M. P.

Nieto Hernandez

Heracles and Pindar

In: Mtis. Anthropologie des mondes grecs anciens. Volume 8, n1-2, 1993. pp. 75-102.

Rsum Hracls and Pindar (pp. 75-102) Hracls est, sans doute, le caractre hroque prfr par Pindare. La cause de cette prfrence peut tre trouve dans les divers traits que ces deux figures partagent, ce qui dbouche sur une identification de Pindare avec Hracls. Une premire partie de ce travail cherche reconstruire l'image d'Hracls que Pindare prsente dans son uvre. La seconde dveloppe le paralllisme entre cette image du hros et certains traits qui dfinissent la potique de Pindare. De ce paralllisme il s'ensuit que cette identification entre le pote et le hros repose sur deux points essentiels: tout d'abord la qute de l'immortalit, atteinte par Hracls la fin de sa carrire hroque et que Pindare conquiert avec ses pomes; mais galement la contradiction, la duplicit, qui sont l'essence mme de ces deux personnages.

Citer ce document / Cite this document : Hernandez M. P. Nieto. Heracles and Pindar. In: Mtis. Anthropologie des mondes grecs anciens. Volume 8, n1-2, 1993. pp. 75-102. doi : 10.3406/metis.1993.992 http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/metis_1105-2201_1993_num_8_1_992

For Luis Gil HERACLES AND PINDAR*

0. Introduction 0.1. As is well known, every divine or heroic figure, and every mythical thme, exhibits noteworthy diffrences depending on the author, the oc casion, the epoch, and even the genre to which the text that incorportes them belongs. Hracls is not the same in the Homeric works and in Roman times; neither is the hero we find in Pindar identical with the one presented by Euripides. In spite of this, the figure has maintained through the ges and throughout the works of diffrent authors a basic unity which enables us to recognize it in ail its variants1. * I express my gratitude to the DGGIT of the Spanish MEC for finanai support of the project PB 90-0530, of which this paper is a part. I also express my gratitude to my friends Viorica Patea and David Konstan, who helped me with the English translation of this paper, originally written in Spanish. The Greek text is cited from the OCT dition by CM. Bowra. English translations of Pindar's works are those of L.R. Farnell (The Works of Pindar. Translated with literary and critical commentaries, London 1930, 2 vol.) and R. Lattimore (The Odes of Pindar, Chicago 1968, 7threpr.); they are indicated after the text in the abbreviated form Tarn.' or 'Latt.'. 1. See the review by N.J. Richardson, of W. Burkert, Structure and History in Greek Mythology and Ritual, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London, 1979, in Classical Review, 31, 1981, pp. 62-64, esp. p. 64: "What matters surely is notso much 'the myth of Oedipus' or 'the Hracls thme', but rather (for example) the individual plays of Sophocles and Euripides which hve charged thse mythical figures with such potential significance for later gnrations". See also the interesting remarks of A. Brelich, Gli eroi greci. Un problema storico-reiigioso, Roma, 1958, p. 310 on this issue; the conclusion at which he arrives is that the organic structure is very old, and that the individual figures are mre concrte manifestations of this pattern: "Non soltanto, dunque, tra una 'figura' eroica e l'altra, ma perfino tra l'una e Patra formulazione dlia medesima figura vi possono esser differenze".

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0.2. The mythological richness of Pindar's works is well known. And it is a clich to say that among ail the mythological figures with whom he deals, Hracls, the Greek hero par excellence, holds an outstanding position. Apart from the gods (among which Pindar also has his own prfrences), of ail of his heroes, Hracls is, beyond ail doubt, his favourite figure2. In this paper, I shall survey the figure of Hracls as presented by Pindar in his victory songs, and provide an explanation for the poet's consistent prfrence for this hero. This prfrence is manifested not only in the poet's rcurrent allusions to him, but also, especially , in the qualities he ascribes to him, in the constant praise he bestows upon the hero, and in the overall enthusiasm he shows when dealing with him. This will lead us, finally, to a sries of questions concerning Pindar's poetics. 0.3. Pindar insistently draws our attention to some of Hericles' gnerai features3: 1. The hero's divine origin: Olympian X.44, Pythian IX. 84 sqq., Ne mean 1.36, Nemean X.12 sqq. , Isthmian VII. 5 sqq. This is also referred to indirectly in connection with his descendants: Olympian VII.20 sqq. , etc. , or in connection with Alcmene: Isthmian IV. 55, VI. 30. 2. His suffering and brave character. Nevertheless, Pindar does not re port Hracls' labours in full dtail. Of the canonical labours, only the following are mentioned in the surviving odes: the Nemean lion in Isthmian VI. 47-49; the Cerynean Hind in Olympian III. 29; Geryon's cattle in Ist hmian 1. 12-13; the Stables of Augias in Olympian X.28 sqq. Pindar also recounts other adventures of Hracls: the campaign against Troy (Laomedon) in the company of Telamon: Nemean IV. 25 sqq. , Isthmian V.35 sqq. , VI. 27 sqq. ; the fight with Antaeus: Isthmian IV. 56 sqq. , etc. 3. Hracls' foundation of the Olympian festival: Olympian 1.5-7, II. 24, III. 11-35, VI. 67-68, X.24 sqq. ; Nemean X. 32-33, XI. 27-28. 2. It suffices to check any index of proper names in Pindar. Hracls is mentioned no less than 35 times (not counting allusions to his offspring), whereas other prominent heroes such as Theseus and Perseus appear in only five passages each. Moreover, the poet calls Hracls (Nemean III. 22) and praises him passionately as in Pyth ian 87: , : "dull and insensateis that IX. man who linketh not his speech to the name of Herakles" (Farn.). Despite the divergencies in their interprtations of this figure, the most prominent critics agre on Pindar's prfrence for Hracls. See, for instance, CM. Bowra, Pindar, Oxford, 1964, pp. 45 sqq. 3. We shall consider only the surviving odes. The fragments contain further allusions to Hracls, but we shall not take them into account, as they are isolated quotations lacking the necessary background and context.

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4. The "pillars of Hracls": Olympian III. 43-45, Nemean III. 20-23, Isthmian IV. 11-12. 5. His virtue and unfailingly noble behaviour under any circumstances. Conversely, the poet carefully avoids the most truculent and violent as pects of his character: his excessive appetite, his sexual incontinence (com parable only to that of his father Zeus), his quarrels with the gods, etc4. Pindar omitts both the hero's frightful death and his self-immolation on the pyre on Mount Oeta5. 0.4. Scholars usually account for Pindar's prfrence for Hracls by certain apparent similarities between the hero and the Theban poet. But, in my opinion, the analysis and description of thse parallels remain on a somewhat superficial level, and this for several reasons: first, because only some of thse similarities hve been described so far; secondly, because most of the critics hve touched only on disparate aspects of the identifica tion between Hracls and Pindar; and lastly , because a more comprehensive approach is very much needed. The analysis of thse similarities has not proceeded far enough precisely because we still lack a global approach to the issue. Consequently, scholars hve neglected both the bearing of the poet's identification with the hero on our understanding of Pindar's poetics, and its relevance to Pindar's own conception of himself as a poet. Cri tics hve, to be sure, noted some instances of this identification, such as, for example , their common native land (Boeotia) , the panhellenic scope of their careers, or the the hero's rle as the founder of the Olympic Games, 4. There are only two passages that might contradict this statement: Isthmian IV. 5758, where Pindar affirms that the hero is , ' "a man short of stature, but unblenching in spirit" (Farn.), and Olympian IX. 30 sqq., where he narrtes Hracls' fight with three gods. In this case, Pindar promptly rebukes himself for what he has just said, and immediately adds (35-38): , , ... ("But my lips, cast this story from us. For to revile the gods is hateful learning", Latt.). The interprtation of both thse pass ages is problematic. The former, because seems an inappropriate attribute for Hracls, especially in the works of Pindar (but see infra). The latter, because it is the only vidence we hve of Hracls' fight against three divinities and, probably, this mythological event is a Pindaric invention (see, for possible readings and interprtations of this passage, P. A. Bernardini, Mito e attualit nelle odi di Pindaro. La Nemea 4, rOlimpica 7, Rome, 1983, pp. 126 sqq., CM. Bowra op. cit., p. 55 and G. A. Privitera, "II criterio dlia pertinenza. Pind. Ol. IX. 35-41", Rivista di Filologia e di Istruzione Classica, 114, 1986, pp. 48-54). 5. In Greek literature this pisode in the life of Hracls is not found before Sophocles. On the complex problems which this myth poses, see H. A. Shapiro, "Hros theos. The Death and Apotheosis of Hracls", Classical World, 77, 1983, pp. 7-18.

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a crucial event for the poet of the epinicians. It has also been pointed out, albeit less frequently, that Hracls is the only hero to attain immortality and to achieve a higher order of existence by his ascent to Olympus. Nevertheless, as I shall try to show, the analogies between them are more numerous and require a deeper investigation, for they are particularly revealing of Pindar's attitude towards poetry. To begin with, I shall indicate the common traits shared by poet and hero that I hve noticed in Pindar's works. Then, I shall try to draw the consquences that drive from this similarity, that in turn impinge on the Pindaric conception of poetry. 1 . Characteristics shared by Hracls and Pindar, highlighted by the latter in his poetic works Before proceeding to examine more concrte aspects of this identification, I should remark at once that both the hero and the poet appear to be defined by a single abstract quality: contradictoriness. In the course of this paper I shall indicate in more dtail the nature of the contradictions that inform the essence of both Hracls and Pindar. 1.1. The poet is Theban-born and so is Hracls. The origin of Hracls and of the mythical stories centered on him is obscure, still under discus sion,and too vast to be elucidated within the scope of the prsent paper (cf. F. Prinz, A, t. "Herakles", RE, Suppl. XIV, 1974, coll. 130-196 and W. Burkert, "Oriental and Greek Mythology", in J.M. Bremmer (d.), Interprtations of Greek Mythology, London-Sydney, 1987, pp. 10-40, esp. p. 14 and n. 13, and the latter's criticism of Prinz's conclusions). On the controversial question of Hracls' birthplace, Thebes and Argos are the two cities most likely to be so designated. The Theban origin of the hero is mentioned by Pindar in several passages: Pythian II. 3, IX. 87-88 (waters of Dirke); Isthmian 1.1 sqq., IV. 57, VII. 5 sqq.; Nemean 1.51, IV. 19 sqq. On the other hand, Argos figures as Hracls' mother-land just once, inNemea/X.ll sqq. Still, neither Hracls nor Pindar can be considered strictly local characters. Indeed, as we mentioned earlier, both hve a pronounced panhellenic vocation which carries them beyond their native land and continues to develop throughout their respective careers. 1.2. A taste fo adventure, the quest for new worlds, the steadfast pursuit of goals to their ultimate limits and consquences. Again, this characteristic is vident in the hero as well as in the poet. To accomplish his heroic destiny, Hracls is compelled to travel to remote lands and to venture on long journeys to the farthest confines of the world -beyond which nobody

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can tread- where he places his famous "pillars"6. Similarly, the poet Pin dar takes major voyages (we should remember that he even visited Sidly) and becomes, thanks to his rputation and prestige, a panhellenic poet, in demand in diverse rgions of the Greek world. Furthermore, in a figura tive sens, reaching the farthest boundary signifies the highest achievement of one's artistic potential, a sphre in which Pindar proves to be a master. He conceives of poetry symbolically as a path to be explored, as a route or way (an image that he frequently employs for the poetic act)7 that leads the poet to the farthest bounds and utmost possibilities. In this con nection we may cite the famous image of the eagle, whose soaring flight spartes it dramatically from the cackling of the ravens that cannot reach it8. On a diffrent level, we may cite also the very difficulty of his poetic language, which drives him to explore the paths not previously trodden by others, to launch himself into the unknown, and to search for new poss ibilities of poetical expression (cf. W. Race, Pindar, Boston, 1986, p. 18)9. 1.3. Every where in his poetry, Pindar praises Hracls' strength and power. The only exception -as far as I know (cf. CM. Bowra, op. cit. , p. 47)- is the already quoted (cf. supra fn. 4) controversial passage Isthmian IV. 57, in which the hero is said to be . Some scholars (v., e.g., G. Norwood, Pindar, Berkeley-Los Angeles, 2nd d. 1956, p. 175) hve denied that the Unes were composed by Pindar, and interpret them as an in6. We shall return later to thse "pillars of Hracls", as they possess a wider and deeper meaning. 7. There are many, and impressive, images -as expected in this great creator of imagery- in which poetry is symbolized by a path or a way: Olympian VI. 23-24 ( ' / : "let me mount the chariot, drive a clean highway", Latt.); Pythian IV. 247 ( ' : "The high road is long for me to travel" , Latt.), etc. About the images of Pindar in gnerai, v. J. Duchemin, Pindare. Pote et Prophte, Paris, 1955. 8. Olympian 11.86-88; Nemean III. 80 sqq. , V. 21-22. As it well known, thse allusions and, particularly, the passage in Olympian II, hve traditionally been interpreted as a covert allusion to Simonides and Bacchylides, Pindar's "rivais". Nevertheless, it is not at ail clear that Pindar had thse two poets in mind at the time he composed this passage (see T.K. Hubbard, The Pindaric Mind. A Study of Logical Structure in Early Greek Poetry, Leiden, 1986, pp. 149 sqq. and W. Race, op. cit., p. 25). 9. That he was conscious of doing so, is indicated by some passages of his own work, like, for example, Olympian 11.83 sqq. : ' / / / : "There are many sharp shafts in the quiver under the crook of my arm. They speak to the understanding; most men need interpreters", Ltt.

M. P. NIETO HERNNDEZ terpolation by one of his disciples. However, Bowra is inclined to ascribe them to Pindar, and he explains that the peculiar circumstances of the composition of this ode -the laudandus was a probably short man-induced Pindar to transgress his usual treatment of Hracls and endow him with an attribute of this kind. On the contrary , A. Schachter, Cuits ofBoiotia 2. Hracls to Posidon, London, 1986, pp. 19-20, argues that Pindar is drawing on the Theban Hracls, who was most probably short, as evidenced by the archaelogical remains and corroborated by other literary sources (Paus. 9.27-28). Whatever the explanation, it is important to take into account that this is a unique and isolated exception among the overwhelming number of encomiastic descriptions with which the poet pays tribute to the hero, along with his constant praise of his physical and moral strength. Just as he exalts Hracls' power, Pindar is equally conscious of his own power as a poet. Hre a connection needs to be established between his sens of superiority ans his perception of the power of the word -and, particularly , of the poetic word- that is manifest in many passages of his works. It is worth remarking that for the child Hracls Pindar uses the two substantives: and (Nemean 1.56-57: "courage and strength surpassing the measure of man", Farn.), while when referring to himself, he employs and (Olympian IX 83-84: "...and may daring and overmastering might be my ministers!", Farn. ; Olympian XIII. 11-13: , " hve fair things to say, and straightforward courage urges my lips to speak", Latt.). Not only does Pindar use both for Hracls and for himself virtually the same nouns to express power and courage, he also displays throughout his work his expressive linguistic strength (see W. Race, op. cit., p. 18). 1.4. We hve mentioned earlier how insistently Pindar underlines the rle played by Hracls as the founder of the Olympian festival, the oldest and most relevant of its kind in ancient Greece . There are various passages that celebrate this feat, but the most prominent scne is the one that nar rtes the way in which Hracls founded the Olympic Games: Olympian X. 43 sqq. We shall corne back to this passage because of the richness of its Pindaric motifs and meanings. 1.5. The cultivation of . The broad and contradictory nature of Hracls' mythical character also exhibits important moral traits. Besides continually insisting on the of his laudandi, Pindar asserts his own in the practice of poetry. This leads us to consider both the Pindaric concept of and Pindar's views on poetry.

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First of ail, we may point out that Pindar affirms a fundamental connect ion between poetry and truth10. Good poets do not use poetry for their own sake or profit, but in order to discover the truth. But Pindar's concept of "truth" (G. ) is diffrent from our modem understanding of the term. It represents, in the first place, as the etymology of the word indicates, the ngation of , "forgetfulness". Consequently, as a manifest ation truth, poetry is also, in the last analysis, wisdom. of Let us now examine the concept of in Pindar. It seems to be defined by the following characteristics: 1. It is an inborn quality: , "by nature": Olympian 11.86: ("Wise is he who hath rich lore by the light of nature", Farn.); Olympian IX. 100: ("Best of ail endowments is that which cometh to us by nature 's gift", Farn.); Pythian VIII. 4445: ("The hritage of valor from their fathers shines through in the son's blood", Latt.); Nemean VII. 54: ' ("By birth each of us is given his own life to carry. They differ one way and another", Latt.); Olympian XII. 13: ("It is vain striving to hide inborn nature", Latt.). But, at the same time, the fortunate individual who is endowed with this inborn gift has to enhance it through his own efforts because only thus can truly and directly lead to the , the ultimate aim of poetry. T.K. Hubbardm op. cit., p. 108, has synthesized this aspect of the Pindaric : "[it] is a mre potential for sophia, a potentiality which can be enhanced only through nurture, training, exercise, effort", in short, through what Pindar frequently calls : Olympian V.16: ' ' . . . (" Always attendant on valor , work and substance struggle to win" , Latt.); VI. 11: , ("But if afair deed is wrought with toil, it is long remembered of many a man", Farn.); X.23: ' ("But, without striving, few hve won joy of victory", Latt.); XI. 4: , ... ("But when with hard toil a man fareth gloriously, then honey-voiced songs...", Farn.); Isthmian 1.41-42: ' 10. Even though it is a constant thme in Pindar's poetry, we offer some of the most significant passages concerning this topos: Olympian IV. 2 1-22: (" will not stain my speech with falsehood", Farn.); Nemean 1. 18-18b: (" mount this occasion for manifold praise, nor cast my words in falsehood", Latt.); VII. 23: ("genius persuasive in speech deceivesus", Latt.); 62-63: ("... andbring... glory in sincre praise", Latt.).

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, ... ("But if every temper of him is dispose! toward virtue both ways, by outlay and en durance of toil...", Latt.); VI. 10 sqq.: , ... ("If any man, gladly lavishing gold and toil, win to achievement of excellence given of God . . . " , Latt . ) . This notion of effort is ubiquitous in Pindar's works and it can be found at very diffrent levels of analysis11. Not only are his laudandi always valiant men who hve performed difficult and hazardous exploits and hve achieved success after numerous ordeals, but the poet himself also expresses his continuai struggle to prove himself worthy of the craft of a poet, that is, to be loyal to truth, beauty and goodness. Again, we hve to consider the above mentioned difficulty that critics hve repeatedly remarked upon in Pindar's poetic language. In our opinion, this difficulty points in the same direction: it is as if the poet were suggesting that beauty and aesthetic pleasure constitute the terminus, the end point of a certain path to perfection, and they demand a tremendous effort in order to be reached. Once again, Hracls proves to be the most suitable paradigm. Nothing is granted to this hero but his innate excellence or , which confers on him a natural superiority from the very moment of his conception. But this must be enhanced and developed by his own efforts, and nobody has more expri ence strife and suffering than Hracls, the hero of "Labours" par excel of lence12. 2. Besides being an innate quality that exacts effort, Pindaric appears to be defined by another important trait: service to others13. Pindar's

11. On and . G. Nagy, Pindar's Homer. The Lyric Possession of an EpicPast, Baltimore-London, 1990, pp. 138-140. 12. Even though there is no full description or exhaustive list of the Labours of Hrac ls Pindar's surviving works, the poet constantly underlines his valiant character and in the suffering he had to undergo in order to reach a 'happy end'. See the prdiction of the hero's future, as foreseen by the seer Teiresias, when Hracls was still a baby in JVemean 1.60 sqq. 13. Cf. Olympian XIII. 96-97: / ' ' ("For came fain helper to the Muses on their thrones of shining, and to the Oligaithidai", Latt.); Pythian III. 109: ' ' (" will work out the divinity that is busy within my mind and tend the means that are mine", Latt.); IX. 103-104: ...... (", staunching the thirst of song", Latt.); Isthmian VI. 21: / ... (" aver 'lis an ordinance right clear for me, (...), toshedupon youthedewof words of praise", Farn.); Nemean 1.31-32: -

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notion of is never limited just to its bearers, whether they be his laudandi, the poet himself , or the hero Hracls14. On the contrary, it is a transitive quality, reaching its highest expression and revealing itself fully in a relationship with others. Pindar's laudandi are always praised as good citizens, fair men, and loyal friends of their friends15. As for the complex personality of Hracls, his altruism has been repeatedly noticed. Although this is a traditional feature of his personality, Pindar has deliberately highlighted it in several passages: for example, the toast proposed at the banquet of the hero's close friend Telamon (cf. Nemean 1.62-68); or in Olympian X. 43-59, where Hracls, worried by the inclement conditions under which the Olympic Games were to be celebrated, proceeded to protect the weary athltes from the powerful sun by carrying and transplanting trees. Many scholars, among them W. Race, op. cit., p. 82, G. Norwood, op. cit., p. 230 n. 89 and E.L. Bundy, Studia Pindarica, BerkeleyLos Angeles, 1986, repr.,p. 85 n. 116, hve remarkedupon Hracls' con dition as a benefactor of humankind. According to Norwood, the only absolutely clear passage concerning altruism in Pindar's whole work is the above-mentioned toast, proposed by Hracls at Telamon's feast. The poet also considers his poetry to be a kind of service he renders for men's sake, because poetry is a gift of the gods that must be made public, a gift meant to be shared with and enjoyed by citizens, and to bestow glory and fam on deeds that deserve ever-lasting remembrance. Apart from the many passages in which a Muse, the Muses collectively, or the Grces are invoked as awarders of this gift (see, e.g., Olympian XIV. 5 sqq., Pythian IX. 89a, etc.), Pindar has many other passages in which this same idea is emphasized, as in the outstanding Unes of Isthmian 1.45-46: / ' ("...for it is a light gift for a man well skilled to find the right word for various labors achieved and build up splendor in ail mens's , 1 (...) ' . .. (" love not vast wealth darkened deep in the house, but with it there to know good treatment and rputation; to serve friends", Latt.). This last passage connects the idea of service with the figure of Hracls. 14. On Hracls, we may also quote Pindar's passage at Nemean VII. 96-97: / ("And thou thyself canst grant to mortals in many a pass deliverance from desperate straits", Farn.). 15. Moreover, thse relations are often circumscribed within the sphre of reciprocal gifts, an important institution in the Pindaric works. V. , for this matter, J. Prtulas, "La condition hroque et le statut religieux de la louange", in Pindare. Entretiens F. Hardt XXXI (O. Reverdin et B. Grange, eds.), Vanduvres-Genve, 1985, pp. 207-235.

M. P. NIETO HERNNDEZ sight16", Latt.). The gifts received from the gods - according to so pious a mentality as Pindar's -must not be ignored; acting otherwise would constitute an act of . Anticipating our conclusions, we can say that Hracls' and Pindar's careers are similar in the sens that they constitute a kind of progression in that confers immortality on both of them (see W. Race, op. cit. , p. 85). This feature of Hracls, as the only hero who becomes part of the Panthon through struggle, and the fulfillment of his , has been signalled (cf. supra) as one of the reasons for Pindar's spcial admiration for him. It is in this light, -irrespective of the fact that the Theban Hracls was short, as Schachter affirms- that we ought to interpret the problematic passage in which Pindar, for the first and last time, dares to say something derogatory about this hero: even if the poet affirms at Isthmian IV. 51 and 57 that Hracls was physically short () in order to establish a suitable parallel with the ode's laudandus, Melissos (who in ail probability was a short man), he is most surely motivated by the worthy purpose of underlining, once again, the importance of personal effort in the development of one's inborn through . This, in turn, leads us to some further considrations. 3. The realization of entails a sries of important consquences. The most outstanding one -from which the rest are derived- is the transcendence of time, the achievement of immortality. For Pindar, the fulfil lment of enables the mortals to attain this most valuable goal of ail. Time is the critical limitation of the human condition and defines the essential diffrence between men and gods. Thus the practice of gives men access to the future, an otherwise exclusive privilge of divinity17. 16. For this passage, see A. Hurst, "Aspects du temps chez Pindare", en Pindare. En tretiens F. Hardt XXXI (O. Reverdin et B. Grange, eds.), Vanduvres-Genve, pp. 157-197, p. 194. 17. As an illustration of the way in which Pindar conceives of the gods and their relationship to time, we will quote only some passages that are particularly relevant: Olympian XII. 8-9: ' / ("Never yet has a man who walks upon earth found from God sure sign of the matter to corne", Latt.); Isthmian III. 19 sqq.: ' ' . ("But time, in the turning-over of days, works change for better or worse; the unwounded are God's children", Latt.); VIII. 15: ' ("For full of treachery is our span of days impending", Farn.); Olympian X. 52-55: ' ("the Fates stood hard by as witnesses, and Father Time who alone testeth the very truth of things", Farn.).

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According to the Pindaric viewpoint, poetry , conceived of as the highest realization of excellence, also represents a path to immortality (cf. W. Race, op. cit., p. 68 and P. A. Bernardini, op. cit., p. 164). In short, the combination of (the inborn quality, received from the gods) and (skilful craft derived from personal effort) provides a basis for artistic cr ation (see T.K. Hubbard, op. cit., pp. 107 sqq. and Nemean IV. 37-38: / : "thus shall we show far better than our enemies, and corne down to the trial in brightness", Latt.) and enables excellence in every other field: it affects both the athltes whose victories the poet clbrtes, and Hracls, who is, once again, his idal paradigm. Of ail Greek heroes, Hracls is exceptional by virtue of his improvement of his own excellence, his . For this reason he is able to transcend time, to enter the realm of the gods ("the forever alive"), and to marry Hebe, the flourishing Youth18. Moreover, the figure of Hracls prsents many interesting features that inextricably tie the hero to the no tion of time, features that Pindar skilfully exploits in his odes. Ail thse characteristics hve been carefully studied by S. Feraboli, "Eracle, le Trachinie e il Calendario", Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura classica 52, 1986, pp. 125-135, esp. p. 135, who observes that in Sophocles' Trachiniae the chronological markers are unusually prcise; she accounts for this by the prsence of Hracls in the play. One of the most outstanding and vident bonds between Hracls and time is to be found in his establishing of the Olympic Games. As is well known, among the Greeks the Olympiads served as a measure of time (see W. Race, op. cit., p. 118). For his part one of Pindar's most beautiful passages is the scne concerning the foundation of the Olympic Games by Hracls (Olympian X.50 sqq.; cf. also Olympian III. 19-20), an event at which, besides Hracls, only the Moiras and Chronos, or Time, were prsent (see the interesting remarks by W. Race, 18. From the perspective of G. Dumzil's Indo-European tripartite ideology, as illustrated by F. Bader's hypothesis (F. Bader, "De la prhistoire l'idologie tripartie: les Travaux d'Hrakls", in R. Bloch (d.), D'Hrakls Posidon. Mythologie et Pro tohistoire, Genve-Paris, 1985, pp. 9-124), Hracls passes from the second function to the first. Cf. Nemean 1.60 sqq., X. 17-18; Isthmian IV. 70 sqq. We may mention, by the way, that if, in gnerai, Greek saga does not offer many suitable lments for comparison with the Indo-European background, the history of Hracls, so rich in comparative materials, constitutes the exception (v. , e.g. , J. Puhvel, Comparative Mythology, Baltimore-London, 2nd d. 1987, p. 141: "...An exception is, however, the Herakles cycle, which does contain important comparative material for the study of the Indo-European warrior").

M. P. NIETO HERNNDEZ op. cit., p. 118 and Ch. Segal, Pindar's Mythmaking. The Fourth Pythian ode, Princeton, 1986, pp. 97 sqq.). Concerning this issue we must refer to the "pillars of Hracls" , and the multiple meanings which Pindar gives to them. He does not confer upon this image an exclusively spatial or local significance ; the pillars do not mark simply the world's gographie end. They represent symbolically the highest degree of excellence, and, in this sens, Pindar uses them to praise some of his laudandi. But there is still more. Taking their symbolism further, Pindar also exploits them as symbolic boundaries of time, and, in this sens, he applies them to himself and his poetic cration; See Olympian III. 42 sqq., esp. 44-45: ' / . , ("Beyond no wise man can tread; no fool either. I will not venture; a fool were I", Latt.); and, also, Nemean I.V.69-72, a highly symbolic passage in which the pillars of Hracls are not explicity named, but the poet is obviously referring to them when he says: ("Into the night beyond Gades you may not pass", Latt.). Whoever is able to reach this point and go further enters, like Hracls, the sacred time of the gods, i.e., the non-time, and becomes immortal (cf. W. Mullen, "Herakles in Pindar", in AA.VV., Herakles. Passage ofthe Hero through 1,000 Years of Classical Art, New Rochelle-N. York, pp. 29-33, esp. p. 30 and P. A. Bernardini, op. cit., p. 116, who underlines the plural meanings that the "pillars of Hracls" hve in Pindar's poetry). For those who are mre mortals, immortality is accessible by means of a good and lasting rputation, the . But this glory cannot be obtained through the performance of grand feats alone , because , as Pindar emphasizes , in spite of their importance , ail such exploits lack permanence so long as they are not sung by a poet. With the passage of time, they are lost in forgetfulness, they sink into nothingness; see Olympian IV. 11-12: ' , : "., .in the name ofthe Grces accept this song of Olympic victory , light at long last from the wide strength of valor" , Latt. ; Pythian III. 114-1 15: ' : "In the glory of poetry achievement of men blossoms long", Latt.; Nemean IV. 6 sqq.: ' : "And speech hath a longer life than deeds", Farn.; VIL 13: : "even high strength, lacking song, goes down into the great darkness", Latt. ; VII.20: ' ' ": "But trow that the fam of Odysseus passeth the measure of his suffering because of sweetvoiced Homer", Farn. ; etc.

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1 . 6 . In addition to being a benefactor of humanity , Hracls also has the characteristics of a civilizing hero. He takes part in the battle led by Zeus and the other Olympians against the Giants, and in his mythic cycle we find several of the lments proper to the civilizing heroes, such as, for in stance, a fight with monstrous animais (a typically heroic motif; cf. A. Brelich, op. cit., p. 75). In thisway, Hracls collabortes with his father Zeus and the new divine gnration in the task of establishing a new cosmic order, governed by harmony and justice. Through his labours and battles he participtes in the cration of a , an ordered world, that supplants a former . In this connection, we shall indicate a few significant passages. For example at Nemean 1.63 sqq. , when the seer Teiresias foresees the hero's future, the monsters Hracls fights with are denominated as , i.e., "ignorant of justice". In this same passage, we are also informed about Hracls' rle in the battle of the Olympic gods against the Giants (vv. 67-68, also mentioned at Nemean VII. 90), in which the hero aids the new gnration of gods . Evidently , as many scholars hve already noticed(see, for example, Farnell, op. cit., I,p. 162,echoedbyW. Race, op. cit. , p. 83), Pindar is employing this mythic pisode as a parallel to the battles of Chromius -the winner celebrated in this ode- against the Carthaginians and the Etruscans. But, in addition, in the Vth century , this battle of Hracls against the Giants had already become a clich mirroring the battles of the Greeks against the Barbarians (see Farnell, loc. cit. , and F. Vian, La Guerre des Gants. Le mythe avant l'poque hellnis tique, Paris, 1952, p. 288). Also the battle against Antaeus19, a monster characterized at sthmian IV. 57 sqq. as an ogre, should be interpreted along the same lines, since the monster's brute force is countered by the hero's use of cf. P. A. Bernardini, op. cit., p. 57)20. We could say more about the civilizing features of the hero. Not only is Hracls "the master of animais", as he has been justly called (cf. W. Burkert, Structure andHistoryin Greek Mythology and Ritual, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London, 1979, pp. 78 sqq. and Greek Religion, Engl. trans. , Oxf ord, 1985, p. 209), but on many occasions in his earthly career he also ap19. A Lybian Giant, the son of Posidon and Ge, who decorated Poseidon's temple with the skulls of foreigners. 20. A certain component of was already prsent in the personality of Hracls before its treatment by Pindar. See, on this matter, M. Detienne-J.P. Vernant, Mtis. Las artimanas de la inteligencia, (Span. trans. of the 2nd. fr. d., Paris 1978), Madrid, 1988, pp. 34, 41-42, 102 fn. 8 and 104-105. Ch. Segal, op. cit., pp. 26 sqq. remarks that the prsence of in the personality of Pindar's heroes is important for the understanding of Pindaric poetics.

M. P. NlETO HERNNDEZ pears as "the lord of waters" (see F. Bader op. cit., p. 49). His dominion over this lment, and over its various manifestations -seas, rivers, marshes, etc.- is demonstrated at several important moments of his life. We may recall that water and, even more so man's control of water, is a civilizing lment of the first order. Hence, the victor of Hracls over the Lernian Hydra (an aquatic monster who inhabited the swamps of Lerna) has usually been interpreted as the struggle of civilizing forces against primitive and wild ones, as it figures the transformation of marshes into farmlands. This is, in fact, a contemporary allegorical interprtation, according to which the Hydra stands for the swamps, useless for the cultivation of land and the source of malarial infection, while Hracls' victory over the monster symbolizes the draining of the marshes to the benefit of the peasants (see F. Bader, op. cit. , p. 24). Water also plays an important rle in Heracles's "labour" of cleaning the Augean stables. To perform his task in the short period of time he was allowed, he alters the course of the rivers Alphaeus and Peneus, and exhibits, once again, his dominion over this lment. His power over water is revealed once more in his frquent sea voyages, and it is not by accident that he placed his famous pillars at the outermost limit of the then known sea. And, finally, water is not just a civilizing lment, but also, more generally, a sign of birth, of the beginning of life: in short, an essential crative principle21. Pindar, the poet, aware of the prominent function of water in the overall pattern of action of this hero, introduces an impressive number of rfr ences to this lment in ail the passages that deal with Hracls. Moreover, he does it not directly but by indirection, in the veiled manner proper to the oblique style of what we might call "the Pindaric mood". We may focus first on Pindar's version of Zeus' begetting of Hracls. As is well known, in the most common version of this mythical event, Zeus assumes the shape of Alcmene's absent husband, Amphitruo, and deceives the fathful wife, who consents to having sexual intercourse with him (cf. Nemean X.15 sqq.). But Pindar also prsents another, diffrent 21. In fact, not only does civilization start from water, but so does life itself, as Thaes affirmed. The symbolism of water as a sign of re birth into a new life, or another form of existence is so well known and so widespread that there is no need to provide further examples. We limit ourse Ives to recalling -simply to give another example of the continuity of this image- that, even nowadays, it still is an essential lment in baptismal or initiatory rites. On the gnerai meaning of water, v. M. Ninck, Die Bedeutung des Wassers im Kult und Leben der Alten. Philologus Suppl. 14.2, Darmstadt 1921 (3rd d., 1967) and, more concretely, for primordial waters, J. Rudhardt, Le Thme de l'eau primordiale dans la mythologie grecque, Bern, 1971.

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version of this incident, in which Zeus imprgntes Alcmene by means of a "golden snow" (Isthmian VII. 5 sqq. , , "Or when, by midnight, you welcomed the mightiest of gods in the gold snowfall.. .", Latt.). This constitutes a curious syncretism with the myth of another hero, Perseus, and the golden rain that, according to tradition, Zeus shed on the imprisoned Danae. As Ch. Segal, op. cit., p. 113 has correctly observed, the prsence of gold in Pindar repeatedly marks the encounter of a mortal with a deity . Furthermore, it also signais the bare prsence of the divine , of absolute "otherness" , and of those orders that do not lie within human catgories. Thus, for instance, we find the prsence of gold at the beginning of the description of the Islands of the Blessed, in Olympian 11.72: ..., or, again, in the passage in which Pindar narrtes Athena's birth. When the goddess emergedfrom Zeus' head, he, the fatherof gods andmen, sentaccording to Pindar- a similar golden snow: Olympian VIL 34 22 ("Where once the high king of the gods drenched their city in a gold snowfall . . . " , Latt . ) . In another Pindaric passage of utmost importance water is again associated with Hracls. The lines narrate the beginning or origin of the Olympic Games and their cration by Hracls (cf. Olympian X.24 sqq.). (A fuller treatment of this scne is to be found infra). Like Hracls, Pindar is also conscious that, through his works, he is creating a new reality, a whole world, a . And, what is more, both of them are commissioned to accomplish their tasks: Hracls is under the orders of Eurystheus, and Pindar under those of his various patrons. Both 22. We remark how in both of thse cases -conception of Hracls and birth of Athene-, water marks, again, a crative act, the primordial moment of something (v. fn. 21 supra). Those Pindaric expressions in which snow is closely related to important stages in Zeus' relationship to certain of his children, evoke the Homeric passage that recounts Sarpedon's death (///ad XVI. 459-460): . There are similarities and diffrences between thse lines and Pindar's passages. In both cases (Homer, Pindar), Zeus produces a spcial phenomenon at a dcisive moment in the life of one of his children; but whereas in Pindar we find a gold en snowfall signaling the birth or origin, in Homer we find bloody drops that fall on to earth in honour of Sarpedon's death. Finally, we also hve to point out that thse golden snowfalls combine gold and water, two lments that frequently appear together in Pindar's poetry; and, moreover, they regularly do so in highly wrought passages, like the famous priamel at the beginning of the Olympian 1.1: " , ..., or the almost exact rptition of the same idea in the closing verses of Olympian III. 42: ' , ... (V. also, for the passage Olympian VII. 34, A. Hurst, op. cit., p. 173).

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of them also are -and they know it- superior to those whom they serve: Hracls is much more valiant and stronger than his cousin, and Pindar, in his works, repeatedly affirms his own superiority in comparison to his laudandi. He often stresses the fact that without his songs ail their exploits are doomed to oblivion. Only the poet makes them immortal. And, finally, the hero, like the poet, performs his tasks alone, unaided by anybody. As is well known, solitude is a typical characteristic of heroic life. Eurystheus does not accept the exploits that Hracls has performed with the help of his nephew Iolaus. As for Pindar, he repeatedly emphasizes his solitude , using the poetic "I" instead of the expected "we" , required by the tradition of choral song. This point has been -and still is- one of the most problematic issues in Pindaric criticism. This is not the appropiate occa sion to discuss this controversy, but we may briefly mention the possibility that Pindar's sens of his solitude as a poet might be another clue to the Pindaric use of the first person singular (cf. infra fn. 36). 1.7. Finally, poet and hero also share another similarity: their ties to the traditional value System. Pindar genuinely adhres to the ideals advocated by the aristocracy from, at least, the end of the VlIIth century onwards. Furthermore, Pindar maintains this attitude in a historical and social mo ment in which thse values are in dcline and survive chiefly within the bas tions of the Dorian aristocracies. The ties that bind the figure of Hracls to the Dorian world are well known: the Dorians recognized in him their mythical ancestor, and this is another relevant factor in the poet's identifi cationwith the hero. We may recall that, whatever the actual origins of the Hracls myth may be, the hero was considered a prototype of the Dorian man. Pindar, in turn, never conceals his sympathy for the Dorian aristoc racy his rpugnance for the Athenian democracy; see, for example, nor Pythian X. 71-72: ' / ("The rule of states in noble hands by ancestral right is trusty and sure", Farn.). Moreover, choral lyric, the genre that Pindar cultivated was closer to the Dorian world than to any other Greek area because of its background, its literary language and its characteristic features. Pindar's solidarity with a set of values already outmoded in his own day constitutes one of the most obvious and remarkable contradictions between him and his ge. And, probably, his defence of traditional values accounts for the distinctly moral treatment that mythical figures receive in his works. He thus counters the criticism then in vogue of traditional religiosity, formulated in diffrent Greek circles and destined to become more and more pervasive and outspoken during his lifetime. Pindar's choice of Hracls as his favourite hero is thus fully understand-

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able. His mythic story provides the best paradigm of the and his life and behaviour fully illustrate the validity of this concept. For this reason, too, Pindar frequently stresses the divine birth of the hero and his exceptional innate qualities. In our opinion, this is an essential key to understanding the myth in Nemean I, which recounts the victory of the baby Hracls , while still in his cradle , ver the'snakes sent by Hera who , driven by jealousy, tries to put an end to the life of Zeus' illegitimate son. The child, who has not yet developed his capacities through effort, demonstrates a inborn superiority, displaying a powerful energy that easily kills the monsters, to the astonishment of his parents and the other atten dants who witness the scne. 2. The identification Pindar-Heracles: an image of Pindaric poetics Pindar's identification with Hracls does not operate so much in terms of concrte human individuals as it does on the level of the rles they play in their lives: the former, as a poet; the latter, as a hero. The identification thus functions between Pindar the poet and Hracls the hero. We can easi lygrasp some of the gnerai characteristics of Pindar's poetry : for Pindar, poetry is a way, a path to the realization of one's , a means of personal growth. As we noted earlier, the identification of the poet with his hero concerns essentially the way in which Pindar thinks of himself as a poet, and has deeper implications than those explored so far by scholars. For this reason, in this second part, we shall consider various aspects of Pindar's conception of his poetic craft, in order to examine its impact on his artistic cration of the hero Hracls, as the most striking paradigm of the fulfilment of . This will lead us to a sries of paradoxes, con tradictions or polarities which the poet -as well as the hero- is compelled to live out. 2.1. The heroic choice. This is a characteristic feature of the heroic personality, and it has been repeatedly emphasized. The notion is already pr sent in the Iliad. Achilles consciously opts for a short life and death in Troy after having slain Hektor, because that will bring him imperishable glory. Consequently, he rejects a peaceful and secure but mdiocre life amidst the sheltered environment of his family -together with his father and sonback in his native Thessaly23. 23. V. Iliad IX. 412-413: ' / , . Cf. also Thetis' prdictions concerning her son's

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The heroic choice must hve appeared quite early in the Heraclean cycle, as on several occasions Hracls is compelled to choose between good and evil, and he becomes a paradigm of those who make the dcision they ought to make, even if the chosen path is arduous and beset with dif ficulties. The thme was developed by one of the most prominent men of the Athenian Enlightment, Prodicus of Ceos, in a speech that was to become quite popular in his time and was quoted very often by later authors. He pictured "Hracls at the crossroad", and confronted the hero with the choice between two diffrent paths (cf. Xenophon, Memorabilia. II. 1.2134) : the one , easy and accessible , leading to mediocrity , or even to evil ; the other, steep and almost impassable, leading, on the contrary, to the highest good and to the fullness of glory. In this respect, Pindar identifies hims elf once more with the hero. Everywhere in his work he shows that his particular way of understanding poetry involves a conscious act of will, as is his choice of a spcifie set of values: he illustrtes this conception when he compares himself to the poets whose craft stems from discipline and training and not from ; he illustrtes it again when he sets his own poetic stature against that of others; and he reaffirms it once more when he consciously underlines the difficulties that his crative works prsent, which "for common people require interpreters" (Olympian 11.84), etc. 2.2. Poetry is truth. The poet has the duty of expressing the truth which cornes from the gods and his (poetic) word is veracious. The poet everywhere dcries falsehood: the contrast truth/falsehood () is a constant in Pindaric poetics (see T.K. Hubbard, op. cit., pp. 100-101). But, in principle, his concept of is not opposed or polarized to , but to , forge tfulness, as M. Dtienne, Les

short destiny (Mad 1.416: ... , "for the Iife allotted to you is short, not long at ail"), his horse Xanthos (Iliad XIX. 409: , "but you are already fated to die"), etc.. Thse prdictions of Achilles' destiny constitute one of the most important thmes of the poem, especially if we consider it as an Achilleis or poem of Achilles. With this choice, Achilles fulfills his heroic vocation (v. Iliad XXII. 393: ), just as Hektor does when he disregards his wife's supplications. She warns him that he is in danger of losing his Iife in war because of his courage (Iliad VI. 407). Also Hektor's parents at Iliad XXII. 38 sqq. and 82 sqq. implore him not to leave the city and confront Achilles, as they fear that he will die. Nevertheless, the Trojan warrior does not listen to this advice. He claims that his own condition prompts him to do it, because he has been trained to shine as a hero and to confront danger and not flee like a coward (according to the dfinition, now classical, of E.R. Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational, Berkeley, 1951, this is another illustration of the power of shame experienced before the community).

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matres de vrit dans la Grce archaque, Paris, 1967, demostrated several years ago24. Consequently, poetry is truth for Pindar, but his concept of truth differs from our prsent understanding of it. Seen as an opposite of , truth is that which has the power to transmit and keep alive our memory of the past and to rescue it from oblitration (we hve already seen how poetry confers perdurability on men's achievements, cf. supra p. 12). The good poet, the authentic one, receives his inspiration from the gods: for this reason he knows the truth. And due to this direct contact that the genuine poet has with the gods , he has access to the realm of non-time , to the sacred sphre of immortality. Thus, not only does he rescue the most prominent exploits of men from forgetfulness, but through the perfo rmance of his artistic crations he is also capable of projecting facts from the past into the future, and in so doing he transcends the boundaries that are usually unsurmountable for men. He insists that the exploits performed by the winners of his odes will be known in future times only through his songs. Because of his capacity to transcend time, to penetrate into the fu ture, we can affirm that the true poet also is a prophet (see Ch. Segal, op. cit. , pp. 47 and 148- 149)25. Furthermore, on several occasions, Pindar employs prophecy as a metaphor for poetry, as argued by T.K. Hubbard (op. cit., p. 54 fn. 120), who in turn draws on J. Duchemin's famous treatise, Pindare, pote et prophte, Paris, 1955, the very title of which posits the poet's condition as prophet26. Only one of Pindar's heroic characters possesses this prophtie gift and this is, as expected, Hracls. In the wellknown scne of the hero's toast in the house of his friend Telamon -an i ncident previous to their departure, in the company of Peleus, for the Trojan campaign against Laomedon (Isthmian VI. 51 sqq.)-, Hracls interprets an omen sent by Zeus , and proves himself a reliable interprter of the

24. V., for the concept of truth in archaic poetry, Th. Cole, "Archaic Truth", Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura classica, 42, 1983, pp. 7-28. 25. V. also A. Hurst, op. cit. , p. 195: "Responsable de transmettre une vision juste de l'ordre du monde, Pindare voit une relation directe entre cette situation et le pouvoir dont il s'enorgueillit, pouvoir qui lui permet de rompre avec le temps. On peut discerner dans ce rapprochement un trait qui apparente la parole potique de Pindare la parole oraculaire". 26. From this saine perspective, in the myth of Hracls in Nemean I, the figure of the seer Teiresias, who foresees the glorious future of the child Hracls, has been interpreted as an image of Pindar (v. P.W. Ros, "The Myth of Pindar's First Nemean: Sportsmen, Poetry, and Paideia", Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 78, 1974, pp. 145-175, esp. pp. 171-172 and Ch. Segal, "Time and the Hero: the Myth of Nemean I", Rheinisches Musum, 117, 1974, pp. 29-39, esp. pp. 38-39).

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future ( ): Telamon's son will be valiant and courageous, and will add great glory to his father's name27. Thus the power of prophecy points, one more time, to the similarity between Pindar and Hracls. But poetry , like language in gnerai, can also be employed in the service of falsehood or deceit28. Nevertheless, in this respect too, Pindar 's con cepts differ from ours, since for him, deceit, artifice, etc., are not always invariably evil, but, on the contrary, prove to be as indispensable an l ment to artistic achievement, as they are to heroic fulfillment. Thus, in the last analysis, the problem of truth versus falsehood is not posed in ethical terms, as we may be inclined to approach it nowadays. Deceit is basically everything that falsifies the essential aim of poetry, which rsides in rescuing from forgetfulness, in transmiting or projecting great men's deeds into the future. Hence, a kind of poetry that lacks , the necessary innate quality , or that is not enhanced by the required , cannot reach its aim of , that is, it does not defeat oblivion and cannot, consequently, tresspass the limits of time (cf. infra, 2.5). 2.3. Poetry is cration . When poetry is truth , when it is authentic , it constitutes a crative power of the first rank, which transforms into . We hve already called attention to the crative strength in Pindaric poetry. Now we shall examine it in dtail. In his works, Pindar, like every true poet, not only crtes his own poetic universe, but, moreover, he also acts as a creator of new words, a "wordfinder" , as he explicitly wishes to be (' , Olympian IX. 80-8 1)29. His ability and his crative strength merge as an enormous crative power to name reality. In the same way, in his odes, Hracls is

27. This son of the friend of Herackles, Telamon, will be Telamonian Ajax, one of the most outstanding heroes of the Greek army during the second and most famous Greek expdition against Troy: the Trojan war. 28. Cf. M. Dtienne, op. cit., p. 77: "le 'matre de vrit' est aussi un matre de trom perie". 29. We translate by "wordfinder", because, even though can also be rendered by "to invent", "to find" seems to be more accurate in the context of Pindaric poetry. Probably, this translation is closer to the poet's purpose of creating this composed noun. "Finding", not "inventing" is quite a common exprience among great artists. Picasso, for example, affirmed: "I do not seek; I find". We can also recall Federico Garc iaLorca's words in 1936 about Luis Cernuda: ..."No habr escritor en Espana, de la clase que sea, si realmente es escritor, manejador de palabras, que no quede admirado del encanto y refinamiento con que Luis Cernuda une los vocablos para crear un mundo potico propio" (my underlining). And, of course, Lorca was not inspiring himself in Pindar when he uttered this wonderful "manejador de palabras".

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endowed with the ability to give a name to that which did not hve one (see Ch. Segal, op. cit. , p. 99). Thus, the scne at Olympian X.43 sqq. in which Pindar narrtes Heracles's founding of the Olympic Games also attests to a crative act of this kind. The hero gives a name to a land which was nameless before: , ... . "And he called the hill by Kronos' name; for of aforetime (se. 'before this act of foundation'), (...) it was nameless (), drenched with many a snow-shower" (Farn.). We could add much more about the power of naming as a means of possessing and dominating reality, and as a manifestation of men's crative power. It suffices to recall, for instance, Juliet's remarks on the power of names in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (Act II, scne II, vv. 33 sqq.) or the last words of U. Eco's The Name of the Ros ("stat rosa pristina nomine, nomina nuda habemus"). In this sens, Pindar created a significant number of images to illustrate the idea of cration, production and the gnration of new realities. This newly created reality can be embodied variously in a person or a whole race, city or institution as, for example, in the above-mentioned foundat ion the Olympic Games by Hracls (see Ch. Segal, op. cit., pp. 104 of sqq. for myths of cration in Pindar, and poetry as a cosmos). Furthermore, Pindar applies to this crative power which he desires for himself ( Olympian IX. 83) the same terms he employs for the description of the extraordinary behaviour of the child Hracls in Nemean 1.56-57 ( ...). But there is still more. The study of this crative power common to hero and poet brings us back to the lment of water. As we said before, water is a primordial symbol of origins, that marks in gnerai beginnings and acts of birth and cration. In the famous scne of the cration of the Olympic Games, Heracles's act of giving a name is associated with the symbolic pr sence of water. As we hve mentioned previously, this lment is closely related to the thme of Hracls. Water is ubiquitous in it and it appears in every possible form: marshes, rivers, seas, etc. In the scne of the Olympic Games, water is prsent in the snow that covers the hill that is being named by the hero30. 2.4. The bow and the arrows. To refer to music, poetry and choral dance, Pindar employs a rich imagery, among which the bow and arrows hve a prominent rle. They recur in many passages of his victory-songs 30. V. Segal, op. cit. , p. 98, who, in his very interesting commentary to this scne of Olympian X, relates the snow on the hill of Chronos to the fact that it had no name.

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(cf. Olympian 1.111; 11.83-91; IX. 5-12; Pythian 1.12; Nemean 111.65; VI. 27; Istmianll.3; V.46-48; cf. T.K. Hubbard, op. cit., p. 152 fn. 78), and they are the emblematic weapons which traditionally accompanied the plastic reprsentions of the hero Hracls. 2.5. The perdurability of poetry: its transcendence of time. Poetryisnot only a crative force: the poetic cration defeats time, it posseses above ail an everlasting dimension. The transcendence ot time, a motive so central to the Hracls myth, equally informs Pindar's conception of poetry31. It has been frequently suggested that Pindar's words may hve inspired the Horatian exegi monumentum are perennius (cf. W. Race, op. cit., p. 87). And this is understandable, because Pindar frequently uses architectural or sculptural images in order to establish an analogy between thse arts and poetry (see T.K. Hubbard, op. cit. , p. 83 fn. 36). Naturally, this anal ogy ratifies the superiority of poetry. Pindar shows that poetic works last longer because the wind has no power against them, etc. See Olympian VI. 1-4: ' . "Like architects of a sumptuous palace, who set the golden columns under the portico wall, we shall build. The forehead of every work begun must shine from afar", Latt.; Pythian III. 113-114: , /: "the sounding words that smiths of song in their wisdom built to beauty", Latt.; Pythian V. 48-49: ': "mmorial words of noblest poesy", Farn., Ne mean V.l-5, etc. Hence every Pindaric ode "places the moment of the victory into the perspective of eternal things..." (Ch. Segal, op. cit., p. 118). And this attempt to set the victory of his laudandi -that is, a concrte, historical fact, and, for this reason, timebound- within the perspective of the everlasting and eternal things , is realized by means of the myths , which provide a timeless frame. In this way , Pindar crtes a diffrent order of existence (as we hve already mentioned, the poet is also the creator of a cosmos), in which a comp lte intgration of the political, aesthetic and cosmic order takes place.

31. V.A. Hurst, op. cit., p. 194: "En plus d'un point, le parallle du pote et du dieu passe par l'usage qu'ils font du temps: l'un et l'autre peuvent le condenser, Fun et l'autre peuvent y chapper: la divinit de par son immortalit, le pote par le biais des carts chronologiques et des abrgements qui lui permettent d'affirmer sa matrise sur cette d imension du rel, mais aussi, plus banalement, du fait que le pome lui-mme constitue une victoire sur le passage du temps (Isthmian VII. 17)".

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Moreover, the poet uses this new order to ratify the aristocratie social values of the winner's social class and prsents the laudandfs victories within this mythical frame, as an extension of the heroic deeds of those kings and princes of the myth whom the aristocratie families claimed as their ancestors. 2.6. and . But, atthesametime, invirtueof the reversibility and changeability inhrent in human events -of which Pindar was very conscious- the poet understands the ambiguous condition of the winner. He knows fully well that fortune can take an unexpected turn and that this possibility entails many risks for those who excel (cf. Ch. Segal op. cit. , pp. 126-127 and 132); see, for example, Pythian III. 104-106: ' / , /: "The winds that corne down from heaven blow diversely at diverse times; and a man's blissn remaineth no long time haie and whole..." (Farn.). Hence, he exhorts his laudandi to remain faithful to moral values and to beware above ail of ; otherwise they will provoke the hostility of the gods. As a poet, Pindar himself abides by the same instructions he gives to his laudandi. On many occasions he exhorts himself to obey the rules of poetry that his moral conception of art perceives as imperative. Thus, for instance, in several passages he cautions himself not to speak disrespectfully of the gods (cf. Olympian IX. 37-38: / : "For to revile the gods is hateful learning", Latt.). On the contrary, given the enormous distance between gods and human beings (Isthmian V.14: : "Strive not to become Zeus", Latt., etc.), he exhorts himself to respect them and sing their excellence (Olympian 1.35: ' : "It is better for a man to speak well of the gods", Latt. Also 52-53: 1 ' : "But 'tis hard for me to charge foui gluttony to one of the Blessed Ones. I abhor the thought. 'Tis often seen that little gain befalleth evil-speakers", Farn. Also, Isthmian III. 1-5, etc.). The poet also in vites himself not to lose a sens of measure (cf. G. Norwood, op. cit., p. 167). In the important passage Nemean VII. 68 sqq., the poet makes remarkable statements concerning his own art: , . , ' , (...) , , : "let a man think, then say if I go out of key, if my words are crooked. Sogenes, descended of Euxenos, I swear I hve not overstepped the line, to cast my speech in speed (. . .) If for the victor's sake I hve raised

M. P. NIETO HERNNDEZ my voice too high, I am not too stubborn to set it aright", Latt.) In other passages, Pindar reflects on his own prolixity and he often requires of himself that he adjust his art to the imperative rules of his craft (): cf. Nemean IV. 33-34: ' / ' ("But from telling the long story (...) the law (of poesy) restraineth me, and the urgency of the flying hours", Farn.); Isthmian 1.60 sqq.: ' , (...) ("But a hymn of short measure debarreth me from telling the full taie", Farn.); Pythian IV. 247-248: ' / ("The high road is long for me to travel, and time closes. I know a short path", Latt.)32, etc. He also wonders if he is acting in accordance with , a term that acquires a multitude of meanings in Pindar's works and is difficult to interpret and translate on more than one occasion. It is usually translated by "right moment", "opportune time", "occasion", "right measure, balance", etc33. See, for instance, Ne mean 1. 18-18b: (" mount this oc casion for manifold praise, nor cast my words in falsehood", Latt.). The disregard of any of thse poetic imperatives could endanger the achievement of the and plunge the poetic order back into primitive disorder and obscurity (cf. Ch. Segal, op. cit., pp. 133 and 189). In addi tion to considering Hracls the prototype of idal behaviour, in whose praise one can never be excessive, Pindar also introduces several ngative examples of flawed conduct, as in the case of Neoptolemus or Ajax (see Ch. Segal, op. cit., p. 133), or Orestes in the pisode recounted at Nemean IX (see W. Race, op. cit. , pp. 101-105). In comparison to thse characters prone to excess and without self-control, Hracls, with his constancy and respectful conduct, achieves the full realization of his . For this reason, he outlasts any other hero and goes beyond the insurmountable barriers of time and death. As the culmination of his career he achieves apotheosis and receives Hebe for wife. 2.7. Pindaric polarities and contradictions. We hve seen, so far, that Pindar oscilltes between forgetfulness and permanence, between fals ehood and authenticity; between the time of gods and the time of men; be tween the conception of the poet as prophet and the poet as craftsman, the poet inspired by the Muses (see Prtulas, op. cit., pp. 230-232) and the 32. On the passage of time and its fleeting condition that urges the poet to be brief, v. A. Hurst, op. cit., pp. 177-179. 33. But see also the commentary of G. A. Privitera ("Tre note alla prima Nemea (vv. 18, 37, 64)", Herms 103, 1975, pp. 285-292) on NI. 18 (p. 286).

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poet commissioned and paid by a patron. Pindar's Hracls also partakes of thse dynamic polarities: although he has been endowed with extraordinary gifts by the gods, he is, at the same time, subjected to his inferior and is doomed to pain and suffering throughout his earthly life. In sum, we hve seen how Pindar oscilltes between the traditional concept of the as something innate and permanent (), and the requirement to enhance this by discipline (i.e. , through heroic fulfilment in the case of Hracls, through poetry seen as in that of Pindar, and through effort and training in the case of his laudandi). 3. Conclusion Ail this, finally , leads us to a crucial issue concerning Pindaric poetics. The poet finds himself in a historical moment in which he is compelled to deal with two diffrent kinds of poetics: the poetics of the sacred poet, inspired and protected by the gods of an inherited tradition we might call oral and propounding a set of values in which Pindar believes, and a new poetics born from a new way of composing and creating poetry, based on writing, which permits a more calculated process of composition to the dtriment of pure inspiration. The poet inspired by the gods, who receives his songs from the Muse, the oral poet in the manner of blind Homer, whose text is inextricably tied to his person and over which he exerts an absolute hold34, is already in dcline at this historical moment. That inspiration or "divine rvlation" which is produced by nature, , is now being displaced by a new way of understanding poetry much closer to , to the artistic ar tifice which can be acquired through discipline and training. In addition to this, Pindar lives in a histori moment in which Greek society is experiencing a gnerai secularization taking place throughout the Vth century (see W. Race, op. cit. , p. 24 and J. Prtulas, op. cit. , p. 231). Moreover, a poet whose work is to be performed by a chorus has a certain detachment versus his own text that differs essentially from the oral poet's immdiate relation to his artistic cration35. 34. See the rcent remark: by O. Taplin on this score (Homeric Soundings. The Shaping of The Iliad, Oxford, 1992, p. 37): "On the other hand, it is important to remember that the oral poet would never hve been able to put the poem behind him, to pack it up and send it off for publication; it will hve stayed with him ail his life, constantly nagging for improvement". 35. Cf. n. 34. On whether Pindar's odes weremeant for a chorus or for a solo voice, see M.R. Lefkowitz, who has recently collected in one volume (First-person Fictions. Pin-

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To sum up, thse polarities or contradictions between which Pindar os cil tes are probably due, as Ch. Segal (op. cit. , pp. 153 sqq.) has pointed out, to the conflict between thse two diffrent kinds of poetics: that of or ality and that of literacy36. Besides the interest that the clash of two diffr ent poetics can prsent by itself , this central polarity constitutes another similarity between the hero Hracls and Pindar. Hracls not only possesses a very rich personality which makes him one of the most complex and contradictory figures of Greek mythology, but he also carries with him, from his origin onwards, the sign of duality and contradiction. Zeus, indeed, according to the traditional taie, begets this child in the guise of Alcmene's husband; on the other hand, the child has a twin brother (Iphi cles) who will become his counterpart, representing human weakness37, etc. And, in our opinion, it is precisely this dual and contradictory character that makes Hracls Pindar 's favourite figure, as he exemplifies virtually ail those aspects that are essential to Pindar's poetic task: though begotten by Zeus, he is a mortal; destined to be a powerful king, he is dar's Poetic '/', Oxford, 1991) the papers that she previously published on this issue. As is well known, she suggests that it is wrong to suppose a choral production for the entirety of Pindar's epinicia. On the contrary, she explains Pindar's use of the poetical "I" as a sign that Pindar's poems were composed for one singer and not for a chorus. This point of view has also been defended by M. Heath, "Receiving the ", American Journal of Philology, 109, 1988, pp. 180-195. For the opposite "choralist" position, see A. Hurst, op. cit., p. 166, and, especially, A. Burnett, "Performing Pindar's Odes", Classical Philol ogy, 1989, pp. 283-293 and C. Carey, "The performance of the victory ode", Ameri 84, can Journal of Philology, 110, 1989, pp. 545-566. A rcent and helpful survey of this question is to be found in J.M. Bremmer ("Pindar's paradoxical and a rcent controversy about the performance of his epinicia", in S.R. Slings (d.), The Poet's Tin Archaic Greek Lyric, Amsterdam, 1990, pp. 41-57), who inclines to the view that thse odes were performed by a chorus. 36. Ch. Segal expresses the distinction using Derrida's terms pneumatological and grammatological. For a rcent and gnerai survey of the problems concerning orality and literacy, see R. Thomas, Literacy and Orality in Ancient Greece, Cambridge, 1922, esp. pp. 113 sqq., for poetry and Pindar. 37. In this mythical cycle, the brother's rle is not performed by Iphicles, but by his son Iolaus, that is Hracls' nephew. The functions and attributes of each member of such couples are extremely interesting. We find twin brothers in important Indoeuropean myths and also outside this domain (for instance, Esau and Iacob in the biblical story). The best known twins in Greek mythology are, of course, the Dioscuroi, but we may also mention Romulus and Remus among the Romans, the Armenian twins Sanasar and Balthasar, etc.. See, for ail thse couples, F. Bader (op. cit., pp. 25 sqq.), and cf. C. Lvy-Strauss (Mito y significado, Span. trans. of the Engl. text, Toronto 1978; Madrid, 1987, pp. 47 sqq.) for the mythical significance of twins in other cultures.

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nevertheless compelled to obey and serve his cousin Eurystheus, clearly inferior to him in ail respects. But, due to his behaviour, he transforms this necessity to serve Eurystheus into a way of improving his own excellence. Similarly, Pindar's works, that are created on commission, are a vehicle of his own immortality as an artist, which surpasses that of his laudandi38. Heracles's innate talents do not save him from the most arduous tasks. He also knows defeat (for instance, when he fights against Augeas and the Moliones, his nephews: Olympian X.30. Cf. also Olympian X. 15-16, against Kyknos, the son of Ares and Pirecne, who forced the hero to flee) and he is deceived in spite of the fact that he himself also possesses -in ad dition to his physical strength- that cunning intelligence or which enables him to lie (for example, in the pisode with Atlas at the "Garden of the Hesperides", which does not occur in the extant works of Pindar). Nevertheless, like Pindar -who also had his share of misfortune, vexation and slander engendered by other's envy- Hracls permanently chooses the difficult and valiant way that enhances his . Like Hracls, Pin dar eschews the paths trodden by the crowd. We cannot accept that Pindar ignored the new and fashionable trends of his time, although he consciously and willingly rejected them. Alone, he folio wed his own path of excellence (Ch. Segal, op. cit. , p. 164). And just as he avoids transgressing the poetic principles which we hve elicited so far, so too he refuses to treat what he considered to be ngative aspects of his favourite hero, Hracls. So far we hve made several rfrences to the "pillars of Hracls" as one of the most outstanding symbols in Pindar's works, due to the range of their plural meanings. In the identification Pindar-Heracles, the linament of which we hve tried to describe in this paper, the "pillars" probably constitute the high-point. The two pillars symbolize the non plus ultra, the world's end, beyond which it is impossible to go (cf. D. Steiner, The Crown of Song. Metaphor in Pindar, London, 1986, p. 124). Pindar, by practicing a double poetics -that of "orality" and that of "literacy"-, reaches an acme that constitutes at the same time a terminus. This is the reason why he had no direct followers, why the genre which he cultivated -the choral lyric- perished with him. Finally, ail this may be encapsulated in one essential fact: the search for

38. Pindar is aware of this: not only does he repeatedly insist that, without his poems, the exploits of his laudandi are worthless, but he also wants his works to hve the largest audience possible; v. Isthmian 11.45-46: ... , ...nor silence yet thse songs. I did not make them that they might rest in sleep" (Latt.).

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immortality is the engine which motivtes the hero as well as Pindar. Hence, each of them, in his respective field, is closely associated with the idea of time and, what is more important, both achieve dominion over it. The hero, through his foundation of the Olympic Games and, particularly, through his final apotheosis, comes to control and overcome the temporality of mortals. This quality did not escape Pindar's keen and shrewd wit. As a poet, he was conscious that his art -poetry and choral dance- constituted a discourse that, inasmuch as it was rhythm, unfolded in time. The good poet must know how to control this lment, time. Nevertheless Pin dar also knew that his art was not doomed -as opposed to the oral poet's art and the mode of extemporary composition- to disappear, but that, thanks to , to human artifice, to writing, his work would prserve its integrity through the ges and that it would achieve a lasting permanence. By means of the written word the poet also transcends time. Pindar was conscious of this. Hence, his limitless pride. (Universit de Salamanca) M. P. NIETO HERNNDEZ