Orphic Fragments — Phanes, the Moon, and the Cosmic House

Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek and Latin

This page translates Kern fragments 88-98 from the Orphic Sacred Discourses in Twenty-Four Rhapsodies. The group follows Phanes into cosmic order: the making of heaven, sun, stars, earth, and sea; the imperishable house of the gods; the intelligible region bounded by Aether and Phanes; the moon as another earth; the sun as guardian; nature and boundless time; the father in the misty cave; and the generation of Night.

Translation

Kern Fr. 88 — The Principal God as Maker

Lactantius says:

Ovid too, at the beginning of his famous work, without any concealment of the name, admits that the world was arranged by God, whom he calls the fabricator of the world and maker of things. If Orpheus, or our own poets, had continually defended what they perceived under nature's guidance, they would have held the same teaching we follow, having grasped the truth.

In the same work, Lactantius says:

Orpheus speaks of a principal god who founded heaven and the sun with the other stars, earth, and seas.

Kern Fr. 89 — The Imperishable House

Lactantius says:

Orpheus says that this one, Phanes, is the parent of all the gods. For their sake he founded heaven and provided for his children, so that they might have a dwelling and common seat:

he built an imperishable house for the immortals.

Led by nature and reason, therefore, Orpheus understood that there is a most excellent power, maker of heaven and earth. He could not say that Zeus was the beginning of things, since Zeus was born from Saturn; nor could he say Saturn, since Saturn was said to have been born from Heaven. He did not dare establish Heaven as the first god, since he saw that Heaven was an element of the world and needed an author. This reasoning brought him to that first-born god, to whom he assigns and gives the first rank.

Kern Fr. 90 — The Region Above Heaven

Proclus says:

Is it not clear that the region above heaven, the colorless, shapeless, intangible essence, and the whole intelligible breadth, contains, as Plato would say, the intelligible living beings, the one cause of all eternal things, and their hidden principles? Or, as the Orphics would say, it is bounded above by Aether and below by Phanes; for everything between these two fills out the intelligible order.

Hermias says:

If by "poets" we mean those who are third from truth, that is, the mass of human poets here below, so that Homer and Orpheus are excluded from the statement, then the truth of the saying is obvious: none of those many technical poets reaches these things worthily, but only the inspired poets, such as Homer and Orpheus. For this place has been spoken of by Homer and Orpheus, and also by Hesiod and Musaeus.

But if we understand "all poets" simply, so that Homer and Orpheus too are included, then it is clear that Plato includes himself as well, since even he would not be able to speak of it worthily. It is as if he said, "No human being engaged in poetry will hymn the region above heaven worthily; only Apollo and the choir of the Muses will."

Kern Fr. 91 — The Moon as Another Earth

Proclus says:

The Pythagoreans said that the elements are contemplated in heaven in two ways: one way before the sun and another way after the sun. For the moon is an aetherial earth. The theologian has said this clearly:

He devised another boundless earth, which the immortals call Selene,

and those who dwell on earth call Mene;

she has many mountains, many cities, and many houses.

In another place Proclus says:

The theologians call the moon earth because of this earth's kinship with her. At any rate, the hiding of light is common to both.

And again:

There is heaven also in earth, and earth also in heaven. Here heaven exists in an earthly way; there earth exists in a heavenly way. Orpheus called the moon heavenly earth.

Kern Fr. 92 — The Moon's Monthly Turning

Proclus says:

Just as they say the sun changes his forms by hour and by zodiacal sign, so also the moon changes hers by each day:

so that in a month she turns through what the sun turns through in a year,

as the theologian says.

In another place, Proclus says:

The whole yearly cycle is divided into increase and decrease. For this reason the monthly cycle of the moon is said to image the annual course of the sun. Orpheus says that the moon turns in the month through what the sun turns through in the year, contemplating the analogous pattern in both.

Kern Fr. 93 — Heavenly Earth

Proclus says:

Orpheus called the moon heavenly earth.

This is the same as the earlier statement:

the moon is an aetherial earth.

Kern Fr. 94 — The Human Seat Apart from the Immortals

Proclus says:

Not only the mathematicians say that not every climate of earth has human beings; Orpheus too defines it in this way:

He marked off for human beings a seat to dwell in,

apart from the immortals,

where the middle axle of the sun turns as it is driven,

neither too cold over the head nor burning hot,

but midway.

Kern Fr. 95 — Nature's Works

Proclus says:

So too in Orpheus the works of nature are called renowned:

the renowned works of nature remain, and boundless aeon.

Kern Fr. 96 — The Sun as Guardian

Proclus says:

The craftsman, Phanes, set the Sun over the wholes:

he made him their guardian and commanded him to rule over all,

as Orpheus says.

Proclus adds elsewhere that Amelius posits three minds and craftsmen, the three kings in Plato and the three in Orpheus: Phanes, Heaven, and Kronos. The one who is most of all craftsman in Orpheus is Phanes.

Kern Fr. 97 — The Father in the Misty Cave

Proclus says:

The paternal is better than the productive. Therefore, among the middle terms, though both characters belong to each, the former is more father, for he is the limit of the paternal depth and the fountain of the intellectual gods; the second is more maker, for he is the monad of all craft. From this, I think, the former is called Metis, while the latter is called Metietes. The former is seen; the latter sees. The former is swallowed; the latter is filled with that one's power. What the former is among the intelligibles, the latter is among the intellectuals, for one is the limit of the intelligible gods, the other of the intellectual gods. Of that former one Orpheus says:

The father made these things in the misty cave.

Kern Fr. 98 — Phanes and Night

Proclus says:

Phanes alone proceeds forth, and the same god is hymned as female and begetter. He brings forth the Nights, and is joined with the middle Night as father:

for he himself took the maiden flower from his own daughter.

Damascius says:

To answer the fourth point is easy. After the intelligible and undivided union, there had to be a determinate distinction of the things proceeding forth; number introduced this. After that, there had to appear some continuity among the things distinguished, not making the procession disappear as union does, but preserving continuity and bringing the distinguished things into connection with one another, so that even in distinction they would appear somehow united.

This is masculine in form, since it is in distinction. Before this is the female, not female in relation to that masculine thing, but female in relation to the intelligible male and father:

for from his own daughter he took the maiden flower.

For this reason, the female brings that one's offspring forward into another ordering, as Earth brings forward the offspring of Heaven, Rhea those of Kronos, and Hera those of Zeus.

In the same work, Damascius says:

For this reason, in Orpheus the other races come from mother and father, but the first of the mothers proceeds from the father alone, as monad from monad.

And again:

Orpheus joins Night to Phanes as to a male. The oracles too call the Iynges "paternal powers." But the gods teach that they too have something paternal, just as Orpheus does, if Night alone among female powers reigns. And if she reigns over all races, she would not do so unless she had something masculine in herself and in this way were ranked with the male kings; for the female, insofar as it is female, nowhere leads.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 88-98, in the section headed "Hieroi logoi en rhapsodiais ka'." Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witnesses translated here include Lactantius, Proclus, Hermias, and Damascius as printed by Kern.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 88 — Lactantius, Divine Institutes and Epitome

Ovidius quoque in principio praeclari operis sine ulla nominis dissimulatione a deo, quem fabricatorem mundi, quem rerum opificem vocat, mundum fatetur instructum. quodsi vel Orpheus vel hi nostri quae natura ducente senserunt in perpetuum defendissent, eandem quam nos sequimur doctrinam comprehensa veritate tenuissent.

Orpheus principalem deum dicit, qui caelum solemque cum ceteris astris, qui terram, qui maria condiderit.

Kern Fr. 89 — Lactantius, Divine Institutes 1.5

hunc ait esse omnium deorum parentem, quorum causa caelum condiderit liberisque prospexerit, ut haberent habitaculum sedemque communem:

ἔκτισεν ἀθανάτοις δόμον ἄφθιτον.

natura igitur et ratione ducente intellexit esse praestantissimam potestatem, caeli ac terrae conditricem. non poterat enim dicere Iouem esse principem rerum, qui erat Saturno genitus, neque ipsum Saturnum, qui caelo natus ferebatur; caelum autem tamquam deum primum constituere non audebat, quod videbat elementum esse mundi, quod ipsum eguerit auctore. haec eum ratio perduxit ad deum illum primogenitum, cui adsignat et tribuit principatum.

Kern Fr. 90 — Proclus and Hermias

ἦ δῆλον ὡς ὁ ὑπερουράνιος τόπος καὶ ἡ ἀχρώματος καὶ ἀσχημάτιστος καὶ ἀναφὴς οὐσία καὶ πᾶν τὸ νοητὸν πλάτος, ὡς μὲν ἂν ὁ Πλάτων εἴποι, τά τε νοητὰ ζῶια περιέχον καὶ τὴν μίαν τῶν αἰωνίων πάντων αἰτίαν καὶ τὰς κρυφίους τούτων ἀρχάς, ὡς δ᾽ ἂν οἱ Ὀρφικοὶ φαῖεν, ἄνωθεν μὲν ὁριζόμενος τῶι Αἰθέρι, κάτωθεν δὲ τῶι Φάνητι· πάντα γὰρ τὰ μεταξὺ τούτων συμπληροῖ τὸν νοητὸν διάκοσμον.

εἰ μὲν ποιητὰς ἀκούοιμεν τοὺς τρίτους ἀπὸ τῆς ἀληθείας, τουτέστι τὸ πλῆθος τῶν τῆιδε ἀνθρωπικῶν ποιητῶν, ὥστε ἐξαιρεῖσθαι τοῦ λόγου Ὅμηρον καὶ Ὀρφέα, εἴρηται γὰρ αὐτοῖς περὶ τοῦδε τοῦ τόπου, καὶ Ἡσιόδωι καὶ Μουσαίωι, πρόδηλον τοῦ λόγου τὸ ἀληθές, ὅτι τῶν τοιούτων ποιητῶν τῶν πολλῶν καὶ τεχνικῶν οὐδεὶς ἐφικνεῖται ἐκείνων ἀξίως, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐνθέων ποιητῶν οἷος Ὅμηρος καὶ Ὀρφεύς. εἰ δὲ πάντας ἁπλῶς ἀκούοιμεν τοὺς ποιητὰς ὥστε καὶ Ὅμηρον καὶ Ὀρφέα περιλαμβάνεσθαι, δῆλον ὅτι καὶ ἑαυτὸν συμπεριλαμβάνει, ὡς οὐδὲ αὐτὸς ἀξίως εἶπεν δυνησόμενος· ὡς ἂν οὖν εἰ ἔλεγε τὸν δὲ ὑπερουράνιον τόπον οὐδεὶς μὲν τῶν ἀνθρώπων τῶν ἐν τῆι ποιήσει ἀξίως ὑμνήσει, μόνος δὲ ὁ Ἀπόλλων καὶ ὁ τῶν Μουσῶν χορός.

Kern Fr. 91 — Proclus, on Plato's Timaeus

οἱ δὲ Πυθαγόρειοι ἔλεγον ἐν τῶι οὐρανῶι θεωρεῖσθαι τὰ στοιχεῖα διχῶς, ἄλλως μὲν πρὸ ἡλίου, ἄλλως δὲ μετὰ ἥλιον. γῆ μὲν γὰρ αἰθερία ἡ σελήνη· τοῦτο μὲν οὖν καὶ ὁ θεολόγος εἴρηκε σαφῶς·

μήσατο τ᾽ ἄλλην γαίαν ἀπείριτον, ἥν τε σελήνην

ἀθάνατοι κλήιζουσιν, ἐπιχθόνιοι δέ τε μήνην,

ἣ πόλλ᾽ οὔρε᾽ ἔχει, πόλλ᾽ ἄστεα, πολλὰ μέλεθρα.

καὶ τῶν θεολόγων τὴν σελήνην καλούντων γῆν διὰ τὴν τῆς γῆς ταύτης οἰκειότητα πρὸς αὐτήν· κοινὸν γοῦν αὐτοῖς τὸ ἀποκρύπτειν τὸ φῶς.

ἔστι γὰρ καὶ ἐν γῇ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἐν οὐρανῶι γῆ, καὶ ἐνταῦθα μὲν ὁ οὐρανὸς χθονίως, ἐκεῖ δὲ οὐρανίως ἡ γῆ· καὶ γὰρ οὐρανίαν γῆν τὴν σελήνην Ὀρφεὺς προσηγόρευσε.

Kern Fr. 92 — Proclus, on Plato's Timaeus and Republic

διὸ καὶ ὥσπερ τὸν ἥλιον κατὰ ὥραν καὶ κατὰ ζώιδιον εἰρήκασιν ἀμείβειν τὰς μορφάς, οὕτω καὶ τὴν σελήνην κατὰ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν,

ὄφρ᾽ ἐν μηνὶ τρέπηι ὅπερ ἥλιος εἰς ἐνιαυτόν,

ὥς φησιν ὁ θεολόγος.

καὶ ὁ ὅλος ἐνιαυσιαῖος κύκλος διήιρηται εἰς αὔξησιν καὶ μείωσιν διὸ καὶ ὁ μηνιαῖος τῆς σελήνης κύκλος ἐνεικονίζεσθαι λέγεται τὸν ἐνιαύσιον τοῦ ἡλίου δρόμον· καὶ ὅ γε Ὀρφεὺς ἐν τῶι μηνὶ τρέπειν αὐτήν φησιν, ὅπερ ἥλιος ἐν ἐνιαυτῶι, τὸ ἀνάλογον ἐπ᾽ ἀμφοῖν θεώμενος.

Kern Fr. 93 — Proclus, on Plato's Timaeus 40e

καὶ γὰρ οὐρανίαν γῆν τὴν σελήνην Ὀρφεὺς προσηγόρευσε.

γῆ αἰθερία ἡ σελήνη.

Kern Fr. 94 — Proclus, on Plato's Timaeus 22e

καὶ γὰρ οὐ μόνον οἱ μαθηματικοὶ λέγουσι περὶ τοῦ μὴ πᾶν κλίμα γῆς ἀνθρώπους ἔχειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ὀρφεὺς οὑτωσὶ διορίζων·

διώρισε δ᾽ ἀνθρώποισι

χωρὶς ἀπ᾽ ἀθανάτων ναίειν ἕδος, ἧι μέσος ἄξων

ἠελίου τρέπεται ποτινεύμενος οὔτε τι λίην

ψυχρὸς ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς οὔτ᾽ ἔμπυρος, ἀλλὰ μεσηγύς.

Kern Fr. 95 — Proclus, on Plato's Timaeus 21d

οὕτω γὰρ καὶ παρ᾽ Ὀρφεῖ τὰ τῆς φύσεως ἔργα κλυτὰ προσαγορεύεται·

καὶ φύσεως κλυτὰ ἔργα μένει καὶ ἀπείριτος αἰών.

Kern Fr. 96 — Proclus, on Plato's Timaeus 41c

τοῦτον γάρ, Ἥλιον, ἐπέστησε τοῖς ὅλοις ὁ δημιουργός, Φάνης·

καὶ φύλακ᾽ αὐτὸν ἔτευξε κέλευσέ τε πᾶσιν ἀνάσσειν,

ὥς φησιν Ὀρφεύς.

τούτους οὖν τοὺς τρεῖς νόας καὶ δημιουργοὺς ὑποτίθεται καὶ τοὺς παρὰ τῶι Πλάτωνι τρεῖς βασιλέας καὶ τοὺς παρ᾽ Ὀρφεῖ τρεῖς, Φάνητα καὶ Οὐρανὸν καὶ Κρόνον, καὶ ὁ μάλιστα παρ᾽ αὐτῶι δημιουργὸς ὁ Φάνης ἐστίν.

Kern Fr. 97 — Proclus, on Plato's Timaeus

κρεῖττον δὲ τοῦ ποιητικοῦ τὸ πατρικόν· διόπερ ἐν τοῖς μέσοις, εἰ καὶ ἄμφω καθ᾽ ἑκάτερον, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον μὲν πατὴρ ὁ πρότερος· ἔστι γὰρ πέρας τοῦ πατρικοῦ βυθοῦ καὶ ἡ πηγὴ τῶν νοερῶν· μᾶλλον δὲ ποιητὴς ὁ δεύτερος· ἔστι γὰρ μονὰς τῆς ὅλης δημιουργίας. ὅθεν, οἶμαι, καὶ ἐκεῖνος μὲν καλεῖται Μῆτις, οὗτος δὲ Μητιέτης, καὶ ὁρᾶται μὲν ἐκεῖνος, ὁρᾶι δὲ οὗτος, καὶ καταπίνεται μὲν ἐκεῖνος, ἐμφορεῖται δὲ οὗτος τῆς ἐκείνου δυνάμεως, καὶ ὅπερ ἐκεῖνος ἐν τοῖς νοητοῖς, τοῦτο οὗτος ἐν τοῖς νοεροῖς ἐστί· πέρας γὰρ ὃ μὲν τῶν νοητῶν, ὃ δὲ τῶν νοερῶν ἐστι θεῶν· καὶ περὶ ἐκείνου μέν φησιν Ὀρφεύς·

ταῦτα πατὴρ ποίησε κατὰ σπέος ἠεροειδές.

Kern Fr. 98 — Proclus and Damascius

ὁ δέ γε Φάνης μόνος τε πρόεισι καὶ ὁ αὐτὸς ἀνυμνεῖται θῆλυς καὶ γενέτωρ, παράγει δὲ τὰς Νύκτας, καὶ τῆι μέσηι σύνεστιν ὡς πατήρ·

αὐτὸς ἑῆς γὰρ παιδὸς ἀφείλετο κούριον ἄνθος.

καὶ μὴν πρὸς τὸ τέταρτον ἀπαντῆσαι ῥάιδιον ὅτι μετὰ τὴν νοητὴν καὶ ἀδιάκριτον ἕνωσιν ἔδει τινὰ προβληθῆναι διωρισμένην διάκρισιν τῶν προϊόντων ἣν εἰσῆγεν ὁ ἀριθμὸς καὶ μετὰ ταύτην φανῆναι τινα διοριζομένων συνέχειαν, οὐκ ἀφανίζουσαν τὴν πρόοδον ὡς ἡ ἕνωσις, ἀλλὰ συνεχίζουσαν καὶ εἰς συναφὴν τὴν πρὸς ἄλληλα συνάγουσαν τὰ διακριθέντα, ἵνα καὶ ἐν τῆι διακρίσει ἡνωμένα πως φαίνηται· καὶ τοῦτο μὲν ἀρρενωπόν, ὡς ἐν διακρίσει· πρὸ τούτου δέ, τὸ θῆλυ, οὐ τοῦ ἄρρενος τούτου θῆλυ ὄν, ἀλλὰ τοῦ νοητοῦ ἄρρενος καὶ πατρός·

αὐτῆς γὰρ τεῆς παιδὸς ἀφείλετο κούριμον ἄνθος·

καὶ διὰ τοῦτο εἰς ἄλλην διακόσμησιν προάγει τὰ ἐκείνου γεννήματα, ὡς ἡ Γῆ τὰ τοῦ Οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἡ Ῥέα τὰ τοῦ Κρόνου καὶ Ἥρα τὰ τοῦ Διός.

διὸ καὶ παρ᾽ Ὀρφεῖ τὰ μὲν ἄλλα γένη ἐκ μητρὸς καὶ πατρός, ἡ δὲ πρώτη τῶν μητέρων ἀπὸ μόνου τοῦ πατρὸς πρόεισιν ὡς ἀπὸ μονάδος μονάς.

ἔτι δὲ Ὀρφεὺς ὡς ἄρρενι τῶι Φάνητι συνοικίζει τὴν Νύκτα· ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὰ λόγια πατρικὰς δυνάμεις ἀποκαλεῖ τὰς ἴυγγας. ἀλλὰ μὴν ἔχειν καὶ πατρικὸν αὐτὰς οἱ θεοὶ διδάσκουσιν, ὥσπερ καὶ Ὀρφεύς, εἴπερ βασιλεύει μόνη θηλείων ἡ Νύξ· καὶ βασιλεύει πάντων γενῶν οὐκ ἂν εἰ μὴ τι καὶ ἀρρενωπὸν εἶχεν καθ᾽ ἑαυτὴν καὶ ταύτηι συνετάττετο τοῖς ἄρρεσι βασιλεῦσιν· οὐδαμοῦ γὰρ ἡγεῖται τὸ θῆλυ, ἧι θῆλυ.