MILLER, ANDREW M., Apolline Ethics and Olympic Victory in Pindar's Eighth "Pythian 67-78" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.461 Apolline Ethics and Olympian Victory in Pindar's Eighth Pythian 67-78 Andrew M. Miller T HE FOURTH and penultimate triad of Pindar's eighth Pythian Ode, composed for Aristomenes of Aegina, begins and ends as a catalogue of the youthful wrestler's athletic successes: the current triumph at Pytho, an earlier victory in the pentathlon at the Aeginetan Delphinia, and wins at Megara, Marathon, and the Aeginetan Heraia. In the middle of the triad, inserted between the first two and last three items of the victory-catalogue, there appears a passage of some eleven lines that has given rise to considerable scholarly discussion and controversy, both regarding its overall intention and train of thought and in particular details of grammatical construction, punctuation, and text. 1 'tu 8', 'EKU'tU~OA£, 1taVOOKOV VUOV EUKAEa ~haVEJlWv TIuS&vo<; EV yuaAol<;, 'to Jl£V JlEYlcr'tOV 'tOSl XUPJla'twv 65 w1tucra<;, OlKOl O£ 1tPOcrSEv ap1tuAtav OOcrlV 1tEV'tUESAiou cruv Eop'ta'i<; 1lJla'i<; E1t EKacr'tov, ocra VEOJlal. 1 The following works will be cited by author's name alone: E. L. BUNDY, Studia Pindarica (Berkeley 1962); R. W. B. BURTON, Pindar's Pythian Odes (Oxford 1962); W. CHRIST, Pindari carmina prolegomenis et commentariis instructa (Leipzig 1896); L. R. FARNELL, The Works of Pindar II (London 1930); C. A. M. FENNELL, Pindar: the Olympian and Pythian Odes (Cambridge 1893); G. FRACCAROLI, Le odi di Pindaro II (Verona 1894); B. L. GILDERSLEEVE, Pindar: the Olympian and Pythian Odes2 (New York 1890); T. K. HUBBARD, "Pindaric Harmonia: Pythian 8, 67-9," Mnemosyne SER. IV 36 (1983) 286-92; G. KIRKWOOD, Selections from Pin dar, Edited with an Introduction and Commentary (Chico 1982); F. MEZGER, Pindars Siegeslieder (Leipzig 1880); O. SCHROEDER, Pindars Pythien (Leipzig 1922); W. J. SLATER, Lexicon to Pindar (Berlin 1969); J. TAILLARDAT, ·Sur deux passages de la vme Pythique," REG 99 (1986) 225-38. 461 MILLER, ANDREW M., Apolline Ethics and Olympic Victory in Pindar's Eighth "Pythian 67-78" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.461 462 APOLLINE ETHICS AND OLYMPIAN VICTORY 70 Krollcp Il£V aOUIlEA.£'i ~tKa. 7ta.pEO'ta.KE· 8Erov 0' 07ttv licp8ovov a.i'tE((), EEVa.pKEe;;, UIlE'tEpa.te;; 'tuxa.te;;. d yap ne;; EOAa 7tE7ta.'ta.t 1li1 ouv Ila.KP

Kapoi~ 7tpoa'trov, makes the laudator's prediction of further Olympic triumphs for the Oligaithidai perfectly intelligible, the absence of an infinitive to complete the sense of EA1tOJlat both leaves the precise nature of his "hopeful expectation" verbally unspecified and deprives the demonstrative 'to,ho of a concrete referent in the immediate context. Likewise in Nem. 10.29-33 it is not merely Theaios who refrains from explicitly naming the object of his passionate longing (an Olympic victory to complete his 1tEpioooC;); so too does the laudator, who however contrives to convey it unam­ biguously to his audience through his invocation of "father Zeus," his use of a rhetorical ploy ("I speak to those who know") that signals both the presence and the intelligibility of allusive or figurative speech,s and his final aetiological gloss on the phrase EOXcl'tCl>V at9ACI>v Kop'U, 4 For further discussion of this point see infra 476; cf. C. Carey, CQ N.s. 39 (1989) 293. 5 E.g. Aesch. Ag. 38f; Bacchyl. 3.85. Other functions include straightforward acknowledgement that what is about to be said is already known to the listener (e.g. Il. 1.365; Pyth. 4.142), appeal for sympathetic understanding (e.g. Il. 23.787f; Aesch. Supp. 742), and justification of the abbreviation or omission of a topic (e.g. Il. 10.249f; Thuc. 2.36.4). 6 Cf. Fennell 127. MILLER, ANDREW M., Apolline Ethics and Olympic Victory in Pindar's Eighth "Pythian 67-78" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.461 ANDREW M. MILLER 465 ':'EVUpKE~, i>J.1E'tEpUt~ 'tUXUt~) 7 is likely to arise from the same cause, since the agonistic cursus honorum makes it probable that if further Panhellenic competition is being contemplated by the IIuetoVt1CTl~ and his family it is the Olympic games that they will have their eyes on (see Miller [supra n.3]). That there is precedent for such achievement in the family has been established earlier in the ode by the reference to Aristomenes' maternal uncle Theognetos (35£), an Olympic wrestler who earned the honor of an epigram by Simonides8 and whose importance as a role-model for his nephew is underscored both by the image of the youth "following in his footsteps" (35, ixvEUWV) and by the principle of inherited ability that is illustrated in the myth that follows (ef 44f, q)U~ 'to 'YEVVUtOV E7tt7tPE7tEt EK 7tU'tEPWV 7tUtat A:ftJ.1U). (3) In all three rassages the hope or wish expressed by the laudator on behal of the victor and/or his family gives rise to the pious reflection that man's ambitions necessarily depend upon divine power and favor for their fulfillment. This idea, which might be called the 'knees of the gods' topos after Od. 1.267 (v oE xapiaxn}-an echo of Od. 1.267 may well be intended-undergoes considerable elaboration both fore and aft. On the one hand it is extended and developed in line 77 by another common topos, that of the gods' power to reverse human fortunes by bringing down the mighty and exalt­ ing the low,9 here appropriately couched in language that re­ flects Aristomenes' particular metier of wrestling: "But these things do not lie within men's power; it is the god who provides them, putting at different times one man on top and another beneath the hands Esc. of his opponent]. "10 On the other hand, whereas in 01. 13 and Nem. 10 the cknees of the gods' topos follows directly upon the expression of hope for future success, in Pyth. 8 a sentence intervenes which purports to explain or justify (73, d yap nc;) 11 the laudator's prayer for the "regard of the gods": although12 success achieved without long effort is 9 Cf. Hes. Op. sf with references ad loco in M. L. West, Hesiod: Works and Days (Oxford 1978) 139f. 10 Cf 1: 108: 1to·ti: ~Ev lD .. AO'tE aAAov {HI''TlA.OV 1tOtrov, liAAotE ~£ {moxtipwv 1tmrov Kal oilC'tpov Kal 'ta1t£tVov ; U. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff (Pindaros [Berlin 1922] 442 n.3) sees a -Bild vom Ringkampf wegen des Siegers." To take ~an .. (J)v as <; denoting helpless subjection to superior power cf Theog. 363; Aesch. Supp. 392; Hdt. 1.106, 3.154, 5.91, 6.45; for the two locutions combined in a single sentence cf. Soph. El. 1 090f, ~ron<; ~Ot lCa8{)1c£p8£v XEtpl Kat 1tAOU'tcp urov Ex8prov ooov vuv 1J1COZ£tp vaiEt~. In taking XElProv as the participle of XElpOro Taillardat attributes to the divinity of line 77--mettant l'un (Ie vainqueur) au­ dessus et, au-dessous, affaiblissant l'autre (Ie vaincu)" -activities that seem scarcely to accord with his conception of a ~ai~rov-~pa~£u~ (see n.S2 infra). lIOn the usage of yap that - gives the motive for saying that which has just been said" see J. D. Denniston, The Greek Particles (Oxford 1934) 60, and cf Farnell 198, Lloyd-Jones (supra n.10) 161. 12 Considerations of sense indicate that what 'explains' the prayer is not in fact the yap-sentence alone but the unit of thought formed by the linking of that sentence to the next through adversative Oi. Burton (187) accurately represents the logical relationship between the two clauses in his pa'raphrase: ·Pindar warns the victor that though easy success may seem to many people to mark a man 'wise among fools' (v. 74), it is upon ~ai~(J)v that good fortune depends .... " (emphasis added). Gildersleeve (332) makes the same point in a different way when he calls 73ff -mere foil to v. 76." For another example of ya.p ... ~£='for, although ... still ... : cf. 01. 8.23ff: Themis can be said to be pre­ eminently cultivated on Aegina because, although (yap) scrupulous probity in commercial transactions is difficult to achieve, nevertheless (~£) a divine MILLER, ANDREW M., Apolline Ethics and Olympic Victory in Pindar's Eighth "Pythian 67-78" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.461 ANDREW M. MILLER 467 viewed by most people as an indication of the ability to manage one's life intelligently,13 nevertheless it remains true that success of any kind lies outside men's power to control (and thus must humbly be asked for). We must take it as axiomatic that lines 73ff are applicable to the case at hand only per contrarium: in view of his often-enunciated poVttV vOJlit;oJltv; H ipp. 700f, do' t\\ y' E1tpa~a. KclP't' nv tv opiva<; KtK'tTtJltOa), then success gained with a minimum of effort is even more likely to impress the 'Vulgus as constituting proof that one has truly mastered the business of living through the application of intelligent planning (bpOopoUAotCJl JlUx,avat<;). 14 See Slater s. 'V'V. 1tovo<;. Jl6:x.9o<;. KclJlU'tO<;. 15 So e.g. Schroeder 73, who refers to Cden miihelos immerfort siegreichen jungen Ringer"; cf Kirkwood 212. MILLER, ANDREW M., Apolline Ethics and Olympic Victory in Pindar's Eighth "Pythian 67-78" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.461 468 APOLLINE ETHICS AND OLYMPIAN VICTORY wunsch,16 there are other elements in the passage that require some explication if the interpretation is to be successfully sus­ tained throughout the passage as a whole. These are (1) the prayer concerning apJ10via (67ff), (2) the statement about "Jus­ tice standing beside the lCOOJ10C;" (70f), and (3) the final injunction J1£-tPCP 1(a'ta~atv' (78). (1) The apf.lovia-prayer. The evidence of etymology and usage 17 suggests that the idea which apJ10via is intended to convey in Pyth. 8.68, whether directly as an abstract-noun equivalent of the corresponding verb apJ16~Etv (in its common sense of 'befit, suit')18 or, as is perhaps more probable, indirectly through a musical metaphor (the appropriate 'fit' of strings on a 16 M. R. Lefkowitz, C] 72 (1977) 214, terms Pyth. 8.67ff a ·prayer for con­ tinued success" without elaborating further on its specific content as such. See also n.55 infra. 17 A cursory survey of the protean uses of apllovla reveals as an underlying (and etymologically original: see under ap- in H. Frisk, Griechisches ety­ moiogisches Worterbuch [Heidelberg 1960]) semantic core the notion of the 'joining' or 'fitting together' of disparate elements; the musical sense ('method of tuning, scale, mode') that predominates from the fourth century onward­ and that is borne by the word in its other occurrences as a common noun in Pindar (Nem. 4.45, fr.140b.2}--derives from this fundamental constant no less obviously than the apparently heterogeneous meanings attested for the word in the fifth century and earlier (e.g. 'pact, covenant, agreement' in IL 22.255, 'fastenings' to keep a ship's planks in place in ad. 5.248,361, 'cosmic order' in Aesch. PV 551, 'joint' or 'seam' in a ship's side in Hdt. 2.96, Ar. Eq. 533, and physiological/psychological 'temperament' in Eur. Hipp. 162). The same basic sense can be seen to underlie the various applications of the corresponding verb apIlO~ElV (Attic apJ.L6't'tElv): meanings found before the fourth century include, in addition to the 'adjusting' or 'tuning' of lyre-strings (e.g. Ar. Eq. 989f), the 'fitting' of armor to the body (ll. 3.333, 17.210), the 'joining' of planks to build a raft (ad. 5.247), and the 'matching' of spouses in marriage (e.g. Pyth. 9.13, 117; Hdt. 9.108, 5.32). Used intransitively, apJ.lo't'tElV regularly means 'suit, befit, be appropriate', a usage especially frequent in fourth-century philosophical and rhetorical contexts (see Taillardat 229f), particularly in con­ nection with the adequacy of verbal expression to subject matter (e.g. PI. Phdr. 278D, Tht. 183B; Isoc. Paneg. 82, Panath. 225; Dem 21.166) and the suitability of particular topics or styles to particular circumstances (e.g. Isoc. Panath. 126, Peace 1, Ant. 10, 270; Dem. 24.4, 61.2), but found as well in fifth-century poetry (e.g. Soph. Trach. 731, Ei. 1293). The participle is used in this sense in Pyth. 4.129, /;tin' apllo~ov'ta 't£uxrov (guest-gifts such as 'fit' the stature of the recipients and the nature of the occasion). Cf also Nem. 1.21, EvOa IlOt ap­ IlOStoV SEl1tVOV KEKoO'lll1'tat; Oi. 3.5: AroPlC!> cprov ii 'IoA.aot' Evapll0l;at V1.V UllvC!>. 18 So e.g. Taillardat 229: ·depuis Homere, apllovla joue Ie role de nomen action is (et rei actae) n!pondant au verbe apJ.L6~£\.v/apll6t't£\V: au sens concret, apllOvla est l' ajustage, au sens abstrait l' adaptation, l' accord, etc." MILLER, ANDREW M., Apolline Ethics and Olympic Victory in Pindar's Eighth "Pythian 67-78" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.461 ANDREW M. MILLER 469 lyre or notes in a scale),19 is 'fittingness' or 'appropriateness'2o­ in other words, precisely that notion of 'what is proper, appropriate, just right' that in archaic and classical Greek is regularly denominated Kalpoc;;. 21 The many passages in Pindar's odes in which kairos is invoked as a principle of rhetorical appropriateness (whether the 'right amount' of discourse on a particular topic, the 'appropriate selection' from among various topics, or 'thematic relevance' to the business at hand)22 may seem to offer prima facie support to the commonly held view that in Pyth. 8.67ff the laudator is asking Apollo for assistance in 19 Cf. Hubbard 288; Kirkwood 211. It is difficult to imagine how an audience could fail to think of the word's musical associations when it appears as part of a prayer to Apollo, the patron deity of music (and specifically of lyre-playing). 20 Such, in essence, is the conclusion of Taillardat 230f and of Hubbard 288f, although they differ in regard to the semantic derivation and specific application of the 'fittingness' involved. The latter sees apJlovt7tEvOtow apJ.Lo­ ~£l J.I.]axat~ aA.ol~). Although hypomneses are frequently cast in the form of a con­ di tional protasis (" if ever in the past") to which the request is the apodotic conclusion ("then on the present occasion also"), in both II. 16.236f and Pyth. 8.64ff an alternative form is adopted whereby the statement of past favors is srntactically coor­ dinated with the request (by itJltv ... itot in I . 16, by OE alone in Pyth. 8) instead of being subordinated to it. Each hypomnesis is in addition internally articulated by a JlEV/Ot construction, con­ trasting two different perspectives on the same action in II. 16.237 and two separate acts of divine favor, present and past, in Pyth. 8.64ff. Although the request is much longer and more complicated in Achilles' prayer than in Pyth. 8.67f (less than half of it is quoted above), in each case its introduction is accom­ panied by a renewed apostrophe (EUPU01to. ZEU .... ibVo.~) that serves to bind the final section of the prayer to its beginning. 27 Considerations of generic form thus dictate that Pyth. 8.67ff cannot be detached from the preceding six lines, of which they form the conclusion and climax. Since the prayer as a rhetorical structure is in essence an argument that builds from propitiation of the divinity, through the establishment of a prior claim upon him, to the lodging of a request which that claim justifies, the 27 For other examples of renewed apostrophe in the request section of an euche cf. II. 16.523, ava~. 'toOt lCap'ttpOv £A.lCO<; alCtOOal ; Od. 5.450, au' EA£mpt, ava~ Il. 5.117, 10.280, 15.375. MILLER, ANDREW M., Apolline Ethics and Olympic Victory in Pindar's Eighth "Pythian 67-78" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.461 472 APOLLINE ETHICS AND OLYMPIAN VICTORY logic of the form necessarily breaks down if the person on whose behalf the request is made is not the same as (or at least closely related to)28 the person whose claim on the god's consideration the hypomnesis establishes. Precisely such a rhetorical non sequitur results if lines 67ff are understood as expressing the laudator's desire for divine assistance in dis­ charging his poetic responsibilities, a desire on which the favor hitherto shown by Apollo to Aristomenes at the Pythian and Delphinian games can have no possible bearing. What the structure of argument inherent in the prayer-form requires is that the request in lines 67ff, although formulated in the first person, should in fact pertain to Aristomenes-a circumstance for which there is ample precedent elsewhere in the Pindaric corpus in the phenomenon of the so-called first-person in­ definite. According to this rhetorical convention the 'I' whose utterance an epinician purports to be may on occasion espouse a view, declare an intention, or express a desire not in his per­ sonal role as commissioned encomiast but as a generalized spokesman for all right-thinking persons, including-most notably and relevantly-the victor. 29 Relatively extensive examples of this convention can be found in Pyth. 3.107ff, com­ mending flexible adaptation to changing circumstances and the use of wealth as a means of securing fame, and in Pyth. 11.50ff, commending a life of moderation and devotion to public good; the first sentence of the latter passage (8£68£v epxil) of which the lines constitute the climax. It should also be noted how the omission of third-person pronouns in lines 64££ -Aristomenes is only implied as the indirect object of w1tacrac; and E1t(lyaYEc;-ensures that there is no jarring juxtaposition of 'he' and'!' within the prayer.31 For the most part the syntactical ambiguities with which lines 67ff are rife do not materially affect their force as a first-person indefinite utterance. 32 Whether £KOV'tt ... voro is to be construed with EuxoJlal ("with full willingness 1 pray")' or with ~M1tElV ("I pray that with full willingness"),33 whether Kata. 'ttV' apJloviav is to be taken as a prepositional phrase modifying ~A.E1tElV used absolutely ("to look in accordance with a kind of harmonia "),34 or 'ttV' apJloviav serves as the direct object of Kata ... ~M1tElV in tmesis ("to keep my gaze fixed on a sort of harmonia"),35 or nv' 31 The lack of any specific mention of Aristomenes in 64ff is emphasized (al­ though interpreted differently) by E. D. Floyd, GRBS 6 (1965) 195f. It may be objected that the T of EUXO~Cll and VEO~Cll cannot be indefinite when that of ai'tEro three lines later clearly refers-and only can refer-to the laudator in propria persona; but cf Nem. 1. 3 Off, where the indefinite OUK Epa~Cll1toA:uv tv ~Eyap'll 1tAOU'tOV Ka'taKp{nvCllC; EXEtV (expressing what is-or at least should be-Chromios' own proairesis) is followed within two lines by the encomi­ astic tyro o· 'HpaKAEoc; av'tEXO~at 1tpo 'AP1- o'tollivT}~ lCo.1 t1tl'tT}od(J)~' clyo.9<>~ yap tou) onward; it has most recently been advanced by A. Burnett, CP 84 (1989) 292. Of course the word lCrollo~ fre­ quently does bear this meaning, often while accompanied by a form of 00£ (e.g. OL 4.9,8.10, 14.16; Pyth. 5.22); see, in addition to Burnett, C. Carey, AJP 110 (1989) 548f. Moreover, OtlCo. is amply attested as denoting encomiastic equity, the just matching of word to deed; cf. 01. 2.96, 6.12; Pyth. 9.96; Nem. 3.29, 7,48; Bacchyl. 11.123, 13.202, and see Bundy 61; H. Gundert, Pindar und sein Dichterberuf (Frankfurt a. M. 1935) 65, 67f. 46 On the komos as victory-revel see now M. Heath, AJP 109 (1988) 180-95; his attempt to demonstrate that as used by Pindar the word always denotes a -festive procession" quite distinct from the formal ode has been persuasively rebutted by Burnett and Carey (see previous note). On passages in which victory-revel and formal ode are explicitly contrasted (e.g. 01. 9. Iff; Nem. 4.1ff, 9,48ff; Isthm. 8.lf£), see Bundy 2, 11, 22f. In Pyth. 8.18ff the reference to Apollo - receiving Xenarkes' son from Kirrha" makes it clear that ~(J)Pl£'i lCcOllCP must signify an impromptu victory-procession mounted by the athlete's friends at Delphi (cf. Wilamowitz [supra n.10] 440; Schroeder 69f; Burton 180) rather than the group of young men who are presently performing the ode on Aegina. The presence of ixOUIl£A.£'i in Pyth. 8.70 poses no obstacle to under- MILLER, ANDREW M., Apolline Ethics and Olympic Victory in Pindar's Eighth "Pythian 67-78" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.461 ANDREW M. MILLER 479 victor who, in his role as "master of the komos" (O/. 6.18), must set the tone for the proceedings, the presence of "Righteousness" at this particular celebration necessarily reflects credit on Aristomenes' character; 47 specifically, it signals his aversion to and rejection of that uncontrolled and arrogant self-assertion, whether directed against one's fellows or against the powers and conditions that govern human life, to which the Greeks gave the name hybris. The dikelhybris antithesis is found as early as the Odyssey48 and persists throughout archaic poetry.49 The contexts in which it is operative are various. In a civic or political context (and thus regularly in such poets as Hesiod, Solon, and Theognis) dike denotes respect for established principles of equity, and hybris the sort of self-aggrandizement that ignores the rights of others and the common good. In the context of the sym­ posium, which ideally reproduces in minature the social harmony of a well-ordered polis, Dike and her two sister Horai, Eunomia and Eirene, are the presiding powers through whom the hybris of excessive drinking, unruly behavior, and physical violence is banished. 50 These two contexts, the political and the sympotic, are found implicitly linked in the final triad of Pyth. 4, where Damophilos' "righteous mind" (280f, Ol1(CUUV ... 1tpcx.1ttOwv) is manifest in, among other things, his rejection of hy bris against the established social order (284f, EJ.lcx.9E 0' U~Pt~ov'tu JltOElV, OUK £Pl~ffiV av'tlU'tOte; ayu90te;) and his desire to partake of the peaceful joys of the symposium with his fel­ low Cyrenaeans (294-97, oUJ.L1tOOtUe; Eq>E1tffiV ... 'ilouxtU 6lyEJ.lEV). In Isthm. 7.47f, finally, where the fate of the overreacher Beller­ ophon provokes the gnomic comment 'to Of 1tap OlKUV yAUx:U 1tlKPO'to.'tU J.lEVEl 'tEAEU'to., dike is implicitly opposed to hybris in its largest existential sense of presumption toward the gods. standing the komos as Aristomenes' victory-revel; for song as an element of such festivities, cf. Nem. 9.49, 6apaaUa o£ 1tapa xpa'tl1pa 0£ oixatOt. 49 Cf. Hes. Op. 213 and the references cited by West (supra n.9) ad loc., to which add Theog. 44f; Solon 4.7f, 33ff; 13.7ff. 50 See W. T. Slater. ICS 6 (1981) 205-14. MILLER, ANDREW M., Apolline Ethics and Olympic Victory in Pindar's Eighth "Pythian 67-78" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.461 480 APOLLINE ETHICS AND OLYMPIAN VICTORY It is likely that the allusion to the presence of Dika at Aris­ tomenes' komos is intended to draw upon this entire complex of ideas. In his hour of triumph Aristomenes has neither violated festal decorum by unrestrained elation, nor insulted his townsmen with insolent swagger, nor entertained thoughts of "becoming Zeus," but has instead exhibited a modesty and circumspection that do fitting honor to his divine patron. In praying for, and thus commending, an ever vigilant regard for 'fittingness' in each and every situation that unfolds, the lau­ dator is speaking of something that the victor already possesses and that he confidently expects him to continue to exhibit. Moreover, implicit in the antithesis set up by the ~£v/o£ con­ struction in lines 70ff-"Thus and such, as reflected in his victory-revel, has been Aristomenes' behavior on the present occasion; may thus and such be the gods' response in future" -is the thought that the righteousness of Aristomenes' attitude and conduct hitherto provides ground for hope that the laudator's request for the gods' "unbegrudged regard" in the sphere of athletic competition will be heeded.51 (3) J1trpfP 1(ara/3alv '.52 Short as it is, the clause with which our 51 One might compare 01. 4. 12ff, where the general prayer, eEOC; EUq>prov tiT} Aoutaic; EuXaiC;, is grounded (hd) in praise of the victor's i7mo't poq> ia, q>\AO;EVta, and devotion to civic tranquillity. Although both Fraccaroli and Gundert see in lCcOJ.lCfl a reference to the ode rather than to Aristomenes' victory-revel, each succeeds in capturing the force of the JJ1,v/or. construction in his praphrase: ail poeta inserisce una ... preghiera ... che la protezione degli Dei si mantenga sempre sopra la famiglia de Senarco, il che e ragionevole sperare, poiche Dice ... e presente al canto e assiste il poeta" (Fraccaroli 138f; emphasis added); -Dika (70f. J.lr.v) steht dem Komos zur Seite. So kann er [the poet] endlich (71f. or.) urn neidlose Fiirsorge der Gotter fiir die Geschicke der Familie bitten, denn im Preis ihres Gliickes ist Gewahr gegen Hybris; die folgende Weisheit von de Ohnmacht menschlichen Beginnens bezeugt es" (Gundert [supra n.45] 75; emphasis added). Farnell (197) asserts that -J.lEV and OE come dangerously near to a suggestion that Justice was present with them on this occasion but might not be in future," adding that Pindar -could not of course say this." On the latter point, at any rate, Farnell must be right; such an uncomplimentary implication could scarcely be reconciled with the ode's encomiastic purpose. 52 Editors in addition to Bowra who have accepted Bergk's emendation lC(l'ta~a\V' include Gildersleeve, Christ, Farnell, Puech (supra n.7), and Turyn (supra n.7); see also Lloyd-Jones (supra n.10) 161 n.l. The objections raised against J.l£'tpcp lCa'ta~a\V' by e.g. K. Crotty (Song and Action: the Victory Odes of Pindar [Baltimore 1982] 141) and Kirkwood (212) assume (with e.g. LSJ; Gildersleeve 332; Farnell 199) that the phrase must be an injunction against excessive participation in athletic competition, a notion which they rightly reject as foreign to the epinician ethos; as Kirkwood notes, - modera­ tion is for one's attitude, not for competitive effort." It is, however, precisely MILLER, ANDREW M., Apolline Ethics and Olympic Victory in Pindar's Eighth "Pythian 67-78" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.461 ANDREW M. MILLER 481 passage concludes is deftly contrived to serve a transitional function, pointing backward in its conceptual content and forward in its grammatical form. Although Aristomenes and his athletic career have been the topic of discourse throughout the triad, explicit reference to the youth has been avoided by a variety of stylistic and rhetorical means: the omission of third­ person pronouns in 64ff, the use of the first-person indefinite in 67ff, the address to Xenarkes in 71£, the generalizing language of 73-77 (nc;, uvopacJl, aAAov/aAAov ). Thus by focusing the spotlight of attention directly on Aristomenes for the first time since line 38, the second-person imperative 1(o:ta~atv' has the effect of preparing the audience for the imminent resumption of his interrupted victory-catalogue in 78ff (EX£tC;, roptatOJlEVEC;, oaJlaaaac;, EJl7tEtEC;). In terms of content, on the other hand, the injunction to "keep on entering contests 53 in accordance with the principle of due measure" brings the underlying train of thought in the preceding ten lines to a pithy conclusion. Although in the recent contest at Pytho it was Aristomenes whom the daimon "placed on top" and his four opponents who found themselves "under the hands" of a superior wrestler, the outcome of his endeavors on another occasion could easily be very different: he lives, after all, in a world of flux where men's only certainty is their inability to control their own destinies, where-as the ode's famous final triad will soon make vividly apparent­ triumph and defeat, light and dark, joy and sorrow follow one another in precariously unpredictable alternation. 54 In the "great the athlete's attitude toward his achievements that proves to be at issue in the passage as a whole. Interpretations involving a transitive 1(a'ta~a{v£\ (l: 111 a av't1. 'tou 1(a'ta~a{v£\v 1tou::i : cf. e.g. A. Boeckh, Pindari opera quae supersunt 11.2 [Leipzig 1811-32] 317; Fennell 243; Fraccaroli 139 n.2; Wilamowitz [supra n.l0] 442) founder on the facts of usage (the present stem of ~a{v£\v and its compounds is always intransitive), while to have the daimon enter the lists as a wrestler (e.g. Burton 189; Lefkowitz [supra n.16] 215; Kirkwood 213) results in the anomalous picture of three simultaneous combatants. Objecting to the last-mentioned view, Taillardat (232-37) proposes instead the image of an umpire who descends into the arena along with the two contestants and ad­ judicates victory and defeat while wielding the rhabdos (=~E'tpOV) that is his badge of office; but this conception is difficult to reconcile with the highly active role attributed to the daimon in line 77; see supra n.IO. 53 For this sense of 1(a'ta~a{v£tv see LS1 S.7). 1.3. 54 Note that when the victory-catalogue resumed in line 78 concludes with a climactic return to Aristomenes' current achievement at Pytho (8Iff), what is dwelt on first is not the joy of success but the pain and disgrace endured by the defeated. At the same time that this emphasis on the consequences of MILLER, ANDREW M., Apolline Ethics and Olympic Victory in Pindar's Eighth "Pythian 67-78" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.461 482 APOLLINE ETHICS AND OLYMPIAN VICTORY luxury» of the present moment, flushed with the joy of his recent achievement and the hope that it inspires, he "soars aloft on winged deeds of manhood, entertaining an ambition su­ perior to wealth» (88-92): b oE KaAOv tt v£ov AaXcOv a~p6'ta't<><; txt JU:YclAa<;; £~ £AXtOO<;; xE'ta'tat t , , , " 'U7t07t'tEpOt<;; avopEat<;;, EXrov Kp£(J(Jova 7tAOU'tO'U J.L£ptJ.Lvav. One triumph begets the desire for another; the sweet sense of satisfaction at having proved one's abilities in action yields soon enough to though ts of further trials and-may the gods be willingt-further successes. Under the patronage of Delphic Apollo, preceptor of self-knowledge and self-control, the young wrestler has climbed step by step, victory by victory, to his present peak of glory at the Pythian games. According to the agonistic cursus honorum the next step, for one whose KaAOv tt v£ov has been obtained at Pytho, is Olympia;55 thus now more than ever, as Aristomenes contemplates the path before him (o(Ja v£oJ.Lat) that leads toward further contests and the possibility of still more glorious prizes, he must see to it that he continues to pursue his athletic career-the verbal aspect of the imperative is significant 56-w ith the same cautious moderation of outlook that has characterized it thus far, never losing sight of the innate limitations under which his species victory for those who fail to win it throws the glory of Aristomenes' position into high relief, it also inevitably inspires chastening thoughts of the pre­ cariousness of human happiness, of the narrow line that separates joy from misery; cf Hubbard (supra n.29) 89; Lloyd-Jones (supra 0.10) 161. 55 Among scholars who recognize an allusion to Olympian ambitions in 88-92 are Boeckh (supra n.52) 319f; F raccaroli 141; and Mezger 398. Boeckh's remarks are particularly apt: -Nempe maiora appetit ex magna ilIa spe: Aris­ tomenes credo Olympicam cupiebat victoriam; poeta vero anxius est ne ille ausis excidat, ideoque commode de fortunae fragilitate admonet ... unde tam diserte et tam lugubri sententia de imbecillitate generis humani loquitur." The interpretation of 67-78 that I have been advancing here simply retrojects this insight into the penultimate triad. 5& The series of present imperatives addressed to Hieron in Pyth. 1.85ff (on which see A. Kohnken, Hermes 98 [1970] 7-13) has an identical force: keep on doing the (admirable) things you have been doing thus far. MILLER, ANDREW M., Apolline Ethics and Olympic Victory in Pindar's Eighth "Pythian 67-78" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.461 ANDREW M. MILLER 483 labors or of the unbridgeable gulf that separates his world from the "bronze-floored abode of the gods. "57 In conclusion, Pyth. 8.67-78 should be added to the roster of Pindaric Siegeswunsche. At the heart of the passage we find an overt request for divine favor (71£), phrased with tactful general­ ity and piously qualihed by an extended treatment of the (knees of the gods' tapas (73-77). The first two sentences and the last two words of the passage, which initially appear to have no for­ mal or thematic parallels in other victory-wishes, frove to serve a function that is paralleled, namely the ethica charac­ terization of the victor. In Of. 13.101-106 and Nem. 10.29-33 this it801totia is achieved through the various maneuvers of indirection noted earlier, the laudator's circumspection of manner reflecting favorably upon the athletes whose advocate and intercessor he is. The effect is particularly marked in Nem. 10.29ff, where the innate modesty and piety of which Theaios' own silence gives such eloquent testimony 58 seem to be perfectly mirrored in the tactful reserve with which the laudator articulates his unspoken longings; the total impression created is one of dignified humility in the face of divine power and human limitation. In Pyth. 8 the ethical effect created by an even more veiled expression of hope for the 'tUXa t of the victor's family is reinforced by the appearance on either side of the victory-wish proper of elements-prayer, statement, injunction-that with varying degrees of explicitness attribute to Aristomenes the requisite existential modesty in his attitude toward his own achievements, past, present, and future. Not surprisingly, the key terms used to characterize this young protege of Apollo-apJlovia, ~iKa, JlE'tpOV, 'fittingness', ' right­ eousness', 'due measure'-all belong to the same constellation 57 Christ (200) sees in IlE'tp'll lCu'ta~UtV' a poetic variation of the "vulgar for­ mula" IlE'tpOV ap\(l'tov, and Mezger (407) paraphrases: "gehe in den Schranken des Masses einher=hiite dich vor Ueberhebung!" The Apolline associations of the phrase are explicitly spelled out by G. Coppola, Introduzione a Pindaro (Rome 1931) 210: "'vivi con misura' con la norma di vita dettata dalla sapienza del dio, poiche qui Apollo vi e invocato in tutti i suoi attributi, come dio della giustizia e della vita, come il saggio iddio del yviixh (lUU'tov e del IlTlOEV ayuv." 58 Cf l: 53b: (;)v yE I!TtV E1tl8UIlEt 'tUXEtV, EV O\uvo\.«t lCpU1t'tEt mo)1tWV DllY'rO VfJ.l.fCJ'T1fOV; Christ 312: "Olympica certamina subire Theaeum meditar~ sed ob verecundiam nondum aperte fateri poeta significat" (emphasis added). The prepositional prefix in 1tUPat'tEt'tat perhaps adds an implication of indirection (so Fennell [supra n.7] 126) or of "reverent shyness" (so Gildersleeve 194 on OL 8.3, 1tUpU1tEtpwv'tat). MILLER, ANDREW M., Apolline Ethics and Olympic Victory in Pindar's Eighth "Pythian 67-78" , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 30:4 (1989) p.461 484 APOLLINE ETHICS AND OLYMPIAN VICTORY of ethical concepts and precepts as the Delphic maxims "Know thyself" and "Nothing too much." 59 Imbued with the Apolline spirit, Aristomenes understands (or so his encomiast wishes to assure us) that as a necessary condition for further achievement he must temper all hopes and aspirations, particularly those for so august a prize as an Olympic victory, with a vigilant regard for his mortallimitations.6Q UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH July, 1990 59 The conceptual associations among the three terms is noted by e.g. Hub­ bard 291, although in his view the first two are to be taken as characterizing the laudator and only the third is applied to the laudandus. 60 I wish to thank Joel Lidov, Hayden Pelliccia, William Race, and the anonymous referee for valuable comments and suggestons.