Antipater Sidonius’ Epigram on Pindar

Pindarus (Ingres, ca. 1830-67)Antipater Sidonius’ Epigram on Pindar
(Palatine Anthology 7.34)

This dust below holds that Pierian horn:
Pindar, the weighty smith of radiant hymns,
whose strain if thou shouldst hear, wouldst thou declare
a swarm of bees, forth from the Muses sent,
had in the house of Cadmus form’d it so.


From 2007, in Joannina if I remember correctly. Though the translation is in iambic pentameter, I’ve taken care to make it quite literal. Antipater elsewhere in the Anthology connects Pindar with honey and bees. Perhaps this was suggested by the words μέλος (“tune”) and μέλι (“honey”).

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