Pythian XII
Lover of splendour, above all cities beauty-dowered,Persephone's home, who dost dwell by Akragas' water-meads greenSheep-pastured, throned on thine hill of the ramparts stately-towered,With kindly favour of Gods and of men accept, O Queen,This crown that from Pytho is brought thee: the glory of Midas hailingWelcome him, him who is champion of Hellas in that flute-strainWhich Pallas Athene devised when she wove into music the wailingOf the Gorgons fierce, their death-dirge over a sister slain,
The lament that she heard from the awful maids' snake-heads outshrieking,As it poured from their lips forth laden with bitterest anguish of grief,When Perseus had smitten the third, their sister, with bronze death-wreaking,And bare thence doom to Seriphus' island-folk and their chief.Yea, and the wondrous daughters of Phorkys he spoiled of vision,And bitter for Polydektes his bridal-gift he made,Bitter his mother's thraldom, her spousals' enforced decision,With the head of Medusa the weirdly beautiful, shorn by the blade
Of Danae's son, of the shower of gold, as the legend telleth,Begotten. But when the Maid had released from his labours' strainThe man she befriended, she framed the manifold music that wellethFrom the flute, that her harmonies so might mimic the shrieks of painWild and high from Euryale's ravening jaws outshrilling.Her devising it was, but she gave it to mortal men to possess;And the ' Strain of the Many Heads ' she named it, the spirit-thrillingKindler of hearts to the contests whereinto multitudes press,
Notes poured thick and fast through the thin-beaten bronze and the reeds upspringingBy the burg of the Graces, the city of fair dance-lawns in the closeOf the Nymph of Kephisus, true witnesses they of the dance soft-swinging.If bliss among mortals there be, 'tis not won but with travail-throes.Yet a God may accomplish it even to-day—but there is no fleeingThat which of Fate is foredoomed: but surely a time shall beWhen a Power that smites with a stroke all-sudden, past man's foreseeing,Shall grant thee a boon unhoped for, yet hold back another from thee.
Words in this poem 19
- splendour n.
- Great brightness; brilliant luster; brilliancy; as, the splendor ot the sun. B. Jonson. [L. fr. splendere to shine: cf. F. splendeur.]
- dowered p. a.
- Furnished with, or as with, dower or a marriage portion.
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- favour n.
- Kind regard; propitious aspect; countenance; friendly disposition; kindness; good will. [Written also favour.]
- midas n.
- A genus of longeared South American monkeys, including numerous species of marmosets. See Marmoset. [So called from L. Midas, a man fabled to have had ass's ears.]
- pallas n.
- Pallas Athene, the Grecian goddess of wisdom, called also Athene, and identified, at a later period, with the Roman Minerva.
- wove
- p. pr. & rare vb. n. of Weave.
- dirge n.
- A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, "Dirige, Domine, in c]
- perseus n.
- A Grecian legendary hero, son of Jupiter and Danaë, who slew the Gorgon Medusa.
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- thraldom n.
- The condition of a thrall; slavery; bondage; state of servitude. [Icel. . See Thrall, and -dom.]
- ravening n.
- Eagerness for plunder; rapacity; extortion. Luke xi. 39.
- kindler n.
- One who, or that which, kindles, stirs up, or sets on fire."Kindlers of riot." Gay.
- whereinto adv.
- Into which; -- used relatively.
- burg n.
- A fortified town. [AS. burh, burg, cf. LL. burgus. See 1st Borough.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- boon n.
- A prayer or petition. [OE. bone, boin, a petition, fr. Icel. b; akin to Sw. & Dan. b, AS. b, and perh. to E. ban; but influenced by F. bon good, fr. L. bonus. Ban, Bounty.]
- unhoped a.
- Not hoped or expected.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Pythian XII is in the public domain. This text is taken from Pindar in English Verse, Internet Archive, the Arthur S. Way translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Pindar, Pythian XII, in The Odes of Pindar (1922), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/pindar-odes/pythian-12.html, id L29149.
Form and metre
Pythian XII is 32 lines in 4 stanzas of 8 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCDCD.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCDCD doweredA · greenB · toweredA · queenB · hailingC · strainD · wailingC · slainD
- 2 ABABCDCD outshriekingA · griefB · wreakingA · chiefB · visionC · madeD · decisionC · bladeD
- 3 ABABCDCD tellethA · strainB · wellethA · painB · outshrillingC · possessD · thrillingC · pressD
- 4 ABABCDCD upspringingA · closeB · swingingA · throesB · fleeingC · beD · foreseeingC · theeD
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Lover of splendour, above all cities beauty-dowered, | 13 | /˘·/˘···/˘/˘· |
| Persephone's home, who dost dwell by Akragas' water-meads green | 15 | ···········/˘·· |
| Sheep-pastured, throned on thine hill of the ramparts stately-towered, | 14 | ·/˘······/·/˘/ |
| With kindly favour of Gods and of men accept, O Queen, | 14 | ·/˘/˘·····˘/·· |
| This crown that from Pytho is brought thee: the glory of Midas hailing | 17 | ··········/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Welcome him, him who is champion of Hellas in that flute-strain | 15 | /˘····/˘······· |
| Which Pallas Athene devised when she wove into music the wailing | 17 | ·····˘/·····/˘·/˘ |
| Of the Gorgons fierce, their death-dirge over a sister slain, | 13 | ··/˘······/˘· |
| The lament that she heard from the awful maids' snake-heads outshrieking, | 16 | ·˘/·····/˘······ |
| As it poured from their lips forth laden with bitterest anguish of grief, | 16 | ·······/˘·/˘/˘·· |
| When Perseus had smitten the third, their sister, with bronze death-wreaking, | 16 | ·/˘·/˘···/˘···/˘ |
| And bare thence doom to Seriphus' island-folk and their chief. | 14 | ········/˘···· |
| Yea, and the wondrous daughters of Phorkys he spoiled of vision, | 15 | ···/˘/˘······/˘ |
| And bitter for Polydektes his bridal-gift he made, | 13 | ·/˘·····/˘··· |
| Bitter his mother's thraldom, her spousals' enforced decision, | 15 | /˘·/˘/˘···˘/˘/˘ |
| With the head of Medusa the weirdly beautiful, shorn by the blade | 16 | ····˘/˘·/˘/˘···· |
| Of Danae's son, of the shower of gold, as the legend telleth, | 14 | ·····/····/˘/˘ |
| Begotten. But when the Maid had released from his labours' strain | 15 | ˘/˘·····˘/····· |
| The man she befriended, she framed the manifold music that welleth | 17 | ···˘/˘···/˘·/˘·/˘ |
| From the flute, that her harmonies so might mimic the shrieks of pain | 15 | ·····/˘··/˘···· |
| Wild and high from Euryale's ravening jaws outshrilling. | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| Her devising it was, but she gave it to mortal men to possess; | 17 | ·˘/˘·······/˘··˘/ |
| And the ' Strain of the Many Heads ' she named it, the spirit-thrilling | 14 | ·····/·····//˘ |
| Kindler of hearts to the contests whereinto multitudes press, | 15 | /˘····/˘···/˘·· |
| Notes poured thick and fast through the thin-beaten bronze and the reeds upspringing | 17 | ········/˘······· |
| By the burg of the Graces, the city of fair dance-lawns in the close | 17 | ·····/˘·/˘······· |
| Of the Nymph of Kephisus, true witnesses they of the dance soft-swinging. | 17 | ········/˘·····/˘ |
| If bliss among mortals there be, 'tis not won but with travail-throes. | 16 | ····/˘·······˘/· |
| Yet a God may accomplish it even to-day—but there is no fleeing | 17 | ····˘/˘·/······/˘ |
| That which of Fate is foredoomed: but surely a time shall be | 15 | ·········/˘···· |
| When a Power that smites with a stroke all-sudden, past man's foreseeing, | 16 | ··/······/˘··˘/˘ |
| Shall grant thee a boon unhoped for, yet hold back another from thee. | 16 | ·····˘/····˘/˘·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.