Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek

This page translates Kern fragment 126 from the Orphic Sacred Discourses in Twenty-Four Rhapsodies. Proclus identifies Themis as the mother of the Moirai and leader of the whole cosmic order, then notes another Orphic account in which the Moirai come forth from the first gods and a grim-faced Ananke stands before them.

Translation

Kern Fr. 126 — Themis and Ananke Before the Moirai

Proclus says:

What, then, shall we say this goddess is? Is it not clear that, following the words, we hear her hymned as mother of the Moirai and as leader of the whole cosmic order: the order in souls and the order in natures? She holds all things together without swerving, and she defines where each thing, once set in its fitting shape, will complete the cosmos. This is that Themis who is called so among the theologians.

We say that trying to overstep her is unlawful, and yet that it is impossible to overstep her. For what other mother of the Moirai have we heard those theologians hymn?

I know, indeed, that Orpheus also says there are other Moirai, even though he uses the same names, and that they came forth from the very first gods, beyond the kingship of Kronos and beyond the intellectual orderings altogether. But even there, he brought forth another Ananke before the Moirai, saying that grim-faced Ananke came forth from those gods.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), fr. 126, in the section headed "Hieroi logoi en rhapsodiais ka'." Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witness translated here is Proclus as printed by Kern.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 126 — Proclus

Proclus, on Plato's Republic:

τίνα οὖν ἡμεῖς τὴν θεὸν ταύτην εἶναι φήσομεν; ἢ δῆλον ὅτι τοῖς ῥήμασιν ἑπόμενοι, μητέρα μὲν αὐτὴν τῶν Μοιρῶν ὑμνουμένην ἀκούοντες, ἡγεμόνα δὲ τῆς κοσμικῆς ἁπάσης τάξεως, τῆς ἐν ψυχαῖς, τῆς ἐν φύσεσιν, συνέχουσαν δὲ ἀκλινῶς τὰ πάντα καὶ ὁρίζουσαν, ὅπου τεθὲν ἕκαστον συμπληρώσει τοῦ κόσμου ἐν τῷ πρέποντι σχήματι, ταύτην ἐκείνην εἶναι τὴν παρὰ τοῖς θεολόγοις καλουμένην Θέμιν· ἣν τὸ ὑπερβαίνειν ἐγχειροῦν ἀθέμιτον μὲν εἶναι λέγομεν, ὑπερβαίνειν δὲ ὅμως μὴ δύνασθαι.

τίνα γὰρ ἄλλην μητέρα Μοιρῶν ἢ ταύτην ἐκείνων ὑμνούντων ἠκούσαμεν; οἶδα μὲν οὖν, ὅτι καὶ Μοίρας ἄλλας Ὀρφεύς, εἰ καὶ τοῖς αὐτοῖς ὀνόμασι χρώμενος, ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν προελθεῖν φησιν τῶν πρωτίστων θεῶν, ἐπέκεινα καὶ τῆς Κρόνου βασιλείας καὶ τῶν νοερῶν ὅλως διακόσμων· ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνος ἄλλην Ἀνάγκην παρήγαγεν πρὸ τῶν Μοιρῶν, στυγερωπὰ τε Ἀνάγκην λέγων προελθεῖν ἀπ᾽ ἐκείνων.