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Pindar
( 522 -448 B.C. )
Voltaire's address to Pindar :
Come out of your grave, divine Pindar,
you who is other times used to celebrate the horses of some rich citizens,
Whether from Corinth or Megara;
you who possessed the gift of speaking much without saying anything;
you who skillfully modulated lyrics that no one listens to and everyone must admire.
Pindar is a very prestigious poet that lived for and in the splendor and passion of the
Golden Age. He cam from a Theban family that traces its lineage back to primitive times. The family included in
his verse were portrayed and were claimed as ancient heroes. His uncle was quite an accomplished flutist and passed
down to Pindar much of his love for music and some of his skill. To learn advanced musical instruction he traveled
to Athens, where Lasus and Agathocles taught him choral composition.
Before he had reached the age of twenty (i.e. before 502) he returned to Thebes and studied with the poetess Corinna.
Five times they competed against one another in public song and each time he had lost. But some speculate that
because Corinna was attractive and pleasing to behold the male judges were biased to have her win. Who can say
now when all witnesses have passed on. There is a legend that the Thebans had invented about their poet that when
Pindar was young he had slept in the fields, some bees had settled upon his lips, and had left their honey there.
Before long he was handsomely commissioned to write odes in honor of princes and rich men. He was an honored guest
for noble families in Tenedos, Rhodes, Athens and Corinth. For a period he lived as Royal Bard at the courts of
Alexander I of Macedon, Theron of Acragas, and Heiron of Syracuse. In most circumstances his songs were paid for
in advance. When Pindar returned to Thebes near his forty-forth year, he was acclaimed as Boeotia's greatest gift
to Greece.
Every poem that he had written was difficult work because each piece had music composed for it and often required a chorus to sing it. He wrote hymns and paeans for deities, dithyrambs for the festivals of Dionysus, parthenaia for maidens, enkomia for celebrities, threnoi, or dirges for funerals, skolia for banquets, and epinkia, or songs of victory, for winners at the Panhellenic competions. It is very sad that of all these great works only the words of a small fraction remain and none with the accompanying music only the words.
In general Pindar celebrates " the wisdom of man, and his beauty, and the splendor of his fame." Although
truth be known he was not so much interested in his formal subjects as he was in getting his pay. It appears that
he was willing to accept any promptly paying tyrant as a patron saint of sorts. He was loyal to Thebes and just
as inspired like the Delphic oracle when he defended Theban neutrality in the Persian war. Later however he was
ashamed of his error and praised the leader of the Greek defense as "renowned Athens, rich, violet crowned,
worthy of song, bulwark of Hellas, god protected city." The Athenians gave him a kingly sum of ten thousand
drachmas for the dithyrambs, or processional song. Thebes fined him for his implied reproof for the lines "Thebes, we are less reliably informed.." and Athens paid the fine.
Pindar Olympian
For Diagoras of Rhodes, Boxing-Match, 464 B. C.
As when someone takes a goblet, all golden, the most prized of his possessions, foaming with the dew of the vine
from a generous hand, and makes a gift of it to his young son-in-law, welcoming him with a toast from one home
to another, honoring the grace of the
symposium and the new marriage-bond, and thereby, in the presence of his friends, makes him enviable for his harmonious
marriage-bed;
I too, sending to victorious men poured nectar, the gift of the Muses, the sweet fruit of my mind, I try to win
the gods' favor for those men who were victors at Olympia and at Pytho. That man is prosperous, who is encompassed
by good reports. Grace, which causes life to flourish, looks with favor now on one man, now on another, with both
the sweet-singing lyre and the full-voiced notes of flutes.
And now, with the music of flute and lyre alike I have come to land with Diagoras, singing the sea-child of Aphrodite
and bride of Helios, Rhodes, so that I may praise this straight-fighting, tremendous man who had himself crowned
beside the Alpheus and near Castalia, as a recompense for his boxing, and also his father Damagetus, a man pleasing
to Justice, living on the island of three cities near the foreland of spacious Asia, among Argive spearmen.
I shall want to proclaim my message for them, the widely powerful race of Heracles, and tell correctly from the
beginning, from Tlepolemus, the story that concerns all. For, on the father's side, they boast descent from Zeus,
while, on the mother's, they are decendants of Amyntor, through Astydameia. But around the minds of men countless
errors loom; and this is impossible to discover: what is best to happen to a man, now and in the end. For indeed,
striking Licymnius, the bastard brother of Alcmena, with a staff of hard olive-wood as he came out of the chamber
of Midea, the founder of this land once killed that man, in anger. Disturbances of the mind lead astray even a
wise man. Tlepolemus went and sought the god's oracle.
To him the golden-haired god spoke, from his fragrant sanctuary, of a voyage by ship from the shore of Lerna straight
to the pasture land with sea all around it, where once the great king of the gods showered the city with golden
snow,when, by the skills of Hephaestus with the bronze-forged hatchet, Athena leapt from the top of her father's
head and cried aloud with a mighty shout. The Sky and mother Earth shuddered before her.
Then even the god that brings light to mortals, son of Hyperion, enjoined his dear children to observe the obligation
that was soon to be due: that they should be the first to build for the goddess an altar visible to all men, and
by founding a sacred burnt-offering warm the spirit of the father and of the daughter who thunders with her spear.
She who casts excellence and joys into men is the daughter of Forethought, Reverence.
Truly, a cloud of forgetfulness sometimes descends unexpectedly, and draws the straight path of action away from
the mind. For they climbed the hill without bringing the seed of burning flame; and they established the sacred
precinct on the acropolis with fireless
sacrifices. Zeus brought to them a yellow cloud and rained on them abundant gold. And the gray-eyed goddess herself
bestowed on them every art, so that they surpassed all mortal men as the best workers with their hands; and the
roads bore works of art like living, moving creatures, and their fame was profound. For a wise craftsman, even
superior skill is free from guile. The ancient stories of men tell that when Zeus and the immortals were dividing
the earth among them, Rhodes was not yet visible in the expanse of the sea, but the island was hidden in the salty
depths.
Helios was absent, and no one marked out a share for him; in fact they left him without any allotment of land,
although he was a holy god. And when Helios mentioned it, Zeus was about to order a new casting of lots, but Helios
did not allow him. For he said that he himself saw in the gray sea, growing from the bottom, a rich, productive
land for men, and a kindly one for flocks.
And he bid Lachesis of the golden headband raise her hands right away, and speak,correctly and earnestly, the great
oath of the gods, and consent with the son of Cronus that that island, when it had risen into the shining air,
should thereafter be his own prize of honor.and the essence of his words was fulfilled and turned out to be true.
There grew from the waters of the sea an island, which is held by the birthgiving father of piercing rays, the
ruler of fire-breathing horses. And there he once lay with Rhodes, and begat seven sons who inherited from him
the wisest minds in the time of earlier men; and of these one begat Cameirus, and Ialysus the eldest, and Lindus.
Each had his own separate share of cities in their threefold division of their father's land, and their dwelling-places
were named after them.
There it is that a sweet recompense for his pitiful misfortune is established for Tlepolemus, the first leader
of the Tirynthians, as for a god: a procession of flocks for burnt sacrifice and the trial of contests. With the
flowers from these Diagoras has had himself crowned twice, and at the renowned Isthmus four times, in his good
fortune, and again and again at Nemea and in rocky Athens; and the prizes of the bronze shield in Argos and the
works of art in Arcadia and Thebes are familiar with him, and the duly ordered contests of the Boeotians, and Pellana
and Aegina, where he was six times victor. And in Megara the list carved in stone gives no other account. But,
Father Zeus, you who rule over the ridges of Atabyrium, grant honor to the hymn ordained in praise of an Olympian
victor, and to the man who has found excellence as a boxer, and grant to him honored grace in the eyes of both
citizens and strangers. For he walks a straight course on a road that hates arrogance, knowing clearly the sound
prophetic wisdom of his good ancestors. Do not bury in obscurity the shared seed Callianax. When the Eratidae are
graced with victories, the city too holds festivities; but in a single space of apportioned time the winds shift
quickly from moment to moment.
What is of real interest to us here is the other part of Pindaric ode which was concentrated on Greek mythology. He had a very high understanding of the deities and honored them as his best clients. In fact he was a favorite of the Delphic priesthood. While Pindar lived he had recieved many privileges from them and after he had passed on his spirit was with Caledonian generosity, invited to share the first fruits offered at Apollo's shrine.
Pindar Pythian 5.63
Wealth is widely powerful, wherever 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.
Pindar is a friend to the Mysteries, and shares the Orphic views of paradise. He preaches the divine origin and destiny of each soul. He also offers among the earliest descriptions of a Last Jugement, a Hell, and Heaven. Sometimes he sways tworads monotheistic conception of Zeus as "the All" governing and seeing all things. " Immediately after death the lawless spirits suffer punishment, and the sins committed in this realm of Zeus are judged by One who passeth sentence stern and inevitable."
But in sunshine ever fair
Abide the good, and all their nights and days
An equal splendor wear.
And never as of old with thankless toil
For the poor empty needs they vex the soil,
And plough the watery seas;
But dwelling with the glorious gods in ease
A tearless life they pass,
Whose joy on earth it was
To keep their plighted word. But, far from these,
Torments the rest sustin too dark for human gaze.
While Pindar lived he was not popular, and for some centuries yet he will continue to enjoy the lifeless immortality
of those writers whom all men praise yet no one reads. While the world was progressing forward he asked it to stand
still and it left him behind. He lived to be eighty years of age and died in Thebes. He sang : "Dear to a man is his own home city, his comrades and his
kinsmen, so that he is well content. But to foolish men belongeth a love for things afar" . It is said that ten days before he passed
on he visited the oracle of Ammon and asked "What
is best for a man?" For which the oracle answer rather like
a Greek when he responded "Death". Athens placed a statue in his likeness at the public coast, and the Rhodians
inscribed his seventh Olympian ode - a panegyric of their island - in letters of gold upon a temple wall. In 335,
Alexander ordered rebellious Thebes to be burned to the ground he commanded his soldiers to leave unharmed the
home in which Pindar had lived and died in.
