NEMEA VIII.

ON THE VICTORY OF DEINIS OF AEGINA IN THE SHORT

FOOT-RACE.

INTRODUCTION.

DEINIS, the son of Megas, of the family of the Chariadae (v. 46), of Aegina, had, like his father, been twice victor in the stadium at Nemea. From the allusion to Sparta in vv. 9—12, I think that this second victory was won during the troubles of Sparta with the Messênians and Helots which began B. C. 464, and before the war between Athens and Aegina, B.C. 458. From v. 20 I infer that this ode was composed just before the Seventh Nemean, and hence I regard it as probable that this victory falls in Ol. 79, either B.C. 463 or 461. The victor's father was dead (v. 44) at this time. From the opening lines addressed to the goddess of youthful bloom and young desire, though to be sure they lead up naturally to the birth of Aeakos, and from the prominence given to unfair preference and misrepresentation, it may be gathered with some slight probability that Deinis had recently been an unsuccessful suitor, and that his rival's friends had brought unfair influence to bear in the matter. However Prof. Jebb's remarks in his introduction to his edition of Aiax, p. viii., are very much to the point. 'For a special reason not difficult to conjecture, Ajax was rather a favourite with Pindar. Not a few of the great men whose praises Pindar sang must have had skeletons in their closets. The chariot-race, the foot-race, the boxing and wrestling matches might have gone well, on the whole, for them and for their forefathers. But every family which had furnished a long series of competitors at the great festivals would be likely to have its grievances; its tradition of the ancestor who was beaten by a doubtful neck; its opinion about that recent award in which the

judges had shown such scandalous partiality for their fellow-townsman. In such cases it would be consoling to remember that a hero second only to Achilles had been defrauded by a corrupt tribunal of the prize which was his due. The complimentary poet might flatter his patron's self-complacency by comparing him to great and successful heroes; but he might also chance to soothe feelings of a less agreeable kind by the mention of Ajax, so unsuccessful and yet so great.' The ode was sung on the occasion of the dedication of Deinis' crown at the temple of Aeakos (v. 13).—The harmony is Lydian (v. 15), the measures chiefly Dorian. The apparent cretic after the first double trochee of the last strophic line is equivalent, most probably, to an epitrite, the last long syllable being long by nature or by a nasal, and being produced a double time. This syllable in no case ends a word in this ode. There is more break than usual between the metrical divisions of this ode.

vv.

ANALYSIS.

1-3. The goddess of young desire is sometimes kind, sometimes cruel.

4, 5. One must be content to be moderate and attain one's

nobler desires.

6-8. The marriage and offspring of Zeus and Aegina was

blest.

8-12. Aeakos was much courted by heroes.

13-16.

17, 18.

19.

Dedication of ode and crown to Aeakos.

Prosperity granted by the gods is comparatively lasting, such, for instance, as that of Kinyras of Cyprus.

I pause like a runner preparing to start.

20, 21. For anything new provokes envious criticism.

22-32. For envy attacks the noble as in the case of Aias and the arms of Achilles.

35-39. Far be this from the poet, who hopes to win fame and

popularity by straightforward plain speaking.

40-44. Excellence and the joy of victory are enhanced by song. 44-50. The poet cannot restore Megas to life, but he can rear a monument to father and son and assuage pain.

50, 51.

The antidote of song is as old as the poison of detraction.

Ωρα πότνια, κάρυξ ̓Αφροδίτας ἀμβροσιᾶν φιλοτάτων, ἅτε παρθενηΐοις παίδων τ ̓ ἐφίζοισα γλεφάροις, τὸν μὲν ἁμέροις ἀνάγκας χερσὶ βαστάζεις, ἕτερον δ ̓ ἑτέραις. ἀγαπατὰ δὲ καιροῦ μὴ πλαναθέντα πρὸς ἔργον ἕκαστον 5 τῶν ἀρειόνων ἐρώτων ἐπικρατεῖν δύνασθαι.

οἷοι καὶ Διὸς Αἰγίνας τε λέκτρον ποιμένες ἀμφεπόλησαν

Κυπρίας δώρων· ἔβλαστεν δ' υἱὸς Οἰνώνας βασιλεὺς χειρὶ καὶ βουλαῖς ἄριστος. πολλά νιν πολλοὶ λιτά νευον ἰδεῖν·

ἀβοατὶ γὰρ ἡρώων ἄωτοι περιναιεταόντων

το ἤθελον κείνου γε πείθεσθ ̓ ἀναξίαις ἑκόντες,

Ἐπ. α'. οἵ τε κρανααῖς ἐν ̓Αθάναισιν ἅρμοζον στρατόν, 20 οἵ τ ̓ ἀνὰ Σπάρταν Πελοπηϊάδαι.

ἱκέτας Αἰακοῦ σεμνῶν γονάτων πόλιός θ' ὑπὲρ φίλας ἀστῶν θ ̓ ὑπὲρ τῶνδ ̓ ἅπτομαι φέρων

15 Λυδίαν μίτραν καναχηδὰ πεποικιλμέναν,

25

Δείνιος δισσών σταδίων καὶ πατρὸς Μέγα Νεμεαῖον ἄγαλμα.

σὺν θεῷ γάρ τοι φυτευθεὶς ὄλβος ἀνθρώποισι παρ

μονώτερος

Στρ. β'. ὅσπερ καὶ Κινύραν ἔβρισε πλούτῳ ποντίᾳ ἔν ποτε Κύπρῳ.

30

ἵσταμαι δὴ ποσσὶ κούφοις, ἀμπνέων τε πρίν τι φάμεν.

12. According to the myths the Pelopids of Sparta (Menelaos) were not contemporary with Aeakos, and it is therefore possible that Pindar refers to an unknown myth, but perhaps he was tempted into an anachronism by a wish to allude to recent overtures by Sparta for help against the Messenians, B.C. 364-362.

13-15. The crown won by Deinis was being dedicated with the poet's crown of song at the temple of Aeakos.

15. καναχηδά.] Cf. Pyth. x. 39, καναχαί αὐλῶν, Soph. Trach. 641, αὐλὸς οὐκ ἀναρσίαν ἱάχων καναχὰν ἐπάνεισιν. Hesiod uses this adverb. For the metaphor cf. Frag. 160 [170], ὑφαίνω δ' ̓Αμυθαονίδαις ποικίλον ἄνδημα, quoted by the Schol. on Nem. VII. 78 (115). The μίτρα here and in Ol. IX. 84 means the whole crown, but was properly the twisted woollen fillet (εὔμαλλον μίτραν, Isth. IV. 62) by which the leaves or sprays of the wreath were kept together.

16. δισσῶν.] Refers both to Deinis and his father, as is proved by vv. 47, 48, ποδῶν εὐωνύμων δὶς δὴ δυοῖν 'the feet illustrious on two occasions of two (Chariadae).'

Νεμεαῖον ἄγαλμα.] Α celebration of Nemean victories in two footraces.'

17. σὺν θεῷ.] ‘By the aid of a god,' i. e. of Aeakos or of Zeus for Aeakos' sake. For φυτευθείς, ef. Pyth. iv. 69, φύτευθεν τιμαί. The comparative παρμονώτερος implies the sentiment of Pyth. III. 105, 106, ὄλβος οὐκ ἐς μακρὸν ἀνδρῶν ἔρχεται ἄπλετος εὖτ ̓ ἂν ἐπιβρίσαις ἕπηται. VII. 20. For the idea cf. Frag. 111 [29], εὐδαιμόνων | δραπέτας οὐκ ἔστιν ὄλβος. Render παρμον. ‘maketh longer stays,' after Sir J. Suckling, 'Love with me hath made no stays [Mr Fanshawe].

18. ὅσπερ.] Ολβος is here personified, though not so in the preceding line. For Kinyras cf. Pyth.

II. 15-17.

19. ἵσταμαι.] ‘I stay on tip-toe; i.e. poising myself and taking

20 πολλὰ γὰρ πολλᾷ λέλεκται· νεαρὰ δ ̓ ἐξευρόντα δόμεν βασάνῳ

ἐς ἔλεγχον, ἅπας κίνδυνος· ὄψον δὲ λόγοι φθονε

ἅπτεται δ ̓ ἐσλῶν ἀεί, χειρόνεσσι δ ̓ οὐκ ἐρίζει.

κεῖνος καὶ Τελαμώνος δάψεν υἱόν, φασγάνῳ ἀμφικυλί

ἦ τιν ̓ ἄγλωσσον μέν, ἦτορ δ ̓ ἄλκιμον, λάθα κατέχει