Arkesilas1 IV., son of Battos IV., king of Kyrene, won a Pythian victory with the chariot, P. 3.1 (Ol. 78, 3 = 466 B.C.). This victory is commemorated in the fourth and fifth Pythian odes. P. 5 was composed to celebrate the return of the victorious πομπή, which took place, as has been conjectured, at the time of the Κάρνεια, a festival which fell about the same time as the Pythian. The fourth ode was doubtless composed to be sung at a banquet in the royal palace, and seems to have been prepared at the urgent request of one Damophilos, who had been exiled by Arkesilas for participating in an aristocratic rebellion. That he was related to Arkesilas, that he was akin to Pindar, is little more than conjecture. “Urgent request” means in Pindar's case a lordly recompense. The poem was a grand peace-offering, and the reconciliation had doubtless been quietly arranged in advance. 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
σάμερον . . . στᾶμεν: So N. 1.19: “ἔσταν δ᾽ ἐπ᾽ αὐλείαις θύραις” . P. “floats double.” The Muse is his shadow. στᾶμεν =στῆναι. So βᾶμεν (v. 39)=βῆναι. ἀνδρὶ φίλῳ: See on P. 1.92.εὐίππου: Compare v. 17. Κυράνας: See on P. 1.60. Ἀρκεσίλᾳ: The position gives zest to the postponed proper name. Compare P. 8.42.
Λατοίδαισιν: Compare N. 6.42: ἀδὼν ἔρνεσι Λατοῦς (of a victory at the Pythian games); 9, 4: ματέρι καὶ διδύμοις παίδεσσιν . . . Πυθῶνος αἰπεινᾶς ὁμοκλάροις ἐπόπταις. Apollo and Artemis, together with their mother, presided over the Pythian games. Hence ὀφειλόμενον. — αὔξῃς: “Freshen the gale of songs” (Fennell). 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.
χρυσέων . . . αἰητῶν: There were two golden eagles on the ὀμφαλός at Delphi, the white stone navel, at which two eagles, sent from east and west, had met, and so determined the centre of the earth. αἰητῶν in one MS.
οὐκ ἀποδάμου . . . τυχόντος: When the god was present in person the oracle was so much more potent. Cf. P. 3.27: ἐν δ᾽ ἄρα μηλοδόκῳ Πυθῶνι τόσσαις. Apollo was a migratory god, now in Lykia, now in Delos (P. 1.39). For Apollo's sojourn among the Hyperboreans, see P. 10.30 foll. ἵρεα, an Aeolic form = ἱέρεια, which Christ gives. Böckh and others, ἱρέα.
χρῆσεν οἰκιστῆρα Βάττον: “Appointed by an oracle Battos (as) colonizer.” Compare O. 7.32: πλόον εἶπε, where the verbal element is felt, as here. καρποφόρου Λιβύας: P. 9.63 οὔτε παγκάρπων φυτῶν νήποινον. ἱερὰν | ϝᾶσον: Thera (Santorini = Saint Eirene).
ὡς . . . κτίσσειεν = κτίσαι. As χρῆσεν is here a verb of will, ὡς is hardly so purely final as in O. 10 (11), 31; N. 8.36. It is used rather as ὄφρα, P. 1.72. Compare Il. 1. 558: τῇ σ᾽ ὀίω κατανεῦσαι ἐτήτυμον ὡς Ἀχιλῆα | τιμήσῃς, ὀλέσῃς δὲ πολέας ἐπὶ νηυσὶν Ἀχαιῶν, and L. and S. ed. 7, S. V. ὅπως, end.
ἀργινόεντι μαστῷ: “A shimmering hill,” an Albion Mamelon. P. 9.59: ὄχθον . . . ἀμφίπεδον. Kyrene was built on a chalk cliff. For description and recent researches, see F. B. Goddard in Am. Journ. of Philology, V. 31 foll.
Antistrophe 1
ἀγκομίσαι: “Bring back safe,” “redeem,” “fulfil.” Cf. “my word shall not return unto me void.” The MSS. have ἀγκομίσαι θ᾽, of which the editors have made ἀγκομίσαιθ᾽. P. nowhere uses the middle of κομίζω, nor is it necessary here.ἑβδόμᾳ καὶ σὺν δεκάτᾳ: As this is not equivalent to σὺν ἑβδόμᾳ καὶ σὺν δεκάτᾳ, P. 1.14 is not a parallel. Cf. O. 13.58: γένει φίλῳ σὺν Ἀτρέος. It is idle to count these seventeen generations. 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”).
Κέκλυτε: The speech ends, v. 56.
Ἐπάφοιο κόραν: Epaphos, son of Zeus and Io. The Scholiasts notice the blending of nymph and country, which is very easy here, as ῥίζαν and φυτεύσεσθαι are often used of persons. N. 5.7: ἐκ δὲ Κρόνου καὶ Ζηνὸς ἥρωας αἰχματὰς φυτευθέντας τᾶσδε γᾶς.
ἀστέων ῥίζαν: This root, which is to spring up out of Libya, is Kyrene, metropolis of Apollonia, Hesperides, Barka, etc. 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.
ἐν Ἄμμωνος θεμέθλοις: The whole region was sacred to Zeus Ammon (Schol.).
Epode 1
ἀντὶ δελφίνων, κτἑ.: The dolphins were to the Greeks the horses of the sea, and we must not spoil poetry by introducing the notions of “fisheries” and “studs,” as some have done. On the speed of the dolphin, see P. 2.50: θεὸς . . . θαλασσαῖον παραμείβεται | δελφῖνα, and N. 6.72: δελφῖνί κεν | τάχος δι᾽ ἅλμας εἰκάζοιμι Μελησίαν. θοάς: O. 12.3.ἁνία τ᾽ ἀντ᾽ ἐρετμῶν δίφρους τε: ἓν διὰ δυοῖν, in the extreme form assumed here, can hardly be proved for Greek, and ἁνία δίφρους τε is not ἁνία δίφρων. The correspondence between “oar” and “rein” is not to be pressed, the “rein” being rather “the rudder” (πηδάλιον). The two spheres of ship and chariot have much in common, and borrow much from each other. 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.
κεῖνος ὄρνις: “That token,” the clod of earth (v. 21). ὄρνις and οἰωνός are familiarly used without too lively a sense of the bird meaning. See Ar. Av. 719: “ὄρνιν δὲ νομίζετε πάνθ᾽ ὅσαπερ περὶ μαντείας διακρίνει” , and Professor Postgate in Amer. Journ. of Phil. IV. 70.
Τριτωνίδος ἐν προχοαῖς: The geography of the Argonautic expedition will always be misty, and the mistiness is essential to its poetry. On their return from Kolchoi, the Argonauts passed by the Phasis into Okeanos, thence to the Red Sea, carried their ship overland twelve days, reached Lake Tritonis, in Libya, and found an outlet from Lake Tritonis to the Mediterranean. The Okeanos is not our Ocean, the Red Sea is not our Red Sea, the Lake Tritonis that we know is inland, and Pindar is poetry.
θεῷ ἀνέρι ϝειδομένῳ: “A god taking to himself the likeness of man.” No ambiguity to a Greek. θεῷ depends on δέξατο (v. 22), which takes the dat. of interest (see O. 13.29), just as πρίασθαι, “buy,” and so “take off one's hands.” Ar. Ach. 812: “πόσου πρίωμαί σοι τὰ χοιρίδια; λέγε” . A gift blesseth both. The god is supposed to be Triton. Poseidon was masking as his own son and speaking to his own son (v. 45). γαῖαν: An immemorial symbolism. “With our Saxon ancestors the delivery of turf was a necessary solemnity to establish the conveyance of land.”
πρῴραθεν: Because he was πρῳρεύς.
αἴσιον . . . ἔκλαγξε βροντάν: “As a sign of favor he sounded a thunder peal.” Compare v. 197: ἐκ νεφέων δέ ϝοι ἀντάυσε βροντᾶς αἴσιον φθέγμα. Bergk reads βρονταίς, Aeolic participle, fr. βρόνταιμι = βροντῶ.
Strophe 2
ἄγκυραν: In Homer's time there were no ἄγκυραι, only εὐναί. ποτί: With κρημνάντων. χαλκόγενυν: The flukes bite; hence “jaws” of an anchor, which is itself a bit. Compare Lat. dens ancorae.κρημνάντων: Commonly considered a genitive absolute with αὐτῶν, or the like, understood. Not an Homeric construction, and sparingly used in P. See O. 13.15, and below, v. 232: ὣς ἄρ᾽ αὐδάσαντος. ἐπέτοσσε takes the acc. P. 10.33, but it is hard to see why it cannot be construed with the genitive here, as ἐπέτυχε in prose. 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.
νώτων . . . ἐρήμου: Cf. v. 228: νῶτον γᾶς, and Homer's εὐρέα νῶτα θαλάσσης. Here we have a desert sea of sand.
εἰνάλιον δόρυ: Consecrated oracular language. μήδεσιν: Medeia was not above an allusion to her name. ἀνσπάσσαντες: Usu. “drawing ashore.” Mezger tr. “shouldering.” ἀμοῖς = ἡμετέροις = ἐμοῖς, P. 3.41.
οἰοπόλος: An Homeric word, Il. 13. 473; Od. 11. 574. 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.
ἅτε: “As,” “such as those in which.” εὐεργέται: “The hospitable.” I. 5 (6), 70: ξένων εὐεργεσίαις ἀγαπᾶται.
δεῖπν᾽ ἐπαγγέλλοντι: The model words are found in Od. 4. 60, where Menelaos: σίτου θ᾽ ἅπτεσθον καὶ χαίρετον.
Antistrophe 2
ἀλλὰ γάρ: “But it might not be for.” Cf. O. 1.55. πρόφασις: Is an assigned reason, true or false.Εὐρύπυλος: Son of Poseidon and Kelaino, and king of Libya (Schol.). Poseidon (Triton) assumes a name like one of his own attributes. εὐρυβίας (O. 6.58), εὐρυμέδων (O. 8.31). Ἐννοσίδα: So v. 173. In Homer ἐννοσίγαιος, ἐνοσίχθων.
ἀρούρας: Is not felt as dependent on προτυχόν, which comes in as an after-thought, but as a partitive on ἁρπάξαις.
προτυχόν: “What presented itself,” “what came to hand.”
οὐδ᾽ ἀπίθησέ νιν: “Nor did he fail to persuade him.” Herm. οὐδ᾽ ἀπίθησέ ϝιν (dat.), “nor did he disobey him,” the subject coming up emphatically in the second clause — the ἥρως (Euphemos) being set off against the god (Eurypylos).
ϝοι: The position speaks for dependence on χεῖρ᾽ ἀντερείσαις. See O. 2.16. βώλακα: More special and technical than γαῖαν (v. 21). δαιμονίαν: “Fateful.”
ἐναλίαν βᾶμεν: So Thiersch for ἐναλίᾳ βᾶμεν σὺν ἅλμᾳ. The adj. (esp. in -ιος) for the prepos. and subst. So ὑπαίθριος (O. 6.61). Compare “πεδάρσιοι ναίουσι,” Aisch. Prom. 710 ; θυραῖον οἰχνεῖν, So. El. 313. The ἐναλία βῶλαξ would thus match the εἰνάλιον δόρυ and take its own course. βᾶμεν = βῆναι. See v. 1. σὺν ἅλμᾳ: Comitative-instrumental use of σύν. See P. 12.21. The clod went with the spray by which it was washed into the sea.
Epode 2
ἑσπέρας: When men wax tired and careless. σπομέναν: Coincident with βᾶμεν. ἦ μάν: Protest. ὤτρυνον: “I, Medeia.” ὤτ. with dat., like κελεύω in poetry.λυσιπόνοις: “Who relieve their masters of their toils.” So also Schol. Il. 24. 734. “Reliefs,” “relays,” would be to us a natural translation.
πρὶν ὥρας: First and extremely rare use of πρίν as a preposition. εἰ γὰρ οἴκοι νιν βάλε: Wish passing over into condition.
Ἄιδα στόμα: This was one of the most famous entrances to Hades.
ϝἱὸς ἱππάρχου Ποσειδάωνος: A half-brother of Eurypylos on the Triton theory. This Poseidonian origin accounts for the Battiadai's love of horses.
τίκτε: See O. 6.41. Καφισοῦ παρ᾽ ὄχθαις: A Minyan of Orchomenos (see O. 14), and so an interesting figure to a Boeotian poet. παρ᾽ ὄχθαις as παρὰ κρημνοῖσιν, P. 3.34.
Strophe 3
τετράτων παίδων . . . αἷμα: The blood (offspring, N. 3.65) of the fourth generation (τ. π. ἐπιγεινομένων need not be genitive absolute) is the fifth generation, the time of the Dorian migration, or the return of the Herakleidai.σὺν Δαναοῖς: The Danaoi (or Achaians) were the old inhabitants of the Peloponnesos, who were driven out by the general unsettling known as the Dorian conquest. κε ... λάβε: One of P.'s few unreal conditions. See O. 12.13.
ἐξανίστανται: Prophetic present, as O. 8.42. Λακεδαίμονος , κτἑ.: The order is the line of invasion, though such coincidences are not to be pressed.
νῦν γε: Regularly νῦν δέ. “As it is.” ἀλλοδαπᾶν . . . γυναικῶν: The prophecy fulfilled, v. 252: μίγεν . . . Λαμνιᾶν . . . ἔθνει γυναικῶν ἀνδροφόνων. These murderous brides are often mentioned in classic poetry. See O. 4.17. εὑρήσει: See P. 2.64. Subject is Εὔφαμος.
τάνδε . . . νᾶσον: P.'s range of the terminal acc. is not wide. For ἐλθεῖν with δόμον, see O. 14.20; with μέγαρον, P. 4.134; with πεδίον, P. 5.52; with Λιβύαν, I. 3 (4), 71; with a person, I. 2, 48. For μολεῖν, see O. 9.76; N. 10.36. ἵκεο (P. 9.55; Ν. 3, 3), ἵκοντι (O. 10 [11], 95), ἀφίκετο (P. 5.29), ἀφίξεται (P. 8.54), ἐξίκετο (P. 11.35) hardly count, as these verbs are felt as transitives, “reach.” οἵ κεν . . . τέκωνται: The plural agrees with the sense of γένος. κεν, with the subj., as a more exact future, where in prose the future indic. would be employed; an Homeric construction, nowhere else in P. σὺν τιμᾷ θεῶν: θ., subjective genitive, “favor of the gods.” Cf. v. 260.
φῶτα: Battos (Aristoteles), who is glorified in the next ode. κελαινεφέων: Kyrene had rain, the rest of Libya none. Hence κ. by contrast rather than absolutely.
πολυχρύσῳ: So. O.R. 151: τᾶς πολυχρύσου | Πνθῶνος. The presence of Phoibos is emphasized, as v. 5.
ἀμνάσει = ἀναμνάσει. θέμισσιν: “Oracles.” Pl. as ἀγγελίαις, O. 3.28.
Antistrophe 3
καταβάντα: The threshold is much higher than the floor (Od. 22. 2: ἆλτο δ᾽ ἐπὶ μέγαν οὖδον); hence, κατ᾽ οὔδου βάντα, Od. 4. 680. χρόνῳ | ὑστέρῳ: With καταβάντα.ἀγαγέν: Doric = ἀγαγεῖν (see O. 1.3). Νείλοιο πρὸς . . . τέμενος Κρονίδα: “To the Nile precinct of Kronides” (Zeus Ammon). With Νείλοιο τέμενος, compare O. 2.10: οἴκημα ποταμοῦ = οἴκ. ποτάμιον. The Schol. combines N. Κρονίδα, and considers it equivalent to Διὸς Νείλου, but there is no Ζεὺς Νεῖλος in the sense meant.
ἦ ῥα: The Homeric asseveration (Il. 16. 750; Od. 12. 280) is well suited to the solemn, oracular passage. ἐπέων στίχες: “Rows of words,” “oracular, verses.” On the absence of εἰσι, see O. 1.1. ἔπταξαν: Only here in P. Not the usual tone of the word, which is ordinarily “to cower,” as in So. Ai. 171: σιγῇ πτήξειαν ἄφωνοι. The attitude here assumed is that of brooding thought.
υἱὲ Πολυμνάστου: Aristoteles - Battos (v. 52). σὲ δ᾽: O. 1.36. ἐν τούτῳ λόγῳ: “In consonance with this word” (of prophecy).
ὤρθωσεν: “Exalted,” “glorified.” μελίσσας: “The bee” is the Pythia. Honey is holy food. Cf. O. 6.47. αὐτομάτῳ κελάδῳ: “Unprompted cry.” He had only asked a remedy for his stuttering tongue.
ἐς τρίς: The consecrated number. αὐδάσαισα: The original sense of αὐδᾶν is not lost, as is shown by κελάδῳ, “loudly bade thee Hail!” The oracle is given by Herodotos, 4, 155: Βάττ᾽ ἐπὶ φωνὴν ἦλθες: ἄναξ δέ σε Φοῖβος Ἀπόλλων | ἐς Λιβύην πέμπει μηλοτρόφον οἰκιστῆρα.
Epode 3
δυσθρόου φωνᾶς: “Slowness of speech.” Βάττος means “stutterer.” Cf. βατταρίζω. His real name was Ἀριστοτέλης. Herodotos (l. c.) says that B. was the Libyan word for “king.” ποινά: ἀμοιβὴ ἢ λύσις (Schol.).ἦ μάλα δή: Nowhere else in P. Od. 9. 507: ἦ μάλα δή με παλαίφατα θέσφαθ᾽ ἱκάνει. There of a painful revelation, here of a joyous vision. μετά: Adverbial. ὧτε=ὡς. φοινικανθέμου ἦρος: I. 3, 36: φοινικέοισιν ἄνθησεν ῥόδοις. The rose is the flower by excellence. Arkesilas was in the flower, the rosy flush of his youth.
παισὶ τούτοις , κτἑ.: “These children” are the descendants of Battos, to whom A. is the eighth bloom. “Eighth in the line of these descendants blooms Arkesilas.” Battos is counted in after the Greek fashion. μέρος: P. 12.11: τρίτον κασιγνητᾶν μέρος.
Ἀπόλλων ἅ τε Πυθώ: A complex; hence ἔπορεν. Compare O. 5.15. κῦδος . . . ἱπποδρομίας: “Glory in chariot-racing.” Others make ἀμφικτιόνων depend on ἱπποδρομίας. ἐξ ἀμφικτιόνων: ἐξ is “over,” O. 8.54. ἀμφικτιόνων, not Ἀμφικτυόνων, “the surrounding inhabitants.” This is understood of those who lived around Delphi, but it would apply with more force to the Libyan rivals of Arkesilas. So. El. 702: δύο | Λίβυες ζυγωτῶν ἁρμάτων ἐπιστάται.
ἀπὸ . . . δώσω: “I will assign him to the Muses” as a fit theme for song. The meetness lies in ἀπό, often used of that which is due. Cf. I. 7 (8), 59: ἔδοξ᾽ ἆρα καὶ ἀθανάτοις, | ἐσλόν γε φῶτα καὶ φθίμενον ὕμνοις θεᾶν διδόμεν. αὐτόν: Ipsum. Euphamos in contrast to τῷ μέν, his descendant, Arkesilas, the δέ shifting, as often in P. See O. 11 (10), 8.
σφισιν: The house of Euphamos. φύτευθεν: I. 5, 12: δαίμων φυτεύει δόξαν ἐπήρατον. θάλλει, v. 65, shimmers through.
Strophe 4
δέξατο: Without an object, as ἄγει, P. 2.17. Bergk reads ἀρχη ᾿κδέξατο.κίνδυνος: The dangerous quest, the ναυτιλία. κρατεροῖς . . . ἅλοις: The Argonauts were riveted to their enterprise as the planks were riveted to the Argo, which may have suggested the figure, but we must not forget that Hera inspired them (v. 184), and so may be said to have driven the nails. The passages cited certatim by the editors do not really help, such as Aisch. P. V. 64, and Hor. Od. 1, 35, 17. These are not the nails of necessity, but the nails of passion — the nails that fastened the ἶυγξ to her wheel, just as the proverb ἧλον ἥλῳ, clavum clavo pellere can be used “of the expulsive power of a new affection.” ἀδάμαντος: On the genitive see O. 2.79. ἀ. iron of special hardness.
ἐξ ἀγαυῶν Αἰ.: ἐξ of the source, not of the agent. So Thuc. 1, 20. Αἰολιδᾶν: Here is the genealogy of Iason that seems to be followed:
 |
| Aiolos Enarea Kretheus Salmoneus Athamas Aison Pheres Amuthan Tyro Poseidon Phrixos IASON Admetos Melampos Pelias Neleus Nestor Periklumenos |
ἦλθε δέ ϝοι . . . θυμῷ: On the double dative, see O. 2.16. ϝοι depends on θυμῷ κρυόεν. The relation is not that of apposition. Cf. P. 1.7: ϝοι . . . κρατί, and above, v. 37. κρυόεν: “Blood-curdling.” πυκινῷ . . . θυμῷ: O. 13.52: Σίσυφον μὲν πυκνότατον παλάμαις ὡς θεόν. Pelias is not only “wary,” but “crafty.” Compare v. 138: βάλλετο κρηπῖδα σοφῶν ἐπέων.
μέσον ὀμφαλόν: See note on v. 4. εὐδένδροιο . . . ματέρος: Gaia was the first tenant of the oracle.
and the ὀμφαλός was a reminder of her. N. 7.33: παρὰ μέγαν ὀμφαλὸν εὐρυκόλπου | μολὼν χθονός. Cf. P. 6.3; 8, 59; 11, 10.“ πρῶτον μὲν εὐχῇ τῇδε πρεσβεύω θεῶν
τὴν πρωτόμαντιν Γαῖαν,
”
αἰπεινῶν ἀπὸ σταθμῶν: On Pelion, where he was brought up by Cheiron. στ. is used in its special Homeric sense. εὐδείελον: The Homeric signification “far-seen” suits Kronion after a fashion (Ο. 1, 111), but not Iolkos, whereas “sunny,” an old interpretation, suits Kronion perfectly (O. 3.24), and is not inapt for Iolkos, as opposed to the forest shade of Pelion and the cave of the Centaur. P. was not always clear himself as to the traditional vocabulary.
Antistrophe 4
ξεῖνος αἴτ᾽ ὦν ἀστός: Only passage where αἴτε is used = εἴτε. Even in prose the first εἴτε is sometimes omitted. Iason was both.αἰχμαῖσιν διδύμαισιν: As Homer's heroes. Od. 1. 256: ἔχων . . . δύο δοῦρε.
ἅ τε . . . ἀμφὶ δέ: τε . . . δέ, again P. 11.29, the reverse of the common shift, μὲν . . . τε (O. 4.13). Μαγνήτων ἐπιχώριος: A close-fitting dress was necessary for hunters in a dense forest.
παρδαλέᾳ: So Paris, Il. 3. 17: παρδαλέην ὤμοισιν ἔχων καὶ καμπύλα τόξα | καὶ ξίφος: αὐτὰρ ὁ δοῦρε δύω κεκορυθμένα χαλκῷ | πάλλων. But Paris was brought up on Mt. Ida, not on Mt. Pelion, and P. has blended his colors. Philostratos II. (Imagg. c. 7) gives Iason a lion-skin, which is a symbol of the Sun, who was Medeia's grandsire, πατρὸς Ἥλιος πατήρ, Eur. Med. 1321. φρίσσοντας ὄμβρους = φρίσσειν ποιοῦντας (Schol.). “Shivering showers” = “shivery showers.” But as ὄμβρος is a στρατὸς ἀμείλιχος (P. 6.12), “bristling showers” may well represent bristling spears. Compare Il. 7. 62: στίχες . . . ἔγχεσι πεφρικυῖαι.
οὐδὲ κομᾶν . . . κερθέντες: He was still a boy, and had not shorn his locks off — for Greek youths were wont to dedicate their first hair to the river-gods (Schol.). Hence Pelias' sneer at him, v. 98. Others think of the κάρη κομόωντες Ἀχαιοί, and the vindication of his Achaian origin, despite his strange attire.
ἅπαν νῶτον καταίθυσσον: For acc. compare P. 5.11: καταιθύσσει . . . μάκαιραν ἑστίαν. As P. seems to associate αἰθύσσω with αἴθω (P. 1.87; 5, 11), “flared all down his back.” Compare ἀγλαοί above. σφετέρας = ἑᾶς. See O. 9.78.
ἀταρβάκτοιο (not in L. & S.) = ἀταρβάτοιο. Herm. reads ἀταρμύκτοιο after Hesych. ταρμύξασθαι: φοβηθῆναι. I. makes trial of his unaffrighted soul — his soul that cannot be affrighted — just as, on one interpretation, Kyrene makes trial of her unmeasured strength (P. 9.38).
ἐν ἀγορᾷ πλήθοντος ὄχλου: In prose, πληθούσης ἀγορᾶς, from 10 o'clock in the morning. Genitive of time, from which the genitive absolute, with present participle, springs.
Epode 4
ὀπιζομένων: Not genitive absolute. “Of the awed beholders.” ἔμπας: “For all that,” though they knew not that he was the heir. τις . . . καὶ τόδε: “Many a one (ὧδε δέ τις εἴπεσκε, Hom.), among other things this.”Οὔ τί που: Half-question, half-statement. “It can't be, although it ought to be.” Compare Ar. Ran. 522, and the famous skolion of Kallistratos: Φίλταθ᾽ Ἁρμόδι᾽, οὔ τί που τέθνηκας. οὐδὲ μάν: Swearing often indicates a doubt which one desires to remove (P. 1.63). Apollo's hair is the first thing suggested by the πλόκαμοι . . . ἀγλαοί (v. 82). Ares is next (ἔκπαγλος, v. 79) — but not so beautiful as Apollo, though Aphrodite's lord — then the demigods. πόσις | Ἀφροδίτας: Ares, for Hephaistos is not recognized by Pindar as the husband of Aphrodite; nor is he by Homer in the Iliad, and the episode of Od. 8. 266 was discredited in antiquity.
ἐν δέ: And yet who else can it be, for Otos and Ephialtes are dead? Νάξῳ: The Aloeidai were buried in Naxos and had a cult there.
Ὦτον . . . Ἐφιάλτα: Homer calls them πολὺ καλλίστους μετά γε κλυτὸν Ὠρίωνα (Od. 11. 310). According to him the brothers were slain by Apollo for threatening the immortals with war. According to another account, they slew each other by the device of Artemis. The comparisons are taken from the Artemis cycle, as Iason is clearly a hunter. Ἐφιάλτα: For the voc. compare v. 175; P. 11.62. The voc. naturally gives special prominence and interest, but it must not be pressed too much, as has been done with Πατρόκλεις ἱππεῦ and Εὔμαιε συβῶτα. Metre and variety have much to do with such shifts.
καὶ μάν: It is hard to believe Tityos dead with this gigantic youth before our eyes; hence the oath by way of confirmation, as v. 87. Τιτυόν: T. was slain by Artemis. Od. 11. 580: Λητὼ γὰρ ἥλκησε Διὸς κυδρὴν παράκοιτιν | Πυθώδ᾽ ἐρχομένην διὰ καλλιχόρον Πανοπῆος. Those who wish to moralize P.'s song see in these figures warning examples. It would be as fair to say that Tityos was introduced as a compliment to Arkesilas, whose ancestor he was (v. 46).
ὄφρα . . . ἔραται: ἔρα_ται is subj. A bit of obbligato reflection without any personal application. The Greek moralizes as Shakespeare quibbles. τᾶν ἐν δυνατῷ φιλοτάτων: See P. 2.34.
Strophe 5
γάρυον: The lower range of this word, as O. 2.96. ἀνὰ δ᾽ ἡμιόνοις: Compare O. 8.51: ἀν᾽ ἵπποις. ἡμιόνοις ξεστᾷ τ᾽ ἀπήνᾳ: Greek seldom comes nearer than this to ἓν διὰ δυοῖν (v. 18). Mules were a favorite team among the Thessalians as well as among the Sicilians.δεξιτερῷ: Iason had lost his left shoe in crossing the Anauros. See v. 75. κλέπτων = καλύπτων. Cf. O. 6.36. The Greek associated the dissociate radicals of these words.
Ποίαν γαῖαν: There is something disrespectful about ποίαν, and γαῖαν is not especially courteous. The Homeric formula (Od. 1. 170) is: τίς πόθεν ἐσσ᾽ ἀνδρῶν; πόθι τοι πόλις ἠδὲ τοκῆες; Pelias had come προτροπάδαν, looking neither to the right nor to the left of him, his eye riveted on the unsandalled foot, and seeing nothing of the ὄπις on the face of the multitude.
ἀνθρώπων . . . χαμαιγενέων: “Groundling wenches.” πολιᾶς . . . γαστρός: No father is mentioned (contrast Homer's τοκῆες), and the mother is an old drab, by whom Iason was “ditch-delivered.” The insinuation that she petted her child is not impossible, though to less prejudiced eyes Iason could not have suggested a μαμμάκυθος.
ἐξανῆκεν: “Sent forth,” “spewed forth,” “spawned.”
καταμιάναις: Ironical.
Antistrophe 5
θαρσήσαις ἀγανοῖσι γόγοις: Both lesson, that Iason had learned from Cheiron — boldness of action, gentleness of speech.ἀμείφθη: This form, only here in P., becomes common in later times; perhaps “was moved to answer.” Cf. ἐστρατεύθη (P. 1.51). οἴσειν: May be an undifferentiated fut., equiv. to a present. But the future = μέλλειν οἴσειν is defensible, “that I am going to show myself the bearer of Cheiron's training.” Cheiron's great lesson, reverence for Zeus, and reverence for one's parents (P. 6.23), is the very lesson which Iason is about to carry out. In restoring Aison he is obeying Zeus.
Χαρικλοῦς: Chariklo was the wife and Philyra the mother of Cheiron (P. 3.1). κοῦραι . . . ἁγναί: Repels the πογιὰ γαστήρ, the old drab who is supposed to have spoiled him.
ϝέργον . . . εἰπών: Zeugma for ποιήσας.
εὐτράπελον: The reading of the old codices, ἐντράπεγον, might mean “to cause concern, shame, anxiety.” εὐτράπεγον (Cod. Perus.) would mean “shifty,” “deceitful.” “I have never said nor done aught that was not straightforward.” ἐκτράπελον (Schol.), “out of the way,” “insolent.”
ἀρχὰν ἀγκομίζων: So with Bergk after the grammarian Chairis for the MS. ἀρχαίαν κομίζων. ἀγκομίζων: “To get back,” pres. part. for fut. (ἀγ）κομίζων has been suggested, but is unnecessary. The conative present will serve. See O. 13.59. If ἀρχαίαν is read, notice how far the adjective carries in the equable dactylo-epitrites. Cf. O. 11 (10), 19. πατρός: Pelias had asked for his mother, Iason proudly speaks of his father.
Epode 5
νιν: Sc. τιμάν. λευκαῖς πιθήσαντα φρασίν: λευκαῖς is variously interpreted. “White,” i.e. “envious.” Others compare λευγαλέος (Il. 9. 119: φρεσὶ λευγαλέῃσι πιθήσας), λυγρός, Fennell λύσσα (λυκψα), “yielding to his mad desires.”ἀρχεδικᾶν: “Lords by primal right,” “lawful lords.”
κᾶδος . . . θηκάμενοι: “Having made lamentation.”
μίγα κωκυτῷ: So μίγδα with dat., Il. 8. 437.
πέμπον: With the imperf. the thoughts follow the motion. See note on O. 2.23. σπαργάνοις ἐν πορφυρέοις: The σπάργανα are also κροκωτά, N. 1.38.
νυκτὶ κοινάσαντες ὁδόν: “Having made night privy to the journey.” Time is often considered a companion (O. 2.11). τράφεν = τρέφειν: The inf. as O. 6.33: ἥρωι πορσαίνειν δόμεν Εἰλατίδᾳ βρέφος.
Strophe 6
λευκίππων: White horses were princely. See P. 1.66: λευκοπώλων Τυνδαριδᾶν.οὐ ξείναν ἱκοίμαν . . . ἄλλων: The MSS. have ἱκόμαν, which is unmetrical. οὐ ξείναν ι?̔́κοιμ᾽ ἄν (=ἀφιγμένος ἂν εἴην), “I can't have come to a strange land” would be easy, and an aorist ἵκοιμι is supported by ἵκωμι, Il. 9. 414, and by P. 2.36, where the codices have ι?̔κόντ᾽. The pure opt. might stand here as a half-wish, a thought begotten of a wish, “I hope it will turn out that I have come to no strange land,” οὐ being adhaerescent. Bergk has written οὐ μὰν ξεῖνος ἵκω γαῖαν ἄλλων, which does not explain the corruption. οὐ μάν does not occur in P., though οὐδὲ μάν does. ἄλλων = ἀλλοτρίαν. Cumulative,
Φήρ = θήρ. Only of the Centaurs. P. 3.4.
ἔγνον = ἔγνωσαν.
πομφόλυξαν: For the plur. see P. 1.13. The dualistic neut. plur. often retains the plur. verb, and there are two streams of tears here.
ἃν περὶ ψυχάν: “All round (through) his soul” — κατὰ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχήν (Schol.).
Antistrophe 6
κασίγνητοι: Aison's brothers. See v. 72. σφισιν: O. 3.39: Ἐμμενίδαις Θήρωνί τ᾽ ἐλθεῖν κῦδος. The brothers were an accession.κατὰ κλέος: “At the report,” “close on the report.” Compare κατὰ πόδας, “at the heel of,” “following.” Φέρης: See v. 72. Most memorable to us for his part in the Alkestis of Euripides, where he declines to die for his son Admetos: χαίρεις ὁρῶν φῶς, πατέρα δ᾽ οὐ χαίρειν δοκεῖς; Υπερῇδα: A fountain in the ancient Pherai, near Iolkos, Hypereia. See commentators on Il. 2. 734; 6, 457.
ἐκ δὲ Μεσσάνας: Messene was distant, hence an implied antithesis to ἐγγὺς μέν. Ἀμυθάν = Ἀμυθάων, as Ἀλκμάν for Α᾿λκμαίων (P. 8.46). Μέλαμπος: A famous seer, son of Amythan. Od. 11. 259; 15, 225.
ἀνεψιόν: Must depend on ἷκεν — cf. P. 11.35: Στρόφιον ἐξίκετο — but it would be easier to have ἷκον (suggested by Bergk), and ἀνεψιοί (Hartung). ἷκον would then be in the schema Alcmanicum. See v. 179. It is wholly inconceivable that ἀνεψιόν should depend on εὐμενέοντες = φιλέοντες. ἐν δαιτὸς . . . μοίρᾳ: At a shared, i. e. common, banquet.
ἁρμόζοντα: Compare N. 1.21: ἁρμόδιον δεῖπνον. The Thessalians lived well, as we know from Euripides' Alkestis, Plato's Kriton, and other familiar passages. πᾶσαν . . . τάνυεν: “Stretched joy to its full extent,” “kept it up to its full height.”
δραπών: N. 2.8: δρέπεσθαι κάλλιστον ἄωτον. The aor., on account of the definite number (v. 26). Otherwise we should have expected the present part., as the action is coincident with τάνυεν.
Epode 6
πάντα: Acc. pl. with παρεκοινᾶτο. In contradistinction to v. 116: κεφάλαια λόγων. θέμενος = ποιησάμενος. “Speaking in sober earnest.” σπουδαῖον: Before v. 129 it was all εὐφροσύνα.ἐπέσποντο: Figuratively. “They took sides with him.”
ἦλθον . . . μέγαρον: v. 51.
Τυροῦς ἐρασιπλοκάμου: See v. 72, and note the contrast to πολιᾶς . . . γαστρός, both at the time of bearing. πραῢν . . . ὄαρον: Cf. v. 101. πραΰς, “gentle” by nature; ἥμερος, by culture (J. H. H. Schmidt).
ποτιστάζων: Compare the Biblical “distil” (Deut. 32, 2), and Homer's ῥέεν αὐδή.
βάλλετο κρηπῖδα: P. 7.3: κρηπῖδ᾽ ἀοιδᾶν βαλέσθαι. The metaphor shifts rapidly, but the notion of drink - offering is not foreign to that of laying the foundation. Παῖ Π.: Stately genealogical address, with effective position of vocative. Πετραίου: Poseidon was worshipped in Thessaly as the Cleaver of the Rock, because he had opened a way through the rock for the Peneios. On the π's, see v. 150.
Strophe 7
ὠκύτεραι: “Are but too swift.” N. 11.48: ἀπροσίκτων δ᾽ ἐρώτων ὀξύτεραι μανίαι.ἔπιβδαν: “Day after the feast,” the next morning with all its horrors, next day's reckoning.
θεμισσαμένους ὀργάς: “Having ruled our tempers by the law of right (θέμις).” ὑφαίνειν: Cf. v. 275.
μία βοῦς: Not common, yet not surprising after the frequent use of heifer (“Samson's heifer”) everywhere for a girl or young married woman. Cf. Aisch. Ag. 1126 (Kassandra speaks): ἄπεχε τῆς βοὸς τὸν ταῦρον.
θρασυμήδεϊ Σαλμωνεῖ: See v. 72. S. imitated Zeus's thunder and lightning, and was struck by lightning for his pains.
κείνων φυτευθέντες: v. 256: Εὐφάμου φυτευθέν. σθένος ἀελίου: The sun rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. χρυ^σέου: υ_ in Homer, υ common in P.
Μοῖραι δ᾽ ἀφίσταντ（αι), κτἑ.: “The Fates withdraw . . . to hide their blush” (Dissen). This has a modern sound, but is better than Rauchenstein's, “The Fates avert their faces, if enmity among the members of a family obscures reverence (die heilige Scheu).” Hermann reads αἰδοῖ, and makes the Fates revolt against concealment.
Antistrophe 7
ἀκόντεσσιν: The historical Thessalians were famous ἀκοντισταί. X. Hell. 6, 1, 9.ξανθάς: “dun.” ἀπούραις ι ἁμετέρων τοκέων , κτἑ.: This is hardly πραῢς ὄαρος, according to modern ideas, but Iason warms as he goes on. Compare v. 109 with v. 101.
πλοῦτον πιαίνων: “Feeding fat thy wealth.” P. has an especial fancy for π- alliteration.
πονεῖ: “Irks,” a rare transitive use. ταῦτα πορσύνοντα = ὅτι ταῦτα πορσύνει.
καὶ σκᾶπτον μόναρχον καὶ θρόνος: The verb of ταῦτα is not exhausted, and there is no need of a nominativus pendens. Κρηθεΐδας: Aison.
ἱππόταις . . . λαοῖς: The Thessalian cavalry was famous. εὔθυνε . . . δίκας: Solon, fr. IV. 37: εὐθύνει δὲ δίκας σκολιάς.
τὰ μέν: Notice the lordly indifference to τὰ δέ, which had already been disposed of — flocks and fields.
Epode 7
ἀναστήῃ: To which the ἀναστήσῃ, ἀναστήσῃς, of the MSS. points. ἀνασταίη, the opt., is a rare sequence and cannot be paralleled in P. As there is no touch of a past element, ἀνασταίη would be a wish, and detach itself from λῦσον. See Am. Journ. of Phil. IV. p. 425. νεώτερον, itself threatening, is reinforced by κακόν.Ἔσομαι | τοῖος: “I will be such” as thou wishest me to be, will do everything thou wishest. Compare the phrase παντοῖον γενέσθαι.
γηραιὸν μέρος: Yet Pelias belonged to the same generation with Iason, acc. to Pindar (see v. 72), although not acc. to Homer, who makes Aison and Pelias half-brothers (Od. 11. 254 foll.). This makes the fraud transparent. Notice also his vigorous entrance (v. 94). It is true that his daughters cut him up, in order to restore his youth, but that does not prove that he was as old a man as Aison.
σὸν δ᾽ ἄνθος ἥβας κυμαίνει: κ. “is swelling,” “is bourgeoning.” κῦμα is not only the “wave,” but also the “swelling bud.” (J. H. H. Schmidt).
κομίξαι: This refers to the ceremony of ἀνάκλησις, by which the ghosts of those who had died and been buried in foreign parts were summoned to return home and rest in their cenotaph. So we might translate κ., “lay.”
ἐλθόντας: We should expect ἐλθόντα, sc. τινά. But there is a ἡμᾶς in Pelias' conscience.
Strophe 8
ματρυιᾶς: Ino-Leukothea, acc. to the common form of the familiar legend; acc. to P., Demodike (Schol.).εἰ μετάλλατόν τι: “Whether there is aught to be followed up.” Dreams might be false, for they come through the gate of ivory as well as through the gate of horn, Od. 19. 562. ὀτρύνει: Sc. Ἀπόλλων, a very natural ellipsis whenever oracles are mentioned. ναῒ πομπάν: Almost as one word, “a ship-home-bringing.” πομπάν: Od. 6. 290; 10, 18.
τέλεσον . . . προήσειν = ἐὰν τελέσῃς . . . προήσω. μοναρχεῖν | καὶ βασιλευέμεν: Compare v. 152: καὶ σκᾶπτον μόναρχον καὶ θρόνος.
Ζεὺς ὁ γενέθλιος: Cf. O. 8.16. Z. was the father of their common ancestor, Aiolos.
κρίθεν = διεκρίθησαν.
Antistrophe 8
ἐόντα πλόον = ὅτι ὄντως ἔστιν.φαινέμεν: Compare the use of φρουρὰν φαίνειν among the Spartans, Xen. Hell. 3, 2, 23. 5, 6. There may be an allusion to fire-signals τρεῖς: Herakles, Kastor, Polydeukes.
ἑλικοβλεφάρου: Of Aphrodite, fr. IX. 2, 5: Ἀφροδίτας ἑλικοβλεφάρου. Cf. Hesiod. Theog. 16; Hymn. Hom. V. 19.
Ἐννοσίδα: Of the sons of Poseidon (v. 33), Euphamos, ancestor of Arkesilas, is from Tainaros (v. 44); Periklymenos, grandson of Poseidon, brother of Nestor (Od. 11. 286), is from Pylos. Notice the chiasm. They are all Minyans. αἰδεσθέντες ἀλκάν: In modern parlance, “from self-respect,” ἀλκάν being an equiv. of “self,” as χαίταν (O. 14.24), as κόμας (P. 10.40). ἀλκάν is “repute for valor,” a brachylogy made sufficiently plain by κλέος below. αἰδώς and αἰσχύνη are often used in the sense of military honor. Il. 15. 561: ὦ φίλοι, ἀνέρες ἔστε, καὶ αἰδῶ θέσθ᾽ ἐνὶ θυμῷ. See also v. 185. ὑψιχαῖται: Hardly a reference to the top-knot. Poseidon's sons were all tall (the unit of measurement being the fathom), and if they were tall, so was their hair. Cf. οἰόζωνος (So. O.R. 846), “ἑκατομπόδων” (O. C. 717) .
Περικλύμενε: Compare v. 89. P. has no special interest in Periklymenos. εὐρυβία: A title in the Poseidon family, O. 6.58; P. 2.12.
ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος: Orpheus is the son of Oiagros (fr. X. 8, 10; hence ἐξ Ἀ. may be taken as ‘sent by.’ Cf. Hes. Theog. 94. ἀοιδᾶν πατήρ: Even in prose the speech-master at a symposium is a πατὴρ λόγου (Plat. Sympos. 177 D).
Ὀρφεύς: First mentioned by Ibykos of Rhegion, assigned to the Argonautic expedition by Simonides of Keos.
Epode 8
πέμπε; See v. 114. χρυσόραπις: χρυσόρραπις is an Homeric epithet of Hermes.Ἐχίονα . . . Ἔρυτον: Hold-fast and Pull-hard, sons of Hermes and Antianeira. κεχλάδοντας: A peculiar Doric perfect participle with present signification (compare πεφρίκοντας, v. 183). The Schol. makes it = πληθύοντας, “full to overflowing with youth.” The anticipation of the plural is called σχῆμα Ἀλκμανικόν. See note on v. 126. Il. 5. 774; 20, 138; Od. 10. 513: εἰς Ἀχέροντα Πυριφλεγέθων τε ῥέουσιν ι Κωκυτός θ᾽ ὃς δὴ Στυγὸς ὕδατός ἐστιν ἀπορρώξ. The figure becomes much easier if we remember how distinctly the plural ending of the verb carries its “they,” and here κεχλάδοντας recalls υἱούς. ταχέες: So the better MSS. for ταχέως. Cf. P. 11.48: θοὰν ἀκτῖνα.
Παγγαίου: On the borders of Thrace and Macedon. ναιετάοντες: “Dwelling, as they did,” far to the north, while Euphamos dwelt in the far south. Cf. P. 1.64.
θυμῷ γελανεῖ: Compare O. 5.2: καρδίᾳ γελανεῖ. Notice the cumulation. ἔντυεν: O. 3.28: ἔντὐ ἀνάγκα.
πεφρίκοντας: See v. 179.
πόθον ἔνδαιεν Ἥρα: Hera favored the expedition, as appears from other sources. Od. 12. 72: Ἥρη παρέπεμψεν, ἐπεὶ φίλος ἦεν Ἰήσων.
Strophe 9
τὰν ἀκίνδυνον . . . αἰῶνα: αἰών is fem. P. 5.7; N. 9.44. The article has a contemptuous fling. So. Ai. 473: αἰσχρὸν γὰρ ἄνδρα τοῦ μακροῦ χρῄζειν βίου, “your.” παρὰ ματρί: Compare the slur cast on Iason (v. 98), and P. 8.85: μολόντων πὰρ ματέρα. πέσσοντα: O. 1.83. ἐπὶ καὶ θανάτῳ: Even if death were to be the meed (like ἐπὶ μισθῷ).φάρμακον . . . ἑᾶς ἀρετᾶς: φάρμακόν τινος is either “a remedy for” or “a means to.” Here it is the latter. It is not “a solace for their valorous toil,” but an “elixir of valor,” as we say the “elixir of youth.”
λέξατο: “Reviewed.” ἐπαινήσαις: Coincident action.
Μόψος: A famous soothsayer. ἐμβόλου: The ἔμβολον was more modern, but P. had in mind the famous talking-plank in the ship Argo.
ἀγκύρας: The same mild anachronism as above, v. 24. The anchors were suspended at the prow, v. 22 and P. 10.52. On the two anchors, see O. 6.101.
Antistrophe 9
φιάλαν: Compare the famous scene in Thuk. 6, 32.ἐγχεικέραυνον: So O. 13.77: Ζηνὸς ἐγχεικεραύνου. ὠκυπόρους: Proleptic. So εὔφρονα and φιλίαν, v. 196.
κυμάτων ῥιπὰς ἀνέμων τε: ἀνέμων ῥιπαί is common enough everywhere. So in our author, P. 9.52; N. 3.59; fr. V. 1, 6; So. Antig. 137. ῥ. not so common of the waves. Fr. XI. 83: πόντου ῥιπαί. ἐκάλει: He called on Zeus, and then on the other things that he feared or desired. Nothing is more characteristic of the heathen mind than this meticulous prevision. Zeus answered for all.
φθέγμα . . . ἀκτῖνες: No ὕστερον πρότερον. The lightning was secondary.
ἀμπνοὰν . . . ἔστασαν: ἱστάναι is used in poetry to form periphrases with abstract nouns (Böckh), very much as ποιεῖσθαι is used in prose. ἀ. ἔστ.=ἀνέπνευσαν, for which see So. O.R. 1221: ἀνέπνευσά τ᾽ ἐκ σέθεν ι καὶ κατεκοίμησα τοὐμὸν ὄμμα. “They drew a free breath again.”
Epode 9
ἐνίπτων: Not the Homeric ἐνίπτω, but a new present formation from ἔννεπε (Curtius).ἄκορος: Gives life to the dipping oar, that cannot get its fill.
Ἀξείνου: The Ἄξεινος, afterwards Εὔξεινος.
ἕσσαντο = καθίδρυσαν. Cf. P. 5.42: καθέσσαντο (MSS.), where, however, we read κάθεσσαν.
φοίνισσα . . . ἀγέλα