Living Poets

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τὸ δ’ ἐμὸν οὔ ποτε φάσει κέαρ: οὐκ ἀτρόπως φησὶν οὐδ’ ἀπεοικότως εἰς μνήμην ἐληλυθέναι τοῦ Νεοπτολέμου. ὁ μὲν οὖν Καλλίστρατος, ἐπεὶ ἔφησε τὸν Σωγένη γείτονα εἶναι τοῦ Ἡρακλέους, καὶ ὁ Νεοπτόλεμος δὲ γειτνιᾶι τῶι θεῶι τῶι ἐν Δελφοῖς, κατὰ τοῦτό φησιν οἰκείως μεμνῆσθαι τοῦ Νεοπτολέμου, διὰ τὴν ἀμφοτέρων γειτνίασιν· ὁ δὲ Ἀριστόδημος, ὅτι μεμφθεὶς ὑπὸ Αἰγινητῶν ἐπὶ τῶι δοκεῖν ἐν Παιᾶσιν εἰπεῖν τὸν Νεοπτόλεμον ἐπὶ ἱεροσυλίαι ἐληλυθέναι εἰς Δελφοὺς, νῦν ὥσπερ ὑπεραπολογεῖται εἰπὼν, ὅτι οὐχ ἱεροσυλῶν ἐτελεύτησεν, ἀλλ’ ὑπὲρ κρεῶν φιλοτιμηθεὶς ἀνηιρέθη. διὸ καὶ ἐποίσει· ταὐτὰ δὲ τρὶς τετράκις τ’ ἀμπολεῖν ἀπορία τελέθει· οἷον ἀπολελόγημαι ἱκανῶς περὶ τοῦ Νεοπτολέμου· τί οὖν ἔτι μέλλω τὰ αὐτὰ ἀναπολεῖν; ἀπορεῖν γάρ ἐστι λόγων τὸ ἀναπολεῖν τὰ αὐτὰ ὥσπερ παισὶ νηπίοις [τοῖς τέκνοις]. τὸ δὲ ἑλκύσαι ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐνυβρίσαι φησίν· ἡ δὲ μεταφορὰ ἀπὸ τῶν κυνῶν τῶν ἑλκόντων τὰ σώματα.

“My heart will never say”: He means he did not arrive at the mention of Neoptolemus in an unseemly or inappropriate manner. According to Callistratus: since he said Sogene is the neighbor of Hercules, and Neoptolemus is in the precinct of the god at Delphi, according to this Pindar means that he mentioned Neoptolemus properly in regard to the respective precincts of both heroes. But according to Aristodemus, because he was criticized by the Aeginetans for appearing to say in his Paeans that Neoptolemus came to Delphi to plunder it. But now as a defense Pindar claims that Neoptolemus did not die trying to plunder Delphi, but was killed struggling over the sacrificial meat. Because of this he will add next in the poem, “But it’s pointlessness itself to plow the same fields three, four times” i.e. “I have sufficiently defended myself concerning Neoptolemus. Why would I plow the same things? It is pointless to plow the very same fields of words as young foolish children do.” Pindar also says “to tear, harm” rather than “to wrong.” The analogy is from wild dogs that tear bodies.

Relevant guides	Pindar