Zenobius 6.15

These shall be your Pythia and your Delia

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English

Proverb

These shall be your Pythia and your Delia

Explanation

proverb said of those who do something for the very last time. Menander mentions it. They say Polycrates the tyrant of the Samians, having taken Rheneia and dedicated it to Apollo of Delos, instituted a most splendid contest, and sent to Delphi to ask how the contest should be called — Delia or Pythia? The god answered: "These shall be both your Delia and your Pythia." He signified to him that he would die straightway; for Oroetes the Persian crucified him.

Greek

Proverb

Ταῦτά σοι καὶ Πύθια καὶ Δήλια

Explanation

ἡ παροιμία εἴρηται ἐπὶ τῶν ὕστατα καὶ τελευταῖα ποιούντων. Μέμνηται δὲ αὐτῆς Μένανδρος. Φασὶ δὲ, ὅτι Πολυκράτης ὁ Σαμίων τύραννος ἑλὼν Ῥήνειαν καὶ ἀναθεὶς αὐτὴν Ἀπόλλωνι τῷ Δηλίῳ, ἀγῶνα θεὶς κάλλιστον ἠρώτα πέμψας εἰς Δελφούς, πῶς δεῖ καλεῖν τὸν ἀγῶνα, Δήλια καὶ Πύθια; Ἀνεῖλε δὲ αὐτὸς ὁ θεός· Ταῦτά σοι καὶ Δήλια καὶ Πύθια. Ἐσήμαινε δὲ αὐτῷ ὅτι εὐθὺς ἀποθανεῖται· Ὀροίτης γὰρ αὐτὸν ὁ Πέρσης ἐσταύρωσεν.

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0098.tlg001.1st1K-grc1:6.15