Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek

This page translates Kern fragments 299-300 from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta. Kern places them under Orkoi, the Oaths. The fragments preserve an oath by Heaven and the Father's voice, followed by an eightfold list of gods who rule over all things.

Translation

Kern Fr. 299 — Heaven and the Father's Voice

Pseudo-Justin's Exhortation to the Greeks, also preserved through Cyril, says that in the Oaths Orpheus speaks as follows:

By Heaven
I adjure you,
wise work
of the great God.

By the Father's voice
I adjure you,
the voice
that he uttered first,

when he established
the whole world
by his own counsels.

Pseudo-Justin explains:

What does he mean by saying, "the voice that he uttered first"? Here he names the Word of God "voice": the Word through whom heaven and earth and all creation came to be, as the divine prophecies of the holy men teach us. Orpheus too, by giving attention to them in part while in Egypt, knew that all creation came to be by the Word of God.

Therefore, after saying, "the Father's voice, the voice that he uttered first," he immediately joins this line to it:

when he established
the whole world
by his own counsels.

Here, because of the poetic meter, he calls the Word "voice." That this is so is clear because, a little earlier, when the meter allowed it, he called the same one "Word." For he said:

Look to the divine Word.
Attend to it.

Kern Fr. 300 — The Eight Ruling Gods

Theon of Smyrna, explaining the usefulness of mathematics for reading Plato, says:

The ogdoad, which is the first cube, is composed of the monad and the hebdomad. Some say that eight gods rule over all things, as can also be found in the Orphic Oaths:

Yes indeed:
the begetters
of the immortals
who always are:

Fire and Water,
Earth and Heaven,
and Moon,

and Sun,
and great Phanes,
and black Night.

Theon adds:

Evander says that on an Egyptian stele there is found an inscription of King Kronos and Queen Rhea.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 299-300, under the title Orkoi, the Oaths. Kern's numbering is retained.

The source witnesses translated here are Pseudo-Justin's Exhortation to the Greeks 15, with Cyril's parallel witness, and Theon of Smyrna's Exposition of Mathematical Matters Useful for Reading Plato.

Source Text

Kern Fr. 299 — Heaven and the Father's Voice

Pseudo-Iustinus, Cohortatio ad gentiles 15:

καὶ ἐν τοῖς Ὅρκοις δὲ οὕτως·

οὐρανὸν ὁρκίζω σε, θεοῦ μεγάλου σοφὸν ἔργον,

αὐδὴν ὁρκίζω σε πατρός, τὴν φθέγξατο πρῶτον,

ἡνίκα κόσμον ἅπαντα ἑαῖς στηρίξατο βουλαῖς.

τί βούλεται τὸ λέγειν αὐτὸν "αὐδὴν . . . πρῶτον"; αὐδὴν ἐνταῦθα τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ὀνομάζει λόγον, δι' οὗ οὐρανὸς καὶ γῆ καὶ ἡ πᾶσα ἐγένετο κτίσις, ὡς διδάσκουσιν ἡμᾶς αἱ θεῖαι τῶν ἁγίων ἀνδρῶν προφητεῖαι, αἷς ἐν μέρει καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῇ Αἰγύπτῳ προσχὼν ἔγνω ὅτι τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ θεοῦ πᾶσα ἐγένετο κτίσις. διὸ καὶ μετὰ τὸ φῆσαι "αὐδὴν . . . πρῶτον," παραυτὰ συνάπτει λέγων "ἡνίκα . . . βουλαῖς." ἐνταῦθα τὸν λόγον αὐδὴν διὰ τὸ ποιητικὸν ὀνομάζει μέτρον. ὅτι δὲ τοῦτ' οὕτως ἔχει, δῆλον ἀπὸ τοῦ μικρῷ πρόσθεν τοῦ μέτρου συγχωροῦντος αὐτῷ λόγον αὐτὸν ὀνομάζειν· ἔφη γάρ· εἰς δὲ λόγον . . . προσέδρευε.

Kern Fr. 300 — The Eight Ruling Gods

Theon Smyrnaeus, Expositio rerum mathematicarum ad legendum Platonem utilium 105:

ἡ δὲ ὀγδοάς, ἥτις ἐστὶ πρῶτος κύβος, συντίθεται ἔκ τε μονάδος καὶ ἑπτάδος. ἔνιοι δὲ φασὶν ὀκτὼ τοὺς πάντων κρατοῦντας εἶναι θεούς, ὡς καὶ ἐν τοῖς Ὀρφικοῖς Ὅρκοις ἔστιν εὑρεῖν·

ναὶ μὴν ἀθανάτων γεννήτορας αἰὲν ἐόντων

Πῦρ καὶ Ὕδωρ Γαῖάν τε καὶ Οὐρανὸν ἠδὲ Σελήνην

Ἠέλιόν τε Φανῆ τε μέγαν καὶ Νύκτα μέλαιναν.

ἐν δὲ Αἰγυπτιακῇ στήλῃ φησὶν Εὔανδρος εὑρίσκεσθαι γραφὴν βασιλέως, Κρόνου καὶ βασιλίσσης Ῥέας.