THE SIXTH PYTHIAN ODE.[1]
TO XENOCRATES OF ACRAGAS, ON HIS VICTORY IN THE CHARIOT RACE, GAINED IN THE TWENTY-FOURTH PYTHIAD.
ARGUMENT.
The poet panegyrizes Xenocrates on account of his country and his victory in the Pythian games, promising him the immortality of verse: he then addresses Thrasybulus, the son of the victor, whom he celebrates on account of his piety and filial affection, comparing him in these respects to Antilochus the son of Nestor.—Concludes by praising Xenocrates for his moderation and proper use of wealth his evenness of temper and suavity of manners.
Give ear—for either through the plain
Of Venus with the laughing eyes,
Or through the Graces' fair domain,
- ↑ This short poem, which the scholiast asserts to be monostrophic, and which, both in its construction and metrical arrangement, has much embarrassed the commentators, opens with a declaration on the part of the poet to proceed to the temple of the Delphian god, placed in the centre of the earth, in order to celebrate the praises of Xenocrates, father of his friend Thrasybulus, which had before been sung by Simonides, and are again recited in the [[../../Isthmian Odes/2|second Isthmian ode]]. The periphrasis for Delphi in the third verse, ομφαλος επιβρομου χθονος, may be illustrated by Euripides: (Orest. 323 :)—
τριποδος απο, φασιν, ἁν ὁ Φοιβος
ελακε, δεξαμενος, ανα το δαπεδον,
Again v. 584, 585:— Απολλων ὁς μεσομφαλους ἑδρας
ἱνα μεσομφαλοι λεγονται μυχοι.
ναιων βροτοισι στομα νεμει σαφεστατον.
The allusions to the central situation of Pytho or Delphi are of
