--- title: "Pythian Odes · Πυθιονῖκαι" author: "Pindar" translator: "Diane Arnson Svarlien" languages: [grc, en] shelf: "Classical Greek" section: 2 of 3 url: https://scriptura.si/works/pindar-pythian-odes/2/ cite: "Pindar, tr. Diane Arnson Svarlien, Pythian Odes · Πυθιονῖκαι, section 2. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/pindar-pythian-odes/2/" --- # Pythian Odes · Πυθιονῖκαι *Pindar, tr. Diane Arnson Svarlien* Twelve victory songs for winners at Delphi, among them the longest, for Arcesilas of Cyrene, with the story of Jason and the Argonauts. > Greek: ed. Sir John Sandys, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-greekLit, tlg0033.tlg002, CC BY-SA 4.0). > English: Diane Arnson Svarlien, from the Perseus Digital Library (tlg0033.tlg002.perseus-eng3). Notes are not included. > Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence. ## 2. Odes 5–6 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/pindar-pythian-odes/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/pindar-pythian-odes/2/#p-N [¶0] Wealth is widely powerful, whenever a mortal man receives it, blended with pure excellence, from the hands of fortune, and takes it as a companion that makes many friends. Arcesilas, favored by the gods, from the first steps of your famous life you seek for it with glory, by the grace of Castor with his golden chariot, who, after the wintry storm, sheds calm on your blessed hearth. Skillful men are better able to bear even god-given power. Great prosperity surrounds you, as you walk with justice. First, since you are a king of great cities, your inborn eye looks on this as a most revered prize of honor, united with your mind; and you are blessed even now, because you have already earned the boast of victory with your horses from the renowned Pythian festival, and you will welcome this victory-procession of men, a delight for Apollo. And so, do not forget, when you are celebrated in song around Cyrene’s sweet garden of Aphrodite, to set the god in the highest place as the cause of all things, and to love Carrhotus above all your companions. He did not bring with him Excuse, the daughter of late-thinking Afterthought, when he came to the house of the descendants of Battus who rule by right; but he was welcomed beside the waters of Castalia, and he flung over your hair the prize of honor for the victorious chariot; his reins were undamaged in the precinct of the twelve swift-footed courses. For he broke no part of his strong equipment; it hangs dedicated there, all the handiwork of dextrous craftsmen, which he brought past the hill of Crisa to the hollow valley of the god. The cypress shrine keeps it beside the statue which the Cretan bowmen set up in the Parnassian chamber, carved from a single piece of wood. Therefore it is fitting to welcome a benefactor with a willing mind. Son of Alexibias, the lovely-haired Graces make you radiant. You are blessed, you who have, even after great hardship, a memorial of the best words. For among forty drivers who fell, having brought your chariot through unscathed with a fearless mind, you have come now from the splendid games to the plain of Libya and your ancestral city. But no man is without a share of toils, or ever will be. Yet the ancient prosperity of Battus continues, despite its dispensation of both good and bad, a tower of the city and a most brilliant shining eye to strangers. Even loud-roaring lions fled in fear from Battus, when he unleashed on them his voice from across the sea. And Apollo, the first leader, doomed the beasts to dread fear, so that his oracles to the guardian of Cyrene would not go unfulfilled. It is Apollo who dispenses remedies to men and women for grievous diseases, and who bestowed on us the cithara, and gives the Muses’ inspiration to whomever he will, bringing peaceful concord into the mind, and who possesses the oracular shrine; wherefore he settled the mighty descendants of Heracles and Aegimius in Lacedaemon and in Argos and in sacred Pylos. But it is my part to sing of the lovely glory that comes from Sparta, where the Aegeidae were born, and from there they went to Thera, my ancestors, not without the gods; they were led by a certain fate. From there we have received the feast with its many sacrifices, and at your banquet, Carneian Apollo, we honor the well-built city of Cyrene, which is held by foreigners who delight in bronze, the Trojan descendants of Antenor. For they came with Helen, after they had seen their native city consumed in the smoke of war. And that horse-driving race was faithfully welcomed with sacrifices by men who came to them bringing gifts, men whom Aristoteles led, when, with his swift ships, he opened a deep path across the sea. And he founded precincts of the gods that were greater than before, and he established, for the processions of Apollo, protector of men, a straight cut, level, paved road for the clatter of horses’ hooves, where at the edge of the marketplace he rests by himself in death. He was blessed when he dwelled among men, and thereafter a hero worshipped by the people. Apart from him, in front of the houses, are the other sacred kings who took their allotted places in Hades, and somehow below the earth they hear, in their minds, great excellence sprinkled with gentle dew by the outpourings of victory-songs—prosperity for themselves, and a justly earned and shared grace for their son Arcesilas. It is fitting for him, in the song of the young men, to celebrate Phoebus with his golden sword, now that he has received from Pytho the graceful victory-song as a compensation for his expense. Intelligent men praise him. I will say what has been said by others: he nurtures a mind and tongue that are beyond his years; in courage he is a long-winged eagle among birds; his strength in competition is like a bulwark. Among the Muses, he has had wings since he was a child in his dear mother’s lap, and he has proved himself a skillful charioteer. He has boldly tried every local opportunity for fine deeds, and now a god gladly brings his power to perfection; and in the future, blessed sons of Cronus, grant him the same, both in deeds and in counsels, lest some fruit-destroying blast of winter wind quell his life. The great mind of Zeus steers the fortune of men that he loves. I pray to him to grant another prize of honor at Olympia to the race of Battus. > Greek: ὁ πλοῦτος εὐρυσθενής, ὅταν τις ἀρετᾷ κεκραμένον καθαρᾷ βροτήσιος ἀνὴρ πότμου παραδόντος, αὐτὸν ἀνάγῃ πολύφιλον ἑπέταν. ὦ θεόμορʼ Ἀρκεσίλα, σύ τοί νιν κλυτᾶς αἰῶνος ἀκρᾶν βαθμίδων ἄπο σὺν εὐδοξίᾳ μετανίσεαι ἕκατι χρυσαρμάτου Κάστορος· εὐδίαν ὃς μετὰ χειμέριον ὄμβρον τεὰν καταιθύσσει μάκαιραν ἑστίαν. σοφοὶ δέ τοι κάλλιον φέροντι καὶ τὰν θεόσδοτον δύναμιν. σὲ δʼ ἐρχόμενον ἐν δίκᾳ πολὺς ὄλβος ἀμφινέμεται· τὸ μέν, ὅτι βασιλεὺς ἐσσὶ μεγαλᾶν πολίων, ἔχει συγγενὴς ὀφθαλμὸς αἰδοιότατον γέρας τεᾷ τοῦτο μιγνύμενον φρενί· μάκαρ δὲ καὶ νῦν, κλεεννᾶς ὅτι εὖχος ἤδη παρὰ Πυθιάδος ἵπποις ἑλὼν δέδεξαι τόνδε κῶμον ἀνέρων, Ἀπολλώνιον ἄθυρμα. τῷ σε μὴ λαθέτω Κυράνας γλυκὺν ἀμφὶ κᾶπον Ἀφροδίτας ἀειδόμενον, παντὶ μὲν θεὸν αἴτιον ὑπερτιθέμεν· φιλεῖν δὲ Κάρρωτον ἔξοχʼ ἑταίρων· ὃς οὐ τὰν Ἐπιμαθέος ἄγων ὀψινόου θυγατέρα Πρόφασιν, Βαττιδᾶν ἀφίκετο δόμους θεμισκρεόντων· ἀλλʼ ἀρισθάρματον ὕδατι Κασταλίας ξενωθεὶς γέρας ἀμφέβαλε τεαῖσιν κόμαις, ἀκηράτοις ἁνίαις ποδαρκέων δωδεκάδρομον τέμενος. κατέκλασε γὰρ ἐντέων σθένος οὐδέν· ἀλλὰ κρέμαται, ὁπόσα χεριαρᾶν τεκτόνων δαίδαλʼ ἄγων Κρισαῖον λόφον ἄμειψεν ἐν κοιλόπεδον νάπος θεοῦ· τό σφʼ ἔχει κυπαρίσσινον μέλαθρον ἀμφʼ ἀνδριάντι σχεδόν, Κρῆτες ὃν τοξοφόροι τέγεϊ Παρνασσίῳ καθέσσαντο μονόδροπον φυτόν. ἑκόντι τοίνυν πρέπει νόῳ τὸν εὐεργέταν ὑπαντιάσαι. Ἀλεξιβιάδα, σὲ δʼ ἠΰκομοι φλέγοντι Χάριτες. μακάριος, ὃς ἔχεις καὶ πεδὰ μέγαν κάματον λόγων φερτάτων μναμήϊʼ· ἐν τεσσαράκοντα γὰρ πετόντεσσιν ἁνιόχοις ὅλον δίφρον κομίξαις ἀταρβεῖ φρενί, ἦλθες ἤδη Λιβύας πεδίον ἐξ ἀγλαῶν ἀέθλων καὶ πατρωΐαν πόλιν. πόνων δʼ οὔ τις ἀπόκλαρός ἐστιν οὔτʼ ἔσεται· ὁ Βάττου δʼ ἕπεται παλαιὸς ὄλβος ἔμπαν τὰ καὶ τὰ νέμων, πύργος ἄστεος ὄμμα τε φαεννότατον ξένοισι. κεῖνόν γε καὶ βαρύκομποι λέοντες περὶ δείματι φύγον, γλῶσσαν ἐπεί σφιν ἀπένεικεν ὑπερποντίαν· ὁ δʼ ἀρχαγέτας ἔδωκʼ Ἀπόλλων θῆρας αἰνῷ φόβῳ, ὄφρα μὴ ταμίᾳ Κυράνας ἀτελὴς γένοιτο μαντεύμασιν. ὃ καὶ βαρειᾶν νόσων ἀκέσματʼ ἄνδρεσσι καὶ γυναιξὶ νέμει, πόρεν τε κίθαριν, δίδωσί τε Μοῖσαν οἷς ἂν ἐθέλῃ, ἀπόλεμον ἀγαγὼν ἐς πραπίδας εὐνομίαν, μυχόν τʼ ἀμφέπει μαντήϊον· τῷ [καὶ] Λακεδαίμονι ἐν Ἄργει τε καὶ ζαθέᾳ Πύλῳ ἔνασσεν ἀλκ άε ντας Ἡρακλέος ἐκγόνους Αἰγιμιοῦ τε. τὸ δʼ ἐμὸν γαρύειν ἀπὸ Σπάρτας ἐπήρατον κλέος· ὅθεν γεγενναμένοι ἵκοντο Θήρανδε φῶτες Αἰγεΐδαι, ἐμοὶ πατέρες, οὐ θεῶν ἄτερ, ἀλλὰ μοῖρά τις ἄγεν· πολύθυτον ἔρανον ἔνθεν ἀναδεξάμενοι, Ἄπολλον, τεᾷ, Καρνήϊʼ, ἐν δαιτὶ σεβίζομεν Κυράνας ἀγακτιμέναν πόλιν· ἔχοντι τὰν χαλκοχάρμαι ξένοι Τρῶες Ἀντανορίδαι. σὺν Ἑλένᾳ γὰρ μόλον, καπνωθεῖσαν πάτραν ἐπεὶ ἴδον ἐν Ἄρει. τὸ δʼ ἐλάσιππον ἔθνος ἐνδυκέως δέκονται θυσίαισιν ἄνδρες οἰχνέοντές σφε δωροφόροι, τοὺς Ἀριστοτέλης ἄγαγε, ναυσὶ θοαῖς ἁλὸς βαθεῖαν κέλευθον ἀνοίγων. κτίσεν δʼ ἄλσεα μείζονα θεῶν, εὐθύτομόν τε κατέθηκεν Ἀπολλωνίαις ἀλεξιμβρότοις πεδιάδα πομπαῖς ἔμμεν ἱππόκροτον σκυρωτὰν ὁδόν, ἔνθα πρυμνοῖς ἀγορᾶς ἔπι δίχα κεῖται θανών. μάκαρ μὲν ἀνδρῶν μέτα ἔναιεν, ἥρως δʼ ἔπειτα λαοσεβής. ἄτερθε δὲ πρὸ δωμάτων ἕτεροι λαχόντες Ἀΐδαν βασιλέες ἱεροὶ ἐντί, μεγάλαν δʼ ἀρετὰν δρόσῳ μαλθακᾷ ῥανθεῖσαν κώμων ὑπὸ χεύμασιν, ἀκούοντί που χθονίᾳ φρενί, σφὸν ὄλβον υἱῷ τε κοινὰν χάριν ἔνδικόν τʼ Ἀρκεσίλᾳ. τὸν ἐν ἀοιδᾷ νέων πρέπει χρυς άο ρα Φοῖβον ἀπύειν, ἔχοντα Πυθωνόθεν τὸ καλλίνικον λυτήριον δαπανᾶν μέλος χαρίεν. ἄνδρα κεῖνον ἐπαινέοντι συνετοί. λεγόμενον ἐρέω· κρέσσονα μὲν ἁλικίας νόον φέρβεται γλῶσσάν τε· θάρσος δὲ τανύπτερος ἐν ὄρνιξιν αἰετὸς ἔπλετο· ἀγωνίας δʼ, ἕρκος οἷον, σθένος· ἔν τε Μοίσαισι ποτανὸς ἀπὸ ματρὸς φίλας, πέφανταί θʼ ἁρματηλάτας σοφός· ὅσαι τʼ εἰσὶν ἐπιχωρίων καλῶν ἔσοδοι, τετόλμακε. θεός τέ οἱ τὸ νῦν τε πρόφρων τελεῖ δύνασιν, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ⟨ὁμοῖα⟩, Κρονίδαι μάκαρες, διδοῖτʼ ἐπʼ ἔργοισιν ἀμφί τε βουλαῖς ἔχειν, μὴ φθινοπωρὶς ἀνέμων χειμερία κατὰ πνοὰ δαμαλίζοι χρόνον. Διός τοι νόος μέγας κυβερνᾷ δαίμονʼ ἀνδρῶν φίλων. εὔχομαί νιν Ὀλυμπίᾳ τοῦτο δόμεν γέρας ἔπι Βάττου γένει. [¶1] Listen! for we are again ploughing the field of dark-eyed Aphrodite, or of the Graces, as we approach the sacred navel of the loud-roaring land; where, for the prosperous Emmenids and Acragas on the river, and especially for Xenocrates, a Pythian victor’s treasure-house of songs has been built and is ready in the glen of Apollo, rich in gold. It is buffeted by neither the invading onset of winter rain, the loud-roaring cloud’s pitiless army, nor the wind that sweeps all kinds of rubble into the depths of the sea. Its facade, shining in pure light, will announce your chariot victory to the speech of men and make it famous—the victory you share with your father and your race, Thrasybulus, won in the vales of Crisa. You keep it on your right hand and uphold the commandment, one of the precepts which they say once in the mountains the son of Philyra enjoined on the powerful son of Peleus, when he was separated from his parents: first of the gods, worship the son of Cronus, the loud-voiced ruler of lightning and thunder; and never deprive your parents of such honor during their allotted lifetime. Long ago, too, powerful Antilochus showed that he had this way of thinking; he died for his father’s sake, by awaiting the man-slaying commander of the Ethiopians, Memnon. For the horse kept Nestor’s chariot from moving, since it had been wounded by Paris ’ arrows; and Memnon was aiming his strong spear. The old man of Messene, his mind reeling, shouted to his son; the cry he hurled did not fall to the ground; his god-like son stayed on the spot and paid for his father’s rescue with his own life, and because he accomplished this tremendous deed he seemed to the younger men to be the greatest man of his time in excellence towards his parents. These things are past. Of men alive today, Thrasybulus more than anyone has approached his father’ s standard, and he rivals his father’s brother in every splendor. He manages his wealth with intelligence, reaping not an unjust or arrogant youth, but the wisdom found in the quiet haunts of the Pierian Muses. Earth-shaking Poseidon, he is devoted to you, who rule over horse-races, and his thoughts are pleasing to you. His sweet temperament, when he associates with his drinking companions, surpasses even the bee’s intricate honeycomb. > Greek: ἀκούσατʼ· ἦ γὰρ ἑλικώπιδος Ἀφροδίτας ἄρουραν ἢ Χαρίτων ἀναπολίζομεν, ὀμφαλὸν ἐριβρόμου χθονὸς ἐς νάϊον προσοιχόμενοι· Πυθιόνικος ἔνθʼ ὀλβίοισιν Ἐμμενίδαις ποταμίᾳ τʼ Ἀκράγαντι καὶ μὰν Ξενοκράτει ἑτοῖμος ὕμνων θησαυρὸς ἐν πολυχρύσῳ Ἀπολλωνίᾳ τετείχισται νάπᾳ· τὸν οὔτε χειμέριος ὄμβρος ἐπακτὸς ἐλθών, ἐριβρόμου νεφέλας στρατὸς ἀμείλιχος, οὔτʼ ἄνεμος ἐς μυχοὺς ἁλὸς ἄξοισι παμφόρῳ χεράδει τυπτόμενον. φάει δὲ πρόσωπον ἐν καθαρῷ πατρὶ τεῷ, Θρασύβουλε, κοινάν τε γενεᾷ λόγοισι θνατῶν εὔδοξον ἅρματι νίκαν Κρισαίαισιν ἐν πτυχαῖς ἀπαγγελεῖ. σύ τοι σχεθών νιν ἐπιδέξια χειρός, ὀρθὰν ἄγεις ἐφημοσύναν, τά ποτʼ ἐν οὔρεσι φαντὶ μεγαλοσθενεῖ Φιλύρας υἱὸν ὀρφανιζομένῲ Πηλεΐδᾳ παραινεῖν· μάλιστα μὲν Κρονίδαν, βαρυόπαν στεροπᾶν κεραυνῶν τε πρύτανιν, θεῶν σέβεσθαι· ταύτας δὲ μή ποτε τιμᾶς ἀμείρειν γονέων βίον πεπρωμένον. ἔγεντο καὶ πρότερον Ἀντίλοχος βιατὰς νόημα τοῦτο φέρων, ὃς ὑπερέφθιτο πατρός, ἐναρίμβροτον ἀναμείναις στράταρχον Αἰθιόπων Μέμνονα. Νεστόρειον γὰρ ἵππος ἅρμʼ ἐπέδα Πάριος ἐκ βελέων δαϊχθείς· ὁ δʼ ἔφεπεν κραταιὸν ἔγχος· Μεσσανίου δὲ γέροντος δονηθεῖσα φρὴν βόασε παῖδα ὅν· χαμαιπετὲς δʼ ἄρʼ ἔπος οὐκ ἀπέριψεν· αὐτοῦ μένων δʼ ὁ θεῖος ἀνὴρ πρίατο μὲν θανάτοιο κομιδὰν πατρός, ἐδόκησέν τε τῶν πάλαι γενεᾷ ὁπλοτέροισιν, ἔργον πελώριον τελέσαις, ὕπατος ἀμφὶ τοκεῦσιν ἔμμεν πρὸς ἀρετάν. τὰ μὲν παρίκει· τῶν νῦν δὲ καὶ Θρασύβουλος πατρῴαν μάλιστα πρὸς στάθμαν ἔβα, πάτρῳ τʼ ἐπερχόμενος ἀγλαΐαν ἅπασαν. νόῳ δὲ πλοῦτον ἄγει, ἄδικον οὔθʼ ὑπέροπλον ἥβαν δρέπων, σοφίαν δʼ ἐν μυχοῖσι Πιερίδων· τίν τʼ, Ἐλέλιχθον, ἃς εὗρες ἱππίας ἐσόδους, μάλα ἁδόντι νόῳ, Ποσειδᾶν, προσέχεται. γλυκεῖα δὲ φρὴν καὶ συμπόταισιν ὁμιλεῖν μελισσᾶν ἀμείβεται τρητὸν πόνον.