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For Hieron: The Poet's Apologia (Pindar, "Pythia II") Author(s): Carl A. P. Ruck and William H. Matheson Source: Arion, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Summer, 1965), pp. 181-187 Published by: Trustees of Boston University Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20162948 . Accessed: 18/01/2011 20:10
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THE POET'S FOR HIE RON: PYTHIA II) (PINDAR,

APOLOGIA

Introduced and translated by Carl A. P. Ruck andWilliam H. Matheson

INTRODUCTION

In Pindar's Pythia II, addressed to the tyrant Hieron of Syracuse, the traditional form of the epinician ode is used as the vehicle for communication which is not native to that genre. The ode begins with a somewhat generalized eulogy that escapes the particulari zation of any given athletic contest; its classification among the Pythian odes is incorrect. It belongs with the miscellaneous poems placed at the end of the Isthmian group but was no doubt put by the Hellenistic editor among the Pythian odes so as not to separate it from other Syracusan poems. The ancient editor with his list of victories at the great national games could not discover for what occasion this poem was written. The viewpoint of Sir Maurice Bowra that Pythia II was written, but not commissioned, for the Olympian victory of 468 b.c., the event for which Bacchylides 111 is the official poem, is perhaps not justified. The poem has no occasion; the epinician form is a mere pretext. No definite infor mation about a particular event is given and Pindar attempts to Hieron s ability by saying that he would win whenever e feneralize competed. The dating of the poem is uncertain. The mention of the grati tude of the western Locrians indicates a date after 477, but the fact that the poem is sent to Hieron from Thebes indicates in any case that it was written after 476, the date of Pindar's visit to Syracuse. Wilamowitz suggested that the poem celebrates the same victory as Pythia I (470), but the tone of the ending of Pythia II intimates that the poet is no longer on a secure footing of friendship with his patron. In its largest aspects, the poem has modified the epinician structure by the addition, towards the end of the third triad, of an elaborate coda, a rapidly shifting series of startling metaphors. Pindar seems to be justifying himself against the possible charge of ingratitude. The defense is riddling, perhaps in an attempt to cut through the circles of court flatterers and reach directly the ear of his patron who, like Rhadamanthys, the wise judge, will understand the message. One cannot imagine a public perform ance of a poem of this nature and the epinician ode is apparently here really a literary epistle. The theme of ingratitude is indeed central to the whole poem. The myth of Ixion, who attempted to seduce Hera, furnishes a signal example of improper behavior on the part of a house-guest.

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His

entails the continual proclamation of his own punishment moral: "The benefactor one must greet/ With story's shining recompense." To whom is the moral addressed? The question has the traditional many answers. Pindar of course is elaborating view of the relation between poet and patron: the patron is the great man who furnishes the substance for eulogy; the poet re wards greatness with the glory of his poetry. The great man in return rewards the poet by his patronage and the poet is conse quently bound to fidelity and gratitude. Archilochean hate-poetry grows fat on nothing but hate; it disturbs the reciprocal benefit system that is the environment for true poetry. Pindar claims that
great art earns its way.

In another sense, the function that Pindar conceives for the poet shows an early example of the dream that Plato too at tempted to realize in Sicily. The poet was the teacher who would reveal to the tyrant his true potential for greatness. Hieron, like Dionysios, was perhaps a disappointing pupil. A blunt general to the tyrantship of Syracuse, he who had risen by power-politics must be taught the real value of constitutional monarchy; he must learn the nobility of his "maturer counsels"?he must be what he knows he is, or he must at least learn what the poet hopes he will be, tel qu'en Lui-m?me enfin le po?te le change. How then is Hieron to show his gratitude for the lesson? He can, of course, ware (on approval?), buy the poem, which is sent like Phoenician or the one which is to follow, the "Castorian epinician ode," if he commissions it. But why should Hieron not commision it? Pindar seems to be defending his own position in this mutual relation in a poem (Pythia XI) ship. It is possible that what he had said has been bruited about in the Syracusan court; such would in deed indicate ingratitude on the poet's part for his sumptuous is not an entertainment during his visit. The poem therefore to himself, a proud epinician ode but presents Pindar's lesson restatement of the function of his poetry and of the obligation that the patron and the poet share. The coda, therefore, far from communica retracting the outspoken tone of Pindar's previous tions with Hieron, gives an extreme example of the Archilochean educational beast-fable now raised to its supreme impersonal mission. If Hieron is who he must be, he will know this, under stand the lesson, and appreciate his poet. If this is hate-poetry, it nevertheless deserves to be bought. The poet not only describes the greatness of his patron but also envisages what true greatness the patron might achieve. Hieron has his choice: he may play the child, for whom the monkey is an amazing creature; or he may have the incorruptible wisdom of Rhadamanthys, judge of the
underworld. after his return from Syracuse?"! reproach the estate of tyrants"?

In addition to the Archilochean motifs, the coda is bound to the main part of the ode in yet another way. It is introduced by

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and William

H. Matheson

183

the baroque elaboration "Be what you know you are," which recalls the earlier gnomic statement embedded in the Ixion-myth: In what you are." The description of deity "See your measure/ towards the end of the coda recalls the similar section at the end of the Ixion-myth: "God's expectation fulfils his every plan, The meaning in the coda is two-fold: "Fight/ Not with god,/ Who up now the one estate, now/ To another grants great lifts : glory" Hieron is now tyrant, but it is the nature of things that another form of government may succeed him; Pindar, too, must realize the law of natural vicissitude, but as he claims near the end of Pythia III, it is the character of a noble man to bear with grace whatever should fall to his lot: "For every good, two evils the immortals/ Grant. This dispensation the mature alone,/ Un like the base,/ Can bear with poise, displaying only good." Pindar, the cork on the net, will not only be unaffected by the whispering of the court-informers, but perhaps he knows too how to bear nobly Hieron s displeasure. Such recurrent themes are characteristic of Pindar's late archaic ring-composition, a form which enabled the oral poet to organize mentally the material for his narration. Pindar writes his poetry but his language and thought-patterns are still partially indebted occurs but it is deflected in to the epic tradition. Ring-structure a forward direction by the pull of his literary composition. The result is a series of overlapping circles of different sizes arranged along the thread of the argument. The ode begins with praise of Syracuse. This idea is completed at the beginning of the antis trophe of the third triad: "Lord of the tower-crowned citadel and
its multitude." The poetry. In Homer, the structure consists of concentric circles or

complete a simple structure, but the language, although saying the same thing, must be different: each instance presents an intri cate elaboration of a basic clich?, much like the ornamentation of basic themes in baroque music. The theme of gratitude, intro duced by Cinyras, the king of Cyprus, and the woman from western Locris, is further elaborated by the moral proclaimed by Ixion as he iswhirled on his wheel. This elaborate introduction of and the the idea is further adorned by the Archilochus-passage Claim your praise of Hierorts liberality: "Should someone/ which was introduced as the third ornamentation in the gratitude series, is recalled at the end of the cycle by language which sug gests that the man who does not praise Hieron is like Ixion in the cloud's embrace: "His empty mind grapples with nothingness." The commoner, in the coda, who thinks he can "sink" Pindar, For himself." But the Ixion-myth also ". . .weaves delusion?/ has its own unity; it begins tangentially with a reference to Ixion s punishment, and after a narration of his ingratitude, returns to the
"four-spoked prison" and "a message for all to share." The narra opulence and glory have been surpassed. . . ." The Ixion-story,

poet's

mind

has

returned

to

the

beginning

to

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tion, however, does not end with the cycle, but spills over into the additional narration (comparable to the coda?) of his punishment in the third generation, the breed of centaurs that he indirectly sired through his son, Centaur. The main body of the ode is signaled by the phrase "To you this song from lustrous Thebes I in the passage about the bear," which receives its ornamentation Phoenician ware and the second poem that Hieron is to expect, which concludes the ode proper. It is not necessary nor perhaps probable that Pindar con sciously conceived of his poem as structured by these cycles; they are his inheritance from the tradition. The cycles do, how ever, indicate the way Pindar's mind worked during composition, what things he envisaged as basically equivalent. As such, the recurrent ideas are an indication of the meaning of the poem. The reader is expected to hear the clich? beneath the elaborations and to react to the poet's virtuosity.

PYTHIA STROPHE Great, o

II

Ares' precinct, and of men and their horses in caparison The divine nurse: To you this song from lustrous Thebes I bear, This proclamation of the harnessed four, their earth-shaking And the chariot victory when Hieron triumphant Bound the island of Ortygia inwreaths afar resplendent, This royal seat of Artemis, lady of rivers, by whose aid His taming hands those dapple-reined Colts broke.
ANTISTROPHE

Syracuse,

among

the

cities,

war-plunged

hoofs

In his two hands, she whose delight is arrows, And Hermes, guardian of the games, place honor Shining, should ever He yoke the horses' strength to polished chariots Obedient to the bridle, the while invoking trident's Wide-dominioned brandisher. For other kings Another has composed resounding hymns in payment
excellence:

for their

name of Cinyras, Cypriote voices often swirl about the chosen priest, the beloved Aphrodite's Pre-eminent of Apollo
EPODE

The golden-haired. What motive leads them is reverent Gratitude, the reward for benefits. And to you no less,
Deinomenes' son, the woman from western Locris

Carl A. P. Ruck

and William

H. Matheson

185

At her door sings praise From out war's tribulations ineluctable Now looking, by your efforts saved. By divine ordinance Ixion too, they say, proclaims tomen This moral, on winged wheel In all ways whirled:
The benefactor one must greet

With

shining recompense.

STROPHE

He learned his lesson. Graciously received by Cronos' Sons he led a life of ease, but long Could not endure Prosperity: it drove him mad and he aspired to the love Of Hera, whom Zeus's sumptuous bed possessed. Behold, presumption goaded liim to haughty Ruin: mere man he suffered what he merited, his special torture. Two penal offenses bore their fruit: he first Taught mortals murder, by kindred Blood contaminate;
ANTISTROPHE

Moreover,
He attempted In what you

in the vast seclusion of royal chambers,

Zeus's are. wife. See your measure

A strange adultery cast to utter ruin This man deluded who lusted for a cloud's embrace And chased hallucination's sweet fie: Mere form, a shape that seemed the sovereign daughter
Of Uranian Had Cronos; she was the He set?exquisite torment! trap made the hands of Zeus

The four-spoked prison

EPODE

His destruction:
Ixion manifests No His Graces unique a

bound in shackles that defy escape,

for all when to share. she bore?mother unique?

message in attendance and lusty son,

Rejected from society by gods and men. She raised him, named him Centaur. He coupled with Magnesian mares roaming the foothills of Mount Pelion, And sired a breed astounding That looked like both its parents: The mother below the waist; Above, the father.
STROPHE

God's expectation fulfills his every plan, God, who overtakes the eagle in its flight and leaves

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II )

The dolphin swimming Far behind, who bends the arrogant down
And To For to others fame ageless grants. flee slander's insatiate bite. I see across the years in utter My obligation:

Archilochus, the satirist, grown fat on his words rich In hate: but wealth is fortune's gift
To true poetry.

poverty

ANTISTROPHE

Your largesse, Prince, ismanifest, your spirit liberal, Lord of the tower-crowned citadel and itsmultitude. Should someone Claim your opulence and glory have been surpassed
In Greece, that other men before were greater,

His empty mind grapples with nothingness. A proud ship wreathed with flowers shall I board in celebration Of your excellence. In youth stoutheartedness inwar's ordeal
avails:

There itwas, I say, you found Your boundless fame,

EPODE

There amidst the men who

Or there contending too much. the with Farewell:

spurred their horses,

the infantry. But your maturer

Counsels
I praise

negate all risk another say

TTiis poem like Phoenician ware

Over May The grey sea; pleasure epinician to await ode, it be your Castorian

I send you
a second poem, in Aeolic meter,

The glory of the seven-stringed

CODA Be what you know you are.

lyre.

A fine thing
STROPHE

for children; but Rhadamanthys Is amonkey?fine thrives, Harvesting the fruit of thought's perfection: his heart a Corruption, the inevitable sequel if man traffics In whispered calumnies. For both parties, an evil Irreparable, these purveyors of slander, like foxes Constant in their hate. What does the fox profit by his foxing? am the cork above the net: the rest Nothing! For I Works in the sea-depths; but I float High and dry.
Unswerving avoids

Carl A. P. Ruck ANTISTROPHE

and William

H. Matheson

187

The commoner, for all his guile, can wield no influence Among the nobles: nonetheless forever fawning
He weaves delusion?

For himself. I share not his audacity. To a friend, Be friendly; awolf-like enemy, Iwill run The enemy down, treading my devious
Paths. In all societies in the In monarchies, democracy's man out-spoken clamorous succeeds? throng, or when wise

Oligarchs guard the city. Fight Not with god,

EPODE

Who lifts up now the one estate, now To another grants great glory. Cold Comfort for envious minds! They stretch the line Beyond itsmeasure and stake Their claim?in their hearts! A painful property Is all that they surveyed. Take up the yoke and bear it lightly on your neck: that's the right Way. To kick against The pricks?a slippery path For poetry. May I live with nobles And please them nobly.

(IV F^>}?%ot&'rU/l