Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek and Latin

This page translates Kern fragments 33-46 from the early Orphic fragments. The group gathers short testimonia on Orphic allegory, the Dionysus-Titan myth, Chronos and Eros, the Muses, Hecate, Persephone's abduction, Minthe, Sinope, and Hecuba.

Translation

Kern Fr. 33 — Epigenes on Orphic Allegory

What then? Does not Epigenes, in his work On the Poetry of Orpheus, set out the distinctive things in Orpheus and say that "curved shuttles" signify ploughs, "warps" signify furrows, and "thread" signifies seed by allegory?

He says that "tears of Zeus" make clear rain; that "Moirai" again signify the parts of the moon, the thirtieth, the fifteenth, and the new moon; and that for this reason Orpheus calls them "white-robed," since they are parts of light.

Again, he says that "flowering" means spring because of nature; "Argis" means night because of rest; "Gorgonian" means the moon because of the face on it; and "Aphrodite" means the season when one must sow. These things are said in the theologian.

The Pythagoreans also spoke in riddles of this kind, allegorizing Persephone's dogs as the wandering planets, and Kronos' tear as the sea.

We could find countless things upon countless things spoken enigmatically by philosophers and poets, since whole books also display the hidden intention of the writer. Such is Heraclitus' On Nature, which for that very reason is called "obscure"; similar to that book is the theology of Pherecydes of Syros.

Kern Fr. 34 — The Toys of Dionysus

The mysteries of Dionysus are wholly inhuman.

When he was still a child, while the Kouretes moved in armed dance around him, the Titans slipped in by trickery. After deceiving him with childish toys, those Titans tore him apart while he was still an infant, as Orpheus the Thracian, the poet of the rite, says:

Pine cone, rhombos, and jointed dolls,

and lovely golden apples from the clear-voiced Hesperides.

It is not useless to set out these profitless symbols of the rite for condemnation: knucklebone, ball, spinning top, apples, rhombos, mirror, and wool.

Arnobius gives the Latin parallel:

We refrain also from proclaiming those other Bacchanalia, in which secret and unspeakable matter is disclosed and insinuated to initiates: how Liber, occupied with childish games, was torn apart by the Titans; how he was cut limb from limb by them and thrown into pots to be cooked; how Jupiter, enticed by the sweetness of the smell and summoned, flew to the meal; and how, when the matter was discovered, he overwhelmed the assailants with a severe thunderbolt and cast them into the lowest seats of Tartarus.

Orpheus the Thracian handed down the testimony and proof of this fortune in his songs: dice, mirror, tops, rolling wheels, smooth balls, and golden apples taken from the maidens of the Hesperides.

Kern Fr. 35 — Athena, the Heart, and the Limbs of Dionysus

Pallas took away the heart of Dionysus, and from the heart's pulsing she was called Pallas.

The Titans, who tore him apart, set a cauldron upon a tripod and threw the limbs of Dionysus into it. First they boiled them; then they pierced them on spits and held them over Hephaestus.

Later Zeus appeared. If he was a god, perhaps he had a share in the savor of the roasted meats, the share which your gods admit they have been allotted. He punished the Titans with a thunderbolt, and entrusted the limbs of Dionysus to his son Apollo for burial.

Apollo obeyed Zeus: carrying the torn body to Parnassus, he laid it there.

Kern Fr. 36 — The Three Births of Bacchus

Philodemus reports a threefold birth of Bacchus: first the birth from his mother, then the birth from Zeus' thigh, and third the birth when, after he had been torn apart by the Titans, Rhea brought the limbs together and he came to life again.

Euphorion in the Mopsopia agrees with these things. Orpheus in the Hades says that all things remain for all time.

Kern Fr. 37 — Chronos Fathers Eros

Lycus and Hesiod say that Eros comes from Chaos. In the writings attributed to Orpheus:

But Chronos fathered Eros, and all the winds.

Kern Fr. 38 — The Muses as Queens

That the Muses are protectors of sailors is made clear in the Orphic writings:

Mortals do not forget the Muses,

for they are queens to whom dances and lovely feasts are dear.

Kern Fr. 39 — Erato and Dance

Some say that Erato is handed down in the Orphic writings as the inventor of dance.

Kern Fr. 40 — Why Asclepius Was Thunderstruck

Apollodorus says that Asclepius was thunderstruck because he raised Hippolytus; Amelesagoras says because he raised Glaucus; Panyassis says because he raised Tyndareus; the Orphics say because he raised Hymenaeus; Stesichorus says because of Capaneus and Lycurgus; Pherecydes, in the fifth book of his histories, says because he brought back to life those who were dying at Delphi; Phylarchus says because of the Phineids; Telesarchus says because of Orion; and Polyarchus of Cyrene says because he healed the daughters of Proetus.

Kern Fr. 41 — Hecate from Demeter

Some say that Lady Hecate is a child of Zeus. In the Orphic writings she is genealogized from Demeter:

And then Deo bore Hecate, fair-fathered.

Bacchylides says that she is a daughter of Night: "Hecate, torchbearer, daughter of deep-bosomed Night." Musaeus says she is from Asteria and Zeus, and Pherecydes says from Aristaeus, son of Paion.

Kern Fr. 42 — Hecate Sent Below

Callimachus says, word for word, that Zeus, after lying with Demeter, fathered Hecate, who surpassed the gods in strength and size.

She was sent under the earth by her father to seek Persephone. For this reason she is now called Artemis, Watcher, Torchbearer, Lightbearer, and Chthonia.

Kern Fr. 43 — Where Persephone Was Taken

The stories about where Persephone was seized differ.

Some say she was taken from Sicily; Bacchylides says from Crete; Orpheus says from the places around Ocean; Phanodemus says from Attica; and Demades says from Napai.

He says this because the earth, though unwilling, receives the seeds.

Kern Fr. 44 — Minthe

Minthe, which some call sweet-smelling mint, is calamint, a wild mint. Demeter, grieving when she saw it, hated it and made it fruitless.

Orpheus says:

Formerly it was a great tree upon the earth, bearing fruit.

Kern Fr. 45 — Sinope

In the Orphic writings Sinope is genealogized as daughter of Ares and Aegina.

According to some she is daughter of Ares and Parnassa; according to Eumelus and Aristotle, she is daughter of Asopus.

Kern Fr. 46 — Hecuba and the Piglets

The stories about Hecuba are told in different ways.

Philochorus, in his work On Tragedies, says that she was called Choerile, perhaps because she had many children, for a sow gives birth to many.

In the Orphic writings, piglets are called Hecubai.

The others addressed her by her proper name.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 33-46, in the early-fragments section of the printed collection. Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witnesses translated here include Clement of Alexandria, Arnobius, Philodemus, scholia on Apollonius Rhodius, scholia on Euripides, scholia on Theocritus, scholia on Hesiod, the Etymologicum Gudianum, and related mythographic notices printed by Kern.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 33 — Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 5.8.49

Ἐπιγένης ἐν τῷ περὶ τῆς Ὀρφέως ποιήσεως τὰ ἰδιάζοντα παρ' Ὀρφεῖ ἐκτιθέμενος φησὶ "κερκίσι καμπυλότοξοις" τοῖς ἀρότροις μηνύεσθαι, "στήμοσι" δὲ τοῖς αὔλαξι, "μίτον" δὲ τὸ σπέρμα ἀλληγορεῖσθαι, καὶ "δάκρυα Διός" τὸν ὄμβρον δηλοῦν, "Μοίρας" τε αὖ τὰ μέρη τῆς σελήνης, τριακάδα καὶ πεντεκαιδεκάτην καὶ νουμηνίαν· διὸ καὶ "λευκοστόλους" αὐτὰς καλεῖν τὸν Ὀρφέα φωτὸς οὔσας μέρη.

πάλιν "ἄνθιστον" μὲν τὸ ἔαρ διὰ τὴν φύσιν, "ἀργίδα" δὲ τὴν νύκτα διὰ τὴν ἀνάπαυσιν, καὶ "γοργόνιον" τὴν σελήνην διὰ τὸ ἐν αὐτῇ πρόσωπον, "Ἀφροδίτην" τε τὸν καιρὸν καθ' ὃν δεῖ σπείρειν, λέγεσθαι παρὰ τῷ θεολόγῳ.

τοιαῦτα καὶ οἱ Πυθαγόρειοι ἠινίσσοντο, Περσεφόνης μὲν κύνας τοὺς πλανήτας, Κρόνου δὲ δάκρυον τὴν θάλασσαν ἀλληγοροῦντες.

Kern Fr. 34 — Clement of Alexandria and Arnobius

τὰ γὰρ Διονύσου μυστήρια τελέως ἀπάνθρωπα· ὃν ἔτι παιδὶ ὄντα ἐνόπλῳ κινήσει περιχορευόντων Κουρήτων, δόλῳ δὲ ὑποδύντες Τιτᾶνες, ἀπατήσαντες παιδαριώδεσιν ἀθύρμασιν, οὗτοι δὴ οἱ Τιτᾶνες διεσπάσαν, ἔτι νηπίαχον ὄντα, ὡς ὁ τῆς τελετῆς ποιητὴς Ὀρφεύς φησιν ὁ Θράκιος·

κῶνος καὶ ῥόμβος καὶ παίγνια καμπεσίγυια,

μῆλά τε χρύσεα καλὰ παρ' Ἑσπερίδων λιγυφώνων.

τάδε τῆς τελετῆς τὰ ἄχρηστα σύμβολα· ἀστράγαλος, σφαῖρα, στρόβιλος, μῆλα, ῥόμβος, ἔσοπτρον, πόκος.

Arnobius, Against the Nations 5.19:

sed et illa desistimus Bacchanalia altera praedicare, in quibus arcana et tacenda res proditur insinuaturque sacratis, ut occupatus puerilibus ludicris distractus a Titanis Liber sit, ut ab isdem membratim sectus atque in ollas coniectus ut coqueretur, quemadmodum Iuppiter suavitate odoris inlectus, invocatus advolarit ad prandium compertaque re gravi grassatores obruerit fulmine atque in imas Tartari praecipitaverit sedes.

cuius rei testimonium argumentumque fortunae suis prodidit in carminibus Thracius: talos, speculum, turbines, volubiles rotulas et teretis pilas et virginibus aurea sumpta ab Hesperidibus mala.

Kern Fr. 35 — Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus 2.18

Ἀθηνᾶ μὲν οὖν τὴν καρδίαν τοῦ Διονύσου ὑφελομένη Παλλὰς ἐκ τοῦ πάλλειν τὴν καρδίαν προσηγορεύθη· οἱ δὲ Τιτᾶνες, οἱ καὶ διασπάσαντες αὐτόν, λέβητά τινα τρίποδι ἐπιθέντες καὶ τὸν Διόνυσον ἐμβαλόντες τὰ μέλη, καθήψουν πρότερον ἔπειτα ὀβελίσκοις περιπείραντες ὑπεῖρεχον Ἡφαίστοιο.

Ζεὺς δὲ ὕστερον ἐπιφανείς κεραυνῷ τοὺς Τιτᾶνας αἰκίζεται καὶ τὰ μέλη τοῦ Διονύσου Ἀπόλλωνι τῷ παιδὶ παρακατατίθεται κατορύξαι. ὁ δὲ, οὐ γὰρ ἠπείθησε Διί, εἰς τὸν Παρνασσὸν φέρων κατατίθεται διεσπασμένον τὸν νεκρόν.

Kern Fr. 36 — Philodemus, On Piety

προτέραν τὴν ἐκ μητρός, ἑτέραν δὲ τὴν ἐκ τοῦ μηροῦ, τρίτην δὲ τὴν ὅτε διασπασθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν Τιτάνων Ῥέας τὰ μέλη συνθεμένης ἀνεβίωι.

καὶ ἐν Μωψοπίαι δ' Εὐφορίων ὁμολογεῖ τούτοις, ὁ δ' Ὀρφεὺς ἐν Ἅιδου καὶ πάντα χρόνον ἐνδιατρίβειν.

Kern Fr. 37 — Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius

ἐν δὲ τοῖς εἰς Ὀρφέα Χρόνον·

αὐτὰρ Ἔρωτα Χρόνος, καὶ πνεύματα πάντ' ἐτέκνωσε.

Kern Fr. 38 — Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius

ὅτι δὲ πλοίων εἰσὶ προστάτιδες αἱ Μοῦσαι, ἐν τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς δεδήλωται·

οὐδέ τι λήθονται Μουσέων βροτοί· αἱ γὰρ ἔασι

κοίρανοι, αἷσι μέμηλε χορός δαλίαι τ' ἐρατειναί.

Kern Fr. 39 — Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius

τινὲς μὲν οὖν ὅτι εὑρετὴς ὀρχήσεως ἐν τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς παραδέδοται ἡ Ἐρατώ.

Kern Fr. 40 — Scholia on Euripides, Alcestis 1

Ἀπολλόδωρος δὲ φησὶ κεραυνωθῆναι τὸν Ἀσκληπιὸν ἐπὶ τῷ τὸν Ἱππόλυτον ἀναστῆσαι, Ἀμελησαγόρας δὲ ὅτι Γλαῦκον, Πανύασσις δὲ ὅτι Τυνδάρεων, οἱ δὲ Ὀρφικοὶ ὅτι Ὑμέναιον, Στησίχορος δὲ ἐπὶ Καπανεῖ καὶ Λυκούργῳ, Φερεκύδης δὲ διὰ τὸ τοὺς ἐν Δελφοῖς θνήσκοντας αὐτὸν ἀναβιώσκειν, Φύλαρχος δὲ διὰ τοὺς Φινείδας, Τελέσαρχος δὲ δι' Ὠρίωνα, Πολύαρχος δὲ ὁ Κυρηναῖος διὰ τὸ τὰς Προίτου θυγατέρας αὐτὸν ἰάσασθαι.

Kern Fr. 41 — Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius

πότνα θεὰ Περσήη· τινὲς αὐτὴν φασὶ Διὸς εἶναι παῖδα. ἐν δὲ τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς Δήμητρος γενεαλογεῖται·

καὶ τότε δὴ Ἑκάτην Δηὼ τέκεν εὐπάτριαν.

Kern Fr. 42 — Scholia on Theocritus

Καλλίμαχος κατὰ λέξιν τάδε φησίν· τῇ Δημήτρι μιχθεὶς ὁ Ζεὺς τεκνοῖ Ἑκάτην διαφέρουσαν ἰσχύι καὶ μεγέθει τῶν θεῶν, ἥτις ὑπὸ γῆν πεμφθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς πρὸς Περσεφόνης ζήτησιν· καὶ νῦν Ἄρτεμις καλεῖται καὶ φύλαξ καὶ Δαδοῦχος καὶ Φωσφόρος καὶ Χθονία.

Kern Fr. 43 — Scholia on Hesiod, Theogony 914

ἡρπάσθη· αἱ δὲ τὴν Περσεφόνην φασὶν οἱ μὲν ἐκ Σικελίας, Βακχυλίδης δὲ ἐκ Κρήτης, Ὀρφεὺς δὲ ἐκ τῶν περὶ τὸν Ὠκεανὸν τόπων, Φανόδημος δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Ἀττικῆς, Δημάδης δὲ ἐν Νάπαις. τοῦτο δὲ λέγει, ἐπεὶ οὐχ ἑκοῦσα ἡ γῆ δέχεται τὰ σπέρματα.

Kern Fr. 44 — Etymologicum Gudianum

Μίνθη, ἣν τινες ἡδύοσμον καλοῦσι· ἔστι δὲ καλάμινθος, ἄγριον ἡδύοσμον, ὅπερ λυπουμένη ἡ Δημήτηρ ἰδοῦσα ἐμίσησε καὶ ἄκαρπον ἐποίησεν. Ὀρφεύς·

τὸ πρὶν ἐὸν μέγα δένδρον ἐπὶ χθονὶ καὶ φερέκαρπον.

Kern Fr. 45 — Scholia on Apollonius Rhodius

ἐν δὲ τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς Σινώπη Ἄρεως καὶ Αἰγίνης γενεαλογεῖται· κατὰ δέ τινας Ἄρεως καὶ Παρνάσσης· κατ' Εὔμηλον καὶ Ἀριστοτέλην Ἀσωποῦ.

Kern Fr. 46 — Scholia on Euripides, Hecuba 3

τὰ περὶ τῆς Ἑκάβης διαφόρως ἱστόρηται. Φιλόχορος μὲν γὰρ ἐν τῷ περὶ τραγῳδιῶν συγγράμματι Χοιρίλην αὐτὴν φησὶ καλεῖσθαι, ἴσως δὲ διὰ τὸ πολυπαιδα γεγονέναι· ἡ γὰρ χοῖρος πολλὰ τίκτει, καὶ ἐν τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς οἱ χοῖροι ἑκάβαι προσαγορεύονται. οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ τῷ κυρίῳ αὐτὴν ὀνόματι προσηγόρευσαν.

Source Colophon

Source edition: Otto Kern, Orphicorum fragmenta, Berlin: Weidmann, 1922, pp. 109-114.

Public scan: https://archive.org/details/orphicorumfragme00orphuoft

The Greek and Latin text above normalizes obvious OCR and old-font display noise against Kern's printed page images. It omits Kern's apparatus notes while preserving Kern's fragment numbering and witness labels.