Pythian : of Pytho (original name of Delphi) as also of Pythia, the medium & oracular prophetess of Apollo at Delphi.
... Pythian he came; repressed beneath his heel The hydra of the world with bruiséd head. Vainly, since Fate's immeasurable wheel Could parley with a straw. A weakling sped Page 62 The bullet when to custom's usual night We fell because a woman's faith was light. The opening lines telescope two incidents of classical legend. Apollo is called Pythian because ...
... surprising: he made games part of his religion. To be quite explicit, the Olympian Games, the Page 289 greatest of the four international festivals, were held in honour of Zeus of Olympia, the Pythian Games in honour of Apollo, the Panathenaic Games in honour of Athena. Moreover, they were held in the sacred precinct. The feeling that prompted this was a perfectly natural one. The contest was a... is of the mind as well as of the body, there was not the slightest incongruity or affection in combining musical contests with athletic; a contest in flute-playing was an original fixture in the Pythian Games — for was not Apollo himself "Lord of the Lyre". It was arete that the games were designed to test — the arete of the whole man, not a merely specialized skill. The usual events were ...
... peril united her jarring clans; you suffered Patient, preparing the north, the wisdom and silence of Peleus, Atreus' craft and the Argives gathered to King Agamemnon. But there were prophecies, Pythian oracles, mutterings from Delphi. How shall they prosper who haste after auguries, oracles, whispers, Dreams that walk in the night and voices obscure of the silence? Touches are these from the gods ...
... Songs to Myrtilla Collected Poems The Lost Deliverer Pythian he came; repressed beneath his heel The hydra of the world with bruisèd head. Vainly, since Fate's immeasurable wheel Could parley with a straw. A weakling sped The bullet when to custom's usual night We fell because a woman's faith was light. Page 16 ...
... straw, which can gain nothing of essential world-wide import from being substantiated by one or other actual event in Parnell's life. The two opening lines of the same piece, Pythian he came; repressed beneath his heel The hydra of the world with bruised head, run together two incidents of Greek mythology, which have been already explained in the second part of The ...
... modest, sir. Let go your grasp. [ Here a page of the notebook was torn out. ] [MELANDER] Ah me, again a sea of subtle fire Clamours about the ruby gates of Life! My soul expanding like a Pythian seer Thrives upon torture, and the insurgent blood, Swollen as with wine, menaces mutiny. How slowly buildst thou up the spacious noon To dome thy house, O architect of day! Not from the bubbling ...
... motion ever within me 285 Poet, who first with skill inspired did teach 35 Pururavus from converse held with Gods 663 Pururavus from Titan conflict ceased 67 Pythian he came; repressed beneath his heel 16 Rishi who trance-held on the mountains old 220 Rose, I have loved thy beauty, as I love 180 Rose of God, vermilion stain . . ...
... to dwell on it by a perception of the relaxation in popular enthusiasm and fire which is apparent in Bengal. Now that Bipin Chandra is coming out of prison, we look to his triumphant oratory, the Pythian inspiration of his matchless eloquence to reawaken the spirit of lofty idealism, of unflinching devotion to principle which it was his mission to confirm if not awaken, and which is now more evident ...
... so thick swarmed once the soil Bedropt with blood of Gorgon, or the isle Ophiusa); but still greatest he the midst, Now Dragon grown, larger than whom the Sun Engendered in the Pythian vale on slime, Huge Python... 34 To return to Sri Aurobindo - a passage which is perhaps the most successful in Love and Death in the genre we are illustrating: He held the ...
... The gain is in fullness of a more varied use of language, a more conscious and careful art, a more informed and varied range of thought and interest; but the loss is in spiritual substance and the Pythian height of inspiration. There is a more steady working, but with it a clogged and heavier breath; a wealth of colour and nearer strain of thinking, but a lower flame of the spirit. This labour is assured ...
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