This poem, which is not so much an ἐπινίκιον as a Consolatio ad Hieronem, is classed with the ἐπινίκια because it celebrates the victories that Hieron gained with his race-horse Φερένικος (v. 74) at Delphi, Pyth. 26 and 27 (Ol. 73, 3, and 74, 3, 486 and 482 B.C.). According to Böckh, the composition of the poem belongs to a much later period, Ol. 76, 3 (474 B.C.). Earlier than Ol. 76, 1 (476 B.C.) it cannot be, for Hieron is called Αἰτναῖος (v. 69), and Aitna was founded in that year. Later than Ol. 76, 3 it cannot well be, for in that year Hieron won a chariot-race at Delphi, of which no mention is made in this poem. Böckh thinks that the ode was composed shortly before P. 1, probably to celebrate the recurrent date of the previous victories. Hieron was suffering (compare P. 1.50), and hence the blending of congratulation and consolation. The “historical” allusions to scandals in Hieron's family and to the quarrels of the court physicians are all due to the fancy of the commentators. 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
Χείρωνα: Cheiron was the great mythical healer and teacher; he gave Machaon healing drugs (Il. 4. 219), and taught Achilles medicine (Il. 11. 832). The Χείρωνες of Kratinos was a plea for a return to the old training, of which Achilles was the mythical example. See N. 3.43, foll. Φιλυρίδαν: So the Centaur is called, P. 9.32. Compare N. 3.43: Φιλύρας ἐν δόμοις.ἁμετέρας ἀπὸ γλώσσας: Contrast to κοινὸν ϝέπος. Something more was expected of the poet than such an every-day utterance. P. apologizes, as it were, on the ground of the naturalness of the wish. It was on everybody's tongue then. P. 5.107: ἄνδρα κεῖνον ἐπαινέοντι συνετοί: λεγόμενον ἐρέω.
γόνον . . . κρόνου: Cf. N. 3.47: Κρονίδαν Κένταυρον. 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
ἀνδρῶν φίλον=φιλάνθρωπον: A contrast to his name, Φήρ. Cheiron was δικαιότατος Κενταύρων (Il. 11. 832). θρέψεν . . . τέκτονα: θρ. like ἐδίδαξεν, “bred.”
γυιαρκέο_ς: The ο must be lengthened to save the metre. Compare O. 6.103: ποντόμεδο_ν, P. 4.184: πόθο_ν, 11, 38: τριοδο_ν.
ἥρω^α: So ἥρω^ας, P. 1.53.
Antistrophe 1
Φλεγύα: The myth was taken from the Ἠοῖαι of Hesiod, a κατάλογος γυναικῶν, or list of heroines to whom the gods had condescended. The story of Koronis is an especially good exemplification of the difference between epic and lyric narrative. Epic narrative is developed step by step. “The lyric poet gives the main result briefly in advance, and follows it up by a series of pictures, each of which throws light on the preceding” (Mezger).πρὶν τελέσσαι: “Before having brought to term,” “before she had borne him the full time.”
χρυσέοις: P. 1.1.
Ἀρτέμιδος: A. kills women, Apollo men.
ἐν θαλάμῳ: With δαμεῖσα, an additional touch of color. The MSS. have εἰς Ἀίδα（ο） δόμον ἐν θαλάμῳ κατέβα, which would give a quibbling tone, “went to Hades without leaving her chamber;” nor is a lingering death implied by ἐν θαλάμῳ. Artemis is expected to kill queens ἐν μεγάροισι (Od. 11. 198); Artemis smites Aribas' daughter, who stole Eumaios, by hurling her into the hold of the pirate vessel (Od. 15. 479); and it was meet that the wanton Koronis should be slain ἐν θαλάμῳ — not in her chamber, but in the bed of Ischys.
γίνεται: “Proves.” ἀποφλαυρίξαισά νιν: Sc. τὸν χόλον.
ἀμπλακίαισι: Homeric plural, not common in Pindar. ἀνορέαις (P. 8.91; N. 3.20; I. 3 [4], 29) is not exactly parallel. αἴνησεν γάμον: Cf. Eur. Or. 1092: “ἧς λέχος γ᾽ ἐπῄνεσα” (Dind. ποτ᾽ ᾔνεσα), and 1672: “καὶ λέκτρ᾽ ἐπῄνεσα.”
ἀκειρεκόμᾳ: So the best MS., and not ἀκερσεκόμᾳ. Compare Ov. Trist. 3, 1, 60: “intonsi candida templa dei” , and the description of Iason, P. 4.82. A. is ever young.
Epode 1
σπέρμα . . . καθαρόν: κ., because divine.ἔμειν᾽ ἐλθεῖν: Subj. of ἐλθεῖν is τράπεζαν. 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.
παμφώνων ἰαχὰν ὑμεναίων: P. 12.19: αὐλῶν πάμφωνον μέλος. On the shield of Achilles, Il. 18. 493: πολὺς δ᾽ ὑμέναιος ὀρώρει: | κοῦροι δ᾽ ὀρχηστῆρες ἐδίνεον, ἐν δ᾽ ἄρα τοῖσιν | αὐλοὶ φόρμιγγές τε βοὴν ἔχον.
οἷα: Loose reference to ὑμεναίων. Cf. P. 1.73.
ὑποκουρίζεσθ（αι): “Such petting, playful strains as girlmates love to utter in even-songs.” In the even-songs of the bridal the maids were wont to use the pet name, “baby name” (ὑποκόρισμα), of the bride, while they indulged in playful allusions to her new life.
ἤρατο τῶν ἀπεόντων: Nikias warns the Athenians against this “δυσέρωτας εἶναι τῶν ἀπόντων” (Thuk. 6, 13) . Lys. 12, 78: “τῶν ἀπόντων ἐπιθυμῶν” . Theokr. 10, 8: οὐδαμά τοι συνέβα ποθέσαι τινὰ τῶν ἀπεόντων. 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.
φῦλον . . . ὅστις: A common shift, as in “kind who;” only we follow with the plural.
αἰσχύνων: “Putting shame on.” παπταίνει τὰ πόρσω: O. 1.114: μηκέτι πάπταινε πόρσιον.
μεταμώνια: P. multiplies synonyms to show the bootlessness of the quest. The seekers are “futile,” the object is “unsubstantial,” the hopes “unachievable.” Cf. O. 1.82, and 14, 6. θηρεύων. Cf. N. 11.47: κερδέων δὲ χρὴ μέτρον θηρευέμεν.
Strophe 2
ἔσχε: “Caught.” On the ingressiveness, see O. 2.10. τοιαύταν μεγάλαν: Keep the words separate. α̈́ϝα̈́ταν = ἄταν. P. 2.28. Note the quantity.λῆμα Κορωνίδος: “Wilful Koronis.” Cf. O. 6.22: σθένος ἡμιόνων, 1, 88: Οἰνομάου βίαν, and note on 8, 68. It may be of some significance that she was the sister of the wilful hero Ixion, who came to his bad end by εὐναὶ παράτροποι (P. 2.35). ξένου: Ischys, as we are told below (v. 31).
σκοπόν: Used of the gods (O. 1.54), but esp. of Apollo. O. 6.59: τοξοφόρον Δάλου θεοδμάτας σκοπόν. μηλοδόκῳ: See
τόσσαις (Aeolic) = τυχών. Compare τόξον.
Αοξίας: There is, perhaps, a play on λοξός and εὐθύτατος, “crooked” and “straight.” 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.”
ϝίσαντι = εἰδότι. Cf. P. 4.248: οἶμον ἴσαμι βραχύν. ψευδέων δ᾽ οὐχ ἅπτεται: Neither deceiving nor deceived. Cf. P. 9.46: σέ, τὸν οὐ θεμιτὸν ψεύδει θιγεῖν.
ἔργοις οὔτε βουλαῖς: On the omission of the former negative, compare P. 10.29. 41.
Antistrophe 2
Εἰλατίδα: Ischys, son of Elatos, seems to have been a brother of Aipytos (O. 6.36), who was an Arkadian lord.ξεινίαν κοίταν = κοίταν ξένου. “Couching with a stranger.”
ἀμαιμακέτῳ: Homer's ἀμαιμάκετος suits all the Pindaric passages. See P. 1.14.
Λακέρειαν: In Thessaly. Van Herwerden has called attention to the resemblance between Koronis of Lakereia and Hesiod's λακέρυζα κορώνη (O. et D. 745). 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.
ἁμᾶ: See O. 3.21. 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.
σπέρματος: O. 7.48: σπέρμα . . . φλογός, Od. 5. 490: σπέρμα πυρὸς σῴζων.
Epode 2
τείχει . . . ἐν ξυλίνῳ: On the pyre.σέλας . . . Ἁφαίστου: P. 1.25: Ἁφαίστοιο κρουνούς. The person of Hephaistos is little felt, but it can always be brought back as in Ἡφαίστου κύνες, “sparks,” Alexis, fr. 146 (3, 452 Mein.).
οὐκέτι: Apollo has been struggling with himself. Cf. O. 1.5.
α̈́μόν = ἡμέτερον, but ἡμέτερον = ἐμόν, and does not refer to Koronis. “Our” would be a human touch. Here it is the selfish “my.” P. 4.27: ἀμοῖς = ἐμοῖς. ὀλέσσαι: The MSS. ὀλέσαι. ὀλέσθαι would not be so good. He had killed the mother, and so was about to kill the child.
ματρὸς βαρείᾳ σὺν πάθᾳ: The same principle as λῆμα Κορωνίδος (v. 25). The ill-fate of the mother = the ill-fated mother.
βάματι δ᾽ ἐν πρώτῳ: An exaggeration of τριτάτῳ, which Aristarchos preferred, after Il. 13. 20: τρὶς μὲν ὀρέξατ᾽ ἰὼν (Ποσειδῶν), τὸ δὲ τέτρατον ἵκετο τέκμωρ (Schol.). Bergk suggests τέρτῳ (Aeol.) = τρίτῳ. See note on O. 8.46. νεκροῦ: There is no good fem.
διέφαινε: Imperfect of vision, in an intercalated clause. So the best MS. διέφανε would be an unusual intransitive, “flamed apart,” literally “shone apart,” “opened a path of light.” The flames were harmless to him.
διδάξαι: The old final infinitive.
ἀνθρώποισιν: More sympathetic than ἀνθρώπων.
Strophe 3
αὐτοφύτων: In contradistinction to wounds.ξυνάονες: The sphere of partnership and companionship is wider in Greek than in English. We usu. make the disease, not the sufferer, the companion. See Lexx. under σύνειμι, συνοικῶ, συνναίω.
θερινῷ πυρί: Sunstroke. Perh. “Summer fever.”
ἔξαγεν: “Brought out,” still used by the profession. 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.
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.
προσανέα: “Soothing potions.” περάπτων . . . φάρμακα: “Swathing with simples.” Plasters and poultices are conspicuous in early leechcraft. περάπτων (Aeolic) = περιάπτων. So N. 11.40: περόδοις.
τομαῖς ἔστασεν ὀρθούς: τομή is the regular surgical word for our “knife,” and the pl. gives the temporal effect of τέμνων. P. makes in ἔστασεν a sudden and effective change to the finite verb, so as to be done with it. Compare O. 1.14; P. 1.55. ἱστάς would be feeble. To punctuate at ἔξαγεν: and make τοὺς μὲν ... τοὺς δὲ προσανέα depend on ἔστασεν is to efface the growth of the sentence and the rhythm. The methods are in the durative tenses, the results in the complexive (aorist).
Antistrophe 3
δέδεται: “Is a thrall,” “is in bondage.” δεῖται would mean “lets itself be enthralled by.” The instr. dative is the regular construction.ἔτραπεν . . . κομίσαι: P. 9.47: ἔτραπε . . . παρφάμεν. The prose προτρέπειν has lost its color. 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.
ἄνδρα: Hippolytos, son of Theseus, acc. to the Schol. Compare Verg. Aen. 7, 765-774. κομίσαι: N. 8.44: τεὰν ψυχὰν κομίξαι | οὔ μοι δυνατόν.
ἁλωκότα: Sc. θανάτῳ. 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).
ἐνέσκιμψεν: “Brought crashing down.”
θναταῖς φρασίν: Depends on ἐοικότα, and is not dat. of manner (Dissen) to μαστευέμεν, modesta mente. Cf. I. 4 (5), 16: θνατὰ θνατοῖσι πρέπει.
τὸ πὰρ ποδός: P. 10.62: φροντίδα τὰν πὰρ ποδός (I. 7, 13: τὸ . . . πρὸ ποδός), “that which stretches from the place of the foot,” “our nearest business.” οἵας εἰμὲν αἴσας: As Archilochos says: γίγνωσκε δ᾽ οἷος ῥυσμὸς ἀνθρώπους ἔχει. αἴσας: Genitive of the owner.
Epode 3
φίλα ψυχά: P. is addressing himself and swinging back to his theme. “Asklepios sought to rescue a man fordone. We must seek only what is meet, see what is before us, what are the limits of our fate. Seek not the life of the immortals, my soul; do the work of the day, play thy humble part to the end. And yet, would that I could bring the double delight of health and poesy; would that my song had power to charm Cheiron! Then the unreal would be achieved by the real, health which I cannot bring by poesy which I do.” φίλα ψυχά of Hieron would be too sweet. It is more likely that P. is taking a lesson to himself. βίον ἀθάνατον = τὸ ἐξομοιοῦσθαι τοῖς θεοῖς (Schol.).τὰν δ᾽ ἔμπρακτον ἄντλει μαχανάν: “Exhaust all practicable means,” “drain each resource.”
εἰ δὲ . . . ἔναιε: Wish felt in the condition.
μελιγάρυες ὕμνοι: So O. 11 (10), 4; N. 3.4.
ἀνδράσιν: The plural is part of the shyness with which the poet alludes to Hieron's disorder. θερμᾶν νόσων: “Fevers.”
ἤ τινα Λατοΐδα , κτἑ.: “Some one called (the son) of Latoides, or son of the Sire;” Asklepios or Apollo, son of the great Sire Zeus. Bergk suggests ἢ πατέρα=Ἀπόλλω.
καί κεν . . . μόλον: This shows that the poem was composed in Greece, and not in Sicily. Ἰονίαν . . . θάλασσαν: Elsewhere (N. 4.53) called Ἰόνιον πόρον.
Ἀρέθουσαν: The famous fountain of Ortygia (P. 2.6), called N. 1.1: ἄμπνευμα σεμνὸν Ἀλφεοῦ. Αἰτναῖον ξένον: See P. 1.
Strophe 4
νέμει: “Rules” without an object.ἀστοῖς: Seems to mean here the rank and file of the citizens (O. 13.2). ἀγαθοῖς: The optimates, doubtless, for they are “the good” to a Dorian.
χάριτας = χάρματα.
ὑγίειαν . . . χρυσέαν: See P. 1.1; and for the praise of health, compare Lucian's De lapsu inter salutandum. 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.
Φερένικος: O. 1.18. ἐν Κίρρᾳ ποτέ: Kirrha was the Delphian hippodrome. The victory was won at least eight years before.
φαμί: Out of construction. Elsewhere in P. with acc. and inf. 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
ἀλλά: “Well,” since that may not be. ἐπεύξασθαι: “Offer a vow to,” not simply “pray.” ἐθέλω: See P. 1.62.Ματρί: Magna Mater or Rhea (Kybele is not mentioned in Pindar). The worship of this Phrygian goddess was hereditary in the flute-playing family of P. (see P. 12), and he had a chapel in front of his house dedicated to the joint service of Rhea and Pan. Among the κοῦραι, who sang παρθένια by night to the two deities, are said to have been P.'s daughters, Eumetis and Protomache. The Scholiasts tell us that Magna Mater was τῶν νόσων αὐξητικὴ καὶ μειωτική. Welcker takes κοῦραι with Πανί, and considers them to be nymphs. But there is an evident connection between the μολπή and the ἐπευχή. σὺν Πανί: Cf. fr. VI. 1: ὦ Πάν, . . . σεμνῶν ἀδύτων φύλαξ, Ματρὸς μεγάλας ὀπαδέ.
λόγων . . . κορυφάν: “The right point (the lesson) of sayings.” μανθάνων: “Learning.” The lesson is ever before him. It is a proverb.
ἓν παρ᾽ ἐσλὸν, κτἑ.: One and two are typical. So we have not to do with avoirdupois or apothecaries' weight in Spenser's “a dram of sweete is worth a pound of soure” (F. Q. III. 30).
κόσμῳ =κοσμίως.
τὰ καλὰ τρέψαντες ἔξω: Another proverbial locution; “turning the fair part outward” (of clothes), as we might say, “putting the best foot foremost” (of shoes).
Epode 4
τὶν δὲ . . . ἕπεται: Thy ἓν ἐσλόν is great.δέρκεται: As the Biblical “look upon” (with favor). Compare O. 7.11: ἄλλοτε δ᾽ ἄλλον ἐποπτεύει Χάρις. “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous.”
εἴ τιν᾽ ἀνθρ.: Compare O. 1.54. ὁ μέγας πότμος: N. 4.42: πότμος ἄναξ. ἀσφαλής=ἄπταιστος.
ἔγεντο = ἐγένετο: Aor. with neg. Πηλεῖ . . . Κάδμῳ: Proverbial examples of high fortune and noble character, O. 2.86.
οἵ = οὗτοι. σχεῖν: O. 2.10. χρυσαμπύκων . . . Μοισᾶν: The Muses so styled again, I. 2, 1.
ἐν ὄρει: Pelion. Cf. N. 5.22: πρόφρων δὲ καὶ κεῖνος ἄειδ᾽ ἐν Παλίῳ | Μοισᾶν ὁ κάλλιστος χορός. The marriage of Peleus and Thetis was a favorite theme with the poets. See N. 4.65, quoted below. Catullus makes the Fates sing at the wedding (64, 322).
ὁπόθ᾽: The indic. of a single occasion. With the indic. ὁπότε has very much the sense of ἡνίκα. Compare O. 1.37; 9, 104; P. 8.41; 11, 19; I. 6 (7), 6; fr. V. 1, 6.
Νηρέος: The sea-gods were oracular. So Poseidon (O. 6.58). So Proteus and Glaukos. For Nereus as a prophet, the commentators. cite Hesiod, Theog. 233, Eur. Hel. 15, Hor. Od. 1, 15, 5. See also P. 9.102.
Strophe 5
Κρόνου παῖδας . . . ἴδον , κτἑ.: N. 4.66: εἶδεν δ᾽ εὔκυκλον ἕδραν, τᾶς οὐρανοῦ βασιλῆες πόντου τ᾽ ἐφεζόμενοι, κτἑ.Διὸς . . . χάριν: Here “thanks to Zeus.”
ἔστασαν ὀρθὰν καρδίαν: “Raised their hearts again,” “raised their sunken hearts,” ὀρθάν being proleptic, “erect.”
μέρος: ἐρήμωσαν, with two acc., as ἀφαιρεῖσθαι in prose. αἱ τρεῖς: Ino, Agaue, Autonoë. Cf. O. 2.25.
Θυώνᾳ = Σεμέλᾳ.
Antistrophe 5
τίκτεν: P. uses the imperf. seven times (nearly all in dactylo-epitrites), the aorist nine times. See note on O. 6.41. τόξοις: Il. 22. 359: ἤματι τῷ ὅτε κέν σε Πάρις καὶ Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων | ἐσθλὸν ἐόντ᾽ ὀλέσωσιν ἐνὶ Σκαιῇσι πύλῃσι.καιόμενος: See O. 3.6.
τυγχάνοντ᾽ εὖ πασχέμεν = εὐτυχοῦντ᾽ εὖ πασχέμεν. Compare O. 2.56: τὸ δὲ τυχεῖν, “success,” and N. 1.32: ἀλλ᾽ ἐόντων εὖ παθεῖν, κτἑ. ἄλλοτε δ᾽ ἀλλοῖαι , κτἑ.: O. 7.95: ἄλλοτ᾽ ἀλλοῖαι διαιθύσσοισιν αὖραι.
πάμπολυς: So Dissen for ὃς πολύς. Others ἄπλετος. π. with ἐπιβρίσαις, “in all its fulness.” ἐπιβρίσαις: “Coming down with weight.”
Epode 5
σμικρὸς ἐν σμικροῖς , κτἑ.: σμικροῖς is neut. “I will be small when my fortunes are small, great when they are great.” P. puts himself in Hieron's place. See O. 3.45.τὸν ἀμφέποντ᾽ αἰεὶ . . . δαίμονα: “My shifting fortune.” Though prosperity is a πολύφιλος ἑπέτας, excessive prosperity is dangerous, and the wise man must be prepared to do homage to the fortunes that attend him from time to time. φρασίν: “Heartily.”
ἀσκήσω: So ἀσκεῖται Θέμις, O. 8.22; N. 11.8. ἀ. of honor and homage, while θεραπεύων is used of service. κατ᾽ ἐμὰν . . . μαχανάν: “To the extent of my power,” “with all my might.” Cf. v. 62: τὰν ἔμπρακτον ἄντλει μαχανάν.
εἰ δέ μοι . . . ὀρέξαι: Hieron might be expected to say ὤρεξεν. P. looks upon such fortune as a dream. See note on O. 6.4.
εὑρέσθαι: “Gain.” P. 1.48. 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.
Νέστορα: A model prince, though mentioned by P. only here and P. 6.35, Μεσσανίου γέροντος. 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.”
τέκτονες: So Kratinos (Schol., Ar. Eq. 527): τέκτονες εὐπαλάμων ὕμνων.
ἅρμοσαν: “Framed.” So Lat. pangere.
χρονία τελέθει: Cf. N. 4.6: ῥῆμα δ᾽ ἑργμάτων χρονιώτερον βιοτεύει. πράξασθ（αι) = εὑρέσθαι (v. 111).
