by Cecil Bowra
Guide your host with a rudder of justice,
And on an anvil of truth
Forge an iron tongue.
Any small spark struck out,
Being yours, flies with power.
Disposer of many,
Many are the witnesses and true
Of your good and evil.
Abide in the fair garden of your spirit,
[90] And, if you love to be always in pleasant report,
Like a helmsman let out the sail to the wind.
Never believe, dear friend, in the close, fist’s cunning:
Only the glory of fame which they leave behind them
Proclaims men’s way of life, when they die,
In history and in song.
The excellent kind heart of Kroisos does not perish,
[95] But the pitiless soul,
That roasted men in his bull of brass,
Phalaris, in every land
His evil fame overwhelms him.
No harps call him into the hall,
Blending softly his name
With the voices of boys.
Good fortune is the best and first of prizes,
Good name the second possession:
[100] The man who has found both and keeps them
Has won the highest crown.
Pythian I was written in 470 B.C. and performed in Sicily at the celebrations for Hieron’s new city of Aitna, on the former site of Katana.
1–12 Music on Olympos is a counterpart to the music on earth at the present festival.
15–20 Typhos, the Giant, fought the gods and was buried under Aitna.
18 Kyma, on the west coast of Italy, near Naples.
21–8 The eruption of Aitna took place in 474 B.C., and in that case Pindar did not see it.
29 Pindar turns to Hieron’s achievements, with special reference to the new town of Aitna.
51 Hieron suffers from the stone and yet went to battle at Kyma in 474 B.C. He is compared with Philoktetes, who, despite a diseased foot, went to Troy and played a leading part in its capture.
58 Deinomenes, young son of Hieron, is titular King of Aitna.
61–5 Aitna is to be a city on the Dorian model, as established by Hyllos, son of Herakles.
72 The Phoenicians (Carthaginians) and the Tyrrhenians (Etruscans) were routed by Hieron in the battle of Kyma.
75–8 Hieron’s victory puts him on a level with the Athenians for winning the battle of Salamis, and the Spartans that of Plataea.
94 Kroisos, king of Lydia, was regarded as a model of piety because of the rich gifts he gave to Apollo at Delphoi.
95–6 Phalaris, tyrant of Akragas in the middle years of the sixth century, was said to have roasted his victims in a brass bull.
Isthmian II
For Xenokrates of Akragas, winner in the chariot-race
I
The men of old, Thrasyboulos,
To the harp’s loud accompaniment
Mounted the gold-ribboned Muses’ chariot,
And gaily shot honey-toned songs at boys,
At any who, being beautiful, had
The sweetest summer
[5] That woos Aphrodita on her noble throne.
For the Muse then was not yet greedy for gain
Nor worked for pay,
Nor did the sweet-voiced songs of Terpsichora
Silver their faces and ply for hire.
But now she bids remember the Argive’s saying
[10] That comes near to the very truth:
‘Money, money makyth man,’ he said,
When he lost his possessions and friends together,
– Well, you are wise. I sing a victory
Not unknown, won by horses at the Isthmos,
Which Poseidon granted to Xenokrates,
[15] And sent him to bind on his hair
A wreath of Dorian parsley.
II
He honoured a fine charioteer, a light of the men of Akragas.
In Krisa also the wide ruler Apollo beheld him
And gave him glory;
[20] In radiant Athens
He won the favouring fame of Erechtheus’ sons,
And had no cause to blame the hand of a man
Who whipped up his horses and looked after his chariot.
This hand Nikomachos gave to all the reins
In the right nick of time;
Him the heralds of the seasons knew,
The Eleans, who keep the truce of Zeus, son of Kronos;
For they had enjoyed what he did in kindness to strangers,
[25] With sweet-breathed voice they greeted him
When he fell at the knees of golden victory
In their own land, which they call
The holy place of Olympian Zeus.
There the sons of Ainesidamos are joined
To unperishing honours.
[30] Not unacquainted are your halls, Thrasyboulos,
Either with loved revelry
Or with sweet-swelling songs.
III
No hill is there, nor is the way steep,
If one of the Daughters of Helikon
Brings honour to the home of far-famed men.
[35] May I make a long throw with a quoit
And shoot so far
As Xenokrates surpassed all men in sweetness of mood;
Modest was he in speech with his townsmen,
And took thought of horse-breeding
In the manner of all the Hellenes.
He opened his arms to every feast of the Gods;
Nor ever at his generous table
[40] Did a gale blow and lower his sail;
But in summer he passed to the Phasis,
And in winter he sailed to the shore of Nile.
Therefore because jealous hopes
Hang round the hearts of men,
Let his son not be silent on his father’s prowess,
[45] Or on these songs; for I
Have not made them to stand idle.
Give these to him, Nikasippos,
When you come to my honoured friend.
Isthmian II is not an Epinician ode but a poetical epistle sent by Pindar to his old friend Thrasyboulos (see Pythian VI) through Nikasippos, presumably a common friend. The date may be about 470 B.C. when Xenokrates and Theron were both dead, and the latter’s rule had been overthrown. Pindar seems to be asking for money in a roundabout way on the plea that in the past he wrote a song for Xenokrates and was not paid for it.
I ff. Pindar seems to have some words of Anakreon in mind and may be thinking of the love-poetry written by Anakreon and others of his time.
6 Simonides was said to be the first poet to take money for his songs, but before him Arion made a fortune in Sicily and Italy.
7 Terpsichora is a Muse.
9 ff. The Argive is a man called Aristodemos, of whom nothing is known but this remark.
21 Erechtheus is the legendary ancestor of the Athenians.
22 Nikomachos was the charioteer of Xenokrates.
24 The Eleans looked after the Olympian Games, which could be attended in time of war by visitors from all parts of Greece.
28 The sons of Ainesidamos are Theron and Xenokrates.
41–2 The metaphorical language indicates the scope of Xenokrates’ hospitality.
43 The words indicate the political confusion in Akragas in the years after Theron’s death.
Isthmian I
For Herodotos of Thebes, winner in the chariot-race
I
Mother of mine, golden-shielded Theba,
I shall set your task above all occupation.
Let not rocky Delos, in whom I have poured my heart,
Be angry with me.
[5] What do the good love more than honoured parents?
Give place, Apollo’s island. With the Gods’ help
I shall join these two delights and fulfil them,
As I sing of Phoibos the long-haired God,
With men of the sea in wave-girt
Keos,
And of the Isthmos rock that breasts the foam;
[10] For from its Games it has given
Six garlands to the host of Kadmos,
A fame of fine victory to our land.
There did Alkmana bear her undaunted son,
Before whom Geryon’s dogs once shuddered.
But I fashion for Herodotos
A gift for his four-horsed chariot,
[15] And since he handled its reins with his own hands,
I wish to fit him into a song
Fit for Kastor or Iolaos.
In Lakedaimon and Thebes they were born,
Strongest of heroes in the driving of chariots.
II
In the Games they put their hands
To many encounters
And made their home fine with tripods,
[20] With cauldrons and cups of gold;
They relished the wreathes that victory brings.
The light of their success is manifest
In the naked foot-races and in the running
Of warriors in clanging armour,
When their hands aimed sharp spears,
[25] And when they went among the stone quoits.
There was no Five Events, but each exploit
Had an end of its own.
Often, their hair bound with many garlands from these,
They were seen near to the streams
Of Dirka and to Eurotas.
[30] Iphikles’ son was born of the same breed
As the Sown Men, and Tyndareos’ son
Dwelt among the Achaians
On the high seat of Therapna.
Hail to you! But I will deck a song
For Poseidon and the holy Isthmos
And the shore of Onchestos
And proclaim in the tale of this man’s honours
The glorious lot of his father Asopodoros,
III
[35] And his father’s fields in Orchomenos,
Which welcomed him from the immeasurable sea
When he was cast ashore by shipwreck
In freezing misfortune;
But now the destiny of his blood
[40] Has set him again in the bright daylight of old.
He who has suffered gains foresight with his mind.
If he gives all his spirit to prowess,
Both with expense of money and with toil,
To those who have found it we should pay
A proud song of praise with ungrudging temper.
[45] For this is a light gift for a craftsman to make
In return for troubles of every kind –
To speak a fair word and set up
A fine sight for all to see.
After action different rewards
Delight different men,
Sheep-watcher, ploughman, snarer of birds,
And him whom the sea feeds.
But every man strains in effort to keep
Nagging hunger away from his belly.
[50] But he who in games or in war
Wins delicate glory,
Gets the highest gain in words of praise,
The best that the tongues of townsmen and strangers can utter.
IV
We must raise a loud song for our neighbour,
The Earth-shaking Son of Kronos,
And thank him for helping our chariots,
Lord of the horse-races.
[55] And your sons, Amphitryon,
We must greet, and the home of Minyas,
And Eleusis, the famous grove of Damater,
And Euboia in the circling running-grounds.
Protesilas, with these I count
Your precinct among Achaian men at Phylaka.
[60] From telling everything
That Hermes, God of the Games,
Has given to Herodotos with his horses.
I am stopped by the brief scope of my song.
Truly what is kept in silence
Brings even larger delight.
May it be his lot to be borne aloft
On the shining wings
[65] Of the sweet-voiced Pierian maidens,
And wreathe his hand with the choicest garlands
From Pytho and the Olympiads at Alpheos,
As he fashions honour for seven-gated Thebes.
But if anyone dispenses hidden wealth indoors,
And laughs when he falls on men unlike himself,
He thinks not that he pays his life
To death ingloriously.
Isthmian I was written about 470 B.C.
2 Pindar ought to be composing a Paean for the men of Keos, to be sung at Delos, but postpones it to write Isthmian I. Remains of the Paean survive as Paean IV.
13 The mere appearance of Herakles frightened the fabulous dogs of the monster Geryon. The words are meant to give a brief hint of how formidable Herakles was.
15 Unlike many other patrons of chariot-racing, Herodotos drives his own chariot, and is therefore compared with Kastor and Iolaos, who also did.
26 In early days there were separate prizes for wrestling, running, jumping, discus, and javelin, which later made up the Five Events.
30 Iphikles’ son is grandson of Amphitryon and Alkmana, and nephew to Herakles.
32 Tyndareos’ son is Kastor.
35 The family of Herodotos has been living at Orchomenos. The shipwreck is presumably metaphorical, connected with the exile of Herodotos after the Persian War. He has now returned to Thebes.
55 The sons of Amphitryon are Herakles and Iphikles, in whose honour games were held at Thebes.
56 ff. Various places where Herodotos has won prizes.
59 Protesilas was killed at the very beginning of the Trojan War. There was a cult of him at Phylaka in Thessaly.
67–8 The end of the poem sketches someone who is the antithesis of Herodotos. He does not spend his money and does not see how inglorious his life is.
Pythian II
For Hieron of Syracuse
I
Mighty City of Syracuse!
Where Ares dwells in depths of war,
Where men and horses mailed for battle
Have holy nurture, to you I come
Bringing from shining Thebes this song. I tell
[5] How, where the teams of four horses made earth tremble,
Hieron and his good chariot conquered
And wreathed Ortygia with far-shining crowns,
Where the Lady of Rivers, Artemis, dwells.
She failed him not
When with light hand on the embroidered reins
He broke those young mares in.
For she, archeress maiden, with either hand,
[10] And Hermes, Lord of the Games,
Put on the bright harness, when to the smooth car
And the axle that follows the rein
He yokes the strong mares,
And calls on the Trident-lifter, the far-felt God.
For one or another king a poet makes
The clear-voiced hymn, the due of his greatness.
Often in Kypros they celebrate with song
[15] Kinyras, whom Apollo the golden-haired
Delighted to love,
And Aphrodita stalled him in her temple.
Their songs are of thanks and worship
For the labours of his love.
But your name, O son of Deinomenes,
The girl of Lokris-in-the-West
Sings on her doorstep: after the toils and despairs of war
[20] Because of your strength her eyes are steadfast.
They say that Ixion, commanded by the Gods,
Speaks thus to man, on his winged wheel turning all ways:
‘Thou shalt be zealous for him that does thee service
And pay him gentle return.’
II
[25] He learned that surely. Among Kronos’ kindly sons
Lapped in sweet ease, he stayed not long in bliss,
Fool in his wits!
Who loved Hera, her that is set apart
For the mighty joys of Zeus. But pride drove him
To blind presumptuous folly.
[30] He suffered soon his due, getting a choice award of woe.
His two sins live and bring him misery: one
That he, a hero, first and with guile
Brought kindred blood upon men,
The other that in the great darkness of a bridal chamber
He tempted the wife of Zeus.
(Let a man, when he measures,
Remember his own size!) His lawless love
[35] Cast him into great depths of evil
When he came to her bed: for he lay by the side of a Cloud,
Clasping a sweet lie, ignorant man.
Its shape was like the most mighty daughter of Kronos
The son of Heaven.
[40] The hands of Zeus made it,
To snare him, a lovely sorrow.
And so, bound to the four spokes,
He got his own ruin.
Thrown in fetters he shall not escape, he proclaims
His universal message.
Far were the Graces when the Cloud
Bore him a monstrous issue,
She like nothing, and like nothing It;
Which found no favour among men, nor in
The company of the Gods.
She nursed It and called It Kentauros: and It lay
[45] With the Magnesian mares on Pelion’s foot-hills.
And a race was born
Prodigious, in the image of both parents,
Their nether parts of the mother, their father’s above.
III
God reaches, as soon as thought, his ends:
[50] God, who can catch the winged eagle
And overtakes the dolphin in the sea.
He can bring down any whose heart is high,
And to others he will give unaging splendour.
But I
Must keep from the sharp bites of slander:
For far in the past I see
[55] Archilochos the scold in poverty,
Fattening his leanness with hate and heavy words.
Wealth, and the fortune
To be wise as well, is best.
And that, men see, is yours.
Your free heart displays it,
Sovran master of the many streets
Which crown your city, and of a host of men.
And if anyone says