Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek

This page translates Kern fragments 202-204 from the Orphic Sacred Discourses in Twenty-Four Rhapsodies. The group moves through three compact theological name-witnesses: health and Asclepius, the ordered levels of memory up to the Orphic goddess Mnemo, and Tyche's relation to Artemis, the Moon, and Hecate.

Translation

Kern Fr. 202 — Health and Asclepius

Proclus says that, for this reason, the theologians refer the health that belongs to Asclepius to Asclepius: all medical power that wards off what is against nature, whether it wards it off always or sometimes.

But the health prior to Asclepius, which is established together with demiurgy in the whole of things, they generate from Persuasion and Love, because the whole is made from intellect and necessity.

Kern Fr. 203 — Orphic Mnemo

Olympiodorus says that there are these kinds of memory.

First is memory according to perception, for perception too preserves in some way. Second is memory according to imagination. Third is memory according to opinion. Then comes memory according to discursive thought. Then comes memory according to intellect, among the intellectual and divine orders. Then comes the goddess herself, from whom the whole character of memory arises: whether this is the Mnemo found in Orpheus, or some other goddess.

Kern Fr. 204 — Tyche, Artemis, the Moon, and Hecate

Simplicius says that at Delphi they also made a beginning in their questions this way: "O Tyche and Loxias, for whom do you give your oracle?" Tyche too has received mention in Orpheus.

John the Deacon adds a comparison: he finds the same Orpheus calling Tyche Artemis, and also calling the Moon Hecate. In Orpheus one will find countless names used by transfer in this way.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 202-204, in the section headed "Hieroi logoi en rhapsodiais ka'." Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witnesses translated here are Proclus, Olympiodorus, Simplicius, and John the Deacon as printed by Kern.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 202 — Proclus

Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Timaeus:

διὸ καὶ οἱ θεολόγοι τὴν μὲν εἰς Ἀσκληπιὸν ἀναφέρουσιν ὑγείαν, τὴν ἰατρικὴν πᾶσαν τοῦ παρὰ φύσιν εἴτε ἀεὶ τὸ παρὰ φύσιν ἀναστέλλουσαν εἴτε ποτέ, τὴν δὲ πρὸ Ἀσκληπιοῦ γεννῶσι τῆι δημιουργίαι συνυφεστῶσαν ἐν ἁπάσῃ τῶν πραγμάτων, ἣν παράγουσιν ἀπὸ Πειθοῦς καὶ Ἔρωτος, διότι τὸ πᾶν ἐκ νοῦ καὶ ἀνάγκης ἐστίν.

Kern Fr. 203 — Olympiodorus

Olympiodorus, Commentary on Plato's Philebus:

ὅτι εἰσὶ μνῆμαι τοσαίδε· πρώτη μὲν ἡ κατὰ αἴσθησιν· τηρεῖ γὰρ πως καὶ ἡ αἴσθησις· δευτέρα δὲ ἡ κατὰ φαντασίαν. τρίτη ἡ κατὰ δόξαν· εἶτα ἡ κατὰ διάνοιαν· εἶτα ἡ κατὰ νοῦν ἐν τοῖς νοεροῖς ἐν τοῖς θείοις· εἶτα ἡ θεὸς αὐτή, ἀφ' ἧς πᾶσα ἡ ἰδιότης ἐπιγίγνεται· εἴτε ἡ παρὰ τῶι Ὀρφεῖ Μνημώ, εἴτε καὶ ἄλλη τις οὖσα τυγχάνει.

Kern Fr. 204 — Simplicius and John the Deacon

Simplicius, Commentary on Aristotle's Physics:

ἐν Δελφοῖς δὲ καὶ προκατῆρχεν ἐν ταῖς ἐρωτήσεσιν· "ὦ Τύχη καὶ Λοξία, τῶιδε τινὶ θεμιστεύεις;" καὶ παρ' Ὀρφεῖ δὲ μνήμης τέτυχεν.

John the Deacon, Commentary on Hesiod's Theogony:

εὑρίσκω δὲ τὸν αὐτὸν Ὀρφέα καὶ τὴν Τύχην Ἄρτεμιν προσαγορεύοντα, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν Σελήνην Ἑκάτην, καὶ μυρία παρ' Ὀρφεῖ τὰ μεταληπτικῶς ἔχοντα τῶν ὀνομάτων εὑρήσεις.