Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek

This page translates Kern fragments 205-208 from the Orphic Sacred Discourses in Twenty-Four Rhapsodies. The group gathers the "new gods" around Dionysus: their work in mortal generation and rebirth, Clement's witness that Homer borrowed an olive-shoot image from an Orphic poem on Dionysus' disappearance, and the Neoplatonic reports that Zeus seats Dionysus on the royal throne and gives him the sceptre.

Translation

Kern Fr. 205 — The New Gods and Rebirth

Proclus says that the creation-work of the new gods fittingly comes to its end, according to the Father's will, in rebirth.

In the new gods, then, the demiurge placed both the original creation of mortal beings and the cause of rebirth. So too he placed all encosmic things in the monad of the new gods, which Orpheus himself called a new god.

So, Proclus says, one can see how the demiurge gave them unifying and deifying powers when he called them "gods of gods"; cohesive and stable powers through the mean between what can be dissolved and what cannot be dissolved; cognitive powers through learning; perfective powers through completing the world by adding mortal things; and demiurgic, moving, and assimilative powers through imitation of the Father.

One may also call these powers Hephaestean through their natural activity; Athenian through the command to weave mortal things onto immortal things; Demetrian and Koric through generation and nourishment; Titanic through producing things that are mortal and perishable; and Dionysiac through rebirth.

For what the new gods generate, they receive again when it decays. They send it back up into their own wholenesses, distribute each thing to what belongs to it, then take other things again from these and compose them into other births. All the elements are subject to them for the births of mortal living beings, and they continually fill out, without pause, the cycle of generations and perishing.

They therefore receive, in decay, the things they gave to beings coming into existence. They add to the wholes what they take away from the wholes. This exchange has no limit, because all the gods who create mortal things are always in motion, and the Father entrusted the work of creation to them.

Kern Fr. 206 — The Olive Shoot and the Disappearance of Dionysus

Clement of Alexandria says that one may find Homer, the great poet, carrying over those verses word for word from Orpheus, from the poem on the disappearance of Dionysus:

As when a man nourishes the luxuriant shoot of an olive.

Clement says that Homer also carried over what follows. Kern prints the Homeric sequel as the relevant continuation:

In a lonely place, where water has welled up abundantly,

beautiful and flourishing; the breaths of every kind of wind shake it,

and it blooms with white blossom.

Kern Fr. 207 — Dionysus the New God

Proclus says that the theologians called Dionysus by this title, "new god," because he is the monad of the whole second creation-work. Zeus makes him king of all the encosmic gods and assigns him the first honors:

though he is young, an infant at the feast.

For this reason, Proclus says, they are also accustomed to call the Sun a new god, since the Sun participates in Dionysiac power. Heraclitus too says that the sun is new each day.

Elsewhere Proclus says that theology calls Zeus himself and Dionysus children and young ones. Orpheus says, "though both are young." In general, when theologians compare the intellectual order with the intelligible and paternal orders, they call it young in this way.

Kern Fr. 208 — Zeus Gives Dionysus the Sceptre

Proclus says that Dionysus is the last king of the gods from Zeus. The Father establishes him on the royal throne, puts the sceptre into his hand, and makes him king of all the encosmic gods:

Hear me, gods: I set this one as king for you.

Zeus says this to the new gods.

Olympiodorus adds that the statements about monad and triad have been spoken truly, but the Titans plotting against Dionysus must belong to another property. No number opposes its own monad or destroys it, unless it thereby destroys itself.

Nor, Olympiodorus says, is Zeus speaking to the Titans. He is speaking to the other gods:

Hear me: I give a king.

Dionysus is undivided on the throne of Zeus; in relation to the Titans he is transformed in a divided way. Kern marks the transmitted text at this point as lacunose.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 205-208, in the section headed "Hieroi logoi en rhapsodiais ka'." Kern's numbering is retained.

Clement's notice in fr. 206 is translated as an ancient attribution claim: Clement says that Homer borrowed the olive-shoot verse and its sequel from an Orphic poem on Dionysus' disappearance. The source witnesses translated here are Proclus, Clement of Alexandria, and Olympiodorus as printed by Kern.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 205 — Proclus

Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Timaeus:

τελευτᾶι δὴ καλῶς ἡ δημιουργία τῶν νέων θεῶν κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς βούλησιν εἰς τὴν παλιγγενεσίαν ... ἐν τοῖς νέοις ἄρα θεοῖς καὶ τὴν ἐξ ἀρχῆς δημιουργίαν τῶν θνητῶν καὶ τὴν τῆς παλιγγενεσίας αἰτίαν ὁ δημιουργὸς ἐνέθηκεν, ὥσπερ ἁπάντων τῶν ἐγκοσμίων ἐν τῆι μονάδι τῶν νέων θεῶν, ἣν καὶ αὐτὴν νέον θεὸν προσηγόρευσεν Ὀ. ὁρᾶις οὖν, ὅπως καὶ ἑνοποιοὺς αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐκθεωτικὰς δυνάμεις ἐνδέδωκε θεοὺς θεῶν ἀποκαλέσας, καὶ συνεκτικὰς καὶ μονίμους διὰ τῆς τοῦ λυτοῦ καὶ ἀλύτου μεσότητος καὶ γνωστικὰς διὰ τῆς μαθήσεως καὶ τελειωτικὰς διὰ τοῦ τελειοῦν τὸν κόσμον ταῖς προσθήκαις τῶν θνητῶν καὶ δημιουργικὰς διὰ τῆς δημιουργικῆς καὶ κινητικὰς καὶ ἀφομοιωτικὰς διὰ τῆς μιμήσεως τοῦ πατρός, καὶ πάλιν, εἰ βούλει λέγειν, Ἡφαιστιακὰς μὲν διὰ τῆς κατὰ φύσιν ἐνεργείας, Ἀθηναϊκὰς δὲ διὰ τῆς τοῦ προσυφαίνειν τῶι ἀθανάτωι τὸ θνητὸν παρακελεύσεως, Δημητριακὰς δὲ καὶ Κορικὰς διὰ τοῦ γεννᾶν καὶ τρέφειν, Τιτανικὰς δὲ διὰ τοῦ θνητὰ καὶ ἐπίκηρα παράγειν, Διονυσιακὰς δὲ διὰ τῆς παλιγγενεσίας· ἃ γὰρ γεννῶσι, φθίνοντα δέχονται πάλιν εἰς τὰς ὁλότητας αὐτῶν ἀναπέμποντες καὶ ἕκαστα τοῖς οἰκείοις διανέμοντες καὶ ἐκ τούτων ἄλλα πάλιν λαμβάνοντες καὶ συντιθέντες εἰς ἄλλων γενέσεις· πάντα γὰρ αὐτοῖς ὑπόκειται τὰ στοιχεῖα πρὸς τὰς γεννήσεις τῶν θνητῶν ζώιων καὶ τὸν κύκλον ἀεὶ πληροῦσιν ἀπαύστως τῶν γενέσεων καὶ φθίσεων. δέχονται οὖν φθίνοντα, ὅσα ἔδοσαν γιγνομένοις καὶ προστιθέασι τοῖς ὅλοις ὅσα ἀφαιροῦσι τῶν ὅλων, καὶ τοῦτο ἀπέραντον ἔχει τὴν ἀμοιβὴν διὰ τὴν ἀεικινησίαν τῶν δημιουργούντων τὰ θνητὰ θεῶν πάντων, οἷς ἐπέτρεψε τὴν δημιουργίαν ὁ πατήρ.

Kern Fr. 206 — Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria, Stromata:

εὕροις δ' ἂν καὶ Ὅμηρον τὸν μέγαν ποιητὴν ἐκεῖνα τὰ ἔπη·

οἷον δὲ τρέφει ἔρνος ἀνὴρ ἐριθηλὲς ἐλαίης

καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς κατὰ λέξιν μετενηνοχότα παρ' Ὀρφέως ἐκ τοῦ Διονύσου ἀφανισμοῦ.

Kern prints the following Homeric continuation:

χώρωι ἐν οἰοπόλωι, ὅθ' ἅλις ἀναβέβροχεν ὕδωρ,

καλὸν τηλεθάον· τὸ δέ τε πνοιαὶ δονέουσιν

παντοίων ἀνέμων, καί τε βρύει ἄνθει λευκῶι.

Kern Fr. 207 — Proclus

Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Timaeus:

τὸν γὰρ Διόνυσον οἱ θεολόγοι ταύτηι τῆι προσηγορίαι κεκλήκασιν, ὃ δέ ἐστι πάσης τῆς δευτέρας δημιουργίας μονάς· ὁ γὰρ Ζεὺς βασιλέα τίθησιν αὐτὸν ἁπάντων τῶν ἐγκοσμίων θεῶν καὶ προτίστας αὐτῶι νέμει τιμάς·

καίπερ ἐόντι νέωι καὶ νηπίωι εἰλαπιναστῆι.

διὰ δὴ τοῦτο καὶ τὸν Ἥλιον νέον θεόν εἰώθασι καλεῖν, ὡς Διονυσιακῆς μετέχοντα δυνάμεως.

Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Parmenides:

καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸν τὸν Δία καὶ τὸν Διόνυσον παῖδας καὶ νέους ἡ θεολογία καλεῖ· καίπερ ὄντε νέω φησίν Ὀρφεύς· καὶ ὅλως τὸ νοερὸν παρὰ τὸ νοητὸν καὶ παρὰ τὸ πατρικὸν παραβάλλοντες οὕτω καλοῦσιν.

Kern Fr. 208 — Proclus and Olympiodorus

Proclus, Commentary on Plato's Cratylus:

καὶ ὁ Διόνυσος τελευταῖος θεῶν βασιλεὺς παρὰ τοῦ Διός· ὁ γὰρ πατὴρ ἱδρύει τε αὐτὸν ἐν τῶι βασιλείωι θρόνῳ καὶ ἐγχειρίζει τὸ σκῆπτρον καὶ βασιλέα ποιεῖ τῶν ἐγκοσμίων ἁπάντων θεῶν·

κλῦτε, θεοί· τόνδ' ὑμῖν ἐγὼ βασιλῆα τίθημι,

λέγει πρὸς τοὺς νέους θεοὺς ὁ Ζεύς.

Olympiodorus, Commentary on Plato's Phaedo:

ὅτι τὰ μὲν περὶ μονάδος καὶ τριάδος ἀληθῶς εἴρηται, Τιτᾶνας δὲ τῶι Διονύσωι ἐπιβουλεύοντας ἄλλης εἶναι φήσομεν ἰδιότητος· οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἀριθμὸς ἐναντιοῦται τῆι οἰκείαι μονάδι οὐδὲ ἀναιρεῖ αὐτήν, ἢ οὕτω γε καὶ ἑαυτόν. ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Ζεὺς οὐ πρὸς τοὺς Τιτᾶνας λέγει, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τοὺς ἄλλους θεούς· κλῦτε — — βασιλῆα δίδωμι. ἐπεὶ καὶ ὁ Διόνυσος ἐν μὲν τῶι θρόνῳ τοῦ Διὸς ἀμέριστος ... εἰς τοὺς Τιτᾶνας μεριστῶς μεταμορφοῦται.