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ἃ τέκε: So the best MSS. ἅ short in Aiolic. τέκε τε, the reading of the inferior MSS., would suggest a change of subject, not surprising in Greek, but clearly a metrical correction.

ἀρεταῖσι μεμαότας: “Forward in deeds of valor.” Not “to deeds of valor,” for which there is no warrant, as Il. 8. 327, and 22, 326, have ἐπί. The Schol., however, understands the passage as ἐπιθυμοῦντας τῆς ἀρετῆς καὶ ταύτης ἀντεχομένους, thus giving μεμαότας the Pindaric construction of a verb of approach, ἅπτεσθαι, θιγεῖν. Ἀρεταῖσι μεμαλότας, another reading, is frigid. P. does not personify ἀ. The Scholiasts give the names of the six, among whom figure Atreus and Thyestes. Pindar is supposed not to know the horrors of the house any more than Homer, but one cannibalic incident was enough for one poem, to say nothing of the rule τὰ καλὰ τρέψαι ἔξω.


Pindar: The Olympian and Pythian Odes. Basil L. Gildersleeve. Anne Mahoney. edited for Perseus. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1885.

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