expense—is an inherent feature of the agonistic enterprise; cf. O. 5.15–16. 10 neither by landsmen nor on hollow ships A “universalizing” or “polar” doublet (land + sea = everywhere); for other examples, cf. O. 12.3–5, N. 6.48–49, I. 4.41–42, I. 5.4–6. 13–14 On Adrastus and Amphiaraus, respectively leader and seer in the expedition of the Seven against Thebes, see glossary; for the latter’s disappearance into the earth, cf. N. 9.24–27, N. 10.8–9. 15 on seven pyres One for each of the seven contingents in the Argive army; cf. N. 9.24. the son of Talaus Adrastus. 16 my battalions’ eye I.e., the pride and joy of my army; the metaphor is found also at O. 2.10. 18 the man from Syracuse Hagesias. 19–21 The speaker emphatically—though not, he insists, pugnaciously—asserts his truthfulness in praising Hagesias, and specifically in drawing a comparison between him and Amphiaraus. 22–28 The speaker calls on Hagesias’s driver Phintis to yoke up the “chariot of song” for a new topic of discourse, the victor’s ancestry or stock (genos). The conceit behind this rhetorical maneuver is that since the mules were victorious at Olympia, they necessarily “know the area” and are thus ideally qualified to transport the speaker through a tale that begins in Laconia (29–33), moves to Arcadia (34–63), and comes to its climax precisely at the Olympic game-site (64–70). On the “highway of song,” see app. §14; for the “chariot of song,” cf. O. 9.80–81 with note. 28 Pitane, Eurotas Respectively, a town in Laconia and that region’s most important river. Like with all speed (23), in time points to temporal limits within which the obligation to praise must be fulfilled; on such “situational” motivations, see app. §8. 29 She Still Pitane, but now in her aspect as eponymous nymph. 30 of the violet locks This curious epithet (cf. P. 1.1) seems to mean no more than “dark-haired” (and is rendered thus at I. 7.23). 33 Elatus’ son Soon to be identified as Aepytus (36).

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34 The river Alpheus rises in northwestern Laconia, then curves through southwestern Arcadia to reach Elis (and Olympia). 37 Pytho Delphi, site of Apollo’s most famous oracle. 41 the One with Golden Hair Apollo; cf. O. 7.32, P. 2.16, I. 7.49. 42 Ilithyia Goddess of childbirth; for her association with the Fates (on whom see glossary), cf. N. 7.1. 45–47 Both snakes (cf. P. 8.46) and bees (cf. P. 4.60) have mantic associations. The oxymoronic characterization of honey as blameless venom is perhaps intended to suggest a pun on Iamus and ios, “poison.” 49 Phoebus Apollo. 57 that immortal name Draws attention to another pun, this one linking Iamus with ia, “violets.” 57–61 Cf. O. 1.67–74, where Pelops, grown to manhood, goes to the shore of the sea and calls upon Poseidon. 59 him who guards . . . Delos Apollo, whose birthplace that island was. 64 Cronus’ lofty hill An oft-cited topographical landmark at Olympia; cf. O. 1.111, O. 5.17, O. 8.17, O. 10.49–50 . 68 Alcaeus’ line Alcaeus was the father of Heracles’ foster father Amphitryon. On Heracles’ founding of the Olympic festival, cf. O. 3.19–21, O. 10.24–59. 70 The particular method of divination practiced at Olympia was pyromancy, whereby priests interpreted the flames produced in the burning of sacrificial offerings (cf. O. 8.2–7). 71 the stock of Iamids The repetition of stock from 25 rounds off the section on Hagesias’s Iamid ancestry. 73–76 It is a commonplace that good fortune and/or success can give rise to envy (phthonos) in other people (e.g., O. 1.47, P. 7.19, P. 11.29); here the relationship is presented in reverse, with the existence of envy serving as evidence of high worth. 75 an awe-inspiring Grace For the Graces as dispensers of athletic victory, see app. §15. 77 Cyllene’s mountain The reputed birthplace of Hermes, located near Stymphalus in northeastern Arcadia.

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79 On Hermes’ association with athletics, see glossary. 81 the thunderous Father Zeus. 82–87 “I am about to utter proof of my goodwill, and the avowal is one that I both must and wish to make: I am, as a Theban, a kinsman of the men I am praising.” On the speaker’s self-identification in these lines, see intro. §14. 84 Metope A Stymphalian water-spirit and mother by Asopus of Thebe (85), the eponymous nymph of Thebes (cf. I. 1.1, I. 7.1). 88 Aeneas On this figure, see introductory note; his putative role in the literal transfer of the ode from Stymphalus to Syracuse is mirrored within the text by the way in which the injunctions addressed to him shift the focus from Hagesias’s Arcadian heritage (77–88) to his “second home” in the city of Hieron’s righteous rule and priestly functions (92–97). Hera, goddess of maidenhood According to Pausanias (8.22.2), Hera was worshipped at Stymphalus under the titles Maid, Wife, and Widow. 91 dispatch-stick A device used (particularly by Spartans) for the transmission of confidential messages, consisting of a baton around which a strip of leather was wound in slantwise fashion; a message written lengthwise along the baton thus prepared could be deciphered by its recipient only when the leather strip was wrapped around a second baton of identical diameter. The metaphor points, like an upright messenger, to the fidelity and exactitude with which Aeneas will discharge his mission, while the image of the mixing-bowl suggests the role of a choral director in skillfully combining the various “ingredients” (words, music, dance) that make up an epinician performance. 92 Ortygia A small island off Syracuse that formed the oldest section of the city; cf. P. 2.6, N. 1.2. 95 her daughter Persephone, whose seasonal return from the underworld was celebrated through annual rites. 96 Aetna’s Zeus For Zeus’s association with Mt. Aetna, cf. O. 4.6–7, P. 1.29–30, N. 1.6. 99 from one home to another I.e., from Stymphalus to Syracuse; see introductory note.

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102 both these citizens and those Pointing “here at hand” and “way over there” respectively, the demonstratives are sufficiently vague to allow for different referents in the two places of performance. 103 lord of the sea Poseidon, husband of the Nereid Amphitrite.

O LYM P IA N 7

for Diagoras of Rhodes, victor in boxing

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As when one takes a goblet from a lavish hand, [Str. 1] the vine’s dew foaming up within, and offers it to a young bridegroom with a toast, a gift from one home to another, all-gold, foremost of possessions, in homage to the drinking-party’s charm and to the new connection, and thereby, while friends are present, makes him envied for a marriage of like minds, so I, dispatching to prize-winning men [Ant. 1] a draft of nectar, Muses’ gift and mind’s sweet fruit, seek favor in their eyes, victorious as they are at Olympia and Pytho. Fortunate is the one whom fair reports encompass. At different times on this man and on that the Grace that makes life bloom casts kindly looks, amid the lyre’s sweet music, often, or the pipes’ full tones. And now, accompanied by both, I have arrived, [Ep. 1] together with Diagoras, while hymning the sea-born child of Aphrodite and the bride of Helius, Rhodes, so that for one who fights straight on, a man prodigious in his size, who crowned himself beside the Alpheus and by Castalia as well, I may speak praise in recompense for boxing, may praise too

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his father Damagetus, friend to righteousness, both dwelling on the island with three cities, near the prow of Asia’s spacious plains, with warlike folk from Argolis. 20

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On their behalf I wish, beginning from Tlepolemus, [Str. 2] to set straight and disseminate a tale of common interest to Heracles’ lineage of wide power, since on the father’s side they claim descent from Zeus; but as Amyntorids they have in Astydamia their foremother. Around the minds of mortals errors and misdeeds hang in uncounted numbers, and there is no means of finding out what now and in the end is fittest for a man to [Ant. 2] meet with. Just so Licymnius once, Alcmene’s bastard brother, struck by a staff of rigid olive-wood while coming out of Midea’s bedchamber, was slain at Tiryns by this land’s founder in a fit of wrath. Derangement of the senses makes even wise men go astray. He sought the counsel of the god. To him the One with Golden Hair [Ep. 2] from his sweet-scented shrine proclaimed a voyage out from Lerna’s shore straight to a sea-girt dwelling-place, where once the gods’ great king with golden snowstorms drenched the city, around the time when, aided by Hephaestus’ arts and bronze-forged axe, Athena from the summit of her father’s head leapt forth and shouted with enormous voice; Sky shuddered at the sound, and mother Earth. Not long before, the power that lights the world, Hyperion’s son, had bidden his dear offspring to observe a duty soon to come,

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so that they might be first to raise up for the goddess an altar in clear view, and, offering hallowed sacrifice, might cheer the hearts alike of father and spear-thundering maid. Excellence and its joys are planted in mankind by reverence born of forethought; 45

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oblivion’s cloud, however, can steal up unnoticed, [Ant. 3] drawing aside the straight course of events beyond the purview of the mind. Thus they, while going up, of blazing flame bore in their hands no seed, but built with fireless rites a sacred precinct on the city’s height. For them Zeus gathered up a tawny cloud and rained abundant gold; but she herself, bright-eyed, bestowed on them all kinds of craft and skill in which, among earth’s [Ep. 3] men, they might excel through labors of the hand. The streets bore works of art resembling things that lived and moved. Deep fame was theirs: when one is taught, his native wisdom too grows greater. Tales told by men of ancient days recount that not yet, at the time when Zeus and the immortals were dividing up the earth, was Rhodes apparent on the sea’s expanse, but in salt depths the island lay concealed. In the Sun’s absence, none marked out a share as his, [Str. 4] and so they left him with no land assigned, that god of purity. When he made mention of it, Zeus was ready to cast the lots anew, but he did not allow it, for he said that he himself could see, within the white-flecked sea and growing from its floor, a land that would feed many folk and treat their flocks with kindness.

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And he at once bade Lachesis, whose hair is bound [Ant. 4] with gold, to hold her hands aloft and, on the gods’ great oath, to utter no untruth but with the son of Cronus nod consent that, once uplifted to the radiant air, for his own person it would thenceforward be a prize. That speech’s chief points were fulfilled, falling out in accord with truth: from shifting waves the isle shot forth, and is possessed [Ep. 4] by the life-giving father of keen rays, the master of fire-breathing horses. There he once joined with Rhodes in love, begetting seven sons whose minds, their patrimony, were the wisest of olden days. Of them one sired Camirus, Ialysus the eldest, and Lindus; apart from one another, when they had divided in three ways their father’s land, these held their share of cities, dwellings that still bear their names. There sweet requital of misfortune’s grief [Str. 5] is instituted for Tlepolemus, who led Tirynthians overseas, as if he were a god, where sheep are led for savory sacrifice and contests are decided. With their wreaths Diagoras has twice been crowned, and at the famed Isthmus he has four times attained success; at Nemea once and then again, and also rocky Athens. The bronze in Argos recognized him, and the prizes [Ant. 5] in Thebes and in Arcadia, and the duly constituted games put on by the Boeotians; Pellene also, and Aegina, where he won six times; meanwhile, at Megara the reckoning carved on stone offers no different tale. O father Zeus, who guard the heights

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of Atabyrion, honor the hymn ordained by custom for Olympic victors,

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and honor too a man who with his fist has found [Ep. 5] excellence. Grant him favor and respect both from citizens and from strangers, since along a path averse to insolence he travels straight, well taught in lessons which an upright heart bequeathed by noble ancestors has solemnly proclaimed. Do not conceal from view the lineage of Callianax, which is of public import: when splendors come to the Eratidae, the city too enjoys festivities. Within one span of time varying breezes blow, now this way and now that.

By winning (in 464) the Olympic crown celebrated in this ode, Diagoras of Rhodes became a periodonikēs or “circuit-victor” (intro. §4), able to claim successes at all four of Greece’s Panhellenic competitions. He was indeed the most celebrated boxer of his day, and the ode itself was reportedly written out in gold letters and offered as a dedication to Athena in her temple at Lindus. Through his clan of Eratidae (93) Diagoras claimed descent from Heracles’ son Tlepolemus, who according to legend brought settlers to the island from Tiryns, a city not far from Argos. The sequence of events that prompted that migration provides the subject for the first of three tales to which the ode’s central triads are devoted, each one being drawn (in reverse chronological order) from the “mythical history” of Rhodes and all of them thematically focused on the eventual rectification of some transgression, error, or oversight. Thus Tlepolemus’s impulsive killing of Licymnius results in exile (24–33) and ultimate heroization on Rhodes (77–80); urged by their father to be first in offering sacrifice to the newly born Athena, the sons of Helius the Sun-god forget to bring fire to the ritual occasion but are nonetheless rewarded with wealth, technical expertise, and great renown (34–53); and the Sun’s unintended exclusion from a divine lottery of the world’s lands leads directly to his acquisition of Rhodes as a permanent possession (54–76). A formal feature shared by the first two of these episodes is the copious use of general reflections (gnōmai) to highlight and underscore their thematic content (24–26, 30–31, 43–47, 53). Framing this long narrative

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midsection are the ode’s first and final triads, each largely devoted to Diagoras and his achievements. As measured by the number of venueentries (eleven), the catalogue of his previous victories (80–87) is the longest for an individual athlete in all of Pindar’s epinicians. 1–10 While two other odes (O. 6, I. 6) also begin with similes, this comparison is by far the lengthiest and most elaborately worked out, containing no fewer than four overt parallels (father-in-law = poet/speaker, goblet = ode, wine-pourer = Muses, bridegroom = victor). Other analogies, such as that between drinking-party (symposion) and victory-revel (kōmos), are left merely implicit. 1 one The father-in-law, whose responsibility it would be to toast his daughter’s new husband. from a lavish hand I.e., from a wine-server who has poured with generous abandon. 7 prize-winning men The credit for Diagoras’s victories is shared with his family. 8 For other “drafts of song,” cf. N. 3.76–79 (honey and milk), I. 6.1–3 (the Muses’ melodies), I. 6. 74–75 (water of Dirce); for poetry as simultaneously a gift of the Muses (or Graces) and a product of the poet’s own mind, cf. N. 3.9, N. 4.6–8. 11 Victory may be attributed to the favor of a single Grace (e.g., O. 6.76, O. 14.19–20) or to the Graces collectively (e.g., O. 2.50, N. 10.38); see app. §15. 13 I have arrived Note that only six lines earlier the speaker was dispatching the ode; see app. §3 on the “arrival motif.” 14 In her persona as eponymous nymph, Rhodes was a daughter of Aphrodite; as an island, she (or it) rose up from of the bottom of the sea (cf. 61–70). The link between Rhodes and Helius was historical as well as mythic, the island being one of very few places in the Greek world where the Sun was worshipped in the context of an active cult. The famed Colossus that stood astride the harbor of Rhodes was an image of the god. 15–16 beside the Alpheus, by Castalia I.e., at Olympia and Pytho; see intro. §21. 18 three cities The chief cities of Rhodes were Lindus, Ialysus, and Camirus; cf. 73–76.

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18–19 the prow of Asia’s spacious plains Rhodes lies not far off Cynossema, a prominent peninsula in southwestern Asia Minor. warlike folk from Argolis I.e., the settlers brought by Tlepolemus from Tiryns (78). 20 Tlepolemus Son of Heracles (22) and Astydamia (24), hence grandson of Zeus (23) by Alcmene (27); see glossary for his story. 23 Amyntorids Lit. “descendants of Amyntor,” Amyntor being the father of Astydamia. 27 Licymnius Begotten by Alcmene’s father, Electryon, on Midea (29), a concubine. 30 this land’s founder Tlepolemus. 31 the god I.e., Apollo at Delphi. 32 the One with Golden Hair Apollo; cf. O. 6.41, I. 7.49. 33 Lerna’s shore The seacoast not far from Argos. a sea-girt dwelling-place Rhodes. 33–53 In ring-form fashion (see app. §10) this central narrative segment starts from (34) and eventually returns to (49–50) Zeus’s shower of gold, with Athena’s gifts of “craft and skill” as an “aftermath” addition (50–53). Within that overall framework the account first retrogresses to Athena’s birth (35–38) and Helius’s previous injunction to his sons (39–43), then after a gnomic interlude (43–47) moves forward again to their (deficient but nonetheless rewarded) execution of his orders (48–49). 33–34 the gods’ great king Zeus. 39 Hyperion’s son Helius; see glossary. 40 his dear offspring The seven sons (Heliadae) whose birth will be reported in 71–74. 43 father and spear-thundering maid Zeus and Athena. 53 In the case of the Heliadae, their native wisdom is explicitly said to have been inherited from their father (72–73). On the value of instruction in enhancing native gifts, see intro. §27. 64 Lachesis One of the Fates (on whom see glossary); her name means “Allotment.”

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67 the son of Cronus Zeus. 71 the master of fire-breathing horses The Sun was often represented as driving a fiery chariot-team across the sky. 75 their share of cities Cf. 18 with note. 80 sacrifice and contests I.e., rites and games held in honor of the heroized Tlepolemus. 83 The bronze in Argos The prizes awarded at the Argive Heraea were bronze shields; cf. N. 10.22–23. 86 the reckoning carved on stone I.e., a stele at the game-site inscribed with the names and achievements of victors; see intro. §7. 88 Atabyrion A mountain on Rhodes. 92 Do not conceal from view On the “negative expression” ( = “bring to light through praise”), see app. §13. 93 Callianax An ancestor of Diagoras and his clan of Eratidae. 94–95 The theme of vicissitude is also used to close odes at P. 7.19–21, P. 12.30–32, I. 3.18–19. O LYM P IA N 8

for Alcimedon of Aegina, victor in boys’ wrestling

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Mother of games and golden crowns, Olympia, [Str. 1] mistress of truth, where men of prophecy, reading the flames of sacrifice, make trial of the will of Zeus who wields bright thunderbolts, whether he has some word to give concerning human beings who in their hearts are eagerly seeking to gain great excellence and respite after toils, though grace called forth by piety is what fulfills [Ant. 1] men’s prayers— you, as I say, Pisa’s well-wooded precinct on the Alpheus, receive this revel-band and presentation of the crown. There is great fame forever for anyone attended by your radiant prize.

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Different blessings come to different people, and the roads are many that lead, with gods assisting, to success. 15

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Timosthenes, both you and yours have been assigned [Ep. 1] by fate to Zeus, your family’s deity, who gave to you renown at Nemea and beside Cronus’ hill bestowed Olympic triumph on Alcimedon. To gaze on he was beautiful, nor did his deeds disgrace his form when he proclaimed through mastery in wrestling that his country is Aegina of long oars, where Lawfulness, that savior who sits next to Zeus the god of strangers, is esteemed most among men. When weights are heavy and the [Str. 2] scale swings wide, to judge with upright mind and not inopportunely is a task hard to wrestle with. But still, some ordinance of immortals has raised aloft this very land, sea-fenced, to be for strangers from all shores a pillar of miraculous strength— and may approaching time not tire of giving this effect— under the stewardship of Dorian folk since Aeacus, [Ant. 2] whom once the son of Leto and Poseidon wide in sway, wishing to build for Ilium a wreath of battlements, summoned to be a fellow worker upon that wall, since fate had so ordained that when wars started up, and city-sacking battles, it should breathe forth consuming smoke. Three gleaming snakes, when it was newly built, [Ep. 2] sprang at the rampart. Two fell down and on the spot, distraught with fear, cast forth their lives;

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but one leapt in, and shouted. Faced with the portent, pondering, at once Apollo spoke: “Where your hands, hero, did their work shall Pergamus be taken— thus, to me, speaks the omen sent by Cronus’ son, deep-thundering Zeus—

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not without your descendants: with the first it will [Str. 3] be broken, and with the third.” So ran the god’s clear speech, and off he drove in haste to Xanthus and the Amazons with fine horses and the Ister. Meanwhile the Wielder of the Trident steered his swift chariot toward the sea-flanked Isthmus, escorting Aeacus hither on golden horses,

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then on to visit Corinth’s ridge with its famed festival. [Ant. 3] No single thing, for human beings, will offer equal pleasure. If I recur in song to glory won from beardless youngsters by Melesias, let envy hurl no rough stone at my head. At Nemea too, indeed, I shall proclaim an honor of this kind, and one thereafter earned by battling men in the pancratium. Teaching, to be sure, [Ep. 3] is easier when one knows, and not to learn beforehand makes no sense; people without experience are too light of mind. Of deeds like those that man can speak beyond the rest, declaring what approach will best advance anyone who from sacred games intends to carry off the fame that he most longs for. And now, for him, Alcimedon is himself a prize, securing him a thirtieth victory. By divine grace, but also with no lack of manly valor, [Str. 4] he put off on the bodies of four boys

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the hateful journey home, the jeering words, the trudge down hidden ways, and thereby for his father’s father breathed in strength such as can wrestle with old age. Death is indeed forgotten when a man fares in fitting fashion. But I, awakening memory, am duty-bound to offer [Ant. 4] choice praises for the Blepsiadae with their triumphant hands, on whom now rests the sixth crown won at games where garlands are the prize. Then, to the dead as well some share is rightfully accorded; the dust does not conceal from them the cherished glory of their kin. Report, daughter of Hermes, will announce the news [Ep. 4] to Iphion, who then will tell Callimachus of the bright adornment from Olympia which Zeus has just bestowed upon their family. Exploit after noble exploit may he consent to grant, while warding off disease and its sharp pangs. I pray that in apportionment of blessings he show no divided purpose; may he instead confer life free from hurt, that they themselves may prosper, and their city.

The victory in boys’ wrestling that occasioned this ode was won by Alcimedon of Aegina in 460. Alcimedon’s father is nowhere explicitly named as such, but it seems reasonable to identify him as one of the two deceased relatives mentioned in the final epode (82). Another relative, Timosthenes, is addressed in 15–16 as a Nemean victor; although the scholia identify him as Alcimedon’s brother, it has been persuasively argued that he is instead the paternal grandfather referred to (but otherwise left unnamed) in 70–73. Although the initial “hymn” to Olympia (1–10) has suggested to some that the ode was composed for performance at the game-site rather than in the victor’s home community, that hypothesis founders on the demonstratives in 25 (“this very land”) and

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50–51 (“escorting Aeacus hither on golden horses”), both of which point unambiguously to Aegina. As is the case in most odes for Aeginetans, the central myth (31–52) concerns the lineage of heroes known collectively as the Aeacids, its main focus being Aeacus himself as the dynasty’s founding father. His participation, with Apollo and Poseidon, in building the city-wall of Troy is revealed through Apollo’s powers of prophecy to prefigure the gradual unfolding of his descendants’ destined glory over successive generations (42–46)—a pattern that speaks directly to the situation of Alcimedon and his family, allotted by fate to the watchful care of Zeus (15–18), a divine guardian who is both patron of Panhellenic contests and progenitor of the Aeacid line. The subject emphatically brought forward after the myth comes to a close is not (at first) the victor himself, as is usually the case in a section of “second praise” (intro. §20), but rather Alcimedon’s trainer Melesias, who remains the focus of attention to the end of the third triad (54–66). The representation of Melesias as a kind of “secular prophet” who can reveal to athletes how agonistic success may be achieved (62–64) is the culmination of a theme first broached in the opening strophe with the seers at Zeus’s oracular altar (2–7), then reiterated in the central myth when Apollo interprets the omen of the snakes (41–46). 1–10 On the hymnal elements in this invocation to Olympia, see app. §1. 3 The institution of pyromancy at Olympia is credited to Iamus at O. 6.70. 12–14 A summary priamel (app. §2) preparing for the climactic introduction of Timosthenes and Alcimedon as recipients of Zeus’s favor (15–18). 15 Timosthenes Most likely Alcimedon’s grandfather (70); see introductory note. 19 The idea of a match between “looks” and “deeds” recurs at O. 9.65–66, 94, N. 3.19, I. 7.22. On the “negative expression” (“did not disgrace” = “did credit to”), see app. §13. 20 when he proclaimed I.e., when he caused the herald to proclaim; see intro. §7, and cf. O. 5.8, P. 9.73, I. 3.12. 21 Lawfulness Themis, mother of the Horae (cf. O. 13.8). Given Aegina’s importance as a commercial center (on which see

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glossary), the righteous conduct alluded to here and in 23–27 may refer above all to probity in matters of trade and business, including the settling of legal disputes. 22 Zeus the god of strangers I.e., Zeus Xenios, an epithet designating the god’s role as protector of the guest-host relationship (xenia); cf. N. 5.33, N. 11.8. 28–29 As often (e.g., O. 13.24–26, P. 1.56–57, P. 10.17–22, N. 7.67–68, I. 7.39), praise prompts a “touch wood” reaction in the speaker: Long may things continue to be so! 30 Dorian folk One of several ethnic and linguistic subdivisions within the larger category of Hellenes (speakers of Greek), the Dorians occupied much of the Peloponnesus, as well as the nearby island of Aegina. Aeacus Son of Zeus by Aegina, the island’s eponymous nymph. 30–31 On the “associative” transition into myth here effected, see app. §6. 31 the son of Leto Apollo. See glossary under “Laomedon” for the story that follows. 32 Ilium Another name for Troy; see glossary. 34 when wars started up Two wars were fought at Troy, the first waged by Heracles against Laomedon, the second by Agamemnon and Menelaus against Laomedon’s son Priam; each conflict ended with the city’s capture and sack. 42 Pergamus The citadel of Troy. 45–46 the first . . . the third In the earlier sack of Troy (see note on 34) Heracles was assisted by Aeacus’s son Telamon; in the later one a decisive role was played by Neoptolemus, greatgrandson of Aeacus through Peleus and Achilles. 47 Xanthus A river of Lycia in southwest Asia Minor; at its mouth lay Patara, site of an oracle of Apollo. Ister The Danube, perhaps suggesting that Apollo intends to visit his beloved Hyperboreans (cf. O. 3.14ff.). 48 the Wielder of the Trident A common epithet of Poseidon; see glossary, and cf. O. 1.40 with note. 53 Although the precise import of this line has been much debated, its placement in the ode suggests that its chief

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function is transitional, invoking the heterogeneity of human tastes as a justification for dropping one theme and taking up another. 54–55 Like other maneuvers of a “situational” nature (app. §8), this deprecation of ill will should be interpreted in tactical rather than literal terms: different people may like different things, but no one should object to praise of so deserving a man as Melesias, whose outstanding success as a trainer is grounded in his own distinguished record as an athlete. Remarkable in scale and position alike (trainers are usually given brief treatment at or very close to the end of an ode), the passage is best accounted for as marking a kind of “jubilee” in Melesias’s career (the thirtieth victory won under his tutelage). For other tributes to him see N. 4.93–96, N. 6.64–66. 68–69 This evocation of defeat and its attendant miseries has a close parallel at P. 8.81–87. 70 his father’s father See note on 15. 75 the Blepsiadae Alcimedon’s clan. The phrase with their triumphant hands may suggest that the family specialized in combat sports (as did Aeginetans generally, to judge from other odes). 76 at games where garlands are the prize I.e., at Panhellenic festivals as distinct from local ones; see intro. §4. 81 Report, daughter of Hermes Suitable offspring for the god of messengers and heralds. Echo plays a similar role as intermediary to the underworld at O. 14.20–24. 82 Iphion, Callimachus One of these men is likely to be Alcimedon’s father; see introductory note; the reference to disease in 85 may hint at the cause of their death. O LYM P IA N 9

for Epharmostus of Opus, victor in wrestling The song of Archilochus that at Olympia has its voice, the swelling threefold victory chant,

[Str. 1]

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sufficed to lead the way to Cronus’ hill when Epharmostus marched in triumph with dear comrades. Now, though, take the far-shooting Muses’ bow and sweep both Zeus who hurls red lightning and Elis’ hallowed height with missiles such as these, that height which once the Lydian hero Pelops won for himself as Hippodamia’s fairest wedding-gift; and launch a winged arrow of sweet song [Ant. 1] at Pytho too. The words you seize upon will not, you may be sure, fall idly to the ground when you stir up the lyre for feats of wrestling by a man from far-famed Opus. Praise her and her son. There Lawfulness presides, as does her savior daughter, Good Order whose renown is great; there deeds of prowess burgeon too, achieved beside Castalia and also by Alpheus’ streams, whence come the finest garlands to exalt the Locrians’ mother-city bright with trees. But while I set the city of my friends [Ep. 1] ablaze with fiery songs, faster than a high-mettled horse or winged ship I shall send forth this message everywhere, if with some destined artfulness I cultivate the Graces’ choicest garden. They are the ones that grant delightful things; indeed, valor as well as skill is born in men as deity determines. How else, after all, [Str. 2] could Heracles have whirled his club against the trident, that time at Pylos when, astride the town, Poseidon pressed him hard, and hard upon him also, silver bow at war, pressed Phoebus, nor did Hades keep the rod unmoved

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with which he leads down mortal bodies to his hollow hall when men are dying? Cast away that story, O my mouth! To speak of gods abusively is skill put to a hateful use, while vaunts inopportunely uttered ring to the tune of madness. [Ant. 2] Stop prattling now about such things; leave war and every kind of battle apart from the immortals. Bring your speech to bear instead on Protogenia’s city, where—as willed by Zeus of flashing thunderbolts— Deucalion and Pyrrha went down from Parnassus and founded their first home. Without embraces they brought forth a stony race to form one commonwealth, and “people” came to be its name. Rouse up for them a clear-voiced path of words; praise old wine, but the flowers of newer song. They say indeed [Ep. 2] that over the black earth washed mighty waters, but by Zeus’s stratagems an ebb tide all at once drained off the flood. From those two sprang your city’s ancestors with brazen shields, from the beginning sons of daughters of Iapetus’ stock and of the mightiest Cronidae, indigenous kings straight through until the leader of Olympus, [Str. 3] snatching up Opus’ daughter from the land of the Epeans, lay at ease beside her in the glens of Maenalus, then brought her to Locrus, lest life drag him down beneath a weighty doom of childlessness. His wife was carrying the greatest seed within her; and joy seized the hero, seeing his adopted son. His mother’s father’s name

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he chose for him, a man beyond all telling in both bodily form and deeds alike, and gave a town and people to be governed. And strangers came to him [Ant. 3] from Argos and from Thebes, others Arcadians, and men of Pisa too. Among the settlers he most honored Actor’s son, Aegina’s too, Menoetius. His son in turn, accompanying the Atridae to Teuthras’ plain, stood firm beside Achilles alone, when Telephus turned back the valiant Danaans and drove them to their ships along the shore. In that way was made clear, for anyone of sense to understand, the warlike purpose of Patroclus. Thenceforward Thetis’ son in deadly combat advised him never to take up [Ep. 3] a battle-station separate from his own man-mastering spear. May I now be inventive in my speech, to drive along with all due fitness in the Muses’ chariot; may boldness too and comprehensive power attend me. Honoring prowess and his care for strangers, I have come to vindicate the Isthmian headbands of Lampromachus, won when they both achieved supremacy in action on a single day. [Str. 4] Two more successes at the gates of Corinth came to pass thereafter, and others too in Nemea’s vale for Epharmostus. In Argos he gained glory among men, and as a boy in Athens. At Marathon, though wrested from the ranks of beardless youth, what a contest for silver cups did he endure against ones fully grown! And when through quick sharp shifts of cunning

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he mastered his opponents with no fall and then was passing through the crowd, what great shouts greeted him, beautiful in youth’s bloom, his deeds too of surpassing beauty! 95

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Then too, before the Parrhasian host [Ant. 4] he was shown forth as wondrous at the festal assembly of Lycaean Zeus, and likewise at Pellene when he carried off a cloak, warm antidote to frigid winds; and Iolaus’ tomb stands ready as witness, like sea-lapped Eleusis, to his splendors. Whatever comes by nature is supreme, but many men rush at the chance of winning fame with talents merely taught. Without divinity, a thing is none the worse for being kept in silence. Different paths lie open, some outstripping others; [Ep. 4] no single object of concern will foster hope in all of us. The ways of art are steep; but, bringing this prize forth, just shout, straight out and boldly, that by divine grace this man was born strong-handed, nimble-limbed, with valor in his gaze— and, Ajax, at the feast it is your altar, son of Oïleus, that he, by winning, has bedecked with garlands.

Epharmostus of Opus, a Locrian city northwest of Boeotia, won the wrestling victory that this ode celebrates in 468, thereby acquiring the coveted status of periodonikēs or “circuit-victor” (intro. §4). No mention is made of either his father or his clan, and in fact the sole familial reference in the ode is the metaphor inherent in the speaker’s self-exhortation to praise Opus “and her son” (14). Following as it does an initial exposition of the current victory (1–10), that injunction forecasts what will prove to be a clearly demarcated shift of focus within the ode from praise of the victor’s city, with its civic virtues and its mythical traditions (15–79), to praise of the victor himself, with his superlative record of achievement (80–99) and the extraordinary natural (or god-given) tal-

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ents of which that record is a manifestation (100–112). His victory catalogue is surpassed in length only by that of the renowned boxer Diagoras of Rhodes (O. 7), comprising not only the Panhellenic triumphs that made him a periodonikēs but also copious wins at a wide range of local competitions in Boeotia, Attica, and the Peloponnesus. Sheer scale aside, however, the most noteworthy feature of the catalogue is the lengthy and detailed treatment accorded to a single entry, Epharmostus’s hard-won triumph at Marathon (89–94), where, though a “beardless youth” himself, he was apparently compelled to wrestle against fullgrown men through some error in classification. To this picture of a young athlete withstanding and ultimately overcoming formidable odds the ode has already offered two mythical analogues, one in Heracles’ single-handed combat with Apollo, Poseidon, and Hades (29–35) and the other in Patroclus’s steadfast resistance against the onslaught of Telephus (70–79), while his characterization as “beautiful in youth’s bloom, his deeds too of surpassing beauty” (94) has been anticipated in the person of his city’s eponymous hero, “a man / beyond all telling in both bodily form / and deeds alike” (64–66). Yet whereas the figures of Opus and Patroclus emerge naturally from the mythical history of the victor’s city, there are no local ties or associations that can serve to motivate the introduction of Heracles. Pindar solves this tactical problem by having the speaker cite Heracles in overt relation not to Epharmostus but to himself, as an “artful” encomiast no less divinely endowed for skillful speech than the great hero was for valorous action (21–29). 1 According to the scholia, the song of Archilochus (on whom see glossary) was a hymn to Heracles containing the refrain “Hurrah, hurrah, gloriously triumphant, hail, lord Heracles, / both you yourself and Iolaus, a pair of spearmen,” lines that subsequently passed into common use for the impromptu glorification of victorious athletes. The strophe as a whole sets up a contrast between two distinct phases in the celebration of an athletic victory—spontaneous revelry with friends in the immediate aftermath of the event itself (1–4) and the subsequent production and performance of a formal epinician (5–10); cf. N. 4.1–8, N. 8.48–50. 3 Cronus’ hill A familiar landmark at Olympia, soon to be called Elis’ hallowed height (7).

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9–10 On Pelops’ winning of Hippodamia, see glossary, and cf. O. 1.67–89. 14 her and her son On this pairing of city and victor and its programmatic implications for the ode as a whole, see introductory note. 15 Lawfulness Themis (cf. O. 8.21–23), mother of the Horae, of whom Good Order (Eunomia) is one (cf. O. 13.8). Through these personifications Opus is being praised for the stability and excellence of her civic institutions. 17–18 Castalia, Alpheus I.e., at Delphi and at Olympia; see intro. §21. 25–27 On the Graces’ role as dispensers of poetically effective speech, see app. §15. 29–35 In recounting Heracles’ defeat of three gods, Pindar most likely took what earlier tradition knew as three separate encounters and recast them as a single episode in order to magnify the hero’s achievement. 35–41 An “ethical” transition (app. §7): having served its several purposes (on which see introductory note), the tale of Heracles’ superlative prowess is dismissed as both impious and irrelevant, thus clearing the way for an emphatic return to the city of Opus as a topic of discourse. 42 Protogenia’s city I.e., Opus. The name (meaning “first-born”) was traditionally applied to the daughter of Deucalion and Pyrrha; but see note on 48–49. 43–46 Deucalion and Pyrrha The “Noah figures” of Greek myth, whose piety and righteousness made them the sole survivors of a universal flood sent by Zeus to destroy humankind. Having built a ship on the instructions of Prometheus, the couple drifted over the waters for nine days before coming to rest on Mt. Parnassus; from there, the flood abating, they descended to lower ground and restocked the world with human beings by throwing stones over their shoulders (line 46 points to a pun on laes, “stones,” and laoi, “people”). 47 for them I.e., for the people of Opus (or the Locrians in general), whose mythical history is currently being recounted.

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48–49 The endorsement of “newness” in song appears to signal some innovation in the story that follows, most likely the reapplication of Protogenia’s name from the daughter of Deucalion and Pyrrha to the daughter of Opus of Elis, whose abduction by Zeus will be narrated in 57–62. 55 Iapetus’ stock Deucalion and Pyrrha were grandchildren of the Titan Iapetus. 56 Cronidae Though plural ( = “offspring of Cronus”), the term refers here to Zeus alone. 58 the Epeans The original inhabitants of Elis. 59 Maenalus A mountain in southern Arcadia. 60 Locrus Eponymous ancestor of the Locrian people. 65–66 On the “looks and deeds” topos, see O. 8.19 with note. 66 a town and people I.e., Opus and the Opuntians, whose kingship Locrus bequeathed to his adopted son. 70 His son in turn The Patroclus of 75, regularly referred to in the Iliad as Menoetiades or “the son of Menoetius.” the Atridae Agamemnon and Menelaus (lit. “sons of Atreus”), who led the Greek expedition against Troy. 71 Teuthras’ plain Mysia, a region in northwest Asia Minor where Teuthras ruled as a (legendary) king. 72 On Telephus and the incident here referred to, see glossary, and cf. I. 5.41–42, I. 8.49–50. The valiant Danaans are the Greeks. 76 Thetis’ son Achilles. 79 man-mastering spear On the formal implications of this detail, see app. §11. 80–82 The speaker pauses to summon up his poetic powers for the impressive victory catalogue that follows. For the image of the Muses’ chariot, cf. P. 10.65, I. 2.1–2, I. 8.61–62. 83 I have come On the “arrival motif,” see app. §3. 84 Lampromachus Presumably a relative of Epharmostus. 86 at the gates of Corinth I.e., at the Isthmian games; see intro. §21.

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96 the festal assembly of Lycaean Zeus Games held near Mt. Lycaeus in Parrhasia, a region in southwestern Arcadia; cf. O. 13.107–8, N. 10.48. 97 Pellene Site of an athletic festival in eastern Achaea where woolen cloaks were awarded as prizes; cf. N. 10.44. 98 Iolaus’ tomb In Thebes, site of games (the Iolaeia) honoring Heracles’ nephew Iolaus; cf. P. 9.79–83. 99 Eleusis Site of games dedicated to Demeter; cf. O. 13.110, I. 1.57. 100–104 Epharmostus’s extraordinary record of achievement gives rise to reflections on the superiority of natural and/or godgiven ability over skills acquired through mere instruction; see intro. §27, and cf. O. 2.86–88, N. 3.40–42. 107–11 The speaker abandons further rhetorical artifice in favor of a straightforward and spirited assertion of the victor’s inborn qualities; the maneuver has parallels at O. 2.82–86, P. 5.107–108. 108 this prize I.e., the present ode. 112 Ajax . . . son of Oïleus Ajax “the lesser” (thus distinguished from Ajax son of Telamon), a Locrian hero who fought in the Trojan War. O LYM P IA N 1 0

for Hagesidamus of Western Locris, victor in boys’ boxing

5

Read out to me the victor at Olympia, [Str. 1] Archestratus’s son, from where, within my mind, his name is written; for, though owing him sweet song, I had forgotten. You, O Muse, and Truth who is daughter of Zeus, with rectifying hand ward off the keen reproach of falsehood that wrongs friendship’s ties. Approaching from afar, the time that was to be [Ant. 1] has brought shame on my deep indebtedness. Nonetheless, sharp complaint can be dispelled by interest paid. Behold, then, how a rushing wave

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will sweep away the rolling shingle, and how, by paying an account of public import, we shall gain welcome gratitude. Yes, in the town of Western Locris Strictness dwells, and they care greatly for Calliope and brazen Ares. Cycnus routed in battle even the huge might of Heracles. Triumphant in Olympic boxing, Hagesidamus owes such gratitude to Ilas as Patroclus gave Achilles. By whetting one endowed with excellence, a man can launch him, if the gods lend aid, toward prodigious fame.

[Ep. 1]

Without sheer labor few attain the joy [Str. 2] that, in return for all achievements, is a light through life. The ordinances of Zeus impel me to acclaim in song the choicest of all contests, which by Pelops’ ancient tomb was founded, numbering six events, after Poseidon’s son, the stalwart Cteatus, was slain, and slain as well was Eurytus, so that Augeas, huge [Ant. 2] in might, should be compelled against his will to pay the menial fee. Laying an ambush in the woods below Cleonae, Heracles in his turn subdued those two upon the road, because once, at an earlier time, they had laid waste to his Tirynthian army when it was camped amid the glens of Elis, Molione’s high-handed sons. Moreover, not long after, the stranger-cheating king of the Epeans beheld his wealthy fatherland, pressed hard by cruel flame

[Ep. 2]

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and iron blows, subsiding into ruin’s deep current—his own city. Conflict with stronger powers in no way can be set aside. So that man also, in his senselessness the last to meet with capture, could from death’s steep plunge find no escape. Having collected his whole host in Pisa, along with all the plunder, Zeus’s valiant son measured a sacred precinct out for his great father. On open land he fenced the Altis round, marking it off, and made of the surrounding plain a place for feasting and for rest, with honor given to Alpheus’ stream

[Str. 3]

among twelve lordly gods. The hill [Ant. 3] he called the Hill of Cronus, which in earlier times, during Oenomaus’ rule, lay nameless under shrouding snows. At the creation of these rites the Fates, as is now clear, stood close at hand, along with what alone puts truth and its reality to proof, Time itself. In its forward movement it revealed with clarity how he shared out the spoils of war with sacrifice of first-fruits, and how he established a four-yearly festival, with the first Olympiad and all its victories. Who were the men that won those fresh-made crowns with hands or feet or chariot, holding the boast of triumph at the games in prospect, then achieving it through action?

[Ep. 3]

In the stade-race, running the straight course at a stretch, the winner was Licymnius’ son

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Oeonus, who had led his host from Midea. In wrestling Echemus brought Tegea glory. Doryclus carried off the prize for boxing, whose home was in the town of Tiryns; and in the four-horse chariot 70

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Samus from Mantinea, Halirrhothius’ son. [Ant. 4] With the javelin Phrastor struck the mark, while Niceus swung his arm and hurled the stone a distance beyond all others, and his comrades sent a great cheer shooting past. The evening was radiant with the fair-faced moon’s enchanting light, while all the precinct rang with songs of joyous celebration in the encomiastic mode. Following principles laid down of old, now also, as a namesake grace of lordly victory, we shall acclaim the thunder and fire-flung shaft of loud-resounding Zeus, in every act of mastery fit sign, the blazing lightning-bolt. Answering to the reed-pipe’s tones will rise the swelling sound of verses

[Ep. 4]

which beside famous Dirce have, belatedly, [Str. 5] appeared— but as a son born from a lawful wife fulfills all longing for a father already at youth’s opposite, greatly warming his heart with love, since wealth that lights upon a stranger, a shepherd brought in from outside, is, to one dying, odious beyond all else, so also, when a man achieves fine things, [Ant. 5] Hagesidamus, but then goes to Hades’ house unsung, his aspirations are proved vain, his toil repaid

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by some brief pleasure merely. But for you, the lyre that speaks delight and the sweet pipe shed grace and luster, and fame is fostered far and wide by Zeus’s daughters, the Pierides. Taking part with an eager hand, I have embraced the Locrians’ illustrious nation, bathing a city of brave men in honeyed sound, and Archestratus’ handsome son I have commended, whom I saw gain mastery by strength of hand beside the altar at Olympia on that occasion, being both beautiful in form and mingled with the youthful bloom which once, in consort with the Cyprus-born, warded off ruthless death from Ganymede.

[Ep. 5]

This ode and Olympian 11 were composed to celebrate a single victory in boys’ wrestling won in 476 by Hagesidamus of Western (Epizephyrian) Locris. Although the precise relationship between the two poems has been extensively debated, the most plausible supposition is that the brief Olympian 11 was composed close to the time of the victory and Olympian 10 followed after a considerable interval. With major commissions from both Hieron (O. 1) and Theron (O. 2, O. 3), 476 was a busy year for Pindar, and it is easy to imagine not only that he might have had to set so substantial an ode as Olympian 10 temporarily aside, but also that the consequent delay could be more tactfully attributed to “forgetfulness” than to a deliberate demotion among competing obligations. In the event, however, Pindar manages to turn a potentially awkward situation to poetic account by dramatizing the ode’s belatedness in the opening lines and then representing it as rectified by the “interest” of exceptional quality (1–10); in addition, he contrives to supply the circumstance with a mythical analogue in the second triad when Heracles belatedly exacts “payment with interest” for the debt owed to him by Augeas (28–42). A related but subsidiary theme is that of eventual success achieved after initial setbacks; first broached in the brief allusion to Heracles and Cycnus (15–16), it is implicitly

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applied to Hagesidamus himself in the lines that immediately follow (16–23) and then extensively developed in the main narrative, where Heracles manages to dispatch Cteatus and Eurytus only after his own forces have suffered greatly at their hands (cf. 30–34). The entire sequence of events revolving around Augeas serves as backstory for the speaker’s initially announced (24–25) and ultimately realized (43– 77) focus of attention, which is Heracles’ founding of Olympia and its festival and the first celebration of the Olympic games. As regards Hagesidamus himself, the effect of the account as a whole is to set both his achievement (Olympic victory) and his reward (encomiastic song) within a context of age-old tradition, thus allowing the personal data that define the former and constitute the kernel of the latter to assume their proper place in an archive of “records” stretching all the way back to the first Olympiad. 1–12 On the speaker’s self-presentation as a professional poet essentially indistinguishable from Pindar himself, see intro. §14. 6 friendship’s ties The relationship between poet and client is often represented as one of “guest-friendship” (xenia); cf. O. 1.103 with note, P. 3.69, P. 10.64, I. 2.48. 9–12 Making amends for its lateness by its superior quality, the present ode will “wipe the slate clean” of indebtedness. Pebbles (the rolling shingle) were used for computational purposes in the manner of an abacus. 11 an account of public import I.e., the ode itself, which is of common interest to victor and community alike. 13 Strictness Perhaps hinting at the Locrians’ punctilious attention to detail in commercial transactions, something that makes it all the more incumbent on the laudator to fulfill the terms of his contract with the victor. 14–15 The Locrians cultivate the arts both of song and of war alike. Calliope (“beautiful voice”) is one of the nine Muses. 15 Cycnus A violent brigand and son of Ares whom Heracles overcame in combat, but only after he had suffered temporary defeat in an initial encounter. Brief though it is, the allusion

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seems to imply that Hagesidamus endured a similar setback in his (ultimately victorious) boxing match—a setback overcome in the end through the mental strength and powers of perseverance instilled in him by his trainer Ilas (18). 17–19 The analogy drawn between Hagesidamus and Patroclus (see glossary) presupposes the post-Homeric conception of the latter as younger than Achilles and under his tutelage; cf. O. 9.70–78. 20–21 The image of training as a “whetting” or honing of athletes recurs at I. 6.73–74. 22 Without sheer labor Another hint that Hagesidamus’s victory was hard-won. 24 the choicest of all contests The Olympic games. by Pelops’ ancient tomb Mentioned also at O. 1.93. 25 numbering six events Enumerated later in the ode (64–73) as stade-race, wrestling, boxing, chariot race, javelin, and discus. 26–42 In typically Pindaric fashion (app. §10) the narrative moves backward in time, then changes direction and returns to its starting point in Heracles’ establishment of the Olympic games. Rearranged in chronological order, the events of the story run as follows: Heracles was hired (cf. the menial fee, 30) to clean out the notoriously manure-laden stables of Augeas (28), king of the Epeans (35); once the job was completed, however, Augeas treacherously refused to hand over the promised payment. By way of retaliation Heracles brought an army into Elis (33) from Tiryns, his place of residence at the time, but the force was attacked and largely destroyed by Cteatus and Eurytus (31–34), the sons of Poseidon (26) and Molione (34). Only after Heracles had successfully disposed of the brothers (26–30) was he able to finish off the war against Augeas (34–42) and then use the booty he had acquired to inaugurate the Olympic festival (43–59). 35 stranger-cheating By representing Augeas’s withholding of the promised fee as a violation of the guest-host relationship (xenia) the laudator implicitly draws a contrast with his own self-vindication as one who respects “friendship’s ties” (5–6).

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43 Pisa I.e., Olympia. 44 Zeus’s valiant son Heracles. 45 the Altis The sacred precinct of Zeus at Olympia. 49 among twelve lordly gods One of the six double altars at Olympia (cf. O. 5.5) was dedicated to Artemis and the rivergod Alpheus. 50 the Hill of Cronus Olympia’s oft-mentioned landmark. 51 Oenomaus An early king of Elis; cf. O. 1.70, 76, 88, O. 5.9. 52 the Fates Present at the “birth” of the Olympic games as they are at the births of individual human beings; cf. O. 6.42, N. 7.1. 55 Time itself The Greeks reckoned dates by four-year intervals (Olympiads) from the founding of the Olympic games in 776 b.c. 62 with hands or feet or chariot Neatly summarizes the three main categories of competition (intro. §5): combat sports, footraces, and equestrian events. 64–73 This catalogue of the first Olympic victors serves as a prototype of agonistic commemoration. Two entries (for Oeonus and Samus) present the full set of defining facts, i.e., victor’s name, father’s name, city, event (intro. §§7, 10); two (Echemus and Doryclus) lack patronymics but are otherwise complete; the remaining two (Phrastor and Niceus) have victor’s name and event alone. 74 the fair-faced moon The Olympic festival was held during the full moon; cf. O. 3.19–20. 78–79 as a namesake grace of lordly victory I.e., as part of an epinician hymn (epinikion being derived from nikē, “victory”). 85 Dirce A spring and stream in Thebes, often used in periphrastic designations of that city; the reference thus identifies the speaker as Theban (intro. §14). 86–93 As this elaborate simile is developed the point of comparison unexpectedly shifts from lateness as a cause of heightened satisfaction (a consideration that should make the present ode all the more welcome to Hagesidamus) to the legacy that a man leaves behind him when he dies (wealth lacking a legitimate heir is like noble deeds that are not commemorated in posthumous song).

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96 the Pierides The Muses, thus named after their birthplace in Pieria. 105 the Cyprus-born Aphrodite, on whom see glossary. As the beauty of Ganymede (cf. O. 1.43–44) won him literal immortality, so Hagesidamus’s beauty has now been “immortalized” in verse. O LYM P IA N 1 1

for Hagesidamus of Western Locris, victor in boys’ boxing

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At times men have the greatest need [Str.] for winds, at times for water from the sky, tempestuous progeny of cloud. But if through toil one gains success, then hymns of honeyed voice become the starting point for speech in later days, and a sure pledge of great achievements. Ungrudged abundance of such praise lies treasured up [Ant.] for victors at Olympia. My tongue inclines to count and cherish each particular, but by god’s gift a man’s skilled wits can blossom just as well. Now be assured, son of Archestratus, Hagesidamus, that by reason of your boxing I shall sound forth a sweet-tuned ornament [Ep.] to deck your crown of golden olive, while honoring Western Locris and its people. There join the victory-revel, Muses. I shall give my word that those to whom you come do not shun strangers, nor do they lack experience of fine things, showing high skill in art and valor with the spear. Truly, neither the tawny fox nor roaring lions can transmute their inborn nature.

As was said in the introductory note to Olympian 10, this ode celebrates the same achievement in boxing as that poem but was most likely composed and performed close to the time of the victory. In part because “I shall sound forth” (13) has struck many as requiring a

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temporal reference beyond the ode itself, Olympian 11 has often been interpreted as a kind of “promissory note” for the later (and much longer) Olympian 10. The verb-form itself has no evidentiary value given Pindar’s fondness for using the future tense with voluntative force (i.e., to express a present intention already in process of fulfillment), but it might still be argued that the justification for brevity offered in lines 7–10 both points toward a rich store of material that could be drawn upon at a later date and hints at a keen desire on the laudator’s part to make (eventual) use of it. 1–6 In this priamel (app. §2) the underlying structure of argument (“As sailors need wind and farmers need rain, so victorious athletes need commemoration in song”) is slightly obscured by its manner of presentation, which (a) substitutes different times or circumstances for different categories of human beings and (b) shifts the focus of the capping term from the thing needed to the benefits that are conferred when the need is met (in the “foil” items the latter aspect remains merely implicit). Cf. I. 1.47–51, which similarly sets needs experienced on the biological level of livelihood and subsistence in opposition to spiritual needs such as honor, fame, and glory. 7–10 Topics of praise are particularly copious in relation to one specific category of athletic achievement, namely victory in the Olympic games. Tempted though the speaker is to make full and careful use of that abundance, he opts instead for a simple, divinely inspired vaunt on Hagesidamus’s behalf. On skilled wits as signaling a reference to poetic craft (sophia), see intro. §25. 11–15 All five of the ode’s defining “facts” are here brought together in a single sentence: victor’s name, patronymic, homeland, event, and venue (the last being implicit in your crown of golden olive). 16–20 A summons to the Muses shifts the focus of praise from the victor to the victor’s community, whose sterling qualities (hospitality toward strangers, cultivation of the arts, martial excellence) are presented as immutable features of the Locrians’ national character. The emblematic pairing of fox ( = intellect) and lion ( = physical prowess) recurs at I. 4.45–47.

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for Ergoteles of Himera, victor in the long race

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10 12a

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I beseech you, daughter of Zeus the Deliverer, watch over Himera and extend her strength, O savior Fortune! For you are she by whom swift ships at sea are guided, and on land both sudden turns of war and policies in council. So men’s hopes and fears, tossing now up, now down, cleaving through vain illusions, ride and roll.

[Str.]

Not one of those on earth has yet discovered, [Ant.] through god, a trusty token of events to come; the mind’s eye finds the future dark. For mankind many things fall out against all expectation, at times contrary to delight, but there are those who, having hit upon fierce squalls, change in a moment anguish for deep good. Son of Philanor, truly, like the cock [Ep.] that only fights at home, beside your native hearth the glory of your racing feet would have cast off its leaves unsung had faction that sets men against their fellows not robbed you of your fatherland in Cnossus. But now, when you have crowned yourself at Olympia, from Pytho twice, and at the Isthmus, you, Ergoteles, touch and lift high in fame the warm baths of the Nymphs, in company, at home amid new fields.

Composed most likely in 466, this ode for Ergoteles celebrates a victory in running (cf. 15); although the specific event is not indicated in the text, we know from other sources that it was the long race (dolichos). A native of Cnossus on Crete, Ergoteles was forced into exile—a truly dire calamity for a Greek—when factional conflict broke out in his city (16). Emigrating to Sicily, he obtained citizenship at Himera on the island’s northern coast. Although Ergoteles had begun his running career while still on Crete (13–15), the ode seems to suggest that oppor-

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tunities for Panhellenic competition and success opened up to him only after he settled in Sicily. By prefacing these particulars with an extended hymnal meditation on the power of Fortune (Tyche), Pindar presents the unexpectedly happy outcome of Ergoteles’ troubles as an illustration of the paradoxical role played in human life by (apparently) random accident, producing effects that are at times deleterious, at other times profoundly beneficent. 1–6a On the formal features of this “opening hymn,” see app. §1. 3–5 The all-encompassing nature of Fortune’s sway is conveyed by two “universalizing doublets,” sea/land (cf. O. 6.10 with note) and war/counsel (cf. P. 2.63–66, P. 8.3–4). 13 like the cock A rooster was featured on coins from Himera. 19 the warm baths of the Nymphs Himera was famous for its hot springs. O LYM P IA N 1 3

for Xenophon of Corinth, victor in the stade-race and pentathlon

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Three times triumphant at Olympia, [Str. 1] gentle with townsfolk and attentive to the needs of strangers—praising such a family, I shall come to know prosperous Corinth, foreporch of Isthmian Poseidon, splendid in its youths. For there Good Order dwells, together with her sisters, firm foundation of all cities, Justice and Peace alike in temperament, distributors of wealth to men, the golden daughters of sagacious Themis; there too they are resolved to keep at bay Arrogance, bold-mouthed mother of Excess. I have fine themes to set forth, and the daring that prompts my tongue to speak of them outright; it is a losing fight to stifle inborn nature. To you, descendants of Aletes, many times the radiance of victory has been granted,

[Ant. 1]

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when in the sacred games you have excelled through acts of utmost prowess; and many times as well within your people’s hearts the Horae rich in flowers have of old cast clever [Ep. 1] inventions. Every work belongs to its discoverer. Whence did the graceful songs of Dionysus come to light, the dithyramb that wins an ox as prize? Yes, and who set the bit in horses’ harness as due measure, or placed twin pediments—those outstretched eagles’ wings— upon the temples of the gods? There too the Muse breathes sweetly, there Ares blooms in young men’s deadly spears. Lord supreme of Olympia, [Str. 2] you who rule far and wide, be unbegrudging toward my words for all time, father Zeus; and while you keep this people safe from harm, continue to guide straight the breeze of Xenophon’s good fortune. Accept as well the crown which, by the ordinance of victory-revels, he brings here from Pisa’s plain, being triumphant at one time in both pentathlon and stade-race, thus gaining what never yet befell to mortal man before. Two wreaths of celery [Ant. 2] encircled him when he appeared at Isthmian festivals, and Nemea offers no denial. As for his father Thessalus, beside Alpheus’ streams the glory that his feet have earned lies treasured up; at Pytho he claims honor, having won both stade- and double stade-race in the compass of one sun, and then within that very month, in rocky Athens, a nimble-footed day set three most lovely prizes round his hair; and in the Hellotia seven times; but at Poseidon’s games laid down between two seas

[Ep. 2]

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longer songs will attend on him, together with his father Ptoeodorus, and on Terpsias too, and Eritimus. As for the excellence your family has displayed at Delphi and in the pastures of the lion, I contend with many about the full sum of their exploits, since in truth I know no way to number with exactitude the pebbles of the sea. In everything due measure [Str. 3] applies, and to observe the right degree is best. I myself, sailing as a private citizen on a public mission and singing of the artfulness of men born long ago no less than of heroic deeds in warfare, shall tell no lies concerning Corinth—neither Sisyphus, whose wiles were of surpassing shrewdness, like a god’s, nor yet Medea, who against her father’s will arranged a marriage for herself and saved the Argo, ship and crew alike. And then again, in fighting [Ant. 3] before the walls of Dardanus, they gained repute for bringing battles to decision on both sides, some striving hard with Atreus’ dear sons to carry Helen back, and others doing all they could to ward that off. When Glaucus came from Lycia, the Danaans shook with fear. To them he stated roundly that within Pirene’s city were the kingly rule and rich estate and palace of his father, who once, because he yearned [Ep. 3] to harness Pegasus, the snaky Gorgon’s son, endured long toil indeed around the springs, until the maiden Pallas brought to him a golden bridle; dream then suddenly was waking truth. She spoke thus: “Are you sleeping, royal scion of Aeolus? Come, take in hand this charm of horses, and then, a white bull sacrificed, reveal it to the One Who Tames, your father.”

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Her aegis gleaming darkly in the night, [Str. 4] the Maiden said this much to him in sleep, or so it seemed; and he sprang upright to his feet. The marvel lying by him he snatched up, and, gladly seeking out the local prophet, he made known to the son of Coeranus the whole outcome of the affair, how on the altar of the goddess he slept the night through at that expert’s bidding, and how she herself, daughter of Zeus whose spear is thunder, gave him the spirit-taming gold. [Ant. 4] The seer urged him with all quickness to obey the dream and, slaughtering a sturdy-footed bull in honor of the Earthholder whose sway is wide, to raise straightway an altar to Athena of the Horses. The power of the gods with ease brings to fulfillment things far beyond what one would swear to or expect. In very truth, the strong Bellerophon through eager striving made his capture, stretching that gentle remedy about the jaw of the winged horse, and, mounting, all at once [Ep. 4] began to play war-games in brazen armor. With him the hero later slew the Amazons, from the chill hollows of the empty air striking the host of women armed with bows, and brought the fiery-mouthed Chimaera and the Solymi to death. About his fate I shall keep silent; the other, though, in Zeus’s ancient mangers on Olympus still finds shelter. But I must not, while whirling javelins [Str. 5] on their straight course, impart to them such power that in great numbers they fly past the mark, since it is for the Muses on their splendid thrones that I have come as ready ally, and the Oligaethidae. Their victories at the Isthmus and at Nemea with few words

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I shall make known together, and the truth of what I say will find its warrant in the sweet-tongued cry which, sixty times in either place, was uttered under oath by noble heralds. Their triumphs at Olympia [Ant. 5] thus far, I think, were set forth earlier; of those to come I would speak clearly at that time. For now, I have my hopes, but it is god that grants the outcome. If their family’s guardian spirit stays the course, to Zeus and Enyalius we shall consign this task for its accomplishment. Their victories beneath Parnassus’ brow are six in number, and how many won at Argos and in Thebes, and those to which the altar of Lycaean Zeus will offer lordly witness in Arcadia; Pellene too, and Sicyon; [Ep. 5] Megara and the well-fenced precinct of the Aeacids; Eleusis and resplendent Marathon; the cities, rich and lovely, under the high crest of Aetna, and Euboea—through the length and breadth of Hellas, if you search, you will find more than any eye could compass. Come now, with nimble feet swim clear. O Zeus, Fulfiller, grant respect and sweet attainment of delights.

The victories in pentathlon and stade-race that provided the occasion for this ode were won by Xenophon of Corinth in 464. The clan of Oligaethidae to which he belonged was phenomenally successful in athletic competition, with numerous wins to its credit not only at all four of the Panhellenic festivals but also in a wide range of local contests. The city of Corinth itself, moreover, was one of the most prosperous and powerful in Greece, proud heir to an illustrious—and copious—legendary past. In order to handle such an abundance of poetic material, Pindar has the encomiastic speaker shift focus in methodical fashion between Xenophon’s family and its achievements on the one hand (1–3, 24–46, 93–115) and Corinth’s many claims to

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fame on the other (4–23, 47–92). This strategy of alternation is in fact adumbrated within the ode’s first four lines, which posit an inherent parallelism between family and community such that qualities in the one mirror qualities in the other. In the opening triad four traits are singled out as characteristic of the Corinthians collectively: their cultivation of the social virtues (6–8), their avoidance of arrogance (hubris) and excess (koros) (9–10), their athletic prowess (14–15), and their artistic and technological inventiveness (16–22). That Xenophon and his family can themselves claim extraordinary athletic prowess is made abundantly evident in two long victory catalogues (32–46, 98–113); they are credited at the outset with two of the most frequently commended social virtues in Pindar’s epinicians, the avoidance of discord with fellow citizens and the hospitable treatment of foreigners (2–3); and even technological inventiveness finds an analogy of sorts in Xenophon’s groundbreaking “innovation” of concurrent victories in two quite different events (30–31). Although the fourth trait assigned to the Corinthians, the avoidance of arrogance and excess, is not attributed to Xenophon and his family as explicitly as the others are, it proves in the end to be the ode’s central theme. First broached in passing when the idea of “due measure” (metron) is applied metaphorically to the “moderating” effect exerted on horses by the bit and bridle (20), it makes a second appearance, together with the related principle of “right degree” (kairos), when it is invoked by the laudator to justify discontinuing his catalogue of the family’s athletic triumphs and in that way motivate a return to the topic of Corinth (47–48). A survey of Corinthian heroes follows, eventually reaching a climax in the figure of Bellerophon, whose hard-won taming of the winged horse Pegasus is narrated at length with full Pindaric verve and splendor (63–92). Within the context so carefully created for the tale, its paradigmatic “message” is unmistakable: if man’s vaulting aspirations and ambitions (represented by Pegasus) can be brought under tight control through the exercise of moderation or “due measure” (represented by the golden bridle) and then directed toward the proper objects, remarkable exploits become possible—as is demonstrated not only by Bellerophon but by Xenophon, his family, and the Oligaethid clan in general. 6–8 Good Order, Justice, Peace The three Horae (17), daughters of Zeus by Themis or “Lawfulness” (8). To speak of the goddesses

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as “dwelling” in Corinth is to express in figurative fashion the Corinthians’ own devotion to those three civic virtues; similar locutions can be found at O. 9.15–16, O. 10.13, P. 10.37–38. 14 descendants of Aletes The people of Corinth, of which Aletes, a descendant of Heracles, was a legendary king. 17 rich in flowers Horae means “Seasons”; cf. O. 4.1–3. 18–22 Three inventions are here credited to the Corinthians: the dithyramb (a genre of choral song honoring Dionysus); the bit and bridle; and the triangular temple pediment, whose name in Greek (aetōma, from aetos, “eagle”) reflects its resemblance in shape to a pair of outspread wings. 22–23 the Muse, Ares Poetry (Calliope) and war (Ares) are similarly paired at O. 10.14–15. 24–28 The glowing praise of Corinth evokes in the speaker, as often, an ethical reaction of pious caution (see app. §7 and O. 8.28–29 with note): May no divine ill will prevent what I have said from continuing to be true! The prayer serves to facilitate a transition from public concerns (this people) to the particulars of Xenophon’s current achievement. 29 from Pisa’s plains I.e., from Olympia. 32 Two wreaths of celery Other sources report that the Isthmian crown was of pine, but cf. N. 4.88, I. 2.16, I. 8.64. 38 in rocky Athens I.e., at the Great Panathenaea. 40 the Hellotia An athletic festival held in Corinth, honoring Athena Hellotis. between two seas I.e., on the Isthmus of Corinth. 42 Ptoeodorus, Terpsias, Eritimus The first is Xenophon’s paternal grandfather; precisely how the others were related to him is not known. 44 the pastures of the lion I.e., Nemea; see intro. §21, and cf. N. 6.42, I. 3.11–12. I contend with many Implying competition with rival encomiasts (cf. P. 1.45, N. 4.37–38, N. 9.54–55): others may seek to specify an exact figure, but I acknowledge the futility of trying to count the uncountable. 47–48 On the significance of these transitional lines, see introductory note.

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49 The laudator’s responsibility is twofold, both to the victor and his family and to the polity at large; cf. the speaker’s “double burden” at N. 6.57. 50–51 In the following lines artfulness will be represented by Sisyphus and Medea, heroic deeds in warfare by the Corinthians who fought at Troy, Glaucus among them; the two attributes will then be united (after a fashion) in the figure of ultimate interest, Bellerophon. 52 Sisyphus A son of Aeolus (67) and legendary king of Corinth; his cleverness was so consummate that he even managed to trick Hades and Persephone into allowing him to return to life from the underworld (for a while). 53–54 The story of Medea’s involvement with the Argonautic expedition is told at length in P. 4. 56 the walls of Dardanus I.e., Troy, Dardanus being the founder of its royal house. 57 on both sides Not only were there Corinthians among the contingent of Greeks led to Troy by Agamemnon (who was, with Menelaus, one of Atreus’ dear sons, 58), but the Lycians, fighting as allies on the Trojan side, were under the command of Glaucus (60), a man of Corinthian descent who was either Bellerophon’s grandson (according to Homer) or his son (according to Pindar). 61 Pirene A spring on the Corinthian acropolis. 63 the snaky Gorgon’s son For Pegasus’s peculiar birth, see glossary under “Medusa.” 67 scion of Aeolus Bellerophon was a grandson of Sisyphus (52). 69 the One Who Tames Poseidon in his role as god of horses. 70 Athena is often represented as carrying Zeus’s aegis, a magical shield that inspires terror in his (and her) enemies. 75 the son of Coeranus Polyidus, a Corinthian seer. 75–76 Sleeping on sacred ground in order to obtain divine aid through dreams was a practice known as incubation. 81 the Earthholder Poseidon.

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83 On references to divine power as signaling a story’s climax, see app. §11. 87 With him I.e., with the aid of Pegasus. The Amazons (cf. O. 8.47, N. 3.38) were a race of warrior-women famed for their skill as archers; the Chimaera (90) was a monster whose bodily form combined elements of lion, snake, and she-goat (chimaira in Greek); the Solymi (90) were a people indigenous to Lycia. The task of vanquishing all three parties was imposed on Bellerophon by Iobates, king of Lycia, who hoped thereby to bring about his death. 91 About his fate While Bellerophon’s failed attempt to join the gods on Olympus is explicitly cited at I. 7.44–48 as an example of human overreaching, the disastrous denouement is here passed over in ostentatiously tactful silence (91–92). Any cautionary force that the story may have for Xenophon and his family remains a mere implication, though one that contains within itself a kind of grandeur. 92 the other I.e., Pegasus. 93–95 On this break-off passage and its imagery, see app. §11. 99–100 On the role played by heralds at athletic competitions, see intro. §7, and cf. O. 5.8, P. 1.32, P. 10.9, I. 3.12. 103–6 A suitably circumspect wish that the family may win further victories at Olympia; see app. §12 and cf. N. 10.29–30. 106 Enyalius Another name for Ares; cf. N. 9.37. beneath Parnassus’ brow I.e., at the Pythian games; see intro. §21. 107 the altar of Lycaean Zeus Games sacred to Zeus were held near Mt. Lycaeus in southwestern Arcadia; cf. O. 9.96, N. 10.48. 109 the well-fenced precinct of the Aeacids The island of Aegina, closely associated as usual with its lineage of heroes. Like Eleusis (a town in Attica) and the other places listed in lines 107–12 (on which see glossary), Aegina sponsored athletic competitions; cf. P. 8.65–66 and 79–80, O. 7.86, P. 9.90. 113 Hellas The Greek-speaking world, including southern Italy (Magna Graecia) and Sicily.

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for Asopichus of Orchomenus, victor in the stade-race

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You who, claiming the waters of Cephisus as your [Str. 1] own, dwell in wide pasturelands that breed fair colts, O queens of song and rich Orchomenus, Graces, who guard the Minyans’ ancient stock, listen, because I pray. Through you all pleasures and all sweetness come to mortals, whether a man be skilled, have beauty, or win splendor. Even the gods without the stately Graces marshal no dance or feast; attendant upon all activities in heaven, with their thrones set close by Pythian Apollo of the golden bow, they reverence the Olympian father’s ever-flowing honor. O queenly Aglaïa, and Euphrosyne [Str. 2] who cherish music, children of the mightiest among the gods, now hearken; and you, Thalia, craver of music, look upon this band that dances with light step in thanks for kindly luck. With Lydian tones and craft of words I’ve come to sing Asopichus, because the Minyan land has triumphed at Olympia through you. Down to Persephone’s black-bastioned house now go, Echo, conveying to his father the illustrious news: when you see Cleodamus, tell him that his son in Pisa’s valley of fair fame has crowned with wings of glory his young hair.

This ode was composed, probably in 488, for one Asopichus of Orchomenus, a town in northern Boeotia. Although the scholia tell us that the victory it commemorates was won in the stade-race, no event is specified or even hinted at in the ode itself, a circumstance without parallel in Pindar’s epinicians. Orchomenus was the site of an ancient

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cult of the Graces (Charites), mythologically the daughters of Zeus by Eurynome. The bulk of the poem is cast in the form of a prayer to these divinities, who are addressed collectively in the first strophe and then as individuals in the second. Their hymnal predications present them partly in terms of their local and cultic connections (Orchomenus itself, the river Cephisus, the Minyans), partly as symbolic embodiments of all that is pleasant and charming in life, both human (5–7) and divine (8–12). The abrupt shift of focus (with concomitant change of addressee) that takes place in line 20 serves to drive home the bitter fact that the young man’s father is not present on the scene to share his son’s joy and triumph; but through the fiction of Echo’s message to the underworld Pindar finds a way both to acknowledge that loss and in some fashion to encompass the dead within the spirit of the occasion. 1–17 On the various hymnal features that permeate this ode, see app. §1. 1 Cephisus One of the chief rivers of Boeotia, a region renowned for the fertility of its soil; cf. P. 12.27, P. 4.46. 4 Minyans The ancient inhabitants of Orchomenus. 7 On poetic ability (be skilled) and athletic victory (win splendor) as gifts of the Graces, see app. §15; for their association with Aphrodite and with erotic experience in general (have beauty), cf. Iliad 5.338, Odyssey 8.364–66, Theogony 910, Pindar fr. 123. 12 the Olympian father Zeus. 13–15 The names of the individual Graces may be rendered as “splendor” or “glory,” “cheerfulness of mind,” and “festivity” respectively. On euphrosynē as an important component of victory celebrations, cf. N. 4.1 with note, I. 3.10. 17 Lydian tones On this allusion to musical “mode,” see intro. §8. 20 Persephone Wife of Hades and hence queen of the underworld. At O. 8.81-84 a personified Report is similarly dispatched to Hades with news of a loved one’s victory. 23 in Pisa’s valley I.e., at Olympia. 24 The image of a crown or garland as “wings” recurs at P. 9.125.

The Pythian Odes

P Y T H IA N 1

for Hieron of Syracuse, victor in the chariot race

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O golden Lyre, possession of Apollo and the violethaired Muses that speaks on their behalf, to whom the dance-step hearkens as instigator of festivity, while singers heed the signals you provide whenever you strike up the preludes that lead off the chorus with your throbbing notes— you even quench the warlike thunderbolt of ever-flowing fire; and as the eagle sleeps on Zeus’s scepter, his swift wings relaxed and folded on each side,

[Str. 1]

that king of birds, you pour a black-faced cloud over his curving head to set a sweet seal on his eyelids: slumbering, he undulates his supple back, held fast by your impetuous spells. Yes, even violent Ares, relinquishing the rough fury of spearpoints, cheers his heart in utter quiet, while your shafts enchant the minds

[Ant. 1]

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of other gods as well, thanks to the skill of Leto’s son and the deep-girded Muses.

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But all who are shut out from Zeus’s love grow faint [Ep. 1] with terror on hearing the Pierian maidens’ cry, both those on land and in the irresistible sea, and he who in dire Tartarus lies pinned, foe of the gods, the hundred-headed Typhon. For a time he grew to strength within the famed Cilician cave; but now the sea-fenced cliffs by Cumae and Sicily itself press down upon his shaggy chest, confined beneath the pillar of the sky, white-mantled Aetna, yearlong nurse of biting snow. Disgorged from its recesses, unapproachable fire [Str. 2] wells up in utmost purity. By day the rivers pour forth a flood of smoke tinged with a ruddy glow, but in the dark of night a rolling crimson flame sends boulders plunging down into the sea’s deep places with a crash. Such are the fountains of Hephaestus which that monster hurls up to terrify the world, a portent wondrous to gaze upon, a wonder even to hear about from those close by— how underneath the heights and plain of dark[Ant. 2] leaved Aetna he lies in chains, stretched out upon a bed that tears and goads the whole length of his back. May it, O Zeus, may it be possible to please you, you who frequent this mountain, forefront of a fertile land, which gives its name to the neighboring city glorified by its renowned founder when at the Pythian games a herald proclaimed it to the crowd, announcing Hieron as victor in the chariot race. For sailors starting on a voyage the first of blessings is to have a favorable wind,

[Ep. 2]

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since it is likely, then, that in the end their homeward journey will be smoother too. That principle gives reason to expect, in view of these successes, that in the time to come the city will grow great with crowns and horses and have a name for sweet-voiced celebrations. O Lycian Phoebus, lord of Delos, you who love Castalia’s spring beneath Parnassus, consent to take these hopes to heart and make the country strong in men. To gods, indeed, are owed all resources for mortal [Str. 3] worth; by them are skill and strength of hand and eloquence bestowed at birth. That man being for me a theme of eager praise, I hope not to propel the bronze-cheeked javelin, as it were, outside the place of contest, whirling it within my hand, yet still to cast it far and so outstrip my rivals. May all of time continue thus to guide aright his fortunes and the granting of possessions, and offer too forgetfulness of trouble. It certainly will call to mind in what fierce battles [Ant. 3] he stood firm with enduring heart, when he and his were gaining, at the gods’ hands, honor such as no Greek has ever culled to be a lordly crown of wealth. Just now, indeed, after the fashion of a Philoctetes he set out on campaign; under necessity’s constraint even one proud in spirit fawned on him as friend. They say that godlike heroes came to fetch from Lemnos, harried by his wound, the son of Poeas, wielder of the bow, who ravaged Priam’s city, bringing to an end the labors of the Danaans, feeble in body as he walked, but such was fate. For Hieron likewise may divinity set things upright

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as time draws on, granting due measure of his heart’s desires. Beside Deinomenes as well, O Muse, lift up your voice, I bid you, to reward that four-horse chariot; the joy is not a stranger’s when a father triumphs. Come then, let us for Aetna’s king devise a song of friendship. For him that city was established, built by Hieron to [Str. 4] enjoy god-crafted liberty according to the laws of Hyllus’ code. The heirs of Pamphylus, and those too of the Heraclids, while dwelling beneath Taÿgetus’ steep slopes, are minded to remain always within Aegimius’ ordinances, Dorians as they are. By fortune blessed, they seized Amyclae, sallying forth from Pindus to become the neighbors, deep-dyed in glory, of the white-horsed Tyndarids, their fighting-spirit blooming into fame. O Zeus, Fulfiller, grant that such a lot be lastingly [Ant. 4] decreed, beside the river Amenas, for citizens and kings, to be a subject of men’s truthful speech. With your aid, certainly, a leader, giving instructions to his son, may through the honor shown to them guide his people toward the harmonies of civic peace. I beg you, son of Cronus, nod consent that now Phoenicians and Etruscans with their battle shouts may stay at home in meekness, having seen how arrogance brought groans upon their fleet at Cumae, what woes were theirs when Syracuse’s ruler beat [Ep. 4] them down and from quick-cutting ships flung forth into the sea the flower of their youth, thus drawing Hellas out from under slavery’s grim burden. I shall win from Salamis the gratitude of Athens

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as my reward, and Sparta’s from the fight before Cithaeron, struggles in which bow-wielding Medes grew weary. By the well-watered banks of Himeras, however, it is Deinomenes’ sons to whom I render song as tribute, earned when their valor brought the foe to utter weariness. If in your speech you keep due measure, drawing many strands together in brief compass, people’s censure will attend you less, for over-fullness blunts, relentlessly, their eager expectations, and townsmen’s hearts are secretly oppressed above all when they hear of others’ blessings. But nonetheless, since envy is superior to pity, pass over nothing noble. Steer your people with justice as your rudder; forge your tongue upon the anvil of plain truth:

[Str. 5]

the slightest spark struck off moves weightily, [Ant. 5] coming from you. Your stewardship is great in range, and many bear trusty witness to your acts of either sort. In the full flower of your generous impulses stand firm; if you are fond of taking pleasure always in the things you hear about yourself, do not grow weary of expenditures. Like a man at the helm, let out your sail free to the wind. Do not be tricked, my friend, by the base claims of avarice; the vaunting glory that trails after mortals alone lays bare the lives of the departed [Ep. 5] to chroniclers and poets alike. The just benevolence of Croesus does not waste and die, while cruel Phalaris, who burned men in a brazen bull, is everywhere held down by hateful speech; no lyres resounding in the hall receive him in gentle fellowship with boys’ soft voices. Good fortune is the first of prizes,

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while good report takes second place; but he who lights on both, and grasps them firmly, has received the loftiest of crowns.

In 475 Hieron of Syracuse expelled the inhabitants of Catana, replaced them with settlers of Dorian extraction, and named the new city after nearby Mt. Aetna, the highest mountain in Sicily and—both then and now—an active volcano. When, five years later, Hieron won a chariot victory at the Pythian games, he had himself announced to the spectators as Hieron “of Aetna” rather than “of Syracuse,” thereby doing honor to the new city. Although this circumstance is recorded in the ode (30–33) and the victory itself is presented as a favorable omen for the city’s future (33–38), the main thematic focus of the poem is not Hieron’s success with the four-horse chariot (which rates only one other brief mention, in 58–59), but rather the triumph of the forces of order and civilization over the forces of disorder and barbarism. This theme first appears in the opening triad, where a scene of festivity and peace on Olympus (1–12) is set in contrast with the fierce though ultimately impotent violence of Typhon, a monstrous “foe of the gods” kept imprisoned beneath Mt. Aetna by the superior power of Zeus (15–28); it subsequently reemerges in the portrayal of Hieron as a city-founder and guarantor of political stability (61–70) and as a key player in the decisive defeat of “barbarian” (i.e., non-Greek) enemies in the battles of Cumae and Himera (71–80). Indeed, at that point in the ode Hieron’s martial valor, both at Himera and elsewhere, has already received due tribute (47–55), partly in the form of an explicit comparison with the great archer Philoctetes, whose crucial contribution to the capture of Troy was achieved only at the cost of great bodily pain. (A scholiast plausibly suggests that Hieron himself suffered from some debilitating ailment, perhaps bladder stones, and this hypothesis finds support in the overall tenor and argument of P. 3.) In the final triad Hieron’s sterling qualities as a ruler and the admirable ways in which he puts his wealth to use are first praised in the guise of a series of exhortations (86–94), then driven home through the contrasted figures and fates of Croesus and the tyrant Phalaris (94–99). 1–2 O golden Lyre A typical accompaniment for dance and song in ancient Greece, the lyre (phorminx) is portrayed in this hymnal invocation (see app. §1) in larger and loftier terms as a quasi-divinized cosmic power, source of peace and harmony

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both on Olympus and (by implication) on earth. It is the possession of Apollo and the Muses because both he and they are intimately associated with poetry and song; it speaks on their behalf inasmuch as it collaborates with them in praising the praiseworthy and reprobating those who, like the monster Typhon, are “shut out from Zeus’s love” (13). 1 violet-haired See O. 6.30 with note. 6 For the eagle as emblematic of Zeus’s sovereign authority, cf. O. 2.88, I. 6.49–50. 12 Leto’s son Apollo. 14 the Pierian maidens The Muses. 15 Tartarus A subterranean region “as far below Hades as heaven is above the earth” (Iliad 8.16). 17 the famed Cilician cave Cilicia was a region in southeastern Asia Minor; cf. “Cilician Typhon” at P. 8.16. 18 Cumae The earliest Greek colony in Italy, situated near present-day Naples and Mt. Vesuvius, which like Mt. Aetna (20) was in antiquity (and remains today) an active volcano; the volcanism of both mountains is thus implicitly attributed to the restless torment of the imprisoned Typhon (cf. O. 4.6–7). 25 Hephaestus God of fire. 29–32 On the shift of focus effected by these lines, see the discussion of “ethical/emotional” transitions in app. §7. 39–42 Another “ethical/emotional” transition (app. §7): the speaker prepares for the direct praise of Hieron in 42ff. by addressing a prayer to Apollo (or Phoebus) and then explaining, through a maxim, why he has done so. The god has strong associations with the region of Lycia in Asia Minor (cf. O. 8.47 with note), with the island of Delos (his reputed birthplace), and with Delphi on the southern slopes of Mt. Parnassus. On Castalia’s spring, see glossary. 42–45 Using the image of a javelin-cast (see app. §14), the speaker expresses his desire to outdo other potential encomiasts (cf. O. 13.43–46, N. 4.37–38, N. 9.54–55) in his praise of Hieron (that man) while at the same time successfully avoiding any irrelevance or excess (44).

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48 he and his See note on Deinomenes’ sons (79). 50 Philoctetes A Greek warrior, the son of Poeas (53), who inherited Heracles’ bow at the time of the latter’s death and apotheosis. During the Greek army’s expedition to Troy Philoctetes was bitten on the foot by a snake and then abandoned on the island of Lemnos (53) by his comrades, who found his agonized cries and the stench of his festering wound intolerable. Ten years later the Greeks were compelled to send for Philoctetes because an oracle had declared that they would never be able to capture Troy (Priam’s city) without the assistance of his bow. 54 Danaans Greeks. 58 Deinomenes Hieron’s son and Aetna’s king (60), installed in that position by his father upon the resettling and renaming of the city. Hieron’s father was also named Deinomenes (cf. 79), a common nomenclatural pattern in ancient Greece. 62–66 Hyllus was the eldest of the sons of Heracles (the Heraclids) and ancestor of the Dorian tribe known as Hylleis; Aegimius was both a friend of Hyllus and, through his sons Pamphylus and Dymas, an ancestor of the other two Dorian tribes, the Pamphyli and the Dymanes. Migrating from their original home near Mt. Pindus in northern Greece, the Dorians entered the Peloponnesus and seized control of Amyclae, a town just east of Mt. Taÿgetus and not far from the future site of Sparta. Syracuse itself was originally founded by Corinth, another Dorian city. 66 Tyndarids Castor and Polydeuces; see glossary. 68 Amenas A small river flowing through the city of Aetna. 70 civic peace On the ideal of domestic tranquility (hēsychia) within the city-state, see P. 8.1–7 with note, and cf. O. 4.16, P. 4.296, P. 11.55–56. 71–75 In 474 Hieron had defeated an alliance of Etruscans and Carthaginians (the latter being of Phoenician origin) in a sea battle off the coast of Cumae (cf. 18). 79 Deinomenes’ sons Hieron and his older brother Gelon, who defeated the Carthaginians in a battle fought near the river

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Himeras in 480. A brief priamel (app. §2) associates that battle with two victories won by the Greek alliance against the invading Persians (also known as Medes), the first gained in 480 off the island of Salamis, where the Athenian fleet played a decisive role, the second a year later at Plataea in Boeotia, not far from Mt. Cithaeron (77), where the Spartans acquitted themselves with particular distinction. 81–86 The speaker first gives reasons (of the “situational” variety; see intro. §16 and app. §8) as to why it might be expedient to curtail further praise of Hieron, then overrides those objections by reflecting that it is better to be envied (for greatness) than pitied (for insignificance). The rhetorical maneuver has parallels at N. 4.33–43, N. 10.19–24. 86–94 The implication in this series of exhortations is that Hieron should keep on engaging in the recommended behaviors—in other words, praise is being offered in the guise of counsel. Cf. Aristotle, Rhetoric I. 9.36: “If you desire to praise, look to what you would recommend; if you desire to recommend, look to what you would praise.” 88 of either sort I.e., for good or ill. 94–98 Croesus, the last king of Lydia, became proverbial for his piety, wealth, and generosity. Phalaris was a tyrant of Acragas during the sixth century b.c.; notorious for his cruelty, he reportedly put people to death by roasting them in a metal bull constructed in such a way that the victims’ screams would issue from its mouth. 99–100 Good fortune and good repute are similarly paired as the summum bonum at O. 5.23–24, I. 5.12–15, I. 6.10–13. P Y T H IA N 2

for Hieron of Syracuse, victor in the chariot race City of greatness, Syracuse, the precinct of Ares wading deep in war, the godlike nurse of men and horses iron-clad for battle, to you I bring this song from lustrous Thebes,

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coming with news of that earth-battering team of four with which, renowned for chariots, Hieron triumphed and in far-shining garlands wreathed Ortygia, where Artemis of the River dwells, who did not fail to aid him when with soothing hands he tamed those mares, their reins embroidered brightly. With their own hands, indeed, the arrow-pouring [Ant. 1] Maid and Hermes who presides at games attach the gleaming harness whenever, to the polished frame of chariots that heed the bit, he yokes strong horses, calling on the god whose broad might stirs the trident. To different kings do different men pay tribute of tuneful song in recompense for worth. On Cyprus voices often clamor forth around the name of Cinyras, whom golden-haired Apollo took to his heart with ready will, Aphrodite’s beloved priest—respect and gratitude, [Ep. 1] prompted by kindly actions, lead the way— while you, son of Deinomenes, before her house many a girl in Western Locris celebrates, being from war’s unmanageable toils delivered through your power, her eyes alight with confidence. The gods’ commands, they say, compel Ixion to proclaim, whirling in all directions on his wing-sped wheel, this lesson to mankind: a benefactor must with warm requitals assiduously be paid back. He learned it well. Winning, beside the Cronidae in [Str. 2] gracious mood, a life of sweetness, he could not sustain for long the burden of his bliss; instead, with maddened heart he lusted after Hera, who to Zeus’s bed of joy

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had been assigned. Arrogance into overweening folly thrust him deep, and he suffered soon what, as a man, befitted him, winning distress unparalleled. In truth, two lapses into sin prove to be sources of his pain: although a hero, he was the very first to introduce kin-murder, not without craft, to mortal kind; and once, within her chamber’s hollow depths, [Ant. 2] he sought to lay hands on the wife of Zeus. Always, and in all things, one must discern due measure by the gauge of one’s own station. Errant embraces can draw down calamity all about. Upon him as well they came when he lay down beside a cloud and clasped a sweet illusion, that unknowing man. In form it was like Cronus’ daughter, most august of goddesses in heaven, wrought by Zeus’s hands to be a snare of loveliness and woe. In bondage on love’s four-spoked wheel, he brought about his own destruction; fallen into inescapable restraints, [Ep. 2] he took upon himself the message meant for all mankind. To him the phantom, with no Graces’ aid, unique in strangeness, bore a son no less strange, rash of hand, enjoying honor neither from men nor by the customs of the gods. She reared him with the name Centaurus, who then mated with Magnesia’s mares upon the slopes of Pelion. A throng sprang forth of wondrous prodigies, resembling both parents, like their mothers underneath, but in upper body like their father. Divinity brings every aim to its expected end— divinity that outstrips the eagle’s flight and in the sea shoots past

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the dolphin, that bends down the lofty thoughts of mortals and hands to others ageless glory. As for me, I must shun the relentless bite of evil speech, for I have seen, afar, censorious Archilochus in frequent want of means, while growing fat on hatreds bitterly worded. Wealth bestowed by grace of destiny is the best subject of poetic skill. You, as is clear, possess it, to display with liberal mind, [Ant. 3] as prince and lord of many rampart-rounded streets and of their people too. If anyone says that in riches and prestige some other man, of those living in Hellas up to now, has proved superior, he wrestles, empty-witted, to no purpose. Onto a flower-decked prow I shall mount up, extolling preeminent worth. To youth aid comes from boldness in war’s alarms, and there you too, I say, have found unlimited renown, fighting at one time in the press of horsemen, at [Ep. 3] another amid the infantry. Then too, the counsels of your older years afford me words that risk no disbelief, while praising you on every count. Hail and farewell! My song thus far is being sent across the sea’s white billows like Phoenician merchandise. The Castoreion, though, Aeolian in its tuning, greet with looks of ready favor as a gracious gift arising from the seven-toned lyre. Become what you have learned you are. The ape, of course, always has charm in children’s eyes, great charm; but Rhadamanthys owes his happy [Str. 4] state to wisdom, whose faultless fruits were his in life. His heart does not take pleasure in deceits, such as forever haunt a man through whisperers’ contriving arts.

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People who murmur slanders cause, on both sides, overwhelming harm, being in temperament like foxes, through and through. But for the beast of wiles, what profit does this bring to pass? None, for while the rest of the tackle strains and labors deep within the sea, I move along, undipped and buoyant, like a cork, above the water’s surface. Among good men, no forceful word can be flung [Ant. 4] forth by a deceitful citizen; but nonetheless, while fawning on all sides, he weaves delusion to its utter end. I do not share his boldness. May I treat a friend with friendship; against an enemy, enemy as I am, I shall adopt the wolf ’s habits and make a charge by stealth, coursing this way and that on slantwise paths. In every form of polity the man who speaks straight makes his mark— at a king’s court, when rule lies with the clamorous people, and when the wise safeguard the city. One must not contend against divinity, which now for some lifts fortune high, and now [Ep. 4] again on others confers great glory. Yet not even this has power to melt the envious in spirit. Tugging at the measuring-line too fiercely, they uproot the stake and fix a painful wound in their own hearts before achieving all their thought’s contrivance. To take the yoke and bear it lightly on one’s neck is fit and useful, but to kick against the goad makes any path treacherous footing. May it be my lot to live in company with good men, and win their favor.

Composed, like Pythian 1 and Pythian 3, for Hieron of Syracuse, this ode takes as its starting point a chariot victory whose date and venue

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have never been definitively established. To some scholars the mention of Thebes in line 3 has indicated a triumph at the Theban Iolaeia or Heracleia, while others have seen in it a reference to the ode’s place of composition. More consequential aspects of the ode have been found equally problematic, including the intended significance of the Ixion story (21–48) and the tone, argument, and relevance of the ode’s final triad (72–96). Regarding the former, it is useful to distinguish between the immediate motivation for Ixion’s appearance in the ode and the general thrust of the story as a whole. After announcing Hieron’s chariot victory as the occasion of song (1–6) and dilating on the persistent divine favor to which that victory attests (7–12), the speaker then turns his attention to the gratitude and respect that Hieron, like other kings before him, has inspired through his manifold good deeds (13–20), and that is the context in which Ixion is explicitly introduced to illustrate (by contrast) the importance of requiting benefactors for their good deeds (21–24). Once begun, though, his story undergoes an unmistakable shift of emphasis to a quite different topic, namely the dire risks faced by mortals when divine favor is bestowed on them to an exceptional degree. To use—as Pindar himself does—the traditional terminology of early Greek ethics, olbos (prosperity, good fortune) often gives rise to koros (satiety, excess), which can lead in turn to hubris (insolence, reckless arrogance) and atē (moral blindness, folly, ruin). Such precisely is the trajectory followed by Ixion, as the speaker proceeds to narrate in bitingly critical terms. Once he has brought the account to a solemn close (49–52), however, he forcefully reminds himself that censure and invective—or to put it in more technical terms, the deployment of negative paradigms—should really be left to “blame-poets” like Archilochus; his own task at present is to praise the praiseworthy, and what is more deserving of commendation than wealth properly acquired and properly put to use (52–56)? By these means, following the tripartite pattern so typical of Pindar’s epinicians (intro. §17), attention is once again focused on Hieron through a “second praise” of his riches, his martial prowess, and his sagacious counsels (57–67). What is not typical, however, is that the ABA′ sequence should then be capped by the C of an “epilogue” that occupies the entire last triad. This passage has traditionally been interpreted as Pindar’s personal defense against calumny and intrigue at Hieron’s court—even, in the view of some, against the machinations of his supposed arch-rival Bacchylides. In the context of the

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entire poem, however, it makes more satisfactory sense to interpret the lines as a kind of “mirror for princes,” implicitly attributing to Hieron the wisdom and good judgment that a ruler requires in order to stand firm against flattery and slander, those twin banes of royal courts, and to recognize men of straightforward speech—the ode’s “I” being one—at their true worth. 3 from lustrous Thebes See introductory note. 4 coming with news On the “arrival motif,” see app. §3. 6 Ortygia A small island off Syracuse that formed the oldest section of the city, connected to the mainland by a causeway and bridge; for its close association with Artemis, cf. N. 1.2. 7–12 Three deities that share an interest in horses have favored Hieron in his equestrian pursuits: Artemis (cf. O. 3.26), Hermes (cf. I. 1.60–62), and Poseidon, the god whose broad might stirs the trident (cf. O. 5.21, P. 6.50–51). The reference to Hieron’s hands-on taming of his mares is more likely intended to convey intensity of concern than literal truth. 13–20 A priamel of the “summary” type (app. §2), comprising a general statement of diversity (13–14) followed by two specific examples, Cinyras and Hieron (son of Deinomenes); the interjected gnomic statement in 17 applies to both examples with equal force. 16 Cinyras On this legendary king of Cyprus, see glossary, and cf. N. 8.18. 18–20 In 477 Hieron intervened to prevent Anaxilas of Rhegium from waging war against Western (Epizephyrian) Locris. 21 Ixion One of the great malefactors of Greek myth. Unwilling to hand over some promised bride-gifts, he lured his father-inlaw into a hidden pit of burning embers, thereby becoming the first human being to murder a kinsman (31–32). Purified of this blood-guilt by Zeus himself, he was then brought up to Olympus and allowed to live in bliss among the gods (25–26), a privilege that he abused with rank ingratitude when he succumbed to an illicit passion for Hera (26–30, 33–41). 25–30 In his passage from bliss to arrogance and folly and then to distress unparalleled, Ixion closely resembles the figure of

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Tantalus in O. 1.54–60. The fact that both arch-sinners appear in odes for Hieron suggests that Pindar saw in them a paradoxical balance between the cautionary and the complimentary; it is only the very great who need to be warned so starkly of the perils of greatness. 25 the Cronidae Lit. “the children of Cronus,” i.e., the Olympian gods. 34 For the concept of due measure (metron), cf. O. 13.48, P. 8.78, N. 11.47. 38 Cronus’ daughter Hera. 40 love’s four-spoked wheel Since it was lust that led him to it, the whirling wheel of Ixion’s torment is likened to a notorious instrument of love-magic; see P. 4.214 with note. 41 the message meant for all mankind In typical ring-compositional fashion (app. §10) the narrative returns to its starting point (cf. this lesson to mankind in 23); typically too, the closing of the ring is followed by an “epilogue” of subsequent (and consequent) events (42–48). 44 Centaurus His name notwithstanding, the offspring of Ixion and the cloud was not a Centaur himself but merely a progenitor of Centaurs (though not of Chiron). 46 Pelion A mountain complex in Magnesia (eastern Thessaly), home of Chiron (cf. P. 3.4) and other Centaurs. 46–52 On references to marvels (cf. wondrous prodigies, 47) and/or to divine power as signaling an upcoming transition, see app. §11. 50–51 The eagle is emblematic of speed also at N. 3.80, the dolphin at N. 6.64. 52–56 On the transitional function of these lines, see introductory note; on the contrast-figure of Archilochus, blame-poet par excellence, see glossary. 56 bestowed by grace of destiny Adds the normative or ethical dimension that makes wealth a proper object of ambition and/ or commendation; cf. P. 5.1–4 with note. 57 You Hieron is now addressed directly58–61 On this “categorical vaunt,” see O. 1.103–5 with note.

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62–67 The speaker shifts focus from Hieron’s wealth to his preeminent worth (areta), which in characteristic Greek fashion is said to manifest itself both in deeds (warfare) and in words (counsels). 67 Hail and farewell! This transitional formula (cf. I. 1.32 with note) signals the impending shift from overt praise to the exhortatory mode of the ode’s final triad. 67–68 Back in line 3 the laudator was “bringing” the ode to Syracuse, now it is being sent; on the shift of perspective, see app. §3. While bearing connotations of opulence and luxury, the comparison to Phoenician merchandise also seems to imply a commercial relationship (an item has been ordered and paid for), thus setting up a contrast with what immediately follows. 69 The Castoreion “The (song of) Castor,” that hero being closely associated with horsemanship and charioteering (cf. P. 5.9, I. 1.17). Although the precise reference of the term remains obscure, the general implication seems to be that the rest of the poem is thrown in as a kind of “extra” (cf. as a gracious gift, 70) above and beyond any contractual obligation. On Aeolian in its tuning, see intro. §8. 72 Become what you have learned you are This arrestingly phrased injunction suggests that the ode as a whole—and its final triad in particular—can help Hieron to see himself as he truly (i.e., ideally) is, thereby confirming his own best conception of his capabilities. 72–75 In view of its imitative ways, the ape is most likely intended to symbolize the flatterer, who wins approval from those who are immature in judgment but has no effect on a Rhadamanthys—or, by implication, on a ruler like Hieron. 73 his happy state On Rhadamanthys’s role as an “upright judge” in the underworld, see glossary, and cf. O. 2.75. 76 on both sides I.e., both the person slandered and the person to whom the slanders are purveyed. 77 like foxes I.e., full of cunning (cf. I. 4.47); so too the beast of wiles (78).

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79–80 The first person here has “indefinite” or general force (app. §5): in the end a man of righteous and straightforward character cannot be brought down by covert machinations. 81–88 Or at any rate, he cannot be brought down so long as there are other righteous and straightforward men within the “polity” who can recognize and resist wrongdoing. 83–85 The first person is once again “indefinite.” Traditional Greek morality endorsed helping one’s friends and doing harm to one’s enemies; for the latter principle, cf. I. 4.48 (“One must do all one can to crush an enemy”). 88–89 Clear echoes of 49–52 in both thought and diction. 89 not even this I.e., not even the inherent instability of human fortunes. 90–92 The image is apparently drawn from surveying. 96 Although the “I” is in the first instance likely to be general, it may also hint at the role of the encomiastic persona (and through him, at Pindar himself) as at the conclusion of O. 1; see intro. §14. P Y T H IA N 3

for Hieron of Syracuse

5

Would that Chiron, the son of Philyra— [Str. 1] if it is right that from my lips this common prayer should fall— he that is dead and gone, were living still, offspring of Sky-born Cronus, wide in stewardship, and ruling over Pelion’s glens, that beast of wood and field whose mind held mankind in affection, as when once he reared the craftsman of mild remedies for pain, Asclepius, whose hero’s hands warded from weary bodies all disease. Before the daughter of horse-handling Phlegyas could bring him with Ilithyia’s aid to birth, she was laid low by golden

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shafts from the bow of Artemis and sank within her chamber down to Hades’ house, Apollo so contriving. Wrath in Zeus’s children proves far from futile. She, however, in her senselessness, made light of it and welcomed a second union secret from her father, though she had lain before with Phoebus of the unshorn locks

15

and bore within herself the god’s pure seed. [Ep. 1] She would not wait to join the bridal feast nor hear the clear full sound of marriage hymns, such as young girls, age-mates and friends, delight to sing at dusk with soft endearments. Rather, she lusted for what was distant. Many have done so. There is a tribe of mankind, random, rash, who scorn all native things and gaze afar, stalking illusions out of empty hopes.

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Such dire infatuation seized the will [Str. 2] of lovely-robed Coronis. With a man who came, a stranger, from Arcadia she bedded down, but not unnoticed by one watcher: Loxias, the lord of Pytho rich in sacred sheep, heard news within his temple, guiding his judgment by the surest confidant, a mind that knows all things. He lays no hand on lies, and neither god nor mortal man can cheat his vigilance in deed or thought. At that time too, aware that Ischys, son of Elatus, [Ant. 2] slept as a stranger in her arms, an act of impious deceit, he sent his sister, heart raging with irresistible might, to Lacerea, since it was by Boebias’ banks that the girl had her home. A hostile power, swerving to evil, laid her low, and neighbors too reaped bitterness, and with her many died.

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So on a mountain, from one seed of flame, fire leaps upon wide woods and pulls them down to dust.

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But when on towering logs her kinsmen had [Ep. 2] laid the dead girl, and round her licked and roared Hephaestus’ hungry brightness, then Apollo said: “No longer shall I endure at heart to make my son’s destruction a piteous incidental to his mother’s heavy doom.” He spoke thus, and within one stride was there, and from the corpse caught up the infant, standing in divided flame. He took him to the Centaur in Magnesia, to be taught the art of healing mankind’s many ills. Of those who came, some were companioned by [Str. 3] spontaneous sores, while some had limbs wounded by hoary bronze, or bruised by stones flung from a distance; others, their frames despoiled by summer’s fire or wintry cold. Releasing each from his own ailment, he drew them into ease, attending some with soft incantatory words, or soothing potions; others he bound with herbs plucked far and wide, or with the knife set upright on their feet. But greed holds even rarest skill in bondage. [Ant. 3] So he, turned by a lordly wage, the gleam of gold in hand, dared to retrieve from death a man already captive. Zeus then struck down both, snatched from the breast of each his very breath with instant speed; the thunderbolt flashed forth and brought down havoc. We must, with mortal minds, seek from divinity such things as are befitting, knowing what lies before our feet, what destiny is ours. Do not, my soul, pursue the life of gods with longing, but exhaust all practicable means.

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Yes, if wise Chiron dwelt still in his cave, and if the honeyed discourse of my songs had power to charm his will, long since I would have won from him a healer for worthy men who now live prey to feverish diseases— some son of Leto’s son or of his father— and would have journeyed, cutting the Ionian sea, to Arethusa’s spring and Aetna’s lord, my host and friend, who in his rule at Syracuse is gentle toward his townsfolk, bears the nobility no grudge, and is admired by strangers as a father. If to him I had brought the twofold joy of golden health and revel-song to cast a brightness on the Pythian wreaths which the triumphant Pherenicus garnered once at Cirrha, I would, I say, have dawned upon him as a light outblazing any star in heaven, passing over that deep sea.

[Str. 4]

But as it is, my first wish is to offer prayer [Ant. 4] to the great Mother, whom by night before my door girls often celebrate, with Pan, in dance and song, that reverend goddess. Next, Hieron, if you know how from old tales to glean essential truth, this lesson you have mastered: the gods apportion mortal kind two griefs for every gain. Children and fools cannot endure such odds with grace or steadfastness; the noble do so, turning the fair side ever outward. Yours is a happy lot: upon a king, leader of hosts, great Destiny casts smiles as on no other man. Yet life without sharp change was granted neither Peleus, Aeacus’s son, nor godlike Cadmus, though they say those two

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prospered beyond all mortals, having heard the hymns with which, upon the mountain and in seven-gated Thebes, the Muses blessed them when one wedded lovely-eyed Harmonia, the other, glorious Thetis, daughter of the deep-sea sage. The gods joined both of them in feasting; [Str. 5] they saw the royal sons of Cronus seated on golden thrones, and won from each a bridal gift. So Zeus, through grace releasing them from former troubles, set their hearts upright in cheer. With time, however, the bitter sufferings of three daughters wrenched a share of happiness from Cadmus; yet the fourth, Thyone of white arms, drew Zeus the father to her bed of longing. And Peleus’ child, the only one to whom immortal [Ant. 5] Thetis gave birth in Phthia, yielding up, in war, his life to bowshot, roused lamentation from the Greeks around his blazing pyre. If any mortal holds in mind reality’s straight course, he will, when kindly handled by the Blessed, be content. The winds at different times veer from above now this way and now that. For men, prosperity does not long remain secure, when it attends them freighted with abundance. Small amid smallness, great among things great [Ep. 5] my state shall be. Whatever momentary shifts fortune may bring me I shall honor to the limits of my means. Should heaven hand me wealth and its delights, I hope to earn through aftertime high fame. Of Nestor and Sarpedon, names still on all tongues, only resounding verses fashioned by wise craftsmen give us knowledge. Excellence made glorious in song endures; to few is such achievement easy.

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Although it alludes in passing to one or more victories gained in the Pythian games by Hieron’s racehorse Pherenicus (73–74), this ode is not, properly speaking, an epinician at all but a poem of consolation, inviting Hieron to weigh certain fundamental facts about the human condition—above all our universal subjection to mortality—against the exceptional advantages that he enjoys by virtue of his rank, power, and wealth. If the ancient commentators are right in surmising that Hieron was suffering from some serious illness at the time the ode was composed, that circumstance would give its reflections a pointed rather than a merely general applicability to the addressee. In the extensive pattern of concentric “rings” through which much of the poem is structured (see note on 1), the outermost ring is occupied by a counterfactual wish that Chiron the Centaur, educator of heroes, were still alive and active in the world, as he was when he reared for mankind’s benefit the consummate healer Asclepius, greatest physician of Greek legend (1–7, 63–76). When the wish makes its second appearance, now couched in the form of a counterfactual condition, it is brought to bear specifically on Hieron through the speaker’s expressed desire—a desire both unfulfilled and unfulfillable—to bring to his “host and friend” not only revel-song but “golden health” as well (72–73). Yet the futility of longing for what lies beyond human reach has already been vividly demonstrated by the story of Asclepius, who was not satisfied with his power to cure injury and disease but sought instead, with disastrous consequences, to undo the fact of death itself (47–58). In light of that dire example, wishful thinking must be emphatically set aside in favor of a direct confrontation with the hard but ineluctable truths of human existence. The “sermon” that occupies the poem’s last five stanzas covers much the same ground as Achilles’ great speech to Priam at Iliad 24.518–51, the prototype of all consolatory discourse in Greek. In it, as in the speech, two points receive particular emphasis: the preponderance of bad fortune over good in the lives of mortals (80–83), and the exposure to loss, grief, and suffering which even the most prosperous and divinely favored of human beings unavoidably experience (84–106). In the final epode, however, Hieron’s attention is drawn to one source of consolation that has no parallel in Achilles’ discourse: the opportunity to use his wealth and power in ways that will win him a measure of immortality through poetry and the posthumous fame that poetry makes possible.

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1 Chiron A Centaur (hence beast of wood and field, 4), son of Cronus by Philyra and great educator of heroes; see glossary for further details. As noted above, the wish expressed in these opening lines is the first element in an elaborate example of concentric ring composition (app. §9) that extends well into the fourth triad of the ode: (A) “Would that Chiron were still alive . . .” (1–5); (B) Chiron rears Asclepius to be a physician (5–7); (C) the birth of Asclepius (8–9); (D) Coronis is punished by Artemis and Apollo (9–12); (E) Coronis’s sin (12–20); (F) the central “moral” of the story (21–23); (E′) Coronis’s sin (24–26); (D′) Coronis is punished by Apollo and Artemis (27–37); (C′) the birth of Asclepius (38–44); (B′) Asclepius is reared by Chiron to be a physician (27–37), then goes too far and is punished by Zeus (54–58), prompting a restatement of the “moral” (59–62); (A′) “If only Chiron were still alive, then . . .” (63–76). 4 Pelion A mountain range in Thessaly, home of Chiron and other Centaurs. 6 Asclepius A divinized hero, Asclepius was worshipped as a healer at various sites throughout the Greek world, most notably at Epidaurus in the northeastern Peloponnesus, where athletic contests were held in his honor (cf. N. 3.84, N. 5.52, I. 8.68). 8 the daughter of horse-handling Phlegyas I.e., Coronis (25), whose father was a legendary king of the Lapiths in Thessaly. 9 Ilithyia Goddess of childbirth; cf. O. 6.42, N. 7.1–5. 11 Wrath in Zeus’s children Coronis provoked this anger because she slept secretly with an Arcadian stranger (25) named Ischys (31) while still pregnant with Apollo’s child, thereby showing contempt both for the god (13–15) and for the due forms of marriage (16–19). 20 lusted for what was distant Literally, by sleeping with a stranger from faraway Arcadia (25–26); metaphorically, by not being satisfied with her status as mother-to-be of a god’s child. 21–23 These gnomic reflections on Coronis anticipate the moralizing that will be called forth later by Asclepius’s transgression (59–62). Mother and son alike embody the lesson that human beings should content themselves with whatever good fortune falls to their lot and not indulge in unattainable ambitions.

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27 Loxias Apollo; see glossary. 28 the surest confidant Perhaps an implicit correction of Hesiod (fr. 60), who has Apollo informed of Coronis’s affair by a raven. 34 Lacerea, Boebias A town and lake in eastern Thessaly. 40 Hephaestus’ hungry brightness I.e., fire; see glossary. 45 Magnesia The region of eastern Thessaly where Mt. Pelion is located. 59–62 See note on 21–23. 67 some son of Leto’s son or of his father I.e., either another Asclepius (as son of Leto’s son Apollo) or another Apollo (himself the son of Zeus). On Apollo as god of medicine, cf. P. 5.63–64. 68 the Ionian sea The body of water separating Greece from southern Italy and Sicily. 69 Arethusa’s spring A fountain in Syracuse; cf. N. 1.1–2 with note. Aetna’s lord I.e., Hieron, who founded the city of Aetna and named it after the nearby volcano; see introductory note to P. 1. For the characterization of Hieron as my host and friend cf. O. 1.103, P. 10.64–66. 74 Pherenicus Hieron’s famous racehorse (cf. O. 1.18–22); he apparently had been victorious at the Pythian games (on Cirrha, see glossary and intro. §21) some years before this ode was composed. 77–79 In articulating this pious impulse toward the great Mother (a fertility goddess of Phrygian origin, often identified with Rhea or Cybele), the speaker holds the door open for a miracle even as he prepares to steer Hieron toward sterner measures. The phrase before my door seems to hint at a divine resource quite different from the “distant” objects coveted by Coronis and her son. 81 As the preceding reference to old tales appears to signal, this line contains a clear allusion to Iliad 24.527–33. As traditionally interpreted, that passage represents Zeus as drawing from two large jars when he hands out individual human fortunes, one jar containing bad things and the other good. In fact, however,

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the phrasing of Homer’s Greek allows for a total of three jars, two of which are filled with evils; and that more pessimistic (or realistic) ratio is the one adopted here. 86–95 On Peleus and Cadmus as paradigms of human felicity, see glossary. Achilles himself cites his father Peleus as an example of “mixed” fortune in his speech to Priam (Iliad 24.534–42). 90 the mountain Pelion, where Peleus and Thetis were married; cf. N. 5.22–25. 91 On Cadmus’s wife Harmonia, see glossary, and cf. P. 11.7. 92 the deep-sea sage Nereus; see glossary, and cf. P. 9.94. 96–99 three daughters See glossary under “Cadmus,” and cf. O. 2.22–30. Thyone is another name for Semele, who became the mother of Dionysus by Zeus. 100 Peleus’ child Achilles, slain at Troy through the combined efforts of Paris and Apollo, both of whom were archers. 101 Phthia A city in Thessaly; for its connection with Thetis, cf. N. 4.50–51. 104 the Blessed The gods. 110 Should heaven hand me wealth See app. §5 on Pindar’s frequent use of the “first-person indefinite” to articulate and endorse general truths. Here Hieron is being implicitly commended for spending money on the commissioning of poetry. 112 Nestor and Sarpedon Apart from both playing roles in the Iliad, Nestor on the Greek side and Sarpedon as a Trojan ally, these two figures have—at least according to some traditions— preternatural longevity in common; for details see glossary on each. One implicit point of the citation, therefore, is that even the longest life offers no substantive advantage to human beings in the absence of achievement and commemoration. P Y T H IA N 4

for Arcesilas of Cyrene, victor in the chariot race Today, Muse, you must take your stand beside [Str. 1] a man who is a friend, king of Cyrene famed for horses, so that, together with Arcesilas in triumph,

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you may augment the breeze of song now owed to Leto’s children and to Pytho, where, sitting once by Zeus’s golden eagles when Apollo was not absent from the place, his priestess foretold that Battus would lead colonists to Libya’s fertile croplands, having left forthwith the sacred island, and would found a city of fine chariots upon a swelling chalk-white hill, fulfilling after seventeen generations [Ant. 1] the prophecy once uttered by Medea on Thera, where Aeetes’ daughter, spirit-stirred, breathed it forth from immortal lips, the mistress of the Colchians. Thus she spoke to warlike Jason’s crew of demigods: “Listen, sons of high-hearted men and gods: I say that from this wave-dashed land Epaphus’ daughter shall one day see planted in her soil a root of cities known to all mankind, within the sacred confines of Zeus Ammon. Giving up short-finned dolphins in [Ep. 1] exchange for nimble horses, they will ply reins in place of oars, and chariot teams with storm-swift feet. Of mighty cities Thera shall, through time’s fruition, be the mother-city—such is what the token spelt which once, where Triton’s lake flows out to sea, Euphemus took in hand on lighting from the prow, when in the likeness of a man the god held out some earth as guest-gift, and the son of Cronus, father Zeus, pealed thunder forth as harbinger of good. He came upon us there as we were hanging up the anchor, brazen-jawed, against the ship, swift Argo’s bit and bridle; earlier, for twelve days from the stream of Ocean over deserted dunes we had transported

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the sea-steeped timber, shouldering it according to my counsels. At that time, all alone, the god approached, having assumed a worthy man’s resplendent looks, and launched upon the friendly words with which kind hosts announce a feast to strangers newly come. But no, the pleaded sweetness of a voyage home [Ant. 2] forbade us to remain. He said he was Eurypylus, the son of him who everlastingly upholds and shakes the earth, and he perceived our haste. Straightway he snatched up from the ground what met his grasp and as a guest-gift thrust it forth. Compliantly, the hero leapt upon the shore and, firmly laying hand on hand, took up the clod imbued with heaven’s power. I am aware that, tossed and tumbled from the ship, it went the way the salt sea went, at evening, trailing supple waves. [Ep. 2] In truth, I often urged the labor-lightening squires to keep it safe; their minds, however, were forgetful. Now on this island it has been washed up, seed everlasting of Libya’s wide distances, before its time. If it had been flung down at home, beside the cavernous mouth of Hades, when Euphemus came to sacred Taenarum, horse-mastering Poseidon’s lordly son whom once upon Cephisus’ banks Europa, Tityus’ daughter, bore, then after four generations of descendants his stock would, with the Danaans’ aid, have seized that spacious continent; for at that time migrations from great Sparta are in store, from Argos’ gulf, and from Mycenae. But as it is, in beds of foreign women he shall find choice progeny, who, coming to this isle

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with the gods’ favor, will beget a man to rule cloud-darkened plains as master. Him will Phoebus, in his house of ample gold, advise through oracles, 55

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when at a later time in Pytho’s temple [Ant. 3] he sets foot, to conduct a host of men in ships to Zeus’s fertile precinct by the Nile.” So ran the measures of Medea’s speech; and they shrank back in silence, motionless, those godlike heroes, hearing her shrewd counsel. O blessed son of Polymnestus, in accord with that account the mantic utterance of the Delphic bee exalted you with ringing and unprompted cry. Three times she hailed you in loud voice, proclaiming you Cyrene’s destined king, when you had come to ask what recompense [Ep. 3] the gods would offer for your halting speech. And even now, in truth, long afterward, as if in spring’s bright-flowered prime Arcesilas blooms eighth in line among that man’s descendants. To him Apollo has, with Pytho, granted renown and glory in the chariot race from those that dwell about. I shall consign him to the Muses as fit theme, together with the ram’s all-golden fleece, for when the Minyans sailed upon that quest, honors for them were planted by the gods. What prelude to seafaring drew them in? [Str. 4] What thrill of danger bound them fast with nails of adamant? It was ordained that Pelias should meet death at the hands of Aeolus’ illustrious line or through their obdurate designs. There came to him a prophecy that chilled his cunning heart, spoken beside the midmost navel of well-wooded mother Earth,

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that at all costs he must keep careful guard against one wearing but a single sandal, when from high mountain farmsteads he might come down to the sunny lands of famed Iolcus, stranger or townsman. And indeed, with time, [Ant. 4] the man arrived, twin spears in hand, fearsome to look on; and he wore two modes of dress, one native to Magnesia, fitting close to his stupendous limbs; but over that a leopard skin gave shelter from chill rains. Nor had his locks, through shearing, vanished in their brightness, but rather fell in waves down all his back. Straight on he went, and, quickly making trial of his own dauntless purpose, took his stand where crowds were fullest, in the marketplace. They did not recognize him; nonetheless, [Ep. 4] among those struck with awe one said this much: “Surely that cannot be Apollo; nor yet, though, is it Aphrodite’s husband, he of the brazen chariot. On gleaming Naxos, so they say, Iphimedia’s sons met death, Otus and you, O lord, audacious Ephialtes. Then too, Tityus was tracked down by Artemis’ swift arrow, launched from a quiver unknown to defeat, showing that men should only crave to reach for loves that lie within their grasp.” Such comments were they making, turn by turn, [Str. 5] one to another. On a smooth-hewn cart drawn by mules, and in headlong haste, Pelias came. At once amazement seized him at the sight, so glaring, of the single sandal fastened about the man’s right foot. Concealing fear within his heart, he said, “What kind of country, stranger, do you lay claim to as your homeland? Which of earthborn mortals

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was she who from her aged womb once cast you forth? Without the stain of odious untruth, declare your lineage.” Confidence rising, with mild words [Ant. 5] he answered thus: “I shall, I vow, bear evidence of Chiron’s teaching, since it’s from his cave I come, from Chariclo and Philyra, where I was reared by the chaste daughters of the Centaur. Having completed twenty years with no deed done, nor word said, that brought shame upon them, I return home, to reclaim what was of old my father’s, though now held in governance unfitly, and was once bestowed by Zeus on Aeolus, leader of hosts, and on his children as an honor. For, as I hear, the lawless Pelias, [Ep. 5] yielding to his disordered wits, stripped it away by force from my right-ruling parents, who, when I first saw life’s clear light, so feared violence from the haughty lord that they imposed upon the house, as for a death, a somber pall of mourning mixed with women’s wails, and sent me secretly away in swaddling clothes of purple, making night an accomplice in the journey, to the son of Cronus, Chiron, for him to take in and to rear. The chief points in this chronicle of mine [Str. 6] you know. But show me clearly, noble citizens, the mansion of my forefathers, who rode white horses. As Aeson’s child, and native here, to no alien land, no stranger’s, have I come. The godlike beast would call me by the name of Jason.” He spoke thus; and his father’s eyes, when first he entered, knew him. From under aged lids the tears came bursting forth,

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for joy suffused his spirit at the sight of his extraordinary son, most beautiful of men. 125

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And both his brothers came to them [Ant. 6] on hearing news of the arrival, Pheres from close by, leaving Hyperia’s spring, and Amythaon from Messene. Quickly too Admetus and Melampus came, showing goodwill toward their cousin. At a duly portioned feast Jason with gentle words received them, proffering all fit fare for guests, and drew out festal gladness to the full, culling for five uninterrupted nights and days the hallowed flower of good living. But on the sixth, in earnestness, [Ep. 6] the man shared with his relatives the whole affair from its beginning; and they fell in behind. Suddenly, from the couches, he sprang up with the others, and they came to Pelias’ house. Hurrying in, they took their stand. The king himself, on hearing them, stepped forth in welcome, offspring of Tyro with her lovely locks. Distilling calm speech in a voice of mildness, Jason laid a foundation of wise words: “Son of Poseidon Cleaver of the Rock, the minds of mortals are too quick [Str. 7] to praise, ahead of justice, gain procured through cunning, even though after carousal there still comes a bitter morning. But you and I, ruling our tempers by the law of right, must weave out future happiness. You know what I will say: one heifer was the mother both of Cretheus and of Salmoneus bold in schemes. Now we in turn, of them begotten in the third generation, look upon

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the golden power of the sun. The Fates withdraw and stand apart, if enmity arises among kin, shrouding reverence and regard. It is not fitting that we two, with swords of sharp[Ant. 7] edged bronze or javelins, should portion out our ancestors’ great honors. The sheep I yield to you, the cattle in their tawny herds, and all the fields which, wrested from my parents, you now cultivate, thus fattening your wealth; it does not trouble me that your estate is overstocked. But both the scepter of sole kingship and the throne that Cretheus’ son once sat upon while passing righteous judgments on a horseman nation— those, without grief to either side, give up, lest from them some fresh evil, yet [Ep. 7] more untoward, spring up against us.” Thus did he speak, and quietly Pelias too made answer: “I shall be such as you wish. Already, though, the aged portion of my life attends me, while your bloom of youth is just now swelling, and you have the power to undo the wrath of those below. Phrixus demands to have his soul brought back by ones who venture to Aeetes’ palace, and brought back too the hide, deep-piled and fleecy, of the ram on which he once was rescued from the sea and from his stepmother’s impious assaults. [Str. 8] This is the message of a marvelous dream that came to me. I have sought counsel at Castalia, to see if it should be pursued; and I am urged with all speed to send forth a ship as homeward escort. This exploit willingly accomplish, and I swear to let you reign as sole in kingship. Mighty is the oath, and let ancestral Zeus

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bear witness on both sides.” This compact ratified, they went their separate ways. Jason himself at once 170

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sent heralds forth to make known everywhere [Ant. 8] the voyage that was looming. Swiftly there arrived three sons of Cronian Zeus, unwearying in battle, born from Alcmene and quick-glancing Leda. Then too, locks floating high, two men appeared, Poseidon’s offspring, duly mindful of their valor, from Pylos and from Taenarum’s height; and noble fame thereby was brought both for Euphemus to fulfillment and, Periclymenus, for you, wide-ranging in your might. And from Apollo came a lyre-player, father of songs, the much-praised Orpheus. Hermes with wand of gold dispatched twin sons [Ep. 8] to join the unabating trial, the one Echion, Erytus the other, flush with youth. In haste came ones who dwelt about Pangaeum’s foothills, for willingly and with glad heart did Boreas their father, king of the winds, make Calaïs and Zetes ready, men who both had backs that bristled with bright wings. And Hera kindled in the demigods a yearning, all-persuasive in its sweetness, for the ship Argo, so that no one should be left [Str. 9] lingering at his mother’s side to nurse a life exempt from risk, but rather, even at the price of death, each man might with his other comrades find, in noblest form, his valor’s healing recompense. After the foremost flower of sailors reached Iolcus, Jason, with praise, reviewed them all. Thereafter, plying the arts of prophecy through bird-flight and through sacred lots,

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Mopsus embarked the host with ready will. And when over the prow the anchors had been slung,

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the captain on the stern-deck, holding in his hands [Ant. 9] a golden cup, invoked the father of Sky’s offspring, Zeus, whose weapon is the thunderbolt, and called too on the sweep, swift-voyaging, of waves, on winds and nights and pathways running through the sea, on favoring days and friendly fortune of return. Out of the clouds a voice of thunder shouted in reply auspiciously, and lightning came in bright streaks bursting forth. The heroes breathed in deep relief, won over by the god’s signs. The seer, like a herald, summoned them all to buckle to the oars, [Ep. 9] speaking the while of pleasant hopes; and from beneath quick-driven palms unsated rowing issued forth. They came, escorted by the South Wind’s breezes, to the mouth of the Unfriendly Sea, where for marine Poseidon they dedicated sacred ground. A ruddy herd of Thracian bulls was there at hand, and, newly built of stone, an altar hollow-topped. Hastening into depths of danger, they begged the lord of ships that from the Clashing Rocks’ unyielding motion [Str. 10] they might escape unhurt. Twin cliffs those were, endowed with life, that rolled together with more speed than loud-resounding winds in serried ranks; but they at once were brought forever to a halt by that voyage of demigods. Thereafter to the Phasis they came, where with the dark-faced Colchians they engaged in acts of force before Aeetes’ very eyes.

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was first, the Cyprus-born, to bring down to [Ant. 10] mankind that maddening bird, and taught the son of Aeson charms of supplication, making him expert, so that Medea might yield up her reverence for parents, and eagerness for Hellas might kindle her heart and drive it with Persuasion’s lash. Quickly she showed him how her father’s feats could be achieved. Remedies interfused with oil to counteract hard-gripping pain she gave him for anointing; and the two agreed to wedlock’s sweet conjunction of desires. But when among them all Aeetes had [Ep. 10] brought forth an adamantine plow and oxen that from tawny jaws breathed plumes of blazing fire, striking the earth by turns with brazen hooves, he led them single-handed to the yoke, then, drawing out straight furrows, drove the team along to split the tract of clod-rich soil a fathom deep. He spoke thus: “Let the king, whoever he may be that holds the ship’s command, perform for me this deed, and then he may bear off that everlasting coverlet, the fleece agleam with tufts of gold.” [Str. 11] After this proclamation, Jason cast aside his saffron cloak, relying on the gods, and took the task in hand. Fire failed to faze him, heeding as he did the promptings of the foreign girl, in all medicaments adept. Seizing the plow, through sheer constraint he fastened to its harness

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the oxen’s necks; then, thrusting in their stout-ribbed frames an unrelenting goad, that man of force worked out the labor laid on him to its full measure. Speechless with chagrin, Aeetes even so let slip a cry of wonder at such power. Toward the mighty man his comrades stretched [Ant. 11] affectionate hands, entwining him in garlands of green leaves and with genial words making him welcome. Helius’ stupendous son spoke straightway of the lustrous hide, telling where Phrixus’ knives had stretched it out; at least that trial, he believed, the man could not accomplish. And yes, it lay within dense woods, held fast between the jaws, all-ravening, of a dragon— one that in thickness and in length surpassed a ship of fifty oars which blows of iron have fashioned. Continuing on the wagon-road would take too [Ep. 11] long, for time is pressing close; I know, moreover, a certain shortcut, and have served as guide to many others in poetic skill. Through craft he killed the serpent, gleaming-eyed and dapple-backed, and with her own assistance, O Arcesilas, purloined Medea, Pelias’ doom. They mingled with the streams of Ocean, with the Red Sea too, and with the race of Lemnian women, slayers of their husbands. There they displayed in games their strength of limb for judgment, with a garment set as prize, and lay beside them. At that time on foreign soil the fated day, or hours of night, welcomed the seed of bright good fortune for your lineage, since there Euphemus’ stock

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was planted, to exist for all of future time. Imbued with Spartan haunts and ways, they colonized in course of time an island once called Calliste, whence the son of Leto bestowed upon your family Libya’s plain, to make it thrive with heaven’s favor, and to rule the godlike city of gold-throned Cyrene, discovering in themselves the shrewdness that [Ant. 12] forms plans aright. Grasp now the art of Oedipus. If someone with sharp-cutting axe should hew the branches from a massive oak and bring its wondrous beauty to disgrace, it would, though stripped of fruitfulness, bear witness to itself, if ever in a winter fire it finds its journey’s end, or, standing firm among the upright pillars of a lordly house, sustains sad toil within another’s walls, leaving its own place desolate. You are a healer of most timely touch, and Paean [Ep. 12] honors the light of comfort that you bring. One must apply a gentle hand when tending wounds that fester. Easy it is to shake a city, even for less potent men; to set one back upon its base, however, proves a task too hard to wrestle with unless some god suddenly shows himself a steersman for its leaders. For you, such blessings now are being woven forth; take courage to bestow all zealous care upon Cyrene and her happiness. Of Homer’s maxims, lay this one as well to heart, [Str. 13] granting it due esteem: a worthy messenger, he said, confers the greatest honor on each enterprise. Even the Muse gains credit by a message rightly sent. Cyrene came to recognize,

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along with Battus’ far-famed halls, the righteous mind and spirit of Damophilus. He is, among the youthful, young; but in deliberations he is like an elder who has reached life’s hundredth year. He robs malicious tongues of their bright voice, and, having learned to hate the insolent,

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he has no quarrel with nobility. [Ant. 13] Nor does he put attainment off, since timeliness, for men, is of brief measure; he knows that well, attending it as squire, not slave. They say that, of all things, this gives most pain: to recognize the good but be compelled to stand apart. Just so, indeed, that Atlas wrestles at present with the sky, away from fatherland and from possessions; yet Zeus the everlasting set the Titans free. With time, the breeze stops and there is a change

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of sails. He prays that, having drained his dire [Ep. 13] affliction to the dregs, he may one day behold his home, where, taking part in banquets beside Apollo’s spring, he may repeatedly yield up his heart to youthful cheer, and in the midst of citizens with taste and sense, a lyre of clever make borne deftly in his hands, may cherish civic peace, causing distress to no one, and himself unvexed by townsfolk. He then could tell, Arcesilas, how fine a fountain of immortal verse he found when welcomed lately as a guest in Thebes.

This ode and the next were composed for Arcesilas IV, king of Cyrene in Libya, on the occasion of a Pythian chariot victory won in 462. In Pythian 5, an epinician of regular form, that chariot victory is very much front and center. Here, however, it receives no more than two fleeting references (1–3, 66–67) in an ode of extraordinary and unparalleled length, comprising thirteen triads when the maximum number

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elsewhere in the corpus is five. On the evidence of the text itself, Pythian 4 is less an epinician than a lavishly proportioned “peaceoffering” from a young kinsman of the king named Damophilus, who had apparently been banished for his involvement in an (unsuccessful) aristocratic insurrection against Arcesilas’s rule. The ode’s last few lines (298–99) indicate that during his exile Damophilus spent some time in Thebes and, while there, commissioned Pindar to compose a poem that would publicly plead for his reinstatement both in the king’s good graces and in the civic life of Cyrene. (Actual negotiations for his return would no doubt have been worked out in private ahead of time.) This diplomatic mission the ode discharges in its last two triads, which devote more or less equal attention to the king’s generosity and wise governance and the young man’s sterling virtues of character and disposition. The preceding eight triads, by contrast, are given over to narrative rather than persuasion, relating with varying degrees of thoroughness and abridgment the tale of Jason and the Argonauts on their quest for the Golden Fleece. The choice of mythical subject matter is in and of itself complimentary to Arcesilas, whose Battiad dynasty not only claimed descent from Poseidon’s son Euphemus, who was a participant in the expedition, but also traced its right to rule in Libya back to that same source. This second line of connection becomes the focus of a separate, freestanding episode in the ode’s first three triads, which describe how a clod of Libyan earth given to Euphemus by the sea-god Triton was later washed up on the island of Thera, thereby portending that after many generations Euphemus’s lineal descendant Battus would lead a colony of settlers “back” to Libyan soil and found the city of Cyrene. Indeed, the motif of “returning” and “coming home” recurs throughout the ode—not just the symbolic return of the clod to its point of origin but also Jason’s return to his ancestral home in Iolcus after a childhood in exile (105–7, 118), the projected repatriation of both Phrixus’s soul and the Golden Fleece (159–61), and the Argonauts’ own eventual homeward journey (nostos), whether cited as an argument against tarrying along the way (32) or requested in a prayer to Zeus before departure (196). The general relevance of this theme to the situation of Damophilus, “away from fatherland and from possessions” (290) and eager once again to “behold his home” (294), is evident enough. Efforts to draw any closer parallels, however, soon run up against the a priori implau-

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sibility of any scenario that requires seeing in the negatively drawn Pelias a mythical counterpart of Arcesilas. 1–69 The first three triads taken as a unit exhibit the typical tripartite pattern of a self-standing epinician (intro. §17): (A) an initial announcement of the victory, specifying victor, city, and venue (with event hinted at in famed for horses); (B) an extended mythical narrative; (A′) a “gliding” transition back to the here-and-now and a second, more explicit victory announcement. 3 Leto’s children Apollo and Artemis. Pytho Delphi. 4–63 The narrative takes three successive steps backward into the past, each one signposted by the temporal adverb once (4, 10, 20): (A) from the present moment of festivity to the time when Battus received an oracle at Pytho, an incident that forms the kephalaion (app. §10) of the myth as a whole (4–8); (B) seventeen generations further back to the time when Medea uttered her own prophecy on Thera (9–12); (C) a still further recession, within Medea’s speech, to the time when Euphemus received the clod from Triton/Eurypylus (20–35). Upon the conclusion of the speech the sequence rapidly reverses itself, with (B′) the Argonauts’ reaction to Medea’s prophecy (57–58) and (A′) Battus receiving his oracle at Pytho (59–63). 4 Zeus’s golden eagles According to the scholia, these were images placed on the omphalos or “navel stone” that marked the Pythian sanctuary as the center of the earth, determined to be so when two eagles sent by Zeus from opposite ends of the world met over Delphi. 5 Delivered to inquirers by a priestess known as the Pythia, Apollo’s oracles were thought to have even greater authority when the god himself was in (temporary) residence at the Delphic sanctuary. 7 the sacred island Thera (present-day Santorini), a volcanic island in the southern Cyclades. 8 a swelling chalk-white hill The high bluff on which Cyrene was situated is mentioned also at P. 9.55.

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10–11 Medea, Aeetes, Colchians See glossary. 13–56 Medea’s speech is structured by ring form: (A) Libya will be colonized from Thera (13–18); (B) this is something that she knows from the incident of the clod and its disappearance (19–52); (A′) Libya will be colonized from Thera—under the leadership of Battus (52–56). 14 Epaphus’ daughter I.e., Libya, eponymous nymph of the region where Cyrene was located. For information on Epaphus, see glossary. 15 a root of cities Cyrene was the mother-city of other towns in Libya (cf. 19–20), among them Apollonia, Barce, Hesperides, and Teuchira. 16 within the sacred confines of Zeus Ammon Among Greeks in Libya Zeus had become identified with the Egyptian god Ammon (Amun), who had a temple and oracle at an oasis deep in the interior of the country. 20–37 More ring form: (A) Euphemus receives (took in hand, 21) the clod from Triton in disguise (20–23); (B) flashback explaining the circumstances of the encounter (24–34); (A′) Euphemus receives (took up, 37) the clod from Triton in disguise (34–37). 20 the token I.e., the clod of earth mentioned in 23. Triton’s lake Although Herodotus (4.169) places Lake Tritonis in western Libya (present-day Tunisia), Pindar’s story presupposes a location much closer to Cyrene. Triton himself was a sea-god, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. 21 Euphemus See introductory note; his genealogy will be given in 45–46. 22 the god Triton. 24 He Triton again. 26 the stream of Ocean A current of fresh water that was thought to encircle the flat disk of the earth. The Argonauts evidently sailed along it in a westerly direction from Colchis, then carried their ship northward over the desert to Lake Tritonis, from which they found an outlet to the Mediterranean. 33 Eurypylus Triton assumes the identity of a legendary Libyan king, one who was himself a son of Poseidon.

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36 the hero Euphemus; Medea’s narrative returns to its starting point (20ff.). 42 this island Thera, from which the colonizing of Libya would eventually take place. 44 Taenarum A promontory in southern Laconia, home of Euphemus and site of a cave that reputedly gave access to the underworld. Had Euphemus managed to bring the clod safely home, Libya would have been colonized many generations earlier than it actually was. 46 Cephisus A river in Boeotia; cf. O. 14.1, P. 12.27. 48 the Danaans On this term for Greeks, see glossary; the reference here is to inhabitants of the Peloponnesus who were displaced by the Dorian invasion. 50 in beds of foreign women I.e., on the island of Lemnos (cf. 252–53 with note), from which Euphemus’s descendants will migrate first to Laconia (cf. 257) and thence to Thera (this isle). 52 a man to rule cloud-darkened plains Battus as founder of Cyrene. 56 to Zeus’s fertile precinct by the Nile I.e., Libya; cf. 16. 59 O blessed son of Polymnestus Battus; the stylistic mannerism of direct address (apostrophe) will recur in 89 and 175. 60 the Delphic bee The Pythian priestess. 63 your halting speech Battus means “Stammerer”; his real name was Aristoteles (cf. P. 5.87). 65 eighth in line Cyrene’s kings were named Battus and Arcesilas in generational alternation; the current Pythian victor is Arcesilas IV. 69 the Minyans The Argonauts. for them I.e., for Battus and his descendants, including Arcesilas IV. 70–71 The main narrative of the ode begins in “epic” style with questions posed to the Muse(s); cf. Iliad 1.8, “Which of the gods brought these two [Agamemnon and Achilles] together in contention?” 71–72 Pelias King of Iolcus and (like Jason) a descendant of Aeolus, mythical ancestor of the Aeolian Greeks.

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74 the midmost navel of . . . Earth I.e., Delphi; see note on 4. 77 Iolcus A port town in the region of eastern Thessaly known as Magnesia (80). 79 the man Jason. 87 Aphrodite’s husband I.e., Ares, although he is more commonly represented as being her lover. 89 Otus, Ephialtes Poseidon’s sons by Iphimedia, whose physical stature was so prodigious that they attempted to scale heaven by stacking Mt. Ossa on Mt. Olympus and then Mt. Pelion on both. 90 Tityus Another giant, killed by Artemis while he was attempting to rape her mother Leto. 102–3 On Chiron’s role as foster father and educator of young heroes, see glossary. Chariclo and Philyra were Chiron’s wife and mother, respectively; his father was Cronus (115). 106 what was of old my father’s I.e., the kingship of Iolcus, wrested by Pelias from his half brother Aeson, Jason’s father. 119 The godlike beast Chiron; cf. “that beast of wood and field” at P. 3.4. 124 his brothers I.e., Aeson’s. 125 Hyperia’s spring Near Pherae in Thessaly. 126 Messene In the southwestern Peloponnesus. Admetus and Melampus The sons of Pheres and Amythaon respectively. 136 Tyro Daughter of Salmoneus (143), wife of Salmoneus’s brother Cretheus (142), and mother of Pelias by Poseidon (138). 138 Cleaver of the Rock So called because he split open the vale of Tempe to allow passage for the river Peneus . 142 one heifer Enarea, wife of Aeolus. Cretheus Father of Aeson by Tyro. in the third generation The reckoning is inclusive according to Greek usage: Cretheus > Aeson > Jason, Salmoneus > Tyro > Pelias. Because of the cross-generational marriage between Cretheus and his niece Tyro, Pelias was Jason’s half uncle as well as his first cousin.

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152 Cretheus’ son Aeson. 159 Phrixus Son of Athamas, a younger brother of Cretheus and Salmoneus. Facing death at the hands of their stepmother Ino, Phrixus and his sister Helle escaped on the back of a ram with golden fleece. During the journey Helle fell off the ram and drowned in the body of water known thereafter as the Hellespont (“sea of Helle”), but Phrixus arrived safely in Colchis, where he sacrificed the ram and presented its precious hide to King Aeetes. 163 at Castalia I.e., at Delphi or Pytho, site of Apollo’s oracle; see intro. §21. 167 ancestral Zeus As progenitor of the Aeolid line. 171 three sons of Cronian Zeus I.e., Heracles (by Alcmene) and Castor and Polydeuces (by Leda). 174–75 The names are arranged chiastically: Periclymenus hailed from Pylos, Euphemus from Taenarum (cf. 44). On the direct address (you), see 59 with note. 180 Pangaeum A mountain in Thrace. 181 Boreas The North Wind. 187 his valor’s healing recompense I.e., fame as an antidote and consolation for mortality. 193 the captain Jason. 194 Sky’s offspring The Olympian gods were descendants of Sky and Earth. 204 the Unfriendly Sea The Black Sea or Euxine (cf. N. 4.49); the latter term ( = “hospitable” or “friendly”) was euphemistic, the sea being notorious for its storms and rocky shores. 208 the Clashing Rocks Called the Wandering Rocks (Planktai) at Odyssey 12.59–72, where the Argo’s safe passage between them is credited not to Poseidon (the lord of ships) but to Hera. 211 Phasis The chief river of Colchis, at the eastern end of the Black Sea. 213 The Queen Aphrodite, the Cyprus-born (216; cf. O. 10.105).

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214 wryneck A long-necked bird (iynx) used in love-magic; it was tied by its wings and legs to a four-spoked wheel (cf. P. 2.40) and then revolved to “draw” the person targeted by the rite. 218 Hellas The Greek-speaking world. 241 Helius’ stupendous son Aeetes’ father was the Sun-god. 242 Phrixus’ knives See note on 159. 245–46 The emphasis on the dragon’s astounding size brings the narrative to a climax and thereby signals an impending transition; see app. §11. 247–48 Professing a sudden awareness of time constraints (app. §8), the speaker abandons further narration in the leisurely “epic” style (the wagon-road) in favor of rapid summary and allusion (a certain shortcut). The shift in manner paves the way for a return to the here-and-now, an effect intensified by the abrupt interjection of direct address in 250 (O Arcesilas). On the “highway of song” motif, see app. §14. 250 Pelias’ doom Medea convinced Pelias’s daughters that her magic could endow him with second youth if they first dismembered him and cooked the pieces in a cauldron. 251 the streams of Ocean See note on 26. 252 slayers of their husbands Upon arriving at Lemnos, the Argonauts discovered that the women of the island had recently killed their menfolk. During their stay the voyagers took part in athletic contests presided over by Hypsipyle, the Lemnian queen; cf. O. 4.19–23. 256 your lineage The your is plural, Arcesilas and his family being addressed collectively. there Euphemus’ stock was planted Cf. 50–51. 259 Calliste “Most Beautiful,” another name for Thera, bestowed through the Delphic oracle that decreed the emigration from Thera; cf. 53–56. 263 the art of Oedipus I.e., his ability to solve riddles, most famously demonstrated in his encounter with the Theban Sphinx. 263–69 The “message” of the extended parable seems to be that a noble spirit continues to show strength and integrity even

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when subjected to adversity and exile. On its relevance to the situation of Damophilus, see introductory note. 270 You are a healer The addressee is Arcesilas. Paean Apollo in his role as god of healing. 277–78 In extant Homeric texts the sentiment closest to the one here expressed is Iliad 15.207 (“This too is a good thing, when a messenger has an understanding heart”). 289–90 Damophilus in his exile is metaphorically likened to the Titan Atlas, who was condemned to hold up the sky at the westernmost edge of the world (cf. Theogony 517–20). 291 Zeus . . . set the Titans free According to Hesiod’s account in the Theogony, the Titans defeated by Zeus remained permanently imprisoned in Tartarus; this alternative version offers an implicit message for Arcesilas. 293 his dire affliction I.e., his exile. 294 Apollo’s spring A landmark of Cyrene, and according to Herodotus (4.158) the reason why the city site was originally chosen. 296 civic peace The Greek word is hēsychia; for the concept, see P. 8.1 with note. 299 a fountain of immortal verse I.e., this very ode. welcomed . . . as a guest in Thebes See introductory note and intro. §14. P Y T H IA N 5

for Arcesilas of Cyrene, victor in the chariot race

5

Wealth is far-reaching in its strength [Str. 1] whenever, tempered by high merit unalloyed and held as gift of destiny, a mortal man escorts it home, to be a follower that makes friends of many. Arcesilas favored by the gods, of you it truly can be said that from the utmost threshold of your splendid life such wealth has been, with good repute, the object of your quest

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10

15

20

25

30

35

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by grace of Castor, charioteer in gold, who after storms of winter now pours down fair weather on your blessed hearth. The wise, of course, more readily [Ant. 1] sustain the weight of such god-given power too. You, walking in accord with right, have great good fortune on all sides. First, you are king of mighty cities, and this most honored privilege, imbued with your good sense, is a resplendence inborn in your stock. And now too you are blest, because, obtaining at Pytho’s famous festival a triumph with your horses, you have received this revel-band of men, Apollo’s plaything of delight. Therefore do not forget, [Ep. 1] while in Cyrene you are hymned near Aphrodite’s pleasant garden, first, over each and every thing to set divinity as cause, and then to love Carrhotus best of your companions. He did not bring Excuse along, the daughter of tardy-minded Afterthought, when he arrived within the halls of Battus’ heirs, whose rule is rightful; but rather, welcomed as a guest beside Castalia’s spring, he placed the prize of victory in the chariot race about your hair, having held fast to unspoiled reins [Str. 2] throughout the sacred precinct’s twelve swift-running laps. No part indeed of his stout-framed equipment did he shatter, but it hangs whole and entire, that cunning work of dexterous craftsmen which he drove past Crisa’s hill onto the plain enclosed within the god’s deep valley. So a shrine of cypress wood contains it, close beside the statue

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which men of Crete, bow-bearers, once set up beneath Parnassian roof, hewn from a single block of wood.

45

50

55

60

65

70

Thus it is fitting to go forth with ready will [Ant. 2] and greet one who has done good service. O son of Alexibias, the fair-haired Graces set you blazing. Blessed you are, who have, even after enormous toil, acclaim of matchless worth as monument. Among full forty drivers who fell and came to grief, you brought your chariot safely through with mind undaunted; and now from splendid contests you have come to Libya’s plain and to your fathers’ city. No person lacks, or ever will, his share of troubles. [Ep. 2] Battus’ good fortune, nonetheless, persists from ancient times, dispensing this and that, the city’s rampart and a radiant light of hope to strangers. Him indeed did lions, with vaunting roars, flee from in fright, when he brought forth against them speech from overseas. Apollo who founds colonies consigned the beasts to abject terror, lest for the steward of Cyrene his oracles prove unfulfilled. He it is also who for grave [Str. 3] diseases metes out remedies to men and women; who has bestowed the lyre, and gives the Muse to those he chooses, having first brought within the heart good order free from strife; and who frequents the inmost seat of oracles. Through them, in Lacedaemon, in Argos and in hallowed Pylos, he settled the bold-spirited descendants of Heracles and Aegimius. In my case, it is right to hail the cherished fame that comes from Sparta,

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75

80

85

90

95

100

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whence sprang the men [Ant. 3] who, heirs of Aegeus, made their way to Thera, my own forefathers, not without the gods; some destiny was their guide. From there inheriting a ritual meal of ample sacrifice which is, Apollo, yours, we pay, at that Carnean feast, due honor to the well-founded city of Cyrene— still held by battle-loving strangers from Troy, Antenor’s offspring, who arrived with Helen after they saw their homeland turned to smoke in war. That chariot-driving people is most faithfully [Ep. 3] welcomed with acts of sacrifice and rounds of gifts by men whom Aristoteles brought in speedy ships, opening up a pathway over depths of sea. He founded larger precincts of the gods, and, for processions calling on Apollo’s aid to mortals, he laid down a road cut straight through rock, paved level and echoing with horses’ hooves, where at the market’s furthermost edge he lies, in death, apart. Blessed he was when in men’s midst [Str. 4] he dwelt, and later as a hero worshipped by his people. Separately, before the palace, other kings, allotted now to Hades, have their sacred tombs. When mighty deeds of prowess are sprinkled with soft dew and revel-songs pour forth, they hear of them, perhaps, with subterranean sense— bliss to themselves, and for their son Arcesilas a splendor shared, though his by right. Amid the voices of young men it’s fitting that he laud Apollo girt with gold, having at Pytho won, as victory’s requital of all costs,

[Ant. 4]

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110

115

120

155

delightful song. That man is praised by experts in the art; I merely will report the common talk. He nourishes a mind superior to his time of life, and eloquence as well; he is, in courage, among all birds an eagle on extended wings; competing at the games, his strength is as a bastion. Within the Muses’ sphere he soars, and has from childhood on; and as a charioteer his skill has been shown forth. In short, all avenues of achievement offered [Ep. 4] by his land he has made bold to enter. Now, indeed, with ready will divinity brings his powers to fulfillment; in future may you grant like fortune, blessed children of Cronus, in both deeds and counsels, for him to have at hand, so that no stormy blast of wind, shriveling summer’s fruit, should lay waste to his coming years. It is, of course, the mighty mind of Zeus that steers the fate of men he loves. I pray that at Olympia too he may grant such a prize to Battus’s descendants.

Having received only the briefest of mentions in Pythian 4, Arcesilas’s chariot victory of 462 is in this companion ode made the occasion of a fully developed epinician. Direct praise of the victor is concentrated in the first and final triads, where the chief topics treated are his wealth and the honorable uses to which that wealth is put (1–14), his hereditary kingship (15–19), his current victory (20–25), and his various excellences of mind and body (109–15). One unusual feature of the poem, at least as considered in relation to other odes for chariot victories, is the extended celebration of Arcesilas’s charioteer Carrhotus (26–53); although the scholia suggest a motivation of sorts by identifying him as Arcesilas’s brother-in-law, there is no independent evidence to that effect. Also noteworthy is the amount of detail lavished on the topography and monuments of Cyrene itself (89–98). In view

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of lines 77–81 it has been plausibly suggested that the ode was intended for performance at the Carnea, a Doric festival of Apollo that was first transferred from Sparta to Thera, then brought from Thera to Cyrene by colonists under the leadership of Battus, whose role as city-founder under Apollo’s protection receives ample acknowledgment (57–62, 85–95). 1–4 It is important to note the various ethical qualifications in this commendation of wealth, pertaining in turn to (a) the virtuous manner in which it is wielded (tempered by high merit unalloyed), (b) its source in divine favor (held as gift of destiny), and (c) the philanthropic uses to which it is put (a follower that makes friends of many); cf. also O. 2.53–56, P. 2.56–61, N. 1.31–32. 9 For Castor’s association with horses and charioteering, cf. O. 3.39, I. 1.16–17. 10–11 The image of athletic victory as fair weather after storm recurs at I. 1.39–40, I. 4.16–19, I. 7.37–39. The “storm” here alluded to most likely represents the political unrest in Cyrene that resulted in Damophilus’s banishment; see introductory note to P. 4. 13 too I.e., in addition to adversity, against which the wise are proverbially well prepared. 16 mighty cities On the various cities that lay within the territory of Cyrene, see P. 4.15 with note. 22 this revel-band The kōmos or men’s chorus that is singing the ode. 24 Aphrodite’s pleasant garden Apparently a local landmark within the city of Cyrene. 26 Carrhotus Arcesilas’s charioteer and son of Alexibias (45); see introductory note. 31 beside Castalia’s spring I.e., at Pytho (Delphi) and the Pythian games; see intro. §21. 34–35 it hangs whole and entire It appears that Arcesilas’s chariot, having come through a disastrous race both victorious and unscathed (49–51), was thereafter displayed as a votive offering to Apollo.

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37 Crisa’s hill In the valley beneath Parnassus where the Pythian hippodrome was located. 45 the fair-haired Graces set you blazing I.e., you are celebrated in epinician song; see app. §15. 49–51 Both the number of competing chariots and the scale of the destruction wrought among them have met with considerable incredulity from scholars. 57–59 According to Pausanias (10.15.7), Battus was cured of his speech impediment (cf. P. 4.63 with note) when he was unexpectedly confronted by a lion and let forth a great cry at the sight. 60 Apollo who founds colonies The Delphic oracle played a significant role in initiating and/or sanctioning colonization (cf. O. 7.32–33, P. 4.53–56, I. 7.12–15), and in communities thus established the god was regularly worshipped under the title archēgetēs (founder). 63–69 Apollo’s varied interests above and beyond colonization, including medicine, music, poetry, and prophecy, are briefly surveyed in hymnal style. 68–69 the inmost seat of oracles Apollo’s temple at Delphi. 69–72 The focus now reverts to Apollo in his capacity as archēgetēs, promoting (through his oracles) the Dorian occupation of the Peloponnesus. On the role played in that occupation by the descendants of Heracles and Aegimius, cf. P. 1.62–66 with note. 72 In my case I.e., “Others may trace their origins to Argos or to Pylos, but as for me. . .” On the use of the first person here, see note on 76. 75 heirs of Aegeus The Aegidae or Aegids, a clan of Theban origin that was reputedly directed by the Delphic oracle to assist the Dorians in occupying the Peloponnesus; cf. I. 7.12–15 with note. The particular Aegids at issue here, however, are expressly said to hail not from Thebes but from Sparta, whence they set out to colonize the island of Thera—and, ultimately, to establish Cyrene itself. 76 my own forefathers The “I” speaks as a member of the Cyrenaean community, a fact that emerges even more clearly in the we of 80; see intro. §14.

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80 at that Carnean feast See introductory note. The transfer of the festival from Sparta to Thera and thence to Cyrene is celebrated by Callimachus (a native of Cyrene) in his Hymn to Apollo (71–83). 83 Antenor A wise Trojan elder who, along with his sons, survived the capture and destruction of Troy and thereafter— according to one tradition, at any rate—took up residence in Libya, having accompanied Helen and Menelaus thus far while the latter were on their way home to Sparta. 85–88 The Trojans (that chariot-driving people), divinized as heroes, are honored with worship and sacrifice by the people of Cyrene, who were themselves originally brought from Thera by Aristoteles (i.e., Battus; see note on P. 4.63). 91–92 a road cut straight through rock “This road was evidently one of the sights of Kyrene, and the remains still stir the wonder of travellers” (Gildersleeve). 99 soft dew I.e., songs of praise; the metaphor recurs at I. 6.64. 107–8 In praising Arcesilas’s personal qualities one can afford to dispense with sophisticated rhetorical techniques; it is enough simply to repeat what everyone says about him. So too at O. 2.82–86 the artful indirection of “experts” is set aside in favor of a point-blank categorical vaunt. 118–19 blessed children of Cronus I.e., the Olympian gods. 124 After Pytho, Olympia: victors naturally set their sights on the next highest level in the hierarchy of contests; see intro. §4, app. §12. such a prize I.e., a chariot victory. P Y T H IA N 6

for Xenocrates of Acragas, victor in the chariot race

5

Listen! It is the quick-eyed Aphrodite’s plowland, or else the Graces’ own, that we are tilling as we draw near to the temple, navel of the deep-echoing earth, where for the blest Emmenidae, for Acragas upon its riverbank, and chiefly for Xenocrates,

[Str. 1]

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159

7/8

triumph at Pytho has built high a ready treasure-house of hymns within Apollo’s valley rich in gold—

10

one which neither the rains of winter, when [Str. 2] deep-echoing clouds invade in unrelenting ranks, nor any gale will sweep into the sea’s recesses, buffeted by tides of silt and rubble. In clear light its foreporch will proclaim a chariot victory won in Crisa’s folded vales as something shared, Thrasybulus, by your father and his kin, its glory spread abroad through mortal speech.

15 16/17

20

25/26

30

34/35

By keeping him at your right hand you hold true to the precepts which once, they say, when Peleus’ mighty child was left for fostering amid the mountains, the son of Philyra urged on him: to worship Zeus most among gods, the deep-voiced lord of flashing thunderbolts, and never of like honor to rob one’s parents during their allotted lives.

[Str. 3]

In time gone by Antilochus, a man of force, [Str. 4] proved that this purpose was his own, perishing for his father’s sake while standing firm against the deadly onslaught of the Ethiopians’ commander, Memnon. A horse shot through by shafts from Paris’ bow had tangled Nestor’s chariot, and the foe was bearing down with potent spear. The old man of Messene, shaken in spirit, shouted for his son;

nor did that cry, cast forth, fall vainly to the earth. [Str. 5] Standing his ground, the godlike man bought at the price of death his father’s rescue, 40 and gained repute among the younger men of long ago, by doing that prodigious deed, for being supreme in filial devotion. 43/44 Those things are past; of men now, Thrasybulus is the one 45 who has most closely met the standard owed to fathers,

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50

and vies too with his father’s brother in all forms of splendor. [Str. 6] Wielding his riches prudently, he culls youth’s bloom without misdeeds or insolence, and plies the art of song within the Muses’ secret haunts. To you, O Shaker of the Earth who rule equestrian contests, he is devoted with a will that pleases you, Poseidon. Then too, his temper’s sweetness, with companions over wine, outdoes the fretted handiwork of bees.

52/53

This ode commemorates a Pythian chariot victory won (probably) in 490 by Xenocrates of Acragas, a brother of that city’s future tyrant Theron, for whom Pindar would later compose Olympian 2 and Olympian 3. The addressee and chief focus of the poem is not, however, Xenocrates himself but rather his son Thrasybulus, who some twenty years later would likewise be the recipient and addressee of Isthmian 2. The ode’s central narrative (28–42), which portrays Antilochus’s self-sacrificial rescue of his father Nestor as a paradigm of filial devotion, is at its conclusion applied to Thrasybulus with unusual explicitness (43–45), prompting some interpreters to surmise that the young man must have risked his life by serving as his father’s charioteer in the race that brought him victory. In Isthmian 2, however, that role appears to be credited to a certain Nicomachus (18–22), and it seems safer simply to accept an element of hyperbole in the comparison. The topographical imagery permeating the first two strophes has suggested to some that the ode was composed for performance at Delphi, perhaps to accompany a festal procession up the Sacred Way to Apollo’s temple. 1–2 Although the pairing of Aphrodite and the Graces may hint at the youthful charms of Thrasybulus (cf. O. 14.7 with note), it is likely that the latter figure here chiefly as dispensers of agonistic success (app. §15). For poetry and song as a metaphorical “plowing,” cf. N. 6.32, N. 10.26. 4 navel of the deep-echoing earth I.e., the Delphic sanctuary; cf. P. 4.4 with note.

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5–6 Emmenidae Xenocrates’ clan; cf. O. 3.38. Acragas upon its riverbank Cf. O. 2.9 with note, P. 12.1–3. 7/8 The imagery is drawn from the numerous “treasuries” that lined the Sacred Way at Delphi, each one housing the accumulated votive offerings of a particular city-state. 10–14 The superior durability of poetry over architectural monuments becomes a standard topos in later literature, exemplified most famously by Horace, Odes 3.30.1–5. 15 in Crisa’s folded vales Where the Pythian hippodrome was located; cf. P. 5.37 with note. 19 By keeping him at your right hand I.e., by treating your father with veneration and respect. 21 Peleus’ mighty child Achilles; for his fostering by the Centaur Chiron (the son of Philyra, 23), see glossary, and cf. N. 3.43–49. Among the works attributed to Hesiod in antiquity was a Precepts of Chiron. 28 Antilochus Son of Nestor (33), the king of Pylos in Messene (34/35). The killing of Antilochus by Memnon (32), king of the Ethiopians, was narrated in Arctinus’s Aethiopis, which took up the story of the Trojan War at the point where the Iliad ends. The narrative that follows is structured in chronological ring form (app. §10): (A) Antilochus died defending his father, after (B) previously standing firm against Memnon, because (C) when Nestor was in dire danger, (D) his horse having previously been shot by Paris, (C′) he called for his son’s aid, and (B′) Antilochus, standing his ground, (A′) purchased his father’s rescue at the cost of his own death. 46 his father’s brother Theron. 47–53 The traits in Thrasybulus singled out for mention—proper use of wealth, avoidance of injustice and hubris, appreciation of poetry, devotion to horse-rearing (hippotrophia), affability in social settings—are all standard topics of epinician praise. 50–51 For Poseidon’s association with horses, cf. O. 5.21, P. 4.45, I. 1.54. 54 the fretted handiwork of bees I.e., honeycomb.

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for Megacles of Athens, victor in the chariot race

3/4 5/6

10 11/12 13/14 15

17a 20

Athens, city of greatness, is the fairest prelude [Str.] to lay down as foundation for songs owed to the Alcmaeonidae, that lineage of wide power, and their horses. What country, after all, what house could you be named as dwelling in that is of greater eminence for Hellas to hear news about? Familiar in all cities is the story [Ant.] told of Erechtheus’ citizens, who made your home, Apollo, at holy Pytho wondrous to behold. I feel the force of five wins at the Isthmus, one of high distinction in Zeus’s precinct at Olympia, and two from Cirrha, belonging, Megacles, [Ep.] to you and yours and to your ancestors. This new success gives me no small delight, but I am grieved that envy should requite fair deeds. They say, however, that in just such a way good fortune, steadfastly flourishing at man’s side, can bring with it both this and that.

An aristocratic Athenian family of great prominence and wealth, the Alcmaeonidae (or Alcmaeonids) were for several centuries deeply involved in the political affairs of their city, although the vicissitudes of factional conflict forced them to live in exile for extended periods of time. While residing at Delphi during one such period toward the end of the sixth century, the family undertook to rebuild the temple of Apollo (9–12), which had been destroyed by fire some decades earlier. The particular Alcmaeonid whose chariot victory this ode commemorates, Megacles the son of Hippocrates, was both a nephew of the Athenian statesman and reformer Cleisthenes and a maternal uncle of the famous Pericles; at the time he won his victory, in 486, he had

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recently been ostracized from Athens. The main focus of the ode, however, is not Megacles as an individual but rather the Alcmaeonids collectively, and in the victory catalogue of lines 13–18 his Pythian triumph is in no way singled out from the rest of the family’s successes. Given the checkered history of their relations with their fellow Athenians, it is interesting to observe how markedly the ode asserts a community of interest—verging indeed, in lines 9–12, upon outright identity—between the family and the city. 2 foundation The architectural metaphor anticipates 10–12. 5/6 house In the sense of “family,” referring to the Alcmaeonid clan. 8 Hellas The Greek world at large, not just “Greece” in the modern sense of the term. Among the four major athletic festivals, Pindar is particularly fond of underscoring the Panhellenic character of the Pythian games; cf. also P. 11.50, P. 12.6, N. 10.25. 10 Erechtheus’ citizens I.e., the citizens of Athens, Erechtheus being a legendary king of that city (cf. I. 2.19–20). As was noted above, however, it was not the Athenians in general but specifically the Alcmaeonids who were responsible for restoring Apollo’s temple. 11/12 wondrous to behold Herodotus reports (5.62.3) that when the Alcmaeonids rebuilt the temple they exceeded the terms of their contract by finishing the façade with fine Parian marble. 14–15 one of high distinction . . . at Olympia This chariot victory was won by Megacles’ great-grandfather Alcmaeon in 592 b.c. (Herodotus 6.125.5). 16 from Cirrha I.e., from the Pythian games; see intro. §21. 19 that envy should requite fair deeds Usually taken as an allusion to Megacles’ ostracism, though it should be noted that the tendency for success to arouse ill will in others is a Pindaric commonplace; cf. O. 6.73–76 with note. 20–21 The theme of vicissitude is used to close other odes as well; cf. O. 7.94–95, P. 12.30–32, I. 3.18–18a.

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for Aristomenes of Aegina, victor in wrestling

5

10

15

20

25

Tranquility of kindly mind, who as [Str. 1] daughter of Righteousness make cities great, who hold the highest keys of counsel and of war, receive from Aristomenes the honor of his Pythian triumph. For you are skilled in gentle acts, performing and experiencing them alike with an unerring sense of time and circumstance. Then too, whenever anyone drives home [Ant. 1] implacable resentment in his heart, you go forth sternly to oppose the might of enemies and plunge their arrogance beneath the flood. Of this Porphyrion had no understanding when his transgressions roused your anger. Gain gives greatest joy if it is borne off from the house of one who is willing; but violence, in time, brings even loud-mouthed [Ep. 1] boasters down. Cilician Typhon with his hundred heads did not escape her power, nor yet the king of Giants, mastered by the thunderbolt and by the arrows of Apollo, who in kindly spirit received Xenarces’ son from Cirrha, with a crown of laurel from Parnassus and a Dorian revel-band. Not distant from the Graces has [Str. 2] this righteous city’s portion fallen, the island of the Aeacids renowned for deeds of prowess. Glory without blemish is hers from earliest times, extolled in song for many successes at the games, and as a nurse of heroes supreme as well in battle’s lightning shifts;

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30

35

40

45

50

55

but also for her men she is distinguished. And yet I have no leisure to rehearse the whole of that long story with lyre and gentle voice, lest chafing tedium follow. My more urgent duty is owed to you, son: let this newest exploit go forth on wings that my great art has furnished.

165

[Ant. 2]

For as a wrestler following the footsteps of your [Ep. 2] mother’s brothers, you bring no shame on Theognetus at Olympia, nor on the bold-limbed Isthmian triumph of Clitomachus. While adding honor to the Midylid clan, you earn the very praise which Oïcles’ offspring once pronounced in riddling form, seeing the sons steadfast in war at seven-gated Thebes, that time when the Descendants came [Str. 3] from Argos on a second expedition. He spoke thus as they struggled: “By nature does the noble spirit passed from fathers to their sons stand forth to view. I clearly see the spotted serpent on Alcmaeon’s blazing shield, there where he fights as first at Cadmus’ gates. But he who suffered earlier pain, [Ant. 3] Adrastus, now is gripped by news of better omen to console his hero’s heart, though touching his own household he shall fare otherwise. For he alone among the Danaan army shall gather up the bones of his dead son and come by the gods’ grace with host unharmed to Abas’ spacious streets.” Such were the words [Ep. 3] uttered by Amphiaraus. I myself am likewise glad to cast crowns on Alcmaeon, and to sprinkle him with song, because as neighbor and as guardian of my goods he met me on my way to earth’s much-storied navel

166

60

65

70

75

80

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and laid his hands on prophecy by means of inborn arts. But you, Far-Shooter, governing [Str. 4] your famous shrine that welcomes all in Pytho’s hollow valley, the greatest of enjoyments you bestowed in that place, but at home you had before dealt out, amid your festival, a longed-for prize in the pentathlon. O lord, I pray that with a willing mind I may observe the claims of fittingness [Ant. 4] in each thing as I come to it. Beside the revel-band with its sweet singing stands Righteousness; I ask, then, that the gods accord ungrudged regard, Xenarces, to your family’s fortunes. If anyone acquires good things without long toil, he seems to most a wise man among fools, well armed in life by shrewdness of contrivance. [Ep. 4] But such a state is not within men’s grasp; divinity provides it, placing at different times one man aloft, another under hostile hands. Let measure guide you, entering games. At Megara a prize is yours, and on the plain of Marathon; in Hera’s contest on your native soil three times, O Aristomenes, hard effort gave you triumph. And from above you fell upon [Str. 5] four bodies with inimical intent; to them no glad return like yours was meted out at Pytho’s festival, nor, as they came home to their mothers, did sweet laughter on all sides stir up delight; but down back alleys, out of enemies’ reach, they skulk along, deep-bitten by calamity.

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90

95

100

167

He who has newly won some noble object, [Ant. 5] feeling himself buoyed up in luxury, soars in his kindled hopes on winged deeds of manhood, his ambitions outstripping mere concern for wealth. With suddenness, for mortals, pleasure springs up and grows, but so it also falls to earth, shaken by purposes of adverse power. Beings defined by each new day! What is a man? [Ep. 5] What is he not? A shadow’s dream is humankind. But when the gleam that Zeus dispenses comes, then brilliant light rests over men, and life is kindly. Aegina, cherished mother, on a course of freedom conduct this city with the aid of Zeus and kingly Aeacus, with Peleus and brave Telamon, and with Achilles.

Aristomenes’ wrestling victory in the Pythian games was won in 446, which means that this is the latest of Pindar’s odes that can be reliably dated. Like several other odes, it begins by invoking a “deity” that is no ordinary member of the Greek pantheon but instead a personified abstraction, in this case Tranquility. Endowed in hymnal fashion with a divine genealogy and predicated powers (1–7), she is soon revealed to be an embodiment of cosmic peace and harmony that works vigorously to defend those qualities against the forces of malevolence and disorder (8–18). Uniquely among Pindar’s odes for Aeginetans, the central myth of Pythian 8 does not deal with the Aeacids, Aegina’s own lineage of heroes, but is drawn instead from the cycle of Theban legends, specifically those concerning the Seven against Thebes and the subsequent expedition of their sons, known collectively as the Epigoni or “Descendants.” As the latter fight before the walls of Thebes, the seer Amphiaraus speaks in oracular fashion from beneath the earth, first propounding the very principle of inborn excellence that young Aristomenes has manifested as heir to his maternal uncles’ wrestling prowess (35–47), then unexpectedly going on to contrast the past and future outcomes of the two campaigns (48–55); this second half of the speech anticipates what will prove to be one of the ode’s most important themes, the unpredictable alternation of light and dark, triumph

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and defeat, joy and sorrow, by which human life is governed. The somber background of man’s subjection to vicissitude is darkest just near the poem’s end (92–96)—so dark indeed that certain ancient critics are said to have found fault with Pindar for producing a dirge instead of an encomium. Meanwhile, however, even the extended survey of Aristomenes’ athletic career that follows the myth (61–80) has been touched by the theme, particularly when the catalogue is momentarily interrupted to commend the victor’s modesty of comportment, to express veiled hopes for his continued success as an athlete, and to acknowledge the inherent uncertainties that limit and condition all human striving (67–78). Even the glory of Aristomenes’ most recent achievement at Pytho is counterbalanced by the disgrace and dejection that it necessarily entailed for his unsuccessful opponents (81–92). 1 Tranquility Hēsychia in Greek, a word that Pindar uses to denote both civic peace and freedom from factional conflict within a city-state (e.g., O. 4.16, P. 1.70, P. 4.296) and wellearned repose after philanthropic or agonistic toil (e.g., N. 1.70, N. 9.48). Although here the political sense of the term is underscored by Tranquility’s symbolic parentage (daughter of Righteousness) and is highly germane to the Aeginetan polity as a whole (cf. this righteous city, 22), the idea of rest after toil is no less relevant to Aristomenes’ individual situation as a victor in one of the heavy “combat” sports. Starting with the antistrophe, moreover, Hesychia is revealed to possess a larger—even cosmic—dimension that makes her resemble the hypostasized Lyre in P. 1.1–20. For the hymnal features of the invocation as a whole, see app. §1. 2 Righteousness Dikē in Greek, also translatable as “Justice” (cf. O. 13.7). One of the three Horae or Seasons, she is herself a daughter of Themis or “Lawfulness.” 12 Porphyrion One of the Giants (see glossary) and, according to Pindar (17), their king. 16 Cilician Typhon See glossary, and cf. O. 4.6–7, P. 1.15–28. her power I.e., Tranquility’s; the second person of hymnal address has been abandoned.

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16–18 To say that Typhon and Porphyrion were punished by Hesychia when it was Zeus and Apollo who actually subdued them is to imply that maintenance of “tranquility” in the universe was the final cause of those interventions. Zeus’s agency is represented by the thunderbolt alone so as not to overshadow Apollo, patron deity of the Pythian games. Like Hesychia herself, Apollo has two aspects, one fierce (as represented by his arrows) and one benevolent (in kindly spirit). 19–20 After winning his victory at the game-site near Cirrha (on which see glossary), Aristomenes and his band of reveling friends would have ascended to the Delphic sanctuary proper and there been received by Apollo. On Aegina’s Dorian identity, see glossary, and cf. O. 8.30, N. 3.3. 21 Not distant from the Graces I.e., either “not without victories at the games” or “not uncelebrated in song” (or both at once); see app. §15. 29–34 Detailed treatment of Aegina’s glorious past, both distant (heroes, 26) and more recent (men, 28), is waived in favor of the speaker’s obligation to celebrate the current victory of Aristomenes. The motivations brought forward for the change of topic (time constraints, potential audience reaction, contractual responsibilities) are all “situational” in nature; see intro. §16 and app. §8. 34 For the “wings of song” motif, cf. N. 7.22, N. 6.48, I. 1.64. 35 The motif of an athlete “following the footsteps” of a relative appears also at P. 10.12–14, N. 6.15–16. 36 you bring no shame on Theognetus Theognetus’s Olympic victory in boys’ wrestling is praised in an epigram by Simonides (XXX Page) and mentioned by Pausanias (6.9.1). On the negative phraseology (“bring no shame on” = “do honor to”), see app. §13. 38 the Midylid clan The Aeginetan kinship group to which Aristomenes belonged. Although as maternal relatives Theognetus and Clitomachus would not themselves have been members, the principle of inherited ability shortly to be

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exemplified through myth is not restricted to patrilineal descent; cf. N. 5.40–42, N. 11.36–38, I. 3.13–17b. 39 Oïcles’ offspring I.e., Amphiaraus, here speaking as an oracular power resident beneath the earth; for his story, see glossary. 39–56 See glossary under “Adrastus” for information on the expedition of the Seven against Thebes and its sequel, the expedition of the Epigoni (the sons, the Descendants). 45–47 On Amphiaraus’s son Alcmaeon and his story, see glossary. Given the chthonic and mantic associations of snakes (cf. O. 6.45–47, O. 8.37–41), the emblem on his shield suggests that he has inherited not only his father’s martial prowess (the main point at issue in the immediate context) but his prophetic gifts as well (which will prove relevant in 58–60). 47 at Cadmus’ gates I.e., at Thebes. 48 earlier pain I.e., the defeat of the Seven, of whom Adrastus had been commander in chief. 50–55 On this part of Amphiaraus’s speech as an example of “narrative momentum,” see app. §6. 53 his dead son Aegialeus, the only one of the Epigoni to die in the second attack on Thebes. 55 to Abas’ spacious streets I.e., to Argos, of which Abas was an early legendary king. 58–60 The implication seems to be that Alcmaeon in some sense “prophesied” Aristomenes’ success at Delphi, and did so within the context of an existing relationship of “neighborliness” between victor and hero (cf. N. 7.86–94). The use of the first person to express the victor’s perspective in a thank-offering is paralleled by P. 9.89–89a. 59 earth’s much-storied navel I.e., Delphi; see note on P. 4.74. 61–87 An extended overview of Aristomenes’ athletic career, beginning (64–65) and ending (81–87) with his current victory in the Pythian games but citing in addition earlier successes at the Aeginetan Delphinia (65–66) and at Megara, Marathon, and the Aeginetan Heraea (78–80). 61 Far-Shooter Apollo as god of archery.

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64 the greatest of enjoyments I.e., Aristomenes’ Pythian victory. 65–66 at home . . . amid your festival The Aeginetan Delphinia honored Apollo and his sister Artemis (your is plural in the Greek). 67–69 Still addressing Apollo, whose famous shrine (62) at Delphi was inscribed with the maxims “Know thyself ” and “Nothing in excess,” the speaker articulates on Aristomenes’ behalf the attitude of modesty and circumspection that is appropriate to an athlete in his hour of triumph. 70–77 Comparison with O. 13.101–6 and N. 10.29–33 suggests that these lines are best taken as expressing hopes for Aristomenes’ continued success in competition, success that a Pythian victor would most naturally seek at Olympia; see app. §12. 70–72 The speaker grounds his request for divine favor in the perfect propriety with which Aristomenes’ victory-revel (cf. 18–20) has been conducted. 73–75 If the simple fact of success itself can be regarded as proof of intellectual acuity (cf. O. 2.51–52, O. 5.16), then success gained with a minimum of effort is even more likely to be found impressive. As will become clear shortly, however, the sentiment applies to Aristomenes only by way of contrast (79–82). 76–77 Cf. Iliad 20.435, Odyssey 1.267: “But these things lie upon the knees of the gods.” That common topos (cf. O. 13.104–6, N. 10.29–30) is here supplemented by another, the gods’ power to reverse human fortunes by bringing down the mighty and exalting the low (cf. Iliad 15.490–92, Hesiod, Works and Days 5–6, P. 2.51–52). 78 For the concept of “(due) measure” (metron) as an ethical norm, cf. O. 13.47–48, P. 2.34, N. 11.47; the point at issue here is not the number of contests undertaken but the attitude with which they are approached. 79 Hera’s contest According to an ancient commentator, the Aeginetans held a festival modeled on the Argive Heraea (on which see N. 10.23ff. with note).

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81–87 The victory catalogue concludes with a climactic return to Aristomenes’ current triumph at Pytho, here heightened through vivid contrast with the miseries endured by his defeated opponents (cf. O. 8.67–69). 88–92 For the psychological dynamic whereby one triumph achieved begets aspirations for another, cf. P. 10.61–63 with note. 95 Beings defined by each new day! It is a recurrent notion in archaic Greek literature (e.g., Odyssey 18.136–37, Archilochus fr. 131, Bacchylides 3.75–76) that the circumstances and attitudes of human beings vary from day to day in accordance with the vicissitudes of fortune. 98 Aegina, cherished mother The speaker identifies himself with the Aeginetan community (intro. §14). Some scholars have taken the phrase on a course of freedom as alluding to Aegina’s political situation in 446, which was one of forced subservience to the expanding Athenian empire.

P Y T H IA N 9

for Telesicrates of Cyrene, victor in the race-in-armor

5 6a

10

Announcing, with the aid of Graces elegantly robed, [Str. 1] a Pythian triumph in the race-in-armor for Telesicrates, a man by fortune blessed, I wish to let a crown of song ring forth for horse-driving Cyrene, whom once from Pelion’s wind-loud glens the son of Leto with long flowing hair snatched up, a maiden ranging in the wild, and brought on golden chariot to a region rich in flocks, most rich in fruits, making her mistress of the land, the lovely taproot of a third continent, there to dwell and flourish. And Aphrodite of the silver feet received [Ant. 1] the guest from Delos, laying her light hand upon his god-wrought chariot, and on their sweet embraces cast a shyness of desire,

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14a 15

20

25

30 31a

35

173

shaping a bond of wedlock shared alike by god and girl, the daughter of wide-ruling Hypseus. Of the high-handed Lapiths he was then the king, a hero second in descent from Ocean, whom within the far-famed vales of Pindus a Naiad bore when in Peneus’ bed she had found joy, Creusa, daughter of Earth. But Hypseus in his turn brought up a child with lovely arms, Cyrene, who espoused neither the loom with its recurrent motions nor the delights of feasting with her friends indoors. Instead, contending with bronze javelins and with the sword, she slaughtered fierce beasts of the wild, providing for her father’s herds peace and repose in great abundance, while that sweet bedmate, sleep, would come a brief time only, sinking onto her eyelids as the dawn drew near.

[Ep. 1]

Apollo, Archer and Far-Worker, once [Str. 2] happened upon her as, alone and lacking spears, she wrestled with a brawny lion. Straightway he summoned Chiron from his home: “Leaving your hallowed cave, O son of Philyra, gaze on a woman’s spirit and great strength, marveling at what strife she wages with undaunted head, this girl who bears a heart superior to hardship, and whose mind no storm of fear can shake. Who among mankind gave her birth? Torn from what kind of stock does she now haunt the mountain’s shady dells [Ant. 2] while tasting fortitude beyond all bounds? Is it allowed to lay on her my splendid hand and from embraces cull the bloom of honeyed pleasure?” To him the Centaur, spirit-stirred, with tranquil brow and gentle laughter, offered up his counsel

174

39a 40

45

50

55 56a

60

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at once in answer: “Hidden are the keys to holy loves which wise Persuasion keeps, Phoebus, and gods and men alike feel modesty at openly alighting on their first experience of love’s sweetness. Thus even you, whom right forbids to touch [Ep. 2] on falsehood, were moved by tender passion to misspeak that utterance of yours. About the girl’s descent are you, O lord, inquiring?—you who of all things know the appointed end and all its pathways; how many leaves the earth sends up in spring, how many grains of sand in the sea and in the streams are tossed about by waves or blasts of wind, and what will be, and whence it will arise, you hold within clear view. But if against the wise I must indeed match wits, I shall speak out. To be that woman’s husband you [Str. 3] have come to this wild spot, and you intend to bear her across the sea to Zeus’s choicest garden, where you will make her ruler of a city, mustering an island people to a bluff ringed round with plains. Now, though, the mistress of broad meadows, Libya, will welcome your illustrious bride in golden halls wholeheartedly, and there a share of land she will at once hand over, to be held by lawful right, one neither lacking fruitful crops nor unacquainted with wild beasts. In that place she will bear a child, whom splendid [Ant. 3] Hermes will carry to the queenly Seasons and to Earth, taking him up from his beloved mother. Gazing in wonder at the infant resting on their knees, those goddesses will on his lips drop nectar and ambrosia, making him immortal,

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64a

70

75

80

81a

85

175

a Zeus or pure Apollo, source of joy to men whom he holds dear, ever-present companion to their flocks, Hunter and Herdsman, called by others Aristaeus.” Thus speaking, he urged on the union’s due conclusion in delight. Swiftly, when gods already are in haste, [Ep. 3] comes consummation, and the ways are short. That day those things were settled, and a bedroom rich with gold received the pair in Libya, where she tends a city supreme in beauty and far-famed for contests— a city now infused at holy Pytho with flourishing good fortune by Carneadas’s son, who, winning there, proclaimed Cyrene as his own. With gladness will she welcome him when to his country of fair women he brings from Delphi longed-for glory. Great exploits always issue in much speech. [Str. 4] Yet, among lengthy themes, to work a few with fineness yields worthy hearing for the wise, while due selection renders with equal force the essence of the whole. As seven-gated Thebes bore witness once, the man was not disdained by Iolaus either. When, sharp sword in hand, that hero had struck off Eurystheus’ head, they buried him beneath the earth beside the grave-mound of the charioteer Amphitryon, his father’s father, where he lay at rest, guest-friend of the Sown Men, a migrant to Cadmean streets made famous by white horses. Lying with him and Zeus alike, wise-hearted Alcmene in one bout of labor bore two mighty sons victorious in battle.

[Ant. 4]

176

89a 90

95

100

105 106a

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Mute must he be, the man who does not compass Heracles with speech, nor keep in long remembrance Dirce’s waters, by which both he and Iphicles were nurtured. Those two shall I extol, acknowledging a prayer fulfilled and blessing granted. May the Graces, clarion-voiced, not fail me with their radiant light! Both at Aegina, I vow, and on the ridge of Nisus he three times brought glory to this city, escaping through his deeds the helplessness of [Ep. 4] silence. Therefore, let no citizen, whether friend or foe, seek to conceal what toil has wrought for public good, thus injuring the precept of the Old Man of the Sea, who said that one should praise, with all one’s heart and justly, even an enemy when he does fine things. Many times also, at the seasonable rites of Pallas, maidens saw you win and speechlessly, each in her own heart, prayed that such, O Telesicrates, might be their dearest husband or their son; so too at the Olympian’s games, at those that are [Str. 5] deep-bosomed Earth’s—indeed at all the contests in your land. But as I quench my thirst for song, someone exacts the payment of a debt, to waken once again the ancient glory of his ancestors, who for a Libyan woman came to Irasa the city, suitors for Antaeus’ daughter, a maid of lovely hair and rich renown. Numerous men were asking for her, chieftains of kindred stock and many strangers too. In truth, her beauty was worth gazing at, and gold-crowned Youth, in her, [Ant. 5] had blossomed forth as fruit which they desired to pluck. Her father, sowing wider fame to grace his daughter’s marriage, heard how Danaus once, in Argos,

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devised for eight and forty girls, before midday came on, the speediest of weddings: standing the entire troop straightway beside the goalpost of a racecourse, he ordered that contending feet should settle which one each hero would possess, of all who came to be his sons-in-law. Through such an offer did the Libyan join [Ep. 5] a bridegroom to his daughter. At the finishing line he stood her, finely dressed, to serve as utmost prize, and told those gathered that that man would lead her off who, darting forward, was first to lay light hold upon her robes. Then Alexidamus, escaping from the runners’ swift-paced press, took in his hand the noble maiden’s hand and led her through the throng of Nomad horsemen. Many they were, the leaves and garlands showered upon him by those men; and many wings of victory had he received before.

Composed for Telesicrates of Cyrene, Pythian victor in the race-inarmor in 474, this ode stands out among Pindar’s epinicians in several important respects. First of all, in telling the tale of Apollo’s passion for the city’s eponymous heroine, a huntress of extraordinary skill and courage whom he encounters in the wilds of Mt. Pelion and carries off to Libya (5–70), it can lay claim to the single longest continuous mythical narrative in the corpus (apart from the anomalous P. 4). Although the story’s high color, emotional delicacy, and rich suggestiveness make it more than usually resistant to the extraction of straightforwardly paradigmatic “messages,” at least one point of relevance to the here-and-now emerges into view shortly after it draws to an end, when Telesicrates is said to bring “longed-for glory” home to “his country of fair women” as if it were a bride (73–75), much as Apollo brings Cyrene herself to “a bedroom rich with gold” in Libya (68). The implicit analogy thus adumbrated between agonistic success and the consummation of marriage as goals of passionate striving is translated into vividly literal terms in the ode’s final triad, where room is found—and

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this is another unusual aspect of the poem—for a second substantial myth (103–25), this one recounting how a (putative) ancestor of Telesicrates named Alexidamus won his wife as the prize in a footrace. Unparalleled as well, finally, is the overall length of Telesicrates’ victory catalogue (76–103), occupying as it does slightly more than one full triad in a five-triad ode. What gives the catalogue its bulk is not the number of venue-entries that it contains—at a mere half dozen it falls well short of the impressive totals amassed by Diagoras of Rhodes (O. 7) and Epharmostus of Opus (O. 9)—but rather the degree of elaboration and diversity of treatment with which the individual items are handled, qualities that are programmatically singled out in prefatory remarks (76–79) and then realized through such varied means as myths, prayers, maxims, and witnesses. 1–4 This artfully embroidered recreation of the herald’s proclamation at the game-site purveys four of the five basic facts— venue, event, athlete’s name, athlete’s city—that together define an epinician occasion (intro. §17); only the name of the athlete’s father is omitted, being reserved for the “second praise” that follows the myth (71ff.). On the Graces as dispensers of rhetorically and/or poetically effective speech, see app. §15. 4–5 Cyrene, whom once The sudden pivot from place-name to eponymous heroine has parallels at O. 6.28ff. (Pitane), O. 7.69ff. (Rhodes), I. 8.16ff. (Aegina). The breathless impetuosity with which the speaker plunges into narrative lends verisimilitude to the “associative” transition (app. §6). 5–69 Exhibiting the kephalaion structure (app. §10), the myth both begins (5–13) and ends (66–69) with the god’s abduction of Cyrene to Libya and their ensuing sexual union; within that frame, it first backtracks to describe Cyrene’s antecedents, upbringing, and habitual pursuits (13–25), then flashes forward, through the medium of Chiron’s prophetic speech, to the birth and future powers of her divine child, the pastoral god Aristaeus (59–65). 5 Pelion A mountain complex in eastern Thessaly, home of Chiron (cf. P. 3.4) and other Centaurs (cf. P. 2.44–48). the son of Leto with long flowing hair Apollo, called “Phoebus of the unshorn locks” at P. 3.14, I. 1.7.

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6a a region Libya. 8 a third continent (North) Africa, the other continents being Europe and Asia. 10 the guest from Delos I.e., Apollo, whose birth took place on Delos. 14 Lapiths A mythical people living in the mountains of eastern Thessaly. 15 Ocean One of the Titans and father of the world’s rivers, among them the Peneus (16), which flows eastward through Thessaly from the mountain range of Pindus. 16 a Naiad A water-nymph. 18 Weaving cloth was a stereotypically female occupation. 26 Far-Worker Apollo “works from afar” in his capacity as archer. 27 alone and lacking spears So too Peleus captures Iolcus “on his own, without an army” (N. 3.34), and the young Achilles hunts deer “with neither hounds nor wily nets” (N. 3.51); in all three cases what is emphasized is the display of extraordinary natural ability (phua), on which see intro. §25. 30 your hallowed cave Chiron shares his place of residence (mentioned often in the odes; see note on N. 3.53–55) not only with his wife and daughters (P. 4.102–3) but also with his mother Philyra (P. 4.103, N. 3.43). 38 spirit-stirred I.e., inspired to speak prophetically, like Medea at P. 4.10. 39–49 Chiron indulges in good-humored raillery at Apollo’s disingenuous questions, arising as they do out of youthful embarrassment and inexperience. 53 Zeus’s choicest garden I.e., Libya. 55 an island people Colonists from Thera under the leadership of Battus; cf. P. 4.4–8, 53–56, P. 5.87–88. a bluff ringed round with plains Cf. the “swelling chalk-white hill” of P. 4.8. 63 The immortalizing effect of nectar and ambrosia figures also at O. 1.62–64. 64–65 As a protector of flocks and herds Aristaeus shares the epithets Hunter (Agreus) and Herdsman (Nomios) with his

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father Apollo, while the name Aristaios itself is applied to Zeus by Callimachus (fr. 75.33). 67–68 On the structural function of this reference to divine power, see app. §11. 76–79 Prefatory reflections on the long and highly elaborate victory catalogue that follows: while achievements such as Telesicrates has amassed offer abundant material for an encomiast to work with, a judicious selection from that abundance, artfully handled, will be just as effective as a more exhaustive approach in conveying the man’s essential qualities. The verb rendered as “work with fineness” (poikillein) means literally “embroider” or “embellish”; on the related adjective poikilos, cf. N. 5.42 with note. 79–83 The first item in the catalogue is a victory at the Theban Iolaeia, where Telesicrates was not disdained ( = was honored or favored; cf. app. §13) by the games’ presiding hero. The fact that the games were held near the tomb shared by Iolaus with his grandfather Amphitryon (cf. O. 9.98, N. 4.20) provides a pretext for some mythological “embroidery” in the lines that follow. 81 Eurystheus See glossary for story. 83 the Sown Men See glossary, and cf. I. 1.30, I. 7.10. a migrant to Cadmean streets Amphitryon was exiled from his native Tiryns and took up residence in Thebes, founded by Cadmus. 86 two mighty sons I.e., Heracles and Iphicles (88), begotten on Alcmene by Zeus and Amphitryon respectively. 88 Dirce’s waters A spring in Thebes. 89–89a acknowledging a prayer fulfilled and blessing granted A thank-offering for victory at the Theban Heracleia (games in honor of Heracles). The first-person speaker temporarily adopts the perspective of the victor whose prayer was fulfilled; cf. P. 8.58–60 with note. 89a–90 Halfway through the victory catalogue, the speaker begs the Graces (app. §15) for continued assistance in meeting its artistic challenges.

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91 on the ridge of Nisus I.e, at Megara, Nisus being a legendary king of that city; cf. N. 5.46. 92 Through his victories Telesicrates has avoided the fate that befalls unsuccessful competitors, whose defeat deprives potential encomiasts of both the occasion and the subject matter for praise. 93–96 The entries on Aegina and Megara are now “worked” with an embroidery of gnomic material as the first two items in the catalogue were “worked” with myth. the Old Man of the Sea Nereus, whose wisdom was proverbial; cf. P. 3.92. 97–98 the seasonable rites of Pallas A local Cyrenaean festival in honor of Athena. 101–2 Two more local festivals; the Olympian is Zeus. 103–5 A “situational” transition to effect a change of topic (intro. §16 and app. §8): the speaker finds himself yielding to external pressure in the form of a debt owed to the victor and his family (cf. O. 3.6–9, O. 10.1–8). 106 Antaeus A Libyan king, presumably to be distinguished from the barbarous giant whom Heracles overcame in wrestling (cf. I. 4.52–54b). 112 Danaus See glossary. Since Hypermestra had spared Lynceus out of love (cf. N. 10.6), and Amymone had earlier succumbed to Poseidon’s amorous advances, only forty-eight of Danaus’s fifty daughters needed new husbands to replace the ones murdered on their (first) wedding night. 123 The Nomads were a native people of Libya. 125 A runner like Telesicrates, Alexidamus is accorded his own brief victory catalogue in summary form. The image of crowns or garlands as “wings” appears also at O. 14.24. P Y T H IA N 1 0

for Hippocleas of Thessaly, victor in the boys’ double stade-race Happy is Lacedaemon, [Str. 1] blessed is Thessaly; from a single father, Heracles the best of warriors, derives the race that rules them both.

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Why do I utter vaunts inopportunely? Rather, it is Pytho and Pelinnaeum that now summon me, as do Aleuas’ sons, who wish to bring Hippocleas a triumph-song rung out by men’s clear voices. For he has tasted contests, [Ant. 1] and, to the host of those who dwell about, the glen beneath Parnassus has heralded his name, supreme in the boys’ double stade-race. Apollo, for mankind the end, like the beginning, grows to sweetness when divinity impels. Doubtless your counsels aided his achievement; then too, by inborn nature he has traced his father’s footsteps, who at Olympia triumphed twice while running in [Ep. 1] the arms that bear the brunt of Ares’ wars; likewise the games held under Cirrha’s cliffs, deep in the meadow, gave mastery to Phricias’ swift feet. May destiny in later days as well attend them, making lordly wealth bloom forth. Of the delights in Hellas [Str. 2] having won no small portion, may they meet, from heaven, no rancorous reversals, and the gods be unperturbed at heart. Good fortune and renown through song fall, by the judgment of the wise, to any man whose mastery in hand or speed of foot awards the greatest prizes to his strength and daring, and who, still living, sees [Ant. 2] his young son fittingly attain to Pythian crowns. Never to brazen heaven can he climb; but all such splendors as our mortal kind lays hands upon are his, gained at the utmost end of voyaging. By ship nor yet on foot can you discover

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the wondrous road that leads to where the Hyperboreans gather. With them prince Perseus feasted once, [Ep. 2] when, coming to their halls, he found them offering hecatombs of asses to the god, a glorious sacrifice. Their festivals and hymns of praise always give special pleasure to Apollo, who laughs to see the rampant uproar of the beasts. The Muse too is not absent from the country, [Str. 3] given their ways of life; for everywhere girls’ choruses whirl to the ringing cry of lyres and pipes, and banqueters, their hair bound up with golden laurel, revel joyfully. Neither diseases nor the wretchedness of old age taints that holy race; apart from toils and battles they dwell, beyond the reach [Ant. 3] of Retribution’s stern exactions. Drawing breath with daring heart, the son of Danaë came there once, led by Athena, to join the throng of blessed men. He slew the Gorgon, and that head whose locks were writhing snakes he brought back to the islanders to be their stony doom. To me no marvel that gods bring to fulfillment ever seems unworthy of belief. Let go the oar, drop anchor quickly from the prow to grip the bottom and stave off the rocky reef: the choicest kind of victory-hymn darts like a bee from one theme to another.

[Ep. 3]

It is my hope, as Ephyraeans pour forth my sweet voice by Peneus’ banks, to make Hippocleas, through song, still more an object of admiration for his crowns among age-mates and elders, a favorite of unmarried girls as well. In truth,

[Str. 4]

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different desires excite the hearts of different people. Whatever each man strives for, [Ant. 4] should he attain it, his immediate thought affords delight; but things a year from now no token can foretell. I place trust in the kindly hospitality of Thorax, who, toiling in his zeal on my behalf, has yoked this four-horse chariot of the Muses, with each of us the other’s ready guide and friend. To one who tests it on the touchstone, gold shows [Ep. 4] forth, as does an upright mind. His worthy brothers likewise we shall praise, because they raise on high the Thessalian polity and make it greater. In the hands of nobles lies, father to son, the careful piloting of cities.

The earliest of Pindar’s extant epinicians, composed in 498 when the poet was twenty, this ode celebrates a victory in the boys’ double stade-race won by Hippocleas of Thessaly. It was evidently commissioned not by the young victor’s father Phricias but by a certain Thorax (64), who belonged to one of Thessaly’s most important and powerful dynastic families, the Aleuadae (cf. 5). That Phricias, who was himself a victor at Olympia and Delphi (13–16), should live to see his son likewise crowned at Pytho is a circumstance that sets him at the utmost limits of human happiness (22–30). To conjure up, by way of contrast, a state of felicity beyond the reach of mortals, the speaker first cites the “brazen heaven” where gods reside (27), then substitutes the distant land of the Hyperboreans (30), thereby deftly positioning himself to introduce, as the ode’s centerpiece, an extended account of that mythical people who dwell “beyond the North Wind” (the literal meaning of their name) under Apollo’s patronage and protection. Characterized as it is by continuous merriment and celebration, the mode of life enjoyed by these “blessed men” (46) seems intended to provide an idealized background and parallel for the festivities now occasioned in “blessed Thessaly” (2) by Hippocleas’s victory at the games of Apollo. Returning from myth to the here-and-now via an elaborate passage of transition (48–54), the speaker expresses his hope

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of celebrating Hippocleas on some future occasion as well, going on to imply through a series of general reflections that the boy’s desire for athletic success has been only temporarily satisfied and he will soon be turning his thoughts toward further competition and further achievement (55–63). What can be relied upon in the meantime, however, is “the kindly hospitality of Thorax,” which, tested and proved golden on the present occasion, is certain to discharge the terms of any future commission with equal princeliness if the laudator’s hopes—and the athlete’s—should indeed be realized (64–68). The poem ends with brief praise for the Aleuadae’s good governance in Thessaly (69–72). 1–3 The ruling dynasties of both Lacedaemon (Sparta) and Thessaly claimed descent from Heracles. Sparta’s great prestige makes the linking of the two regions complimentary to Thessaly; at the same time, however, blessed (makaira) outdoes happy (olbia) through its connotations of divine—or in the case of the Hyperboreans (46), semidivine—bliss. 4 Pytho and Pelinnaeum Respectively, the site of Hippocleas’s victory ( = Delphi) and the town in west-central Thessaly that was his home, known also as Pelinna. 5 Aleuas’ sons See introductory note. 8 the glen beneath Parnassus I.e., Delphi as the site of the Pythian games; see intro. §21. 9 double stade-race Diaulos in Greek; approximately four hundred meters in length. 12–14 The victor’s father, Phricias (16), won two victories at Olympia in the race-in-armor, on which see intro. §5. The motif of following in a relative’s footsteps is found also at P. 8.35, N. 6.15–16. 15 under Cirrha’s cliffs I.e., in the Pythian games; see intro. §21. 17–22 As often happens, praise of success evokes a “touch wood” response from the speaker; see O. 8.28–29 with note. 19 the delights in Hellas I.e., success in the various athletic festivals of the Greek world. 22–26 Although the fortunate individual characterized in these lines is initially presented generically (any man), by the time

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the sentence comes to an end he has become unmistakably identified with Phricias. The sentence as a whole is a variant of the “encomiastic conditional” (app. §4). 27–30 On the ne plus ultra motif in both its “vertical” and its “horizontal” manifestations, see app. §4. The image of brazen heaven recurs at N. 6.4, I. 7.44. 34–44 The shift to the present tense shows that the real subject of the myth is its “ethnographic” account of the Hyperboreans’ way of life, with the visit by Perseus (31–34, 44–46) serving chiefly as a narrative framing device. For the Hyperboreans’ special devotion to Apollo, cf. O. 3.16; for their remoteness from the rest of the world, cf. I. 6.23. 44–48 Although the temporal relationship between Perseus’s sojourn with the Hyperboreans and his slaying of the Gorgon Medusa (cf. P. 12.9–17) is left unspecified, the addendum still fulfills the expected structural element of “terminal exploits” (app. §10) and, through its climactic reference to death by miraculous means, helps to precipitate the ensuing break-off (app. §11). 47 the islanders The people of Seriphos; cf. P. 12.12. 48–50 On the structural function of this reference to divine power, see app. §11. 51–52 To proceed any further on this particular narrative “voyage” would be to run the risk of shipwreck. For other instances of nautical imagery in break-off passages, see app. §11. 53–54 Cf. P. 11.41–42 for a similar programmatic endorsement of variety of subject matter in the epinician. 55–63 These lines are best understood as a tactfully inexplicit wish for another—and even more glorious—victory in Hippocleas’s future, one most likely to be sought at Olympia; see app. §12. That the son of a man twice victorious at Olympia should himself entertain Olympic ambitions is very much to be expected. 55 Ephyraeans Ephyra (also known as Crannon) was a town in the same general area of Thessaly as Pelinnaeum. 56 Peneus Thessaly’s chief river; cf. P. 9.16.

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60 A scholiast concludes his paraphrase of this line by remarking, “And thus this man has fallen in love with athletic competition.” 62 his immediate thought Its content can perhaps be most pithily summarized as “I did it, I did it!” The qualifying adjective is a reminder that, given human nature, “I did it!” is likely to give way soon enough to “So what next?” 63 things a year from now no token can foretell On the implicit point of this statement (man proposes, God disposes) as a standard motif in victory-wishes, see app. §12, and cf. O. 1.108, O. 13.104–6, P. 5.122–23, N. 10.29–30. 64 the kindly hospitality of Thorax On Thorax, see introductory note; on the reference to hospitality (xenia), see O. 1.103 with note. 65 this four-horse chariot of the Muses I.e., the present ode, as commissioned by Thorax on Hippocleas’s behalf. The motif of “the chariot of the Muses” is found also at O. 9.80–81, I. 2.1–2, I. 8.61–62. P Y T H IA N 1 1

for Thrasydaeus of Thebes, victor in the boys’ stade-race

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10

Daughters of Cadmus—Semele, you who dwell [Str. 1] among Olympian goddesses, and Ino Leucothea, you who share a home with Nereids beneath the sea— go with the mother of Heracles, that best of sons, to Melia, in the treasure-house of golden tripods, a sanctuary which, before all others, Loxias has honored, naming it the Ismenium, veracious seat of prophets. [Ant. 1] Thither, O children of Harmonia, on this occasion too he calls the throng of heroines, as natives of the land, to come together in one place, so that of holy Themis, Pytho, and earth’s navel, whose judgments are correct, you may sing loudly at the edge of evening,

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both on Thebes of the seven gates bestowing honor, and on Cirrha’s games, where Thrasydaeus brought to men’s remembrance his father’s hearth, casting a third crown over it through triumph in the fertile fields of Pylades, the guest-friend of Laconian Orestes.

[Ep. 1]

Him did the nurse Arsinoë, upon his father’s murder, snatch out from under Clytemnestra’s conquering hands and grief-charged guile, when in a flash of bronze Dardanian Cassandra, daughter of Priam, was with Agamemnon’s soul sent to the shadowed shore of Acheron by that

[Str. 2]

pitiless woman. Was it Iphigenia, slaughtered far [Ant. 2] from home upon the Euripus, that so stung her, stirring up heavy hands of wrath? Or, in thrall to another’s bed, did she stray off to couple in the night? For young wives, that is a most hateful trespass, and impossible to hide from other people’s tongues: [Ep. 2] townsfolk are prone to evil-speaking. Good fortune, to be sure, incurs its match in envy, while one with lowly aspirations can make noise unnoticed. He died himself, that hero who was Atreus’ son, returning at long last to famed Amyclae, and brought to death the maid of prophecy, once [Str. 3] he for Helen’s sake had set aflame Troy’s houses, stripping them of luxury and pride. And so the other made his way to Strophius—tender youth to guest-friend old in years— whose home was at Parnassus’ foot. Aided by Ares, at long last he slew his mother, and laid out Aegisthus in his gore. In truth, friends, at the junction where two tracks diverged, head whirling,

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I went awry, though on the right road up to then— or did some wind propel me off course, just like a skiff at sea? Your duty, Muse, if you contracted to lend out your voice for silver, is to send it forth now one way, now another— either, at just this time, for Pythonicus, his father, or for Thrasydaeus; gladness and glory are, on their behalf, ablaze. Triumphant with the chariot long ago, amid Olympia’s celebrated games they won quick-flashing splendor with their horses;

[Ep. 3]

so too at Pytho, entering for the naked stade-race, [Str. 4] they brought shame upon the host of Greeks assembled there through speed of foot. May I desire the noble things in heaven’s gift, striving for what is possible amid my time of life. Finding, throughout the city, that good fortune flourishes longer within the middle state, I censure tyrants and their lot. I aim at worthy deeds in which all share, for thus [Ant. 4] is envy kept at bay. If any man, however, gains the heights and, living in tranquility, eludes dire insolence, he moves toward a fairer final shore of dark death, leaving to his dear descendants that best of properties, the grace of a good name, such as spreads wide the glory of Iolaus child of Iphicles, acclaimed in song, and mighty Castor, and you, lord Polydeuces, sons of heaven, who dwell one day upon Therapne’s ridge, the next within Olympus.

[Ep. 4]

This ode celebrates a victory in the boys’ stade-race won in 474 by Thrasydaeus of Thebes, whose father Pythonicus had himself won a

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chariot race at Olympia. A Theban setting for the ode is immediately established in the opening lines, which summon various native heroines to a local temple (and oracle) of Apollo known as the Ismenium. The central myth, by contrast, is set chiefly at Amyclae in Laconia, the scene (as Pindar conceives it) of Agamemnon’s return from Troy and the various bloody murders that ensued. The speaker’s ostensible motivation for launching into the story is to explain why he has just called the place of Thrasydaeus’s victory “the fertile fields of Pylades, / the guest-friend of Laconian Orestes” (15–16), and this recondite circumlocution does indeed find eventual clarification just before the myth comes to an end (34–36). By that time, however, it has become clear from the allocation of emphasis and detail in the narrative as a whole that Pindar’s interest lies less in the bond of guest-friendship (xenia) between Orestes and the royal house of Phocis than it does in the “high crimes and misdemeanors” of the House of Atreus itself, which from the perspective of the final triad (and of lines 52–58 in particular) can be seen as presenting a negative counterpart to the moderation of condition and temper that characterize Thrasydaeus and his family. The necessary shift of focus from mythical midsection to “second praise” is effected by a particularly lively transition of the “situational” type (38–45), where the speaker feigns a suddenly renewed awareness of his audience’s expectations and rebukes himself for “going off track” at the expense of his contractual duties. 1–2 Semele, Ino On these daughters of Cadmus by Harmonia (7), see glossary under “Cadmus.” 2 Nereids See glossary. 3 the mother of Heracles Alcmene, who gave birth to Heracles while living in Thebes. 4 Melia A daughter of Ocean, sister of the river Ismenus after which (or whom) the Ismenium (6) was named. 5 Loxias A byname of Apollo in his role as a god of prophecy. 6 According to Herodotus (8.134), divination at the Ismenium (as at Olympia; cf. O. 6.70, O. 8.2–7) took the form of pyromancy (interpreting the flames of sacrifice). 9 Themis See glossary. According to Aeschylus (Eumenides 2–4), Themis preceded Apollo as the oracular deity of

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Delphi. earth’s navel i.e., the Delphic sanctuary, regarded as the center of the world; see P. 4.4 with note. 12 Cirrha’s games I.e., the games at Pytho (Delphi); see intro. §21. 14 a third crown See note on 46–50. 15 in the fertile fields of Pylades Pylades’ father Strophius (35) was king of Phocis, the region in which Delphi was located. 18–20 On Clytemnestra, Cassandra, and Agamemnon, see glossary. 19 Dardanian I.e., Trojan, after Dardanus, the first of the Trojan kings. 21 Acheron A river in the underworld; cf. N. 4.85. 22 Iphigenia See glossary for story. 23 the Euripus A narrow strait between Boeotia and Euboea, where the Greek army mustered for the Trojan War at the port of Aulis. 24 another’s bed I.e., that of Aegisthus (37), Clytemnestra’s lover (and Agamemnon’s cousin). 25 that I.e., adultery. 29–30 Climaxing a stepwise sequence of gnomic reflections, this two-line antithesis addresses the condition of anyone who, like a victorious athlete, has attained a position of conspicuous visibility in the world; in so doing it anticipates ideas that will be developed at greater length (and in more overt relation to the laudandus) in the ode’s final triad. 32 at long last Cf. 36. 33 the maid of prophecy Cassandra. 34 the other I.e., the youthful Orestes; thus the story returns to its starting point (15–18), with a ring-form repetition of guest-friend from line 16 (app. §9). 35 Strophius See note on 15. 36–37 On the conventional force of these “terminal exploits,” see app. §10.

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36 at long last A significant repetition from 32: father and son alike returned home after a lengthy absence, but they did so with exactly opposite results. 38–40 On the imagery used in these lines (road, sea voyage), see app. §§14, 11. 41–42 These lines conflate two distinguishable principles of encomium: (a) anyone who has undertaken to praise a man in return for money is duty-bound to discharge his contractual obligations (cf. N. 4.72–75, I. 2.7–8), and (b) epinician song by necessity requires frequent changes of topic (cf. P. 10.53–54). 46–50 In these lines three separate victories (cf. a third crown, 14) achieved over several generations are credited to the family collectively (hence the use of plurals throughout): Thrasydaeus’s current victory in the stade-race at Pytho (49–50), his father’s chariot victory at Olympia (47–48), and (implicitly) yet another chariot victory won “long ago” (46)—but by whom? and where? The most plausible hypothesis is that Thrasydaeus’s paternal grandfather had been successful at the Pythian games and named his son Pythonicus (“victorious at Pytho”) to commemorate that fact. 50–58 Making extensive use of the generalized or “indefinite” first person (app. §5), these lines endorse—and thereby implicitly attribute to Thrasydaeus and his family—an attitude of due circumspection in one’s aspirations, contentment with a “middle station” in the polity, and devotion to civic peace. 55 gains the heights I.e., of achievement and success. 55–56 living in tranquility, eludes dire insolence I.e., comports himself (like Thrasydaeus) with appropriate modesty and self-control vis-à-vis his fellow citizens. For the ideal of domestic tranquility (hēsychia) within the city-state, see note on P. 8.1. 59–64 Iolaus, Castor, Polydeuces On these exemplars of comradeship and the cooperative virtues, see glossary; for Castor and Polydeuces’ alternation between Therapne and Olympus, cf. N. 10.55–59, 85–88.

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P Y T H IA N 1 2

for Midas of Acragas, victor in flute-playing

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I beg you, who hold splendor dear, most beautiful [Str. 1] of mortal cities, dwelling-place of Persephone, where by the sheep-grazed banks of Acragas a hill stands crowned with buildings—you, O lady, graciously and with gods’ and men’s goodwill receive this wreath from Pytho for fame-laden Midas; receive as well the man himself, who bested Hellas in the art which once Pallas Athena chanced upon, inventing notes that, intertwined, would echo the savage Gorgons’ sinister lament. She heard it pouring from beneath the maidens’ [Str. 2] snaky heads, and from the dire snakes also, when with grievous toil Perseus finished off a third part of the sisterhood, conveying doom thereby to sea-washed Seriphos and its people. In truth, he brought to naught the monstrous spawn of Phorcus, and made the banquet grim for Polydectes, grim the long-endured servitude of his mother and the bed of her constraint, after he stripped fair-cheeked Medusa of her head, that son of Danaë who, we say, by gold self-flowing [Str. 3] was given life. But when the Maiden from those labors had rescued a man endeared to her, she shaped the pipes’ full-throated song so that the wailing wrested from Euryale’s quick jaws might be through instruments portrayed in all its clangor. A goddess, she invented it for mortal men’s possession, and gave the tune the name of “many-headed,” a glorious summons to the thronging games,

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passing alike through bronze thin-beaten and the [Str. 4] reeds that grow beside the Graces’ city of fair dancing-grounds within Cephisis’ precinct, bearing trusty witness to the dance. If there is worldly bliss among mankind, without hard toil it does not show itself. The gods will bring it to fulfillment either today—fate cannot be evaded—or a time will come such as will strike a person unawares and against expectation grant one thing, another not just yet.

The Pythian games were unique among the four Panhellenic festivals in including musical as well as athletic events; indeed, in their earliest phase of development competition had been exclusively musical in nature. The victory that this ode celebrates, won in 490 by Midas of Acragas, was in unaccompanied aulos-playing, the aulos being a wind instrument with a reed-and-metal mouthpiece that made it akin to the modern clarinet or oboe. Beginning with a hymnal invocation to Acragas, conceived simultaneously as city and as eponymous nymph, the ode moves rapidly to an overtly aetiological account of how and why Athena came to “invent” the art in which Midas has won his triumph. It soon becomes clear, however, that what is at issue is not so much the art of aulos-playing in general as it is one composition for aulos in particular. This celebrated piece was known as the nomos polykephalos or “many-headed tune,” and the name finds a picturesquely literal explanation in the tale of the snaky-locked Gorgon sisters and their doleful lamentation at the beheading of Medusa. Running through the myth and into the gnomic reflections with which the poem concludes is the idea that nothing worthwhile can be achieved by human beings without strenuous effort (10, 18, 28). 1 you The city of Acragas personified (cf. O lady, 3). 2 dwelling-place of Persephone All of Sicily was given by Zeus to Persephone on her marriage to Hades; cf. N. 1.13–14. 3 Acragas Referring here not to the city but to the nearby river; cf. O. 2.9, P. 6.6. 6 Hellas I.e., all the various Greeks who competed against him at Delphi; see note on P. 7.8.

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8 Gorgons For the story, and for information on Seriphos (12), Polydectes (14), and Danaë (17), see glossary under “Perseus” and “Medusa.” 13 Phorcus A sea-god, father of the Gorgons. 17 by gold self-flowing Zeus impregnated Danaë as a shower of gold. 18 the Maiden Athena. 20 Euryale One of Medusa’s two sisters. 22 she invented it The ring-compositional echo of inventing (7) returns the narrative to its starting point; see app. §9. 26 the Graces’ city Orchomenus in Boeotia; cf. O. 14.1–4. 27 Cephisis Eponymous nymph of the river Cephisus, which enters Lake Copaïs near Orchomenus; the marshy lake produced reeds in abundance. bearing trusty witness to the dance I.e., by providing the dancers with musical accompaniment. 30–32 O. 7, P. 7, and I. 3 also end with reflections on the vicissitudes of human life.

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NEMEAN 1

for Chromius of Syracuse, victor in the chariot race

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Hallowed spot where Alpheus, resting, caught his breath, offshoot of famous Syracuse, Ortygia, the couch of Artemis and Delos’ sister, you it is from whom the hymn, sweet-voiced, sets forth to offer praise in abundance for storm-footed horses, honoring Aetnaean Zeus: the chariot of Chromius, and Nemea too, are urging that revel-song be yoked to deeds of triumph.

[Str. 1]

Beginnings, like foundations, have been laid down [Ant. 1] by the gods, along with that man’s talents wrought by heaven. Within success is found the peak of perfect glory, for the Muse delights to keep great contests stored in memory. Shed, then, some share of radiance upon the island which, as master of Olympus, Zeus offered to Persephone, and promised, nodding his locks, that excellence in fruitful soil 197

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would carry fertile Sicily up to the heights with wealthy cities. Then too, the son of Cronus granted her a populace in love with bronze-armed war, fighters on horseback, but adorned as well, often, with golden olive leaves at Olympia. I have touched on many themes, hitting the proper mark with no false claim.

[Ep. 1]

I stand beside the courtyard doors [Str. 2] of a man generous to strangers, while I sing of noble deeds here where a fitting feast has been laid out for me. Of frequent guests from other lands his mansion does not lack experience, and so he has good men to bring water against the smoke and grime of censure. Human skills are various, yet one must, walking along straight pathways, strive according to one’s nature. In action strength achieves its ends, [Ant. 2] in counsels intellect, when foresight into what will be attends one as a quality inborn. Hagesidamus’ son, within the compass of your character faculties of each sort exist. What I desire is not to keep great wealth concealed within my house, but, using my possessions, to enjoy success and good repute while helping friends, since held by all in common are the expectations of men that suffer toil on toil. Myself, I cling with ready will to Heracles when pondering the summits of great excellence, urging forward the ancient tale of how, when from his mother’s womb straight into wondrous brightness Zeus’s son with his twin brother fled the pangs of childbirth and came forth,

[Ep. 2]

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he did not fail to catch the eye of Hera, throned [Str. 3] in gold, as he went into saffron swaddling-clothes. She, queen of gods, impetuous in her rage, sent serpents instantly. Through open doors into the spacious inner room they came, intent on wrapping their quick jaws around the children. He, however, lifted his head straight up and made first trial of battle, seizing the two snakes by the throat [Ant. 3] in his two inescapable hands. He squeezed, and time itself forced out the breath of life from their unutterable bodies. Panic beyond enduring struck the wits of the women who by chance were in attendance at Alcmene’s bedside. She herself, leaping to her feet unrobed, sought nonetheless to hold at bay the outrage of the beasts. Quickly a crowd of Cadmean chiefs, bronze-armed, came running in. Amphitryon, with sword unsheathed and brandished naked in his hand, arrived, transfixed by piercing anguish: one’s own concern weighs down each man alike, while trouble quits the heart at once when the affliction is another’s.

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[Ep. 3]

He stood in overwhelming awe [Str. 4] mingled with pleasure, for he saw, defying bounds, the purpose and the power of his son; the gods had undone and reversed the messengers’ report. From among neighbors he called in an eminent interpreter of highest Zeus, Tiresias the true diviner, who to him and all the host declared what shifts of fate his offspring would encounter,

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how many creatures he would kill on land, [Ant. 4] how many in the sea, that lacked all knowledge of the right, while many a one who walked together with men’s crooked greed he would consign to death in its most hateful form. And when on Phlegra’s plain the gods would meet the Giants in pitched battle face to face, it would be the onslaught of that hero’s arrows that left their gleaming locks befouled with earth, the seer said; but, being then himself at peace [Ep. 4] for all of time’s unfolding length, granted tranquility unparalleled as recompense for his great toils, amid the houses of the blest, with Hebe allotted as his blooming wife, his marriage solemnized by a feast at Zeus’s side, he would assent, with praise, to that god’s hallowed rule.

Chromius the son of Hagesidamus, for whom Pindar composed both this ode and Nemean 9, was a wealthy Sicilian magnate and military commander. After helping Hippocrates, tyrant of Gela, to defeat the Syracusans near the river Helorus in 492 (cf. N. 9.40–42), Chromius transferred his services to two rulers of Syracuse—first Gelon, Hippocrates’ successor at Gela, who seized control of Syracuse in 485, and then, after Gelon’s death, his brother Hieron, who appointed Chromius governor of Aetna at the time of its foundation in 476 (see introductory note to Pythian 1). Although the Nemean chariot victory commemorated in this ode cannot be dated with any certainty, it is likely to have occurred sometime in the 470s. Beginning with an invocation to Ortygia, a small island that formed the oldest part of Syracuse, the speaker sets forth the particulars of the occasion, grounds the victor’s success in divine favor, and offers general praise of Sicily’s natural resources and achievements (1–18). The focus then shifts to Chromius himself, who is commended for his bountiful hospitality, his gifts of intellect and character, and the appropriate ways in which, cognizant of humanity’s existential limitations, he puts his wealth to use (19–33). Citing Heracles as an apposite exemplar of “great excel-

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lence,” the speaker proceeds to recount at length a defining incident in that hero’s infancy, his strangling of two serpents sent against him by a wrathful Hera, hostile as always toward the offspring of her husband’s paramours (33–59). Through the medium of Tiresias’s prophecy (60– 72), this first manifestation of extraordinary natural ability is revealed to prefigure not only Heracles’ entire career of heroically philanthropic labor, but also the apotheosis and everlasting bliss to which, in the end, those labors would lead him. Here as elsewhere in the odes, Heracles serves as a paradigm of good works and noble enterprises ultimately rewarded by immortality—literal immortality in his own case, living as a god among gods on Mt. Olympus, and the metaphorical immortality of posthumous fame for those human beings who, like Chromius, possess the resources to perform worthy actions and then have them celebrated in verse. 1–2 The river-god Alpheus fell in love with the nymph Arethusa and pursued her beneath the sea from the Peloponnesus to Ortygia (see glossary), where his waters burst forth as a fountain that thereafter bore Arethusa’s name (cf. P. 3.69). 3 the couch of Artemis For Ortygia’s connection with Artemis, cf. P. 2.6–7. 4 Delos’ sister Being the birthplace of Artemis as well as Apollo, Delos shared with Ortygia a special place in her affections. 6 Aetnaean Zeus For Zeus’s association with Mt. Aetna, see note on O. 4.6–7. 8–9 Just as the ode has begun with gods (Alpheus, Artemis, Zeus), so the talents of Chromius have their origin in divinity. 13–14 An ancient commentator states that Zeus gave Sicily to Persephone at the time of her marriage to Hades. 19–22 A “situational” transition (intro. §16 and app. §8) introduces the topic of Chromius’s hospitality (philoxenia), a recurrent epinician motif; cf. O. 4.15, O. 13.2, P. 5.56–57, I. 2.39–42, I. 6.70. 24–25 For the warding off or disarming of potential criticism as an aspect of the encomiast’s task, cf. N. 7.61–63. 31–33 The “first-person indefinite” (app. §5) articulates—and by convention attributes to Chromius—the proper attitude toward wealth as something not to be hoarded (cf. I. 1.67) but rather

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put to use both altruistically (cf. O. 2.94–100, P. 2.56–61, P. 5.1–4) and as a means of winning fame (cf. P. 3.110–15). This implicit injunction is grounded in the existential equality imposed upon all human beings by both the hardships and vicissitudes of life and the universality of death (cf. N. 7.17–20). 36 his twin brother Iphicles, Alcmene’s son by her husband Amphitryon (52); cf. P. 9.88. 52 Cadmean Theban. 55 overwhelming awe The revelation of extraordinary natural ability (phua) evokes similar wonder at P. 9.30–32, N. 3.50–52. 61 Tiresias The great seer is listed as one of Thebes’ claims to fame at I. 7.8. 64 many a one who walked Probably an allusion to such figures as Antaeus (cf. I. 4.52–54b) and Busiris (schol.). 67 Phlegra’s plain In Thrace; cf. I. 6.33. the Giants Children of Earth who rebelled against the Olympians but were defeated with Heracles’ assistance (cf. N. 7.90). 70 tranquility The Greek word is hēsychia, on which see note to P. 8.1. 71 Hebe “Youth,” the daughter of Zeus and Hera; for her marriage to Heracles after his apotheosis, cf. N. 10.17–18, I. 4.59. NEMEAN 2

for Timodemus of Acharnae, victor in the pancratium

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Exactly as the Homerids, those singers of stitched verses, oftentimes begin with Zeus as prelude, so too has this man received a first installment of victory at sacred games within the much-hymned precinct of Nemean Zeus.

[Str. 1]

It must prove true hereafter, if indeed life’s course, [Str. 2] guiding him straight along the path of his forefathers, has given him to ornament great Athens, that he will often cull the fairest flower of Isthmian festivals and win too in the Pythian games,

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being Timonous’ son; for it accords with reason

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that when the mountain Pleiades [Str. 3] are seen, Orion should come on at no great distance. Moreover, Salamis has the power to rear a man who is a warrior: at Troy Hector heard Ajax, while to you, O Timodemus, stout-hearted valor in the pancratium offers glory.

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Acharnae too is known of old [Str. 4] for its brave men; and when it comes to games, the Timodemidae are proclaimed to be preeminent. Beside Parnassus’ lordly height they carried off four victories from the contests, while by the men of Corinth

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within the folded vales of noble Pelops [Str. 5] they have been mingled with eight crowns thus far, along with seven at Nemea—those at home cannot be counted— in Zeus’s games. Extol that god, O citizens, for Timodemus coming home in triumph; with tuneful voice begin the song.

Timodemus son of Timonous, whose victory in the pancratium this ode celebrates, was an Athenian citizen with close ties—whether they were of birth, upbringing, or residence is unclear—both to the island of Salamis (13–15) and to Acharnae (16–17), the largest of the Attic demes (districts). Those personal links, together with the impressive tally of athletic achievements amassed by his clan of Timodemidae (17–24), are presented as supporting an expectation of continued success in his own future, making his maiden triumph at Nemea only the first step in a long and illustrious career of Panhellenic competition (1–12). 1 the Homerids Lit. “sons of Homer,” but referring to professional performers of the Homeric poems, known also as rhapsodes; see next note. 2 singers of stitched verses The literal meaning of rhapsōdoi (at least according to one interpretation of the word).

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6–12 Given the victor’s antecedents as Timonous’ son (10), his future triumphs at the Isthmus and at Pytho are as much to be counted on as seeing the constellation of Orion close by whenever the Pleiades are visible. 14 at Troy Hector heard Ajax An apparent allusion to Iliad 7.197–99, where Ajax, preparing to engage with Hector in single combat, declares defiantly that no one will put him to flight, either by force or by skill, “since I do not think that I was born and reared on Salamis to be so unpracticed as that.” 19 Beside Parnassus’ lordly height For the periphrasis ( = “at the Pythian games”), see intro. §21. 20 by the men of Corinth As administrators of the Isthmian games; see intro. §21. 21 within the folded vales of noble Pelops I.e., at the Isthmus, regarded as the gateway to the Peloponnesus. 22 thus far Perhaps suggesting that the clan’s Isthmian victories will be the first to be augmented by Timodemus’s unfolding career; a Nemean victor with further ambitions would naturally look to the next rung on the ladder of Panhellenic competition (app. §12). NEMEAN 3

for Aristoclidas of Aegina, victor in the pancratium

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O queenly Muse, my mother, I beseech you, in Nemea’s sacred month cross over to Aegina, the Dorian isle that welcomes strangers; for beside Asopus’ waters young men wait, the architects of sweet-toned revels, longing for your voice. Various actions thirst for various rewards; what triumph at the games most loves is song, deftest escort of crowns and deeds of prowess.

[Str. 1]

Of such song grant ungrudged abundance from [Ant. 1] my skill and thought. Begin for one who rules the cloud-filled sky—you are his daughter—

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a hymn deserving of approval, and I then shall make it public by means of those men’s voices and the lyre. A pleasing labor it will be to glorify the country where the Myrmidons of old once dwelt, whose gathering-place of ancient fame Aristoclidas, thanks to your apportioning, did not stain with disgrace through softness in the stalwart course of the pancratium. Rather, through his triumph [Ep. 1] on Nemea’s deep-soiled plain he has borne off a healing remedy for weary blows. If, fair of form and doing deeds appropriate to his beauty, the son of Aristophanes has set his foot upon the heights of manly fortitude, thereafter it is not easy to cross the untracked sea beyond the pillars of Heracles, established by that hero-god to bear illustrious [Str. 2] witness to his most distant voyage. In the open sea he vanquished arrogant beasts; unaided, he explored the ebb and flow of shallows where he reached the goal that sent him off on his return; and he made known the earth. O heart, toward what foreign shore are you diverting my ship’s course? To Aeacus and his family I bid you bring the Muse. Justice in its most perfect form attends the maxim “Praise the noble,” yet what belongs to other men is better left uncoveted. [Ant. 2] Begin your search from home: fit ornament is yours to claim when pouring forth sweet sound. Among exploits of ancient valor, Peleus took delight in cutting his incomparable spear; he seized Iolcus on his own, without an army, and also wrestled sea-born Thetis down through perseverance. Telamon, immense in strength, ravaged Laomedon in comradeship with Iolaus; once too, against the Amazons, whose might is armed with brazen bows,

[Ep. 2]

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he followed him, and never did man-mastering fear abate his mind’s keen edge. Glory that is inborn gives heft to action, while one whose skills are taught, a man of dark and shifting purpose, never with sure foot steps to his goal, but tastes a thousand sorts of worth with ineffectual will. Fair-haired Achilles, sojourning at Philyra’s home [Str. 3] in boyhood, played at deeds of greatness. Often, brandishing a short-spiked javelin in his hands, and swift as wind, he battled with wild lions, perpetrating havoc, and slaughtered boars. Their bodies he would carry back, still gasping, to the Centaur, Cronus’ son, first at the age of six, then through all time thereafter. Both Artemis and bold Athena marveled to see him killing deer with neither hounds nor [Ant. 3] wily nets: his mastery was in his feet. My tale is one that men of old recounted. Chiron, deep in wisdom, reared Jason within his rocky cave, and afterwards Asclepius, to whom he taught the gentle-handed craft of medicine. Then too, he framed a marriage for the lustrous-robed daughter of Nereus, and brought up her unsurpassed offspring, making his spirit thrive on all things suitable, so that, sent forth by sweeping winds across the sea [Ep. 3] to Troy, he might stand firm against the clashing arms and battle cries of Lycians and of Phrygians, Dardanians too, and, grappling with the spears borne high in Ethiopian hands, might hold the fixed resolve that their commander Memnon, Helenus’ fiery cousin, never should reach home again. For the Aeacids splendor shines, afar and steadily, from that source.

[Str. 4]

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O Zeus, yours is the blood, and yours the contest targeted by song, which through the voices of young men acclaims a native joy. In victory glad shouts befit Aristoclidas, who has attached this island to illustrious speech and the august Thearion of Pythian Apollo to radiant ambitions. Trial is what makes perfection show forth, wherever one gains eminence over others, a boy among young boys, a man among men, [Ant. 4] and thirdly, among the elders, such as is each stage to which we race of mortals come. In truth, four virtues form the team driven by human life, which bids us heed what lies at hand. Not one of these, in you, is absent. Greetings, friend! I send you this honey mingled with white milk, crowned by the foam of its own blending, a draft of song buoyed on the pipes’ Aeolian tones, late though it be. The eagle among birds is swift [Ep. 4] and, searching from a distance, seizes in a flash the bloodied quarry with its claws, while noisy jackdaws range the lower air. For you, however, by the will of regal Clio no less than through your zeal in winning prizes, from Nemea and Epidaurus, Megara too, a light beams forth.

Like other Nemeans, this ode for Aristoclidas, an Aeginetan pancratiast, cannot be dated with any certainty. In light of line 80 (“late though it be”), and perhaps also the initial picture of the young men’s chorus “waiting” for words that have yet to be supplied, we may surmise that there was some delay in the composition of the ode. After an initial summons to the Muse, the opening triad sets the victory of Aristoclidas within the context of his country’s ancient traditions and then underscores his perfect matching of looks and deeds by deploying the motif of the Pillars of Heracles (1–21). After developing this metaphor to “digressive” proportions through narrative elaboration (22–26), the

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speaker rebukes himself for straying toward a “foreign shore” and propounds a shift of subject from Heracles to the Aeacids, Aegina’s own lineage of heroes (26–32). Instead of presenting a single continuous narrative, he surveys certain “exploits of ancient valor” (32) performed by three of Aeacus’s descendants, his sons Peleus and Telamon and his grandson Achilles. In the treatment of these exploits several themes come to the fore. One is the self-sufficiency of great natural ability, an idea already broached with Heracles’ “unaided” exploration of the Mediterranean’s western limits (24–25); thus we are told that Peleus captured Iolcus “on his own, without an army” (34) and that young Achilles slew deer “with neither hounds nor wily nets” (51). That such abilities are hereditable within a kinship group is an idea explicitly articulated in some gnomic reflections on “inborn glory” (40–42); placed so as to comment on the preceding eulogy of Peleus and Telamon, these lines also serve as a preface to the triad on Achilles, which in addition to celebrating his astounding natural gifts (43–52) also draws attention to the crucial role played in their actualization by that great educator of heroes, Chiron the Centaur (53–63). Returning in the final triad to Aristoclidas and his Nemean victory, the speaker hints at the young man’s ambitions for further competition (68–70), praises him for various qualities of character (74–76), and implies that the ode now being dispatched redeems its tardiness through the consummate effectiveness with which it has realized its objectives (76–82). 1–12 Note the clear—and pointedly paradoxical—distinction between the ode as performance and as verbal artifact (intro. §15): the chorus of young men cannot begin singing until the Muse arrives and assists the “I” in producing a song from his “skill and thought” (9)—yet in actuality they have been singing that very song from the ode’s opening words. 3 the Dorian isle that welcomes strangers On Aegina’s Dorian identity, see O. 8.30 with note; for its upright treatment of foreigners, cf. O. 8.21–27, N. 4.11–13, N. 5.8. 4 Asopus’ waters Although there were rivers of the same name in Boeotia (I. 8.17) and by Sicyon (N. 9.9), the reference here is presumably to a stream or spring on Aegina.

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6–8 A “summary” priamel (app. §2); contrast I. 1.47–51, where the “various actions” and “various rewards” are instantiated through specific examples. 10 one who rules the cloud-filled sky Zeus, father of the Muses by Mnemosyne (Memory). 13 the Myrmidons According to legend, the earliest inhabitants of Aegina. 15–16 did not stain with disgrace For the “negative expression” ( = “did honor to”), see app. §13. 19–21 This “encomiastic conditional” (app. §4) is unique in replacing the generalized “if anyone” or “if a man” with a specific individual. 19 For the “looks and deeds” motif, see O. 8.19 with note. 21 the pillars of Heracles On this version of the ne plus ultra theme, see app. §4. 22–26 Heracles’ explorations in the extreme west were carried out as part of his quest for the cattle of Geryon; cf. I. 1.13 with note. 24 unaided See introductory note, and cf. 34, 51. 26 made known the earth I.e., by defining the limits of human habitation and exploration. 26–31 On this “break-off ” passage, see introductory note and app. §11. 29–31 In order to justify the shift of focus from Heracles to the Aeacids the speaker invokes a distinction between what is “alien” or “another’s” (allotrion) on the one hand and what is “one’s own” (oikeion) on the other, preference being given to the latter; cf. a native joy in 66. 33 The idea that Peleus cut his own spear (which then passed on to Achilles) seems to be a Pindaric innovation; at Iliad 16.143 he is said to have received it from Chiron. 34–36 Iolcus, Thetis For the events here alluded to, see glossary under “Peleus,” and cf. N. 4.54–68. 36–37 On Telamon’s participation in the “first Trojan War” against Laomedon, see glossary, and cf. N. 4.25–26, I. 6.27–30. Iolaus was Heracles’ nephew and squire; Heracles’ own name goes

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unmentioned in part because he has already been dismissed as a topic of discourse (26–27), in part because Telamon’s role in the campaign shows off to better advantage when paired with a hero of lesser stature. 40–42 See intro. §25 on the contrast between inborn ability and mere learning that is set forth in these lines. 43–49 On Achilles’ fostering by the Centaur Chiron, son of Cronus and Philyra, cf. P. 6.21–23. 50–52 The revelation of extraordinary natural ability (phua) evokes similar astonishment at P. 9.30–32 (Cyrene), N. 1.55–58 (Heracles). 53–55 For Jason and Asclepius as pupils of Chiron, cf. P. 4.102–3, P. 3.5–7, 45–46. References to Chiron often include mention of his cave (e.g., P. 3.63, P. 4.102, P. 9.30, I. 8.41), perhaps because such a place of habitation—like Chiron’s bodily form itself, half man and half horse—suggests an immersion in nature supremely appropriate to one who tutors great natural talents. 57 daughter of Nereus I.e., Thetis, Achilles’ divine mother; for her marriage to Peleus on Mt. Pelion, cf. N. 5.22–25, I. 8.41–45. 60 Lycians, Phrygians Allies of Troy. 61 Dardanians I.e., Trojans. 62–63 Helenus was a son of Priam, whose brother Tithonus begot the Ethiopian king Memnon on the goddess Dawn. Memnon’s failure to return home to Ethiopia extended Achilles’ fame— and, through him, the fame of the Aeacids generally—to the limits of the habitable world; cf. N. 6.49–50. 65–66 In an abrupt outburst of pious adoration the speaker apostrophizes Zeus in two capacities, as ultimate progenitor of the Aeacids (yours is the blood) and as presiding deity of the Nemean games (yours the contest), thus effecting a neat return from the heroic past to the here-and-now. On “ethical mimesis” as a transitional device, see app. §7. 69 Thearion A body of sacred envoys (theōroi) sent by Aegina to Apollo’s sanctuary at Delphi. The implication seems to be that Aristoclidas has inspired his community with hopes of a Pythian victory in his future.

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72–74 The reference to the “three ages” of man’s life serves to generalize beyond Aristoclidas’s individual situation; the earlier praise of his beauty (19) strongly suggests that he himself is still youthful. 74–75 A disputed passage, perhaps containing an allusion to the (later canonical) cardinal virtues of self-control (sōphrosynē), courage (andreia), wisdom (sophia), and justice (dikaiosynē). Within the immediate context there may be a further implication that three of the virtues are peculiarly relevant to different stages in life (self-control to youth, courage to manhood, wisdom to old age), while the fourth enjoins us to heed what lies at hand by “justly” adjudicating among circumambient claims and conditions. Cf. Bacchylides 14.8–11: “Countless are men’s virtues, but one stands out among them all—that of the man who manages the things at hand with justice in his thoughts.” 77–79 The most elaborate of Pindar’s poetic beverages; for others, cf. O. 6.85–86 (water of Thebe), O. 7.7–8 (nectar), I. 6.74–75 (water from Dirce’s spring). 79 Aeolian tones See intro. §8. 80 late though it be See introductory note. 80–82 The ode compensates for its belatedness through its superior quality. As at O. 2.87–88, the ease and power of great natural talent (represented by the eagle) are contrasted with the futility of mere “learning” (represented here by jackdaws, there by crows). 83 Clio One of the Muses; her name is derived from kleos, “fame.” 84 A one-line victory catalogue. NEMEAN 4

for Timasarchus of Aegina, victor in wrestling For labors brought to judgment good cheer is the best [Str. 1] physician; yet the skilled daughters of Muses, songs, beguile them also with their touch.

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Even hot water cannot ease limbs into suppleness so thoroughly as praise accompanied by the lyre. Words live a longer time than deeds, whenever with the Graces’ happy aid the tongue has drawn them from the mind’s deep thought. May I raise such a strain for Cronian Zeus and [Str. 2] Nemea and Timasarchus’ wrestling bouts, prelude to celebration; and may it find welcome in the Aeacids’ stout-fortressed dwelling-place, that beacon-light to all, just in protecting strangers. If Timocritus, your father, were still living, warmed by the potent sun, he would, while striking up the changeful lyre and leaning on this melody, have often applauded his triumphant son for sending from Cleonae’s games a chain [Str. 3] of garlands, and from radiant Athens of noble name, and since in seven-gated Thebes, beside Amphitryon’s resplendent tomb, the Cadmeans gladly mingled him with flowers for Aegina’s sake. Arriving as a friend among kind friends in that hospitable city, he beheld the prosperous halls of Heracles, with whom once mighty Telamon laid waste [Str. 4] to Troy and to the Meropes and to that huge combatant, fearsome Alcyoneus— though not before twelve chariots were overthrown by boulders, along with twice that number of horse-mastering heroes mounted upon them. He who failed to fathom this would show that he lacked all experience of battle, since one who performs a deed is also bound to suffer. An ordinance of art debars me from a long account, as do the pressing hours;

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then too, a love-charm draws my heart to touch upon the new-moon festival. Nevertheless, although the sea’s deep swell holds you about the waist, resist conspiracy: we shall assuredly be seen to win through in clear light, superior to our opponents. Another man, meanwhile, whose glance is stinting, revolves in darkness an inane intent that tumbles to the ground. For me, whatever kind [Str. 6] of excellence lord Destiny has granted, I know that time, as it moves on, will bring it to fulfillment. Weave out at once, sweet lyre, this phase of song as well in Lydian tuning, one endeared both to Oenone and to Cyprus, where, in exile, Teucer reigns, the son of Telamon; and yet Ajax retains his father’s Salamis. Amid the Euxine sea Achilles holds a bright [Str. 7] island; Thetis is powerful in Phthia, and Neoptolemus upon the far-stretched mainland where, grazed by cattle, jutting ridges slope all the way from Dodona to the Ionian strait. But when at Pelion’s foot he had reduced Iolcus to servitude with warlike hand, Peleus turned the city over to the Haemonians, though not before Hippolyta, Acastus’ wife, [Str. 8] had made him feel her devious wiles. Lying in ambush with a sword of cunning make, Pelias’ son sowed death for him, but Chiron came to his defense; and what Zeus had ordained was brought to its fulfillment. When he had foiled all-conquering fire, the razor claws of lions bold in stratagem, and the keen edge of terrifying teeth, he married one of Nereus’ regal daughters and saw the circle of fair thrones

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on which the lords of sea and sky were seated when they revealed their bride-gifts and the power innate within him. From Gades westward toward the gloom there is no crossing: turn back again toward Europe’s shore the rigging of your ship! No way exists for me to tell the whole long tale of Aeacus’ descendants. For the Theandridae have I come, a ready [Str. 10] herald of games that make limbs strong, contracted for Olympia and the Isthmus, Nemea too, whence, taking part in trials, they returned with crowns whose fruit is glory to their homeland, where, we hear, your clan, Timasarchus, devotes itself to victory odes. But if indeed for your maternal uncle Callicles you bid me further to raise a monument outshining Parian marble— [Str. 11] gold that has been refined shows forth its splendors to the full, while songs of high achievement make a man in fortune equal to kings—then let him, from his home by Acheron, perceive my voice as it rings forth where, in the contest of the loud-roaring Wielder of the Trident, he bloomed with garlands of Corinthian celery. But him your aged grandfather Euphanes [Str. 12] will gladly celebrate, my son. Contemporaries differ, and each man supposes that what he has himself encountered he can speak of best. Praising Melesias, how must a person twist and grapple, twining phrases, not to be wrestled down or dragged about in speech, with gentle thoughts toward the noble, but to malicious men a bitter foe in waiting.

Composed for Timasarchus of Aegina, victor in boys’ wrestling, this ode exhibits the ABA′ structure of the typical epinician with an unu-

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sual exactness of symmetry. The first section, three strophes in length, focuses on Timasarchus himself, prefacing an account of his current (9–16) and previous (17–24) victories with introductory reflections on the functions and value of encomiastic song (1–8). The last section, also three strophes in length, deals with topics of relevance to the occasion beyond Timasarchus’s own particulars: the agonistic achievements of his clan, the Theandridae (73–79), the Isthmian victory of Callicles, a deceased maternal uncle (80–90), and praise of the young victor’s trainer, Melesias (91–96). Occupying six strophes at the center of the ode is an extended celebration of the Aeacids, that lineage of “local” heroes so dear to Aeginetan hearts. The section begins and ends with brief and allusive stories about Aeacus’s sons Telamon (25– 32) and Peleus (54–68), while within that frame other figures in the family (Teucer, Ajax, Achilles, Thetis, Neoptolemus) receive more cursory attention in catalogue format. The combination of catalogue and narrative is common enough in Pindar’s handling of mythical material; what is distinctly unusual is the way in which, after rounding out his praise of Telamon with a maxim on the high cost of achievement (30–32), the speaker then pauses to justify pursuing “a long account” of Aeacid worth and valor when various factors are urging to him to “get down to business” with further particulars of the present occasion (33–43). Once again picking up the thread of his interrupted discourse, he works his way through a geographical survey of tutelary Aeacid heroes and their cult loci (44–53) to Telamon’s brother Peleus. Like Telamon, Peleus is represented as exemplifying the price to be paid in setbacks and suffering when any great deed is undertaken (54–61); in addition, though, he also resembles Timasarchus in being a “wrestler” of sorts, though one whose conquest of Thetis gained him neither victory wreath nor victory ode but a wedding attended by all the gods (62–68). Emblematic as it is of the highest felicity attainable by human beings, Peleus’s marriage with a goddess evokes from the speaker the ne plus ultra motif of the Pillars of Heracles (69–70), which he then immediately reapplies to his own rhetorical situation in the face of Aeacid glory (71–72). At that point, yielding at last to the very pressures he resisted earlier, he turns his attention—with full willingness, of course, but also in accordance with the terms of his contract— to the Theandridae and their achievements, to Callicles, and to Melesias.

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1 good cheer The merriment (euphrosynē) of the victory-revel (kōmos), which in the immediate aftermath of agonistic success is felt to be a sovereign cure for the toil and suffering entailed in its achievement; ultimately, however, the consolation provided by epinician song is both more efficacious and more enduring. The two phases of celebration are similarly distinguished at O. 9.1–8, N. 8.48–50. 7 with the Graces’ happy aid On the Graces’ role as bestowers of verbal effectiveness, see app. §15. 11–12 the Aeacids’ stout-fortressed dwelling-place I.e., Aegina, closely identified (as usual) with its lineage of tutelary heroes. 13 just in protecting strangers For Aegina’s equitable treatment of foreigners, cf. O. 8.21–27 with note, N. 3.3, N. 5.8. 13–16 An intriguing indication that epinicians might occasionally be re-performed as solo song. 17 Cleonae’s games The contests at Nemea were administered by the nearby town of Cleonae; see intro. §21, and cf. N. 10.42. 18–19 from radiant Athens As site of the Panathenaic games. 20 beside Amphitryon’s resplendent tomb The Theban games in honor of Iolaus (Iolaeia) were held near the tomb that he shared with his grandfather Amphitryon; cf. P. 9.79–83 with note, O. 9.98. 21 the Cadmeans I.e., the Thebans. 21–22 for Aegina’s sake The cities of Thebes and Aegina were linked in myth through their eponymous nymphs, each being a daughter of the river-god Asopus; cf. I. 8.16–18. 23 that hospitable city An allusion not merely to Theban hospitality in general but to the special bond of hereditary guest-friendship (xenia) forged between Thebes and Aegina by the comradeship of Heracles and Telamon, a subject treated at length in I. 6. 25–27 Troy, the Meropes, Alcyoneus See glossary, and cf. I. 6.31–34, where the same three conquests are credited to Heracles and Telamon together. The stress laid on the losses incurred in defeating Alcyoneus may be intended to suggest that Timasarchus’s own victory in wrestling was hard-won.

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33–43 Three distinct factors are cited as militating against continued treatment of the Aeacids: the speaker’s sense of encomiastic duty (33), the limited time at his disposal for its fulfillment (34), and his own deep attraction to the task at hand (35). Representing these pressures first as the sea’s deep swell and then as a conspiracy that must and will be resisted (36–38), he sets the ineffectuality of a stinting, “rule-bound” approach to the business of praise (39–41) into sharp contrast with his own determination to follow his impulses and instincts, fully confident that his native gifts will see him through to a triumphantly successful conclusion (41–43). 33 An ordinance of art The “rule” or “law” (tethmos) that requires an encomiast to give his client and his client’s family their due praise; cf. “the hymn ordained by custom” (O. 7.88), “the ordinance of victory revels” (O. 13.29). 34 the pressing hours Cf. “time is pressing close” (P. 4.247). 35 a love-charm The Greek word is iynx, properly the name of a bird (the wryneck) used in love-magic; cf. P. 4.214 with note. the new-moon festival Presumably the festival at which the present ode was performed. 36 Nevertheless Reasons for abandoning a topic are similarly overridden in favor of continued treatment at P. 1.81–86 (“But nonetheless . . .”), N. 10.19–24 (“Nevertheless . . .”). 37–38 For other references to the speaker’s (hypothetical) rivals in the encomiastic endeavor, cf. O. 13.43–46, P. 1.45, N. 9.54–55. 41 that tumbles to the ground For this image of ineffectuality, cf. O. 9.12, P. 6.37. 45 in Lydian tuning See intro. §8. 46 Oenone This older name for Aegina is found also at N. 5.16, N. 8.7, I. 5.34. 46–53 The recurrent present tense (reigns, retains, holds, is) points to the figures’ ongoing status as tutelary heroes. 47–48 the son of Telamon, his father’s Salamis The two phrases are designed to pick up the thread of discourse from strophe 4: “Before I interrupted myself, you may recall, I was speaking of Telamon’s exploits; well, Telamon’s two sons. . .” Exiled by his

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father from Salamis, Teucer sailed east and founded a city of the same name on the island of Cyprus. 49–50 a bright island Leuce, at the mouth of the Ister (Danube), where according to one account Achilles’ body was brought after his death (a different tradition is reflected at O. 2.79–80). 51 Phthia A town in Thessaly, birthplace of Achilles (P. 3.101) and site of a shrine to Thetis (Thetideion). the far-stretched mainland Epirus in northwestern Greece, where Neoptolemus ruled for a time as king of Molossia; cf. N. 7.37–40. 53 Dodona Site of an oracle of Zeus in eastern Epirus. 54–61 See glossary under “Peleus” (and cf. N. 5.26–34) for that hero’s dealings with the city of Iolcus, its king Acastus, and Acastus’s wife Hippolyta. 56 the Haemonians A Thessalian people. 60 Pelias’ son Acastus. 62–68 See glossary under “Peleus” for his conquest of the shapeshifting Thetis (one of Nereus’ regal daughters) and their subsequent marriage. 69 Gades Gadeira in Greek, present-day Cadiz, on the Atlantic coast beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, where the Pillars of Heracles were deemed to mark the limits of navigation. On this version of the ne plus ultra motif, see app. §4. 73–74 On the “arrival motif,” see app. §3. 75 contracted The generic obligation to praise, which earlier was referred to as an ordinance of art (33), is now restated in terms of a literal compact between two parties; see intro. §14 and app. §8, and cf. P. 11.41–42. 81 Parian marble The island of Paros in the Cyclades was famed for the dazzling whiteness of its marble. 85 by Acheron I.e., in the underworld; see glossary, and cf. P. 11.21. 87 Wielder of the Trident Poseidon; see glossary for the epithet. The Isthmian games awarded wreaths of wild celery as prizes; cf. O. 13.32, I. 2.16, I. 8.64.

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89–93 “I never knew Callicles, so I will have to leave it to Euphanes to sing his praises. Regarding Melesias, however, whom I certainly do know. . .” 89 Euphanes Presumably Callicles’ father. 93–96 On the Athenian trainer Melesias, see O. 8.54–59 with note, N. 6.64–66. To do justice to his expertise requires verbal abilities on a par with his own skills as a wrestler. 96 foe in waiting I.e., an ephedros, who “sat by” (the literal meaning of the term) to take on the victor of a wrestling bout currently in progress. NEMEAN 5

for Pytheas of Aegina, victor in the youths’ pancratium

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I am no statue-maker, fashioning images [Str. 1] that stand in idleness and do not budge beyond their bases. No! On every cargo boat and in every skiff, sweet song, set forth now from Aegina, spreading wide the news that Lampon’s son, broad-sinewed Pytheas, has won at Nemea the pancratiasts’ crown, not yet revealing on his cheeks the darkening bloom that summer’s prime begets; and that to spearman heroes sprung from Zeus [Ant. 1] and Cronus and the golden Nereids, the stock of Aeacus, he has accorded glory’s gift, as well as to their mother-city, land endeared to strangers, which once they prayed would flourish in renown of men and ships, when, standing by the altar of Hellenian Zeus, they stretched their hands to heaven all together, Endeïs’ true-born sons and Phocus, mighty prince borne by the goddess Psamathea right where breakers strike the sand. I shrink from speaking of a deed

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portentous and not justly hazarded, how they forsook the fair-famed isle, and what divinity drove forth such valiant warriors from Oenone. I shall stand still: not every truth yields profit by showing the strict lineaments of its face, and often silence is the skill that men do best to bear in mind. But if good fortune, strength of hand, or iron war [Str. 2] is set as theme for praise, prepare the ground, and from this spot I’ll leap great lengths: impulsive nimbleness is in my knees, and eagles wing their way beyond the sea. With ready will for them too did the Muses sing on Pelion, most beautiful of choirs, while in their midst Apollo ranged with golden plectrum over the lyre of seven tones, leading the way in varied melodies. Beginning first [Ant. 2] of all with Zeus, they sang of stately Thetis and Peleus, telling how Hippolyta, Cretheus’ dainty daughter, sought to tangle him in guile, and brought her husband, guardian of Magnesia, into her plot, persuading him with intricate designs: she crafted, fitting piece to piece, a lying tale, alleging that the man, within Acastus’ very bed, made trial of her bridal sleep. The opposite was true: time after time, with all her heart, she begged and pleaded for his love. Aroused to passion by her reckless words, at once he spurned her, married as she was, in fear of Zeus’s wrath, who has a father’s care for host and guest. And he, king of immortals and lord of clouds, took note in heaven, and with a nod he pledged that soon the hero

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would gain a consort from among the Nereids who ply their golden distaffs in the sea,

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once their brother-in-law Poseidon was persuaded, [Str. 3] he who goes from Aegae, often, to the far-famed Dorian Isthmus. There joyfully the crowds with cry of pipes receive him in his godhead, and meet in contests bold and strong of limb. Inborn destiny is what brings all actions to judgment. You from Aegina twice, Euthymenes, sank into Victory’s embrace and felt the touch of hymns made intricate by art. Now too, indeed, your mother’s brother, having [Ant. 3] hastened close behind, does honor, Pytheas, to that hero’s kindred stock. Yes, Nemea holds him in firm favor, as does the native month beloved of Apollo: he bested youths who came against him both at home and under Nisus’ hollow ridge. I am delighted that the whole city strives for noble ends. It is, you may certain, by Menander’s grace and luck that a sweet requital for hard labors is yours to enjoy: an architect of athletes ought to [Ep. 3] hail from Athens. But if you’ve come to laud Themistius in song, hang back no longer: lift your voice, raise high the sails to reach the very masthead, proclaiming that as boxer and pancratiast at Epidaurus he displayed prowess twofold; and to the doors of Aeacus’s shrine bring crowns of leaves and flowers with the fair-haired Graces’ aid.

Composed probably in 483 or 481, this ode celebrates a victory by Pytheas son of Lampon, a young Aeginetan pancratiast. The fact that Lampon commissioned a second epinician for the same occasion from

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Bacchylides (Ode 13)—not to mention two further odes from Pindar (I. 5 and I. 6) for Pytheas’s younger brother Phylacidas—may safely be taken as a measure of the ambitions he entertained for his offspring and the zealous encouragement he gave to their athletic careers. Given Pytheas’s youth, it is not surprising that very little is said about him directly beyond an initial announcement of defining particulars (4–6), which rapidly shifts its focus to that staple theme in odes for Aeginetans, the “stock of Aeacus” (8); even the post-myth “second praise” deals chiefly with the victor’s maternal uncle Euthymenes (41–46), his Athenian trainer Menander (48–49), and his maternal grandfather Themistius (50–54). From one perspective the ode can be viewed as an extended meditation on the powers and uses (and potential misuses) of language artfully deployed, starting in the very first lines with a pointby-point comparison between statue-making and song as purveyors of agonistic fame. When, somewhat later, the speaker “inadvertently” stumbles upon a dark episode from Aeacid history (10–16) and then calls a halt to further treatment of the subject, the gnomic reflections on truth and silence with which he justifies that decision (16–18) serve a double function in the economy of the ode. Rhetorically, they provide a springboard for introducing the far more auspicious theme of Peleus’s marriage to the sea-goddess Thetis, who was bestowed on him to reward his righteous conduct in rebuffing the improper advances of his host’s wife (19–37); in terms of content, they raise ethical issues that bear significantly on the brazen slanders of Hippolyta, underscoring the crucial distinction between telling the whole truth (optional depending on circumstances) and telling nothing but the truth (an ethical imperative). The fact that Hippolyta’s false accusation is so clearly represented as a verbal artifact, a construct of “intricate designs” that she “crafted, fitting piece to piece” (28–29), shows how fearlessly Pindar is willing to address the inherent ambiguity and seductiveness of language artfully deployed; see intro. §25. 1–3 For another comparison of poetry to statue-making, briefer but equally to the disadvantage of the latter, cf. I. 2.45–46. Here the points of contrast tally exactly on either side: a statue (A) stands in one place (B) on a pedestal (C) doing nothing; a song (A′) goes everywhere (B′) on all sorts of boats (C′) announcing news.

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2 On every cargo boat and in every skiff On Aegina’s importance as a sea power and hub of commerce, see glossary. 6 The physical detail in this line indicates that Pytheas won his victory in the age-class of ageneioi (“beardless ones”), intermediate between boys and men (intro. §5). 7 spearman heroes The Aeacids generally, and in particular the three sons of Aeacus, Peleus and Telamon by his wife Endeïs (12) and Phocus (12) by the sea-goddess Psamathea (13). Endeïs was a granddaughter of Cronus (7) through her father Chiron; Psamathea was one of the Nereids (7). 10 Hellenian Zeus “Zeus of the Hellenes” ( = Greeks), a cult-title particularly associated with Aegina. 12–13 The names Phocus (“seal”) and Psamathea (“sandy”) are both appropriately maritime in their associations. 14 a deed portentous and not justly hazarded Peleus and Telamon killed their half brother Phocus while playing quoits and were banished from Aegina by their father as a consequence. Peleus migrated to Phthia in Thessaly, while Telamon settled on the island of Salamis. 16 Oenone Another name for Aegina; cf. N. 4.46, N. 8.7, I. 5.34. 18 Other tactical endorsements of silence can be found at O. 9.103–4, O. 13.91, I. 1.63, I. 5.51. 19 prepare the ground In order to cushion (and mark) a jumper’s landing the soil would be loosened ahead of time by spading. 22 for them too I.e., for the Aeacids, and most specifically for Peleus, whose marriage to Thetis on Mt. Pelion was attended by all the gods; cf. P. 3.87–95, N. 4.65–68. 24 plectrum A small device used for plucking stringed instruments. 26–34 For the story of Peleus’s dealings with Hippolyta and her husband Acastus, king of Iolcus in Magnesia, see glossary under “Peleus,” and cf. N. 4.54–61. 28 intricate designs See note on 42.

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36 a consort I.e., Thetis, one of the fifty daughters of Nereus (on whom see glossary). 37 their brother-in-law Poseidon Poseidon’s wife Amphitrite was herself a Nereid. Poseidon had to be persuaded into giving up his own claim to Thetis before Peleus’s marriage could take place; cf. I. 8.27–29. Aegae Site of an undersea palace of Poseidon (Iliad 13.21–22). 39 contests The Isthmian games, held near Corinth in Poseidon’s honor. 41 Euthymenes Pytheas’s maternal uncle, likewise a pancratiast; cf. I. 6.60–63. The two victories here alluded to were most likely won at the Isthmian games (just characterized as contests bold and strong of limb); see note on I. 6.61. 42 made intricate by art The adjective poikilos, translated as “intricate” both here and in 28, denotes variegation and complexity of appearance (“dappled,” P. 4.214, 249, “spotted,” P. 8.46, “intricately painted,” N. 10.36), composition (“of many strands,” O. 6.87), or workmanship (“embroidered,” P. 2.8). For the related verb poikillein, cf. P. 9.76–79 with note; on the echo of line 28 see intro. §25. 43 Although the exact meaning of this line has been debated, it seems to suggest that Euthymenes triumphed at the same Nemean games as Pytheas, having hastened close behind his nephew in his eagerness for glory. that hero Peleus, whose kindred stock as an Aeacid is the Aeginetan people. 44 the native month The Aeginetan month Delphinios, when (according to the scholia) local games were held in honor of Apollo. 46 under Nisus’ hollow ridge I.e., at Megara, Nisus being a legendary king of that city (cf. P. 9.91). 48 Menander Pytheas’s trainer, praised also by Bacchylides (13.190–98); like Melesias (cf. O. 8.54–66, N. 4.93–96, N. 6.64–66), he was an Athenian. 50 Themistius Pytheas’s maternal grandfather, according to the scholia; cf. I. 6.65. 52 Epidaurus See glossary, and cf. N. 3.84, I. 8.68.

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NEMEAN 6

for Alcimidas of Aegina, victor in boys’ wrestling

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One race of mankind, one of gods—but we draw [Str. 1] breath both from a single mother. Yet an utter difference separates the two in power, such that one is nothing, while for the other an abode remains unshakable forever in brazen heaven. Still, we do somewhat resemble the immortals nonetheless, whether in great mind or in physique, though knowing neither day by day nor in the hours of night toward what finishing line fate has written that we must run. So now, for all to see, Alcimidas bears witness that [Ant. 1] his family’s inborn nature is like productive croplands which, in alternation, at one time bring forth from the soil abundant sustenance for men, then at another gather strength by resting. He has come from Nemea’s delightful games, a boy intent on competition, who, conforming to this ordinance from Zeus, is now revealed to be a hunter not without due share of spoils in wrestling, setting his feet within the kindred tracks of Praxidamas, father of his father. That man, as an Olympic victor, was the first to earn wreaths for the Aeacids beside the Alpheus; and at the Isthmus five times gaining garlands, at Nemea three, he brought oblivion to an end for Soclidas, who proved thereby to be preeminent among the sons of Hagesimachus.

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For him, indeed, there were three winners who [Str. 2] attained the heights of excellence, thus tasting toils. By heaven’s grace no other house has been shown forth as steward of more crowns for boxing in the confines of all Hellas. I have hope, in making this large claim, that I have hit the target squarely, as if by bowshot. Come now, guide straight at this family, O Muse, a breeze of words that bring renown, for after men pass on, songs and chronicles take their noble exploits into [Ant. 2] care. Of such the Bassidae have no lack, a lineage famed of old, transporting their own freight of praise; to plowmen of the Pierides they can deliver copious song by reason of their proud achievements. For indeed at holy Pytho, his hands well strapped, a scion of that clan turned might to mastery when Callias won approval from the offspring of Leto with distaff of gold, and by Castalia’s spring, at evening, he blazed amid the Graces’ joyful din. And on the bridge between unwearied seas, where neighboring peoples solemnize games with sacrifice in alternating years, Creontidas gained honor at Poseidon’s precinct, while once the pasture of the lion thatched his triumphant brows beneath the shadow-strewn primeval hills of Phlius.

[Ep. 2]

On every side, for men of words, wide avenues abound [Str. 3] to ornament this glorious island, since the Aeacids have granted them resources in outstanding measure through their displays of mighty prowess.

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50 50b

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Aloft on wings, above the earth and far across the sea, their name has flown—even upon the Ethiopians, when Memnon failed to come back home, it swooped. A heavy load of hatred sent Achilles thudding to earth when he dismounted from his chariot, that time he slew the son of radiant Dawn [Ant. 3] with raging spearpoint. Themes like these were found by poets of old times to be broad highways, and I also follow, sharing their deep interest. But yet the wave that surges closest to the rudder is what they say most agitates the heart of every man. Thus I, who bear on willing back a double burden, have come as messenger proclaiming this to be the twenty-fifth triumph achieved at games that men call sacred, [Ep. 3] and one that you, Alcimidas, have furnished to your illustrious lineage—although by Cronian Zeus’s precinct both you, my boy, and Polytimidas were stripped of two Olympic garlands by a lot precipitately cast. To a dolphin speeding through salt water I would compare Melesias, who holds the reins that guide both hands and strength.

The victory that occasioned this ode, won in boys’ wrestling by Alcimidas of Aegina, was the twenty-fifth success in Panhellenic competition achieved by the victor’s clan, the Bassidae (58–59), and in fact the poem as a whole devotes considerably more attention to that larger kinship group than it does to its ostensible honorand. Although Alcimidas was himself a wrestler, the clan in general seems to have specialized in boxing (25–26). Not only was Alcimidas’s paternal grandfather Praxidamas the first Aeginetan ever to win at Olympia, with numerous additional victories at the Isthmus and Nemea to his credit (17–22), but two of Praxidamas’s brothers, Callias (34–38) and Creontidas (39–44), likewise had a record of Panhellenic success. The fact that no such successes

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could be claimed either by Praxidamas’s father Soclidas (20–22) or by Alcimidas’s own father Theon (not named in the ode) is turned to poetic account through the image of croplands that bear and lie fallow in alternating years (8–11). Prolific in achievements and “transporting their own freight of praise” (32), the Bassidae are so much to the fore that the heroic lineage of the Aeacids ends up receiving unusually cursory treatment for an Aeginetan ode, encompassing no more than a few lines of generalized praise (45–49) and the single incident of Achilles’ vengeful slaying of Memnon (49–53). Thereafter, setting “old” themes aside in favor of what most thrillingly captures people’s interest in the immediate here-and-now (53–57), the speaker returns his attention to the present occasion and its encomiastic responsibilities, with a brief postscript of praise for the victor’s trainer (57–66). 2 a single mother Ie., Earth (Gaea). 4 brazen heaven This image of enduring stability recurs at P. 10.27, I. 7.44. 8–11 For agricultural imagery similarly applied to familial success in alternating generations, cf. N. 11.37–42. 13 conforming to this ordinance from Zeus I.e., following the hereditary pattern of on-again, off-again achievement. 15 The motif of an athlete “following the footsteps” of a relative is found also at P. 8.35, P. 10.12. 16 Praxidamas, father of his father According to Pausanias (6.18.7), Praxidamas of Aegina was the first Olympic victor to dedicate a statue in commemoration of his success. His son Theon, Alcimidas’s father, is identified for us by the scholia; the omission of his name from the ode is unusual but by no means unparalleled. 18 for the Aeacids I.e., in their role as tutelary heroes of Aegina. 21 Soclidas Father not only of Praxidamas but also (most probably) of Callias (36) and Creontidas (41); cf. three winners (23). Though lacking victories of his own, Soclidas nonetheless gained distinction among his brothers (the sons of Hagesimachus, 22) through the various successes of his offspring. 24–28 On the form and content of this “categorical vaunt,” see note on O. 1.103–5.

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27–28 On the “archery of song” motif, see app. §14. 32 the Pierides The Muses, after their birthplace in Pieria. For song as “plowing,” cf. P. 6.1–4, N. 10.26. 35 his hands well strapped Greek boxers bound their hands with strips of leather to protect the knuckles. 36–37 the offspring of Leto Apollo and Artemis. by Castalia’s spring I.e., at Delphi; see intro. §21. 39 the bridge between unwearied seas I.e., the Isthmus of Corinth, site of the Isthmian games in honor of Poseidon (41); see intro. §21. 42 the pasture of the lion I.e., Nemea; see intro. §21, and cf. O. 13.44, I. 3.11–12. thatched his triumphant brows I.e., crowned him with a wreath of wild celery. 44 Phlius A town not far from Nemea. 45 On the “highway of song” metaphor both here and in 53–54, see app. §14. 50 Memnon Son of the goddess Dawn (52) and king of the Ethiopians (49), slain by Achilles in retaliation for the death of his friend Antilochus (cf. P. 6.28–42). Memnon’s failure to return home made Achilles’ prowess felt at the easternmost edge of the world; the same point is implicit at N. 3.61–63. 53 Themes like these I.e., like the (ancient) Aeacids and their exploits. For the contrast between “old” and “new” themes that is developed in the following lines, cf. P. 8.21–34, I. 7.1–21, and (implicitly) N. 8.20–21. 57 a double burden The speaker is duty-bound to praise not only the victor and his family but also the Aeginetan community at large (as embodied in its tutelary heroes); cf. “sailing as a private citizen on a public mission” (O. 13.49). 62 Polytimidas Evidently a young relative of Alcimidas. 63 by a lot precipitately cast Perhaps unlucky draws in the selection of ephedroi (see note on N. 4.96) matched both youths against opponents fresher than themselves. 65 Melesias On this Athenian trainer, see also O. 8.54–64, N. 4.93–96.

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for Sogenes of Aegina, victor in the boys’ pentathlon

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Ilithyia, sitting by the Fates whose thoughts are deep, [Str. 1] hearken, daughter of mighty Hera, giver of birth to children: if your aid is absent, then, glimpsing neither light of day nor kindly dark of night, we cannot claim our share of bright-limbed Youth, your sister. Not all to equal ends do we draw breath; yoked to destiny, this man meets with one check, that another. But through you the son of Thearion, Sogenes, now singled out for excellence, is glorified in song among pentathletes. Fond of song indeed is the city of spear-clashing [Ant. 1] Aeacids in which he lives, and much disposed to cherish spirits that test themselves in competition. If any man through action wins success, a theme for honeysweet thought is cast upon the Muses’ streams, since exploits of great valor are overborne by darkness, lacking hymns. For noble deeds we only know one kind of mirror, if by the grace of Memory with gleaming diadem one finds reward for labors in loud-sounding verse. Wise men discern the third day’s wind [Ep. 1] before it rises, and incur no hurt through greed for gain: toward death’s boundary rich and poor advance alike. Myself, I hold that what is said about Odysseus has turned out to exceed the things he suffered, thanks to Homer and his sweet speech, since on his lies, through soaring craftsmanship, [Str. 2] there rests some quality of awe. Poetic skill deceives, leading astray with stories. Blind at heart they are, the common crowd of men, for if in fact they could

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perceive the truth, strong Ajax, wild with rage about the armor, would through his midriff not have thrust a smooth sword. He, the mightiest in battle save Achilles, set forth with fair-haired Menelaus to reclaim his wife, in swift ships which the west wind, blowing straight, escorted

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to Ilus’ city. Still, although the wave of Hades, rolling [Ant. 2] against all mankind, falls alike on unrenowned and famous, honor comes to those about whom, after death, divinity makes graceful discourse flourish. Come then, lending assistance, to the great navel of the broad-bosomed earth, for there in Pythian ground lies Neoptolemus, after sacking Priam’s city, where Danaans too found toil. He, sailing off, missed Scyros but, while wandering with comrades, came to Ephyra.

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The time he ruled Molossia as king [Ep. 2] was short, but his posterity has always held that prize of honor. He went off to the god, bringing prime spoils from Troy as offerings. There, when a skirmish over sacrificial meats broke out by chance, a man struck at him with a knife. The Delphians, who welcome guests, were greatly [Str. 3] grieved, but still he paid the debt of fate: it had to be that in the ancient precinct one of the kingly Aeacids should dwell thenceforth beside the god’s well-fashioned house and oversee right conduct in processions and in heroes’ hecatombs. In vindicating his good name a few words will suffice: no falsehood taints the witness vouching for his exploits. Aegina, your and Zeus’s offspring make me bold to assert that thanks to brilliant deeds a royal thoroughfare of speech

[Ant. 3]

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leads forth from home. Yet rest is welcome nonetheless in every form of action; even honey can cloy, and Aphrodite’s blossoms of delight. By nature we each differ, like the lots we draw in life, one this and others that. No single person can succeed— it is impossible— in winning total happiness; I cannot say to whom this consummation has, by Fate, been steadfastly held out. To you, Thearion, good fortune in due measure is given; yet, while daring for fine deeds is yours to [Ep. 3] claim, your mind’s perceptions suffer no impairment. I am both guest and stranger. While I hold dark censure off, as if conveying streams of water to a friend I shall acclaim true glory: this, for the noble, is a fit reward, and no Achaean man, if nearby, will find fault [Str. 4] with me, though dwelling over the Ionian sea. In truth, Thearion’s generous way with strangers has my trust; among his fellow citizens I hold a clear and steady gaze, not overshooting any mark and clearing from my path all forms of force. May future time come on in kindly fashion. Anyone with knowledge will proclaim whether the progress of my song is tuneless and awry. Sogenes from the Euxenid clan, I swear on oath that I did not, on stepping forward to the line, launch forth swift speech like the javelin, brazen-cheeked, that sends one [Ant. 4] out of wrestling bouts, his neck and strength as yet unbathed in sweat, before his limbs have grappled with the blazing sun. If there was toil, then greater is the pleasure that comes after.

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75

Allow me—for the victor, if I blurted something out in sheer elation, I am not too rough-mannered to pay down my debt of honor. Twining garlands is easy—strike the lyre! The Muse, of course, welds gold and gleaming ivory together, along with coral’s lily-flower plucked from beneath the ocean foam.

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While bearing Zeus in mind, stir up for Nemea’s sake the glorious sound of hymns with tranquil spirit. It is proper, on this soil, to laud the king of gods with gentle voice, for he, they say, sired Aeacus, with seed his mother welcomed,

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to be the city-ruler of my fair-famed homeland [Str. 5] and, Heracles, your own benevolent friend and brother. If man in any way profits from man, then earnest friendship in one neighbor must to another neighbor seem a joy beyond all else in worth. Should gods uphold this tenet too, then under your protection, you who brought the Giants down, Sogenes may well wish to live and thrive, while cherishing his father with tender thoughts, upon his forebears’ prosperous and hallowed street,

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[Ep. 4]

since like the yoke-arms of a four-horse chariot [Ant. 5] your precincts flank his house on either side as he goes forth. O Blessed, you are one who may fittingly prevail on Hera’s husband, and on the gray-eyed Maiden too; moreover, you have power to give courage to mortals, often, in impassable perplexities. May you, matching them with a life of steadfast strength in youth and sound old age, continue thus to weave it out

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in happiness; and may their children’s children keep forever the prize of honor they hold now, and one still [Ep. 5] nobler in the time to come. As for me, never shall my heart aver that I dragged Neoptolemus down with churlish words. But to repeat things three or four times over is merely futile, like a chatterbox saying to children, “Corinth, Zeus’s city.”

Celebrating a victory in the boys’ pentathlon by Sogenes of Aegina, this ode has long been regarded by interpreters as among the most problematic in the corpus. According to a theory propounded in the ancient scholia and espoused by the majority of scholars ever since, one of Pindar’s chief purposes in writing Nemean 7 was to make amends to the Aeginetans for the way he had treated Neoptolemus’s death at Delphi in a poem (Paean 6) composed for the people of that city. It has never been clear, however, how so extraneous and so personal a purpose could be reconciled with the duties of an encomiastic poet hired by and for a particular family on an occasion of special interest and importance to themselves, and it seems likely that the hypothesis arose in the first place only because various elliptically realized epinician conventions make the ode’s unfolding train of thought occasionally difficult to follow. That comparatively little should be said about Sogenes himself is far from surprising in an ode for a boy athlete; nor is the fact that his father Thearion figures largely in his place. After setting Sogenes’ achievement within the widest possible context of human life and its diverse destinies through a hymnal invocation to Ilithyia, goddess of childbirth (1–10), the speaker initiates an extended meditation on the inherently problematic relationship between poetic discourse and the subjects with which it deals—or between “words” and “deeds,” to use the terms of an antithesis ubiquitous in Greek literature. Some way into these reflections he cites Odysseus as an example of one who through the power of Homer’s art has received more credit than his actual accomplishments should merit—and has done so, moreover, at the expense of his onetime rival Ajax (20–30). Neoptolemus, on the other hand, has received less credit than he deserves and so stands in need of some posthumous defense and rehabilitation, particularly as

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regards his death at Delphi; and this the speaker exhorts himself to supply in narrative form (33–49). An abrupt apostrophe to Aegina then converts the rich abundance of “native” or “local” themes offered by the Aeacids into foil for a change of topic, and once again the diversity of human abilities and human destinies comes to the fore (50–58). This time around, however, the topic is applied not to Sogenes but to Thearion, whom the speaker proceeds to praise on various counts (58–69). Using direct address to reintroduce Sogenes for the first time since the opening strophe, the speaker “apologizes” for his intervening divagations by means of an elaborate metaphor drawn from the boy’s own discipline of pentathlon, vowing that he will make amends in the remainder of the ode (70–79). In the event, however, only two further facts pertaining to Sogenes are supplied, the venue at which he won his victory (80–83) and the special relationship with Heracles that he and Thearion enjoy by virtue of living in immediate proximity to that hero’s shrine (86–94). In the ode’s final lines (94–105) the speaker offers prayers to Heracles on behalf of both father and son and briefly reaffirms his vindication of Neoptolemus. 1–4 On the hymnal features of this opening, see app. §1. Ilithyia, the goddess of childbirth, is closely associated with the Fates because they too attend at births (cf. O. 6.42), bestowing destinies on mortals as their collective and individual names denote (see glossary). If it seems almost inanely self-evident to say that human beings cannot reach adolescence (brightlimbed Youth) without first being born, the lines that follow (5–8) suggest a deeper point: to be born is to be allotted a particular constellation of potentialities and constraints, and adolescence is the period during which such factors start to manifest themselves, for good or ill, in the world at large—in Sogenes’ case, as in those of Pelops (O. 1.67–71) and Iamus (O. 6.57–61), very much for good indeed. 4 Youth As a personified abstraction, cf. O. 6.58, P. 9.109; as the goddess Hebe, daughter of Zeus and Hera and wife of Heracles, cf. N. 1.71, N. 10.18, I. 4.59. 9 the city of spear-clashing Aeacids Aegina. 14–16 If poetry is a mirror for human achievements, the image presented in it is not always an accurate reflection of reality, as

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the speaker will shortly acknowledge (20–23). Memory (Mnemosyne) is the mother of the Muses by Zeus; cf. I. 6.75. 17–20 Wise men recognize the implications of their own mortality and regulate their behavior accordingly (cf. I. 1.67–68, N. 1.31–33), not merely by spending money freely on philanthropic and agonistic enterprises but also by commissioning poets who will secure them posthumous fame. 22–23 On the power of verbal artistry to mislead and deceive, see intro. §25. 25–27 For Ajax’s involvement in the Contest of Arms and his subsequent suicide, see glossary, and cf. N. 8.23–34, I. 4.34–36b. 30 Ilus’ city Troy, known also as Ilion or Ilium; Ilus was Priam’s grandfather. 30–32 Though Ajax was deprived of due recognition in his lifetime, divine favor ensured that he would receive honor after his death (perhaps through Homer’s divinely inspired verses; cf. I. 4.37–42). On the other hand, Neoptolemus has not received the posthumous rehabilitation that he deserves, so . . . . 33 Come then, lending assistance Regularly used to situate the speaker at the place of performance (app. §3), the “arrival motif ” here serves to introduce a new theme, as it does, even more elaborately, at O. 6.22–28. The word rendered as “lending assistance” (boathoōn) connotes coming to the rescue of someone in distress. 34 navel of the broad-bosomed earth I.e., Delphi. 35 Neoptolemus Son of Achilles, born and raised on the island of Scyros (37) and then brought to Troy after his father’s death, where he played an important role in the capture and destruction of that city. 36 Danaans The Greek army at Troy. 37 Ephyra The chief city of Molossia (38) in Epirus. 40 the god Apollo at Delphi. The story sketched in 40–44 differs from other accounts (including Pindar’s own in Paean 6), which censure Neoptolemus’s behavior both at Troy and at Delphi and attribute his death at the latter place to Apollo’s personal intervention.

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46 beside the god’s well-fashioned house I.e., near Apollo’s temple (cf. P. 7.10). Apollo and Neoptolemus are thus “neighbors”; cf. 86–94 with note. 49 the witness Apollo; for that god’s utter abstention from falsehood, cf. P. 3.29, P. 9.42. 50–53 A break-off of the “situational” type; see intro. §16 and app. §§8, 11. 52 On themes fetched from home, cf. N. 3.29–31 with note. 53 Aphrodite’s blossoms of delight I.e., sexual pleasure. 54–55 An unmistakable echo of 5–6, both in thought and in diction. 59 No athletic victories being credited to Thearion, his daring for fine deeds could have manifested itself in the mere fact of attempting competition (cf. I. 4.28–30), or perhaps in encouraging and supporting his son’s career like Lampon of Aegina (I. 6.10–18, 66–69)—and conspicuously unlike the too-timid parents of Aristagoras (N. 11.22–23, 30–32). 61 guest and stranger A single word in the Greek (xenos), here representing the relationship between poet and patron as one of “guest-friendship” (xenia); cf. O. 1.103 with note. On fending off potential censure as part of the encomiast’s task, cf. N. 1.24–25. 63 for the noble And therefore (in context) for Thearion—as well as for Neoptolemus, whose posthumous reputation the speaker has “rescued” earlier in the ode. 65 though dwelling over the Ionian sea I.e., even if he lives in Molossia and thus is a compatriot of Neoptolemus. 65–67 Thearion’s hospitality toward strangers admits of no doubt, while on the subject of his relations with fellow townsmen the laudator has no cause to feel shame on his behalf (cf. N. 10.39–41), eschewing in his praise—as Thearion does in his behavior—both overreaching and contentiousness (cf. O. 6.19–21). Generosity to strangers is similarly paired with a modest and peaceful demeanor toward fellow citizens at O. 4.15–16, O. 13.1–3, I. 4.7–9. 67–68 May future time come on in kindly fashion For prayers that “touch wood” after praise is offered, see note on O. 8.28–29.

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68–69 “Anyone familiar with Thearion’s character will be able to declare whether what I am saying is consonant with the truth.” 70–73 As happens occasionally elsewhere (e.g., O. 6.22–25, N. 4.93–96, N. 8.19), the laudator makes a programmatic statement using imagery drawn from the victor’s own sport. To be awarded the crown for the pentathlon it was enough to win three of the five events, the last of which (if needed for victory) was wrestling. It is not certain where in the sequence the javelin-toss figured, but if it came either third or fourth and a contestant who had already failed in two events made a bad throw (e.g., one that ended up “outside the place of contest,” as at P. 1.44), that mishap would necessarily eliminate him from further competition. Addressing Sogenes directly (and identifying his clan in the process), the laudator asserts on oath that when, earlier in the ode, he stepped up to the line to make his cast (i.e., to select a topic of discourse), he in fact did not—despite any impression he may have created to the contrary!—do it in such a way as to send him out of the contest altogether (i.e., the topic he selected was not totally irrelevant to the business at hand); on the contrary, he stayed the full course, grappling with difficulties hand to hand, and thus is now poised to arrive at a triumphant conclusion. The vivid and vigorous imagery gains greater point—and so too does the sentiment in 74—if we assume that Sogenes’ own Nemean triumph likewise depended on the outcome of the final wrestling match. 72 On the “javelin of song” motif, see app. §14. 77–79 Taken together, the three substances that compose the Muse’s “crown of song” connote qualities of variety, durability, and value. 82 on this soil I.e., on Aegina. 84 his mother Aegina qua eponymous nymph. 85 my fair-famed homeland Despite having recently characterized himself as a “guest and stranger” (61), the laudator here speaks (for the moment) as a member of the Aeginetan community; see intro. §14.

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86–94 The benefits arising from a good neighbor are expounded in Hesiod’s Works and Days (342–53). Here analogous advantages are extrapolated from the close proximity of Sogenes’ house to the shrine of Heracles; cf. P. 8.58–60 with note. 90 you who brought the Giants down For Heracles’ role in the Gigantomachy, cf. N. 1.67–68. 94–101 A miniature “hymn to Heracles” (app. §1), comprising the standard elements of epithet (O Blessed), divine associates (Zeus and Athena), predicated powers, and prayers for the future. 96–97 One of Heracles’ standard epithets was “averter of evils” (alexikakos). 100–101 A clear reminiscence of 39–40, in both diction (prize of honor) and thought. Like the “neighbor” motif in 44–46 and 93–94, the echo seems to hint at some sort of parallel between Sogenes and Thearion on the one hand and Neoptolemus on the other, thus helping to account for the latter’s reemergence as a topic in the ode’s final lines. 103–4 Perhaps the most extreme of Pindar’s “negative expressions” (“not drag down with churlish words” = “praise handsomely”); on the general phenomenon, see app. §13. Cf. also N. 4.94, where the man who can accord adequate praise to the trainer Melesias is described as “not to be wrestled down or dragged about in speech.” 105 “Corinth, Zeus’s city” According to the scholia, a proverbial expression for “the same old thing all over again.”

NEMEAN 8

for Deinis of Aegina, victor in the double stade-race Queenly Season of Youthfulness, the herald [Str. 1] of Aphrodite’s heaven-sent affections, whose seat is on girls’ eyelids and on boys’, one person you embrace with hands of soft constraint, others with hands of quite another sort.

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5

Welcome it is when, without straying from due measure in each action, one has the power to attain the nobler objects of desire.

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Just such desires, as shepherds of the gifts [Ant. 1] bestowed by Cypris, flocked around the marriage-bed of Zeus and Aegina; and a son sprang forth, Oenone’s king, preeminent in hand and counsel. Many men petitioned many times to see him; in answer to no call, the flower of heroes dwelling round about consented of free will to yield to his commandments,

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both those who led the populace in rocky Athens, and Pelops’ heirs throughout all Sparta. A suppliant, I clasp the hallowed knees of Aeacus on behalf of a dear city and these townsfolk, bearing a Lydian headband spangled with bright sound, a Nemean trophy honoring the twin stade-races won by Deinis and his father Megas. Good fortune planted with the aid of gods remains for longer at men’s side.

[Ep. 1]

Happiness of that sort heaped Cinyras with wealth, [Str. 2] in former days on sea-girt Cyprus. I stand on light feet, drawing breath before a declaration. Much has been said in many ways; to find new themes, and bring them to the touchstone for testing, is pure risk. Words prove a tasty dish to men of envy, which fastens always on the good, but with the unworthy has no quarrel. Such envy feasted on the son of Telamon, [Ant. 2] wheeling him over on his sword. One without power of speech, yet brave in heart, is brought down by oblivion amid grim strife; the greatest prize is held aloft for glittering deceit.

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Through secret votes the Danaans showed favor to Odysseus, while Ajax, robbed of golden armor, wrestled with a blood-soaked death.

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And yet how disparate were the wounds which in [Ep. 2] their foes’ warm flesh those two had torn when driven back by spearpoints such as mortal men wield for protection, both around Achilles newly slain and in the hardship and wide havoc of other days. Thus even long ago deceptive speech existed, and was hateful, companion of cajoling words, framer of guile, iniquitous disgrace, which violates illustrious things and lifts up from obscurity a glory that is rotten.

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Never may such a character be mine, [Str. 3] O father Zeus! May I instead cling to the simple paths of life and, dying, fix upon my children fame unmarred by that ill sound. Some pray for gold, and other men for land unbounded; I aspire to hide my limbs in earth when I have pleased my townsfolk, praising what merits praise and sowing blame upon the wicked.

40

Virtue flourishes, as a tree [Ant. 3] shoots up amid fresh dews, when it is borne aloft, among men wise and just, toward the moist airs of heaven. The uses served by friends are of all sorts. In times of trouble their value is supreme; but joy too seeks to place before its eyes the staunch and true. Megas, to bring your spirit back from death

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is not within my power; empty hopes have fruitless outcomes.

[Ep. 3]

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But it is easy, for your homeland and the Chariadae, to set up with the Muses’ aid a monument in honor of two pairs of feet twice glorious. I delight to offer loud acclaim in fitting measure close on the deed itself; thereafter, through song’s charms a man can render even weary toil free from pain. To be sure, the victory-hymn existed long ago, even before strife came to pass between Adrastus and the folk of Cadmus.

The victory celebrated in this ode for Deinis of Aegina was won in the double stade-race (diaulos), duplicating a triumph gained earlier by his father Megas (16, 47–48). That Deinis was young is nowhere explicitly stated, but the opening invocation to a hypostasized “Season of Youthfulness” seems to point to that conclusion. A period of burgeoning sexuality (1–3), adolescence is also the time when inborn capacities of various sorts begin to express themselves through action in the world at large—for example (and most relevantly), through athletic competition and the pursuit of such “nobler objects of desire” as victories and prizes (4–5). A brief sketch of the birth and essential kingliness of Aeacus, the “founding father” of Aegina’s dynasty of heroes (6–12), leads into a statement of the particular facts—victor’s name, father’s name, venue, event—that define the epinician occasion (13– 16). At that point the speaker pauses momentarily, “drawing breath before a declaration,” because he knows that the treatment of contemporary themes runs the risk of arousing in one’s auditors an envious hostility toward excellence and success (19–22). To illustrate the power of envy he adduces the example of Ajax, who was not awarded Achilles’ golden armor as he should have been because the Greek army resented his patent superiority and chose to exalt a lesser man, Odysseus, at his expense (23–32). Yet Odysseus and his “glittering deceit” embody an even more dangerous enemy of excellence than envy itself, namely the exploitation of human weakness by unprincipled rhetorical skill (32–34). Only after the spirit of malice and guile thus conjured up has been exorcized by an extended meditation on the social and educative functions of poetry (35–44) does the speaker return at last to

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the particulars of the encomiastic occasion (44–48), recording the fact that Megas is dead, naming the clan to which the family belongs, and reiterating in more emphatic terms the duplication of achievement by father and son. The ode concludes with a few additional remarks on the function and value of encomiastic song (48–51). 1 Season of Youthfulness Hōra in Greek. As a common noun, the word is applied to Ganymede at O. 10.104 (there translated as “youthful bloom”); pluralized, the Horae are the Seasons, on whom see glossary. 3 one person . . . others Hora resembles Ilithyia (N. 7.1–6) in being a unitary principle (we all are born, we all experience adolescence) that is nonetheless inextricably linked to differences and inequalities imposed from without by destiny’s constraining power. 6 Cypris Aphrodite; see glossary. 7 Oenone’s king I.e., Aeacus, Oenone being an alternate (and older) name for Aegina. 12 Pelops’ heirs I.e., inhabitants of the Peloponnesus (“island of Pelops”). 15 The headband is, metaphorically, the ode itself, and Lydian refers to its musical mode; see intro. §8. 18 Cinyras A legendary king of Cyprus, favorite both of Apollo and of Aphrodite; cf. P. 2.15–17. 19 I stand on light feet Like a runner at the starting line, the image being drawn from the victor’s own sport; cf. O. 6.22–25, N. 4.93–96, N. 7.70–73. 20–22 On the rhetorical function of these lines, see introductory note. For the contrast (here merely implicit in new) between ancient and contemporary themes, cf. P. 8.21–34, N. 6.53–57, I. 7.1–21. There is of course a compliment to Deinis in his implicit inclusion among the good (22) who are so vulnerable to hostility and malice. 23–27 See glossary under “Ajax” for the story of the Contest of Arms. 25 glittering deceit An allusion to Odysseus’s notorious facility in lying.

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26 secret votes For the association of envy with secrecy and concealment, cf. O. 1.47, P. 1.84. the Danaans The Greek army at Troy. 28 how disparate were the wounds I.e., how much Ajax excelled Odysseus as a warrior. 32–34 First introduced as the undeserving beneficiary of the Danaans’ envy, Odysseus is now revealed to exemplify the corrupt or perverse rhetorician who uses his intellectual and verbal skills not to praise and defend virtue but to legitimize the basest human impulses and subvert established social and ethical standards. 35–37 The speaker’s passionate repudiation of Odysseus’s character and reputation motivates a transition of the “ethical/emotional” type (app. §7). 37–39 A brief priamel (app. §2) prepares for a programmatic declaration of allegiance to traditional categories of value, one that parallels in syntax (while reversing in effect) the aims and operations of both envy (22) and deceptive speech (34). 42–43 In times of trouble their value is supreme As is noted by Polydeuces at N. 10.78–79. 44 the staunch and true I.e., a faithful friend who, free from covert envy, can be trusted to share one’s pleasure with unalloyed goodwill. 46 the Chariadae The clan to which Megas and Deinis belonged. 47 a monument The metaphor of song as funerary monument is found also at N. 4.79–81, I. 8.61–62. 48–49 The contrast sketched here (and expounded more elaborately at O. 9.1–8 and N. 4.1–8) is that between spontaneous congratulations uttered at the time of victory and formal celebratory odes composed after the fact; the latter are compared to magical incantations (cf. P. 3.51–52) that can soothe and cure pain. 50 the victory-hymn existed long ago A clear echo of Thus even long ago deceptive speech existed (32); the parallelism seems

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to suggest that the one has power to counteract the ill effects of the other. 51 The Nemean games were supposedly founded by Adrastus while he was marching against Thebes (the folk of Cadmus) with the army of the Seven. By implication, then, the principle of rewarding (and thus encouraging) noble deeds through praise predates the institutionalization of athletic competition. NEMEAN 9

for Chromius of Aetna, victor in the chariot race

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As revelers we shall come, O Muses, from Apollo [Str. 1] and Sicyon to newly founded Aetna, where the doors, flung wide, are overborne by guests within the prosperous house of Chromius; the hymn’s sweet verses, though, are yours to execute. Stepping aboard his chariot with its triumphant team, he summons speech to hail the mother and twin children, co-heirs and joint possessors watching over Pytho’s heights. Men have a saying, that fine deeds brought to [Str. 2] fulfillment should not be cloaked in earth and silence; rather, vaunting song, divine of word, accords with what is fit. Let us rouse up the sounding lyre, rouse up the pipe, to praise the very peak of equine competitions, which, for Phoebus, Adrastus founded by Asopus’ streams. I shall, mentioning them, with splendid honors celebrate the hero, who, ruling at that time there, through new festivals, [Str. 3] with contests of men’s strength and polished chariots, showed forth the city in high glory. He was in exile, to evade

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the rash designs of Amphiaraus and dire civil strife, away from Argos, his ancestral home; and Talaus’ sons, hard pressed by faction, were no longer in command. But the superior man brings former conflict to an end:

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by giving Eriphyle, husband-slayer meant as trusty [Str. 4] pledge, to be the wife of Oïcles’ son, they were again the greatest of the fair-haired Danaans. They even, at one time, led forth a host of men to seven-gated Thebes, along a road whose omens were not auspicious: when he whirled his lightning-bolt, the son of Cronus was not urging them to march in madness from their homes, but to renounce the expedition. Thus into manifest disaster, eagerly, the throng [Str. 5] pressed on, arriving with bronze arms and horses in full harness. There, laying down upon Ismenus’ banks the burden of sweet homecoming, they fattened with their flesh white-blooming smoke, as seven bonfires feasted on men’s youthful limbs. For Amphiaraus, Zeus with all-subduing thunderbolt split the deep bosom of the earth and hid him with his horses, before a spear-cast in the back from Periclymenus’ [Str. 6] hand could bring his fighter’s spirit to disgrace. In panics sent from heaven even the sons of gods may flee. If it is possible, O son of Cronus, my wish is that this looming trial of courage with Phoenician lances, this fight for life and death, be kept off at the utmost distance, and well-ordered laws be lastingly bestowed on Aetna’s sons, I beg you, as their portion,

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father Zeus, while the people take delight in [Str. 7] celebrations held throughout the town. The men there cherish horses, and have hearts superior to their possessions— a statement that defies belief, for honor, source of good reputation, can by greed for gain be stealthily undone. Yet serving Chromius as shield-bearer, whether amid foot soldiers, cavalry, or sea fights, you could have judged, throughout the dangers and fierce battle cries, how that divinity, in combat, kept impelling [Str. 8] his warrior spirit to fend off the havoc of Enyalius. To resolve on turning back upon the enemy ranks the storm-cloud of impending slaughter—few, for that, have power in hand and heart. Yet it is said that fame blossomed for Hector where Scamander’s waters flowed close by, while around Helorus’ lofty bluffs, site of the ford that men name after Ares, there [Str. 9] shines bright just such a beacon for Hagesidamus’ son in manhood’s early prime. His deeds on other days, many amid the land’s dry dust and others on the neighboring sea, I shall affirm. From toils endured in youth and in accord with righteousness there comes, toward old age, a life of calm. The gods, he may be sure, have granted wondrous blessedness as his lot, for if, along with great possessions, one wins glorious renown, there is no further peak ahead on which a mortal can set foot. Tranquility holds drinking-parties dear,

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while triumph in new bloom gains vigor through song’s gentle aid. The voice grows confident beside the mixing-bowl: let someone stir a draft in it, sweet spokesman of the revel,

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and then in silver cups serve out the vine’s [Str. 11] impetuous child—those cups which Chromius’ mares earned once and sent, along with duly plaited crowns bestowed by Leto’s son, from sacred Sicyon. O father Zeus, I pray that with the Graces’ aid I may sound forth the prowess of this man, and, honoring victory with words beyond the scope of many, may propel my javelin closest to the Muses’ target.

Like Nemean 10 and Nemean 11 (intro. §2), this ode is not actually a Nemean at all, but instead celebrates a victory in the Pythian games at Sicyon. Information on the ode’s recipient, Chromius of Syracuse (and, after its foundation, of Aetna), can be found in the introductory note to Nemean 1. As the ode begins, the voice that speaks it is a collective “we” in imminent transit from the place of victory to the place of celebration (1–3); among the revelers thus designated are the Muses, who are assigned the task of providing words and verses for the performance. The occasion demanding song is then defined in terms that train the spotlight of attention on Adrastus, founder of the games where Chromius has triumphed (4–10). But how and why should a king of Argos have founded games in Sicyon? Those implicit questions are taken up and answered in lines 11–17, which fill in the background and the immediate aftermath of Adrastus’s temporary sojourn in that city. At that point, however, “narrative momentum” (app. §6) takes over and the speaker forges ahead with a new and entirely separate chapter of the saga, the expedition of the Seven against Thebes, during which Adrastus disappears from view and Amphiaraus takes his place on center stage (18–27). Insofar as the episode recounts an ill-omened invasion that came to disaster, it may be intended in part to reassure Aetna’s people that any attempt by the ever-threatening Carthaginians to attack their city would be similarly repulsed with heaven’s aid. Another function of the myth, however, is to present in Amphiaraus a

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negative paradigm or contrast-figure for the laudandus, one whose defeat and flight before the walls of Thebes throws Chromius’s own notable successes in battle into flatteringly high relief. A heartfelt plea to Zeus for an indefinite postponement of military conflict with the Carthaginians is then closely paired with a prayer for continued political stability and triumphal festivities in Aetna (27–32), and this in turn facilitates a smooth transition to renewed praise of Chromius and his military achievements (34–44). The ode draws to a close with a vivid picture of celebration around the wine-bowl, “sweet spokesman of the revel,” using imagery that echoes the opening strophes. 2 newly founded Aetna The phrase places the ode’s composition within a few years of 476, the date of the city’s (re)founding by Hieron; see introductory note to P. 1. 2–3 On the all-welcoming hospitality to be found at the house of Chromius, cf. also N. 1.19–24. 4 the mother and twin children Leto, Apollo, and Artemis. 9 Adrastus Consult glossary for the story of his exile from Argos and his later involvement in the expedition of the Seven against Thebes. Asopus’ streams A river flowing past Sicyon (there was a different Asopus in Boeotia). 13 Amphiaraus son of Oïcles (17); on his relations with Adrastus and his ill-fated marriage to Adrastus’s sister Eriphyle (16), see glossary. 14 Talaus’ sons Adrastus and his brothers. 17 Danaans Greeks. 19 the son of Cronus Zeus. 22 Ismenus A river near Thebes. 24 seven bonfires I.e., a separate funeral pyre for each of the seven contingents in the army; cf. O. 6.15. 24–25 On Amphiaraus’s disappearance into the earth, cf. O. 6.14, N. 10.8–9. 26 Periclymenus One of the warriors defending Thebes against the Seven. 27 his fighter’s spirit See note on 37.

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28 Phoenician I.e., Carthaginian (Carthage having been founded from Phoenicia). Like the relative proximity of Carthage itself, the presence of Carthaginian colonies on Sicily was a source of recurrent apprehension for the various Greek cities on the island. 32 To spend money on the rearing of horses (hippotrophia) was regarded as highly commendable; cf. O. 4.14, O. 5.21–22, P. 2.8–12, P. 6.50–51, I. 2.38, I. 4.14, 29. 33 a statement that defies belief The phrase initiates a “situational” transition (app. §8): by anticipating and deprecating a potential reaction of incredulity in his auditors, the speaker motivates a shift of topic to Chromius’s military accomplishments via the intervening maxim on honor (aidōs), here denoting the sense of self-respect that keeps a person from committing base or ignoble actions, whether through meanness in money matters (32) or through cowardice in battle (34–37). 36 that divinity I.e., Honor, now personified as a goddess. 37 his warrior spirit The striking similarity between this phrase and his fighter’s spirit (27) invites listeners to view Chromius and Amphiaraus in mutual (and contrastive) relation; see introductory note. Enyalius An epithet or byname of Ares; cf. O. 13.106. 39 Hector, Scamander Hector died fighting in defense of Troy, near the river Scamander. 40 around Helorus’ lofty bluffs I.e., at a battle fought near the river Helorus in 492, where Chromius (Hagesidamus’ son) served under Hippocrates of Gela against the Syracusans. The pairing of the two riverside sites reinforces the explicit comparison between Chromius and Hector as patriotic warriors while at the same time underscoring the contrast in outcome between glorious victory and ultimate but still glorious defeat. 46–47 An encomiastic conditional of the “limits” or ne plus ultra form; see app. §4. 48 Tranquility The state of peace and repose (hēsychia) that follows the toil entailed by successful competition; see note on

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P. 8.1, and cf. N. 1.70. The same idea is expressed in a life of calm (44), although there the toils implicitly at issue are martial rather than agonistic. 52 those cups For the silver cups awarded at the Sicyonian games, cf. N. 10.43. 53 Leto’s son Apollo as patron of the Pythian games at Sicyon. 54–55 On the different provinces of the Graces and Muses (charm and persuasiveness of expression vs. veracity and accuracy of content), see app. §15; for the “javelin of speech,” see app. §14. The motif of the laudator’s implied superiority to hypothetical rivals (beyond the scope of many) appears also at O. 13.44–45, P. 1.45, N. 4.37–38. NEMEAN 10

for Theaeus of Argos, victor in wrestling

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The city of Danaus and his fifty [Str. 1] daughters on splendid thrones, O Graces, Argos, fit home of Hera’s godhead—take this as your theme of song. It is ablaze with excellence in countless forms because of its bold deeds. Long is the tale of Perseus’ feats in dealing with Medusa, many the towns in Egypt founded by the hands of Epaphus; and Hypermestra did not go astray when, casting her sole vote for life, she kept her sword within its sheath. Diomedes the fair-haired gray-eyed Maiden once [Ant. 1] transformed into a deathless god; the earth in Thebes, blasted by Zeus’s thunderbolts, gaped open to receive Oïcles’ visionary son, storm-cloud of war. In women’s loveliness as well the city has excelled from old— Zeus coming to Alcmene and to Danaë made the truth of this claim manifest—

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while in Adrastus’ father and in Lynceus it united the fruits of wisdom with straight-dealing justice;

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it fostered, too, Amphitryon’s warlike spirit. He, [Ep. 1] supreme in blessedness, attained to that god’s kinship when, in arms of bronze, he laid low the Teleboans. Assuming his appearance, the king of the immortals came into his halls, bearing the fearless seed of Heracles, whose wife is on Olympus, walking beside her mother, queen of marriages— Hebe the loveliest of gods. My mouth cannot encompass, in their telling, [Str. 2] all of the glories that the hallowed soil of Argos has as its portion; then too, tedium in men weighs heavy when one meets it face to face. Nevertheless, awake the well-strung lyre and turn your thoughts to wrestling bouts. The brazen contest urges the people onward to the sacrifice of cattle in Hera’s honor and the judging of her games, where Ulias’ son Theaeus, twice triumphant, won forgetfulness of labors bravely borne. Then too, he once subdued the host [Ant. 2] of Greeks at Pytho; and, arriving graced by luck, he gained crowns at the Isthmus and at Nemea alike, and thereby gave the Muses fields for plowing, being three times beside the sea’s gates blessed with victory, three times on ground made sacred by Adrastus’ institution. Father Zeus, what he covets in his thought, his mouth keeps locked in silence; but the consummation of every venture lies in you. Not with a heart unused to toil does he beseech this favor, bringing boldness likewise to the fore. What I sing of is known both to the god and to whoever strives

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for triumph at the utmost games, since Pisa’s is the highest festival, established there by Heracles. Meanwhile, as prelude, sweet voices have twice amid the Athenians’ rites reveled on his behalf, and oil, the olive’s fruit, has come to Hera’s valiant populace in vessels of burnt clay intricately painted. Theaeus, the illustrious stock [Str. 3] of your maternal relatives has often found honor in the games by favor of the Graces and Tyndareus’ sons alike. I would demand it as my right, were I a kinsman of Thrasyclus and Antias, not to keep my shining eyes downcast in Argos. With how many victories this town of Proetus, breeding-ground of horses, has flourished, both within the vales of Corinth, and four times given by Cleonae’s men; from Sicyon they came away [Ant. 3] laden with silver drinking-cups, and from Pellene with their backs well clad in cloaks of soft-napped wool. But it’s not possible to ascertain the mass of bronzes—counting them would take too long— set as prizes in Clitor, Tegea, and the towns along Achaea’s hilltops, as well as by the racecourse of Lycaean Zeus, for one to win by strength of foot or hand. Given that Castor and his brother Polydeuces came [Ep. 3] as guests to Pamphaës’ house, it is no wonder that the family begets fine athletes. After all, those two stewards of Sparta’s wide lands oversee the thriving contests that they, with Heracles and Hermes, have in charge, showing great care for righteous men. The race of gods is truly to be trusted. Changing their state in alternation, they spend one day beside their father Zeus,

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the next within the hollows of the earth beneath Therapne’s slopes. The fates that they accomplish are the same, because this was what Polydeuces chose, instead of being wholly a god and dwelling up in heaven, at the time Castor met with death in war because, enraged about some cattle, Idas had wounded him with his spear’s brazen point. Gazing around from Mount Taÿgetus, [Ant. 4] Lynceus spied him sitting in an oak tree’s hollow trunk, since of all mortals that man’s eye was sharpest. Swift of foot, they instantly arrived, and carried out a great deed in all haste, and suffered fearfully at Zeus’s hands, those scions of Aphareus; for at once the son of Leda came in close pursuit. They took their stand against him hard beside their father’s tomb. There, snatching up the polished stone that was [Ep. 4] death’s monument, they hurled it straight at Polydeuces’ breast, but neither laid him low nor forced him back. And so, attacking with swift javelin poised, he drove the bronze point into Lynceus’ side, while Zeus struck Idas down, in flame and smoke and thunder’s roar; they burned together in stark solitude. Discord with stronger powers is for mankind a harsh companion. Quickly Tyndareus’ son came back [Str. 5] to where his mighty brother lay, and found him not yet dead, but shuddering with labored breaths. Shedding hot tears, he groaned and cried aloud: “O son of Cronus, Father, what release

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from sorrows will there be? Death for me too decree along with him who lies here, lord! Honor is gone forever when a man is stripped of friends, and in adversity few mortals can be trusted

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to take a share of pain and trouble.” Thus [Ant. 5] he spoke; and Zeus approached him, face to face, and uttered forth these words: “You are my son; this man, however, was conceived thereafter, when your mother’s husband came to her and sowed a hero’s mortal seed. But come, I lay before you nonetheless this choice: if on the one hand you incline, eluding death and detestable old age, to dwell yourself upon Olympus in my company and with Athena and the black-speared Ares, that lot is yours to claim. But if it’s for your [Ep. 5] brother’s sake that you contend, and if you mean to share all things alike, then half the time you may draw breath beneath the earth, and half the time in heaven, in my halls of gold.” On hearing this, he formed within his mind no double purpose, but set free first the eye, and then the voice, of Castor in his brazen belt.

Despite its traditional placement among the Nemeans (on which see intro. §2), this ode celebrates a victory won not at the Nemean games but at the Argive Heraea or Hecatomboea, a biennial festival in honor of Hera. That Theaeus of Argos was an exceptionally talented wrestler is evident from the roster of his achievements (25–36), which includes wins not only at the two most prestigious of “local” festivals (Heraea and Athenian Panathenaea) but also at the Pythian, Isthmian, and Nemean games. Among major venues, therefore, only Olympia is left unaccounted for—and as lines 29–33 clearly (though tactfully) indicate, to win at Olympia is precisely Theaeus’s ambition, thereby earning for himself the title of periodonikēs or “circuit-victor” (intro. 4). Theaeus’s maternal relatives have themselves gained distinction as athletes, with victories to their credit at the Isthmus, Nemea, and a

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number of local festivals in Arcadia and elsewhere (37–48). By attributing these achievements to the favor of Castor and Polydeuces, first in conjunction with the Graces (38) and then through their relationship of guest-friendship (xenia) with the victor’s maternal ancestor Pamphaës (49–54), Pindar contrives a pretext for introducing one of his finest mythical narratives in the last two triads of the ode. Taking as its central theme the gnomic statement that immediately precedes it (“The race of gods is truly to be trusted”), this tale vividly sets forth the circumstances in which Polydeuces, son of Zeus though he was, chose to give up a portion of his immortality in order to bring his brother Castor back from death. There is, however, an element of irony at the climax, since when Polydeuces begs to die along with Castor he is unaware that he himself belongs to “the race of gods” and instead implicitly takes his place among those “few mortals” who, faced with adversity, “can be trusted to take a share of pain and trouble” (76–79). Only when Zeus appears to him “face to face” and explains how he and Castor were each conceived does Polydeuces grasp the true state of affairs, and he meets the revelation with unwavering resolve. Inasmuch as the ancestral bond of guest-friendship between Pamphaës and the Tyndarids is what has prompted the tale’s telling in the first place, its auditors are presumably invited to recognize in one brother’s steadfast fidelity to the other an adumbration of both brothers’ enduring regard for the fortunes of Theaeus and his family of “righteous men.” 1–18 See glossary for information on the various figures in this lengthy catalogue of Argive heroes and heroines. Like the survey of Thebes’ “earlier glories” at I. 7.1–15, it is designed to provide an illustrious backdrop for the victor and his achievements, in whom (and which) the city’s traditions have been renewed and extended. 2 fit home of Hera’s godhead Hera was the patron deity of Argos. 4 Perseus, Medusa For Perseus’s decapitation of Medusa, cf. P. 10.46–48, P. 12.9–18. 7 gray-eyed Maiden Athena. 9 Oïcles’ visionary son Amphiaraus; for the incident here referred to, cf. O. 6.12–17, N. 9.24–27.

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12 Adrastus’ father Talaus (cf. N. 9.14). Lynceus Son of Danaus’s brother Aegyptus; not to be confused with Lynceus the son of Aphareus (61, 70). 14 attained to that god’s kinship I.e., became linked with Zeus in a relation of co-paternity; see glossary under “Amphitryon” for the story. 15 the Teleboans A people of western Greece, attacked by Amphitryon to avenge their killing of Alcmene’s brothers. 18 queen of marriages Hera, the patron deity of marriage as an institution; her daughter Hebe (Youth) became Heracles’ wife upon his ascent to Olympus (cf. N. 1.71–72, I. 4.59–60). 19–22 A break-off of the “situational” type (intro. §16 and app. §8), citing (a) the speaker’s own physical incapacity to exhaust the topic of earlier Argive glories and (b) the risk of inspiring boredom in the audience; despite the cogency of these objections, however, an exception is made for one contemporary addition to the roster, Theaeus and his wrestling exploits. The overall rhetorical maneuver is paralleled by P. 1.81–86, N. 4.33–43. 22 the brazen contest I.e., the Argive Heraea, so termed because bronze shields were awarded as prizes; cf. O. 7.83. 27 beside the sea’s gates I.e., at the Isthmian games, held on the narrow neck of land lying between the Saronic Gulf and the Gulf of Corinth. 28 Adrastus’ institution I.e., at the Nemean games, reputedly founded by Adrastus (cf. N. 8.51) while he was leading the army of the Seven to Thebes. 29–33 A discreetly veiled but nonetheless unmistakable expression of hope for an Olympic victory in Theaeus’s future; see app. §12. 32 Pisa I.e., Olympia; see intro. §21. Heracles’ founding of the Olympian festival is narrated at length at O. 10.24–59; cf. also O. 3.19–22, O. 6.67–69, N. 11.27–28. 34 the Athenians’ rites I.e., the Panathenaic games, where the prizes awarded were large and splendidly decorated jars (amphorae) filled with olive oil.

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36 to Hera’s valiant populace I.e., to Argos; cf. line 2. 38 by favor of the Graces and Tyndareus’ sons On the Graces as goddesses of victory, see app. §15; on Polydeuces and Castor as patrons of athletes and athletics, see glossary under “Tyndarids,” and cf. 49–53, O. 3.34–38. 40 Thrasyclus and Antias Evidently relatives of Theaeus on his mother’s side, and by implication so distinguished as athletes that any kinsman of theirs could face his fellow citizens (not with shame but rather) with pride and confidence. On the “negative expression,” see app. §13. 41 this town of Proetus Apparently a reference to Argos, though according to the usual story Proetus was expelled from that city by his brother Acrisius and settled in Tiryns instead. 42 within the vales of Corinth I.e., at the Isthmian games. Cleonae A town not far from Nemea that administered the Nemean games; see intro. §21. 43–44 Sicyon, Pellene See glossary. 47 Clitor, Tegea Towns in Arcadia. 48 On the festival of Zeus Lycaeus in southwestern Arcadia, cf. O. 9.95–96, O. 13.107–8. 50 Pamphaës See introductory note. 56 Therapne Site of an important shrine to Castor and Polydeuces not far from Sparta; cf. P. 11.63, I. 1.31. 60–61 Idas, Lynceus The two scions of Aphareus (65), whose quarrel with the Tyndarids over some stolen cattle led to the fatal wounding of Castor. 61 Taÿgetus A steep mountain ridge to the west of Sparta; cf. P. 1.64. spied him Castor. 64 a great deed The fatal wounding of Castor. 66 the son of Leda Polydeuces. 73 Tyndareus’ son Polydeuces again, regularly so called despite his being a son of Zeus. 76 Father A standard epithet for Zeus in his capacity as “father of men and gods” (cf. 29, O. 7.87, O. 13.26, N. 8.35, N. 9.31, 53); at

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this point in the story Polydeuces is not aware that Zeus is literally his father. 81 your mother’s husband Tyndareus. 84 with Athena and the black-speared Ares Presumably singled out for mention because the companionship of such gods would appeal to someone with Polydeuces’ martial qualities. 90 I.e., by choosing as he did Polydeuces brought Castor back to life. NEMEAN 11

for Aristagoras of Tenedos, on his installation as prytanis

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Child of Rhea, to whom the care of town halls is [Str. 1] allotted, Hestia, sister of highest Zeus and Hera seated by his side, make Aristagoras welcome in your civic chamber, and welcome too, beside your gleaming scepter, his companions, who, honoring you, guard Tenedos and keep her upright,

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often with wine poured out revering you foremost [Ant. 1] of goddesses, often with smoke of sacrifice, while at their bidding lyre and song ring forth, and Zeus’s law as guardian of guests is given due observance with tables ever full. See to it that, in good repute, he may pass through his twelve-month office with untroubled heart.

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I count the man as blessed for Arcesilas his father, [Ep. 1] and so too for his wondrous build and inborn fearlessness. If anyone, possessing wealth, surpasses others in physique and then displays that might through excellence in competition, let him remember that the limbs he clothes are mortal, and that, when all is at an end, he will put on a cloak of clay. He must, too, be commended by the good words of his townsfolk,

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extolled with all embellishments of honey-sounding song. From people living round about Aristagoras won sixteen splendid victories, laying crowns upon his fatherland of famous name, in wrestling and loud-triumphing pancratium.

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Yet the too timorous hopes placed by his parents in [Ant. 2] his might kept him from making trial of Pytho’s contests and Olympia’s. In my sworn judgment, though, if he had gone to fight beside Castalia and by Cronus’ wooded hill, he would have come back home with greater glory than his rivals, once he had taken his due part amid the four-year [Ep. 2] festival that Heracles established, binding up his hair with bright garlands. And yet, while empty-headed boasting hurls one man down from happiness, another, finding too much fault with his own strength, is balked of prizes properly his own when an undaring spirit drags him backward by the hand. Easy it was indeed to infer his ultimate descent [Str. 3] from Sparta and Pisander—who left Amyclae with Orestes, carrying here across the sea an Aeolian host arrayed in bronze— and from Ismenus’ streams, where on his mother’s side his blood was mixed with that of Melanippus. Aptitudes of ancient stock yield vigor, turn and turn about, to human [Ant. 3] generations. Neither do black-loamed fields bear crops uninterruptedly, nor with each revolution of the years do trees consent to bring forth fragrant blossoms in the same abundance, but on and off. In that way too our mortal race is guided by fate. As to what comes from Zeus, men have at hand no clear

[Ep. 3]

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token. Nonetheless, we embark on manhood’s great ambitions, in eager quest of many exploits, for our limbs are fettered by uninhibited hope, and foresight’s streams lie at a distance. Gains should be hunted down in proper measure; too sharp for bearing is the madness of unreachable desires.

Not only is Nemean 11 (like N. 9 and N. 10) not a Nemean ode, it is not even an epinician but instead commemorates the installation of a town councillor (prytanis) on the island of Tenedos. The official in question, one Aristagoras, claimed descent from illustrious ancestors both in Sparta and in Thebes (33–37). As the text clearly indicates (1–5), the ode was composed for performance in the island’s town hall or prytaneion, where, as was the case in such buildings throughout the Greek world, a fire was kept perpetually burning on the sacred hearth of Hestia. The reason for the ode’s inclusion among the epinicians lies presumably in its central strophes (11–32), which celebrate Aristagoras’s youthful career as a wrestler and pancratiast. Having met with repeated success in local contests, he apparently contemplated venturing into Panhellenic competition at Pytho and Olympia but was prevented from doing so by the excessive diffidence of his parents (22–23, 32). Imbued with a tone of quiet melancholy, the ode stresses the need to reconcile oneself to the limitations inherent in the human condition, making do with what one has and not repining at things either unachievable or irremediably unachieved. 1 Hestia Daughter of Cronus and Rhea; goddess of the hearth (the literal meaning of her name) both within individual households and as the symbolic center of civic life. 4 his companions Aristagoras’s fellow councillors. 8 Zeus’s law Here the “law” (themis) of hospitality toward strangers, sacred to Zeus in his capacity as patron and protector of the guest-host relationship (xenia); cf. O. 8. 21–22, where the same idea is expressed through personification (Lawfulness). Official visitors to the city and other dignitaries were permitted to dine in the prytaneion at public expense. 13–18 Among “encomiastic conditionals” (app. §4) this example is unique in combining “objective” and “subjective” conclusions:

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(a) the limits of human aspiration have been reached (15–16), and (b) unstinted praise must be rendered (17–18). 19 From people living round about I.e., by participating in local contests. 27–28 the four-year festival that Heracles established On Heracles’ founding of the Olympic games, cf. O. 3.19–22, O. 10.24–75. 34 Pisander A Spartan credited by legend with colonizing Tenedos in the company of Orestes, whose paternal home Pindar identifies as Amyclae (cf. P. 11.32), a town not far from Sparta. 35 an Aeolian host The Aeolians constituted one of the chief ethnic and linguistic subdivisions within the larger category of Hellenes (speakers of Greek); see glossary. 36 from Ismenus’ streams I.e., from Thebes; cf. N. 9.22. 37 Melanippus A Theban hero, killed while defending Thebes against the Seven. 37–42 For the agricultural metaphor applied to the on-and-off manifestation of natural abilities within a family line, cf. N. 6.8–11.

The Isthmian Odes

I S T H M IA N 1

for Herodotus of Thebes, victor in the chariot race

5

10

My mother, Thebe of the golden shield, [Str. 1] I shall rank your concern superior even to pressing business. May resentment not spring up in rocky Delos, for whose sake my efforts are poured out. What is dearer than cherished parents to good men? Make way, Apollo’s own! Of both delightful tasks, you may be sure, I shall, with gods assisting, yoke together the fulfillment, dancing to celebrate both Phoebus of the unshorn [Ant. 1] locks among the mariners on wave-lapped Ceos, and that sea-fenced ridge as well, the Isthmus, since it has bestowed six crowns on Cadmus’ people from its games, a glorious triumph for their homeland, where Alcmene likewise bore her fearless son, before whom the savage hounds of Geryon once shuddered. But I, while fashioning for Herodotus a prize in honor of his four-horse chariot, 263

[Ep. 1]

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15

and since the reins were guided by no other’s hands, am minded to fit his praises in a hymn to Castor or Iolaus. Those two were born, in Lacedaemon and in Thebes, to be among all heroes most expert as charioteers;

20

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at games too they took part in numerous events, embellishing their homes with tripods, with cauldrons and gold drinking-cups, all the while tasting crowns of victory. Their prowess blazes clear in sprints run stripped and races run in armor, with reverberating shields;

[Str. 2]

so too in what their hands did, casting javelins [Ant. 2] and hurling discuses of stone. There was then no pentathlon, but for each exploit a separate prize was set. With crowded garlands won thereby they often bound up their hair and showed themselves by Dirce’s streams and close beside the Eurotas—

30

Iphicles’ son, compatriot of the Sown Men’s race, [Ep. 2] and scion of Tyndareus, at home among Achaeans on Therapne’s lofty ground. Hail and farewell! But I, while I array Poseidon, the sacred Isthmus, and Onchestus’ shores in song, shall celebrate, among the merits of this man, the splendid portion allotted to his father Asopodorus

35

and his ancestral acres at Orchomenus, [Str. 3] which welcomed him, hard-pressed by shipwreck, from a boundless sea amid calamity’s deep chill. But now he has, through inborn destiny, returned to yesteryear’s fair weather. One who suffers hardship clearheadedly gains recompense in foresight.

40

If excellence is sought with every impulse, embracing both expenditure and toil,

[Ant. 3]

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then those who find it must be offered praise that rings with full magnificence, unstinted by grudging thoughts. In truth, for someone skilled in song it is an easy gift, requiting labors of all sorts, to speak a good word and so raise on high a public glory. Men take, in different spheres of action, joy in [Ep. 3] different rewards— shepherd or plowman, bird-catcher, or one to whom the sea gives sustenance. To keep relentless hunger from the belly every man strains hard; but he who in athletics or in war wins honor and delight reaps profit in its highest form when hearing fine praise from tongues of citizens and strangers. As for us, it is right that Cronus’s earth-shaking son, [Str. 4] our neighbor, should gain thanks for benefactions by being hymned as god of chariots and horse-racing, and that your sons, Amphitryon, should be invoked, along with Minyas’ valley, Demeter’s famous sanctuary at Eleusis, and Euboea, when we speak of courses with tight turns. Then too, Protesilaus, I add in [Ant. 4] your precinct at Phylace among Achaeans. But telling all the gifts that Hermes, patron of the games, has granted to Herodotus, and to his horses, is precluded by my song’s brief measure. Often, to be sure, what is passed over silently brings better spirits in its train. Raised high on wings of splendor by Pieria’s tuneful [Ep. 4] maidens, may he hereafter also win, from Pytho and Olympia’s festival beside the Alpheus, the choicest wreaths to deck his hands while fashioning renown for seven-gated Thebes. If any man hoards wealth for secret use while baiting others in derision, he forgets that he will render up his soul to Hades with no share of fame.

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That this ode for Herodotus of Thebes was composed contemporaneously with Paean 4, a poem commissioned by the people of Ceos in honor of Delian Apollo, is a fact known to us only because Pindar saw a way to make it serve his poetic and encomiastic purposes. It would seem (cf. 10–11) that five other Thebans gained victories at the same Isthmian festival as Herodotus, and the civic pride engendered by this extraordinary circumstance is dramatized by having the laudator, who is himself a “son” of Thebes, make even such august honorees as Delos and Apollo yield (for the moment) to the claims of filial piety (1–13). Already noteworthy for the fact that he drove his own chariot (15), Herodotus’s triumph gains additional luster through explicit association with two heroic exemplars of horsemanship and charioteering, Castor and Iolaus, whose prowess as athletes in various non-equestrian disciplines is then celebrated through a catalogue of prizes and events (14–31). Having dismissed the two heroes with a conventional hymnal valediction, the speaker then takes up the topic of Herodotus’s father Asopodorus, whose ancestral connection with Orchomenus provided him with a place of refuge during an earlier period of calamitous misfortune—misfortune now rectified and redeemed by his son’s victory at the Isthmus (32–40). There follows an extended meditation on praise as the appropriate reward for achievement, considered first from the perspective of those who, as poets, regard its due rendering as an ethical imperative (41–46), then in relation to the achievers themselves, whose desire for public recognition is likened in its urgency to the literal hunger that drives human beings to pursue various modes of livelihood (47–51). The ode concludes with a catalogue of the victor’s previous successes (52–63) and a wish that he may go on to further triumphs at Pytho and Olympia (64–68). 1 Thebe The eponymous nymph of Thebes; cf. O. 6.85, I. 7.1. 2 your concern I.e., the victories won by your citizens at the Isthmus. 3 pressing business I.e., the celebration of Apollo through the medium of Paean 4, some forty lines of which have survived in fragmentary form. Characteristic features of the paean as a poetic type (at least as handled by Pindar) include a ritual refrain invoking Apollo in his capacity as a god of healing (cf. P. 4.270) and praise of the state or community that commissioned the poem.

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4 rocky Delos Apollo’s birthplace. 6 Apollo’s own Delos. 9 Ceos An island in the Cyclades, off the southeastern coast of Attica. 11 six crowns See introductory note; for the Thebans as Cadmus’ people, see glossary. 12–13 On Heracles’ birth from Alcmene as one of Thebes’ claims to fame, cf. P. 9.84–88, I. 7.6–7. 13 Geryon A giant living in the extreme west of the world, whose cattle Heracles stole as one of his Twelve Labors. Other accounts assign Geryon no more than a single guard-dog, albeit one with several heads. 15 Since victory in a chariot race was credited not to the driver of the winning team but to its owner (intro. §5), it was a fact worth noting when owner and driver were one and the same. 16 a hymn to Castor or Iolaus For the equestrian associations of these heroes, cf. P. 5.9, I. 5.32, I. 7.9. 17 in Lacedaemon and in Thebes The birthplaces and hometowns of Castor and Iolaus respectively; Lacedaemon is another name for Sparta. 26–27 See intro. §5 on the component events of the pentathlon. 29 by Dirce’s streams and close beside the Eurotas Reprises 17 in reverse order (Dirce = Thebes, Eurotas = Sparta); see glossary for the periphrases. 30 Iphicles’ son Iolaus. the Sown Men’s race See glossary, and cf. P.9.83, I. 7.10. 31 Tyndareus See glossary. Therapne A town not far from Sparta, site of a shrine to Castor and Polydeuces; cf. P. 11.63, N. 10.56. 32 Hail and farewell! A single word in Greek, here plural in form (chairete), regularly used in leave-taking at the end of hymns. 33 Onchestus A sanctuary of Poseidon on the southern shore of Lake Copais; cf. I. 4.19. 34 this man Herodotus.

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35 Orchomenus A city in northwestern Boeotia, also on Lake Copais; cf. O. 14.4. 37 shipwreck Most likely a metaphor for political exile. 40 For victory as fair weather after storm, cf. P. 5.10–11, I. 4.16– 18b, I. 7.37–39. 42 expenditure and toil These two ingredients of agonistic success are similarly paired at O. 5.15, I. 5.56–58, I. 6.10–11. 44–45 For the idea that praise should not be “stinted” or “begrudged,” cf. O. 6.7, N. 4.39, I. 5.24. 47–51 Both the thought and the priamel structure (app. §2) of these lines are paralleled by N. 3.6–8, and the simultaneous analogy and contrast between physical and spiritual needs by O. 11.1–6. 52–53 Cronus’s earth-shaking son, our neighbor Poseidon’s sanctuary at Onchestus (33) was not far from Thebes. 55–59 A catalogue of victories won by Herodotus in the Theban Heracleia and Iolaeia (honoring Amphitryon’s son and grandson respectively); in the Minyeia in Orchomenus, honoring that city’s legendary king, Minyas; at Eleusis (cf. O. 9.99, O. 13.110) and on the island of Euboea (cf. O. 13.112); and in games honoring Protesilaus at Phylace in Thessaly. 60–63 The catalogue is broken off out of “situational” considerations (app. §8): (a) the time at the speaker’s disposal is limited, and (b) an encomiast can feel more confident of eventual success when he avoids antagonizing his hearers with unnecessary prolixity. 64–67 Inspired by the current song (which is itself inspired by the Muses, Pieria’s tuneful maidens), may Herodotus go on to further triumphs at the yet more prestigious festivals of Pytho and Olympia. On “victory-wishes” as a recurrent element in epinicians, see app. §12. 67–68 For the idea that wealth should not be hoarded but instead put to noble uses in full consciousness of one’s looming mortality, cf. N. 1.31–33, N. 7.17–20; for the lamentable fate of those who die without commemoration of their noble deeds, cf. O. 10.91–93.

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I S T H M IA N 2

for Xenocrates of Acragas, victor in the chariot race

5

The men of older times, O Thrasybulus, who used to mount upon the chariot of the gold-bespangled Muses accompanied by the lyre’s clear-ringing notes, would lightly launch forth honeyed hymns to boys whose beauty was at summer’s sweetest prime, evoking thoughts of regal Aphrodite.

10

The Muse was not yet avaricious then, and did not work for hire; nor were delightful songs sold off by honey-toned Terpsichore, their faces bright with silver and their voices soft. But now she bids us heed the Argive’s maxim as treading closest to the paths of truth:

15

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[Str. 1]

[Ant. 1]

“It’s money, money makes the man,” [Ep. 1] he said, bereft alike of property and friends. Enough: you are intelligent. I sing a victory not unknown, one gained with horses at the Isthmus and granted to Xenocrates by Poseidon, who sent him, to entwine his hair, a crown of Dorian celery, thus doing honor to a man with splendid chariots, [Str. 2] a shining light for Acragas’s people. At Crisa too Apollo, wide in power, looked upon him with favor and awarded triumph. Both there and in illustrious Athens, when Erechtheus’ heirs fitted him out with grace and glory, no fault did he find in that horse-driving hand, a chariot’s salvation, with which Nicomachus, in proper measure, [Ant. 2] applied himself to all the reins. Him did the heralds recognize, those men of Elis who promulgate due times and carry round the truce

270

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40

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of Cronus’ son, having perhaps experienced some hospitable act; and so they welcomed him, their voices breathing sweetness, when in the lap of golden Victory he fell amid their very land, which people call Olympian Zeus’s precinct, and where Aenesidamus’ sons were mingled with immortal honors. Indeed, by no means unacquainted are your halls, O Thrasybulus, either with delightful victory-revels or with such songs as ring forth honeyed praise.

[Ep. 2]

There is no hill, as it turns out, [Str. 3] no arduous ascent along the way, when to the homes of celebrated men one brings the honors of the Heliconian maids. Hurling a distance, may I send my cast as far as, in his temper, Xenocrates outstripped all men for sweetness. He showed respect in dealing with his townsfolk, and made a practice of horse-breeding [Ant. 3] according to Greek custom everywhere. All festivals of gods did he embrace, and never, at his table filled with guests, did any breeze blow hard enough to make him furl his sail: he crossed the sea in summer to the Phasis, and in the winter voyaged to the coastlands of the Nile. Let him not, therefore, just because men’s minds are hung about with grudging expectations, ever consign his father’s worth to silence— nor this song either, since of course I did not fashion it to rest in idleness. Impart this message, Nicasippus, when you come to my dear host and friend.

[Ep. 3]

Composed some time after Xenocrates’ death (ca. 472), as the past tenses in the third triad indicate, this ode is less an epinician than a general retrospective encomium, dealing first with his (and his brother

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Theron’s) agonistic achievements (12–32), then with various admirable traits of character that were manifested in his mode of life, among them his respectful treatment of fellow citizens, his devotion to horsebreeding, his piety, and his bounteous hospitality (35–42). Like Pythian 6, celebrating Xenocrates’ Pythian victory of 490, the ode is addressed to his son Thrasybulus (1, 31) and is formally dispatched to him at its close for performance in Acragas. More extensive attention is paid to the charioteer Nicomachus than seems strictly necessary in order to effect a transition from Xenocrates’ own successes at the Isthmus, Pytho, and the Panathenaea (12–20) to his brother Theron’s victory at Olympia (28–32), and we may surmise that recognition of his services was a stipulated element in the commission. That poets of Pindar’s time did indeed write on commission, praising athletes (and others) in return for a fee, is a fact openly acknowledged in the first two strophes, where the spontaneous (and gratuitous) love-songs of earlier poets are set in pointed contrast to the “commercial” Muse of the present day (1–11). 1 The men of older times Alluding to poets such as Alcaeus, Ibycus, and Anacreon, famous for their love songs to boys. 2 For the “chariot of song,” cf. O. 6.22–28, O. 9.80–81, P. 10.64–65, I. 8.61–62. 7 Terpsichore One of the nine Muses; her name (“delight in dancing”) may suggest choral—and therefore, in context, epinician—poetry as distinct from erotic monody. 8 their faces bright with silver An even more explicit monetary reference appears at P. 11.41–42. 9 the Argive The scholia identify him as one Aristodemus. 16 Dorian celery Crowns of wild celery were awarded at the Isthmian games; cf. O. 13.32 with note. 17 At Crisa I.e., at the Pythian games; see intro. §21. 19 in illustrious Athens I.e., at the Panathenaic festival; for the Athenians as Erechtheus’ heirs, see P. 7.10 with note. 22 Nicomachus Xenocrates’ charioteer, who appears (cf. 25–27) to have also driven a chariot for Theron at Olympia. 23–24 Every four years heralds from Elis (where Olympia was located) would travel around the Greek world proclaiming a suspension of interstate hostilities in Zeus’s name, thereby

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facilitating general participation in the Olympic games. It would seem that Nicomachus played a role in receiving and entertaining the heralds when they came to Acragas. 28 Aenesidamus’ sons Xenocrates and Theron, both now dead. In fact only Theron was successful at Olympia, in 476; in O. 2, the ode written for that occasion, the brothers similarly share credit for one another’s achievements (48–51). 33 On the “highway of song” motif, see app. §14. 34 the Heliconian maids The Muses, so called because they had a sanctuary on the slopes of Mt. Helicon in Boeotia. 35 On the “javelin of song” motif, see app. §14. A correlation between the distance covered by the cast and the outstanding merits of the laudandus is similarly implied at P. 1.42–45. 39–42 Stripped of nautical metaphor, these lines mean that Xenocrates practiced hospitality in all seasons, under all circumstances, and to the greatest possible extent. The Phasis (a river in Colchis; cf. P. 4.211) and the Nile represent respectively the easternmost and southernmost limits of navigation. 43–44 Although human beings have a tendency to hope for the worst in relation to other people’s successes, Thrasybulus is urged not to let that fact deprive his father’s achievements of the recognition they deserve. 46 I did not fashion it to rest in idleness The implicit metaphor is drawn from statue-making; cf. N. 5.1–2. On the temporal differentiation of composition from performance, see intro. §15. 47–48 Nicasippus was apparently responsible for bringing the ode to Sicily and supervising its performance there; Aeneas plays a similar role as “messenger” at O. 6.87–92. I S T H M IA N 3

for Melissus of Thebes, victor in the chariot race If a man lights upon success, either in glorious competition or through the power of wealth, yet keeps relentless insolence in check,

[Str.]

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5

he merits being mingled with his townsfolk’s praises. O Zeus, great forms of excellence attend on mortals through you. Prosperity lives longer for the reverent, but when minds are crooked, in no such lasting fashion does it flourish at their side.

10

Rewarding deeds of glory, one must hymn a noble [Ant.] man; one must with gifts of gentle grace extol him in his triumph. In fact, a pair of prizes can Melissus claim as his due share, to turn his heart to merriment and its sweet savor: having in the Isthmus’ glens received a crown, he likewise at the hollow vale of the deep-chested lion has caused Thebes to be proclaimed

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17b 18b

by winning in the chariot race. On the excellence [Ep.] inbred within his stock he brings no shame. You know, of course, about Cleonymus, whose ancient fame was earned with chariots; and on his mother’s side, as kindred of the Labdacids, his people walked in the ways of wealth while laboring with four-horse teams. Yet life, as days roll on, brings changes, now one, now another. Truly, only sons of gods live free from hurt.

Because this poem and Isthmian 4 are metrically identical, a circumstance otherwise unparalleled in the Pindaric corpus, many editors have regarded them as forming a single continuous composition and printed them as such. The scholia treat them as independent entities, on the other hand, and each one appears to be self-sufficient in terms of formal structure and epinician convention. Given that the Isthmian and Nemean festivals took place some three months apart in the second and fourth years of each Olympiad, the most plausible way to account for the shared metrical pattern is to suppose that in the interval between the composition and performance of Isthmian 4 (which celebrates an Isthmian victory in the pancratium) Melissus also won

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the chariot race at Nemea, whereupon Pindar produced Isthmian 3 as a kind of supplement or “update” for public presentation on one and the same celebratory occasion. Brief as it is, the ode has room to preface the basic facts of the victor’s agonistic record (9–13) with general reflections on achievement and its rewards (1–8), and then to set those facts within the context of family tradition in both paternal and maternal lines (13–17b). 1–3 On the form and content of this “encomiastic conditional,” see app. §4. 9 a pair of prizes I.e., not only from the Isthmus but from Nemea as well; see introductory note. 10 merriment The “good cheer” (euphrosynē) of the victory-revel; cf. N. 4.1 with note. 11–12 at the hollow vale of the deep-chested lion I.e., at Nemea; see intro. §21, and cf. O. 13.44, N. 6.42. 12 to be proclaimed I.e., by the herald who announced his victory (intro. §7). 14 brings no shame On the negative turn of phrase, see app. §13. 15 You know Plural, hence addressed to the audience; cf. I. 4.35. Cleonymus Eponymous ancestor of the Cleonymidae (cf. I. 4.4), the clan to which Melissus belonged. 17 the Labdacids A Theban lineage claiming descent from Labdacus, grandfather of Oedipus. 18–18b The theme of vicissitude is used with similar closural force at O. 7.94–95, P. 7.19–21, P. 12.30–32. I S T H M IA N 4

for Melissus of Thebes, victor in the pancratium Thanks to the gods, I have before me countless [Str. 1] highways on all sides, Melissus, since at Isthmia’s games you have brought copious means to light for tracking down in song your family’s excellences. Because of them the Cleonymidae have always flourished

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5

10

15 17b 18b

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as, aided by divinity, they make their way toward life’s mortal end. Yet variable breezes, now one, now another, swoop down upon all men and drive them onward. Thus they, honored in Thebes of old, are reckoned [Ant. 1] hospitable to neighboring people and bereft of insolence with its loud noise; then too, whatever testimonials are wafted throughout the world concerning the immense renown of both the living and the dead, they have attained thereto in all perfection. By the utmost deeds of manhood they have, from home, laid hands upon the pillars of Heracles— and one must not, from that point on, seek any [Ep. 1] further excellence. At rearing horses they have proved adept, and in bronze Ares’ eyes they have found favor. Yet on a single day a fierce snowstorm of battle, snatching four brave men away, laid waste their blessed hearth. But now in turn, after the wintry gloom of changeful months, the land has blossomed as with crimson roses by the gods’ plans. The Mover of the Earth, whose [Str. 2] home is at Onchestus and on the sea-bridge facing Corinth’s walls, by granting to the clan this wondrous hymn arouses from its bed the ancient fame of glorious deeds, for it had fallen asleep; awakened now, it shines with radiant form, like the Dawn-Bringer, bright among the other stars. Earlier, it had heralded a chariot victory on [Ant. 2] Athenian soil and in Adrastus’ games at Sicyon, bestowing such leaves of song as this from poets of that time. Nor from the public festivals did they keep back their chariots’ curved lines, but, vying with all Greeks, they took joy in expenditure on horses.

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Those who make no attempts earn silence and obscurity.

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53b

Yet even when one does contend, fortune remains [Ep. 2] uncertain until achievement’s heights are reached, since it deals out both this and that; moreover, craftiness in baser men can seize upon superior worth and bring it down. You know, of course, of Ajax and his blood-soaked valor: having, late at night, transfixed himself on his own sword, he is a cause of blame against all sons of Hellas who went off to Troy. Yet Homer, to be sure, has honored him throughout mankind, expounding rightly all his excellence, as measured by the staff of verse divinely worded, for posterity to sing of. That which is well expressed goes forth endowed immortally with speech; across the fruitful earth and over seas there passes the blaze of noble deeds, forever unextinguished.

[Str. 3]

May we meet with propitious Muses, kindling such [Ant. 3] a torch of song to hail Melissus too, a crown befitting that pancratiast in worth, the son of Telesiadas. In courage he resembles loud-roaring lions bold of heart amid the struggle; in his wiles he is a fox, falling upon its back to check the eagle’s whirl and plunge. One must do all one can to crush an enemy. To him Orion’s build was not allotted; [Ep. 3] but yet, though insignificant in looks, he outweighs foes when grappling at the crisis. We know, of course, how to Antaeus’ halls from Thebes, city of Cadmus, there once came, in stature short but obdurate in will, a man intent on wrestling in Libyan wheatlands, so that he might stop

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54b

Poseidon’s temple being roofed with skulls of strangers.

55

Alcmene’s son that was, who went up to Olympus [Str. 4] once he had explored the world’s lands and the white-capped sea within its basin of high bluffs, taming its thoroughfares for voyaging. He lives now at the Aegis-Bearer’s side, enjoying happiness in its fairest form, esteemed by the immortals as a friend, with Hebe for his wife, a lord of golden halls and son-in-law of Hera.

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70 71b 72b

For him beyond the Electran Gate, with feast [Ant. 4] prepared and altars newly garlanded, we townsfolk offer burnt sacrifice in honor of eight warriors dead, the sons that Megara bore him, Creon’s daughter. On their behalf, at sunset, flames mount up and hold continuous festival throughout the night, kicking the upper air with savory smoke. The second day attains its consummation [Ep. 4] in yearly games, a trial of strength. There, with his head made white by wreaths of myrtle, this man brought two victories to light, and earlier, as a boy, a third, relying on a steersman at the helm and his sagacious intellect. Along with Orseas, then, I shall in song acclaim him, shedding glory and delight.

On the relation of this ode to Isthmian 3, see the introductory note to the latter. Although the particular event (pancratium) in which Melissus has triumphed at the Isthmus will not be announced until well into the poem (44), the bare fact of victory itself is represented at the very outset as an opportunity to celebrate the virtues and achievements of his entire clan, the Cleonymidae. Generous to strangers and mild-mannered toward their fellow citizens, eager in the pursuit of fame and glory, devoted to horse-rearing and the cultivation of martial valor, they have nonetheless experienced notable losses in battle (7–17b); moreover, after earlier successes in equestrian competition (25–30) their agonistic

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reputation had suffered an eclipse until Melissus revived it with his victory at the Isthmus (19–24). The figure of Ajax is put to double use: first introduced to illustrate how innate worth can be cheated out of the recognition it deserves (31–36b), he then serves to exemplify the rectifying and immortalizing powers of poetry (37–42), powers that the speaker proceeds to summon up on Melissus’s behalf through a prayer to the Muses. To the venue of the athlete’s victory are now added the specific event and his father’s name (44–45), along with extended praise for the combination of daring and cunning that secured him success despite his less than heroic physique (45–51). Just so did Heracles, overtopped in stature by the Libyan giant Antaeus, wrestle on to triumph through obduracy of will, earning in the end undying recompense for that and other labors (52–60). He is an object of veneration in Thebes as well, where he and his sons are honored with sacrifices and an annual festival at which Melissus himself has triumphed in competition (61–72b). 1 On the “highway of song” as a recurrent epinician metaphor, see app. §14. 4–6 Given humanity’s universal subjection to the vicissitudes of fortune, one cannot assume that sustained devotion to excellence (areta) is necessarily synonymous with continued success—a fact reflected in certain setbacks, both martial (16–18) and agonistic (40–41), which the Cleonymidae have experienced. 7–9 Hospitality to strangers and a peaceable demeanor toward fellow citizens are similarly paired as social virtues at O. 4.15–16, O. 13.1–3, N. 7.65–67. 12 the pillars of Heracles On this symbol of the limits of human achievement, see app. §4. 14 On the aristocratic virtue of horse-rearing (hippotrophia), cf. O. 4.14, I. 2.38. 18–19 For victory figured as fair weather after storm (or spring after winter), cf. P. 5.10–11, I. 1.36–40, I. 7.37–39. 19 The Mover of the Earth Poseidon as god of earthquakes. The fact that his sanctuary at Onchestus was not far from Thebes suggests one reason for the favor he has shown to the Cleonymidae; cf. I. 1.33, 53.

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20 the sea-bridge The Isthmus of Corinth; see intro. §21. 22–24 The image of “waking” or “rousing” memory appears also at O. 8.74–76, P. 9.103–5, I. 7.16–21. 24 the Dawn-Bringer The morning star (Venus). 25 on Athenian soil I.e., at the Panathenaic games. 26 in Adrastus’ games at Sicyon Founded by Adrastus in honor of Apollo; cf. N. 9.9–12. 28 the public festivals I.e., the Panhellenic games (cf. vying with all Greeks, 29) at Olympia, Delphi, the Isthmus, and Nemea. 30 Although the family’s earlier ventures into Panhellenic competition met with no success, merely to have made the attempt at all is ground for praise; contrast N. 11.22–23, where the timidity of Aristagoras’s parents is said to have kept their son from entering the contests at Pytho and Olympia. 31–35 To explain why simply having the courage to compete does not in and of itself guarantee success, two reasons are advanced, the first of which—the inherent instability of human fortunes—has already been propounded in relation to the Cleonymidae (5–6). The second reason—the vulnerability of true worth to the machinations of inferior men—serves chiefly to motivate the introduction of Ajax and, through him, the ensuing reflections on poetry and its powers (37–42). 35–36b On the story of Ajax’s suicide, see glossary, and cf. N. 7.23–30, N. 8.23–34. 35 You know, of course An address to the audience, as at I. 3.15. 36b sons of Hellas I.e., Greeks; Ajax’s fate is a cause of blame to them because it was the Greek army that awarded Achilles’ armor to Odysseus (cf. N. 8.26). 38–39 The rhapsodes (cf. N. 2.1–2) would hold a rod or staff (rhabdos) as they delivered their Homeric recitations. 45–47 The emblematic pairing of lion ( = courage) and fox ( = cleverness) appears also at O. 11.19–20. 48 The sentiment is a commonplace of traditional Greek morality; cf. P. 2.83–85.

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49–51 According to the usual topos (cf. O. 8.19 with note), looks and deeds are accurate reflections of one another; here, as at the end of O. 4 (and cf. Archilochus fr. 114), looks are belied by deeds, though in a positive way. Orion was a son of Poseidon, as huge as he was handsome. 52 Antaeus A Libyan giant who wrestled passing strangers to death and then used their skulls in building a temple to his father Poseidon. This barbaric behavior was eventually brought to an end when Heracles (Alcmene’s son, 55) succeeded in lifting his adversary clear of the earth that was the source of his strength. 53 in stature short Only when juxtaposed with a gigantic opponent, presumably, could the great Heracles be so termed. 55–57 For Heracles’ voyages of exploration and monster-slaying, cf. N. 3.22–26. 58–60 Having labored to make the world safe for civilization, Heracles was rewarded with everlasting bliss on Mt. Olympus—an implicit figuration, both here and elsewhere (e.g., N. 1.69–72, N. 10.17–18), of the life-after-death that mortal men can attain through poetry and the fame that poetry bestows. 58 the Aegis-Bearer I.e., Zeus; the aegis (lit. “goatskin”) was a magical shield that inspired terror in enemies and was often carried by Athena (cf. O. 13.70). 61 the Electran Gate One the chief gates of Thebes. 62 we townsfolk The speaker identifies himself as a member of the Theban community; see intro. §14. 63–64 Although it is clearly implied that Heracles’ sons by Megara survived to adulthood and died in battle, the standard version of events (as represented, e.g., by Euripides’ Heracles) has him murder them as children in a fit of madness. 68 yearly games The Heracleia or Iolaeia. 71b a steersman at the helm The trainer Orseas (72), whose sagacious intellect guided Melissus while he was competing as a boy athlete. On trainer praise as a feature of epinicians, see intro. §20.

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I S T H M IA N 5

for Phylacidas of Aegina, victor in the pancratium

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O mother of the Sun, Thea of many names, because of you mankind gives currency to gold as great in strength above all other things. Yes, and when rivalry is waged by ships upon the sea and horses yoked to chariots, it is, O lady, your esteem that makes them objects of wonder in their whirling courses,

[Str. 1]

as it does one who at the games achieves [Ant. 1] the glory he has longed for, his hair thick with wreaths of triumph won by hand or speediness of foot. Men’s prowess comes to judgment through the gods. Two things alone hold life’s most pleasing bloom secure within their fold: to flourish in the joys of prosperous fortune, and to hear oneself be praised. [Ep. 1] Don’t hanker to become Zeus; all is yours, if of these goods some share should come your way. For mortals, mortal things are suitable. In your case, excellence twice over at the Isthmus, Phylacidas, lies ever-fresh in store; at Nemea also, for you both— yes, Pytheas too—in the pancratium. As for me, the Aeacids are not absent from the hymns that my heart tastes: I have, together with the Graces, come for Lampon’s sons to this well-ordered city. If a turning has been made [Str. 2] onto the clear bright road of god-allotted deeds, do not begrudge to mingle fitting praise with song in recompense for toils. So too among the men of old brave warriors found profit in acclaim; and they have been made famous on lyres and through the urgent cry of pipes

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age upon age, a theme of careful thought for men [Ant. 2] of skill, by grace of Zeus held high in reverence. Amid the Aetolians’ splendid sacrifices Oeneus’ sons are mighty; in Thebes horse-driving Iolaus has honor; Perseus in Argos; and the fighting spirit of Castor and Polydeuces by Eurotas’ streams. But on Oenone Aeacus and his heirs, [Ep. 2] the great in heart, are foremost, who with battles twice sacked the Trojans’ city, being led by Heracles before, then with the sons of Atreus. Now drive on, and soar! Tell me, who were the ones that slaughtered Cycnus, Hector too, and the undaunted leader of the Ethiopian host, Memnon in panoply of bronze? And who was it whose spear wounded the noble Telephus beside Caïcus’ banks? Aegina is proclaimed by all mouths as their [Str. 3] fatherland, that glorious island, long ago built high to be a tower for deeds of lofty excellence to climb. My tongue is ready with many a shaft of praise to launch at them resoundingly; in recent combat too, Ajax’s city can bear witness whose sailors set her upright in salvation, Salamis, there amid the hail of havoc loosed [Ant. 3] when on unnumbered men Zeus sent a storm of slaughter. Nonetheless, drench that vaunt in silence! Zeus gives out this and that, Zeus, master of all things; then too, the honeyed sound of victory-hymns is welcomed on occasions such as this with no less gladness. Let a man fight hard for prizes after he has studied Cleonicus’ stock with thoroughness. No darkness dims the long

[Ep. 3]

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exertions of their men, nor have thoughts of expense yet marred their zealous hopes. I praise too Pytheas among pancratiasts, Phylacidas’ skilled guide along the path of blows, nimble of hand and with a mind to match. Take up a crown for him, a headband of fine wool, and send with it this winged new-made song.

Isthmian 5 is the second of two odes (I. 6 is the other) for a young Aeginetan pancratiast named Phylacidas, whose older brother Pytheas (also a pancratiast) is celebrated in Nemean 5. It was most likely composed in 478, two years after the Greek alliance decisively defeated the Persian fleet in a battle off the island of Salamis, during which the Aeginetans and their ships acquitted themselves with particular distinction. The ode opens with a hymnal invocation to Thea, mother of the Sun, whom Pindar chooses to represent as the source of the spellbinding radiance that shines forth both from gold and from displays of agonistic prowess (1–10). Reflections on divine power and the limits of human aspiration lead up to the particulars of Phylacidas’s achievements, with a passing mention of his brother Pytheas too (11–19). The focus then shifts to Aegina as a whole and to its illustrious heroes the Aeacids, whose martial prowess is epitomized in the single brilliant figure of Achilles (19–45). After bringing the tradition of Aeginetan valor forward to the recent past by commending its central role in the naval victory at Salamis (46–50), the speaker then sets warlike themes aside in favor of the present occasion of festivity, bestowing particular attention on Pytheas in his role as trainer to his younger brother (51–63). 1–6 On Pindar’s “opening hymns,” see app. §1. According to Hesiod’s Theogony (371–74), Thea mated with her fellow Titan Hyperion and gave birth to Helius (the Sun), Selene (the Moon), and Eos (Dawn). 12–13 Good fortune and good repute are similarly paired at P. 1.99–100, I. 6.10–11. 14 Don’t hanker to become Zeus For the sentiment (and the conditional syntax), see app. §4, and cf. O. 5.23–24. 17 excellence twice over at the Isthmus I.e., his current victory together with that celebrated in I. 6.

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18–19 for you both—yes, Pytheas too A Nemean victory by Phylacidas is not otherwise explicitly attested, but see I. 6.61 with note. The Nemean victory of Pytheas is celebrated in N. 5. 20–22 As has frequently been noted, praise of Aeacus and his descendants is an (almost) invariable feature of odes for athletes from Aegina (this well-ordered city). 30–33 See glossary for information on the figures in this brief catalogue of regional heroes. Rhetorically, the catalogue forms part of a priamel (app. §2) designed to highlight the special significance of the Aeacids for Aegina. 33 by Eurotas’ streams I.e., in Sparta. 34 Oenone An alternative name for Aegina (cf. N. 4.46, N. 5.16, N. 8.7), the “proper” term being reserved for a climactic appearance in 43. 35–38 Descendants of Aeacus were involved in two separate assaults on Troy. The first of these, in which Aeacus’s son Telamon took part, was Heracles’ punitive expedition against Laomedon (on whom see glossary for details); the second, and more famous, was the ten-year conflict waged by the sons of Atreus (Agamemnon and Menelaus) to recover Helen from Paris, in which Achilles, his cousins Ajax and Teucer, and his son Neoptolemus all played important roles. 38 Now drive on, and soar! An implicit injunction to the Muse, to whom the following questions are directed in conventional epic fashion (cf. P. 4.70–71 with note). Although the correct answer to both questions is Achilles, the plurals in 39 (who were the ones) and 43 (their) have the effect of crediting his exploits as much to the Aeacid (and Aeginetan) tradition as a whole as to the individual hero who is that tradition’s supreme embodiment. 39–42 Cycnus, Hector, Memnon See glossary for particulars; the same three figures are cited as victims of Achilles’ valor at O. 2.81–83. 42 Telephus King of Mysia in northwestern Asia Minor; on his combat with Achilles, see glossary, and cf. O. 9.70–75. The Caïcus was a river in southern Mysia.

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48 Ajax’s city I.e., Salamis, legendary home of Ajax and his father Telamon; see glossary, and cf. N. 4.48. whose sailors I.e., Aegina’s. Herodotus tells us (8.93) that of all the Greek contingents at Salamis the Aeginetans were judged to have shown the greatest valor. 54 occasions such as this I.e., victory celebrations arising from the athletic competitions of peacetime (as opposed to victory in war). 55 Cleonicus Father of Lampon (cf. I. 6.16) and grandfather of Phylacidas and Pytheas. 56–58 For the pairing of effort and expenditure as essential components of the agonistic enterprise, cf. O. 5.15, I. 1.42, I. 6.10–11. 59–63 On trainer praise as a standard element in epinicians for boys, see intro. §20. I S T H M IA N 6

for Phylacidas of Aegina, victor in the boys’ pancratium

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As when a drinking-party burgeons among men, [Str. 1] we mix a second wine-bowl of the Muses’ melodies for Lampon’s family of fine athletes, having at Nemea first, O Zeus, received from you the choicest flower of crowns, and now in turn from the master of the Isthmus and Nereus’ fifty daughters, since the youngest of his sons, Phylacidas, has triumphed. May there be a third libation, one made ready for Olympian Zeus the Savior, to pour out upon Aegina with the honeyed sounds of song. Yes, if a man who finds joy in expense [Ant. 1] and toil alike does deeds of prowess founded in divinity, and if for him some power plants lovely fame, then at the utmost bounds of bliss he has already cast his anchor, honored by the gods. With sentiments like these

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to meet and welcome death and white-haired age—this is the prayer of Cleonicus’ son, and I invoke Clotho and her two sisters throned aloft, the Fates, to heed and grant the noble wishes of a man who is my friend.

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As for you, heirs of Aeacus who ride in golden [Ep. 1] chariots, I hold it as a clear-cut rule, when setting foot upon this island, to besprinkle you with praise. Numberless are the highways of fair deeds that you have cut, a hundred feet in breadth straight on, stretching beyond the springs of Nile and through the Hyperboreans. There is no city so uncouth, so backward and perverse of tongue, that it has not heard tell of Peleus the hero and his good fortune, son-in-law of gods, nor heard of Ajax son of Telamon [Str. 2] and of his father, who set off for brazen war, an eager ally of Tirynthian men, over the sea to Troy, where heroes labored, when vengeance for Laomedon’s transgressions was taken by Alcmene’s son. He captured Pergamus, and with his friend he slew the Meropian nation and that herdsman, mountain-huge, Alcyoneus, whom he found in Phlegra’s fields; there was no slackening of the bow’s deep music in the hands of Heracles. But when he came to summon Aeacus’ [Ant. 2] son for voyaging, he found the company at a feast. And as he stood there in his lion-skin, Amphitryon’s hard-fighting son, the noble Telamon urged him to pour the first libations of fragrant wine, and gave him, held aloft

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and amply filled, a cup embossed with bristling gold. And he, lifting to heaven his unconquerable hands, gave utterance to words like these: “If ever, father Zeus, with willing heart you heard my prayers before, now, now with fervent importunity [Ep. 2] I beg that to this man a daring son be born from Eriboea, to become my destined guest-friend. In body let him be unbreakable, just like this hide in which I now am wrapped, stripped from the beast I killed at Nemea once, the first of all my labors; and let his spirit match.” And so to him, on saying this, the god sent down a mighty eagle, king of birds. He felt joy’s piercing sweetness deep within, and spoke out like a man of prophecy: [Str. 3] “The son you ask for you shall have, O Telamon. Name him after the bird that just now loomed above us: call him Ajax, wide in power, of all the host most terrible amid the War God’s toils.” Having thus spoken, he at once sat down. But I lack time to go through all such deeds of prowess, since it is for Phylacidas, O Muse, that I have come as revel-master, and for Pytheas and Euthymenes. In keeping with the Argive way it shall be stated in the briefest terms: together, as pancratiasts, they have won [Ant. 3] three victories at the Isthmus, others too at leafy Nemea, youths and uncle alike in splendor. What a trove of triumph-songs have they brought forth to light! The clan of Psalychiadae they refresh and nourish with the Graces’ fairest dew, and they raise high Themistius’ house, residing within this city loved by gods. Bestowing due

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attention on all actions, Lampon shows special regard for Hesiod’s familiar maxim; expounding it, he urges his sons on, 70

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bringing his town distinction such as all may share. [Ep. 3] For good deeds done to strangers he is warmly loved; his will is moderate in pursuit and moderate in possession; his tongue does not outstrip his mind. For athletes, you would say he is a Naxian whetstone, master of bronze, among all other rocks. I shall offer them Dirce’s hallowed water to drink from, water which the deep-girded daughters of golden-mantled Memory made spring up beside the well-built gates of Cadmus.

Chronologically the second of three odes for the family of the Aeginetan Lampon (N. 5 and I. 5 being the others), this poem takes as its ostensible occasion a victory in the pancratium by Lampon’s youngest son, Phylacidas, won probably in 480. Only a few lines are devoted to Phylacidas (5–7), however, and the chief focus of attention throughout is Lampon himself as progenitor and inspirer of an athletically distinguished family. Though not a competitor himself (or at any rate not one with victories that can be reported), he clearly had a deep interest in furthering his sons’ careers and was willing to spend money freely to that end, commissioning odes from Bacchylides as well as Pindar (see introductory note to N. 5). The ode’s narrative centerpiece— drawn, as is usual in odes for Aeginetans, from the corpus of Aeacid legend—points in implicit but unmistakable fashion to a parallel between Lampon and Telamon, the former as father of two victorious pancratiasts, each tried and tested in the fiercest of the combat sports, the latter as father of Ajax, a longed-for son destined to be a superlative warrior, endowed with an “unbreakable” body and an equally unbreakable spirit. Another—and perhaps even bolder—analogy is suggested by the ode’s initial conceit of the “triple libation,” which casts the first-person speaker in the same role that Heracles will play on his visit to Telamon, wielding a wine-cup during prayer and projecting future glory for the offspring of a friend (1–18, 37–54). The direct praise of Lampon in the ode’s last twenty lines both

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begins (66–69) and ends (72–73) with the care he has taken to develop his sons’ athletic abilities through precept, exhortation, and encouragement. 1–9 A scholiast reports that three libations were customarily poured out in the course of a banquet or drinking-party: the first to Olympian Zeus, the second to Earth and the heroes, and the third to Zeus the Savior (Soter). By adapting this pattern to the present occasion and implicitly identifying the earlier N. 5 as an initial “libation” to Zeus as patron deity of the Nemean games, Pindar contrives both to motivate and to authorize the bold prayer for Olympic victory that follows. The usual next step for an Isthmian victor would be to compete at Pytho; see app. §12, and cf. I. 1.65, I. 7.49–51. 2–4 we mix . . . having . . . received The speaker identifies himself closely with the fortunes of the family. 5–6 On Poseidon’s close association with the Nereids, cf. O. 6.104–5, N. 5.36–37. 10–13 On the form and content of this “encomiastic conditional,” see app. §4; for the pairing of expense and toil, cf. O. 5.15, I. 1.42, I. 5.56–58. 16 Cleonicus’ son Lampon; cf. I. 5.55. 17 On Clotho and her sister Fates, see glossary. 19–21 The special importance to Aegina (this island, 21) of Aeacus and his various descendants is here elevated to a clear-cut rule dictating their inclusion in any ode composed for an Aeginetan. 22–23 On the “highway of song” motif, see app. §14. 23 The springs of Nile and the Hyperboreans represent respectively the southern and northern limits of the habitable world: not only has the fame of the Aeacids spread everywhere, but the range of themes open to those who wish to praise them is equally expansive. 25 On Peleus and his proverbial good fortune, see glossary; he was a son-in-law of gods by virtue of his marriage to Thetis (cf. N. 5.34–36).

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27–30 On Telamon’s participation (with Heracles) in the “first Trojan War,” see glossary under “Laomedon.” Heracles’ forces were Tirynthian because he was a resident of Tiryns at the time. 30 Alcmene’s son Heracles. 31 with his friend I.e., with Telamon. Pergamus was another name for Troy (cf. O. 8.42); the Meropes (or Meropian nation) were legendary inhabitants of Cos, an island off the southwest coast of Asia Minor; Alcyoneus was a cattle-stealing giant whom Heracles killed at Phlegra in Thrace. The same three exploits are credited to Telamon (along with Heracles) at N. 4.25–32. 37 Amphitryon’s hard-fighting son Heracles again. 46 Eriboea Telamon’s wife. 48 the beast I killed at Nemea On Heracles’ killing of the Nemean lion, see glossary under “Nemea.” 53 Name him after the bird A play on Aias (the Greek form of Ajax) and aietos, “eagle.” 56–58 A “situational” transition back to the current occasion, invoking considerations of time and obligation; see intro. §16 and app. §8. 58 Pytheas and Euthymenes Respectively the brother (N. 5.4–5, I. 5.59–63) and maternal uncle (N. 5.41–46) of Phylacidas. 58–59 Like the Spartans and other Laconians, the people of Argos were known for their brevity of speech. 61 The three victories at the Isthmus include the current one by Phylacidas and (most probably) two gained earlier by Euthymenes (cf. N. 5.41–42 with note); the others at Nemea presumably include those of Pytheas (N. 5.5), Euthymenes (N. 5.43–44), and Phylacidas (I. 5.18). 63 Psalychiadae The clan to which Lampon’s family belonged. 64 the Graces’ fairest dew I.e., victory at the games and/or celebratory song; see app. §15. 65 Themistius According to the scholia, Pytheas’s maternal grandfather (cf. N. 5.50–53).

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67 Hesiod’s familiar maxim An allusion to Works and Days 412 (“Attention makes work prosper”). 73 a Naxian whetstone Naxos, an island in the Cyclades, was well known as a source of hard, fine-grained rock suitable for sharpening metal tools and weapons. The metaphor credits Lampon with an analogous function in “whetting” or “honing” (cf. O. 10.20–21) the athletic abilities of his sons. 74–75 Having spoken at the outset almost as a member of the victor’s family (see note on 2–4), the ode’s “I” now reveals himself to be both Theban (see Dirce and Cadmus in glossary) and a poet, privileged to dispense to others what the Muses have brought into being. For the metaphorical association of water with poetry, cf. also O. 6.85–87, P. 4.298–99, N. 1.24–25, N. 7.61–63. I S T H M IA N 7

for Strepsiades of Thebes, victor in the pancratium

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In which, O blessed Thebe, of your land’s [Str. 1] earlier glories has your heart most taken delight? Was it the time you raised up Dionysus to sit with flowing hair beside Demeter of the clashing bronze? Or having once received, at midnight in a shower of golden snow, the mightiest of gods, when, standing in the doorway of Amphitryon’s [Ant. 1] house, he came to bring to that man’s wife the seed of Heracles? Or owing to Tiresias’ shrewd counsels? Or for the sake of Iolaus, skilled in horsemanship? Or for the Sown Men with their tireless lances? Or when from the midst of ardent battle-shouts you sent Adrastus back, bereft of countless friends, to Argos famed for horses? Or because you set upright on its feet the Dorian outpost of

[Ep. 1]

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the Spartans, when the Aegids, your descendants, captured Amyclae by command of Pythian oracles? But ancient grace slumbers, and mortals are forgetful of anything that fails to meet with consummate [Str. 2] poetic skill, yoking itself thereby to splendid streams of verse. Celebrate, therefore, with melodious song Strepsiades as well, for he brings from the Isthmus a triumph as pancratiast, fearsome in his strength and fair to look upon, his valor not disgracing his physique. He is made radiant by the dark-haired Muses, [Ant. 2] and shares a garland with the uncle he is named for, whom Ares of the brazen shield embroiled in doom; yet honor lies in store to recompense the brave. Let him know well, whoever in that storm-cloud drives the hail of blood away from his dear fatherland, heaping havoc upon the opposing host, [Ep. 2] that for his townsmen he makes glory grow yet greater, both in his life and after death. Son of Diodotus, in emulation of warlike Meleager, emulating Hector too and Amphiaraus, you breathed out the full flower of your youth

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amid the press of forefighters, where the bravest [Str. 3] checked the fierce clash of war with final hopes. I suffered grief unspeakable; but now the Earthholder has granted me fair weather after the storm. I shall sing out, adorning my hair with garlands. May the envy of immortals stir no trouble.

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Pursuing day by day what is delightful, [Ant. 3] I shall move calmly toward old age and my allotted span of life. For all of us die alike, although our fortunes are unequal; and however far a man

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may gaze, he is too small to reach the gods’ bronze-floored dwelling-place. Winged Pegasus, we know, threw off 45

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his master when Bellerophon was seeking [Ep. 3] to make a home in heaven amid the company of Zeus. For sweetness contrary to right the bitterest of outcomes lies in wait. To us, however, Loxias, whose thick hair gleams with gold, apportion from your contests a garland in full flower at Pytho also.

This ode, to which no reliable date can be assigned, was composed for a Theban pancratiast named Strepsiades. No victories by relatives being mentioned, we may conclude that his family was not athletically distinguished; but it did have a cause for pride in Strepsiades’ maternal uncle (and namesake), who died in battle while fighting for his homeland. An opening address to the city’s eponymous nymph surveys the glories of Thebes’ legendary past, creating a rich backdrop for the victor’s current achievement (1–22). The central section of the ode, which in a typical epinician would be devoted to a mythical narrative, contains instead an extended tribute to the patriotic heroism of the elder Strepsiades (25–36); while such a commemoration may well have been stipulated in the poet’s commission, it also adds luster to the younger Strepsiades’ triumph in the “warlike” pancratium by partially assimilating it to an ideal of martial valor as old as the Iliad. The sudden emergence of the encomiastic “I” in 37–44 serves a double function, both heightening the emotional contrast between past misfortune and present joy and endorsing an attitude toward life that makes the most of daily pleasures and never loses sight of man’s mortal limitations. To illustrate the dire fate of those who do overreach themselves in their ambitions, the speaker cites the example of Bellerophon, whose attempt to join the gods on Olympus with the aid of Pegasus ended in disaster (44–48). Strepsiades himself, by contrast, is aiming no higher than victory at the Pythian games, the next rung on the canonical ladder of competition (49–51). 1–22 In its priamel structure (app. §2) this opening sequence closely resembles N. 10.1–24; in both passages a city’s “earlier glories” are reviewed and then set aside in favor of its most

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recent claim to fame, the current victory. For information on most of the figures mentioned in 1–15, see glossary. 3–5 Dionysus and Demeter are naturally associated with one another as divinities of wine and grain (and hence bread) respectively. Bronze cymbals were more typically associated with the worship of the mother-goddess Cybele. 5 the mightiest of gods I.e., Zeus; on his begetting of Heracles, see glossary under “Amphitryon.” The shower of gold is a motif more commonly linked with the birth of Perseus; cf. P. 12.17–18. 10 the Sown Men See glossary, and cf. P. 9.82, I. 1.30. 14 the Aegids Lit. “descendants of Aegeus,” a Theban clan credited by legend with assisting the Dorians in their invasion of the Peloponnesus after the Delphic oracle had urged them to that action; see also P. 5.72–76. 15 Amyclae A town not far from Sparta; see glossary. 16–17 ancient grace slumbers I.e., the interest aroused by ancient themes grows dim with the passage of time—or at any rate does so unless and until it is revivified by contemporary accomplishments and their commemoration in song (18–19). For the metaphorical “awakening” of memory, fame, and the like, cf. O. 8.74–75, P. 9.104–5, I. 4.21–24. 22 On the “looks and deeds” motif, cf. O. 8.19 with note. 25 whom Ares . . . embroiled in doom The specific circumstances of the elder Strepsiades’ death in battle are not known. 31 Son of Diodotus The elder Strepsiades. 32–33 Both Meleager and Hector (though not Amphiaraus) died while defending their homelands; see glossary on all three. 37–39 A transition of the “ethical/emotional” type (app. §7): the speaker’s reported reaction to the elder Strepsiades’ death motivates by way of contrast (cf. but now) the reintroduction of the younger Strepsiades’ Isthmian triumph. 38 the Earthholder Poseidon, patron deity of the Isthmian games. For the meteorological metaphor (fair weather = victory), cf. P. 5.10–11, I. 1.39–40, I. 4.18–19. 39 For the fear that the good fortune of mortals may arouse ill will in the gods, cf. O. 13.24–26, P. 8.71–72, P. 10.20–22.

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40–42 On the use of the first person to commend a particular attitude toward life (“first-person indefinite”), see app. §5. 44 the gods’ bronze-floored dwelling-place I.e., heaven; the image recurs at P. 10.27, N. 6.4. 44–48 For the story of Bellerophon and Pegasus, see glossary, and cf. O. 13.63–92. 49 Loxias Apollo in his role as oracular god of Delphi. I S T H M IA N 8

for Cleander of Aegina, victor in the boys’ pancratium

5 5a 6a

10

To give Cleander and his youthfulness [Str. 1] release from labors, O young men, through fair renown, let someone go to his father Telesarchus’ splendid foreporch and there awaken revelry, in reward for triumph at the Isthmus, and because at Nemea he sought out mastery in the games. Therefore I too, though grieved at heart, am asked to call upon the golden Muse. Released as we are from great afflictions, let us neither become bereft of garlands nor brood upon our sorrows. Putting an end to unavailing woe, let us present some sweet song to the people, even after trouble, because the stone of Tantalus that loomed above our heads has by some god been turned aside, a hardship unendurable [Str. 2] for Hellas. As for me, the passing-by of dread has put an end to potent care; to heed what lies before one’s very feet is always better in every case. Time’s treacherous span hangs over humankind,

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15

swirling the current of life’s course; yet mortals can, with freedom, find a cure even for that. It is a duty for a man to have good hope. It is a duty for one reared in seven-gated Thebes to offer to Aegina first the Graces’ choicest gifts, because she and her sister, twins, were of Asopus’ daughters born the youngest, and pleased Zeus the king. He settled one beside the lovely flow of Dirce’s waters, as the regent of a chariot-loving city.

15a 16a

20

25 25a 26a

30

35 35a

But you he carried to Oenopia’s isle [Str. 3] and bedded there, where to the loud-resounding Father you bore resplendent Aeacus, the most upright of those on earth, who even for deities brought quarrels to their proper close. His godlike sons, and sons’ sons dear to Ares, were the best in manly courage, devoted to the groans and brazen din of battle; they proved, too, temperate and wise of heart. Even the councils of the Blessed called these things to mind, when Zeus and glorious Poseidon vied to marry Thetis, each set on making her, a bride of lovely form, his very own, for passion held them in its grip. And yet the gods’ immortal intellects did not, for them, bring wedlock to fulfillment, because they heard, and heeded, prophecies: sagacious Themis in their midst declared what fate had settled: greater than his father would be the lordly offspring born from the sea-goddess, one who in his hand would wield another weapon mightier than the thunderbolt or irresistible trident, if she lay with Zeus or one of Zeus’s brothers. “Come, you must

[Str. 4]

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36a

40

45 45a 46a

50

55 55a

297

bring all this to an end. Let her meet with a mortal’s bed and then look on as her son dies in battle, like Ares in his hands and like the flash of lightning in his speed of foot. It is my counsel that the prize of marriage, heaven-allotted, go to Peleus, Aeacus’s son, who is most reverent, they say, of any nurtured on Iolcus’ plain. Let messages go forth at once, [Str. 5] direct to Chiron’s everlasting cave, and let not Nereus’ daughter place the leaves of strife a second time within our hands. She must, on midmonth evenings of full moon, unfasten for the hero virginity’s alluring bridle.” Thus to Cronus’ sons the goddess spoke, and with immortal brows they nodded their assent. Her words bore fruit that did not wither, for they say the lords took heed, arranging Thetis’ marriage, for the common good, and poets’ mouths displayed Achilles’ youthful excellence to those who could not witness it. He left the vine-clad plain of Mysia bloody, dark with gore from wounded Telephus; he built for Atreus’ sons a bridge [Str. 6] of homecoming, and won release for Helen, with his spear cutting the sinews out of Troy that once had hindered him from marshaling the work of slaughterous battle on the plain, both mighty Memnon and Hector high of heart, and other noble chiefs. In laying bare for them the secrets of Persephone’s house, Achilles, guardian of the Aeacids, showed forth Aegina to the world, and his own root and stock.

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56a

Not even after death did songs abandon him: around his pyre and burial-place the Heliconian maidens stood and poured out a dirge of many voices. Thus the immortals too regarded it as right that one of true worth, even after perishing, should be entrusted to the hymns of goddesses.

60

65 65a 66a

70

Now too this principle yields sense: [Str. 7] for Nicocles the Muses’ chariot is in motion to clamor forth a boxer’s monument. Accord him honor, who in the hollow of the Isthmus won Doric celery as his portion, since that man likewise at one time defeated those who dwelt about, driving them all headlong with inescapable hand. On him the son of his esteemed paternal uncle brings no disgrace. Therefore, let one among his youth’s companions weave for Cleander a pancratiast’s crown of delicate myrtle, since with prosperous outcome both Alcathous’ games and the young men at Epidaurus welcomed him before. He gives a good man wherewithal to praise him, for he did not suppress youth’s vigor in obscurity, untested by fine deeds.

The victory that this ode celebrates, won by Cleander of Aegina in the pancratium, dates probably to 478, not long after the Persian invasion of Greece was repulsed in the two decisive battles of Salamis (480) and Plataea (479). The looming threat posed by the invasion, the deep relief of eventual deliverance, and the high price paid in achieving it all find vivid expression in the ode’s opening strophes, in which Cleander’s triumph (1–5) is represented as an occasion for celebration and thanksgiving on various fronts and levels. Aegina had contributed significantly to the Greeks’ ultimate success in the struggle, even winning “first prize” (aristeia) for valor at Salamis, and it is natural to suppose that the loss of life among Aeginetan soldiers and sailors would still be weighing heavily on the community. With a view to assuaging such

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grief the speaker marshals various motifs and arguments of consolation, including the uselessness of excessive mourning and the need to return one’s attention to the claims, duties, and joys of daily life amid the instability and uncertainty of human existence (5–15a). The ode’s central myth is constructed essentially as a long narrative priamel, with Asopus’s daughter Thebe serving as foil for her sister Aegina, and Aegina herself as foil for her son Aeacus, whose special excellence was justice (16–24); Aeacus in turn yields the spotlight to his sons and grandsons, the Aeacids en masse (24–26), of whom one in particular, Peleus, is singled out by Themis in her speech to the assembled gods (39–46); then Peleus too makes way for the climactic figure of Achilles, his quintessentially heroic and quintessentially mortal son. Celebrated before his birth through the medium of Themis’s prophecy (31–37), by “poets’ mouths” while he was alive (47–48), and after his death by the Muses themselves (56a–60), Achilles’ “youthful excellence” can be regarded as paradigmatic of Aeginetan valor throughout the ages, down to its most recent manifestations at the battle of Salamis and (on a humbler scale) in the “warlike” sports of boxing and the pancratium, intensely grueling pursuits in which both Cleander’s late cousin Nicocles (61–65) and the young Cleander himself (65a–70) have tested—and proved—their worth. 1–6 These opening lines draw a clear distinction between the young men of Cleander’s victory-revel (kōmos) and the encomiastic “I” that is called upon to produce a celebratory ode with the Muse’s aid. The fact that at the moment of public utterance the ode in question has already been produced and the young men are already performing it (cf. intro. §15) does not prevent “revel” and “song” (kōmos and hymnos) from being conceptually separable aspects of the celebratory occasion, each one addressing different needs; see notes to O. 9.1 and N. 4.1. 5–8 These lines contain echoes of Achilles’ consolatory speech to Priam in Iliad 24 (e.g., “Let us allow our troubles to lie quiet in our hearts, grieved though we are, for numbing lamentation is of no avail,” 522–24) and Priam’s subsequent description of his own emotional state (e.g., “I wail and brood over my innumerable sorrows,” 639).

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6 Released as we are from great afflictions Evidently an allusion to the successful repulse of the Persian invasion, called the stone of Tantalus in 9 (cf. O. 1.57–58) and a hardship unendurable for Hellas in 11. 12–14 For the principle of “heeding what lies before one’s feet,” cf. P. 3.60. 16–18 By identifying himself as Theban and invoking the genealogical link between Aegina and Thebe (she and her sister) as the eponymous nymphs of their respective cities, the laudator lays claim to a special relationship with the Aeginetan victor above and beyond the sense of duty that all good men feel to praise the praiseworthy. 19 one Thebe. 20 Dirce’s waters See glossary. 21 But you The direct address (apostrophe) underscores Aegina’s greater relevance to the occasion. Oenopia’s isle Aegina. 22 Aeacus See glossary; on his parentage, birth, and reputation, cf. also N. 8.6–12. 24 His godlike sons Peleus and Telamon. 25 sons’ sons Achilles, Ajax, and Teucer. 26 temperate and wise of heart Alluding above all to Peleus, who showed his character to be such when he resisted Hippolyta’s advances out of respect for Zeus Xenios; cf. N. 5.26–34. 26a these things Referring in particular (cf. 38–40) to the qualities in Peleus just hinted at. 27 Thetis Daughter of Nereus (42) and mother by Peleus of Achilles (cf. 36–37). 31 Themis A Titan with prophetic powers (and mother of the Fates); see glossary. 40 most reverent See note on 26. Iolcus’ plain See glossary; for Peleus’s association with the city of Iolcus, cf. N. 3.34, N. 4.54–56. 41 Chiron’s everlasting cave On Mt. Pelion, site of the wedding between Peleus and Thetis; cf. P. 3.90, N. 5.22–25.

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46 Her words bore fruit The prophecy of Themis was realized in both its aspects: (a) Thetis was indeed married to Peleus, thereby averting the threat she posed to the Olympians (46a–47), and (b) Thetis’s son did indeed prove mightier than his father—so much so, in fact, that poets celebrated his deeds during his own (brief) lifetime (47–48). 49–50 On Achilles’ encounter with Telephus, see glossary, and cf. O. 9.71–73, I. 5.41–42. 51 Atreus’ sons Agamemnon and Menelaus, who led the united Greek army against Troy. Achilles’ exploits (particularly the killing of Hector) made the capture of the city and the recovery of Helen possible even though he himself did not live to witness either event. 52 the sinews I.e., such warriors as Memnon (54) and Hector (55), on whom see glossary. 55a Persephone’s house I.e., the underworld, realm of the dead; cf. O. 14.20–21. 57 the Heliconian maidens The Muses (cf. I. 2.35 with note); their singing at Achilles’ funeral is mentioned at Odyssey 24.60–62. 61 Nicocles Cleander’s cousin (cf. 65a). Though the logic behind his introduction makes it clear that Nicocles is dead, nothing that is said about him unambiguously indicates (as the analogy with Achilles might otherwise suggest) that he died in battle; contrast, e.g., I. 4.16–17b, I. 7.24–34. 64 likewise I.e., like Cleander—and like Achilles. 66 brings no disgrace On the negative phraseology, see app. §13. 66–66a let one among his youth’s companions weave A clear ring-form echo of 1–3, combining a reference to Cleander’s youth with a third-person imperative directed at a member of his kōmos. 67 Alcathous’ games Held at Megara; Alcathous was a legendary king of that city and one of Pelops’s many sons.

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68 Epidaurus Site of games in honor of Asclepius; cf. N. 3.84, N. 5.52. 70 untested by fine deeds The willingness to submit to the testing of experience is praiseworthy whether it results in success (cf. O. 2.51–52, N. 4.76–77) or not (cf. I. 4.28–30).

appen dix on c onventions a nd motifs

1. Opening hymns. Almost one-third of Pindar’s epinicians begin by formally invoking a deity, a deified abstraction, or some other entity imaginatively endowed with powers of perception and response. Standard features and topics of such hymnal invocations include a vocative address, attributes (epithets or other descriptors), genealogical relationships, cult-sites and other favorite places, divine associates, and, most importantly, the specific powers and prerogatives that make the deity an appropriate recipient of the request for which, in most (though not all) cases, the invocation serves as persuasive prelude. Some of the addressees are major or minor figures in the Olympian pantheon (Zeus in O. 4, Hestia in N. 11, the Graces in O. 14, Ilithyia in N. 7); others include the Titan Thea, mother of the Sun (I. 5), the eponymous nymphs of two cities, Camarina (O. 5) and Acragas (P. 12), and the precinct of Olympia itself, “mother of games and golden crowns” (O. 8). Especially worthy of note are such divinized figures as Fortune (O. 12), the Lyre (P. 1), Tranquility (P. 8), and Season of Youthfulness (N. 8), each personifying some principle or power relevant to the victor or the occasion. Any request made of the deity—the commonest is to “receive” or “welcome” the victory crown and/ or the victor himself on the present occasion of festivity—has more the effect of a formal afterthought than a substantive entreaty, the invocation’s main function being to create a broader conceptual context within which the particularities of the victor’s achievement can be viewed. The fact that the opening hymns of Pythian 1, Nemean 8, and Isthmian 5 have no request of any kind attached to them only underscores this point. 2. Priamels. A poetic and rhetorical device much used in epinicians (and in Greco-Roman literature generally) in order to focus attention on particular topics of discourse, the priamel “consists of two basic parts, the ‘foil’ and the 303

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‘climax.’ The function of the foil is to introduce and highlight the climactic term by enumerating or summarizing a number of other instances which then yield (with varying degrees of contrast or analogy) to the particular point of interest or importance” (Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 2012). At N. 8.37–39, for example, two common objects of human aspiration, gold and “land unbounded,” are juxtaposed with the speaker’s own desire to serve the public good through a just awarding of praise and blame, while in O. 1.1–7, the most famous of Pindar’s priamels, two embodiments of supreme value— water, the sine qua non of biological existence, and gold, the most precious of all material possessions—serve as analogues for the preeminence of the Olympic games over all other athletic festivals. Occasionally the foil element is not instantiated in concrete particulars but rather presented in “summary” form, as at N. 3.6–8: “Various actions thirst for various rewards; / what triumph at the games most loves is song, / deftest escort of crowns and deeds of prowess.” For other priamels, see O. 8.12–18, O. 11.1–6, P. 1.76–80, P. 2.13–20, I. 1.47–51, I. 5.26–35, I. 7.1–21. 3. Arrival motif. A recurrent feature of epinicians is the use of a first-person verb-form meaning “I have come” (eban, emolon, ēlthon) or “I come” (erchomai) to position the laudator “on the spot” at the scene of celebration for the discharging of his encomiastic duties. On the traditional assumption that the first person represented Pindar of Thebes in a direct and literal fashion, such forms were taken as reflecting the poet’s real-life travels through the Greek world in pursuance of his profession; nowadays, however, it is generally accepted that they are no less conventional than, say, a summons to the Muse or Muses to “come” or “go” to the community of the victor (e.g., O. 11.16–19, N. 3.1–3, N. 9.1–3). The non-literal nature of the motif is most pointedly demonstrated by shifting perspectives within the same ode, as when the speaker of Olympian 7 announces his arrival on Rhodes (13–14) just a few lines after he said that he was “dispatching” the song to its recipients (7–10), or when Pythian 2 is first represented as being “brought” by one “coming” to Syracuse from Thebes (3–4) and at a later point as being “sent” across the sea “like Phoenician merchandise” (67–68). The arrival motif is most commonly deployed in transitions between mythical narrative and “second praise” (intro. §20), where it is frequently linked with a phrase that defines the speaker’s role relative to the victor and/or his family; cf. O. 13.97 (“as ready ally”), N. 4.73–74 (“a ready herald”), N. 6.57b (“as messenger”), I. 6.58 (“as revel-master”). In a few instances of the motif (e.g., O. 6.22–28, N. 7.33–34) the destination or goal of motion is not the place of performance but a location of importance to an upcoming story, thereby dramatizing the speaker’s engagement with his new theme. 4. Encomiastic conditionals. All conditional sentences consist, by definition, of an “if-clause” (protasis) and a “then-clause” or conclusion (apodosis).

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A recurrent syntactical and rhetorical pattern in epinicians combines an ifclause setting forth, in generic terms, some category of good fortune or achievement (“If any man has wealth and/or possesses such-and-such natural gifts and/or gains success in such-and-such an endeavor . . .”) with a thenclause that can assume two different forms, “subjective” and “objective.” The former—“subjective” inasmuch as it bears most closely on the speaker of the ode—is equivalent in its gist to “such a man deserves unstinted praise” (e.g., I. 1.41–46, I. 3.1–3, I. 5.22–25, O. 6.4–7). The “objective” form—thus termed because it pertains chiefly to the laudandus—is reducible in thought to “such a man has reached the limits of human aspiration” (e.g., O. 5.23–24, P. 10.22– 29, N. 9.46–47, I. 5.12–16, I. 6.10–13) and may thus for convenience be labeled the “ne plus ultra motif,” using the Latin phrase for “go no further.” Particularly likely to appear when the winning of praise and/or fame is already included within the if-clause (though in fact it may be found outside of encomiastic conditionals as well), the ne plus ultra motif itself takes different forms depending on whether its axis of operation is vertical or horizontal. The basic message of the “vertical” type is “You can’t climb to heaven” (P. 10.27, I. 7.43– 44) or “Don’t try to become a god” (O. 5.24, I. 5.14); that of the “horizontal” is “You have come to the limits of human journeying” (P. 10.28–30, N. 9.46–47, I. 6.12–13) or, more concretely, “Don’t try to sail beyond the pillars of Heracles” (O. 3.43–45, N. 3.20–21, N. 4.69–70, I. 4.11–13). 5. First-person indefinite. It is not uncommon in Pindar’s odes for the epinician “I” to espouse a view, declare an intention, or express a desire not in his personal role as designated encomiast but as a generalized spokesman for all right-thinking persons, including—most notably and relevantly—the victor himself. A perspicuous example of this convention, which has been aptly dubbed the “first-person indefinite,” is to be seen at N. 1.31–32, where extended praise of Chromius’s various virtues, open-handed hospitality among them, culminates in a first-person declaration articulating the victor’s own philanthropic attitude toward the resources at his disposal: “What I desire is not to keep / great wealth concealed within my house, / but, using my possessions, to enjoy success and good repute / while helping friends.” Other noteworthy instances of the rhetorical stratagem can be found at P. 3.107–11, where it endorses (on Hieron’s behalf) a flexible attitude toward changing circumstances and the use of wealth as a means of securing fame, and at P. 11.50–54, where it commends propriety and circumspection in one’s aspirations, a moderate station in life, and devotion to the public good, and in so doing implicitly attributes them to Thrasydaeus and his family. Failure to recognize the conventional force of such utterances can have a significant impact on interpretation, inviting as it does an automatic identification of the “I” with the historical Pindar; thus a few lines in Isthmian 7 (“Pursuing day by day what is

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delightful, / I shall move calmly toward old age and my allotted / span of life,” 40–42) were long regarded as proving that Pindar composed that ode near the end of his life, while from the time of the ancient commentators onward the successive first-person statements in the final triad of Pythian 2 have been understood to express Pindar’s personal plight as a target of intrigue and calumny at Hieron’s court. 6. Associative transitions. One characteristic element in Pindar’s mimesis of extemporaneous speech (intro. §16)—so characteristic, indeed, that it contributed significantly to the centuries-old stereotype of his “waywardness”—is his predilection for transitions that operate through simple resemblance, contrariety, or contiguity of ideas rather than in accordance with deductive or inductive procedures. Associative transitions are particularly useful as a way of introducing myths, as in O. 8.30ff. and P. 9.4ff., where the mere mention of a name (Aeacus and Cyrene respectively) is enough to launch the speaker into full-blown narrative via a pivotal relative pronoun; since in neither case does anything said prior to that pronoun demand illustration or explanation through myth, the speaker’s plunge into storytelling seems to reflect his own impulsiveness and suggestibility rather than any logically apprehensible end that he has in view. (That Pindar himself had such ends in view may of course be taken for granted.) Occasionally the associative thought-process is imitated within myths as well, when for his own compositional purposes Pindar permits the speaker to become so absorbed in an unfolding narrative that he loses sight of his original reason for introducing it. Notable instances of such “narrative momentum” can be seen in the central myths of Pythian 8 and Nemean 9, each of which continues well beyond the point that it ostensibly sets out to exemplify or explain; and much the same phenomenon is evident also in O. 2.56ff., although what the speaker gets “carried away” by there is not a narrative in the strict sense but an extended description of the afterlife. 7. Ethical/emotional transitions. At various junctures in Pindar’s odes the encomiastic persona is represented as undergoing an ethical or emotional reaction to something that he himself has just said. Traditionally understood to reflect Pindar’s own moral sensibilities, such passages are better taken as mimetic in nature, motivating necessary changes of direction in an ode’s unfolding discourse through reference to the supposed feelings of its fictional  speaker. One trait commonly manifested in such “character-drawing” (ēthopoiia) is piety, which can prompt the laudator to address the gods in entreaty or deprecation and thereby facilitate the introduction of a new theme or topic to meet Pindar’s larger compositional needs. Instructive examples can be found at P. 1.29–33, N. 8.35–39, and N. 9.28–32, where in each case dark or otherwise disagreeable material—the monster Typhon’s torment under Mt. Aetna, the disastrous expedition of the Seven against Thebes, Odysseus’s

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shameless exploitation of rhetorical skill in the Contest of Arms—evokes from the speaker a heartfelt plea that Zeus may ward off harm and vouchsafe favor, thereby effecting a shift in focus to subject matter more in keeping with a festive occasion. A slightly different maneuver is to be seen in places where the speaker first utters a prayer or apostrophizes a deity and then feels compelled to explain why he has just done so, with the explanation either serving as a bridge to the next encomiastic topic (e.g., P. 1.39–42, N. 3.64–66) or else constituting that topic in and of itself (e.g., O. 4.12–16). The most complex (and notorious) examples of ethical mimesis in the odes, however, involve moments when the speaker embarks upon a particular mythical narrative—the dismemberment and partial devouring of Pelops in O. 1.26ff., for example, or Heracles’ battle with three gods in O. 9.29ff.—only to turn around and disavow it on grounds of morality and/or religious decorum. If Pindar himself had truly regarded such stories as out of place in an epinician, he would presumably have steered clear of them altogether; one must therefore conclude that his purposes in scripting such miniature dramas of error and repentance are to be sought out on the compositional level, as ad hoc responses to certain tactical problems encountered in the marshaling and disposition of his material. 8. Situational transitions. A third method of motivating necessary changes of topic in an ode’s unfolding discourse is through reference to the conditions of performance and/or the nature of the rhetorical occasion. Such considerations would of course have been real-life factors for Pindar to reckon with when composing an ode, but to the extent that they are explicitly invoked within the ode they are no less fictional than any other manifestation of ostensibly “spontaneous” speech. Among the external constraints most frequently cited are the temporal limitations under which the laudator is operating (P. 4.247, P. 8.29–31) and his encomiastic obligations toward the victor, his family, and/or his clan, whether those obligations are explicitly labeled as a contract (P. 11.41–45, N. 4.73–75), figured more generally as a “debt” or “duty” (P. 8.32– 34, P. 9.103–5), or simply implied by his arrival at the scene of celebration (see §3 above). In relation to the audience, the speaker must be on guard against arousing adverse reactions such as might impair the effectiveness of his praise, including tedium (N. 7.52–53, N. 10.20), envy (O. 8.54–55, P. 1.84), and disbelief (N. 9.33); with that end in view, therefore, he invokes at different times various criteria for the selection of subject matter, among them relevance (O. 13.93–95, P. 11.37–40), decorum (I. 5.51–54), variety (P. 10.53–54), and the relative preferability of certain themes, whether “native” over “foreign” (N. 3.26–31) or “contemporary” over “ancient” (N. 6.53–57). Inasmuch as the chief purpose for which situational motivations of all kinds are deployed is to justify the abbreviation or dismissal of one type of material and the introduction of another, it is not surprising that they should most often be found clustering between an

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ode’s central myth (intro. §18) and its “second praise” (intro. §20). Occasionally, when rhetorical circumstances so dictate, they may be invoked and then ultimately overridden, thus underscoring the importance of the original theme or topic (cf. P. 1.81–86, N. 4.33–43, N. 10.19–22). 9. Ring composition. Ubiquitous in the Homeric poems (particularly in their speeches) as well as in Pindar’s odes, ring composition (or ring form) is a structural and/or rhetorical pattern whereby identical or closely similar elements placed at the beginning and end of a unit of discourse serve to mark that unit out from its surrounding context. The repeated element may be a word or phrase, an idea, a narrative incident (on this last, see next section), or some combination thereof. In Olympian 1, for example, the central “excursus” on Pelops and his Olympian chariot race is immediately preceded by the phrase “Bright for him shines fame” (23) and immediately followed by “Fame gleams far and wide” (94–95), where the repetition of the word “fame” (kleos) itself, the idea that is expressed, and the visual image of brightness all combine to create a strong effect of “rounding off ” before the focus of attention shifts back to Hieron’s own victory at Olympia. So too the miniature “Oresteia” of P. 11.17–37 is framed on either side by references to Orestes’ status as a “guestfriend” (xenos) of the royal house of Phocis (15–16, 34–36), while in Pythian 12 the aetiological account of a musical invention by Athena begins (7) and ends (22) with forms of the verb “invent” itself (epheure, heuren). In “concentric” ring composition, the most elaborate manifestation of the phenomenon, the corresponding elements are nested inside one another (A, B, C, B′, A′) like Chinese boxes or matryoshka dolls. This pattern can be used to structure entire narratives (e.g., P. 4.4–63, P. 6.28–42) or speeches within narratives (e.g., P. 4.13–56); in its most extensive manifestation, embracing argumentation and narrative alike, it shapes well over half of Pythian 3. 10. Kephalaion structure. One particular manifestation of ring composition that is often found in Pindaric narrative involves the use of a kephalaion (lit. “summary” or “main point”). A myth structured in accordance with this pattern begins with a concise summary of an essential or climactic juncture in the story, moves back in time to sketch antecedent events, and then works forward again to the original point of departure, which is usually (though not invariably) developed in greater detail the second time around. Instances of kephalaion structure can be found at O. 10.24–25 ~ 43–59 (Heracles’ founding of the Olympic games), O. 13.63–64 ~ 84–86 (Bellerophon’s efforts to tame Pegasus), P. 2.21–24 ~ 40–41 (Ixion’s punishment as a warning to mankind), P. 3.8–11 ~ 34–44 (Coronis’s death and the birth of Asclepius), P. 9.5–13 ~ 67–69 (Cyrene’s abduction by Apollo and their sexual union in Libya), and P. 10.31– 34 ~ 44–46 (Perseus’s visit to the land of the Hyperboreans). The second appearance of the kephalaion is sometimes followed by an epilogue or “after-

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math” section. The epilogue usually summarizes exploits performed by the myth’s central figure, as at O. 13.87–90 (Bellerophon’s campaigns against the Amazons, Chimaera, and Solymi), P. 3.47–60 (Asclepius’s extraordinary achievements as a healer), or P. 10.46–48 (Perseus’s killing of Medusa), but at P. 2.42–48 it describes Ixion’s progeny by the cloud-phantom. 11. Break-off passages. Not infrequently the epinician speaker will call an emphatic halt to his treatment of one subject—generally but not always a mythical narrative—and ostentatiously redirect his attention to another, usually one more closely connected with the encomiastic occasion. Most often the motivations brought forward to justify the shift in focus are of the “situational” type (see §8 above), involving such factors as contractual obligation (e.g., P. 11.41–42, N. 4.73–75), the need for variety (e.g., P. 10.53–54), and the risk of inspiring tedium (e.g., N. 7.52–53); occasionally, however, they are “ethical” in nature (see §7 above), positing a sudden reaction of moral distaste on the speaker’s part against the tale that he has so recently been telling (e.g., O. 9.35– 39, N. 5.16–18). Break-offs are likely to incorporate certain recurrent metaphors, most notably the journey or voyage that has gone off course (e.g., P. 10.51–52, P. 11.38–40, N. 3.26–27, N. 4.69–70) and “missiles of song” (see §15 below) whose use must be forsworn owing to the pressure of other claims (e.g., O. 2.83–86, O. 13.93–95, I. 5.46–48). By convention, certain other motifs may be deployed in the preceding narrative to signal the fact that a break-off is upcoming. One such indicator is a reference to “wonders” or “marvels” and/or to the power and efficacy of the gods (e.g., O. 13.83–84, P. 1.26, P. 2.46–52, P. 9.67–68, P. 10.48–50); another is an evocation of violent death or defeat and/or of their victims or instruments (e.g., O. 2.81–83, O. 9.33–35, 76–79, O. 13.87–92, P. 10.46– 48, P. 11.36–37, N. 6.52–53, I. 5.49–50). While both of these motifs help (in different ways) to bring the myth to a climax by heightening its emotional effect, the tonal mismatch in the latter between violent content and larger festal context can be felt to provide additional motivation for a change of subject. 12. Victory-wishes. Aside from certain general prayers (e.g., O. 4.12–13, O. 8.84–85) that may be assumed, in context, to include further athletic success within their purview, there are eight passages in Pindar’s odes that make specific and unambiguous reference to hoped-for victories in the laudandus’s future. Half of these (O. 1.106–11, P. 5.122–24, I. 1.64–68, I. 7.49–51) appear near or at the end of their respective odes; the rest are found either near the beginning (N. 2.6–10, I. 6.7–9) or in the middle of a victory catalogue (O. 13.101–6, N. 10.29–33). In almost all cases (I. 6.7–9 is an exception) the particular victory desiderated conforms to the conventional hierarchy of prestige that obtained among the four Panhellenic festivals (cf. intro. §4), meaning that Nemean victors entertain hopes of the Isthmus, Isthmian victors look to Pytho, and Pythian victors aspire to success at Olympia. A recurrent motif in

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victory-wishes is the thought that since human beings live in an inherently unstable and uncertain world, they must depend on divinity for the fulfillment of their plans and purposes. Most elaborately qualified in this respect, and most strongly marked in their expression by reticence and indirection, are the victory-wishes in Olympian 13 and Nemean 10; since each of these has its sights set on the Olympic games, the pinnacle of athletic competition in ancient Greece, one can conclude that a becoming modesty of approach is most pressingly demanded where the stakes are highest and the risk of failure most daunting. For the bearing of these considerations on P. 8.70–77 and P. 10.55–63 as putative additions to the roster of victory-wishes, see the notes to those passages. 13. Negative expressions. A common feature of Pindar’s style is his proclivity for expressing a positive idea through the negation of its opposite. In its simplest and most straightforward form, this results in the rhetorical figure of litotes, which intensifies the force of an assertion through understatement, as when it is said that Thrasybulus’s house is “by no means unacquainted”—that is, very well acquainted indeed—with victory-revels and songs of praise (I. 2.30), or that the people of Western Locris “do not shun strangers” but rather welcome them with open arms (O. 11.17). When the superiority of a laudandus is expressed not as “X is the best” but as “no one is better than X” and a geographical or temporal category (“in all of Greece,” “among men now living,” etc.) is then added, what results is the ringing praise of a “categorical vaunt” (cf. O. 1.103–5, O. 2.91–95, P. 2.58–61, N. 6.24–28). Even more characteristically Pindaric, though, is the use of “negative expressions” to temper praise with chastening reminders of human frailty and the hazards inherent in all human endeavor, thereby giving it persuasive depth, weight, perspective, and shading. Thus when the ethical imperative to bestow public recognition on virtue and high achievement is formulated as injunctions not to “begrudge” due praise (I. 1.43–45, I. 5.24–25) or to “conceal from view” (O. 7.92–93, P. 9.93–94) or “cloak in silence” (N. 9.6–7, I. 2.43–45) things that are worthy of celebration, such locutions give due recognition to a fundamental aspect of human nature—that envious impulse (called phthonos by the Greeks) which prompts us, when faced with others’ merit, to stint, neglect, detract, or diminish. Similarly, to assert that a victorious athlete “brings no shame” on his relatives or homeland (P. 8.36–37, N. 3.14–17, I. 3.13–14, I. 8.65a-66), that Xenocrates “did not find fault” with the consummate skill of his charioteer (I. 2.20–22), or that by being thrice victorious at Megara Telesicrates “escaped through his deeds the helplessness of silence” (P. 9.92), is to conjure up a world of high and exacting standards, where success is always balanced on a knife-edge of failure and where those who inherit a tradition of familial or civic excellence are by virtue of that very fact exposed to the risk of being tested and found wanting.

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14. Missiles and highways of song. In Pindar’s epinicians two metaphors (or metaphor clusters) are regularly applied to poetry and poetic activity. One draws its imagery from archery and javelin-throwing and is deployed for a variety of purposes. The missiles in question may represent things that the speaker is about to say (O. 1.111–12) or, more commonly, things that he could say if circumstances did not dictate a change of subject (O. 2.83–85, O. 13.93– 95, I. 5.46–48). When emphasis falls on the specific target at which the missile is being launched (O. 2.89–92, O. 9.5–8 and 11–12, N. 3.65–66), the metaphor functions as a selection device in the focusing of encomiastic intention; when accuracy of aim is stressed, the point at issue is either the truthfulness of statements (N. 1.18, N. 6.26–28, N. 9.54–55) or their relevance (O. 13.93–95, P. 1.42– 44, N. 7.70–73)., Equally ubiquitous and versatile, the second metaphor applies various words denoting “road” (highway, path, avenue, thoroughfare) to two main categories of use. When referring to subject matter, the image serves to conjure up the abundance of potential themes at the speaker’s disposal, either by way of preface to a particular selection (N. 6.45–46, I. 4.1–3, I. 6.22–23) or, when deployed epilogically, as a means of suggesting that the foregoing material is too copious to be pursued under present circumstances (N. 6.53–54, N. 7.50–52). Applied to treatment or approach, it can refer programmatically to an upcoming topic (O. 6.22–27), confess to a divagation from the ode’s main line of argument (P. 11.37–38), or facilitate a stylistic shift from one mode of narration to another (P. 4.247–48). 15. Muses and Graces. Both the Muses and the Graces (Charites) figure prominently in Pindar’s odes as sources of poetic inspiration and ability, whether called upon for assistance or credited with already existent effectiveness. Although their functions overlap, a division of labor is nonetheless discernible. The chief domain of the Muses—or, more often, of the singular (and usually anonymous) Muse—seems to be the content or substance of song, such as she supplies to the poet from his own “skill and thought” (N. 3.9), maintains for his benefit within her “reserves of force” (O. 1.111–12), or “welds” on her own out of “gold and gleaming ivory” and “coral’s lily-flower” (N. 7.77–79); she is thus associated with poetic “discovery” and “invention” (O. 3.4–6, O. 9.80– 81), with truthfulness, rectitude, and the scrupulous discharging of encomiastic obligations (O. 6.19–21, O. 10.3–6, P. 11.41–44, I. 6.56–58), with accuracy of aim (O. 9.5–8, N. 6.26–29, N. 9.55) and fidelity of transmission (O. 6.90–91, P. 4.279). The Graces, on the other hand, concern themselves more with manner than with matter; being embodiments of grace and charm (charis), they preside over the expressive aspects of poetry, those qualities of verbal artistry and embellishment that inspire delight and foster belief in auditors. Thus it is the Graces’ persuasive charm that the laudator invokes when faced with the challenge of a particularly elaborate victory catalogue (P. 9.89a–90); that aids him

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in “announcing” (P. 9.1–4) or “sounding forth” (N. 9.54) his clients’ achievements; that allows his “message” to travel through the world with speed and efficiency (O. 9.23–26); that enables words to “live a longer time than deeds” (N. 4.6–8) and makes song “a most enduring light for exploits of wide power” (O. 4.9–10). A second and quite distinct role assigned to the Graces by epinician convention is as dispensers of athletic victory and the charm or glamour—the charisma, indeed—that victory bestows (cf. O. 2.49–51, O. 6.75– 76, O. 7.11, O. 14.18–20, P. 5.45, N. 6.37–38, N. 10.37–38).

gl ossary of names

The pronunciations indicated follow the traditional (i.e., Anglicized) rendition of the Latinized spelling; accented syllables (as defined by Latin rules of stress) are CAPITALIZED. Any name in boldface has an entry of its own that can be consulted for additional information. abas (AB-as) An early king of Argos (P. 8.55), son of Lynceus (1) and Hypermestra. acastus (a-KAS-tus) King of Iolcus following the death of his father Pelias, and husband of Hippolyta (N. 4.57, N. 5.30); see Peleus for further information. achaea (a-KEE-a)

A region in the northern Peloponnesus (N. 10.47).

achaeans (a-KEE-unz) In the Homeric poems, a collective term for Greeks of the heroic age (cf. Danaans). Pindar applies the term to inhabitants of Sparta (I. 1.31), of Phthiotis in southeastern Thessaly (I. 1.58), and of Epirus (N. 7.64). acharnae (a-KAR-nee) acheron (ACK-e-ron)

A township in Attica (N. 2.16). A river in the underworld (P. 11.21, N. 4.85).

achilles (a-KIL-eez) Son of Peleus (P. 6.23) and Thetis (O. 2.80, O. 9.76); reared by Chiron on Mt. Pelion (P. 6.21–27, N. 3.43–58); companion and mentor of Patroclus (O. 9.70–79, O. 10.19); his exploits at Troy and elsewhere (O. 2.81–83, N. 6.49–53, I. 5.39–42, I. 8.49–56); his body fought over after death (N. 8.30); his funeral (P. 3.101–3, I. 8.57–60); his posthumous existence in the Isles of the Blessed (O. 2.79–80) or on the island Leuke (“shining”) in the Euxine Sea (N. 4.49–50). 313

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acragas (ACK-ra-gas) A large and wealthy city on the southwestern coast of Sicily, situated on a river of the same name (P. 12.2–3; cf. O. 2.9, P. 6.6). In the mid-sixth century Acragas was ruled by Phalaris, a tyrant notorious for his cruelty (P. 1.95–97); during the reign of Theron (488–472 b.c.) an extensive building program brought the city to new heights of magnificence (cf. P. 12.3). Odes that praise victors from Acragas are O. 2 and O. 3 (for Theron), P. 6 and I. 2 (for Xenocrates), and P. 12 (for Midas). acron (ACK-ron)

Father of Psaumis of Camarina (O. 5.8).

actor (ACK-tor) Father of Menoetius by Aegina (O. 9.69). admetus (ad-MEE-tus)

Son of Pheres and cousin of Jason (P. 4.126).

adrastus (a-DRAS-tus) Son of Talaus (O. 6.15, N. 9.14) and king of Argos, he was forced into exile through factional conflict with Amphiaraus and took up residence in Sicyon, succeeding to that city’s throne (N. 9.11–14). Later becoming reconciled with Amphiaraus (to whom he gave his sister Eriphyle in marriage), he returned to Argos and its kingship (N. 9.15–17). He arranged a marriage between his daughter Argia and Polynices, who had been expelled from Thebes by his brother Eteocles and was seeking assistance in reclaiming his rights. Adrastus accordingly organized the renowned expedition of the Seven against Thebes, which attacked the city with an army of seven contingents under the command of seven chieftains, of whom he and Polynices were two. The expedition was ill-starred from the outset (see Amphiaraus, and cf. N. 9.18–20) and resulted in disaster for all the invaders except Adrastus himself, who survived and returned to Argos (I. 7.10–11). Ten years later he led the sons of the original Seven, known as the Epigoni or “Descendants,” on a second—and this time successful—attempt to capture Thebes, during which the only Argive hero to fall in battle was Adrastus’s own son Aegialeus (P. 8.48–55). Adrastus was credited with founding the Pythian games at Sicyon while he ruled that city (N. 9.9–12, I. 4.26) and the Nemean games while the Seven were passing through Nemea on their way to Thebes (N. 10.28; cf. N. 8.51). aeacids (EE-a-sids) Lit. “sons/descendants of Aeacus,” the term encompasses a number of figures over three generations: Aeacus’s sons Peleus, Telamon, and Phocus; Peleus’s son Achilles and Telamon’s sons Ajax and Teucer; and Achilles’ son Neoptolemus. Perhaps the most illustrious family in Greek legend, the Aeacids were held in special honor on the island of Aegina (cf. N. 3.28–32, N. 6.45–47, I. 5.34–35, I. 6.19–21). aeacus (EE-a-kus) Son of Zeus by the nymph Aegina (N. 8.6–8), father of Peleus and Telamon by his wife Endeïs and of Phocus by the sea-goddess Psamathea (N. 5.12–13); first king of Aegina, admired by neighboring peo-

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ples (N. 8.8–12) and respected by the gods for his virtue and judgment (I. 8.21–24); called upon by Apollo and Poseidon to assist them in constructing the city-wall of Troy (O. 8.31–46). In historical times there was a hero-cult of Aeacus on Aegina, complete with shrine and ritual offerings (cf. N. 5.53–54, N. 8.13–15). aeetes (ee-EE-teez) 160, 213, 224, 238).

King of the Colchians and father of Medea (P. 4.10,

aegae (EE-jee) According to Homer (Iliad 13.21), site of an undersea palace of Poseidon (cf. N. 5.37). aegean (ee-JEE-an) (Sea) The portion of the Mediterranean lying between mainland Greece and Asia Minor. aegeus (ee-JEE-us) One of the Sown Men (Spartoi) and ancestor of the Aegids. aegids (EE-jids) A clan of Theban origin instrumental in the Dorian settlement of the Peloponnesus; see notes on P. 5.75 and I. 7.14. aegimius (ee-JIM-ee-us)

An ancestor of the Dorians (P. 1.64, P. 5.72).

aegina (ee-JYE-na) An island (and city-state) in the Saronic Gulf; also, a nymph of the same name, daughter of the river-god Asopus (I. 8.17) and mother by Zeus of Aeacus (N. 8.6–7). Historically, Aegina was a major naval and commercial power during the archaic period, issuing the first silver coinage of any Greek city outside of Asia Minor. In the Persian Wars the Aeginetans (ee-ji-NEE-tans) played a significant role in the sea battles of Artemisium and Salamis; in the latter, indeed, they were deemed to have fought with greater distinction than any other contingent in the Greek fleet (Herodotus 8.93, and cf. I. 5.48–50). Two decades later, however, centuries-old tensions between Aegina and Athens erupted into open warfare, culminating in the capture of the island and its forced absorption into the Delian League. The people of Aegina were of Dorian extraction (O. 8.30, P. 8.20). aegisthus (ee-JIS-thus) Cousin of Agamemnon and lover of Clytemnestra (P. 11.37). aegyptus (ee-JIP-tus)

Brother of Danaus and father of Lynceus (1).

aeneas (ee-NEE-as) A chorus leader addressed in O. 6 (88). aenesidamus (ee-nee-si-DAY-mus) 2.46, O. 3.9, I. 2.28).

Father of Theron and Xenocrates (O.

aeolians (ee-OH-lee-unz) One of several ethnic and linguistic subdivisions within the larger category of Hellenes (speakers of Greek), settling on the northwestern coast of Asia Minor and its offshore islands, including

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Lesbos and Tenedos (cf. N. 11.34–35). One of the so-called modes or styles of Greek music was called Aeolian (O. 1.102, P. 2.69, N. 3.79). aeolus (EE-o-lus) Eponymous ancestor of the Aeolians; father of Sisyphus and great-grandfather of both Bellerophon (O. 13.67) and Jason (P. 4.72). aepytus (EE-pi-tus) Father of Evadne (O. 6.36). aeson (EE-son) Father of Jason (P. 4.118). aetna (ET-na) A volcano in eastern Sicily (O. 4.6, O. 13.111, P. 1.20), subject to periodic eruptions both in antiquity and in modern times; also, a city of the same name founded not far from the mountain by Hieron of Syracuse (P. 1.60, N. 9.2). aetolia (ee-TOH-lee-a) A region of west-central Greece; its chief city was Calydon, home of Oeneus and his sons Tydeus and Meleager (cf. I. 5.30– 31). agamemnon (a-ga-MEM-non) Son of Atreus (P. 11.31), brother of Menelaus, and commander in chief of the combined Greek forces that fought at Troy to regain possession of Helen; upon his return home he was murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus (cf. P. 11.17–34). aglaïa (a-GLYE-a)

See Graces.

ajax (AY-jax) (1) Son of Telamon and Eriboea (I. 6.52–53), born and raised on the island of Salamis (cf. N. 2.13–14, N. 4.48, I. 5.48). Among the Greek warriors who fought at Troy, Ajax was generally recognized to be second only to Achilles in courage and effectiveness (N. 7.26–27). After Achilles’ death Ajax and Odysseus became rivals for the honor of inheriting his weapons and armor; when the Greek army decided to award these to Odysseus, Ajax committed suicide (N. 7.25–27, N. 8.23–27, I. 4.35–36b). (2) Son of Oïleus of Locris (O. 9.112); sometimes referred to as “Ajax the Lesser” to distinguish him from the son of Telamon. alcaeus (al-SEE-us) Father of Amphitryon and thus (putative) grandfather of Heracles (O. 6.68). alcathous (al-KATH-oh-us) A son of Pelops and legendary king of Megara, which held an athletic festival in his honor (I. 8.67). alcimedon (al-SIM-e-don) alcimidas (al-SIM-i-das)

An Aeginetan wrestler (O. 8.17, 65). An Aeginetan wrestler (N. 6.8, 60).

alcmaeon (alk-MEE-on) Son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle, who fought at Thebes as one of the Epigoni or “Descendants” (P. 8.39–47; for story, see Adrastus). On returning home from the war Alcmaeon murdered Eriphyle in order to avenge his father’s unwilling participation and death in the original expedition of the Seven against Thebes.

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alcmaeonidae (alk-mee-OH-ni-dee) A prominent aristocratic family of Athens (P. 7.2). alcmene (alk-MEE-nee) Granddaughter of Perseus, daughter of Electryon, wife of Amphitryon, and mother by Zeus of Heracles, whom she bore at the same time as Heracles’ fully mortal half brother Iphicles (P. 9.84–86, N. 1.35–36). alcyoneus (al-see-OH-nee-us) A gigantic herdsman slain by Heracles and Telamon (N. 4.27–30, I. 6.31–35). aletes (a-LEE-teez) aleuadae

A mythical king of Corinth (O. 13.14).

See Aleuas.

aleuas (a-LEW-as) Progenitor of the Aleuadae, a prominent Thessalian family (P. 10.5). alexibias (a-leck-SIB-ee-as)

Father of Carrhotus (P. 5.45).

alexidamus (a-leck-si-DAY-mus)

An ancestor of Telesicrates (P. 9.121).

alpheus (al-FEE-us) A river in the Peloponnesus, flowing northwest from Laconia through Arcadia and Elis; because Olympia is situated on its northern bank, its name is much used in periphrastic allusions to the Olympic games (e.g., O. 1.20, O. 7.15, O. 13.35, N. 6.18). The Alpheus was also supposed to have a subterranean connection with the fountain Arethusa in Syracuse (cf. N. 1.1–2 with note). altis (AL-tis)

The sacred precinct of Zeus at Olympia (O. 10.45).

amazons A legendary race of warrior women, innately hostile to men, and thought to live somewhere on the borders of the known world (cf. O. 8.47). Fighting the Amazons was one of the feats performed by Bellerophon while mounted on Pegasus (O. 13.87–89); and one of Heracles’ Twelve Labors was to gain possession of the belt of the Amazon queen Hippolyta, an expedition on which he was accompanied by Iolaus and Telamon (N. 3.38–39). amenas (AM-e-nas) A river in Sicily flowing past the city of Aetna (P. 1.67). amphiaraus (am-fee-a-RAY-us) Son of Oïcles and brother-in-law of Adrastus through his marriage to Eriphyle (N. 9.16–17). A prophet as well as a warrior (O. 6.16–17), he foresaw disaster for the expedition of the Seven against Thebes and tried to dissuade Adrastus from launching it, but in the end he was induced to participate by his wife (see Eriphyle for details). During the battle before the walls of Thebes Amphiaraus was overcome by panic and started to flee in his chariot, whereupon Zeus split the earth open with a thunderbolt and both hero and horses disappeared into its depths

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(O. 6.14, N. 9.24–27, N. 10.8–9). Thus entombed, Amphiaraus enjoyed a posthumous existence as an oracular power (cf. P. 8.39–56). amphitrite (am-fi-TRYE-tee) (O. 6.105).

One of the Nereids, and wife of Poseidon

amphitryon (am-FIT-tree-on) Grandson of Perseus, husband (and cousin) of Alcmene. Having been exiled from Argos for killing his fatherin-law Electryon, Amphitryon migrated with Alcmene to Thebes (cf. P. 9.83). While he was on campaign against the Teleboans, seeking vengeance for their murder of Alcmene’s brothers, Zeus assumed his appearance and, thus disguised, impregnated Alcmene with Heracles (N. 10.13–17, I. 7.5–7); later that same night Amphitryon himself returned and begot Iphicles. Despite Zeus’s undoubted paternity, Heracles is sometimes referred to as the son of Amphitryon (e.g., O. 3.14, I. 6.38). The chief athletic festival in Thebes, the Iolaeia, took place in the vicinity of a tomb shared by Amphitryon and his grandson Iolaus (P. 9.80–83, N. 4.19–21). amyclae (a-MICK-lee) A town near Sparta, captured by the Dorians when they invaded the Peloponnesus (P. 1.65–66, I. 7.14–15). Pindar represents Amyclae as being the hometown of Agamemnon (P. 11.31–32) and Orestes (N. 11.34), in preference to the standard alternatives of Mycenae (Homer) and Argos (Aeschylus). amyntorids (a-MIN-tor-ids) mia (O. 7.23–24).

Descendants of Amyntor, father of Astyda-

amythaon (a-mi-THAY-on) Brother of Aeson and Pheres (P. 4.126). antaeus (an-TEE-us) (1) A Libyan giant vanquished by Heracles (I. 4.52). (2) A Libyan king (P. 9.106). antenor (an-TEE-nor) A Trojan elder who, along with his sons, survived the sack of Troy (P. 5.83). antias (AN-tee-as) (N. 10.40).

A maternal kinsman of Theaeus of Thebes

aphareus (a-FAR-ee-us)

Father of Lynceus (1) and Idas (N. 10.65).

aphrodite (a-fro-DYE-tee) Goddess of physical beauty (N. 8.1, I. 2.4–5, O. 10.104–5) and sexual love (O. 6.35, N. 7.53). According to one tradition, she was born from the sea-foam (aphros) and first came ashore on the island of Cyprus; hence her sobriquet Cypris or “the Cyprian” (N. 8.7, O. 1.75) and her epithet “Cyprus-born” (O. 10.105, P. 4.216). apollo Son of Zeus by Leto, closely associated with his birthplace Delos and with Pytho (or Delphi), site of his most famous temple and most important oracle, after which he is sometimes called “Pythian” (O. 14.11, N.

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3.70); other epithets include Phoebus, Loxias, and Paean. Apollo is a god of widely varied interests; in addition to prophecy (P. 5.68–69, P. 11.3–6), these include archery (O. 6.59, O. 14.11, P. 9.26), music and lyre-playing (P. 1.1–4, N. 5.23–25), poetry (P. 5.65–67), migration and colonization (P. 5.60, I. 7.15), and medicine (P. 4.270, P. 5.63–64). His protégés include Cinyras (P. 2.16), Orpheus (P. 4.176), and the Hyperboreans (O. 3.16, P. 10.35); his children by mortal women include Iamus (O. 6.35–70), Asclepius (P. 3.8–46), and Aristaeus (P. 9.59–65); recipients of his oracular pronouncements include Laius (O. 2.39–40), Aepytus (O. 6.49–51), Tlepolemus (O. 7.32–33), Aeacus (O. 8.41–46), Battus (P. 4.4–8, 53–63), and Pelias (P. 4.71–75, 163– 64). In addition to the Pythian games, which were by far the most important, athletic festivals honoring Apollo were held at Sicyon (N. 9.9–12, 52–53) and on the island of Aegina (P. 8.65–66). arcadia (ar-KAY-dee-a) The ruggedly mountainous central portion of the Peloponnesus, closely associated with Hermes through his birth on Mt. Cyllene (O. 6.77–80). Other Arcadian mountains mentioned in the odes are Lycaeus (O. 9.96, O. 13.107–8, N. 10.48) and Maenalus (O. 9.59); Arcadian cities named include Tegea (O. 10.66, N. 10.47), Clitor (N. 10.47), Mantinea (O. 10.70), and Stymphalus (O. 6.99). arcesilas (ar-SES-i-las) (1) A king of Cyrene (P. 4.2, 65, 250, 298, P. 5.5, 103). (2) Father of Aristagoras of Tenedos (N. 11.11). archestratus (ar-KES-tra-tus) Father of Hagesidamus of Western Locris (O. 10.2, 99, O. 11.11). archilochus (ar-KIL-o-kus) A poet of the seventh century b.c., born on Paros in the southern Aegean. Although his surviving fragments exhibit a wide range of theme and tone (cf. O. 9.1 with note), he was in subsequent centuries particularly identified with a “blame poetry” of fierce invective and satirical attack (cf. P. 2.52–56). ares (AIR-eez) Son of Zeus and Hera and god of war (P. 1.10, P. 2.2, N. 10.84); indeed, his name is often used simply as a synonym for war or warlike capabilities (O. 10.15, O. 13.23, P. 10.14, I. 4.15, I. 7.25, I. 8.25). He is also known as Enyalius. arethusa (a-re-THEW-za) A fountain on Ortygia off Syracuse (P. 3.69, N. 1.1). argive (ARG-ive or AR-jive) Pertaining to Argos (I. 2.9, I. 6.58). argo The ship on which Jason and his companions (the Argonauts) sailed to Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece (O. 13.54, P. 4.25, 185). argolis (AR-go-lis) The region of the northeastern Peloponnesus where Argos, Tiryns, and Epidaurus are located (O. 7.19).

320

glossary

argos A city in the northeastern Peloponnesus, both mythologically (cf. N. 10.1–18) and historically one of the most important cities in Greece. Its chief patron and protector among the gods was Hera (cf. N. 10.2), honored with both a major temple outside the city and an athletic festival bearing her name, the Argive Heraea, where bronze shields were awarded as prizes (cf. O. 7.83, N. 10.23). aristaeus (a-ri-STEE-us)

Son of Apollo and Cyrene (P. 9.65).

aristagoras (a-ri-STAG-o-ras) A citizen of Tenedos (N. 11.3, 19). aristoclidas (a-ri-sto-KLYE-das) An Aeginetan pancratiast (N. 3.15, 67). aristomenes (a-ri-STOM-i-neez) aristophanes (a-ri-STOF-a-neez) 3.20).

An Aeginetan wrestler (P. 8.5, 80). Father of Aristoclidas of Aegina (N.

aristoteles (a-ri-STOT-e-leez) The original name of Battus, founder of Cyrene and its dynasty of kings (P. 5.87). arsinoë (ar-SIN-oh-ee)

Nurse of Orestes (P. 11.17).

artemis (AR-te-mis) Daughter of Zeus by Leto and hence sister of Apollo; a virgin goddess devoted to the hunting of wild beasts (N. 3.50), fierce in defending chastity (P. 4.90–92) and in punishing its opposite (P. 3.8–11, 32–33). She is closely associated with Ortygia off Syracuse (P. 2.7, N. 1.3) asclepius (a-SKLEE-pee-us) Son of Apollo by Coronis, reared and educated by Chiron to become the greatest physician of Greek legend (P. 3.5–7, 45–53, N. 3.54–55). The tale of his conception, birth, exploits, and death is narrated at length in P. 3. He was worshipped as a hero at Epidaurus, where athletic contests were held in his honor. asopichus (a-SOH-pi-kus) A runner from Orchomenus (O. 14.17). asopodorus (a-soh-po-DOR-us) Father of Herodotus of Thebes (I. 1.34). asopus (a-SOH-pus) A river in Boeotia and, as such, a river-god whose numerous daughters included the nymphs Thebe and Aegina (I. 8.17). The name was also applied to the river that flowed past Sicyon (N. 9.9), and (apparently) to a stream or spring on the island of Aegina (N. 3.4). astydamia (a-sti-da-MYE-a) Mother of Tlepolemus (O. 7.24). atabyrion (a-ta-BEER-ee-on)

A mountain on Rhodes (O. 7.87).

athena Daughter of Zeus. Having sprung from his head with the assistance of Hephaestus (O. 7.35–37), she remained particularly close to her father and often carried his aegis (cf. O. 13.70), a magical shield that inspired terror in enemies. Other names for her are Pallas (O. 2.26, O. 5.10, O. 13.66, P. 9.98, P. 12.7) and “the Maiden” (O. 13.71, P. 12.19), the latter reflecting her

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status as one of three virgin goddesses in the Greek pantheon (the others being Artemis and Hestia); she also took a special interest in warfare (cf. N. 10.84) and handicrafts (cf. O. 7.50–53). Heroes of Greek legend who enjoyed her patronage and protection include Bellerophon (O. 13.65–82) and Perseus (P. 10.45, P. 12.18–19) athens The chief city of Attica and, in the fifth century b.c., one of the two most powerful city-states in Greece (the other being Sparta); its fleet played a key role in the Greek victory over the Persians at the battle of Salamis (cf. P. 1.75–77). The chief athletic festival in Athens was the Great Panathenaea, held every four years in honor of Athena, the city’s patron deity. atlas One of the Titans, condemned to hold up the sky on his shoulders (P. 4.289). atreus (AY-tree-us) Son of Pelops and father of Agamemnon (P. 11.31) and Menelaus, who together are often referred to as the Atridae (O. 9.70) or “sons of Atreus” (O. 13.58, I. 5.38, I. 8.51). atridae (a-TRY-dee)

See Atreus.

augeas (aw-JEE-as) A king of the Epeans in Elis (O. 10.28, 35); on his dealings with Heracles, see O. 10.26–42 with note. bassidae (BASS-i-dee) (N. 6.31).

The Aeginetan clan to which Alcimidas belonged

battus (BAT-tus) Colonizer of Cyrene and founder of its royal line (P. 4.6, 280, P. 5.29, 55, 124). bellerophon (be-LAIR-o-fon) Grandson of Sisyphus and great-grandson of Aeolus (cf. O. 13.67), whose capture and taming of the winged horse Pegasus is narrated at length in O. 13. With Pegasus’s aid Bellerophon succeeded in vanquishing the Amazons, the Chimaera, and the Solymi, tasks that had been imposed on him by Iobates, the king of Lycia, who hoped that they would bring about his death. Bellerophon later attempted to fly up to Olympus and there join the gods but was thrown off by Pegasus and direly crippled in his fall to earth (I. 7.44–48; cf. O. 13.91). blepsiadae (blep-SYE-a-dee) belonged (O. 8.75). boebias (BEE-bee-as)

The Aeginetan clan to which Alcimedon

A lake in eastern Thessaly (P. 3.34).

boeotia (bee-OH-sha) A fertile and well-watered region of central Greece, immediately northwest of Attica; among its important cities were Thebes and Orchomenus. As a Theban Pindar was himself a Boeotian (cf. O. 6.90). boreas (BOR-ee-as) The North Wind (O. 3.31); as a god, father of two winged sons, Calaïs and Zetes (P. 4.181–83). See also Hyperboreans.

322

glossary

cadmus The legendary founder of Thebes, which for that reason is frequently referred to as his city (cf. P. 8.47, P. 9.83, I. 1.11, I. 6.75), just as its people are called Cadmeans (N. 1.51, N. 4.21, N. 8.51). Though a mere mortal, Cadmus was privileged to marry the goddess Harmonia; like the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the occasion was solemnized by the gods’ attendance and thus exemplified the utmost felicity attainable by human beings (P. 3.88–95). Nonetheless, all four of Cadmus’s daughters by Harmonia suffered tragic losses in life and/or met with a tragic end (cf. O. 2.22–23, P. 3.96–99). On Ino and Semele, see the relevant entries; the other two daughters were Agauë, who murdered her son Pentheus in a state of bacchic frenzy, and Autonoë, whose son Actaeon was torn to pieces by his own hunting dogs. caïcus (kay-EYE-kus) A river in Mysia (I. 5.42). calaïs (KAL-ay-is) An Argonaut, one of the twin sons of Boreas (P. 4.182). callianax (ka-LYE-a-nax) An ancestor of Diagoras (O. 7.93). callias (KAL-ee-as) A kinsman of Alcimidas and one of the Bassidae (N. 6.36). callicles (KAL-i-kleez) A maternal uncle of Timasarchus of Aegina (N. 4.80). callimachus (ka-LIM-a-kus) A kinsman of Alcimedon of Aegina (O. 8.82). calliope (ka-LYE-o-pee) means “beautiful voice.”

One of the nine Muses (O. 10.14); her name

calliste (ka-LIS-tee) An alternative name (“most beautiful”) for the island of Thera (P. 4.258). camarina (kam-a-REE-na) A city in southern Sicily (O. 4.12); also, its eponymous nymph (O. 5.4). camirus (ka-MYE-rus) A grandson of Helius and eponym of a city on Rhodes (O. 7.73). carneadas (kar-NEE-a-das) Father of Telesicrates of Cyrene (P. 9.71). carnean (kar-NEE-an) An epithet of Apollo in Sparta and Cyrene (P. 5.80). carrhotus (ka-ROH-tus) A kinsman and charioteer of Arcesilas of Cyrene (P. 5.26). cassandra (ka-SAN-dra) Daughter of Priam, endowed by Apollo with the power of prophecy. Brought home by Agamemnon as his concubine after the fall of Troy, she was murdered together with him by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus (P. 11.19–22, 31–34).

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castalia (kas-TAY-lee-a) A spring at Delphi, sacred to Apollo (P. 1.39); used frequently in periphrastic designations of Pytho or the Pythian games (e.g., O. 7.16, O. 9.17, P. 5.31, N. 11.24). castor Son of Tyndareus by Leda and half brother of Polydeuces; his death in battle and subsequent resuscitation are narrated at length in N. 10. Like Polydeuces, Castor is closely associated with horsemanship and charioteering (cf. P. 5.9–11, I. 1.16–17). See also Tyndarids. centaurs Creatures that combined the body of a horse with the torso, upper limbs, and head of a man. With the notable exception of Chiron, Centaurs were notoriously inclined to lawlessness and violence. See also Centaurus. centaurus (sen-TAW-rus) Son of Ixion by a “cloud-image” of Hera (P. 2.44) and progenitor of most (though not all; see Chiron) of the Centaurs. ceos (SEE-os) An island off the southeastern coast of Attica, one of the Cyclades (I. 1.8). cephisis (seh-FYE-sis) Eponymous nymph of the river Cephisus (P. 12.27). cephisus (seh-FYE-sus) A river in Boeotia, flowing into Lake Copais (O. 14.1, P. 4.46). chariadae (ka-RYE-a-dee) (N. 8.46).

The Aeginetan clan to which Deinis belonged

chariclo (KA-rick-lo) Wife of Chiron (P. 4.103). chimaera (kye-MEER-a) A monster slain by Bellerophon (O. 13.90), combining attributes of goat, lion, and snake; the name itself means “shegoat.” chiron (KYE-ron) A Centaur, son of Cronus and Philyra, renowned for his wisdom (P. 3.63, N. 3.53) and for his role as an educator of such heroes as Jason, Achilles, and Asclepius, whom he reared in a much-mentioned cave (P. 3.63, P. 4.102–3, P. 9.30, N. 3.53, I. 8.41) on Mt. Pelion. He was also a patron and protector of Achilles’ father Peleus, lending him assistance in his dealings with Acastus (N. 4.59–61) and promoting his marriage to Thetis (N. 3.56–57, I. 8.41–45). chromius (KROH-mee-us) A wealthy citizen of Syracuse and Aetna, and one of Hieron’s generals (N. 1.7, N. 9.3, 52). cilicia (si-LISH-a) A region in southeastern Asia Minor, birthplace of the monster Typhon (P. 1.17, P. 8.16). cinyras (SIN-i-ras) A legendary king of Cyprus, renowned for his wealth (N. 8.18) and favored by both Apollo and Aphrodite (P. 2.16–17).

324

glossary

cirrha (SIH-ra) A town on the Gulf of Corinth that served as the port of Delphi. Since Cirrha was also the site for a number of events in the Pythian games, including all equestrian competitions, it appears often in periphrastic designations of that festival (P. 3.74, P. 7.16, P. 8.19, P. 10.15, P. 11.12). See also Crisa. cithaeron (si-THEER-on) A mountain on the southwestern border of Boeotia; the battle of Plataea (see Sparta) was fought nearby (P. 1.77). cleander (klee-AN-der)

An Aeginetan pancratiast (I. 8.1, 66a).

cleodamus (klee-o-DAY-mus)

Father of Asopichus (O. 14.22).

cleonae (klee-OH-nee) A city in the northeastern Peloponnesus not far from Nemea (O. 10.30); its citizens administered the Nemean games (N. 4.17, N. 10.42). cleonicus (klee-o-NYE-kus) Father of Lampon and grandfather of Pytheas and Phylacidas (I. 5.55, I. 6.16). cleonymidae (klee-o-NIM-i-dee) belonged (I. 4.4).

The Theban clan to which Melissus

cleonymus (klee-ON-i-mus) Eponymous ancestor of the Cleonymidae (I. 3.15). clio (KLYE-oh) One of the nine Muses (N. 3.83); her name means “she who brings fame.” clitomachus (klye-TOM-a-kus) Aegina (P. 8.37). clitor (KLYE-tor)

A maternal uncle of Aristomenes of

A town in Arcadia (N. 10.47).

clotho (KLOH-thoh) One of the three Fates (O. 1.26, I. 6.17). clymenus (KLIM-i-nus) Father of the Argonaut Erginus (O. 4.19). clytemnestra (klye-tem-NES-tra) Daughter of Tyndareus and wife of Agamemnon, whom she murdered (with the assistance of her lover Aegisthus) upon his return from Troy (P. 11.17–22). cnossus (NOS-sus) A city on the northern coast of Crete (O. 12.16). coeranus (SEAR-a-nus) A Corinthian seer (O. 13.75). colchis (KOL-kis) A land at the eastern end of the Black Sea, home of King Aeetes (P. 4.212) and his daughter Medea (P. 4.11). Jason’s voyage to Colchis in quest of the Golden Fleece is narrated at length in P. 4. corinth A powerful and wealthy commercial city at the southern end of the Isthmus of Corinth; its inhabitants were of Dorian extraction (N. 5.37, I. 2.15, I. 8.64) and administered the Isthmian games (O. 9.86, N. 2.20,

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N. 4.88, N. 10.42, I. 4.20). The city’s array of legendary figures is surveyed in O. 13. coronis (ko-ROH-nis) Daughter of Phlegyas and mother of Asclepius by Apollo. The story of her involvement with Apollo, her subsequent liaison with a mortal man named Ischys, and her punishment at the hands of Artemis is narrated at length in P. 3. creon (KREE-on)

A king of Thebes, father of Megara (I. 4.64).

creontidas (kree-ON-ti-das) A kinsman of Alcimidas of Aegina and a member of the Bassidae (N. 6.41). cretheus (KREE-thee-us) A son of Aeolus (P. 4.142), father of Aeson (P. 4.152) and Hippolyta (N. 5.26). creusa (kree-YEW-sa)

A Naiad, mother of Hypseus (P. 9.16).

crisa (CRY-sa) Originally, a town on high ground above the port of Cirrha; after its destruction in the early sixth century, the two names seem to have become interchangeable. Like Cirrha, Crisa is used in periphrastic designations of the Pythian games (P. 5.37, P. 6.18, I. 2.18). croesus (KREE-sus) The last king of Lydia in Asia Minor, known to posterity for his wealth, piety, and philanthropic generosity (P. 1.94). cronidae (KROH-ni-dee) The Olympian gods, lit. “children of Cronus” (O. 9.56, P. 2.25). cronion (KROH-nee-on) The “hill of Cronus” (O. 5.17, O. 6.64, O. 10.50), a topographical landmark at Olympia often used in periphrastic designations of the Olympic games (e.g., O. 1.111, O. 8.17, N. 11.25). cronus (KROH-nus) A Titan, son of Earth (Gaea) and Sky (Uranus), husband of Rhea, and father of Zeus and the other first-generation Olympians, by whom he was deposed in a conflict known as the Titanomachy. While Hesiod’s account in the Theogony consigns Cronus and the other Titans to permanent imprisonment in Tartarus, Pindar assumes that they were eventually released by Zeus (P. 4.291) and that Cronus himself thereafter presided over the Isles of the Blessed as a just and benevolent ruler (O. 2.75–77). Although on occasion the phrase “son of Cronus” is applied to Poseidon (O. 6.29, I. 1.52) and to Chiron (P. 4.115, N. 3.47), it is normally— and ubiquitously—used as a synonym for Zeus. cteatus (TEE-a-tus) A son of Poseidon and Molione, killed by Heracles along with his brother Eurytus (O. 10.27). cumae (KEW-mee) Cyme in Greek, a town near Naples and Mt. Vesuvius (P. 1.18), site of a sea battle against the Etruscans in 474 b.c. (P. 1.72).

326

glossary

cyclades (SICK-la-deez) A group of islands in the middle of the Aegean Sea, including (among others) Delos, Ceos, Seriphos, Naxos, Thera, and Paros. cycnus (SICK-nus) (1) A son of Poseidon who successfully opposed the landing of the Greeks at Troy until he was slain by Achilles (O. 2.82, I. 5.39). (2) A son of Ares, a violent brigand vanquished by Heracles after an initial setback (O. 10.15–16). cyllene (si-LEE-nee) A mountain in northeastern Arcadia, held to be the birthplace of Hermes; the city of Stymphalus lay beneath it to the south (O. 6.77). cypris (SIP-pris)

See Aphrodite.

cyprus (SYE-prus) An island in the eastern Mediterranean, home of Cinyras (N. 8.18) and the exiled Teucer (N. 4.46). See Aphrodite for the island’s close associations with that goddess. cyrene (sye-REE-nee) A Greek city in Libya, founded from Thera ca. 630 under the leadership of Battus and founding in its turn other cities (cf. P. 4.19–20, P. 5.15–16) throughout the surrounding region of Cyrenaica, which was highly fertile (P. 4.6, P. 9.6a–8, 58) and famous for its horses (P. 4.2, 17–18, P. 9.4). The name can also refer to the city’s eponymous nymph, a formidable huntress who was daughter of Hypseus (P. 9.13) and mother of Aristaeus by Apollo (P. 9.59–65). damagetus (dam-a-JEE-tus)

Father of Diagoras of Rhodes (O. 7.17).

damophilus (da-MOF-i-lus) A kinsman of Arcesilas of Cyrene (P. 4.281). danaans (DAN-ay-unz) A collective name for the Greeks of the heroic age (P. 8.52, N. 9.17), and in particular for those who besieged Troy (O. 9.72, O. 13.60, P. 1.54, P. 3.103, N. 7.36, N. 8.26). danaë (DAN-ay-ee) Daughter of Acrisius of Argos and mother of Perseus by Zeus, who was drawn to her by her beauty (N. 10.10–11) and impregnated her in the form of a shower of gold (P. 12.17–18). See Perseus for further details. danaus (DAN-ay-us) A king of Libya, twin brother of Aegyptus and father of fifty daughters known collectively as the Danaides or Danaids. In order to avoid a forced marriage between his daughters and the fifty sons of Aegyptus, Danaus fled with the Danaids to Argos (cf. N. 10.1), the native land of their ancestress Io. When the fifty cousins followed to press their suit, Danaus ostensibly gave way, but only after making his daughters swear that they would murder their husbands on their wedding night. The only one to disobey his instructions was Hypermestra, who spared her husband Lynceus out of love (N. 10.6). Later, in order to secure new husbands for

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the other daughters, Danaus held games and awarded the young women as prizes to the victors (P. 9.112–16). dardania (dar-DAY-nee-a), Dardanus.

Dardanians

(dar-DAY-nee-unz).

See

dardanus (DAR-da-nus) An ancestor of the Trojan royal house (cf. O. 13.56), after whom the region around Troy was sometimes called Dardania and the Trojans themselves Dardanians (P. 11.20, N. 3.61). dawn (Eos) Daughter of Hyperion and Thea and mother of Memnon (O. 2.83, N. 6.52) by Tithonus, a brother of King Priam of Troy. deinis (DYE-nis or DAY-nis)

An Aeginetan runner (N. 8.16).

deinomenes (dye-NOM-e-neez) Either (1) the father (P. 1.79, P. 2.18) or (2) the son (P. 1.58) of Hieron of Syracuse. delos (DEE-los) The smallest of the Cyclades, birthplace of Apollo and, as such, closely associated with that god (cf. O. 6.59, P. 1.39, P. 9.10, I. 1.4). delphi (DEL-fye) A site sacred to Apollo on the southern slopes of Mt. Parnassus, known also as Pytho (the usual name in Pindar’s odes). In addition to possessing an important temple of Apollo (P. 7.10–12, N. 7.46), Delphi was the site of the Delphic (or Pythian) oracle, a religious institution that claimed to transmit Apollo’s prophecies to mankind through the voice of a priestess known as the Pythia (P. 4.4–6, 59–62; cf. also O. 2.39, O. 6.37–38). One of the site’s most sacred landmarks was the omphalos or “navel-stone” (P. 4.74, P. 6.3, P. 8.59, P. 11.10, N. 7.33), reflecting the belief that Delphi was the literal center of the world (see note on P. 4.4). Together with Cirrha, Delphi was the home of the Pythian games, held every four years in honor of Apollo. demeter (de-MEE-ter) Sister of Zeus and mother by him of Persephone. The goddess of agriculture, and more particularly of grain crops, she and her daughter together had particularly strong associations with Eleusis (I. 1.57) and Sicily (O. 6.94–95). descendants (Epigoni) See Adrastus. deucalion (dew-KAY-lee-on) The “Greek Noah,” son of Prometheus and grandson of Iapetus, survivor (with his wife Pyrrha) of a great flood that destroyed the rest of mankind (O. 9.42–53). diagoras (dye-AG-or-as) A famous boxer from Rhodes (O. 7.13, 80). diodotus (dye-OD-o-tus) Father of the elder Strepsiades (I. 7.31). diomedes (dye-o-MEE-deez) A great Argive warrior and hero, son of Tydeus and grandson of Oeneus. He was a favorite of Athena and even (according to one tradition) became immortal at her hands (N. 10.7).

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glossary

dionysus (dye-o-NYE-sus) God of wine, born to Zeus from Semele in the city of Thebes (I. 7.3–5) and honored by choral songs known as dithyrambs (O. 13.18). dirce (DUR-see) A spring and stream in Thebes, often used in periphrastic designations of that city (O. 10.85, P. 9.88, I. 1.29, I. 6.74, I. 8.20). dodona (do-DOH-na) A sanctuary (and oracle) of Zeus in Epirus (N. 4.53). dorians (DOR-ee-unz) One of several ethnic and linguistic subdivisions within the larger category of Hellenes (speakers of Greek). Being the last of these groups to come down into Greece from the north, the Dorians settled mainly in the Peloponnesus and Aegina, on the southern islands of the Aegean, and on the southwestern coast of Asia Minor. They were organized into three tribes, the Dymanes, Pamphyli, and Hylleis, named after the two sons of Aegimius, Dymas and Pamphylus, and Heracles’ son Hyllus (cf. P. 1.61–66). See also Heraclidae. doryclus (DOR-i-klus) A victor in the first Olympic games (O. 10.67). earth (Ge, Gaea) Both mother and consort of Sky, mother of the Titans, and ultimate progenitor of both gods and human beings (N. 6.1–2); cf. also O. 7.38, P. 9.17, 60, 102. echemus (ECK-e-mus) A victor in the first Olympic games (O. 10.66). echion (eh-KYE-on)

An Argonaut and a son of Hermes (P. 4.179).

elatus (EL-a-tus) An Arcadian king, father of Aepytus (O. 6.33) and Ischys (P. 3.31). eleusis (eh-LEW-sis) A town in western Attica, site of the Eleusinian Mysteries and of games in honor of Demeter (O. 9.99, O. 13.110, I. 1.57). elis (EE-lis) The region of the western Peloponnesus in which Olympia and Pisa were located (O. 1.78, O. 9.7, O. 10.33). emmenidae (eh-MEN-i-dee) A clan in Acragas to which Theron and Xenocrates belonged (O. 3.38, P. 6.5). endeïs (en-DEE-is) Daughter of Chiron, wife of Aeacus, and mother of Peleus and Telamon (N. 5.12). enyalius (en-ee-AL-ee-us) 6.54).

Another name for Ares (O. 13.106, N. 9.37, I.

epaphus (EP-a-fus) Son of Zeus by the Argive princess Io, born in Egypt because his mother (transformed into a cow by Zeus) had been driven there by the jealous persecution of Hera. On reaching manhood Epaphus became king of Egypt, founding Memphis and other cities (N. 10.5) and begetting Libya (P. 4.14); Danaus was his great-grandson.

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epeans (eh-PEE-unz) The ancient inhabitants of Elis (O. 9.58, O. 10.35). epharmostus (eh-far-MOS-tus) A wrestler from Opus (O. 9.4, 87). ephialtes (ef-ee-AL-teez) 4.89).

A gigantic son of Poseidon, brother of Otus (P.

ephyra (EF-i-ra) (1) A city in Molossia (n. 7.37). (2) A city in Thessaly, later known as Crannon; see Ephyraeans. ephyraeans (ef-i-REE-unz) (P. 10.55).

The inhabitants of Ephyra in Thessaly

epidaurus (ep-i-DOR-us) A town in the northeastern Peloponnesus, site of an athletic festival held in honor of Asclepius (N. 3.84, N. 5.52, I. 8.68). epigoni (Descendants)

See Adrastus.

epirus (eh-PYE-rus) A region in northwestern Greece, between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea. eratidae (eh-RAT-i-dee) The Rhodian clan to which Diagoras belonged (O. 7.93). erechtheus (eh-RECK-thee-us) A legendary king of Athens (P. 7.10, I. 2.19). ergoteles (ur-GOT-i-leez)

A runner from Cnossus and Himera (O. 12.18).

eriboea (eh-ri-BEE-a) Wife of Telamon and mother of Ajax (I. 6.45). eriphyle (eh-ri-FYE-lee) Daughter of Talaus and sister of Adrastus, who gave her hand in marriage to Amphiaraus as a means of sealing the two men’s reconciliation (N. 9.15–17). When Amphiaraus, foreseeing disaster, was reluctant to join the expedition of the Seven against Thebes, Eriphyle persuaded him to do so at the instigation of Polynices, who gave her a golden necklace as a bribe. Being in that sense responsible for her husband’s death, she was murdered by their son Alcmaeon upon his return from the expedition of the Epigoni. eritimus (eh-ri-TYE-mus) A paternal relative of Xenophon of Corinth (O. 13.42). erytus (EH-ri-tus) An Argonaut and son of Hermes (P. 4.179). ethiopians A semi-mythical people thought to live on the eastern edge of the habitable world (cf. N. 6.49); see also Memnon. euboea (yew-BEE-a) A long, narrow island off the northeastern coast of Boeotia and Attica, site of various athletic festivals (O. 13.112, I. 1.57). euphanes (YEW-fa-neez) 4.89).

Maternal grandfather of Timasarchus (N.

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euphemus (yew-FEE-mus) One of the Argonauts, ancestor of Battus and the subsequent kings of Cyrene (P. 4.22, 44, 175, 256). euphrosyne (yew-FROZ-i-nee)

See Graces.

euripus (yew-RYE-pus) The narrow strait between Boeotia and Euboea, mustering point for the Greek expedition against Troy (P. 11.22). europa (yew-ROH-pa) Daughter of Tityus and mother of Euphemus by Poseidon (P. 4.46). eurotas (yew-ROH-tas) The chief river of Laconia (O. 6.28); Sparta was situated on its western bank (I. 1.29, I. 5.33). euryale (yew-RYE-a-lee) Medusa (P. 12.20).

One of the Gorgons and, as such, sister of

eurypylus (yew-RIP-i-lus) A son of Poseidon and legendary king of Libya (P. 4.33). eurystheus (yew-RIS-thee-us) A king of Tiryns at whose behest Heracles performed his famous Twelve Labors (O. 3.28), being compelled to obedience by earlier machinations on Hera’s part as ratified and enforced by an unwilling Zeus. eurytus (YEW-ri-tus)

A son of Poseidon and Molione (O. 10.28).

euthymenes (yew-THIM-i-neez) cidas (N. 5.41, I. 6.58).

Maternal uncle of Pytheas and Phyla-

euxenid (YEWK-sen-id) Pertaining to the Euxenidae, an Aeginetan clan to which Sogenes and Thearion belonged (N. 7.70). euxine (YEWK-sine) (Sea) evadne (eh-VAD-nee)

The Black Sea (N. 4.49).

Mother of Iamus by Apollo (O. 6.30, 49).

fates (Moirai) Three goddesses, daughters of Zeus and Themis, who were said to assign human beings their destinies at birth (O. 6.42, N. 7.1) by spinning and cutting different lengths of thread. Their individual names are Clotho (“spinner”), Lachesis (“allotment”), and Atropus (“inflexible”). gades (GAY-deez) Gadeira in Greek (present-day Cadiz), a city northwest of the Straits of Gibraltar (N. 4.69). ganymede (GAN-i-meed) A Trojan prince whose youthful beauty inspired Zeus to carry him off to Olympus (O. 1.44–45), where he became immortal (O. 10.105) and served as cupbearer to the gods. geryon (JEER-ee-on) A triple-bodied giant living in the extreme west of the world, whose closely guarded cattle were stolen by Heracles as one of his Twelve Labors (I. 1.13).

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331

giants Monstrous offspring of the goddess Earth (Gaea), whose rebellion against the rule of the Olympians was defeated in a battle at Phlegra with the aid of Heracles (N. 1.67–68, N. 7.90). See also Alcyoneus and Porphyrion. glaucus (GLAW-kus) A commander of Lycian forces in the Trojan War, the son (according to Pindar) or grandson (according to Homer) of Bellerophon (O. 13.60). gorgons

See Medusa.

graces (Charites) The three daughters of Zeus and Eurynome, whose individual names (cf. O. 14.13–15) are Aglaïa (“splendor”), Euphrosyne (“cheerfulness of mind”), and Thalia (“festivity”). As embodiments of grace and charm (charis in Greek), they play a twofold role in Pindar’s epinicians, as dispensers of athletic victory and its attendant glamour and as exponents of verbal artistry and poetically effective speech (cf. app. §15). There was an important cult-site of the Graces at Orchomenus in Boeotia (O. 14.1–4, P. 12.26–27). hades (HAY-deez) Son of Cronus and Rhea, brother of Zeus and Poseidon, and husband of Persephone, with whom he rules the subterranean realm of shades into which all human souls (with a few notable exceptions) must descend at the time of death (O. 9.33–35, O. 10.91–93, P. 3.9–11, I. 1.68). haemonians (hee-MOH-nee-unz) A people of Thessaly (N. 4.56). hagesias (ha-JEE-see-as) A citizen of Syracuse and Stymphalus, Olympic victor in the mule-cart race (O. 6.12, 77, 98). hagesidamus (ha-jee-si-DAY-mus) (1) A young boxer from Western Locris (O. 10.18, 92, O. 11.12). (2) Father of Chromius of Syracuse and Aetna (N. 1.29, N. 9.42). hagesimachus (ha-je-SIM-a-kus) An ancestor of Alcimidas of Aegina (N. 6.22). halirrhothius (ha-li-ROTH-ee-us)

Father of Samus (O. 10.70).

harmonia (har-MOH-nee-a) Daughter of Ares and Aphrodite, wife of Cadmus (P. 3.91), and mother of Ino and Semele (P. 11.7). hebe (HEE-bee) Daughter of Zeus and Hera, given in marriage to Heracles upon his apotheosis (N. 1.71, N. 10.18, I. 4.59); also, the personification of “Youth,” that being the literal meaning of her name (O. 6.58, P. 9.109, N. 7.4). hector (HECK-ter) Eldest son of Priam and the greatest of Troy’s warriors, whose death at the hands of Achilles (O. 2.81–82, I. 5.39, I. 8.55) thus

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sealed his city’s doom; cited as exemplary of fighting (and dying) for one’s country (N. 9.39, I. 7.32). helen Daughter of Zeus and Leda, sister of the Tyndarids (O. 3.1), and wife of Menelaus, whose determination to reclaim his marital rights after her abduction by (or elopement with) Paris gave rise to the Trojan War (O. 13.59, P. 5.83, P. 11.33, I. 8.51). helenus (HEL-e-nus) A Trojan seer and one of the sons of Priam (N. 3.63). helicon (HEL-i-kon) The highest mountain in Boeotia and site of a sanctuary of the Muses, who are sometimes called “Heliconian” for that reason (I. 2.34, I. 8.57). helius (HEE-lee-us) The Sun-god, son of Hyperion (O. 7.39) and Thea (I. 5.1) and father of Aeetes (P. 4.241). For Helius’s special relationship with the island of Rhodes, cf. O. 7.14 with note, 58–76. hellas (HEL-as) The Greek name for all of the various lands inhabited by speakers of Greek (Hellenes), including not only the mainland and islands that make up present-day Greece but also the western coast of Asia Minor and much of Sicily and southern Italy. Pindar tends to use the term either (a) in explicit or implicit contrast to a barbarian “Other” (P. 1.75, P. 4.218, I. 8.11) or (b) to define the realm within which fame is sought (by Greeks) through competition and achievement (O. 13.113, P. 2.60, P. 7.8, P. 10.19, P. 12.6, N. 6.26). hellotia (hel-LOH-sha) An athletic festival in Corinth (O. 13.40). helorus (hel-LOR-us) A river in southeastern Sicily, site of a battle between Syracuse and Gela in 492 b.c. (N. 9.40). hephaestus (heh-FEES-tus or heh-FES-tus) God of fire and patron of craftsmen, particularly blacksmiths, being himself a metalsmith and divine technician; his skills assumed an unusual obstetrical dimension when he facilitated the birth of Athena from Zeus’s head (O. 7.35–36). On occasion (e.g., P. 1.25, P. 3.40) the god’s name denotes fire itself. hera (HAIR-a or HEER-a) Daughter of Cronus and Rhea, wife (and sister) of Zeus (N. 7.95), sister of Hestia (N. 11.2), mother of Hebe (N. 10.18) and Ilithyia (N. 7.2); goddess of marriage (N. 10.18), yet worshipped as “Maiden” (Parthenia) at Stymphalus (O. 6.88); patron divinity of Argos (N. 10.2, 36); honored with games at Argos (N. 10.22–23) and on Aegina (P. 8.79–80); an object of Ixion’s impious lust (P. 2.25–40); sent snakes against the infant Heracles (N. 1.37–40); reconciled with Heracles through his marriage to Hebe (N. 10.18, I. 4.59–60); encouraged the expedition of the Argo (P. 4.184–85).

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333

heracles (HAIR-a-kleez) Son of Zeus (O. 10.44) and Alcmene (P. 11.3, I. 1.12), descendant of Alcaeus (O. 6.68), half brother of Aeacus (N. 7.84–86); begotten by Zeus while in the guise of Alcmene’s husband Amphitryon (N. 10.15–17, I. 7.5–7); born together with Iphicles (P. 9.84–88, N. 1.35–36); persecuted as an infant by Hera (N. 1.37–43); his future prowess prophesied by Tiresias (N. 1.60–72); single-handedly fought three gods (O. 9.29–35); suffered a temporary defeat at the hands of Cycnus (O. 10.15–16); his association with Tiryns (O. 10.31–34, I. 6.27–28); father of eight sons by Megara (I. 4.64); guest-friendship and joint exploits with Telamon (N. 4.25–30, I. 5.35–37, I. 6.27–56); performed the famous Twelve Labors in servitude to Eurystheus, including the killing of the Nemean lion (see Nemea), the capture of the Hind of Ceryneia (O. 3.28–30), and the theft of the cattle of Geryon (I. 1.13); waged war against Augeas and the sons of Molione (O. 10.26–42); set up the Pillars of Heracles (N. 3.21–23; cf. O. 3.44, I. 4.12); founder of the Olympic games (O. 2.3–4, O. 3.19–22, O. 6.67–69, O. 10.24–25, 43–59, N. 10.32–33, N. 11.27) and patron of athletics in general (N. 10.53); visited the Hyperboreans and brought olive trees to Olympia (O. 3.13–18, 25–34); helped to defeat the Giants (N. 1.66–69, N. 7.90); marriage to Hebe on Olympus (N. 10.18, I. 4.60); progenitor of the Heraclids (P. 5.71, P. 10.3) and (through Tlepolemus) of the Eratidae (O. 7.22–23); a “next-door neighbor” to the Aeginetans Sogenes and Thearion (N. 7.89–94). heraclids (HAIR-a-clids) Lit. “sons of Heracles,” referring to Hyllus and his brothers, regarded by the Dorians as having played a key role in their invasion and settlement of the Peloponnesus; see P. 1.62–66 with note. hermes (HUR-meez) Son of Zeus by Maia, born on Mt. Cyllene in Arcadia, with which he remained closely associated (O. 6.77–80); his role as herald, messenger, and intermediary (O. 6.79, O. 8.81, P. 9.59–61); patron of athletes and athletic festivals (O. 6.79, P. 2.10, N. 10.53, I. 1.60); father of the Argonauts Echion and Erytus (P. 4.178–79). herodotus (heh-ROD-o-tus) A chariot victor from Thebes (I. 1.14, 61). hesiod (HEE-see-ud) A poet from Ascra in Boeotia (ca. 700 b.c.), author of the Theogony and Works and Days (the latter cited at I. 6.66–67). hesione (hee-SYE-o-nee) Daughter of King Laomedon of Troy and mother of Teucer by Telamon. hestia (HES-tee-a) Daughter of Cronus and Rhea and thus sister of Zeus and Hera (N. 11.1–2); goddess of the hearth, both domestically and in civic life. hieron (HYE-e-ron) Son of Deinomenes (1) (P. 1.79, P. 2.18) and father of Deinomenes (2) (P. 1.58–59); ruler of Syracuse (O. 1.11–13, O. 6.92–94, P.

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glossary

3.70–72) from 478 b.c. until his death in 467, having succeeded his brother Gelon in that office. Earlier, in 480, he and Gelon had joined forces with Theron of Acragas to defeat the Carthaginians at the battle of Himera (P. 1.47–50, 79–80); in 477 he intervened on behalf of Western Locris against the designs of Anaxilas of Rhegium (P. 2.18–20); and in 474 he defeated the Etruscans and Carthaginians in a sea battle off the coast of Cumae, near present-day Naples (P. 1.72–75). He was a notable patron of poets, commissioning work not only from Pindar (O. 1, P. 1, P. 2, P. 3) but also from Simonides and Bacchylides. himera (HYE-mi-ra)

A city on the northern coast of Sicily (O. 12.2).

himeras (HYE-mi-ras) The river on which Himera was situated, site of a battle fought between Greeks and Carthaginians in 480 b.c. (P. 1.79–80). hipparis (HIP-pa-ris)

A river near Camarina in Sicily (O. 5.12).

hippocleas (hip-POCK-lee-as) A young runner from Pelinnaeum in Thessaly (P. 10.5, 57). hippodamia (hip-po-da-MYE-a) Daughter of Oenomaus of Pisa and wife of Pelops (O. 1.70, O. 9.10). hippolyta (hip-POL-i-ta) The wife of Acastus, king of Iolcus, to whom she falsely accused Peleus of attempted rape (N. 4.57–58, N. 5.26–32). For the full story, see Peleus. homer Traditionally regarded as the composer of the Iliad and Odyssey, and three times cited or referred to as such in Pindar’s odes (P. 4.277, N. 7.21, I. 4.37). horae (HOR-ee) Daughters of Zeus (O. 4.1) and Themis (O. 13.8), they are both the Seasons (the literal meaning of the word; cf. O. 4.1–3) and embodiments of civic virtue; the latter aspect is manifested in their individual names Eunomia, Dike, and Eirene, rendered in this volume as Good Order (O. 9.16, O. 13.6), Justice (O. 13.7) or Righteousness (P. 8.2, 71), and Peace (O. 13.7). hyllus (HIL-lus) Hylleis (P. 1.62).

A son of Heracles, putative ancestor of the Dorian tribe

hyperboreans (hye-per-BOR-ee-unz) A mythical people living “beyond the North Wind” (the literal meaning of their name), enjoying a quasiparadisal existence under the patronage and protection of Apollo (O. 3.16, P. 10.34–44). Though their land was remote enough to constitute a limit of the known world (P. 10.29–30, I. 6.23), it was nonetheless visited by Perseus (P. 10.31–34, 44–46) and Heracles (O. 3.13–18, 31–32). hyperia (hye-PEER-ee-a)

A spring near Pherae in Thessaly (P. 4.125).

glossary hyperion (hye-PEER-ee-on) god Helius (O. 7.39).

335

One of the Titans, father by Thea of the Sun-

hypermestra (hye-per-MES-tra) One of the daughters of Danaus and wife of Lynceus (1), whom she spared when all her sisters murdered their new husbands (N. 10.6). hypseus (HIP-see-us)

King of the Lapiths and father of Cyrene (P. 9.13).

hypsipyle (hip-SIP-i-lee) Queen of Lemnos at the time that island was visited by the Argonauts (O. 4.23). ialysus (eye-AL-i-sus) A grandson of Helius and eponym of a city on Rhodes (O. 7.74). iamids (EYE-a-mids) The descendants of Iamus (Iamidae), the clan to which Hagesias of Syracuse belonged (O. 6.71). iamus (EYE-a-mus) Son of Apollo and Evadne, endowed by his father with powers of prophecy, and progenitor of the Iamid line (O. 6.43). iapetus (eye-AP-i-tus) Father of Prometheus and Epimetheus, grandfather of Deucalion and Pyrrha (O. 9.55). idas (EYE-das) Son of Aphareus and brother of Lynceus (2) (N. 10.60, 71). ilas (EYE-las)

The trainer of Hagesidamus of Western Locris (O. 10.17).

ilithyia (eye-lith-ee-EYE-a) Goddess of childbirth, daughter of Zeus and Hera (N. 7.2), whose presence and aid are required (or at any rate can so be represented) in order for parturition to proceed (O. 6.41–42, P. 3.8–9). ilium (IL-ee-um)

Another name for Troy (O. 8.32); see Ilus.

ilus (EYE-lus) Grandfather of Priam (N. 7.30), after whom Troy is sometimes called Ilion or Ilium. ino (EYE-no) One of the daughters of Cadmus. As the second wife of Athamas she persecuted her stepchildren Phrixus and Helle (cf. P. 4.159 with note), then killed her own son Melicertes in a fit of madness and threw herself into the sea, where she was transformed into a goddess called Leucothea (O. 2.28–30, P. 11.2). iolaus (eye-o-LAY-us) A nephew of Heracles, being the son of his half brother Iphicles (P. 11.59–60, I. 1.30). A renowned horseman (I. 1.16–17, I. 5.32, I. 7.9), he served as Heracles’ squire and helper in a number of his labors and other exploits (N. 3. 36–39), and in his old age he killed Eurystheus (P. 9.80–81). Games in his honor were held at Thebes, close to the tomb that he shared with his grandfather Amphitryon (O. 9.98–99, P. 9.79–82). iolcus (eye-OL-kus or ee-OL-kus) A port city of Magnesia in eastern Thessaly, at the foot of Mt. Pelion; home of Pelias, Aeson, and (after his

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return from exile) Jason (cf. P. 4.77); mustering point for the Argonautic expedition (P. 4.188); later captured by Peleus when it was ruled by Pelias’s son Acastus (N. 3.34, N. 4.54–56). ionian (eye-OH-nee-un) (Sea) The part of the Mediterranean between mainland Greece and southern Italy (P. 3.68, N. 4.53, N. 7.65). iphicles (IF-i-kleez) Son of Alcmene by Amphitryon and thus half brother of Heracles (P. 9.84–88; cf. N. 1.35–36); father of Iolaus (P. 11.59, I. 1.30). iphigenia (i-fi-jen-EYE-a) Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, sacrificed to Artemis by her father and other Greek leaders in order to secure favorable winds for their voyage to Troy. Her death was an important motivation in Clytemnestra’s murder of her husband (P. 11.22–23). iphimedia (if-i-me-DYE-a) Mother of Otus and Ephialtes (P. 4.89). iphion (IF-ee-on)

A kinsman of Alcimedon of Aegina (O. 8.82).

irasa (EYE-ra-sa)

A Libyan city, home of Antaeus (2) (P. 9.106).

ischys (IS-kis) Son of Elatus and lover of Coronis (P. 3.31). ismenium (iz-MEE-nee-um) 11.6). ismenus (iz-MEE-nus) ister (IS-ter)

A temple and oracle of Apollo in Thebes (P.

A river near Thebes (N. 9.22, N. 11.36).

The Danube (O. 3.14, O. 8.47).

isthmian games An athletic festival in honor of Poseidon, held every two years on the Isthmus of Corinth and administered by the city of Corinth itself. The prizes given at the games were wreaths of wild celery (O. 13.33, N. 4.88, I. 2.16, I. 8.64). isthmus of corinth The neck of land connecting the northern half of the Greek mainland to the Peloponnesus, flanked to the west by the Gulf of Corinth and to the east by the Saronic Gulf. The Isthmian games are sometimes referred to in terms of this topography (cf. O. 13.40, N. 6.39, N. 10.27, I. 1.9–10, I. 4.20). ixion (ick-SYE-on) King of the Lapiths, son of Phlegyas (and hence, apparently, brother of Coronis), and one of the arch-sinners of Greek myth; his story is told at length in P. 2. jason Son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus, but sent as an infant to Chiron for rearing when Pelias usurped Aeson’s throne (P. 4.102–15; cf. N. 3.53–54). Jason’s expedition to Colchis with the Argonauts, on a quest for the Golden Fleece imposed upon him by Pelias, is narrated at great length in P. 4. See also Medea.

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labdacids (LAB-da-sids) A Theban clan claiming descent from Labdacus, grandfather of Oedipus (I. 3.17). lacedaemon (la-si-DEE-mon) Another name for Sparta (P. 4.49, P. 5.69, P. 10.1, I. 1.17). lacerea (la-si-REE-a) Coronis (P. 3.34).

A town near Lake Boebias in Thessaly, residence of

lachesis (LACK-i-sis) One of the three Fates (O. 7.64). laconia (la-KOH-nee-a) A region in the southeastern Peloponnesus, of which Sparta was the most important city. laius (LAY-us) King of Thebes and father of Oedipus, by whom he was killed in fulfillment of an oracle from Delphi (O. 2.38–40). lampon (LAM-pon) I. 5.21, I. 6.3, 66).

Father of Pytheas and Phylacidas of Aegina (N. 5.4,

lampromachus (lam-PROM-a-kus) A kinsman of Epharmostus of Opus (O. 9.84). laomedon (lay-OM-e-don) A king of Troy in the generation before the Trojan War, son of Ilus and father of Priam. After contracting with Apollo and Poseidon to build a wall around Troy, which they did with the help of Aeacus (O. 8. 31–36), Laomedon refused to pay the fee that had been agreed upon. When Poseidon retaliated by sending a sea-monster to ravage the country, Laomedon sought assistance from Heracles, who succeeded in destroying the creature. Once again, however, Laomedon reneged on the reward that he had promised, laying himself open to a punitive attack by Heracles that ended in his own death and the city’s capture. Among Heracles’ companions on this campaign were Iolaus and Telamon (N. 3.36–37, N. 4.25–26, I. 5.35–37, I. 6.27–30). lapiths (LAP-iths) A legendary people of eastern Thessaly (P. 9.14). leda (LEE-da) Wife of Tyndareus and mother of Castor and Polydeuces (O. 3.35, P. 4.172, N. 10.66). See further under Tyndarids. lemnos An island in the northern Aegean, where the Argonauts tarried a while on their return from Colchis (P. 4. 252–56; cf. O. 4.19–27) and where, at a later point, Philoctetes was abandoned by his fellow Greeks on their way to Troy (P. 1.52–53). lerna (LUR-na) A coastal town not far from Argos (O. 7.33). leto (LEE-toh) Mother by Zeus of Apollo (e.g., O. 8.31, P. 3.67, P. 9.5, N. 9.53) and Artemis (O. 3.26); the two are paired as her offspring at N. 6.36– 37, N. 9.4–5.

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leucothea (lew-KOTH-ee-a)

See Ino.

libya The region of North Africa to the west of Egypt (P. 4.6, 43, 259, P. 5.53, I. 4.54); also, the eponymous heroine of that region (P. 9.55–58), daughter of Epaphus (cf. P. 4.14–15) and grandmother of Danaus. The chief city of Libya was Cyrene. licymnius (lye-SIM-nee-us) Illegitimate half brother of Alcmene, whose father Electryon begot him on a concubine named Midea. The father of Oeonus (O. 10.65), he was killed by Tlepolemus in a fit of rage (O. 7.27–30). lindus (LIN-dus) A grandson of Helius and eponym of a city on Rhodes (O. 7.74). locris (LOCK-ris) A region in central Greece northwest of Boeotia; its most important city was Opus. See also Western Locris. locrus (LOCK-rus) Legendary king of Opus (O. 9.60) and eponymous ancestor of the Locrian people. loxias (LOCK-see-as) Another name for Apollo, especially in his role as oracular god at Delphi (P. 3.28, P. 11.5, I. 7.49). The name appears to be etymologically connected with loxos (“crooked” or “oblique”), alluding to the proverbial indirectness and ambiguity of oracles. lycaean (lye-SEE-an) (O. 9.96, O. 13.107).

An epithet of Zeus as worshipped at Mt. Lycaeus

lycaeus (lye-SEE-us) A mountain in southwestern Arcadia, site of a festival in honor of Zeus (N. 10.48). lycia (LISH-a) A region in southwestern Asia Minor. During the Trojan War a contingent of Lycians fought as allies on the Trojan side (N. 3.60) under the command of Glaucus (O. 13.60) and Sarpedon (P. 3.112). Apollo is sometimes called “Lycian” (P. 1.39), perhaps reflecting the fact that he had a famous temple at the Lycian town of Patara. lydia (LID-ee-a) A region in western Asia Minor, home of Tantalus and (in his youth) of Pelops (cf. O. 1.24, O. 9.9). One of the so-called modes or styles of Greek music was known as Lydian (O. 5.19, O. 14.17, N. 4.45, N. 8.15). lynceus (LIN-see-us) (1) Son of Aegyptus, husband of Hypermestra, and father of Abas; he succeeded his father-in-law Danaus as king of Argos (cf. N. 10.12). (2) Son of Aphareus and brother of Idas, killed (together with Idas) while fighting Polydeuces, as is narrated at length in N. 10. maenalus (MEE-na-lus) A mountain in Arcadia (O. 9.59). magnesia (mag-NEE-zee-a or mag-NEE-zha) A region along the eastern seaboard of Thessaly; within it lay both Mt. Pelion, the home of Chiron

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(cf. P. 3.45), and Iolcus, the native city of Jason (cf. P. 4.80), later ruled by Acastus (cf. N. 5.27). mantinea (man-ti-NEE-a) A city in Arcadia (O. 10.70). marathon A town in eastern Attica, site of an athletic festival in honor of Heracles (O. 9.89, O. 13.110, P. 8.79). medea (me-DEE-a) Daughter of Aeetes, renowned for her great cleverness and for the role she played in the expedition of the Argonauts (O. 13.53–54). As is narrated at length in P. 4, Medea fell in love with Jason upon his arrival in Colchis, helped him to gain the Golden Fleece through her powers of magic (while betraying her father in the process), and thereafter accompanied him on his return to Greece. medusa (me-DEW-sa) One of three Gorgons, daughters of Phorcus (P. 12.13); the others were Euryale and Stheno. Their heads were entwined with writhing snakes, and their gaze was so baleful that it turned to stone anyone who met it directly. From the blood shed at Medusa’s decapitation (see Perseus) the winged horse Pegasus was born (O. 13.63). megacles (MEG-a-kleez) ily of Athens (P. 7.17).

A member of the prominent Alcmaeonid fam-

megara (MEG-a-ra) (1) A city on the Saronic Gulf halfway between Athens and Corinth, of which Nisus was one legendary king and Alcathous another. The city held regular athletic competitions (O. 7.86, O. 13.109, P. 8.78, P. 9.91, N. 3.84, N. 5.46, I. 8.67). (2) Daughter of Creon and (first) wife of Heracles, by whom she bore eight sons (I. 4.63–64). megas (MEG-as) Father of Deinis of Aegina (N. 8.16, 44). melampus (me-LAM-pus) A cousin of Jason (P. 4.126). melanippus (mel-a-NIP-pus) A Theban warrior who fought to defend his city against the Seven (N. 11.37), and putative ancestor of Aristagoras. meleager (mel-ee-AY-jer) Son of Oeneus, the king of Calydon in Aetolia, who died while defending his city against attackers (cf. I. 7.31–32). melesias (me-LEE-see-as) 4.93, N. 6.65).

An Athenian trainer of wrestlers (O. 8.54, N.

melia (MEL-ee-a) A daughter of Ocean and sister of Ismenus, the Theban river that gave its name to the Ismenium (P. 11.4). melissus (me-LIS-sus) A citizen of Thebes, victor in the chariot race and pancratium (I. 3.9, I. 4.2, 44). memnon An Ethiopian king at the time of the Trojan War, son of the goddess Dawn by Priam’s brother Tithonus. Bringing a contingent of warriors

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from Ethiopia, Memnon fought the Greeks alongside his Trojan kinsmen, killing Nestor’s son Antilochus (P. 6.30–42) and being slain in retaliation by Achilles (O. 2.83, N. 3.61–63, N. 6.49–53, I. 5.40–41, I. 8.54). memory (Mnemosyne) One of the Titans, mother by Zeus of the nine Muses (I. 6.75) and an inspiration to poets in and of herself (N. 7.15). menander (me-NAN-der) An Athenian trainer of wrestlers (N. 5.48). menelaus (men-e-LAY-us) Younger son of Atreus, brother of Agamemnon, and husband of Helen; having succeeded his father-in-law Tyndareus as king of Sparta, he joined with Agamemnon in leading a Greek army against Troy to recover his errant wife (cf. N. 7.27–30). menoitius (me-NEE-shee-us)

Father of Patroclus (O. 9.70).

meropes (MAIR-o-peez), meropians (me-ROH-pee-unz) A legendary people on the island of Cos, destroyed by Heracles and Telamon when the latter were returning from Troy (N. 4.26, I. 6.31). messene (mes-SEE-nee) The southwestern region of the Peloponnesus where Pylos, the city of Nestor, was located (cf. P. 6.34/35); it was also the home of Jason’s uncle Amythaon (P. 4.126). metope (me-TOH-pee) Eponymous nymph of a spring in Stymphalus (O. 6.84). midas (MYE-das) A victorious pipe-player from Acragas (P. 12.5). midea (MID-ee-a) (1) Mother of Licymnius by Electryon, the father of Alcmene (O. 7.29). (2) A town in Argolis (O. 10.66). midylid (MYE-di-lid) Pertaining to the Midylidae (mye-DIL-i-dee), the clan to which Aristomenes of Aegina belonged (P. 8.38). minyans (MIN-yunz) (1) The ancient inhabitants of Orchomenus in Boeotia (O. 14.4, 19), regarded as descendants of an eponymous ancestor, Minyas (I. 1.56). (2) The Argonauts (P. 4.69). minyas (MIN-yas)

See Minyans.

molione (mo-LYE-o-nee) (O. 10.34).

Mother by Poseidon of Eurytus and Cteatus

molossia (mo-LOSS-ee-a) A region in Epirus once ruled (according to legend) by Neoptolemus (N. 7.38). mopsus (MOP-sus) A seer on the Argonautic expedition (P. 4.191). muses Goddesses of poetry and song, the nine daughters of Zeus and Memory (Mnemosyne). Having been born in Pieria, a region immediately to the north of Mt. Olympus, they are often called “Pierian” (P. 1.14, I. 1.65) or “the Pierides” (O. 10.96, N. 6.32); they are also known as “Helico-

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nian” (I. 2.34, I. 8.57) because they had a sanctuary on Mt. Helicon. As sources of poetic inspiration the Muses may be invoked either collectively (O. 6.21, O. 11.17, N. 9.1, I. 4.43) or by means of a generic singular (O. 10.3, P. 1.58, N. 3.1, N. 6.28). Often, too, the singular “Muse” is used in a figurative fashion to denote “the art of song” (e.g., O. 13.22, P. 4.279, P. 5.65, P. 10.37, N. 1.12, N. 3.28, I. 2.6). Individual Muses named in the odes are Calliope (O. 10.14), Clio (N. 3.83), and Terpsichore (I. 2.7). As characters in mythical narrative, the Muses are represented as singing on Olympus for the enjoyment of the gods (P. 1.1–12), at the weddings of Peleus and Cadmus (P. 3.89–92, N. 5.22–26), and at the funeral of Achilles (I. 8.57–60). myrmidons (MUR-mi-dons) According to legend, the earliest inhabitants of Aegina (N. 3.13). mysia (MIS-see-a) The northwest corner of Asia Minor, according to legend the kingdom of Teuthras (O. 9.71) and Telephus (I. 8.49–50). naxos The largest of the Cyclades, birthplace of Otus and Ephialtes (P. 4.88) and a source of excellent whetstones (I. 6.73). nemea (NEM-ee-a) Near Phlius in the northeastern Peloponnesus, site of a temple and sanctuary of Zeus. In myth Nemea provides the setting for the first of Heracles’ famous labors, which was to subdue and destroy an invulnerable lion that was ravaging the area. Weapons serving no purpose against such a foe, Heracles strangled the creature with his bare hands and then used its claws to pierce and strip off the hide, which he wore thereafter as a cloak (cf. I. 6.47–48). nemean games An athletic festival held every two years at Nemea in honor of Zeus; the prizes awarded were wreaths of wild celery. A Nemean victory in catalogues may be designated not by the name itself but through a reference to the neighboring city of Cleonae (N. 4.17, N. 10.42), which administered the games, or to the myth of the Nemean lion (O. 13.44, N. 6.42, I. 3.11); on the latter, see Nemea. neoptolemus (nee-op-TOL-i-mus) Son of Achilles, born and raised on the island of Scyros. Brought to Troy after Achilles’ death, he played a decisive role in the capture and destruction of the city, first as one of the warriors secreted in the Wooden Horse and then by killing Priam at the altar of Zeus. His movements and actions after the fall of Troy are sketched in N. 7. nereids (NEER-ee-ids) The fifty daughters of Nereus (I. 6.6), who lived, like their father, beneath the sea (O. 2.28–29, P. 11.2). Individual Nereids named in the odes include Thetis, Amphitrite, and Psamathea.

342

glossary

nereus (NEER-ee-us) Son of Sea (Pontus) and Earth (Gaea) and father of the fifty Nereids. Renowned for his wisdom (cf. P. 3.92), he was sometimes referred to as the “Old Man of the Sea” (P. 9.94–96). nestor (NES-ter) King of Pylos in the southwestern Peloponnesus. Although he led a contingent of Pylians to the Trojan War, he was well advanced in years (according to one tradition, indeed, he had ruled over three successive generations of men; cf. P. 3.112 with note), and for that reason his main contributions to the Greek cause lay in his wise counsels and his eloquence. His rescue in battle at the hands of his son Antilochus is narrated in P. 6. nicasippus (nick-a-SIP-pus) to Sicily (47). niceus (NYE-see-us)

A man charged with the task of bringing I. 2

A victor at the first Olympic games (O. 10.72).

nicocles (NICK-o-kleez)

A cousin of Cleander of Aegina (I. 8.61).

nicomachus (nye-KOM-a-kus) The charioteer of Xenocrates (I. 2.22). nisus (NYE-sus) A legendary king of Megara (P. 9.91, N. 5.46). nymphs Minor female deities, usually attached to particular places, springs, streams, etc. Eponymous nymphs of cities and islands were common, e.g., Thebe, Aegina, and Rhodes. oanus (oh-AY-nus) A river in Sicily near Camarina (O. 5.11). odysseus (od-DIS-ee-us) Son of Laertes and king of Ithaca. A major figure among the Greek warriors who fought at Troy, he was particularly notable for his resourcefulness in devising the stratagem of the Wooden Horse and his dogged endurance of adversity during his much-delayed return to Ithaca. In Pindar’s view he is above all the man to whom the Greeks awarded Achilles’ weapons and armor after that hero’s death, thereby slighting the superior merits of his rival Ajax (cf. N. 7.20–30, N. 8.23–34). oedipus (ED-i-pus or EE-di-pus) Son of Laius and Jocasta. As had been foretold by the Delphic oracle, he unwittingly killed his father (O. 2.38–40) and married his mother, thereby becoming king of Thebes, which he had previously freed from the depredations of the Sphinx by deciphering her riddle (cf. P. 4.263). When his crimes of patricide and incest were revealed, he was banished from Thebes and spent the rest of his life in exile. oeneus (EE-nee-us) King of Calydon in Aetolia and father of Meleager and Tydeus (I. 5.31). oenomaus (ee-NOM-ay-us) A son of Ares, king of Pisa in Elis, and father of Hippodamia. Because an oracle had warned him to fear death at the hands of a future son-in-law, he insisted that any man wishing to marry his

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daughter must compete with him in a chariot race and lose his life if defeated. Pelops’s decision to take on that challenge is dramatized in the central narrative of O. 1. oenone (ee-NOH-nee) An old name for Aegina, etymologically connected with oinos, “wine,” and thus meaning something like “Vineland” (N. 4.46, N. 5.16, N. 8.7, I. 5.34). oenopia (ee-NOH-pee-a) Aegina (I. 8.21).

Like the preceding, an alternative name for

oeonus (ee-OH-nus) A victor at the first Olympic games (O. 10.66). oïcles (oh-ICK-leez) Son of Proetus, brother of Talaus, and father of Amphiaraus (O. 6.13, P. 8.39, N. 9.17, N. 10.9). oïleus (oh-EYE-lee-us)

Father of Ajax (2) (O. 9.112).

oligaethidae (ol-li-JEE-thi-dee) The clan to which Xenophon of Corinth belonged (O. 13.97). olympia A sanctuary of Zeus in Elis and site of the Olympic games. Also known as the Altis (O. 10.45), the sacred precinct contained temples to Zeus and to Hera, a shrine of Pelops (cf. O. 1.93), treasuries, and innumerable statues and steles commemorating Olympic victors; outside of the Altis were the stadium and the hippodrome. When Olympic victories are cited in the odes, the venue is often not named directly but indicated instead by a reference to the river Alpheus on which it lay, to the “Hill of Cronus” (Cronion), a local landmark, or to the nearby town of Pisa. olympians The gods who succeeded the Titans as the ruling powers of the world, comprising Zeus and his siblings (Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, etc.) and the generation of Zeus’s divine children (Athena, Apollo, Artemis, etc.). Although called Olympian after their place of residence on Mt. Olympus (e.g., O. 2.12, P. 11.64, N. 10.17, 84), they are frequently said to live not on Olympus but in the sky or heaven (e.g., P. 10.27, N. 6.4, N. 10.58, 88, I. 7.45). olympic games An athletic festival held every four years at Olympia in honor of Zeus. The oldest, most important, and most prestigious of the four Panhellenic contests, the Olympic games were first held in 776 b.c., and it was in terms of four-year intervals from that starting point that the ancient Greeks calculated historical dates (cf. O. 10.52–55 with note). According to legend the games were founded by Heracles with spoils gained from his war against Augeas, as is recounted at length in O. 10. The prizes awarded at the Olympic games were wreaths of olive leaves (cf. O. 4.11, O. 11.13, N. 1.17); as is recounted in O. 3, the olive tree itself was supposedly brought to Olympia by Heracles.

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glossary

olympus The highest mountain in Greece, situated on the northern border of Thessaly; its summit is commonly (but not exclusively) represented as the residence of Zeus and the other Olympians. onchestus (ong-KES-tus) A sanctuary of Poseidon on the shores of Lake Copais in Boeotia (I. 1.33, I. 4.19). opus (OH-pus) (1) A Locrian city on the straits of Euboea (O. 9.14). (2) King of the Epeans in Elis (O. 9.58). (3) Grandson of the preceding and eponymous hero of the city of Opus (O. 9.62–66). orchomenus (or-KOM-e-nus) A city in northern Boeotia, legendary home of the Minyans and site of a sanctuary of the Graces (O. 14.4, I. 1.35). orion (or-EYE-un) A giant of notable strength and beauty (I. 4.49); also, that same personage regarded as a constellation (N. 2.12). orseas (OR-see-as)

A trainer (presumably Theban) of pancratiasts (I. 4.72).

orthosia (or-THOH-zee-a or or-THOH-zha) Sparta (O. 3.30).

A cult-title of Artemis in

ortygia (or-TID-jee-a or or-TID-ja) A small island off Syracuse, forming the oldest section of the city and linked to it by a bridge and causeway (O. 6.92, P. 2.6, N. 1.2). otus (OH-tus) paean (PEE-an) 4.270). pallas

A gigantic son of Poseidon, brother of Ephialtes (P. 4.89). An epithet or byname of Apollo in his role as healer (P.

See Athena.

pamphaës (PAM-fay-eez) 10.49). pamphylus (PAM-fil-us)

A maternal ancestor of Theaeus of Argos (N. A son of Aegimius (P. 1.62).

pangaeum (pan-JEE-um) A mountain in Thrace (P. 4.180). paris A Trojan prince, son of Priam and brother of Hector. While being entertained as a guest by Menelaus, he ran away with his host’s wife Helen, thus giving rise to the Trojan War. Undistinguished as a fighter, he wielded the bow as his weapon of choice (cf. P. 6.33). parnassus Greece’s second highest mountain (after Olympus), situated in Phocis on the northern coast of the Gulf of Corinth. According to Greek myth, Deucalion and Pyrrha found refuge on Parnassus at the time of the Great Flood, descending thereafter to repopulate the earth (O. 9.42–46). Near the base of its southern side is Delphi or Pytho, site of the Pythian games, which for that reason are sometimes designated by a reference to the mountain (O. 13.106, P. 10.8, N. 2.19).

glossary parrhasia (pa-RAY-zha) Lycaeus (O. 9.95).

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A region in southwestern Arcadia, near Mt.

patroclus (pa-TROCK-lus) Son of Menoetius and companion of Achilles (O. 9.75, O. 10.19). pegasus (PEG-a-sus) A winged horse that sprang into being from the blood of Medusa when she was beheaded by Perseus. Shortly after his birth Pegasus joined the gods on Olympus, and he returned there permanently after his association with Bellerophon (O. 13.63–92) came to its disastrous end (I. 7.44–48). peleus (PEE-lee-us) Son of Aeacus (P. 3.87, I. 8.39) by the nymph Aegina, brother of Telamon, and father by Thetis of Achilles (P. 3.100, P. 6.23). After he and Telamon were banished from Aegina by Aeacus for murdering their half brother Phocus (N. 5.12–16), Peleus migrated to Thessaly. While living as a guest in the household of Acastus of Iolcus, Peleus unwittingly aroused the amorous attentions of Hippolyta, the king’s wife. Mindful of his position as Acastus’s guest, he forthrightly rejected her advances, whereupon Hippolyta took revenge by accusing him to her husband of attempted rape (N. 5.26–32). When Acastus laid plans to murder Peleus by stealth, Chiron intervened on his behalf (N. 4.59–61), and some time later Peleus retaliated by attacking and capturing Iolcus (N. 3.34, N. 4.54–56). The hero’s upright behavior in resisting Hippolyta was rewarded by the privilege of marrying the sea-goddess Thetis (N. 5.33–36; cf. I. 8.38–40); before being allowed to do so, however, he had to wrestle her into submission as she underwent a series of physical transformations (N. 4.62–64; cf. N. 3.35–36). The wedding took place on Mt. Pelion (N. 5.22–25) and was attended by all the Olympians, who brought wedding gifts (P. 3.93–95, N. 4.65–68); like the similarly “mixed” marriage of Cadmus and Harmonia, the occasion was held to epitomize the greatest good fortune attainable by human beings (P. 3.86–95, I. 6.25). pelias (PEL-ee-as) Son of Poseidon (P. 4.138) by Tyro (P. 4.136) and father of Acastus (N. 4.60). As his story is presented in P. 4 (other accounts differ), Pelias usurped the throne of Iolcus from his half brother Aeson, who as the legitimate son of Cretheus was its rightful possessor. To protect the newborn Jason from Pelias’s machinations, Aeson pretended that the child had died and secretly sent him to the Centaur Chiron, who brought him up in his cave on Mt. Pelion. When, grown to manhood, Jason presented himself in Iolcus and demanded the restoration of his royal rights, Pelias sidestepped the issue by sending him off on the quest of the Golden Fleece, presumably in the expectation that he would never return. In the event, Jason did return together with Medea, who used her wiles and spells to bring about Pelias’s death (cf. P. 4.250).

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pelinnaeum (pel-i-NEE-um) A town in west-central Thessaly, home of Hippocleas (P. 10.4). pelion (PEE-lee-on) A mountain complex near Iolcus (N. 4.54) in eastern Thessaly, home of Chiron (P. 3.4) and other Centaurs (P. 2.44–46), hunting ground of Cyrene (P. 9.5–7), and site of the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (N. 5.22; cf. P. 3.90). pellene (pe-LEE-nee) A city in eastern Achaea, site of an athletic festival that awarded woolen cloaks as prizes (O. 7.86, O. 9.97–98, O. 13.109, N. 10.44). peloponnesus (pel-o-po-NEE-sus) The large peninsula that makes up southern Greece, connected to the mainland by the Isthmus of Corinth. The name means “island of Pelops,” presumably reflecting the myth of Pelops’s immigration from Lydia as recounted in O. 1. pelops (PEE-lops or PEL-ops) Son of Tantalus, a legendary king of Lydia. Aroused to passion by his youthful beauty, Poseidon carried Pelops off to Olympus, where he lived for some time as the god’s beloved (O. 1.25–27, 40–45). Sent back to earth because of his father’s subsequent misbehavior (on which see Tantalus), Pelops was transported by Poseidon from Lydia to Elis in order that he might win and marry Hippodamia (see Oenomaus); among the children issuing from that union was Atreus. The tomb of Pelops at Olympia was the site of an active hero-cult in historical times (O. 1.90–93). peneus (pe-NEE-us) A river in Thessaly (P. 10.56) and, in its aspect as a river-god, the father of Hypseus (P. 9.16). pergamus (PUR-ga-mus) Another name for Troy, though strictly speaking the term refers to the citadel rather than the city as a whole (O. 8.42, I. 6.31). periclymenus (pe-ri-KLIM-i-nus) (1) A son of Poseidon and member of the Argonautic expedition (P. 4.175). (2) One of the warriors who fought in defense of Thebes against the attack of the Seven (N. 9.26). persephone (pur-SEF-fon-ee) Daughter of Zeus and Demeter, wife of Hades, and queen of the underworld (O. 14.20–21, I. 8.55). Like her mother, Persephone was strongly associated with the island of Sicily, a fact reflected in the tradition that Zeus gave her the island as a wedding present (N. 1.13–15). perseus (PUR-see-us) Son of Zeus and Danaë, conceived when Zeus came to Danaë as a shower of gold (P. 12.17–18). Because Danaë’s father Acrisius had been warned by an oracle that he would meet death at the hands of her son, he cast mother and child adrift in a large wooden chest; the chest eventually came ashore on the island of Seriphos, where Perseus

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grew to manhood. When the king of Seriphos, Polydectes, fell in love with Danaë, he regarded Perseus as an obstacle to his designs and sent him off on a quest for the head of Medusa. Attaining success with the aid of Athena, Perseus returned to Seriphos, where he discovered that Polydectes had attempted to rape Danaë during his absence; he took revenge by displaying the Gorgon’s head to the king and other members of his court, thereby turning them all to stone (P. 10.46–48, P. 12.12–18). phaesana (fee-SAN-a) A town in Arcadia on the upper reaches of the river Alpheus (O. 6.34). See Acragas.

phalaris (FA-la-ris)

phasis (FAY-sis) A river in Colchis, at the eastern end of the Black Sea (P. 4.211, I. 2.41). pherenicus (fe-re-NYE-kus) A racehorse (“bringer of victory”) belonging to Hieron of Syracuse (O. 1.18, P. 3.74). pheres (FAIR-eez)

A brother of Aeson and uncle of Jason (P. 4.125).

philanor (fi-LAY-nor)

Father of Ergoteles of Himera (O. 12.13).

philoctetes (fi-lock-TEE-teez) Son of Poeas (P. 1.53) and a great archer; see note on P. 1.50 for an outline of his story. philyra (FIL-li-ra) Mother by Cronus of Chiron (P. 3.1. P. 6.22, P. 9.30), with whom she lived in his cave on Mt. Pelion (P. 4.103, N. 3.43). phintis (FIN-tis) Charioteer of Hagesias (O. 6.22). phlegra (FLEG-ra) A locality in Thrace, site of the battle between the Olympians and the Giants (N. 1.67) and of Heracles’ encounter with Alcyoneus (I. 6.33). phlegyas (FLED-jee-as) King of the Lapiths, father of Coronis (P. 3.8) and (at least according to one tradition) of Ixion. phlius (FLYE-us)

A town not far from Nemea (N. 6.44).

phocus (FOH-kus) Son of Aeacus by the sea-nymph Psamathea (N. 5.12– 13); for his murder by Peleus and Telamon, see Peleus. phoebus (FEE-bus) A common byname of Apollo (e.g., O. 6.49, P. 3.14, N. 9.9, I. 1.7); it means “bright” or “radiant.” phorcus (FOR-kus) A sea-god, father of the Gorgons (P. 12.13). phrastor (FRAS-tor) phricias (FRYE-see-as)

A victor at the first Olympic games (O. 10.71). Father of Hippocleas of Pelinnaeum (P. 10.16).

phrixus (FRICK-sus) A grandson of Aeolus; see note on P. 4.159 for his story.

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glossary

phrygians (FRID-jee-unz)

Trojan allies living to the east of Troy (N. 3.60).

phthia (THEE-a) A city in eastern Thessaly, birthplace of Achilles (P. 3.100–101) and site of a shrine to Thetis (N. 4.50–51). phylace (FIL-a-see) A town in eastern Thessaly, site of games in honor of Protesilaus (I. 1.59). phylacidas (fi-LAS-i-das) An Aeginetan pancratiast, brother of Pytheas (I. 5.18, 60, I. 6.7, 57). pieria (pye-EER-ee-a) A region immediately to the north of Mt. Olympus, birthplace of the Muses (I. 1.64). pierides (pye-EER-i-deez)

See Muses.

pindus (PIN-dus) The mountain range that separates Epirus from Thessaly, source of the river Peneus (P. 1.66, P. 9.15). pirene (pye-REE-nee)

A spring on the acropolis of Corinth (O. 13.61).

pisa (PEE-sa or PYE-sa) A town in Elis near Olympia, often used in references to the Olympic games (e.g., O. 1.18, O. 3.9, O. 8.9, O. 13.29, O. 14.23, N. 10.32). pisander (pye-SAN-der) dos (N. 11.33). pitane (PIT-a-nee) heroine (O. 6.28).

According to legend, a Spartan colonist of Tene-

A town in northwestern Laconia; also, its eponymous

pleiades (PLEE-a-deez) A constellation not far from Orion (cf. N. 2.11–12); mythologically, the daughters of Atlas and Pleione, of whom Taÿgeta was one. poeas (PEE-as)

Father of Philoctetes (P. 1.53).

polydectes (pol-i-DECK-teez) King of Seriphos (P. 12.14); see Perseus. polydeuces (pol-i-DEW-seez) Son of Zeus and Leda and half brother of Castor (P. 11.62, N. 10.50, I. 5.33); see also Tyndarids. polymnestus (pol-im-NES-tus) Father of Battus, the founder of Cyrene (P. 4.59). polynices (pol-i-NYE-seez) One of the two sons of Oedipus and Jocasta, the other being Eteocles. After Oedipus was banished from Thebes for patricide and incest, the two brothers quarreled over the question of succession; the conflict eventually led to the expedition of the Seven against Thebes (see Adrastus) and culminated in their mutual slaughter before the city gates (O. 2.41–42). Polynices had in the meantime married a daughter of Adrastus and produced a son named Thersander (O. 2.43). polytimidas (pol-i-TIM-i-das) 6.62).

A kinsman of Alcimidas of Aegina (N.

glossary porphyrion (por-FEER-ee-on) 8.12).

349

King of the Giants, killed by Apollo (P.

poseidon (po-SYE-dun) Son of Cronus and Rhea and brother of Zeus; god of the sea (O. 6.103–4), of horses (O. 5.21, P. 6.50), and of earthquakes, the latter function being reflected in his common epithets Earthholder (O. 1.25, O. 13.81, I. 7.38) and Earthshaker (P. 6.50, I. 1.52, I. 4.19). His wife was the Nereid Amphitrite (O. 6.104–5; cf. N. 5.37); his weapon of choice was the trident, a three-pronged fishing-spear (O. 9.30, I. 8.35), as is reflected in various epithets (cf. O. 1.40, 73, O. 8.48, P. 2.12, N. 4.87). Father of Evadne (O. 6.29–30), Eurypylus (P. 4.33), Euphemus (P. 4.44–45), and Pelias (P. 4.138); lover and helper of Pelops (O. 1.25–27, 40–44, 72–87); built the wall of Troy with Apollo and Aeacus (O. 8.31–36); fought Heracles at Pylos (O. 9.29–31); vied with Zeus for the hand of Thetis (I. 8.27–47). Poseidon was closely associated with the Isthmus of Corinth (cf. O. 8.48–52, O. 13.5, I. 1.32), and the Isthmian games were held in his honor (cf. O. 13.40, N. 6.41, I. 2.13–14, I. 6.5–7). praxidamas (prack-SID-a-mas) Grandfather of Alcimidas of Aegina (N. 6.15). priam (PRYE-am) Son of Laomedon and king of Troy at the time of the (second) Trojan War (P. 1.54, N. 7.35); among his many children were Cassandra (P. 11.19–20), Hector, Paris, and Helenus. proetus (PREE-tus) Son of Abas and, like him, an early king of Argos (N. 10.41). protesilaus (proh-tes-i-LAY-us) A king of Phylace in Thessaly, and the first Greek to die at Troy; honored by athletic contests in his city (I. 1.58). protogenia (proh-toh-jen-EYE-a) Daughter of Deucalion and Pyrrha; sharing the same name, perhaps, was the daughter of Opus, king of the Epeans (see notes on O. 9.42 and 48–49). psalychiadae (sal-i-KYE-a-dee) The Aeginetan clan to which Pytheas and Phylacidas belonged (I. 6.63). psamathea (sam-a-THEE-a) One of the Nereids and mother of Phocus by Aeacus (N. 5.13). psaumis (SAW-mis) A wealthy citizen of Camarina, prolific competitor in equestrian events (O. 4.10, O. 5.3, 23). ptoeodorus (tee-o-DOR-us) Paternal grandfather of Xenophon of Corinth (O. 13.41). pylades (PYE-la-deez or PIL-a-deez) Son of Strophius and friend and companion of Orestes (P. 11.15).

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glossary

pylos (PYE-los) A town on the southwestern coast of the Peloponnesus (O. 9.31, P. 4.174, P. 5.70). pyrrha (PI-ra)

See Deucalion.

pytheas (PITH-ee-as) An Aeginetan pancratiast (N. 5.4, 43, I. 5.19, 59, I. 6.58), elder brother of Phylacidas. pythian games An athletic festival held every four years at Delphi (or Pytho) in honor of Apollo, second only to the Olympic games in antiquity and prestige. Victors were awarded wreaths of bay or laurel, a tree sacred to Apollo (cf. P. 8.20). In victory catalogues the game-site is often denoted in terms of two local landmarks, Mt. Parnassus and the spring Castalia. pytho (PYE-thoh) An alternative (and in Pindar’s usage far commoner) name for Delphi. pythonicus (pith-o-NYE-kus) Father of Thrasydaeus of Thebes (P. 11.43). rhadamanthys (ra-da-MAN-this) Son of Zeus by Europa and brother of Minos and Sarpedon. He was so renowned for wisdom and justice while alive that upon his death he became a judge of souls in the afterlife (O. 2.75–77, P. 2.73–74). rhea (REE-a) Daughter of Earth (Gaea) and Sky (Uranus), sister and wife of Cronus (O. 2.77), mother of Zeus (O. 2.12) and his five siblings, among them Hestia (N. 11.1). rhodes A large island off the southwest corner of Asia Minor (cf. O. 7.18– 19); also, that island’s eponymous nymph, bride of Helius (O. 7.14) and mother by him of seven sons known as the Heliadae (O. 7.71–73). salamis (SAL-a-mis) An island off the southwestern coast of Attica, legendary home of Telamon and his son Ajax (N. 2.13–14, N. 4.48, I. 5.48). Historically, Salamis was the site of a crucial sea battle (480 b.c.) in which the huge fleet of the invading Persians was decisively defeated by the smaller and less numerous ships of the Greek alliance. The contingents that acquitted themselves with the greatest distinction at Salamis were the Athenians (P. 1.76–77) and the Aeginetans (I. 5.48–50). salmoneus (sal-MOH-nee-us) Son of Aeolus, brother of Cretheus (P. 4.142–43), and father of Tyro. samus (SAY-mus) A victor at the first Olympic games (O. 10.70). sarpedon (sar-PEE-don) A son of Zeus and Europa and brother of Rhadamanthys. He settled in Lycia and fought and died as an ally of the Trojans during the Trojan War, by which time he had lived through three full generations (Apollodorus 3.1.2; cf. P. 3.112 with note). According to an alter-

glossary

351

native tradition, however, the Sarpedon who fell at Troy was a son of Zeus by Bellerophon’s daughter Laodamia (cf. Iliad 6.198–99). scamander (ska-MAN-der)

The chief river of Troy (N. 9.39).

scyros (SYE-ros or SKYE-ros) An island northeast of Euboea, birthplace of Neoptolemus (N. 7.37). seasons

See Horae.

semele (SEM-e-lee) One of the four daughters of Cadmus and Harmonia. Known also as Thyone, she was so beautiful that she attracted the amorous attentions of Zeus (P. 3.98–99), which resulted in the birth of Dionysus. Although Hera, jealous as usual, contrived to have her rival incinerated by Zeus’s thunderbolt, Semele nonetheless enjoyed a posthumous existence among the gods on Olympus (O. 2.25–28, P. 11.1). seriphos (SER-i-fos) One of the western Cyclades, home of Polydectes (P. 12.12); see Perseus. sicily A large triangular island off the toe of Italy. Owing to the local volcanism (see Aetna), the soil of Sicily was exceptionally fertile and productive (cf. O. 1.12, N. 1.14–15). The island’s largest and most powerful cities were Syracuse and Acragas. sicyon (SIS-see-on) A city in the northeastern Peloponnesus on the river Asopus (2), site of games founded by Adrastus in honor of Apollo (O. 13.109, N. 9.1, 9–12, I. 4.26); the prizes awarded were silver wine-cups (N. 9.51–53, N. 10.43). sipylus (SIP-i-lus) A city in Lydia, home of Tantalus (O. 1.38). sisyphus (SIS-i-fus) Son of Aeolus and legendary founder of Corinth, renowned for his consummate cunning; see note on O. 13.52. sky (Uranus) Husband (and son) of Earth, father of Cronus and the other Titans (O. 7.38, P. 3.4, P. 4.194). soclidas (soh-KLYE-das) Father of Praxidamas and great-grandfather of Alcimidas of Aegina (N. 6.21). sogenes (SOH-je-neez)

An Aeginetan pentathlete (N. 7.8, 70, 91).

solymi (SOL-i-mye) A people indigenous to Lycia, destroyed by Bellerophon with the aid of Pegasus (O. 13.90). sostratus (SOS-tra-tus) Father of Hagesias of Syracuse (O. 6.9). sown men (Spartoi) Warriors who sprang up out of the earth after Cadmus killed a dragon at the future site of Thebes and sowed the soil with its teeth (P. 9.82, I. 1.30, I. 7.10). It was from the Spartoi that the chief aristocratic families of Thebes traced their descent.

352

glossary

sparta The chief city of Laconia, also known as Lacedaemon. In legend, it was the home of Tyndareus, the Tyndarids (N. 10.52), and Menelaus and Helen. In the fifth century b.c. it was one of the two most powerful cities in Greece (Athens being the other); its commanders and forces played an important role in Greek resistance against the Persian invasion, most notably at the battle of Plataea in 479 b.c. (cf. P. 1.77–78 with note). The Spartans were of Dorian extraction. strepsiades (strep-SYE-a-deez) maternal uncle (I. 7.24).

A Theban pancratiast (I. 7.21); also, his

strophius (STROH-fee-us) 11.35).

King of Phocis and father of Pylades (P.

stymphalus (stim-FAY-lus)

A city in northeastern Arcadia (O. 6.84, 99).

syracuse The largest and most powerful city of Sicily, situated on its southeastern coast. Originally settled as a colony of Corinth, it was the home of Hieron (O. 1.23, O. 6.93–94, P. 1.73, P. 3.70), Hagesias (O. 6.18), and Chromius (N. 1.2). See also Ortygia. taenarum (TEE-na-rum) A promontory in southern Laconia, site of a temple to Poseidon (P. 4.44, 174). talaus (TAL-ay-us) Father of Adrastus (O. 6.15, N. 9.14; cf. N. 10.12). tantalus (TAN-ta-lus) King of Sipylus in Lydia and father of Pelops. Privileged to live on terms of reciprocal hospitality with the gods, he abused that extraordinary favor either (a) by inviting them to a dinner at which he served up the cooked and dismembered body of his son Pelops (the traditional account; cf. O. 1.47–51) or (b) by stealing the nectar and ambrosia with which they had earlier made him immortal and sharing those divine substances with his friends (offered as a “purified” alternative at O. 1.60– 64). By way of punishment Zeus hung a huge stone over Tantalus’s head, thereby condemning him to never-ending apprehension of imminent disaster (O. 1.57–58, I. 8.9–11). The more familiar torment involving eternally unreachable water and fruit (cf. Odyssey 11.582–92) gives us the word “tantalize.” tartarus (TAR-ta-rus) The subterranean region where Typhon (P. 1.15) and the Titans were imprisoned. taÿgeta (tay-ID-ji-ta) A Laconian nymph, daughter of Atlas and so one of the Pleiades (O. 3.29–30). taÿgetus (tay-ID-ji-tus) (P. 1.64, N. 10.61).

A mountain range immediately west of Sparta

tegea (TED-jee-a or TED-ja)

A city in Arcadia (O. 10.66, N. 10.47).

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353

telamon (TEL-a-mon) Son (along with Peleus) of Aeacus and Endeïs (N. 5.12), father of Ajax (N. 8.23, I. 6.26) by Eriboea (I. 6.45) and of Teucer (N. 4.47) by Hesione of Troy. As a friend and companion of Heracles Telamon took part in military campaigns against Troy (N. 3.36–37, N. 4.25, I. 6.27– 31), the Amazons (N. 3.38–39), the Meropes (N. 4.26, I. 6.31–32), and Alcyoneus (N. 4.27–30, I. 6.32–35). teleboans (te-LEB-o-unz) See Amphitryon. telephus (TEL-i-fus) King of Mysia in northwestern Asia Minor, heir and successor of Teuthras. When the Greeks mistakenly landed in Mysia on their way to Troy, Telephus led a counterattack against the apparent invasion and, tripping over a grapevine, was wounded by Achilles (O. 9.71–73, I. 5.41–42, I. 8.49–50). Informed by an oracle that the wound could only be healed by the person that had inflicted it, Telephus eventually presented himself before Achilles and was cured with rust taken from the hero’s spear. telesarchus (tel-e-SAR-kus)

Father of Cleander of Aegina (I. 8.2).

telesiadas (tel-e-SYE-a-das)

Father of Melissus of Thebes (I. 4.45).

telesicrates (tel-e-SICK-ra-teez) Cyrene (P. 9.3, 100).

A victor in the race-in-armor from

tenedos (TEN-e-dos) An island in the northeastern Aegean, not far from Troy (N. 11.5). terpsias (TURP-see-as) 13.42).

A paternal relative of Xenophon of Corinth (O.

terpsichore (turp-SICK-o-ree) One of the nine Muses (I. 2.7); her name means “she who delights in dancing.” teucer (TEW-ser) Son of Telamon by Hesione of Troy and hence the (illegitimate) half brother of Ajax. When the Trojan War ended and he returned home to Salamis without his brother, who had committed suicide (see Ajax for story), Teucer was banished by his angry father and sailed to Cyprus, where he founded a new Salamis (N. 4.46–47). teuthras (TEW-thras)

A legendary king of Mysia (O. 9.71).

thalia (THA-lee-a or THAY-lee-a)

See Graces.

thea (THEE-a) One of the Titans, mother by Hyperion of the Sun-god Helius (I. 5.1). theaeus (thee-EE-us) A wrestler from Argos (N. 10.24, 37). theandridae (thee-AN-dri-dee) The Aeginetan clan to which Timasarchus belonged (N. 4.73). thearion (thee-AR-ee-on)

Father of Sogenes of Aegina (N. 7.7, 58).

354

glossary

thebe (THEE-bee) Eponymous nymph of Thebes (I. 1.1, I. 7. 1), daughter of Metope (O. 6. 84–85) by the river-god Asopus, and sister of Aegina (I. 8.17– 20). thebes The largest city in Boeotia, and one of the most important cities of Greece in both mythological and historical terms. Founded by Cadmus (after whom its people are often called Cadmean), Thebes was the birthplace of Dionysus and Heracles and the setting of an extensive cycle of legends concerning the fortunes of Oedipus and his family, including both the saga of the Seven against Thebes and its sequel, the expedition of the Epigoni or Descendants (see Adrastus). Thebes hosted athletic festivals in honor of Heracles and Iolaus. themis (THEM-is) One of the Titans, mother by Zeus of both the Horae (O. 13.6–8; cf. O. 9.15–16) and the Fates (Hesiod, Theogony 904–6). The fact that Themis has daughters named Justice, Peace, and Good Order underscores the meaning of her own name (Lawfulness), particularly as that concept bears on the guest-host relationship (xenia) and the proper treatment of strangers (cf. O. 8.22, N. 11.8). themistius (the-MIS-tee-us) A kinsman (perhaps the maternal grandfather) of Pytheas and Phylacidas (N. 5.50, I. 6.65). theognetus (thee-og-NEE-tus) Aegina (P. 8.36).

A maternal uncle of Aristomenes of

thera (THEER-a) An island in the southern Cyclades (present-day Santorini), from which Cyrene in Libya was colonized (P. 4.10, 20, P. 5.75). therapne (the-RAP-nee) A ridge near Sparta on the east bank of the Eurotas, site of a shrine to Castor and Polydeuces (P. 11.63, N. 10.56, I. 1.31). theron (THEER-on) See Acragas. thersander (thur-SAN-der) Theron (O. 2.43). thessalus (THESS-a-lus)

Son of Polynices and distant ancestor of

Father of Xenophon of Corinth (O. 13.35).

thessaly A large region in northeastern Greece, within which lay Magnesia, Mt. Pelion, Iolcus, Phthia, Lacerea, Lake Boebias, Pelinnaeum, and Phylace. thetis (THET-is or THEE-tis) One of the fifty daughters of Nereus (P. 3.92), wife of Peleus (P. 3.92, N. 4.65, N. 5.35–36), and mother by him of Achilles (O. 9.76, P. 3.101, N. 3.57–58). As is recounted at length in I. 8, both Zeus and Poseidon wished to marry her, but when it was revealed that she was fated to bear a son greater than his father, the gods agreed that she should be given to a mortal man instead; see Peleus for further details.

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355

thorax (THOR-ax) A powerful Thessalian magnate, one of the Aleuadae (P. 10.64). thrace The region immediately to the north of the Aegean Sea, extending eastward as far as the Bosphorus, where the Argonauts encountered “Thracian bulls” (P. 4.205). thrasybulus (thra-si-BYEW-lus) Son of Xenocrates of Acragas (P. 6.15, 44, I. 2.1, 31). thrasyclus (THRA-si-klus)

A maternal kinsman of Theaeus (N. 10.39).

thrasydaeus (thra-si-DEE-us) A Theban runner (P. 11.13, 44). thyone (thye-OH-nee)

See Semele.

timasarchus (tim-a-SAR-kus) An Aeginetan wrestler (N. 4.10, 78). timocritus (tye-MOCK-ri-tus) Father of Timasarchus of Aegina (N. 4.13). timodemidae (tim-o-DEE-mi-dee) The clan to which Timodemus belonged (N. 2.18). timodemus (tim-o-DEE-mus) An Athenian pancratiast (N. 2.14, 24). timonous (tye-MON-oh-us) Father of Timodemus (N. 2.10). timosthenes (tye-MOS-then-eez) A relative (probably the grandfather) of Alcimedon of Aegina (O. 8.15). tiresias (tye-REE-see-as) 7.8).

A Theban seer of great renown (N. 1.60–61, I.

tiryns (TI-rinz) A city not far from Argos. Ruled at different times by Proetus and Eurystheus, it was during one period of his life the residence of Heracles (O. 10.32, I. 6.28), as it was also of Heracles’ son Tlepolemus (O. 7.29, 78). titans Children of Earth and Sky, Cronus and his eleven siblings, who were deposed from power by Zeus and his fellow Olympians in the conflict known as the Titanomachy or “Battle of the Titans.” Imprisoned in Tartarus after their defeat, they were, according to one tradition (cf. P. 4.291), eventually released by Zeus. tithonus (ti-THOH-nus) Brother of Priam and father of Memnon by the goddess Dawn. tityus (TI-tee-us) Grandfather (through his daughter Europa) of Euphemus (P. 4.44–46); killed by Artemis for assaulting her mother Leto (P. 4.90). tlepolemus (tle-POL-e-mus) Son of Heracles by Astydamia (or Astyoche, according to Homer). As recounted at length in O. 7, Tlepolemus

356

glossary

killed his great-uncle Licymnius in Tiryns and as a consequence was told by the Delphic oracle to set sail for the island of Rhodes, where he settled with a contingent of Tirynthians. From Rhodes he led nine ships to fight at Troy, where he was killed by Sarpedon. In historical times Tlepolemus was the object of a hero-cult on Rhodes (O. 7.77–80). triton (TRYE-ton) A sea-god, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite (P. 4.20). trojan war The war waged against Troy and its allies by the united forces of many Greek cities and regions under the general command of Agamemnon. The purpose of the war on the Greek side was to assist Menelaus in regaining possession of Helen (see Paris). The siege of Troy lasted for ten years and ended with the complete destruction of the city (P. 5.83–85, P. 11.33–34). For the earlier defeat and capture of the city by Heracles, see Laomedon. troy A city in the northwest corner of Asia Minor, known also as Ilium and Pergamus. Up until its destruction at the end of the (second) Trojan War, Troy and its surrounding territory (known as the Troad) were ruled by a royal dynasty descended from Dardanus. tyndareus (tin-DAR-ee-us) King of Sparta, husband of Leda, and father by her of Castor and Clytemnestra. See also Tyndarids. tyndarids (TIN-da-rids) or tyndaridae (tin-DAR-i-dee) Lit. “sons of Tyndareus,” the term refers to Castor and Polydeuces, known also as the Dioscuri or “sons of Zeus.” Neither term is strictly accurate, in fact, since though they were born from Leda as twins (O. 3.35), they were begotten by different fathers, Castor by Tyndareus and Polydeuces by Zeus (cf. N. 10.80– 82). Among other functions, the Tyndarids were regarded as patrons and protectors of athletes (O. 3.35–38, N. 10.49–53), horsemen (O. 3.39–40), and sailors. As objects of hero-cult, they were held in particular reverence in their hometown of Sparta (P. 1.66, I. 5.33), their principal shrine being at Therapne not far from the city. typhon (TYE-fon) or typhos (TYE-fos) An unruly monster, born in a cave in Cilicia (P. 1.17, P. 8.16); while attempting to overthrow Zeus, he was vanquished by Zeus’s thunderbolt (cf. P. 8.17) and imprisoned in the nether realm of Tartarus, where the weight of Mt. Aetna keeps him immobilized (O. 4.6–7, P. 1.18–28). tyro (TYE-roh) Mother of Aeson by Cretheus and of Pelias by Poseidon (P. 4.136). ulias (YEW-lee-as)

Father of Theaeus of Argos (N. 10.24).

western (or Epizypherian) locris A city-state on the toe of Italy, founded originally by settlers from Opus in (eastern) Locris.

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357

xanthus (ZAN-thus) A river in Lycia (O. 8.47). xenarces (ze-NAR-seez)

Father of Aristomenes of Aegina (P. 8.19, 72).

xenocrates (ze-NOCK-ra-teez) A citizen of Acragas, brother of Theron and father of Thrasybulus (P. 6.6, I. 2.14, 36). zetes (ZEE-teez)

An Argonaut, one of the twin sons of Boreas (P. 4.182).

zeus Son of Cronus and Rhea, ruler of the Olympians and of the world at large, “father of gods and men.” Although Hera is his wife and royal consort, Zeus has a large number of offspring by other goddesses (e.g., Persephone by Demeter, Apollo and Artemis by Leto, Hermes by Maia, the Horae and the Fates by Themis) and by mortal women (e.g., Dionysus by Semele, Heracles by Alcmene, Perseus by Danaë, Polydeuces by Leda). As a skygod he is the master of all weather phenomena, including clouds (cf. O. 5.17, N. 3.10, N. 5.35), lightning (cf. O. 9.6, 42, O. 10.80–83), and thunder (cf. O. 4.1, O. 8.44), and the eagle, “king of birds,” is sacred to him (O. 2.88, P. 1.6, P. 4.4; cf. I. 6.49–50). He is regarded as a source of omens (cf. O. 8.43–44, P. 4.23, 197–98, N. 9.19–20) and prophecies (cf. O. 6.70, O. 8.3, N. 1.60), a bestower of blessings (cf. P. 4.107, P. 5.122–23, I. 3.4–5), and a punisher of transgressors such as Typhon (O. 4.6–7, P. 8.15–18), Tantalus (O. 1.55–58), Ixion (P. 2.39– 41), and Asclepius (P. 3.55–58). He is the patron deity of both Olympia (cf. O. 2.3, O. 3.17, O. 13.26, I. 2.27) and Nemea (cf. N. 2.5, N. 7.80). Common epithets of Zeus in invocation are Savior or Deliverer (O. 5.17, I. 6.8, O. 12.1) and Fulfiller (O. 13.115, P. 1.67).

textual c onspe ctus

This translation of Pindar’s odes is based on the Teubner edition of SnellMaehler (1987). Places where I have departed from that text are listed below.

Snell-Maehler O. 1.113 †ἄλλοισι δ’ ἄλλοι O. 2.52 δυσφρονᾶν

This Volume

O. 10.9 †θνατῶν· νῦν O. 10.25 †βωμῷ O. 13.6 κασιγνήτα τε O. 13.7 ὁμότροφος Εἰρήνα, τάμι’ ἀνδράσι

ἐπ’ ἄλλοισι δ’ ἄλλοι (Turyn) ἀφροσυνᾶν (Turyn) or ἀφροσύνας (Bowra) προσέλκει (Christ, Bowra) ῥάξεται (Gildersleeve) or ῥήξεται (Bergk) ὁρᾶτ’ ὦν νῦν (Schneidewin, Bowra) πόνων (Christ, Turyn) κασίγνηταί τε (Bowra) ὁμότροπος Εἰρήνα, ταμίαι ἀνδράσι (Turyn)

P. 2.78 κέρδει P. 5.17 ἔχει P. 5.72 γαρύει P. 8.77f. ἄλλον δ’ ὑπὸ χειρῶν, μέτρῳ καταβαίνει·{ἐν} Μεγάροις P. 9.91 εὐκλεΐξαι P. 12.11 ἄυσεν

κερδοῖ (Huschke, Turyn) ἐπεί (Hermann, Race) γαρύειν (Hermann, Race) ἄλλον δ’ ὑπὸ χειρῶν. μέτρῳ κατάβαιν’· ἐν Μεγάροις (Bergk, Turyn) εὐκλέιξεν (Pauw, Carey) ἄνυσσεν (Boeckh, Turyn)

Ο. 6.83 προσέρπει O. 8.45 ἄρξεται

359

360

textual conspectus

N. 1.64f. τινα . . . στείχοντα N. 4.16 ὕμνον N. 4.39 ἆλλος (Lobel) N. 4.59 Δαιδάλου N. 4.90 σὸς ἄεισέν ποτε, παῖ (ὁ σὸς ἀείσεται, παῖ codd.) N. 7.19f. παρὰ σᾶμα N. 7.20 ποτανᾷ τε N. 7.32f. τεθνακότων Βοαθόων N. 7.34 μόλον (Hermann) (ἔμολε(ν) codd.) N. 7.49f. ἐπιστατεῖ, Αἴγινα, τεῶν τ’ ἐκγόνων. θρασύ μοι τόδ’ εἰπεῖν N. 8.40 ἀΐσσει δ’ ἀρετά . . . δένδρεον —–  (αὔξεται codd.) N. 10.41f. †ἱπποτρόφον ἄστυ τὸ Προίτοιο θάλησεν† N. 10.62 ἡμένους (ἥμενος codd.)

τινι . . . στείχοντι (Hermann, Turyn) υἱόν (Bergk, Turyn) ἄλλος (codd.) δαιδάλῳ (Didymus, Turyn) ἀείσεται, παῖ, ὁ σός (Mommsen, Turyn) πέρας ἅμα (Wieseler, Turyn) ποτανᾷ γε (Schmid) τεθνακότων. βοαθοῶν (Farnell, Race) μόλε (Bundy)

I. 4.18 ποικίλα (Hartung) I. 5.58 ἐλπίδ’ ἔκνιξαν ὄπιν (Wilamowitz) I. 6.72 ἄνδρ’ ἐν ἀεθληταῖσιν

ποικίλων (codd., Turyn) ἐλπίδων ἔκνισ’ ὄπιν (Ceporinus, Turyn) ἀνδράσιν ἀεθληταῖσιν (Heyne, Wilamowitz) λοιγὸν ἀμφιβαλών (A. W. Mair, Turyn) παροιχόμενον (Benedictus, Turyn) ἄνακτας (Bergk, Turyn)

I. 7.28 †λοιγὸν ἀμύνων† I. 8.11 παροιχομένων I. 8.47 ἄνακτα

ἐπιστατεῖ. Αἴγινα, τεῶν τ’ ἐκγόνων θρασύ μοι τόδ’ εἰπεῖν (Christ, Race) αὔξηται δ’ ἀρετά . . . δένδρεον ᾄσσει (Turyn) Προίτοιο τόδ’ ἱπποτρόφον ἄστυ θάλησεν (Boeckh, Turyn) ἥμενον (Aristarchus, Turyn)