Basil L. Gildersleeve, Pindar: The Olympian and Pythian Odes

Pythian Odes

Pindar's poems are constellations. There are figures as in the heavens, a belt, a plough, a chair, a serpent, a flight of doves, but around them clusters much else. The Phorminx is the name of the constellation called the first Pythian. In the first part of the poem the lyre is the organ of harmony, in the second the organ of praise. In the first part everything is plain. Apollo and the Muses are to the Greek the authors of all harmony, artistic, political, social, spiritual. The lyre, as the instrument of Apollo, is the symbol of the reign of harmony over the wide domain of Zeus. Everything that owes allegiance to Zeus obeys his son Apollo, obeys the quivering of the lyre's strings. So the footstep of the dancer, the voice of the singer. Even the thunderbolt, the weapon of Zeus, is quenched, the bird of Zeus slumbers, the wild son of Zeus, violent Ares, sleeps a deep sleep. This is the art of the son of Leto and the deep-bosomed Muses (vv. 1-12).

All those that Zeus hath claimed as his own are ruled by harmony. Not so those that he loves not. When they hear the sound of the Pierides, they strive to flee along the solid earth and the restless main. So he who now lies in dread Tartaros, enemy of the gods, Typhon, reared in the famed Kilikian cave. His hairy breasts are pinched by the high sea-shores of Kymé and Sicily, and Aitna's heaven-mounting column pinions him — Aitna, nurse of keen snow, from whose inmost recesses belch purest streams of unapproachable fire, rivers that roll sparkling smoke by day, while purple flame by night bears in its whirl masses of stone down to the surface of the deep, plashing. These jets of fire are upflung by yon monster. Terrible are they — a marvel to behold, a marvel even to hear from those that have beheld. Such a creature is that which lies bound by peak and plain, while his back is goaded by his craggy couch (vv. 13-28).

May we not be of those thou lovest not, may we find favor in thy sight, O Zeus, lord of Aitna's mount — the forehead of this fruitful land, whose namesake neighbor city the famed founder glorified when the herald proclaimed her in the Pythian course by reason of Hieron's noble victory with the chariot. As men who go on shipboard count as the first blessing a favoring wind, an omen of a happy return, so we count from this concurrence that the city will henceforth be renowned for wreaths of victory and chariots, her name be named mid banquet-songs. Lykian and Delian lord, thou that lovest the Kastalian fount of Parnasos, make this purpose good, make the land a land of men (vv. 2940).

So far Apollo and the Muses dominate — dominate as the interpreters of Zeus. Now Zeus himself comes forward. Apollo is mentioned no more, but the prayer to him, v. 40, is matched by a prayer to the Muse in v. 58.

Zeus, Apollo, the Muses, have now led us up to the praise of Hieron. The achievements of mortals are all due to the gods. Men are bards; are valiant and eloquent through them (v. 41); and so, through them, Hieron has the virtues of his high position, and all the so-called counsels addressed to him are merely indications of what he is, or thinks he is, or tries to be. In praising his hero Pindar picks out first the quality that had recently distinguished him, and this success was won θεῶν παλάμαις (v. 48). The future lacks nothing but forgetfulness of toils and pains. Greater prosperity, greater wealth, it cannot give. It can only administer (οὕτω, v. 46). When the forgetfulness of the bitter past comes, then the memory of all the glorious achievements of war, with all its proud wealth, will return. May our hero, like Philoktetes of old (v. 50), have a god to be his friend and benefactor. But the song is not for Hieron alone. His son, Deinomenes (v. 58), shares the joy in the victory of his sire; his son is king of the city Aitna, which Hieron built for him, founding it with god-sent freedom in the laws of Doric stock, after the principles of Doric harmony (v. 65). May this harmony between people and princes abide, and may father pass to son the keynote of concordant peace (v. 79) — peace within and peace from barbaric foes without. Zeus keep the Phoenician and the Tyrrhenian battle-shouts at home, now that they have seen the fell destruction of their ships, the punishment of their insolence, before Kymé — that weight that rests upon Typhon's breast. For what Salamis to Athens, what Plataia to Sparta, that to the sons of Deinomenes is the day of Himera (v. 80).

But brevity is best. Twist the strands tight. Less, then, will be the blame, for surfeit dulleth the edge of expectation. Others' blessings and advantages are a hateful hearing; yet envy is better than pity. Hold, Hieron, to thy high career. Still guide the people with a just helm. Still be thy word forged on the anvil of truth. No sparkle of dross that flieth past is without its weight, coming from thee. Steward of many things thou art. Faithful witnesses there are many for right and wrong. Firm abide in generous temper. Wax not weary in expenditure. Let thy sail belly to the wind. Let no juggling gains lure thee. After mortals liveth fame alone as it revealeth the lives of the departed to speakers and to singers. Kroisos' generous kindliness perisheth not. The cruel soul of Phalaris — brazen-bull-burner — is whelmed by hating bruit; no harps beneath the roof-tree receive him to soft fellowship with warbling boys. Good fortune is first; then good fame. Whoso hath chanced on both and made both his own hath received the highest crown (vv. 81-100).

The mood is Dorian, the rhythms dactylo-epitrite.

Of the five triads, the first two deal with harmony; the third and the fourth have to do with Hieron's work as a founder, his work as a warrior, with the sweet music of a concordant state, the sweet silence from the barbaric cry, have to do with Aitna and Himera. The last triad avoids the weariness of praise by disguising it under sage counsel, with the intimation that Hieron has not only been prosperous, but has gained the fair voices of the world.

Strophe 1

ἰοπλοκάμων: Cf. O. 6.30: παῖδα ϝιόπλοκον. Our violet is the ἴον μέλαν of the Greeks, and “black” is the nearest translation of ιο-.

βάσις: The dancer's foot listens and obeys the throb of the cithern.

ἀμβολὰς τεύχῃς = ἀναβολὰς ποιῇ, ἀναβάλλῃ. Cf. Od. 1. 155: ἤ τοι ὁ φορμίζων ἀνεβάλλετο καλὸν ἀείδειν.

ἐλελιζομένα: “Quivering.” O. 9.14: φόρμιγγ᾽ ἐλελίζων.

ἀνὰ σκάπτῳ Διός: The eagle on the sceptre of Zeus is a familiar figure. Compare So. fr. 766: ὁ σκηπτοβάμων αἰετὸς κύων Διός.

ὠκεῖαν: Of the inherent quality. See note on O. 12.3. Contrasting epithet to heighten χαλάξαις.

Antistrophe 1

κνώσσων: This is a deep sleep with fair visions. See O. 13.71.

κατασχόμενος = κατεχόμενος. There is no aor. feeling. Cf. Od. 11. 334: κηληθμῷ δ᾽ ἔσχοντο, and Thompson's notes on Plat. Phaidr. 238 D, 244 E.

βιατὰς Ἄρης: To match αἰχματὰν κεραυνόν above.

ἀμφί: With the peculiar poetic use, rather adverbial than prepositional. “With the environment of art,” “by virtue of.” So P. 8.34: ἐμᾷ ἀμφὶ μαχανᾷ.

βαθυκόλπων: Like βαθύζωνος, of stately and modest beauty. The deep girdle and the deep folds might be due to amplitude or to dignity, or both. βαθύκολπος of Mother Earth, P. 9.101.

Epode 1

ἀτύζονται: On the concord, see O. 2.92; O. 10 (11), 93. The neuter ὅσσα conjures up strange shapes.

βοάν: Of music. O. 3.8; P. 10.39; N. 5.38.

κατά: On κ. with the second member, see O. 9.94.

πολυώνυμον = πολυθρύλητον.

τιθήνα: Kithairon is χιονοτρόφος, Eur. Phoen. 803.

Strophe 2

ἁγνόταται: The commentators see in this epithet Pythagorean reverence of fire. The reverence of fire is Indo-European. For μὲν ... δέ, see O. 11 (10), 8.

ἁμέραισιν ... ἐν ὄρφναισιν: Cf. O. 1.2: νυκτὶ ... ἐν ἁμέρᾳ.

σὺν πατάγῳ: Effective position.

θαῦμα δὲ καὶ παρεόντων ἀκοῦσαι: καί is naturally “even,” and goes with ἀκοῦσαι. “It is a marvel of marvels to see, a marvel even to hear.” This makes προσιδέσθαι refer to the φλόξ, the ἀκοῦσαι to the σὺν πατάγῳ. So Schneidewin. παρεόντων (for which we have the variant παριόντων) is genitive absolute without a subject, “when men are present.” P. uses the construction somewhat charily (see note on O. 13.15), and Cobet's παρ᾽ ἰδόντων, “to hear of from those who have seen,” would be seductive in prose. P. does not happen to use παρά thus.

Antistrophe 2

τοῦ ... ἐπωνυμίαν: Cf. O. 10 (11), 86: ἐπωνυμίαν χάριν ι νίκας ἀγερώχου.

ἀνέειπε: “Proclaimed.”

ὑπέρ: “By reason of.”

καλλινίκου ι ἅρμασι: P. 11.46: ἐν ἅρμασι καλλίνικοι.

Epode 2

ἐοικότα: “Likelihoods” for “likelihood” Cf. O. 1.52: ἄπορα, P. 2.81: ἀδύνατα, P. 4.247: μακρά.

ὁ δὲ λόγος: “This (faithful) saying.”

δόξαν: “Belief.”

Δάλοι᾽ ἀνάσσων: The participle here and in φιλέων is almost substantive. For the elision of Δάλοι᾽, see O. 13.35.

ταῦτα: The implied wishes and hopes.

νόῳ: Local dative, the range of which is narrower even in poetry than is commonly supposed.

εὔανδρον: τιθέμεν must be understood with this as well as with νόῳ. A slight zeugma, τ. being there “put” or “take,” and here “make.” Herm. reads εὐανδροῦν.

Strophe 3

ἀρεταῖς: “Achievements.”

περίγλωσσοι: Supposed to refer to the rhetorical school of Korax, who began his career under Hieron. See O. 2.96.

ἔφυ^ν: Gnomic aorist. P. identifies φύσις with θεός. See O. 9.107. 111.

χαλκοπάρᾳον: N. 7.71: ἀπομνύω μὴ τέρμα προβὰς ἄκονθ᾽ ὧτε χαλκοπάρᾳον ὄρσαι θοὰν γλῶσσαν. The tongue, which P. handles boldly, is the missile here also. Being a javelin, it is forged, v. 86. See O. 6.82.

ὡσείτε: The ellipsis (ὡσεί τις βάλοι) is hardly felt. Cf. O. 6.2: ὡς ὅτε.

ἀγῶνος ... ἔξω: “Outside of the lists,” so as not to count.

παλάμᾳ: See P. 3.57.

ἀντίους: Supposed to refer to Simonides and Bakchylides. It is conjectured that there was to be a contest of poets.

ὁ πᾶς χρόνος: All time to come, O. 6.56; N. 1.69.

οὕτω: “As heretofore.”

εὐθύνοι: Cf. N. 2.7: εὐθυπομπὸς αἰών. The nautical image was still in the poet's eye. Cf. v. 34 and O. 13.28: Ξενοφῶντος εὔθυνε δαίμονος οὖρον.

καμάτων δ᾽ ἐπίλασιν: Victory brings serenity (O. 1.98); breathing space (O. 8.7); tranquillity (N. 9.44). Hieron suffered with the stone.

παράσχοι: See O. 1.39.

Antistrophe 3

εὑρίσκοντο: “Gained” in the usu. sense of the middle of this verb. So P. 3.111. The active “find” can be used in similar connections (so P. 2.64, and elsewhere), and, in fact, the active being the general, is often used where the particular middl might be expected. The plural of Hieron and his brothers.

τιμάν: τιμή is something practical, and does not correspond to “honor” pure and simple.

νῦν γε μάν: A statement that defies contradiction. Cf. v. 63.

Φιλοκτήταο: The type of a suffering hero. See the Philoktetes of Sophokles. “At that very time Syracuse contained the famous statue of the limping Philoktetes by Pythagoras of Rhegion, of which Pliny says that those who looked at it seemed to feel the pain (xxxiv. 59). Even if we hesitate to believe that the sculptor intended an allusion to Hieron, we may well suppose that Pindar's comparison was suggested by the work of Pythagoras” (Jebb).

τὰν ... δίκαν: Notice the rare article with δίκαν, “wise.”

σὺν δ᾽ ἀνάγκᾳ: “Under the pressure of necessity.” The comitative, personal character of σύν makes it a favorite preposition in poetry, keeps it out of model prose.

φίλον: Predicate, “fawned him into a friend.” Rauchenstein's μὴ φίλον is not Pindaric.

μεταβάσοντας: So Kayser for the MS. μεταλάσοντας or μεταλλάσσοντας. Compare O. 1.42: μεταβᾶσαι. Böckh gives μεταμείβοντας (Hesych., Suid., Zonaras); but while the present is admissible on general grounds (O. 13.59; P. 4.106), we should not emend it into a text. μεταμεύσοντας would be nearer, but it has even less warrant than Wakefield's μετανάσσοντας, a future formed on the aorist of ναίω (P. 5.70: ἐν Ἄργει ἔνασσεν Ἡρακλέος ἐκγόνους).

Epode 3

κελαδῆσαι: O. 1.9.

Strophe 4

πόλιν κείναν: κ. seems to prove that the ode was sung, not at Aitna, but at Syracuse.

θεοδμάτῳ σὺν ἐλευθερίᾳ: See O. 3.7.

ἐν νόμοις: Cf. O. 2.83: βουλαῖς ἐν ὀρθαῖσι Π̔αδαμάνθυος.

τεθμοῖσιν: See O. 6.69.

Antistrophe 4

αἰεὶ δέ: On δέ, after the vocative, see O. 1.36. The infinitive may be used in wish and entreaty, but δίδοι τοίαν for δὲ τοιαύταν would be more natural. Mommsen's δὸς τοίαν for τοιαύταν is based on the Scholiast's παράσχου. τοιαύταν αἶσαν refers to the first line of the strophe, θεοδμάτῳ σὺν ἐλευθερίᾳ. “Grant that the judgment of the world may with truth assign such a lot to citizens and kings.”

Ἀμένα: Amenas, or Amenanos, “the unsteady” (mod. Giudicello), a stream of varying volume, which flowed through the city of Aitna.

λόγον: See O. 1.28, where ὁ ἀλαθὴς λόγος is kept apart from βροτῶν φάτις and δεδαιδαλμένοι μῦθοι.

γεραίρων: A significant concession to the new city, which at once becomes something heroic and divine; “by paying honor due.”

ἅμερον: Proleptic. “In peace and quiet.”

κατ᾽ οἶκον: Hdt. 6, 39: “εἶχε κατ᾽ οἴκους.”

ὁ Φοῖνιξ = Poenus, Carthaginian.

ὁ Τυρσανῶν τ᾽ ἀλαλατός: This forcible form of expression, which is built on the same lines as βία Ἡρακλέος, σθένος ἡμιόνων, is made still bolder by the participle ἰδών, as if ὁ ἀλαλάζων Τυρσανός had been written.

ναυσίστονον ... πρὸ Κύμας: Best explained ὅτι ἡ ὕβρις ἡ πρὸ Κύμης ναυσίστονος ἐγένετο. There is no Pindaric warrant for the use of ὕβρις as “loss,” “damage.” The reflection that their overweening insolence off Cumae had brought groans and lamentations to the ships (cf. P. 2.28) would silence their savage yell and keep them quiet at home. The Etruscans must have been especially prominent in this famous engagement: Diodoros does not mention the Phoenicians (Carthaginians) in his account (11, 51).

πρὸ Κύμας: Brings up the image of the ὑβριστής already depicted (v. 18). Typhon symbolizes every form of violence, domestic (Σικελία） or foreign (Κύμη).

Epode 4

ἀρχῷ: Hieron. The dat. with the aor. partic. is easy, as the aor. is the shorthand of the perf.

ἐξέλκων: The image of the sea-fight is half kept up.

ἀρέομαι, κτἑ.: “From Salamis I shall try to get for my reward the favor of the Athenians,” i. e., when I desire reward from the Athenians I shall seek it by praising Salamis. P. climbs up to Himera by parallels, as is his wont. See O. 1, init.

πρὸ Κιθαιρῶνος μάχαν: Knit together. πρό, “in front of,” “at the foot of.” The battle of Plataia is meant, where the Lacedaemonians distinguished themselves especially.

Ἱμέρα: Genitive of Ἱμέρας, the river.

τελέσαις: Participle; ἀρέομαι must be recalled.

καμόντων: Rather strange, so soon after κάμον, in view of P.'s ποικιλία, though the Greeks have not our dread of repetition. See P. 9.123.

Strophe 5

φθέγξαιο: The poet to himself with a wish (O. 1.108).

πείρατα συντανύσαις: “Twisting the strands of many things into a brief compass.” The contrast is ἐκτείνειν λόγον, τείνειν, ἀποτείνειν, ἐκτείνειν, μακράν. See Intr. Ess. p. xliii (note).

μῶμος: O. 6.74. In moralizing passages the metaphors follow in rapid succession — not so much mixing as overlapping. A defence of P. in this regard that should flatten his language out so as to make the metaphor disappear would be worse than a confession of the worst.

ἀπὸ ... ἐλπίδας: “Satiety with its gruesomeness dulls quick hopes.” αἰανής, of doubtful etymology, is used of κόρος again Ι. 3 (4), 2. The hopes speed to the end; the poet, by lingering, wearies, and not only so, but rouses resentment at the blessings of those whom he praises. This prepares the return to the praise of Hieron, which is couched in imperatives, a rhetorical form strangely misunderstood to convey a real sermon.

νώμα ... στρατόν: P. 8.98: ἐλευθέρῳ στόλῳ ι πόλιν τάνδε κόμιζε. On στρ. see O. 11 (10), 17.

ἀψευδεῖ δὲ πρὸς ἄκμονι χάλκευε γλῶσσαν: This is counted as one of P.'s harsher metaphors, in spite of Cic. de Orat. 3, 30, 121: “non enim solum acuenda nobis neque procudenda lingua est.” P. might have continued the figure just given, for the tongue may be considered a rudder (compare P. 11.42 with James 3, 4), but the vibrating tongue is to Pindar a javelin (compare κῆλα, v. 12), and in N. 7.71 he has ἄκονθ᾽ ὧτε χαλκοπάρᾳον ὄρσαι ι θοὰν γλῶσσαν. χάλκευε grows out of νώμα. The “true anvil” refers in all likelihood to the shaping of the arrow or javelin on a part of the anvil designed for that purpose. The figure is reflected in the next sentence.

Antistrophe 5

παραιθύσσει: P. is thinking of the sparks that fly from the anvil, sheer dross it may be (φλαῦρον), but “surely you must know, coming from you, it rushes as a mighty mass.” If the figure is pressed, the moral is “Hammer as little as possible,” but the figure is not to be pressed. φέρεται, “is reported,” the common rendering, is too faint after παραιθύσσει.

ἀμφοτέροις: Is “good and bad,” as θάτερον is “worse.”

ἁκοὰν ἁδεῖαν ... κλύειν: A good explanation of the idiom εὖ ἀκούειν.

μὴ κάμνε λίαν δαπάναις: The Christian exhortation, “Be not weary in welldoing,” is addressed to well-doers, and Hieron's expenditure was doubtless liberal enough. It does not follow that he hoarded because he was φιλάργυρος. Of the virtue of generosity Kroisos was the model soon to be adduced.

μὴ δολωθῇς ... κέρδεσς（ιν): Referred by some to “courtier arts,” but it is better to keep the generosity side uppermost until we come to Kroisos. Tr. “juggling gains.” No mean saving on the one hand, no grasping at unworthy gains on the other. The positive exhortation stands between the two negatives.

φίλος: The commentators note P.'s familiarity. What other word was possible for a Greek gentleman?

ὀπιθόμβροτον: Sensitive as Hieron is to the voice of the world about him, he is far from deaf to the acclaim of posterity.

Epode 5

δίαιταν = βίοτον, which is the parallel, O. 2.69.

μανύει = ἀπαγγέλλει.

Κροίσου: A romantic figure, if one may say so, in Greek history, though, perhaps, Lydian influence has not been sufficiently emphasized. That a Greek with such close relations to Delphi as Pindar bore should have given a niche to Kroisos is not strange.

ἀρετά: “Generosity,” as often.

νόον: Acc. of specification to νηλέα. The prose laws of position are not to be pressed. τὸν δέ may well be “the other,” and the rest in apposition.

ταύρῳ χαλκέῳ: A survival or revival of Moloch worship.

κατέχει: Evil report weighs upon the memory of Phalaris as Aitna upon the body of Typhon, though κατέχει may be used of a weight of glory, O. 7.10; ὁ δ᾽ ὄλβιος ὃν φᾶμαι κατέχοντ᾽ ἀγαθαί.

“ ἐφ᾽ ᾗ [σξ. προφάσει] σ᾽ ἐγὼ καὶ παῖδες αἱ λελειμμέναι
δεξόμεθα δέξιν ἥν σε δέξασθαι χρεών.
”

Eur. I. A. 1181:

δευτέρα μοῖρα: So So. O. C. 145 speaks of πρώτης μοίρας. With the sentiment compare I. 4, 12: δύο δέ τοι ζωᾶς ἄωτον μοῦνα ποιμαίνοντι τὸν ἄλπνιστον εὐανθεῖ σὺν ὄλβῳ ι εἴ τις εὖ πάσχων λόγον ἐσλὸν ἀκούσῃ.

It is a strange poem, one in which divination and sympathy can accomplish little. Only we must hold fast to the commonsense view that Pindar did not undertake to lecture Hieron.

“Great Syracuse,” the poet says, “rearer of men and horses, I bring this lay from Thebes in honor of Hieron's victory with the four-horse chariot, gained not without the favor of Artemis, goddess of Ortygia, thus wreathed with glory. For Artemis and Hermes, god of games, aid Hieron when he yokes his horses and calls on the God of the Trident. Other lords have other minstrels, other praises. Let Kinyras be praised by Kyprian voices, Kinyras beloved of Apollo, and minion of Aphrodite. Thou, Hieron, beloved of Hermes and minion of Artemis, art praised by the voice of the virgin of Epizephyrian Lokris, to whose eye thy power hath given confidence. Grateful is she. Well hath she learned the lesson of Ixion, whose punishment, as he revolves on the winged wheel, says: Reward thy benefactor with kind requitals.”

So far the opening (vv. 1-24).

In P. 1 we had one form of ὕβρις, sheer rebellion, typified by Typhon. Here we have another typified by Ixion, base ingratitude. Typhon belonged from the beginning to those ὅσα μὴ πεφίληκε Ζεύς (P. 1.13). Ixion was one of those who εὐμενέσσι πὰρ Κρονίδαις γλυκὺν εἷλον βίοτον (v. 25). Ixion was another, but a worse, Tantalos. Tantalos sinned by making the celestial meat and drink common (O. 1.61). Ixion sinned by trying to pollute the celestial bed (v. 34). Each was punished in the way in which he had sinned. Tantalos was reft of food and drink (note on O. 1.60). Ixion was whirled on his own wheel, became his own iynx (compare v. 40 with P. 4.214). Ixion's sin was of a deeper dye, and so, while the son of Tantalos came to great honor (O. 1.90), the son of Ixion became the parent of a monstrous brood.

This is the myth (vv. 25-48).

It is, indeed, not a little remarkable that in every Hieronic ode there is a dark background — a Tantalos (O. 1), a Typhon (P. 1), an Ixion (P. 2), a Koronis (P. 3) — and the commentators are not wrong in the Fight-with-the-Dragon attitude in which they have put Hieron. Who is aimed at under the figure of Ixion no one can tell. The guesses and the combinations of the commentators are all idle. Hieron is a manner of Zeus. He was the Olympian of Sicily as Perikles was afterwards the Olympian of Athens, and the doom of Tantalos, the wheel of Ixion, the crushing load of Typhon, the swift destruction of Koronis, the lightning death of Asklepios were in store for his enemies. The Hieronic odes are Rembrandts, and we shall never know more.

Passing over to the praise of Hieron, the poet emphasizes with unmistakable reduplication the power of God. “God decides the fate of hopes, God overtakes winged eagle and swift dolphin, humbles the proud, to others gives glory that waxes not old (v. 52). This be my lay instead of the evil tales that Archilochos told of the Ixions of his time. Wealth paired with wisdom, under the blessing of Fortune — this is the highest theme of song” (v. 56). The key of the poem lies in this double θεός. God is all-powerful to punish and to bless, and Hieron is his vicegerent.

The praise of Hieron follows, his wealth, his honor. His champion, Pindar, denies that he has ever had his superior in Greece, and boards the herald-ship all dight with flowers to proclaim his achievements — now in war, now in council; now on horse, and now afoot (vv. 57-66). But as we gaze, the herald-ship becomes a merchant-ship (v. 67), and the song is the freight — a new song, which forms the stranger afterpiece of a poem already strange enough. This afterpiece is an exhortation to straightforwardness. The Archilochian vein, against which Pindar protested semi-humorously before (v. 55), stands out. The ape (v. 72), the fox (v. 78), the wolf (v. 84), are contrasts dramatically introduced, dramatically dismissed. “Let there be no pretentiousness, no slyness, no roundabout hate. Straight-tonguedness is best in the rule of the one man, of the many, of the wise. Follow God's leading, bear his yoke. Kick not against the pricks. There lies the only safety. May such men admit me to their friendship” (v. 96).

The difficulty of the last part lies in the dramatic shiftings — the same difficulty that we encounter in comedy, and especially in satire. If there are not two persons, there are two voices. The poet pits the Δίκαιος Λόγος and the Ἄδικος Λόγος against each other in the forum of his own conscience. The Δίκαιος Λόγος speaks last and wins.

A. Show thyself as thou art (v. 72).

B. But the monkey, which is ever playing different parts, is a fair creature, ever a fair creature, in the eyes of children (v. 72).

A. Yes, in the eyes of children, but not in the judgment of a Rhadamanthys, whose soul hath no delight in tricks (vv. 73-75).

B. If the monkey finds no acceptance, what of foxy slanderers? They are an evil, but an evil that cannot be mastered (vv. 76, 77).

A. But what good comes of it to Mistress Vixen? (v. 78).

B. “Why,” says Mistress Vixen, “I swim like a cork, I always fall on my feet” (vv. 79, 80).

A. But the citizen that hath the craft of a fox can have no weight in the state. He is as light as his cork. He cannot utter a word of power among the noble (vv. 81, 82).

B. Ay, but he wheedles and worms his way through. Flattery works on all (v. 82).

A. I don't share the confidence of your crafty models (v. 82).

B. My own creed is: Love your friends. An enemy circumvent on crooked paths, like a wolf (vv. 83, 84).

A. Nay, nay. No monkey, no fox, no wolf. Straight speech is best in monarchy, democracy, or aristocracy. A straight course is best because it is in harmony with God, and there is no contending against God. Success does not come from cunning or overreaching, from envious cabals. Bear God's yoke. Kick not against the pricks. Men who are good, men with views like these, such are they whom I desire to live withal as friend with friend (vv. 86-96).

The rhythms are Aiolian (logaoedic). The introduction occupies one triad, the myth one, the praise of Hieron one, the afterplay one.

Strophe 1

βαθυπολέμου: “That haunteth the thick of war.” The martial character of Syracuse is emphasized on account of the military movements then on foot.

σιδαροχαρμᾶν: “Fighting in iron-mail.” Here we seem to have χάρμη in the Homeric sense. So I. 5 (6), 27: χαλκοχάρμαν ἐς πόλεμον, where the notion of rejoicing would not be so tolerable as in P. 5.82: χαλκοχάρμαι ξένοι. ἱπποχάρμας (O. 1.23） is doubtful. See O. 9.92.

φέρων: Figuratively, as elsewhere μόλον, P. 3.68; ἔβαν, N. 4.74; 6, 65. Compare v. 68.

Ὀρτυγίαν: See O. 6.92.

ἇς οὐκ ἄτερ: O. 3.26: Λατοῦς ἱπποσόα θυγάτηρ, fr. V. 2, 2: ἵππων ἐλάτειραν. Hieron has a trinity of helpers, Ἄρτεμις ποταμία, Ἑρμῆς ἐναγώνιος, and κλυτόπωλος Ποσειδάων (fr. XI. 33, 2), whose enmity was so fatal to Hippolytos, favorite though he was of Artemis.

ἐν χερσί: Plastic. N. 1.52: ἐν χερὶ ... τινάσσων, instead of χερὶ τινάσσων (instrum.).

ποικιλανίους: “With broidered reins.”

Antistrophe 1

ι^οχέαιρα: In Homer ι_οχέαιρα. The word occurs only here in Pindar.

χερὶ διδύμᾳ: Variously interpreted. As we say, “with both hands,” to show readiness. According to others the reference is to Artemis and Hermes, χ. δ. being an anticipation, like the plural in the schema Alcmanicum.

“ qui feros cultus hominum recentum
voce formasti catus et decorae
more palaestrae.
”

Hor. Od. 1, 10:

αἰγλάεντα ... κόσμον: κ. “reins and trappings.” Compare ἡνία σιγαλόεντα.

πεισιχάλινα: “Obedient to the bit.” Only here, as if the chariot were the horses. In the few other compounds πεισι- is active.

καταξευγνυῃ: Hieron.

ὀρσοτρίαιναν: Poseidon is so called, O. 8.48; N. 4.86.

εὐρυβίαν: O. 6.58.

καλέων θεόν: Compare the story of Pelops, O. 1.72: ἄπυεν βαρύκτυπον Εὐτρίαιναν.

ἐτέλεσσεν: Gnomic aorist. “Pays,” as a tribute.

ἄποιν᾽ ἀρετᾶς: Contrast this clear accus. with the fading χάριν, the faded δίκην, which needs the article to vivify it (P. 1.50). See O. 7.16.

ἀμφὶ Κινύραν: Kinyras was a fabulous king of Kypros, priest and favorite of Aphrodite. He was a great inventor, a kind of Jubal and Tubal Cain in one — a Semitic figure, it would seem — the man of the harp, with whom we may compare Anchises, another favorite of Aphrodite, of whom it is said, Hymn. in Ven. 80: πωλεῖτ᾽ ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα διαπρύσιον κιθαρίζων. The introduction of Kinyras, lord of the eastern island of Kypros, as a balance to Hieron, lord of the western island of Sicily, leads the poet to mention Apollo in this non-Pythian ode (see Introd.) as a balance to Artemis. A genealogical connection is the merest fancy.

ἐφίλησε: If φίλος is “own,” “made his own,” “marked him for his own.” See P. 1.13.

Ἀπόλλων: Aphrodite and Apollo are often associated. So esp. in P. 9.10, where Aphrodite receives the spouse of Apollo.

Epode 1

ἄγει: Without an object. “Is in the van,” “leads,” or neg. “cannot be kept back.” So N. 7.23: σοφία δὲ κλέπτει παράγοισα μύθοις. Compare also O. 1.108.

ποίνιμος: ἀμειπτική (Schol.). Echo of ἄποιν᾽ ἀρετᾶς. For ποινή, in a good sense, see P. 1.59.

ὀπιζομένα: “In reverential regard.” Cf. O. 2.6: ὄπιν.

Ζεφυρία ... παρθένος: The Lokrian women held an exceptional position in Greece. Lokrian nobility followed the distaff side (compare O. 9.60) and Lokrian poetesses were famous. But here we have simply an expression of popular joy, such as virgins especially would feel, and Lokrian virgins would freely express

πρὸ δόμων: Why πρὸ δόμων? Why “haven under the hill?” Why anything that gives a picture? P. 3.78: Ματρί, τὰν κοῦραι παρ᾽ ἐμὸν πρόθυρον σὺν Πανὶ μέλπονται θαμά.

Ἰξίονα: The story of Ixion and his wheel has often been told. So in a famous (corrupt) passage of So. Phil. 676: λόγῳ μὲν ἐξήκουσ᾽ ὄπωπα δ᾽ οὐ μάλα ι τὸν πελάταν λέκτρων ποτὲ τῶν Διὸς ι Ἰξίονα (?) κατ᾽ ἄμπυκα (ἄντυγα?) δὴ δρομάδα δέσμιον ὡς ἔλαβεν (others ἔβαλεν) ὁ παγκρατὴς Κρόνου παῖς. The only important points that Pindar's narrative suppresses are the purification of Ixion from bloodguiltiness by Ζεὺς καθάρσιος himself, and the intimacy of Zeus with the wife of Ixion. The former would not have been altogether consistent with v. 31, and the latter would have given a sinister meaning to ἀγαναῖς ἀμοιβαῖς (v. 24).

ταῦτα: Namely, τὸν εὐεργέταν ... τίνεσθαι.

κυλινδόμενον: Instead of the more prosaic inf. See O. 3.6.

Strophe 2

τὰν ... λάχον: Compare O. 1.53.

εὐναί: The pl. of the joys of love. Cf. P. 9.13: ἐπὶ γλυκεραῖς εὐναῖς, fr. IX. 1, 7: ἐρατειναῖς ἐν εὐναῖς, P. 11.25: ἔννυχοι πάραγον κοῖται.

τὸ μὲν ... ὅτι .., ὅτι τε: A double shift. On μέν ... τε, see O. 4.13.

πρώτιστος: Aisch. Eum. 718: πρωτοκτόνοισι προστροπαῖς Ἰξίονος.

οὐκ ἄτερ τέχνας: He filled a trench with live coals, covered it slightly, and enticed Deïoneus into it when he came after the ἕδνα.

ἐπέμιξε θνατοῖς: ἐ. = intulit (ignem fraude mala gentibus intulit), but livelier, “Brought the stain of kindred blood upon mortals,” “imbrued them with kindred blood.”

Antistrophe 2

κατ᾽ αὐτόν, κτἑ.: Not καθ᾽ αὑτόν. P. does not use the compound reflexive. See O. 13.53; P. 4.250. “To measure everything by one's self,” i. e. “to take one's own measure in every plan of life.” This is only another form of the homely advice of Pittakos to one about to wed above his rank: τὰν κατὰ σαυτὸν ἔλα. P., like many other poets, has a genius for glorifying the commonplace. Compare Aisch. Prom. 892 on unequal matches.

καλὸν πῆμα: P. perhaps had in mind Hes. Theog. 585: καλὸν κακόν (of Pandora).

τετράκναμον ... δεσμόν: “The four-spoked bond” is the “four-spoked wheel.” The magic iynx (“wry-neck”), used in love-incantations, was bound to just such a wheel. Cf. P. 4.214: ποικίλαν ἴυγγα τετράκναμον Οὐλυμπόθεν ι ἐν ἀλύτῳ ζεύξαισα κύκλῳ ι μαινάδ᾽ ὄρνιν Κυπρογένεια φέρεν ι πρῶτον ἀνθρώποισι. It was poetic justice to bind Ixion to his own iynx wheel. Endless are the references to this symbol of mad love. See Theokritos' Pharmakeutriai.

ἔπραξε: “Effected,” “brought about,” and not ἐπράξατο, I. 4 (5), 8. See note on δρέπων, O. 1.13.

Epode 2

ἀνδέξατ᾽: He received the message and delivered it, not in words, but by whirling on the wheel (v. 23). Mitscherlich's ἀνδείξατ᾽ has found much favor.

ἀνδράσι=ἀνθρώποις.

γερασφόρον=τίμιον. Without part or lot among men or gods.

νόμοις=τοῖς νομιζομένοις.

Κένταυρον: This name, of obscure origin, was applied to his descendants, properly Ἱπποκένταυροι.

στρατός: Is in apposition to the subject of ἐγένοντο. “Out they came — a host marvellous to behold.”

Strophe 3

ὅ = ὅς.

κίχε . . . παραμείβεται . . . ἔκαμψε . . . παρέδωκε: The gnomic aorist often varies with the present. Many examples in Solon, fr. XIII. (Bergk). See also Tyrtaios, fr. XII. (Bergk). In the absence of an aoristic present, the Greek often uses an aor. for concentrated action in the present with a conscious contrast to the durative. See Plat. Phaidr. 247 B. So here κίχε, ἔκαμψε, παρέδωκ（ε) are finalities, παραμείβεται is process.

πτερόεντα = τανύπτερον. Cf. P. 5.111: τανύπτερος αἰετός.

αἰετόν: N. 3.80: αἰετὸς ὠκὺς ἐν ποτανοῖς.

τινα: “Many a one,” tel. So P. 4.86.

ἀδινόν: “Excessive,” “I must avoid the reputation of a biting calumniator.”

τὸ πλουτεῖν . . . ἄριστον: The Schol. interprets τὸ δὲ ἐπιτυγχάνειν πλούτου μετὰ σοφίας ἄριστον, and so Aristarchos: εὐποτμότατός ἐστιν ὁ πλουτῶν καὶ σοφίας ἅμα τυγχάνων, so that we combine τύχᾳ with σοφίας and πότμου with ἄριστον. “Wealth, with the attainment of wisdom, is Fortune's best.” The position is bold, but not incredible. Others, with a disagreeable cumulation, σὺν τύχᾳ πότμου σοφίας, “with the attainment of the lot of wisdom.” But the two genitives cited from P. 9.43: σοφᾶς Πειθοῦς ἱερᾶν φιλοτάτων, are not at all parallel, the relation there being that of a simple possessive. If Archilochos were alone involved, σοφίας ἅριστον might well mean is “the best part of the poetic art,” as “discretion is the better part of valor,” but σοφίας here must be applicable to Hieron as well.

Antistrophe 3

πεπαρεῖν=ἐνδεῖξαι, σημῆναι (Hesych.), “for showing them with free soul,” “so that thou canst freely show them.” Others read πεπορεῖν = δοῦναι, which would make νιν refer to τὸ πλουτεῖν alone.

εὐστεφάνων: “Battlemented.” This is an early use of στέφανος. Compare O. 8.32.

στρατοῦ: Sc. πολλοῦ στρατοῦ.

στόλον: Cogn. acc. to ἀναβάσομαι (Dissen). στ. as “prow” is more poetical.

ἀμφ᾽ ἀρετᾷ: O. 9.14: ἀμφὶ παλαίσμασιν φόρμιγγ᾽ ἐλελίζων.

νεότατι μὲν, κτἑ.: Contrast chiastic, v. 65: βουλαὶ δὲ πρεσβύτεραι.

θράσος . . . πολέμων: “Boldness in.” Cf. N. 7.59: τόλμαν καλῶν.

Epode 3

βουλαὶ δὲ πρεσβύτεραι: Sc. ἢ κατὰ τὴν νεότητα, or, as the Schol. says, ὑπὲρ τὴν νεότητα βουλεύη. “Elder than thy years.” P. 4.282: κεῖνος γὰρ ἐν παισὶν νέος, ἐν δὲ βουλαῖς πρέσβυς ἐγκύρσαις ἑκατονταετεῖ βιοτᾷ, P. 5.109. 110: κρέσσονα μὲν ἁλικίας | νόον φέρβεται.

τόδε μέν: This would seem to indicate that the μέλος here sent was different from the Καστόρειον, but P.'s handling of μέν and δέ is so peculiar, not to say tricky, that Böckh has a right to set up the antithesis πέμπεται μὲν τόδε μέλος, ἄθρησον δὲ τὸ Καστόρειον.

κατὰ Φοίνισσαν ἐμπολάν: κ., “like.” Phoenician ware was costly, being brought from afar.

ἑπτακτύπου: The old Terpandrian heptachord. N. 5.24: φόρμιγγ᾽ Ἀπόλλων ἑπτάγλωσσον χρυσέῳ πλάκτρῳ διώκων.

πίθων. A young ape.

παρὰ παισίν: “In the judgment of children.” The ape was a favorite in the nursery then as he is now. Galen, de Usu Part. 1, 22: καλός τοι πίθηκος παρὰ παισὶν αἰεί, φησί τις τῶν παλαιῶν, ἀναμιμνήσκων ὑμᾶς ὡς ἔστιν ἄθυρμα γελοῖον παιζόντων παίδων τοῦτο τὸ ζῷον. Instead of παρὰ δὲ Ῥαδαμάνθυι, P. changes the form of the antithesis.

Strophe 4

εὖ πέπραγεν: Rhadamanthys owes his good fortune to his judicial temper. Compare O. 2.83: βουλαῖς ἐν ὀρθαῖσι Ῥαδαμάνθυος | ὃν πατὴρ ἔχει [Κρόνος] ἑτοῖμον αὐτῷ πάρεδρον. Of the three judges in Hades, Aiakos — usually the first met by the new-comer — is in P. only the great Aeginetan hero, except in I. 7 (8), 24, where he is represented as a judge over the δαίμονες. Minos does not appear.

φρενῶν . . . καρπόν: So N. 10.12. Famous in Aischylos' description of Amphiaraos is the line S. c. Th. 593: “βαθεῖαν ἄλοκα διὰ φρενὸς καρπούμενος” .

βροτῶν: Used like ἀνδρῶν, so that ψίθυροι βροτοί = ψιθυρισταί, but β. is hardly so colorless in P.

ὑποφάτιες: Böckh has ὑποφαύτιες, Bothe ὑποφάτορες. “Secret speakings of calumnies” for “secret calumniators” does not satisfy. We want a masc. subst. Some MSS. have ὑποφάντιες from φαίνω.

ἀτενές=παντελῶς. P. has proudly compared himself to the Διὸς ὄρνις θεῖος, O. 2.97, and it may be well to remember that the eagle and the fox were not friends, acc. to the fabulist Archilochos, and that the eagle was the “totem” of the Aiakidai and of Aias, Pindar's favorite, a straightforward hero (N. 8.23 foll.).

κερδοῖ: To me convincing emendation of Huschke for κέρδει. κερδώ is a popular name for fox, Ar. Eq. 1068. First Voice: “But what doth Master Reynard gain by his game?” The pun in κερδοῖ . . . κέρδεσσι is obvious. The proverb ἀλώπηξ δωροδοκεῖται is taken from Kratinos' parody (2, 87 Mein.) of Solon's celebrated characteristic of the Athenians, fr. 11, 5 (Bergk): ὑμέων εἷς μὲν ἕκαστος ἀλώπεκος ἴχνεσι βαίνελ.

εἰνάλιον πόνον: Toil of the sea. So Theokr. 21, 39: δειλινὸν ὡς κατέδαρθον ἐν εἰναλίοισι πόνοισι.

φελλὸς ὥς: The comparison is not so homely in Greek as in English. “Cork” could hardly be used with us in elevated poetry, but

“ παῖδες γὰρ ἀνδρὶ κλῃδόνες σωτήριοι
θανόντι: φελλοὶ δ᾽ ὣς ἄγουσι δίκτυον
τὸν ἐκ βυθοῦ κλωστῆρα σῴζοντες λίνου.
”

Aisch. Choëph. 505:

ἅλμας: With ἀβάπτιστος.

Antistrophe 4

ἀδύνατα: So O. 1.52: ἄπορα, P. 1.34: ἐοικότα.

μάν: Often used to meet objections. Cf. P. 1.63.

σαίνων: Specifically of the dog. See P. 1.52.

ἀ_γάν. The MS. ἄγαν has the first syllable short. ἀγή, “bend,” is not the doubling of the fox, but the peculiar fawning way in which the dog makes an arc of himself. J. H. H. Schmidt reads αὐδάν and compare for διαπλέκει P. 12.8: οὔλιον θρῆνον διαπλέκει.

διαπλέκει: Commentators compare Aischin. 3, 28: ἀντιδιαπλέκει πρὸς τοῦτο εὐθύς, but there the metaphor is from the twists and turns of wrestlers. Here we are still with the dog.

φίλον εἴη φιλεῖν, κτἑ.: Second Voice: “I do not deny the claims of friendship; it is only mine adversary that I seek to circumvent.” Others think this perfectly consistent with the antique morality of a man like Pindar. Compare I. 3 (4), 66: χρὴ δὲ πᾶν ἔρδοντα μαυρῶσαι τὸν ἐχθρόν, Archiloch. fr. 65 (Bergk): ἓν δ᾽ ἐπίσταμαι μέγα | τὸν κακῶς με δρῶντα δεινοῖς ἀνταμείβεσθαι κακοῖς. P. is supposed to say: “Let my adversary play the monkey, the fox, the dog; I can play the wolf.” Requital in full is antique; crooked ways of requital are not Pindaric.

νόμον: “Constitution,” “form of the state.”

εὐθύγλωσσος: In opposition to the ὁδοὶ σκολιαί, σκολιαὶ ἀπάται (fr. XI. 76, 2).

προφέρει: “Comes to the front.”

ὁ λάβρος στρατός: Milton's “fierce democratie.”

χρὴ δὲ πρὸς θεὸν οὐκ ἐρίζειν: The neg. οὐκ, as if he were about to say ἀλλὰ φέρειν ἐλαφρῶς ἐπαυχένιον ζυγόν. As it stands, it looks like a licentious οὐκ with the inf., of which there are very few. The connection is shown in the introduction. Though the straightforward man has the lead in every form of state, yet his enemies have sometimes the upper hand, and we must not quarrel with God for this. But the envious do not wish him to have anything at all, and so they overreach themselves, and come to harm.

Epode 4

τὰ κείνων: The fortunes of the whisperers.

ἔδωκεν: As there is no metrical reason for not using δίδωσιν, we may accept a contrast between continued and concentrated action. See v. 50.

στάθμας: στάθμη is γραμμή, N. 6.8. The Schol. thinks of a measuring-line. The measuring-line has two sharp pegs. The measurer fastens one in the ground and pulls the cord tight, in order to stretch it over more space than it ought to cover (περισσᾶς). In so doing he runs the peg into his own heart. Hermann finds an allusion to the play διελκυστίνδα, still played everywhere. This would make ἑλκόμενοι reciprocal, “one another,” and στάθμας a whence-case, but for περισσᾶς we should have to read περισσῶς. On the other interpretation, στάθμας is the genitive of the hold, as in P. 9.132: παρθένον κεδνὰν χερὶ χειρὸς ἑλών. Schneidewin has noticed the play on ἑλκόμενοι and ἕλκος.

φροντίδι μητίονται: “Are planning with anxious thought.”

The drift of P. 3 seems to be plain enough. Hieron is victorious, but suffering, and he must learn that the gods give two pains for one pleasure, and be content to have only one against one. To expect more is to reach out to what is not and cannot be. To this lesson the poet leads up step by step. So in the very beginning of this ode he himself sets an example of the impatient yearning he condemns. “Would that the old Centaur, the master of Asklepios, the great healer, were alive!” A poet, Pindar longs for the control of leechcraft, and does not recognize his own ambition until other examples of disappointment pass before his eyes. Such an example is Koronis, mother of Asklepios. This was her sin: she had one love, she wanted yet another (v. 25). Asklepios himself comes next. He was a leech of wide renown — a benefactor to his kind — but he was a slave to gain (v. 54). This was his sin, and, like his mother, he perished (v. 57). And now the poet draws the moral. “Mortals must seek what is meet for mortals, and recognize where they stand, what is their fate.” The wish is renewed, but this time with a sigh. The poet is not satisfied with paying Hieron his homage in music, he yearns to bring him the master of healing and gain a double share of favor. It must not be; he cannot cross the water with this double joy (v. 72). He must be content to stay at home and make vows to the goddess at his door (v. 77). This lesson Hieron and Hieron's poet must divide: ἓν παρ᾽ ἐσλὸν πήματα σύνδυο δαίονται βροτοῖς | ἀθάνατοι (v. 81). That is the rule. Make the best of it. Look at Peleus. Look at Kadmos (vv. 87, 88). They heard the Muses, as Hieron heard Pindar's songs. One married Harmonia, one Thetis (vv. 91, 92). Both saw the sons of Kronos banqueting with them, both received bridal gifts of the gods. But three daughters brought threefold sorrow to Kadmos. True, one daughter's couch was shared by Zeus (v. 99), yet this is only one joy to three sorrows. Against the bridal of Thetis set the death of Achilles (v. 100), an only son, and so more than a double sorrow. “Enjoy, then, what thou mayest while thou mayest in the changing breezes of fortune, in the ticklish balance of prosperity. This be our creed. Fit thy will to God's will. Pray for wealth. Hope for fame. Fame rests on song. Nestor and Sarpedon — the one who lost his noble son, the other lost to a divine sire — live on in lays. Few achieve this” (vv. 102115). And so the poem ends with the tacit pledge that Hieron shall live on in P.'s song as they in Homer's.

The rhythms are dactylo-epitrite (Dorian).

The distribution of the elements is different from that of an ordinary ἐπινίκιον. The myth, with a slight introduction, takes up nearly half the poem. Indeed, the whole ode is a picturegallery of mythic troubles. We have at full length Koronis and Asklepios, who were guilty; with less detail Kadmos and Peleus, who were innocent; and, in mere outline, Nestor and Sarpedon — Nestor, who was lord among the third generation but to see Antilochos die; Sarpedon, who was mourned by Zeus himself. But all this sorrow is lost in the light of poetry.

Strophe 1

Φιλυρίδαν: So the Centaur is called, P. 9.32. Compare N. 3.43: Φιλύρας ἐν δόμοις.

Παλίου: His cave was on Pelion (P. 9.30), a mountain full of medicinal herbs.

Φῆρα = θῆρ（α): “Centaur.” So called Il. 1. 268; 2, 743; as well as P. 4.119.

ἀγρότερον: “Upland,” as in Chapman's Homer, with the same note of ruggedness

θρέψεν . . . τέκτονα: θρ. like ἐδίδαξεν, “bred.”

Antistrophe 1

“ ἔτεκεν δ᾽ ἁνίκα Μοῖραι
τέλεσαν ταυρόκερων θεόν.
”

Eur. Bacch. 100:

χρυσέοις: P. 1.1.

ἀποφλαυρίξαισά νιν: Sc. τὸν χόλον.

αἴνησεν γάμον: Cf. Eur. Or. 1092: “ἧς λέχος γ᾽ ἐπῄνεσα” (Dind. ποτ᾽ ᾔνεσα), and 1672: “καὶ λέκτρ᾽ ἐπῄνεσα.”

Epode 1

τράπεζαν νυμφίαν: Koronis should have waited until the birth of the son of Apollo, and then have married. The gods were tolerant of human successors.

οἷα καὶ πολλοὶ πάθον, κτἑ.: Pindar unfolds a moral as Homer unfolds a comparison. A reference to Hieron and foreign physicians (ἀπεόντων), which Hermann suggests, is altogether unlikely, not to say absurd.

παπταίνει τὰ πόρσω: O. 1.114: μηκέτι πάπταινε πόρσιον.

θηρεύων. Cf. N. 11.47: κερδέων δὲ χρὴ μέτρον θηρευέμεν.

Strophe 2

τοιαύταν μεγάλαν: Keep the words separate.

α̈́ϝα̈́ταν = ἄταν. P. 2.28. Note the quantity.

ξένου: Ischys, as we are told below (v. 31).

μηλοδόκῳ: See

“ ἐπὶ δ᾽ ἀσφάκτοισι
μήλοισι μὴ πάριτ᾽ ἐς μυχόν.
”

Eur. Ion, 228:

τόσσαις (Aeolic) = τυχών. Compare τόξον.

κοινᾶνι (Dor.) = κοινῶνι = μηνυτῇ. Hesiod says (fr. 90) that a raven told it to Apollo. Pindar delights to depart from the popular version in little points that affect the honor of the gods; hence the emphasis laid on the πάντα ϝίσαντι νόῳ.

παρὰ ... νόῳ: As it were “in the courts of.” He did not go out of himself. The Schol. dulls the expression by παρὰ τοῦ νόου πυθόμενον.

γνώμαν πιθών: For the MS. γνώμᾳ πεπιθών. πιθών= πείσας. The acc. γνώμαν gives the finer sense. Apollo forced conviction on his will, his heart. So also Mezger, who cites for this use of γν. O. 3.41; 4, 16; P. 4.84. Fennell prefers “judgment” to “heart.”

ψευδέων δ᾽ οὐχ ἅπτεται: Neither deceiving nor deceived. Cf. P. 9.46: σέ, τὸν οὐ θεμιτὸν ψεύδει θιγεῖν.

Antistrophe 2

κρημνοῖσιν: Specifically of “bluffs.” O. 3.22: κρημνοῖς Ἀλφεοῦ.

δαίμων: Where we should blame her mad passion, her λῆμα.

ἕτερος=ὁ κακοποιός (Schol.). N. 8.3: τὸν μὲν ἁμέροις ἀνάγκας χερσὶ βαστάζεις, ἕτερον δ᾽ ἑτέραις. So often after P., πλέον θάτερον ποιεῖν, ἀγαθὰ ἢ θάτερα. “The δαίμων ἕτερος is one of the notes by which Bentley detected the false Phalaris. See ‘Letters of Phalaris,’ p. 247 (Bohn and Wagner),” C. D. Morris.

πολλὰν . . . ὕλαν: Inevitable expansion of the moral. See v. 20. The sentence is proverbial, as in James 3, 5: ἰδού, ὀλίγον πῦρ ἡλίκην ὕλην ἀνάπτει.

Epode 2

ὀλέσσαι: The MSS. ὀλέσαι. ὀλέσθαι would not be so good. He had killed the mother, and so was about to kill the child.

νεκροῦ: There is no good fem.

Strophe 3

τοὺς μέν: Resumes the division indicated, v. 47.

μαλακαῖς ἐπαοιδαῖς: Incantations were a regular part of physic among the Greek medicine-men. The order is the order of severity.

“ οὐ πρὸς ἰατροῦ σοφοῦ
θροεῖν ἐπῳδὰς πρὸς τομῶντι πήματι.
”

So. Aias, 581:

ἀμφέπων . . . πίνοντας . . . περάπτων: P. breaks what seems to him the hateful uniformity by putting πίνοντας instead of a causative, such as πιπίσκων, or an abstract, such as ποτοῖς.

περάπτων . . . φάρμακα: “Swathing with simples.” Plasters and poultices are conspicuous in early leechcraft. περάπτων (Aeolic) = περιάπτων. So N. 11.40: περόδοις.

Antistrophe 3

ἀγάνορι: Cf. P. 10.18: ἀγάνορα πλοῦτον, and O. 1.2: μεγάνορος . . . πλούτου. One cannot help thinking of χρήματα χρήματ᾽ ἀνήρ (I. 2, 11). See Plato's criticism of this passage, Resp. 3, 408 B. C.

κομίσαι: N. 8.44: τεὰν ψυχὰν κομίξαι | οὔ μοι δυνατόν.

χερσί: O. 9.32: σκύταλον τίναξε χερσίν. The addition of “hand” does not give the same vigor in English.

ἀμφοῖν: The Hesiodic fragment tells only of the death of Asklepios (Athenag. Leg. p. 134).

οἵας εἰμὲν αἴσας: As Archilochos says: γίγνωσκε δ᾽ οἷος ῥυσμὸς ἀνθρώπους ἔχει. αἴσας: Genitive of the owner.

Epode 3

βίον ἀθάνατον = τὸ ἐξομοιοῦσθαι τοῖς θεοῖς (Schol.).

θερμᾶν νόσων: “Fevers.”

Ἰονίαν . . . θάλασσαν: Elsewhere (N. 4.53) called Ἰόνιον πόρον.

Αἰτναῖον ξένον: See P. 1.

Strophe 4

ἀγαθοῖς: The optimates, doubtless, for they are “the good” to a Dorian.

κῶμόν τε: On the effect of τε in twinning the two χάριτες, see O. 1.62.

ἀέθλων Πυθίων: Depends on στεφάνοις. So N. 5.5: παγκρατίου στέφανον.

αἴγλαν στεφάνοις: Cf. O. 1.14: ἀγλαΐξεται δὲ καὶ μουσικᾶς ἐν ἀώτῳ, and O. 11 (10), 13: κόσμον ἐπὶ στεφάνῳ . . . ἁδυμελῆ κελαδήσω. The song lends additional lustre to the lustrous crowns. The plur. on account of the victories of Pherenikos.

ἐν Κίρρᾳ ποτέ: Kirrha was the Delphian hippodrome. The victory was won at least eight years before.

φάος: Acc. to J. H. H. Schmidt, φάος is the light of joy (O. 10 [11], 25; I. 2, 17), φέγγος, for which we here have αἴγλαν, is the light of glory (O. 2.62; P. 9.98; N. 3.64; 9, 42).

Antistrophe 4

ἐπεύξασθαι: “Offer a vow to,” not simply “pray.”

ἐθέλω: See P. 1.62.

σὺν Πανί: Cf. fr. VI. 1: ὦ Πάν, . . . σεμνῶν ἀδύτων φύλαξ, Ματρὸς μεγάλας ὀπαδέ.

μανθάνων: “Learning.” The lesson is ever before him. It is a proverb.

Epode 4

ὁ μέγας πότμος: N. 4.42: πότμος ἄναξ.

ἀσφαλής=ἄπταιστος.

Πηλεῖ . . . Κάδμῳ: Proverbial examples of high fortune and noble character, O. 2.86.

σχεῖν: O. 2.10.

χρυσαμπύκων . . . Μοισᾶν: The Muses so styled again, I. 2, 1.

Strophe 5

αἱ τρεῖς: Ino, Agaue, Autonoë. Cf. O. 2.25.

Antistrophe 5

τόξοις: Il. 22. 359: ἤματι τῷ ὅτε κέν σε Πάρις καὶ Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων | ἐσθλὸν ἐόντ᾽ ὀλέσωσιν ἐνὶ Σκαιῇσι πύλῃσι.

ἄλλοτε δ᾽ ἀλλοῖαι , κτἑ.: O. 7.95: ἄλλοτ᾽ ἀλλοῖαι διαιθύσσοισιν αὖραι.

ἐπιβρίσαις: “Coming down with weight.”

Epode 5

φρασίν: “Heartily.”

κατ᾽ ἐμὰν . . . μαχανάν: “To the extent of my power,” “with all my might.” Cf. v. 62: τὰν ἔμπρακτον ἄντλει μαχανάν.

πρόσω: With a solemn indefiniteness, that is yet made sufficiently plain by the mention of Nestor and Sarpedon. The πρόσω is “among them that shall call this time ancient” (Dante), where songs shall make thee what N. and S. are to us.

Σαρπηδόνα: Lykian Sarpedon balances (Pylian) Nestor. One shining light is taken out of each camp. Sarpedon, we are reminded, was the grandson of Bellerophon, B. was from Corinth, and Corinth was the metropolis of Syracuse. But P. is thinking of Homer and the looming figures of Nestor on the Greek, Sarpedon on the Trojan side. Some quiet mischief in this, perhaps (N. 7.21).

ἀνθρώπων φάτις: φάτι_ς = φάτιας, hominum fabulas, compare “the talk of the town” — “whose names are in every mouth.”

πράξασθ（αι) = εὑρέσθαι (v. 111).

Not only in size, but also in many other respects, the fourth Pythian is Pindar's greatest poem — a prime favorite with all Pindaric scholars. The obscurities are few in proportion to the bulk, the diction is noble and brilliant. The aesthetic value is great, for in this poem we have a whole incorporated theory of the lyric treatment of epic themes, the Argonautic expedition in points of light.

After a brief invocation of the Muse, Pindar tells how the priestess of Apollo bade Battos leave his sacred island, Thera, and found a city on a shimmering hill in Libya, and thus bring to honor the prophecy of Medeia (vv. 1-9).

In the Prophecy of Medeia, we learn the story of the wonderful clod that a deity delivered to the Argonaut Euphamos where the Libyan lake Tritonis empties into the sea. Washed overboard, this symbol of sovereignty followed the wet main to Thera, whence the descendants of Euphamos should, at the bidding of Apollo, go forth and possess the land promised to their ancestor (vv. 10-56).

Such is the prophecy that was fulfilled by Battos, the founder of Kyrene, and it is to the descendant of this Battos in the eighth generation that Apollo has given the glory of the victory in the chariot-race, the theme of Pindar's song (vv. 57-69).

So far the overture. Then follows the Quest of the Golden Fleece, or the Voyage of the Argonauts, which constitutes the bulk of the poem (vv. 70-256).

On their return voyage the Argonauts had shared the couches of Lemnian heroines. From such a union came the stock of Euphamos, which went first to Lakedaimon, thence to Thera, and from Thera to Kyrene (v. 261).

Here the poem seems to pause. A stop at Κυράνας (v. 261) would satisfy mind and ear. But P. continues with an afterthought participle, which emphasizes the importance of right counsel, and prepares the message that he has to deliver. The message is one that needs delicate handling, and, like the wise woman of Tekoah, P. clothes it in a parable — the Apologue of the Lopped Oak (vv. 263-268).

The answer is not given at once. The king is a healer that knows well the art of the soothing hand. The king is one that, under the guidance of God, can put the shaken city on its true foundation. He has only to will and it is done. Let him then take counsel, and consider what Homer said, that a fair messenger makes fair tidings. Such a fair messenger is the poet's Muse (vv. 270-279).

The way being thus prepared, the name of Damophilos is mentioned for the first time, and the praise of the banished nobleman is blended with an appeal for such forgiveness as Zeus accorded the Titans. “Let him see his home again; let him take his delight in banquets by Apollo's fountain. Let him make melody on the harp. Let his days be days of quietness, himself all harmless, by the world unharmed. Then he can tell what a wellspring of song he found for Arkesilas at Thebes” (vv. 281-299).

As the fourth Pythian is thrown out of line with the other odes by its size, and as this characteristic determines the handling of the poem, the distribution of the masses becomes a matter of leading importance and cannot be relegated, as has been done elsewhere, to a mere summary. Pindar nowhere else goes beyond five triads. Here he has the relatively vast structure of thirteen. If the introduction bore any proportion to the myth, or to the introductions of the other poems, we should have a large porch of song. What do we find? The poet seems to enter upon the theme at once, as if he were composing an epic and not a lyric. The ringing relative that so often introduces the myth makes itself heard almost immediately after the invocation of the Muse (v. 4). We slip out of port in a moment, and find ourselves in the midst of the returning Argonauts. But the introduction is longer than it seems. The first three triads constitute an introductory epyllion — the Prophecy of Medeia — which bears a just proportion to the rest. Only if the usual measure were observed the myth would occupy seven triads and the conclusion three (3+7+3), but the story runs over into the eleventh triad, when the poet chides himself as having lingered too long (v. 247), and the slow imperfects give way to the rapid aorists. He calls on Arkesilas (v. 250) in order to show that he is hasting to Kyrene, and the emphasis laid on the guidance of Apollo prepares the conclusion. Notice that the story of the Argonauts makes the same returning sweep to Arkesilas and Apollo as the Prophecy of Medeia (vv. 65, 66). Apollo is an oracular god, and speaks in riddles. “So read me,” the poet says, “the riddle of Oidipus” (v. 263). After this riddle is given, “fulfil the word of Homer” (v. 277). Both Oidipus and Homer, be it noted, are Apollinic. The answer to the riddle is — Damophilos (v. 281); but it is not until the poet has claimed the good messenger's credit, according to the word of Homer, that he brings forth the name. The poem closes with a commendation of the banished nobleman, and with the evident intimation that this song was made at his desire (v. 299).

The myth itself (vv. 70-256) is natural enough. It is natural enough that in celebrating the victory of Arkesilas, Pindar should sing of the founding of Kyrene; and the introduction of the Argonautic expedition may be justified on general grounds; but this is not the only time that Pindar has sung Kyrene. In P. 5 Battos and the Aigeidai come to honor, in P. 9, the heroine Kyrene, but there is no such overwhelming excess of the myth. In the length of the myth nothing more is to be seen than the costliness of the offering. If the poem was to be long, the myth must needs be long.

There are those who see in Pindar's Argonautic expedition a parable. Damophilos is Iason. Then Arkesilas must be Pelias — which is incredible. Damophilos is anybody else, anything else. Sooner the soul of Phrixos (v. 159), sooner the mystic clod that Euphamos received (v. 21). The tarrying of the soul of Phrixos, the drifting of the clod, the long voyage of the Argonauts, may be symbolical of the banishment of Damophilos. He could not rest save in Kyrene (v. 294). The true keynote, then, is the sweetness of return, the sweetness of the fulfilment of prophecy and of the fruition of hope long deferred. The ancient prophecy came to pass, and Battos founded Kyrene (vv. 6, 260). The word of Medeia was brought to honor in the seventeenth generation (v. 10). The ships should one day be exchanged for chariots (v. 18). The clod, following the watery main, was borne to Thera, not to Tainaros (v. 42), and yet the pledge failed not. Iason came back to his native land (v. 78). Everybody comes back, not Iason alone, else the moral were too pointed. Let Damophilos come back. Let there be one Kyrenaian more.

The measures are dactylo-epitrite (Dorian), and the grave, oracular tone is heard in rhythm as well as in diction.

“As this poem, among all the Pindaric odes, approaches the epos most closely, so the rhythmical composition reminds one of the simplicity of an hexametrical hymn. Four times in succession we have precisely the same pentapody, “ 3 u | - - | - u u | - u u | - ^
” the close of which reminds us of the hexameter, which, like it, prefers the trisyllabic bar towards the close. Another example of this will be sought in vain throughout Pindar. These five pentapodies are followed by nine tetrapodies, interrupted only by a dipody in the middle of the strophe, where there is usually most movement” (J. H. H. Schmidt).

Strophe 1

ἀνδρὶ φίλῳ: See on P. 1.92.

Κυράνας: See on P. 1.60.

Ἀρκεσίλᾳ: The position gives zest to the postponed proper name. Compare P. 8.42.

οὖρον ὕμνων: N. 6.31: οὖρον . . . ἐπέων. P. makes much use of nautical metaphors and similes, but as the Battiads were originally Minyans, a manner of Vikings (O. 14.4), there is a special Argonautical propriety in this use of οὖρον.

ἵρεα, an Aeolic form = ἱέρεια, which Christ gives. Böckh and others, ἱρέα.

καρποφόρου Λιβύας: P. 9.63 οὔτε παγκάρπων φυτῶν νήποινον.

ἱερὰν | ϝᾶσον: Thera (Santorini = Saint Eirene).

Antistrophe 1

Θήραιον: “Uttered in Thera,” the ἁλίπλακτος γᾶ of v. 14.

ζαμενής: Animosa. Others think of non sine dis animosa, and consider Medea “inspired.” It is simply “bold,” “brave,” “highspirited,” as suits such a heroine. There is no such curious adaptation of epithet to circumstance as we find in the hivework of Horace (“apis Matinae | more modoque”).

φυτεύσεσθαι: “Shall have planted in her” (Fennell), as one should say “shall conceive and bring forth.” P. has no fut. pass. apart from the fut. middle.

μελησίμβροτον: Only here in Greek. Compare Od. 12. 70: Ἀργὼ πᾶσι μέλουσα.

Epode 1

θοάς: O. 12.3.

νωμάσοισιν: νωμᾶν of ships, P. 1.86: νώμα δικαίῳ πηδαλίῳ στρατόν, of reins, as here, I. 1, 15: ἁνία . . . νωμάσαντ（α). Subject “they,” i. e., “men.”

ἀελλόποδας: For the metonymy, compare P. 2.11: ἅρματα πεισιχάλινα, and O. 5.3: ἀκαμαντόποδος ἀπήνας.

γαῖαν: An immemorial symbolism. “With our Saxon ancestors the delivery of turf was a necessary solemnity to establish the conveyance of land.”

Strophe 2

ποτί: With κρημνάντων.

χαλκόγενυν: The flukes bite; hence “jaws” of an anchor, which is itself a bit. Compare Lat. dens ancorae.

ἐπέτοσσε=ἐπέτυχε: Sc. θεὸς ἀνέρι εἰδόμενος. On the change of subject, see O. 3.22.

δώδεκα . . . φέρομεν: φ. is imperfect. Definite numbers usu. take the aor., but the imperfect is used when the action is checked, usu. by the aor., sometimes by the imperf. There are numberless passages from Homer on, Od. 2. 106: ὣς τρίετες μὲν ἔληθε . . . ἀλλ᾽ ὅτε τέτρατον ἦλθεν ἔτος. Cf. Il. 1. 53. 54; 9, 470. 474; Od. 3. 118. 119. 304. 306, al.

μήδεσιν: Medeia was not above an allusion to her name.

ἀνσπάσσαντες: Usu. “drawing ashore.” Mezger tr. “shouldering.”

ἀμοῖς = ἡμετέροις = ἐμοῖς, P. 3.41.

δαίμων: The god of v. 21.

περ᾽ ὄψιν θηκάμενος: So Bergk, after the Schol., for πρόσοψιν θηκάμενος. περ（ι） θηκάμενος, “having put on.” In resuming the story P. amplifies it.

εὐεργέται: “The hospitable.” I. 5 (6), 70: ξένων εὐεργεσίαις ἀγαπᾶται.

Antistrophe 2

πρόφασις: Is an assigned reason, true or false.

Ἐννοσίδα: So v. 173. In Homer ἐννοσίγαιος, ἐνοσίχθων.

βώλακα: More special and technical than γαῖαν (v. 21).

δαιμονίαν: “Fateful.”