Pindar and the Origin of Tragedy

Author(s): S. M. Adams
Source: Phoenix, Vol. 9, No. 4 (Winter, 1955), pp. 170-174
Published by: Classical Association of Canada
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1086343
Accessed: 20-02-2018 20:15 UTC

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 PINDAR AND THE ORIGIN OF TRAGEDY

S. M. ADAMS

roXXa' 6C' V Kapbwls bv6pC,' PflaXov 16

'2pat 7roXv&OPeol &p-

XatLa uao0i'ajl'. Arav 6' eipboros iEpyOV.
Tal AtcPwv'ov roev k icwave
uv ot7X&7rQ X&PLTres LOvp&A/p;
TLs yap wEL7 ots~ " bre'EE U I' rpa, 20
' OEcii vaoTi'e, oiL v P' pacLX'a L 6vsio'
7rf07'rlK'; v U Mo'i ' &76brvoos
ev 6' "Aps &AOeZ' v'&v
obXLacs alX/ia^uu Av6p^'.

19. onX&rdW Paris. gr. 2774

--01. 13
Flower-laden Hours have placed in men's understanding many an accomplishment
reaching into the past. But every achievement is to be attributed to its discoverer. How
did it come to pass that the lovely art of Dionysus made its appearance in association
with the ox-driving dithyramb? Who, indeed, imposed control upon horses by means of
reins, or set the twin king of birds upon the temples of the gods? Herein flourishes the
charming Muse, as Ares flourishes amongst the deadly spears of warriors.

DISSATISFACTION with what Aristotle has to say about the origin

of tragedy (Poetics 1449a 9ff) springs from unwillingness on the part of
scholars to believe that anything so solemn and grand as tragedy ori-
ginated in connection with anything so lively and grotesque as a primi-
tive wine-song, and that the satyr-play was intermediate in the develop-
ment of tragedy from this early dithyramb. Yet, distant though he is,
Aristotle is very much closer than other authorities to the origin of
tragedy. It is obvious from his brevity here that he is setting forth facts
generally known in his day; when he is dealing with what is less familiar
(for instance, the technical divisions of a play) he is much more detailed.
Nowhere in the field of religion could drama have arisen more naturally
than in connection with this performance. Nowhere could a devotee more
naturally "assume a part" than those who "prefaced" it; the devotee of
Dionysus, by virtue of the wine he consumed, was potentially an actor.
Moreover, Aristotle does not say that tragedy originated in the dithy-
ramb itself; he states that it originated with the exarchontes-these
"actors"-in the plural; and it is certainly natural that what the Greeks
called tragedy should pass through some intermediary half-poeticized
state, such as the satyr-play, before it achieved the semnotes that Aris-
170

THE PHOENIX, vol. 9 (1955) 4.

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 PINDAR AND THE ORIGIN OF TRAGEDY 171

totle prescribes. It was perhaps because this

original dithyramb that to each tragic trilogy
in fifth-century Athens; tragedy itself had lon
siac theme, but the satyr-play, to some exten
is the natural conservatism of custom and reli
Despite the mass of material that has since b
ment of Aristotle thus arises out of unwillingn
can be shown that a fifth-century Greek may
this same surprise, we shall do well to retu
hoped for more; but only a part of what was w
and we shall count ourselves fortunate in p
typical a Greek as Pindar.
Olympian 13 celebrates the double achieveme
pentathlon, of Xenophon of Corinth. Concern
fessor Gilbert Norwood's treatment is typical
enamoured of neither man nor city. Yet Corin
the dithyramb, the use of reins, and the eagle
such things was necessary. But, as Norwoo
dithyramb and the temple-pediment are not s
blood." Pindar has, indeed, omitted much th
Corinth. It would therefore seem that in comp
with his tongue in his cheek. He will mention
claims; but, as the above translation is intend
refrains from endorsing them. And it is with
that he is especially concerned; an ellipsis is
reins and pediment are therefore subsidiary
"graces of Dionysus" he means, particularly, t
It is true that a majority of the forty-five e
proper; but no fewer than seventeen are accor
subsequent to 472, when Aeschylus produce
464 (the date assigned to 01. 13) Pindar must t
in Athens performance of the dithyramb had
must have seen and heard at Athens both d
and the latter cannot have failed to impres
well aware that, whatever might be said of
Dorian claim to tragedy had any real found
tinctively an Athenian art, an art replete with
If its ultimate origin was to be sought, one mu
and that was, practically, meaningless. Afte
and who could be said to have "discovered"
more than ascribe this, like reins and pedimen
go at that.
1G. Norwood, Pindar (Berkeley and Los Angeles 1945) 18-21.
2For Aristotle on the Dorian claims see Poetics 1448a 29 ff.

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 172 THE PHOENIX

It will be apparent that

19. The general sense of
Corinth did the lovely d
fully expected Xenoph
than in Corinth" is a tr
really asks; he asks "How
in connection with the o
surprise that anything s
this is the same surprise
along the tortuous path
merely by the summary
by the juxtaposition of
deliberate; this is surpr
verses as they are mea
expects this; but he is f
effect, "We do not know
the eagle-pediment." The
ultimate origin is too re
not be said by Pindar to
he refers allusively to th
length the story of Belle
duty.
Two phrases in these verses perhaps require further comment:
1. Awnbcrov xPLres. So far as I am aware, commentators are agreed
on the impersonal nature of these graces. In Farnell's words, they are
"not here personal goddesses as they are in the old ritual hymn of Elis
which associates them with Dionysos";6 in Heyne's pithy words, vix
esse possunt nisi carmina, hymni. It is also usually assumed that the
reference is to the poeticized dithyramb and not to its original invention,
although the point is disputed. "The answer to this question," writes
Fennell, "is Arion of Methymna, who, according to Herodotus I 23, was
said by the Corinthians to have first composed and given its name to the
dithyramb at Corinth." But, while two of the older scholia tell us that
Arion first instituted the KbKXLOS Xop6b and arranged it, one such
scholium asserts that Pindar in his Hyporchemata ascribes the invention
of the dithyramb to Naxos, and to Thebes in his first Dithyramb. From
this it is clear that the Corinthian claim to the dithyramb was disputed;
3On juxtapositions in Pindar see L. Woodbury, TAPA 78 (1947) 368-375, especially
with regard to Hartung's WroLKI'Xa in Isth. 4. 19.
4Sir J. E. Sandys, Pindar (Loeb Classical Library, London 1915) 135, n. 2.
6See Norwood, Pindar 21: "This whole story has an air somewhat chilly and aloof:
the reminder at its close, that Bellerophon's end was bitter, cannot have pleased the
listeners whose pride in the legend is shown by the Pegasus upon their coins."
6Plut. Quaest. Gr. 36 [299B]: cXOCEV, Jpwo Abvvae, I 'AXeLopv & va6v I &y'Tv abv
XapLE, jaL I s vav I rw ^% o. iroSl Obowv.

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 PINDAR AND THE ORIGIN OF TRAGEDY 173

and it is not convincing to argue, with Farne

tions were happily inconsistent." It may well
referring only to the dithyramb, old or new.'
write what really could only mean "How did t
arise in connection with the ox-driving dithy
wrapped his meaning in poetic circumlocuti
MtOvpaP3qy is in the dative case; something ot
involved. This, I submit, is nothing less tha
scholiast who wrote alt opral a 7rb ~raywybov
sufficiently wide.
2. vbv gohTX&q 8tOvp& M pq: "in association
dithyramb." On the epithet Gildersleeve refle
scholiasts and editors. It refers, he says, either
dithyramb or to the symbolical identification
The former opinion is held by certain scholia
Sandys, and others; a fragment of Simonides
the alternative Fennell merely quotes Donat
from the form of the word, the epithet ca
that is, the dithyramb as sung by those drivi
cession-"such a dithyramb, with its refrain
by the Elean women." It cannot be used, he
fact of a bull as the prize. But all this points t
editors ancient and modern.' Pindar may have
is not so obscure as this. From time immemor
"shambling"; cf. the Homeric EX7b-rovs.10
word to non-Corinthian ears means "shamb
"clumsy." The termination adTrs is certainly
scribe (if we add the subscript iota) wrote pon
pooiXaros. The adjective, here at least, describ
the gait of those who act the bull.
Pindar, then, is saying "How did the lovely
existence in association with the clumsy dithy
71t is true that, as Farnell says, in Isth. 3. 8 Pindar u

actual
age songs: from
is different Xp.) 6U
this;KW/I&!OV'T
there is a clear&yavaccs
contrast inXapLrEaL,
Ol. 13. 3#aoroat,. But the present pass-

8Simon. fr. 145 (202): Ce~'' WE1 'T KO7'Ta, .~L/,LC~WL?, LA pao raipovs 1 Kil rpirosas,
rpLv 76V86' VOpjcaLL rLvaKa T IroURa KL 6' 6 /Ep6ea 6L6ca?/ievos' Xopova &v6p^v [
ebb6ov NiKas &yXabv p/i' Arrlts. Fragments 147 (203) and 148 (205) show, it is
said, that the reference is to dithyrambs.
'One speculation can be summarily dismissed: this epithet is not to be derived from
P3oi.
'oThe shambling and stamping of oxen is a commonplace in Greek literature as in
others, and the wine-flushed performers of the early dithyramb may well have merited
this description. Modern folk-dances sometimes come within its scope.
In this connection cf. rr P^ ok "ro61 Oblrw in the Elean hymn, where Obw probably
does not mean to hasten: see LSJ sub voc. (B).

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174 THE PHOENIX

him, as it surprised so ma
ally to tragedy, and he ac
and so should we. Nor nee
I have quoted by:

C-XW KaXt E rp&aaL, r6X

AlaXov 6U Kp rL 'a Tb
"Tolma," he says, "will g
inborn nature." He know
understand; others are at
"plunging into the thick
meaning for the wise.

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