Having invoked in virtually the same breath the ruler of the gods and a mere human, however accomplished and worthy, Pindar checks himself and exhorts Psaumis in a gnomic third-person formulation to do the same. In the poetics of praise, drawing near to the gods is a dangerous endeavor, potentially resulting in divine ‘wrath’ [mēnis], human ‘envy’ [phthonos], or one’s own ‘insatiable and outrageous excesses’ [koros, hubris]. And so, Pindar is quick to clear any potential confusion; the final words of the ode resound powerfully:
εἴ τιϲ ὄλβον ἄρδει, |24 ἐξαρκέων κτεάτεσσι καὶ εὐλογίαν προστιθείς, μὴ ματεύϲῃ θεὸϲ γενέϲθαι
‘if someone fosters a healthy wealth, |24 having enough possessions and adding to them praise, let him not seek to become a god.’