Good Works Translation from Ancient Greek

This page translates Kern fragments 156-160 from the Orphic Sacred Discourses in Twenty-Four Rhapsodies. The group follows Zeus after the Kronian bonds: he receives purifications from Crete, bears the twenty-four-measure sceptre of rule, and is accompanied by Dike and Law as he begins the ordering of the whole.

Translation

Kern Fr. 156 — Zeus Brings Purifications from Crete

Proclus says:

For purification is sometimes by water and sometimes by fire, and everywhere purity comes to the lower things from the first things. Therefore, in Orpheus too, Zeus is instructed to bring the purifications from Crete. For the theologians are accustomed to place Crete in the rank of the intelligible.

Kern Fr. 157 — The Twenty-Four-Measure Sceptre

Proclus says:

Zeus establishes twofold orders: the heavenly and the supercelestial. For this reason, the theologian says that his sceptre is:

of four and twenty measures,

since he rules two twelvefold orders.

Proclus repeats the same witness in another place: because Zeus has received the greatest principles, that royal and ruling power over the wholes is his; and according to the theologians, his sceptre is of four and twenty measures.

In another account Proclus explains the number: Phanes establishes two triads, but Zeus establishes two dodecads. Therefore his sceptre is called four-and-twenty-measured.

Kern Fr. 158 — Dike Follows Zeus

Proclus says:

When Zeus is preparing to distribute the cosmic allotments to the Titans, Orpheus says that Dike follows him:

And Dike, much-avenging, followed him,

a helper to all.

For if much-avenging Dike is a helper to all, if she orders all things together with the demiurge of the universe, rules over gods, presides jointly over daimons, judges souls, and, to speak simply, if judgment passes through all souls, then Orpheus clearly refers her back to the universal demiurge. For when Zeus is already king and beginning to order the whole, Orpheus says that the whole of Dike follows him.

Kern Fr. 159 — Justice, Law, and Piety

Hermias says:

In the theologian, Justice is brought forward by Law and Piety.

Hermias gives the same relation elsewhere: Dike there is called the daughter of that Law and of Piety.

Kern Fr. 160 — Law Beside Zeus

Proclus says:

Since the Dike who is before the cosmos follows Zeus, Law too is seated beside Zeus, as Orpheus says.

Proclus also says:

In the Gorgias, Plato both ranks Zeus with the sons of Kronos and sets him apart from them, so that he is before the three and is also participated in by them. Plato seats Law together with Zeus, just as Orpheus does. For according to Night's instructions, Orpheus too makes Law sit beside Zeus. In addition, he sets the whole of Dike as Zeus' attendant in the Laws, just as the theologian does.

Colophon

This Good Works translation was made from Otto Kern's Orphicorum fragmenta (Berlin: Weidmann, 1922), frr. 156-160, in the section headed "Hieroi logoi en rhapsodiais ka'." Kern's numbering is retained.

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

Source Text

Kern Fr. 156 — Proclus on Plato's Timaeus

Proclus, on Plato's Timaeus:

καὶ γὰρ καθαρμὸς ὁ μὲν γίνεται δι᾽ ὕδατος, ὁ δὲ διὰ πυρός, πανταχοῦ δὲ ἡ καθαρότης τοῖς δευτέροις ἀπὸ τῶν πρώτων, διὸ καὶ παρὰ τῶι Ὀρφεῖ τὰ καθάρσια κομίζειν ὁ Ζεὺς ἀπὸ τῆς Κρήτης παρακελεύεται· τὴν γὰρ Κρήτην ἀντὶ τοῦ νοητοῦ τάττειν εἰώθασιν οἱ θεολόγοι.

Kern Fr. 157 — Proclus on Plato's Cratylus and Timaeus

Proclus, on Plato's Cratylus:

καὶ γὰρ διττοὺς ὑφίστησι διακόσμους, τόν τε οὐράνιον καὶ τὸν ὑπερουράνιον, ὅθεν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ σκῆπτρον εἶναί φησιν ὁ θεολόγος

πισύρων καὶ εἴκοσι μέτρων,

ὡς διττῶν ἄρχοντος δυωδεκάδων.

Proclus, on Plato's Timaeus:

τῶι δὲ τὰς μεγίστας ἀρχὰς μετακεχειρίσθαι τὸ βασιλικὸν ἐκείνου καὶ κρατητικὸν τῶν ὅλων, οὗ καὶ τὸ σκῆπτρον πισύρων καὶ εἴκοσι μέτρων ἐστὶ κατὰ τοὺς θεολόγους.

Proclus, on Plato's Timaeus:

ἀλλ᾽ ὁ μὲν Φάνης διττὰς ὑφίστησι τριάδας, ὁ δὲ Ζεὺς διττὰς δυωδεκάδας· καὶ γὰρ διὰ τοῦτο τὸ σκῆπτρον αὐτοῦ λέγεται· πισύρων καὶ εἴκοσι μέτρων.

Kern Fr. 158 — Proclus on Plato's Republic, Platonic Theology, and Timaeus

Proclus, on Plato's Republic:

διὸ καὶ τῶι Διὶ τοῖς Τιτᾶσιν τὰς ἐγκοσμίους διανέμειν παρασκευαζομένωι λήξεις ἕπεσθαι τὴν Δίκην ὁ Ὀρφεὺς φησίν·

τῶι δὲ Δίκη πολύποινος ἐφέσπετο πᾶσιν ἀρωγός.

εἰ γὰρ πᾶσιν ἀρωγὸς πολύποινος, εἰ τῶι δημιουργῶι τοῦ παντὸς συνδιακοσμεῖ τὰ πάντα, θεῶν ἄρχει, δαίμοσιν συνεπιστατεῖ, ψυχὰς διαδικάζει καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς διὰ πασῶν διέρχεται τῶν ψυχῶν ἡ κρίσις.

Proclus, Platonic Theology:

ὁ δὲ Ὀρφεὺς καὶ διαρρήδην εἰς τὸν ὅλον ἀναπέμπει δημιουργόν. ἤδη γὰρ αὐτῶι βασιλεύοντι καὶ διακοσμεῖν ἀρχομένωι τὸ πᾶν, ἕπεσθαί φησι τὴν ὅλην Δίκην.

Kern Fr. 159 — Hermias on Plato's Phaedrus

Hermias, on Plato's Phaedrus:

παράγεται δὲ ἡ Δικαιοσύνη παρὰ τῶι θεολόγωι ὑπὸ Νόμου καὶ Εὐσεβείας.

Hermias, on Plato's Phaedrus:

ἡ μὲν ἐκεῖ Δίκη θυγάτηρ λέγεται τοῦ Νόμου τοῦ ἐκεῖ καὶ Εὐσεβείας.

Kern Fr. 160 — Proclus on Plato's Alcibiades and Timaeus

Proclus, on Plato's Alcibiades:

πάλιν, ἐπειδήπερ ἡ πρὸ τοῦ κόσμου Δίκη συνέπεται τῶι Διί· πάρεδρος γὰρ ὁ Νόμος τοῦ Διός, ὥς φησιν ὁ Ὀρφεύς.

Proclus, on Plato's Timaeus:

ἐν δὲ τῶι Γοργίαι συντάττων τε αὐτὸν τοῖς Κρονίδαις καὶ ἐξαιρῶν ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν, ἵνα καὶ πρὸ τῶν τριῶν ᾖ καὶ μετέχηται ὑπ᾽ αὐτῶν, καὶ τὸν Νόμον αὐτῶι συγκαθιδρύων, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ Ὀρφεύς. κατὰ γὰρ τὰς ὑποθήκας τῆς Νυκτὸς καὶ παρ᾽ ἐκείνωι πάρεδρον ποιεῖται τὸν Νόμον· ἔτι δὲ τὴν Δίκην ὅλην ὀπαδὸν αὐτοῦ τιθέμενος ἐν Νόμοις, ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ θεολόγος.