Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek and Latin

This page translates Kern fragments 1-20 from the opening Fragmenta veteriora, "older fragments," section of Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta. These are not a single poem. Kern gathers early literary witnesses and allusions: Aristophanes' bird-cosmogony, Euripides' broken traces of Phanes and Night, Plato's reports on Orphic books and rites, the body as the soul's guard-house and tomb, the old Titanic nature, Ocean and Tethys, divine genealogies, Kore's armed dance, and the law of Adrasteia.

Translation

Kern Fr. 1 — The Bird-Cosmogony

Aristophanes has the chorus of birds say:

If you hear everything from us correctly about the things above,

and know the nature of birds, the birth of gods, rivers,

Erebus and Chaos,

then in future you may tell Prodicus to weep.

First there was Chaos, and Night, and black Erebus, and broad Tartarus.

There was not yet earth, or air, or heaven.

In the boundless hollows of Erebus,

black-winged Night first gave birth to a wind-egg.

From it, as the seasons completed their circle, lovely Eros blossomed,

glittering on his back with golden wings,

like the swift whirls of the wind.

He mingled in broad Tartarus with winged Chaos by night,

brooded our race,

and first led it up into the light.

Before that, there was no race of immortals,

until Eros joined all things together.

As one thing mingled with another,

Heaven came into being, and Ocean,

and Earth,

and the deathless race of all the blessed gods.

Kern calls this the first trace of Orphic theogony, though he says we do not know in which Orphic book the story stood.

Kern Fr. 2 — Phanes, Night, and a Broken Euripidean Trace

Kern prints a damaged fragment from Euripides' Hypsipyle. Only pieces survive:

O mistress of gods,

unlooked-for light,

in aether, first-born ...

Eros, when Night ...

then ...

race ...

Kern says a secure restoration cannot be given. Still, he judges the Orphic words to be visible: Phanes as the first-born, child of Aether and also named Love, and Night as his daughter.

Kern Fr. 3 — Books of Musaeus and Orpheus

Plato says that wandering priests and seers produce a heap of books by Musaeus and Orpheus. They say these poets are children of the Moon and the Muses, and according to those books they perform sacrifices.

They persuade not only private persons but whole cities that releases and purifications from wrongdoings are available through sacrifices and pleasurable games, both while people are still alive and also after death. These things they call rites of initiation. The rites release us from evils in the other world; but for those who have not sacrificed, terrible things wait.

A scholion explains that these books concerned incantations, binding-spells, purifications, appeasements, and related practices.

Kern Fr. 4 — The Banquet of the Holy and the Mud Below

Plato says that Musaeus and his son give even stronger divine rewards to the just than Homer and Hesiod do. In their account, they lead the just down to Hades, recline them at a banquet, set up a drinking-party of the holy, crown them with garlands, and make them spend all time drunk, considering everlasting drunkenness the finest reward of virtue.

Others extend the rewards still further from the gods. They say that children, and children's children, and the whole race of a pious and oath-keeping person are left behind him.

For the impious and unjust, by contrast, they say that in Hades they are buried in a kind of mud and forced to carry water in a sieve. Even while they are alive, they lead them into bad reputations. What Glaucon earlier described as the penalties suffered by just people who are thought unjust, these poets say about the unjust, but they have nothing else.

Kern notes that the "son of Musaeus" may be Eumolpus, but that Plato is probably pointing to Orphic material.

Kern Fr. 5 — Many Carry the Fennel, Few Are Bacchoi

In the Phaedo, Plato says:

Those who established the rites for us seem not to have been worthless people. In truth they hinted long ago that whoever arrives in Hades uninitiated and unperfected will lie in the mire, but whoever arrives there purified and initiated will dwell with gods.

For, as those concerned with the rites say:

Many are the fennel-bearers,

but the Bacchoi are few.

Plato adds that, in his own view, the true Bacchoi are those who have practiced philosophy rightly.

Kern Fr. 6 — Souls Return from Hades

Plato says:

Let us examine in this way whether the souls of human beings who have died are in Hades or not. There is an ancient account which we remember: souls arrive there from here, and again return here and are born from the dead.

Olympiodorus later explains that this account is Orphic and Pythagorean.

Kern Fr. 7 — Humans in a Guard-House

Plato says:

The account spoken in secret about these things says that we human beings are in a kind of guard-house, and that one must not free oneself from it or run away. This seems to me a great saying, and not easy to see through.

The ancient scholion says that the mythical argument that one must not take oneself out of life was taken from Orpheus.

Kern Fr. 8 — The Body as Tomb and Prison of the Soul

In the Cratylus, Plato says:

Some say that the body is the tomb of the soul, as though the soul were buried in the present life. And because the soul signifies through it whatever it signifies, they say it is rightly called a sign.

But those around Orpheus seem to me most of all to have given this name: the soul is paying a penalty for something, and it has this enclosure so that it may be kept safe, an image of a prison. So the body is, as its very name says, the soul's prison until the soul pays what it owes; not even one letter needs to be changed.

Kern adds related Pythagorean testimony: the ancient theologians and seers say that because of certain punishments the soul is yoked together with the body and is buried in it as in a tomb.

Kern Fr. 9 — The Old Titanic Nature

In the Laws, Plato describes a sequence of lawlessness. After the freedom that refuses to serve rulers, people flee service and correction from father, mother, and elders. Near the end, they seek not to be subject to laws; at the very end, they care nothing at all for oaths, pledges, and gods.

In this they display and imitate what is called the ancient Titanic nature. They arrive again at the same things, living a hard life and never ceasing from evils.

Kern Fr. 10 — Ancient and Sacred Accounts of the Soul

In the Seventh Letter, Plato says:

We must always truly trust the ancient and sacred accounts, which reveal to us that the soul is immortal, that it has judges, and that it pays the greatest penalties when someone has been released from the body.

Kern points to the Orphic sacred discourses behind this language.

Kern Fr. 11 — The Season of Delight

In the Laws, Plato says that human poets who mix and confuse these things without reason would make those people laugh whom Orpheus says have received the season of delight.

Kern follows Lobeck's explanation: Orpheus' thought was probably something like this:

All who have reached the measure of youth

have received the season of delight.

Kern Fr. 12 — The Hymns of Thamyras and Orpheus

In the Laws, Plato says that no one should dare sing an unapproved Muse unless the guardians of the laws have judged it, even if it is sweeter than the hymns of Thamyras and Orpheus.

Kern notes that Plato calls on Orpheus more often in the Laws than in his other dialogues.

Kern Fr. 13 — Doors on the Ears of the Profane

In the Symposium, Alcibiades says:

All of you have shared in philosophical madness and Bacchic frenzy, and therefore you will all hear. Forgive both what was done then and what is said now. But servants, and any other person who is profane and rustic, put very large doors on your ears.

Kern points this to the Orphic formula that shuts the doors against the profane.

Kern Fr. 14 — Stop the Song in the Sixth Generation

Plato quotes an Orphic phrase in the Philebus:

In the sixth generation,

he says,

stop the order of the song.

Plutarch gives the line in a slightly different form:

In the sixth generation,

stop the passion of song.

Proclus and Damascius cite the phrase when discussing cosmic orders, punishments, and the last prison of souls, Tartarus.

Kern Fr. 15 — Ocean and Tethys

In the Cratylus, Plato says that Homer calls Ocean "the birth of gods" and Tethys "mother." He then adds that Orpheus too says:

Ocean, fair-flowing,

was the first to begin marriage,

he who married his sister,

Tethys, born from the same mother.

Kern Fr. 16 — Earth, Heaven, Ocean, Tethys, and Kronos

In the Timaeus, Plato says that, concerning the generation of the other divinities, we must trust those who spoke before us. They were descendants of gods, and surely knew their own ancestors.

Thus, according to them:

From Earth and Heaven were born Ocean and Tethys.

From them were born Phorcys, Kronos, Rhea, and all who are with them.

From Kronos and Rhea were born Zeus and Hera and all those whom we know as their siblings, and still other offspring from these.

Kern Fr. 17 — The Terrible Stories About the Gods

In the Euthyphro, Plato has Euthyphro say that people believe Zeus, the best and most just of the gods, bound his father because the father swallowed his sons unjustly, and that Kronos in turn castrated his own father for similar reasons.

Euthyphro adds that there are still more astonishing things than these, things most people do not know.

Kern takes the last words to refer to Orphic stories of Kronos, Zagreus, and other divine sufferings. He compares Isocrates, who says that poets told such stories about the gods as no one would dare to tell about enemies: thefts, adulteries, service among human beings, eating of children, castrations of fathers, bonds of mothers, and many other lawless deeds. Isocrates adds that Orpheus, who most touched these stories, ended his life torn apart.

Kern Fr. 18 — Myths of Many and One

In the Sophist, Plato says that each old teacher seems to tell us a myth as though we were children.

One says there are three beings: sometimes some of them are at war with one another, and sometimes they become friends, enter marriages, give birth, and rear their offspring.

Another says there are two, wet and dry, or hot and cold, and he makes them live together and marries them.

The Eleatic clan, beginning from Xenophanes and even before him, tells its myths as though all the things called "many" are really one.

Later, some Ionian and Sicilian Muses understood that it was safest to weave both accounts together and say that what is is both many and one, held together by enmity and friendship.

Kern includes this passage among Orphic older fragments because of its relation to old theological myth and theogonical language.

Kern Fr. 19 — Kore's Armed Dance

In the Laws, Plato says that fitting imitations in choruses must not be neglected. In Athens, these include the armed play of the Kouretes; in Sparta, that of the Dioskouroi.

Our Kore and Mistress rejoiced in the play of dance, but did not think it right to sport with empty hands. She was adorned in full armor and so completed the dance. It would be fitting for young men and young women to imitate this, honoring the goddess' grace both for the needs of war and for festivals.

Children too, for as long as they are not yet going to war, should make processions and supplications to all gods with weapons and horses, ordered in quicker and slower dances and marches as they make their prayers to gods and children of gods.

Kern Fr. 20 — The Law of Adrasteia

In the Phaedrus, Plato says:

This is the law of Adrasteia. Whatever soul becomes a companion of a god and looks upon any true thing remains unharmed until the next circuit; and if it can always do this, it is always without hurt.

But when it is unable to follow and does not see, and when through some mischance it is filled with forgetfulness and wickedness and grows heavy, then, weighed down, it sheds its wings and falls to the earth. The law is that in its first birth this soul is not to be planted into any animal nature.

The soul that saw most goes into the seed of a man who will become a philosopher, lover of beauty, musician, or lover.

The second goes into a lawful king, or into a warrior and ruler.

The third goes into a statesman, household manager, or money-maker.

The fourth goes into a lover of labor in gymnastic practice, or someone concerned with the healing of the body.

The fifth goes into a prophetic or initiatory life.

The sixth will fit a poet or some other imitator.

The seventh fits a craftsman or farmer.

The eighth fits a sophist or demagogue.

The ninth fits a tyrant.

Kern compares the reverent formula "I bow before Adrasteia" and related references to Adrasteia in tragedy and Orphic sacred discourse.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 1-20, in the Fragmenta veteriora section of the printed collection. Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witnesses translated here are Aristophanes, Birds 690-702; Euripides, Hypsipyle fr. 57; Plato, Republic, Phaedo, Cratylus, Laws, Seventh Letter, Symposium, Philebus, Timaeus, Euthyphro, Sophist, and Phaedrus; Plutarch, On the E at Delphi; Proclus and Damascius; and Kern's Latin notes where those notes are necessary to identify the Orphic bearing of the passage.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 1 — Aristophanes, Birds 690-702

ἢν ἀκούσαντες πάντα παρ' ἡμῶν ὀρθῶς περὶ τῶν μετεώρων,

φύσιν οἰωνῶν γένεσίν τε θεῶν ποταμῶν τ' Ἐρέβους τε

Χάους τε

εἰδότες ὀρθῶς, Προδίκῳ παρ' ἐμοῦ κλαίειν εἴπητε τὸ λοιπόν.

Χάος ἦν καὶ Νὺξ Ἔρεβός τε μέλαν πρῶτον καὶ Τάρταρος εὐρύς,

γῆ δ' οὐδ' ἀὴρ οὐδ' οὐρανὸς ἦν· Ἐρέβους δ' ἐν ἀπείροσι κόλποις

τίκτει πρώτιστον ὑπηνέμιον Νὺξ ἡ μελανόπτερος ᾠόν,

ἐξ οὗ περιτελλομέναις ὥραις ἔβλαστεν Ἔρως ὁ ποθεινός,

στίλβων νῶτον πτερύγοιν χρυσαῖν, εἰκὼς ἀνεμώκεσι δίναις.

οὗτος δὲ Χάει πτερόεντι μιγεὶς νυχίῳ κατὰ Τάρταρον εὐρύν

ἐνεόττευσεν γένος ἡμέτερον, καὶ πρῶτον ἀνήγαγεν ἐς φῶς.

πρότερον δ' οὐκ ἦν γένος ἀθανάτων, πρὶν Ἔρως ξυνέμειξεν ἅπαντα.

ξυμμειγνυμένων δ' ἑτέρων ἑτέροις γένετ' Οὐρανὸς Ὠκεανός τε

καὶ Γῆ πάντων τε θεῶν μακάρων γένος ἄφθιτον.

Kern Fr. 2 — Euripides, Hypsipyle fr. 57

ὦ πότνια θεῶν

φάος ἄσκοπον ...

αἰθέρι πρωτόγονο...

... Ἔρως ὅτε Νύξ ...

... δὴ τότε ...

... γένο ...

Kern:

Certa restitutio fragmenti praeberi nequit; at verba Orphica elucent.

Kern Fr. 3 — Plato, Republic 2.364e

βίβλων δὲ ὅμαδον παρέχονται Μουσαίου καὶ Ὀρφέως, Σελήνης τε καὶ Μουσῶν ἐκγόνων, ὥς φασι, καθ' ἃς θυηπολοῦσιν, πείθοντες οὐ μόνον ἰδιώτας ἀλλὰ καὶ πόλεις, ὡς ἄρα λύσεις τε καὶ καθαρμοὶ ἀδικημάτων διὰ θυσιῶν καὶ παιδιᾶς ἡδονῶν εἰσι μὲν ἔτι ζῶσιν, εἰσὶ δὲ καὶ τελευτήσασιν, ἃς δὴ τελετὰς καλοῦσιν, αἳ τῶν ἐκεῖ κακῶν ἀπολύουσιν ἡμᾶς, μὴ θύσαντας δὲ δεινὰ περιμένει.

Scholion:

βίβλων] περὶ ἐπῳδῶν καὶ καταδέσμων καὶ καθαρσίων καὶ μειλιγμάτων καὶ τῶν ὁμοίων.

Kern Fr. 4 — Plato, Republic 2.363c-d

Μουσαῖος δὲ τούτων νεανικώτερα τἀγαθὰ καὶ ὁ υἱὸς αὐτοῦ παρὰ θεῶν διδόασιν τοῖς δικαίοις· εἰς Ἅιδου γὰρ ἀγαγόντες τῷ λόγῳ καὶ κατακλίναντες καὶ συμπόσιον τῶν ὁσίων κατασκευάσαντες ἐστεφανωμένους ποιοῦσιν τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον ἤδη διάγειν μεθύοντας, ἡγησάμενοι κάλλιστον ἀρετῆς μισθὸν μέθην αἰώνιον.

οἱ δ' ἔτι τούτων μακροτέρους ἀποτείνουσιν μισθοὺς παρὰ θεῶν· παῖδας γὰρ παίδων φασὶ καὶ γένος κατόπισθεν λείπεσθαι τοῦ ὁσίου καὶ εὐόρκου. ταῦτα δὴ καὶ ἄλλα τοιαῦτα ἐγκωμιάζουσιν δικαιοσύνην· τοὺς δὲ ἀνοσίους αὖ καὶ ἀδίκους εἰς πηλόν τινα κατορύττουσιν ἐν Ἅιδου καὶ κοσκίνῳ ὕδωρ ἀναγκάζουσι φέρειν, ἔτι τε ζῶντας εἰς κακὰς δόξας ἄγοντες.

Kern Fr. 5 — Plato, Phaedo 69c

καὶ κινδυνεύουσι καὶ οἱ τὰς τελετὰς ἡμῖν οὗτοι καταστήσαντες οὐ φαῦλοί τινες εἶναι, ἀλλὰ τῷ ὄντι πάλαι αἰνίττεσθαι, ὅτι ὃς ἂν ἀμύητος καὶ ἀτέλεστος εἰς Ἅιδου ἀφίκηται ἐν βορβόρῳ κείσεται, ὁ δὲ κεκαθαρμένος τε καὶ τετελεσμένος ἐκεῖσε ἀφικόμενος μετὰ θεῶν οἰκήσει. εἰσὶ γὰρ δή, ὥς φασιν οἱ περὶ τὰς τελετάς,

ναρθηκοφόροι μὲν πολλοί,

βάκχοι δέ τε παῦροι.

οὗτοι δ' εἰσὶν κατὰ τὴν ἐμὴν δόξαν οὐκ ἄλλοι ἢ οἱ πεφιλοσοφηκότες ὀρθῶς.

Kern Fr. 6 — Plato, Phaedo 70c

σκεψώμεθα δὲ αὐτὸ τῇδε πῃ, εἰ ἄρα ἐν Ἅιδου εἰσὶν αἱ ψυχαὶ τελευτησάντων τῶν ἀνθρώπων εἴτε καὶ οὔ. παλαιὸς μὲν οὖν ἐστί τις λόγος οὗ μεμνήμεθα, ὡς εἰσὶν ἐνθένδε ἀφικόμεναι ἐκεῖ, καὶ πάλιν γε δεῦρο ἀφικνοῦνται καὶ γίγνονται ἐκ τῶν τεθνεώτων.

Olympiodorus:

Ὀρφικὸς γάρ ἐστι καὶ Πυθαγόρειος.

Kern Fr. 7 — Plato, Phaedo 62b

ὁ μὲν οὖν ἐν ἀπορρήτοις λεγόμενος περὶ αὐτῶν λόγος, ὡς ἔν τινι φρουρᾷ ἐσμεν οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ οὐ δεῖ δὴ ἑαυτὸν ἐκ ταύτης λύειν οὐδ' ἀποδιδράσκειν, μέγας τέ τίς μοι φαίνεται καὶ οὐ ῥᾴδιος διιδεῖν.

Scholion:

ἐντεῦθεν τὸ πρῶτον πρόβλημα τὸ μὴ δεῖν ἐξάγειν ἑαυτόν, οὗ ἐπιχείρημα μυθικὸν ἐξ Ὀρφέως ληφθέν.

Kern Fr. 8 — Plato, Cratylus 400c

καὶ γὰρ σῆμά τινες φασιν αὐτὸ εἶναι τῆς ψυχῆς, ὡς τεθαμμένης ἐν τῷ νῦν παρόντι· καὶ διότι αὖ τούτῳ σημαίνει ἃ ἂν σημαίνῃ ἡ ψυχή, καὶ ταύτῃ σῆμα ὀρθῶς καλεῖσθαι. δοκοῦσι μέντοι μοι μάλιστα θέσθαι οἱ ἀμφὶ Ὀρφέα τοῦτο τὸ ὄνομα, ὡς δίκην διδούσης τῆς ψυχῆς ὧν δὴ ἕνεκα δίδωσιν, τοῦτον δὲ περίβολον ἔχειν, ἵνα σῴζηται, δεσμωτηρίου εἰκόνα· εἶναι οὖν τῆς ψυχῆς τοῦτο, ὥσπερ αὐτὸ ὀνομάζεται, ἕως ἂν ἐκτείσῃ τὰ ὀφειλόμενα, τὸ σῶμα, καὶ οὐδὲν δεῖν οὐδὲ ἓν γράμμα.

Philolaus fr. 14:

μαρτυρέονται δὲ καὶ οἱ παλαιοὶ θεολόγοι τε καὶ μάντιες, ὡς διὰ τινὰς τιμωρίας ἁ ψυχὰ τῷ σώματι συνέζευκται καὶ καθάπερ ἐν σάματι τούτῳ τέθαπται.

Kern Fr. 9 — Plato, Laws 3.701b-c

ἐφεξῆς δὴ ταύτῃ τῇ ἐλευθερίᾳ ἡ τοῦ μὴ ἐθέλειν τοῖς ἄρχουσι δουλεύειν γίγνοιτ' ἄν, καὶ ἑπομένη ταύτῃ φεύγειν πατρὸς καὶ μητρὸς καὶ πρεσβυτέρων δουλείαν καὶ νουθέτησιν, καὶ ἐγγὺς τοῦ τέλους οὐδὲν νόμων ζητεῖν μὴ ὑπήκοος εἶναι, πρὸς αὐτῷ δὲ ἤδη τῷ τέλει ὅρκων καὶ πίστεων καὶ τὸ παράπαν θεῶν μὴ φροντίζειν, τὴν λεγομένην παλαιὰν Τιτανικὴν φύσιν ἐπιδεικνύειν καὶ μιμουμένοις, ἐπὶ τὰ αὐτὰ πάλιν ἐκεῖνα ἀφικομένους, χαλεπὸν αἰῶνα διάγοντας μὴ λήξει ποτέ κακῶν.

Kern Fr. 10 — Plato, Seventh Letter 335a

πείθεσθαι δὲ ὄντως ἀεὶ χρὴ τοῖς παλαιοῖς τε καὶ ἱεροῖς λόγοις, οἳ δὴ μηνύουσιν ἡμῖν ἀθάνατον ψυχὴν εἶναι δικαστάς τε ἴσχειν καὶ τίνειν τὰς μεγίστας τιμωρίας, ὅταν τις ἀπαλλαχθῇ τοῦ σώματος.

Kern Fr. 11 — Plato, Laws 2.669d

ποιηταὶ δὲ ἀνθρώπινοι σφόδρα τὰ τοιαῦτα ἐμπλέκοντες καὶ συγχέοντες ἀλόγως, γέλωτ' ἂν παρασκευάζοιεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὅσους φησὶν Ὀ. λαχεῖν ὥραν τῆς τέρψεως.

Kern / Lobeck:

ὅσσοι ἥβης μέτρον ἵκοντο, λάχον δέ τε τέρψιος ὥρην.

Kern Fr. 12 — Plato, Laws 8.829d-e

μηδὲ τίνα τολμᾶν ᾄδειν ἀδόκιμον μοῦσαν μὴ κρινάντων τῶν νομοφυλάκων, μηδ' ἂν ἡδίων ᾖ τῶν Θαμύρου τε καὶ Ὀρφείων ὕμνων.

Kern Fr. 13 — Plato, Symposium 218b

πάντες γὰρ κεκοινωνήκατε τῆς φιλοσόφου μανίας τε καὶ βακχείας· διὸ πάντες ἀκούσεσθε· συγγνώσεσθε γὰρ τοῖς τε τότε πραχθεῖσι καὶ τοῖς νῦν λεγομένοις. οἱ δὲ οἰκέται, καὶ εἴ τις ἄλλος ἐστὶν βέβηλός τε καὶ ἄγροικος, πύλας πάνυ μεγάλας τοῖς ὠσὶν ἐπίθεσθε.

Kern Fr. 14 — Plato, Philebus 66c; Plutarch, On the E at Delphi 391d

Ἐκτῃ δ' ἐν γενεᾷ, φησὶν Ὀ., καταπαύσατε κόσμον ἀοιδῆς.

Plutarch:

ἕκτῃ δ' ἐν γενεῇ καταπαύσατε θυμὸν ἀοιδῆς.

Kern Fr. 15 — Plato, Cratylus 402b

λέγει δέ που καὶ Ὀ. ὅτι

Ὠκεανὸς πρῶτος καλλίρροος ἦρξε γάμοιο,

ὃς ῥα κασιγνήτην ὁμομήτορα Τηθὺν ὄπυιεν.

Kern Fr. 16 — Plato, Timaeus 40d-e

περὶ δὲ τῶν ἄλλων δαιμόνων εἰπεῖν καὶ γνῶναι τὴν γένεσιν μεῖζον ἢ καθ' ἡμᾶς, πειστέον δὲ τοῖς εἰρηκόσιν ἔμπροσθεν, ἐκγόνοις μὲν θεῶν οὖσιν, ὡς ἔφασαν, σαφῶς δέ που τούς γε αὑτῶν προγόνους εἰδόσιν· ἀδύνατον οὖν θεῶν παισὶν ἀπιστεῖν, καίπερ ἄνευ τε εἰκότων καὶ ἀναγκαίων ἀποδείξεων λέγουσιν, ἀλλ' ὡς οἰκεῖα φασκόντων ἀπαγγέλλειν ἑπομένους τῷ νόμῳ πιστευτέον. οὕτως οὖν κατ' ἐκείνους ἡμῖν ἡ γένεσις περὶ τούτων τῶν θεῶν ἐχέτω καὶ λεγέσθω.

Γῆς τε καὶ Οὐρανοῦ παῖδες Ὠκεανός τε καὶ Τηθὺς ἐγενέσθην, τούτων δὲ Φόρκυς Κρόνος τε καὶ Ῥέα καὶ ὅσοι μετὰ τούτων, ἐκ δὲ Κρόνου καὶ Ῥέας Ζεὺς Ἥρα τε καὶ πάντες ὅσους ἴσμεν ἀδελφοὺς λεγομένους αὐτῶν, ἔτι δὲ τούτων ἄλλους ἐκγόνους.

Kern Fr. 17 — Plato, Euthyphro 5e-6b; Isocrates 11.38-39

αὐτοὶ γὰρ οἱ ἄνθρωποι τυγχάνουσι νομίζοντες τὸν Δία τῶν θεῶν ἄριστον καὶ δικαιότατον, καὶ τοῦτον ὁμολογοῦσι τὸν αὐτοῦ πατέρα δῆσαι, ὅτι τοὺς ὑεῖς κατέπινεν οὐκ ἐν δίκῃ, κἀκεῖνόν γε αὖ τὸν αὐτοῦ πατέρα ἐκτεμεῖν δι' ἕτερα τοιαῦτα ... ἀλλὰ μοι εἰπὲ πρὸς Φιλίου, σὺ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἡγῇ ταῦτα οὕτω γεγονέναι; ... καὶ ἔτι γε τούτων θαυμασιώτερα, ὦ Σώκρατες, ἃ οἱ πολλοὶ οὐκ ἴσασιν.

Isocrates:

τοιούτους δὲ λόγους περὶ αὐτῶν τῶν θεῶν εἰρήκασιν, οἵους οὐδεὶς ἂν περὶ τῶν ἐχθρῶν εἰπεῖν τολμήσειεν· οὐ γὰρ μόνον κλοπὰς καὶ μοιχείας καὶ παρ' ἀνθρώποις θητείας αὐτοῖς ὠνείδισαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παίδων βρώσεις καὶ πατέρων ἐκτομὰς καὶ μητέρων δεσμοὺς καὶ πολλὰς ἄλλας ἀνομίας κατ' αὐτῶν ἐλογοποίησαν.

Ὀ. δ' ὁ μάλιστα τούτων τῶν λόγων ἁψάμενος, διασπασθεὶς τὸν βίον ἐτελεύτησεν.

Kern Fr. 18 — Plato, Sophist 242c-d

μῦθόν τινα ἕκαστος φαίνεταί μοι διηγεῖσθαι παισὶν ὡς οὖσιν ἡμῖν, ὁ μὲν ὡς τρία τὰ ὄντα, πολεμεῖ δὲ ἀλλήλοις ἐνίοτε αὐτῶν ἄττα πῃ, τότε δὲ καὶ φίλα γιγνόμενα γάμους τε καὶ τόκους καὶ τροφὰς τῶν ἐκγόνων παρέχεται· δύο δὲ ἕτερος εἰπών, ὑγρὸν καὶ ξηρὸν ἢ θερμὸν καὶ ψυχρόν, συνοικίζει τε αὐτὰ καὶ ἐκδίδωσι· τὸ δὲ παρ' ἡμῶν Ἐλεατικὸν ἔθνος, ἀπὸ Ξενοφάνους τε καὶ ἔτι πρόσθεν ἀρξάμενον, ὡς ἑνὸς ὄντος τῶν πάντων καλουμένων οὕτω διεξέρχεται τοῖς μύθοις. Ἰάδες δὲ καὶ Σικελαί τινες ὕστερον Μοῦσαι συνενόησαν ὅτι συμπλέκειν ἀσφαλέστατον ἀμφότερα καὶ λέγειν ὡς τὸ ὂν πολλά τε καὶ ἕν ἐστιν, ἔχθρᾳ δὲ καὶ φιλίᾳ συνέχεται.

Kern Fr. 19 — Plato, Laws 7.796b-c

οὐδ' ὅσα ἐν τοῖς χοροῖς ἐστιν αὖ μιμήματα προσήκοντα μιμεῖσθαι παρετέον, κατὰ μὲν τὸν τόπον τόνδε Κουρήτων ἐνόπλια παίγνια, κατὰ δὲ Λακεδαίμονα Διοσκόρων. ἡ δὲ αὖ που παρ' ἡμῖν κόρη καὶ δέσποινα, εὐφρανθεῖσα τῇ τῆς χορείας παιδιᾷ, κεναῖς χερσὶν οὐκ ᾠήθη δεῖν ἀθύρειν, πανοπλίᾳ δὲ παντελεῖ κοσμηθεῖσα, οὕτω τὴν ὄρχησιν διαπεραίνειν· ἃ δὴ πάντως μιμεῖσθαι πρέπον ἂν εἴη κόρους τε ἅμα καὶ κόρας, τὴν τῆς θεοῦ χάριν τιμῶντας, πολέμου τ' ἐν χρείᾳ καὶ ἑορτῶν ἕνεκα.

τοῖς δέ που παισὶν εὐθὺς τε καὶ ὅσον ἂν χρόνον μήπω εἰς πόλεμον ἴωσιν, πᾶσι θεοῖς προσόδους τε καὶ πομπὰς ποιουμένους μεθ' ὅπλων τε καὶ ἵππων ἀεὶ κοσμεῖσθαι δέον ἂν εἴη, θάττους τε καὶ βραδυτέρας ἐν ὀρχήσει καὶ ἐν πορείᾳ τὰς ἱκετείας ποιουμένους πρὸς θεούς τε καὶ θεῶν παῖδας.

Kern Fr. 20 — Plato, Phaedrus 248c-d

θεσμὸς δὲ Ἀδραστείας ὅδε. ἥτις ἂν ψυχὴ θεῷ συνοπαδὸς γενομένη κατίδῃ τι τῶν ἀληθῶν, μέχρι τε τῆς ἑτέρας περιόδου εἶναι ἀπήμονα, κἂν ἀεὶ τοῦτο δύνηται ποιεῖν, ἀεὶ ἀβλαβῆ εἶναι· ὅταν δὲ ἀδυνατήσασα ἐπισπέσθαι μὴ ἴδῃ, καὶ τινὶ συντυχίᾳ χρησαμένη λήθης τε καὶ κακίας πλησθεῖσα βαρυνθῇ, βαρυνθεῖσα δὲ πτερορρυήσῃ τε καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν πέσῃ, τότε νόμος ταύτην μὴ φυτεῦσαι εἰς μηδεμίαν θήρειον φύσιν ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ γενέσει, ἀλλὰ τὴν μὲν πλεῖστα ἰδοῦσαν εἰς γονὴν ἀνδρὸς γενησομένου φιλοσόφου ἢ φιλοκάλου ἢ μουσικοῦ τινος καὶ ἐρωτικοῦ, τὴν δὲ δευτέραν εἰς βασιλέως ἐννόμου ἢ πολεμικοῦ καὶ ἀρχικοῦ, τρίτην εἰς πολιτικοῦ ἤ τινος οἰκονομικοῦ ἢ χρηματιστικοῦ, τετάρτην εἰς φιλοπόνου γυμναστικοῦ ἢ περὶ σώματος ἴασίν τινος ἐσομένου, πέμπτην μαντικὸν βίον ἤ τινα τελεστικὸν ἕξουσαν, ἕκτῃ ποιητικὸς ἢ τῶν περὶ μίμησίν τις ἄλλος ἁρμόσει, ἑβδόμῃ δημιουργικὸς ἢ γεωργικός, ὀγδόῃ σοφιστικὸς ἢ δημαγωγικός, ἐνάτῃ τυραννικός.

Republic 5.451a:

προσκυνῶ δὲ Ἀδράστειαν, ὦ Γλαύκων, χάριν οὗ μέλλω λέγειν.

Source Colophon

Source edition: Otto Kern, Orphicorum fragmenta, Berlin: Weidmann, 1922, pp. 80-90.

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

The Greek text above normalizes obvious OCR and font-display noise against Kern's printed page images and omits most apparatus notes and modern bibliography. It preserves Kern's fragment numbering and witness labels.