Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek

This page translates Kern fragments 123-125 from the Orphic Sacred Discourses in Twenty-Four Rhapsodies. The group turns from the Titanic casting-down to the rivers below: Olympiodorus reports an Orphic ordering of four rivers by elements and directions; Porphyry preserves the comparison between Plato's Ameles, the Hesiodic and Orphic Styx, and Pherecydes' outflow; and Olympiodorus gives a second river-map within Tartarus.

Translation

Kern Fr. 123 — Four Rivers, Four Elements, Four Directions

Olympiodorus says:

The four rivers handed down according to the tradition of Orpheus correspond to the four subterranean elements and centers, according to two oppositions. Pyriphlegethon corresponds to fire and the east; Cocytus to earth and the west; Acheron to air and the south.

Orpheus arranged these in this way. Plato himself assigns Ocean to water and the north.

Kern Fr. 124 — Ameles, Styx, and the Outflow

Porphyry says:

Here Numenius has much to say, as do those who explain the hidden meanings of Pythagoras. They interpret the river Ameles in Plato, the Styx in Hesiod and the Orphics, and the outflow in Pherecydes as referring to seed.

Kern Fr. 125 — The Rivers in Tartarus

Olympiodorus says:

The four rivers are the four elements in Tartarus. Ocean, he says, is water; Cocytus, or the Stygian river, is earth; Pyriphlegethon is fire; and Acheron is air.

Pyriphlegethon is opposed to the Stygian river as hot to cold; Ocean is opposed to Acheron as watery to airy. Therefore Orpheus also calls the Acherusian lake airy.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 123-125, in the section headed "Hieroi logoi en rhapsodiais ka'." Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witnesses translated here include Olympiodorus and Porphyry as printed by Kern.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 123 — Olympiodorus

Olympiodorus, on Plato's Phaedo:

ὅτι οἱ παραδιδόμενοι τέσσαρες ποταμοὶ κατὰ τὴν Ὀρφέως παράδοσιν τοῖς ὑπογείοις ἀναλογοῦσι τέσσαρσι στοιχείοις τε καὶ κέντροις κατὰ δύο ἀντιθέσεις, ὁ μὲν γὰρ Πυριφλεγέθων τῷ πυρὶ καὶ τῇ ἀνατολῇ, ὁ δὲ Κωκυτός τῇ γῇ καὶ τῇ δύσει, ὁ δὲ Ἀχέρων ἀέρι τε καὶ μεσημβρίᾳ. τούτους μὲν Ὀρφεὺς οὕτω διέταξεν, αὐτὸς δὲ τὸν Ὠκεανὸν τῷ ὕδατι καὶ τῇ ἄρκτῳ προσοικειοῖ.

Kern Fr. 124 — Porphyry

Pseudo-Galen, that is, Porphyry, To Gaurus:

κἀνταῦθα πολὺς ὁ Νουμήνιος καὶ οἱ τὰς Πυθαγόρου ὑπονοίας ἐξηγούμενοι, καὶ τὸν παρὰ μὲν τῷ Πλάτωνι ποταμὸν Ἀμέλητα, παρὰ δὲ τῷ Ἡσιόδῳ καὶ τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς τὴν Στύγα, παρὰ δὲ τῷ Φερεκύδῃ τὴν ἐκροὴν ἐπὶ τοῦ σπέρματος ἐκδεχόμενοι.

Kern Fr. 125 — Olympiodorus

Olympiodorus, on Plato's Phaedo:

ὅτι οἱ τέτταρες ποταμοὶ τὰ τέτταρα στοιχεῖά ἐστι τὰ ἐν τῷ Ταρτάρῳ, ὁ μὲν Ὠκεανός, φησί, τὸ ὕδωρ, ὁ δὲ Κωκυτὸς ἤτοι Στύγιος ἡ γῆ, ὁ δὲ Πυριφλεγέθων τὸ πῦρ, ὁ δὲ Ἀχέρων ὁ ἀήρ. ἀντικεῖσθαι δὲ τῷ μὲν Πυριφλεγέθοντι τὸν Στύγιον, ὡς θερμὸν ψυχρῷ, τῷ δὲ Ὠκεανῷ τὸν Ἀχέροντα, ὡς ὑδραῖον ἀερίῳ· διὸ καὶ Ὀρφεὺς τὴν Ἀχερουσίαν λίμνην ἀερίαν καλεῖ.