The Orphic Hymns Read online

  brave in the din of war.

  Renowned and cave-haunting,

  3

  spoken of and then ineffable,

  your domain is

  on wind-swept hilltops,

  shaded mountains,

  dells that charm your heart.

  Arms please you, and you strike men’s souls

  6

  with frenzy,

  O vigorous maiden,

  O horrid-tempered one,

  slayer of Gorgo, O blessed mother of the arts,

  you shun the bed of love,

  you bring madness to the wicked,

  9

  you bring prudence to the virtuous, O impetuous one.

  Male and female,

  shrewd begetter of war,

  she-dragon of the many shapes,

  frenzy-loving, illustrious,

  destroyer of the Phlegraian Giants,

  12

  driver of horses,

  victorious Tritogeneia,

  O goddess, you free us from suffering,

  day and night,

  ever into the small hours.

  Hear my prayer and give me

  15

  a full measure of peace,

  of riches, and of health,

  accompanied by happy seasons,

  O gray-eyed and inventive queen,

  to whom many offer their prayers.

  33. To Nike

  incense—powdered frankincense

  I call upon mighty Nike,

  beloved of mortals;

  she alone frees man

  from the eagerness for contest,

  from dissent,

  3

  when men face each other in battle.

  In war you are the judge

  of deeds deserving prizes;

  sweet is the boast

  you grant after the onslaught.

  Nike, mistress of all,

  6

  on your good name depends noble glory,

  glory that comes from the strife

  and teems with festivities.

  O blessed and beloved one,

  come with joy in your eyes,

  come for works of renown,

  9

  bring me noble glory.

  34. To Apollon

  incense—powdered frankincense

  Come, O blessed Paian, O slayer of Tityos,

  O Phoibos, O Lykoreus,

  giver of riches, illustrious dweller of Memphis,

  O god to whom we cry “Ië,”

  O Titan and Pythian god,

  3

  yours are

  the golden lyre, the seeds, and the plows.

  Grynean, Sminthian, slayer of Python,

  Delphic diviner, wild, light-bringing,

  lovable god you are, O glorious youth.

  You shoot your arrows from afar,

  6

  you lead the Muses into dance,

  O holy one, you are Bacchos,

  Didymeus, Loxias, too,

  lord of Delos, you are the eye that sees all,

  you bring light to mortals,

  your hair is golden,

  9

  your oracular utterance is clear.

  Hear me with kindly heart

  as I pray for people.

  You gaze upon all

  the ethereal vastness,

  upon the rich earth you look

  12

  through the twilight.

  In the quiet darkness

  of a night lit with stars

  you see earth’s roots below,

  you hold the bounds

  of the whole world;

  15

  the beginning and the end to come are yours.

  You make everything bloom

  with your versatile lyre,

  you harmonize the poles,

  now reaching the highest pitch,

  now the lowest,

  18

  now again with a Doric mode,

  harmoniously balancing the poles,

  you keep the living races distinct.

  You have infused harmony

  into the lot of all men,

  giving them an equal measure

  21

  of winter and summer:

  the lowest notes you strike in the winter,

  the highest notes you make distinct in the summer,

  your mode is Doric

  for spring’s lovely and blooming season.

  This is why mortals call you

  24

  lord and Pan,

  the two-horned god

  who sends the whistling winds;

  it is for this you have

  the master seal of the entire cosmos.

  O blessed one, hear the suppliant voice

  27

  of the initiates and save them.

  35. To Leto

  incense—myrrh

  Dark-veiled Leto, revered goddess,

  mother of twins,

  great-souled daughter of Koios,

  queen to whom many pray,

  to your lot fell the birth pains

  3

  for Zeus’ fair children,

  you bore Phoibos

  and arrow-pouring Artemis,

  her on Ortygia,

  him on rocky Delos.

  Hear, lady goddess,

  6

  come with favor in your heart

  to bring a sweet end

  to this all-holy rite.

  36. To Artemis

  incense—powdered frankincense

  Hear me, O queen,

  Zeus’ daughter of many names,

  Titanic and Bacchic,

  revered, renowned archer,

  torch-bearing goddess bringing light to all,

  3

  Diktynna, helper at childbirth,

  you help women in labor,

  though you know not what labor is.

  O frenzy-loving huntress,

  you loosen girdles and drive distress away;

  swift arrow-pouring goddess of the outdoors,

  6

  you roam in the night.

  Fame-bringing and affable,

  redeeming and masculine in appearance,

  Orthia, goddess of swift birth,

  you are a nurturer of mortal youths,

  immortal and yet of this earth,

  9

  you slay wild beasts, O blessed one,

  your realm is in the mountain forest,

  you hunt deer.

  O revered and mighty queen of all,

  fair-blossomed, eternal,

  sylvan, dog-loving,

  12

  many-shaped lady of Kydonia,

  come, dear goddess,

  as savior to all the initiates,

  accessible to all, bringing forth

  the beautiful fruit of the earth,

  lovely peace,

  15

  and fair-tressed health.

  May you dispatch diseases and pain

  to the peaks of the mountains.

  37. To the Titans

  incense—frankincense

  Titans, glorious children

  of Sky and Earth,

  ancestors of our fathers,

  you dwell down below

  in Tartarean homes,

  3

  in the bowels of the earth.

  From you are descended

  all toiling mortals,

  the brood of the sea and of the land,

  then the brood of the birds,

  of all generations

  6

  of the world born of you.

  I call upon you

  to banish harsh anger

  if some earthly forefather of mine

  stormed your homes.

  38. To the Kouretes

  incense—frankincense

  Bronze-beating Kouretes,

  the weapons of Ares are yours.

  Dwellers of heaven, of earth and sea,

  thrice-blessed ones,

/>   life-giving breezes,

  3

  glorious saviors of the world,

  you dwell in the sacred land

  of Samothrace,

  you ward off dangers

  for mortals roaming the seas,

  you were first to set up

  6

  sacred rites for mortals.

  O immortal Kouretes,

  the weapons of Ares are yours.

  You rule Okeanos,

  you rule the sea and the forests,

  the earth resounds with the pounding

  9

  of your nimble feet,

  and with the glories in your gleaming armor.

  All wild beasts cringe

  at your onrush,

  the din and the shouts rise heavenward,

  the dust from your feet,

  12

  as you march briskly,

  reaches the clouds;

  every flower is in bloom.

  Immortal gods, you nurture,

  you also destroy

  when you fret angrily

  15

  over mankind,

  you ruin livelihoods and possessions,

  you ruin men themselves.

  ... the great deep-eddying

  sea groans,

  lofty trees are uprooted,

  18

  they fall upon the earth,

  the noisy tremor of the leaves

  echoes in the sky.

  Kouretes, Korybantes,

  mighty lords,

  masters of Samothrace,

  21

  true Dioskouroi,

  ever-blowing breezes,

  soul-nurturing and airy,

  you’re called celestial twins

  on Olympos.

  Gentle saviors, you bring

  24

  fair breezes and clear weather,

  nurturers of seasons and of fruits,

  breathe upon us, O lords.

  39. To Korybas

  incense—frankincense

  I call upon the greatest king

  of eternal earth,

  blessed Korybas, the warlike,

  the one of the forbidding countenance,

  the nocturnal Koures

  3

  who saves us from dreadful fear.

  Korybas, you save us from fantasies

  as you wander in deserted places.

  Many are the shapes, O lord,

  of your twofold divinity;

  your blood is tainted

  6

  with the murder of twin brothers.

  You follow Deo’s thinking,

  you changed your holy form

  into the shape of a savage,

  dark dragon.

  O blessed one, hear our voices,

  9

  banish harsh anger,

  free from fantasies

  souls stunned by compulsions.

  40. To Eleusinian Demeter

  incense—storax

  Deo, divine mother of all,

  goddess of many names,

  revered Demeter, nurturer of youths,

  giver of prosperity and wealth,

  you nourish the ears of corn,

  3

  O giver of all,

  you delight in peace

  and in toilsome labor.

  Present at sowing, heaping, and threshing,

  O spirit of the unripe fruit,

  you dwell

  6

  in the sacred valley of Eleusis.

  Charming and lovely,

  you give sustenance to all mortals;

  you were the first to yoke

  the ploughing ox,

  the first to send up from below a rich,

  9

  a lovely harvest for mortals.

  You are growth and blooming,

  O illustrious companion of Bromios,

  torch-bearing and pure,

  you delight in the summer’s yield.