Energeia, Spring 2013

50 When Pindar begins his teaching, he has a type of man in mind: that man is either wealthy or fortunate in contests, which implies that he is already established in some capacity. The test of his moral substance is whether or not he can keep what is already his own, whether or not he can remain established. This is why, in his praise of Melissos, Pindar regards both the worth of the individual athlete and the athlete’s venerable family. The victorious Melissos is proof of his family’s aristocratic right. He is the living embodiment of his family’s ability to hold down satiety. Here we understand the forces that are truly at play in the struggle between satiety and power. Satiety is decay, the timeless force that threatens to destroy what is established. Ancient power is the best power (indeed, aristo-cratic), because it has managed to defy the timeless force of decay, because it has held down direful satiety for the longest time. The moral principle at work here is this: All ancient things are defiant inasmuch as they resist timeless decay. Good, brave, virtuous men are no exception, and it is therefore all the more remarkable and morally commendable when an established family produces a virtuous man, since such a virtuous man assures the preservation of his family’s aristocratic right. Thus at the beginning of the epode: “But the congenital virtue of man he disgraces not” ( ). This virtue opposes the virtues of Zeus discussed in line 5.

Congenital virtues ( ) are inborn, natural, innate. They are virtues that are held in aristocratic blood, in . They are the virtues that