Humanitext Reader

Bacchylides · Epinician Odes §8.17-8.32

Lachon's Many Victories and the Favor of Zeus

Passage 9 of 16 · Greek

Summary

The poet vows to praise Lachon's unmatched number of victories spanning from boyhood to manhood, celebrating how Zeus fulfilled his prayers and granted him the olive crown at Olympia.

§8.17Πυθῶνά τε μηλοθύταν §8.18ὑμν έω ν Νεμέαν τε καὶ Ἰσθμόν· §8.19γᾷ δʼ ἐπισκήπτων χέρα §8.20κομπάσομαι· σὺν ἀλα- §8.21θείᾳ δὲ πᾶν λάμπει χρέος· §8.22οὔτις ἀνθρώπων κ[αθʼ Ἕλλα- §8.23νας ἐν ἅλικι χρόνῳ §8.24παῖς ἐὼ ν ἀνήρ τε π[λεῦ- §8.25νας ἐδέξατο νίκας.
Singing of sheep-sacrificing Pytho, and Nemea and the Isthmus, laying my hand upon the earth, I will make my proud boast—and with truth every deed shines bright— that no one of men among the Greeks, in his time of life, being both a boy and a man, has received more victories.
§8.26ὦ Ζεῦ κεραυνεγχές, κα[ὶ ἐπʼ ἀργυ]ροδίνα §8.27ὄχθαισιν Ἀλφειοῦ τέλεσσ[ας μεγ]αλοκλ έα ς §8.28θ εο δότους εὐχάς, περὶ κ[ρατί τʼ ὄ]πα[σσα]ς §8.29γλαυκὸν Αἰτωλίδος §8.30ἄνδημʼ ἐλαίας §8.31ἐν Πέλοπος Φρυγίου §8.32κλεινοῖς ἀέθλοις.
O Zeus who wields the thunder-spear, on the silver-swirling banks of Alpheos too you fulfilled the great-famed prayers given by gods, and around his head you bestowed the grey wreath of Aetolian olive in the famous contests of Phrygian Pelops.

Notes

  1. 8.19γᾷ δʼ ἐπισκήπτων χέρα — “laying my hand upon the earth”. This is a highly solemn, traditional gesture of taking an oath, which serves to strongly guarantee the truthfulness of the proud boast (κομπάσομαι) that follows.
  2. 8.21πᾶν λάμπει χρέος — “every deed shines”. The noun χρέος (originally “obligation” or “necessity”) here refers to the athlete's “deed” or “achievement” in this poetic context. It means that through the poet's song of “truth” (ἀλάθεια), the achievement shines with immortal glory.
  3. 8.23ἐν ἅλικι χρόνῳ — “in his time of life (among those of his own age)”. Derived from the adjective ἅλιξ (“of the same age”). It emphasizes his unparalleled achievement, stating that no competitor of his own generation, from boyhood to manhood, has won more victories.
  4. 8.28περὶ κ[ρατί τʼ ὄ]πα[σσα]ς — A syntax of tmesis where the preposition περί is separated from the verb ὄπασσας (2nd person singular aorist of ὀπάζω, “bestow”). It means “you bestowed around his head” (κρατί, dative of κράς). The subject is Zeus, addressed in line 26.

Cite this passage

Bacchylides, Epinician Odes §8.17-8.32. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0199.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:8.17-8.32

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