ἔνθα πεῖραν ἔχοντες οἴκαδε κλυτοκάρπων
οὐ νέοντ ̓ ἄνευ στεφάνων, πάτραν ἵν ̓ ἀκούομεν,
Τιμάσαρχε, τεὴν ἐπινικίοισιν ἀοιδαῖς

πρόπολον ἔμμεναι. εἰ δέ τοι

8ο μάτρῳ μ' ἔτι Καλλικλεῖ κελεύεις

στάλαν θέμεν Παρίου λίθου λευκοτέραν

ὁ χρυσὸς ἑψόμενος

αὐγὰς ἔδειξεν ἁπάσας, ὕμνος δὲ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἑργμάτων βασιλεῦσιν ἰσοδαίμονα τεύχει 85 φῶτα κεῖνος ἀμφ' Αχέροντι ναιετάων ἐμὰν γλῶσσαν εὑρέτω κελαδῆτιν, Ορσοτριαίνα ἵν ̓ ἐν ἀγώνι βαρυκτύπου θάλησε Κορινθίοις σελίνοις·

76. πεῖραν ἔχοντες.] Not having contended,' but as Dissen whenever they contend,' 'sustain a trial.' 77. ἵν'.] Refers to οἴκαδε.

79. πρόπολον.] Much concerned with,' as furnishing many victors, or, as Müller thought, as cultivators of lyric poetry and music, or, as Dissen explains, as providing choruses.

τοι.] This particle leads up to the impressive asyndeton, infra v. 85 or v. 82. It emphasises the whole sentence.

81. Cf. Nem. VIII. 47. The substitution of this phrase for ὕμνον anticipates an apodosis.

82. εψόμενος.] While being refned. From ὁ χρυσὸς to φῶτα is a virtual parenthesis (the asyndeton being noteworthy), amplifying the general notion of στάλαν Παρίου λίθου λευκοτέραν. Perhaps grammatically the effect of minstrelsy in general (illustrated by a simile introduced parathetically, cf. O. and P. p. xxxv.) is made a false apodosis (cf. Pyth. xI. 41-45), followed abruptly by the true apodosis, κεῖνος εὑρέτω, κ.τ.λ, added to ex

125

Στρ. ια'.

130

135

140

press the promise of the celebration asked for, which is implied in the preceding general statement, ὕμνος...τεύχει φώτα. Or is the construction straightforward save for a natural impressive asyndeton and an easy omission, the drift being as follows: If thou biddest me celebrate Kallikles in song, (know that) this is the highest possible boon; it shall be granted'? It should be observed that this simile is drawn from molten gold.

84. Cf. for idea Ol. I. 113, ἐπ' ἄλλοισι δ' ἄλλοι μεγάλοι· τὸ δ' ἔσχατον κορυφοῦται βασιλεῦσι.

86. εὑρέτω.]• Become aware that. Cf. for sentiment Ol. VIII. 77 f., χιν. 19.

87. ἵν'.] Here on earth where, or, with Dissen, at the Isthmus where.' Bergk reads évek'.

88.

θάλησε.] ‘He burst into bloom. The etymology θηλή misled L. and S. The word must not be applied literally to σελίνοις, for the Isthmian crown was of withered, ξηρά, parsley. For the phrase cf. ΟΙ. Ιx. 16, θάλλει δ' ἀρεταῖσι.

τὸν Εὐφάνης ἐθέλων γεραιὸς προπάτωρ

90 *ὁ σὸς ἀείσεται, παῖ.*

Στρ. ιβ'.

145

ἄλλοισι δ ̓ ἅλικες ἄλλοι· τὰ δ ̓ αὐτὸς ἄντα τύχῃ, ἔλπεταί τις ἕκαστος ἐξοχώτατα φάσθαι.

οἷον αἰνέων κε Μελησίαν ἔριδα στρέφοι, ῥήματα πλέκων, ἀπάλαιστος ἐν λόγῳ ἕλκειν, 95 μαλακὰ μὲν φρονέων ἐσλοῖς, τραχὺς δὲ παλιγκότοις ἔφεδρος.

89. προπάτωρ.] I.e. ματροπάτωρ. See the following scheme.

Euphanes

Timokritos Kallikles

Timâsarchos

(the subject of the ode). 90. So MSS. against scansion.

91. ἄλλοισι δ ̓ ἅλικες ἄλλοι. ] Von Leutsch suggests that the poet is thinking of the proverb ἥλιξ ἥλικα TéρTEL, said to be derived from Od. XVII. 218. [Mezger.]

93. olov, K.T.X.] For instance, were he to sing Melêsias' praises he would twist about (his theme of) the struggle, locking together phrases, hard to stir from his position in recital.'

Aristarchos read olov and epidas. In this signal instance of Pindar's tendency to make his metaphors appropriate to the contest in which the person whom he is celebrating was victorious, orρépo alludes to the general turning and twisting of a wrestler's whole body, Tλéкwv to the interlacing of his limbs with his opponent's (see the group of Lottatori (Florence, Uffizi), of which there is a cast in the Fitzwilliam Museum), ëλкew is a more general term for the endeavour to move or bear down the adversary by tugging at him. Cookesley wrongly makes Euphanes the subject instead of the object of ἕλκειν. For the

150

155

technical use cf. Il. XXIII. 714, TETρlγει δ' άρα νῶτα, θρασειάων ἀπὸ χειρῶν | ἑλκόμενα στερεώς, Hes. Scut. Herc. 302, ἐμάχοντο πύξ τε καὶ ἑλκηdóv. For the appropriate metaphor cf. Ol. VIII. 24, διακρίνειν δυσπαλές, Ol. vi. 22, Nem. I. 7, vII. 70-72, Isth. II. 2. For the infinitive Eкew cf. Ol. VIII. 24, Ol. vII. 25, Nem. 111. 30. For the trainer Melêsias cf. Ol. VIII. 54 ff., Nem. vi. 66 to the end. From the trainer receiving such prominent honour as theme of the conclusion in Nem. IV. and vi. one may perhaps infer that he engaged the poet to celebrate a pupil on both occasions, cf. Pyth. IV. Introd.

the

95. Cf. Ο1. III. 17, πιστὰ φρονέων, but especially Pyth. VIII. 82, TÉTρаσL δ ̓ ἔμπετες ὑψόθεν | σωμάτεσσι κακὰ opovéwv, of a wrestler.

ἐσλοῖς.] The noble,' i.e. here, victors and meritorious competitors in games.

96. παλιγκότοις.]

'Their mali

cious enemies.' It may be inferred from the last lines being devoted to enemies that Timâsarchos' victory was not altogether popular.

pedpos.] For the meaning of the term cf. Ol. VIII. 68. It simply means the man who draws a by' where an odd number of competitors are matched in pairs. Here Melêsias and his resentful rivals are paired, but Euphanes is ready to take up his quarrel.

NEMEA V.

ON THE VICTORY OF PYTHEAS OF AEGINA IN THE BOYS' PANKRATION.

INTRODUCTION.

PYTHEAS, Son of Lampôn, was the elder of two brothers, who were both pankratiasts, the younger of whom Phylakidas won the Isthmian victories commemorated in Isth. IV. (B.C. 478), and Isth. v. (B.C. 480). The elder brother's Nemean victory was earlier. They belonged to the noble márpa of the Psalychidae of Aegina (Isth. v. 63). Their father Lampôn was son of Kleonikos (Isth. v. 16), and was perhaps cousin to that ingenuous creature Λάμπων ὁ Πύθεω, Aiушητéшv тà πрŵта (Нerоd. IX. 78), who wished Pausanias to increase his fame by impaling Mardonios. Critics are cruel enough to make these two Lampons probably identical, either Pytheas (Don.) or Kleonikos (Müller) being Lampôn's natural father, the other his adoptive father, or else Kleonikos being a second name given to Lampôn's father Pytheas. However we know that cousins did sometimes bear the same name, and the name of the victor Pytheas is no proof that his grandfather was Pytheas. If he were not the eldest son he would be more likely to be named after another senior member of the family than after his grandfather. So that the identity of Hêrodotos' and Pindar's Lampôn is not more than possible.

The following stemma, mostly hypothetical, shows how, according to the Attic habits of Nomenclature, the victor might get his name, without his father having been adopted.

The names marked with a star are mentioned by Pindar.

The rhythm is Dorian with exception of a few Lydian metres.

1-6. The poet is not a maker of motionless statues, but his song travels by every craft to tell of Pytheas' Nemean

victory won as a boy.

7—8. He did honour to the Aeakids and Aegina,

9-13. For which Pêleus, Telamôn and Phôkos prayed to Zeus Hellênios.

14-17. The poet hesitates to say why Pêleus and Telamôn left Aegina. Truth is not always to be told.

18. And silence is often the truest wisdom.

19-21. The poet is equal to uttering the high praises of the Aeakids for wealth, athletics and war.

22-39. For them the Muses sang of the temptation of Pêleus and his marriage with Thetis.

40, 42. 43-47.

Family destiny decides as to achievements.
The victor's maternal uncle was a victor.

48-49. Acknowledgment of the services of the Athenian trainer Menandros.

50-end. The victor's maternal grandfather was a victor at Epidauros in both boxing and the pankration.

This ode is particularly easy of general comprehension. From mention of the victor the poet passes rapidly to the myth of Pêleus, which illustrates inter alia the saw that 'truth is not always to be told;' a maxim which applies more or less to every family and to most individuals. Still there might be a reference to the discredit attaching to the family from the notoriety of the avoσióraros λóyos of Lampôn, son of Pytheas, or to some other specific family skeleton. The last fifteen lines are devoted to the illustration of the poet's favorite theory that excellence is hereditary, in this case through the mother chiefly. It is likely that Pytheas intended to compete at Epidauros before long, as the poet ends off with his grandfather's exploits there.

Οὐκ ἀνδριαντοποιός εἰμ ̓, ὥστ ̓ ἐλινύσοντα ἐργάζεσθαι ἀγάλματ ̓ ἐπ ̓ αὐτᾶς βαθμίδος

ἑσταότ'· ἀλλ ̓ ἐπὶ πάσας ὁλκάδος ἔν τ ̓ ἀκάτῳ, γλυκεῖ

στεῖχ ̓ ἀπ ̓ Αἰγίνας, διαγγέλλοισ ̓, ὅτι Λάμπωνος υἱὸς Πυθέας εὐρυσθενὴς 5 νίκη Νεμείοις παγκρατίου στέφανον,