Laudator Temporis Acti

Basil L. Gildersleeve, ed., Pindar, Olympian and Pythian Odes (New York: American Book Company, 1885), p. xlii:

In the fine feeling of language few poets can vie with Pindar; and though he is no pedantic synonym-monger, like a true artist he delights in the play of his own work. There is danger of over-subtilty in the study of antique style; but Pindar is a jeweller, his material gold and ivory, and his chryselephantine work challenges the scrutiny of the microscope, invites the study that wearies not day or night in exploring the recesses in which the artist has held his art sequestered—invites the study and rewards it. Pindar himself has made φωνάεντα συνετοῖσιν (O. 2, 93) a common saying; Pindar himself speaks of his art as ἀκοὰ σοφοῖς (P. 9, 84); his call across the centuries is to the lovers of art as art. There is an aristocratic disdain in his nature that yields only to kindred spirits or to faithful service.