The Prooemium of Bacchylides' "Ode 7" Pieper, Gail W Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Fall 1969; 10, 3; ProQuest pg. 229 The Prooemium of Bacchylides' Ode 7 Gail W. Pieper THE Seventh Odel of Bacchylides was composed in honor of Lachon of Ceos, winner of the boys' foot-race at Olympia in 452 B.C.2 Due to the severe mutilation of col. 13, critical analysis has been limited for the most part to textual and metrical studies.3 With the help of several fragments and a few letters from the margin of col. 14, however, Blass has been able to reconstruct much of the text of lines 3-11.4 Consequently, it is possible to study more closely the train of Bacchylides' poetic thought. The ode begins with a small hymn marked by an invocation and genealogy (1-2), clauses in apposition enumerating various functions of an apostrophized deity (6-7), repeated personal pronoun (2, 8), and a concluding statement on the deity's activity of immediate concern (8-10).5 A similar hymn-opening appears in Ode 11, where the address to Nike reflects the joy of victory which has wiped out the shame of Alexidamus' past defeat. Here, however, though the style of the prooemium is clear, the identity of the goddess invoked, At7TCXpa ()vYCXT€p Xpovov T€ ~[cxl] NVKT6S, is uncertain. As early as 1898, Robinson Ellis suggested that the poet may have intended an allusion to Nike.6 The two extant passages in which Bacchylides personifies this goddess, however, show emphatic agree­ ment with the genealogy presented at Theogony 383-84: ~'<':~'" "n ~()' n'" ~ "'-'TV<; 0 €T€K ,:,t:K€CXVOV VYCXT7JP CXI\I\CXVTL ILLy€LUCX ZijAOV KCXL NtwT]v KCXUtUCPVpov EV f1-€yapoLULV. 1 All references to Bacchylides are to the ed. ofB. Snell (Leipzig 1961). I agree with Snell, p.42*, Paul Maas, "Kolometrie in den Daktyloepitriten des Bakchylides," Philologus 63 (1904) 308f, and Alfred Korte, "Bacchylidea," Hermes 53 (1918) 119ff, in taking Odes 7 and 8 (Snell) as two distinct poems. 2 The year and the type of contest are established by the Olympic register (POxy. 222). 3 These are summarized succinctly by J. Irigoin, "ProIegomenes a une edition de Bac­ chylide," REG 75 (1962) 51-55. 4 Bacchylidis Carmina, ed. F. Blass (Leipzig 1904) 66-67. 5 On the traditional features of the hymn-form, see E. Norden, Agnostos Theos (Leipzig 1913, repro Stuttgart 1956) 143ff. Cf R. W. B. Burton, Pindar's Pythian Odes (Oxford 1962) 92-93 et passim. 6 R. Ellis, "Notes on Bacchylides," CR 12 (1898) 64. 229 230 THE PROOEMIUM OF BACCHYLIDES' ODE 7 In Epigram 1.1, for instance, Victory is addressed as KO.,)PIX ll&XAIXVTOC; 7TO>'VtiWVP-€, 7TtJTVtlX NtKIX, and in Ode 11.9, KO.,)PIX ~[TVY0C; op]8oStKOV has been well-supplemented by Blass. It seems unlikely, then, that Bacchylides would have followed Hesiod on two occasions but have invented a new genealogy for this particular one. A second suggestion, that of Nemesis, was defended by Crusius in 1898.7 By calling Nemesis the descendant of Night, Bacchylides would be in accord with the Hesiodic genealogy (Theog. 223). Aside from this, Crusius pointed out that in late antiquity Nemesis had a shrine at Olympia and was worshipped as the patroness of the games.s In par­ ticular, her concern with the foot-race-Lachon's athletic speciality­ is attested: excavations at Olympia in 1878 uncovered a small marble statue of the goddess in a secret entranceway to the stadium.9 Crusius also supported his identification by an explication of lines 8-9 as an etymological pun: w, Sf: aU 7TpwfM[ TIXTO]V vdp-TJ'c; ylplXs I VtKIXC;. A char­ acteristic feature of Bacchylidean composition is verbal play,1° and it is quite likely that the poet would have been aware of the derivation of Nemesis from vlp-w, 'distribute'. Moreover, if Maas' supplementll is accepted for line 14, EVO'E,B[Et v]oP-Wt, a further pun is indicated: the root V€P-- continues the idea of allotment as a reward for fine achievement.12 There is, however, an important argument against admitting Nemesis as the subject of the invocation. It appears that with the ex­ ception of her shrine at Rhamnus (where she may have retained part of the original meaning of a deity 'who distributes blessings to her devotees'), she was in fifth-century Greece mainly the personification of retribution or righteous anger.13 Thus Pindar speaks of the blessed Hyperboreans who "live without toil and strife, apart from severely just Nemesis" (Pyth. 10.43-44), olKlotO't t/>VYOVT€S I {J7T€p8tKoV N€p-€O'tv, and Aeschylus declares that the spirits of the dead are avenged by the actions of mighty Nemesis (fr.266 N.): 7 o. Crusius, HAus den Dichtungen des Bakchylides," Philologus 57 (1898) 162. 8 See also A. von Premerstein, "Nemesis und ihre Bedeutung fUr die Agone," Philologus 53 (1894) 400-15. 9 See von Premerstein, op.cit. (supra n.8) 404. 10 See Jacob Stern, "Bestial Imagery in Bacchylides' Ode 11," GRBS 6 (1965) 282: "his de­ light is in a literal association, a pun or conceit ... " 11 Cited by Snell, p.25, n. on line 14. I am unable to locate the source of his citation. 12 For a full examination of the derivatives of VEp.-, see E. Laroche, Histoire de la racine NEM- en grec ancien (Paris 1949); ch. 3, pp.89-1l3, deals especially with the goddess Neme­ sis. 13 Laroche, op.cit. (supra n.12) 94-98, 104-105. GAIL W. PIEPER 231 Bacchylides would hardly have disagreed with his contemporaries so radically as to consider Nemesis responsible for making man 7TOItV~~­ [Aw'T JQS' (10) rather than for punishing mortal hybris. A third suggestion, put forward by Jebb and now generally ac­ cepted, is that the poem is addressed to the personified Hemera.14 The importance of the last day of the Olympian festival, when all the victorious athletes were honored, is clear from the scholia to Pindar's Olympian odes.15 Nevertheless, there are two arguments against identifying Hemera here. First, while Bacchylides specifically con­ nects his goddess with "judgement for swiftness of feet and strength of limb" (6-7), such a function is nowhere attributed to Hemera. Indeed, her single role in antiquity seems to have been that of lightbringer.16 Thus, Hesiod depicts her as "holding in her hands far-shining cpaoS''' (Theog. 755); Aeschylus associates her with the sunrise (Pers. 386-87); and Euripides speaks simply of the "cp'yyos of white-winged Day" (Tro. 848). Secondly, whatever ceremonies may have occurred on the sixteenth, none is recorded to have taken place during the day. Weniger's description of the morning sun shining upon the victors as they stand in the Temple of Zeus to receive their crowns is, by his own admission, hypothetical.17 The only celebration on the sixteenth of which we have definite knowledge is the public feast in the Pryta­ neum, which occurred in the evening (Paus. 5.15.12).18 Surely it would be inappropriate to request Hemera, who at sunset was just returning to her home after a long day's journey (Theog. 746-57), to preside over such a banquet. 14 Bacchy/ides, The Poems and Fragments, ed. R. C. Jebb (Cambridge 1905) 296, n. on lines 1-3. Cf The Poems of Bacchylides, from a Papyrus in the British Museum, ed. F. G. Kenyon (London 1897) 64, n. on lines 1 and 3; Blass, op.cit. (supra nA) 67; and Bakchylides Lieder und Fragmente, ed. Herwig Maehler (Berlin 1968) 140, n. on line 1. 15 Schol.vet. (Drachmann) ad Pindar 01. 3.33: iv yap Tfi' €KKa,8£KCh7]' Tfis a£A~VI)S 6 'OAVIl7TLaKOS eXywv T£A£LTa,; 3.35: 1} KaLTfi' €KKa,8£KaT7J' ylv£Ta, 1} Kp{ULS; schol.rec. ad 01. 5.8: Kat JT£A£tTO Il£XP' Kat Tfis €KKa,8£KaT7]S, iv 1jt Ta cMAa J8l8oTO. 16 W. Drexler, "Hemera," in Roscher, Lex. 1.2 (1886-90) col. 2032, remarks that after Hesiod the goddess is generally confused with Eos. H Ludwig Weniger, "Das Hochfest des Zeus in Olympia, 1. Die Ordnung der Agone," Beitriige zur alten Geschichte 4 (1904) 148. The crowning of the victors on the sixteenth rather than after each event is attested only in schol.rec. ad Pindar 01. 5.8, and is refuted by Carl Robert, "Olympische Sieger," Hermes 35 (1900) 157f, Friedrich Mie, "Die Festordnung der olympischen Spiele," Philologus 60 (1901) 170, and E. Norman Gardiner, Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals (London 1910) 200f. 18 Gardiner, op.cit. (supra n.17) 207. 232 THE PROOEMIUM OF BACCHYLIDES' ODE 7 Another possibility, that the divinity addressed is a moon goddess, deserves serious consideration. In 1898, J. Harrison suggested that the Amcxpa Bvy&'T7]p was Selene.19 She pointed out that 7T€VT~KOVTCX (2) would be in keeping with the traditional fifty-moon period and noted, in addition, how that number reappears in the myth of Selene's fifty daughters fathered by Endymion. Also supporting Miss Harrison's suggestion is the fact that the full moon was linked with the Olympian Games :20 Pindar related how Heracles established the festival at the time when the mid-month moon was driving her radiant chariot across the sky (Ol. 3.19-20): Again, in Ol. 10.75, he mentions the a€A&'vcxs EPCXTOV cp&'os which high­ lighted the first Olympian competitions. Moreover, Pausanias (5.1.4) informs us that the myth of Selene and Endymion enjoyed considerable popularity in Elis. Endymion was believed to be the fore­ father of the Elian clan of Epeios, and his fifty daughters have been connected by Boeckh with the fifty months which separated Olympic festivals.21 There are, however, two difficulties in accepting Selene as the god­ dess invoked in Ode 7. First, the genealogy given by Bacchylides is not in keeping with tradition. Generally, Selene's father was recognized as Hyperion and her mother as Theia22 or Basileia23 or Euryphaessa.24 Secondly, Selene was in the fifth century an insignificant power. Roscher lists among her various functions crop production, rain, health and childbearing,25 but most of these are influenced by Selene's identification with Artemis and Persephone.26 In any case, she never appears as a deity who judges athletic prowess, as Bacchy­ lides indicates in line 6. 19 J. Harrison, "Ode VII," CR 12 (1898) 140-41. Selene also was suggested in the same year by U. von Wilamowitz in a brief note in his review Kenyon's ed.prine., GGA 2 (1898) 130. 20 I am indebted to Professor Mark Naoumides for calling my attention to this passage. 21 Pindari Opera, ed. August Boeckh, III (Leipzig 1821) 138. 22 Hes. Theog. 371ff; Apollod. 1.2.2; Hyg. Fab. praef. p.30,1 Bunte. 23 Diod. 3.57. 24 Hymn. Hom. 31.4. 25 W. H. Roscher, Selene und Verwandtes (Leipzig 1890) 49-94. 26 See The Homeric Hymns, ed. T. W. Allen, W. R. Halliday and E. E. Sikes (Oxford 1936) 432. GAIL W. PIEPER 233 In lieu of Selene, therefore, I suggest another lunar goddess, Hekate. As a divinity of the moon, Hekate enjoys the same advantages as Selene (i.e. the fifty months, the association with the Olympian festival).27 Unlike Selene, however, her power is not insignificant. At Theog. 411-52, she is given an outstanding position among the gods.28 She holds privilege in earth, sea and heaven; she sits with kings in judgement and with demagogues in the assembly; she gives aid to soldiers in battle; and "good is she also when men contend in sport" (Theog. 435-38): , 0 \' "" "'0" I' " '" ' 0 \ I ,~ Ea I\YJ 0 av 07T07 avopES aE I\EVWaW aywv£ "B B' ,~ I , "" , I EV a Ea KaL TOLS 7TapayLyvETa£ YJO OVLVTja£v I "" Q I ".. \' "B\ VLKYJaas OE f-ILYJL KaL KapTEL Kal\OV aE I\OV • ~ ,I,. I I ~ '" , ~'" " y pELa '(JEpEL xaLpwv TE TOKEva£ OE KVOOS O7Ta",EL. The parallels with Bacchylides' ode are clear. Hekate decides the apLCTTaAKES CTBEVOS (7) of the athlete, awards the YEpas vLKas (8-9), brings honor (EvoogoS, 9) to the victor, and bestows fame on his family name ('Ap~[aTofL]4f{EL]OV ••• EKoafLYJ[aas, 10-11 cj. Blass). To be sure, Hesiod conceives of her as the daughter of the Titan Perses and Asterie (Theog. 411). But this lineage was not fixed, for Musaeus considered her to be the child of Asterie and Zeus'29 and Euripides (Phoen. 108) makes her the descendant of Leto. More sig­ nificant is the genealogy attributed to her by Bacchylides in fr.1 B.: Tav tE[p NVKl TbS fLEyaAoKoA7TOV BryaTEp Here in the setting of a formal hymn the poet identifies Hekate as the "torch-bearing daughter of Night." The epithet oa[ooc/>opos, de­ rived from her function as goddess of the moon, may be compared with