Abstract

πολλὰ γὰρ πολλᾷ λέλεκται, νεαρὰ δ᾽ ἐξευρόντα δόμεν βαϲάνῳ 20ἐϲ ἔλεγχον, ἅπαϲ κίνδυνοϲ· ὄψον δὲ λόγοι φθονεροῖϲιν,ἅπτεται δ᾽ ἐϲλῶν ἀεί, χειρόνεϲϲι δ᾽ οὐκ ἐρίζει.κεῖνοϲ καὶ Τελαμῶνοϲ δάψεν υἱόν, φαϲγάνῳ ἀμφικυλίϲαιϲ.21. ὄψον δὲ λόγοι BD : δὲ λόγοι om. Tricliniusφθονεροῖϲιν BD : φθόνῳ εἰϲίν Vauvilliers I translate: ʻFor many things have been told in many ways, but to give novel things, when one has found them out, to the touchstone | For testing is pure danger: words are anamuse-boucheto the envious, | And it fastens on good men always, not taking issue with inferiors. | That too gnawed at Telamon's son, had him writhing on a sword.’ The difficulty presented by the transition in 22 from the plural ʻthe envious' to the singular subject ʻit' will be obvious. However, some commentators, including Mezger, Fennell and Bury, have assumed that φθόνοϲ can be supplied as the subject of ἅπτεται in 22 from φθονεροῖϲιν in 21, and the modern texts of Pindar – Bowra, Puech, Turyn and Snell–Maehler – do not mention the possibility of corruption in 21.