Page:Odes of Pindar (Paley).djvu/20

xiv was that described in Ol. ix. 1, and alluded to in the last verse of the Acharnians of Aristophanes,

It consisted of three verses, or rather of two with the addition of. These were sung without music but the word  was so pronounced as to imitate the sound of a harp-string (like our words ting or twang; compare the Latin tinnulus). In the absence of a more elaborate ode, this seems to have been, so to call it, the regulation-song with which a victor was escorted either to the temple, to acknowledge the victory, or to his own home or that of his father.

Much solemnity was added to these processions by the carrying of the newly-won crown, probably held aloft conspicuously on a pole, to be consecrated at the altar of some god. This was called a, and was regarded at once as an act of piety and generosity in the victor; it does not appear however to have been the rule, or even the ordinary practice. Yet from Ol. xiii. 29, it might be inferred that the crown itself was usually exhibited in the procession, even when not intended as an offering.

There is yet another circumstance that adds a peculiar interest to the Odes of Pindar, and it is one to which less attention has hitherto been directed