Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek and Latin

This page translates Kern fragments 172-177 from the Orphic Sacred Discourses in Twenty-Four Rhapsodies. The group turns from Zeus' cosmic body to other divine powers in the Rhapsodic order: Apollo's communion with the Sun, the musical interpretation of Apollo and Marsyas, and Athena as the bronze-armed goddess born from Zeus' head, called Arete, and made the accomplisher of Zeus' works and mind.

Translation

Kern Fr. 172 — Apollo and the Sun

Proclus, in the Platonic Theology, says:

First, let us consider this: how Plato himself, like Orpheus, somehow brings the Sun into identity with Apollo, and how he honors the communion of these gods. Orpheus says this explicitly, and through almost the whole of his poetry.

Kern Fr. 173 — Apollo, Marsyas, and the Three Musical Orders

Fulgentius, interpreting the story of Apollo and Marsyas, says:

Now, then, let us examine the inner meaning of this mystical tale. This story was discovered by musicians, as Orpheus writes in the Theogony. Musicians established two orders of their art, and added a third as if from necessity, as Hermes Trismegistus says: adomenon, psallomenon, aulumenon; that is, the order of singers, lyre-players, and flute-players.

Kern Fr. 174 — Athena Born from Zeus' Head

Proclus, commenting on Plato's Timaeus, says that Orpheus speaks of Athena's birth, saying that Zeus begot her from his head:

shining in weapons, a bronze flower to behold.

Kern Fr. 175 — Athena Called Arete

Proclus says that the race of Virtue properly belongs to this greatest goddess, since she herself is Virtue. Wisdom and thought, remaining in the demiurge, are unchanging, and among the ruling gods Athena displays the power of Virtue:

By the noble name of Arete

she is called,

Orpheus says.

Proclus adds that another theology too, not only the Orphic one, called Athena herself Arete.

Kern Fr. 176 — Accomplisher of Great Works

Proclus says that the theologian also says that the Father brought Athena forth:

so that she might be for him the accomplisher of great works.

Kern Fr. 177 — Accomplisher of the Mind of Kronides

Proclus, speaking of Athena, quotes Orpheus:

For she has been made the terrible accomplisher of Kronides' mind.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 172-177, in the section headed "Hieroi logoi en rhapsodiais ka'." Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witnesses translated here are Proclus and Fulgentius as printed by Kern.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 172 — Proclus

Proclus, Platonic Theology:

πρῶτον δὴ τοῦτο κατανοήσωμεν, ὅπως καὶ αὐτὸς (sc. Plato) ὥσπερ Ὀ. τὸν ἥλιον εἰς ταὐτὸν πως ἄγει τῶι Ἀπόλλωνι καὶ ὡς τὴν κοινωνίαν πρεσβεύει τούτων τῶν θεῶν. ἐκεῖνος μὲν γὰρ διαρρήδην λέγει καὶ διὰ πάσης, ὡς εἰπεῖν, τῆς ποιήσεως.

Kern Fr. 173 — Fulgentius

Fulgentius, Mythologies:

nunc ergo huius misticae fabulae (sc. Apollinis et Marsyae) interiorem cerebrum inquiramus. a musicis haec reperta est fabula, ut Orfeus in teogonia scribit; musici enim duos artis suae posuerunt ordines, tertium vero quasi ex necessitate adicientes, ut Ermes Trismegistus ait, id est: adomenon, psallomenon, aulumenon, hoc est: aut cantantium aut citharidiantium aut tibicantium.

Kern Fr. 174 — Proclus

Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Timaeus:

διὸ καὶ ὁ Ὀ. περὶ αὐτῆς (sc. Ἀθηνᾶς) τικτομένης φησίν, ὅτι ἄρα αὐτὴν ὁ Ζεὺς ἀπεγέννησεν ἐκ τῆς κεφαλῆς·

ὅπλοις λαμπομένην χαλκήϊον ἄνθος ἰδέσθαι.

Kern Fr. 175 — Proclus

Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Timaeus:

οἰκεῖον γὰρ τὸ τῆς ἀρετῆς γένος πρὸς τὴν μεγίστην ταύτην θεόν, ὡς καὶ αὐτὴν ἀρετὴν οὖσαν· ἐν γὰρ τῶι δημιουργῶι μένουσα σοφία καὶ νόησίς ἐστιν ἄτρεπτος, καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἡγεμονικοῖς θεοῖς ἐκφαίνει τὴν τῆς ἀρετῆς δύναμιν,

Ἀρετῆς τ᾽ οὔνομ᾽ ἐσθλὸν

κλήιζεται,

φησὶν Ὀ.

καὶ γὰρ ἄλλη θεολογία τις, οὐχ ἡ Ὀρφικὴ μόνον, Ἀρετὴν αὐτὴν (sc. Minervam) ἀπεκάλεσε.

Kern Fr. 176 — Proclus

Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Timaeus:

λέγει γοῦν καὶ ὁ θεολόγος, ὅτι παρήγαγεν αὐτὴν (sc. Minervam) ὁ πατήρ·

ὄφρ᾽ αὐτῶι μεγάλων ἔργων κράντειρα πέλοιτο.

Kern Fr. 177 — Proclus

Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Republic:

δεινὴ γὰρ Κρονίδαο νόου κράντειρα τέτυκται

φησὶν Ὀ.