Scholion to Pindar Pythian 4, 313a

{{#howtoquotetranslation:}}Show notes

ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος δὲ φορμικτάς· Ἀπόλλωνος τὸν Ὀρφέα φησὶν εἶναι, ὃν καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ Πίνδαρος fr. 128c Sn-Maehl. καὶ ἄλλοι Οἰάγρου λέγουσιν. Ἀμμώνιος δὲ σύμφωνον τὴν ἱστορίαν θέλων εἶναι, οὕτως ἀποδίδωσιν· ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος δὲ φορμικτάς· ὁ δὲ ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος μουσικός·

ἐκ γάρ τοι Μουσέων καὶ ἑκηβόλου Ἀπόλλωνος
ἄνδρες ἀοιδοὶ ἔασιν ἐπὶ χθονὶ καὶ κιθαρισταί
(Hes. Theog. 94-5)

ὥσπερ οὖν ἐκ Διὸς λέγουσιν εἶναι τοὺς βασιλεῖς, οὐχ ὅτι γόνος εἰσὶ τοῦ Διός, ἀλλ’ ὅτι τὸ βασιλεύειν ἐκ Διὸς ἔχουσιν, οὕτως ἐξ Ἀπόλλωνος φορμικτὴν αὐτὸν εἶπεν· ἡγεμὼν γὰρ ὁ θεὸς τῆς κιθαρωιδίας. ὁ μέντοι Χαῖρις οὐκ ἀπιθάνως τούτους φησὶν ὠνομάσθαι τοὺς ἐκ θεῶν γεγονότας, οἷον Διοσκούρους καὶ Ἡρακλέα· οὕτω δὴ καὶ Ὀρφέα, διὰ τὸ Ἀπόλλωνος εἶναι υἱὸν γόνωι. παρατίθεται δὲ καὶ χρησμόν τινα, ὅν φησι Μέναιχμον FGrHist 131 F 2. ἀναγράφειν ἐν τῶι Πυθικῶι. ἔχει δὲ οὕτως·

Πιέρες αἰνοπαθεῖς, στυγνὴν ἀποτείσετε ἀποτείσετε Kern: ἀποτίσετε schol. λώβην
Ὀρφέ’ ἀποκτείναντες Ἀπόλλωνος φίλον υἱόν.

καὶ Ἀσκληπιάδης FGrHist 12 F 6a-c. ἐν ἕκτωι Τραγωιδουμένων ἱστορεῖ Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Καλλιόπης Ὑμέναιον, Ἰάλεμον, Ὀρφέα.

From Apollo <came> the lyre player. He says that Orpheus is the son of Apollo, whom Pindar himself and others say is the son of Oeagrus. But Ammonius, wishing the story to be without contradiction, interprets as follows: ‘from Apollo came the lyre player’: he is from Apollo qua musician:

‘For from the Muses and Apollo the far-shooter are singers and lyre-players on the earth.’ (Hesiod, Theogony 94-5)

So just as they say that kings are from Zeus, not because they are Zeus’ progeny, but because they have the power of kingship from Zeus, in the same way he calls him a lyre-player from Apollo. For the god is the sovereign of lyre-playing. Chairis, however, says that it is not implausible for these men to be called children of the gods, like the Dioscuri and Heracles, and that Orpheus, too, is referred to in the same way, on account of his being the son of Apollo by birth. He also cites as evidence for this an oracle which he says Menaechmus inscribed in the Pythian shrine. It runs as follows:

Pierians who suffer dire ills, you will pay back your hateful crime, since you have killed Orpheus, Apollo’s own son.

And Asclepiades, in the sixth book of his The Subjects of Tragedy, recounts that the children of Apollo and Calliope are Hymenaeus, Ialemus, and Orpheus.

Relevant guides	Orpheus