Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek

This page translates Kern fragments 24-27 from the early Orphic fragments: Aristotle's notices on the theologians who generate from Night, the ancient poets who make Ocean and Tethys the parents of coming-to-be, the Orphic image of animal formation as the weaving of a net, and the Orphic account of the soul entering by breath.

Translation

Kern Fr. 24 — Night, the First Things, and Zeus

If, as the theologians say, they generate things from Night, or if, as the natural philosophers say, "all things were together," the same impossibility follows.

Again, the ancient poets speak in a similar way: they do not say that the first beings rule and reign, such as Night and Heaven, or Chaos, or Ocean, but Zeus.

Kern Fr. 25 — Ocean, Tethys, and the Oath of Water

There are some who think that the very earliest people, long before the present generation, those who first spoke theologically, held this same opinion about nature.

For they made Ocean and Tethys the parents of coming-to-be, and water the oath of the gods, the water called Styx by the poets themselves. What is oldest is most honored; and an oath is the most honored thing.

Whether this opinion about nature is ancient and old may perhaps be unclear.

Kern Fr. 26 — The Woven Animal

Do all the parts come into being at once, such as heart, lung, liver, eye, and each of the other parts, or do they come one after another?

In the verses called Orpheus' verses, the latter is how it is. There, he says that the living creature comes into being in the same way as the weaving of a net.

Kern Fr. 27 — The Soul Borne by Winds

Some animals seem to remain in place, though the soul seems to move the animal with this motion alone.

In the same way, those who make intellect and perception out of the elements are not speaking universally about every soul, nor about any whole soul. This has also happened to the account called Orphic in the verses: it says that the soul enters from the whole when living things breathe, carried by the winds.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 24-27, in the early-fragments section of the printed collection. Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witnesses translated here are Aristotle, Metaphysics 12.6, 1071b26; Metaphysics 14.4, 1091b4; Metaphysics 1.3, 983b27; Generation of Animals 2.1, 734a16; and On the Soul 1.5, 410b19.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 24 — Aristotle, Metaphysics 12.6 and 14.4

καίτοι εἰ ὡς λέγουσιν οἱ θεολόγοι οἱ ἐκ νυκτὸς γεννῶντες, ἢ ὡς οἱ φυσικοὶ "ἦν ὁμοῦ πάντα χρήματα" φασί, τὸ αὐτὸ ἀδύνατον.

οἱ δὲ ποιηταὶ οἱ ἀρχαῖοι ταύτῃ ὁμοίως, ᾗ βασιλεύειν καὶ ἄρχειν φασὶν οὐ τοὺς πρώτους, οἷον Νύκτα καὶ Οὐρανὸν ἢ Χάος ἢ Ὠκεανόν, ἀλλὰ τὸν Δία.

Kern Fr. 25 — Aristotle, Metaphysics 1.3

εἰσὶ δέ τινες οἳ καὶ τοὺς παμπαλαίους καὶ πολὺ πρὸ τῆς νῦν γενέσεως καὶ πρώτους θεολογήσαντας οὕτως οἴονται περὶ τῆς φύσεως ὑπολαβεῖν· Ὠκεανόν τε γὰρ καὶ Τηθὺν ἐποίησαν τῆς γενέσεως πατέρας, καὶ τὸν ὅρκον τῶν θεῶν ὕδωρ, τὴν καλουμένην ὑπ' αὐτῶν Στύγα τῶν ποιητῶν· τιμιώτατον μὲν γὰρ τὸ πρεσβύτατον, ὅρκος δὲ τὸ τιμιώτατόν ἐστιν. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀρχαία τις αὕτη καὶ παλαιὰ τετύχηκεν οὖσα περὶ τῆς φύσεως ἡ δόξα, τάχ' ἂν ἄδηλον εἴη.

Kern Fr. 26 — Aristotle, Generation of Animals 2.1

ἢ γὰρ τοι ἅμα πάντα γίγνεται τὰ μόρια, οἷον καρδία, πλεύμων, ἧπαρ, ὀφθαλμός, καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἕκαστον, ἢ ἐφεξῆς, ὥσπερ ἐν τοῖς καλουμένοις Ὀρφέως ἔπεσιν· ἐκεῖ γὰρ ὁμοίως φησὶ γίγνεσθαι τὸ ζῷον τῇ τοῦ δικτύου πλοκῇ.

Kern Fr. 27 — Aristotle, On the Soul 1.5

φαίνεται γὰρ εἶναί τινα μόνιμα τῶν ζῴων κατὰ τόπον. καίτοι δοκεῖ γε ταύτην μόνην τῶν κινήσεων κινεῖν ἡ ψυχὴ τὸ ζῷον. ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ὅσοι τὸν νοῦν καὶ τὸ αἰσθητικὸν ἐκ τῶν στοιχείων ποιοῦσιν· φαίνεται γὰρ τά τε φυτὰ ζῆν οὐ μετέχοντα φορᾶς οὐδ' αἰσθήσεως, καὶ τῶν ζῴων πολλὰ διάνοιαν οὐκ ἔχειν. εἰ δέ τις καὶ ταῦτα παραχωρήσει καὶ θείη τὸν νοῦν μέρος τι τῆς ψυχῆς, ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸ αἰσθητικόν, οὐδ' ἂν οὕτω λέγοιεν καθόλου περὶ πάσης ψυχῆς οὐδὲ περὶ ὅλης οὐδεμιᾶς. τοῦτο δὲ πέπονθε καὶ ὁ ἐν τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς ἔπεσι καλούμενος λόγος· φησὶ γὰρ τὴν ψυχὴν ἐκ τοῦ ὅλου εἰσιέναι ἀναπνεόντων, φερομένην ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνέμων.

Source Colophon

Source edition: Otto Kern, Orphicorum fragmenta, Berlin: Weidmann, 1922, pp. 94-96.

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 Kern's apparatus notes. It preserves Kern's fragment numbering and witness labels.