Miscellaneous Essays on Pindar

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1895 Excerpt: ...xoptuwv, line 7) to voluntative enkomiastic futures (here ftufro, line 6) is conventional, as is the appending of iirti or yap clauses ort once), containing the ground for praise (often itemized lists or summaries of iperai), to the singer's announcement of his readiness to praise.26 Lines 12 f., containing a reference to Herakles and the hounds of Geruon, form the bridge to the first full crescendo in lines 14 ff. This is an instance of the use of (comparative) irrelevance as foil--a device more common in transition than elsewhere. Here, the laudator has every intention of introducing Herodotos, for whom lines 1-13 are foil, and no intention of wandering off into the legendary glories of Thebes. Yet he cannot introduce Herodotos at this point without ruining the effect of the implied series: not Dalos, not Thebes; not Apollo, not the Isthmos; but Herodotos. The name he is "seeking" to climax his meditations cannot follow immediately upon the climax reached in the mention of six Isthmian crowns. Attention must be directed away from these, allowed to relax, and then reawakened with a forceful name cap. The transitional matter must be sufficiently different from what precedes it to redirect the attention of the audience, but cannot be of such length or pointed interest that the force of the opening foil and its name cap will be dissipated. Nor can it be entirely irrelevant. This is a nice tactical problem, and to solve it, the poet resorts to an extremely abbreviated version of a topic that is conventional in certain forms of unreserved eulogy. The topic frequently involves as foil Herakles' western adventures, and as this hero satisfies the requirement of nominal relevance to a Theban ode, it can be used here in a muted form.28 Herakles' trip to Ga...