Alexandrian poets and Pindar

(The translation of article: Александрийские поэты и Пиндар // Индоевропейское языкознание и классическая филология - XVII. Материалы чтений, посвященных памяти профессора Иосифа Моисеевича Тройского. СПб.: Наука, 2013. С. 754-767. Translated to English by the author of the art-ticle edited by T. Surganova).

The relation to Pindar can be clearly shown by the analysis of even most known, programmatic Callimachus’ poems. For example, in the Epigram 28 he rejects epic poems written after the model of the Iliad and the Odyssey.

’E/Qaipco то лощца то kukXikov, ouSe кеХеибф

/а(ри, т!<; лоХХогх; й5е ка! й5е фёры- цшёи ка! лерсфостоу ерйцеуоу, ой5’ ало KpTjvi]<; л(усо- mx/aivco лаута та бтщбсяа.

Avoavir], сю 5е vai^t ка/.б; ка/.о; - ал/.а лр!у еЫету тоито оафйс, Н/й i Tiq ‘аХХо<; e/ei.’

I hate the cyclic poem, nor do I take pleasure in the road which carries many to and fro. I abhor, too, the roaming lover, and I drink not from every well; I loathe all common things. Lysanias, you art, yes, fair, fair; but ere Echo has quite said the word, says someone: “He is another’s”.

(transl. by A. W. Mair)

(28, 1-6)

The ‘road’ image is a traditional poetic metaphor, which Pindar was especially fond of (see, for example, 01. 1, 110; 6,23; 9, 105; Pyth 11, 39; 1st. 2,

33; 3-4, 19; 6, 23, etc.; [cf. Bacchylides 10, 52; 19, 1-2]).

The correlation between tradition and innovation is most obviously seen in those passages where Pindar speaks about some “highway” of verse rather than of the “road”. The words from the sixth Nemean ode where the poet emphasizes his adhesion to the tradition are significant in this regard:

лактотеро!

65dv apaciTov evpov- ёло-pat 5e xai аитб<; ё/юу рекётау-

Poets of former times found this highway, and I myself am following them; this is my concern.

(Nem. 6, 53-54)

Thereby the poet himself is a continuation of the tradition, but is also capable of receding from it, looking for new untraveled “roads of the song”:

ракра pot vefcOat кат’ upacirov- 6pa yap стиуалте! ка! Tiva oipov inapt ppa/uv- лол-Xotcn 5’ аурраг ооф(а<; ётёрор.

It’s long for me to travel along the cart road, for time presses, and I know a short path: to many others am a leader in the poet’s craft. (Translated by KJ. Newman).

(Pyth. 4, 247-248)

It is worth noting that such a variability - “to go / not to go by the cart road” affords ground for a double interpretation of another Pindar’s fragment containing the same image - the seventh Paean bl0-12.

In the traditional reconstruction (supported, among others, by Ian Rutherford in his 1988 article devoted to this fragment [Rutherford 1988, 65-75]) [8e pt] трг]л tov] is restored and therefore, the chorus seems to urge to leave Homer’s cart track:

Keka5f]o[op8v] vpvovi;,

'Opfipov [5e pt] тр!]лтбу кат’ apaciTov iovT8<;, d[XX’ ak]koTpiai<; av’ шлок;,

We shall sing hymns, without going by Homer’s worn cart track (possibly hinting at Homeric “Hymn to Apollo”).

However, Giambattista d’ Alessio subsequently showed that the lacuna in the 12th line is too large for the conventional reconstruction, and therefore there has to be a negation before a[XX’ dk]koTpiaig av’ шлогд. Based on it Di

Benedetto suggested an opposite reconstruction according to which Homer is, on the contrary, a paragon for the chorus song:

KekaSrpfopsv] upvouq,

'Opijpou [локитр1]лтбу кат’ apa^tTOV iovreq, й[Н’ оик aZ]ZoTpiaiq civ’ шлок;, еле! аи[то! то ло]таубу арца Moiaapov ekavvo]pev

We shall sing hymns, going by Homer’s worn cart track, not on the other’s horses, but we ourselves drive a flying chariot of Muses [Di Benedetto 1991, 164-176].

Subsequently, there were also other reconstructions supporting the initial Rutherford’s treatment (for instance, d’Alessio suggested атригтоу кат’ apa^tTov, see [Rutherford 2001, 247-249]); however, at present it is important for us to highlight the possible duality as such rather than state judgment in favor of this or that interpretation. Either of the opposite renditions could be confirmed by Pindar’s treatment of the image that is ambiguous in itself.

Unlike Pindar’s odes, the image of the trodden path, or cart road, as it is displayed in Callimachus’ programmatic statement, is unambiguously negative. First of all, the Alexandrian poet declaims traditional themes as somewhat depleted. This is clear from Apollo’s advice to the poet in the Aetia;

та pq латеоиту i/pacai та OTeipetv, етерсоу i%via pf] каО’ бра

51фроу ek]av pqS’ oipov ava лХатиу, akka кеХеибои;

атр(лто]и<;, el ка! оплуотерру еХаоек;.’

And I bid you this, go there, where wagons do not pass, do not drive your chariot along the same ways as others, nor along the broad path, but the untrodden roads. (Translated by B. Acosta-Hughes and S.A. Stephens).

(Fr. 1 Pf, 25-28)

This fragment is of especial interest as it contains, in all probability, direct references to the above analyzed Pindar’s passages. In particular, some researchers see the allusion to (лоА.и/а) трг]лтоу кат’ apa^trov [Acosta-Hughes, Stephens 2002, 2005] in the words кекепОопд атр(лто]рд from Pindar’s Paean Vllb. Besides, it is possible to see the reference to 65dv apa^trov from Nem. 6 and Pyth. 4 in “the cart road” from the Aetia. As it is the traditional content that Pindar implied speaking of the traditional way of a song, it is apparently that very traditional content that Callimachus rejected. However, it is suggestive that his rejection is supported by the tradition, first of all by that of Pindar himself. Moreover, if we agree that in the seventh Paean Pindar also claimed to step away from Homeric “trodden path”, in that case Callimachus literally repeats the idea.

Pindaric connotations could be perceived in no less famous programmatic statement from Callimachus’ “Hymn to Apollo”:

б Ф96уо<; ’Ал6ХХ(оуо<; ёл’ оиата Xa9pto<; emev-‘оик ауацал тбу uokIov o<; ov8’ боа лоуто<; иНЗгг’ тбу Ф96уоу йлбХХсоу ло81 т’ qz.uoev Й8ё т’ ёеллеу-‘ ’AocTUpiov лотацою рй/ас; рбо<;, аХХа та лоХХа Хирата упд ка! лоллоу ёф’ иЗатл оирфетбу eXkei. АроТ 5’ опк алб лаутб<; бЗир фореоися рёХюоаг аХХ’ три; ка9арр те ка! axpaavroq ауерлел л!8ако<; ё^ iepfji; oXtyr) Xipa<; акроу асотоу.’

Spare Envy privily in the ear of Apollo: “I admire not the poet who sings not things for number as the sea.” Apollon spurned Envy with his foot and spake thus: “Great is the stream of the Assyrian river, but much filth of earth and much refuse it carries on its waters. And not of every water do the Melissae carry to Deo, but of the trickling stream that springs from a holy fountain, pure and undefiled, the very crown of waters.” (Translated by A.W. and G.R. Mair).

(105-112)

In order to stress his literary preferences, Callimachus uses images of a stream and a bee which are also traditional metaphors of poetry implying the ideas of poetic sweetness, fluidity and volatility. Pindar used these metaphors exactly with the implications listed. The interrelation of poetic metaphors of a stream and honey (brought by bees) is evident, for example, in the image of a poet from Nem. 7, 11-12: peXippov’ ainav poaiai Motaav evePaXe; and the reference to water of “perfect quality” (oodtov акроу) in the line 112 seems a direct quotation from Pindar reminding of a similar image in the seventh Isthmian ode:

... apvapovei; Зе ррото!, 6 Tt pf] поф1'а; асотоу акроу кХитаб; ёлёиу poaTmv ё^лкграл Cuy^v

Men do not remember glory that’s not wed to wondrous streams of poetry by which it gains the crest of artistry (Transl. by R.A. Swanson).

(Isth. 7, 19-20).

The same expression being used in the context where poetry is likened to the streams of water makes doubtless Callimachean allusion to Pindar. That was already maintained by F. Williams [Williams 1978, 95], in his commentary to the “Hymn to Apollo”; afterwards Pindaric overtones were analyzed at length by Andrew Beer who generally considered that Pindar was one of main sources for the entire contents and images of Callimachus’ hymn [Beer 2006].

As a result, it turns out that in his programmatic statements concerning poetry Callimachus, while formally opposing himself to the previous tradition, with the help of quotes and allusions constantly relies upon that very tradition; his picking up from it shows which ideas and images correspond to the main principles of Alexandrian poetics, Pindar plays here an important role.

Without going into details, it is possible just to enumerate some traits that could associate Pindar’s poetics with that of the Alexandrians. As well as the Alexandrian poets, Pindar:

• 1.    Considered that the main characteristic of poetry is brevity of the statement (Isth. 1, 62-63; 01. 13, 98; Pyth 8, 29) and at the same time its accordance to the place and time;

• 2.    Compared in his works different versions of the myth, appreciated their value and chose the most truthful ones, from his point of view;

• 3.    Opposed himself to other authors (01. 1, 36), suggesting his own explanation of the event or choosing a new way of recounting it;

• 4.    Sought to connect the present with the past, showing a number of the events of which the new event becomes a continuation.

As there are a lot of studies [Newman 1985, Fuhrer 1988, Beer 2006] exploring Callimachus’ use of Pindaric ways of composition in his hymns my going into the problem seems unnecessary; instead, I would prefer to focus upon another poet and another text much more distant from the generic form of Pindaric epinician, i.e., on the problem of interaction between the fourth Pythian ode and Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica. Although such comparison is obviously justified by common plot features, I will mostly concentrate upon concrete lexical parallels and similarity of the images, reflecting the specific ways of Apollonius’ treatment of his source.

In his commentary to the fourth Pythian ode B.K. Braswell [Braswell 1988] lists the following lexical parallels to Pindar by Apollonius:

Pythian 4	Argonautica
vcb/ t®v илер yaicu; epfipcov (26)	уюта yOavo; (4, 1246)
Kuparcov pi ли; avepov; (195)	кирата ка! putai avepov (2, 1114)
dSapavrivov / aporpov (224)	cmPapov абарауто; aporpov (3, 232, 1285)
ayaycbv i^evyka лекаооеу (227)	леХаооеу / угиулр yakKeip- (3, 1307-8)
' кба; alykaev хриоеу Ovoavy.’ (231)	ypvoeov aiykfjev кба; (4, 1142) XpuGiwv Ovoavcov .. .феууо;- (4, 1146)

The very existence of such parallels convinces of Apollonius’ wish to follow Pindar’s model not only in a plot structure, but also on the level of word expression.

The poem of the Alexandrian poet and the fourth Pythian ode are obviously united by the very topic of the voyage of the Argonauts whom both authors call ijptOeoi ‘demigods’ (Pyth. 4, 12, 211; Arg. 1, 548). In both works we come 262

across a key episode when Triton, calling himself Eurypylus, gives to Euphemus a lump of Libyan soil. Moreover, as S. Stephens noticed [Stephens 2007], in this key place the Alexandrian poet refers to Pindar as his predecessor, using the same phrase рйка^ Saipovip “hallowed bit of earth” (4, 1734), as in Pyth. 4, 37.

This episode is of major importance for Pindar because Euphemus was considered to be the ancestor of Battus from whom the king of Cyrene Arcesilaeus, the addressee of the fourth Pythian ode, traced his genealogy. It was also of possible significance for Apollonius because Cyrene was the birthplace of Callimachus, who also considered Battus to be his ancestor (and whose father bore the same name). It is worth mentioning that in Apollonius’ epic the story about Euphemus becomes an occasion to recount of the foundation of Thera, as it was also done by Pindar. Some researchers, for example M. De Forest [De Forest 1994], argue that by finishing his poem with the “foundation story”, Apollonius Rhodius marks his adherence to literary views and tastes of Callimachus and his Aetia. If such a link between two Alexandrian poets is really established here, it is therefore, remarkably, Pindar who mediates here. For the latter, the story about Euphemus and the foundation of Thera becomes a starting point of the narration; Apollonius, however, puts it at the end of his epic, possibly making a double literary reference, both to Pindar and Callimachus.

Sometimes Apollonius’ text can be considered as a sort of scholarly commentary to Pindar’s work. For example, in Argonautica 1, 229-234 the Alexandrian poet acts like a scholiast, interpreting the ethnicon Mivvai by which the Argonauts are designated in the line 69 of the fourth Pythian ode:

той; рёу upiGTqa; Mtvva; лергуагетбюуте;

м'клрокоу paka лаута;, еле! Mtvvao Оиуатрыу oi лкеютог ка! арштог аф’ аТрато; ей/етбиуто eppevat, d>; 5ё ка! айтбу Tfpova yetvaro pqrqp ’АЪарёЗр КХирёур; MivvqiSo; ёкуеуаиТа.

All the chiefs the dwellers thereabout called Minyae, for the most and the bravest avowed that they were sprung from the blood of the daughters of Minyas; thus Jason himself was the son of Alcimede who was born of Clymene the daughter of Minyas.

Similarly, Pindar abstains from whatever explanations simply mentioning that the goddess Hera played a notable role in the organization of the Argonauts’ voyage (184-187):

tov 5ё ларлшОр укпкйу рргОёог-mv лббоу svSaisv "Hpa vad; ’Apyov;, pij uva ZeiKopsvov rav dKtvSvvov лара ратр! рёуегу ai-6va лёоооут’, akk’ ёл! ка! бауатф фйрракоу каккктгоу eaq аретан а-kt^iv evpeoQat nuv аАХок;.

And Hera filled the demigods with flaming irresistible desire for the Argo ship, so none would stay behind besides his mother (so lead a life that lacked all danger) and each, besides his friends and facing death would find the grand intoxication of high excellence.

On the contrary, we find even two “reasons” for her special care in the Argonautica by Apollonius Rhodius: the first song reports that Pelias did not honor the goddess by sacrifices during the holiday, and in the third song Hera herself explains her sympathy to Jason by the fact that the hero helped her to cross the river. This story is also used as an explanation why Jason came in one sandal (which Pindar again only mentions, and it is worth noting here that in Arg. 1, 7 hapax oioneSikog looks like a certain ingenious paraphrase, a “caique” of Pindar’s povoKpijmc from Pyth. 4, 75).

Nevertheless, sometimes it looks like the situation is changed and the fourth Pythian ode can, in its turn, be perceived as a certain additional “commentary” to the Argonautica. So, listing Jason’s companions, Apollonius simply reports that the hero took Orpheus with him, having followed the advice of Chiron the centaur (1, 33) whose connection with Jason is in no way explained. On the contrary, it is from Pyth. 4, 102-115 that we learn that when Pelias usurped the king’s power, Jason’s parents had to send the boy to be brought up by Chiron. Certainly, it is possible to assume that Apollonius is just following the general mythological pattern, without special reference to Pindar, but the set of other interrelations existing between the two texts makes it possible to suppose some sort of reliance upon Pindar’s version.

Sometimes, Pindaric allusion might serve to protect Apollonius from modern critics. For example, having analyzed the arming scene of the Colchian king before the description of Jason’s exploit (4, 219-224), H. Frankel [Frankel 1968, 469] comes to the conclusion that in Apollonius’ poem “preparations for fighting in Homeric spirit ... don’t lead to anything” as they aren’t followed by any single combat. However, the scholar doesn’t take into account the fact that in the episode of Jason’s battle with fire-spitting bulls and earthborn men Apollonius concentrates the lexical echos from the fourth Pythian ode (as noted by B.K. Braswell). And in the fourth Pythian the scene of ploughing the field (224-231) is presented exactly as a competition, nearly a duel between Aeetes and Jason:

akk’ от’Aifpaq oAapavuvov ev peo-ooiq aporpov ок!рфато ка! Poaq, o'i фкоу’ сото cuv-

9av ysvvov 7W8OV каюреуою лирбу хаккеак; 5’ блкар араооесткоу x06v’ apeiPopevoi тои<; dyaycbv ^гй^Ха игХааагх pouvoq. бр-

Ouq 5’ avkaxaq evTavvoaiq fjXavv’, ova [колим'и; 8’ opoyviav ox^8 v6rov ya;. ёегаеу 8’ Й8е- ‘Tout’ epyov Pacnkev;, ботк; apxet vad;, spot текёсаг;

афбиоу отрируау ауёоОы, ' кгоац aiykaev хриоёа) Qvoavq)?

Aeetes pulled the steel plow out before the men and led the bulls both spewed shafts of blazing fire from their golden jaws and alternately pawed the earth with hooves of bronze - which he, unaided, harnessed to the yoke and drove across earth’s back cutting clods from furrows six feet deep and straight and then said: “Now let the king, commander of the ship, complete this job for me and carry off the gleaming tufted Golden Fleece, immortal covering” (transl. by R.A. Swanson).

In Arg. 3,230-234 Apollonius Rhodius provides a “reason” explaining how Aeetes has received this plow and bulls:

ка! oi уалколода; тайрои; каре, /аккеа Зе офеиу ijv отбрат’, ёк Зе лирб; Setvdv ай.а' арлуелеакоу-лрб; 8ё ка! avroyvov отфароп абараусо; аротрох fj^aoev, ’НеМф rivrav yapiv, 6; pa piv галол;

дёсато Ф keypan] кекрт|бта Зтротртл

And he wrought for him bulls with feet of bronze, and their mouths were of bronze, and from them they breathed out a terrible flame of fire; moreover he forged a plough of unbending adamant, all in one piece, in payment of thanks to Helios, who had taken the god up in his chariot when faint from the Phlegraean fight.

In 3, 1285 Jason takes this plow (апРарои aSapavrog aporpov) and in lines 1307 - 1308 “brings the bull near the yoke of bronze” (nekaaaev / ^evykp ХаХкеи]).

Pindaric expression becomes an epic formula by Apollonius (апРарои aSapavrog aporpov), and on the whole Jason of the Argonautica fulfills exactly the same actions that Aeetes completed in Pythian 4. As a result, Apollonius’ Jason somewhat competes with Pindaric Aeetes, and this might serve an additional explanation why the king of the Colchians is putting armor upon himself in the Argonautica - if we remember that by Pindar he was competing with Jason and had to protect himself from the bulls’ fire.

One more line from Pindaric passage just cited, кыас aiykdev хри^Бф Ouguvoj, is also alluded to by Apollonius, but in a different context, when describing Jason and Medea’s wedding. Apollonius breakes it into two parts:

evOa тот’ ёстбреоак кёктроу рёуа- тою 8’ илербе Xpuaeov aiyXfjsv кбо.у Pakov, бфра лёколто

Tipijen; те уацо; ка! «общо;- avOea Зе Gоко xpuoecov Quaovtov ацариооето (рё^оц

There at that time did they spread a mighty couch; and thereon they laid the glittering fleece of gold, that so the marriage might be made honored and the theme of song. And for them nymphs gathered flowers of varied hue and bore them thither in their white bosoms; and a splendor as of flame played round them all, such a light gleamed from the golden tufts.

(4, 1141-1146)

The contrasting usage of xpvaeov uiyApcv кбад in line 1142 and акд Xpvaecov Ouguvcov. . . фёууод in line 1146 makes aiykr] the synonym of срйууос, and Ovoavog a variant of кбад. Such a skillful expression gives additional weight to the hidden quotation from Pindar, and it is guide telling, therefore, that Apollonius puts it in a different context as compared with Pindar. The Alexandrian poet shows that Jason’s reward for the victory over Aeetes is not just the Golden Fleece, but also Medea herself. Pindar’s ode only implies the fact.

At the same time in some episodes of the Argonautica Apollonius Rhodius expresses his disagreement with the predecessors including Pindar. For example, recounting a legend about Boreas’ marriage, he stresses that wings of his sons Calais and Zetes are black and grow on their ankles. It seems like a direct “scholarly” polemics with Pythian 4, 182, according to which the Boreads’ wings are on their backs and are crimson in colour. While listing the members of the expedition to Colchis, the Alexandrian poet describes their procession to the ship (1, 238-249) lying in the harbor. Thus he does not just find a proper place to a catalog of heroes ascribing to the skillfully made list some functions of action, making it an organic element of the plot, but also, as Braswell noted, argues with Pindar (Pyth. 4, 188) and Hesiod (Theogony 997) who put lolkos directly on the sea coast. A similar technique could be perceived in the change Apollonius makes in the color of Jason’s cloak, which is “shaffron colored” by Pindar (крокеоу eipa - 23) but “purple” (лорфпрёр - 1,722, 728) or “red” (epevOog - 726) by Apollonius. Red color appears the recurrent motif throughout the whole famous description of Jason’s cloak becoming one of the reasons for the comparison of the hero to a gleaming star (койоу epevOopevog -1, 778). The “polemics” serves to elaborate a new and exquisite image.

All those instances show how, according to the author’s aim, Apollonius’ epic poem and Pindar’s ode could interact in the mind of the reader. They represent a certain unity, complementing each other.

Pindar was an important source and model for the Alexandrian poets. It is not by chance that Callimachus refers to him in his most significant programmatic statements on poetry. It is no coincidence, either, that allusions to the fourth Pythian ode are also concentrated around the key moments of Apollonius’ narration (departure, meetings with the beloved, the hero’s trial, wedding and the poem’s ending). Pindar appears a source of the ideas for Callimachus anticipating his own notion of poetry; Apollonius considers Pindar among his major predecessors when recounting the story of the Argonauts. In this way or another, Pindar remains the major source uniting these two Alexandrian poets traditionally opposed to each other.