PINDAR, Odes of Few names were so venerated among the ancient Greeks as the great Theban poet, Pindar. As Homer was their °epic poet" and Sophocles their °tragic poet,* so Pindar was their °lyric poet* His chair was preserved at Delphi, and at the peri odic theogenia or sacred festival it was the custom of the priest of Apollo to call out, °Let Pindar the poet go into the banquet of the god." At the destruction of Thebes, Alexander the Great " bade spare The house of Pindarns, when temple and tower Went to the ground." Pindar belonged to the school of Dorian choral poets. His fragments represent nearly every kind of lyric poem. These were i com posed as if to be sung on the spot in mme diate celebration of the victory; but in the nature of the case this could seldom be, and the ode was generally composed later, to be sung at a commemoration festival at the home town of the victor. Like all choral lyrics, the epinikion was essentially narrative; it is, how ever, not the story of the contest that Pindar gives, but some myth of the family or race which at once tells an appropriate tale and points a moral. This digression was the heart of the odej but its connection with the hero's victory is not always easy to see. The ode, once composed — in strophe and antistrophe, or both these with epode — a band of youths was carefully selected to render it with song and rhythmic movement. The ancient Hellene felt, as no mortal can ever feel again, that 'there is no greater glory for a man while yet he lives than that he achieves with hand and foot° ; and no pains or expense was spared by the victor's fellow-townsmen to bring out Pindar's ode with proper splendor.
It is not possible for moderns to appreci ate the full excellence of the Pindaric ode. It was not merely a spectacle in honor of a man; the celebration was an act of divine worship and the poet was filled with religious fervor. The odes were meant to be sung, not read, and the music is lost; besides the scenic accessories are all gone. No great poetry can be really translated, least of all Pindar. Perhaps there is no great poet in all the world's literature of whom a less ade quate conception can be obtained through trans lations. As Jebb eloquently says, °The glory of his song has passed forever from the world with the sound of the rolling harmonies on which it once was borne, with the splendor of rushing chariots and athletic forms around which it threw its radiance, with the white pillared cities by the ./Egean or Sicilian Sea in which it wrought its spell, with the beliefs or joys which it ennobled; but those who love his poetry and who strive to enter into its high places can still know that they breathe a pure and bracing air and can still feel vibrating through a clear calm sky the strong pulse of the eagle's wings as he soars with steady eyes against the sun.° The price of knowing Pindar is high, but those who pay it have no regrets.
For the great majority, Pindar is a lost art, but the few know that it is a very great art ; and for the sake of our standards in literature it is devoutly to be hoped that such a saving rem nant, however small, may always be found. Pindar's standard was so high and his achieve ments so sure that the modern world cannot afford to lose the tradition of his high excel lence. While many especially great qualities might be mentioned, there is space here to em phasize only one — his style. Matthew Arnold coined the word aPindarism° to express it, say ing, 'Pindar is a poet on whom, above all other poets, the power of style seems to have exer cised an inspiring and intoxicating effect.° The chief characteristic of that style was spleigw. 'To Pindar's soul splendor was as elemental as harmony to Milton's.° This quality is best exhibited in some passages from the Epinikia, but these cannot be translated. There is a ten derer beauty perhaps in this picture from the second Olympian of the happy dead in the Islands of the Blest: " Where the soft Ocean breezes float for ever Around the Islands of the Blest. There golden bloom to bloom succeeds, Through springs that never tire. They fill with light the ground below, Athwart the shining trees they glow; Their growth the very water feels, Hid under flowers of fire." A similar beautiful picture is this fragment of a threnos: " For them the night all through.
In that broad realm below.
The splendor of the sun spreads endless light; 'Mid rosy meadows bright, Their city of the tombs with incense-trees. And golden chalices Of flowers, and fruitage fair, Scenting the breezy air.
Is laden. There with horses and with play.
With games and lyres, they while the hours away. On every side around Pure happiness is found.
With all the blooming beauty of the world; There fragrant smoke, upcurled From altars where the blazing fire is dense With perfumed frankincense.
Burned unto gods in heaven, Through all the land is driven.
Making its pleasant places odorous With scented gales and sweet airs amorous." For a discussion of English Pindaric odes, consult Edmund Gosse's Introduction to his `English Odes.' Gray's two Pindaric odes, the 'Progress of Poesy) and 'The Bard,' are per haps the most famous in our language; Aken side's series of odes are regarded as coming nearer to the Greek model than any other imi tations, but they lack inspiration. Perhaps the best English editions of Pindar are the com plete edition of C. A. M. Fennell (1893-99) ; the 'Olympian and Pythian Odes,' by B. L. Gildersleeve (1885) ; the 'Nemean and Isth mian Odes,' by J. B. Bury (1890-92). The best translation is the prose rendering by E. Myers (revised 1883). Consult Jebb, 'Lectures on Greek Poetry) (1893) ; Fraccaroli, odi di Pindaro) (1894) ; also Morice, F. A., 'Pin dar,' in Ancient Classics for English Readers.