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(Paian, o Paian, hail, o Lord . . . who delights in Delos' . . . and in the eddying waters of Xanthos . . . and Ismenos' springs . . . Paian, that leadest the Muses in their singing by the Horse's Fountain . . . voice, thou that. . . fire . . . binding bay on thy hair . . . (thou didst punish) the insult of Leto thy mother . . . for whom Zeus bears the torch . . . for whom in the soil the yellow grain grows.) |
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This is a stichic text in anapaestic rhythm and spondaic tempo. Each line has the metrical form  . But rhythmic variety is maintained by dividing some syllables between two notes (many of the tetrasemes between three), and by sometimes prolonging the last syllable of the line into the vacant time in the following bar.11 |
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The melody generally follows the word accents. Its compass is a ninth, from f to g'. The primary tonic is g, with a secondary one a fifth higher at d'. Of the nine preserved line-endings, all but two end with g (or g lapsing to f) or with d'; both of the main sections end on g (lines 4 and 11). Most lines begin rising; the exceptions are 4, which rounds off a section of the composition, and 10 and 11 which conclude it. And most lines end falling. It is at the beginnings and ends of lines that most of the wider intervals (fourth or fifth) are found. |
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11 See p. 204. Also in the first half line we find the variation  . |
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