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Pindar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

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Summary

Pindar (518–c. 440) was an aristocratic Boeotian lyric poet known especially for his odes in honor of victors at festivals such as the one at Olympia. He wrote for rich and powerful patrons throughout the Greek world and was, on the whole, a defender of tradition. The fragment translated here comes from one of the most frequently cited poems of Greek antiquity. It is most notably cited by Herodotus (3.38, fr. 3) and by Plato, Gorgias 484b (Unknown authors, fr. 2), who quotes the first five lines and summarizes part of the remainder (cf. Laws 680b). About forty lines of the poem have been reconstructed from a recently discovered papyrus and other sources, but the original meaning is increasingly uncertain after line 20. Pindar's point appears to be that, despite the apparent injustice of Heracles' violent treatment of his two victims, the traditional glorification of Heracles' labors makes this behavior just.

The Nomos–Basileus fragment (S 169)

Custom (nomos), king of all,

of mortals and immortals,

takes up and justifies what is most violent

with a supremely high hand. As evidence,

I cite the deeds of Heracles:

for he drove the cattle of Geryon

to the Cyclopean courtyard of Eurystheus

without paying, and when they were not for sale. […]

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1995

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  • Pindar
  • Edited by Michael Gagarin, Paul Woodruff
  • Book: Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805479.015
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  • Pindar
  • Edited by Michael Gagarin, Paul Woodruff
  • Book: Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805479.015
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Pindar
  • Edited by Michael Gagarin, Paul Woodruff
  • Book: Early Greek Political Thought from Homer to the Sophists
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511805479.015
Available formats
×