O.5.9-16

In the second triad Psaumis’ engagement with the local community and environs is further elaborated, as his return from Olympia is presented through a song about his hometown in the present. This triad starts off with an invocation as well, this time to the ‘city-protecting Pallas’ (πολιάοχε Παλλάς), O.5.10, of whose holy precinct Psaumis himself is imagined as singing upon his victorious return. In this case, the spatio-temporal shift from Olympia to Kamarina is facilitated by a less common epinician ‘hinge’ device: instead of the more usual relative pronouns or adverbs, we find here a participle-verb combination: ‘coming, as he comes’ (ἵκων), ‘he sings’ (ἀείδει), Ο.5.9, Ο.5.10. See the comment at O.5.4. The first subject of the song of Psaumis, Athena’s sanctuary, starts off a series of local landmarks: the river Oanos and ‘the nearby lake’ (ἐγχωρίαν λίμναν), O.5.11, which according to scholia is Lake Kamarina, invoked in the opening triad in the form of the city’s eponymous nymph, as well as the sacred canals of the river Hipparis, which provide water for the community and serve as a means of transporting building materials necessary for Kamarina’s frequent rebuilding efforts, O.5.12–14. The triad closes with a gnomic sentiment about the importance of labor and expense in all human endeavors, which includes, of course, athletics, but also—one might assume—Kamarina’s arduous rebuilding. The deictic emphasis on ‘this community of townsmen’ (τόνδε δᾶμον ἀστῶν), O.5.14, who benefit from the city’s reconstruction, is echoed in the closing words of the triad about the respect accorded to a successful individual by his ‘fellow citizens’ (πολίταις), O.5.16.