Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek

This page translates Kern fragment 227 from the Orphic Sacred Discourses in Twenty-Four Rhapsodies. The witness is Clement of Alexandria quoting Dionysius Thrax on symbolic actions: Delphic maxims by words, turning wheels and ritual branches by symbols, and an Orphic saying on the circular course of mortal things.

Translation

Kern Fr. 227 — Symbols and the Turning Course

Clement says that Dionysius Thrax the grammarian, in his work On Expression, speaks word for word about the symbol of the little wheels:

Some people, then, signified their actions not only through words but also through symbols. Through words, for example, there are the so-called Delphic injunctions: "Nothing too much," "Know yourself," and sayings like these. Through symbols, there is the wheel turned in the sacred precincts of the gods, drawn from the Egyptians, and the branches given to those who worship.

Dionysius then says that Orpheus the Thracian says:

Of all flourishing things whose works concern mortals on earth,
none has one allotted portion fixed in its mind, but everything wheels
round about. It is not lawful for anything to stand in one part;
as each began, so each has an equal share of the course.

Dionysius explains that the branches are either a symbol of first nourishment, or are given so that the many may understand that fruits flourish and grow throughout, remaining for a very long time, while they themselves have been allotted only a little time of life. Perhaps they are also given so that people may understand that, just as these branches burn, so they too must quickly leave this life and become the work of fire.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), fr. 227, in the section headed "Hieroi logoi en rhapsodiais ka'." Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witness translated here is Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, quoting Dionysius Thrax, as printed by Kern.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 227 — Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata:

ἀλλὰ καὶ Διονύσιος ὁ Θρᾷξ ὁ γραμματικὸς ἐν τῶι Περὶ τῆς ἐμφάσεως περὶ τοῦ τῶν τροχίσκων συμβόλου φησὶ κατὰ λέξιν·

ἐσήμαινον γοῦν οὐ διὰ λέξεως μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ συμβόλων ἔνιοι τὰς πράξεις, διὰ λέξεως μὲν ὡς ἔχει τὰ λεγόμενα Δελφικὰ παραγγέλματα, τὸ μηδὲν ἄγαν καὶ τὸ γνῶθι σαυτὸν καὶ τὰ τούτοις ὅμοια, διὰ δὲ συμβόλων ὡς ὅ τε τροχὸς ὁ στρεφόμενος ἐν τοῖς τῶν θεῶν τεμένεσιν εἱλκυσμένος παρ' Αἰγυπτίων καὶ τὸ τῶν θαλλῶν τῶν διδομένων τοῖς προσκυνοῦσι. φησὶ γὰρ Ὀρφεὺς ὁ Θράικιος·

θάλλων δ' ὅσα βροτοῖσιν ἐπὶ χθονὸς ἔργα μεμήλεν,
οὐδὲν ἔχει μίαν αἶσαν ἐπὶ φρεσίν, ἀλλὰ κυκλεῖται
πάντα πέριξ, στῆναι δὲ καθ' ἓν μέρος οὐ θέμις ἐστίν,
ἀλλ' ἔχει, ὡς ἤρξαντο, δρόμου μέρος ἶσον ἕκαστος.

οἱ θαλλοὶ ἤτοι τῆς πρώτης τροφῆς σύμβολον ὑπάρχουσιν, ἢ ὅπως ἐπιστῶνται οἱ πολλοὶ τοὺς μὲν καρποὺς δι' ὅλου θάλλειν καὶ αὔξεσθαι διαμένοντας ἐπὶ πλεῖστον, σφᾶς δὲ αὐτοὺς ὀλίγον εἰληχέναι τὸν τῆς ζωῆς χρόνον, τούτου χάριν δίδοσθαι τοὺς θαλλοὺς βούλονται, ἴσως δὲ καὶ ἵνα ἐπιστῶνται, ὅτι, ὡς οὗτοι καίονται, οὕτως καὶ αὐτοὺς δεῖ τοῦτον τὸν βίον ταχέως ἐκλιπεῖν καὶ πυρὸς ἔργον γενέσθαι.