Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek and Latin
This page translates Kern fragments 318-331 from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta. Kern places fr. 318 under Physika, the Physical Writings, and frr. 319-331 under Peri Phyton Botanōn Iatrikēs, material on plants, herbs, and medicine. The witnesses preserve ancient attributions to Orpheus concerning the Tritopatores, plant lore, fumigations, erotic herbs, deadly drugs, epilepsy, burns, blood-spitting, seven-month births, human-blood remedies, love charms, and anatomical magic. The medical recipes are translated as historical witnesses only.
Translation
Kern Fr. 318 — The Tritopatores in the Physika
The Suda says:
Under "Tritopatores":
Daemon, in the Atthis, says that the Tritopatores are winds.
Philochorus says that the Tritopatreis came into being first of all. For the people of that time knew Earth and the Sun, whom they then also called Apollo, as their parents, and those who came from them as the third fathers.
Phanodemus, in book six, says that only Athenians sacrifice and pray to them for the generation of children when they are about to marry.
But in Orpheus' Physika, the Tritopatores are named Amalkeides, Protokles, and Protokreon. They are doorkeepers and guardians of the winds.
The author of the Exegetikon says that they are from Heaven and Earth, and that their names are Kottos, Briareos, and Gyges.
A Homer scholion adds:
They told this story so that Aeolus too would be lord of the winds. In the same way they told of Amakleides, Protokles, and Protokreon, as Orpheus says.
Kern Fr. 319 — Orpheus on Herbs and Fumigations
Pliny says:
Orpheus, first of all the people memory knows, handed down some rather careful teachings about herbs. After him came Musaeus and Hesiod.
We have said how much they admired the herb polium. Orpheus and Hesiod also recommended fumigations.
Kern Fr. 320 — Staphylinos as an Erotic Herb
Pliny says:
Orpheus said that an erotic power is present in staphylinos, perhaps because it is certain that desire is stirred by this food.
Kern Fr. 321 — Orpheus and Animal Medicines
In Pliny's index to the book on medicines from animals, the named sources include:
Orpheus, who wrote Idiophyē, and Archelaus, who wrote similarly.
Pliny also lists Orpheus as an authority in the indices to several other books.
Kern Fr. 322 — Orpheus Among Writers on Deadly Drugs
Galen says:
So much has been said about simple death-dealing drugs. Now something must be said about compounded death-dealing drugs.
But I think it base to set out their preparations, although many have attempted writings on these things. Among them are Orpheus, called the Theologian, Bolos the younger of Mendes, Heliodorus the Athenian tragedian, Aratus, and certain other writers of this sort.
One might admire them for attempting treatises about these things in verse. But one would rightly blame them because of the subject matter.
Kern Fr. 323 — Orpheus, Herbs, and Magic in Apuleius
Apuleius says:
In an accusation of magic, he names poison, but you name fish-stew. He names herbs and shoots; you name scales and bones. He plucks a meadow; you search the sea.
I would also have recalled for you similar things from Theocritus, many other things from Homer and Orpheus, and much from Greek comedies, tragedies, and histories, if I had not noticed a little while ago that you could not read Pudentilla's Greek letter.
Kern Fr. 324 — The Strychnos Root for Epilepsy
Alexander of Tralles, in material on epilepsy, gives a recipe from writings associated with Strato and says that it belongs to Orpheus:
Take up a root of strychnos when the moon is waning. Cut it up and give a drink from it: on the first day one dose, then two, then three, then four, and so on in sequence, until fifteen doses have been used.
It is a mystery-like thing, and many admire it.
Kern Fr. 325 — Calamint Juice for Burns and Headaches
Aetius says:
Orpheus says that the juice of calamint, ground with an equal amount of rose oil and white lead until it has the thickness of glue, heals burns when it is smeared on them.
The astonishing thing is that not even a scar appears, and hair grows back on the place.
If you grind the juice with equal amounts of Cimolian earth and aloe, and smear it on the forehead and temples, you will immediately stop pains in the head.
Kern Fr. 326 — Sage Juice for Blood-Spitting and Wasting
Aetius says:
Orpheus says:
Give those who spit blood two measures of sage juice with one measure of honey, to drink while fasting, and it will stop at once.
For those with wasting disease, he says, prepare pills in this way: take nard-spike, ginger, sage seed that has been roasted, cut, and sifted, and long pepper. Take them up with the juice and make pills. Give one in the morning while fasting, and likewise before bed, and let the patient sip clear water.
Kern Fr. 327 — Seven-Month Births
Proclus says:
The Pythagoreans accept, as Orpheus does, seven-month births. They say that in thirty-five days the deposited seed receives shape and form.
After a damaged passage, Proclus adds that the timing of gestation is clear also among animals:
Some give birth every day, some every other day, and some even twice in one day.
Kern Fr. 328 — Blood and Quinsy
Pliny says:
Orpheus and Archelaus report that human blood, drawn from any part of a person, is most effective when smeared on quinsy.
They also say it should be smeared on the mouths of people collapsed by the comitial disease, for they rise at once.
Kern Fr. 329 — Arrows, Love Charms, and the Comitial Disease
Pliny says:
Orpheus and Archelaus write that arrows drawn out of a body, if they have not touched the ground, become love charms when placed beneath those who sleep.
They also write that comitial diseases are healed by eating flesh from a wild animal killed with the same iron by which a human being was killed.
Kern Fr. 330 — The Mesokranon
Pollux says:
The hollow of it, whether of the basin or the skull, is called the crown; in Orphic verses it is named the mesokranon, the middle of the head.
Kern Fr. 331 — Achilles' Heel and the Seat of Desire
Fulgentius says:
Achilles, being born as a complete human being, is dipped by his mother into the Stygian waters; that is, he is hardened against all labors.
Only his ankle is not dipped. Those who want this to signify something physical say that the veins in the ankle belong to the account of the kidneys, thighs, and genitals, and that some veins stretch all the way to the big toe.
Because of this, physicians and women who seek to obtain births, and those treating sciatica, draw blood at the same place.
Africanus the medical sophist also prescribed that the strengthening plaster which he called stisis should be placed on the big toe and ankle.
For Orpheus too indicates that this place is the chief seat of desire; for this reason they also prescribe cauteries in the same places for people with enteroceles.
Colophon
This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 318-331. Kern's numbering is retained.
The source witnesses translated here are the Suda, a Homer scholion, Pliny the Elder, Galen, Apuleius, Alexander of Tralles, Aetius, Proclus, Pollux, and Fulgentius.
Source Text
Kern Fr. 318 — The Tritopatores in the Physika
Suda, s.v. Τριτοπάτορες:
Δήμων ἐν τῇ Ἀτθίδι φησὶν ἀνέμους εἶναι τοὺς Τριτοπάτορας, Φιλόχορος δὲ τοὺς Τριτοπατρεῖς πάντων γεγονέναι πρώτους· τὴν μὲν γὰρ Γῆν καὶ τὸν Ἥλιον, φησίν, ὃν καὶ Ἀπόλλωνα τότε καλεῖν, γονεῖς αὐτῶν ἠπίσταντο οἱ τότε ἄνθρωποι, τοὺς δὲ ἐκ τούτων τρίτους πατέρας. Φανόδημος δὲ ἐν ἕκτῳ φησίν, ὅτι μόνοι Ἀθηναῖοι θύουσί τε καὶ εὔχονται αὐτοῖς ὑπὲρ γενέσεως παίδων, ὅταν γαμεῖν μέλλωσιν. ἐν δὲ τῷ Ὀρφέως Φυσικῷ ὀνομάζεσθαι τοὺς Τριτοπάτορας Ἀμαλκείδην καὶ Πρωτοκλέα καὶ Πρωτοκρέοντα, θυρωροὺς καὶ φύλακας ὄντας τῶν ἀνέμων. ὁ δὲ τὸ Ἐξηγητικὸν ποιήσας Οὐρανοῦ καὶ Γῆς φησιν αὐτοὺς εἶναι, ὀνόματα δὲ αὐτῶν Κόττον, Βριάρεων καὶ Γύγην.
Scholion to Homer, Odyssey 10.2:
καὶ τούτου ἕνεκα ἐμυθεύσαντο αὐτὸν εἶναι δεσπότην ἀνέμων· ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ τὸν Ἀμακλείδην καὶ Πρωτοκλῆ καὶ Πρωτοκρέοντα, ὥς φησιν Ὀρφεύς.
Kern Fr. 319 — Orpheus on Herbs and Fumigations
Pliny, Natural History 25.12:
primus autem omnium, quos memoria novit, Orpheus de herbis curiosius aliqua prodidit, post eum Musaeus et Hesiodus polium herbam in quantum mirati sint, diximus; Orpheus et Hesiodus suffitiones commendavere.
Kern Fr. 320 — Staphylinos as an Erotic Herb
Pliny, Natural History 20.32:
Orpheus amatorium inesse staphylino dixit, fortassis quoniam venerem stimulari hoc cibo certum est.
Kern Fr. 321 — Orpheus and Animal Medicines
Pliny, Natural History, index to book 28:
Orpheo qui Ἰδιόφυη scripsit, Archelao qui item.
Kern Fr. 322 — Orpheus Among Writers on Deadly Drugs
Galen, De antidotis 2.7:
περὶ μὲν τῶν ἁπλῶν θανασίμων ἐπὶ τοσοῦτον εἰρήσθω. περὶ δὲ τῶν συνθέτων λεχθήσεται. ἐκτίθεσθαι δὲ τὰς τούτων σκευασίας μοχθηρόν μοι δοκεῖ, καίπερ πολλῶν ἐπιχειρησάντων ταῖς τούτων συγγραφαῖς, ὧν εἰσιν Ὀ. ὁ ἐπικληθεὶς θεολόγος καὶ Βῶλος ὁ Μενδήσιος ὁ νεώτερος καὶ Ἡλιόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος τραγῳδιῶν ποιητὴς καὶ Ἄρατος καὶ ἄλλοι τινὲς τῶν τοιούτων συγγραφεῖς. τούτους μὲν οὖν ἄν τις θαυμάσειεν ἐμμέτρως ἐπιχειρήσαντας ταῖς περὶ τούτων πραγματείαις, μέμψαιτο δ᾽ ἂν εὐλόγως διὰ τὰ πράγματα.
Kern Fr. 323 — Orpheus, Herbs, and Magic in Apuleius
Apuleius, Apologia 30:
at tu piscium insimulator longe diversa instrumenta magis attribuis, non frontibus teneris detergenda, sed dorsis squalentibus excidenda, nec fundo revellenda, sed profundo extrahenda, nec falcibus metenda, sed hamis inuncanda. postremo in maleficio ille venenum nominat, tu pulmentum, ille herbas et surculos, tu squamas et ossa, ille pratum decerpit, tu fluctum scrutaris. memorassem tibi etiam Theocriti paria et alia Homeri et Orphei plurima, et ex comoediis et tragoediis Graecis et ex historiis multa repetissem, ni te dudum animadvertissem Graecam Pudentillae epistulam legere nequivisse.
Kern Fr. 324 — The Strychnos Root for Epilepsy
Alexander of Tralles, De febribus 1.15:
ἐκ τῶν παρακειμένων ἐν τοῖς Στράτωνος, λέγει δ᾽ Ὀρφέως εἶναι· στρύχνου ῥίζαν ἀνελόμενος φθινούσης σελήνης κόψον καὶ δίδου πιεῖν ἐξ αὐτῆς, τὴν μὲν πρώτην ἡμέραν μίαν δόσιν, εἶτα β᾽, εἶτα γ᾽, εἶτα δ᾽, καὶ οὕτως ἐφεξῆς, μέχρις ἂν πεντεκαίδεκα ἀναλώσῃς δόσεις. μυστηριῶδες δέ ἐστι καὶ ὑπὸ πολλῶν θαυμάζεται.
Kern Fr. 325 — Calamint Juice for Burns and Headaches
Aetius, Libri medicinales 1.10:
Ὀ. δὲ φησίν, ὅτι ὁ χυλὸς αὐτῆς, τῆς καλαμίνθης, σὺν ἴσῳ ῥοδίνῳ μετὰ ψιμυθίου λειωθεὶς ὡς γλοιοῦ ἔχειν πάχος καὶ ἐπιχριόμενος τὰ πυρίκαυστα θεραπεύει. τὸ δὲ παράδοξον, ὅτι οὐδὲ οὐλὴ φαίνεται καὶ τριχοφυεῖ ὁ τόπος. σὺν κιμωλίᾳ δὲ καὶ ἀλόῃ ἴσοις λειώσας τὸν χυλὸν καὶ ἐπιχρίσας μέτωπον καὶ κροτάφους παύσεις παραχρῆμα κεφαλῆς ὀδύνας.
Kern Fr. 326 — Sage Juice for Blood-Spitting and Wasting
Aetius, Libri medicinales 1.6:
Ὀ. δὲ φησί· δίδου τοῖς αἱμοπτυικοῖς τοῦ χυλοῦ τῆς ἐλελισφάκου κυάθους β᾽ μετὰ μέλιτος Γο α᾽ νήστει πιεῖν, καὶ εὐθέως σταθήσεται.
τοῖς δὲ φθισικοῖς, φησίν, κατασκεύαζε καταπότια οὕτως· ναρδοστάχυος, ζιγγιβέρεως, σπέρματος ἐλελισφάκου πεφωσμένου καὶ κεκομμένου καὶ σεσησμένου, πεπέρεως μακροῦ· ἀναλάμβανε τῷ χυλῷ καὶ ποίει καταπότια καὶ δίδου α᾽ πρωὶ νήστει καὶ εἰς κοίτην ὁμοίως, καὶ ἐπιρροφείτω ὕδατος καθαροῦ.
Kern Fr. 327 — Seven-Month Births
Proclus, In Platonis Rempublicam 2:
οἱ δὲ Πυθαγόρειοι προσίενται, ὥς καὶ Ὀ., καὶ τὰ ἑπτάμηνα, καί φασιν ἐν μὲν λε᾽ ἡμέραις τὸ καταβληθὲν σπέρμα τύπον καὶ μορφὴν λαμβάνειν ... δῆλον καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ... αἱ μὲν γὰρ καθ᾽ ἑκάστην τίκτουσιν, αἱ δὲ διὰ μιᾶς, αἱ δὲ καὶ δὶς ἐν μιᾷ ἡμέρᾳ.
Kern Fr. 328 — Blood and Quinsy
Pliny, Natural History 28.43:
sanguine ipsius hominis ex quacumque parte emisso efficacissime anginam inlini tradunt Orpheus et Archelaus, item ora comitiali morbo conlapsorum, exurgere enim protinus.
Kern Fr. 329 — Arrows, Love Charms, and the Comitial Disease
Pliny, Natural History 28.34:
sic et sagittas corpori eductas, si terram non attigerint, subiectas cubantibus amatorium esse Orpheus et Archelaus scribunt, quin et comitiales morbos sanari cibo e carne ferae occisae eodem ferro quo homo interfectus sit.
Kern Fr. 330 — The Mesokranon
Pollux, Onomasticon 2.39:
τὸ δ᾽ ἔγκοιλον αὐτοῦ, τοῦ σκαφίου ἢ κρανίου, κορυφή, ὅπερ ἐν τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς μέτροις ὀνομάζεται μεσόκρανον.
Kern Fr. 331 — Achilles' Heel and the Seat of Desire
Fulgentius, Mitologiae 3.7:
denique Achillem natum velut hominem perfectum mater in aquas intinguit Stigias, id est: durum contra omnes labores munit; solum ei talum non tinguit, nihilominus illut fisicum significare volentes, quod venae quae in talo sunt ad renum et femorum atque virilium rationem pertineant, unde et aliquae venae usque ad pollicem tendunt; quod tractantes et fisici et mulieres ad optinendos partus et sciadicos eodem flebotomant loco; nam et inplastrum entaticum quem stisidem Africanus hiatrosofistes vocavit pollici et talo imponendum praecepit. Nam et Orfeus illum esse principalem libidinis indicat locum; nam denique et enterocelicis in isdem locis cauteria ponenda praecipiunt.