Pindar

pin'dar, a Greek lyric poet. He lived about 522-443 B. C. He was a citizen of Thebes. He claimed descent from Cadmus the father of letters. Pindar learned to compose to the accompaniment of the flute. His earlier odes were so profuse in allusions to mythology that a rival poet advised him to "sow with the hand, not with the sack." His reputation in Greece was such that when Pausanias, king of Sparta, was burning Thebes, some one wrote an inscription over his door, "Burn not the house of Pindar the poet," thus saving it from general destruction. The same anecdote is told of Alexander's sack of Thebes. Among the subjects of Pindar's muse were odes in honor of Apollo to be chanted in the temple at Delphi, hymns to various deities, poems expressing prayer or praise, processional songs, chorus songs for maidens, choral dance songs, songs for festive occasions in praise of some distinguished guest, banquet or drinking songs, dirges, etc. Some idea of the diction of the greatest master of lyrical poetry of all ages may be had from a few expressions, as: a cloak, " a warm remedy for winds;" "excellent as water, bright as gold, brilliant as the noonday sun;" the poet "mixes wine in a bowl;" for one still on his feet, "he hath his foot in his shoe;" "sane happiness;" "wealth set with virtues;" "love thy friend and hate thy foe;" "rivalries of peace;" "the chamber of the hours;" "the rushing strength of waves;" "the paths of the deep;" "Etna--pillar of the sky, nurse of snows;" "the golden and deep purple rays of the pansy;" a song--"cunning work, blending gold, ivory and coral." In 1906 word went out that 380 new fragments of Pindar's poetry (paeans) had been found on old papyrus rolls in the ruins of a town in Egypt. Pindar was a traveler and an observer. His conception of the poetic mission is well expressed by himself: "No sculptor, I, to fashion images that shall stand idly on one pedestal for aye. No, go thou forth, sweet song of mine, on every freighted ship, on each light bark."