Kindle Notes & Highlights
as they cleave the waves of
therein dwell Order, and her sisters, sure foundation of states, Justice and likeminded Peace, dispensers of wealth to men, wise Themis’ golden daughters.
Insolence the braggart mother of Loathing.
flowery Hours
?
Sovran lord of Olympia,
Maybe a local official. Or some reference to zeus
gale
Fortune is compared to the wind in a sail which can be absent in a dolldrum just as luck
Welcome from him this customary escort of his crown,
I guess a parade in honor of the victors return home from the games
maiden Pallas
One of the modes of acknowledgement and praise for athena was as a maiden
the ancient stalls of Zeus.
sixty times.
Is sixty in pindar an examplary exaggeration as 300 in the talmud or does it refer o something specific
the king of birds,
Cf. The suggestion of the American turkey as the national bird by either Charles Peale or Ben Franklin. Maybe it was the Eagles reputation from classical sources like this which carries the day
Yea also violent Ares, leaving far off the fierce point of his spears, letteth his heart have joy in rest,
Maybe a reference to the cease fire enjoyed by the Olympic contests and maybe also the ptlythian ones too
he who lieth in dreadful Tartaros, the foe of the gods, Typhon of the hundred heads, whom erst the den Kilikian of many names did breed, but now verily the sea-constraining cliffs beyond Cumae, and Sicily, lie heavy on his shaggy breast: and he is fast bound by a pillar of the sky, even by snowy Etna, nursing the whole year’s length her frozen snow.
A new myth character for me. Interesting that his mysterious location is attributed to an unlikely and distant and vague destination too inconvenient for someone who might want to investigate, beyond the sea
who art defender of this mountain,
the forehead of a fruitful land,
Cf Jerusalem called by the talmud the naval of the globe
of his pains forgetfulness.
Cf an earlier ode mentioned that fortune makes you forget passed pains
found grace of glory at the hands of gods,
ensample
god-built freedom
Pindar Religiously reminds us to show gratitude to the gods
the laws of Hyllic pattern
By thine aid
The ancestors and founders of Carthage, the enemy
hurled their youth into the sea, to deliver Hellas from the bondage of the oppressor.
?
city-talk of others’ praise grieveth hearts secretly.
Avak lashon hara?
?
A crown even greater than the parsley wreathe won from the games
Same name as the celebrity in the previous ode. Maybe it was a common name, like Mr. Cohen, particularly among the upper class who were likely to participate in the Pithian games as explained by the editor; I would expect a priest, who might be named heiron, to enjoy such a privileged identity
(and if Hieron was to be suspected of such a thought it would be quite in Pindar’s manner to mingle warning and reproof with praise):
This is similar to the job description of a prophet as explained By John Barton in his the history of the Bible
my bright Thebes
Wasn’t Pindar Attic?
Maybe he was an immigrant
four-horse car,
Four horses and a chariot seem expensive which Illustrates the affluence of the games’ participants
spangled rein.
?
wide-ruling god, the trident-wielder.
As in an above ode, the sea widely covers the earth
the fair speech of Cyprus
?
in the chambers of the ample heavens
Kentauros, and he in the valleys of Pelion lay with Magnesian mares, and there were born thence a wondrous tribe, like unto both parents, their nether parts like unto the dams, and their upper parts like unto the sire.
God achieveth all ends whereon he thinketh — God who overtaketh even the winged eagle, and outstrippeth the dolphin of the sea, and bringeth low many a man in his pride, while to others he giveth glory incorruptible.
Again the theme of hubris
An overpowering evil are the secret speakings of slander, to the slandered and to the listener thereto
whether the wild multitude,
Interesting that he uses the word wild to describe government by the multitude
Against God it is not meet to strive,
To take the car’s yoke on one’s neck and run on lightly, this helpeth; but to kick against the goad is to make the course perilous.
It is good to accept the time of god. It is bad to rebel from the guiding goad of god.
marriage-tables
Whats this?
Is this table an eating surface or a writing surface?
For a tribe there is most foolish among men, of such as scorn the things of home, and gaze on things that are afar off, and chase a cheating prey with hopes that shall never be fulfilled.
Would this concern apply today in our global world? Even if not, Might the sentiment show itself in another way, seeking something impossible? What would be an example? Perhaps the entire idea is obsolete for our upwardly mobile culture, or simply wrong.
Same as the titular pithian odes?
his mind that knoweth all things;
thus a doom adverse blasted her life and smote her down: and of her neighbours many fared ill therefore and perished with her: so doth a fire that from one spark has leapt upon a mountain lay waste wide space of wood.
Cf rashi on the noahide flood, a flood enters the world, destruction enters the world, including the innocent
Seems like Pindar, and rashi, were troubled that the innocent get harmed and this is an attempt at an answer. Unfortunately for Pindar, the question remains
at the first stride he was there,
to the Kentaur of Magnes he bare the child, that he should teach him to be a healer of the many-plaguing maladies of men.
bronze or stone far-hurled,
Anachronisms
hung their limbs with charms,
and bereft their breasts of breath, and the bright lightning dealt them doom.
Fun rhythm
