Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek
This page translates Kern fragments 128-134 from the Orphic Sacred Discourses in Twenty-Four Rhapsodies. The group gathers witnesses around Kronos and Rhea in the Rhapsodic succession: Plato's Orphic genealogy of Heaven, Kronos, and Zeus; Zeus' swallowing of Phanes; Night nourishing Kronos; Kronos' ageless black beard; and Rhea as the generative fold of Kronian power and mother of the demiurge.
Translation
Kern Fr. 128 — Heaven, Kronos, and Zeus
Proclus says:
Even before those interpreters, Plato himself in the Cratylus, following the Orphic theogonies, calls Kronos the father of Zeus, and Heaven the father of Kronos.
Kern Fr. 129 — Zeus Swallows Phanes, Night Nourishes Kronos
Proclus says:
As Orpheus says with inspired mouth, Zeus swallows his ancestor Phanes, receives into his own fold all the powers of Phanes, and becomes all things intellectually, just as Phanes was all things intelligibly.
Kronos gives over to Zeus the principles of every demiurgy and of providence toward sensible things. By thinking himself, he is united to the first intelligibles and is filled with the goods from there. For this reason the theologian says that Kronos is nourished by Night:
From all things Night nourished Kronos and tended him.
Kern Fr. 130 — Kronos' Black Beard
Proclus says:
This too is Kronian. Orpheus says that Kronos always has black hairs on his chin. Plato says that those who live in the Kronian circuit cast off old age and always become younger.
Kern Fr. 131 — Kronos as Mind
Damascius says:
It seems that Orpheus too knew Kronos as mind. The whole myth about him shows this, as does the name "crooked-counselled." For this reason, since Night is hymned as the first substance and nurse of all things, Orpheus made her especially nourish Kronos, since she is the intelligible object of mind. What is thought is nourishment for the one thinking, according to the oracle.
Kern Fr. 132 — Rhea's Fold
Damascius says:
Then, after these things, it proceeds into what is unmoved and moved. For through the demiurge even the last nature is expressed from the others in the folds of Rhea, as Orpheus makes it. In general, the demiurgic bond is fitted to all things, since this goddess is also the first to lead demiurgy into matter.
Proclus says:
Hera proceeds together with Zeus, bringing forth all things together with the Father. Therefore she is also addressed as equal in completion with him. Rhea proceeds with Kronos, for this goddess herself is the fold of all Kronian power. Earth proceeds with Heaven, for Earth is mother of all those whose father is Heaven.
Kern Fr. 133 — Nature Under Rhea
Damascius says:
Orpheus seems rather to spread the nature that reaches as far as plants and the other fruits beneath Rhea, unless perhaps we should understand the Gorgon too as extending her life-generating power as far as stones themselves.
Kern Fr. 134 — Rhea, Mother of the Demiurge
Proclus says:
Having set a limit to the reminders concerning the king of the intellectual gods, next, surely, we shall hymn Queen Rhea. For both Plato and Orpheus say that she is mother of the demiurge of the wholes, and second after the god Kronos.
Colophon
This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 128-134, in the section headed "Hieroi logoi en rhapsodiais ka'." Kern's numbering is retained.
The source witnesses translated here include Proclus and Damascius as printed by Kern.
Source Text
Kern Fr. 128 — Proclus
Proclus, Platonic Theology:
καὶ πρὸ τούτων ὁ Πλάτων αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ Κρατύλῳ ταῖς Ὀρφικαῖς θεογονίαις ἑπόμενος τὸν μὲν Διὸς πατέρα τὸν Κρόνον, τὸν δὲ Κρόνου τὸν Οὐρανὸν ἀποκαλεῖ.
Kern Fr. 129 — Proclus
Proclus, on Plato's Cratylus:
ὡς δ᾽ Ὀρφεὺς ἐνθέῳ στόματι λέγει, καὶ καταπίνει τὸν πρόγονον αὐτοῦ τὸν Φάνητα καὶ ἐγκολπίζεται πάσας αὐτοῦ τὰς δυνάμεις ὁ Ζεὺς καὶ γίνεται πάντα νοερῶς ὥσπερ ἦν ἐκεῖνος νοητῶς, καὶ ὁ Κρόνος πάσης τῆς δημιουργίας ἐνδίδωσι τῷ Διὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς καὶ τῆς εἰς τὰ αἰσθητὰ προνοίας, καὶ ἑαυτὸν νοῶν ἥνωται τοῖς πρωτίστοις νοητοῖς καὶ πεπλήρωται τῶν ἐκεῖθεν ἀγαθῶν. διὸ καὶ τρέφεσθαί φησιν αὐτὸν ὁ θεολόγος ὑπὸ τῆς Νυκτός·
ἐκ πάντων δὲ Κρόνον Νὺξ ἔτρεφεν ἠδ᾽ ἀτίταλλεν.
Kern Fr. 130 — Proclus
Proclus, on Hesiod's Works and Days:
καὶ τοῦτο Κρόνιόν ἐστι· καὶ γὰρ τὸν Κρόνον ἀεὶ μελαίνας ἔχειν τὰς ἐπὶ τοῦ γενείου τρίχας φησὶν Ὀρφεύς· Πλάτων δὲ τοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς Κρονίας περιόδου ἀποβάλλειν φησὶ τὸ γῆρας, καὶ ἀεὶ γίνεσθαι νεωτέρους.
Kern Fr. 131 — Damascius
Damascius, On First Principles:
ἔοικε δὲ καὶ Ὀρφεὺς τὸν Κρόνον εἰδὼς νοῦν, ὡς δηλοῖ ὅ τε σύμπας μῦθος ὁ περὶ αὐτὸν καὶ ὁ ἀγκυλομήτης, καὶ τὴν Νύκτα ὡς πρώτην οὐσίαν καὶ τροφὸν πάντων διὰ τοῦτο ὑμνουμένην αὐτὸν μάλιστα τὸν Κρόνον πεποιηκέναι τρέφουσαν, ὡς τοῦ νοῦ οὖσαν τὸ νοητόν, ἐπειδὴ τῷ νοοῦντι τροφὴ τὸ νοούμενόν ἐστι κατὰ τὸ λόγιον.
Kern Fr. 132 — Damascius and Proclus
Damascius, On First Principles:
εἶτα ἐπὶ τούτοις καὶ εἰς τὸ κινούμενον προέρχεται καὶ ἑστώς, ἐπεὶ διὰ τοῦ δημιουργοῦ καὶ ἡ ἐσχάτη φύσις ἐκφράζεται τῶν ἄλλων ἐν τοῖς κόλποις τῆς Ῥέας, ὡς ποιεῖ Ὀρφεύς· καὶ ὅλως ὁ δημιουργικὸς ἅπασιν ὅρμος, ἐπειδὴ ἔστιν ἡ θεὸς ἡ καὶ πρώτη προάγει τὴν δημιουργίαν εἰς ὕλην.
Proclus, on Plato's Timaeus:
ἡ τε οὖν Ἥρα συμπρόεισι τῷ Διὶ πάντα ἀποτίκτουσα σὺν τῷ πατρί· διὸ καὶ ἰσοτελὴς αὐτῷ προσαγορεύεται· καὶ ἡ Ῥέα τῷ Κρόνῳ· πάσης γάρ ἐστι τῆς Κρονίας δυνάμεως κόλπος ἡ θεὸς αὐτή· καὶ ἡ Γῆ τῷ Οὐρανῷ· πάντων γὰρ ἡ Γῆ μήτηρ, ὧν ὁ Οὐρανὸς πατήρ.
Kern Fr. 133 — Damascius
Damascius, On First Principles:
ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ὀρφεὺς δοκεῖ μᾶλλον τὴν ἄχρι φυτῶν τε καὶ τῶν ἄλλων καρπῶν ὑποστρώννυναι φύσιν ὑπὸ τὴν Ῥέαν. εἰ μὴ ἄρα καὶ τὴν Γοργόνα νοοῖμεν ἄχρι τῶν λίθων αὐτῶν ἐκτείνουσαν τὴν ἑαυτῆς ζῳογονίαν.
Kern Fr. 134 — Proclus
Proclus, Platonic Theology:
ταῖς δὲ αὖ περὶ τοῦ βασιλέως τῶν νοερῶν θεῶν ὑπομνήσεσι πέρας ἐπιθέντες, ἑχομένως δὴ που τὴν βασιλίδα Ῥέαν ὑμνήσομεν. ταύτην γὰρ δὴ μητέρα τοῦ δημιουργοῦ τῶν ὅλων, δευτέραν δὲ τοῦ Κρόνου θεοῦ, Πλάτων τε φησὶ καὶ Ὀρφεύς.